Life in OUR America, Volume 2, The Livyjr Files Options

[Livyjr]

Oh, come on here, jeffmoskin, you're just being mean!

You're scaring me!

I don't want to have any consequences from nature!

And speaking about nature, and scaring people, and well, news that sounds just plain wierd, which is probably why its coming from George Pataki's EMPIRE instead of some other state in the union, what is this?

"Food issues put on legislative menu - Fatal hot dog choking incident prompts bill for warning labels; allergies, other problems addressed"

By MARK JOHNSON, Associated Press
First published: Monday, May 30, 2005

ALBANY -- State lawmakers are watching what you eat.

A host of bills pending in the state Legislature cover numerous food issues, from allergic reactions to monosodium glutamate to potential children's choking hazards.

"J.T.'s Law," named after a 3-year-old boy who choked to death on a hot dog, would mandate warning labels on foods that "pose a demonstrably high risk of choking to children."

If it passes, New York would be the first state to require labels for choking risks.

Another bill would require chain restaurants to post nutritional information about their offerings, including calories, fat and sugar, similar to the data found on packaged foods.

But such efforts don't necessarily sit well with groups who believe government is becoming too intrusive in the affairs of the public and private business.

Restaurant owners say many of the proposals also would pose an unnecessary burden on them.

"We're living in a time when our legislators are overzealous in managing people's lives," said state Conservative Party Chairman Michael Long.

"Government has a responsibility to protect citizens, but some responsibilities fall on the citizens themselves."

J.T's Law, sponsored by Sen. Dean Skelos and Assemblyman Bob Barra, both Nassau County Republicans, would establish an Office of Choking Hazard Evaluation within the state Health Department.

That office would establish criteria for determining which foods pose choking risks.

Such foods would be banned from sale in the state unless they have a warning label.

"Every time there is some unfortunate mishap, you can't get a doorway big enough to fit all the lawmakers trying to run out and pass a bill they believe will solve the problem," Long said.

Tom Foulkes, a spokesman for the National Restaurant Association, said a sign or label would be unlikely to stop a child from choking.

"I don't know how you would determine and specifically identify foods that would be choking hazards," he added.

Foulkes said many restaurants already post nutritional information on their menus and Web sites.

It would be difficult for many restaurants with changing menus to keep up with mandated requirements, he said.

Doug Farquhar of the National Conference of State Legislatures said many state legislatures around the country are taking up food issues because of inaction at the federal level on topics like nutritional labeling.

"There is a lot of pressure on state legislatures to deal with issues you would expect the federal government to address," he said.

"The federal government is just not interested in new policy and regulations right now."

Another measure being considered by New York lawmakers would require restaurants to notify the public if they serve food containing monosodium glutamate, commonly known as MSG.

The additive can cause MSG syndrome, with symptoms including nausea and headaches that can last up to two days.

Yet another requires food service establishments to post notice if they use latex gloves because of allergies to the synthetic fabric.

"For food allergies, an individual needs to be aware of how the food was made," said Assemblyman Felix Ortiz, a Brooklyn Democrat who in the past has proposed a 1 percent tax on junk food, video games and TV commercials to fund anti-obesity programs.

"Those people in our population who suffer a reaction to food they eat, we need to bring this to their attention and make them aware."

About 11 million Americans suffer from food allergies and about 200 die every year from food-allergy reactions.

"What we're trying to accomplish is making the consumer aware of what is happening in the industry," Ortiz said.

"We're giving the consumer the opportunity to make better choices."

end quotes

How about starting with some instructions to parents to teach their kids not to bolt their food down whole, like J.T. did, so that they won't choke to death on it, Felix.

"J.T.'s Law"?

When I was young, "J.T's Law" would have been an admonition from my parents to not be a damn fool like that kid was, and take time to chew my food before swallowing, unless I wanted to end up dead on the floor like him, and believe me, that would have been "law" enough!

And now this kid is a hero?

Go figure!

[Livyjr]

And speaking about nature, and scaring people, and well, news that sounds just plain wierd, which is probably why its coming from George Pataki's REPUBLICAN EMPIRE instead of some other state in the union, what is this?

"Food issues put on legislative menu - Fatal hot dog choking incident prompts bill for warning labels; allergies, other problems addressed" 
 
By MARK JOHNSON, Associated Press
First published: Monday, May 30, 2005

ALBANY - "J.T.'s Law," named after a 3-year-old boy who choked to death on a hot dog, would mandate warning labels on foods that "pose a demonstrably high risk of choking to children."

If it passes, New York would be the first state to require labels for choking risks.

J.T's Law, sponsored by Sen. Dean Skelos and Assemblyman Bob Barra, both Nassau County Republicans, would establish an Office of Choking Hazard Evaluation within the state Health Department.

That office would establish criteria for determining which foods pose choking risks.

Such foods would be banned from sale in the state unless they have a warning label.

"Every time there is some unfortunate mishap, you can't get a doorway big enough to fit all the lawmakers trying to run out and pass a bill they believe will solve the problem," Long said.

And while we're on the subject of "just plain wrong-headedness" in here, here comes the CHAMPION at it, now:

Analysis

"Bush's Political Capital Spent, Voices in Both Parties Suggest - Poll Numbers Sag as Setbacks Mount at Home and Abroad"

By Peter Baker and Jim VandeHei
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, May 31, 2005; Page A02

Two days after winning reelection last fall, President Bush declared that he had earned plenty of "political capital, and now I intend to spend it."

Six months later, according to Republicans and Democrats alike, his bank account has been significantly drained.

In the past week alone, the Republican-led House defied his veto threat and passed legislation promoting stem cell research; Senate Democrats blocked confirmation, at least temporarily, of his choice for U.N. ambassador; and a rump group of GOP senators abandoned the president in his battle to win floor votes for all of his judicial nominees.

With his approval ratings in public opinion polls at the lowest level of his presidency, Bush has been stymied so far in his campaign to restructure Social Security.

On the international front, violence has surged again in Iraq in recent weeks, dispelling much of the optimism generated by the purple-stained-finger elections back in January, while allies such as Egypt and Uzbekistan have complicated his campaign to spread democracy.

The series of setbacks on the domestic front could signal that the president has weakened leverage over his party, a situation that could embolden the opposition, according to analysts and politicians from both sides.

Bush faces the potential of a summer of discontent when his capacity to muscle political Washington into following his lead seems to have diminished and few easy victories appear on the horizon.

"He has really burned up whatever mandate he had from that last election," said Leon E. Panetta, who served as White House chief of staff during President Bill Clinton's second term.

"You can't slam-dunk issues in Washington."

"You can't just say, 'This is what I want done' and by mandate get it done."

"It's a lesson everybody has to learn, and sometimes you learn it the hard way."

Through more than four years in the White House, the signature of Bush's leadership has been that he does not panic in the face of bad poll numbers.

Yet many Republicans on Capitol Hill and in the lobbyist corridor of K Street worry about a season of drift and complain that the White House has not listened to their concerns.

In recent meetings, House Republicans have discussed putting more pressure on the White House to move beyond Social Security and talk up different issues, such as health care and tax reform, according to Republican officials who asked not to be named to avoid angering Bush's team.

"There is a growing sense of frustration with the president and the White House, quite frankly," said an influential Republican member of Congress.

"The term I hear most often is 'tin ear,' " especially when it comes to pushing Social Security so aggressively at a time when the public is worried more about jobs and gasoline prices."

"We could not have a worse message at a worse time."

Many experienced Washington hands believe that Bush has the opportunity to reestablish his clout if he focuses his efforts.

"Every president goes through patches like this," Newt Gingrich, the Republican former House speaker, said in an interview.

"[President Ronald] Reagan had a difficult patch in August '81, but he came back and was strongly successful."

"Clinton, if you'll remember, in June or July of '95 looked like he couldn't get anything done and then won reelection."

"These things come and go."

To get back on track, Gingrich said, Bush should pare down his Social Security plan to its central element, personal investment accounts funded by payroll taxes.

"I don't think he can get complex reform through," Gingrich said.

"It's too hard with the AARP opposing you and all of the Democrats lined up against it."

Bush has had a hard time persuading Congress to go along with his agenda, in part because surveys show that much of the public has soured on him and his priorities.

In the most recent Washington Post-ABC News poll, taken last month, 47 percent of Americans approved of Bush's performance, tying the lowest marks he ever received in that survey, back in mid-2004, when Democrats were airing tens of millions of dollars' worth of campaign attack ads.

Similarly, just 31 percent approved of his handling of Social Security, an all-time low in the Post-ABC poll, while only 40 percent gave him good marks for his stewardship of the economy and 42 percent for his management of Iraq, both ratings close to the lowest ever recorded in those areas.

Other surveys have recorded similar findings, with Bush's approval rating as low as 43 percent.

Such weakness has unleashed the first mutterings of those dreaded second-term words, "lame duck," however premature it might be with 3 1/2 years left in his tenure.

"The Democrats are doing everything they can to make this president a lame duck," Republican consultant Ed Rollins complained on Fox News on Friday.

