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

[Livyjr]

"Our Eyes Are Open. Now What? - What options does the U.S. have left?"

TIME Magazine, Mar. 27, 2006

Three years into this awful adventure, the question is, What is realism, American style?

The U.S. effort in Iraq has been a deadly combination of utopian fantasy and near criminal incompetence.

It remains a mystery why Donald Rumsfeld, the architect of this disaster, has been allowed to continue as Secretary of Defense.

The President won't admit it, but on the third anniversary of his war, the only plausible reason for remaining in Iraq is to prevent an even greater catastrophe.

That is realism, American style.

"The less ...."

"A leader ...."

"Says ..."

"And does ..."

"The happier ..."

"His people ..."

"The more ..."

"A leader ..."

"STRUTS ..."

"AND BRAGS ..."

"The SORRIER ....."

"His people ...."

- Lao Tze, Tao Te Ching

And while we are on the subject ...

Of the damn fool Bush ....

And the trouble ....

That he has got ....

OUR America in ...

With his grandiose PIE-IN-THE-SKY fantasy .....

About him ....

Being ....

The BRINGER ....

OF LIGHT ....

To the heathenish ....

Souls ....

Of IRAQINAMISTAN ....

And the whole wide world, as well ....

"U.S. may send 5,000 more troops to Baghdad"

By PAULINE JELINEK and RYAN LENZ, Associated Press
Last updated: 6:46 p.m., Thursday, July 27, 2006

WASHINGTON -- Military commanders in Iraq are developing a plan to move as many as 5,000 U.S. troops with armored vehicles and tanks into the country's capital in an effort to quell escalating violence, defense officials said Thursday.

As part of the plan, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Thursday extended the tours of some 3,500 members of the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team.

It was scheduled to be leaving now, but instead, most of its 3,900 troops will serve for up to four more months.

It was unclear whether the Stryker troops, who are in northern Iraq, would be among those going to Baghdad.

Under the plan to bolster security in Baghdad, U.S. troops would be teamed with Iraqi police and army units and make virtually every operation in the city a joint effort, one military official said.

Another said movement of some troops into Baghdad had already begun.

All flights out for soldiers currently at the end of their deployment were canceled as of Tuesday, as commanders wrestled with the plan and how to supply troops needed for it, a third official said.[/size]

All spoke on condition of anonymity because the plan had not been finalized and discussions were private.

President Bush broadly outlined a plan to increase U.S. and Iraqi forces in Baghdad during Tuesday's visit to Washington by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

But little detail was provided.

Officials said it would involve shifting some U.S. forces to the capital from other locations in the country.

There were about 130,000 U.S. troops in Iraq on Thursday, and about 30,000 were in Baghdad prior to the new plan.

Assembling more troops and armor in Baghdad is aimed at calming violence that has only increased in the capital since mid-June, when al-Maliki launched the city's biggest security crackdown since the U.S.-led invasion.

As part of the new plan, about four companies of military police, or about 400 soldiers, are moving to Baghdad, and the remainder of a reserve force that had been in Kuwait -- equaling about another 400 troops -- has also gone into Iraq, officials said earlier this week.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman declined to give details of the plan, saying the top commander in Iraq, Gen. George Casey, "is working through a very tough problem" on how to manage the security crackdown with the new resources planned.

Defense experts inside and outside the Pentagon worry that diverting U.S. troops to Baghdad could weaken their ability in other parts of the country.

And they say the plan reverses an earlier effort to make Americans less visible and put Iraqi forces out front in the fight.

Others argued that Baghdad is the central problem at the moment and that Iraqis in the capital will feel safer with the heavier armored presence.

British Ambassador to Iraq William Patey said Wednesday that the security problem was made worse because Iraqis have lost confidence in the police and that evidence suggests some members of the police are linked to Shiite militias and Sunni insurgent groups.

Asked if bringing tanks and armor back to Baghdad would run counter to plans for reducing the visibility of U.S. forces, one military official said:

"There is definitely a fine line between overwhelming amounts of combat power versus enough to make you feel safe.

"I don't think we're talking a tank on every street corner," the official said.

The 172nd uses the lighter, faster Stryker troop-carrying vehicle and includes about 4,400 troops.

At least 200 have returned to Alaska; others were in Kuwait awaiting transportation home.

It wasn't clear Thursday how many members of the unit remained in Iraq.

Rumsfeld has extended tours of duty before in the war, including several times last fall when U.S. forces were increased to deal with violence at the time of the Iraqi elections.

The move to bolster Baghdad security comes amid growing concern about the course of the 3-year-old war among U.S. lawmakers and the American public.

Military commanders had hoped troop levels could be reduced this year.

------

Associated Press writer Ryan Lenz contributed to this story from Baghdad and AP writer Lolita C. Baldor from Washington.

On the Net:

Operation Iraqi Freedom: http://www.mnf-iraq.com/

end quotes

The "little detail" .....

That PRESIDENT-FOR-LIFE George W. Bush ....

Always provides us with .....

IS ALL THAT HE IS CAPABLE OF ....

WHICH IS NOT MUCH AT ALL .....

Him being the fool that he is .....

Not knowing ....

If he is afoot ....

Or horseback ....

And so ....

[Livyjr]

"Oh, Eliot, You're JUST So Vain" 
     
With apologies to Carly Simon

Oh, Eliot ....

You foxy devil, you .....   

You walked into the party ....

Like you were walking into the Governor's Chambers ....

In the capital ....

In Albany, New York ....

Your hat strategically dipped below one eye ...

Your scarf it was apricot ....

You had one eye in the mirror ....

On yourself, of course .....

And the other ...

On all the LOBBYISTS in the room ....

And the little bags of money in their hands ....

As you watched yourself gavotte ....

From lobbyist to lobbyist ...

Collecting your due, of course ...

And all the girls dreamed .....

As they do when in the company of powerful politicians like you ....

That they'd be your "partner" .....

They'd be your partner, and....

Oh, Eliot ......

You're just so vain ....

You KNOW this song is about you .....

Oh "Big EL" .....

You're just so vain ....

You're out there hiring people ....

To write pretty songs about you .....

Aren't you?

Aren't you?

You had New York State .....

Several years ago .....

When we were still quite naive .....

Well you said that you and New York State ....

Made such a pretty pair ....

And that you would never leave us stranded .....

Outside the protection of law ....

While your GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDACY .....

Stuffed its pockets .....

With money ...

From those who would have it be so .....

But like all politicans in the end, Eliot ....

You gave away the things we loved .....

Like HONESTY ...

And INTEGRITY ....

And FORTHRIGHTNESS .....

And Eliot ....

One of those "things" you gave away ....

Was me .....

So Eliot ....

I had some dreams ....

Or so I thought ....

They were clouds in my coffee .....

Clouds in my coffee and ....

NO ...

Actually .....

It was GROUNDWATER CONTAMINATION, instead .....

And no dream at all ...

Thanks to YOU, Big EL ....

And here is something that those of us who live up here in the CORRUPT REPUBLICAN EMPIRE of New York ...

Have to be concerned about ...

What with our CORRUPT New York State Department of Environmental Conservation .....

ENCOURAGING POLLUTERS ....

TO POLLUTE OUR GROUNDWATER ....

WHILE OUR CORRUPT ....

NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH ...

TURNS ITS BACK ...

And don't see nothing ....

As a result .....

AND OUR ATTORNEY GENERAL-ON-THE-MAKE .....

PROTECTS THE LOT OF THEM ....

And so ....

"Common pollutant eyed in cancer study"

By JOHN HEILPRIN, Associated Press Writer

3 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Growing scientific evidence suggests the most widespread industrial contaminant in drinking water — a solvent used in adhesives, paint and spot removers — can cause cancer in people.

The National Academy of Sciences reported Thursday that a lot more is known about the cancer risks and other health hazards from exposure to trichloroethylene than there was five years ago when the Environmental Protection Agency took steps to regulate it more strictly.

"Armed with the results from the NAS review, EPA will aggressively move forward" on a new risk assessment of TCE, spokeswoman Jennifer Wood said Thursday.

"EPA will determine whether or not to address the drinking water standard once the risk assessment is complete."

TCE, which is also widely used to remove grease from metal parts in airplanes and to clean fuel lines at missile sites, is known to cause cancer in some laboratory animals.

EPA was blocked from elevating its assessment of the chemical's risks in people by the Defense Department, Energy Department and NASA, all of which have sites polluted with it.

TCE is a colorless liquid that evaporates at room temperatures and has a somewhat sweet odor and taste.

It is one of the most common pollutants found in the air, soil and water at U.S. military bases.

Until the mid-1970s, it also was used as a surgical anesthetic.

It also has been found at about 60 percent of the nation's worst contaminated sites in the Superfund cleanup program, the academy said.

Its 379-page report recommends that EPA revise its assessment of TCE's risks using "currently available data" so no more time is wasted.

That's a step that could lead to stricter regulations.

EPA currently requires limiting TCE to no more than 5 parts per billion parts of drinking water.

A stricter regulation could, in turn, force the government to require more thorough cleanups at military and other sites.

Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., said the report should prompt the government to move faster in cleaning up TCE contamination like that found in his home state and nationally.

"It is no longer acceptable for the government and local polluters to claim that health risks associated with TCE are simply scientific theory when we know that they are compelling scientific fact," said Hinchey, who is on the Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the environment.

A committee of academy experts said "a large body of epidemiologic data is available" on TCE showing the chemical is a possible cause of kidney cancer, reproductive and developmental damage, impaired neurological function and autoimmune disease.

"The committee found that the evidence on carcinogenic risk and other health hazards from exposure to trichloroethylene has strengthened since 2001," the report said.

"Hundreds of waste sites are contaminated with trichloroethylene, and it is well documented that individuals in many communities are exposed to the chemical, with associated health risks."

In 2001, EPA issued a draft document saying the risks of TCE causing cancer in humans were higher than previously thought.

But that pronouncement was dropped after other federal agencies accused EPA of inflating the risks.

To mediate the issue, the Bush administration asked the academy to study the issue.
___

On the Net:

National Academies: http://www.nationalacademies.org

[Livyjr]

In the mornings ....

When I get up ....

I usually catch the morning news ....

Which up here, where I am ....

Comes in from FOX FAIR AND BALANCED YOU DECIDE ....

As carried on CLEARCHANNELS WORLD-WIDE ......

And this morning ....

The woman announcer ....

On FOX .....

In very breathy tones .....

Which indicate extreme displeasure with what is to follow ....

Denounced Howard Dean ...

Because he had the temerity ...

In FOX's view anyway ...

To actually insult a WORLD LEADER ....

By calling the BIG BOSS of IRAQINAMISTAN .....

An ANTI-SEMITE .....

Because the BIG BOSS of IRAQINAMISTAN .....

Denounced Isreal ....

For invading Lebanon ....

And to drive that nail home ...

FOX's extreme displeasure with Howard Dean, that is .....

FOX then put on Newt Gingrich .....

And Newt got his mouth up to hypersonic speed pretty quick ....

As Newt can do, of course ......

Since he is a REPUBLICAN .....

And hence ......

Has been fitted out with a bionic hypersonic mouth .....

Such as REPUBLICANS are, here in OUR America .....

And this is what Newt said ...

In response ..

To Howard Dean ....

Calling the boss of IRAQINAMISTAN .....

An ANTI-SEMITE .....

Newt said that Howard Dean wanted to keep Saddam Hussein in power in IRAQINAMISTAN ......

And if it was up to Howard Dean ...

Saddam Hussein would still be paying families in IRAQINAMISTAN .....

$25,000 .....

To provide him ....

With suicide bombers .....

To go to Isreal .....

To blow up people over there .....

And I had to wonder to myself .....

About just how weird this is all getting .....

OVER HERE .....

SOUNDS LIKE FOX FAIR AND BALANCED .....

IS BECOMING UNHINGED .....

ASSUMING THEY WERE EVER HINGED .....

IN THE FIRST PLACE .....

SOUNDS LIKE NEWT GINGRICH IS UNHINGED HIMSELF ...

