Well, jeffmoskin, as you know, being trained as a traditional engineer here in OUR America, I have only received a second-class education, quite deficient in culture, for no one really wants or desires cultured engineers, or at least, don't want to have to pay to "culture" them, anyway, I guess, and so, the other day, when I said George W. Bush would be equated with "an alleged leader without a shred of credibility whatsoever", I was dangling participles all over the place, and most blatantly, I was confusing a synonym with an acronym!

Thanks for setting me aright here!

I think that is the "civilizing" effect of your being a Californian now, that is showing through here!

I think that more progressive "nation" out there in California does have some empathy for the plight of the uncultured engineer, and so, as you have demonstrated here, somehow the "aculturizing" that an English major would experience as a result of being an English major has bled off over into you, through your long years of being out there, among them, and then, through the miracle of modern technology in here, over into me as well, and whoever knows where that is all going to go, eh?

Except the water is going away, so what will happen to those who have to depend upon it, for their sustenance?

"Mideast water shortage could fuel political tensions: experts"

Sat May 21,10:04 AM ET

SHUNEH, Jordan (AFP) - The Middle East is faced with the prospect of a serious water crisis that could lead to political tensions and hamper prosperity, experts told a session of a World Economic Forum (WEF).

"We are not secure about water supplies."

"Supplies are simply not enough ..."

"This is a scary issue," Hazem Nasser, former Jordanian water and irrigation minister told the session.

He said that with the current population growth rate in the Arab world, the picture looks even more gloomier.

"In 1950, the Arab population was 75 million."

"In 2,000, it was 300 million, and is expected to grow to 600 million by 2025."

He said the deficit of water in the region was 30 billion cubic meters (approximately 7.95 trillion imperial gallons) last year and is expected to grow to 175 billion cubic meters (46 trillion gallons) in 2025.

"Most of the countries in the region have exhausted their water resources," he said, adding the only hope is costly desalination of sea water.

With new technology advances, desalination costs have dropped to 53 cents per cubic meter from two dollars a few years ago, Naser said.

But the cost has now increased again due to skyrocketing oil prices.

He said a proposed project to link the Red Sea to the Dead Sea with a canal is "an excellent platform for stability" as it can secure sufficient water supplies to Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Avishay Braverman, president of Ben-Gurion University in Israel, said current shortages in those three areas amount to 3.5 billion cubic meters (920 billion gallons) annually.

"You have two options, either you import water or desalinate, and I say desalinate," he said.

He said water shortages should not be used as a pretext for war because "investment needed for desalination of sea water for 40 years equals spending on defense for one year."

The experts warned that Dead Sea level has dropped from 392 meters (1,286 feet) below sea level a few years ago to 416 meters (1,365 feet) now.

They called for quick solutions.

end quotes

Reminds me of a bunch of locusts who are standing around after having eaten up all the grain in sight, wondering what they are now going to do, like maybe learn to eat dirt, since they have caused so much of it to be all that is left for anyone!

Or a bunch of hogs at the empty trough, maybe, wondering about converting themselves over to eating pork, because that is in abundant supply, and nothing else is left!

I are an engineer, too.

Got learned in the Empire State.



Hey!

We got water.

They got oil.

Maybe we can make a deal here.

I stopped by a friend's house today, to chat, and while I was there, I was watching the weather channel, which is really quite interesting to watch when it shows the various satellite pictures for the United States, region by region by region!

When we are talking in here, of course, we are virtual, and in many senses, that makes us from nowhere, since in here, we don't have weather, or water, to worry about and so, it is largely out of sight and out of mind, except for the rare times that I get an article like this one above to post!

It's nearing the end of May up here where I am, OUTSIDE OF VIRTUAL REALITY, and so far, it has been dry and cool!

In fact, just a few days ago or so, we had a hard freeze that killed all of my friend's tomatoes, peppers, egg plants, etc., all of which were set outside AFTER Mother's Day, which is considered to be the "safe" date for setting such perishables outside, based on long-term experience up here with the vagaries of the weather in the north-east.

What was so fascinating on the weather channel today was the fact that out near Chicago, maybe a thousand or so miles away, maybe less, the air flow was west to east, while here, to the east of Chicago, on the same latitude, give or take, so due east, the air flow was the exact reverse, east to west, so that between Chicago and here was somewhat like the place between a hammer and an anvil, with two huge air masses coming at each other like freight trains, head-on!

The end of May, and we are having a classic Nor'easter up here, TODAY, as I write these words, which is what the winter blizzards are called when they turn west over the coast of Massachusetts and head inland in a counter-clockwise rotation that buries us under feet of snow where I am!

It's cold up here.

My friend had his wood stove going today, and boy, did it feel good!

In the meantime, down in Arizona, it was above 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and to the west of us, it was maybe twenty degrees higher in temperature, where the air was flowing from west to east, as it normally does, here in OUR America.

On the satellite loop, my "weather" could clearly be seen coming northwards up the Atlantic Ocean to Massachusetts, where in classical Nor'easter fashion, it then turned westwards, to have it be rainy here all day today, and cold, which is now to continue on out for the next several days, at least!

And this is the end of May!

Us older folks up here who can remember the last fifty years or so of weather in this area find this all to be quite interesting, as OUR seasons up here are shifting in the time of year that they are occurring, which is a direct function of the amount of water that there is in the environment in its three states at any given time.

It is as if OUR seasons up here have shifted phase by so many months, so that in March, the weather that we are having would normally be associated with some other month, and so too now in May, and in November, on the other end of the spectrum!

And on the weather channel today, they were showing tornado ravaged areas in OUR America, and there is something that never happened up here when I was young, and now even in New York State and neighboring Massachusetts, tornados and violent winds more normally associated with states and areas far to the west and south of us are becoming commonplace occurences, which has me personally building a house that I have designed for high wind loads and heavy ice loads, both of which are becoming just the way it is anymore up here, instead of what it used to be, before the world went crazy and began to destroy itself, somewhere back in the 1970's perhaps, when it began to do so in earnest!

WATER!

Such a simple thing, and yet, so very dangerous a thing, when it is in the control of a furious and violent nature that has been upset, yea, literally up-ended by US, the ones who will now do some suffering for OUR collective witlessness and stupidity in the face of that nature, which we thought we were the masters of!

Yeah, right!

Go to the weather channel and tell the wind here to quit acting like it is winter, and have it turn back to a westerly flow again!

Or have George W. Bush do it for you, if you are unable!

And if he can't, oh well!

INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

http://www.sanjuan.edu/schools/miraloma/isweb/mont.htm

The Spirit of the Laws

By Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu

1748

In every government there are three sorts of power; the legislative; in respect to things dependent on the law of nations; and the executive, in regard to things that depend on the civil law.

By the third, he punishes criminals, or determines the disputes that arise between individuals.

The latter we shall call the judiciary power...

The political liberty of the subject is a tranquillity of mind, arising from the opinion each person has of his safety.

In order to have this liberty, it is requisite the government be so constituted as one man need not be afraid of another.

When the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person, or in the same body of magistrates, there can be no liberty; because apprehensions may arise, lest the same monarch or senate should enact tyrannical laws, to execute them in a tyrannical manner.

Again, there is no liberty, if the power of judging be not separated from the legislative and executive powers.

Were it joined with the legislative, the life and liberty of the subject would be exposed to arbitrary control, for the judge would then be the legislator.

Were it joined to the executive power, the judge might behave with all the violence of an oppressor.

"U.S., Iraq Troops Launch Baghdad Offensive"

By PAUL GARWOOD, Associated Press Writer

13 minutes ago

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Seven Iraqi battalions backed by U.S. forces launched an offensive in the capital on Sunday in an effort to stanch the violence that has killed more than 550 people in less than a month, targeting insurgents who have attacked the dangerous road to Baghdad's airport and Abu Ghraib prison.

Aides to a radical anti-American Shiite cleric, meanwhile, sought to defuse tension between Sunnis and the majority Shiites after a recent series of sectarian killings.

Iraq's government took the diplomatic offensive, joining the United States in its oft-repeated demands that Syria close its porous border to foreign fighters.

A senior Iraqi Trade Ministry official was killed in an ongoing terror campaign that has killed more than 550 people in less than one month.

Iraqi authorities also announced that Ghazi Hammud al-Obeidi, 65, one of the most-wanted officials from Saddam Hussein's former regime, had been released last month apparently because he was apparently terminally ill with stomach cancer.

Al-Obeidi had been regional chairman of the ruling Baath Party in the southeastern city of Kut.

He was detained May 7, 2003, and released April 28, making him the first of the 55 most-wanted Iraqis to be freed.

He was No. 51 on the most-wanted list.

The U.S. military said the offensive in the west of the capital had been set in motion to root out insurgents, especially those who have staged bloody assaults on the U.S.-run Abu Ghraib prison and the notoriously dangerous road from downtown to the airport.

Without providing numbers of troops, U.S. officials said four battalions of Iraqi soldiers and three battalions of police launched the offensive with the support of an unspecified number of American military personnel, although a total of about 2,500 personnel were believed involved.

"They are searching for gunmen and weapons believed to be used to target airport road and Abu Ghraib prison, which has come under regular mortar fire," said police Lt. Akram al-Zubaie.

Suspects were detained but the military gave no numbers.

"Iraqi army and ministry of interior forces worked very well together and demonstrated good, solid fundamental skills today," said Col. Mark A. Milley, commander of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division.

Also Sunday, three Romanian journalists and their Iraqi-American guide were released after being held captive for nearly two months.

Iraqi insurgents had demanded Romania withdraw its soldiers from Iraq.

Bucharest rejected the demand.

Separately, Iraqi security forces captured Ismail Budair Ibrahim al-Obeidi, a "terrorist" close to the network of the Jordan-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi on Tuesday in Baqouba, northeast of Baghdad, a government statement said.

The terror suspect, also known as Abu Omar, planned car bomb attacks in Baghdad and rigged booby-trapped cars for foreign fighters, the statement said.

In charging Syria with failing to stop the influx of foreign fighters, Baghdad was restating a routine U.S. complaint.

"Syria can do more," government spokesman Laith Kuba said at a news conference.

"It has a regime based on security, intelligence and police" he said, arguing that Damascus must know of the presence of the foreign fighters.

"It is impossible for about 2,000 people coming from the Gulf to pass through Syria and cross from Qaim or other border points without being discovered, despite our repeated calls," he said.

Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said during a trip to Turkey last week that he would soon visit Syria to discuss the issue of foreign infiltration.

Syria has been coming under pressure to stop foreign fighters infiltrating into Iraq, where violence has drastically increased since the April 28 announcement of al-Jaafari's Shiite-led government.

Syria has always denied the charges.

Senior aides of anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr met a key Sunnis group in a bid to soothe tensions that have flared and resulted in the death of 10 Shiite and Sunni clerics in the past two weeks.

"There is a wound that needs to be treated and Muqtada was the first to offer his medicine," said Sheik Abdul Salam al-Kubaisi, spokesman for the Sunni Association of Muslim Scholars after the talks with the al-Sadr delegation.

The association's leader, Harith al-Dhari, last week pinned the killing of several Sunnis, including clerics, on the Badr Brigades, the military wing of Iraq's largest Shiite party, the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq.

Brigade general secretary Hadi al-Amri has denied the charge and accused the Sunni association of wanting to "push Iraq into a sectarian conflict."

Al-Sadr, a burly, black-bearded cleric, said in a television interview aired Sunday the talks were aimed at settling the feud between the association and the Badr Bridges.

He resurfaced this week after lying low following fierce battles last year in the southern holy city of Najaf and Baghdad's impoverished Sadr City between his supporters and U.S. forces.

Al-Kubaisi, the Sunni association official, said he handed al-Sadr's delegation a document committing his group to certain steps, but he did not elaborate.

More meetings with al-Sadr's group will be held in the future, he said.

Sunni leaders announced Saturday they had formed an alliance of tribal, political and religious groups to help Iraq's once dominant minority break out of its deepening isolation following a Shiite rise to power after Saddam's ouster.

Kuba said Sunni Muslim leaders should take a strong stand on the killing of security forces and others at the hand of the insurgents.

Sunni extremists are believed to be driving Iraq's relentless insurgency.

"They should also give their opinion about the killing of civilians," he said.

"The Iraqi people want to hear that."

Sunnis are believed to make up the bulk of Iraq's raging insurgency, which claimed more victims Sunday, including Trade Ministry official Ali Moussa and his driver.

They were killed in a drive-by shooting while heading to work, ministry spokesman Faraj al-Jaafari said.

Moussa ran the ministry's auditing office and was a junior official during Saddam's regime.

A suicide car bomber also blew himself up near a U.S. convoy and police station in Tikrit, 80 miles north of Baghdad, killing one American soldier and wounding two others along with and two Iraqi policemen, the military said.

Also Sunday, a U.S. soldier was killed in a vehicle accident near Kirkuk, 180 miles north of the Iraqi capital, the military said.
___

Associated Press writers Bassem Mroue, Qassim Abdul-Zahara and Sinan Salaheddin in Baghdad contributed to this report.

And once again, another day in OUR America dawns, and what will it bring?