William Kristol, editor of the conservative Weekly Standard, wrote recently about "the impression -- and the reality -- of disarray" in urging Bush to wage a strong fight for the nomination of John R. Bolton as U.N. ambassador.

"He's not a lame duck yet, but there are rumblings," said Robert Dallek, a presidential historian.

Dallek said Bush's recent travails remind him of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who overreached in his second term by trying to pack the Supreme Court, a move that backfired.

"Second terms are treacherous, and presidents enter into a minefield where they really must shepherd their credibility and political capital," he said.

Bush started off his second term with a string of important victories, pushing through measures to make it harder to file class-action lawsuits against big corporations and to wipe out debts by filing for personal bankruptcy.

Congress passed its first budget resolution in years, largely along the lines of Bush's proposals, and gave him nearly everything he asked for in an $82 billion supplemental appropriations bill to pay for war costs in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The White House rejects talk of drift by pointing to such victories.

Asked at a briefing last week about the possible "onset of lame-duck status around here," White House press secretary Scott McClellan ticked off a list of accomplishments.

"This Congress has been in place for just over four months now, and we have made significant progress," he said.

Addressing the troubled Social Security plan, he added:

"Sometimes the legislative process isn't going to move as fast as we would all like, particularly on an issue that was this difficult."

Another senior White House official, who asked to remain anonymous to offer a franker assessment, acknowledged the perception problem.

"I will admit it's a challenge to shine the light on the progress," the official said.

"The victories have been overshadowed by partisan drama."

Nowhere was there more drama than in the Senate last week, when 14 senators from both parties forged a deal without White House approval that would allow some, but not all, of Bush's stalled judicial nominees to receive floor votes.

The deal on judges was followed quickly by a vote to shut down a filibuster on Bolton's nomination, a vote that Bush and the GOP lost.

The House also rejected Bush by passing a measure easing his restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, with 50 Republicans joining most Democrats despite the threat of a presidential veto.

The Senate has also advanced a more expensive highway bill than Bush has deemed acceptable, while his efforts to win passage for a Central American trade pact and an immigration guest worker program are stalled.

Overseas, violence in Iraq has killed about 700 civilians and at least 63 U.S. troops this month, frustrating efforts to stabilize the situation after January's successful parliamentary elections.

The governments of two U.S. allies resorted to crackdowns on opponents.

In Uzbekistan, government forces opened fire on demonstrators, killing hundreds, while in Egypt, pro-government gangs beat up protesters after a visit by Laura Bush.

In some ways, allies said, Bush has run into resistance because he swings for the fences, taking on especially hard issues.

By making Social Security the centerpiece of his domestic blueprint, he guaranteed a tough legislative campaign.

But it has begun to take its toll on the rest of his agenda as well.

The White House had hoped to be far enough along with Social Security by summer to launch his second top priority, overhaul of the tax code.

That is likely to be delayed until next year.

Bush's chief strategist, Karl Rove, is said by colleagues to remain optimistic that Congress will deliver Social Security legislation that includes personal accounts.

But other aides privately are beginning to talk about whether they could accept a deal that does not include the accounts.

John D. Podesta, a top Clinton aide who runs the Center for American Progress, a research institute that promotes ideas that counter conservative policies, said Bush made the mistake of trying to turn a successful election strategy of catering to his base into a governing philosophy that excludes Democrats.

"What surprises me is that they seem to be unable to adjust particularly to the circumstances," Podesta said.

"They promoted their Social Security case."

"It bombed."

"I would have thought they would have tried to change the subject or tried a different strategy."

"'You're with us or against us' works well when you're fighting al Qaeda, but it doesn't with Social Security, and they don't seem to have another play in the book."

Kenneth M. Duberstein, who was White House chief of staff during Reagan's second term, said after the congressional recess Bush needs "to seize the momentum" on energy legislation, the Central American free trade pact, spending bills and a Social Security solvency plan.

"After all, the president is always in the driver's seat, as all presidents are, and he cannot be distracted by speed bumps and detours along the way," Duberstein said.

"The president needs to define victories in ways that he can achieve them."

end quotes

"'You're with us or against us' works well when you're fighting al Qaeda, but it doesn't with Social Security, and they don't seem to have another play in the book."

Could that be attributed to the fact that the man in the driver's seat don't know how to drive?

Or put another way, that we are dealing with a man in the White House who don't have the brains God gave a goose?

"My way or the highway?"

Yeah, right, George!

[Livyjr]

And here is an article of interest, I thought, for the predictions therein that General Clark makes, and so, as a milestone on this trail through life that we are all traversing in here, assuming that one is in here besides me to see these words, I will post it as a mile marker, on this day, and then, we will see ......

"Pullback coming, Clark tells Cornell grads"

Associated Press

First published: Sunday, May 29, 2005

ITHACA -- Retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark said Saturday Americans should "expect a substantial pullout of American troops" from Iraq by the end of the summer.

Clark, a speaker at the senior convocation at Cornell University, told reporters the war "is having a terrible strain" on American troops and their families.

The pullout, he predicted, would be a policy strategy of the Bush administration.

At the same time, Clark said, "I believe the administration is pursuing the only sensible, possible strategy in Iraq."

Still, Clark criticized many of the administration's policies.

He said the President erred by first going after Iraq and not North Korea because of the threat of nuclear proliferation posed by that country.

He called Bush's actions "an upside-down policy."

The former supreme allied commander of NATO said the proposed pullout of American forces from Europe would be "a mistake."

Concerning the proposed military base closings around the country, Clark said, "the armed forces are not about money but about people's commitment."

An unsuccessful Democratic presidential candidate in 2004, Clark said he hasn't ruled out a political future.

[Livyjr]

FREEDOM IS ON THE MARCH!

How do I know!

Well, I heard George W. Bush say it on the radio last night, and ....

I mean, he couldn't really say it on the radio, if it wasn't true, COULD HE?

But freedom for whom?

Who exactly has George W. Bush set free, and from what?

"Iraq Puts Civilian Toll at 12,000 - Insurgency Claiming About 20 People a Day"

By Ellen Knickmeyer
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, June 3, 2005; Page A01

BAGHDAD, June 2 -- Violence in the course of the 18-month-long insurgency has claimed the lives of 12,000 Iraqis, Interior Minister Bayan Jabr said Thursday, giving the first official count for the largest category of victims of bombings, ambushes and other increasingly deadly attacks.

At least 36 more Iraqi civilians, security force members and officials were killed Thursday in attacks that underscored the ruthlessness and growing randomness of much of the violence.

The day's victims included 12 people killed when a suicide attacker drove a vehicle loaded with explosives into a restaurant near the northern city of Kirkuk.

In Baghdad, gunmen opened fire on a market area crowded with civilians, killing nine, the Defense Ministry said.

The U.S. military reported that two soldiers were killed Wednesday, by a bomb and by small-arms fire, in the western city of Ramadi.

Thursday's violence demonstrated the ability of insurgents to keep up attacks despite a week-old security operation in Baghdad billed as the most aggressive yet by Iraq's new government, in office for less than two months.

The checkpoints and raids that leaders have dubbed Operation Lightning have brought all roads in and out of the capital under government control, said Jabr, the minister in charge of Iraq's police forces.

The actions are meant to expose insurgent hideouts in the city, he told reporters from some foreign news organizations, adding, "Within the next few months, we can deal with all of the killings and assassinations."

Jabr said security forces had detained 700 "terrorists" and killed 28 during the operation.

The Defense Ministry said Wednesday that 680 people had been detained but that all but 95 had been released for lack of evidence warranting prosecution.

Interior Ministry statistics showed 12,000 civilians killed by insurgents in the last year and a half, Jabr said.

The figure breaks down to an average of more than 20 civilians killed by bombings and other attacks each day.

Authorities estimate that more than 10,500 of the victims were Shiite Muslims, based on the locations of the deaths, Jabr said.

There have been 1,663 U.S. military deaths since the United States led the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, according to the Pentagon's official count.

Bombings and other insurgent strikes have killed thousands of Iraqi security force members.

No official totals have been released for those dead, or for the total number of civilian casualties since the start of the war.

The U.S. military says it does not keep a comprehensive tally of people it has killed in combat, although it has released numbers of dead in major operations and has acknowledged civilians it has killed if it has become generally known that those people died during a U.S. firefight or attack.

Jabr said the government figures showed that Shiites had suffered the bulk of insurgent attacks.

No Sunni Muslim mosques, for example, had been destroyed, he said.

Iraq's insurgency is led largely by members of the Sunni Arab minority that was toppled from power with Saddam Hussein.

Foreign Arab fighters are largely blamed for the suicide bombings that now claim most of the lives.

Jabr, in some of his first extended remarks to reporters since becoming interior minister, said he saw no legitimacy in the cause of the Sunni Arab fighters.

"I have not seen any 'resistance,' " Jabr said in response to a question about clemency for so-called resistance fighters who lay down their arms.

"There is terror, and all sides have agreed that anyone raising guns and killing Iraqis is a terrorist."

