Life in OUR America, Volume 5, the Livyjr Files Options

[Livyjr]

Well ....

We're just simple country folk up here in the hinterlands of civilization, Snuffysmith ....

And so ...

We have to see things as they are ....

Rather than how we might wish them to be ....

And so ....

And speaking of seeing things the way they might be, anyway ...

"Developing Nor'easter Heads Up East Coast"

By MATTHEW VERRINDER, Associated Press Writer

1 hour, 19 minutes ago

TRENTON, N.J. - A developing nor'easter headed up the East Coast on Saturday with a threat of heavy, blowing snow, putting road crews on overtime and cheering up skiers in a region spared harsh weather for most of this season.

Blizzard warnings were posted from the New York City area into eastern New England, where up to 15 inches of snow was possible, and a winter storm warning was issued for most of New Jersey, the National Weather Service said.

Heavy snow warnings were in effect from eastern Kentucky to southeastern New York state.

The New Jersey Department of Transportation had 600 trucks ready to plow snow and spread salt, plus 1,100 contractor trucks, the department said.

The department also had its regular maintenance staff of 735 employees, plus more than 400 other state employees, available to operate plows.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey had more than 160 pieces of heavy snow equipment at the New York region's Newark, Kennedy and LaGuardia airports.

Despite the likelihood that drivers would have to dig their cars out Sunday morning, the storm was great news for northern New Jersey's Hidden Valley Resort and its 12 ski slopes, said Roni Mattiello, director of snow sports.

"It means great, fresh powder to ski in tomorrow," Mattiello said.

"It will help us open terrain on the mountain that hasn't been opened yet because of the mild winter."

"Everyone is psyched and pumped up for skiing," she said.

Not all sports fans were elated, however.

New York's Aqueduct race track canceled Sunday's horse racing schedule.

[Livyjr]

I have always thought ..

And always stated ....

That as a United States Senator ....

That is what John Kerry should be ....

And I think that he is finally starting to grow into that role, myself .....

And as a Senator, the nature of any "fight" that he is involved in should be one of wits and wisdom ...

Not fisticuffs ....

Nor demagoguery .......

Dear Livyjr,

In the last 24 hours, we've seen troubling reports that Dick Cheney directed "Scooter" Libby to release classified information to discredit critics of the war in Iraq...

We've heard hard-to-ignore accusations from a former top CIA official that the White House "cherry picked" intelligence to make the case for war...

And we've received stunning evidence that the president sat on his hands and did nothing for 12 hours after the White House had been informed that the levees broke in New Orleans.

Enough is enough.

Yesterday, we launched our nine-month Break Their Grip on Power campaign and thousands of people from all across the nation have already acted.

Let's expose the culture of corruption that has engulfed the Republican Congress and the culture of incompetence that has swallowed up the White House.

Let's get the focus back on solving the enormous challenges the people of this country are facing because of lack of leadership from Washington.

Every step of the way in 2006, we'll support Democratic candidates - giving them the help they need to break the Republicans' grip on power.

And, when the Republicans and their henchmen launch their vicious attacks on our candidates, we'll fight back with force and redouble our support for any candidate they target.

That's what it's going to take to win - nine months of relentless effort.

And it has to start now.

Let's go to work.

Sincerely,

John Kerry

Click on this URL to take action now
http://capwiz.com/congressorg/pyv/electors/

[Livyjr]

And here is an update on a TAY-RIZM case from REPUBLICAN George Pataki's capital city of Albany, New York that we have been tracking in here ....

And actually, I started tracking this case on the old John Kerry forum ....

Before the November 2004 elections ....

When this "big bust" was made ...

And REPUBLICAN BUSH WATER-CARRIER George Pataki had his face right there on the TV ....

Telling us how lucky we were to have REPUBLICANS in power here in OUR America ....

And how sorry we would be ....

If George W. Bush lost to Democrat John Kerry ....

The PATAKI STING .....

And DUE PROCESS OF LAW is right out the window ....

Here in George W. Bush's America ...

"Imam loses 4th bid for release - Albany suspect in FBI terror sting still danger to society, jurist rules"

By MICHELE MORGAN BOLTON, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Saturday, February 11, 2006

ALBANY -- An imam at an Albany mosque facing terrorism charges lost his fourth bid for bail Friday, despite a lawyer's impassioned plea that he is a peaceful, deeply religious man desperately needed by his family and faith.

"To be isolated from every other human being, especially if you're a social person, has a devastating effect," said lawyer Terence L. Kindlon.

"Over the course of the past several months he has become profoundly depressed."

Yassin Aref, 35, has been held in 22-hour-a-day protective confinement in the Rensselaer County Jail since Sept. 30, when U.S. Magistrate Judge David Homer revoked his bail after 13 months of electronically monitored house arrest.

Aref and his co-defendant, Mohammed Hossain, an Albany pizza shop owner, were caught in an FBI sting beginning in August 2003 in which they allegedly took part in a fake plot to sell missile launchers to terrorists.

Hossain is free on bail.

A superseding indictment in September also charged the Iraqi refugee with having documented connections to key terrorist figures in the Middle East.

Friday's detention hearing, again before Homer, was the fourth for Aref.

Kindlon offered three new pieces of information he said warranted Aref's release.

First, he said, government red tape could delay a trial until at least 2007, violating the right to due process.

Assistant U.S. Attorney William Pericak brushed off Kindlon's claims, saying, "I think the case will be tried long before January."

Kindlon also noted that Aref's wife, who has a mental illness, is struggling to care for three young children and a newborn on public support and isolated by language barriers.

"They talk once a week, and they cry," Kindlon said.

"In her culture there is no such thing as a single mother."

"A woman is an extension of a man."

Finally, he said, there are national published reports that say the Bush administration's National Security Agency's penchant for potentially illegal, warrantless wiretapping was specifically responsible for Aref's arrest.

If so, such criminal activity requires the indictment to be tossed immediately, Kindlon said.

He believes prosecutors have made too much of Aref's private journal entries that allegedly link him to terrorist activity.

Kindlon said his client is not guilty.

He said he is yet to see any of the government's evidence.

"The government has issued secret security clearances to me and my colleague yet as of today we've seen no classified information," he said.

"I guess they've taken the position we don't need to see it."

"In the meanwhile, my client is rotting in jail."

Pericak asserted to Homer there is nothing new to consider.

He said both the journal entries and family situation are not new.

And Kindlon's request to toss the case based on the NSA allegations is the subject of a March 13 hearing, he said.

Homer agreed that Kindlon's arguments produced new issues but said they didn't persuade him Aref deserves to be free.

Five months in jail doesn't begin to approach an excess, Homer said.

He agreed that the March hearing will address wiretap issues.

"There is a tragic element to the effect of detention," the judge said.

"But it is the judicial function not to be affected by the tragedy."

"The effect on Mrs. Aref and the children is not a material fact."

There may well be innocent explanations for Aref's journal entries, but the current conclusion is they show he has substantial ties to terrorism and, thus, is a danger to society, Homer said.

During arguments, Aref bowed his head, and then gestured vehemently to Kindlon as the judge issued his decision.

Aref's wife, children and other family filed quietly from court, refusing to comment.

Outside, Kindlon said he was desperately disappointed with the decision, his client is heartbroken, but it doesn't stop here.

When asked if he thinks the federal government is tapping lawyers' phones, Kindlon unloaded:

"I think anyone's phone may be tapped."

"This administration is acting lawlessly."

"They don't give a damn about the Constitution."

"Every time I hear George Bush speak, I think someone should really read that guy his Miranda rights."

end quotes

For the record, Terry Kindlon served in Viet Nam ....

In combat ....

Where he was wounded in the head ....

And quite seriously so ..

And so ...

He is entitled to express his opinion on this administration ....

And what he calls its lawlessness .....

And as a fellow wounded combat veteran from the Viet Nam ...

I have to salute his candor ....

[Livyjr]

And here is an update on a TAY-RIZM case from REPUBLICAN George Pataki's capital city of Albany, New York that we have been tracking in here ....

And actually, I started tracking this case on the old John Kerry forum ....

Before the November 2004 elections ....

When this "big bust" was made ...

And REPUBLICAN BUSH WATER-CARRIER George Pataki had his face right there on the TV ....

Telling us how lucky we were to have REPUBLICANS in power here in OUR America ....

And how sorry we would be ....

If George W. Bush lost to Democrat John Kerry ....

The PATAKI STING .....

And DUE PROCESS OF LAW is right out the window ....

Here in George W. Bush's America ...

"Imam loses 4th bid for release - Albany suspect in FBI terror sting still danger to society, jurist rules" 
 
By MICHELE MORGAN BOLTON, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Saturday, February 11, 2006

Outside, Kindlon said he was desperately disappointed with the decision, his client is heartbroken, but it doesn't stop here.

When asked if he thinks the federal government is tapping lawyers' phones, Kindlon unloaded:

"I think anyone's phone may be tapped."

"This administration is acting lawlessly."

"They don't give a damn about the Constitution."

"Every time I hear George Bush speak, I think someone should really read that guy his Miranda rights."

"Cartoon fails test of tolerance"

By AHMED NEZAR KOBEISY
Albany, New York Times Union
First published: Saturday, February 11, 2006

A Danish newspaper's publication of a cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad wearing a turban shaped like a time bomb has fueled the Muslim world with anger and led to protests and violence.

The republication of that cartoon and of others that negatively portray Muslims is more evidence of the fragility of our global village.

Many people, particularly in the West, do not understand why Muslims are outraged.

Some have suggested that their anger is caused by the Islamic prohibition on drawing images of the Prophet Muhammad and that Muslims are trying to impose their norms of respecting the sacred on others, particularly in Europe, who, so they claim, have thrived on criticizing religions.

The real issue is the characterization of the Prophet Muhammad -- the most revered human being to Muslims and many non-Muslims who have studied his life -- as a terrorist.