Well, that remains to be seen, of course, but as for me, well, life goes on, whatever it may bring, and that is just how it is, as I see it anyway!

The ebb and flow of life in this world of OURS, and we are its observers!

This morning, on the radio news, they were remarking on the heat down there in jeffmoskin country, and the cold up here in Livyjr country, and all I could think was, "oh well", because folks, here is where we actually are!

Life is not what we think it is going to be, it is what it is going to be, and then, it is up to each of us to position ourselves where and how we think we should be, to survive, and/or thrive, in what is to come!

When I was young, 1957, to be exact, there was quite a drought up here, and I just happened to be at my grandfather's farm when a photographer from the now defunct Albany Knickerbocker News came by, to photograph my grandfather's hands holding that dry soil, and all these years later, I still have that news article, to remind me of the uncertainties and vagaries of life out in the country, where it is still better to try and understand nature, and to co-exist with it, than to climb way up on one's high horse, and start thinking that one is some kind of "master of the universe", as I hear a lot of these young corporate MBA types calling themselves, as if it could be so!

"Make it rain" is what I would say to them, if in fact you are really this "master of the universe", as you claim, or make it stop raining, when too much has come!

And of course, they can do neither, so why make the claim in the first place?

But that is just me, an old country folk, thinking out loud!

Ah, well .....

We humans, having noticed a few thousand years back an object which we chose to call "THE SUN," have become solar-based in our thinking as well as in our living. The so-called seasons we plant and harvest by are set by the sun (or sun and moon if you want greater accuracy).

Mother (or father?) nature, however, has different seasons, since, in addition to being influenced (but not controlled) by the earth's daily and yearly rotation cycles around the sun, the earth is also influenced by small perturbations like...

volcanic eruptions!

In 1980, Mt. St. Helens blew up, scattering volcanic ash into the stratosphere.

That event changed the prevailing South-Easterly flow of air here in Kah-Lee FAWN-Yah to North-Westerly. That is a rather profound event. The effect is finally starting to diminish now after 25 years.

In 1992, Mt. Pinatubo blew up, scattering volcanic ash into the stratosphere, too, only this event made St. Helens look like a pop-gun.

For the next two years, the average temperature of the world was two degrees Celsius LOWER than average. TWO DEGREES CELSIUS. By comparison, global warming has been less than 1 degree over the past 100 years.

Global Cooling! Caused by NATURE.

We six billion souls can screw up the environment; we can poison the air and the water; we can increase the "greenhouse effect;" we can dam up the canyons and kill off marine life.

But we are little league compared to nature. We are just here for the ride.

Fasten your seat belts.

I like the way you said that (little league). It's always interesting to hear people after hurricanes, for example, say, "I can't believe it..." Then, the next year, they rebuild in the same stupid spot right on the beach-- as if to tell nature that it won’t happen again!

People tend to underestimate the power and fragility of nature.

Well, Peggy, first of all, welcome aboard!

And thank you for your thoughts and comments on "nature", which is, as you say, both powerful, and yet, quite fragile in many ways, all at the same time, which is something I thought we all knew, but what a pipe dream that was, on my part, because so many people don't even seem to have a clue these days, especially all of these people who lately have been moving up here to my area, following this plague of "land development" that has been going on up here since the late-1970's, give or take, and escalating with ever more speed since then, to the point of where it is now insane, and there just is no other word for it, insane!

In a place where the temperature extremes are about 130 degrees Fahrenheit, from 100 degrees above zero, to 30 degrees or so below, we have people building huge Mediteranean style houses, with flat roofs, and in places where the snow mounts up, and the water flows when it melts.

People are building these things right where the wind blows the hardest, because of the view, so that in the winter, when the wind blows during a blizzard, they are drifted in so tight they can't get in or out!

And then they complain about the weather, as if it never snowed up here before, or got cold!

And houses are being built right in the courses of intermittent streams, and today, I saw some fool putting a foundation for a house right in a settling basin for a subdivision storm-water management sytem!

And the town is letting this all go on, for the money!

They don't care!

If the houses flood, it don't affect these town officials, who only want the taxes that they can get off of the "developments".

Incredible!

Just incredible is all I can say about it!

And is it ever refreshing to hear somebody call a spade a spade, here in OUR America, with respect to these people who do build houses in the most stupid places imaginable, like the surf zone next to the ocean, or on an unstable cliff somewhere, and then cry, and weep and wail, and gnash their teeth and demand government assistance to help them rebuild in the same stupid places, when the inevitable happens, and their alleged "investment" has gone the way of all flesh, back to dust, again!

STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES, AMERICA, and there are no exceptions to the rule, no matter how many fancy credit cards you have in your Gucchi hand-tooled leather credit card holder, or how big or fancy your Mercedes-Benz or Jaguar might be!

Where I live in OUR America, the land is what might be called "tortured", which is to say that in the past, it was subjected to some great cataclysms which twisted and rolled the terrain, and so, have left a landscape that is really not suited to large-scale development, for what are to me, a life-long resident of the area, as well as a licensed professional engineer, some very sound reasons, many or most of which have to do with the inexorable nature of water to make its way "downhill", no matter what is in its way!

NOTHING ON EARTH HAS MORE PATIENCE THAN WATER, and that is a fact!

No matter what is in its way, it is going to go downhill, and if you are in its "road", well, that's just too damn bad as far as the water is concerned, for there is also nothing on this earth that cares less for us humans and our "dreams" than water!

To it, we are as nothing at all, and certainly we are not something that it is going to go out of its way to avoid, which after all these centuries of living on this earth, we still do not seem to understand, or comprehend!

When I was young, one of the first things that I was taught by my elders was the history of OUR town, itself, going back and back in time, and part of that history has to do with water and its destructive effects on the town, which was washed away back in the 1880's, I believe it was, by a flood which caused the creek coming off the mountains to jump its banks, and move its channel better than a mile, in some places, so that the day after, the map was completely changed, and the town was gone!

Today, all these "rocket scientists" that we have on the town planning and zoning boards haven't the slightest idea that this history even happened, because they all came to here from someplace else, those that are on these boards today, and what they are doing, IN THEIR GREED AND IGNORANCE, is planning for the destruction of the town, all over again, and when that happens, they'll be the first to scream and holler about how unfair nature is, and how it is now up to the government to step in and make things right again, by giving out a lot of FEMA money, of course, instead of having these planning and zoning people prosecuted to the fullest extent the law allows for misfeasance, malfeasance, negligence and EXTREME STUPIDITY AND GLUTTONY in office.

I myself live on a stream that flows into the one that flooded and washed the town away, and in the early fifties, we had the eye of a hurricane make it this far north and inland, and my stream took the bridge out, just down the road from where I am, while the other one took out the bridge in the town that it had washed away before.

Today, when you talk about that down in town, they look at you like you got two or three-and-a-half heads or something, all these "go-go"/"push-push" land developer types who inhabit our town hall now, and they make all kinds of japeries and mockeries and loud guffaws when we "rustics" with all the hay in our ears come down to town and make mention of the reality of living in the lowest point there is in town, when you are surrounded by mountains which have quite a bit of water up on them, with only one way for that water to get out of town, which is through the town itself, since there is no other "downhill" for the water to go in, and it sure don't go uphill very well when some fancy-boy land developer tells it it has to, because he wants to develop all the swamps and other low-lands in the town, for money!

And with the connivance of the "town", which wants that tax money, and doesn't care who gets hurt, so long as the taxes are paid on time, and if your land is flooded and worthless, the taxes are still due on it, and so ......!

And speaking of no exceptions to the rule:

"Banks Notify Customers of Data Theft"

By PAUL NOWELL, AP Business Writer

44 minutes ago

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - More than 100,000 customers of Wachovia Corp. and Bank of America Corp. have been notified that their financial records may have been stolen by bank employees and sold to collection agencies.

So far, Bank of America has alerted about 60,000 customers whose names were included on computer disks discovered by police, bank spokeswoman Alex Liftman said Monday.

"We are trying to communicate with our customers as promptly as possible," she said.

"So far, we have no evidence that any of our customer information has been used for account fraud or identity theft."

Wachovia said it has identified 48,000 current and former account holders whose accounts may have been breached.

"The numbers have increased as we continue to receive additional names from police," Wachovia spokeswoman Christy Phillips said Monday.

Both banks are providing the affected customers with free credit reporting services.

In a separate case with the potential for identity theft, a laptop containing the names and Social Security numbers of 16,500 current and former MCI Inc. employees was stolen last month from the car of an MCI financial analyst in Colorado, said company spokeswoman Linda Laughlin.

The car was parked in the analyst's home garage and the computer was password-protected, she said.

MCI would not comment on whether the data was encrypted.

The bank record theft was exposed last month when police in Hackensack, N.J., charged nine people, including seven bank workers in an alleged plot to steal financial records of thousands of bank customers.

The bank employees accessed records for customers of Cherry Hill, N.J.-based Commerce Bank, PNC Bank of Pittsburgh, and Charlotte-based banks Wachovia and Bank of America, according to Hackensack Police Chief Ken Zisa.

Orazio Lembo Jr., 35, of Hackensack allegedly made millions of dollars through the scheme, Zisa has said.

Authorities said they discovered the plot after they executed a search warrant at Lembo's apartment in February as part of a separate investigation.

They seized 13 computers which contained details about the plan, Zisa said.

Lembo received lists of people sought for debt collection and turned that information over to the seven bank workers, who would compare those names to their client lists.

The bank workers were paid $10 for each account they turned over to Lembo, Zisa said.

And speaking of STUPID in OUR America with a capital S, this comes close to "taking the cake", as far as I am concerned:

"Sex offenders get U.S.-paid Viagra - Hevesi asks for halt to Medicaid footing drug cost for rapists and high-risk violators"

By MICHAEL VIRTANEN, Associated Press
First published: Monday, May 23, 2005

ALBANY -- Convicted rapists and other high-risk sex offenders in New York are getting Viagra paid by Medicaid, according to state Comptroller Alan Hevesi, who has asked the federal health secretary to stop the practice.

"I am asking that you take immediate action to ensure that sex offenders do not receive erectile-dysfunction medication paid for by taxpayers," Hevesi wrote in a letter Sunday to Michael Leavitt, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

He requested immediate administrative action or that Leavitt draft an amendment to the Medicaid law if necessary.

Audits by Hevesi's office showed that between Jan. 1, 2000, and March 31, 2005, in New York, 198 Level 3 sex offenders received Medicaid-reimbursed Viagra after their convictions.

Those included crimes against children as young as 2, he said.

According to Hevesi, that obviously was an unintended consequence of a 1998 directive from federal officials telling states that Medicaid prescription programs must include Viagra.

The state helps fund the program for its residents, and a review of Medicaid pharmacy expenditures was checked against the New York's sex offender registry by Hevesi's auditors.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said it was "deeply disturbing and runs contrary to the purpose of Medicaid, which is to provide health care coverage for uninsured, low-income individuals."

The Democrat urged Leavitt to look into it, and said she would explore legislative options.

New York's other Democratic senator, Charles Schumer, joined Hevesi at a news conference Sunday in New York City.

He said he hoped the issue could be resolved without a bill, but he's prepared to offer one to correct it.

"While I believe that HHS did not do this intentionally, when the government pays for Viagra for sex offenders, it could well hurt many innocent people," he said.

New York auditors are reviewing whether other prescription drugs for sexual dysfunction are being reimbursed by Medicaid for convicted sex offenders, Hevesi spokesman David Neustadt said.

While they didn't review the situation on Viagra reimbursement by Medicaid in any other states, he said they have no indication it's different.

A call to Leavitt's office was not immediately returned Sunday.

end quotes

"While I believe that HHS did not do this intentionally, when the government pays for Viagra for sex offenders, it could well hurt many innocent people," SCHUMER said.

WHAT?

Could well hurt many innocent people?

Aren't you sure, Charlie "Chuck"?

Do you need to do some more research, perhaps?

Boy, that Charlie "Chuck" Schumer sounds like a real rocket-scientist, himself, and he is in charge of things, here in New York State as far as our senatorial representation in the United States Senate goes, and boy, that sure don't promise much for the future does it, when United States Senators like Charlie "Chuck" Schumer have to stop and think about whether it is good or bad governmental policy for George W. Bush's HHS Department to be giving out OUR tax dollars so that convicted sex offenders can get free Viagra!

Incredible, Charlie, just incredible!

Just when I thought I had heard it all, too!

Just goes to show you, a time and a place for ALL things under heaven, including everything that we never wanted or needed, like convicted sex offenders in OUR America getting free Viagra from OUR United States government!

"Questions Remain About Uzbek Death Toll"

By BURT HERMAN, Associated Press Writer

2 hours, 12 minutes ago

ANDIJAN, Uzbekistan - Khamid Urinbayev didn't recognize the bloated corpse of his youngest son after it lay for three days at the morgue.

Finally, the 23-year-old was identified from his documents, one of the victims of a spasm of bloodshed that has put President Islam Karimov on the defensive.

It is still not clear how many people died in the May 13 upheaval that began with protests in this eastern city over the prosecution of businessmen charged with being sympathizers of Islamic extremists.