Jabr denied that the police operation in Baghdad was unduly focusing on Sunnis, saying many of the operation's commanders were Sunnis.

He also said the new government was trying to reform the Interior Ministry, including expelling officials and officers found to have tortured detainees or others.

As an opposition member under Hussein, he said, he had lost 10 members of his family to torture.

"I would not accept that anyone practice torture against anyone," he said, adding that he would "personally follow up" on all such allegations.

Jabr also denied reports that members of the Badr militia, Shiite fighters trained in exile in Iran, were complicit in the killing of Sunni clerics last month.

Investigation showed that no Badr members were involved, he said.

The true killers are "terrorists who are killing Shiite clerics and Sunnis to incite strife," he said.

The day's violence included two car bombs near the northern oil city of Kirkuk.

A bomb attack at a roadside restaurant apparently targeted bodyguards of one of Iraq's deputy prime ministers, Rosh Nouri Shaways, said Col. Abbas Mohammed Amin, police chief of Tuz, where the attack occurred.

Shaways, an ethnic Kurd, was not present, but five of his guards and seven other people were killed, according to police and defense officials.

Two more people died at Arafah, the site of one of Iraq's first oil wells.

A suicide car bomber there detonated his explosives at the entrance to a compound for the national oil company and the U.S. and British consulates, Lt. Col. Adel Zain Abidin said.

In Baqubah, in central Iraq, a suicide car bomber killed Hussein Alwan Tamimi, the deputy chairman of the Diyala provincial council, as he was accompanying his ill sister to the hospital, according to a fellow council member, Khadija Khuda Yakhsh.

Four of the official's bodyguards also died.

The sister was wounded.

In Mosul, also in the north, attackers blew up two motorcycles rigged with explosives next to a coffee shop frequented by police officers, killing five people, the Associated Press reported.

Gunmen firing randomly from three speeding cars killed nine Iraqis in a crowded market area in Baghdad, a Defense Ministry official told the AP.

Interior Ministry officials gave a slightly different account, saying the victims had been waiting at a bus stop.

A bomb caused the deaths of three motorists at Mahmudiyah, 15 miles south of Baghdad, and attackers with guns and a bomb killed a woman in Baghdad's Dora neighborhood, police and hospital officials told the AP.

In political developments, negotiators were unable to find a formula by which more Sunni Arabs would help draft the country's constitution.

Writing a new constitution is the main mandate of Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari's government, which faces a mid-August deadline to finish a draft that can be put before voters.

Sunnis largely boycotted Jan. 30 elections for the National Assembly and as a result are underrepresented on the constitution-writing committee.

Sunni blocs came forward for the first time last month to say that they wanted a role.

The drafting of the charter has started while negotiators decide whether political parties, regional votes or other means should be used to pick Sunni delegates.

"National Assembly members are willing to make this succeed," a Sunni negotiator, Salih Mutlak, said after talks Thursday.

"They cannot write the constitution in the absence of the Sunni representation," he added.

"If they do, it will be rejected by the people."

Special correspondents Salih Saif Aldin in central Iraq, Marwan Ani in Kirkuk and Bassam Sebti and Khalid Saffar in Baghdad contributed to this report.

[Livyjr]

And here is an article of interest, I thought, for the predictions therein that General Clark makes, and so, as a milestone on this trail through life that we are all traversing in here, assuming that one is in here besides me to see these words, I will post it as a mile marker, on this day, and then, we will see ......

"Pullback coming, Clark tells Cornell grads" 
 
Associated Press

First published: Sunday, May 29, 2005

ITHACA -- Retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark said Saturday Americans should "expect a substantial pullout of American troops" from Iraq by the end of the summer.

Clark, a speaker at the senior convocation at Cornell University, told reporters the war "is having a terrible strain" on American troops and their families.

The pullout, he predicted, would be a policy strategy of the Bush administration.

And in the meantime ......

"Iraqi Official Appeals for Greater U.S. Role"

By Robin Wright
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 3, 2005; Page A19

To prevent the breakdown of Iraq's troubled transition and a potential civil war, Iraq's new government appealed to the Bush administration yesterday to take a much more assertive role, particularly on four key political and military issues, according to Iraqi and U.S. officials.

In talks with Vice President Cheney yesterday and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari requested greater U.S. and coalition help in crafting a new constitution.

The deadline is now less than three months away, but deliberations have been slowed as Iraq still works on the composition of a constitutional committee.

With time running out for writing the constitution and then holding elections in December for a permanent government, Zebari warned that the United States has withdrawn too much, leaving the new government struggling to cope and endangering the long-term prospects for success.

"This entire project -- of regime change and building democracy and encouraging reforms and American prestige -- has really reached a critical mass for us and for them," Zebari said in an interview yesterday.

"We've come through difficult times and made a great deal of progress, at a great cost and loss."

"If we are unable to write a constitution with consensus, what is the alternative?"

"This process would be prolonged and people will start to walk away."

"Walking away means the possibility of chaos, division or even civil war."

"There are people who are fomenting that [conflict] now."

Iraq's current interim government, which was elected in January but was unable to select a cabinet and to take over until last month, asked Washington to help bring the Sunni minority into the political process.

Zebari asked the administration to use its leverage with major Sunni leaders, such as Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah, to weigh in with Iraq's Sunni leaders to get them to end a virtual boycott of the political process.

Zebari also asked the United States for additional staff and resources to accelerate the creation of a new Iraqi army and police force, particularly with insurgent attacks increasingly targeting the new Iraqi security forces.

Finally, the Iraqi government asked Washington to speed up the confirmation of its new ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad.

Iraq has been without a top U.S. envoy since John D. Negroponte returned to Washington in mid-March to become the administration's new director of national intelligence.

Khalilzad, who until recently was ambassador to Afghanistan, is due to appear in Senate confirmation hearings next week, according to the State Department.

"This is a critical period and he is not there," Zebari said.

The number two diplomatic post in Baghdad, the largest U.S. embassy in the world, has also gone through a transition over the past month.

In general, Zebari said the United States has pulled back too much in Iraq, after what many Iraqis considered heavy-handed leadership during the 14-month U.S. rule of Iraq.

"There is something between too much and not enough," Zebari said.

Washington, he said, now needs to be "more focused and more engaged" and not say "this is yours, hands off."

Failing to meet established deadlines for the democratic transition would be "the end of trying to transform Iraq," he warned.

U.S. officials said the administration is working on getting Khalilzad confirmed, but it is still unclear when he will be dispatched to Baghdad.

After the talks with Rice, a senior U.S. official said the administration is aware of the Iraqi concerns and is working on ways to address the other three issues in light of the time constraints, but he did not provide specifics.

The Bush administration has attempted to orchestrate a phased transfer of authority in Iraq since the ouster of Saddam Hussein in 2003.

In the first phase, the occupation government led by U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer lasted for 14 months.

It was followed by an appointed Iraqi government that ruled with U.S. assistance from June 2004 through the elections in January and the formation of the interim government last month.

The current, third phase is supposed to last through the writing of a constitution, due in mid-August; a constitutional referendum in October; and the elections for a permanent government in December.

There is a provision to extend this phase for six months, but Iraqi and U.S. officials want to stick to the schedule.

Zebari's request comes as U.S. experts on Iraq, including former U.S. officials in Iraq, also express concern that the momentum generated by Iraq's historic January elections is being lost.

"Since the election, Iraq has been in a period of political deadlock and drift, which has not fully been resolved even with the formation quite late in the game of a transitional government led by Ibrahim Jafaari," said Larry Diamond, who worked in the occupation government last year and is the author of a new book, "Squandered Victory: The American Occupation and the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq."

"We have been hurt quite badly by the prolonged absence of a U.S. ambassador," he said.

U.S. analysts say the Bush administration now faces a tough balancing act -- helping Iraq with its political transition without appearing to be dictating the outcome, particularly of a new constitution, in ways that would trigger challenges to its legitimacy.

"We're in a dilemma."

"We want it to appear that the Iraqis are making all the decisions -- and pretty much they are."

"As long as U.S. interests are not directly at stake, we've allowed Iraqis to run the show and make their own mistakes and be responsible."

"The problem is when there aren't results, we're blamed," said Judith Yaphe, a former CIA analyst now at the National Defense University.

"If this fails, it's our fault."

"If it succeeds, it's their success."

"That's the reality," she said.

[Livyjr]

And on another front, constitution-wise, we have this:

"EU Constitution Worries Aspiring Members"

By WILLIAM J. KOLE, Associated Press Writer

57 minutes ago

VIENNA, Austria - Stuck on the sidelines, the nations with the most to lose in the European Union's deadlock over its proposed new constitution could be the countries that don't yet belong.

As Europeans took stock Thursday of the charter's troubles, leaders and ordinary citizens in Turkey and across the former Soviet bloc worried that the crisis might conspire against their dreams of joining the EU.

Having worked tirelessly and against all odds to prepare for membership, many couldn't help but wonder whether Europe is coming apart just when they're getting their acts together.

