It's not a war, Justin .....

It's an occupation .....

PLEASE ....

Do us all a favor ....

CALL IT THE IRAQ DEBACLE .....

So we are all on the same page ...

And so ....

And as ignorance .....

And incompetence ....

Spread throughout OUR land, up here .....

Don't expect no water ....

To come out of your tap up here ....

If you are on "public water" .....

Because the pumps don't work no more ....

JUST LIKE THEY DON'T WORK OVER THERE IN BAGHDAD .....

WHICH IS A NEW CON MODEL CITY, NOW .....

WHAT THEY WILL TURN ALL OF AMERICA INTO .....

IF WE LET THEM ....

WHICH WE WILL ....

SINCE WE ARE ...

And so .....

"Water use restricted after 2 pump failures - Residents in four Rensselaer County towns told it may be Sunday before problem can be fixed"

By KATE PERRY, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Friday, August 4, 2006

Authorities are asking some Rensselaer County residents to continue curbing their water usage until burned-out pumps are repaired.

It will probably be Sunday before residents in Rensselaer, East Greenbush, North Greenbush and Schodack can start watering their lawns, filling their swimming pools, and washing their cars, said city of Rensselaer Deputy Water Commissioner Mary Cramer.

Troy supplies water to all of the municipalities through a pump house in South Troy, which is co-owned by Rensselaer and East Greenbush.

Thursday afternoon, the small blue building on Cross Street emitted a high-pitched whine as one pump worked overtime to keep water flowing to all four municipalities.

Normally, three pumps rotate six-hour shifts, but around 5 a.m. Wednesday two of the pumps shorted out, said Rensselaer Water Commissioner Vito Lourinia.

Electricity may have surged or stopped, but the cause of the problem is unknown.

Two of the three pumps were melted and burned black in some parts and their large pieces stopped.

Patrick Stella, a spokesman for National Grid, said the problem wasn't with the delivery of electricity to the plant.

Lourinia said repairs will start at 6:30 this morning on one of the pumps and he hopes to have it running by this afternoon.

The other pump, however, won't be repaired until Sunday, he said.

"Right now we are waiting for parts from all over the world," Lourinia said.

He didn't know what the total cost of the repairs will be, but he said it should be covered by insurance.

Lourinia said there is no indication the last pump will break.

The site pumps 3.2 million gallons of water daily to replace the water used from a 4 million gallon tank in East Greenbush and 2 million gallon tank in Rensselaer.

Workers rewired the pumps in preparation for the parts Wednesday and Thursday, and staff from East Greenbush and Rensselaer have been monitoring the facility around the clock since the problem.

A power outage shut off the last pump around 10 p.m. Wednesday.

Stella said a storm knocked out power to parts of South Troy and the surrounding area.

"We had a specific problem around the transformer (near) the station," Stella said.

"A primary transmission line, two of them came down."

Crews were able to reroute water using gravity to keep it flowing during the eight hours the lines were down.

National Grid restored power early in the morning.

Perry can be reached at 454-5420 or by e-mail at kperry@timesunion.com.

end quotes

They are waiting for parts from all over the world .....

To get these pumps running ....

Just like IRAQ is ....

And maybe ....

To get these pumps running in Rensselaer County .....

They will canniblize some pumps over in Baghdad .....

To get the parts .....

Or maybe the parts will have to come from India ....

Or Sri Lanka ....

Or Mynmar .....

Or the foothills of ALL-CONSONANTS-NO-VOWELS-ISTAN .....

WHERE GEORGE W. BUSH ...

IS FOMENTING MORE DE-MOCKERY ....

Since we don't make nothing over here no more ....

Except trouble for the rest of the world ...

And ourselves, as well ....

And so ....

Hey .....

How about that American economy, will you .....

I've got it ....

On real good authority ....

THAT IT IS THE STRONGEST IN THE WORLD .....

And so ....

That's really something, isn't it?

I mean ...

WE COULD NOT ....

HAVE GOTTEN ...

TO WHERE WE ARE RIGHT NOW ....

BUT FOR EVERYTHING .....

THAT GEORGE W. BUSH ....

AND HIS PACK OF REPUBLICANS ....

IN CONGRESS ....

HAVE DONE ...

TO GET US HERE ...

And so .....

Let's look at ....

Where "here" is, right now ....

And so ....

"Unemployment rate climbs to 4.8 percent"

By JEANNINE AVERSA, Associated Press
Last updated: 3:55 p.m., Friday, August 4, 2006

WASHINGTON -- Gripped by caution, employers slowed hiring in July, pushing the nation's unemployment rate to a five-month high and putting pressure on the Federal Reserve to take its foot off the economic brakes.

The Labor Department reported Friday that employers added just 113,000 new jobs in July, down from 124,000 in June -- the latest in a string of mediocre job gains in recent months.

With companies wary of increasing work forces in a slowing economy, the civilian unemployment rate jumped from 4.6 percent in June to 4.8 percent, matching the rate of last February.

The last time the jobless rate was higher was in December, at 4.9 percent.

"Companies are feeling the strain of rising costs for energy and raw materials as well as higher interest rates."

"They also remain uncertain about the economy's prospects for the balance of the year."

"Therefore, they are reluctant to aggressively bulk up their payrolls," said Lynn Reaser, chief economist at Bank of America's Investment Strategies Group.

For blacks, the unemployment rate rose from 9 percent in June to 9.5 percent in July, the highest in eight months.

The jobless rate for Hispanics. however, held steady at 5.3 percent.

It's a challenging time for certain jobseekers.

Job cuts were reported at factories, department stores and telecommunications firms.

Real-estate companies and specialty home-building contractors also shed jobs, reflecting the cooling in the once-hot housing market.

Those employment losses tempered overall job growth.

Health care firms, computer designers, hotels and motels and foodservice companies were among those boosting employment.

The overall picture, though, was of a job market losing more momentum than many analysts had anticipated.

The Federal Reserve is meeting on Tuesday, and some economists believe the central bank will leave interest rates alone, taking its first break after tightening credit for more than two years.

Friday's weaker job growth would justify such a breather, offering more evidence of slowing economic activity.

"This pushes Fed policymakers toward a pause," predicted Bill Cheney, chief economist at John Hancock Financial Services.

Other Fed-watchers who are worried about inflation, however, think policymakers have another interest-rate jump in store.

The Fed has raised rates steadily 17 times since June 2004 in increments of one-quarter of a percentage point.

The Fed's goal is to slow the economy enough to prevent inflation from taking off while not crimping economic activity so much that it throws the economy into a recession.

Even if the Fed were to take a breather on Tuesday, some economists believe rates probably will need to go up in September or some other time later this year to fend off inflation.

"All the inflation indicators are flashing yellow and may soon be flashing red," warned Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at Global Insight.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress last month he was concerned about rising prices, but hoped a slowing economy would ease inflationary pressures.

Workers' average hourly earnings rose to $16.76 in July, 0.4 percent higher than in June and slightly faster than economists were expecting.

Wage growth is welcomed by workers.

But a rapid and sustained pickup in wages, if not blunted by other economic forces, can touch off inflation fears.

For the last 12 months, wages have gone up 3.8 percent.

But those wage gains are still trailing inflation, economists said.

The hiring slowdown comes as companies cope with soaring energy prices and higher interest rates.

Oil prices reached a new closing high of $77.03 a barrel in the middle of July, though they have moderated slightly since then.

In these conditions, businesses and consumers -- engines of economic activity -- have turned cautious.

That, in turn, has slowed the economy.

Growth in the second half of this year is expected to stay subdued, at a pace of about 2.5 percent to 3 percent, according to economists' projections.

The economy slowed to a pace of 2.5 percent in the April-to-June quarter, less than half the brisk 5.6 percent pace seen in the first three months of the year.

With the economy and the labor market weakening, the hunt for a job is taking longer.

The average time that the 7.2 million unemployed spent searching for work in July was 17.3 weeks.

That was up from 16.2 weeks in June and was the longest since February.

The slowing in the job market and in overall economic activity comes as President Bush -- in an election year -- is getting low marks from the public for his economic stewardship.

Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, in an interview with The Associated Press on Friday, expressed confidence that the economy is in fundamentally good shape.

The 113,000 job gain is "a healthy number, and the key thing is to keep job growth going," he said.

Democrats, however, worry that the job market could turn worse.

"Payrolls are not expanding at a very strong pace, and there is increasing concern that slower economic growth will dampen job creation even more," said Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I.

------

On the Net:

Employment report: http://www.bls.gov/

"Rising gas prices cripple New York taxi drivers"

By Abha Bhattarai

1 hour, 12 minutes ago

NEW YORK (Reuters) - For most Americans the rising price of gas has been a major headache, but for the 42,000 men and women who drive New York City's famed yellow taxis, sustained high fuel prices have endangered their livelihood.

And slowing economic growth could make the matter worse.

Skyrocketing gas prices, which have risen to $3.29 a gallon (87 cents a liter) from roughly $2 a gallon (53 cents a liter) two years ago, mean New York cabbies now dish out an extra $15 or $20 to fill their gas-guzzling 8-cylinder Ford Crown Victorias every day.

A full tank of gas now costs about $50.

Drivers say their take-home pay has been cut to $90-$120 for a 12-hour shift -- meaning they earn between $7.50 and $10 an hour to navigate Manhattan's stressful streets.

"Gas prices are killing us," said Ali Ahmed, a 25-year-old driver from New Jersey who works seven days a week.

"We used to make $1,000 a week, and now, after gas we barely bring home $800 or so."

"That's a 20 percent drop."

"That's huge."

Taxi tariffs have been unchanged in New York, America's most expensive city to live in, since 2004 when the average fare was increased by about 23 percent.

Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Washington have added a fuel surcharge to cab fares to help defray higher gas cost.

Efforts by taxi unions for a New York gas surcharge have failed.

Many cabbies say they have moved into smaller apartments, stopped going out and racked up thousands of dollars in debt.

Their families have been hard-hit as well.

Some, like 27-year-old Pakistani man Naveed Shah, have stopped sending money to their families back home.

Drivers said this summer has been particularly difficult because high gas prices have been coupled with waning demand.

"Business outside is slow," Shah said.

"I pay $119 to lease a cab and make $80 or $90 after I work nine or 10 hours."

"If gas prices go up any more, we're not going to be making any money."

EMPTY POCKETS

Many drivers say they sometimes end 12-hour shifts with less money than they started with.

"There are many days when I go home with empty pockets."

"It's hard to survive" said 66-year-old Claude Baptist, who began driving a cab two years ago.

Some economists say they fear high energy costs, slower economic growth and high interest rates may prompt some to ditch taxi rides altogether.

"We've been seeing people substituting (taxi rides with) other forms of transportation," said Heather Boushey, an economist at The Center for Economic and Policy Research.

"Now people take the bus rather than riding a cab or driving their car."

"This is actually a very scary situation for cab drivers, especially if fares are not allowed to go up commensurate with higher gas prices."

Bhairavi Desai, director of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, said the March 2004 fare increase gave taxi drivers roughly an extra $20 more per shift.

"Now, we're seeing all of that new revenue going to gas costs," Desai said.

"It's not mathematically possible that drivers are still benefiting from that raise."

The city insists cab drivers are making enough.

The Taxi and Limousine Commission has turned down petitions for fuel surcharges, saying it must balance the concerns of drivers and the public.

A commission spokesman said it had no plans to raise fares or add a fuel surcharge this year.

Taxi driver Michael Turitto says times are too tough.

"Cab drivers don't eat out."

"They eat gyro sandwiches," said Turitto, a 56-year-old driver from Manhattan.

"What can we cut back on?"

"There's nothing left."

end quotes

Hey ....

How about ....

That American economy, will you .......

And then ...

There is "CON-JOB CONNIE" RICE'S ....

WAR ....

AGAINST HUMANITY ....

IN LEBANON .....

"Missiles neutralizing Israeli tanks"

By BENJAMIN HARVEY, Associated Press
Last updated: 5:57 p.m., Friday, August 4, 2006

JERUSALEM -- Hezbollah's sophisticated anti-tank missiles are perhaps the guerrilla group's deadliest weapon in Lebanon fighting, with their ability to pierce Israel's most advanced tanks.

Experts say this is further evidence that Israel is facing a well-equipped army in this war, not a ragtag militia.

Hezbollah has fired Russian-made Metis-M anti-tank missiles and owns European-made Milan missiles, the army confirmed on Friday.

In the last two days alone, these missiles have killed seven soldiers and damaged three Israeli-made Merkava tanks -- mountains of steel that are vaunted as symbols of Israel's military might, the army said.

Israeli media say most of the 44 soldiers killed in four weeks of fighting were hit by anti-tank missiles.

"They (Hezbollah guerrillas) have some of the most advanced anti-tank missiles in the world," said Yossi Kuperwasser, a senior military intelligence officer who retired earlier this summer.

"This is not a militia, it's an infantry brigade with all the support units," Kuperwasser said.

Israel contends that Hezbollah gets almost all of its weaponry from Syria and by extension Iran, including its anti-tank missiles.

That's why cutting off the supply chain is essential -- and why fighting Hezbollah after it has spent six years building up its arsenal is proving so painful to Israel, officials say.

Israel's Merkava tanks boast massive amounts of armor and lumber and resemble fortresses on tracks.

They are built for crew survival, according to Globalsecurity.org, a Washington-based military think tank.

Hezbollah celebrates when it destroys one.

"A Zionist armored force tried to advance toward the village of Chihine."

"The holy warriors confronted it and destroyed two Merkava tanks," the group proclaimed on television Thursday.

The Israeli army confirmed two attacks on Merkava tanks that day -- one that killed three soldiers and the other killing one.

The three soldiers who were killed on Friday were also killed by anti-tank missiles, the army said.

It would not say whether the missiles disabled the tanks.

"To the best of my understanding, they (Hezbollah) are as well-equipped as any standing unit in the Syrian or Iranian armies," said Eran Lerman, a retired army colonel and now director of the Israel/Middle East office of the American Jewish Committee.

"This is not a rat-pack guerrilla, this is an organized militia."

Besides the anti-tank missiles, Hezbollah is also known to have a powerful rocket-propelled grenade known as the RPG29.

These weapons are also smuggled through Syria, an Israeli security official said, and were previously used by Palestinian militants in Gaza to damage tanks.

On Friday, Jane's Defense Weekly, a defense industry magazine, reported that Hezbollah asked Iran for "a constant supply of weapons" to support its operations against Israel.

The report cited Western diplomatic sources as saying that Iranian authorities promised Hezbollah a steady supply of weapons "for the next stage of the confrontation."

Top Israeli intelligence officials say they have seen Iranian Revolutionary Guard soldiers on the ground with Hezbollah troops.

They say that permission to fire Hezbollah's longer-range missiles, such as those could reach Tel Aviv, would likely require Iranian go-ahead.

end quotes

Start a fire ....

Don't cry ...

When you get burned ....

And then ....

There is HUBRIS ....

Or something akin to it, perhaps ....

The price ....

Of using power ....

Carelessly ....

TO HARM OTHERS ....

Instead of for good ....

"BIG JOE" Bruno .....

A REPUBLICAN ....

Is perhaps the most powerful man ....

In the State of New York ....

And for years ....

"BIG JOE" Bruno ....

Thought nothing ....

Of crushing .....

Not only those who stood in the way ...

Of his desires ....

BUT THEIR FAMILIES, AS WELL ....

And now .....

THE SEEDS .....

OF DESTRUCTION .....

THAT "BIG JOE" BRUNO ....

THE POWERFUL REPUBLICAN POLITICIAN .....

IN THE CORRUPT STATE OF NEW YORK ....

HAS BEEN SOWING ALL THESE PAST YEARS ....

WITH COMPLETE DISREGARD ....

FOR THE LIVES OF OTHERS ....

THAT HE HAS HAD DESTROYED ....

HAVE GROWN UP ....

INTO A GARDEN ....

IN "BIG JOE'S" OWN BACKYARD ....

THAT IS STARTING TO BEAR ....

ITS OWN FRUIT ....

THAT HE NOW HAS TO EAT .....

And so ....

Since there is a moral here ....

ABOUT THE FRUITS ....

OF THE LONG-TERM ABUSE ....

OF POWER ....

OVER OTHERS ....

I am going to post this story ....

WHICH I WOULD OTHERWISE NOT DO ....

IF IT WERE JUST A PRIVATE PERSON ....

THAT THIS PERSONAL TRAGEDY WERE HAPPENING TO ....

And so ....

Being a strong believer .....

That what you sow ....

Is what you reap ....

We have ....

As an example .....

Of that ancient truth ....

As follows ....

And so ....

"Help sought after ordeal - Bruno's granddaughter, who has battled anorexia, admitted to facility; Senate majority leader to push online protections"

By CAROL DeMARE and KENNETH C. CROWE II, Staff writers, Albany, new York Times Union

First published: Friday, August 4, 2006

SARATOGA SPRINGS -- The 20-year-old granddaughter of state Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno was being treated Thursday at an inpatient facility after an ordeal that took her to New York City with a man who bragged on a Web site about his success as a pimp.

Rachel Bruno was found in midtown Manhattan by police around 1:30 a.m. Wednesday and returned to the Capital Region.

She was admitted to Four Winds, a center in Saratoga Springs that treats individuals with problems such as emotional distress and substance abuse, a person familiar with the case said.

The young woman has battled anorexia for years and has been repeatedly treated for the eating disorder.

On Thursday, in an interview after an appearance in Saratoga County, her grandfather said anorexia is in part a mental illness that leaves those who suffer from it prone to manipulation by others.

Rachel Bruno lives in Brunswick with her mother, Catherine Bruno Hynes, and stepfather, Richard Hynes.

She connected with John J. Savage over the Internet.

The 30-year-old man has lived variously in New York City, and Saratoga and Albany counties, police said.

On his MySpace.com site, in which numerous women in various stages of undress are featured, Savage has a calling card of sorts that reads "pimpin at its best."

Saratoga court records described a tattoo on Savage's left arm that says "Pimp or Die Mob."

Joseph Bruno said he is exploring ways to protect people, such as his granddaughter, from predators on MySpace.com and other Internet sites.

Bruno said Senate lawyers are reviewing state laws to see what action can be taken to toughen enforcement.

"We're going to be dealing with it," said the Senate's Republican leader.

Police declined to discuss the relationship between Rachel Bruno and Savage.

She had been missing since last Thursday and apparently left for New York City with Savage on Sunday because he became concerned with media attention after her family reported her missing.

She was walking in the area of 45th Street and Broadway while Savage was in the "same vicinity" in a vehicle, said Sgt. Kevin Hayes of the New York City Police Department, which was assisting State Police on the missing person's investigation.

State Police Lt. Glenn Miner said his agency's investigators were about two blocks away and rushed to the scene when city officers found Rachel Bruno.

"Our investigation is ongoing," Miner said.

"We are looking for anything where Rachel may have done something involuntarily or was coerced into something."

"We haven't had a chance to fully interview Rachel at this point."

Savage was arrested on a warrant that stemmed from a violation of probation for his guilty plea in 2002 to third-degree bribery of a public officer for offering money to police in the Bronx for information on possible prostitution sweeps.

Saratoga County court records show that two years ago Savage was arrested and charged with unlawfully dealing with children for giving underage kids vodka and a beer at a parking deck across from the Congress Park carousel in Saratoga Springs.

At the time he was living on Sunrise Terrace in Clifton Park, and records show that one of the children was his stepson.

This past spring he pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge.

Savage was described by local police as 5 foot 11 inches and weighing 255 pounds.

He displays several photos of himself on MySpace.com.

The background of his blog is made up of stacks of cash and money bags.

Savage calls himself Jazzo.

He says of his interests: "i would like to travel across the united states wit exquisite women to make money and invest my money in real estate."

In another area he wrote:

"I believe that I'm the solution for those who r lost or need elevation to there situation."

"My name is Jazzo and my interests in myspace is to meet beautiful young women that want to travel and get down wit a playa."

He suggests that classy, sexy women, 18 and over, who are "open-minded to a different way of life" get in touch with him and send a photo.

He said they would travel to Atlantic City and Las Vegas and make money.

Carol DeMare can be reached at 454-5431 or by e-mail at cdemare@timesunion.com.

end quotes

It's all about the money .....

You can never have enough money ...

OR POWER ....

And so .....

LIKE MEETS LIKE ....

JAZZO ....

AND "BIG JOE" BRUNO ....

And so .....

AS JAZZO SAYS ....

"PIMP OR DIE MOB" .....

WHICH MUST MEAN SOMETHING ....

AT LEAST TO A "PLAYA" .....

OR PERHAPS ....

A POWERFUL POLITICIAN ....

OR JAZZO WOULDN'T HAVE SAID IT ....

And so .....

NON-AGGRESSIVE STRENGTH

A good soldier ...

Is not violent ....

A good fighter ....

Is not angry ...

A good winner ....

Is not vengeful ....

A good employer ...

Is humble ....

This is known ....

As the virtue of not striving ....

This is known ....

As the ability ....

To deal with people ...

This ...

Since ancient times ...

Has been known ....

As the ultimate unity ....

With heaven .....

- Lao Tze, Tao Te Ching

COMMENTARY BY R.L. WING

Lao Tze believed that the most capable and ultimately the most powerful leaders are those who practice humility, sublety, and composure.

They are not aggressive and do not feel the need to prove themselves again and again.

The power in composure and the strength in compassion will allow skillful leaders to organize others and achieve a collective end without overt use of means.

Therefore, events unfold naturally, without disruptive counter-reactions.

"Book: Sept. 11 panel doubted Pentagon"

By HOPE YEN, Associated Press
Last updated: 6:06 a.m., Saturday, August 5, 2006

WASHINGTON -- The Sept. 11 commission was so frustrated with repeated misstatements by the Pentagon and FAA about their response to the 2001 terror attacks that it considered an investigation into possible deception, the panel's chairmen say in a new book.

Republican Thomas Kean and Democrat Lee Hamilton also say in "Without Precedent" that their panel was too soft in questioning former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani -- and that the 20-month investigation may have suffered for it.

The book, a behind-the-scenes look at the investigation, recounts obstacles the authors say were thrown up by the Bush administration, internal disputes over President Bush's use of the attacks as a reason for invading Iraq, and the way the final report avoided questioning whether U.S. policy in the Middle East may have contributed to the attacks.

Kean and Hamilton said the commission found it mind-boggling that authorities had asserted during hearings that their air defenses had reacted quickly and were prepared to shoot down United Airlines Flight 93, which appeared headed toward Washington.

In fact, the commission determined -- after it subpoenaed audiotapes and e-mails of the sequence of events -- that the shootdown order did not reach North American Aerospace Command pilots until after all of the hijacked planes had crashed.