The government says 169 people were killed, most of them Islamic rebels and soldiers.

Critics contend hundreds more died, and residents charge that many were unarmed civilians, including women and children.

Karimov, an authoritarian leader who has been a key U.S. ally in the war on terrorism, has stonewalled Western calls for an international investigation.

Aibek Urinbayev, a baker's assistant who sold flour at the bazaar, had no history of political involvement and was on his way to visit his parents when he was shot in the abdomen, his family says.

"For three days he lay on the ground."

"These are people, not animals," the 65-year-old father said angrily at his home in Andijan.

"If they wouldn't have found me, maybe they would just have buried him anywhere."

Urinbayev was one of about a half dozen people who said in interviews with The Associated Press that relatives killed May 13 were innocent civilians.

Many of those victims were young men, but no family admitted to any tie to the uprising.

Details of those interviews were lost when plainclothes officers confiscated the AP reporter's notebook after physically threatening him.

Urinbayev's son found his final resting place at the city's Buzton cemetery.

But it remains a mystery what happened to many of the other dead.

An Associated Press reporter over several days visited 16 cemeteries — lying in overgrown fields on hillsides, behind makeshift brick walls and past iron gates — but found just 61 graves that cemetery workers said belonged to victims of the violence.

There was no large concentration of May 13 dead at any cemetery in Andijan except for one, Bogi Shamol.

The caretaker there said government workers came to bury 37 bodies in a nearby field without revealing their identities beyond saying they were young men.

At other cemeteries there were at most a handful of dead from the unrest buried beneath fresh mounds of dirt adorned with pebbles and flowers — and teapots or cups to be used in the afterlife.

The city burial office said Friday that 26 funerals had been recorded for those killed May 13, adding that others might have been interred in the surrounding region or that their bodies could still be at the morgue.

Plainclothes security officers surround the morgue, refusing to allow reporters to speak with officials.

Death certificates obtained by AP were marked with numbers reaching as high as 328 issued May 14, 304 on May 15 and 279 on May 16.

It wasn't known if the numbers reflected a count that began each day, which would support opposition claims that hundreds died, or a count that began at the beginning of the year.

Some Uzbek regional offices that record births and deaths total from the beginning of each year.

Uzbekistan's top prosecutor has said 169 people were killed, including 32 government soldiers.

He said nearly all the remaining dead were Islamic militants who seized weapons and freed prisoners from a jail before security forces moved in to put down the uprising.

The few civilians who died were killed by militants, Uzbek officials say.

Groups opposed to Karimov's rule say the death toll was far higher.

Nigara Khidoyatova, head of the Free Peasants party, said workers from her group recorded 745 killed.

However, despite repeated requests from journalists, Khidoyatova provided a list of only 43 names without addresses or any contact details, making it impossible to confirm the alleged deaths.

Her list included women and children — a claim repeated by residents who told AP about troops firing at some 2,000 peaceful demonstrators gathered on the main square to support Islamic militants who had seized weapons from army and police posts before freeing the jail's inmates and occupying government buildings.

Abdukadyr Sattarov, a rights activist in Andijan, said a day after the unrest that 15 bodies of children aged between 6 and 10 were still lying on the street about a half-mile from the square where the shooting started.

In the same place, there were 30 to 50 dead women and about 100 bodies of men, five or six in uniforms, he said.

According to an AP reporter and other journalists at the scene, about 10 bodies could be seen on the main square on the day of the crackdown.

Given the lack of information, rumors about the dead are rampant.

Many residents repeated claims that at least three trucks were seen hauling bodies away, but only at one cemetery did workers confirm a truck had deposited corpses.

Urinbayev said his son was returning from the bazaar when the violence erupted.

Aibek stopped at home to check on his wife and then headed for his parents' home but never arrived, the father said.

The family brought Aibek's body home May 16 — receiving death certificate No. 279 — but the stench of decay was so bad after laying outside in the morgue's courtyard for three days that they held the funeral after just a few hours.

As they mourned Sunday, Aibek's mother, Minajad, clutched a photo from his obligatory military service, crying, "My dear son, my poor dear son."

His 21-year-old wife cradled their 9-month-old baby.

Urinbayev complained that troops didn't warn those on the square before they opened fire.

"Why didn't they tell people to leave?" he asked.

end quotes

Why didn't they tell people to leave?

What?

Are you kidding me?

If they told people to leave, and then people actually did, WHO WERE THEY GOING TO HAVE LEFT TO KILL?

Boy, this guy sure don't know much about "George W. Bush-style democracy" in action, now does he?

Well.

I know what "land" is. I had better find out what "development" means.

Miriam-Webster says to develop is "b (1) : to make available or usable".

Sounds to me like building a mediterranean house in Upstate New York is to make...

UNUSABLE.

And here is an update on that "government-sponsored Viagra for convicted sex-offenders" story above:

"Feds say states can deny Viagra to sex offenders on Medicaid"

By MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press
Last updated: 5:37 p.m., Monday, May 23, 2005

ALBANY -- The federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is now advising state officials they can deny Medicaid coverage for erectile dysfunction drugs for convicted sex offenders.

"The Medicaid program should not be paying for erectile dysfunction drugs for sex offenders," said Gary Karr, spokesman for the center under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Notices were to go out to states as early as Monday, 24 hours after New York state Comptroller Alan Hevesi revealed 198 of New York's worst sex offenders received taxpayer-paid Viagra.

"States already have the power to determine if a drug is not medically appropriate for a certain patient or certain class of patients," Karr said.

He said there was confusion over a 1998 federal directive, which apparently resulted in Medicaid-paid Viagra for sex offenders on parole and after they served their sentences.

"That's wonderful," said Laura Ahearn, executive director of Parents for Megan's Law, an advocacy group named for a New Jersey girl raped and killed in 1994 by a convicted sex offender.

"I think that is probably the most proactive measure they can take to ensure that individual states can legislate what their values are."

Ahearn, with others seeking better protection for victims of sex offenses, had spent much of Monday lobbying her state to see what could be done since Hevesi's revelation on Sunday.

She spoke with Gov. George Pataki's staff who, like their counterparts in other states, thought they had little recourse from providing Medicaid-paid Viagra for sex offenders.

"There was a feeling this was not something the states could legislate so now that we know the states have the power ... we are going to lobby the states to make sure this is stopped," she said.

"It's great that the federal government has responded immediately and given states the power to stop providing Viagra to sex offenders," Hevesi said.

His office was tipped to the concern by a whistleblower who noticed sex offenders were getting Viagra prescriptions, he told WROW Radio in Albany.

In a letter Sunday to HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt, Hevesi, a Democrat, requested immediate administrative action or that Leavitt draft an amendment to the Medicaid law if necessary.

Audits by Hevesi's office showed that between Jan. 1, 2000, and March 31 of this year, 198 Level 3 sex offenders in New York received Medicaid-reimbursed Viagra after their convictions.

Those included crimes against children as young as 2 years old, he said.

"The bottom line is, giving convicted sex offenders government-funded Viagra is like giving convicted murderers an assault rifle when they get out of jail," said U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat.

Hevesi's study didn't include other erectile-dysfunction drugs or sex offenders in the lesser two levels of offense, Hevesi spokesman David Neustadt said.

New York auditors are reviewing whether other prescription drugs for sexual dysfunction are being reimbursed by Medicaid for convicted sex offenders, Neustadt said.

While they didn't review the situation on Viagra reimbursement by Medicaid in any other states, he said they have no indication it's different.

Earlier Monday, Pataki called on Washington to reverse what he called the Clinton-era's "irrational and misguided policy."

The Republican also directed the New York Parole Division to prohibit convicted sex offenders on parole from using erectile-dysfunction drugs.

He recommended county probation departments do the same.

end quotes

Earlier Monday, Pataki called on Washington to reverse what he called the Clinton-era's "irrational and misguided policy?"

Ah, George, I hate to burst your bubble here, but guess what?

Clinton has been gone from the Oval Office FOR FIVE YEARS NOW, and your hero, George W. Bush has been in there for those five years, and so ......

Why did this take FIVE YEARS for him to do anything about this, and speaking about that, why didn't you do something yourself, after 2000, when Clinton was gone, since it is pretty obvious from this above article that your own crowd knew what was going on, here in New York, with this government-sponsored Viagra for convicted sex offenders in New York State, WHERE GEORGE, YOU JUST HAPPEN TO BE THE MAN IN CHARGE OF THAT PROGRAM?

Didn't want to take any profits from selling these sex drugs out of some REPUBLICAN'S pockets?

Or was it just some more of the plain old garden variety ineptness and incompetence that we have been living with for these last five years of this present incumbent's interminably long reign?

My definition of "development" is "BRING to a higher state of being", and that sure is not what is being done up here, and that is a fact!

A good friend of mine ended up buying a brand-new house in a "town-approved" subdivision up here for a hundred-plus thousand dollars or so that was right smack-dab in the bed of an intermittent stream coming off the side of the ridge above it, and when the water-table would rise, which is every time it would rain, or the snow melt, the place would be inundated.

He bought it in the spring, and by August of that same year, he had sewage all over the place, because it obviously couldn't go down into the saturated ground, and what a stink when it was hot and humid, and there was no breeze!

He had all the neighbors quite upset, at him, and there was nothing he could do to solve the problem!

And his lawyer, the one who helped him close on the house turned out to be the developer's lawyer, too, as well as being the Town judge!

What a racket!

He was finally able to unload the place and get out, and now, it turns out that a friend of another friend of mine has bought the place, and the cycle repeats!

And this is what is touted in the town as "high-end" development!

What a rip-off, and you still owe the property taxes on the assessed value, when the place ain't worth a dime, in reality!

Which is why every swamp up here is now targeted for development!

The "stupids" with all the money have no idea of what they are spending it on, so long as it costs more than what all their friends have paid for the same crap, and so ...

In the meantime, as a result of all of this desecration of the uplands above me, and the town as well, which is lower down the ridge than I am, there is now so much water coming down the gorge through my land that back in March, a couple of tons of silt came down with the high water and blocked the channel on one side of what was my private little island, which then caused the creek to jump sideways about six feet or so, washing away half the island in the process, and undercutting a bank about thirty feet high, so that will now cave down and wash further down the creek, plugging the channels further down, and one of these times when that happens, the creek is going to jump its banks, and the town is going to get flooded again, and you know what?

We old timers think that that is the only thing now that will drive any sense at all into these fool's heads, which is to destroy the town, like the "Great Johnstown Flood" did all those years ago in Pennsylvania, but who knows about that, of course, since it is more than fifteen or twenty seconds ago, and so, is out of memeory, and just plain gone!

"Nature is benign, kiddies, so put your thumbs back in your mouths, and go back to sleep, it is alright", this to people in their twenties and thirties and forties, and more, who have to have everything "just so, don't you know!"

Before I built where I am, which is on land that I have lived on all my life, I still went out there two winters in a row, and walked around, and watched where the snow melted early, versus where it lingered, and when I had made sure that I was not moving onto wet ground, then and only then did I actually try to start living there.

Today, when I make mention of that, all I hear in return is "OH, I don't have that kind of time to wait; I WANT IT NOW!"

Well, okay, it's on its way!

And by the way, how long can you tread water?

Cold and wet up here today, and that is the way it is supposed to be until the end of the week, they say, and probably so, say I, in unison!

Seed-rotting weather is what I call this type of weather, and perhaps that doesn't mean much to someone in a place with a long growing season, and an ideal climate, but up here, there is a more narrow window, and if nature is not cooperative, then life can be tough, for all of us, and not only those who lost their garden plants to this recent hard freeze after Mother's Day, and those who will lose quite a bit of seed that is now in cold, waterlogged ground, but the rest of us as well, because we are all interconnected in this world of OURS, and that is just how it goes.

I got a brief chance to watch the weather channel today, to see if we are still getting our air flow from the east of us, coming in off the Atlantic Ocean, and yes, that is still the case today!

I listened the other morning to a scientist talking about the likelihood of this being another bad hurricane year this year, because the Atlantic Ocean is already warming up, and I have to wonder what that all bodes for us up here, because with this present air pattern, a northward moving hurricane would be steered right on inland, and one of these times, we are going to have a repeat of what occurred up here in 1953, as I remember it, and if it was 1954, it still don't matter, because that storm was fifty years ago, and so, fifty years later, give or take a year, we are now due for another fifty year storm, which itself would in actuality be a HUNDRED-YEAR STORM, like the one that washed the Town of Poestenkill in the County of Rensselaer in the State of New York away in or about 1888!

Fifty-year and hundred-year storms!

To an engineer, they are factors to be heeded and reckoned with, and so records of weather are kept on a daily basis, and are consulted going back and back and back, as far as records and recollections permit and allow, because a creek in full flood coming off a denuded mountain-side can be quite a cataclysmic event, and that is where we are heading up here, because to OUR town planning board and zoning board, this is all quite a joke, a storm with a likelihood of occurring every so many years, in a cyclic fashion, with attendent great damage to the works of mankind, as Noah could probably tell us, if only we knew how to listen!

"A fifty-year storm, you say, Livyjr?"

"We can't hold up development for something that might happen once in a blue moon!"