But hey ....

He always was, anyway .....

And so .....

Newt's a CONSERVATIVE .....

And they don't like to change .....

For anything ....

Period ...

And so ....

"Dean calls Iraqi PM an 'anti-Semite'"

By BRIAN SKOLOFF, Associated Press
Last updated: 10:46 p.m., Wednesday, July 26, 2006

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Democratic Party chairman Howard Dean on Wednesday called Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki an "anti-Semite" for failing to denounce Hezbollah for its attacks against Israel.

Al-Maliki has condemned Israel's offensive, prompting several Democrats to boycott his address to a joint meeting of Congress and others to criticize him.

Dean's comments were the strongest to date.

"The Iraqi prime minister is an anti-Semite," the Democratic leader told a gathering of business leaders in Florida.

"We don't need to spend $200 and $300 and $500 billion bringing democracy to Iraq to turn it over to people who believe that Israel doesn't have a right to defend itself and who refuse to condemn Hezbollah."

On Tuesday, leading Senate Democrats said in a sharply worded letter that Al-Maliki's "failure to condemn Hezbollah's aggression and recognize Israel's right to defend itself raises serious questions about whether Iraq under your leadership can play a constructive role in resolving the current crisis and bringing stability to the Middle East."

The Republican National Committee rejected Dean's criticism of Al-Maliki, saying, "It is incredibly troubling that Howard Dean would seek to score cheap political points by attacking the democratically elected prime minister of Iraq."

On Capitol Hill, Sen. John Warner, R-Va., the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said: "I dismiss Howard Dean."

"Really, he's a disappointment, even to Democrats."

"I don't care to deal with that."

Dean also used the Florida appearance to criticize President Bush, calling him "the most divisive president probably in our history" as he complained that Republican policies of deceit and finger-pointing are tearing the country apart.

"He's always talking about those people."

"It's always somebody else's fault."

"It's the gays' fault."

"It's the immigrants' fault."

"It's the liberals' fault."

"It's the Democrats' fault."

"It's Hollywood people," Dean said.

"Americans are sick of that."

"Even if you win elections doing that, you drag down our country."

Dean spoke to about 240 business leaders in Palm Beach County at a gathering of the Democratic Professionals Forum.

It is part of a nationwide grassroots campaign to get voters involved in politics on a local level ahead of the November elections.

Republicans welcomed Dean's appearance in Florida, criticizing him for the same divisiveness he accused Republicans of creating.

"Howard Dean's divisive rhetoric has done nothing more than drive the Democrat Party further to the extreme left of the political spectrum," said Carole Jean Jordan, head of the Republican Party of Florida.

------

Associated Press Writer Anne Plummer Flaherty in Washington contributed to this report.

[Livyjr]

And as to ...

THE GREAT DEBATE ...

Last night ....

Between .....

New York State Attorney General Eliot "Big EL" Spitzer .....

And Tom Suozzi ....

I would have to say .....

That UNDERDOG Suozzi .....

Emerged as .....

THE CLEAR WINNER!

And it really came down to .....

One simple issue .....

Two men ....

Spitzer ....

And Suozzi ....

Both took an OATH OF OFFICE ....

To uphold the CONSTITUTIONS ....

Of the State of New York ...

And the United States .....

AND ONLY ONE OF THEM ....

TOM SUOZZI .....

HAS LIVED UP TO THAT OATH ....

And so ....

"Spitzer, Suozzi spar in spirited debate - Democratic candidates for governor trade barbs, charges, accusations" 
 
By ELIZABETH BENJAMIN, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Wednesday, July 26, 2006

NEW YORK CITY -- "Suozzi won because he was on the same stage with Spitzer, and in many ways appeared as Spitzer's equal, which has not been not been reflected in the polls," Muzzio said.

Spitzer, in typical front-runner style, did not speak to the media after the debate.

"Spitzer contender keeps on running - Suozzi campaigns for a face-to-face rematch of debate, heads to Albany"

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

First published: Thursday, July 27, 2006

ALBANY -- Tom Suozzi sought Wednesday to gain traction from what might be the lone Democratic gubernatorial primary debate, hoping to close the yawning gap between himself and front-runner Eliot Spitzer.

Suozzi said he expects his poll numbers to climb as a result of Tuesday's debate in New York City, and expressed frustration that Spitzer has so far refused to agree to a repeat of their first face-to-face televised meeting.

Suozzi, the Nassau County executive, called Spitzer, the state attorney general, a "hypocrite" for his reluctance, noting Spitzer spoke in favor of daily debates during his past campaigns.

"If he doesn't want to debate, then people can judge him based upon that fact," Suozzi said.

"I wouldn't want to debate if I was him either, because he lost, and he doesn't want to lose again."

Spitzer campaign spokeswoman Christine Anderson said the attorney general has agreed to a debate on Aug. 30, in which Republican gubernatorial candidate John Faso is also scheduled to participate.

But Suozzi said that event isn't a real debate because the candidates won't be in the same room.

They'll be in different cities, participating via camera.

Rather than focusing on policy issues that arose during the debate, Suozzi's campaign chose Wednesday to highlight a heated exchange between him and Spitzer that the county executive alleged occurred backstage before the event.

Suozzi insisted Spitzer had been "hostile" and threatened to walk out unless Suozzi wasn't allowed to use notes on stage.

The two campaigns then fought over what the rules of the debate had been and whether everyone had been properly informed of them.

On Wednesday, Suozzi accused Spitzer of having a "temper tantrum" at the debate, and questioned his ability to handle a large-scale crisis.

Spitzer's campaign accused Suozzi of using this issue to deflect attention from the fact that he didn't deliver the "knock-out punch" his campaign badly needed.

Suozzi is scheduled to release a "debate book" at an Albany news conference this morning.

He would not say Wednesday whether the book is what he tried to have on stage with him Tuesday night.

Also Wednesday, the Campaign for Fiscal Equity, a group that sued the state to increase aid to poor, New York City school districts, said Suozzi's figure of $2.5 billion too low to resolve the case and praised Spitzer's pledge to spend from $4 billion to $6 billion.

The case has repeatedly been decided in CFE's favor, but is on appeal before the state's highest court.

The group's executive director, Geri Palast, said Suozzi's number displayed a "shocking level of ignorance" of the long-running case.

But Suozzi called his plan "realistic," and noted he was the first to propose a CFE settlement figure while Spitzer only gave a specific number after being pressed at Tuesday's debate.

The degree to which Suozzi needs to play catch-up was on display at a town hall meeting he held Wednesday night at the Holiday Inn on Western Avenue.

It was a friendly crowd of about 31 people.

Marlon Anderson, 29, of Albany, praised Suozzi, but then asked whether he'll support his opponent if he loses the September primary.

"I'll decide that at the end," Suozzi said.

"But I'll probably support the Democratic candidate."

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

[Livyjr]

Ever since ...

I got back to here ...

From Viet Nam .....

Wherever "here" actually is ...

Since I got "here" by plane ....

I have wondered .....

If this place ...

Isn't just ...

Some huge ...

Open-air insane asylum .....

Without walls ....

Or keepers ....

And right now ...

Today .....

That feeling ...

Is stronger than ever .....

As the world blows up .....

Around us .....

Or "slow-cooks" .....

In the case ...

Of California .....

Where the people ...

Are entitled ...

Because it is the "GOLDEN STATE" .....

To everything ...

On earth ...

That there is ....

And so .....

"'Faceless enemy' sinks morale - Soldiers grow frustrated, begin questioning war as fighting in Iraq drags on"

By JOSHUA PARTLOW, Washington Post
First published: Friday, July 28, 2006

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Army Staff Sgt. Jose Sixtos considered the simple question about morale for more than an hour.

But not until his convoy of armored Humvees had finally rumbled back into the Baghdad military base, and the soldiers emptied the ammunition from their machine guns, and passed off the bomb-detecting robot to another patrol, did he turn around in his seat and give his answer.

"Think of what you hate most about your job."

"Then think of doing what you hate most for five straight hours, every single day, sometimes twice a day, in 120 heat," he said.

"Then ask how morale is."

Frustrated?

"You have no idea," he said.

As President Bush plans to deploy more troops in Baghdad, U.S. soldiers who have been patrolling the capital for months describe a deadly and infuriating mission in which the enemy is elusive and success hard to find.

Each day, convoys of Humvees and Bradley Fighting Vehicles leave Forward Operating Base Falcon in southern Baghdad with the goal of stopping violence between warring Iraqi religious sects, training the Iraqi army and police to take over the duty, and reporting back on the availability of basic services for Iraqi civilians.

But some soldiers in the 2nd Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, 1st Armored Division -- interviewed over four days on base and on patrols -- say they have grown increasingly disillusioned about their ability to quell the violence and their reason for fighting.

The battalion of more than 750 people arrived in Baghdad from Kuwait in March, and since then, six soldiers have been killed and 21 wounded.

"It sucks."

"Honestly, it just feels like we're driving around waiting to get blown up, that's the most honest answer I could give you," said Spec. Tim Ivey, 28, of San Antonio, a muscular former backup fullback for Baylor University.

"You lose a couple friends and it gets hard."

"No one wants to be here, you know, no one is truly enthused about what we do," said Sgt. Christopher Dugger, the squad leader.

"We were excited, but then it just wears on you -- there's only so much you can take."

"Like me, personally, I want to fight in a war like World War II."

"I want to fight an enemy."

"And this, out here," he said, motioning around the scorched sand-and-gravel base, the rows of Humvees and barracks, toward the trash-strewn streets of Baghdad outside, "there is no enemy, it's a faceless enemy."

"He's out there, but he's hiding."

"We're trained as an Army to fight and destroy the enemy and then take over," added Dugger, 26, of Reno, Nev.

"But I don't think we're trained enough to push along a country, and that's what we're actually doing out here."

"It's frustrating, but we are definitely a help to these people," he said.

"I'm out here with the guys that I know so well, and I couldn't picture myself being anywhere else."

After a five-hour patrol on Saturday through southern Baghdad neighborhoods, soldiers from the 1st Platoon sat on wooden benches in an enclosed porch outside their barracks.

Faces flushed and dirty from grit and a beating sun, they smoked cigarettes and tossed them at a rusted can that said "Butts."

The commanders in Baghdad and the Pentagon are "looking at the big picture all the time, but for us, we don't see no big picture, it's just always another bomb out here," said Spec. Joshua Steffey, 24, of Asheville, N.C.

The company's commanding officer, Capt. Douglas A. DiCenzo of Plymouth, N.H., and his gunner, Spec. Robert E. Blair of Ocala, Fla., were killed by a roadside bomb in May.

Steffey said he wished "somebody would explain to us, 'Hey, this is what we're working for.' "

With a stream of expletives, he said he could not care less "if Iraq's free" or "if they're a democracy."

"The first time somebody you know dies, the first thing you ask yourself is, 'Well, what did he die for?' "

"At this point, it seems like the war on drugs in America," added Spec. David Fulcher, 22, a medic from Lynchburg, Va., who sat alongside Steffey.

"It's like this never-ending battle, like, we find one IED, if we do find it before it hits us, so what?"

"You know it's just like if the cops make a big bust, next week the next higher-up puts more back out there."

"My personal opinion, I don't speak for the rest of anybody, I just speak for me personally, I think civil war is going to happen regardless," Steffey said.

"Maybe this country needs it: One side has to win."

"Be it Sunni, be it Shiite, one side has to win."

"It's apparent, these people have made it obvious they can't live in unity."

end quotes

WELL ....

IT'S NOT LIKE MILLIONS OF PEOPLE .....

DIDN'T KNOW ...

IT WAS GOING TO BE THIS WAY ....

BUT THEN ...

THEY WENT AHEAD ....

AND DID IT, ANYWAY .....

And so .......

[Livyjr]

"'Faceless enemy' sinks morale - Soldiers grow frustrated, begin questioning war as fighting in Iraq drags on" 
 
By JOSHUA PARTLOW, Washington Post
First published: Friday, July 28, 2006

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- As President Bush plans to deploy more troops in Baghdad, U.S. soldiers who have been patrolling the capital for months describe a deadly and infuriating mission in which the enemy is elusive and success hard to find.