The book states that commission staff, "exceedingly frustrated" by what they thought could be deception, proposed a full review into why the FAA and the Pentagon's NORAD had presented inaccurate information.

That ultimately could have led to sanctions.

Due to a lack of time, the panel ultimately referred the matter to the inspectors general at the Pentagon and Transportation Department.

Both are preparing reports, spokesmen said this week.

"Fog of war could explain why some people were confused on the day of 9/11, but it could not explain why all of the after-action reports, accident investigations and public testimony by FAA and NORAD officials advanced an account of 9/11 that was untrue," the book states.

The questioning of Giuliani was considered by Kean and Hamilton "a low point" in the commission's examination of witnesses during public hearings.

"We did not ask tough questions, nor did we get all of the information we needed to put on the public record," they wrote.

Commission members backed off, Kean and Hamilton said, after drawing criticism in newspaper editorials for sharp questioning of New York fire and police officials at earlier hearings.

The editorials said the commission was insensitive to the officials' bravery on the day of the attacks.

"It proved difficult, if not impossible, to raise hard questions about 9/11 in New York without it being perceived as criticism of the individual police and firefighters or of Mayor Giuliani," Kean and Hamilton said.

Congress established the commission in 2002 to investigate government missteps leading to the Sept. 11 attacks.

Its 567-page unanimous report, which was released in July 2004 and became a national best seller, does not blame Bush or former President Clinton but does say they failed to make anti-terrorism a high priority before the attacks.

The panel of five Republicans and five Democrats also concluded that the Sept. 11 attacks would not be the nation's last, noting that al-Qaida had tried for at least 10 years to acquire weapons of mass destruction.

In their book, which goes on sale Aug. 15, Kean and Hamilton recap obstacles they say the panel faced in putting out a credible report in a presidential election year, including fights for access to government documents and an effort to reach unanimity.

Among the issues:

-- Iraq.

The commission threatened to splinter over the question of investigating the administration's use of 9/11 as a reason for going to war.

The strongest proponent was original member Max Cleland, a Democratic former senator who later stepped down for separate reasons.

If Cleland had not resigned, the commission probably would not have reached unanimity, according to the book.

Ultimately, commissioners decided to touch briefly on the Iraq war by concluding there was no "collaborative relationship" between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida; the administration had asserted there were substantial contacts between the two.

-- Israel.

The commission disagreed as to how to characterize al-Qaida's motives for attacking the U.S., with Hamilton arguing that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the presence of U.S. forces in the Middle East were major contributors.

Unidentified members believed that "listing U.S. support for Israel as a root cause of al-Qaida's opposition to the United States indicated that the United States should reassess that policy," which those commission members did not want.

Ultimately, the panel made a brief statement noting that U.S. policy regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Iraq are "dominant staples of popular commentary across the Arab and Muslim world."

-- Access to detainees.

The panel pushed for direct access to detainees, at one point proposing to be at least physically present or to listen by telephone during interrogations so they could gauge credibility and get unvarnished accounts.

The administration resisted, citing concerns about national security.

Officials also said they feared setting a precedent of access by a nongovernment entity that could undermine the administration's position that the Geneva Conventions did not apply to detainees classified as "enemy combatants."

The commission agreed to submit questions and receive written responses.

Later, allegations emerged of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay that probably played a factor in the government's resistance, the book states.

end quotes

George W. Bush ....

NEEDED ....

9-11 .....

As his excuse ....

To go to war ...

And the REPUBLICANS ....

Needed 9-11 ....

To secure and hold power ....

Here in OUR America ....

And so ....

We had 9-11 ......

And George W. Bush ....

And the REPUBLICANS ....

Got what they wanted ....

And what they needed ....

And so ...

It really is not complicated, after all .....

Hey ...

How about that Tommy DeLay .....

He's coming back, I hear ....

He's a REPUBLICAN ICON, after all ....

And so ....

"Fight over DeLay's candidacy continuing"

Associated Press
First published: Friday, August 4, 2006

AUSTIN, Texas -- A federal appeals court panel on Thursday refused to let Texas Republicans replace Tom DeLay's name on the November congressional ballot.

The finding upheld a July ruling by a federal judge that the ballot must list DeLay, who won a March primary before resigning from Congress on June 9.

He now lives in Virginia but is awaiting trial in Texas state court on money laundering and conspiracy charges alleging that illegal corporate cash helped pay for legislative campaigns in 2002.

"This was a victory for fair and ethical elections protecting the integrity of the democratic process."

"Both parties have nominees for the general election and it's time to move forward," said Cris Feldman, a lawyer for the Texas Democratic Party.

The Republicans' lawyer said he would appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"What's happening here is the Democrat Party is trying to control the Republican nominee" said GOP attorney Jim Bopp.

"I think that's fundamentally incompatible with a viable two-party system and a democratic process."

Republicans want to pick another nominee to face Democrat Nick Lampson in November.

Democrats sued to keep DeLay on the ballot.

Keeping him on the ballot presumably gives them an easier race and bolsters their attempts to make the indicted former House majority leader their symbol for claims of Republican corruption.

Thursday's ruling said that GOP state chairwoman Tina Benkiser acted unconstitutionally when she tried to remove DeLay as the party nominee because he had moved.

Democrats had noted that DeLay's wife, Christine, still lives in the DeLays' house in Sugar Land, just outside Houston.

While the U.S. Constitution requires a candidate to live in-state, the question is where he is residing on Election Day, not now, said the three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

"DeLay could be a current resident of Virginia ... and nonetheless move back to Texas before November," the opinion said.

DeLay has suggested he might actively campaign if he is left on the ballot.

His daughter and spokeswoman, Dani DeLay Ferro, said Thursday that a decision on whether to campaign won't be made until the legal dispute is settled.

If DeLay withdraws from the race -- rather than being declared ineligible -- by law Republicans could not replace him with another candidate.

end quotes

Good for the REPUBLICANS .....

The manipulating REPUBLICANS ....

Now ...

They have been manipulated back ...

And you know ...

That is good for them ....

Take some of the starch out of their sails, perhaps ....

AND A LOT OF THE ARROGANCE THEY HAVE, AS WELL ....

HAVING TOMMY DELAY AS THEIR STANDARD-BEARER DOWN IN TEXAS ....

WHEN HE IS A SYMBOL ...

OF THEIR CULTURE OF CORRUPTION ....

And so ....

And while "TWO-GUN TEXAS TOMMY" DeLay is a symbol of REPUBLICAN corruption down there in George W. Bush's home state of Texas .....

REPUBLICAN George Pataki is their symbol up here .....

In the CORRUPT State of New York .....

Where the "PLAYAS" rule ....

Thanks to people like "BIG JOE THE HAMMER" Bruno .....

Who will never have enough money ...

In his own pocket .....

Which is why we have the "PLAYAS" .....

Like "JAZZO" .....

TO PUT SOME MONEY ....

IN THE POLITICIAN'S POCKETS ....

WHERE THEY NEED IT TO BE ....

BECAUSE YOU CAN JUST NEVER HAVE ENOUGH ....

And so ....

"Clinton adviser criticizes Pataki campaigning"

By MARC HUMBERT, Associated Press
First published: Saturday, August 5, 2006

ALBANY -- As New York Gov. George Pataki set off on his latest national political foray Friday, a top adviser to a potential White House rival blasted the Republican for becoming "a full-time presidential candidate."

"He's clearly running for president," Howard Wolfson, a key adviser to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and other New York Democrats, said.

"He's now thoroughly uninterested in being our governor even though he has several months left in his tenure."

Wolfson said Pataki has "zero chance" of becoming president.

"It's unfortunate because he is the only one who takes his candidacy seriously," said the Democratic strategist.

"You cannot run for president as the failed governor of the state," Wolfson said.

"He couldn't get re-elected governor, how can he possibly think he could get elected president?"

"What record is he going to run on?"

Pataki, in a telephone interview as he worked the political circuit Friday in New Hampshire, sought to turn the tables on Wolfson.

"I think he's got me confused with his client, Hillary Clinton, who has talked a great deal about what she would do for New York, but in six years, it's always hard for me to point to anything other than her criticism of the national administration," Pataki said.

On Friday, Pataki was making stops in New Hampshire, the site of the first presidential primary, and in South Carolina.

end quotes

Pataki should resign .....

He is never here ....

He's always somewhere else .....

Raising money for REPUBLICANS ....

As if that is what he was elected to public office in New York state to do ....

Be a PARTY HACK .....

AND BAGMAN ....

And when he is here ...

He sure isn't worth much .....

Or nothing at all ....

And so .....

And then, of course ....

There is "BIG EL" Spitzer .....

The "PLAYA'S PLAYA" .....

The man ...

Who knows ...

WHAT "GAMING THE SYSTEM" .....

Is really all about ....

And how it is done ....

Because "BIG EL" gives the cover .....

AND PROTECTION ....

To those who are doing it ....

And so ....

There is "BIG EL'S" ticket ....

Into the Governor's MANSION up here ...

In the corrupt State of New York ...

Or so "BIG EL" believes, anyway ....

AND WHEN YOU ARE A "ROCK STAR" .....

Like "BIG EL" is .....

Well ...

And so ...

"Spitzer accused of avoiding conflict - Election foes say he's ducking stands on hot-button issues"

By JAY GALLAGHER, Gannett News Service
First published: Saturday, August 5, 2006

ALBANY -- While Eliot Spitzer has rolled out position papers on issues as diverse as tax cuts, urban revitalization and stem-cell research, he has so far dodged issues that are controversial and likely to cause his support, which looks overwhelming, to erode, his opponents in the race for governor say.

"Spitzer has been borderline dishonest in his campaign," said his Republican opponent, former Assemblyman John Faso.

"He doesn't level with the people on the real issues that affect us, particularly the upstate economy."

Faso and Spitzer's opponent in the Sept. 12 Democratic primary, Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi, take Spitzer to task for not saying what he would do, especially on issues that pit unions against local governments and businesses.

They include the state workers compensation system, laws that govern public-employee unions and another that determines how contracts for public-works projects are awarded.

Christine Anderson, spokeswoman for Spitzer, said that he has been laying out specifics all along and will continue to do so for the rest of the campaign.

Spitzer has also taken the opposite position on some issues from those of labor leaders who backed him.

He opposed a measure that would have required businesses that don't provide health insurance to their workers to pay an extra tax.

But so far, he has not taken stances on other hot-button labor-related issues.

He also is on the fence about whether the state Public Service Commission should allow a power line to be built from the Utica area to Orange County.

The idea is popular downstate but anathema in the area through which the line would run.

Suozzi and Faso have taken less than firm positions on the issue as well.

end quotes

Expecting an experienced politician like "BIG EL" Spitzer ....

To be honest ....

And forthcoming ....

During a political campaign ....

Is a lot ....

Like expecting ....

A rattlesnake ....

To voluntarily get it's teeth pulled ....

So it can become your house pet ......

To keep you warm at night ...

As you snuggle in your bed ....

Without having to worry ....

About getting "snake-bit" ....

And so ...

And speaking about "BIG JOE THE HAMMER" Bruno .....

And the CORRUPT State of New York ....

Where George Pataki never is ...

And "BIG EL" Spitzer .....

Is oh, so soft ....

SOFT ....

LIKE A MARSHMELLOW ....

ON GOVERNMENT CORRUPTION ....

We have ....

"Six groups back suit against legislators - 'Friend of the court' briefs filed in support of Times Union's bid for information on member items"

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

First published: Saturday, August 5, 2006

ALBANY -- Six government-reform groups filed court papers backing a lawsuit against the leaders of the Legislature for withholding the names of lawmakers who influence the spending of hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayers' funds.

The groups filed a "friend of the court" brief Thursday supporting the Times Union in its suit against Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno, R-Brunswick, and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan.

The two officials, who are seeking re-election this year, have turned down Freedom of Information Law requests by the newspaper, which sued for full disclosure of documents showing how lawmakers carve up $170 million a year in discretionary money.

The funds pay for lawmakers' pet projects, or "member items."

The leaders released some documents, but censored the names of the legislators who asked for each grant.

The Brennan Center for Justice, Citizens Budget Commission, Citizens Union of the City of New York, Common Cause, League of Women Voters of New York State and New York Public Interest Research Group filed court documents that say keeping such records secret can breed corruption and foster public cynicism.

Legislative leaders, represented by Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's office, have moved for dismissal, arguing lawmakers don't have to answer for what they say in the legislative process.

The names, they maintain, are protected under the state constitution, which says, "for any speech or debate in either house of the Legislature, the members shall not be questioned in any other place."

Spitzer's office argued that disclosing "information concerning a legislator's involvement with particular pieces of legislation could potentially chill the legislator's activities."

The government-reform groups join more than two dozen news organizations filing a similar brief this week.

The latest motion, filed by Joaquin Ezcurra, a lawyer with Manhattan-based Morgan, Lewis & Bockius representing the government reform groups pro bono, states, "this shroud of secrecy runs directly against the public interest" and hurts efforts to bring about "desperately needed" government change.

The groups say the secrecy surrounding the member item process "at worst promotes corruption, and at best, emphasizes the need for transparency."

Gov. George Pataki, Senate Minority Leader David Paterson and Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco provided the documents in full, but they control only some of the voluminous records involving member items.

The lawsuit, filed in June in state Supreme Court, came amid a Times Union investigation into member item funds.

Stories have shown lawmakers funded questionable programs and organizations they control or which employ close friends, political operatives or relatives.

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

end quotes

And there is "BIG EL" Spitzer .....

"CORRUPTION'S CHAMPION" ....

In the CORRUPT STATE OF NEW YORK ....

FIGHTING TOOTH-AND-NAIL .....

TO KEEP THE STATE LEGISLATURE AS CORRUPT AS IT IS RIGHT NOW ....

KEEP THOSE SLUSH FUNDS .....

FULL OF SLUSH .....

AND THE PORK BARRELS ....

FULL OF PORK ....

AND THOSE WHO ARE CRAMMING MONEY ....

DOWN THE POCKETS ....

OF "BIG EL" SPITZER .....

TO KEEP NEW YORK ...

CORRUPT ...

UNDEMOCRATIC ....

AND DYSFUNCTIONAL ....

WILL LOVE HIM ALL THE MORE ....

AND MAYBE SOMEDAY ...

IF THEY KEEP LOVING HIM ENOUGH ...

HE WILL BE THE PRESIDENT ....

HERE IN OUR AMERICA ....

IN CONTROL THEN ....

OF A REAL HUGE PORK BARREL ....

AND WELL FUNDED SLUSH FUNDS ....

And so ...

Vote for Eliot Spitzer ....

And you are assuring ....

CORRUPTION REMAINS ....

THE STATUS QUO ....

IN GOVERNMENT ...

HERE IN OUR AMERICA ....

And so ....

And while we are on the subject of SUPERSTARS

"Despite image, Cheney a GOP rock star"

By NANCY BENAC, Associated Press
Last updated: 4:36 p.m., Saturday, August 5, 2006

TAMPA, Fla. -- An anticipatory buzz fills the room.

Six crisp American flags, erect as soldiers, line the dais.

More than an hour before the vice president's arrival, the GOP faithful stand at the ready.

Never mind that Dick Cheney is favorably regarded by only about a third of Americans.

To this crowd, in this place, he is a rock star.

And Gus Bilirakis, a state legislator bidding to succeed his father in Congress, is happy to bask in the vice president's glow, pocketing $200,000 in campaign contributions from Cheney's two-hour visit to town late last month.

"He's a dynamic leader," Tampa attorney Monica Lothrop gushes after Cheney's standard, hang-tough-against-terror speech.

"It was just a thrill to be able to see him in person."

Four days earlier, the scenario was the same in Iowa, where Cheney raised campaign cash for two Republican congressional candidates.

Ditto three days later in Alabama and Arkansas, where Cheney was raising money for two gubernatorial candidates.

Five and half years into the Bush presidency, Cheney's image may have taken a beating overall but "he's still Elvis to a lot of the conservatives," says Marshall Wittmann, a Democratic Leadership Council analyst.

"When he comes in, money and enthusiasm flow."

Cheney, always a stalwart campaigner for the party, is outpacing his schedule from the 2002 midterm elections.

He has logged 80 fundraisers so far this election cycle, bringing in more than $24 million, with the heaviest campaign travel still to come.

By comparison, he logged 106 fundraisers for all of 2001-2002.

Democrats hope the strategy backfires, and they're working harder to use Cheney's visits against the Republicans.

"There's nothing that riles the Democrats up more than Cheney," says Democratic consultant Jenny Backus.

Cheney is one of the top two or three "bad guys" that Democrats use in direct mail appeals to rally base voters and raise money, she said.

"Just like the Republicans used to use Ted Kennedy," she said, "the Democrats are now using Cheney."

And come this fall, when both parties bid for swing voters in the middle of the political spectrum, look for some Democratic candidates to churn out campaign ads tying their GOP opponents to the vice president in hopes that dissatisfaction with the Bush administration will rub off.

A recent Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll, for example, found that 55 percent of independents said they were less likely to vote for a candidate for whom President Bush had campaigned, compared with 7 percent who were more likely to vote for a candidate for whom Bush had campaigned.

Cheney's favorability ratings are even lower than Bush's.

Cheney may bring in a lot of cash, says Democratic consultant Dane Strother, but "the problem is that when he races through town, he leaves a stack of headlines."

"And come mid-October, you tie the Republican candidate to the Bush-Cheney efforts and, boom, there are the headlines and the pictures."

Republican consultant Charlie Black rejects the idea that any GOP candidate will pay a price for "guilt by association" with Cheney.

"Some people would say that outside the base he's not popular but that's true for the president himself, so that's just part of the deal," Black said.

Some GOP candidates are finding ways to put distance between themselves and Cheney, even as they happily gather up the campaign checks that his visits attract.

Some Cheney fundraisers are closed to the media, for example.

During a recent visit to upstate New York for GOP congressional hopeful Ray Meier, Cheney urged Republicans to make the war on terror their top issue in the 2006 elections.

But Meier later told reporters, "I think the voters in this district are really more interested in issues closer to home."

In March, when Cheney visited New Jersey to raise money for GOP Senate candidate Tom Kean Jr., the candidate didn't arrive until 15 minutes after Cheney left.

Kean said he got held up in traffic; Democrats were skeptical.

In Florida, Bilirakis showed no hesitation in allying himself with Cheney, whom he introduced as "a true patriot and a supporter of the Bilirakis family for two decades."

The vice president's tough talk against terrorists was music to Shari Kotsch, treasurer of the Republican Party in Pasco County, who said low poll ratings like the vice president's are inevitable for anyone willing to take strong positions.

"He says what he means and he means what he says and he follows through," she said.

"I love that in any man."

Even among Bilirakis' supporters at the Cheney reception, though, there were some doubts about the wisdom of bringing in the vice president.

Dave Syraski, a longtime friend of the Bilirakis family and a political independent, said he's "kind of neutral" on Cheney.

As for Cheney's fundraising appearance, Syraski said: "Obviously, he has a title that's pretty impressive, but maybe it's not the best thing for a candidate, given the poll ratings."

Bilirakis' Democratic opponent, Phyllis Busansky, calls Cheney "the architect of the policies that have led to an increase in Mideast violence and skyrocketing oil prices."

"We thought that it was a gift," Busansky said of Cheney's visit, adding that her campaign already was getting checks in response to a fundraising letter tied to the vice president's appearance.

National GOP officials insist there is no downside for Republican candidates to a Cheney visit.

Brian Nick, a spokesman for the GOP Senate committee, said Cheney has been extremely helpful around the country.

He did allow that different candidates must decide whether a particular surrogate would be a "good fit" in their state.

Black, the GOP consultant, added: "Every campaign's different, and the candidates have to make their tactical decisions about how to use him."

He added that a visit by the vice president now is "not going to be an issue come the first week in November."

Shoot That Star, Dick ...

(With apologies to Bad Company)

Dick Cheney was a just schoolboy ....

When he heard his first Beatles song ....

Love Me Do, I think it was ....

And from there it didn't take him long ....

Got himself a guitar ....

Used to play every night ....

Now he's in a political crew ....

And everything's all right ....

Don't you know ....

Dick Cheney told his mama .....

Hey, mama I'm going away ....

I'm gonna hit the big time ....

Gonna be a big star someday ....

Mama came to the door .....

With a teardrop in her eye ....

Dick Cheney said, don't cry, mama ....

Smile and wave goodbye ....

Don't you know, yeah, yeah ....

Don't you know that Dick Cheney is a shooting star ....

Don't you know .....

Don't you know that Dick Cheney is a shooting star ....

And all the world will love you, Dick ....

Just as long, as long as you are .....

Dick Cheney made a political speech .....

It took him straight up to number one ....

Suddenly everyone loved .....

To hear him shout his harangues ....

Watching the world go up in flames ......

Surprising it goes so fast .....

Dick Cheney looked around him and said ....

Well, I made the big time at last .....

Don't you know, don't you know .....

Don't you know that Dick Cheney is a shooting star ....

Don't you know .....

Don't you know that Dick Cheney is a shooting star ....

And all the world will love you, Dick ....

Just as long, as long as you are .....

Dick Cheney died .....

In the polls one night ....

Died in them dead .....

Dick is now a has-been ....

But if you listen to the wind ....

You can still hear him bray ....

Don't you know that Dick Cheney is a shooting star ....

Don't you know ....

Don't you know that Dick Cheney is a shooting star ...

Don't you know ....

Na na na...

And as the November Congressional elections loom ever larger on the horizon ....

It is never too early ...

To get into the issues at stake ..

Here in OUR America ....

And so .....

Since the Democrats are already defined by the REPUBLICANS ....

As nothing more ....

Than whining, crying "CUT-AND-RUN" losers ....

Who don't drink beer ....

But drink imported wine, instead .....

As well as eating broccoli ....

Let's see how the REPUBLICANS define themselves ....

Since they have the POWER ....

Here in OUR America ....

And everybody knows ....

THAT POLITICAL DEFINITIONS ....

ARE MADE BY THOSE WITH POWER ....

And so ....

What You Need To Believe To Be A Republican

1. Jesus loves you, and shares your hatred of homosexuals and Hillary Clinton.

2. Saddam was a good guy when Reagan armed him, a bad guy when Bush's daddy made war on him, a good guy when Dick Cheney did business with him, and a bad guy when George W. Bush needed a "we can't find Bin Laden" diversion.

3. Trade with Cuba is wrong because the country is Communist, but trade with China and Vietnam is vital to a spirit of international harmony.

4. The United States should get out of the United Nations, and our highest national priority is enforcing U.N. resolutions against Iraq.

5. A woman can't be trusted with decisions about her own body, but multi-national corporations can make decisions affecting all mankind without regulation.

6. The best way to improve military morale is to praise the troops in speeches, while slashing veterans' benefits and combat pay.