"For this man to make a profit, why, he has to act right now, and well, we can't deny a man a profit, can we, for something he has no control over, like a hundred year storm?"

Guess not!

By the way, can any of you guys swim?

Just curious!

Ahh, Noah and the flood.

Or... the Epic of Gilgamesh.

Scientists (you remember them, don't you?) have determined that there is some MERIT to the flood sagas...


http://www.trinicenter.com/WorldNews/noah.htm

Ah yes. Hurricane Carol. I remember it well.


1954: Hurricane Carol Batters Long Island

On August 31, 1954, Hurricane Carol, the season’s third hurricane, battered Long Island. Winds reaching 100 miles per hour tore through both Nassau and Suffolk Counties, causing $3 million worth of damage. Basements flooded, thousands of trees were uprooted, boats capsized and sunk, and chimneys blew down. Some 275,000 homes lost electricity, and eastern Suffolk lost telephone service. Service was disrupted on the Long Island Rail Road and ferry service between Bay Shore and Fire Island was suspended. Communities on both the north and south shores were evacuated, including the beachfront areas from Westhampton Beach to Montauk Point. At Jones Beach, the boardwalks flooded and the Marine Stadium suffered substantial damage. At Mitchel Field in Garden City, the Air Force tied down planes or rolled them into hangars. Yet no deaths or injuries were reported. Sunrise Highway near Babylon is shown here in a photo taken on August 31, 1954.

–Cynthia Blair



Subscribe to Newsday home delivery | Article licensing and reprint options





http://www.newsday.com/features/custom/ith...17737.htmlstory

Wow, thanks a lot, jeffmoskin for posting that in here!

What I find most incredible up here is that when I talk about this event, which you also obviously think happened too, I am met with blank stares, as if I am talking about Martians coming to the moon to mine water, or something!

"Oh, that kind of stuff doesn't happen here!"

"Are you sure you are not just confused!"

"That only happens in Florida, you know!"

Well, okay!

SO!

Shame on you, jeffmoskin, for making up wild stories about hurricanes hitting Long Island, up here in the State of New York!

What are you trying to do, anyway, scare people?

Bad, bad jeffmoskin!

I guess you'll just have to go to your room, jeffmoskin, as punishment!

Shame, shame!

This afternoon, I managed to catch the weather channel again, and today, when I was watching it, they were talking about the Nor'easter hitting Boston, which was causing planes at the airport there to be delayed about ninety minutes, while La Guardia on Long Island was backed up over two hours!

The end of May, and Boston is being hit by a Nor'easter, as if this were winter time!

And it was like a March day, up here where I am, under this trough that the Nor'easter is flowing into from east of here, to here, which is against the prevailing wind currents, for you folks out there who might be wondering what the hub-bub is all about with this westerly flow inland from the Atlantic Ocean that is coming across Massachusetts, causing it to be cold and wet up here, in the GREAT NORTH-EAST!

May we always live in interesting times, I guess, because we sure seem to, so might as well get some enjoyment from them, since it is all we have anyway, or at least that is how I see things, but that is just me!

Or maybe it is just the CIA playing games with the computer weather maps, as a part of whatever it is that they do, and so, the Nor'easter really is not happening, but we just think it is because all that we know about life and the world really comes to us from a computer screen, and so, that's why the CIA is attacking OUR computers, so we will think it is wet and cold outside, when by God, if we were only to go out and look, well, who knows ......

"CIA Overseeing 3-Day War Game on Internet"

By TED BRIDIS, AP Technology Writer

5 minutes ago

WASHINGTON — The CIA is conducting a war game this week to simulate an unprecedented, Sept. 11-like electronic assault against the United States.

The three-day exercise, known as "Silent Horizon," is meant to test the ability of government and industry to respond to escalating Internet disruptions over many months, according to participants.

They spoke on condition of anonymity because the CIA asked them not to disclose details of the sensitive exercise taking place in Charlottesville, Va., about two hours southwest of Washington.

The simulated attacks were carried out five years in the future by a fictional new alliance of anti-American organizations that included anti-globalization hackers.

The most serious damage was expected to be inflicted in the closing hours of the war game Thursday.

The national security simulation was significant because its premise — a devastating cyberattack that affects government and parts of the economy on the scale of the 2001 suicide hijackings — contradicts assurances by U.S. counterterrorism experts that such effects from a cyberattack are highly unlikely.

"You hear less and less about the digital Pearl Harbor," said Dennis McGrath, who has helped run three similar exercises for the Institute for Security Technology Studies at Dartmouth College.

"What people call cyberterrorism, it's just not at the top of the list."

The CIA's little-known Information Operations Center, which evaluates threats to U.S. computer systems from foreign governments, criminal organizations and hackers, was running the war game.

About 75 people, mostly from the CIA, along with other current and former U.S. officials, gathered in conference rooms and pretended to react to signs of mock computer attacks.

The government remains most concerned about terrorists using explosions, radiation and biological threats.

FBI Director Robert Mueller warned earlier this year that terrorists increasingly are recruiting computer scientists but said most hackers "do not have the resources or motivation to attack the U.S. critical information infrastructures."

The government's most recent intelligence assessment of future threats through the year 2020 said cyberattacks are expected but terrorists "will continue to primarily employ conventional weapons."

Authorities have expressed concerns about terrorists combining physical attacks such as bombings with hacker attacks to disrupt rescue efforts, known as hybrid or "swarming" attacks.

"One of the things the intelligence community was accused of was a lack of imagination," said Dorothy Denning of the Naval Postgraduate School, an expert on Internet threats who was invited by the CIA to participate but declined.

"You want to think about not just what you think may affect you but about scenarios that might seem unlikely."

An earlier cyberterrorism exercise called "Livewire" for the Homeland Security Department and other federal agencies concluded there were serious questions over government's role during a cyberattack depending on who was identified as the culprit — terrorists, a foreign government or bored teenagers.

It also questioned whether the U.S. government would be able to detect the early stages of such an attack without significant help from private technology companies.

end quotes

My God, could it be?

This Nor'easter is a TAY-RIST plot to take over OUR America?

Should we run and hide?

Maybe put Saran Wrap completely around OUR houses, to keep something out, or is the Sran Wrap supposed to keep things in?

Oh, this is so confusing!

Have they color-coded this Nor'easter, I wonder, so we can tell up here what threat level we are under, with respect to our seeds rotting in the ground because of the cold and wet weather?

Oh, what should we do?

The sky is falling!

The sky is falling!

RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!

Well, okay!

But to where?

Memories are much too short.

As my High School history teacher said, "Those who fail history are doomed to repeat it."



http://www.southstation.org/hurr1.htm



Roaring its way from the West Indies in mid-September of 1938, a hurricane at first threatened Florida, then turned north past Cape Hatteras and suddenly swooped into Long Island and New England, the most populous region in the Western Hemisphere. The result was death and destruction, with more than 500 lives lost, 57,034 homes destroyed or damaged, and a property loss that extended into hundreds of millions of dollars.

A region prepared for hurricane might have been prepared as the result of past experience. But the last hurricane that struck New England was September 23, 1815, and no living person recalled that. The U.S. Weather Bureau was able to give only meager advance warning because there were few points to report the progress of the storm north off the Atlantic Coast. Barometers foretold a disturbance but this information was not widely available.

Miami and the Florida coast was prepared for the hurricane which had first been reported September 18 due north of Puerto Rico and east of the Bahama Islands. During the next 24 hours the storm traveled 300 miles west by north and seemed due to strike the Bahamas and Southern Florida. The rate of speed was about 12 1/2 miles per hour...

And I would come back and say, jeffmoskin, that one of the reasons that there are supposed to be licensed professional engineers like myself "on station" at all times to monitor development, is because when it comes to land speculation, people have no memories at all!

All they have is lust and greed, as a rule, and those are blinding influences, not illuminating influences, and so, when they are simply handed whatever they want, when they want it, by a negligent planning board, then a formula for disaster is being used as a "planning tool" by the town, and that is not only contra-survival in the long run, it is ultimately insane, when a town lets unchecked greed by individuals not even from the town destroy the town so that all the inhabitants are ultimately the losers, when they have no water left, as is one scenario, or when they have far too much water in a short amount of time, which is the other scenario, at least up here in the cold country, where we are damn fools if we apply to ourselves up here systems and designs that work in arid climates, because up here, it sure is not arid, and unless a lot happens and soon, like the earth turning over, it is not likely to become arid in my lifetime, and so .....

I am supposed to know that difference and abide by it!

Of, course, that attitude gets in the road of the land speculators, and so ....

Keep your heads in the sand, folks, there's nothing to worry about!

The mantra for OUR times!

What will it bring, as its rewards?

Who knows?

That's part of the reason we have this thread running, after all!

To be able to find out!

SO!

Stay tuned!

Live!

Late-breaking!

Life, in OUR America!

We have four seasons out here in Kah-lee-FAWN-yah:

1. Earthquake Season

2. Fire Season

3. Mudslide Season

4. Riot Season (although that one could have been prevented had Darryl Gates decided to DO SOMETHING instead of going to a party. But that's another story).

I am happy that I live in the somewhat boring "flatlands":

not the glamour of the Hollywood hills or Malibu, but I can sleep at night.

Well, jeffmoskin, the GREAT Nor'easter of the fourth week of May 2005 has lifted today, where I am, and the day has finished out quite nice, actually, which I am always glad to experience at this time of year, because it is such a contrast to the cold weather, and it lasts for such a short period of time, that if you blink, or if it is a long-term Nor-easter blocking the normal weather patterns, well, you just miss out, and so, you have to wait for a whole 'nother year, if you can hang on that long, one more time again!

Regional awareness, I guess we could call it, jeffmoskin, and it certainly is something that will "divide" us, or separate us until the days we all die, because where we live here in OUR America can be such diverse places climatically, and that certainly does have an impact on OUR life styles, and hence, OUR value systems from this perspective, that the more "hostile" the living conditions that we must live in, and here I mean external, and not internal living conditions, the more "conservative" perhaps we end up being, because we don't have the luxury of a large window of opportunity vis-a-vis what we can accomplish in the outside world in the limited time that we have, and so, we must keep our noses to the grindstone in a manner different from people in say, southern California, who have what I would consider to be a mild climate, year in and year out, that certainly beckons a lot of people, for the comfort that climate offers, especially as one gets older, and so feels the cold more and more, as certainly can be the case, in my experience, anyway!

And that is one of those "insanities" that I am noticing up here, where people coming into this area from warmer climates are bound and determined to do things here as they are done in the southern states, such as having a building season that goes completely through the year, instead of ending in December, as it did when I was younger.

So now, for example, to protect "PROFITS", concrete is poured in January, and February, when it is below freezing, because down in Texas, of course, where it is not freezing, they can pour concrete in January and February, and so what if it holds up or not afterwards?

Who is going to do anything about it if the concrete froze in the forms and so did not obtain its full strength?

By the time the degradation shows up, the contractor is long gone from the scene, and generally, the homeowners who buy these things have no idea themselves of what is proper or not, especially if they have moved here from a warm climate, and so are unfamiliar with the damage that temperature extremes of over a hundred degrees Fahrenheit can do to human habitations, especially when those habitations are built on shoddy ground, which is generally what is left for "development" these days, up here, the better land having been taken hundreds of years ago, when the picking was good!

And it is good that we chat about these things from time to time, is what I think, because where we all live does affect how we see the world, since where we live generally is most of, or all of the world that many of us ever experience in OUR lifetimes, and so, we should learn to appreciate how different life just might be for other people, not only in OUR America, but in the world, as well.

If nothing else, it expands our consciousness a little, and that is never a bad thing, or is it now in this post 9-11 environment?

Stay tuned for further discussion, on this exact subject!

LIVE!

Life in OUR America!

And as Memorial Day weekend descends down upon us, here in OUR America, what about OUR troops in the field in Iraq, those who are fighting George W. Bush's HOLY WAR for the oil depositis that Iraq contains; what does Memorial Day weekend portend for them, besides more fighting, of course, in the same places that they have been fighting in since they got there back in what is it now, 2003?

"Marines Return to Fight in Lawless Haditha"

By ANTONIO CASTANEDA, Associated Press Writer

1 hour, 22 minutes ago

HADITHA, Iraq - More than 1,000 Marines, sailors and soldiers are taking part in a counterinsurgency operation in Haditha, a Sunni-dominated trouble spot 140 miles north of Baghdad, the military said Friday.

Two Marines have been killed in the operation, which began Wednesday.

U.S. forces returned to Haditha less than two months after they thought they cleaned up the Euphrates River town.

But insurgents assassinated the police chief and devastated his force more than a month ago, leaving Haditha without a security force.

Iraqi troops also stayed clear of Haditha.

Until Iraqi forces can handle security in places like Haditha, U.S. troops will have to stay in Iraq to do the job.

A rocket-propelled grenade killed a Marine in Haditha on Thursday, the military announced Friday.

Another Marine was killed on the opening day of the operation Wednesday.

For U.S. troops, incessant anti-insurgent operations in the tough towns west of Baghdad have grown disheartening.

It's an even bigger problem for Washington, which has long been talking up the capabilities of the Iraqi troops.