Islam welcomes objective and rational criticism and debate.

It respects freedom of speech and of choosing one's religion or even no religion at all.

It does not allow the unfounded and unjustified negative portrayal of others, particularly people who are worthy of respect and reverence.

I would be offended if Jesus, Moses or Abraham were portrayed in a demeaning manner.

The caricature of the Prophet Muhammad reinforces a widespread stereotype of Islam as a religion of violence and of Muslims as terrorists.

It is a continuation of the Orientalists' view of Islam that since medieval times has portrayed the Prophet Muhammad as a Christian heretic and the followers of Islam as barbaric.

Those images are employed to deepen the divide between the two worlds and prevent mutual understanding and respect.

The cartoons that unleashed a worldwide wave of anger are not an innocent expression of personal opinion.

Muslims, like everyone else, have the right to express their resentment and rejection of what they perceive as offensive.

I believe the violence associated with the protests over the cartoons have been the acts of an emotionally driven mob that hijacked an inflamed situation.

I also believe that negative portrayals of Muslims have incited violent hate crimes against Muslim individuals, families and institutions in the United States and Europe.

Publishing offensive cartoons may be legal, but it is not acceptable to speak hatefully of any other group of people religious or otherwise.

The current controversy is about the blatant discrimination against people because of their religion.

Freedom of speech should not lead to hateful remarks or acts against a group on the basis of religion or color, race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation.

The newspapers that published the initial cartoon and many more offensive ones have failed the test of tolerance and respect.

To live in peace and harmony, diverse cultures must interact and get to know each other, appreciate their differences and celebrate their commonalties.

Ahmed Nezar Kobeisy is imam and director of the Islamic Center of the Capital District.

[Livyjr]

And speaking of George W. Bush ....

And incompetence ...

And ineptness .....

And the squandering of OUR United States tax dollars by George and his ....

We have ....

Surprise, surprise, surprise ....

"Audit: U.S.-Led Occupation Squandered Aid"

By JIM KRANE, Associated Press Writer

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Iraqi money gambled away in the Philippines.

Thousands spent on a swimming pool that was never used.

An elevator repaired so poorly that it crashed, killing people.

A U.S. government audit found American-led occupation authorities squandered tens of millions of dollars that were supposed to be used to rebuild Iraq through undocumented spending and outright fraud.

In some cases, auditors recommend criminal charges be filed against the perpetrators.

In others, it asks the U.S. ambassador to Iraq to recoup the money.

Dryly written audit reports describe the Coalition Provisional Authority's offices in the south-central city of Hillah being awash in bricks of $100 bills taken from a central vault without documentation.

It describes one agent who kept almost $700,000 in cash in an unlocked footlocker and mentions a U.S. soldier who gambled away as much as $60,000 in reconstruction funds in the Philippines.

"Tens of millions of dollars in cash had gone in and out of the South-Central Region vault without any tracking of who deposited or withdrew the money, and why it was taken out," says a report by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, which is in the midst of a series of audits for the Pentagon and State Department.

Much of the first audit reports deal with contracting in south-central Iraq, one of the country's least-hostile regions.

Audits have yet to be released for the occupation authority's spending in the rest of Iraq.

The audits offer a window into the chaotic U.S.-led occupation of Iraq of 2003-04, when inexperienced American officials — including workers from President Bush's election campaign — organized a cash-intensive "hearts and minds" mission to rebuild Iraq's devastated economy.

But the corruption and incompetence documented in the reports reveal that much of the effort, however well-intentioned, was wasted.

The failure of the rebuilding effort has been borne out most vividly by the rise of a virulent anti-American insurgency that has claimed most of the 2,237 U.S. military lives lost since the war began.

In some cases, auditors could find no trace of cash, much of which came from Iraqi oil revenues overseen by the occupation authority.

"Those deficiencies were so significant that we were precluded from accomplishing our stated objectives," the auditors said of U.S. officials in Hillah being unable to account for $97 million of the $120 million in Iraqi oil revenues earmarked for rebuilding projects.

An October 2005 audit found documentation for the spending of just $8 million of that money.

Negligence proved deadly in at least one case.

Three Iraqis plummeted to their deaths in an elevator in the Hillah General Hospital that was certified to have been replaced by a contractor who received $662,800.

Also in Hillah, occupation officials spent $108,140 to replace pumps and fix the city's Olympic swimming pool.

But the contractor merely polished the old plumbing to make it look new and collected his money.

When the pool was filled, the water came out a murky brown and the pool's reopening had to be canceled.

The reports did not identify the contractors involved.

Auditors have asked the U.S. ambassador to recover a total of $571,823 that the reports describe as overpaid funds.

In some cases, cash simply disappeared.

Two occupation authority field agents responsible for paying contractors left Iraq without accounting for more than $700,000 each.

When auditors confronted their manager and asked where the money was, the manger tried to clear one of the agents through false paperwork.

"This appears to be an attempt to remove outstanding balances by simply washing accounts," the auditor said.

The two agents were not identified and there was no word on whether the pair were referred for prosecution.

One report describes mismanagement of more than 2,000 small contracts in south-central Iraq worth $88 million.

Occupation staffers or those they supervised handed out millions to companies that never submitted required competitive bids or that were paid for unfinished work.

Other examples cited in the reports:

_Only a quarter of $23 million entrusted to civilian and military project and contracting officers to pay contractors ever found its way to those contractors.

_One contractor was paid $14,000 on four separate occasions for the same job.

_Of $7.3 million spent on a police academy near Hillah, auditors could account for just $4 million. They said $1.3 million was wasted on overpriced or duplicate construction or equipment not delivered. More than $2 million was missing.

_U.S. personnel "needlessly disbursed more than $1.8 million" of the estimated $2.3 million spent for renovating the library in the Shiite holy city of Karbala.

_The library contractor delivered only 18 of 68 personal computers called for and did not install Internet wiring or software. The computers worked only as stand-alones.

_The U.S.-led security transition command spent $945,000 for seven armored Mercedes-Benzes that were too lightly armored for Iraq. Auditors were able to account for only six of the cars.

_At one point, several paying agents kept cash inside the same filing cabinet in the Hillah vault. One agent took $100,000 from another's stack of cash to clear his own balance. "This was only discovered because the other paying agent had to make a disbursement that day and realized that he was short cash," the report says.

___

On the Net:

Special Inspector General: http://www.sigir.mil/audit(underscore)reports.html

And while George W. Bush ....

Loots OUR national treasury .....

And sends OUR tax dollars over to IRAQINAM to allegedly rebuild that country ....

Where they disappear ....

With nothing to show for their loss ....

But more chaos ....

We have from right here in OUR own country ....

This following .....

"A flood of questions amid fear of disaster - Schenectady meeting sends message to New York City officials urging speedy repair to Gilboa Dam"

By DAN HIGGINS, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Friday, February 10, 2006

SCHENECTADY -- Even though crews are making emergency repairs to the Gilboa Dam this winter, large-scale renovations won't begin until 2008.

The news seemed to surprise members of the state Assembly Thursday, who heard testimony on dam safety at a public hearing at Schenectady County Community College.

The Assembly members, representing committees on environmental conservation and government operations, joined local and federal officials in urging New York City to work faster to bring the Schoharie County dam up to current safety standards.

The Gilboa Dam is owned by New York City and maintained by its Department of Environmental Protection.

The DEP commissioner, Emily Lloyd, said her department is moving as fast as possible on the $200 million project, and that the delay is because the city wants to carefully design the dam upgrades.

Local officials are worried about a dam failure, a worst-case scenario that DEP officials said was possible after a routine inspection in October revealed weaknesses in the 79-year-old structure.

If it failed, thousands of people would be homeless and property from Schoharie to Schenectady would be under more than 10 feet of water.

"If the dam fails, there aren't enough lawyers in Manhattan," to handle resulting lawsuits against New York City, U.S. Rep. Michael McNulty, D-Green Island, who was angry with the pace of repairs.

The daylong hearing Thursday was intended to get public input on how to improve the state's dam-inspection program.

But the Gilboa Dam took center stage.

The October inspection revealed the dam could slide off the underlying bedrock in the event of a massive rainstorm combined with record snowmelt.

It holds back 19 billion gallons of water on the Schoharie Creek and is one of 20 maintained by the city for downstate drinking water.

That worst-case scenario prompted communities as far north as Duanesburg to begin making emergency plans in case of a catastrophe.

New York's emergency repairs include adding siphons to drain out extra water and anchoring the dam to the bedrock.

That work won't be complete until September, which is too slow for some who testified Thursday at Schenectady County Community College.

Susan Savage, the chairwoman of the Schenectady County Legislature, told the committee that the hearing room they sat in Thursday would be inundated with 3 to 5 feet of water, even though the dam is nearly 60 miles away.

Six hundred buildings in Schenectady and Scotia would suffer some flood damage, and drinking water and sewage systems would be harmed.

McNulty also said he was angry because a letter he wrote to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg dated Jan. 11 outlining concerns about the dam has gone unanswered.

Lloyd said Bloomberg is aware of how serious the situation is, and that his deputy mayor would visit the dam sometime this spring.

Rainy weather has slowed emergency repairs, but crews are waiting near the dam seven days a week for better conditions.

In the next 10 years, Lloyd said, the city will spend more than $400 million to repair or upgrade all of its aging dams.

Dan Higgins can be reached at 454-5523 or by e-mail at dhiggins@timesunion.com.

[Livyjr]

Outside, Kindlon said he was desperately disappointed with the decision, his client is heartbroken, but it doesn't stop here.

When asked if he thinks the federal government is tapping lawyers' phones, Kindlon unloaded:

"I think anyone's phone may be tapped."

"This administration is acting lawlessly."

"They don't give a damn about the Constitution."

"Every time I hear George Bush speak, I think someone should really read that guy his Miranda rights."