7. If condoms are kept out of schools, adolescents won't have sex.

8. A good way to fight terrorism is to belittle our long-time allies, then demand their cooperation and money.

9. Providing health care to all Iraqis is sound policy, but providing health care to all Americans is socialism. HMOs and insurance companies have the best interests of the public at heart.

10. Global warming and tobacco's link to cancer are junk science, but creationism should be taught in schools.

11. A president lying about an extramarital affair is a impeachable offense, but a president lying to enlist support for a war in which thousands die is solid defense policy.

12. Government should limit itself to the powers named in the Constitution, which include banning gay marriages and censoring the Internet.

13. The public has a right to know about Hillary's cattle trades, but George Bush's driving record is none of our business.

14. Being a drug addict is a moral failing and a crime, unless you're a conservative radio host. Then it's an illness and you need our prayers for your recovery.

15. Supporting "Executive Privilege" for every Republican ever born, who will be born or who might be born (in perpetuity.)

16. What Bill Clinton did in the 1960s is of vital national interest, but what George W. Bush did in the '80s is irrelevant.

17. Support for hunters who shoot their friends and blame them for wearing orange vests similar to those worn by the quail.

AND REMEMBER ....

As the PARTY IN POWER, REPUBLICANS are not HYPOCRITES ....

We just can't have that being said, after all ....

That REPUBLICANS are HYPOCRITES ....

Because it would make the PARTY IN POWER .....

Well .....

It would make them look like HYPOCRITES .....

If we called them that ....

And so ....

VOTE REPUBLICAN, eh, if you like this kind of stuff above here ....

And there we will be, alright ...

And so ....

.

And since we are on that subject .....

"Iraq war views fuel Senate races - Jonathan Tasini, who is challenging Clinton in Democratic primary, looks to Connecticut battle"

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

First published: Sunday, August 6, 2006

NEW YORK -- In the musty basement of a Greenwich Village brownstone is the heart of a campaign that aims to do the seemingly impossible: Convince Democrats to vote their marquee candidate, U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, out of office.

The two-room headquarters of Clinton's primary opponent, Jonathan Tasini, barely accommodates him, his three paid staffers, a visitor and a teenage intern.

His campaign is paying a minimal fee for the tiny space to the Village Independent Democrats, a liberal political club and one of his few party backers.

Adorning the walls are campaign posters of past Democratic losers -- former state Comptroller H. Carl McCall (2002 governor's race), attorney general candidate Charlie King (1998 and 2002, lieutenant governor's race), former New York City Council President Carol Bellamy (1995, New York City mayoral election; 1990, state comptroller's race).

Tasini, a longtime labor activist whose signature issue is opposition to the Iraq war, acknowledges his chances of joining their ranks come Sept. 12 is high.

The former first lady has stratospheric name recognition.

Almost nine out of 10 people in a recent poll had no idea who he is.

She has $22 million in her campaign war chest.

He has $11,787 and has spent $43,244 of his own money on his campaign.

At their state convention, New York Democrats unanimously voted to place her on the ballot.

He couldn't get enough support to speak.

Yet Tasini insists his candidacy is serious and not simply a protest of Clinton's refusal to support an immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq.

He notes he successfully petitioned his way on to the primary ballot, collecting far more than the required 15,000 signatures from enrolled Democrats.

"I hold two ideas at the same time, and I don't think they're mutually exclusive," Tasini said.

"One is that this is an incredibly uphill battle."

"The other is that the voters are where I am."

A July 20 Marist poll showed Tasini trailing Clinton 13 percent to 83 percent among Democrats, despite the fact that 70 percent said the Iraq war should be a major issue this fall, and 62 percent said they're more likely to vote for a candidate who is against the war than one who supports it.

The race is a marked contrast to the Democratic primary Tuesday in Connecticut, where U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman appears in danger of losing to an anti-war challenger -- millionaire cable TV executive and J.P. Morgan heir Ned Lamont.

If Lamont wins, Tasini could benefit, said Marist College pollster Lee Miringoff.

But he will still lack the money to make a significant dent in Clinton.

"There would be more buzz around the Tasini candidacy," Miringoff said.

"But New York is a lot bigger state to do this in, and Hillary Clinton is a lot less inviting a target."

While the outcome in Connecticut is unlikely to affect New York's Democratic Senate race, it could influence the direction the national party will take as it heads into the 2008 presidential race, said U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y.

"Everyone who's watching politics is watching this now," said Nadler, who voted against the war.

"If (Lamont) beats Lieberman, it will be an earthquake, and it will be very good in terms of pushing the party in what I think is the right direction, which is a quick withdrawal from Iraq."

Chief among the Democratic White House hopefuls is Clinton herself, who voted for the war and has said she supports its overall mission.

She has been sharply critical of the Bush administration's handling of Iraq and has signed on to an amendment calling for a "phased redeployment" of troops to begin Dec. 31, but she has refused to call for a withdrawal date.

Nadler and others say Clinton's position is well within the mainstream.

They say Tasini hasn't caught fire in New York because he not only lacks Lamont's wealth, but because Hillary Clinton is not Joe Lieberman.

Lieberman, in office for nearly 18 years, is being excoriated by Democrats for his support of the war and what they consider his too-frequent defense of the Bush administration.

He has angered Democrats on the left with his support of school vouchers and his willingness to compromise on Social Security reform.

Clinton, on the other hand, has taken the President to task over such issues as the FDA's refusal to make the Plan B contraceptive available without a prescription and gaps in the Medicare "Part D" drug plan.

Last week, she openly sparred with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld during a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee and later called for his resignation over a "failed policy" in Iraq.

A recent Quinnipiac poll found almost two-thirds of Lamont's support comes from anti-Lieberman sentiment.

Lieberman had a 37 percent favorable rating among Democrats.

Clinton reached 77 percent favorability among New York Democrats in a July 24 Siena poll.

Bill Clinton recently traveled to Connecticut to stump for Lieberman, even though the senator had denounced the President on the Senate floor over his affair with a White House intern.

Some observers took this as proof the Clintons would prefer not to see the paradigm shift that a win by an anti-war candidate like Lamont might bring.

Tasini's candidacy, however, could actually help Clinton on the national stage, argued Democratic consultant Hank Sheinkopf.

"Every time Tasini, who is perceived as left wing, attacks her, it makes her appear to be more of a centrist, which only benefits her if she should run for president," Sheinkopf said.

"All he does is make her a victim of the left."

Tasini and some of his supporters agree Clinton is no Lieberman.

But they're disappointed with what they view as her steady move to the center in preparation for a national run.

"Lamont is a moderate, and Lieberman is barely a Democrat at all; it's more of an extreme situation," said author Barbara Ehrenreich, a Tasini friend and backer.

"But there's still a myth that Hillary somehow has an inner liberal that she's keeping under control, and if you give her more power it will come out."

"There's no evidence of that."

Tasini eschews the usual pragmatic political parsing.

"I'm running for Senate to change the goddamned state and the world," he said.

To him, the Iraq war is "illegal and immoral," Clinton is personally responsible for the deaths of thousands of Iraqis and American soldiers, and her call for Rumsfeld's resignation was "bluster."

Clinton's camp brands Tasini "an extremist."

He recently blamed the senator and "a broad segment of our political leadership" for the deaths of 37 children killed in a strike by Israel on the Lebanese town of Qana -- a statement Clinton adviser Howard Wolfson called "outrageous."

Tasini, who is Jewish, lived in Israel for eight years with his Israeli father and still has relatives there.

He said he volunteered at a hospital in Israel at the start of the 1973 war and touched a dead soldier.

He has said Israel "committed many acts of brutality and violations of human rights and torture."

He is angered by Clinton and others who support Israel for what he thinks is political expediency but "never had the experience of being there and watching people there get killed."

Clinton supporters have also tried to paint Tasini as a political opportunist, noting he was a member of the Working Families Party before switching to Democrat last Oct. 14 -- the deadline to make the change effective for this fall's primary.

The Working Families Party endorsed Clinton, but only after a lengthy debate at its convention during which some members wanted to either back Tasini or remain neutral.

Tasini, who insists he can't remember a time when he wasn't involved in some kind of activism -- be it Greenpeace or union organizing -- is a boyish 49 with a high forehead, thinning, slicked-back brown hair and tortoise-shell glasses.

He wears black cowboy boots -- even with suits -- a habit formed after an ex-girlfriend gave him a pair, and not a nod to his Texas roots, he says.

(He was born in Houston, but moved to New York before he turned 1.)

Tasini has taken on seemingly invincible opponents before.

He is perhaps best known for being the lead plaintiff in Tasini vs. New York Times Co., a lawsuit brought by freelance writers against a number of publishing companies over who owns the electronic rights to sell their stories to databases.

The writers won in the U.S. Supreme Court in 2001.

At the time, Tasini was president of the National Writers Union.

"Taking on Hillary Clinton seems pretty mild compared to taking on some of the biggest media corporations in the world," Tasini said.

"She's one individual."

"The challenge does not seem to me to be either insurmountable or daunting."

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

Jonathan Tasini

Age: 49

Home: Washington Heights, New York City

Political affiliation: Democrat (changed from Working Families Party on Oct. 14, 2005, the deadline for a party switch to be effective for this election)

Background: Born in Houston; lived in Poughkeepsie and Yorktown Heights; moved to Israel with father in 1971, then to Los Angeles in 1978 and to New York City in 1985

Education: B.A. in political science, UCLA

Professional: Began his career working for Greenpeace and as a freelance writer. Helped establish the Los Angeles chapter of the National Writers Union in the 1980s. Elected NWU president in 1990. In 1993, he was the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against The New York Times Co. and several other companies in a case eventually decided in 2001 by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that writers, not publishers, own the rights to sell freelance works to electronic databases. A union activist and well-known blogger on labor issues, he lives in part off earnings generated by ads on his Web site, Working Life.

Prior elected offices held: None

Personal: Single

end quotes

No .....

There is no evidence at all that Hillary has an "inner liberal" .....

Under control ...

OR NOT ....

Put Hillary down in a pit of mud ....

With some big old hairy-chested beer-drinking CONSERVATIVES ....

And my money is on the fact ....

That Hillary will bite and scratch and head-butt and gouge eyes with the best of them old boys .....

And that she will win ....

And then go chew some chaw with them ....

And drink beer ....

And play cards ....

And spit on the floor .....

And curse those ...

Who drink imported wine ...

And eat broccoli ....

Like she was an old mule-driver herself ...

And so ...

And since we are talking about the REPUBLICAN'S WAR ON HUMANITY .....

Over there ...

In America's NEWEST POSSESSION .....

Of IRAQINAMISTAN ....

We have ....

A glimpse ....

Of what the REPUBLICANS are all about .....

In their support ....

Of that FIASCO ....

In this following story ....

And so ....

"Hearing begins in Iraq rape-slaying case"

By RYAN LENZ, Associated Press Writer

1 hour, 23 minutes ago

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A U.S. military court began a hearing Sunday to determine if five American soldiers should be tried in the alleged rape-slaying of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl.

Three of the girl's relatives also were killed in the town of Mahmoudiya on March 12, which is among the worst incidents in a series of cases alleging U.S. troops killed or abused Iraqi civilians.

The soldiers — Sgt. Paul E. Cortez, Spc. James P. Barker, Pfc. Jesse V. Spielman and Pfc. Bryan L. Howard — are charged with conspiring to rape the girl along with former Pfc. Steven D. Green, who was arrested in North Carolina in June.

A fifth soldier from the same unit, Sgt. Anthony W. Yribe, is charged with failing to report the attack but is not alleged to have been a direct participant.

The Article 32 hearing, the civilian equivalent of a grand jury proceeding, will decide whether there is enough evidence to convene a court-martial for the five soldiers.

Green has pleaded not guilty in federal court and is being held without bond.

According to an FBI affidavit, the soldiers drank alcohol before abandoning their checkpoint, changed clothes and headed to the victims' house, about 200 yards from a U.S. military checkpoint in a Sunni Arab area south of Baghdad.

The soldiers are also accused of setting fire to the girl's body to destroy evidence.

David Sheldon, Barker's Washington-based attorney, has said the stressful environment in the Mahmoudiya area — known in Iraq as the "Triangle of Death" — contributed to the soldiers' behavior.

U.S. officials are concerned the case will strain relations with Iraq's new government if Iraqis perceive the soldiers receive lenient treatment.

The case has already increased demands for changes in an agreement that exempts U.S. soldiers from prosecution in Iraqi courts.

U.S. officials have assured Iraqis that the case will be pursued vigorously and that the soldiers will be punished if convicted.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has demanded an independent investigation into the case.

The hearing is expected to last several days, and parts will be held in secret, including testimony from Iraqi witnesses.

The restriction was imposed after an appeal by the trial counsel to protect witnesses, who could be at risk if they are seen as collaborating with the Americans.

Iraqi authorities identified the rape victim as Abeer Qassim Hamza.

The other victims were her father, Qassim Hamza; her mother, Fikhriya Taha; and her sister, Hadeel Qassim Hamza.

Four soldiers from another regiment in the 101st have been accused of killing three Iraqi detainees in Samarra three months ago.

The Article 32 hearing in that case wrapped up Friday in Tikrit but no decision on a trial was announced.

In another case, the U.S. command said Saturday that Sgt. Milton Ortiz Jr. of the 2nd Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment of the Pennsylvania National Guard, was reduced in rank to specialist after pleading guilty to conspiracy to obstruct justice by placing a rifle near a mortally wounded Iraqi in February and threatening and assaulting an Iraqi in March.

The charges resulted from the killing of an unarmed Iraqi near Ramadi by Spc. Nathan Lynn, who was cleared last month of manslaughter and conspiring to obstruct justice.

The Marine Corps and Navy prosecutors are reviewing evidence to determine whether to recommend criminal charges against Marines accused of killing 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha in November.

end quotes

The REPUBLICAN strategy .....

In Iraq .....

Is based on those "FEAR THIS" stickers .....

That you see plastered on cars and trucks these days ....

Here in OUR America ....

Project an image ....

Of America ....

Being the BIGGEST THUG ....

On the face of the earth ...

And people around the world ....

Will "FEAR THIS" ....

Or so the REPUBLICANS would like to believe .....

And so ....

Hey ...

C'mon here .....

THOUGHT-CONTROL is cool .....

And after all ....

God invented CORPORATIONS ...

For the REPUBLICANS, of course ....

And CORPORATIONS .....

In turn ....

Gave us women ....

Who don't know much ....

Since they are only women ....

Who are likely to be ....

WHINING, CRYING DEMOCRATS ....

And therefore ...

Will likely CUT AND RUN ....

Just when the "going" gets tough ....

As this one in this following story did ...

And so ....

If you want to be a REPUBLICAN ...

Well ...

You got to learn ...

"TO SUCK IT UP" ....

Whereas ....

To be a DEMOCRAT ....

All you have to do ...

Is whine ...

And cry ....

And eat broccoli ....

And drink wine ...

Instead of beer ...

And then run ....

While sobbing like a weak sister ....

And so ...

"Fear and tears after Nxivm class - Woman claims stressful, probing conditions used at leadership seminar in Colonie"

By DENNIS YUSKO, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Sunday, August 6, 2006

Math teacher Nellie Forst wanted to control her temper better so she could one day become a principal.

So at the advice of her father, the 28-year-old Philadelphia resident drove to Nxivm in Colonie for a five-day seminar expecting enlightenment and career advice.

But by the first evening, Forst says she ran out of the personal development company's New Karner Road office and left the Capital Region in tears.

She says the course, held June 10, consisted of 14-hour classes, probing personal questions and elements of "sensory deprivation," which caused her such distress that she demanded back her father's $2,430 class fee.

"I consider the 11 hours I spent at the place to be psychological rape."

"It left me a totally different person with all this fear I never had before," said Forst, who has a master's degree from Drexel University.

Forst revealed her story as Nxivm continues to expand its real estate holdings across the Capital Region.

Nxivm, also known as Executive Success Program (ESP), now has at least 12 properties in Colonie, Halfmoon and Clifton Park, including commercial land, single-family homes, town houses and condominiums, according to property transfer records.

Nxivm educational speaker Barbara Bouchey bought Romano's Family Restaurant on Route 9 in Halfmoon for $650,000 in June, according to RE/MAX broker Garry DeGonza.

The next day, she filed architectural designs with the town to turn the 4,056-square-foot restaurant into four large offices, a public office space, a reception area, a cafe and bathrooms, according to the plans.

Bouchey did not return a call for comment.

This spring, Nxivm's president, Nancy Salzman, purchased the company's longtime Colonie office at 455 New Karner Road for $510,000.

The company also paid $1.2 million for three surrounding addresses, property records indicate.

But as Nxivm expands its boundaries, new allegations are surfacing from its opponents.

Lawyers for Rick Ross, a New Jersey man being sued by Nxivm, say the company hired a private investigation firm that illegally dug up information on Ross.

The attorneys say Interfor, the Manhattan-based firm that Nxivm hired, used bribes to obtain bank and phone records, and other personal information.

The lawyers recently served subpoenas to Interfor's president, Juval Aviv, and its executive, Anna Moody, according to Ross.

In addition, Toni Natalie, the ex-girlfriend of Nxivm founder Keith Raniere, has charged that Nxivm hired Interfor to investigate her for a report.

Interfor, which boasts employees from the British Secret Service and Israeli intelligence, did not respond to calls for comment.

Raniere and Salzman have not responded to inquiries from the Times Union since 2003.

While the company's previous attorney publicly defended Nxivm last year, its newest law firm, Proskauer Rose of Manhattan, did not respond to calls seeking comment.

Raniere, 45, founded Nxivm in 1998 -- four years after Consumer Byline, his multimillion-dollar discount buying club in Halfmoon, collapsed under allegations it was a pyramid scheme.

Raniere paid the state almost $50,000 in settlement fees in 2004.

His company (pronounced Nex-ee-um) says it trains executives to reverse childhood stigmas and remove negative influences from their lives through a series of self-examinations called Rational Inquiry, created by Raniere.

Ed Forst, 52, the CEO of Lincoln Investment, says he's taken two 16-day Nxivm courses, and the teachings helped him overcome a painful divorce from his wife of 27 years.

Either the seminar wasn't for his daughter, Nellie, or she didn't stay long enough to appreciate it, Ed Forst said.

Father and daughter now correspond only by e-mail.

"I think that if you have an experience of any significance, you want to share that with a loved one."

"You want a common language," Ed Forst said.

"It's a scary thing to look at yourself."

"Intimidating."

"If the other person doesn't want to be there, it could cause a breakdown in the relationship."

Though clients are made to sign a confidentiality agreement promising not to discuss what they are taught at Nxivm, Nellie Forst spoke publicly about her experiences, saying she views the course as dangerous and wants her father to separate himself from Nxivm.

After arriving at Nxivm offices early on a Saturday, Nellie Forst discovered each day's class lasted at least 14 hours.

About 40 people attended, including several Nxivm counselors from Mexico, she said.

The class watched videos about Raniere and Salzman, answered large surveys about themselves and listened to Salzman's daughter, Lauren, discuss the program, Nellie Forst said.

A video camera captured everything, curtains remained closed and the room's temperature fluctuated as counselors fiddled with the thermostat, she said.

Nellie Forst said breaks and meals were delayed or postponed, which caused her to feel dizzy and dehydrated.

Nxivm officials questioned her whenever she left the room -- even to use the bathroom, she said.

As she left crying, Forst said she moved a counselor who was blocking the office door.

She returned to Philadelphia and the next day received an e-mail from her father saying a Nxivm counselor was filing assault and battery charges against her.

Colonie police confirmed it took an incident report from Nxivm that day but would not elaborate because no arrests were made.

Her father said he received a lot of good advice from Nxivm, especially from Salzman.

Using terms from the course, he said he learned "to be at cause," or to take responsibility for his own actions instead of beating himself up; to avoid "projection," or disliking others for doing things you yourself do and dislike; and "magnificence," that if one increases their potential by 5 percent, the impact on others would be enormous.

Ed Forst described some of the same experiences as Nellie -- pulled shades, varying room climates and some initial uncomfortable discussions -- but says he didn't interpret the actions as manipulative.

Others are working collaboratively against Nxivm.

Ross and Natalie have joined forces with ex-Nxivm consultant Joseph O'Hara of Albany.

All three are the targets of Nxivm lawsuits.

Salzman, Raniere and Nxivm employee Kristen Keefe have sued Natalie for bankruptcy fraud in Albany federal court.

The Keefe case is still pending.

Nxivm sued Ross in 2003 after psychiatrists called the company a cult on his Web site.

The case is now in Federal District Court in Newark, N.J.

And 11 Nxivm members sued O'Hara last year, a case pending in Albany federal court.

They accused O'Hara of fraudulently obtaining at least $2.5 million in payments and loans from the company and Nxivm clients Clare and Sara Bronfman while acting as the company's lawyer.

The Bronfmans are the daughters of Seagram scion Edgar Bronfman Sr.

O'Hara, the former executive of the Capital Region Pontiacs and Albany Firebirds sports teams, denies wrongdoing.

He said he'll repay any money owed to the Bronfmans before it's due.

He established the Stop Nxivm/ESP Now Legal Defense Fund and seeks financial support from "anti-cult organizations and families whose children are Nxivm students."

Last month, days after Forbes published a story on the Bronfman sisters' investments in Nxivm, O'Hara and his fiancee found a death threat spray-painted on land he owns in New Baltimore, Greene County.

The message read, "You will die in seven days," O'Hara said.

He alerted State Police, and they are investigating.

Nxivm officials also have pushed for the FBI to investigate Natalie, according to her attorney, E. Stewart Jones of Troy.

She responded by hiring Jones, and she and O'Hara recently took allegations of tax fraud by Nxivm to the FBI and the U.S. attorney's office in Albany.

Neither Nxivm, the FBI nor the U.S. attorney's office would confirm or deny any investigations.

Dennis Yusko can be reached at 581-8438 or by e-mail at dyusko@timesunion.com.

end quotes

And what would one expect from a bunch of sniveling LIB-RAWLS ....

But that they would be harassing this CORPORATION ....

Here is a good solid American CORPORATION .....

Doing what GOD intended it to do .....

Which is to be OUR SHEPARD .....

FOR THE REPUBLICAN PARTY ...

And GOD, of course ...

WHO INVENTED REPUBLICANS ...

BEFORE HE .....

OR SHE ....

INVENTED CORPORATIONS ....

TO BE ...

THE LOVING COMPANIONS ....

OF REPUBLICANS ....

DOWN HERE ...

ON THIS EARTH OF OURS ...

And so ...

Politics, here in OUR America .....

I believe, anyway ....

From my own travels through life ....

Down here on this earth of OURS ....

Depends on where you are .....

And this Nxivm story above here .....

Is quite the case in point ....

Coming to us ....

As it does ....