"No one wants to be here, you know, no one is truly enthused about what we do," said Sgt. Christopher Dugger, the squad leader.

"At this point, it seems like the war on drugs in America," added Spec. David Fulcher, 22, a medic from Lynchburg, Va., who sat alongside Steffey.

And speaking about the WAR ON DRUGS .....

Somebody .....

Ought to check out ...

This al-Maliki dude .....

From IRAQINAMISTAN .....

See what he smoking .....

In that pipe of his .....

Because his TOUCH WITH REALITY ....

Seems as far gone ...

As that of the WORLD-CLASS FOOL Bush ....

Who is his champion ....

Along with the REPUBLICAN PARTY, of course ....

And so ....

"Iraqi leader urges Americans to hold firm in war on terror"

By RICK KLEIN and SUSAN MILLIGAN, Boston Globe
First published: Thursday, July 27, 2006

WASHINGTON -- Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of Iraq Wednesday asked a skeptical American public to continue to stand with Iraq, casting his country as the "front line" in the global battle against terrorism as he pleaded with Congress to send more money to help reconstruction efforts.

Appearing before a joint session of Congress that many Democrats -- including Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. boycotted to protest al-Maliki's position on Israel, the prime minister lavished praise on U.S. troops and lawmakers for their efforts to oust Saddam Hussein.

But he cautioned his American allies about leaving Iraq before terrorist threats are stamped out.

"Do not think that this is an Iraqi problem," al-Maliki said through a translator.

"This terrorist front is a threat to every free country in the world and their citizens."

"... Iraq is the battle that will determine the war."

Al-Maliki also asked for more assistance, saying that much of the $300 billion the United States has spent on Iraq has had to be used for security rather than crucial reconstruction projects.

An anti-war protester disrupted the speech at one point with heckles -- "The Iraqis want the troops to leave!"

"Bring them home now!" -- and was carried out of the chamber by Capitol police officers.

The prime minister gave his address at a time of waning public support for the war and heightened criticism from members of Congress, some of whom blasted al-Maliki this week for failing to condemn the radical group Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.

Iraq's foreign minister, Hoshiyar Zebari, told members of Congress Wednesday that Iraq would join several other Arab League nations in condemning Hezbollah's attacks on Israel, in an attempt to defuse a political distraction created after al-Maliki blamed the recent conflict on Israel.

While al-Maliki was courting U.S. support, in Baghdad Saddam Hussein, looking thinner but healthy despite a nearly three-week hunger strike, said that he had been forced to attend his own trial.

He also said that that he preferred to be shot, not hanged, if found guilty of war crimes.

On yet another violent day in Iraq, with more than 20 people killed or found dead in Baghdad, Saddam offered what could be one of his final doses of public defiance.

According to The New York Times, he praised insurgents attacking Americans.

He denounced the court as illegitimate.

He rejected the charge that he and his seven co-defendants had ordered the execution of 148 men and boys in Dujail after a supposed assassination attempt in 1982.

Also, Saddam said that if convicted and sentenced to death, he deserved to die by firing squad because "Saddam Hussein is a military commander and should be shot by bullets."

A U.S. official close to the court said Saddam was being tried as a civilian and would not be given the option of a firing squad.

Under the law governing the case, the official said, Saddam faces death by hanging if found guilty and the conviction holds up on appeal.

In another development in Washington, two Pentagon officials said Wednesday that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld was likely to delay the departure of 3,000 to 4,000 U.S. soldiers who are scheduled to rotate out of Iraq in coming weeks.

end quotes

HEY!

al-Maliki .......

DON'T YOU KNOW?

THE WAR ON TAY-RAH ...

IS JUST A BUNCH OF BULL ****

AND YOU ...

ARE JUST A DUPE ....

IN THAT FARCE ...

WITHOUT ANY MORE CREDIBILITY .....

THAN GEORGE W. BUSH HAS .....

WHICH IS ZERO .....

And so .....

[Livyjr]

The WAR ON TAY-RAH .....

What a load of HORSE ****, that is, alright ....

The next time ...

This America .....

Decides to experiment again ....

To see what it is like ....

To have the WORLD'S STUPIDEST MAN ....

As its "leader" .....

I hope .....

That I am long since dead ....

And in my grave ...

So I don't have to ...

Read about it ...

Or think about it ....

Every day of my life ...

And so .....

"Detainee abuse charges feared"

By R. JEFFREY SMITH, Washington Post
First published: Friday, July 28, 2006

WASHINGTON -- An obscure law approved by a Republican-controlled Congress a decade ago has made the Bush administration nervous that officials and troops involved in handling detainee matters might be accused of committing war crimes and prosecuted at some point in U.S. courts.

Senior officials have responded by drafting legislation that would grant U.S. personnel involved in the terrorism war new protections against prosecution for past violations of the War Crimes Act of 1996.

That law criminalizes violations of the Geneva Conventions governing conduct in war and threatens the death penalty if U.S.-held detainees die in custody from abusive treatment.

Following a recent Supreme Court ruling that the international Conventions apply to the treatment of such detainees, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has spoken privately with Republican lawmakers about the need for such "protections," according to a source.

Gonzales apparently told the lawmakers that a shield was needed for actions taken by U.S. personnel under a 2002 presidential order, which the Supreme Court declared illegal, and under Justice Department legal opinions that have been withdrawn under fire, the source said.

A spokeswoman for Gonzales, Tasia Scolinos, declined to comment.

The Justice Department's top legal adviser, Steven Bradbury, separately testified two weeks ago that Congress must give new "definition and certainty" to captors' risk of prosecution for coercive interrogations that fall short of outright torture.

Language in the administration's draft, which Bradbury helped prepare with civilian officials at the Defense Department, seeks to protect U.S. personnel by ruling out detainee lawsuits to enforce Geneva protections and by incorporating language making U.S. enforcement of the War Crimes Act subject to U.S. -- not foreign -- understandings of what the Conventions require.

The aim, Justice Department lawyers say, is also to take advantage of U.S. legal precedents that limit sanctions to conduct that "shocks the conscience."

This phrase allows some consideration by courts of the context in which abusive treatment occurs, such as an urgent need for information, the lawyers say -- even though the Geneva prohibitions are absolute.

The Supreme Court, in contrast, has said that foreign interpretations of international treaties such as the Geneva Conventions should at least be considered by U.S. courts.

Some human rights groups oppose undermining the reach of the War Crimes Act, arguing that it deters government misconduct.

They say that any step back from the Geneva Conventions could provoke mistreatment of captured U.S. military personnel.

"The military has lived with" the Geneva Conventions provisions "for 50 years and applied them to every conflict, even against irregular forces."

"Why are we suddenly afraid now about the vagueness of its terms?" asked Tom Malinowski of the Washington office of Human Rights Watch.

end quotes

IF .....

This really were ...

A NATION ...

OF LAWS ....

INSTEAD OF ....

A NATION ...

OF LIES ...

AS AN EXAMPLE ...

TO THE REST OF THE WORLD ....

OF WHAT WE WILL NOT TOLERATE, OVER HERE ...

THESE OFFICIALS ....

CONNECTED TO ..

THESE WAR CRIMES ...

WOULD ALREADY HAVE BEEN PROSECUTED ...

AND HELD UP ...

BEFORE ALL THE CANDID WORLD ...

AS EXAMPLES ....

And so ......

BUT WE ARE NOT A NATION OF LAWS .....

NOT SINCE 2000, ANYWAY ......

AND IF THERE WERE TO BE A PROSECUTION ....

FOR WAR CRIMES ...

HERE IN OUR AMERICA .....

IT WOULD HAVE TO INCLUDE .....

PRESIDENT-FOR-LIFE ...

GEORGE W. BUSH ....

WHO WAS FOUND ...

BY THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT ...

TO HAVE VIOLATED ...

THAT VERY LAW ...

BY HIS DIRECTIVES ...

FOR WHICH HE SHOULD BE IMPEACHED .....

RIGHT EXACTLY NOW ....

AS AN EXAMPLE ...

TO ALL THE CANDID WORLD ...

THAT NO AMERICAN ...

INCLUDING THE HIGH ...

AND MIGHTY ...

BUSH HIMSELF .....

IS ABOVE THE LAW ...

And so .....

[Livyjr]

And here is another of those stories .....

Well ...

Let's look at it .....

Rush Limbaugh .....

And Dick Cheney ...

And Karl Rove .....

Well ...

They would say ...

That it was just .....

Some liberal hysteria ...

And hype .....

And so ...

Me?

I don't have any trouble ....

Finding it believable .....

Based on my own experiences ...

With the CHURCH ...

OF SCIENCE ...

Here in OUR America ....

And so .....

"Utilities paying global warming skeptic"

By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer

Thu Jul 27, 2:39 PM ET

WASHINGTON - Coal-burning utilities are passing the hat for one of the few remaining scientists skeptical of the global warming harm caused by industries that burn fossil fuels.

Pat Michaels — Virginia's state climatologist, a University of Virginia professor and senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute — told Western business leaders last year that he was running out of money for his analyses of other scientists' global warming research.

So last week, a Colorado utility organized a collection campaign to help him out, raising at least $150,000 in donations and pledges.

The Intermountain Rural Electric Association of Sedalia, Colo., gave Michaels $100,000 and started the fund-raising drive, said Stanley Lewandowski, IREA's general manager.

He said one company planned to give $50,000 and a third plans to give Michaels money next year.

"We cannot allow the discussion to be monopolized by the alarmists," Lewandowski wrote in a July 17 letter to 50 other utilities.

He also called on other electric cooperatives to launch a counterattack on "alarmist" scientists and specifically Al Gore's movie 'An Inconvenient Truth'."

Michaels and Lewandowski are open about the money and see no problem with it.

Some top scientists and environmental advocates call it a clear conflict of interest.

Others view it as the type of lobbying that goes along with many divisive issues.

"These people are just spitting into the wind," said John Holdren, president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

"The fact is that the drumbeat of science and people's perspectives are in line that the climate is changing."

Frank O'Donnell, president of Clean Air Watch, a Washington advocacy group, said:

"This is a classic case of industry buying science to back up its anti-environmental agenda."

Donald Kennedy, an environmental scientist who is former president of Stanford University and current editor-in-chief of the peer-reviewed journal Science, said skeptics such as Michaels are lobbyists more than researchers.

"I don't think it's unethical any more than most lobbying is unethical," he said.

He said donations to skeptics amounts to "trying to get a political message across."

Michaels is best known for his newspaper opinion columns and books, including "Meltdown: The Predictable Distortion of Global Warming by Scientists, Politicians and the Media."

However, he also writes research articles published in scientific journals.

In 1998, Michaels blasted NASA scientist James Hansen, accusing the godfather of global warming science of being way off on his key 1988 prediction of warming over the next 10 years.

But Hansen and other scientists said Michaels misrepresented the facts by cherry-picking the worst (and least likely) of three possible outcomes Hansen presented to Congress.

The temperature rise that Hansen said was most likely to happen back then was actually slightly lower than what has occurred.

Michaels has been quoted by major newspapers more than 150 times in the past two years, according to a Lexis-Nexis database search.

He and Lewandowski told The Associated Press that their side of global warming isn't getting out and that the donations resulted from a speech Michaels gave to the Western Business Roundtable last fall.

Michaels said the money will help pay his staff.

Holdren, a Harvard environmental science and technology professor, said skeptics such as Michaels "have had attention all out of proportion to the merits of their arguments."

"Last I heard, anybody can ask a scientific question," said Michaels, who holds a Ph.D. in ecological climatology from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

"It is a very spirited discussion that requires technical response and expertise."

Other scientific fields, such as medicine, are more careful about potential conflicts of interests than the energy, environmental and chemical fields, where it doesn't raise much of an eyebrow, said Penn State University bioethicist Arthur Caplan.

Earlier this month, the Journal of the American Medical Association announced a crackdown on researchers who do not disclose drug company ties related to their research.