This week's momentous repudiations by the Dutch and the French — both founding members of the now 25-nation EU — "shattered the very concept for a European Union," said Ivan Krastev, a political analyst in Bulgaria, which hopes to join with neighboring Romania in 2007.

Bulgaria's independent Dnevnik newspaper echoed that bleak outlook, saying "the collapse of enlargement verges on national tragedy."

"We witnessed Europeans rejecting something that we are struggling to achieve," said Cetin Kargin, 41, a jeweler in Turkey.

The mostly Muslim nation hopes to begin membership talks in October, but many Turks now worry that EU leaders will be too distracted to bother.

Across Eastern Europe, where eight countries joined the bloc a year ago along with Cyprus and Malta, and others have been scrambling to become credible candidates, the sense of frustration was palpable.

Spurred by dreams of unprecedented prosperity, stability and freedom of movement, EU candidates like Romania have spent the last decade constructing democracies and building market economies from scratch.

Having invested so much, they have the most at stake.

Many reacted cautiously to the constitution's latest setback, widely seen as a backlash against the growing power of EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, and of the very expansion process that opened the club to the "new Europe."

The resistance to the treaty, whose backers believed could lead to a better-oiled economy and a higher profile for Europe internationally, "could influence the future development of the EU" by freezing enlargement, acknowledged Dmytro Svystkov, a spokesman for Ukraine's Foreign Ministry.

But the former Soviet republic "hopes that the EU's difficult internal reform will not have negative consequences for Ukraine's future membership," Svystkov said, adding that the EU's "attractiveness in the eyes of would-be members has not decreased."

In Turkey, it may work the other way.

Ordinary Turks — tired of hearing that many Europeans don't want their Islamic influence in the EU, and mindful that the country's bid has fed the angst fueling opposition to the constitution — are losing interest in membership, analyst Duygu Bazoglu Sezer contends.

"Most have been expecting economic benefits."

"They will sense that the European Union is now on a downslide," said Sezer, a professor of political science at Ankara's Bilkent University.

"The promising world has now perhaps lost its dynamism."

"That is the message that is beaming out."

To be sure, the huge economic benefits to be gained from membership in a bloc that's now home to 450 million people with the potential to rival the North American Free Trade Agreement grouping of Canada, Mexico and the United States will remain within grasp — with or without a charter.

For EU wannabes, membership will continue to represent a ticket to prosperity regardless of the grander themes of political union.

"It's still worth getting into the EU for economic reasons, and I don't think it will be worse for us than now," said Denisa Somesean, a student of dentistry in Romania.

She said the EU will go on as "a counterbalance to American dominance."

Leaders and citizens in some of the bloc's newest members, meanwhile, have been readjusting their expectations.

Countries like Hungary and the Czech Republic didn't strike it rich overnight when they joined a year ago, and they don't expect living standards to improve quickly now that EU leaders are preoccupied with salvaging the constitution.

"I felt proud when we joined the EU a year ago."

"Now I feel the European family is falling apart," said Zoltan Csikos, 39, a Budapest accountant.

Slovakia, another EU newcomer, warned that the failure to adopt a constitution "could weaken the position of Europe in the world, or its economic growth, and it could disturb the further integration of the union."

Words of comfort came from an unusual source: Czech President Vaclav Klaus, an avowed Euroskeptic who sought to put things in perspective.

"Nothing is changing in Europe," he told the Pravo newspaper.

"Europe has been functioning without a constitution for half a century and will be functioning for another half a century."

[Livyjr]

And on another front, constitution-wise, we have this:

"EU Constitution Worries Aspiring Members"

By WILLIAM J. KOLE, Associated Press Writer

Spurred by dreams of unprecedented prosperity, stability and freedom of movement, EU candidates like Romania have spent the last decade constructing democracies and building market economies from scratch.

Having invested so much, they have the most at stake.

"It's still worth getting into the EU for economic reasons, and I don't think it will be worse for us than now," said Denisa Somesean, a student of dentistry in Romania.

She said the EU will go on as "a counterbalance to American dominance."

American dominance?

In what, exactly?

"Payrolls Grow by Just 78,000 in May"

By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer

43 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Employers throttled back hiring in May, boosting jobs by just 78,000, the government reported Friday.

The most sluggish pace of payroll expansion in nearly two years dramatized the erratic behavior of the nation's job market.

Despite the slow growth in payrolls, the Labor Department's latest snapshot of the jobs picture in the United States showed that the civilian unemployment rate actually dipped fractionally last month — to 5.1 percent.

That was down a notch from April's 5.2 percent jobless rate and was the lowest overall since September 2001.

The payroll gain of 78,000 followed a hiring spurt of 274,000 in April.

Job cuts last month were reported in manufacturing, leisure and hospitality and professional and business.

Those losses tempered gains elsewhere.

The generally lackluster performance surprised economists.

Before the report was released, they were predicting jobs to grow by around 175,000 and the jobless rate to hold steady at 5.2 percent.

"Clearly there some disappointment here," said Anthony Chan, senior economist at JP Morgan Asset Management.

"But this may be a gift to financial markets and Main Street because the Federal Reserve might not have to be so aggressive in raising rates."

"In that regard, it is almost a good report."

The employment report often can offer seemingly conflicting pictures of what is happening in the labor market because figures are based on two separate statistical surveys.

And there clearly was a mismatch between the two surveys in the report released Friday.

The unemployment rate is calculated on the basis of a survey of 60,000 households, sort of a poll of the jobs market.

That survey showed that 376,000 people said they found employment last month, outpacing the number of people who couldn't find work.

But economists tend to give more credence to a much broader survey of business payrolls, one which examines 400,000 work sites.

And that's the one that showed only 78,000 jobs added to payrolls.

President Bush wants to see the economy and the job market in good shape, especially as he tries to sell the public and Congress on his vision for revamping Social Security, which includes letting workers set up individual investment accounts.

Earlier this week, the president declared that the economy was strong, with more than 3.5 million new jobs added in two years.

"Obviously, these are hopeful signs," he told a news conference Tuesday.

"But Congress can make sure that the signs remain hopeful."

The 78,000 gain new jobs registered in May was the smallest since August 2003, when payrolls grew by a tiny 2,000.

Some analysts believe the high energy prices, rising costs for health care and certain raw materials could be making some employers cautious.

Oil prices surged to a new all-time closing high of $57.27 a barrel at the beginning of April and are now hovering above $54 a barrel.

To thwart an inflation flare-up, the Federal Reserve has boosted short-term interest rates eight times — each in modest, quarter-point moves — since last June.

Economists still expect another increase when the Fed meets next at the end of this month.

But Chan and other economists believed the report raised the odds that the Fed might take a pause or order fewer rate increases in the future.

Workers' average hourly earnings rose to $16.03 in May, up from $16 in April.

The average time that the unemployed spent in their search for work in May was 18.8 weeks, an improvement from the from average of 19.6 weeks registered the month before.

On the payroll front, the report showed that manufacturers cut 7,000 jobs in May, following a loss of 9,000 in April.

Leisure and hospitality companies shed 6,000 jobs last month, compared with a gain of 63,000 in April.

Professional and business services trimmed payrolls by 1,000 in May, a deterioration compared to an increase of 33,000 reported in April.

Retailers added more than 10,000 jobs in May, a deceleration from the nearly 27,000 added in April.

Construction companies boosted payrolls by 20,000 last month, compared with 48,000 in April.

[Livyjr]

Hhhhmmmm?

"U.S. criticizes Gulf allies on human trafficking"

By Saul Hudson

Fri Jun 3,12:51 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States criticized four Gulf Arab allies as some of the world's worst offenders in permitting human trafficking on Friday in a rebuke Washington hopes will promote improved human rights in the Middle East.

The State Department downgraded Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates to the lowest level of compliance in the report, which evaluates countries' efforts in fighting the trafficking of thousands of people forced into servitude or the sex trade every year.

Victims in the region were mainly domestic servants and laborers but also included boy camel jockeys, according to the report.

It cited the case of a 17-year-old orphan, Lusa, kidnapped from Uzbekistan and was sold into a slavery ring in UAE.

She was eventually "no longer usable" as a prostitute and the emirates' immigration service said she should serve a two-year prison sentence for entering the country illegally.

Officials from the Gulf countries were not immediately available to comment on the one-step downgrade, which ranks them with such countries as Burma, North Korea and Sudan.

"This report shows that in this administration we will not pull our punches even with our friends."

"We appreciate their cooperation in other areas but they just don't have a good track record fighting this," a State Department official said on condition of anonymity.

Each of the four nations has oil resources vital to Washington and also gave logistical support for the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.

The lowest category in the congressionally mandated annual report is called Tier 3, which lists countries that "do not fully comply with the minimum standards (laid down by U.S. law) and are not making significant efforts to do so."

WOMEN AND CHILDREN

While victims generally come from Asia to work as domestic servants and laborers, the main concern over the UAE is the sexual exploitation of women, according to the report.

In the cases of Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE, the State Department also said boys were trafficked and forced to work as camel jockeys.

In Qatar, the government banned the use of child jockeys in May.