From the REPUBLICAN STRONGHOLD ....

Of Clifton Park ....

Or the "LAND OF VELVEETA CHEESE" .....

As Albany, New York Times Union wag Frederick LeBrun used to call it .....

For the "SAMENESS" of it all up there ....

A kind of upstate Leavitt Town .....

With "STEPFORD WIVES" .....

That seem motorized .....

And computer-controlled .....

As good REPUBLICAN women should be ....

IN AN UP-SCALE REPUBLICAN ENCLAVE ....

SUCH AS IS CLIFTON PARK ....

Or "VELVEETA CHEESE LAND" ......

In LeBrun-ese .....

Until he got slapped down by management for calling it that ...

In print ....

And so .....

Being REPUBLICAN TERRITORY .....

That is the way it should be ...

Freddy LeBrun getting slapped down, I mean ....

By pointing to its sterile sameness ....

With a tone of derision .....

Instead of one of respect ....

And so ....

If Clifton Park ....

Were down there in Texas .....

It would be called SUGARLAND .....

Whereas up here .....

It goes by the less pretentious name .....

Of Clifton Park ...

And so ...

But despite the pedestrian name .....

Make no mistake ....

Up here ....

In the CORRUPT State of New York ......

Outside of George Pataki's office on the second floor of the State capital in Albany, New York ......

CLIFTON PARK ....

Is where the real money ...

And the real PLAYERS are to be found .....

Including JAZZO, the up-and-comer ....

Just getting his start in "politics" up here ....

Who was dating "BIG JOE" Bruno's grandaughter ....

For a bit there, anyway ......

And so ...

To us up here ....

Who have been around for awhile .....

Observing local politics up here ....

The way them scientists ....

Who study bugs ...

Observe their own "subjects" .....

There could be no better example to us .....

Of a "STAY-THE-COURSE" REPUBLICAN .....

Versus a "CUT-AND-RUN" Democrat .....

Than this father and daughter in that article .....

The father ...

The alleged and presumed "STAY-THE-COURSE" REPUBLICAN ....

Saying, in essence ...

"Hey, look, when you have forked out that kind of money, well, these aren't amateurs that you are dealing with here; when you have been taken for that kind of money, you know that you are dealing with some serious PLAYERS here, and so, you just don't quit at the drop of a hat, when the going gets tough, you stay the course, to achieve total victory" .....

While the daughter .....

The alleged "CUT-AND-RUN" Democrat ....

Is saying .....

Quite clearly ....

At least to me .....

"I consider the 11 hours I spent at the place to be psychological rape ......"

And so .....

There you go ....

CUT AND RUN ......

Which is anathema .....

To the REPUBLICAN ...

Who will stay the course ....

PSYCHOLOGICAL RAPE ...

Or not .....

And so .....

And then ....

There is this alleged INTERFOR connection .....

Which firm which boasts employees from the British Secret Service and Israeli intelligence .....

To dig around in OUR lives up here .....

Because being foreign operatives over here .....

In the State of New York ...

They are not subject to OUR laws over here ....

And so ...

Can do pretty much what they want .....

Without fear of OUR laws .....

WHICH IS A VERY REPUBLICAN TRAIT THESE DAYS .....

Here in OUR America ....

And especially up here .....

In the CAPITAL DISTRICT of the STATE OF NEW YORK .....

Which place ...

A lot of people run away from ...

With tears in their eyes .....

After becoming exposed .....

To what passes for local politics up here ....

ESPECIALLY IN VELVEETA CHEESE LAND .....

Er, sorry ....

I'm making the same faux pas ....

Or politically incorrect .....

Gesture .....

That wag Fred LeBrun did .....

When he got slapped down ...

And not wanting some of that myself ...

I'll call it what it is .....

CLIFTON PARK, NEW YORK ...

HOME BASE OF REPUBLICAN STRONGMAN .....

"HEY, JACKIE BOY, HEY, JOHNNIE" Sweeney .....

The REPUBLICAN United States Congressman ...

WHO IS THE POLITICAL BOSS ....

OF REPUBLICAN CLIFTON PARK ...

And so ....

And while we are on the subject .....

Of MIND-CONTROL ....

And REPUBLICANS .....

And the mess that they have made .....

Out of the lives of people .....

Both here ...

And over there ...

In IRAQINAMISTAN ....

"Medic testifies at U.S. troops' hearing"

By RYAN LENZ, Associated Press
Last updated: 2:06 p.m., Sunday, August 6, 2006

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- An Iraqi army medic described for a U.S. military hearing Sunday the horrific scene that confronted him when he found the naked and burned body of a 14-year-old girl allegedly raped and murdered by American soldiers south of Baghdad.

The medic testified on the opening day of a hearing to determine whether five U.S. soldiers must stand trial in the March 12 rape-slaying of Abeer Qassim al-Janabi and the killing of her parents and sister in the town of Mahmoudiya.

It is among the worst in a series of cases of alleged killings of civilians and other abuses by U.S. soldiers that have tarnished the American military.

The medic, whose name was withheld for security reasons, testified he was the first responder to enter the house and found the girl sprawled naked in the house, her torso and head burned by flames.

She had a single bullet wound under her left eye, he said.

He said he found Abeer's 5-year-old sister, Hadeel, in an adjacent room dead from a bullet wound in the head.

The children's father, Qassim, and mother, Fikhriya, suffered similar deaths, he said.

The mother's abdomen and chest were riddled with bullets, he added.

"I was feeling very bad," he said.

"I was sick for almost two weeks."

He told the hearing that because Mahmoudiya's hospital did not have enough space to store the bodies, they were kept in an air-conditioned ambulance overnight, then buried the following day.

Four soldiers -- Sgt. Paul E. Cortez, Spc. James P. Barker, Pfc. Jesse V. Spielman and Pfc. Bryan L. Howard -- have been accused of rape and murder and could face the death penalty.

A fifth, Sgt. Anthony W. Yribe, is accused of failing to report the attack but is not alleged to have been a direct participant.

A former private, Steven D. Green, was arrested in North Carolina in June on rape and murder charges in the case.

Green, who was discharged from the Army for a "personality disorder," has pleaded not guilty in federal court and is being held without bond.

The commander of the soldiers' battalion in the 502nd Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, Lt. Col. Thomas Kunk, testified Sunday that he recalled hearing Green say "all Iraqis are bad people."

"I told him that that wasn't true and that 90 to 95 percent of the Iraqi people are good people, and they want the same thing that we have in the United States," Kunk said.

The proceeding that opened Sunday is referred to as an Article 32 hearing and is the military equivalent of a grand jury session.

It is expected to last several days, and parts will be held in secret.

The medic was among three Iraqi witnesses to testify Sunday.

Reporters were not permitted to hear the first two witnesses but were allowed back in the hearing room when the medic took the stand.

The military prosecutor, Capt. William Fischbach, showed him several photographs of the bloody crime scene to confirm the bodies were as he found them when he entered the room.

Defense lawyers contended the bodies were staged for the pictures.

They also questioned whether the victims were shot to death, suggesting they were already dead when bullets were pumped into their bodies.

The medic acknowledged under cross-examination that he could only assume the family was shot to death.

U.S. officials are concerned the case will strain relations with Iraq's new government if Iraqis perceive that the soldiers receive lenient treatment.

They have offered assurances that the case will be pursued vigorously and that the soldiers will be punished if convicted.

The case has already increased demands for changes in an agreement that exempts U.S. soldiers from prosecution in Iraqi courts.

And Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has demanded an independent investigation into the case.

Kunk, the battalion commander, said he was told about possible American involvement in the alleged murders and rape on June 19.

He said he questioned Barker and Howard the next day, and both denied any coalition soldiers were involved.

Kunk described Baker as "very flippant, very confident, and more than willing to answer the questions I had."

U.S. soldiers' conduct has come under the spotlight over a string of similar cases.

Four soldiers from another regiment in the 101st Airborne have been accused of killing three Iraqi detainees in Samarra three months ago.

The Article 32 hearing in that case ended Friday in Tikrit but no decision on a trial was announced.

In another case, the Marine Corps and Navy prosecutors are reviewing evidence to determine whether to recommend criminal charges against Marines accused of killing 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha in November.

"Half of U.S. still believes Iraq had WMD"

By CHARLES J. HANLEY, Associated Press
Last updated: 5:26 p.m., Sunday, August 6, 2006

Do you believe in Iraqi "WMD"?

Did Saddam Hussein's government have weapons of mass destruction in 2003?

Half of America apparently still thinks so, a new poll finds, and experts see a raft of reasons why: a drumbeat of voices from talk radio to die-hard bloggers to the Oval Office, a surprise headline here or there, a rallying around a partisan flag, and a growing need for people, in their own minds, to justify the war in Iraq.

People tend to become "independent of reality" in these circumstances, says opinion analyst Steven Kull.

The reality in this case is that after a 16-month, $900-million-plus investigation, the U.S. weapons hunters known as the Iraq Survey Group declared that Iraq had dismantled its chemical, biological and nuclear arms programs in 1991 under U.N. oversight.

That finding in 2004 reaffirmed the work of U.N. inspectors who in 2002-03 found no trace of banned arsenals in Iraq.

Despite this, a Harris Poll released July 21 found that a full 50 percent of U.S. respondents -- up from 36 percent last year -- said they believe Iraq did have the forbidden arms when U.S. troops invaded in March 2003, an attack whose stated purpose was elimination of supposed WMD.

Other polls also have found an enduring American faith in the WMD story.

"I'm flabbergasted," said Michael Massing, a media critic whose writings dissected the largely unquestioning U.S. news reporting on the Bush administration's shaky WMD claims in 2002-03.

"This finding just has to cause despair among those of us who hope for an informed public able to draw reasonable conclusions based on evidence," Massing said.

Timing may explain some of the poll result.

Two weeks before the survey, two Republican lawmakers, Pennsylvania's Sen. Rick Santorum and Michigan's Rep. Peter Hoekstra, released an intelligence report in Washington saying 500 chemical munitions had been collected in Iraq since the 2003 invasion.

"I think the Harris Poll was measuring people's surprise at hearing this after being told for so long there were no WMD in the country," said Hoekstra spokesman Jamal Ware.

But the Pentagon and outside experts stressed that these abandoned shells, many found in ones and twos, were 15 years old or more, their chemical contents were degraded, and they were unusable as artillery ordnance.

Since the 1990s, such "orphan" munitions, from among 160,000 made by Iraq and destroyed, have turned up on old battlefields and elsewhere in Iraq, ex-inspectors say.

In other words, this was no surprise.

"These are not stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction," said Scott Ritter, the ex-Marine who was a U.N. inspector in the 1990s.

"They weren't deliberately withheld from inspectors by the Iraqis."

Conservative commentator Deroy Murdock, who trumpeted Hoekstra's announcement in his syndicated column, complained in an interview that the press "didn't give the story the play it deserved."

But in some quarters it was headlined.

"Our top story tonight, the nation abuzz today ..." was how Fox News led its report on the old, stray shells.

Talk-radio hosts and their callers seized on it.

Feedback to blogs grew intense.

"Americans are waking up from a distorted reality," read one posting.

Other claims about supposed WMD had preceded this, especially speculation since 2003 that Iraq had secretly shipped WMD abroad.

A former Iraqi general's book -- at best uncorroborated hearsay -- claimed "56 flights" by jetliners had borne such material to Syria.

But Kull, Massing and others see an influence on opinion that's more sustained than the odd headline.

"I think the Santorum-Hoekstra thing is the latest 'factoid,' but the basic dynamic is the insistent repetition by the Bush administration of the original argument," said John Prados, author of the 2004 book "Hoodwinked: The Documents That Reveal How Bush Sold Us a War."

Administration statements still describe Saddam's Iraq as a threat.

Despite the official findings, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has allowed only that "perhaps" WMD weren't in Iraq.

And Bush himself, since 2003, has repeatedly insisted on one plainly false point: that Saddam rebuffed the U.N. inspectors in 2002, that "he wouldn't let them in," as he said in 2003, and "he chose to deny inspectors," as he said this March.

The facts are that Iraq -- after a four-year hiatus in cooperating with inspections -- acceded to the U.N. Security Council's demand and allowed scores of experts to conduct more than 700 inspections of potential weapons sites from Nov. 27, 2002, to March 16, 2003.

The inspectors said they could wrap up their work within months.

Instead, the U.S. invasion aborted that work.

As recently as May 27, Bush told West Point graduates, "When the United Nations Security Council gave him one final chance to disclose and disarm, or face serious consequences, he refused to take that final opportunity."

"Which isn't true," observed Kathleen Hall Jamieson, a scholar of presidential rhetoric at the University of Pennsylvania.

But "it doesn't surprise me when presidents reconstruct reality to make their policies defensible."

This president may even have convinced himself it's true, she said.

Americans have heard it.

A poll by Kull's WorldPublicOpinion.org found that seven in 10 Americans perceive the administration as still saying Iraq had a WMD program.

Combine that rhetoric with simplistic headlines about WMD "finds," and people "assume the issue is still in play," Kull said.

"For some it almost becomes independent of reality and becomes very partisan."

The WMD believers are heavily Republican, polls show.

Beyond partisanship, however, people may also feel a need to believe in WMD, the analysts say.

"As perception grows of worsening conditions in Iraq, it may be that Americans are just hoping for more of a solid basis for being in Iraq to begin with," said the Harris Poll's David Krane.

Charles Duelfer, the lead U.S. inspector who announced the negative WMD findings two years ago, has watched uncertainly as TV sound bites, bloggers and politicians try to chip away at "the best factual account," his group's densely detailed, 1,000-page final report.

"It is easy to see what is accepted as truth rapidly morph from one representation to another," he said in an e-mail.

"It would be a shame if one effect of the power of the Internet was to undermine any commonly agreed set of facts."

The creative "morphing" goes on.

As Israeli troops and Hezbollah guerrillas battled in Lebanon on July 21, a Fox News segment suggested, with no evidence, yet another destination for the supposed doomsday arms.

"ARE SADDAM HUSSEIN'S WMDS NOW IN HEZBOLLAH'S HANDS?" asked the headline, lingering for long minutes on TV screens in a million American homes.

And then ....

There is "CON-JOB CONNIE" Rice .....

Who is simply full of beans ....

Yeah, Connie ...

Yeah, Connie ....

Ah-hah .....

Ah-hah ....

Yes ....

Yes ...

Yes ...

As if you even had a clue .....

"Rice: Iraq isn't sliding into civil war"

By KEVIN FREKING, Associated Press
Last updated: 6:28 a.m., Monday, August 7, 2006

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration continues to insist Iraq is not heading toward a civil war, even as some senators and military leaders have expressed concerns that such a conflict may be inevitable.

"It would be, really, erroneous to say that the Iraqis are somehow making a choice for civil war, or, I think, even sliding into civil war," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday on ABC's "This Week."

But Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., an influential member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, sounded more pessimistic and questioned whether the U.S. should keep sending more troops to Iraq.

Hagel said this country cannot "ask them to do the things that we're asking them to do in the middle of a civil war, and that's where it's headed."

"We're ruining our United States Army."

"We are decimating our army."

"We can't continue with the tempo and the commitment that we are on right now," Hagel said on CBS "Face the Nation."

Early Monday, fighting erupted in a Shiite militia stronghold in Baghdad, and a suicide bomber blew himself up among mourners at a funeral in Saddam Hussein's hometown, killing 10 people and injuring 22.

Three U.S. soldiers were killed late Sunday in a roadside bombing southwest of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

No further details were released.

Also Sunday, scattered clashes broke out between Shiite militiamen and Iraqi soldiers near Hamza Square on the edge of Sadr City, police said.

The Bush administration has been reluctant to characterize the sectarian violence in Iraq as a civil war.

But on Thursday, Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Gen. John Abizaid, the top U.S. commander in the Middle East, told a Senate committee that it could lead to that.

Another senator was even more pessimistic Sunday.

"This is a civil war."

"I think the generals, the other day, were cautious in their language."

"But I think they were telling us something loud and clear to anyone who wanted to listen," Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., said on "Face the Nation."

"I frankly don't believe that U.S. military people can necessarily play referee in that kind of a situation."

Both Dodd and Hagel encouraged more involvement and discussions with other countries in the Middle East.

Hagel said President Bush should get his father and former President Clinton involved in a regional summit.

But he also acknowledged that the prospects for success would be unlikely.

"There are no good options here, no good options," said Hagel.

end quotes

Right now .....

The best use of "CON-JOB CONNIE'S" talents ....

Here in OUR America ...

AND IN THE WORLD ...

That I can think of ...

Would be to make her ....

Into a playground monitor ....

Somewhere where they have sandboxes .....

And "CON-JOB CONNIE" .....

Could keep the peace ....

Between rival factions ....

Of children ....

Using the sandboxes ....

And she could make treaties .....

Between those rival factions of children ....

To her heart''s content ....

And keep them ...

From waging a civil war ....

Over that sandbox .....

And although playground duty ....

Would quite likely tax ....

Her quite limited abilities ....

It would be character-building for her .....

Because the children would know when she was lying ....

And the honest ones would call her on that ...

Even though she is an adult ...

To them, anyway ...

AND MAYBE SHE WOULD FINALLY LEARN ....

THAT WE DON'T LIKE LIARS ....

IN OUR GOVERNMENT ....

ALWAYS LYING TO US ....

AND SOUNDING LIKE FOOLS ....

AS SHE SURE DOES, ANYWAY .......

IN HER PEDANTIC TONE OF VOICE ...

And so ....

Ah, yes ....

THE WAR ....

ON TERRORISM ....

AND WHAT A LOAD OF PURE **** THAT IS, NOW ...

AND HAS ALWAYS BEEN ....

"Rice: Iraq isn't becoming another Iran"

By KEVIN FREKING, Associated Press
Last updated: 6:56 p.m., Sunday, August 6, 2006

WASHINGTON -- Iraq is not on track to become another Iran despite the disconcerting images last week of Iraqis burning U.S. flags and chanting "Death to America," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday.

"I have no doubt that this is an Iraqi government and an Iraq that is going to be a fierce fighter in the war against terrorism, because they themselves are experiencing the effects of terror on their population," Rice said.

"I have no doubt that this is going to be a government that is on the right side in the war on terror."

While Rice gave her positive view on the eventual outcome, Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska questioned whether the U.S. should keep sending more troops to Iraq.

Hagel said this country cannot "ask them to do the things that we're asking them to do in the middle of a civil war, and that's where it's headed."

"We're ruining our United States Army."

"We are decimating our army."

"We can't continue with the tempo and the commitment that we are on right now," Hagel said on CBS "Face the Nation."

The protests in Baghdad on Friday were organized by anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in response to fighting in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah.

Crowds of al-Sadr supporters from across Iraq's Shiite heartland chanted "Death to Israel, Death to America" in the one of the biggest pro-Hezbollah rallies since the conflict began July 12.

Rice, during an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press," was asked whether the United States has helped create another fundamentalist Islamic regime in Iraq, such as the one in Iran.

Rice said she did not like what the protesters said, but she believes that Iraq today is better off than when sectarian differences were oppressed through the iron rule of Saddam Hussein.

"That people would go out and demonstrate and say what they feel is the one sign that perhaps Iraq is one place in the Middle East where people are exercising their right to free speech," she said.

"No."

"I don't like what they said."

She said she thinks that as Iraq becomes more stable and democratic "you won't have demonstrations of that kind."

"The notion that somehow Iraq under Prime Minister (Nouri al-Maliki) and his government is something akin to Iran is just not right."

"It's just erroneous," Rice said.

Rice also disputed suggestions that civil war is more likely than democracy.

Another senator on CBS's Face the Nation also gave a more pessimistic assessment.

"This is a civil war."

"I think the generals, the other day, were cautious in their language."

"But I think they were telling us something loud and clear to anyone who wanted to listen," said Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn.

"I frankly don't believe that U.S. military people can necessarily play referee in that kind of a situation."

Both Dodd and Hagel encouraged more involvement and discussions with other countries in the Middle East.

Hagel said President Bush should get his father and former President Clinton involved in a regional summit.

But he also acknowledged that the prospects for success would be unlikely.

"There are no good options here, no good options," said Hagel, a possible presidential candidate in 2008.

end quotes

"Let One Hundred Flowers Bloom, One Hundred Schools Contend" .....

You should have learned some history, "CON-JOB" ......

And some human psychology ....

Before you decided to tout yourself as some kind of an expert ....

On NATION-BUILDING .....

When you don't even know day from night ....

Or east L.A. ....

From the San Fernando Valley .....

And so .....

When people have freedom of speech .....

Perhaps you ought to listen ...

To what they are saying ....

When they use it ...

Freely ...

To express their thoughts ...

And so ......

Me ...

I don't think they like America much over there ....

And with all of the violence that America has brought to those people ....

And the disruption to their lives ....

FOR THE EGOS ....

OF GEORGE W. BUSH ...

AND "CON-JOB CONNIE" RICE ....

Who can be surprised ....

And when George W. Bush ...

And "CON-JOB CONNIE" Rice .....

Start killing these people ...

For expressing how they feel .....

I for one ...

Won't be surprised at all ....

And so ...

If someone told me ...

That there was enough air .....

Inside the head ....

Of "CON-JOB CONNIE" Rice .....

To float the Hindenburg dirigible ....

As well as room to manuver it around ....

In there ....

Without fear .....

Of its gasbag ....

Snagging on something sharp in there .....

To tear it .....

I would find that plausible ....

Or I wouldn't doubt it, anyway .....

And so .....

In the meantime ....

Another alleged CORRUPT REPUBLICAN .....

Bites the dust ....

And so .....

That is good for OUR America ....

And so ....

"Rep. Bob Ney drops re-election bid"

By JOHN McCARTHY, Associated Press
Last updated: 6:16 p.m., Monday, August 7, 2006

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Republican Rep. Bob Ney abruptly abandoned his bid for re-election Monday, becoming the latest Capitol Hill figure to fall victim to the Jack Abramoff scandal.

The six-term congressman insisted in a statement that he was innocent and said he was acting for the sake of his family.

"I must think of them first, and I can no longer put them through this ordeal," he said.

He is the second congressman to announce his retirement in the fallout from the probe.

Former Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas resigned from Congress earlier this year after being indicted on unrelated charges he illegally funneled corporate contributions to GOP candidates.

He has also come under suspicion for links to Abramoff.

Other victims of the scandal include Ralph Reed, the former Christian Coalition leader with ties to Abramoff who lost his bid last month for the GOP nomination for lieutenant governor in Georgia.

Until his announcement, Ney had insisted that even if he were indicted he would run for a new term in the 18th Congressional District, a conservative region of farms, mines, Appalachian hills and Rust Belt cities in eastern and southern Ohio.