"Bill of Rights can't be a casualty of war"

By HOWARD A. BROCK

Albany, New York Times Union
First published: Thursday, February 9, 2006

In "Godfather III," Michael Corleone plaintively cried out, "Just when I thought that I was out, they pull me back in."

Lately, I've been feeling a bit like Michael Corleone.

No, I am not a Mafia don.

I'm a Democratic activist, retired, who has been drifting away in a sea of frustration and disgust from the party only to be dragged back by Republican actions, attitudes and comments.

Today, we have the imbroglio over the Patriot Act and the confounding arrogance of President Bush in his specious arguments about his right to tap, without warrants, the telephones of Americans.

But wait, these are not new issues.

For me, it's deja vu.

I'm transported back 55 years, to when I first decided to throw my lot in with the Democrats.

The Republicans adhered to the trickle-down theory of economics (they still do), were anti-union and against the minimum wage (they still are), opposed to the safety net and a national health program (ditto) and were generally against the entire New Deal, which saved capitalism, altered the relationship between the states and the federal government, and gave some hope to the system's losers.

That's quite a record of opposition, but it was the sudden and vicious turning on the Constitution and the Bill of Rights by the Republicans that really decided things for me.

They used their membership on the House Un-American Activities Committee like a whip, lashing across the constitutional rights of members of the entertainment industry.

They summarily dismissed rights of witnesses, jailed some people and ruined many others.

The actions of the committee members were shocking to my young mind especially since our nation had just completed a world war to secure our basic rights.

Some memories stand out from the quick kaleidoscope of events.

Humphrey Bogart and Danny Kaye, who organized a protest against the committee, were cowed into retreating by their Hollywood bosses.

Larry Parks, the star of the "Jolson Story" found that his career reached a dead end.

John Garfield (my favorite) was haunted until his death at age 39.

The careers of writers, producers and directors were shattered.

Sen. Joseph McCarthy, a Republican from Wisconsin, soon came on the scene and with his phony list of communists in the State Department ushered in a political reign of terror without precedence in the United States.

Harry Truman, supposedly immune from intimidation, fell victim to McCarthy's pressure and initiated loyalty oaths as a prerequisite for employment by the federal government.

The Eisenhower administration, by failing to face up to the threat of "McCarthyism," became an enabler.

Red Channels, a publication, listed the names of those who were deemed not fit for employment because of their past political activities.

Republicans generally exploited the situation for political gain.

Charges of treason were not uncommon.

In some cases such accusations were made again later in connection with the anti-Vietnam War activities and have appeared still again concerning those who oppose the war on Iraq.

It was not always thus.

History tells us of numerous instances when rights were at risk.

Examples are the introduction by Federalist John Adams of the Alien and Sedition Acts, and actions by two of our most venerated presidents, Republican Abraham Lincoln and Democrat Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Lincoln was considered by many to be approaching dictatorship as he suspended the right of habeas corpus, imprisoned many citizens and closed down newspapers.

FDR, in the early days of World War II, rounded up American citizens and threw them into camps because of their Japanese ancestry.

The Supreme Court countenanced the act.

There were also constitutionally threatening actions in the administrations of Presidents Jackson, Theodore Roosevelt, Wilson, Johnson, Nixon, Reagan and Clinton.

The record speaks loudly and eloquently for the need for checks and balances.

George W. Bush has the potential to become the worst of the bunch.

Those few who objected to creation of the court under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act have been proved right.

An overwhelming number of requests for warrants has been approved.

Now the FISA court has been ignored by Bush.

The slippery slope has a slippery slope.

While previous presidents may have tipped the ship of state or brought it close to capsizing, it was soon or eventually righted again.

Estimates of how long the war on terror will last have been as high as 50 years.

Some say it will never be over.

If Bush is allowed to get away with his actions, his successors -- whatever their party -- will treat them as permanent, accepted practices.

Have we, as columnist Nat Hentoff has written, already "kissed the Fourth Amendment goodbye?"

If so, it is only the beginning.

By my calculation, the Bush administration is pursuing policies that jeopardize the right of habeus corpus and the First, Fifth, Sixth and Eighth Amendments.

The American people must resolve a couple of imminent major questions.

Can we fight the war on terror without the Bill of Rights becoming a casualty?

If one of those rights does fall, will it not be a considerable victory for our enemies?

Howard A. Brock lives in Altamont. He is a former talk-radio host and political strategist.

[Livyjr]

And talk about HACK-O-CRATS ....

In the HACKOCRACY of George W. Bush ....

Here's another one gone ....

And HOORAY for that say I ....

"Man Who Left NASA Says He's Under Attack"

Thu Feb 9, 9:35 PM ET

COLLEGE STATION, Texas - A staffer who resigned from    NASA after he was accused of restricting access to a noted climate scientist said Thursday he was targeted because of his political ties.

George C. Deutsch, 24, resigned from the agency's public relations department earlier this week.

"What you do have is hearsay coming from a handful of people who have clear partisan ties and they are really coming after me as a Bush appointee," he told radio station WTAW.

"I was an easy target."

"I was low-hanging fruit."

The New York Times reported Wednesday that Deutsch attempted to limit reporters' access to Jim Hansen, a noted NASA climate scientist, and insisted that a Web designer insert the word "theory" before any mention of the Big Bang.

Deutsch denied the allegations.

"I have never been told to censor science, to squelch anything or to insert religion into any issue, absolutely not," said the former Bush campaign worker.

"The world is treading on thin ice"

By DERRICK Z. JACKSON

Albany, New York Times Union
First published: Tuesday, February 7, 2006

The burning issue was the thin ice encrusted on the boulders.

The rocks were half-submerged in a small stream at the foot of the White Mountains in Maine.

Ribbons of water swirled around them, propelled by two days of nonstop rain.

That was the first problem.

It was mid-January.

In northern New England, the rain usually would have been a foot of snow.

The boulders would have been smothered into giant marshmallows.

This aberration was amplified by the seductive warmth in Boston.

For the first time in about a quarter century of Januarys, I jogged around the Charles River on consecutive weekends in shorts.

The coup de ice came at the end of January when NASA's chief climate scientist, James Hansen, said Bush administration minions were muffling his warnings on global warming.

Hansen said officials at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in recent months have canceled or rejected interview requests for him and appointed monitors for approved interviews.

He reportedly was ordered last fall to remove preliminary information from the Internet that said last year might be the warmest year on record.

Last week, NASA announced that 2005 was indeed the warmest on record.

"In my three decades in government, I've never seen control of communications to the public so constrained," Hansen said last week.

"Communications from government scientists have never been so constrained."

Hansen, 63, said NASA, which denies any censorship, seemed particularly petrified by a December speech he gave in San Francisco before other earth and space scientists.

He said "business as usual" will lead to a "different planet."

The temperature will rise about 5 degrees Fahrenheit over this century to a warmth not seen for 3 million years, a time when sea levels were eight stories higher than today.

The human-induced melting of polar ice could bring those eight stories of water back in mere centuries, not a more natural timing of many thousands of years.

Hansen said we can beat the tipping point for runaway change if the United States leads global efforts to limit or eliminate greenhouse gases and pollutants.

There is no margin for business as usual.

It appears we will lose more time.

In his State of the Union address, Bush said, "America is addicted to oil," but did not mention the top first step environmentalists and scientists say the United States must take to fight global warming -- higher fuel-efficiency for cars.

He said he wanted to support more math and science for schoolchildren and more research in the physical sciences.

But if his minions ignore and stifle the best scientists we have today, there is no point.

In the early days of the Bush administration, Hansen's credentials earned him two invitations to address Vice President Dick Cheney's secretive, industry-packed energy task force.

He spoke two years ago to U.S. auto executives at ExxonMobil headquarters.

The White House went on to urge energy drilling at all costs.

Auto execs rebuffed Hansen on fuel efficiency by saying they only give consumers what they want.

"After the meeting, I watched TV and saw all these ads, with cars on top of mountain peaks and fantastic vistas of the American West," Hansen said.

"It's like the cigarette ads that use sex to sell."

"All the average person does with an SUV is commute to work or the store."

"They're creating a market they claim the public is demanding."

Listening to Hansen, it was clear he will continue to speak out for science despite the special interests.

He said the last time he checked, democracy only works when the public is well informed.

"For instance, they're using the economy as the reason not to consider taking action," Hansen said.

"I've been chastised for being a scientist saying we are damaging the economy in the long run."

"But you need to look at the broad problem."

"I think I'm free to do so and free to have my opinion."

The melting polar ice and the thin ice cap on the river boulder in Maine wait for America to listen to the right opinion.

The ice cube is the new canary warning of doom.

If we do not listen, it will melt in one place, and drown us in another.

Derrick Z. Jackson writes for the Boston Globe. His e-mail address is jackson@globe.com

[Livyjr]

And since we are on the subject of the "environment" in here, at the moment ....

"Travel Snarls as Snow Blankets Northast"

By SAMANTHA GROSS, Associated Press Writer

17 minutes ago

NEW YORK - The region's first major storm this winter brought lightning and 6 inches of snow to New York City on Sunday and a foot of snow to parts of New Jersey, canceling flights across the Northeast and knocking out power to hundreds of homes.

The New York metro area and much of the Northeast were under a blizzard warning, with the National Weather Service predicting winds up to 50 mph could bring down trees and power lines.

Heavy snow warnings were issued from eastern Kentucky to New England.

On average, 12 to 18 inches of snow were expected throughout the metro region, with temperatures as low as 23 degrees, forecasters said.

In Wayne, N.J., a foot of snow had accumulated Sunday, National Weather Service meteorologist Michael Silva said.

Hundreds of New Jersey homes were without power late Saturday.

In a rare display, lightning bolts joined the snow over LaGuardia Airport, where most airlines had canceled all flights until Sunday afternoon.