Yet days later, the journal's editor said she had been misled because the authors of a new study had not revealed industry money they got that posed a conflict.

Three top climate scientists said they don't accept money from private groups.

The same goes for the Web site realclimate.org, which has long criticized Michaels.

"We don't get any money; we do this in our free time," said Realclimate.org contributor Stefan Rahmstorf, an ocean physics scientist at Potsdam University in Germany.

Lewandowski, who said he believes global warming is real just not as big a problem as scientists claim, acknowledged this is a special interest issue.

He said the bigger concern is his 130,000 customers, who want to keep rates low, so coal-dependent utilities need to prevent any taxes or programs that penalize fossil fuel use.

He said his effort is more aimed at stopping carbon dioxide emission taxes and limits from Congress, something he believes won't happen during the Bush administration.
___

On the net:

• Pat Michaels' Cato Institute Web site: http://www.cato.org/people/michaels.html

• Intermountain Rural Electric Association: http://www.intermountain-rea.com/

[Livyjr]

And from the CORRUPT REPUBLICAN EMPIRE of New York ......

Where no REPUBLICAN .....

Thinks any worse ...

Of another REPUBLICAN .....

Regardless .....

Of what laws or whatever ...

That other Republican ,.....

Has violated .....

"Velella helps dish out state aid - Disgraced former senator from the Bronx turns up at one last dinner where 'member items' were distributed"

By JAMES M. ODATO, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Friday, July 28, 2006

ALBANY -- Even 26 months after he resigned his post amid a bribery investigation targeting him and his father, former Sen. Guy Velella got to help dole out state funds Wednesday night that he secured for Bronx organizations.

Velella showed up with about 50 people at a restaurant near Yankee Stadium to a round of applause to finish off a steady stream of member-item funding for his former district.

He assisted the North Bronx Westchester Neighborhood Restoration Association, a group directed by his appointees for years.

It received about $20 million over its 25-year life from Velella's member item funds -- part of the $200 million a year carved up secretly by the Assembly, Senate and governor's office for pet projects.

The use of the funds has become a controversial issue among reform groups this election year.

Gubernatorial candidates have been calling for opening up the process.

On Wednesday, Velella showed up as a guest of the association, said John Reehill, executive director of the Velella-backed organization.

The ex-senator got up and addressed the crowd as grants were awarded by the association.

He received cheers from recipients of state funds backed by the money he secured for the organization before he was forced out of office.

Reehill said he is closing down the group because Velella isn't in Albany anymore to get what had become a $950,000-a-year member item for the association.

He said the group's office furnishings and equipment, worth perhaps $1,000, likely will be given to another community group after an independent auditor completes the books for a state report.

A residual amount from the 2004 grant, about $90,000, was available to mete out to community groups as part of Wednesday's "fond farewell" dinner paid for by the organization, Reehill said.

He said the dinner bill was paid with non-state funds.

About 50 representatives of groups that have provided community services in Velella's former district through grants from the North Bronx organization attended.

The final awards went to many of them -- particularly Little League clubs that got about $2,500 each and some other organizations that provide services to youth and senior citizens, Reehill said.

"It was emotional for him, because of the level of appreciation extended to him by these organizations."

"It was quite moving," said Reehill, a retired school superintendent.

Velella, who could not be reached, has said he is proud of the services provided through the organization and that he never received any money from it.

His current career is unclear, although one friend believed he was working in the private sector.

He has also been doing some volunteer counseling of addicts and ex-convicts through a program directed by the Rev. Peter Young, another major recipient of member item funds.

Sen. Jeff Klein, a Democrat who now represents the district, said Velella's North Bronx association served as an arm of Velella's political machine and was a waste of money.

Klein said he is directly funding many of the organizations that received grants through the neighborhood organization.

"I can't criticize the groups he gave money," said Klein.

"They are all groups that provide a service to my senate district."

"But I don't understand how he still has a role."

"I don't have dinners."

The secretive ways that the Legislature and governor decide on uses for member items has caused some politicians to demand change.

Gubernatorial candidates for governor say they would demand greater disclosure or reform, but would not eliminate member items.

Democrats Eliot Spitzer and Thomas Suozzi and Republican John Faso said they would insist that member items be individually and transparently listed in the state budget, which good government groups have suggested.

Faso goes a step further, saying he would end the practice by legislative leaders and the governor to assign uses for member items under a memorandum of understanding.

Suozzi goes the furthest, saying he would veto legislative member items until a nonpartisan redistricting program is passed.

James M. Odato can be reached at 454-5083 or by e-mail at jodato@timesunion.com.

Changing the process

Republican and Democratic gubernatorial contenders weigh in on member items:

''For too long taxpayers have been kept in the dark about how legislators acquire and distribute hundreds of millions of dollars in discretionary funds."

"It is time for full disclosure of how this money is spent and who is benefiting."

"I propose requiring that member items not be funded with debt, eliminating secretive memorandums of understanding for member item funds, and requiring that all budget appropriations be itemized and made available to public.''

-- John Faso, Republican

''There is some money attributed to member items that go to good projects."

"... We will build those allocations into the budget process."

"They should not be doled out like pieces of candy.''

-- Eliot Spitzer, Democrat

''I would insist that member items be individually and transparently listed, including which members have requested which items."

"Otherwise, I would veto the block appropriation."

"Also I would veto all legislative member items from either house until they pass new, fair and non-partisan redistricting laws.''

-- Thomas Suozzi, Democrat

[Livyjr]

"Iraqi leader urges Americans to hold firm in war on terror"
 
By RICK KLEIN and SUSAN MILLIGAN, Boston Globe
First published: Thursday, July 27, 2006

WASHINGTON -- Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of Iraq Wednesday asked a skeptical American public to continue to stand with Iraq, casting his country as the "front line" in the global battle against terrorism as he pleaded with Congress to send more money to help reconstruction efforts.

"Do not think that this is an Iraqi problem," al-Maliki said through a translator.

"This terrorist front is a threat to every free country in the world and their citizens."

"... Iraq is the battle that will determine the war."

end quotes

HEY!

al-Maliki .......

DON'T YOU KNOW?

THE WAR ON TAY-RAH ...

IS JUST A BUNCH OF BULL ****

AND YOU ...

ARE JUST A DUPE ....

IN THAT FARCE ...

WITHOUT ANY MORE CREDIBILITY .....

THAN GEORGE W. BUSH HAS .....

WHICH IS ZERO .....

And so .....

"Our Eyes Are Open. Now What? - What options does the U.S. have left?"

TIME Magazine, Mar. 27, 2006

A few weeks before the war in iraq began three years ago, I checked in with an Israeli friend, an intelligence expert who in 1991 had uncannily laid out for me the course of the first Gulf War on the night before it happened.

"It'll be easier than 1991 this time," he said.

"A three or four-week campaign."

"But I have a question: You're not actually thinking of occupying that country, are you?"

Three years into this awful adventure, the question is, What is realism, American style?

The U.S. effort in Iraq has been a deadly combination of utopian fantasy and near criminal incompetence.

It remains a mystery why Donald Rumsfeld, the architect of this disaster, has been allowed to continue as Secretary of Defense.

In the current issue of Foreign Affairs, military historian Stephen Biddle argues that Iraq's internal strife is not a "Maoist people's war" like Vietnam's was: it is a communal civil war, and the Bush policy of rapidly building an Iraqi army "throws gasoline on the fire ..."

"Sunnis perceive the 'national' army as a Shi'ite-Kurdish militia on steroids."

Biddle argues that U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad's efforts to broker a deal need to be strengthened by U.S. threats "to manipulate the military balance of power"—in other words, to support one of the ethnic factions, as the British colonial empire used to do.

It is true that an Iraqi solution is impossible without a grand political bargain (including a formula for distributing oil revenues), but the idea that the U.S. can manipulate such an outcome—by force, no less—seems fanciful at best.

The third potential course is retreat, which Bush will never countenance—but which is no longer unthinkable, given the evaporation of public support for the war.

Retreat would leave anarchy in Iraq and quite possibly lead to a regional war of Sunnis against Shi'ites.

The President won't admit it, but on the third anniversary of his war, the only plausible reason for remaining in Iraq is to prevent an even greater catastrophe.

That is realism, American style.

"U.S. may send 5,000 more troops to Baghdad" 
 
By PAULINE JELINEK and RYAN LENZ, Associated Press
Last updated: 6:46 p.m., Thursday, July 27, 2006

WASHINGTON -- Military commanders in Iraq are developing a plan to move as many as 5,000 U.S. troops with armored vehicles and tanks into the country's capital in an effort to quell escalating violence, defense officials said Thursday.
 
As part of the plan, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Thursday extended the tours of some 3,500 members of the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team.

It was scheduled to be leaving now, but instead, most of its 3,900 troops will serve for up to four more months.

All flights out for soldiers currently at the end of their deployment were canceled as of Tuesday, as commanders wrestled with the plan and how to supply troops needed for it, a third official said.

President Bush broadly outlined a plan to increase U.S. and Iraqi forces in Baghdad during Tuesday's visit to Washington by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

But little detail was provided.

Defense experts inside and outside the Pentagon worry that diverting U.S. troops to Baghdad could weaken their ability in other parts of the country.

And they say the plan reverses an earlier effort to make Americans less visible and put Iraqi forces out front in the fight.

"'Faceless enemy' sinks morale - Soldiers grow frustrated, begin questioning war as fighting in Iraq drags on" 
 
By JOSHUA PARTLOW, Washington Post
First published: Friday, July 28, 2006

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- As President Bush plans to deploy more troops in Baghdad, U.S. soldiers who have been patrolling the capital for months describe a deadly and infuriating mission in which the enemy is elusive and success hard to find.

But some soldiers in the 2nd Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, 1st Armored Division -- interviewed over four days on base and on patrols -- say they have grown increasingly disillusioned about their ability to quell the violence and their reason for fighting.

"It sucks."

"Honestly, it just feels like we're driving around waiting to get blown up, that's the most honest answer I could give you," said Spec. Tim Ivey, 28, of San Antonio, a muscular former backup fullback for Baylor University.

"No one wants to be here, you know, no one is truly enthused about what we do," said Sgt. Christopher Dugger, the squad leader.

"We were excited, but then it just wears on you -- there's only so much you can take."

Steffey said he wished "somebody would explain to us, 'Hey, this is what we're working for.' "

With a stream of expletives, he said he could not care less "if Iraq's free" or "if they're a democracy."

"The first time somebody you know dies, the first thing you ask yourself is, 'Well, what did he die for?' "

"At this point, it seems like the war on drugs in America," added Spec. David Fulcher, 22, a medic from Lynchburg, Va., who sat alongside Steffey.

And jumping right into the midst of things, here, this morning .....

Where I just heard .....

The BOBBLE-HEADED TWINS ......

Bush ....

And his look-alike, Blair .....

BLAMING .....

ALL .....

THE WORLD'S PRESENT TROUBLES .....

On Hezbollah .....

WHICH MEANS, of course ......

THAT THE BOBBLE-HEADS ......

BUSH ...

And BLAIR .....

WHO SEEMED JOINED .....

AT THE HIP .....

ARE INNOCENT ...

Of everything .....

Which is really how it should be, after all .....

Since GOD invented GREAT BRITAIN .....

TO BE ...

A BEACON OF HOPE ...

FOR ALL BELEAGUERED .....

PEOPLES ....

OF THE WORLD .....

INCLUDING AMERICANS .....

WHO HAVE BEEN BROUGHT BACK TO THE FOLD .....

OF GREAT BRITAIN .....

BY GEORGE W. BUSH .....

AND GOD ......

PUT GEORGE W. BUSH .....

DOWN HERE ....

TO RE-UNIFY US .....

WITH THE "HOMELAND" .....

OF GREAT BRITAIN ....

ACROSS THE SEA .....

And so .....

IN DEFENSE .....

OF QUEEN ....

AND COUNTRY .....

We have ....