Many Marines currently in Haditha went door-to-door through the city back in March, searching nearly every building, seizing weapons caches.

They met light resistance then.

But in April, the bodies of 19 Iraqis were found slumped against a bloodstained wall in a soccer stadium.

And earlier this month, militants launched a well-coordinated attack from the local hospital, killing four U.S. troops in a suicide bombing and ambush.

The blast caused a fire that gutted much of the hospital, and residents in this riverside town of 90,000 now travel for hours to other cities for treatment.

Since March, U.S. military officials acknowledge, their presence here has been light — similar to a highway patrol operation, said battalion commander Lt. Col. Lionel Urquhart.

That allowed insurgents to creep back in.

"It's frustrating that we can't keep more of a presence here," said Marine Maj. Steve Lawson, a company commander in the 25th Marine Regiment's 3rd Battalion.

"You wish you could spend more time in these areas."

Urquhart said Iraqi troops will soon take over for the Marines.

"It's going to be very apparent to the enemy that there will be an Iraqi Army presence here in the near future," he said, declining to give figures or an arrival date due to security concerns.

Until then, the Marines of Lima Company of 3rd Battalion are again hustling in search of resilient insurgents.

After raids and patrols, they pile into stuffy rooms in a commandeered Iraqi home that they've tried to transform into comfortable living quarters.

House rules are already in effect, with each soldier staking out his turf.

Everyone knows not to drink out of claimed water bottles.

Spots on the floor are marked out with space for machine guns.

Off-duty Marines' trivia games are left undisturbed by the explosions punctuating the night.

Insurgents have warned city residents against cooperating with the Americans.

Earlier this month insurgents paid a bold visit to the local radio station and threatened the manager against broadcasting U.S. military messages.

City leaders have also kept their distance.

The local government denies insurgents are in the city and, as of Thursday, had not asked for a meeting with the military since operations began, Urquhart said.

Right now, the only Iraqis traveling with the Marines are four Shiite soldiers — three of whom are related — from the faraway southern city of Basra.

These Iraqis know little of Sunni Haditha.

"What I need most now is someone who can say this is a good guy and this is a bad guy," said Marine Col. Stephen W. Davis, who commands all the troops in Regimental Combat Team 2 in the city.

Well, here we are, another Memorial Day weekend in OUR America, and what do we have up here in the corrupt Empire State of New York?

Well, it looks like some controversy from here, and I wonder if "Teflon Tony" Blair is going to end up weighing in on this controversy, as it does involve "Jolly Olde", and that issue of "loyalty":

"Vets Criticize Timing of Statue's Unveiling"

By CHRIS CAROLA, Associated Press Writer

7 minutes ago

FORT EDWARD, N.Y. - Maj. Robert Rogers, the frontiersman whose 18th century manual on guerrilla warfare has become a blueprint for Army Ranger fighting tactics, is getting what some consider a long-overdue honor: a statue in his memory.

But some veterans believe unveiling the monument on Memorial Day is insensitive because Rogers was loyal to England during the Revolutionary War.

"I think it's a travesty that we would think about honoring a person, especially someone who fought against us, on that day," said Bob Bearor, who served in the Army's 101st Airborne Division in the 1960s.

"It's a sacred day. ... Let's honor our dead who died for our country."

The life-size bronze statue is scheduled to be unveiled during a ceremony on Rogers Island in the Hudson River, 40 miles north of Albany.

The island served as the base camp for Rogers' Rangers during the late 1750s, when the British and French fought for control of North America.

The statue will stand near the site where Rogers penned "Rules of Discipline," a common sense guideline for battling the French and their Indian allies in the North American wilderness in 1757.

Also known as Rogers' "Standing Orders," the rules have been boiled down over the years from 28 to 19 and are still used to train soldiers at the Army Ranger School at Fort Benning, Ga.

Rule No. 1 of Rogers' manual, popularized and paraphrased in the novel, "The Northwest Passage," is, "Don't forget nothing."

Another rule, No. 15, is "Don't sleep beyond dawn."

"Dawn's when the French and Indians attack."

Although some veterans say they have no qualms with the Rogers statue, Bearor and others say they are upset over a local developer's plans to unveil the statue Monday, when the nation honors its war dead.

Bearor says Rogers, a New Hampshire-born frontiersman who led his Rogers' Rangers on guerrilla raids for the British during the French and Indian War, turned against his fellow Americans in the Revolutionary War.

But organizers of the May 30 event defend the timing, saying that holding it on the holiday allows the greatest number of local dignitaries and the public to attend.

The local newspaper, the Post-Star of Glens Falls, has editorialized against the Memorial Day ceremony, but some veterans aren't so vexed.

"I don't see any problem," said Harold Murray, commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Glens Falls.

"That's going quite a ways back in history."

Richard Fuller is caretaker of the private portion of Rogers Island where the statue will stand.

The property is owned by retired construction executive Frank Nastasi of Syosset.

Both men are veterans and neither believes that holding the event on Memorial Day shows disrespect for America's war dead, Fuller said.

But the head of a group of former and active-duty Rangers argues the although tribute may be well-intended, it is problematic.

"Memorial Day?"

"They're not thinking that through," said retired Army Capt. Steve Maguire, president of the U.S. Army Ranger Association.

"It just seems like I would try a different day."

Although he doesn't deny Rogers' military legacy, Bearor, a French and Indian War re-enactor and author of several books on the conflict, questions holding a Memorial Day tribute to a man who George Washington didn't trust.

Fearing Rogers was a British spy, Washington turned down his request to join the Continental Army at the outset of the American Revolution.

Rogers went on to raise a company of loyalist rangers, but failed to have the impact he had in the previous war.

A heavy drinker, he died a pauper in England in 1795 and lies buried somewhere beneath the streets of London.

"Even the English don't look at him as a hero," Bearor said.

"They buried him in an unmarked grave."

Controversy aside, a tribute to Rogers is long overdue, said Stephen Brumwell, a British author whose latest book, "White Devil," details the most famous exploit of Rogers' Rangers: the 1759 revenge raid on an Abenaki Indian village in Quebec.

The raid that inspired the 1826 novel "The Last of the Mohicans," by James Fenimore Cooper.

"He earned his statue the hard way," Brumwell said in a telephone interview from his home in the Netherlands.

"While others were sitting out the French and Indian War in Boston and New York, he was leading patrols into enemy territory, often in the very depths of winter."

___

On the Net:

U.S. Army Ranger Association: http://www.ranger.org

This, of course, is all taking place near to where I live, here in OUR America, and when I was young, Robert Rogers and his Rangers were heros to us, and we knew all about his exploits in the French and Indian War, which was fought over an extended period of time here in OUR America, before it was an America, and it was something for us to go to Lake George as children to see Fort William Henry at the southern, or British end of Lake George, just to the north of historic Fort Edward, as well as some earthworks thrown up by Billy Johnson and his crowd, to the east of Fort William Henry, in the 1750's, with Billy Johnson, of course, being Sir William Johnson, who is somewhat famous up this way, for his own exploits west of what is now George Pataki's REPUBLICAN capital of the State of New York.

I knew that Roger's Manual serves as the basis for the United States Army Ranger's Manual, of which I have my own copy, but I never knew Rogers was looked down on as a traiter to this nation, or perhaps I just never took the time to listen to that part of the conversation!

Whatever, that was a long time ago, and so, to me, Rogers is long since gone from the scene, and he is out of my thought-processes, BUT .....

Obviously, people have long memories, and sensitivities, and when other people, and here I am thinking primarily of old "bean-headed George", which is how George W. Bush is becoming to be lovingly known up here, when people like George W. Bush start setting in motion the equivalent of the "French and Indian War" in other nations, well, people like him ought to take into consideration just how long bad feelings engendered by wars can really last!

And if anyone doubts me, here is an example, right here, from OUR own nation, and if my calculations are correct, we are talking about a more-then-200-year-old grudge here, against Rogers, and so .....

Regrettably, Livyjr, they have very short memories.

1. President Bush pledged anew Friday that Osama bin Laden will be taken "dead or alive," no matter how long it takes, amid indications that the suspected terrorist may be bottled up in a rugged Afghan canyon. The president, in an Oval Office meeting with Thailand's prime minister, would not predict the timing of bin Laden's capture but said he doesn't care how the suspect is brought to justice. "I don't care, dead or alive — either way," Bush said. "It doesn't matter to me." - USA Today 12/14/2001

2. "The man (Saddam) is a threat... He's a threat because he is dealing with al Qaeda... And we're going to deal with him." GW Bush, 7 Nov 2002

3. At the annual Radio and Television News Correspondents Association dinner, George W Bush shows slides of himself searching clumsily behind furniture in the Oval Office, joking: "Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be somewhere ... nope, no weapons over there ... maybe under here?" 24 Mar 2004







The beat goes on, the beat goes on.
Drums keep pounding a rhythm to the brain.
La de da de de, la de da de da.

Charleston was once the rage, uh huh.
History has turned the page, uh huh.
The miniskirt's the current thing, uh huh.
Tennybopper si our newborn king, uh huh.

And the beat goes on, the beat goes on.
Drums keep pounding a rhythm to the brain.
La de da de de, la de da de da.

The grocery store's the supermart, uh huh.
Little girls still break their hearts, uh huh.
And men still keep on marching off to war.
Electrically they keep a baseball score.

And the beat goes on, the beat goes on.
Drums keep pounding a rhythm to the brain.
La de da de de, la de da de da.

Grandmas sit in chairs and reminisce
Boys keep chasing girls to get a kiss.
The cars keep going faster all the time.
Bums still cry 'Hey buddy, have you got a dime?'

And the beat goes on, the beat goes on.
Drums keep pounding a rhythm to the brain.
La de da de de, la de da de da

Somehow, jeffmoskin, just somehow, I believe that there is a direct linkage between the "cars going faster, ALL THE TIME", and the number of bums out there at any given time, begging for that dime!

And the Beat keeps becoming more and more insistent!

DA DUM DA DUM DA DUM, on and on and on and on ...

The wardrums of George W. Bush's EMPIRE on the march!

Kind of like a scene from a recent movie where that wizard had his own army in what was the place, MORDOR?

And speaking of people who are going to be out there as bums, begging for that dime, if they can but find someone who actually has one, or knows anymore what a dime is, we have from BUSHWORLD CENTRAL:

"Corporate Pensions Going Away As Old Firms Decline, Struggle"

Marilyn Alva

Wed May 25, 7:00 PM ET

Over the last 20 years, corporate pension plans have undergone a slow but sure death.

Now, as United Airlines prepares to dump its pension obligations on the federal government in the largest default in U.S. history, it looks like the last curtain is about to fall on traditional pension programs.

Only 20% of the work force still participates in defined benefit plans -- where you get a pension check for life after you retire -- vs. about 40% in the mid-'80s.

Of the 30,000 defined benefit plans left, down from 112,000 in 1985, many are in declining, old-line industries.

In contrast, about 700,000 401(k) tax-sheltered savings plans are offered by new and old economy companies.

The government estimates that defined-benefit programs are underfunded by $450 billion.

Of that underfunding, $96 billion is at companies with junk bond ratings.

That's up from $34 billion in 2002 and $4 billion in 2000.

"The majority of plan sponsors of defined-benefit plans have underfunded pension plans at this time," said Kevin Wagner, retirement practice leader at Watson Wyatt Worldwide.

Since many of those plan sponsors are financially healthy, their funding obligations will not materially impact their business, he said.

"However, for companies in financial distress, the additional funding requirement may very well be the straw that breaks the proverbial camel's back," Wagner said.

Manufacturers and transportation firms remain those most likely to end their pension plans.

General Motors and Ford debt has recently been downgraded to junk.

Delta Airlines has said it may follow United into bankruptcy.

Watchers worry those American institutions might follow former steel giants such as Bethlehem and bygone legacy airlines such as Eastern and turn their pensions over to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.

The government insurer will take over United's nearly $10 billion underfunded pension plan.

In 2004, nearly 200 underfunded pension plans were turned over to the PBGC, the most since 1990, when it started counting.

Those moves affected 147,500 workers in 2004.

United's four pension plans hit more than 120,000.

When the PBGC takes over pension plans, benefits are often reduced due to legal limits.

Of United's underfunded $9.8 billion, just $6.6 billion is guaranteed.

Even so, the PBGC estimates it has a $23 billion deficit, including United.

It's backing Bush administration pension reforms, including hiking employers' pension insurance premiums to the agency.

Other recently introduced legislation aims to extend the time airlines can finance their underfunded pensions.

Airlines would have to freeze their pension plans and replace future benefits with 401(k)s.

Pension reform isn't likely to stop the steady decline in traditional pension plans, experts said.

In fact, higher premiums might push some employers to phase out pensions.

"From 1994 to 2004, half of the defined benefit plans terminated."

"The vast majority of those plans were well-funded," said James Klein, head of the American Benefits Council.

Those terminations don't include scores of plans frozen or closed to new hires.

Such moves can be a precursor to outright termination.

Phasing Out Pensions

Sears Holdings recently told employees it'll cease further accruals to its pension plans after Dec. 31, 2005.

Retirees won't be affected.