Delta, Delta Shuttle and American Airlines had canceled all flights at the airport until Monday, said Steve Coleman, spokesman for The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

More than 100 Sunday flights were canceled at John F. Kennedy International airport, including all Delta flights, and several carriers canceled most or all of their Sunday departing flights at Newark Liberty International.

Delta said it canceled its Sunday arrivals and departures at several other airports in the storm's path, including those in Philadelphia; Boston; Baltimore; Newark; Providence, R.I.; Washington, D.C.; and Hartford, Conn.

Four inches of snow had accumulated in parts of Fairfax, Va. late Saturday, and crews worked to clear the runways at Washington Dulles International Airport in suburban Virginia.

But the storm is good news and free advertising for ski resorts after an unseasonably warm January dragged down business, said Betsy Strickler at Jiminy Peak ski resort in western Massachusetts.

"The best PR is when people look up in the sky ... see the snow start to fall," she said.

In the hours before the snow began falling, New York residents formed long lines at supermarkets as they stocked up on bottled water and basic supplies.

The city's 353 salt-spreading plow trucks went out with 200,000 tons of rock salt on hand, said Kathy Dawkins, spokeswoman for the Department of Sanitation.

Twenty machines throughout the five boroughs would be melting up to 60 tons of snow per hour, she said.

The department's trucks have some 6,300 miles of city streets and roads to plow — about the distance from New York to Los Angeles and back, Dawkins said.

The New Jersey Department of Transportation had 600 trucks ready to plow snow and spread salt, plus 1,100 contractor trucks, the department said.

Officials also lowered the speed limit on the entire length of the New Jersey Turnpike to 45 mph.

About 2,100 road workers were on the job and more than 1,900 salt trucks and plows were out clearing roads around the Maryland — nearly a full deployment, officials said.
___

Associated Press writers Nahal Toosi and Desmond Butler in New York City, Bruce Shipkowski in Trenton, Sarah Brumfield in Baltimore and Brandie M. Jefferson in Boston contributed to this report.

[Livyjr]

"The world is treading on thin ice" 
 
By DERRICK Z. JACKSON

Albany, New York Times Union
First published: Tuesday, February 7, 2006

Listening to Hansen, it was clear he will continue to speak out for science despite the special interests.

He said the last time he checked, democracy only works when the public is well informed.

"For instance, they're using the economy as the reason not to consider taking action," Hansen said.

"I've been chastised for being a scientist saying we are damaging the economy in the long run."

"But you need to look at the broad problem."

"I think I'm free to do so and free to have my opinion."

And from the "environment" .....

We jump over to politics ....

And specifically REPUBLICAN politics ...

Which certainly have an adverse effect on the environment ...

BUT ...

We are not supposed to talk about that ...

A GAG ORDER is in effect from the WHITE HOUSE on that subject ...

The environment, I mean ...

Because we are not supposed to know that there is GLOBAL WARMING ...

Or that this past year was the warmest on record ....

We are supposed to believe instead that we are a bunch of witless, mindless cattle out in a feedlot somewhere ...

And that George W. Bush and the REPUBLICANS have everything under control ...

And that they have OUR best interests at heart ....

And ....

But we are not that stupid, are we?

"New name possible in Senate race"

By ELIZABETH BENJAMIN, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Sunday, February 12, 2006

ALBANY -- A former high-ranking national security official in three Republican presidential administrations is contemplating a challenge to U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y.

But state GOP and Conservative leaders say it may be too late for her to mount a credible campaign.

Kathleen Troia "KT" McFarland, who was the highest-ranking woman in the Pentagon from 1982-85 as deputy assistant secretary of Defense for Public Affairs and speechwriter to Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, confirmed Saturday she is eyeing the Senate race.

McFarland, a 54-year-old Manhattan resident, mother of five and grandmother of three who has never held elected office, had been raising money for a possible run against Democratic U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney.

But in recent weeks, McFarland said, she has been urged by "people in New York and Washington," whom she refused to identify, to consider a run against Clinton instead.

"Running against an incumbent, any incumbent, is never an easy challenge, but I am indeed giving it serious thought," McFarland said.

"I'm talking to Conservative leaders and Republican leaders and trying to get their feedback."

After spending the past two decades as a stay-at-home mom, McFarland said the Sept. 11 attacks inspired her to consider putting her past security experience to use in public life.

McFarland has raised $429,925 and had $390,864 on hand at the end of December, according to Federal Election Commission filings.

She said she will likely announce which office she will seek, if any, within the next few weeks.

In the meantime, she plans to focus on meeting New York's political leaders.

Christian Winthrop, a spokesman to former Yonkers Mayor John Spencer, who is the front-runner for the GOP nod in the Senate race and appears poised to land the Conservative line as well, derided McFarland as a "pro-abortion, big government, elitist liberal."

"If she wants to run for Senate, he added, "I suggest she try the Democrat Party."

McFarland confirmed she believes in a "woman's right to choose."

She favors parental notification and a ban on late-term partial-birth abortions.

"To me , a liberal is someone who supports civil rights for people," McFarland said.

"I don't know what liberal means to Mr. Spencer."

"We haven't had that conversation."

McFarland could fill the role Republican strategists once hoped former Westchester County District Attorney Jeanine Pirro would play: An aggressive woman with liberal leanings on social issues that would force Clinton to the left during her re-election campaign and potentially bloody her up before a widely expected 2008 White House run.

Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson on Saturday did not appeared concerned about McFarland.

"It appears once again that the Republican field is unsettled," Wolfson said.

State Republican Chairman Stephen Minarik said he has met with McFarland, and while he was impressed with her energy and professional experience, he told her getting into the Senate race now would be difficult.

"I told her it was a very late time to enter, and that it seemed that many of the county chairs had already made up their minds," Minarik said.

Spencer, who entered the Senate race last June, became the Republican front-runner in December when Pirro, who had been backed by Minarik, ended her troubled bid for federal office to run for state attorney general.

State Conservative Party Chairman Mike Long said he met with McFarland last week, but could not be encouraging about her chances of landing his party's line.

"I told her she was getting started a little late," the chairman said.

Long said he plans to ask the Conservative Party's executive committee to endorse Spencer on Monday at the end of the party's two-day meeting in Albany.

Elizabeth Benjamin can be reached at 454-5081 or by e-mail at ebenjamin@timesunion.com.

[Livyjr]

And of course, we can't talk about "politics" up here in the corrupt State of New York, one of the least, if not the least, democractic state in this union of OURS, without paying HOMAGE to "BIG JOE" Bruno .....

The REPUBLICAN "HAMMER" of the State of New York ...

As "TWO-GUN TEXAS TOMMY" DeLay was for the mighty REPUBLICANS down there in the corrupt REPUBLICAN-controlled TEN-MILES SQUARE of Washington, D.C. .....

"BIG JOE", or the "IRON DUKE", as he is affectionately known here in his DUKEDOM of Rensselaer County in the State of New York has been a FIXTURE of local politics up here for quite a while now ....

Since the 1980's, anyway ...

And if you think a snake has got twists and turns to it as it goes along ...

That snake cannot hold a candle to "BIG JOE" as he wends his way through the political swamp that politics is up here ....

Like that snake smelling a mouse in a tiny hole in a log a mile away ..

OUR "IRON DUKE" has a nose on him that can smell a dollar in a lobbyist's pocket anywhere in the world ...

And so ..

Never fear ....

OUR "BIG JOE" will find a way, come hell or high water, to get himself to where that dollar is ...

And so ....

"Bruno finds way to fly free"

Albany, New York Times Union
First published: Monday, February 6, 2006

When the Pataki administration told Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno he couldn't use a state helicopter, the Brunswick Republican wasn't about to be grounded.

He found another way to fly, and still didn't have to pay the tab.

On Nov. 29, Bruno was told by the Pataki administration that the state helicopter was tied up that day.

The chopper is frequently made available to Bruno for government business after the senator certifies to State Police he is using it for official work.

But after being told he'd get the copter and then abruptly getting turned down later, Bruno hired a Richmor Aviation jet for his visit to New York City.

He paid the $4,100 tab from his Committee to Re-Elect Senator Bruno campaign account, state records show.

That's less than half the cost of a round-trip for the aircraft, Richmor officials say, indicating Bruno must have taken it only one way and someone else used it coming back.

So the question remains:

was Bruno on state business, entitling him to the state helicopter, or political business, justifying his taking the money from his campaign fund?

"Senator Bruno had government meetings," said Bruno spokesman Mark Hansen.

The helicopter "was canceled at short notice; he had to get down there, and it was the most convenient way to get down there."

Hansen wouldn't say why the campaign was billed for state business, nor would he identify the business.

Bruno has said he was meeting with horse industry interests and trying to talk Mayor Michael Bloomberg into running for governor.

The senator's campaign donors also paid for another $16,100 in airfare for three other flights, perhaps for his trip to horse country in Kentucky, although Hansen wouldn't say; $11,246 for hundreds of school children to attend a Tri-City Valley Cats game at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium in Troy; and $7,987.67 for Senate Director of Communications John McArdle to "meet with Italian Government Officials," the campaign records show.

In September, McArdle accompanied Bruno to Italy to visit wine country and the senator's family homeland.

Although it is unlikely people in Italy will be voting in the senator's re-election bid this November, paying for McArdle's trip with campaign funds, Bruno said, was legitimate and he'd do it again.

Also on the trip were the senator's friend, lobbyist Richard Alteri, and son Ken Bruno, who was also a lobbyist at the time.

Bruno's campaign fund -- used for such things as restaurant meals, flowers, country club expenses and other things that aren't clearly political -- could afford it.

The fund, which has collected $4,000 from Alteri's Cable Television PAC in recent years, contained $2.58 million as of the middle of January after paying $277,100 in bills from the past six months.