"3 Marines killed in action in western Iraq"

By RYAN LENZ, Associated Press Writer

56 minutes ago

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Gunmen attacked two Sunni mosques early Saturday in the Iraqi capital, while the U.S. command said three U.S. Marines died in action in western Iraq.

Also Saturday, the western regional commander of the Iraqi Border Protection Force, Brig. Gen. Jawad Hadi al-Selawi, was killed in Karbala, 50 miles south of Baghdad, police said.

Men in two cars sprayed gunfire at the Muhammad Rassulluallah mosque in western Baghdad shortly after midnight, shattering its windows and damaging its walls, police said.

One guard was injured.

An hour later, gunmen stormed into the nearby Ashra al-Mubashara mosque, but fled when Iraqi police arrived, officials said.

Sectarian violence has escalated in Iraq in recent months, with Sunni radicals — including members of al-Qaida — and Shiite militias staging tit-for-tat killings.

Thousands from both sects have fled the country, according to Iraqi officials.

The Marines died Thursday in Anbar, the western province that is a focal point of the Sunni-dominated insurgency.

A U.S. statement said they were attached to the Army's 1st Armored Division, which operates in Ramadi, but gave no further details.

Their deaths brought the number of U.S. service members who have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003 to at least 2,573, according to an Associated Press count.

The figure includes seven military civilians.

In Baghdad, six day laborers were wounded when a bomb exploded downtown in Tayaran Square, where the workers had gathered to wait for jobs.

Three policemen were also wounded when a roadside bomb struck their patrol in northern Baghdad, police said.

The attacks came a day after the head of the biggest Shiite party called for a greater security role for Iraqis in the country in place of Americans.

The remarks by Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim run counter to U.S. plans to put more American soldiers on the streets of Baghdad to try to curb the surge in sectarian violence.

The U.S. plan calls for moving up to 5,000 additional American troops with armored vehicles and tanks into the capital.

Some critics believe the move will undermine confidence among Iraqi forces and expose more U.S. soldiers to attacks by Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias.

Al-Hakim, the former commander of the feared Badr Brigade militia, has long complained the Americans have interfered with Iraqi forces' efforts to crack down on Sunni insurgents and al-Qaida in Iraq terrorists.

He said the surging violence was due to "being lax in hunting down terrorists and upholding the wrong policies in dealing with them."

Al-Hakim said Sunni extremists and Saddam Hussein loyalists were to blame for the violence.

However, he also endorsed the government's pledge to disband militias, including those affiliated with Shiite politicians.

Members of al-Hakim's Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq have been suspicious of U.S. and Iraqi government peace overtures to Sunni insurgents and have privately complained that top Sunni politicians have intervened to free detainees in Baghdad.

Al-Hakim's speech marked the third anniversary of the death of his elder brother, Ayatollah Mohammed Baqr al-Hakim, who was killed by an al-Qaida-linked car bomb attack in Najaf.

Also Friday, another top Shiite politician, Hadi al-Amiri, said there were rumors of a plot to overthrow the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, and replace it with a secular "government of national salvation."

He did not elaborate.

"We don't call it a national salvation government, we call it a military coup," said al-Amiri, leader of the Badr Brigade militia.

"We'll prevent that because that means canceling the constitution and the results of the elections and entering a dark tunnel, which is something we will never allow."

end quotes

"We'll prevent that because that means canceling the constitution and the results of the elections and entering a dark tunnel, which is something we will never allow?"

I'll tell you what, slick .....

From my own perspective .....

As an American citizen .....

Over here ...

In OUR America .....

Who is watching ....

This continuously unfolding FIASCO .....

Over there in IRAQINAMISTAN ....

YOU FOOLS ....

HAVE BEEN .....

IN A DARK TUNNEL ....

FOR A FEW THOUSAND YEARS NOW ...

AND YOU'RE GETTING DEEPER ...

INTO IT ...

BY YOUR CONTINUED STUPIDITY ...

AND BARBARITY .....

OVER THERE ...

WHICH IS NOT THE WAY OUT ...

AT ALL ...

And so .....

What we ought to do .....

WITH OUR AMERICAN TAX MONEY ....

IS BUILD A BIG FENCE .....

RIGHT AROUND THE PLACE ....

AND ARM THEM ALL OVER THERE .....

WITH ENOUGH GUNS ...

AND EXPLOSIVES ....

TO ASSURE ...

THE REST OF THE WORLD ....

THAT THESE IRAQINAMISTANIS .....

WILL BLOW THEMSELVES ...

ALL OF THEM TOGETHER ...

ALL OF THEM AT ONCE .....

RIGHT TO HELL ...

AND FINALLY HAVE DONE WITH IT ...

FOR ONCE ...

AND FOR ALL ....

SO THAT WE DON'T HAVE TO KEEP READING ABOUT THEM ...

AND HEARING ABOUT THEM ...

AND ALL OF GEORGE W. BUSH'S EXCUSES ....

FOR WHY ...

IT IS ...

THE WAY IT IS ....

TO THE EXCLUSION ....

OF ALL ELSE ....

And so ....

[Livyjr]

I'm serious in that, too ....

It's time ....

To tell ...

The IRAQI people ....

To go to hell ...

Or wherever ...

It don't matter ....

The choice is theirs .....

And it is none ...

OF OUR AFFAIR ...

What they do .....

With ...

Or to .....

Themselves ...

And their women ....

And children ....

And so ....

These people over there in IRAQINAM ....

Have no values .....

That I share .....

And this is not an American war .....

We are back .....

To being ....

A part ....

Of the British EMPIRE here .....

HANDED OVER ....

ON A SILVER PLATTER ....

BY GEORGE W. BUSH ....

WHO MORE AND MORE ...

HAS ME WONDERING ...

IF HE ISN'T ....

THE MODERN ....

BENDICT ARNOLD ....

HERE IN OUR AMERICA .....

TURNING US ....

OVER TO THE BRITISH .....

LOCK, STOCK AND BARREL .....

LIKE BENEDICT ARNOLD .....

TURNED OVER ...

THE PLANS ....

TO WEST POINT ...

And so .....

Here we now are ....

IN IRAQINAMISTAN ...

Trying to enforce .....

WITH OUR TROOPS ....

AND OUR TREASURY ......

Some kind of British COLONIAL INTERESTS ....

Over there in Iraq ....

Where we have no business being .....

SINCE THERE IS NOTHING ....

IN IRAQ ....

THAT IS WORTH ....

OUR TROOPS ....

DYING FOR .....

Or spending another cent ....

Of OUR tax money on ....

IT'S TIME TO PULL ....

THE PLUG ....

GET OUR TROOPS OUT ....

LEAVE THE FESTERING ****-HOLE ....

BEHIND US ....

SAY GOOD-BYE ....

And so .....

"U.S. to move 3,700 troops to Baghdad"

By RYAN LENZ, Associated Press
Last updated: 3:46 p.m., Saturday, July 29, 2006

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The U.S. military said Saturday that it is moving about 3,700 troops with fast, light-armored vehicles into Baghdad to try to quell violence in the capital.

More American soldiers are expected to follow, military officials said.

The 172nd Stryker Brigade, which had been due to leave Iraq after a year's assignment, will be sent from the north to Baghdad, Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said.

The Alaska-based 172nd uses a new, eight-wheeled armored vehicle and has had several specialized units attached, including military police and Navy and Air Force troops.

"This will place our most experienced unit with our most mobile and agile systems in support of our main effort," Casey said.

"With the rest of the elements of the plan, this gives us a potentially decisive capability to affect security in Baghdad."

President Bush said this week that he had decided to bolster American forces in Baghdad to try to stem the tide of Sunni-Shiite violence -- now seen as a greater threat to Iraq than the Sunni-led insurgency.

The Stryker brigade, currently based in Mosul, is expected to begin moving its headquarters to Baghdad soon.

A U.S. military official said more troops are expected to follow the brigade to Baghdad.

The official, who requested anonymity because the plans are not public, refused to say how many would be coming or from where.

Officials have said the U.S. plan calls for moving up to 5,000 additional American troops with armored vehicles and tanks into the capital.

Some critics believe the move will undermine confidence among Iraqi forces and expose more U.S. soldiers to attacks by Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias.

The U.S. command said three U.S. Marines died Thursday in Anbar, the western province that is a focal point of the Sunni-dominated insurgency.

A U.S. statement said they were attached to the Army's 1st Armored Division, which operates in Ramadi, but gave no further details.

Their deaths brought the number of U.S. service members who have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003 to at least 2,573, according to an Associated Press count.

The figure includes seven military civilians.

The head of Iraq's biggest Shiite party called Friday for a greater security role for Iraqis instead of Americans.

Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, the former commander of the feared Badr Brigade militia, has long complained the Americans have interfered with Iraqi forces' efforts to crack down on Sunni insurgents and al-Qaida in Iraq terrorists.

Members of al-Hakim's Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq have been suspicious of U.S. and Iraqi government peace overtures to Sunni insurgents and have privately complained that top Sunni politicians have intervened to free detainees in Baghdad.

Coalition forces in Diwaniyah, 80 miles south of Baghdad, made the latest in a series of moves against radical anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's militia, the Mahdi Army, attempting to arrest one of its senior leaders.

Seven militia members were injured, but the man the raid had targeted escaped, Iraqi police said.

Last week, U.S. spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell described Baghdad as a "must-win" not only for al-Maliki's government "but for al-Qaida in Iraq," which the Americans blame for fanning sectarian hatred.

On Friday, a top Shiite politician allied with al-Maliki said Iraqis -- and not Americans -- should be given responsibility for security and called for an end to "interference in their work" -- an apparent reference to U.S. efforts to curb abuses by the Shiite-led police.

In the Shiite town of Suwayrah, 25 miles south of Baghdad, Mayor Hussein Mohammed al-Ghurabi, said Saturday that more than 500 armed Sunnis had gathered in a nearby village and were firing on his town daily.

Tens of thousands of people have abandoned their homes in religiously mixed neighborhoods, either fleeing abroad or to areas where their sect dominates.

They include members of country's elite -- physicians, professors and other professionals.

The Iraqi soccer federation said the country's national coach, Akram Ahmed Salman, had resigned after receiving a death threat and fled with his family to the relative safety of the Kurdish-ruled north.

The chairman of Iraq's National Olympic Committee and dozens of other sports officials were abducted during a meeting this month in Baghdad and most remain missing.

Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, renewed calls Saturday for their release.

In a bid to curb the violence, U.S. troops have been cracking down on Shiite and Sunni extremist groups in Baghdad and in cities on major transport routes leading to the capital.

U.S. and Iraqi troops detained 25 men suspected of a July 17 attack on a market in Mahmoudiya, the U.S. military said.

About 50 people were killed in the attack -- mostly Shiites.

American troops clashed Saturday with gunmen of the Mahdi Army militia, loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, in Diwaniyah, 80 miles south of Baghdad, police said.

Seven militiamen were wounded but a local militia leader sought by the Americans escaped, police said.

In other violence:

-- The U.S. command said three U.S. Marines were killed Thursday in western Iraq.

-- A Sunni cleric from a tribe opposed to al-Qaida in Iraq was killed in Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, police said.

-- Gunmen assassinated the western regional commander of the Iraqi Border Protection Force, Brig. Gen. Jawad Hadi al-Selawi, in Karbala, 50 miles south of Baghdad, police said.

----

Associated Press correspondent Qais al-Bashir contributed to this report from Baghdad.

[Livyjr]

Bush and Blair ....

Bush and Blair ....

Bush and Blair .....

Over and over and over again ....

That is what I hear .....

On the radio ....

George W. Bush AND Tony Blair said YADA, YADA et cetera, on and on, ad infinitum .......

And when I hear that .....

Over and over and over and over .....

I have this image ...

Of the very dapper Tony Blair .....

All spiffed up ....

In Guchi tassle loafers ....

And Savile Row ....

Impeccable, what, what ....

And on ....

The little finger ....

Of his left hand ....

He has a little face painted .....

On the pad ...

Of his little finger ....

And on the tip ....

Of his little finger ....

There is a little cowboy hat .....

And the little finger ....

Is wearing a vest ....

And some of those sheepwool chaps ....