IBM and Motorola this year stopped offering new hires traditional pensions.

IBM had already watered down pension plans for current staff.

Avaya stopped accruals to its pension plan at the start of 2004.

"Once large employers no longer cover new hires, it's a matter of time before these plans shrink away," said Sheldon Gamzon, a principal at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Other firms will soon follow suit, he says.

Companies are required by law to kick in money to their pension plans to make up for any shortfalls.

In a rising stock market, that wasn't a problem.

Many firms didn't even need to bolster their pension funds in the go-go '90s.

In a down market, even a healthy company might have to make up for the shortfall.

One problem pension consultants see is that companies must use unrealistic interest rates to determine future pension liabilities.

Most assume a modest 5.5% return on assets.

"Most pension plans have every reason to expect that their long-term investment return will be 8% or higher," Gamzon said, noting 60% to 70% of pension portfolios are invested in equities.

"If one substituted an 8% rate for the 5.5% rate used, most pension plans would find themselves 90% to over 100% funded," Gamzon said.

"Through the '90s, companies weren't troubled much by (accounting rules) because they were earning pension (asset) returns from 15% to 20% per year," he added.

"But now when returns are significantly below the 1990s, this is becoming a lot more painful," he said.

"We're being forced to use low interest rates that don't reflect the long-term expectations of the assets."

The defined-benefit system "is in more dire straits" than Social Security, PBGC executive director Bradley Belt has said.

While Social Security is moving toward a two-to-one worker to retiree ratio, the pension system has just one active employee for each retired or deferred-vested worker, he said.

GM has 2.5 retirees for every current worker.

Firms typically replace pensions with enhanced 401(k)s.

Avaya decided to chip in 2% of employees' salaries, even for workers who didn't put anything into a 401(k) plan.

Avaya also raised its match for workers who do.

Employers say they're offering 401(k) plans because workers job hop rather than stay with one firm.

Competition is a big factor too.

Legacy airlines face low-cost rivals without the same pension burdens.

In the 1990s, big U.S. steel companies with heavy pension obligations buckled under to global competition, including lean U.S. minimills.

Many new tech firms never offered defined benefit plans.

So big techs with old-model pensions have trimmed back to stay competitive.

"A lot of technology companies offered enhanced 401(k) plans."

"So we wanted to be as attractive to newer workers as our competitors," said Avaya spokesperson Lynn Newman.

A press release by Bill Frist labels a broad range of court decisions as "liberal, anti-Christian dogma," claiming that "activist courts ... have been quietly working under the veil of the judiciary, like thieves in the night, to rob us of our Christian heritage and our religious freedoms."

SO!

Let's see here .....

Frist?

Who is this Frist, again?

OH!

That's right!

He's the one in OUR United States Senate from the state of Tennessee, isn't he?

And who is it he's tossing stones at, here, with this "thieves in the night to rob him of his alleged Christian heritage and religious freedoms" cant that he is spewing above here?

Some sinner out there somewhere who don't like his "politics"?

Hhhmmm!

I wonder if that could be me, although I sure do not want anything that guy has, and especially what he is calling HIS christian heritage and HIS religious freedom!

And when he is calling people in OUR America "thives in the night", maybe he should "look to home" in his own state for examples, before getting all up on his high horse about anyone or anything else, here in OUR America:

"Tenn. State Senator Resigns After Arrest"

By ROSE FRENCH, Associated Press Writer

59 minutes ago

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - State Sen. John Ford, a member of one of Tennessee's most powerful political families, has resigned after being placed under house arrest facing charges from a two-year FBI sting, the lieutenant governor said Saturday.

Ford announced his resignation in a letter Lt. Gov. John Wilder read to the Senate.

"I plan to spend the rest of my time with my family clearing my name," he wrote.

A member of the Senate for more than 30 years, Ford was arrested Thursday following the sting operation nicknamed "Tennessee Waltz."

He is charged along with four other current and former state lawmakers with taking payoffs, and he is also accused of threatening to kill a witness.

Prosecutors played a videotape Friday of Ford watching an undercover agent count out $10,000 and an audiotape of him allegedly threatening a potential witness.

His lawyer suggested the purported threat was meant as a joke.

For the sting, the FBI set up E-Cycle Management Inc., a sham recycling firm with business cards, a Web site, and a chief executive who lobbied lawmakers over wine and finger food.

"This was a major-league effort," said Neil Cohen, a former state prosecutor.

"It's not uncommon — it's ongoing all the time all over the country — but there aren't many at this level where there's this much effort and resources and time devoted to one particular sting."

The FBI even went so far as to register E-Cycle as a corporation with the Georgia Secretary of State, listing its chief executive officer as "J Carson."

E-Cycle had a storefront office in Memphis, not far from the Beale Street entertainment district.

Undercover agents, posing as executives of E-Cycle, offered lawmakers free trips to Florida and wined and dined them at a reception at a Nashville hotel in January.

"I think it's fair to say this type of thing is expensive," said George Bolds, spokesman for the FBI office in Memphis, who said he could not reveal the exact cost of the sting.

"It's kind of an extraordinary and sensitive technique used."

Ford's brother is Harold Ford, who served 11 terms in Congress.

His nephew is Rep. Harold Ford, Jr.

During his tenure in the state Senate, John Ford has lost paternity lawsuits, given a political job to a girlfriend, used campaign money for his daughter's wedding and been successfully sued for sexual harassment.

Republican Senate leader Ron Ramsey said the Ethics Committee he chairs was getting ready to file a six-count charge against Ford for violating Senate rules stemming from a separate investigation into allegations he was paid by a consulting company with financial ties to the state's Medicaid program.

"I believe we would have had the votes to remove Senator Ford from office," Ramsey said.

Sen. Tim Burchett, a Republican, said he was a little surprised by the resignation, "but I think he realized a cat only has nine lives and he's on about life 10."

Ford, Sens. Kathryn Bowers and Ward Crutchfield, and state Rep. Chris Newton were all sponsors of a bill proposed by E-Cycle that would have given the state the option of getting rid of old computer equipment by selling it to a "qualified electronic recycling company."

According to the indictments, the lawmakers and two other men took $92,000 to usher bills for E-Cycle through the Legislature.

Ford is accused of taking $55,000.

Bowers, one of the other lawmakers arrested with Ford this week, said she is not guilty and does not plan to resign.

"Everybody that knows me knows I'm a fighter," she said.

___

AP writer Matt Gouras contributed to this report.

Senator John N. Ford (D-TN 29th)

16th-term Democrat from Tennessee.

Contact Information

Web Site: www.legislature.state.tn.us/senate/members/s29.htm

E-mail: sen.john.ford@legislature.state.tn.us

7 Legislative Plaza
Nashville, TN 37243-0029
Phone: (615) 741-3304
Fax: (615) 741-6851

Main District Office:
5 North 3rd St., Ste. 2000
Memphis, TN 38101
Phone: (901) 522-9226
Fax: (901) 522-9221

Background Information

Party: Democrat
Residence: Memphis
Marital Status: Married
Prev. Occupation: Business Consultant; Funeral Director
Prev. Political Exp.: Memphis City Council, 1971-80
Education: BS TN State Univ., 1964; MS Memphis State Univ., 1978
Birthdate: 05/03/1942
Birthplace: Memphis, TN
Religion: Christian

Other Information

Term: 16th
First Elected: 1974
Committees:
• Finance, Ways and Means
• General Welfare, Health and Human Resources , Chair
• Lottery Oversight
• Pensions and Insurance
• TennCare Oversight

end quotes

I wonder if this Ford now thinks that these un-elected FBI's are acting like thieves in the night to rob him of his christian heritage and religious freedoms?

Maybe he and Frist can star as a duet here, crooning to each other about how hard life is, here in OUR America, for christian soldiers such as them, and well, they can certainly sing the "blues" to each other, as well, especially about this Tennessee Waltz, which now appears to be all the rage down there in Frist's home turf, and so ......

"Newsview: Bush's Global Clout Seen Growing"

By TOM RAUM, Associated Press Writer

Sat May 28,12:49 PM ET

WASHINGTON - In the rarified club of world leaders, President Bush has taken his share of lumps.

Critics have railed against his handling of Iraq, his perceived disdain for the United Nations and what they say is a swaggering approach to foreign policy.

But Bush probably would not want to trade places with any other head of state.

Nearly all his fellow leaders of the world's big industrial democracies have stumbled.

It has left them vulnerable at home and weaker on the world stage.

The president, through it all, is riding what he sees as a strong re-election mandate to trumpet his goal of spreading democracy.

That helps explains why Bush, despite a slip in his approval rating among Americans, may find himself holding the stronger hand when he travels in early July to Scotland for the annual summit of the leaders of the eight major industrialized democracies.

"His counterparts all face ill political winds that make their domestic positions rather precarious," said Charles Kupchan, director of European studies with the Council on Foreign Relations, a private research group.

"I do think it puts Bush in an advantageous position."

It is not the best of times be a world leader:

_Britain's Tony Blair, Bush's chief ally on Iraq, did win re-election this month to a third term as prime minister.

But he prevailed by drastically reduced margins for his Labour Party, threatening his leadership abilities.

_Italy's prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, also a strong support of U.S. policy in Iraq, has seen parties in his government coalition lose in regional and local elections.

Defeats even forced his resignation, although he cobbled together a new coalition to regain power.

_German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, a vocal critic of the Iraq war, has called for national elections for this fall — a year early.

That followed his party's crushing defeat in Germany's most populous region.

The loss, he said, cost him the mandate he needs to fix Germany's struggling economy.

_French President Jacques Chirac, also a foe of U.S. policy in Iraq, is taking heat for his decision to call a referendum on the European Union's first constitution.

It's set him up for what could be a humiliating defeat.

Chirac's approval ratings have declined and he faces opposition from within his own party.

_Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin faces serious challenges and demands that he resign.

The House of Commons tied on a vote of confidence this month.

It took a vote by the parliament speaker to give Martin's minority government a one-vote victory.

Canada pledged to tighten its borders after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

But Ottawa has declined to send troops to Iraq or sign on to the U.S. missile defense shield.

_Japan's prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, finds his popularity lagging after four years on the job.

It's down about half from the 80 percent he once enjoyed.

Koizumi may be in better shape than his European counterparts.

But weighing him down are tensions with North Korea and China, and public concern about expected tax cuts and pension restructuring.

_Russian President Vladimir Putin has sought to consolidate power and exercise more control over regional leaders.

But his rollback of press and political freedoms and his pursuit of oil giant Yukos have drawn international condemnation and clouded Russia's business climate.

Analysts see common themes for the leaders' tough times: high unemployment and slow growth in Germany and France; social tensions associated with Muslim immigration; and a backlash against "globalization" as industries move their operations to low-wage countries.

Bush himself is having trouble on Social Security, judicial nominations and other domestic priorities.

Yet, analysts suggest, the president has had strong run internationally over the past few months — even with the continuing violence in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He persuaded European powers to negotiate with Iran over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

He watched democratic elections and the formation of a new government in Iraq.

He successfully prodded Syria to withdraw from Lebanon.

And he is taking an active role in trying to nudge Israelis and Palestinians toward peace.

France's ambassador to the United States spoke recently of the effect of Bush's winning a second term.

"The moment President Bush was re-elected, he extended the hand of friendship and cooperation to the leaders of Europe," said Jean-David Levitte.

"Style has changed."
___

EDITOR'S NOTE — Tom Raum has covered Washington for The Associated Press since 1973, including five presidencies.

"Offenders get Medicaid-paid Rx for Viagra"

By KEVIN FREKING, Associated Press
Last updated: 5:26 p.m., Saturday, May 28, 2005

WASHINGTON -- Nearly 800 convicted sex offenders in 14 states got Medicaid-funded prescriptions for Viagra and other impotence drugs, according to a survey by The Associated Press.

The majority of the cases were in New York, Florida and Texas.

Medicaid, the health insurance program for the poor, is administered differently in every state.

Thus, while some states allowed Medicaid payments for prescriptions for the drugs Viagra, Cialis and Levitra, other states did not.

New York, acting on a tip, was the first to uncover that Medicaid had paid for Viagra prescriptions for sex offenders.

Its report prompted the federal government, which provides states with funds for Medicaid, to order states to take steps to stop the coverage for these felons.

The states that provided registered sex offenders with subsidized impotence drugs are Florida, 218 cases; New York, 198; Texas, 191; New Jersey, 55; Virginia, 52; Missouri, 26; Kansas, 14; Ohio, 13; Michigan, seven; Maine, five; Georgia, three; Montana, three; Alabama, two; and North Dakota, one.

That comes to 788 cases.

In Virginia, the cost came to at least $3,085.

Gov. Mark R. Warner issued an emergency order barring Medicaid from continuing to pay for the drugs for these men.

Kyle Smith, a spokesman for the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, put it this way:

"Do we have programs giving clubs to wife beaters or drinks for those committing DUI?"

"Weird things happen in this world, and this is one of the weirder."

In Alabama, officials said the federal government previously had mandated that states pay for erectile dysfunction drugs.

"Now that we are armed with new information from the federal government, Alabama can and will deny this coverage for registered sex offenders," Carol Herrmann, the state's Medicaid director, said last week.