Ney has not been charged with any crimes, but court papers released from Abramoff's guilty plea to fraud and corruption charges detailed lavish gifts and contributions that Abramoff says he gave to an unnamed House member in return for official acts, including support of Abramoff's American Indian tribe clients in Texas.

Officials have confirmed that congressman is Ney.

Ney and some of his aides, including Chief of Staff William Heaton, have been subpoenaed.

Neil Volz, who was Ney's previous chief of staff, pleaded guilty in Washington in May, admitting he participated in a conspiracy to corrupt Ney, his staff and other members of Congress.

State Sen. Joy Padgett said she was prepared to run in a Republican primary to replace Ney.

She told The Associated Press that Ney called her Saturday and asked her to run in his place.

Ohio GOP Chairman Bob Bennett said Padgett would be a formidable candidate and that he knew of no other Republicans interested in running.

Ohio law requires a primary if a candidate withdraws or dies more than 80 days before a general election.

However, the county where Ney would file his official notice of withdrawal, Tuscarawas, had not received Ney's filing Monday.

If Ney were to wait until after the 80-day cutoff -- which would be Aug. 21 -- there is a four-day window in which county party officials could appoint a replacement, said James Lee, spokesman for Secretary of State Ken Blackwell.

Ney spokeswoman Katie Harbath said the congressman was not available for comment.

Ney faced a tough general election challenge from Democrat Zack Space, municipal law director for the city of Dover, who had made the legal scrutiny of Ney a focus of his campaign.

Space's campaign did not return a call seeking comment Monday.

Democrats must gain 15 seats this fall to take control of the House, and Republicans had long considered Ney to be one of their most vulnerable incumbents.

Several Republican officials said Ney had been prodded to quit the race by Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, the current majority leader, as well as other officials.

They spoke on condition of anonymity, saying they were not authorized to discuss the details.

Ney had won at least 60 percent of the vote in the last four general elections, enjoying support from Republicans and Democrats.

By accident or design, the timing of Ney's announcement works to his financial benefit.

Under federal law, he is allowed to use any leftover campaign funds to pay his rising legal bills.

As of June 30, he had roughly $417,000 in the bank.

------

AP Special Correspondent David Espo in Washington and Associated Press Writer Matt Reed in Heath, Ohio, contributed to this report.

------

On the Net:

Ney: http://ney.house.gov/

And since we are talking about "GOD'S OWN PARTY" .....

And corruption .....

As well as how much air ....

There really is ....

Inside the empty head ....

Of "CON-JOB CONNIE" Rice .....

We have ...

"Analysis: GOP on defensive"

By DAVID ESPO, Associated Press
Last updated: 6:16 p.m., Monday, August 7, 2006

WASHINGTON -- First gradually, now quickly, the war in Iraq and a congressional corruption scandal are shaping the midterm elections, with Democrats working to harness both as campaign issues for the fall.

That leaves Republicans on the defensive, not defeated.

In Ohio, they succeeded Monday in talking scandal-scarred Rep. Bob Ney off the fall ballot.

In the process, they likely improved their chances of retaining his seat, previously considered one of the two or three most likely to fall to the Democrats.

No matter the outcome of the primary between Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman and anti-war challenger Ned Lamont on Tuesday, the unpopular conflict in Iraq is emboldening and even unifying normally fractious Democrats.

"In the interests of American national security, our troops, and our taxpayers, the open-ended commitment in Iraq that you have embraced cannot and should not be sustained," the party's leading lawmakers wrote President Bush recently.

"... We believe that a phased redeployment of U.S. forces from Iraq should begin before the end of 2006."

Politically, the letter brought together lawmakers of varying views on the issue.

On the eve of the fall campaign, it also sought a middle course between the Bush administration's refusal to set a withdrawal timetable and the demand from Democratic activists for a swift pullout of U.S. forces.

Republicans responded dismissively.

"Waving a white flag in Iraq may appeal to the net roots," said Republican Party chairman Ken Mehlman, referring to Internet activists, "but it will embolden the enemy, encourage more terrorism and make America less secure."

At the same time, Republican lawmakers are increasingly outspoken about the political impact of an unpopular conflict.

"The first thing I'd do is acknowledge that there have been mistakes made," Sen. John Thune of South Dakota said recently.

"Our candidates have to draw and point out differences in how they would approach and win the war in Iraq and how their opponents would," said Thune, who is not on the ballot this fall.

"The biggest thing we have going for us on that issue is that Democrats are very divided."

Not so much any longer.

For Democrats, the letter brought praise from the leader of one group that supports Lamont and has frequently challenged the party to be more vocal against the war.

"The unity of Democrats on Iraq is good news for America," said Tom Matzzie of MoveOn.org.

Even Lieberman seemed to be changing his tone, if not his position.

In what he termed a closing campaign argument on Sunday, he outlined several disagreements with Bush over Iraq and other issues.

"As someone who voted for the war, I feel a heavy responsibility to try to end it as quickly and successfully as possible," he said.

"... I want to get our troops home as fast as anyone, probably more than most, and as I have repeatedly said, I am against an open-ended commitment."

At the same time, "if we simply give up and pull out now, like my opponent wants to do, then it would be a disaster to Iraq and to us."

The same anti-war sentiment that threatens to swamp Lieberman may wind up saving a less well-known senior senator thousands of miles away.

Unlike Lieberman, Hawaii Sen. Daniel Akaka voted against authorizing the war in Iraq in 2002.

Akaka, 81, has used the vote in television advertising to accentuate his differences with primary challenger Rep. Ed Case, who is 53.

One commercial showed Akaka speaking to a state convention, saying, "It is highly appropriate to ask, even in hindsight, whether this war was just and warranted.'

"It is highly appropriate to demand of this administration a strategy and timetable for peace and how we intend to ensure a stable and Democratic government in Iraq."

More broadly, Akaka hopes the issue will undercut Case's call for a new generation of leadership.

"The counterpoint to change is certainly experience and wisdom," says Andy Winer, Akaka's campaign manager.

In a June vote, Case opposed setting a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops.

One recent poll shows Akaka ahead, but not comfortably so, in advance of a Sept. 23 primary.

Nearly all incumbent Republicans have at least one or two Iraq-related votes on their record, making it a ready-made national issue.

Democrats allege a Republican "culture of corruption."

But apart from a few races -- Ney, former Rep. Tom DeLay in Texas or Sen. Conrad Burns in Montana -- the GOP leadership shows little concern about fallout from the Jack Abramoff-spawned scandal and Congress has yet to pass legislation reining in lobbyists.

The war is different.

So much so that a quiet internal debate is unfolding among GOP strategists watching the Connecticut primary from a distance.

Some argue the GOP would be better off if Lieberman wins, on the theory that anti-war activists would become discouraged and stay home in November.

Others argue that Republicans will be better off if Lamont prevails.

That way, the argument goes, they can try and win over voters by telling them the Democrats have been taken over by an anti-war fringe and can't be trusted to protect the nation's security.

--------

EDITOR'S NOTE: David Espo is The Associated Press' chief congressional correspondent.

end quotes

HUH?

What's this REPUBLICAN Mehlman on about here?

Waving a white flag in Iraq?

Who on earth is for waving a white flag in Iraq?

Is this Mehlman gone daft with the stress of being intimately involved with some of the most corrupt polticians on the face of this earth of OURS?

Sounds like maybe the heat got to him, or something ....

Making him talk out of his head like that ....

Making daft statements ....

About waving a white flag .....

In Iraq ....

What a kick ....

And still on the subject ....

Of REPUBLICANS ....

And local politics ....

AND LAND DEVELOPMENT .....

If anyone out there ....

Is looking for some prime residential land ....

Here in Rensselaer county ....

With its corrupt Department of Health .....

Which will approve a septic system ....

Anywhere you want to put one ....

Including right in a swamp ....

"Sunken trackhoe raises concerns - Town, county fear toxins are leaking into wetlands area via a stuck machine"

By KATE PERRY, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Wednesday, August 2, 2006

NORTH GREENBUSH -- In a town wetland teeming with vegetation and insects, an earth mover was sunk so deeply in the muck Tuesday that only its bucketed arm and a small portion of its cab were visible.

Fredrick Meisner, who owns 20 acres on Peck Road where the trackhoe is stuck, said it sunk overnight two or three weeks ago.

He was removing a 150-foot driveway, by order of the state Department of Environmental Conservation, when the machine went under.

Kim Chupa, a DEC spokeswoman, said the machine is stuck in a state-regulated wetland that Meisner, 77, illegally built on last year.

Local officials reported the sunken machine to the DEC earlier this week because they feared it could harm the environment.

"Our concern is the fact that there's probably fuel in the fuel tank in that thing, and it's pretty well sunk into the water," said Dan Wilson, North Greenbush fire marshal and code enforcement officer.

A path of coarsely crushed stone leads into the wooded parcel off Peck Road, but it stops abruptly at a barrier formed by large wooden girders studded with rusty bolts and cable.

Across some open water beyond the barrier, the machine's rusty bucket hung over the still filmy water Tuesday.

Dragonflies hovered above the muck, and just yards from the road, algae-topped water bordered the rudimentary driveway.

Meisner, an East Greenbush resident, said he's trying to get the machine out, but it keeps sinking deeper into the muck.

He said he's confident relief valves on the machine, which he owns, prevent it from leaking toxins into the water.

Chupa had no comment on the toxin concerns.

In 2005, the DEC cited Meisner for building on the wetlands and ordered him to remove the driveway and return it to its previous condition.

The work has been supervised by the agency, Chupa said, and the trackhoe got stuck during heavy rain a few weeks ago.

Chupa said a crane will be needed to remove the machine, but she didn't know when that would happen.

Meisner said he planned to build on the Peck Road acreage and thought he only needed permission from the Army Corps of Engineers to build the driveway.

Meisner's plans also met the county's guidelines for connecting a driveway to a county road, said Chris Meyer, a county spokesperson.

"I was going to build there, a home for my grandson, but I'm running into so much trouble there I don't know what I'm going to do with it," Meisner said.

Kate Perry can be reached at 454-5420 or by e-mail at kperry@timesunion.com.

Ah, yes ....

Local politics .....

Here in this puffed-up, bloated carcass ....

That calls itself the WORLD'S ONLY SUPERPOWER ......

If America took a look at itself .....

Through the eyes of children ...

It might see ....

That the only thing SUPER about it ...

Is its massive puffed-up ego ....

And not much else ....

BESIDES THE CORRUPT NATURE OF ITS GOVERNMENT ....

Which is called SCAM CITY .....

Up here where I am ....

With its North Greenbush's ...

"Developing" their swamp land .....

As prime residential land .....

For suckers from outside the area to buy ....

Which is a good BID-NESS for the SCAM ARTISTS ....

Since we got a lot of swamp land up here to sell them ...

And so ....

With that said ...

Let's look in .....

On "SLAMMIN' JOE" Lieberman .....

Over there in Connecticut ....

Who went to Washington ....

As a Democrat .....

And got hisself .....

All mixed up ....

Down there in Babylon ....

With the REPUBLICAN JEZEBEL .....

Crooning sweet nothings in "SLAMMIN' JOE'S" ear .....

Turning "SLAMMIN' JOE" ....

Away from his roots ....

And getting him all painted up ....

Like a TEXAS REPUBLICAN Doxy .....

Making "SLAMMIN'JOE" .....

Into one of George W. Bush's crowd ....

A kind of hand-maiden to George ....

Which don't fly well in the more staid and conservative Connecticut ....

And so ....

"Lieberman re-election bid tops primaries"

By SUSAN HAIGH, Associated Press
Last updated: 6:47 a.m., Tuesday, August 8, 2006

HARTFORD, Conn. -- With a new poll showing the race tightening between Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman and his anti-war opponent, both sides made their final pitches to voters in the nation's most closely watched primary election.

Lieberman planned to vote in his hometown of New Haven Tuesday morning and make six stops across the state before settling in at a Hartford hotel after polls close at 8 p.m.

Challenger Ned Lamont, a millionaire owner of a cable television company, held a slight lead of 51 percent to 45 percent over Lieberman among likely Democratic voters, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Monday.

The telephone poll of 784 likely Democratic primary voters, conducted from July 31 to Aug. 6, has a sampling error margin of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

The race tightened in recent days, with Lamont's lead cut from 13 points.

Primaries are also being held Tuesday in Colorado, Missouri, Michigan and Georgia.

In Georgia, Rep. Cynthia McKinney, who made headlines this year for a scuffle with a U.S. Capitol Police officer, faced a runoff for her district's Democratic nomination.

If defeated, Lieberman would be only the fourth incumbent senator since 1980 to lose a primary election.

Some Democrats object to the three-term senator and 2000 vice presidential candidate's support for the Iraq war, saying he is too close to Republicans and President Bush.

He has said he will run as an independent in the fall if defeated in the primary, though some backers would pressure him not to.

Lieberman said he believes voters are coming back to him.

"I feel they were flirting with the other guy for a while, wanting to send me a message," he said Monday during a stop at a restaurant in Hartford.

"I got their message."

"I think they want to send me back to Washington to continue working with them, fighting for them, and delivering for Connecticut."

Lieberman acknowledged he was still behind.

"I'm not kidding myself."

"But the momentum is our direction."

"I just hope and pray for a big turnout," he said.

Quinnipiac Poll Director Douglas Schwartz said people may be having second thoughts about Lamont, whose only political experience is two years as a Greenwich selectman and six years on the town's Board of Estimate and Taxation.

Many of Lamont's supporters see the race as a chance to assume a bigger role in the Democratic party.

"People want change and people like what they hear from Ned," said Liz Dupont-Diehl, Lamont's campaign spokeswoman.

Should he lose Tuesday, supporters would have until Wednesday afternoon to submit petitions to put Lieberman's name on the ballot as an independent.

McKinney, meanwhile, is trying to counter her opponent's charge that the six-term congresswoman is "the candidate of polarization and divisiveness."

McKinney, the state's first black woman in Congress, once claimed the Bush administration had advance knowledge of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

In March, she struck a Capitol Police officer who did not recognize her and tried to stop McKinney from entering a House office building.

A grand jury in Washington declined to indict her, but she was forced to apologize in the full House.

She drew less than 50 percent of the vote in last month's primary and faces off against Hank Johnson, the black former commissioner of DeKalb County, which encompasses much of Atlanta.

In a radio ad, McKinney acknowledges that she's "not perfect."

"But I've worked hard, told you the truth and I'm not afraid to speak truth to power," she said.

In other primaries Tuesday:

-- In Colorado's heavily conservative 5th District, voters will choose among six GOP candidates to succeed retiring Republican Rep. Joel Hefley, a 10-year veteran.

The winner will face Democratic Air Force veteran Jay Fawcett.

In another race, three Democrats are competing to replace U.S. Rep. Bob Beauprez, the Republican nominee for governor.

-- In Michigan, Republican Rep. Joe Schwarz faces a serious challenge from former state lawmaker Tim Walberg.

Schwarz, a moderate Republican, is backed by President Bush, Arizona Sen. John McCain and the National Rifle Association.

But the race has been dominated by a struggle over GOP principles.

Outside groups have spent more than $1 million on the race.

-- Missouri Republican Sen. Jim Talent and Democratic challenger Claire McCaskill, the state auditor, are expected to win their party's primaries.

Voters will also decide whether to renew a 22-year-old sales tax to fund state parks and other conservation initiatives.

end quotes

Most people up here also believe that George W. Bush and his crowd knew of 9-11 well in advance .....

And clearly .....

Since the REPUBLICANS were the only ones to really get any benefit from 9-11 ....

Outside of some corporations who were under investigation ...

For fraud ...

Which records were destroyed when the towers went down ....

That belief seems to have some basis ....

And so ...

And as YOUNG ALEXANDER THE GREAT ....

Er, George W. Bush .....

Continues ....

On his quest .....

To conquer .....

All the known world .....

And then some ....

"U.S. forces push further into Afghanistan"

By PAUL GARWOOD, Associated Press
Last updated: 4:22 a.m., Tuesday, August 8, 2006

NARAY, Afghanistan -- Hundreds of U.S. soldiers have established their northernmost base in Afghanistan, pushing further up the border with Pakistan to block militants crossing jagged mountains, train fledgling local forces and build support among wary tribesmen.

In doing so, they have put themselves further into harm's way, drawing rocket fire from enemies on surrounding mountain peaks and losing at least seven soldiers since February, including their previous commanding officer in a May 5 helicopter crash in bad weather.

With NATO taking charge of security in southern provinces wracked by a Taliban resurgence, the U.S. is increasingly able to focus on stabilizing the dangerous east, extending the Afghan government's authority there and hunting for fugitives like Osama bin Laden.

More than 600 U.S. soldiers have deployed to Naray, a clutch of mud-brick and stone villages inhabited by 30,000 Pashtun tribespeople in Kunar province -- a virtually forgotten corner of Afghanistan at the northern end of the belt of eastern provinces patrolled by U.S. forces.

Bin Laden is familiar with Kunar's mountainous terrain from the days of the war against the 1979-89 Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

The province was once a stronghold of Afghan warlord, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, whose Hezb-e-Islami faction has long held ties with bin Laden and now fights the government of President Hamid Karzai.

American officials say heavily armed remnants of Hekmatyar's group are still active in Kunar and receive aid from militants crossing into Afghanistan from lawless tribal regions in Pakistan.

They are also supported by holdouts from the Taliban regime, which was toppled in late 2001 by U.S.-led forces for harboring bin Laden.

But Lt. Col. Michael Howard, commanding officer of Forward Operating Base Naray, said the main challenge facing his American forces is not the virtually impossible task of sealing the frontier from militant incursions but winning the trust of villagers from five local tribes.

"You have a group of people who for years have had one option, and that was to cower to, or be a part of the likes of the Taliban, Hezb-e-Islami or al-Qaida."

"That was their only choice," said Howard, who runs the 3rd Battalion, 71st Cavalry Regiment of the 10th Mountain Division, based in Fort Drum, N.Y.

"The greatest challenge is making folks realize that things have changed."

Some soldiers in Naray have recently arrived from southern Helmand and Kandahar provinces, where NATO has deployed thousands of forces in recent months -- mostly British and Canadian -- and last week took over command from the U.S.-led anti-terror coalition.

More U.S. soldiers are expected to be shifted to the east in the months ahead.

In recent weeks, U.S. soldiers broke ground further north in Kunar's neighboring province of Nuristan, establishing a tiny outpost and trying to launch road, water and power projects in Kamdesh, an isolated village surrounded by sheer cliffs and often shrouded by low clouds.

Poor weather regularly closes Kamdesh to Chinooks and other U.S. supply helicopters, cutting it off from vital supply routes for several weeks at a time.

On Monday, about 100 U.S. and Afghan forces launched an operation in Nuristan province to destroy a suspected anti-craft gun operated by militants and threatening American helicopters flying between Kamdesh and Naray, said Capt. Dan Walker of the 4th Battalion, 25th Artillery Unit of the 10th Mountain Division.

Soldiers were setting up howitzers and mortars, and infantry were preparing to move on foot into mountains to locate the high-powered weapon.

Few foreigners have ventured into this isolated region of Afghanistan.

Even in Naray, the only foreigners villagers had previously seen were hashish-smoking Soviet troops, who were based here briefly during the Russian occupation, and U.S.-funded Arab, Chechen and Pakistani mujahedeen who would cross from Pakistan to fight against them.

"The Russians would come knocking on our doors with guns looking for hashish whenever they ran out," said Naray's most prominent tribal elder, white-bearded Rahmat Noor, in his fortified home built on the eastern bank of the roaring Kunar River.

"We all made jihad (holy war) against the Russians because we didn't like them."

"They were occupiers," Noor said.

"But we like the Americans."

"They came to help."

"They built a mosque on their base for our soldiers."

Following the Sept. 11 attacks and subsequent hunt for bin Laden, a U.S. Special Forces contingent established a small outpost in Naray.

The 10th Mountain Division base has grown around it and has employed more than 1,000 local people.

About 160 Afghan soldiers live side-by-side with U.S. forces at the base, training to use American weapons, like Howitzer cannons.

A medical facility run by the 758th Forward Surgical Team out of Fort Lewis, Wash., and medics from the 3-71 Cavalry's reconnaissance unit have treated dozens of Afghans.

They include a 12-year-old Kamdesh girl, Aleema, whose right foot and bottom half of her shin were blown off by a land mine planted by tribesmen along a tribal border.

"These people first understood that we were here to kill them and the kids would stand off, but now we treat them, give them teddy bears and soccer balls," said cavalry medic Sgt. Michael La Clair, 38, of San Diego.

"They know now that we are here to help."

end quotes

George W. Bush ...

Is renting out OUR American military ...

To these tin-pot dictators ......

Around the world ....

Like the Hessians .....

Used to rent out their troops .....

To despots and tyrants .....

Like George III .....

Of England .....

So that George III ....

Could use those foreign troops .....

To crush insurgents .....

Hiding in the mountains ....

Here in OUR America ....

Under the leadership ....

Of the rebel George Washington ....

And so ...

And while YOUNG ALEXANDER THE GREAT Bush .....

Continues ....

With his quest ....

To outdo Julius Caesar before him .....

By conquering everything that there is .....

Or even could be ....

Unlike Caesar ....

Who only really conquered Gaul .....

Which wasn't really much ....

According to George ...

And Dick Cheney ....

Since they were just French ...

With a different name ....

We have ....

From here in OUR own neglected part of the world ....

"Loss of oil field puts pressure on price"

By MARY PEMBERTON, Associated Press
Last updated: 6:47 a.m., Tuesday, August 8, 2006

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- BP's decision to shut down the nation's biggest oil field roiled oil markets, putting pressure on prices at the pump during the peak summer driving season and prompting the government to consider dipping into its emergency stockpile.

Crude oil prices fell 28 cents in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange early Tuesday, likely a result of profit-taking a day after prices jumped more than $2 a barrel in response to news of the loss of 400,000 barrels a day.

BP said it will have to replace most of the 22 miles of so-called transit pipeline at Prudhoe Bay, which produces about 2.6 percent of the nation's daily supply including imports.

Most of the crude oil produced out of Alaska's North Slope each day goes to refineries in Washington, California and Hawaii, said Joe Sparano, president of the Western States Petroleum Association, a trade group based in Sacramento, Calif.

Sparano said it's too soon to tell how the shutdown will ultimately affect consumers.

"Until we know the full extent of any necessary repairs and how long they might take, it's impossible to predict what the impact might be," he said.

The average U.S. retail price of a gallon of unleaded, regular gasoline was $3.036 on Monday -- near its all-time high of $3.057, reached Sept. 5 after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast.

Gasoline futures also rose, indicating the market expects further increases.

The Energy Department said it is prepared to provide oil from the government's emergency supplies if a refinery requests it.

"If there is a request for oil we'll certainly take a serious look at that," spokesman Craig Stevens said.