Rights groups say several thousand boys, some as young as three, work as jockeys in the Gulf Arab region's lucrative races.

Bolivia, Jamaica, Cambodia and Togo also were downgraded to Tier 3 this year.

Cuba, Ecuador and Venezuela were already there.

Nations in the lowest category may be subject to sanctions, including the withholding of U.S. aid that is not for humanitarian or trade purposes, if they do not improve their records in three months.

President Bush has the right to waive sanctions, which, even if applied, would not likely have much practical effect on the wealthy Gulf oil exporters.

Bush urged Saudi Arabia this year to be a leader of reform in the Middle East and said he would make rights and democracy a central plank of U.S. relations with countries in the region.

While State Department reports have criticized Arab allies before over rights issues, the trafficking critique is unusual because it put so much focus on the region.

In no other region were there as many downgrades to the lowest category.

Many governments, particularly those rebuked in the State Department's annual rights reports, complain the United States has little credibility in criticizing other nations because of scandals in recent years involving U.S. abuse of prisoners.

end quotes

And there is where it always gets back to, doesn't it; that under this present incumbent's administration, OUR America is just as dirty as these lowest down offenders, here, and that is really something to go and shout from the rooftops, now isn't it, America?

[jeffmoskin]

I' ve been away for a few days. But the world must be okay because the page one story is the Michael Jackson Trial.

[Livyjr]

I' ve been away for a few days.

But the world must be okay because the page one story is the Michael Jackson Trial.

And good to hear from you, jeffmoskin, as always!

When I don't hear from you, of course, I get quite nervous that maybe a blood-thirsty western coyote has finally gotten tired of eating poodles and cats out there in Malibu, and so, has maybe set its sights on something more substantial, or maybe one of those mountain lions rampant out there on Sunset Boulevard has had you holed up in your car, unable to get to your computer to call for help from the rest of OUR America, or that an earthquake has finally shrugged the whole of California off of the earth's back and into the sea .....

And yes, you must be right, here, about all being well with the world, if all we have to hear about is the Michael Jackson trial, which seems to be nothing but high farce, to me, anyway, from the point of the "SHOW" that these lawyers are putting on for all the world to see, out there in the land of AH-NOLD, the alleged GROPING REPUBLICAN GUBERNATOR of what is called in many other parts of OUR America, and especially here in the admittedly culturally-deprived hinterlands, "LA-LA LAND", and other such loving epitaphs that only serve to show OUR provincialism, and lack of total understanding of what the phrase "be all you can be" really entails in life.

Years ago, through that miracle of modern technology known as the satellite dish, which I understand picks up its signals for re-broadcast down here on earth from out there in outer space, somewhere, which then makes rural yokels like myself think that California must be out there, someplace, as well, since these shows on satellite television are coming "from there", which is in outer space as we understand it, in our simple ways, here, I was able to sit here in this admittedly culutally backwards place that I reside in, and watch the O.J. Simpson SHOW TRIAL OF THE CALIFORNIA YEAR, and as I watched Marsha Clark, the District Attorney of somewhere out there perform her act on television, all I could think of was that admonition to lawyers about "NEVER ASK A QUESTION IN A TRIAL BEFORE A JURY THAT YOU YOURSELF DON'T ALREADY KNOW THE ANSWER TO", because in that trial, Marsha seemed to have thrown that advice right out the window, assuming that she ever knew it in the first place, because outside of making sure that her hair was going to look good on television that day, she didn't seem to have a grasp on much else, and certainly what HER OWN WITNESSES were going to say on the stand, when she was questioning them, on direct testimony.

One day, I saw her actually cross-examining, on what was supposed to be direct, one of her own witnesses, a cop out there, on violations of chain-of-custody of the blood samples by a member of the police, out there, and Marsha, to me, anyway, had no idea, at the time she asked the question that led to the cross-examination of her own witness, what her witness was going to say in answer to her own question, which should have been prepared way in advance of any credible tiral, but that is the power of show BID-NESS, I guess, that it has now virtually permeated the entire fabric of OUR lives here in OUR America, where the Michael Jackson trial is now the SHOW TRIAL OF THE CALIFORNIA YEAR, and the attorneys still have no idea at all what their own witnesses are going to really say, as was the case with Jay Leno, who, in the media hype before the trial, was supposed to be going to say that the alleged victim had hit him up for some money of some kind, which Jay Leno himself then said was not at all the case, when he himself took the stand, and was put under direct questioning by the actors out there portraying lawyers in this show trial.

And the other day, maybe yesterday, I happened to see a photograph of poor Michael standing there with an umbrella over his head to shade him from the sun, or cosmic rays, or something anyway, looking like he hadn't a single clue as to what was really going on out there, except a chance for him to be seen by his fans everyday for what now seems like an eternity!

And so it goes, eh, jeffmoskin?

[jeffmoskin]

And the other day, maybe yesterday, I happened to see a photograph of poor Michael standing there with an umbrella over his head to shade him from the sun, or cosmic rays, or something anyway, looking like he hadn't a single clue as to what was really going on out there, except a chance for him to be seen by his fans everyday for what now seems like an eternity!

And so it goes, eh, jeffmoskin?

Poor Michael was born with sufficient melatonin in his skin to protect him from those harmful rays. Somewhere, somehow, something happened.

[Livyjr]

Poor Michael was born with sufficient melatonin in his skin to protect him from those harmful rays.

Somewhere, somehow, something happened.

Boy, oh boy, did it ever!

Modern times, I think they are called!

And what times they are indeed, eh, jeffmoskin!

Never a dull moment for anyone, at least out there in "Schwarzenegger-Land" when poor Michael Jackson is around the courthouse out there.

SO?

Do you think he is as totally clueless, then, as he appears, when he is standing there with his umbrella opened out to keep further cosmic rays from impacting on his nose, or what?

[Livyjr]

World - AFP

"Almost a million Lebanese turn out to press for Syrian pullout"

BEIRUT (AFP) - More than 800,000 people surged into central Beirut to demand an end to Syria's near-three decade military domination of Lebanon, hurling a dramatic and potent challenge to the pro-Syrian Lebanese government.

Ahead of the largest demonstration in the country's history, thousands of Lebanese travelled from all over to Martyrs Square and the grave of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri, assassinated exactly one month ago in a bomb blast.

Beirut city official Mounib Nassereddine said Monday's gathering was "at least two and a half times" larger than last Tuesday's turnout called by pro-Syrian Lebanese parties, notably the Shiite Muslim movement Hezbollah.

Correspondents estimated the crowd last week at 400,000.

"Hezbollah organized a giant demonstration last Tuesday to intimidate us," said Nada, 35, as she travelled to Beirut from Zahle in the east.

"Today we're taking up the challenge and invite (Hezbollah) to join us because we represent the true majority of the country."

And returning here, for a moment, at least, to this issue of Lebanon, and Hezbollah, who I believe are up there on George W. Bush's long list of his many enemies in this world of OURS, we have something going on that George is not going to like, I think anyway, since friends of his enemies are 'agin' him, and his, and so:

"Lebanon Voters Show Support for Hezbollah"

By HUSSEIN DAKROUB, Associated Press Writer

2 hours, 32 minutes ago

BINT JBEIL, Lebanon - Voters walked past veiled young women handing out campaign fliers Sunday in southern Lebanon, where the front-runner was Hezbollah and the vote was seen as a referendum on whether the Syrian-backed militant group will be allowed to stay armed.

The regional balloting marked the second of four rounds of voting to be held on consecutive Sundays in the first election in three decades to be held without Syrian troops in the country.

Emboldened by the Syrian troop withdrawal in April, the opposition hopes the elections will end Damascus' control of the legislature and the campaigning was cast as a contest between pro- and anti-Syrian camps.

But the vote in southern Lebanon was geared toward rejecting international pressure to disarm Hezbollah in line with a U.N. Security Council resolution, which was sponsored by the U.S. and France.

Hezbollah, labeled a terrorist organization by Washington, teamed up with its rival, the Amal movement, for the parliamentary elections in the largely Shiite Muslim south.

The joint ticket was expected to easily sweep the 23 seats in that region, which borders Israel.

Voters expressed strong support for Hezbollah, which fought Israel during an 18-year occupation and is credited with forcing Israeli troops to withdraw from the region.

Outside one polling station, loudspeakers mounted on cars belted out militant songs and speeches by the group's leaders.

Amal also fought Israeli forces in the early years but the group was later overshadowed by Hezbollah, whose name means Party of God.

The balloting in the south was peaceful, but Druse supporters of opposition leader Walid Jumblatt and rival Talal Arsalan clashed in central Lebanon, where voters are to go to the polls next Sunday.

Seven people were wounded in the gunfire in the mountain resort of Sofar before troops intervened and separated the two sides, the official National News Agency reported in the first major election-related violence.

In the south, Lebanese security officials said a Katyusha rocket set to be fired on Israel from a border area was dismantled by security forces late Saturday before it was launched.

In last Sunday's polls in Beirut, anti-Syrian opposition candidates took most of the capital's 19 parliamentary seats.