Like Gabby Hayes ....

Or somebody back then ...

Maybe one of three stooges used to wear .....

And when Tony Blair .....

Wants to talk to George W. Bush ....

He stares .....

His little finger ....

Right in the eye .....

And has at it ....

Because that .....

IS GEORGE .....

The face ...

On Tony Blair's .....

Little finger ....

And not much else ....

And so ....

Of course .....

Tony does have some sway ...

With the queen ....

And so .....

For being compliant ....

And for bringing us .....

Back to the EMPIRE .....

Submissive, of course .....

As is proper ...

For subjects .....

Of a queen ....

Perhaps .....

George will get himself ....

A baronetcy ....

And maybe ....

He will become ...

A KNIGHT ...

OF THE GARTER .....

And so .....

If so ....

He will have made out better ....

In his deal ....

Than Benedict Arnold .....

Did in his own ....

And so .....

That would be the advantage ....

George holds ......

Having that MBA .....

And the BID-NESS PROWESS it gives him .....

Which Benedict Arnold didn't have .....

And so .....

[Livyjr]

NOW HEAR THIS .....

NOW HEAR THIS .....

MAJOR COMBAT OPERATIONS IN IRAQ ARE NOW OVER ......

And if you believed that BULL **** ......

Back when George was spewing it .....

While prancing .....

And strutting .....

On the deck .....

Of that aircraft carrier ....

As if ...

He flew ....

Even one combat mission ....

In his life .....

Instead of running away ....

Then you have probably ....

Also ....

Bought a bridge or two ...

Already .....

In your lifetime .....

And so .....

"Violence forcing more U.S. troops in Iraq"

By LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press
Last updated: 6:15 p.m., Friday, July 28, 2006

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon's decision to increase U.S. forces in Iraq will push troop levels there to roughly 135,000, dashing Bush administration hopes of dropping the figure by tens of thousands by the fall congressional campaigns.

As of Friday, there were 16 Army and Marine brigades in Iraq, two more than the number several months ago.

Total troops there had already reached 132,000 and will climb in the coming weeks because of a decision to delay the scheduled return home this month of an Alaskan Army brigade.

The decision came in response to the escalating violence in Baghdad, and the new troop levels could remain for much of the next year.

"You're going to see that spike, that is a sustained spike, for a while, and you're going to still have force rotations that take place," said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman.

He added that the increases could push totals above 135,000 when brigades overlap as they are moving in and out of the country.

"What you're seeing is a flexible and adaptable force, based on those changing dynamic conditions that are now being addressed by the application of additional Iraqi and U.S. forces," he said.

The increase comes as members of Congress are preparing to return to their home districts and push into their re-election campaigns -- and it robs them of the ability to tell an increasingly impatient public that the number of U.S. troops in Iraq will substantially drop by the end of the year.

"It is deeply troubling to me that after more than three years, the Bush administration appears no closer to having a plan for turning over full responsibility for security to the Iraqi government, which is where it must reside if Iraq is to be a fully sovereign country," said Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn.

But Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner, R-Va., said, "It's not a point of disappointment or bad news."

"It's factual that the troops are needed."

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has been steadfast in his insistence that troop levels will be adjusted according to conditions on the ground.

Still, officials, including military commanders and lawmakers, had hoped to see the numbers drop to about 100,000 by year's end.

Earlier this year, there were suggestions that the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. George Casey, would make recommendations to Rumsfeld in the spring that could begin showing a decrease in American troops.

But a Tuesday announcement mapping out five more Army and Marine brigades scheduled to go to Iraq later this year signaled that any decrease is highly unlikely.

"This is somewhat disappointing, but I don't think it's a case of the administration or General Casey breaking faith with anyone," said Andrew Krepinevich, a retired Army officer who is now executive director of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.

"The next six months are critical."

"... There are a number of things that are coming together and if you need to have troops on hand to tilt odds in your favor, that's what you do."

He said that over the next six months officials will get a better understanding of whether the Iraqi government will be strong enough to pull the country together, and whether the Iraqi military will be able to stand on its own.

On the political front, he said the president will need to better lay out a roadmap for success in Iraq so that Americans can make more sense of the war and a plausible way ahead.

Others, however, argue that increasing the military presence in Iraq will make matters worse, not better.

"Keeping more troops there is internally consistent with the administration's view on how to win the war -- they think our troop presence is helping and that more troops will help to calm the situation," said Winslow Wheeler, a military analyst with the Center for Defense Information think tank.

But, he said, more insurgency experts are arguing that adding troops will only fuel the violence.

Rumsfeld on Thursday extended the tours of some 3,500 members of the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, based at Fort Wainwright in Alaska.

The unit, which has been serving in northern Iraq, was scheduled to be leaving now, but instead the troops will stay for up to four more months and many may go to Baghdad.

An Iraq commander of another unit, speaking from Baghdad to Pentagon reporters, said Friday that soldiers' morale is good.

He said while none want to hear that their time in Iraq has been extended, they understand the importance of the mission.

"A year is a long time over here, and none of us look forward to staying here," said Army Col. John Tully, commander of 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division.

"But we're soldiers and we do what we're told."

------

On the Net:

Defense Department: http://www.defenselink.mil
end quote

And what you're being told to do .....

Is to die ...

For nothing .....

In that ****-hole called Iraq .....

And OUR troops with you .....

FOR NOTHING ...

BUT GEORGE W. BUSH'S MASSIVE EGO .....

And so ...

[Livyjr]

BROKEN PROMISES ....

EMPTY DREAMS .....

WASTED LIVES ....

JUST A BUNCH ....

OF CHEAP POLITICIAN'S LIES ....

ALL THOSE DEATHS .....

ALL THAT DESTRUCTION .....

ALL FOR NOTHING ....

GEORGE W. BUSH'S LEGACY .....

TO THE PEOPLE ....

OF IRAQ .....

AND AMERICA ....

AND THE WORLD ....

And so .......

IF YOU WANT SOME MORE ...

VOTE REPUBLICAN THIS FALL .....

AND YOU WILL BE SURE .....

TO GET ....

A DOSE MORE .....

And so ....

Speaking of FAILURE .....

Which should be George W. Bush's ....

Middle name ....

Instead of WRONG ....

We have .....

Some more ....

Of the old .....

BUSH-**** .....

And so ....

"Iraq hospital touted by Laura Bush delayed"

By RAWYA RAGEH, Associated Press
Last updated: 8:36 p.m., Friday, July 28, 2006

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Construction of a children's hospital supported by first lady Laura Bush has been put on hold after it fell behind schedule and went over budget, one of dozens of halted or delayed U.S. health projects, Iraqi health officials said Friday.

The high-tech, two-story children's hospital in Basra was intended to provide state-of-the-art care in Iraq's second-largest city.

The first lady and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke highly of the project.

But U.S. officials dropped contractor Bechtel Corp. from the project after it missed deadlines and ran up big cost overruns, Dr. Chasib Latif Ali, executive director of the Health Ministry, told The Associated Press.

Bechtel Corp. blamed the problem on Iraq's security crisis.

"Helping the children of Iraq continues to be important to Mrs. Bush," said Susan Whitson, spokeswoman for Laura Bush.

An audit of the Basra hospital released late Friday by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction faulted the U.S. Agency for International Development, which was running the project, for failing to identify the increased hospital costs earlier.

Ali said the Basra hospital was just one example of health projects that the U.S. had promised but failed to deliver.

"The Americans have made a lot of promises to us, but not even 10 percent of them have materialized," Ali said.

He said that, of nearly 180 medical facilities promised by the U.S., contracts were awarded for 142.

Only six have been completed and turned over to the Iraqis and those "are not even fully complete."

"This comes as a sharp contrast to the Japanese," Ali said.

"They have promised and delivered 13 hospitals around the country, including three cutting-edge cancer centers."

"The Japanese have been very faithful to us, unfortunately, the Americans aren't like that."

Bechtel, which holds major contracts for reconstruction work in Iraq, was put in charge of the project in 2004, with an initial budget of $50 million.

The facility was expected to be completed by Sept. 2006, "but now the money has ran out and the project has been postponed indefinitely," Ali said.

Bechtel hired a Jordanian subcontractor, which in turn hired its own Iraqi subcontractor, he said.

"Prolonging the chain of command this way only exhausted the financial resources available for the project," Ali said.

Bechtel spokesman Drew Slaton said the company's involvement in the hospital project will end Aug. 31 because costs had soared well beyond a $50 million cap.

He said Bechtel faced substantial expenses, particularly for security, as violence in Basra escalated.

In May, Bechtel projected total costs, including security expenses, would range from $75 million to $97 million.

Iraqi officials said the hospital project needs an extra $72 million to be completed.

The audit, which began in April, said that under the current management, the actual costs of the project would be almost $170 million.

"Oversight and management of the Basra Children's Hospital project schedule and cost has been hampered by the lack of effective program management and oversight by the Department of State and USAID," the audit said.

In a response, Joseph Saloom, the director of the Iraq Reconstruction Management Office at the U.S. Embassy in Iraq, said USAID is working on new reporting systems.

Efforts to contact Baghdad-based officials of USAID were unsuccessful.

Slaton said Bechtel learned the government planned to suspend the project early this month.

He said street violence sometimes kept workers from reporting to the construction site for days at a time.

Workers were dragged into the street and shot in one incident, prompting Bechtel's concrete supplier to quit the job.

Before being told to shut down, Bechtel had projected a July 2007 completion date.

Now, the company said it has serious doubts whether anyone will be able to finish the job.

"We would like to see it completed, but we don't think it's practical under the current security conditions," Slaton said.

Ali said not a single Western engineer was on site in Basra.

"They were all Iraqis," he said.

"Besides, the people of Basra wanted that project so bad, no one would have harmed the people working on it."

A Health Ministry spokesman in Basra, Kadhim Radi Hassan, said a hike in the price of construction materials imported from Kuwait helped drive up costs.

Ali said the United States will be shifting $22 million from the oil sector reconstruction fund to cover with the shortfall, while Project HOPE will try to raise $30 million in hopes of finishing the hospital by the end of 2007.

The government will be asking other donor countries to chip in, Hassan said.

--------

Associated Press writer Michael Liedtke in San Francisco contributed to this report.

end quotes

And it was not "THE AMERICANS" who failed you ...

BECAUSE WE HAD NO SAY IN THIS TRAVESTY .....

LIKE YOU ...

IT WAS FORCED ...

ON US .....

BY THE AMERICAN ....

WHO HOLDS THE BLAME ....

FOR THIS ENTIRE MESS ....

AND HIS NAME ...

IS GEORGE W. BUSH ....

AND SO ....

BLAME HIM ...

AND IF HE IS NOT ENOUGH ....

THERE IS ALSO .....

THE REPUBLICAN-LED ....

UNITED STATES CONGRESS ....

WHO ARE AS MUCH TO BLAME ....

FOR THIS MESS ...

AS IS GEORGE W. BUSH ....

SINCE THEY GAVE HIM ...

THE CARTE BLANCHE ....

HE NEEDED ....

TO MAKE THE MESS WITH ...

And so .....

[Livyjr]

And as George W. Bush continues .....

In his mad quest ......

To destroy the earth .....

THE EARTH ...

STRIKES BACK .....

With an INSURRECTION .....

Of its own ...

Against an America .....

GONE ROGUE ....

And so ....

"Dakotas at 'epicenter' of U.S. drought"

By JAMES MacPHERSON, Associated Press
Last updated: 5:35 p.m., Saturday, July 29, 2006

STEELE, N.D. -- Fields of wheat, durum and barley in the Dakotas this dry summer will never end up as pasta, bread or beer.

What is left of the stifled crops has been salvaged to feed livestock struggling on pastures where hot winds blow clouds of dirt from dried-out ponds.

Some ranchers have been forced to sell their entire herds, and others are either moving their cattle to greener pastures or buying more already-costly feed.

Hundreds of acres of grasslands have been blackened by fires sparked by lightning or farm equipment.