The government has about 700 million barrels in storage on the Gulf Coast to be used in case of a serious supply disruption.

The Energy Department in the past has lent some of the oil to refineries when there were disruptions.

Bob Malone, chairman of BP America, said that in a worst-case scenario, it could take weeks or months to replace the pipelines.

But the company said it will try to put portions of the network back into operation as they are repaired.

"We estimate it could take between 2-3 months to get it back on line," Bruce Lanni, an industry analyst with A.G. Edwards, wrote in a research note.

"However, there are no assurances that it will return to current capacity, given the complexities and age of the reservoirs."

Washington state's largest refinery has enough oil stockpiles to keep the shutdown from becoming a major problem in the next two or three weeks, said Mike Abendhoff, spokesman for BP's Cherry Point refinery in northwest Washington.

"If it prolongs and goes six weeks, eight weeks, three months or four months, then it's going to require us to be more creative in where we get our crude from," he said.

BP operates the Prudhoe Bay oil field for itself and for other oil companies, including ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil.

Prudhoe Bay and other oil fields on Alaska's North Slope feed oil into the 800-mile trans-Alaska pipeline.

The North Slope produces approximately 800,000 barrels a day; Prudhoe Bay accounts for half of that.

BP discovered corrosion in the transit lines only after the U.S. Transportation Department ordered their inspection following a spill of up to 270,000 gallons in March.

It was the biggest spill in North Slope history, and has become part of a criminal investigation into the company's Alaskan operations.

The loss may hit Alaska hardest.

Eighty-nine percent of the state's income is from oil revenue, and central to that cash flow is Prudhoe Bay.

The expected loss of 400,000 barrels per day at today's oil prices means $6.4 million lost daily in royalties and taxes, Revenue Commissioner Bill Corbus said.

------

AP Writers Matt Volz in Juneau, Alaska, and Jane Wardell in London contributed to this report.

------

On the Net:

BP: http://usresponse.bp.com/go/site/1249

And while YOUNG ALEXANDER THE GREAT Bush ...

Continues his WAR OF TERROR ....

On everything he can ...

Everywhere that he can .....

So that even in the remotest parts of the Hindu Kush ....

Or the Pamirs ....

The people ....

Will have pictures of GEORGE THE GREATEST ....

On their walls .....

Inscribed with the slogan ...

In their local dialect, of course ...

So that it can be understood by all the world ....

"FEAR THIS" .....

We have from George's conquered province of IRAQINAMISTAN ....

This news UPDATE ....

As follows .....

"Iraqi leader slams U.S.-aided attack"

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Writer

5 minutes ago

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq's prime minister sharply criticized a U.S.-Iraqi attack on a Shiite militia stronghold in Baghdad, exposing a rift with his American partners on security tactics, as 24 people were killed Tuesday in a series of bombings and a shooting.

An American soldier also died of wounds sustained in fighting in western Anbar province, the U.S. military said Tuesday.

The latest violence — in addition to the 10 killed in a suicide bombing in Samarra on Monday — occurred amid a major U.S. operation to secure Baghdad in order to control Shiite-Sunni sectarian bloodshed that many fear will lead to civil war.

The U.S.-Iraqi air and ground attack was launched before dawn Monday in Sadr City, which is controlled by radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army militia.

Police said three people, including a woman and a child, were killed in the raid, which the U.S. command said was aimed at "individuals involved in punishment and torture cell activities."

Three people were captured, the U.S. military said.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, said he was "very angered and pained" by the operation, warning that it could undermine his efforts toward national reconciliation.

"Reconciliation cannot go hand-in-hand with operations that violate the rights of citizens this way," al-Maliki said in a statement on government television.

"This operation used weapons that are unreasonable to detain someone — like using planes."

He apologized to the Iraqi people for the operation and said "this won't happen again."

Hours after he spoke, central Baghdad was shaken early Tuesday by three near-simultaneous bomb explosions near the Interior Ministry building in the Al-Nahda neighborhood.

Ten civilians were killed and eight people were injured, said police Lt. Bilal Ali Majid.

A few hours later, two roadside bombs exploded within minutes of each other in the main Shurja market in central Baghdad, killing 10 people and injuring 50, said police Lt. Mohammed Kheyoun.

At about the same time, gunmen stormed a bank in Baghdad and killed two guards and a customer.

They drove away with an unknown amount of money, said police Sgt. Zakariya Hassan.

Also Tuesday, two roadside bombs in Tikrit north of Baghdad killed a policeman, said police Capt. Laith Hamid.

Overnight, nine bullet-riddled bodies were found in Kut south of Baghdad, and four Shiites were shot dead by gunmen in Baqouba, northeast of the capital.

On Monday, President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, met with the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. George W. Casey Jr., to discuss security operations in Baghdad.

Talabani said he told Casey "it is in no one's interest to have a confrontation" with al-Sadr's movement.

The public positions taken by al-Maliki and Talabani signal serious differences between Iraqi politicians and both U.S. and Iraqi military officials on how to restore order and deal with armed groups, many of which have links to political parties.

Speaking to reporters Monday, Casey made no mention of al-Sadr but said he had discussed plans with Talabani to bring "fundamental change to the security situation in Baghdad" before Ramadan, which begins in late September.

Al-Sadr has risen to become a major figure in the Shiite community and a pillar of support for al-Maliki.

The prime minister's apology and criticism of the U.S. forces may have helped placate al-Sadr, who on Monday urged his followers to show restraint.

In a statement read at all Mahdi Army offices, al-Sadr urged his militiamen to be "calm and patient, and avoid being drawn into civil war," said the cleric's aide, Mohammed al-Fartousi.

He said al-Sadr urged the militiamen to purge all those who bring the Mahdi Army into disrepute.

They should also "denounce the kidnapping of Iraqis, denounce destruction of mosques and denounce killing of innocent people," said his aide, Mohammed al-Fartousi.
___

Associated Press correspondents Rawya Rageh, Qais al-Bashir and Bushra Juhi contributed to this report.

end quotes

HEY ...

al-Maliki .....

There is something you ought to learn .....

And learn it quickly .....

If your people aren't dues-paying REPUBLICANS ...

With their PROTECTION up to date ...

THEY HAVE NO RIGHTS .....

PERIOD ....

And especially the women and children ....

And so .....

You get in bed with the devil, al-Maliki .....

Don't cry ....

About being jabbed in *** ....

By a pitchfork every now and then ....

Because that just goes with that particular territory ....

When you are in bed ....

With a real world conqueror ....

Like George W. Bush ....

And if you think it is not going to happen again, al-Maliki .....

You're just pipe-dreaming .....

And you can't stop it .....

Not when you are dealing with a man .....

Who is bent ....

On world conquest ....

Like George W. Bush is ....

And so ....

And here's Tommy .....

You know ....

Tommy DeLay .....

One of the MOST POWERFUL REPUBLICANS that there is .....

Here in OUR America ....

Or in the world .....

For that matter ....

Since the REPUBLICANS ....

Are not just here in America anymore ....

They are in the whole world ....

EVERYWHERE ....

Or anywhere that there is money, anyway ....

And someone to lord it over ....

Which is most places ....

And so ...

"DeLay vows to take name off Texas ballot"

By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent

13 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Dogged by scandal, former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said Tuesday he will do whatever is necessary to remove his name from the ballot, a step that will allow the party to field a write-in candidate in hopes of holding his seat in Texas.

DeLay acted one day after Texas Republicans lost a court battle in their bid to name a replacement candidate for him on the November ballot.

"I will take the actions necessary to remove my name from the Texas ballot."

"To do anything else would be hypocrisy," DeLay said in a statement.

"I strongly encourage the Republican Party to take any and all actions necessary to give Texas voters an up-or-down choice this fall between two major party candidates."

There was every sign they were trying.

Several Republicans said local party officials hoped to unite behind a write-in candidate, possibly David Wallace, mayor of DeLay's home town of Sugar Land.

DeLay resigned his Houston-area seat in June and said he was switching his legal residence to Virginia.

He had already won a primary in Texas, and Republican officials there moved to name a replacement candidate.

Democrats went to court to block the switch, and prevailed.

The maneuvering underscored the intensity of the battle between the two national parties as they vie for control of Congress in the midterm elections.

DeLay had held the House seat for more than two decades, but yielded his power — first surrendering his post as majority leader, then resigning his seat — at the urging of party leaders who said he risked defeat this fall and that his presence on the ballot could hamper other incumbents.

He is awaiting trial in Texas state court on money laundering charges alleging that illegal corporate cash helped pay for legislative campaigns in 2002.

DeLay also had close ties to Jack Abramoff, the lobbyist at the center of a congressional corruption investigation.

DeLay has not been charged in that investigation, although two former aides who later developed ties to Abramoff have entered into plea bargains.

Former Rep. Nick Lampson is the Democratic candidate in the race, and had amassed more than $2 million in his campaign treasury as of June 30 in preparation for a race against DeLay.

Wallace, too, has been raising money, initially expecting to be named the replacement for DeLay.

He had slightly more than $157,000 in his campaign bank account on June 30.

Texas Republicans on Monday abandoned their court fight to replace DeLay on the November ballot, conceding defeat after Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia ruled against them.

"I think all our legal avenues are exhausted in terms of affecting the ruling prior to the election," said Jim Bopp Jr., the attorney who argued the Republican Party's case to allow party officials to substitute another candidate for DeLay.
____

Associated Press Writer Suzanne Gamboa contributed to this report.

And then ...

There is REFORM ....

Here in the CORRUPT EMPIRE ....

Of New York ....

Which state ....

Thanks to the POWER ...

That this FORUM gives ....

To plain, ordinary citizens like me ....

To speak out on these issues of OUR times ....

Someday ...

Just might have integrity ....

In its government ....

AS OUR CONSTITUTION INTENDS ....

And so ....

From New York State ....

We have ....

"Judicial candidates must disclose finances - Before ruling, only executive and legislative candidates had to submit financial statements"

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

Last updated: 12:23 p.m., Tuesday, August 8, 2006

ALBANY -- An order issued today requires statewide candidates for judicial office to file financial disclosure statements with the Unified Court System's Ethics Commission.

The move by Jonathan Lippman, who is the chief administrative judge for New York's Office of Court Administration, closes a loophole that exempted only these candidates from such disclosures.

Effective Sept. 1., financial information must be filed 20 days following the date of candidacy.

Once received, it must be open to public examination.

Financial disclosures are currently required of public officials in the judicial, legislative and executive branches of government.

Candidates for executive and legislative posts are also required to file but, to date, judicial hopefuls, who are not incumbents, didn't have to comply.

The rule was made with the approval of the Court of Appeals, New York's highest court.

Michele Morgan Bolton can be reached at 434-2403 or by e-mail at mbolton@timesunion.com.

And speaking about the "CHIP FAB" boondoggle .....

Up here in "HEY, JACKIE BOY, HEY, JOHNNIE" Sweeney territory ....

Where CORPORATE WELFARE ....

In huge amounts ....

Is felt ....

To be in the NATIONAL INTEREST ....

BECAUSE CORPORATIONS ....

ARE AMERICA ....

And so ....

"County leader douses pipe plan - Chairman of Saratoga Board of Supervisors says Albany's hopes to sell water to chip plant 'too late'"

By BRIAN NEARING, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Saturday, August 5, 2006

ALBANY -- An idea to build a 20-mile aqueduct to bring water from Albany to a planned computer chip manufacturing plant in Saratoga County may just be a multimillion-dollar pipe dream.

The chairman of the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors was cool Friday to reports that Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings is eyeing a pipeline plan for the 1 million gallons of water or more needed each day by the Advanced Micro Devices plant in the Luther Forest Technology Campus.

"These types of conversations should have started years ago if they were interested," said board Chairman Harry Guthiel.

"It is too late at this point."

"They are way, way behind."

In May, a report to the city by consulting engineers Malcolm Pirnie found that a pipeline could be built at the city's Loudonville Reservoir on Albany Shaker Road, run either through the Northway median or along Route 9, and end at the plant off Route 9 in Malta.

The estimated price tag: between $65.8 million and $120.4 million, depending on whether state health rules would require covering the reservoir basin.

The report found the city could provide up to 7.4 million gallons a day, well beyond what the chip plant would need.

On Friday, Jennings said that he hadn't approached Saratoga County officials with the idea, but he felt there was still time for it to be considered.

"It's never too late if you are going to spend $80 million on a water system," said Jennings, referring to the county's plans to build its own $76 million water system to service the AMD plant.

"I still hope to have some meetings with them."

Albany, with an abundant supply from its Alcove and Basic Creek reservoirs in the Helderbergs in Coeymans and Westerlo, sells water to Guilderland and Bethlehem and is looking for more customers.

A pipeline would "benefit everyone up and down the Northway," said Jennings.

Under Saratoga County's plan, it would pump water from the Hudson River in Moreau, process it in a water treatment plant and pipe it 27 miles to the technology park.

Guthiel said the county is well along with its engineering and environmental reviews.

"These kinds of things take a lot of time."

"I don't think that the (Albany) plan could be ready in time for when the water was needed."

He said any pipeline from Albany would have to cross the Mohawk River, which would require extensive engineering and environmental review.

Under the Saratoga County plan, AMD is expected to buy up to 3 million gallons of water daily.

In May, the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors agreed to supply $15 million needed to guarantee the water supply to AMD plant.

The board agreed to use 50 percent of the county budget surplus as an interest-free loan to a revitalized Saratoga County Water Authority, which will pay back the money within 32 years.

Brian Nearing can be reached at 454-5094 or by e-mail at bnearing@timesunion.com.

end quotes

Of course ....

The water in the Hudson River ....

Has already been allocated .....

As to "taking" .....

A long time ago now ....

Because the Hudson River ....

Is a tidal estuary ....

And salt water comes up the river, as a result ....

So that taking 3 MILLION GALLONS ....

Out of the river .....

Up in Moreau ....

Is going to have an adverse impact ....

On already established communities ....

Further down the river ....

Who already rely upon the Hudson River .....

For their drinking water .....

And so .....

IN TYPICAL CORRUPT NEW YORK STATE FASHION ....

These "PLAYERS" .....

Up here in SWEENEY COUNTRY ....

Have already committed OUR tax money ....

To this CORPORATE WELFARE SCHEME ....

Without bothering .....

To see ....

If there is capacity ....

In the Hudson River .....

That would allow them ...

To take out 3 MILLION GALLONS .....

And it is our bet up here .....

That the SWEENEY CROWD ....

Involved in this CORPORATE WELFARE SCHEME ....

Will try to sell out the downstate communities ...

By simply taking that water ...

And screw all of them down there ....

If the salt water moves further up the river ...

As a result ....

And so ....

POWER POLITICS ....

At its finest ....

Here in REPUBLICAN George Pataki's ....

CORRUPT EMPIRE ....

Of New York ....

And so ...

If you really do think about it .....

Well ....

These REPUBLICANS up here in the corrupt EMPIRE of New York .....

Are probably right .....

I mean ....

Well ....

Let's look at it logically .....

They have POWER over us ....

We have none ....

If GOD did not like that .....

Well ....

He ...

Or She ......

Would never have let that happen ....

I mean ....

Well ...

Let's face that fact, too ....

Who knows more about DEMOCRACY .....

Than GOD .....

And if GOD really did want for us to have a DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC ....

IF GOD THOUGHT THAT WE COULD ACTUALLY HANDLE THAT RESPONSIBILITY ....

GOD WOULD HAVE GIVEN US A DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC ....

WHERE ALL WOULD BE EQUAL ....

But since we are not ....

All equal, I mean .....

There being REPUBLICANS ....

On the one hand ....

And those of us ....

Who are not REPUBLICANS, on the other .....

Well ...

You can see where I am going ....

I think, anyway .....

SINCE THERE ARE REPUBLICANS ....

IN POWER ....

OVER ALL OF US ....

AND EVERYTHING ....

LOGICALLY ....

OR AT LEAST, SO I AM TOLD ....

GOD HAS TO LOVE THE REPUBLICANS ....

Elsewise .....

He ...

Or She .....

Would not have created them ....

To be OUR OVERLORDS ....

Down here on this earth of OURS ...

TO PROTECT GOD'S BELOVED CORPORATIONS ....

AND THEIR GREED ....

FROM US ....

THE UNDERCLASS ....

THAT GOD CREATED ....

HERE IN OUR AMERICA ....

TO BE LORDED OVER ....

BY GOD'S CHERISHED REPUBLICAN PARTY ....

HERE ON THIS EARTH OF OURS ....

And so ....

That was really pretty easy .....

To cypher out .....

When you think on it ....

NOW .....

All we have to do up here ....

IN THE CORRUPT REPUBLICAN EMPIRE OF NEW YORK ...

Is to get this SUBSERVIENCE schtick down just right ....

The proper KOW-TOW .....

Tugging on the forelock, just so ....

When the shadow of a REPUBLICAN is passing by ...

The correct method of groveling ....

To show ....

That we except ....

Our DOMINATION ....

By them ...

And so .....

WOW ....

This thing of being an American citizen .....

Is really pretty easy when you think about it .....

Just get your face ...

Down into the dirt ...

And then keep it there ....

Saying not a word to anyone ....

Thinking no thoughts ....

Keeping the eyes averted ....

Lest their gaze .....

Touch the hem .....

Of a REPUBLICAN'S ROBE ....

And so .....

And as the REPUBLICANS attempt to teach ....

SUBSERVIENCE ....

To the rest .....

Of the benighted peoples of the world .....

"U.S. copter crashes in Iraq; 2 missing"

By VIJAY JOSHI, Associated Press
Last updated: 7:57 a.m., Wednesday, August 9, 2006

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A U.S. Army helicopter crashed in Iraq's western Anbar province, leaving two crew members missing and four injured, the U.S. military said Wednesday, as Iraqi and U.S. reinforcements move into the capital in a bid to stem sectarian violence that threatens civil war.

In Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, four people were killed and 16 wounded in a U.S. airstrike late Tuesday, police said.

There was no immediate comment from U.S. officials, but a Shiite mosque and nearby houses in the city were heavily damaged in the blast.

Four U.S. service members were injured when the UH60 Blackhawk helicopter crashed Tuesday with six people on board during a routine flight to survey the area, the U.S. command said in a statement Wednesday.

The four injured troops were in stable condition, and it did not appear the crash was due to hostile fire, the U.S. said.

The ongoing violence in Baghdad has prompted U.S. commanders to reinforce troop strength in the city.

Over the past weeks, a force expected to number nearly 12,000 has been assembling here to try to take the streets back from Sunni and Shiite extremists.

A U.S. statement Tuesday said about 6,000 additional Iraqi troops were being sent to the Baghdad area, along with 3,500 soldiers of 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team and 2,000 troops from the U.S. 1st Armored Division, which has served as a reserve force since November.

"We must dramatically reduce the level of violence in Baghdad that is fueling sectarianism," said Maj. Gen. J.D. Thurman, commander of the coalition forces in Baghdad, where strife between Shiites and Sunnis runs the highest.

"Iraqi and U.S. forces will help the citizens of Baghdad by reducing the violence that has plagued this city since the Samarra bombing," Thurman said.

"Iraqi and Multinational Division-Baghdad soldiers will not fail the Iraqi people."

Much of the violence has been blamed on sectarian militias that have stepped up a campaign of tit-for-tat killings since the Feb. 22 bombing of a Shiite shrine in the northern city of Samarra.

Some of the reinforcements have already been seen patrolling a mostly Sunni neighborhood in western Baghdad, scene of armed confrontations between Sunni and Shiite gunmen.

Many of the militias responsible for sectarian violence are linked to political parties that are part of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's national unity government, and they are reluctant to disband their armed wings unless others do the same.

The U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, said there were talks under way between various Sunni and Shiite groups to reach agreements and sign pledges to end sectarian fighting.

Also Wednesday, Romanian President Traian Basescu arrived in Baghdad to meet Iraqi and U.S. officials and visit some of the country's 890 troops stationed there.

Basescu was received by President Jalal Talabani and will meet other key U.S. and Iraqi officials.

In June, Romanian Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu proposed withdrawing Romania's troops from Iraq, but Basescu and the country's top security body said the next day they would remain.

In Basra, the city council said it has decided not to cooperate with a committee sent by the prime minister to supervise an emergency plan for the city, according to councilman Aqil Talib.

He said the council wanted to meet first with al-Maliki to determine the committee's role.

The decision shows the tension between the central government and the religious Shiite political leadership in Basra.

In other violence Wednesday, gunmen on two motorcycles assassinated Col. Qassim Abdel-Qadir, administrative head of an Iraqi army division in the southern city of Basra, said a police official who did not want to be named for security reasons.

A roadside bomb exploded near a U.S. patrol in eastern Baghdad's Shiite neighborhood of Habibiya, killing one bystander and injuring one U.S. soldier, said police Lt. Bilal Ali.

Police also found the bodies of three men who were shot in the head and dumped in two locations in southwestern Baghdad, said police Lt. Maitham Abdul-Razzaq said.

A policeman was killed and another wounded when they were trying to defuse a roadside bomb late Tuesday in Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, police Capt. Laith Mohammed said.

In New Zealand, the Foreign Ministry said a Cook Islands national working as a driver in Iraq was killed in a bomb attack late Tuesday.

------

Associated Press correspondents Rawya Rageh, Qais al-Bashir, Qassim Abdul-Zahra, Sameer N. Yacoub and Bushra Juhi contributed to this report.

end quotes

"Iraqi and Multinational Division-Baghdad soldiers will not fail the Iraqi people ......"

Okay .....

DA YADA DA YADA DA YADA DA ............

But they already have, of course ....

Let the people of Iraq down ....

And most of them, permanently .....

Into the ground ....

And so ....

"Prosecutors shun excuses for accused GIs"

By RYAN LENZ, Associated Press
Last updated: 8:05 p.m., Tuesday, August 8, 2006

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A U.S. Army private on Tuesday described the ever-present fear of death gripping his unit, whose members stand accused of raping and murdering a 14-year-old girl and killing her family in Iraq's infamous "Triangle of Death."

"You're just walking a death walk," Pfc. Justin Cross told a hearing to determine whether five fellow soldiers must stand trial in the March 12 attack near Mahmoudiya.

But prosecutors argued that the threats of war, arduous missions and frequent loss of life were no excuse for rape and murder.

"Murder not war."

"Rape not war."

"That's what were here talking about today," prosecutor Capt. Alex Pickands said in his closing argument before the three-day hearing concluded.

"Cold food didn't kill that family."

"Personnel assignments didn't rape and murder that 14-year-old little girl."

Pickands said the suspects "gathered together over cards and booze and came up with a plan to rape and murder that little girl."

The hearing officer must forward a recommendation to the brigade commander, Col. Todd Ebel, who must decide whether to order a trial.