Hezbollah is fielding 14 candidates across Lebanon, hoping to build on the nine seats it holds in the 128-member legislature.

It won one seat in Beirut.

Outside a polling station in the port city of Tyre, a picture of party leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah with a 'Yes' written on it hung near a portrait of President Bush wearing a cowboy hat and the word 'No' written on the bottom.

At the entrance of Bint Jbeil, a Shiite town several miles from the Israeli border, a yellow Hezbollah banner read: "Free people make free elections."

"We should show our support for the resistance and those who were martyred for the sake of liberating this country," Kamel Hamka, 77, said.

He said one of his sons was killed during a guerrilla operation against Israelis in 1986, and he sent five children to America and one to Australia to escape the Israeli occupation.

"If it weren't for the resistance and the martyrs, I wouldn't be here voting today," he said.

The area has seen occasional tension with the Jewish state since the Israeli troop withdrawal from a border security zone in southern Lebanon in 2000.

Hezbollah expects strong voter support will give it greater political influence to confront international pressure to disarm now that its Syrian backers have withdrawn from the country.

The group also is supported by Iran.

The elections came after last week's assassination of an anti-Syrian journalist and continuing calls by the opposition for President Emile Lahoud's resignation and amid lingering anger over the Feb. 14 assassination of Rafik Hariri.

Hariri's killing triggered mass protests at home and anger from governments abroad that ultimately drove out the Syrian army.

The opposition blamed Syria and its Lebanese government allies for the killing, charges they both denied.

Lebanese were choosing from 53 candidates in the south, although six were uncontested.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who heads the Amal movement, also urged supporters to turn out in large numbers "to vote against Resolution 1559."

The U.N. resolution required Syrian troops to leave Lebanon and demanded militias surrender their weapons.

The United States also has called for the group to disarm.

Hezbollah has refused, however, and Lebanese authorities have rejected U.S. and U.N. demands to dismantle the party, saying it is a resistance movement, not a militia.

Syria maintained troops in Lebanon since 1976, when they were sent as peacekeepers during that country's 1975-1990 civil war.

The troops remained until April, while Syria dominated Lebanon's politics.

[Livyjr]

And returning here, for a moment, at least, to this issue of Lebanon, and Hezbollah, who I believe are up there on George W. Bush's long list of his many enemies in this world of OURS, we have something going on that George is not going to like, I think anyway, since friends of his enemies are 'agin' him, and his, and so:

"Lebanon Voters Show Support for Hezbollah"

By HUSSEIN DAKROUB, Associated Press Writer

BINT JBEIL, Lebanon - Voters walked past veiled young women handing out campaign fliers Sunday in southern Lebanon, where the front-runner was Hezbollah and the vote was seen as a referendum on whether the Syrian-backed militant group will be allowed to stay armed.

Outside a polling station in the port city of Tyre, a picture of party leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah with a 'Yes' written on it hung near a portrait of President Bush wearing a cowboy hat and the word 'No' written on the bottom.

And it is interesting that even over in a place like Lebanon, with no real tradition of its own that I know of concerning cowboys, real cowboys, that is, ones who do not mistreat women and children, that those people can recognize with such certainty that despite any hat he might put on his head to make him look like a cowboy, that in reality, George W. Bush is no cowboy at all, unless in the perjorative sense, which is someone like George W. Bush who is out of control because he doesn't think that laws apply to him, and so he does not abide by any, to the detriment of the whole wide world who must suffer for his arrogance in that regard; his belief that he has the right to order the deaths of women and children in this world with impunity, calling them nothing but "collateral damage" in the process, as though they were barnyard animals, or something, that just got in his way!

[Livyjr]

And it is interesting that even over in a place like Lebanon, with no real tradition of its own that I know of concerning cowboys, real cowboys, that is, ones who do not mistreat women and children, that those people can recognize with such certainty that despite any hat he might put on his head to make him look like a cowboy, that in reality, George W. Bush is no cowboy at all, unless in the perjorative sense, which is someone like George W. Bush who is out of control because he doesn't think that laws apply to him, and so he does not abide by any, to the detriment of the whole wide world who must suffer for his arrogance in that regard; his belief that he has the right to order the deaths of women and children in this world with impunity, calling them nothing but "collateral damage" in the process, as though they were barnyard animals, or something, that just got in his way!

And since that brings us to the subject of Iraq .......

"Wartime Prosecutions Come Under Scrutiny"

By TIM WHITMIRE, Associated Press Writer

1 hour, 9 minutes ago

Military officials say the number of crimes alleged against U.S. military personnel in Iraq is minuscule compared to the mammoth task of trying to bring peace to the country, and many who have opposed prosecuting soldiers argue that top brass is overzealously second-guessing soldiers' actions in the field.

But some observers question the punishments, or say the crimes suggest a need for increased efforts to protect soldiers from combat stress.

"There have been some convictions in which the sentences are amazingly light," said Gary D. Solis, a retired Marine who teaches law at the U.S. Military Academy.

In the 27 months since the Iraq war began, at least 10 servicemembers have been convicted of a wide array of charges stemming from the deaths of Iraqi civilians.

A soldier who admitted executing a wounded Iraqi teenager received three years in prison.

His co-defendant got a one-year term.

A captain convicted of charges in the fatal shooting of another wounded Iraqi was dismissed from the armed forces, but received no prison time.

But only one sentence has exceeded three years, and last month two men — a Marine lieutenant and an Army sergeant — were cleared entirely of murder charges.

Still pending are courts-martial on murder charges for six Army soldiers.

Many of the deaths have been horrific.

Prosecutors said one man drowned after Army soldiers forced him into the Tigris River as punishment for breaking a curfew.

The lieutenant who allegedly ordered the action received 45 days on an assault conviction.

A prisoner died after being dragged out of his holding cell by the neck, stripped naked and left outside for seven hours.

The Marine major who commanded the facility was convicted of dereliction of duty and maltreatment and dismissed from the service.

And at Fort Carson, Colo., three Army soldiers are awaiting courts-martial on murder charges in the death of an Iraqi general who was allegedly placed headfirst in a sleeping bag, tied up with electrical cord and crushed by soldiers who sat and stood on him during an interrogation.

Circumstances can make convictions hard to obtain.

In the alleged drowning case, charges were downgraded after prosecutors were unable to produce the victim's body.

In other cases, defendants have argued that they used lethal force in self-defense.

Maj. Douglas Powell, a Marine Corps spokesman, said close investigation often reveals soldiers acted justifiably.

"I think what doesn't get told is the many cases where Marines have not engaged, not fired, not taken appropriate actions that they would be justified to take ... and it did result in saving innocent life," Powell said.

A series of cases stemming from the execution of gravely wounded Iraqis have resulted in sentences of three years or less.

Defendants and their lawyers have described the slayings as "mercy killings," though the Geneva Convention expressly forbids the execution of the wounded.

During Vietnam, America's most recent lengthy war, 95 soldiers and 27 Marines were convicted of murder.

But the two wars were very different.

More than 1,670 American military personnel have died in Iraq so far, compared to nearly 60,000 Americans who died over more than a decade in Vietnam.

Approximately 140,000 U.S. troops are in Iraq; the peak U.S. force in Vietnam numbered 550,000.

Solis said alleged war crimes in Iraq also may be more strictly reported and investigated than during Vietnam.

"(You) don't know if you have more strict enforcement or if you have more strict reporting of events," he said.

Each U.S. military branch handles crimes committed by its troops through its own investigatory system, with prosecutorial decisions made by offices of a Judge Advocate General.

Prosecuting cases within an all-military judicial system ensures that defendants are held to military standards — but also allows defense lawyers to tailor arguments for judges and jurors who may be more sympathetic than the general public to defendants making decisions in a war zone.

So far in Iraq, three American soldiers have been convicted of murder.

Pvt. Federico Daniel Merida of the North Carolina National Guard received 25 years in prison after being convicted in the shooting death of a 17-year-old Iraqi soldier with whom he had consensual sex.

Army Staff Sgt. Johnny Horne pleaded guilty to unpremeditated murder in the execution of a severely wounded Iraqi teenager during fighting in Baghdad and received three years.

Co-defendant Staff Sgt. Cardenas J. Alban was convicted of murder in the same case and given a one-year sentence.

In two recent cases, a soldier and a Marine were cleared of charges they murdered suspected insurgents.

A Marine commander at North Carolina's Camp Lejeune cleared 2nd Lt. Ilario Pantano of charges in the death of two Iraqi civilians on May 26; hours later, Army jurors at Fort Hood, Texas, acquitted Staff Sgt. Shane Werst of charges he killed an unarmed Iraqi.

In both cases, defense lawyers said the men acted in self-defense.

Pantano received extensive support from conservatives and veterans after his mother created a lobbying group to support "the man who puts his life on the line again and again, who makes life-or-death decisions in the blazing heat, exhaustion, fear and confusion of war."

Further complicating that case, Pantano acknowledged shooting his victims more than 60 times and hanging a sign over their corpses as a warning.