Contributors: Capitol bureau reporters Jay Jochnowitz and James M. Odato. Got a tip? Call 454-5424 or e-mail jjochnowitz@timesunion.com. For more Capitol Confidential items on-line, visit blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/

[Livyjr]

And before I go back out to tend the fire for today ....

I want to leave this thought on "QUALITIES" to look for in a "LEADER" from the MEDITATIONS of the "GOOD EMPORER" Marcus Aurelius .....

Perhaps IF George W. Bush and that arrogant, over-weaning, self-important, hypocritical crowd of his had actually read some history, instead of trying to fill us up with this twaddle about them not needing to, because they are the ones that write it instead ....

This world of OURS could have been a different place ...

"Two kinds of readiness are constantly needed ...."

"To do ONLY what the logos of authority and law directs ...."

"WITH THE GOOD OF HUMAN BEINGS IN MIND ..."

"And to reconsider your opinion ..."

"When someone can set you straight ..."

"Or convert you to his ..."

"BUT ..."

"Your conversion should always rest on a conviction ..."

"That it's right ..."

"Or benefits others ..."

"NOTHING ELSE!"

"Not because it's more appealing ..."

"Or more popular ...."

[Livyjr]

BOOM ....BOOM ......BOOM ....BOOM .....

WAR DRUMS BEATING ...

A big fire burning ....

Dick Cheney, with a special gold-plated Abercrombie & Fitch BI-CENTENNIAL EDITION hatchet at only $750, half-naked, dressed only in a designer breech-clout and a special pair of leggings that he got in a Jackson Hole boutique for $3500, mouth drawn back in a rictus, teeth showing like a big Wyoming GRIZ, massive thighs pumping furiously, whirls and capers and cavorts around the fire like an imp released from the bowels of hell itself, gibbering and alternately grunting in some tongue intelligible to only himself, if even that ....

WHOA, DICK ...

Easy down there, big fellow ....

Easy down ....

You're kind of getting carried away now, here .....

That's it ...

That's it ...

Right, right, right ...

NOW ...

That's it ...

Just put the gun down, there, Dick ...

And everything will be alright ....

Now ...

That's it ...

Just assume the position ....

"Cheney Accidentally Shoots Fellow Hunter"

By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer

24 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and wounded a companion during a weekend quail hunting trip in Texas, spraying the fellow hunter in the face and chest with shotgun pellets.

Harry Whittington, a millionaire attorney from Austin, was "alert and doing fine" in a Corpus Christi hospital Sunday after he was shot by Cheney on a ranch in south Texas, said Katharine Armstrong, the property's owner.

He was in stable condition Sunday, said Yvonne Wheeler, spokeswoman for the Christus Spohn Health System in Corpus Christi.

Armstrong in an interview with The Associated Press said Whittington, 78, was mostly injured on his right side, with the pellets hitting his cheek, neck and chest during the incident which occurred late afternoon on Saturday.

She said emergency personnel traveling with Cheney tended to Whittington until the ambulance arrived.

Cheney's spokeswoman, Lea Anne McBride, said the vice president met with Whittington and his wife at the hospital on Sunday.

Cheney "was pleased to see that he's doing fine and in good spirits," she said.

The shooting was first reported by the Corpus Christi Caller-Times.

The vice president's office did not disclose the accident until the day after it happened.

Armstrong said she was watching from a car while Cheney, Whittington and another hunter got out of the vehicle to shoot at a covey of quail.

Whittington shot a bird and went to look for it in the tall grass, while Cheney and the third hunter walked to another spot and discovered a second covey.

Whittington "came up from behind the vice president and the other hunter and didn't signal them or indicate to them or announce himself," Armstrong said.

"The vice president didn't see him," she continued.

"The covey flushed and the vice president picked out a bird and was following it and shot."

"And by god, Harry was in the line of fire and got peppered pretty good."

Whittington has been a private practice attorney in Austin since 1950 and has long been active in Texas Republican politics.

He's been appointed to several state boards, including when then-Gov. George W. Bush named him to the Texas Funeral Service Commission.

McBride did not comment about why the vice president's office did not tell reporters about the accident until the next day.

She referred the question to Armstrong, who could not be reached again Sunday evening.

Armstrong, owner of the Armstrong Ranch where the accident occurred, said Whittington was bleeding and Cheney was very apologetic.

"It broke the skin," she said of the shotgun pellets.

"It knocked him silly."

"But he was fine."

"He was talking."

"His eyes were open."

"It didn't get in his eyes or anything like that."

"Fortunately, the vice president has got a lot of medical people around him and so they were right there and probably more cautious than we would have been," she said.

"The vice president has got an ambulance on call, so the ambulance came."

Cheney is an avid hunter who makes annual hunting trips to South Dakota to hunt pheasants.

He also travels frequently to Arkansas to hunt ducks.

Armstrong said Cheney is a longtime friend who comes to the ranch to hunt about once a year and is "a very safe sportsman."

She said Whittington is a regular, too, but she thought it was the first time the two men hunted together.

"This is something that happens from time to time."

"You now, I've been peppered pretty well myself," said Armstrong.

The 50,000-acre Armstrong ranch has been in the influential south Texas family since the turn of the last century.

Katharine is the daughter of Tobin Armstrong, a politically connected rancher who has been a guest at the White House and spent 48 years as director of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association.

He died in October.

Cheney was among the dignitaries who attended his funeral.
___

Associated Press writer Paul J. Weber in Dallas contributed to this report.

[Livyjr]

WHOA, DICK ...

Easy down there, big fellow ....

Easy down ....

You're kind of getting carried away now, here .....

That's it ...

That's it ...

Right, right, right ...

NOW ...

That's it ...

Just put the gun down, there, Dick ...

And everything will be alright ....

Now ...

That's it ...

Just assume the position ....

"Cheney Accidentally Shoots Fellow Hunter"

By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and wounded a companion during a weekend quail hunting trip in Texas, spraying the fellow hunter in the face and chest with shotgun pellets.

Harry Whittington, a millionaire attorney from Austin, was "alert and doing fine" in a Corpus Christi hospital Sunday after he was shot by Cheney on a ranch in south Texas, said Katharine Armstrong, the property's owner.

Well ....

The BIG GRIZ sure does have tongues wagging all across OUR America this morning .....

And here I am referring to all the news types on such organs of GOVERNMENT PROPAGANDA as FOX NEWS FAIR AND BALANCED, YOU DECIDE .....

And the BIG ISSUE right now is the 24-HOUR GAP ....

Kind of like those gaps in the NIXXON WATERGATE TAPES, way back when ....

What happened in that 24-hour period of silence?

The "24-HOUR BLACKOUT", as it is now being called all across OUR America .....

To me, that answer is simple ...

They needed 24 hours to get all the stories straight ....

And then, there is the question of MOTIVE ...

Why the BIG GRIZ shot this guy in the first place ...

A gambling debt, perhaps ....

Some say it was over a woman, but that I'm not at all sure about, myself ....

Or some other kind of "deal" that went bad, especially down there in Texas, which is near the Mexican border of course, where you know what comes across for sale here in OUR America ....

Some wags are saying that with the noose tightening around his own neck, now that SCOOTER looks like he might turn "STATE'S EVIDENCE" against the BIG GRIZ here, that Dick is trying to buy his way back into the good graces of the American people as a "REFORMIST" by blowing away not only a lawyer, but a REPUBLICAN lawyer, but I don't know ...

Some people would say it was a good start, but again, I think we have to wait for more evidence on that line of reasoning to emerge ....

For I don't think Dick Cheney can even spell REFORM, let alone take an action, however laudable it might appear to him, to effect true reform, here in OUR America ....

And regardless of the true reasons the OLD GRIZ blew this REPUBLICAN lawyer away, I think it is a perfect metaphor for the MESS that Dick and George have got this nation in, especially with respect to IRAQINAM ....

JUST DRAW AND SHOOT ....

And then go see what you killed afterwards ....

And so it goes ....

[Livyjr]

Well ....

The BIG GRIZ sure does have tongues wagging all across OUR America this morning .....

And here I am referring to all the news types on such organs of GOVERNMENT PROPAGANDA as FOX NEWS FAIR AND BALANCED, YOU DECIDE .....

Some wags are saying that with the noose tightening around his own neck, now that SCOOTER looks like he might turn "STATE'S EVIDENCE" against the BIG GRIZ here, that Dick is trying to buy his way back into the good graces of the American people as a "REFORMIST" by blowing away not only a lawyer, but a REPUBLICAN lawyer, but I don't know ...

Some people would say it was a good start, but again, I think we have to wait for more evidence on that line of reasoning to emerge ....

For I don't think Dick Cheney can even spell REFORM, let alone take an action, however laudable it might appear to him, to effect true reform, here in OUR America ....

"Senators: Cheney Should Be Probed in Leak"

February 12, 2006

WASHINGTON - Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald should investigate Vice President Dick Cheney and others in the CIA leak probe if they authorized an aide to give secret information to reporters, Democratic and Republican senators said Sunday.

Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., called the leak of intelligence information "inappropriate" if it is true that unnamed "superiors" instructed Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, to divulge the material on Iraq.

Sen. George Allen, R-Va., said a full investigation is necessary.

"I don't think anybody should be releasing classified information, period, whether in the Congress, executive branch or some underling in some bureaucracy," said Allen, who appeared with Reed on "Fox News Sunday."

According to court documents disclosed last week, Libby told a federal grand jury that he disclosed in July 2003 the contents of a classified National Intelligence Estimate as part of the Bush administration's defense of intelligence used to justify invading Iraq.

Fitzgerald said in the documents it was his understanding that "Mr. Libby testified that he was authorized to disclose information about the NIE to the press by his superiors."

The White House has refused to comment on the case.

"I think this calls into question in terms of Fitzgerald's investigation of the conduct of the vice president and others," Reed said.

"I think he has to look closely at their behavior."