"These 100-degree days for weeks steady have been burning everything up," said Steele Mayor Walter Johnson, who added that he'd prefer 2 feet of snow over this weather.

Farm ponds and other small bodies of water have dried out from the heat, leaving the residual alkali dust to be whipped up by the wind.

The blowing, dirt-and-salt mixture is a phenomenon that hasn't been seen in south central North Dakota since the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, Johnson said.

More than 60 percent of the United States now has abnormally dry or drought conditions, stretching from Georgia to Arizona and across the north through the Dakotas, Minnesota, Montana and Wisconsin, said Mark Svoboda, a climatologist for the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.

An area stretching from south central North Dakota to central South Dakota is the most drought-stricken region in the nation, Svoboda said.

"It's the epicenter," he said.

"It's just like a wasteland in north central South Dakota."

Conditions aren't much better a little farther north.

Paul Smokov and his wife, Betty, raise several hundred cattle on their 1,750-acre ranch north of Steele, a town of about 760 people.

North Dakota's all-time high temperature was set here in July 1936, at 121.

Smokov, now 81, remembers that time and believes conditions this summer probably are worse.

"I could see this coming in May," Smokov said of the parched pastures and wilted crops.

"That's the time the good Lord gives us our general rains."

"But we never got them this year."

Brad Rippey, a federal Agriculture Department meteorologist in Washington, said this year's drought is continuing one that started in the late 1990s.

"The 1999 to 2006 drought ranks only behind the 1930s and the 1950s."

"It's the third-worst drought on record -- period," Rippey said.

Svoboda was reluctant to say how bad the current drought might eventually be.

"We'll have to wait to see how it plays out -- but it's definitely bad," he said.

"And the drought seems to not be going anywhere soon."

Herman Schumacher, who owns Herreid Livestock Auction in north central South Dakota, said his company is handling more sales than ever because of the drought.

In May, June and July last year, his company sold 3,800 cattle.

During the same months this year, more than 27,000 cattle have been sold, he said.

"I've been in the barn here for 25 years and I can't even compare this year to any other year," Schumacher said.

He said about 50 ranchers have run cows through his auction this year.

"Some of them just trimmed off their herds, but about a third of them were complete dispersions -- they'll never be back," he said.

"This county is looking rough -- these 100-degree days are just killing us," said Gwen Payne, a North Dakota State University extension agent in Kidder County, where Steele is located.

The Agriculture Department says North Dakota last year led the nation in production of 15 different commodity classes, including spring wheat, durum wheat, barley, oats, canola, pinto beans, dry edible peas, lentils, flaxseed, sunflower and honey.

North Dakota State University professor and researcher Larry Leistritz said it's too early to tell what effect this year's drought will have on commodity prices.

Flour prices already have gone up and may rise more because of the effect of drought on wheat.

"There will be somewhat higher grain prices, no doubt about it," Leistritz said.

"With livestock, the short-term effect may mean depressed meat prices, with a larger number of animals being sent to slaughter."

"But in the longer run it may prolong the period of relatively high meat prices."

Eventually, more than farmers could suffer.

"Agriculture is not only the biggest industry in the state, it's just about the only industry," Leistritz said.

"Communities live or die with the fortunes of agriculture."

Susie White, who runs the Lone Steer motel and restaurant in Steele, along Interstate 94, said even out-of-state travelers notice the drought.

"Even I never paid attention to the crops around here."

"But I notice them now because they're not there," she said.

"We're all wondering how we're going to stay alive this winter if the farmers don't make any money this summer," she said.

------

On the Net:

National Drought Mitigation Center: http://drought.unl.edu/

end quotes

It is said .....

That at the time ....

Of this nation's founding ....

That DIVINE PROVIDENCE .....

Had its hand .....

In that .....

And now .....

That America ....

Has become a DESTROYER .....

Of the earth ....

And its peoples .....

In the name of wantoness .....

AND UNBRIDALED GREED .....

DIVINE PROVIDENCE ....

APPEARS READY .....

TO CRUSH THIS NATION ...

LIKE A DISEASED BUG ....

And so .....

Will it happen?

Have to stay tuned ....

And see ...

BUT IF YOU WANT ...

TO PUSH .....

YOUR LUCK ....

VOTE FOR MORE ....

REPUBLICAN GREED .....

HERE IN OUR AMERICA ....

COME NOVEMBER ....

And see what happens ....

And so ...

[Livyjr]

And then .....

There is POLITICS .....

Up here .....

In George Pataki's ....

CORRUPT REPUBLICAN EMPIRE ....

Of New York ....

Where POLITICS .....

Is considered ......

A blood-sport .....

And so .....

"Politics rears grisly horse head - Councilwoman says harassment started in last fall's campaign season"

By MICHAEL VIRTANEN, Associated Press
First published: Saturday, July 29, 2006

WAWAYANDA -- While a friend visited Ed Soro, offering his support and even to lend his shotguns, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer's office phoned Gail Soro, who said she was starting to feel more in balance again, two days after the couple found a horse's head in their swimming pool.

A councilwoman in the Orange County town of Waywayanda, her case has drawn attention from the FBI as well as State Police, who immediately started an investigation.

"It was horrible."

"My pool was filled with blood," she told Schumer's staffer.

The grisly discovery Tuesday echoed the popular 1972 film "The Godfather" in which a racehorse's head was placed by mobsters in a businessman's bed.

"It's definitely politically motivated," Gail Soro said, dismissing the suggestion that it might have been a prank.

She said harassment started during last fall's campaign season.

It included things put in her mailbox and last month a sex toy was stuck to her vehicle's windshield outside Town Hall during a meeting.

The 61-year-old grandmother is the only woman and sole Democrat on the council.

She acknowledges being vocal when she disagrees and ruffling some feathers.

Town Supervisor John Razzano, a Republican, doesn't see the incident as political.

He says town officials work well together, and it may have resulted from Soro's approach.

While it may have started in politics, Ed Soro said at some point it also became personal.

"A number of things have been done to my wife."

"It's never face to face."

"They're sneaking around at night," Soro said.

The rural township about an hour's drive northwest of New York City is facing development pressure and going through rezoning.

"I'm not happy with some of the plans for the large development that will impact not for the benefit to all the people in this town," said Gail Soro.

[Livyjr]

It is said .....

That at the time ....

Of this nation's founding ....

That DIVINE PROVIDENCE .....

Had its hand .....

In that .....

And now .....

That America ....

Has become a DESTROYER .....

Of the earth ....

And its peoples .....

In the name of wantoness .....

AND UNBRIDLED GREED .....

DIVINE PROVIDENCE ....

APPEARS READY .....

TO CRUSH THIS NATION ...

LIKE A DISEASED BUG ....

And so .....

Will it happen?

Have to stay tuned ....

And see ...

BUT IF YOU WANT ...

TO PUSH .....

YOUR LUCK ....

VOTE FOR MORE ....

REPUBLICAN GREED .....

HERE IN OUR AMERICA ....

COME NOVEMBER ....

And see what happens ....

And so ...

"Moral tone shrouds unjust acts"

By RANDALL BALMER
Albany, New York Times Union
First published: Saturday, July 29, 2006

As an evangelical Christian, as someone who numbers himself among the followers of Jesus, my politics point toward the left, a posture that places me squarely at odds with evangelicals aligned with the religious right.

I find their unflinching allegiance to the Bush administration and its position on a range of issues -- from the environment to the prosecution of the war in Iraq -- inimical to the Scriptures that we evangelicals claim as our guide.

The Bible contains something like 2,000 references to the poor, and Jesus spoke repeatedly about a believer's responsibility to those he called "the least of these."

I've yet to understand how those teachings square with tax cuts for the affluent or the persistent refusal to raise the minimum wage.

Jesus made it a habit to hang around with the cultural outcasts of his day, and the apostle Paul insisted in Christ there is no preference among nationalities and no distinction between the sexes.

How are the teachings of the New Testament consistent with those who would deny rights to anyone -- or immigrants or Muslims or women or gays?

Jesus, to take another example, expressed concern for the tiniest sparrow, yet the religious right, as evidenced by a 1999 document called the Cornwall Declaration and by their silence on global warming, prefers to sacrifice the natural world on the altar of free enterprise.

Wouldn't it be logical to assume that those who claim to believe in intelligent design would seek to protect the intelligent designer's handiwork?

I am not among that minority of Christians who believe that the use of military force is never justified.

The Allied resistance to Adolph Hitler in World War II, for instance, provides an example of a just war.

But is the war in Iraq morally justifiable?

For centuries, Christians have asked certain questions to determine whether or not armed conflict is justified:

Is it a defensive war?

Is military action undertaken as a last resort, after all other options have been exhausted?

Is the armed response proportional to the provocation?

Have measures been taken to protect civilians, now perishing at a rate of more than 100 a day?

I've yet to be persuaded that the war in Iraq meets any of these criteria.

I suspect that when Jesus asked us to love our enemies, he probably didn't mean that we should torture or kill them.

In the course of writing "Thy Kingdom Come," I contacted eight religious right groups with a straightforward query.

Please send me, I asked, a copy of your organization's position on the use of torture.

Now, remember that these are groups with detailed position papers on everything from stem-cell research to same-sex marriage (both of which they oppose).

Only two organizations -- the Family Research Council and Institute of Religion and Democracy -- responded to my inquiry.

Both of them supported the Bush administration's policies on torture against those it has designated "enemy combatants."

These are people who profess to be pro-life, who claim to be able to hear a "fetal scream."

Yet they have turned a deaf ear to the cries of those who are being tortured in the name of our government.

What about social issues, especially abortion and homosexuality?

Here I find a curious inconsistency among many who claim the Scriptures as the basis for their beliefs.

The Bible says a great deal about acting with justice and caring for the poor, but comparatively little about homosexuality and virtually nothing about abortion (we could quibble over a couple of verses).

Yet the religious right has fashioned its entire "family values" agenda in opposition to homosexuality and abortion, advocating positions that would seriously compromise personal liberties.

(I happen to believe that the surest way to curtail abortion is to change the moral climate surrounding the issue. I have no interest in making abortion illegal; I would like to make it unthinkable.)

I follow a man who called his followers to be peacemakers and who suggested that the meek would inherit the earth.

This Man of Sorrows endured torture at the hands of his political enemies.

He also condemned the hypocrites: those who were always pointing out the faults of others while failing to recognize their own shortcomings.

I won't be marching anytime soon in the ranks of the religious right.

Randall Balmer, professor of American religious history at Barnard College, Columbia University, is the author of "Thy Kingdom Come: How the Religious Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens America: An Evangelical's Lament" (Basic Books). He was recently ordained a transitional deacon in the Episcopal Church.

[Abu Beacon]

Bush and Blair ....

Bush and Blair ....

Bush and Blair .....

Over and over and over again ....

That is what I hear .....

On the radio ....

George W. Bush AND Tony Blair said YADA, YADA et cetera, on and on, ad infinitum  .......

And when I hear that .....

Over and over and over and over .....

I have this image ...

Of the very dapper Tony Blair .....

All spiffed up ....

In Guchi tassle loafers ....

And Savile Row ....

Impeccable, what, what ....

And on ....

The little finger ....

Of his left hand ....

He has a little face painted .....

On the pad ...

Of his little finger ....

And on the tip ....

Of his little finger ....

There is a little cowboy hat .....

And the little finger ....

Is wearing a vest ....

And some of those sheepwool chaps ....

Like Gabby Hayes ....

Or somebody back then ...

Maybe one of three stooges used to wear .....

And when Tony Blair .....

Wants to talk to George W. Bush ....

He stares .....

His little finger ....

Right in the eye .....

And has at it ....

Because that .....

IS GEORGE .....

The face ...

On Tony Blair's .....

Little finger ....

And not much else ....

And so ....

Of course .....

Tony does have some sway ...

With the queen ....

And so .....

For being compliant ....

And for bringing us .....

Back to the EMPIRE .....

Submissive, of course .....

As is proper ...

For subjects .....

Of a queen ....

Perhaps .....

George will get himself ....

A baronetcy ....

And maybe ....

He will become ...