John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a private defense policy group, was among several observers who expressed surprise that Pantano was not punished at all.

"We don't send people out there to mutilate enemy corpses," he said.

"I don't think that it's going to play very well in Iraq."

Pantano had plenty of support from fellow veterans, as was evident Friday, when he met with supporters at a fish fry at an American Legion post in Wilmington, N.C.

Harold Davis, a 75-year-old Korean War veteran, had tears in his eyes as he told Pantano that the military never would have charged a serviceman during Korea.

"I don't see how they could do that," he said.

The Legion post's commander, Michael Gregorio, a Marine veteran of Vietnam, said it's not fair to second-guess troops fighting a war against non-uniformed insurgents.

"You're not rushing a hill" in Iraq, he said.

"You're stopping people who are civilians ... who could become insurgents in a matter of seconds."

Pike believes combat stress is to blame for many civilian killings.

He noted that military officials' understanding of mental health has improved greatly since Vietnam.

Col. Elspeth Ritchie, a psychiatrist, consults to the Army's surgeon general on mental health issues and said the Army has worked hard to improve services.

Mental health personnel are now deployed at forward operating bases to eat and sleep with troops and offer treatment close to the front lines, she said.

Units rotate in and out of the war zone as a group, allowing greater cohesion and improved morale compared to Vietnam, when soldiers served tours of duty as individuals.

An assessment of mental health needs conducted in Iraq in the fall of 2003 showed deficiencies, Ritchie said, and changes were made.

A report on a follow-up evaluation, conducted last fall, is expected within weeks.

"We all recognize that this is a nasty war and it is going to have psychological effects on our soldiers and our veterans," she said.

"We're trying to be very proactive."

Associated Press Writer Martha Waggoner contributed to this story from Wilmington, N.C.

On the Net:

Pantano Web site: http://www.defendthedefenders.org

Army mental health assistance: http://www.armyonesource.com

[Livyjr]

And since that brings us to the subject of Iraq .......

"Wartime Prosecutions Come Under Scrutiny"

By TIM WHITMIRE, Associated Press Writer

Military officials say the number of crimes alleged against U.S. military personnel in Iraq is minuscule compared to the mammoth task of trying to bring peace to the country, and many who have opposed prosecuting soldiers argue that top brass is overzealously second-guessing soldiers' actions in the field.

A Marine commander at North Carolina's Camp Lejeune cleared 2nd Lt. Ilario Pantano of charges in the death of two Iraqi civilians on May 26; hours later, Army jurors at Fort Hood, Texas, acquitted Staff Sgt. Shane Werst of charges he killed an unarmed Iraqi.

In both cases, defense lawyers said the men acted in self-defense.

Pantano received extensive support from conservatives and veterans after his mother created a lobbying group to support "the man who puts his life on the line again and again, who makes life-or-death decisions in the blazing heat, exhaustion, fear and confusion of war."

Further complicating that case, Pantano acknowledged shooting his victims more than 60 times and hanging a sign over their corpses as a warning.

Pantano had plenty of support from fellow veterans, as was evident Friday, when he met with supporters at a fish fry at an American Legion post in Wilmington, N.C.

Harold Davis, a 75-year-old Korean War veteran, had tears in his eyes as he told Pantano that the military never would have charged a serviceman during Korea.

"I don't see how they could do that," he said.

The Legion post's commander, Michael Gregorio, a Marine veteran of Vietnam, said it's not fair to second-guess troops fighting a war against non-uniformed insurgents.

"You're not rushing a hill" in Iraq, he said.

"You're stopping people who are civilians ... who could become insurgents in a matter of seconds."

Ah, yes, the Viet Nam justification, all over again, they don't like us, they are Vietnamese, we are here to kill Vietnamese who do not like us, because they are the enemy!

Now, of course, one must of necessity replace the word Vietnamese with Iraqi, but the formula remains the same - they are not Americans, so kill them!

Who cares?

Not George W. Bush, nor Dick Cheney, and when you are in their military, that is all that counts!

They don't care about human life!

They are there for the oil!

SO?

What's this, then:

"Iraq too dependent on oil, must diversify - govt"

Sun Jun 5, 7:16 AM ET

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq relies far too heavily on oil exports for generating revenue, a senior government official said on Sunday, as he urged Iraqis to diversify production and create alternative sources of income.

"Ninety-five percent of Iraq's national income is dependent on oil and that's an oddity," Laith Kubba, spokesman for Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari, told a news conference.

"If we take a country like Saudi Arabia, it's 60 percent, and in another oil producing country it might be 40 percent."

"Iraq is in an exceptional situation," he said.

Last year, Iraq's government had revenues of around $20 billion, nearly $18 billion of which came from oil exports.

What that figure shows as much as anything else, Kubba said, was that under Saddam Hussein's rule Iraqis grew complacent, believing that oil revenue would provide for all expenditure.

"It proves that the Iraqi economy is dependent -- people wait for someone to give them money, but there isn't real production," he said.

"The idea of waiting and thinking that improvement will come only from the government is over."

He said Iraqi ministries also had to learn to rein in their spending, pointing out that if they had been left to spend as they had wanted last year, the government would have run up a $4 billion deficit -- around 20 percent of income.

Iraq currently produces about 2.1 million barrels of oil a day, about 1.3 million of which are exported.

At current prices of around $50 a barrel, that's income of about $65 million a day or $23 billion a year.

Before the war that ousted Saddam, oil production was running at around 2.9 million barrels a day, of which 2.1 million were exported.

The decline in exports and production is due to near constant sabotage attacks on oil pipelines, which has also delayed efforts to overhaul the entire infrastructure and make Iraq a modern, more efficient exporter.

While the current high price of crude oil is a huge boon, Kubba said, Iraq could not rely on that state of affairs continuing and needed to diversify the economy.

"We can't stay at this level even if oil prices remain as they are," he said.

"The real solution is to launch the abilities of Iraqis to produce for themselves."

"Iraqis are vital and productive people but currently there is a state of unrest and panic."

[Livyjr]

"Iraq too dependent on oil, must diversify - govt"

Sun Jun 5, 7:16 AM ET

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq relies far too heavily on oil exports for generating revenue, a senior government official said on Sunday, as he urged Iraqis to diversify production and create alternative sources of income.

"Ninety-five percent of Iraq's national income is dependent on oil and that's an oddity," Laith Kubba, spokesman for Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari, told a news conference.

"If we take a country like Saudi Arabia, it's 60 percent, and in another oil producing country it might be 40 percent."

"Iraq is in an exceptional situation," he said.

Last year, Iraq's government had revenues of around $20 billion, nearly $18 billion of which came from oil exports.

"The idea of waiting and thinking that improvement will come only from the government is over."

He said Iraqi ministries also had to learn to rein in their spending, pointing out that if they had been left to spend as they had wanted last year, the government would have run up a $4 billion deficit -- around 20 percent of income.

And those words above here, by this Iraqi gentleman, about the days needing to be over, and soon, in Iraq of the idea of waiting and thinking that improvement will come to the people of Iraq from this present incumbent's administration, of course, brings us back to the subject of "politics", here in OUR America, where but for panic on the part of a lot of people that was induced in them before the elections by George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Condoleeza Rice and company, we might have had some very necessary "regime change" here of our own:

"Edwards Undecided About Running in 2008"

By GARY TANNER, Associated Press Writer

Sun Jun 5, 8:21 AM ET

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Former Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards said Saturday that he has not decided whether he will run for president in 2008.

The former U.S. senator from North Carolina said his family is focused on the recovery of his wife, who was diagnosed with breast cancer the day after the 2004 general election.

"Our first priority right now is making sure Elizabeth gets well," Edwards said at an annual state Democratic fundraising dinner.

"There's a lot of work left to be done."

Edwards also disagreed with Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean's controversial comment in a speech to liberal activists Thursday that many Republicans "have never made an honest living in their lives."

"The chairman of the DNC is not the spokesman for the party," Edwards said.

"He's a voice."

"I don't agree with it."

On Saturday, Dean continued his barrage on conservatives while visiting Montana, lambasting the Bush administration for its fiscal irresponsibility and war on terror.

He said President Bush needs to get tough on real threats to national security, nations like North Korea and Iran that claim to have nuclear weapons, rather than nations like Iraq, where no weapons of mass destruction were ever found.

"I would make the argument that America is safer when Democrats are in the White House, than when Republicans are in the White House," Dean said in a speech to Democratic supporters.

There was no immediate response from the GOP to Dean's comments Saturday, but RNC spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt said after Thursday's speech that Dean's "priority is to generate mudslinging headlines rather than engage in substantive debate."

Associated Press Writer Sarah Cooke contributed to this report from Helena, Mont.

end quotes

Sounds like this REPUBLICAN SPOKESWOMAN, Tracey Schmitt, is pretty upset that Dean is trying to take advantage of a tactic that the REPUBLICANS themselves have been employing so very successfully these last so many years, this "mudslinging", instead of substantive debate, that they used to first get George W. Bush into the White House, after they sobered him up enough to be able to appear in public without spitting tobacco "chaw juice" all over the place, including on women's shoes, or was it pocket books, and to then keep him there, despite having many other better qualified candidates to choose from, such as anybody other than George W. Bush.