Allen expressed confidence in Fitzgerald, whom he called "a very articulate, professional prosecutor."

"And I think the facts will lead wherever they lead, and I think he will prosecute as appropriate," Allen said.

Libby, 55, was indicted on charges that he lied to FBI agents and the grand jury about how he learned CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity and when he told reporters.

He is not charged with leaking classified information.

[Snuffysmith]

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HB14Ak03.html
SPEAKING FREELY
Freedom dead, democracy dying
By Aseem Shrivastava

Speaking Freely is an Asia Times Online feature that allows guest writers to have their say. Please click here if you are interested in contributing.

"Let us not speak falsely now, the hour is getting late." - Bob Dylan

Imagine: among the recent incidents following the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed was one that went oddly unreported. In Tehran, Iranian police managed to catch a few European teenagers who were throwing glasses and plates at the crowd from the windows of the Danish Consulate when Danish flags were being burned on the street outside.

Later, police took the boys to the nearest station and gave them a thorough thrashing. One of the boys was kicked in his genitals by a policeman, while others held him down. Another was held against the wall and given a sound hammering with batons on his back. A third was kicked by several of them as he lay prostrate on the ground. "Naughty little boys" and various unmentionable abuses were barked at them by the policemen, who were obviously reveling in the sadistic enterprise.

All this was recorded on video by someone and handed over to the television channel that broadcast it this morning.

Back to reality.

Of course, the above story is made up, but not really, because all I did was make the characters involved switch roles, much as in role plays schoolkids are often asked to do in multicultural neighborhoods around Europe, in order to understand where "others are coming from".

The above is precisely what could be seen on TV screens across the world, after the British tabloid News of the World released the video clip of the beating of Iraqi teenage boys carried out by British soldiers some months back.

Let's have, if only for a change, the same rules for everyone.

Let us not fall into the temptation of the old alibi that it was the work of a few bad men in an otherwise decent establishment. In the video there are plenty of soldiers passing by as the beating is going on. None tries to stop it. How many times they must have seen such things, or done them themselves, or seen their superiors do or order them.

When brutalization is banal, it is too boring to talk about, let alone stop.

How many pictures and videos have been banned from the TV screens of the world at the orders of the Pentagon? If there were nothing to hide, we would indeed be living in a free world at the moment.

It won't do to pass the buck downward. Brigadier-General Janis Karpinski, the highest military officer to be punished ("scapegoated", in her own words) in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal in Iraq (she was demoted to the rank of colonel), in her recent book One Woman's Army says the entire chain of command, starting with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, must be held accountable for the crimes at the prison since the blame "goes all the way to the top". Her interview with Amy Goodman on the news radio Democracy Now! program speaks volumes for the depth of cover-up going on quietly.

The New Standard had reported some months back that a Federal Bureau of Investigation e-mail released by the US government at the demand of the American Civil Liberties Union in December 2004 revealed that President George W Bush had sent out an executive order permitting the use of new interrogation techniques. The White House has neither confirmed nor denied that torture orders were given from the very top.

When the rot is this deep, it is understandable that justice cannot be done: for each finger pointing down at someone who infringed, there will be many times more pointing up toward the bosses who, far from disallowing, actually appear to have encouraged the tortures.

Britain has boasted much about its standards of military justice being some of the highest in the world. Let us see how far up the chain of command investigations are able to reach. Let's see whether the defense secretary is called upon to answer for the crimes.

If we are serious about such matters as peace and security, let us stop denying what is obvious to people living in Muslim countries. Let us not just keep our attention anchored on the silly cartoons and their aftermath on the streets of the Middle East. Let us consider the far graver matters threatening the moral core of civilization itself.

Now the actions last week on the streets of Cairo, Jakarta and Tehran appear in quite a different light. It should have been obvious that the issue - for people living there - did not concern freedom of expression at all. It should have been evident that it wasn't just a matter of a few cartoons. The actions against the cartoons are only at the little-rippling surface of surging anger among people living in Muslim countries at the systematic injustices they continue to suffer at the hands of the West, especially the United States and the United Kingdom. The Muslim clergy is able to make hay only because the blazing sun of foreign injustices refuses to set.

The Abu Ghraib revelations took place almost two years ago - those at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba even earlier. More recently, it was learned that special Central Intelligence Agency flights were being routed through Europe to carry suspects to be tortured in places where it would be safe to do so. Illegal detentions and tortures continue in a global archipelago of prisons run by Washington.

No significant (by which I mean proportionate) justice has been done with regards to the torture revelations. Muslims, much more so than others, cannot forget that. Nor has there been any promise that the practices would be stopped. On the contrary, Washington has sought to legalize torture.

When one has come to live in such a brutalized global village, when men in suits and ties calmly impose barbarities on others in the name of defending something they call civilization and for passing on the torch of liberty to less fortunate souls in strange lands, the time has come to ask for a clear definition of "civilization".

If you reserve your brutality for bar-room brawls and post-soccer angst, or export it abroad in the shape of oil-seeking military missions masquerading as human-rights campaigns, it does not make you any less barbaric than those Muslims who were openly burning European flags and throwing stones at consulates last week. On the contrary, machines kill more effectively than machetes.

Much deeper things than just freedom of speech are at stake these days. The very dignity of human beings is under the sword - everywhere.

Long before the first atom had been split and the first-ever bomb dropped from the air (by the Italians on Libya in 1911), the great 19th-century American writer Herman Melville had written with self-critical honesty that few in this modern world (which, we are assured, is freer today than ever before) would dare, though the truth is far more grim today:
The fiend-like skill we display in the invention of all manner of death-dealing engines, the vindictiveness with which we carry on our wars, and the misery and desolation that follow in their train, are enough of themselves to distinguish the white civilized man as the most ferocious animal on the face of the earth ... it is needless to multiply the examples of civilized barbarity; they far exceed in the amount of misery they cause the crimes which we regard with such abhorrence in our less enlightened fellow-creature.
Times have moved on much since Melville. But the world is such that the integrity of a white man still has greater impact on human destinies than the honesty of others (who are by no means exempt from their duty to find and tell the truth). One shudders to imagine what Melville would have written today. But the rest of the world expects exactly such honesty from Western citizens today. And we know, from the example of numerous noble exceptions, that they are capable of it. It is for them to terminate their indoctrinated ignorance, seek the truth and make it count.

We are truly scratching the bottom of the barrel of civilization now.

Civilization is not just about good manners, about neat and tidy exteriors that conceal a beastliness that would put animals to shame. At least with the anti-cartoon protests in Islamic countries the barbarities were on the surface, obvious to onlookers. But how do you detect the insane, well-entrenched barbarism of civilized societies if you are only going to be allowed occasional peeks at the scale of organized evil, if the iceberg of dehumanized depravity pops up but once in a while, staying underground long enough to lull us all into the sleep of drugged babies - until the next set of revelations arrive? When dated defensive ideologies of freedom or human rights are used to defend indefensible state actions?

Freedom is dead. Democracy is dying. There are no human rights for those without power. The example of Iraq should teach us that there are things - loss of human dignity, for one, civil war for another - worse than dictatorship.

It is for the citizens of Europe and America to terminate their shameful silence, resume the struggles for freedom, peace and justice that have been in abeyance since the 1960s, and march in their millions on the streets of Western capitals.

Next month we await a show called Death to Iran. If it is allowed to be aired, Westerners will find little left in their pockets after they have paid their rising oil bills.

Beyond that, all bets are off.

Aseem Shrivastava is an independent writer. He can be reached at aseem62@yahoo.com.

[Snuffysmith]

http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts02112006.html

Forget Iran, Americans Should be Hysterical About This
Nuking the Economy
By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS

Last week the Bureau of Labor Statistics re-benchmarked the payroll jobs data back to 2000. Thanks to Charles McMillion of MBG Information Services, I have the adjusted data from January 2001 through January 2006. If you are worried about terrorists, you don’t know what worry is.

Job growth over the last five years is the weakest on record. The US economy came up more than 7 million jobs short of keeping up with population growth. That’s one good reason for controlling immigration. An economy that cannot keep up with population growth should not be boosting population with heavy rates of legal and illegal immigration.

Over the past five years the US economy experienced a net job loss in goods producing activities. The entire job growth was in service-providing activities--primarily credit intermediation, health care and social assistance, waiters, waitresses and bartenders, and state and local government.

US manufacturing lost 2.9 million jobs, almost 17% of the manufacturing work force. The wipeout is across the board. Not a single manufacturing payroll classification created a single new job.

The declines in some manufacturing sectors have more in common with a country undergoing saturation bombing during war than with a super-economy that is “the envy of the world.” Communications equipment lost 43% of its workforce. Semiconductors and electronic components lost 37% of its workforce. The workforce in computers and electronic products declined 30%. Electrical equipment and appliances lost 25% of its employees. The workforce in motor vehicles and parts declined 12%. Furniture and related products lost 17% of its jobs. Apparel manufacturers lost almost half of the work force. Employment in textile mills declined 43%. Paper and paper products lost one-fifth of its jobs. The work force in plastics and rubber products declined by 15%. Even manufacturers of beverages and tobacco products experienced a 7% shrinkage in jobs.

The knowledge jobs that were supposed to take the place of lost manufacturing jobs in the globalized “new economy” never appeared. The information sector lost 17% of its jobs, with the telecommunications work force declining by 25%. Even wholesale and retail trade lost jobs. Despite massive new accounting burdens imposed by Sarbanes-Oxley, accounting and bookkeeping employment shrank by 4%. Computer systems design and related lost 9% of its jobs. Today there are 209,000 fewer managerial and supervisory jobs than 5 years ago.