A KNIGHT ...

OF THE GARTER .....

And so .....

If so ....

He will have made out better ....

In his deal ....

Than Benedict Arnold .....

Did in his own ....

And so .....

That would be the advantage ....

George holds ......

Having that MBA .....

And the BID-NESS PROWESS it gives him .....

Which Benedict Arnold didn't have .....

And so .....

Tsk. Tsk, Livyjr.

Holding Bush accountable for what he says is just like blaming Charlie McCarthy
for what Egar Bergen says. At least what he used to say when he was still alive.
Actually, if Charlie McCarthy had been allowed to speak up for himself, I think he would have made more sense.

A.B.

[Snuffysmith]

They all speak with forked tongues!


Iran Is Bush's Target in Lebanon

WASHINGTON - America and Tehran are battling for influence in the
Mideast, with Israel and Hezbollah doing the fighting. It's a
"proxy war," a U.S. official says. By Doyle McManus.
http://email.latimes.com/cgi-bin1/DM/y/e6B...Io30G2B0HkCK0EL

[Snuffysmith]

More Yada Yada Yada

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politi...icle1202887.ece

Just hot air? Bush and Blair refuse to call for ceasefire
By Colin Brown and Francis Elliott in Washington
Published: 29 July 2006
Tony Blair and George Bush defied the growing anger across the world yesterday by seeking a UN resolution that fell far short of a ceasefire to end the killing of Lebanese civilians.

Speaking after talks at the White House, Mr Bush announced that on Monday the UN Security Council will discuss the creation of a multinational force to patrol a buffer zone on the southern Lebanon border. Mr Bush said the US would be tabling a UN Security Council resolution next week to seek an end to hostilities "as soon as possible" but it failed to meet the demands for a ceasefire in an open letter in The Independent yesterday, signed by 42 leading figures in the arts, business and politics.

Heightening fears that the war in Lebanon is being used as a proxy war between the US and Iran, Mr Blair said Iran would be mistaken if it thought the war was an opportunity to step up its pursuit of a nuclear weapon. " They risk increasing confrontation," he said.

Cabinet ministers warned that Mr Blair's refusal to stand up to Mr Bush would hasten his own exit from power. "This whole episode is very damaging for Tony," said one cabinet source. "They can cobble together a resolution but it won't be a solution to the violence. Tony thinks there is an arc of Islamic extremists like the Fascists in the Second World War. But this war is acting as a recruitment sergeant for the extremists." The source was dismissive about Mr Blair's attempts to influence the President. "The only special relationship the US has is with Israel. This is all driven by internal US politics. I don't know why Tony hasn't told Bush we have internal political pressures too."

Both Mr Bush and Mr Blair refused to discuss a ceasefire. Mr Blair was expected to claim their talks were a breakthrough but their commitment to a peace plan was in danger of being dismissed by their critics as window dressing and hot air last night.

Mr Bush offered the prospect of reconstruction of the ravaged areas of Lebanon to rehouse the thousands of refugees. But their plans failed to live up to the Downing Street spin operation in advance of their meeting at the White House which suggested there could be a call for a ceasefire next week.

Mr Blair said the war was a "complete tragedy" but said it offered an "opportunity" to force Hizbollah to abandon its campaign against Israel. He said he wanted to see "a cessation of hostilities as quickly as possible" but he refused to condemn Israel for the indiscriminate bombing. He said: "The conditions have got to be in place for it to happen. This can only work if Hizbollah are prepared to allow it to work." He claimed the violence was "part of a bigger picture" in the Middle East of reactionary groups trying to stop progress towards democracy. "There should be no doubt at all that it will be a temporary respite unless we put in place the longer-term framework, " he said.

Mr Bush described the conflict as "the calling of the 21st century" . The resolution would set out the framework for a "cessation of hostilities on an urgent basis" and the deployment of the mutlinational force, he said. "Our goal is to achieve a lasting peace that requires the free democratic and independent Lebanese government be in power to exercise full authority over its territory."

Opening their joint press conference, Mr Bush made a joking reference to his overheard remarks to the Prime Minister at the G8 conference when a microphone was left on and he said: "Yo Blair." "You share with me your perspective and you let me know when the microphone is on ..."

Mr Blair's aides outlined a proposed agreement that would see a UN stabilisation force police a buffer zone within Lebanon's southern border. The UN would also call for the withdrawal of Iranian and Syrian personnel, and the "progressive disarmament" of Hizbollah if the draft resolution is agreed.

But Andrew Murray, chairman of the Stop the War Coalition, said: "It is simply hot air. Despite the previous spin we have heard in recent days, their position is exactly the same; they are still endorsing continuing Israeli aggression against Lebanon. There is a huge amount of anger around the country about that."

Mr Blair's spokesman was dismissive of calls for a ceasefire without an agreement on a new force as "just so much wind". Instead, said the spokesman, Mr Blair wants to step up the pace of diplomatic efforts. " We want to increase the pace of diplomacy in identifying the steps necessary to bring about a ceasefire on both sides," he said. "I believe what we should be working towards is a resolution as early as possible next week. We believe others are roughly in the same ballpark."

The British-backed draft resolution is designed to enable the Lebanese government to fulfil UN resolution 1559 that calls for the removal of all militias from its border with Israel, he said. "It would give a mandate to a new, UN-backed multinational force." Downing Street does not rule out the possibility that a Nato force could be deployed, so long as it has UN blessing.

A French suggestion that the security zone should straddle the border with Israel was rejected. In return for the withdrawal of Hizbollah from Lebanon and its sponsors, the UN would commit to a renewed attempt to secure the two-state road map to peace. It was clear, however, that many questions about the composition, size, mandate and timing of deployments are unresolved.

Downing Street again made clear it was unlikely that any peacekeeping force including US or British troops would be deployed, leaving Mr Blair to urge more speedy action from the sidelines.

The Labour MP Phyllis Starkey ­ a former Foreign Office aide ­ said Mr Blair had a "far too rosy view" of the Israeli tactics. "I believe that the Prime Minister does not take a strong enough line with them in telling them when they are going against international law," she said.

Blair apologises for Preswick flight

By Ben Russell

* Tony Blair was offered a "one line" apology from President Bush over the United States' use of a British airport as a transit for weapons shipments to Israel.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said President Bush had limited his apology to the US failure to observe the proper procedures for using Prestwick airport near Glasgow as a stopover for an Israel-bound plane carrying laser-guided bombs.

"It was just a one line. As part of the introduction, the President said sorry there was a problem," the spokesman said.

Sir Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat leader, said Britain should " say no" to any transfers, after it emerged this week that the US asked for permission for more flights to stop in Britain over the coming weeks. The Foreign Office said permission would be granted if the US observed correct procedures.

Tony Blair and George Bush defied the growing anger across the world yesterday by seeking a UN resolution that fell far short of a ceasefire to end the killing of Lebanese civilians.

Speaking after talks at the White House, Mr Bush announced that on Monday the UN Security Council will discuss the creation of a multinational force to patrol a buffer zone on the southern Lebanon border. Mr Bush said the US would be tabling a UN Security Council resolution next week to seek an end to hostilities "as soon as possible" but it failed to meet the demands for a ceasefire in an open letter in The Independent yesterday, signed by 42 leading figures in the arts, business and politics.

Heightening fears that the war in Lebanon is being used as a proxy war between the US and Iran, Mr Blair said Iran would be mistaken if it thought the war was an opportunity to step up its pursuit of a nuclear weapon. " They risk increasing confrontation," he said.

Cabinet ministers warned that Mr Blair's refusal to stand up to Mr Bush would hasten his own exit from power. "This whole episode is very damaging for Tony," said one cabinet source. "They can cobble together a resolution but it won't be a solution to the violence. Tony thinks there is an arc of Islamic extremists like the Fascists in the Second World War. But this war is acting as a recruitment sergeant for the extremists." The source was dismissive about Mr Blair's attempts to influence the President. "The only special relationship the US has is with Israel. This is all driven by internal US politics. I don't know why Tony hasn't told Bush we have internal political pressures too."

Both Mr Bush and Mr Blair refused to discuss a ceasefire. Mr Blair was expected to claim their talks were a breakthrough but their commitment to a peace plan was in danger of being dismissed by their critics as window dressing and hot air last night.

Mr Bush offered the prospect of reconstruction of the ravaged areas of Lebanon to rehouse the thousands of refugees. But their plans failed to live up to the Downing Street spin operation in advance of their meeting at the White House which suggested there could be a call for a ceasefire next week.

Mr Blair said the war was a "complete tragedy" but said it offered an "opportunity" to force Hizbollah to abandon its campaign against Israel. He said he wanted to see "a cessation of hostilities as quickly as possible" but he refused to condemn Israel for the indiscriminate bombing. He said: "The conditions have got to be in place for it to happen. This can only work if Hizbollah are prepared to allow it to work." He claimed the violence was "part of a bigger picture" in the Middle East of reactionary groups trying to stop progress towards democracy. "There should be no doubt at all that it will be a temporary respite unless we put in place the longer-term framework, " he said.

Mr Bush described the conflict as "the calling of the 21st century" . The resolution would set out the framework for a "cessation of hostilities on an urgent basis" and the deployment of the mutlinational force, he said. "Our goal is to achieve a lasting peace that requires the free democratic and independent Lebanese government be in power to exercise full authority over its territory."

Opening their joint press conference, Mr Bush made a joking reference to his overheard remarks to the Prime Minister at the G8 conference when a microphone was left on and he said: "Yo Blair." "You share with me your perspective and you let me know when the microphone is on ..."
Mr Blair's aides outlined a proposed agreement that would see a UN stabilisation force police a buffer zone within Lebanon's southern border. The UN would also call for the withdrawal of Iranian and Syrian personnel, and the "progressive disarmament" of Hizbollah if the draft resolution is agreed.

But Andrew Murray, chairman of the Stop the War Coalition, said: "It is simply hot air. Despite the previous spin we have heard in recent days, their position is exactly the same; they are still endorsing continuing Israeli aggression against Lebanon. There is a huge amount of anger around the country about that."

Mr Blair's spokesman was dismissive of calls for a ceasefire without an agreement on a new force as "just so much wind". Instead, said the spokesman, Mr Blair wants to step up the pace of diplomatic efforts. " We want to increase the pace of diplomacy in identifying the steps necessary to bring about a ceasefire on both sides," he said. "I believe what we should be working towards is a resolution as early as possible next week. We believe others are roughly in the same ballpark."

The British-backed draft resolution is designed to enable the Lebanese government to fulfil UN resolution 1559 that calls for the removal of all militias from its border with Israel, he said. "It would give a mandate to a new, UN-backed multinational force." Downing Street does not rule out the possibility that a Nato force could be deployed, so long as it has UN blessing.

A French suggestion that the security zone should straddle the border with Israel was rejected. In return for the withdrawal of Hizbollah from Lebanon and its sponsors, the UN would commit to a renewed attempt to secure the two-state road map to peace. It was clear, however, that many questions about the composition, size, mandate and timing of deployments are unresolved.

Downing Street again made clear it was unlikely that any peacekeeping force including US or British troops would be deployed, leaving Mr Blair to urge more speedy action from the sidelines.

The Labour MP Phyllis Starkey ­ a former Foreign Office aide ­ said Mr Blair had a "far too rosy view" of the Israeli tactics. "I believe that the Prime Minister does not take a strong enough line with them in telling them when they are going against international law," she said.

Blair apologises for Preswick flight

By Ben Russell

* Tony Blair was offered a "one line" apology from President Bush over the United States' use of a British airport as a transit for weapons shipments to Israel.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said President Bush had limited his apology to the US failure to observe the proper procedures for using Prestwick airport near Glasgow as a stopover for an Israel-bound plane carrying laser-guided bombs.

"It was just a one line. As part of the introduction, the President said sorry there was a problem," the spokesman said.

Sir Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat leader, said Britain should " say no" to any transfers, after it emerged this week that the US asked for permission for more flights to stop in Britain over the coming weeks. The Foreign Office said permission would be granted if the US observed correct procedures.