SO?

How is that saying?

"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery?"

Sounds to me like the REPUBLICANS just don't like flattery!

It must offend their party's sense of humility, or something.

[Livyjr]

And as for me, I would say "war is a dangerous place", because war is an unpredictable place, or rather, "outcomes" in war, or as a result of war, just might not be what you want or need them to be, as this next news item hints at:

washingtonpost.com Highlights

"Iraq winners more than U.S. bargained for - Many in newly elected government are closely allied with Iran"

ANALYSIS By Robin Wright

Updated: 10:49 p.m. ET Feb. 13, 2005

When the Bush administration decided to invade Iraq two years ago this month, it envisioned a quick handover to handpicked allies in a secular government that would be the antithesis of Iran's theocracy — potentially even a foil to Tehran's regional ambitions.

But, in one of the greatest ironies of the U.S. intervention, Iraqis instead went to the polls and elected a government with a strong religious base — and very close ties to the Islamic republic next door.

It is the last thing the administration expected from its costly Iraq policy — $300 billion and counting, U.S. and regional analysts say.

"Iraq Admits Targeting Sunnis in Crackdown"

By SAMEER N. YACOUB, Associated Press Writer

35 minutes ago

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The Shiite-led Iraqi government acknowledged Sunday that its forces may have targeted innocent Sunni Muslims in a drive to crush the insurgency in southwestern Baghdad and its suburbs.

Saddam Hussein will go on trial within two months on a dozen charges of crimes against humanity, a spokesman for the prime minister said.

Authorities in the northern city of Mosul announced the arrest of yet another key terrorist leader of the al-Qaida in Iraq terrorist organization and its Ansar al-Sunnah affilate, the second in seven days, on charges of organizing and financing killing sprees.

The terrorist organization is led by Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who carries a $25 million bounty.

"There is an improvement in security and in the performance of the security forces, but members of the army and police do cause mistakes, which do happen," said Laith Kuba, a spokesman for Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari.

There were also some claims that "soldiers took advantage and helped themselves to cash and other items."

"One doesn't rule it out."

"I think the army needs more disciplinary measures in these cases," Kuba said.

In recent days, Sunni Muslim organizations charged that many innocent Iraqis were arrested and most were Sunni's, the minority that dominated the country during Saddam's rule and are believed to form the backbone of the violent insurgency.

Regardless of the complaints and the acknowledged mistakes, the crackdown — dubbed Operation Lighting — entered its second week Sunday and appeared to have somewhat blunted insurgent attacks in the capital.

The charges of over-zealous behavior by the military and police as they seek to roust the insurgents coincide with government efforts to include Sunni Arabs in the political process, and to get them involved in drafting Iraq's new constitution.

Sunni approval is necessary for the charter's adoption in a national referendum.

It is to be ready by mid-August and approved in an October plebescite.

"We should not forget the bigger picture, which is that the security forces have a duty to combat the (terrorist) cells that take out their anger and violence on the Iraqi people," Kuba said.

"This is not a public relations exercise, this is a tough confrontation, and it is with the best troops we have in our hands."

Although the government has not provided fresh figures on the number of Iraqis arrested so far, the Interior Ministry said last Thursday that 700 people had been detained.

The U.S. military said Friday it had detained at least 200 more during a two-day sweep south of Baghdad in an area known as the Triangle of Death.

The worst mistake, already acknowledged by top government officials, occurred on the second day of Operation Lightning, when U.S. forces arrested and later released the leader of Iraq's largest Sunni Arab political party.

Kuba said that at least 200 other people had been released so far.

Operation Lightning aimed in its first week to seal Baghdad's entry points to prevent access to the capital for car bombers.

It also focused on areas of southern and western Baghdad — which have predominantly Sunni Arab populations and are the capital's most violent districts.

"Our military has taken the offensive now, taking the fight to the insurgents."

"This operation really will ensure better security for the capital," Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told CNN's "Late Edition" during a visit to Washington.

A key element of Washington's exit strategy from Iraq hinges on the ability of Iraq's American-trained police and military to take control of security.

The insurgency has killed at least 836 people since the government took power just over one month ago.

Zebari also said Saddam's trial, which Kuba predicted would begin within two months, would have a positive "impact on the security situation" in Iraq, and should begin the "sooner the better."

But Saddam's trial could prove to be highly divisive in an already turbulent Iraq that shows signs of deepening secular divisions.

Starting the court proceedings in two months would overlap with the writing of the constitution.

"There should be no objection that a trial should take place within that time," Kuba said.

"It is the government's view that the trial of Saddam should take place as soon as possible."

Kuba added that before Saddam's trial starts, the National Assembly must "legitimize" the special tribunal that will hear the case against him and his chief aides.

The process will begin soon, Kuba said, without elaborating.

The prime minister's spokesman said prosecutors had narrowed their case against Saddam to about a dozen well-documented charges.

A list of allegations supplied by the tribunal consists of 14 charges, including the gassing of the Kurdish town of Halabja, where an estimated 5,000 people were killed and 10,000 others were hurt on March 16, 1988.

In Mosul, authorities said, the captured the purported financier of the al-Qaida in Iraq group's cell in that northern city.

Mutlaq Mahmoud Mutlaq Abdullah, also known as Abu Raad, was arrested on May 29 and is considered a key facilitator and financier for a militant identified by the alias Abu Talha, the purported head of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's terror cell in Mosul.

Also Sunday, Australia's top Islamic cleric said he had seen hostage Douglas Wood and said the 63-year-old California-based Australian engineer is "still alive and in honest hands."

Sheik Taj El Din al-Hilaly is in Iraq on a mission to secure Wood's release and said the kidnap victim had received medication for his heart condition.

The Australian was abducted in late April and a militant group calling itself the Shura Council of the Mujahedeen of Iraq released a video recording on May 1 that showed the captive pleading for Australia to withdraw its 1,400 troops from Iraq.

Mohammed Ghazi, a translator working for the U.S.-led forces in Kirkuk, was killed by gunmen as he was walking to his home, said police Lt. Hawar Mohammed.

Gunmen in a speeding car opened fire on Iraqi security forces Sunday in eastern Baghdad, killing a policewoman and injuring a policeman, Col. Ahmed al-Alawi said.

Police are routinely targeted by insurgents who regard them as U.S. collaborators.

An Iraqi truck driver was killed by gunmen in a second drive-by shooting during the afternoon, this time in western Baghdad's Abu Ghraib district while he was transporting concrete blast walls for the U.S. military, said police Lt. Akram al-Zubaee.

Associated Press writers Paul Garwood, Sinan Salaheddin and Patrick Quinn in Baghdad contributed to this report.

[jeffmoskin]

Boy, oh boy, did it ever!

Modern times, I think they are called!

And what times they are indeed, eh, jeffmoskin!

Never a dull moment for anyone, at least out there in "Schwarzenegger-Land" when poor Michael Jackson is around the courthouse out there.

SO?

Do you think he is as totally clueless, then, as he appears, when he is standing there with his umbrella opened out to keep further cosmic rays from impacting on his nose, or what?

At the risk of showing sympathy, and admitting no opinion on the case which I have intentionally avoided, I think he is a tragic soul whose childhood was robbed by his parent's "act". Now, at middle age, he is trying to have a childhood.

Innocent or guilty, he is truly pathetic.

More pathetic is the fact that he is made the center of a TV media circus.

BTW: The MODS "Pinned" your thread.

This post has been edited by jeffmoskin: Jun 5 2005, 05:38 PM

[Livyjr]

At the risk of showing sympathy, and admitting no opinion on the case which I have intentionally avoided, I think he is a tragic soul whose  childhood was robbed by his parent's "act".

Now, at middle age, he is trying to have a childhood.

Innocent or guilty, he is truly pathetic.

More pathetic is the fact that he is made the center of a TV media circus.

Ah, there but for the grace of God go we, jeffmoskin, and that can always be so.

But as to this show trial, I do have to agree with you, it is quite a spectacle, and I for one have a hard time believing any of it is real!

Show BID-NESS has permeated every corner of OUR America, it seems, from the White House right on down to OUR town halls, and especially school board meetings, which here, are broadcast as though they were very important affairs, with all the actors up there on stage getting in their bows for the night, in the hopes of being noticed as a "presence" who comes across well on TV, so that they can then get a shot at the next higher political office that is always waiting right around the corner.

The whole thing is pathetic to me, and there right in the middle of it, is Michael, who doesn't look as if he even has a clue.

Neverland Ranch!

Somebody told me that Michael has gone off with Peter Pan and Tinker Bell when he goes there, in his mind, anyway, and .......

As to the thread, well, you're pinned to, jeffmoskin, so how about that?

After all, by now, you're a part of the show as much as I am, in terms of making sure that some degree of intellectual honesty and integrity is maintained in here, and so ....

Just watch that pin when you sit down!

I wasn't paying attention, and I sat right on it and WOW .....