In five years the US economy only created 70,000 jobs in architecture and engineering, many of which are clerical. Little wonder engineering enrollments are shrinking. There are no jobs for graduates. The talk about engineering shortages is absolute ignorance. There are several hundred thousand American engineers who are unemployed and have been for years. No student wants a degree that is nothing but a ticket to a soup line. Many engineers have written to me that they cannot even get Wal-Mart jobs because their education makes them over-qualified.

Offshore outsourcing and offshore production have left the US awash with unemployment among the highly educated. The low measured rate of unemployment does not include discouraged workers. Labor arbitrage has made the unemployment rate less and less a meaningful indicator. In the past unemployment resulted mainly from turnover in the labor force and recession. Recoveries pulled people back into jobs.

Unemployment benefits were intended to help people over the down time in the cycle when workers were laid off. Today the unemployment is permanent as entire occupations and industries are wiped out by labor arbitrage as corporations replace their American employees with foreign ones.

Economists who look beyond political press releases estimate the US unemployment rate to be between 7% and 8.5%. There are now hundreds of thousands of Americans who will never recover their investment in their university education.

Unless the BLS is falsifying the data or businesses are reporting the opposite of the facts, the US is experiencing a job depression. Most economists refuse to acknowledge the facts, because they endorsed globalization. It was a win-win situation, they said.

They were wrong.

At a time when America desperately needs the voices of educated people as a counterweight to the disinformation that emanates from the Bush administration and its supporters, economists have discredited themselves. This is especially true for “free market economists” who foolishly assumed that international labor arbitrage was an example of free trade that was benefitting Americans. Where is the benefit when employment in US export industries and import-competitive industries is shrinking? After decades of struggle to regain credibility, free market economics is on the verge of another wipeout.

No sane economist can possibly maintain that a deplorable record of merely 1,054,000 net new private sector jobs over five years is an indication of a healthy economy. The total number of private sector jobs created over the five year period is 500,000 jobs less than one year’s legal and illegal immigration! (In a December 2005 Center for Immigration Studies report based on the Census Bureau’s March 2005 Current Population Survey, Steven Camarota writes that there were 7,9 million new immigrants between January 2000 and March 2005.)

The economics profession has failed America. It touts a meaningless number while joblessness soars. Lazy journalists at the New York Times simply rewrite the Bush administration’s press releases.

On February 10 the Commerce Department released a record US trade deficit in goods and services for 2005--$726 billion. The US deficit in Advanced Technology Products reached a new high. Offshore production for home markets and jobs outsourcing has made the US highly dependent on foreign provided goods and services, while simultaneously reducing the export capability of the US economy. It is possible that there might be no exchange rate at which the US can balance its trade.

Polls indicate that the Bush administration is succeeding in whipping up fear and hysteria about Iran. The secretary of defense is promising Americans decades-long war. Is death in battle Bush’s solution to the job depression? Will Asians finance a decades-long war for a bankrupt country?

Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review. He is coauthor of The Tyranny of Good Intentions.He can be reached at: paulcraigroberts@yahoo.com

[Livyjr]

http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts02112006.html

"Forget Iran, Americans Should be Hysterical About This
Nuking the Economy"

By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS

Polls indicate that the Bush administration is succeeding in whipping up fear and hysteria about Iran.

The secretary of defense is promising Americans decades-long war.

Is death in battle Bush’s solution to the job depression?

Will Asians finance a decades-long war for a bankrupt country?

Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review. He is coauthor of The Tyranny of Good Intentions.He can be reached at: paulcraigroberts@yahoo.com

Somehow, Snuffysmith ....

I believe that that is exactly the case .....

George W. Bush is going to have OUR America as a sort of Hesse, or Brunswick ....

An "ARMY-EXPORTING" nation ....

And someone will finance that .....

For what that will grab them hold of ....

Combine your two articles above and look where it takes you to ....

We are reverting ....

Sliding back ...

For an example of where we are going, try India in the time of Clive ....

Or Afghanistan with its warlords ....

This concept of "state boundaries" is really becoming amorphous ...

And that begins right here in corporate boardrooms in OUR United States of America .....

Where the corporations do not see or respect state boundaries right here in OUR own nation ...

Let alone in the world ...

And so ...

Now you have CORPORATE ARMIES staking out territory ...

Just as the East India Company had its own 100,000 strong private army to do the same in India .....

America is turning into a real ugly place, Snuffysmith ...

A real ugly place, indeed ......

Over in another thread, I talked about quitting the killing in Viet Nam ....

And that is one of the things that I see as having been "changed" ...

Or "altered" in some way ....

With respect to this new ugly America ....

Is that they have "generated" a generation that will kill ...

And that will not question it ...

Because "they" see people like me as the "reason" that we lost in Viet Nam .....

Because we could think ....

We could discern ...

And we could reason ...

And therefore ...

Determine right from wrong ...

And on whose side we were really on ...

THAT WAS SEEN AS WEAKNESS BY THESE NEW CONS ...

And so ....

Through the use of video games and such, they have managed to de-personalize and trivialize human life to the point of where it is worthless ...

And now, they are going to try Viet Nam all over again ..

Believing they can win this time ...

Because no one will question pulling the trigger ....

And there is the folly of Viet Nam compounded all over again ...

Because there will never be enough of the invaders to kill all of the people resisting their invasion, in the end ...

And the more of them that you do manage to kill, what you have really done is to strengthen the survivors, when you believe you are cowing them instead .....

I honestly have never seen such a big a pack of fools as this BUSHCO crowd ....

Nor do I recall such a THUGGISH CORRUPT government here in OUR America in my lifetime, anyway ....

And so ....

[Livyjr]

I honestly have never seen such a big a pack of fools as this BUSHCO crowd ....

Nor do I recall such a THUGGISH CORRUPT government here in OUR America in my lifetime, anyway ....

And so ....

And staying with this same subject for just as moment longer ....

"Cheney Cited for Breaking Hunting Law"

By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer

49 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney has been given a warning citation for breaking Texas hunting law by failing to buy a $7 stamp allowing him to shoot upland game birds.

The warning came from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department after it investigated Cheney's accidental shooting of a fellow quail hunter Saturday on the private Armstrong Ranch in the south part of the state.

The department found the accident was caused by a "hunter's judgment factor" when Cheney sprayed another hunter while aiming at flying birds.

The report said the victim, prominent Republican attorney Harry Whittington of Austin, was retrieving a downed bird and stepped out of the hunting line he was sharing with Cheney.

"Another covey was flushed and Cheney swung on a bird and fired, striking Whittington in the face, neck and chest at approximately 30 yards," the report said.

Cheney, an experienced hunter, has not commented publicly about the accident.

His office said Monday night in a statement that Cheney had a $125 nonresident hunting license and has sent a $7 check to cover the cost of the stamp.

"The staff asked for all permits needed, but was not informed of the $7 upland game bird stamp requirement," the statement said.

Whittington also received a warning for failing to have the stamp.

A department spokesman said warnings are being issued in most cases because the stamp requirement only went into effect five months ago and many hunters aren't aware of it.

Whittington was in stable condition at Christus Spohn Hospital Corpus Christi-Memorial and was moved from intensive care to a "step-down unit" Monday.

Doctors decided to leave several birdshot pellets lodged in his skin rather than try to remove them.

Katharine Armstrong, owner of the ranch where the shooting occurred, said it happened toward the end of the hunt, when it was still sunny but as darkness was encroaching and they were preparing to go inside.

She said Whittington made a mistake by not announcing that he had walked up to rejoin the hunting line, and Cheney didn't see him as he tried to down a bird.

Armstrong said she saw Cheney's security detail running toward the scene.

"The first thing that crossed my mind was he had a heart problem," she told The Associated Press.

She said Cheney stayed "close but cool" while the agents and medical personnel treated Whittington, then took him by ambulance to the hospital.

Later, the hunting group sat down for dinner while Whittington was being treated, receiving updates from a family member at the hospital.

Armstrong described Cheney's demeanor during dinner as "very worried" about Whittington.

Pamela Willeford, the U.S. ambassador to Switzerland, another member of the hunting party, told The Dallas Morning News for a story in Tuesday's editions that she and Cheney didn't realize Whittington had picked up a bird and caught up with them.

Willeford said she has hunted with Cheney before and would again.

"He's a great shot."

"He's very safety conscious."

"This is something that unfortunately was a bad accident and when you're with a group like that, he's safe or safer than all the rest of us," she said.

The accident raised questions about Cheney's adherence to hunting safety practices and the White House's failure to disclose the accident in a timely way.

Duane Harvey, president of the Wisconsin Hunter Education Instructors Association, said if Whittington had made his presence known "that would have been a polite thing to do."

But, he added, "it's still the fault upon the shooter to identify his target and what is beyond it."

President Bush was told about Cheney's involvement in the accident shortly before 8 p.m. Saturday — about an hour after it occurred — but the White House did not disclose the accident until Sunday afternoon, and then only in response to press questions.

Facing a press corps upset that news had been withheld, press secretary Scott McClellan said, "I think you can always look back at these issues and look at how to do a better job."

Armstrong said she told Cheney on Sunday morning that she was going to inform the local paper, the Corpus Christi Caller-Times.

She said he agreed, and the newspaper was the first to report the incident on its Web site Sunday afternoon.

Secret Service spokesman Eric Zahren said that about an hour after Cheney shot Whittington, the head of the Secret Service's local office called the Kenedy County sheriff to report the accident.

"They made arrangements at the sheriff's request to have deputies come out and interview the vice president the following morning at 8 a.m. and that indeed did happen," Zahren said.

At least one deputy showed up at the ranch's front gate Saturday evening and asked to speak to Cheney but was turned away by the Secret Service, Zahren said.

There was some miscommunication that arrangements already had been made to interview Cheney the next morning, he said.

Gilbert San Miguel, chief deputy sheriff for Kenedy County, said the department's report had not been completed Monday and that it was being handled as a hunting accident, although he would not comment about what exactly they were investigating.