Some states had relied on a 1998 letter from the Clinton administration as a basis for providing coverage, said Matt Salo, a staff member of the National Governors Association.

But that letter also said restrictions could be put in place to curb abuse.

For example, the letter said states should limit the number of refills or the quantity of pills per prescription.

That letter, sent to then-Govs. Mike Leavitt of Utah and Lawton Chiles of Florida, said Medicaid must cover all FDA-approved drugs with certain exceptions.

Those exceptions included drugs used for weight control, for cosmetic purposes or to promote fertility.

"The law is pretty clear."

"The letter in 1998 said Medicaid had to cover Viagra," said Salo, the director of the association's health and human services committee.

"I don't think there is any dispute about that."

Some states did decline to provide coverage for impotence drugs to any male.

South Dakota considers Viagra and similar drugs to be fertility drugs.

"Our rules are specific in that we do not cover agents to promote fertility or to treat impotence," said Larry Iverson, director of South Dakota's Office of Medical Services.

Wisconsin officials simply ignored the directive.

The state's health and human services chief "thought the directive was ill-advised and chose to disregard it," said a department spokeswoman, Stephanie Marquis.

Tennessee took the position that the treatment of erectile dysfunction is not medically necessary.

The state has approved coverage of Viagra in five cases, not involving sex offenders, for treatment of pulmonary hypertension.

Gary Karr, a spokesman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said states always have had the right to determine what treatments are medically necessary.

"Obviously there was some degree of confusion or misunderstanding from the letter the Clinton administration sent out," he said.

Many states are reviewing whether the treatment of erectile dysfunction is a medical necessity.

"I don't want to give Viagra to sex offenders, that's pretty ridiculous," said Robbie Kerr, director of South Carolina's Health and Human Services Department.

"The point to me is not that we're paying for Viagra and sex offenders may somehow get it, the point is, 'Why am I covering Viagra at all?'"

Texas now bans all Medicaid claims for impotence drugs.

"We want our Medicaid program to make the very best use of limited taxpayer dollars, and Texas taxpayers should not have to pay for these types of drugs," the state's health and human services commissioner, Albert Hawkins, said in a statement Friday.

The federal government told states this past week that they had to take steps to ensure such drugs did not go to sex offenders.

But the fallout could be much broader because Congress has proposed banning coverage of impotence drugs for all Medicaid and Medicare recipients.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said such a restriction would save $2 billion over the next decade.

Some doctors disagree with that approach.

They say drugs that allow older people or the ill to maintain a sex life encourages them to lead a healthier lifestyle.

"States that have imposed a ban on coverage of erectile dysfunction are effectively lumping thousands of victims of crippling disease in with criminals," said Dr. Richard Atkins, chief executive officer of the National Prostate Cancer Coalition.

"Viagra and similar medications are not a 'lifestyle' drug for these people."

------

On the Net:

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services: http://www.cms.hhs.gov

And from the "Tennessee Waltz" down there in what is Frist country, we zip up to the tiny town of North Greenbush in Rensselaer County in George Pataki's alleged corrupt EMPIRE State of New York, where they appear to be doing a romp called the "BONDED CONCRETE STOMP":

"Official under fire over concrete work - Democrats say they want to know how much councilman's employer has made on town jobs"

By DANIELLE T. FURFARO, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union
First published: Friday, May 27, 2005

NORTH GREENBUSH -- Political opponents of Town Councilman Robert Ashe demanded that he reveal how much his employer has made on town jobs after learning the company had been supplying concrete to the water tower project.

Several times during his term, Ashe, a Republican, has promised that, because of his position with the town, Bonded Concrete would never work on town projects.

Ashe is a salesman for the company.

Company co-owner Jude Clemente also sent a letter to the town making a similar pledge because his wife is Town Attorney Linda Mandel-Clemente.

But after several people took photos of Bonded Concrete trucks at the site of the water tower construction, Ashe admitted that Bonded had been doing business with the contractor, Keller Construction.

He said he had no knowledge that Bonded was pouring the concrete until he was asked about it.

He also said that because it was Keller who has purchased the concrete, and not the town directly, he had not violated the pledge.

"We are not out there soliciting," Ashe said at Thursday night's Town Board meeting.

"The contractor has a right to buy from whoever they want," said Ashe, who has announced his intention to run for town supervisor.

A number of town Democrats said Thursday that Ashe has gone against his word and then demanded to know how much the company has made off taxpayer dollars.

"I have been here at these meetings and heard Bob and Linda disavow doing work with the town," said Democratic Councilman Richard Fennelly.

"The town owns those contracts."

"I think it is a legitimate point to contractors to divulge how much was spent."

Mandel-Clemente said that Bonded would not reveal what it has made from the town.

"If the contractor elected to work with Bonded, that is no one's business," she said.

end quotes

I wonder where the FBI is up here?

Oh, that's right!

New York State is a REPUBLICAN state, where George Pataki picks who he wants as U.S. Attorneys, and since they control the FBI .......

"GOP picks Ashe for supervisor run - Selection quickly prompts criticism from Democrat often at odds with fellow lawmaker"

By DANIELLE T. FURFARO, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union
First published: Thursday, May 26, 2005

NORTH GREENBUSH -- Town Councilman Robert Ashe was chosen to run as the Republicans' town supervisor candidate, setting the stage for a bitter battle between the town's pro- and anti-development forces.

The committee also endorsed Councilman Joseph Styczynski for another run at his post, along with newcomer Lou Desso.

Former town employee Jan Liberty was endorsed for the town clerk position long held by Democrat Kathryn A. Connelly.

Ashe, who has been councilman since 2001, said he hopes to continue along the current administration's path.

"The residents of North Greenbush have been enjoying some good times due to tax cuts and youth and senior services being upgraded," said Ashe.

"It's a positive message we are giving out as leaders."

Ashe said he is working on his platform and will reveal more about it in the coming weeks.

Supervisor Paul Tazbir, who is in his fourth year in the post, announced last week that he will not run for re-election.

Democratic Councilman Richard Fennelly said he fears that cooperation within the Town Board would disintegrate further if Ashe were elected supervisor.

"He and the others have really gone out of the way to not work cooperatively at all," said Fennelly.

"It's an offense to myself, but it is more of an offense to the voters."

Fennelly and other Democrats have often assailed Ashe for what they call a variety of ethics breaches, ranging from his voting to hire Linda Mandel-Clemente, the wife of his employer at Bonded Concrete, as town attorney to the hiring of a comptroller who was not a town resident.

"Bob has a big credibility problem," he said.

Several times during his term, Ashe has promised that because of his and Mandel-Clemente's positions with the town, Bonded would never work on town projects.

But this week, when pressed, Ashe admitted Bonded has been pouring the concrete for the town water tower, now in construction.

Ashe claimed he didn't know it was Bonded who had the job and that they were hired by the contractor, Keller Construction.

"I've always said that we don't do a job where the town has to pay us directly," said Ashe.

"I had no knowledge the concrete was being poured."

Ah, yes, that old shuck and jive, or as it is known in tiny North Greenbush, New York, the "Bonded Concrete Stomp"!

It always interests me how these politicians always feign ignorance when pressed about these kinds of things, WHEN IT IS THEIR JOB TO KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON, as OUR alleged representatives in government!

"Oh, I didn't know that!"

"I had no knowledge the concrete was being poured!"

And there is a lawyer-coached answer if there ever was one!

The slick politician up on the stand in the people's court, and he can fall back on "I had no knowledge", because it is difficult or impossible to prove that he did, unless ......

Now, certainly in a town the size of Los Angeles, California, it might be possible that some public official might not know what is going on at any given time, but when you take a town like North Greenbush, which could be nestled into a few square blocks of downtown L.A., and when you consider that this water tower project is a major project in the town that everyone is aware of, then how do you get to a situation of where this town councilman who wants to be supervisor is the only one in town who don't know nothing?

And this guy is likely to be elected as Supervisor of this town, which is a real statement in and of itself!

So, jeffmoskin, this is my next candidate for our "RACE" of the moment, and while I realize that it won't be so high a profile run as the Hahn-Villaraigosa contest, this one might be just as interesting, since this one is taking place in a fish bowl for all practical purposes, while Hahn-Villaraigosa was on a much larger stage!

In Hahn-Villaraigosa, the question in my mind had to do with the voter's apathy, or lack thereof, to allegations of corruption on the part of Hahn's crowd, and so, in my mind, that was somewhat a test of the integrity of US, the citizens who go into those voting booths on election day, and for that same reason, I am going to follow this race, as a test of east coast voters in a much smaller town.

Can people in OUR America really be so blind and/or ignorant as to be sold such transparent "bills of goods" as this guy Ashe appears to be peddling here in the Town of North Greenbush, in George Pataki's REPUBLICAN State of New York?

The question of the moment!

Stay tuned!

And the best of this holiday weekend to all of you out there!

Be safe, enjoy, and safe return back home to all of you who might be out there traveling this weekend.

ABSOLUTELY!

A people that is capable of re-installing George W. Bush as president after the dismal record he set down during his first court-appointed term is capable of ANYTHING.

Well, jeffmoskin, that is quite a statement, and I find myself incapable of arguing with you, because I share your belief, and that is part of the reason that I keep coming back to this thread, so as to try and be a positive influence as to what that ANYTHING we are capable of, might in fact turn out to be!

In a tiny town like North Greenbush, New York, where the "press", such as it is, is "controlled" to some extent by the Republican MACHINE, and it is not wise to be seen looking too closely at what might be going on down at Town Hall, a guy like this Bob Ashe can pull the wool over people's eyes continuously, with impunity, because like the people in that story about the "King's new clothes", people who are scared of the power of those in elective office to harm them in their person and property will say anything, and ignore everything, just to keep retribution from visitng their house, AT ALL!

But with the power of this internet brought to bear, who can tell what might happen?

And so .....

Well, tomarrow is Memorial Day, and as for me, if the weather is nice, I'll probably go down to Albany, the state capital, and march in the parade down there, which I have been doing for quite a few years now, as I recall!

I march with a group of Viet Nam veterans when I go down there to march, and sometimes I carry the folded flag, other times, well, I just march, for it don't matter to me, one way or the other where I am in the parade, or what I am doing, so long as it casts a good reflection on us, the veterans who will be there, marching.

And so, I guess I'll have to wait and see ....

I'll be marching with you in spirit, Livyjr.

A sh*tty war, started by sh*theads like McNamara, Taylor, Bundy. Sort of reminds me of...

the Iraq war, started by sh*theads like Wolfowitz, Cheney, and Rumsfeld.

And the beat goes on.

Nice to have you along, jeffmoskin, and spirit is what it is all about, I think, anyway!

Well, as it was to turn out to be up here where I am in OUR America, it was quite a nice day when I got up this morning, and so, I got up and got dressed up one more time again in my "marching suit", which is a navy blazer and grey slacks, and I went down to town, to march in the Memorial Day Parade that they have down there, every year, or they have so far, anyway, and of that, I am glad, for to me as a disabled Viet Nam combat veteran, the thought alone of getting to march in one of these Memorial Day parades one more time, before I am gone, has become a sort of therapeutic exercise that I indulge myself in, during the cold months of the year, when one wonders if one will actually live through to see another spring bloom again, let alone get to march in one more parade, before the roll call is called up yonder, and I must be there!

And from my experience marching today, I think these Memorial Day parades are really a good therapy for all of us as a nation, and so I am writing these words while these thoughts are still fresh in my mind, so as to be able to say why that is so, from my perspective as a disabled combat veteran now grown old, here in OUR America.

And if this parade that I marched in today was not therapy for a nation, I think it certainly was for the "community", and that is where it always has to start, doesn't it?

First with us, then with OUR community, and then with OUR nation!

And it does have to start someplace, the healing that is, after war is done, and the veterans come "home" once again, and so a parade is as good a place as any for that to start, and then continue, year after year, as it has been doing with me, anyway, since I got back to here in January 1970, to what were some quite bad years for OUR America, what with Kent State and all of that business now better left forgotton, out of sight, and therefore, out of mind!

And maybe in the end, these parades on this one day, year after year, give us veterans a much better "recipe" or "method" than any other "non-integrative" therapy so as to gradually keep re-integrating ourselves back into this society that we left all those years ago, to go off to war, and for many of us, to never ever be the same again, and that just is a fact!

The "parade" as a place of healing, before we are all gone to our final resting places, with things undone, and words left unsaid that cause hurts of days gone by to continue to fester, and here I am talking specifically about the "hurts" of the Viet Nam times, although we are now back into another cycle, where once again, it is all happening all over again, the hatreds, the divisiveness, the misery, just as it was back then, when I came back to this place, and wondered, quite truthfully, where in the HELL I had landed when I got off that plane which was supposed to have brought me back home, but instead, had left me stranded in a place totally foreign and alien to me, which was OUR America on the day that I got back!

As a Viet Nam veteran, I suppose it is something that I am marching at all, because for a number of years, here in OUR America, Viet Nam veterans were unwelcome at these types of gatherings, and that unwelcomeness was palpable, tangible, and very uncomfortable, and so it was to be, for quite awhile, actually, at least up here where I am, and that was not a good thing for OUR America at all, or so I thought anyway, and so, one day, I decided to go down to town as a veteran in my "uniform" and simply march in one of these parades, as a unit of one!