Spc. James P. Barker, Sgt. Paul E. Cortez, Pfc. Jesse V. Spielman and Pfc. Bryan L. Howard are accused of raping and murdering the girl and killing her parents and 5-year-old sister.

Another soldier, Sgt. Anthony W. Yribe, is accused of failing to report the attack but is not alleged to have participated.

Testimony during the Article 32 hearing, the military equivalent of a grand jury, has painted a picture of a demoralized unit, drained emotionally after the deaths of comrades and exhausted after the frequent attacks in the mostly Sunni Arab area, a stronghold of al-Qaida in Iraq and other religious extremists.

"It drives you nuts."

"You feel like every step you might get blown up," Cross told the hearing.

"You just hit a point where you're like, 'If I die today, I die.'"

Cross said the unit was "full of despair," and he feared dying at his post before he could go home.

"I couldn't sleep mainly for fear we would be attacked," Cross said.

He said the deaths of two soldiers at a checkpoint "pretty much crushed the platoon."

To cope with the stress, he said, soldiers turned to whiskey -- a violation of U.S. regulations in Iraq -- and painkillers to ease their fears.

Much of the testimony has centered on former Pfc. Steven D. Green, who was discharged due to a "personality disorder."

Green was arrested in June shortly after the command learned U.S. soldiers may have been involved in the attack.

He has pleaded not guilty to rape and murder charges and is being held in the United States.

On Tuesday, Sgt. 1st Class Jeffrey Fenlason, the accused soldiers' platoon sergeant, said he was sent to the unit to restore discipline after several soldiers, including Green, began suffering emotionally after losing comrades.

"I recall a conversation with him (Green) regarding his lack of concern or caring for Iraqi life versus American soldiers' life," Fenlason said.

Another witness, Sgt. Daniel Carrick, told the hearing that harsh conditions affected everyone, but especially Green.

"Green had hatred for a lot of people in general," Carrick said.

The final witness, company commander Capt. John Goodwin, testified by secure telephone after his base at Youssifiyah had come under rocket and mortar attack Tuesday.

Goodwin told the hearing that morale had slumped as casualties rose.

Asked whether soldiers in his unit hated Iraqis, Goodwin replied: "There's more of a frustration than a hatred."

"I can understand why because of events that happened over the last three months," he added.

But it was Cross' testimony that was the most riveting.

His comments were in stark contrast with the image of a professional military force, highly trained and committed to the mission regardless of the dangers.

Premeditated murder carries the death penalty under U.S. military law and the testimony could be an attempt to persuade the command to seek a lesser penalty if a court martial is ordered.

In Washington, lawyer Eugene Fidell, president of the National Institute of Military Justice, said combat stress as a defense was a long shot "unless it rose to the level of an insanity defense or negated some element of the crime."

"It might influence whether it's sent to trial as a capital case," he told The Associated Press.

"That may be what the defense considers the main event here ..."

"They may be hoping to have the nature of the charges modified, have the case go to trial as something other than premeditated murder."

The Mahmoudiya area, about 20 miles south of Baghdad, became known as the "Triangle of Death" because of the large number of Iraqi Shiites who were waylaid and murdered along the roads between Baghdad and Shiite areas of the south.

On Monday, Army criminal investigator Benjamin Bierce testified about a sworn statement by Barker in which he said the soldiers drank whiskey and played cards while plotting the assault.

Bierce said Barker confessed that he, Cortez and Green took turns raping Abeer Qassim al-Janabi and that Green shot the teen as well as her relatives.

On Tuesday, Pfc. Justin Watt said he didn't believe Green "could have done this all by himself."

His comments were made during questioning by Yribe's lawyers, who argued in their final summation that there was insufficient evidence to try their client.

Yribe is accused of failing to disclose that he had found a shotgun shell at the victims' house.

Shotguns are rarely used by Iraqis, prosecutors alleged.

Lawyers for the other four on Tuesday also submitted a written request for a new hearing, accusing Yribe's counsel of deliberately asking incriminating questions.

The decision on the motion rests with the soldiers' brigade commander, who is expected to rule within a week.

Sgt. Anthony Hernandez, a soldier in the same unit, testified Tuesday on behalf of Yribe, recalling that he was recommended for a Silver Star for bravery during an attack on a convoy.

"He always put his life on the line," Hernandez said.

The rape and murders have bolstered allegations of misconduct by soldiers, including illegal killings, beatings and inhuman treatment.

The allegations have increased the mistrust and resentment among Iraqis of the American military and increased calls for their withdrawal.

The case has already increased demands for changes in an agreement that exempts U.S. soldiers from prosecution in Iraqi courts.

And Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has demanded an independent investigation into the Mahmoudiya allegations.

------

Associated Press writer Charles J. Hanley contributed to this report from New York.

end quotes

SO ...

Okay ...

Help me out here, Private First Class Cross .....

YOU ARE ENLISTED .....

IN A VOLUNTEER ARMY ....

WHOSE JOB IT IS .....

TO FIGHT GEORGE W. BUSH'S WARS ....

WHICH IS WHAT YOU ARE IN IRAQ FOR ....

AS ADVERTISED ....

AND IN A WAR ....

THE JOB ....

IN FACT, THE DUTY ...

OF THOSE ON THE "OTHER SIDE" ....

THE "SIDE" THAT GEORGE W. BUSH HAS DECLARED WAR ON ....

WELL ....

AS I UNDERSTAND WAR ....

WHICH HAS NOT CHANGED .....

ONE WHIT ....

SINCE VIET NAM ....

THEIR JOB IS TO KILL PEOPLE LIKE YOU ....

BEFORE YOU CAN KILL THEM ...

WHICH IS PRETTY MUCH ...

WHAT WAR HAS BEEN ABOUT ...

SINCE ...

WELL ...

YOU WOULD KNOW ...

AS A SOLDIER ....

LIKE FOREVER ...

OR EVER SINCE THERE HAS BEEN WAR, ANYWAY .....

And so .....

How come those guys raped and killed that little girl?

For the sport of it?

For the fun?

BECAUSE GEORGE W. BUSH ....

AND "CON-JOB CONNIE" RICE ....

AND DONALD RUMSFELD ....

ALL GAVE YOU ....

THE DISTINCT IMPRESSION ....

THAT YOU WOULD BE HEROS ....

TO THEM, AT LEAST .....

IF YOU DID?

Because it sure as hell was not because of the "war" ....

Since raping little girls in something that animals do ....

NOT AMERICAN SOLDIERS .....

And so ...

George W. Bush has let the genie out of the bottle .....

And Pandora out of her box .....

And now ....

Well .....

George was already out of his league ....

When he started this mess ....

By running his mouth .....

And puffing up his ego ....

And so ....

A day late ......

And a dollar short ....

Is OUR George now ....

And so ....

"U.S. directs criticism at Israel"

By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press
Last updated: 4:26 p.m., Wednesday, August 9, 2006

CRAWFORD, Texas -- The White House said Wednesday neither Israel nor Hezbollah should escalate their month-old war, a pointed comment after Israel decided to widen its ground invasion of southern Lebanon.

Although White House press secretary Tony Snow said the message was for both sides, his remarks came as Israel's Security Cabinet voted to expand the war effort in an attempt to deal further blows to Hezbollah.

The criticism was among the administration's strongest concerning longtime ally Israel since the fighting began.

"We are working hard now to bridge differences between the United States position and some of the positions of our allies," Snow told reporters in Texas, where President Bush was vacationing.

"We want an end to violence and we do not want escalations."

Meanwhile, rifts over a plan to stop the fighting delayed approval of a resolution at the U.N. Security Council.

The U.S. and France were offering competing versions.

France proposed new language on a total cease-fire and Israeli pullout, but the Americans rejected it out of concern that the Lebanese could not assert control over Hezbollah strongholds in the south without help from a robust international force.

"The Lebanese army, while an absolutely essential part of any solution, is not itself independently capable of dealing with the problem, at least not yet," Snow said.

He said the United States was working on another draft resolution, but he would not estimate when a vote might be possible.

"I think at this point it's beyond any of us to come up with a firm prediction about when you get a resolution," he said.

end quote

ANY FOOL CAN START A FIGHT, TONY .....

AND ONE HAS ....

AS WE ALL KNOW ....

AND NOW ...

WELL .....

IT TAKES A LOT MORE ....

THAN A FOOL ....

AND HIS FRIENDS ......

TO STOP ONE ....

And so ....

Given the situation that we are now in ....

With plenty of fools ....

And war-mongers ....

And hate-mongers ....

And racists ....

Crowding the stage .....

And no real statesmen in sight ....

Or stateswomen ....

Because "CON-JOB CONNIE" Rice sure is not one ....

What with her mouth always running ....

Spewing more hatred .....

And divisiveness into the world ....

You're right in your forecast ....

About no progress ....

In stopping this mess ....

And so .....

And then ...

There is "SLAMMIN' JOE" Lieberman .....

Who is not a Democratic candidate no more ....

Over there in Connecticut .....

Where they have a different set of values .....

About life ....

And liberty .....

Than they do ....

Down there in that REPUBLICAN BABYLON .....

On the Potomac River ....

In Washington. D.C. .....

Hey, "SLAMMIN' JOE" .....

You gotta go ....

You got too close to the REPUBLICAN JEZEBEL ....

Down there in Washington. D.C. ......

And you let George W. Bush ....

Give you a kiss on the cheek ....

And now ....

You got the TAINT OF TEXAS .....

Upon you ...

And that stuff stinks worse than you-know-what ....

And so ....

"Democrats abandon Lieberman, back Lamont"

By STEPHANIE REITZ, Associated Press
Last updated: 7:07 p.m., Wednesday, August 9, 2006

HARTFORD, Conn. -- Top Democrats on Capitol Hill abandoned Sen. Joe Lieberman one by one Wednesday and threw their support to Ned Lamont, the anti-war challenger who defeated him in the primary.

But Lieberman said his conscience demands that he run as an independent in November.

"I think it would be irresponsible and inconsistent with my principles if I were to just walk off the field," Lieberman said in an interview with The Associated Press a day after his loss to the political newcomer in a race that was considered an early referendum on the Iraq war.

Top Senate Democrats, including John Kerry and Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, Harry Reid of Nevada, Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey and Chuck Schumer of New York, said they supported Lamont as the duly elected choice of Connecticut's Democratic voters.

Reid and Schumer -- the party's Senate leader, and the head of the Democratic Senate campaign committee -- said: "The perception was that (Lieberman) was too close to George Bush and this was, in many respects, a referendum on the president more than anything else."

"The results bode well for Democratic victories in November and our efforts to take the country in a new direction."

Kennedy called Lamont's victory "a clarion call for change," and a spokeswoman said Kennedy planned to campaign for the nominee.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton reiterated her pledge to back the winner of the primary.

She stopped short of calling on Lieberman to quit the race but urged the senator to "search his conscience and decide what is best for Connecticut and for the Democratic Party."

Lamont raised no public complaint about Lieberman's plan to run as an independent, and predicted he would win in November even with Lieberman on the ballot.

"He'll end up splitting the Republican vote," Lamont told CNN.

"He gets a lot more support from Republicans than he does from Democrats."

Lieberman showed no signs of backing down, even though the Democrats' withdrawal of support also means he will be starved of money from party sources to again take on the millionaire Lamont.

"The bottom line is that I'm definitely in," said the 64-year-old three-term senator and former vice presidential nominee.

"While I consider myself a devoted Democrat, I am even more devoted to my state and my country."

The final returns from Tuesday's primary showed Lamont defeating Lieberman 52 percent to 48 percent.

On Wednesday, as expected, the Lieberman campaign delivered two boxes of petitions to the Connecticut secretary of state's office, and aides said they contained more than enough signatures to qualify him for the November ballot.

The move would set up a three-way race this fall among Lamont, Lieberman and Republican Alan Schlesinger, who has trailed far behind both Democrats in recent polls.

Lieberman said he was not bothered by losing the support of his Democratic colleagues, noting he lost the primary even with their backing.

"In the end, the people make up their own minds, and this is going to be a people's campaign," he said.

The defeat put Lieberman in the familiar role of a go-it-alone politician.

He was the first prominent Democrat to openly criticize President Clinton's conduct with Monica Lewinsky.

His support for the Iraq war and his defense of President Bush also have made him unpopular with members of his own party and gave Lamont a powerful platform on which to run.

Lieberman's name recognition and moderate politics will draw strong support from independents and Republicans in November, according to Kenneth Dautrich, a public policy professor at the University of Connecticut.

"I think Lieberman is now in the driver's seat," Dautrich said, adding that the senator could have "a fairly handy lead" as the campaign begins.

One of the biggest challenges will be fundraising, Dautrich noted.

Lamont is a cable TV entrepreneur who put $4 million of his own fortune into the primary.

As the Democrats' nominee, he also will get donations from traditional Democratic sources that might otherwise have contributed to Lieberman.

One strategist, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Lieberman had about $2 million remaining after the primary race against Lamont.

At a Democratic unity rally Wednesday morning, Lamont grinned broadly as he took his place with his new Democratic colleagues -- most of whom had originally endorsed Lieberman and campaigned for him.

"Nancy, I got to tell you," he told party chairwoman Nancy DiNardo, "I like being on your team."

Lieberman said he fired his campaign manager and spokesman, and asked for the resignations of his campaign staff.

He planned to hire a longtime aide as manager for the fall and began the search for a new pollster and media consultant.

"We did not answer, adequately answer, the distortions of my record on Iraq and my relationship with George Bush, that the Lamont campaign put out," the senator said, though he insisted he was not blaming campaign workers.

Republicans seized on the results to paint Democrats as careless with the country's security.

Vice President Dick Cheney said the race showed there is a significant segment of the Democratic Party that wants to return to "a pre-9/11 mind-set."

"It's an unfortunate development, I think, from the standpoint of the Democratic Party to see a man like Lieberman pushed aside because of his willingness to support an aggressive posture in terms of our national security strategy," Cheney said from Jackson, Wyo.

"When we see the Democratic Party reject one of its own -- a man they selected to be their vice presidential nominee just a few short years ago -- that would seem to say a lot about the state the party's in today," he said.

Lieberman's 10,000-vote loss sent shock waves through the local and national Democratic party.

It was Lieberman's first loss in a Connecticut campaign since 1980, and he has long been one of Connecticut's most popular Democrats.

He became just the fourth Senate incumbent since 1980 to lose a primary.

Lamont won by hammering away at Lieberman's support for the Iraq war and accusing him of being too close to Bush, as evidenced by an incident in which Bush appeared to plant a kiss on the senator's cheek after his 2005 State of the Union address.

Lamont's campaign also was embraced by liberal bloggers, who saw it as a chance to take down an incumbent and play a bigger role in the Democratic Party.

A Quinnipiac University poll released in July showed that 51 percent of likely voters would support Lieberman in a three-way race, versus 27 percent for Lamont and 9 percent for Schlesinger, a lawyer who was formerly a legislator and mayor.

However, a CBS News/New York Times exit poll of nearly 2,700 voters on Tuesday found that 61 percent said Lieberman should not run as an independent.

Though having both Lieberman and Lamont on the ballot could split the Democratic vote, Schlesinger is not considered a major threat.

His campaign stumbled in July after it was learned that he used a fake name to gamble at a Connecticut casino and had been sued over gambling debts at two New Jersey casinos.

Republican Gov. M Jodi Rell urged him to drop out of the Senate race, but Schlesinger called the gambling a "non-issue" and vowed to stay in.

------

Associated Press Special Correspondent David Espo contributed to this report from Washington.

Iraq's WMD was the EURO.

Saddam agreed in Sept 2000 to take EUROs instead of DOLLARS for his oil.

After BushCo invaded Iraq,

a) They secured the oilfields.

b) they went back to the DOLLAR for payments, (no EUROS, please)

c) they cancelled the contracts Saddam had given to 17 countries (none beginning with the word "United" as in States or Kingdom) and rebid them to the 7 sisters.

Good morning, jeffmoskin .....

And you are right about the Euro being Saddam's "weapons of mass destruction" .....

And now .....

Here we are .....

And there we are ....

And the both of them .....

Are destroying ....

Or let us more properly say ....

Re-configuring our economy over here .....

Since economies simply are ....

Despite the mind-sets of all these gurus out there .....

And MBA's .....

Like George W. Bush is .....

Who believe that they can actually create and control an "economy" .....

What a hoot that is ....

Up here where I am ...

Albany County on one side of the Hudson River deleted its sales tax on a gallon of gas when it went above a certain dollar amount ....

And Rensselaer County on the other side of the river did not ....

And this morning ....

They had on the radio the comptroller of Albany County who was complaining that the cut in sales tax did not reduce gas prices at all in Albany County, as compared with Rensselaer County .....

To the contrary, prices in Albany County were higher, with that few cents that would have gone into the Albany County treasury as tax, now going into the pockets of the oil dealers, instead ......

What a game this all is .....

What a game, indeed .....

Human life isn't worth anything at all .....

And oil is dear ....

And that is the way it goes ....

And so ....

And then .....

There is religion ....

Here in OUR America ....

Which has become a faith-based country .....

Thanks to KARL ROVE .....

And George W. Bush .....

And the CHURCH OF BODY MODIFICATION .....

Which KARL ROVE apparently is very wild over .....

And some would say .....

Is running himself ....

From a boiler room .....

Underneath the WHITE HOUSE ....

Down there in the REPUBLICAN BABYLON ....

Of Washington, D.C. ...

AND KARL IS SAID TO BE WILD OVER THIS NEWEST RELIGION ....

Here in OUR America ....

That he is said .....

Or believed ...

To have created ....

Since it brings a lot of younger people .....

Into his "FAITH-BASED REPUBLICAN FOLD" ......

And so .....

Here is an issue that KARL ROVE is just itching to get his REPUBLICAN CONSERVATIVE TEETH into, alright ......

Discrimination against one of his FLOCK is just not going to fly .....

Not while KARL ROVE is in charge of things at the WASHINGTON WHITE HOUSE, anyway .....

And so ...

People up here are expecting a busload of WHITE HOUSE lawyers up here, any day now .....

To jump right on this case .....

As a cause celebre ....

One of George W. Bush's FAITH-BASED INITIATIVES .....

Under a virtual attack .....

Up here ....

This CHURCH OF BODY MODIFICATION ....

That holds out such promise ....

For the youth of OUR America ....

And the REPUBLICAN PARTY, as well ...

WHO IS THE CHAMPION OF FAITH-BASED INITIATIVES ....

Here in OUR America ...

And so ....

"A lost job and a case of faith - Dress code violated right to religious expression, former worker says"

By JORDAN CARLEO-EVANGELIST, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Thursday, August 10, 2006

TROY -- Sarah Yule would love to be the face of her church -- pierced twice, if you don't count the tongue and ears.

And, as of Wednesday, it's a face no longer acceptable at St. Mary's Hospital.

Yule says she was fired from her job at the Catholic hospital because it doesn't recognize her religion -- ordinarily a violation of state and federal civil rights law.

But her situation isn't so simple.

Yule's religion has no formal deity or buildings of worship.

Some of its adherents suspend themselves by hooks dug into their skin.

You can apply to be a minister by e-mail.

Yule, 24, of Waterford, says she is a member of the Church of Body Modification, whose members meet online to share a passion for changing their bodies.

Yule was fired, she said, because she refused to remove her lip ring.

Her case raises questions about government's role in defining religion, employees' rights to exercise it and employers' rights to set standards in the workplace.

The short answer might be that there is no short answer, unless Yule takes the hospital to court, which she vows she will do.

At least one church member has sued and lost, but federal courts avoided ruling on whether the church actually is a religion.

And as Yule -- a savvy woman who admits she is "looking to make history" -- found Wednesday, getting someone to take her case might be its own challenge.

The phone in her living room rang.

A lawyer's assistant told her the attorney would not take the case.

Try, she suggested, lawyers in bigger cities.

"This wouldn't be an issue if I were a Catholic or a Jew or a well-known religion," she said less than 12 hours after she was fired from her job as a receptionist in the hospital's emergency room, where she had worked for two years.

Her lip ring, a 14-gauge hoop, violates the company's dress code.

She was given three options: Take it out, replace it with something transparent or look for another job in the company, Seton Health, according to her account of the 7:30 a.m. conference with hospital officials, 30 minutes before her overnight shift ended.

All three were unacceptable, she said.

The question is whether body piercings are a protected form of religious observance, whether a tongue ring should be given the same protection as a Muslim head scarf under the law.

"It's very sticky," said Stephen Clark, a professor at Albany Law School who specializes in employment, labor and constitutional law.

"It's extremely difficult to pin this thing down, what religion means."

Yule says she worked as a clerk in a dietary section at St. Mary's as a teenager and had several piercings: two in each eyebrow, two in her lip, one in her nose and several in her ears.

Piercing, she says, is spiritual because of the control it gives her over her body.

Even her supervisors supported her, she said.

After about three years, Yule moved away.

She returned to St. Mary's two years ago with fewer piercings and took a job as an overnight receptionist in the emergency room.

Two months ago, Yule decided to pierce her lip and her nose again.

Not long after, she says, she was confronted by a supervisor.

After explaining her beliefs, Yule said she submitted the first of two letters making her case to the human resources department.

In return, she got an updated copy of the hospital's dress code.

According to a spokeswoman, it allows for ear piercings "in moderation," but requires other piercings be removed to maintain a professional environment.

A clause makes exceptions for cultural and religious reasons as long as they don't interfere with the "safe provision of patient care or carrying out the duties of the associate's job," said Pamela Rehak, the hospital spokeswoman.

Rehak declined to comment on Yule's case beyond issuing a written statement that said St. Mary's "is a faith-based organization that encourages and respects spirituality in the workplace."

Courts have shied away from defining religion, said Clark, the law professor.

There is no official list, he said, and many of the prevailing precedents are decades old, set by the U.S. Supreme Court in cases where men said they could not fight in the Vietnam War for religious reasons.

The court found that religion could be defined as "having a belief in a higher power that occupies the same position as God in a more traditional faith," Clark said.

The church describes itself as "a nondenominational congregation that teaches ownership over our own bodies ... not here to offer spirituality to you so much as we are here because of the spirituality that is already in all of us."

It was established in 1999.

E-mails to the church officials and ministers were not returned Wednesday.

The Phoenix address listed on church tax documents on its Web site is now used by a garden design company, said a woman who answered the phone there.

The documents date to 2000.

The church Web site addresses questions about employment and tells people that "this is not a scam" and that they cannot join after they've been fired just to protect their jobs.

If Yule sues, the case might come down to whether a court thinks St. Mary's did enough to accommodate her, as required by state and federal law.

In 2004, a federal appeals court in Boston ruled against Kimberly Cloutier, an employee at a Costco near Springfield, Mass., who sued after she was told her eyebrow ring violated the store's dress code.