Both the sheriff's department and the state have determined that alcohol did not appear to be a factor.
___

On the Net:

White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov

HHHHhhhmmmm ......

"Well, Deputy, yes, we know he shot somebody ..."

"But some punk like you isn't getting in there to talk to him about it ..."

"We'll handle this our own way ..."

Maybe they needed to dry Dick out overnight ...

Or to sedate him ....

In any event, they are saying that since this news came out about Dick Cheney shooting a REPUBLICAN lawyer ...

His popularity in America surged to an all-time new record high of some 96.754987 % ......

And that if he promises to shoot a bunch more, he could be the next president of OUR America by popular acclaim ...

And I guess his website is now being overloaded by people not only here in OUR America, but in the world as well, sending Dick the names of lawyers that they would like him to take hunting with him, the next time he goes ...

And so ...

[Livyjr]

Funny how a guy can accidentally take a bullet to the TEMPLE.

 
That was a sniper's signature on Calipari, jeffmoskin ....

An assassin's shot ......

The one sure shot to outright kill a man ....

And an expert made it happen .....

No more dealing with the enemies of George W. Bush for Calipari .....

Keep those earflaps down, jeffmoskin ....

"Cheney Cited for Breaking Hunting Law"

By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer

Pamela Willeford, the U.S. ambassador to Switzerland, another member of the hunting party, told The Dallas Morning News for a story in Tuesday's editions that she and Cheney didn't realize Whittington had picked up a bird and caught up with them.

Willeford said she has hunted with Cheney before and would again.

"He's a great shot."

And two and two makes four ...

Or so the wags up here seem to be saying anyway ....

And they would know ...

Or so they would have us believe anyway .....

The wags, that is .....

After all, their crowd runs with people like Dick Cheney .....

And George Pataki, well, he carries water for George W. Bush, himself ...

And so ...

"CALIPARI SYNDROME" is what they are calling it ....

This shooting of this old REPUBLICAN lawyer by Dick Cheney, that is .....

Although no one can say for sure .....

I mean ...

From what they seem to be saying .....

Dick was stroking and carressing his gun quite a bit that day ...

BUT WAS THAT ANYMORE THAN HE NORMALLY WOULD HAVE?

And there seems to be the real conundrum .....

Trying to figure out, at this point, what really would be abberrent behavior in Dick Cheney when he has a gun in his hands .....

Especially in light of this Calipari business that jeffmoskin and I were discussing above ....

That SIGNATURE shot .....

RIGHT TO THE TEMPLE ....

A man's head ....

A speeding car ....

Bigger than the eye on a speeding quail, though ...

And a lot slower, too .....

And a man with the fluid moves of the "Johnny-Texas Throw-Down" such as has Dick Cheney, with that gun in his hands ...

Lightning swift reflexes ...

Combined with a killer's instincts ....

The deadliest of combinations, they say ....

And OUR Dick has it in spades .....

SO ....

Might it be as they say .....

There is Dick, in his mind, looking out ...

And there ....

The road from the airport ...

And the car .....

The car that he had been told about ....

Coming .....

All the time Dick caressing that precision killing machine cradled in his arms ...

And now ...

With the fluid grace of a leopard or panther striking ...

Dick "throws down" .....

The scope automatically falls right on Dick's intended target .....

And .......

ba-BOOM .....

"Hunter Shot by Cheney Has Heart Attack"

By LYNN BREZOSKY and NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writers

14 minutes ago

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - The 78-year-old lawyer wounded by Vice President Dick Cheney in a hunting accident suffered a mild heart attack Tuesday after a shotgun pellet in his chest traveled to his heart, hospital officials said.

Harry Whittington was immediately moved back to the intensive care unit and will be watched for a week to make sure more of the metal pellets do not reach other vital organs.

He was reported in stable condition.

Whittington suffered a "silent heart attack" — obstructed blood flow, but without the classic heart-attack symptoms of pain and pressure, according to doctors at Christus Spohn Hospital Corpus Christi-Memorial.

The doctors said they decided to treat the situation conservatively and leave the pellet alone rather than operate to remove it.

They said they are highly optimistic Whittington will recover and live a healthy life with the pellet in him.

Asked whether the pellet could move farther into his heart and become fatal, hospital officials said that was a hypothetical question they could not answer.

Hospital officials said they were not concerned about the six to 200 other pieces of birdshot that might still be lodged in Whittington's body.

Cheney was using 7 1/2 shot from a 28-gauge shotgun.

Shotgun pellets are typically made of steel or lead; the pellets in 7 1/2 shot are just under a tenth of an inch in diameter.

Cheney watched the news conference where doctors described Whittington's complications.

Then the vice president called him, wished him well and asked if there was anything that he needed.

"The vice president said that he stood ready to assist."

"Mr. Whittington's spirits were good, but obviously his situation deserves the careful monitoring that his doctors are providing," the vice president's office said in a statement.

Cheney, an experienced hunter, has not spoken publicly about the accident, which took place Saturday night while the vice president was aiming for a quail.

Critics of the Bush administration called for more answers from the Cheney himself.

Whittington has said through hospital officials that he does not want to comment on the shooting.

A young man at Whittington's Austin home who identified himself as his grandson said Tuesday he did not have time to talk to a reporter and closed the door.

The furor over the accident and the White House delay in making it public are "part of the secretive nature of this administration," said Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.

"I think it's time the American people heard from the vice president."

Before hospital officials announced details of Whittington's condition, the hunting accident had produced a raft of Cheney jokes on late-night television.

"I think Cheney is starting to lose it," Jay Leno said.

"After he shot the guy he screamed, `Anyone else want to call domestic wiretapping illegal?!'"

On Tuesday morning, the White House spokesman briefly joined in the merriment, joking that the orange school colors of the visiting University of Texas championship football team should not be mistaken for hunters' safety gear.

"The orange that they're wearing is not because they're concerned that the vice president may be there," press secretary Scott McClellan said.

"That's why I'm wearing it."

Hospital officials said they knew that Whittington had some birdshot near his heart and that there was a chance it could move closer since scar tissue had not had time to harden and hold the pellet in place.

After Whittington developed an irregular heartbeat, doctors performed a cardiac catheterization, in which a thin, flexible tube is inserted into the heart, to diagnose his condition, said Peter Banko, the administrator at the hospital.

The shot was either touching or embedded in the heart muscle near the top chambers, called the atria, officials said.

Two things resulted:

_It caused inflammation that pushed on the heart in a way to temporarily block blood flow, what the doctors called a "silent heart attack." This is not a traditional heart attack where an artery is blocked. They said Whittington's arteries, in fact, were healthy.

_It irritated the atria, caused an irregular heartbeat known as atrial fibrillation, which is not immediately life-threatening. But it must be treated because it can spur blood clots to form. Most cases can be corrected with medication.

White House physicians helped advise on the course of treatment, hospital officials said.

Texas officials said the shooting was an accident and no charges were brought against the vice president.

A Texas Parks and Wildlife Department report issued Monday said Whittington was retrieving a downed bird and stepped out of the hunting line he was sharing with Cheney.

"Another covey was flushed and Cheney swung on a bird and fired, striking Whittington in the face, neck and chest at approximately 30 yards," the report said.
___

Associated Press Writer Nedra Pickler contributed to this report from Washington.
___

On the Net:

White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov





And

[Livyjr]

From what they seem to be saying .....

Dick was stroking and carressing his gun quite a bit that day ...

BUT WAS THAT ANYMORE THAN HE NORMALLY WOULD HAVE?

"Late Show with David Letterman," CBS

"Good news, ladies and gentlemen, we have finally located weapons of mass destruction: It's Dick Cheney."

"But here is the sad part -- before the trip Donald Rumsfeld had denied the guy's request for body armor."

"We can't get Bin Laden, but we nailed a 78-year-old attorney."

"The guy who got gunned down, he is a Republican lawyer and a big Republican donor and fortunately the buck shot was deflected by wads of laundered cash."

"So he's fine."

"He took a little in the wallet."

"The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," NBC

"Although it is beautiful here in California, the weather back East has been atrocious."

"There was so much snow in Washington, D.C., Dick Cheney accidentally shot a fat guy thinking it was a polar bear."

"That's the big story over the weekend."

"... Dick Cheney accidentally shot a fellow hunter, a 78-year-old lawyer."

"In fact, when people found out he shot a lawyer, his popularity is now at 92 percent."

"I think Cheney is starting to lose it."

"After he shot the guy he screamed, 'Anyone else want to call domestic wire tapping illegal?'"

"Dick Cheney is capitalizing on this for Valentine's Day."

"It's the new Dick Cheney cologne."

"It's called Duck!"

"The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," Comedy Central

The show's segment titles included "Cheney's Got a Gun," "No. 2 With a Bullet" and "Dead-Eye Dick."

"Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot a man during a quail hunt ... making 78-year-old Harry Whittington the first person shot by a sitting veep since Alexander Hamilton."

"Hamilton, of course, (was) shot in a duel with Aaron Burr over issues of honor, integrity and political maneuvering."

"Whittington?"

"Mistaken for a bird."

"Now, this story certainly has its humorous aspects."

"... But it also raises a serious issue, one which I feel very strongly about."

"... Moms, dads, if you're watching right now, I can't emphasize this enough: Do not let your kids go on hunting trips with the vice president."

"I don't care what kind of lucrative contracts they're trying to land, or energy regulations they're trying to get lifted -- it's just not worth it."

"Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson," CBS

"You can understand why this lawyer fellow let his guard down, because if you're out hunting with a politician, you think, 'If I'm going to get it, it's going to be in the back.'"

"The big scandal apparently is that they didn't release the news for 18 hours."

"I don't think that's a scandal at all."

"I'm quite pleased about that."

"Finally there's a secret the vice president's office can keep."

"Apparently the reason they didn't release the information right away is they said we had to get the facts right."

"That's never stopped them in the past."