Who is to say you can't after all, when it is a public parade on a day that is supposed to be related somehow or other with veterans and the sacrifices some have made, with their lives, so that others of us could have parades in their honor?

And so, that is what I did!

And in the course of doing that, well, I have learned much, is all that I can say!

One of the things I have learned is something about "coming back home" after having been away in a war, and that "something" I learned is that YOU yourself are the one who really has to do that, get yourself "back to home", and if you got Viet Nam on your mind all the time when you are here, then you are not "home" at all; to the contrary, you are lost and getting more and more so, each minute that you allow that "condition" to endure!

So what is this thing of marching in a parade, in a small town, or a big city for that matter?

Well, after all these years of doing that, marching, all I know is what it means to me, and that is that, but since today was Memorial Day, and since I did march today, and since I have been at this thought process for over thirty years now, I became moved this afternoon to record my thoughts on the subject, for whatever they are worth!

As for me, today, what I was thinking about as I marched is how nice it is to see all those people who turn out for the parade, families, or just individuals, and to feel the connection between them, and myself, that exists on some higher plane, I would say, than intellectual reasoning, and so is hard to define with words, but when experienced in the way that I experienced it today while marching on Memorial Day, it is quite tangible, and real, nonetheless.

Today, as I marched, my job was to carry the folded American Flag, which is what I really like to do, if that honor is accorded to me, as it was today, by my peers, I suppose they would be, in my marching group, which is all Viet Nam veterans like myself!

SO!

Today, I was not a person marching, rather, I was a symbol of something, and as I was marching along, carrying that folded flag, I realized the power that is associated with that symbol, which is the same American Flag that is maligned so much these days, just as it was during the Viet Nam times so long ago, now.

And what made me realize this "power" today IS that tangible connection between me carrying the flag, and those people on the side of the road who are seeing that symbol, and so, are having their thoughts of the next moment shaped by that image that they are seeing right then, which is me, an old man now, in a suit, carrying a flag, marching by, down the road, as if that flag were a precious thing, to be guarded with my very life, if needed!

All of a sudden, the FLAG becomes more than a piece of cloth folded up in the outstretched hand of a Viet Nam veteran, it becomes a living thing, BECAUSE the hand that holds that flag is itself a living thing, with a mind behind it, and the eyes of the assembled crowd that look upon that hand and flag are also living, and connected to human minds, human consciousness, and so, the very manner in which I carry myself as I carry that flag shapes the image OF WHAT OUR AMERICA REALLY CAN BE that is formed in the minds of all of these fellow Americans that are watching that folded flag in my outstretched hand, as I go marching by, AND THAT IS WHAT I LEARNED TODAY, after almost sixty years of living on this earth of OURS, which is just how connected we all can be, if only we can set our minds to trying to be so!

I am a veteran, and I am an American, and I do believe in what that flag represents, WHICH IS EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US - or none at all, and when I personally am marching with that flag IN MY HAND, that is my message to all who are there watching, WE ARE ALL ONE, and I am you!

Yes, America, that is right!

We are all one!

ONE NATION, INDIVISIBLE, WITH LIBERTY, AND JUSTICE, FOR ALL!

That is the message that my mind is transmitting to all of the candid world, anyway, when that folded American Flag IS in my hand on Memorial Day, as I go marching by; and who can stop me from thinking that, or acting as if that were true, 24/7, as I go marching by?

And that answer is no one can, no one at all, but myself!

It can only cease to be true when I cease to think that way, and so ......

Now it is this afternoon, and the bands are all gone home, and the marchers dispersed, and my suit on its way to the cleaners tomarrow, and then to be put away until the next parade for me, which is Flag Day, on the 12th of June, I believe that is, BUT ....

The good feelings that I gained in that parade today still fill me, and to be truthful, as an older American, I am savoring them!

Today, for a short time, at least, we all were one, and when one can feel the power for goodness inherent in that relationship, it makes one want to seek it all that much harder, and so, to me, that is why these parades are such good therapy, for all of us, not only in OUR America, but in all the world, as well!

A parade not to honor war, not to honor killing, not to honor barbarity and brutality, but to honor life, instead, and the possibilities for good that it contains!

When I march in my suit with that flag in my hand, that is my message, and when it is a parade for veterans, who can stop me from making that display?

And that answer of course, is only GOD can, and why on earth would he or she want to do that, since that is where the message comes from in the first place, which is the same Divine Providence that was right there as OUR companion on the day this nation was born!

And so ......

And I bet there are a lot of people in Iraq, right now, wondering just where in the HELL it is that they are these days, as well, and with good reason, from the looks of this "news":

"Iraq minister warns of fuel, power hikes"

By SINAN SALAHEDDIN, Associated Press
Last updated: 6:25 p.m., Sunday, May 29, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The Iraqi government may decrease subsidies for fuel and electricity, despite a severe shortage of both in the country, the electricity minister said Sunday as he warned Iraqis to prepare for more blackouts this summer.

Mihsen Shalash said the government was unable to generate power for everyone, and blamed the shortages on acts of sabotage and lack of fuel for power plants.

"We do have real problem and an electricity crisis and we can't supply power 100 percent this summer" Shalash said.

"We can't perform miracles."

The government has continued Saddam Hussein's practice of subsidizing gasoline and electricity keeping the price at the pump for a gallon of gasoline at a paltry 6 cents.

Before the U.S.-led invasion, residents of Baghdad had about 20 hours of electricity a day.

Today, they get about 10, usually broken into two-hour chunks.

There are also frequent fuel and drinking water shortages, and only 37 percent of the population has a working sewage system.

Shalash said the Iraqi government had agreed with neighboring Turkey to increase the electricity coming into Iraq and the amount of water flowing down the Euphrates River for a power plant at Haditha, northwest of Baghdad.

Iraqi government spokesman Laith Kuba also acknowledged that Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari would lift part of the current government's subsidy on fuel and electricity.

Kuba didn't say when or by how much the government fuel prices would increase and neither he nor Shalash provided any further details on the plans, including how much they expected budget revenues to increase.

"The current prices of gasoline and kerosene are close to free," Kuba told reporters.

He said the government would continue to subsidize fuel sold to families and people with limited incomes, without elaborating.

Similar subsidies will continue on electricity bills, he added.

Iraq had one of the region's best infrastructures, health and education systems in the 1970s, but conditions deteriorated rapidly after Saddam became president in 1979.

Expectations were high that things would improve after the invasion, but instead they deteriorate because of the insurgency and the inability of the U.S.-led authorities to rebuild the country's aging infrastructure.

You (and I in spirit) have had a very good day today.

And speaking of the on-going ineptness and incompetence of this present incumbent's administration, and all the stife and turmoil that it is causing in this world of OURS:

"U.S. Forces Mistakenly Detain Sunni Chief"

By PAUL GARWOOD, Associated Press Writer

1 hour, 22 minutes ago

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The U.S. military nearly set off a sectarian crisis Monday by mistakenly arresting the leader of Iraq's top Sunni Muslim political party, while two suicide bombers killed about 30 police, and U.S. fighter jets destroyed insurgent strongholds near Syria's border.

Northeast of Baghdad, an Iraqi military aircraft crashed Monday during a mission with four American troops and one Iraqi on board, the U.S. military said.

It was not immediately clear what their condition was or even what kind of aircraft it was.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. military in Baghdad, Sgt. Kate Neuman, said the four Americans were military personnel.

And on Memorial Day, the U.S. military said American soldier Spc. Phillip Sayles, of the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, was killed in an attack Saturday in the northern city of Mosul.

As of Monday, at least 1,657 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

The arrest of Iraqi Islamic Party leader Mohsen Abdul-Hamid, his three sons and four guards did little to help efforts to entice Iraq's once-dominant Sunni community back into the political fold.

The Sunnis lost their influence following Saddam Hussein's ouster two years ago.

Many believe the Sunni fall from grace, and parallel rise to power of Iraq's majority Shiite population, is spurring the raging insurgency, driving many disenchanted Sunnis to launch attacks that have killed more than 760 people since the April 28 announcement of the Shiite-dominated new government.

Bringing Sunnis back into the political fold could soothe some tensions.

In a commitment to end the violence, Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari vowed that "Operation Lightning," the large-scale campaign that began Sunday, would rid Baghdad of militants and, in particular, suicide car bombers, the deadliest and regular weapon of choice for insurgents.

"We needed to clean up some of our problem districts and that's why Operation Lightning was launched ... to quickly come to the protection of civilians and stop the bloodshed," al-Jaafari said at a news conference.

But renewed carnage south of the capital showed the difficulty of his job.

Two suicide bombers blew themselves up outside the mayor's office in Hillah, 60 miles south of Baghdad.

The attackers waded into a crowd of 500 policemen staging an early-morning protest of a government decision to disband their special forces unit.

Staggering the detonations by one minute and 100 yards apart to maximize the casualties, the bombers killed at least 27 policemen and wounded 118 in an attack that scattered body parts, blood and shards of glass across a wide area, said police Capt. Muthana Khalid Ali.

The Polish military, which controls the area, said about 30 Iraqis were killed.

The conflicting tolls were apparently linked to the difficulty in trying to count the dead because of all the body parts strewn around the blast site.

"I just saw a ball of fire and flying pieces of flesh."

"After that, confused policemen started firing into the air," he said.

In an apparent claim of responsibility, al-Qaida in Iraq said in an Internet statement that one of its members carried out an attack "against a group of special Iraqi forces."

The statement's authenticity could not be verified.

Militants regard Iraqi security forces as prime targets in their campaign against the U.S. military, which hinges its eventual exit from Iraq on the ability of local soldiers and police to handle the insurgency.

Violence across northern Iraq killed at least nine others, with gunmen slaying a senior Kurdish official in Kirkuk and a Sunni tribal leader in Mosul, a roadside bomb killing a civilian in Baqouba and Iraqi soldiers shooting to death six insurgents in Mosul and northern Anbar province.

U.S. warplanes and helicopters attacked insurgents near Husaybah, on the Syrian border, west of Baghdad, the military said.

"There were enemy casualties, but due to the destruction of the buildings from which they were firing, we are unable to determine the number of enemy fighters killed and wounded," military spokeswoman Lt. Blanca Binstock said.

U.S. forces have launched several offensives in western Iraq aimed at rooting out Sunni extremists crisscrossing the desert frontier with Syria to smuggle in foreign fighters and weapons.

Fears of sectarian violence have whipped across Iraq amid the latest violence, which has seen Shiite and Sunni clerics kidnapped, tortured and shot.

In recent weeks, Shiite and Sunni leaders have met to try to settle their differences, with both camps declaring their intent to work to end the violence.

But Monday's roughly 12-hour detention of Abdul-Hamid flared tensions yet again, causing Sunni leaders to condemn his arrest and accuse American authorities of trying to alienate their community.

Few details were available on why the Americans arrested the Sunni leader, but it appeared to be related to the ongoing Sunni-led insurgency and fears of a broader sectarian conflict starting up.

The U.S. military acknowledged it had made a "mistake" by detaining Abdul-Hamid.

"Following the interview, it was determined that he was detained by mistake and should be released," the military said.

"Coalition forces regret any inconvenience and acknowledge (Abdul-Hamid's) cooperation in resolving this matter."

Iraqi authorities suggested someone had planted "lies" against him in a bid to stir up "sectarian sedition."

Abdul-Hamid himself said U.S. forces questioned him about the "current situation," an apparent reference to the wave of attacks.

Following his release, Abdul-Hamid told reporters how "U.S. special forces" blew open the doors to his home "and dragged (his sons and guards) outside like sheep."

"They forced me to lay on the ground along with my sons and guards and one of the soldiers put his foot on my neck for 20 minutes," he told Al-Jazeera TV.

Soldiers later put him into a helicopter and flew him to an unknown location for more questioning, he said.

He said he did not know the whereabouts of his sons and guards.

"At the time when the Americans say they are keen on real Sunni participation, they are now arresting the head of the only Sunni party that calls for a peaceful solution and have participated in the political process," said Iraqi Islamic Party Secretary-General Ayad al-Samarei.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, expressed "surprise and discontent" over the arrest.

"This way of dealing with such a distinguished political figure is unacceptable," he said.

The country's largest Shiite political party, the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, condemned the arrest and demanded U.S. forces "be more accurate and not take action against political figures without legal justification."

The influential Association of Muslim Scholars and Sunni Endowment charity group, which have merged with Abdul-Hamid's party to form a powerful bloc to protect Sunni political interests, also condemned the arrests.

Abdul-Hamid's party had in recent weeks taken steps to become more involved in the political process after boycotting the Jan. 30 parliamentary elections, which were dominated by parties drawn from Iraq's majority Shiite population.

And the way things are going in this world of OURS right now, jeffmoskin, thank GOD for that!

Or Divine Providence!

Or if those offend, well, then thank nothing at all!

After all, in a land with LIBERTY for all, that is your perogative, as thanking divine providence for my personal blessings, such as life, for me, today, is mine!