A federal court doubted Cloutier's devotion to the church and ruled Costco met its burden by offering a reasonable alternative, covering the ring with a flesh-colored bandage.

The appeals court upheld the decision, saying that allowing Cloutier an exception to the dress code rule would impose an "undue hardship" on the wholesale company.

Yule can file a complaint with the state Division of Human Rights or the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

She says she doesn't know whether she wants money or her job back.

"I just want them to recognize that they did something wrong," she said.

Asked if she would ever remove her piercings, she said:

"Maybe I'll never want to."

"Maybe I'll want to tomorrow."

"But I won't because somebody says I have to."

writer Jordan Carleo- Evangelist can be reached at 454-5445 or by e-mail at jcarleo-evangelist@ timesunion.com

end quotes

How about that KARL ROVE, now, will you .....

That old boy ...

Has just got ...

SOMETHING ...

FOR EVERYONE ...

So long as they'll promise .....

To be a good dues-paying REPUBLICAN in turn .....

And so .....

No wonder they call that old boy the ARCHITECT .....

Building up a church like that ...

All by himself ....

You can see why they would then call him that ...

And so ...

And since we are on the subject this morning .....

Of KARL ROVE ....

And his "faith-based" CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICAN PARTY .....

"GOP Senate hopefuls debate - Obscure candidates attack each other as polls put Democrat far ahead"

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

First published: Thursday, August 10, 2006

NEW YORK -- Republican U.S. Senate candidate Kathleen Troia "KT" McFarland went straight for the jugular of her GOP primary opponent, John Spencer, in what may be the campaign's only televised debate Wednesday night, attacking both his record as Yonkers mayor and his marriage.

The debate was only the latest in what has been a contentious, mud-slinging campaign as the two little-known Republicans battle for the right to take on Democratic U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in the general election this fall.

Spencer, a pugnacious Vietnam veteran who is the designated Republican candidate and has been endorsed by the state Conservative Party, sought to take the high road during the debate.

He stressed his staunch conservative views on issues like abortion on which McFarland is more moderate.

He avoided bringing up McFarland's own family troubles and repeatedly tried to turn the focus to Clinton, who he insisted can be defeated despite her double-digit lead over both candidates in polls and fundraising.

But McFarland, a Reagan-era Pentagon official who has never held elected office and has been a stay-at-home mom since 1985, struck at Spencer's personal life in the first 10 minutes of the debate.

She said his relationship with his current wife, Kathy Spring-Spencer, which began when she was his chief of staff and he was married to another woman, raised questions about his "ethical standards."

In McFarland's parlance, the relationship was "an affair" and Spring was Spencer's "secretary," whose salary he "tripled," resulting in his own "financial gain."

McFarland likened Spencer to former President Clinton, who was impeached for lying under oath about extramarital sex.

"Had you been in the military and behaved that way, you would have been court-martialed," McFarland, 55, said to Spencer, 59, who was standing about a foot away from her on stage at the Pace University auditorium.

"Had you been in the federal government and behaved that way, you would have been indicted."

McFarland also accused Spencer of raising taxes and spending while he was mayor -- a post he held from 1996 to 2004 -- and leaving the city with a multimillion-dollar deficit.

"You've taxed and spent like Hillary, and you've behaved like Bill," McFarland said.

Spencer retorted that McFarland and her staff probably "worked for months to get that sound bite."

He called the GOP primary campaign "the most scurrilous I've ever seen."

During the debate, Spencer alternately accused McFarland of telling "half-truths" and lies.

He lambasted McFarland for impugning Spring's career and said she is a "22-year professional who worked for three mayors" of Yonkers.

"Of all people, a woman insulting another woman's career," Spencer said.

"I say to you, Mrs. McFarland, shame on you."

"Shame on you."

According to published reports, Spencer raised Spring's salary from $52,000 to $138,000.

After the debate, Spencer refused to say whether he had had an affair with Spring, with whom he had publicly admitted that he fathered two children while he was in office and still married to his first wife.

"I didn't have an affair; it's the wrong term," Spencer said.

Spencer said he was going through a separation with his first wife, whom he has since divorced, when he was involved with Spring.

He and Spring are now married and have had a third child.

Spencer also said McFarland distorted his record as mayor.

He admitted raising taxes, but said the hike was less than in other cities.

He said Yonkers' economy improved dramatically under him, in part because he cut "onerous" taxes like the mortgage and real estate transfer taxes.

Spencer did not bring up McFarland's personal life, although that has become a campaign issue.

She has weathered criticism for anti-gay statements she made in a 1992 letter to her parents about her brother, who died of AIDS.

She also wrote that her father physically and sexually abused her, her sister and her two brothers when they were young -- an allegation both her father and at least one of her siblings has denied.

It fell to NY1 anchor and debate moderator Dominic Carter to ask McFarland about her past and whether she felt it was relevant to her qualifications for U.S. Senate.

"That's something that happened 50 years ago when I was a child," McFarland said.

"I already talked about that, and I have nothing further to add."

McFarland later said she hoped to debate Spencer again; Spencer said "it's not worthwhile."

In a July 26 Siena poll of likely Republican primary voters, Spencer held a slight 24-18 edge over McFarland, but 58 percent said they didn't know enough about either candidate to have an opinion.

A Siena poll released Monday showed Clinton handily defeating both Spencer -- 58-32 -- and McFarland -- 58-28.

Clinton also has an enormous fundraising lead, with $22 million on hand.

McFarland had $282,131 on hand and $307,590 worth of debt at the end of June, not including the $100,000 she has loaned her campaign.

Spencer had only $646,335 on hand and $301,186 in debt.

The state Democratic Party reacted gleefully to Wednesday's Republican exchange, with spokesman Blake Zeff calling it "more like a Tom & Jerry cartoon than a Senate debate."

Clinton adviser Howard Wolfson refused to respond to McFarland's statements about either the senator or the former president.

But he did comment on Spencer's assertion that McFarland is a "plant" being encouraged and supported by the Clinton campaign to split the Republican vote and make him look bad.

"If we were choosing a candidate, we would have chosen a better one," Wolfson said.

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

And since we are still on the subject ...

Of KARL ROVE ....

And his CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICAN PARTY ....

Here in OUR America .....

As well as the "economy" .....

Which KARL says ....

Is the strongest in the world .....

If not the entire universe .....

Or even the galaxy ....

We have ....

"Report: San Diego finances 'reckless'"

By ELLIOT SPAGAT, Associated Press Writer

Wed Aug 9, 9:46 AM ET

SAN DIEGO - The city recklessly and deliberately mismanaged its finances for years, exhibiting disregard for the law and becoming "Enron-by-the-Sea," according to consultants who investigated how it created a $1.4 billion pension fund shortfall.

San Diego "fell prey to the same type of corruption" that ruined companies including Enron Corp. and WorldCom Inc. and prompted Orange County to file for bankruptcy protection in 1994, said a report by the risk management company Kroll Inc.

"The evidence demonstrates not mere negligence but deliberate disregard for the law, disregard for fiduciary responsibility and disregard for the financial welfare of the city's residents," the report concludes.

The $20 million report, presented at a City Council meeting Tuesday, offers one of the most detailed accounts of how San Diego created its $1.4 billion pension shortfall that has crippled its ability to borrow money.

The shortfall — the gap between the value of its pension assets and its obligation to retirees — soared after the City Council in 1996 and again in 2002 skipped payments to the pension fund and, at the same time, enhanced retirement benefits.

The fiscal meltdown that resulted sparked investigations by the U.S. Justice Department and the SEC in early 2004.

Five former city and pension fund officials were charged with federal fraud and conspiracy in January.

The report outlines a series of recommendations, including creation of an independent audit committee and more authority for the city's chief financial officer.

"You got a second chance here, folks," said one of the authors, former chief SEC accountant Lynn Turner.

"I think it's a marvelous city, but you need to change it from being Enron-by-the-Sea to Emerald-by-the Sea."

The report found that several former city officials likely violated federal securities law and others were negligent.

It says former Mayor Dick Murphy and members of the City Council failed to disclose the extent of the city's problems to bond investors and for "knowingly and improperly" causing the city to violate state and federal law in its collection of sewage fees.

Arthur Levitt, former chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, was involved in Kroll's investigation and said the city overcharged homeowners for sewage to subsidize large businesses.

Murphy, a Republican, resigned in July 2005, less than a year after winning a disputed election to a second four-year term.

Mayor Jerry Sanders, a Republican former police chief who was elected last year, said the report "will hopefully put a very unfortunate chapter of this city's history behind us."

The report clears the way for San Diego to complete overdue audits, a key step to returning the nation's eighth-largest city to Wall Street's good graces.

end quotes

The REPUBLICANS ....

ARE ....

BIG BID-NESS ....

And BIG BID-NESS is the REPUBLICANS ....

And mere people ....

Are merely cattle ....

For the REPUBLICANS to herd ....

This way or that .....

Depending on the needs ....

Of BIG BID-NESS ....

WHICH IS THE REPUBLICAN PARTY ....

AND AMERICA, as well ....

And so ....

Of course they are going to screw the homeowners to the wall .....

With respect to those sewage taxes ...

To subsidize BIG BID-NESS .....

Because what did GOD give the average homeowner to the REPUBLICAN PARTY for, after all ....

BUT FOR THE SCREWING OF THEM ...

Because the REPUBLICANS are not going to screw their own .....

NO REPUBLICAN CAN TALK BAD STUFF ABOUT ANOTHER REPUBLICAN ....

That is not GOD's way ....

And so ...

IF YOU DON'T LIKE BEING SCREWED ....

HERE IN KARL ROVE'S AMERICA ....

YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN BORN A REPUBLICAN ....

And if you weren't ...

Well ...

Hey ...

Suck it up .....

Join KARL ROVE's CHURCH OF BODY MODIFICATION .....

Get yourself some "faith" .....

SEND THE REPUBLICANS A LOT OF MONEY ....

And they'll make you into one ....

And so ...

See how easy it is ....

And that is why ....

They call KARL ROVE ....

THE ARCHITECT

Because he sure is one ....

Building all kinds of things ...

Out of nothing at all ....

Like the WAR IN IRAQ ....

And so ...

And staying with the "political" news this morning .....

Since that is what is spewing forth from the "wires" this morning .....

We have .....

"HEY, JACKIE BOY, HEY, JOHNNIE" Sweeney ......

THE REPUBLICAN BIG SHOT .....

From up here where I am .....

And is "HEY, JACKIE BOY, HEY, JOHNNIE" getting a little testy here?

Well ...

Hey ...

Thanks to the miracle of the internet ....

Why don't we go and see .....

"Congressmen trade barbs - Unions back incumbent McNulty and Gillibrand, who challenges Sweeney"

By CATHY WOODRUFF, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Thursday, August 10, 2006

WATERVLIET -- A news conference intended as a forum for labor leaders to announce endorsements of two Democratic congressional candidates Wednesday unexpectedly touched off a rare exchange of political jabs between U.S. Reps. Michael McNulty and John Sweeney.

Speaking near Watervliet Arsenal in McNulty's 21st Congressional District, officials with 14 unions, including the National Federation of Federal Employees, pledged their support for McNulty and Gillibrand, a 39-year-old attorney from Columbia County who is challenging Sweeney in the 20th Congressional District.

Later, the New York State United Teachers added its endorsement for Gillibrand, saying she offers a fresh, clear alternative to Sweeney.

Union officials said their support will bring campaign help, as well as financial contributions.

In a statement, NYSUT Executive Vice President Alan B. Lubin said the organization will provide "feet on the street" with volunteers who will work to get out the vote.

"I'm very excited about the endorsements we received today," Gillibrand said.

"This election is very much about changing the direction the country is going, and having labor support is the kind of support it really takes to defeat an incumbent."

Gillibrand criticized Sweeney, a Clifton Park Republican and former state labor commissioner, for failing to back an increase in the federal minimum wage and other issues important to workers.

When contacted for comment, Sweeney's campaign spokeswoman issued a statement saying Wednesday's endorsements would be newsworthy only if Gillibrand had not been endorsed by NYSUT and the federal employees union.

"They go rank-and-file with Democrats every step of the way" and rarely endorse Republicans, Maureen Donovan said.

Sweeney, she added, has received endorsements from the Greater Capital Region Building Trades Council and the Saratoga Springs Fire Fighters.

She said it was most noteworthy that Gillibrand held her news conference in McNulty's neighboring congressional district.

And with his public appearance and endorsement of Gillibrand, Donovan said, McNulty chose partisan politics over bipartisan cooperation.

"Representative McNulty is supporting an opponent of Congressman Sweeney's that would have no ability to bring home any dollars to the 20th, or 21st district, for that matter," she said.

"Representative McNulty is on the wrong side of this race, and he owes his constituents an explanation as to why he put politics over their interests."

"Gillibrand and McNulty will make a great team of not returning any of New York's tax dollars."

Reached by telephone Wednesday evening, McNulty said:

"I would just point out that my district, in the last Associated Press survey, ranked 45th highest in the receipt of federal funds out of all 435 districts in the country and second-highest in New York state."

"The record speaks for itself."

The location for the news conference was natural, since he also was accepting the unions' endorsements, he said.

Regarding the charge of playing partisan politics, he said:

"I am supporting Democratic candidates for Congress."

"The country is going in the wrong direction domestically and in Iraq."

"I'm supporting candidates who want to change that."

The other unions that endorsed Gillibrand and McNulty on Wednesday are:

Bricklayers & Allied Craftworkers;

Communications Workers of America;

Glass, Molders, Pottery, Plastics & Allied Workers International Union;

Glens Falls Building & Construction Trades Council;

International Association of Machinists, Office & Professional Employees International Union;

Service Employees International Union;

United Auto Workers;

United Food and Commercial Workers;

United University Professions;

Plumbers and Steamfitters Locals 7 and 773;

Public Employees Federation;

Sheetmetal Workers International Association.

Cathy Woodruff can be reached at 454-5093 or by e-mail at cwoodruff@timesunion.com.

I don't know, me ....

But I just keeping having this thought .....

That BEFORE ......

America .....

Goes out into the world ....

To shake its mighty finger ....

At other governments ....

For being corrupt .....

MAYBE ....

What America should do first ....

IS GET RID OF THE DAMN STUFF HERE .....

FROM COAST TO COAST ....

And then ....

When that is done .....

IN SUCH A WAY ....

THAT IT IS MORE THAN JUST A BIT OF WINDOW-DRESSING .....

THEN AMERICA CAN HOLD ITSELF .....

OUT TO THE REST OF THE WORLD .....

As an example of something ....

OTHER THAN A RANK HYPOCRITE ....

And so ....

"N.J. officials charged with corruption"

Associated Press
Last updated: 5:56 p.m., Thursday, August 10, 2006

TRENTON, N.J. -- Six state treasury workers were indicted Thursday on suspicion of accepting dinners, entertainment, golf outings and spa treatments from a company hired to collect back taxes.

The state taxation director and his deputy were among those charged, the attorney general's office said.

A state report in December found that treasury managers took more than $65,000 in gifts from Missouri-based OSI Collection Service Inc. from 1999 to 2005.

The company padded its bills by more than $1 million since 2000, but was not sanctioned by the treasury department, state investigators have said.

"New Jersey residents must be able to count on the fact that officials who make decisions on state contracts won't be subject to influence by vendors who offer generous freebies," said Attorney General Zulima Farber.

Those indicted include state Taxation Director Robert K. Thompson and his deputy, Harold A. Fox.

Four other treasury workers and two former OSI officials were also indicted.

They are all charged with official misconduct.

Attorneys for Thompson and Fox did not immediately return phone messages.

They and one other treasury worker have been suspended with pay, said treasury spokesman Mark Perkiss.

All the accused treasury employees will be suspended without pay Friday.

And getting back to MS. Hillary for the moment ....

And "SLAMMIN' JOE" Lieberman ......

Who is no longer ....

A DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE ....

For the United States Senate ....

Because he went down to BABYLON ....

And got too close ....

TO THE REPUBLICAN JEZEBEL ....

And so ....

"Connecticut's lessons - Sen. Lieberman's loss has implications for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's primary"

Albany, New York Times Union
First published: Thursday, August 10, 2006

So here's what it requires for the Democrats to get over their more timid instincts and ask the tough questions about Iraq that could set them clearly apart from President Bush and the Republicans in a midterm election year.

Just deny an incumbent senator, loyal to his party and generally progressive on most issues, nomination for a fourth term.

A few hundred thousand votes in Connecticut have done what almost 3,000 American deaths in Iraq could not.

Joe Lieberman isn't gone from the Senate, necessarily.

That much he made clear in a rather defiant and ungracious concession speech Tuesday night.

But he now has to defend a record that includes an unwavering support for the war as he runs as an independent this fall.

His departure from the Senate would be a loss, in many ways.

He's right about the nasty tone that dominates the politics of Washington.

There most certainly is a place for the bipartisan approach he prefers.

On economic and fiscal issues in particular, Mr. Lieberman has been a harsh critic of an administration that may yet be his undoing.

Still, Ned Lamont, a political unknown just a few months ago but now the party nominee, has done the Democrats a considerable service.

He's made it acceptable, even imperative, for a party trying to stave off something teetering too close to impotence and irrelevance to talk about the war in earnest, even at the risk of appearing too far to the political left for many Americans' comfort.

Party leaders, including Sen. Charles Schumer, have embraced Mr. Lamont's victory already, even as it means parting ways with Mr. Lieberman.

It can be fairly said that the November election campaign now starts anew.

A primary election in Connecticut, in the slow days of summer yet, energizes politics just about everywhere.

The same questions can be expected to be raised elsewhere.

Should the United States have gone to war in the first place?

Was President Bush honest about his intentions and motives for going to war?

Can the war be won?

Can peace, or at least an end to bloody sectarian chaos, be secured in Iraq?

Should the United States be making plans to leave?

Here in New York, count on Jonathan Tasini to ask them, even if Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton might not be so eager to discuss the war.

Mr. Tasini is on even more of a improbable quest than Mr. Lamont was.

His long-shot candidacy makes Mr. Lamont's easy by comparison.

Mr. Tasini is a one-issue candidate, or quite close to it.

But he has this, at least potentially -- and that part must be emphasized -- on his side.

He has been against the war from the start.

Sen. Clinton voted for it, almost four years ago, and still supports the overall U.S. mission in Iraq.

In a primary that otherwise wouldn't attract much more than a collective yawn from New York Democrats, they can debate the war this fall.

Their state, and their country, will be better for it if they do.

And then, of course .....

While there really is no global warming .....

And no climate change, as a result .....

Still .....

The REPUBLICANS ....

Want us to believe .....

That if there possibly could be such a thing .....

Which of course, there can't be ...

Still ...

If there could be .....

Why, by jink .....

There will be all kinds .....

Of new and better BID-NESS opportunities .....

Than there are .....

Even right now ....

With America's economy ....

Being the strongest one that there is ....

In the world ....

And in the galaxy beyond ....

And so ...

If a REPUBLICAN is saying that .....

Well ...

It would seem it would have to be true .....

Because REPUBLICANS don't only tell just one lie ....

And so ....

"Summer sales washed away - Businesses hurt after floods destroy part of Route 23A in Catskills"

By ALAN WECHSLER, Business writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Tuesday, August 8, 2006

HUNTER -- There are few roads in the state as winding, as precipitous and as storied as the Rip Van Winkle Trail.

And now that the route is closed, it is sorely missed.

The Rip Van Winkle refers to a 4-mile stretch of state Route 23A -- about 45 minutes south of Albany -- that climbs from the Hudson Valley into the Catskill Mountains.

And on June 27, after 9 inches of rain fell in one day, part of that road was washed away.

Other communities also suffered in the floods.

In Delaware County, two truckers were killed after the highway they were on collapsed.

In Sullivan County, a teenager was killed when her house was washed away.

Around the Northeast, 15 people died in the deluge.

By comparison, the eastern Catskills region was largely spared -- except financially.

"It's an economic disaster," said Marc Sussman, owner of Mountain Top Clothing in Tannersville.

Summer is the biggest season for these Catskill businesses.

And with Route 23A closed, tourists face a 40-mile detour.

"We thought this was going to be our busiest season," Sussman said.

Instead, he's selling much of his summer stock at 50 percent off just to get it off the rack.

Down the road, Ernie Reale said weekend visits at his Mountain Bike Inn are down 90 percent.

He blamed the state for the mess, saying he thinks Route 23A was the victim of a botched repair job.

Four days before the damage, the state Department of Transportation had completed a $2 million repair job there.

What was supposed to be a three-week closure then, now may last until November.

But the DOT says what failed was a 50-foot retaining wall holding up the road, built of rocks stacked nearly 100 years ago by prison laborers.

The road hugs the banks of a rugged river and it climbs past cliffs and canyons as it gains 1,000 feet from Palenville to the Catskill plateau.

The flood took out a whole lane of the two-lane road, causing a U-shaped washout 50 feet deep.

It turned new concrete decking into chunks of rubble and rebar, with freshly painted guardrails sitting ruined 50 feet below.

DOT spokesman Pete Van Keuren said the road was made to withstand the annual floods commonly seen in the mountains.

"We don't design and construct projects around a worst-case scenario," he said.

"We don't normally get that amount of precipitation."

Now instead of simply repairing the damage, the state wants to rebuild a 400-foot section of road with stronger anchors, larger culverts and a concrete retaining wall.

No cost estimate was available, Van Keuren said.

State officials had contemplated installing a temporary bridge over the gap, but such a repair would not provide enough room for workers to do their job.

The state also decided against having a night crew working on the road, saying there weren't enough places on the precipitous hillside to install lights.

So now, construction workers are on a 12-hour, seven-day-a-week shift to rebuild the road as quickly as possible.

And everyone else has to use the detour.

Businesses do have some options: U.S. Small Business Administration disaster loans, federal disaster grants or part of the $60 million in state flood aid that Gov. George Pataki approved after the disaster.

Under Pataki's program, a business may apply for a grant of up to $20,000 for uncompensated losses.

But the grants are meant to recover flood damage, not lost business due to lack of customers.

And many businesses don't want to take on more debt, even at low interest rates.

In the meantime, businesses persevere.

Story Farm in Palenville -- the downhill end of the closed road -- now sends up a truck of produce once a week to Tannersville so locals can buy its product.

Other stores can do little but lay off staff and wait.

"We just feel like we've been abandoned by the state," said Joe Cavallero, who owns the Twilight General Store, right near the end of the road in Haines Falls.

He said his business is off about 50 percent and he has laid off five of his eight employees because of it.

He's also worried about what is going to happen when the road is repaired.

"All day long is nothing but complaints," he said of his limited customers.

"Even when the road eventually opens, we're afraid we've lost a lot of these people."

Alan Wechsler can be reached at 454-5469 or by e-mail at awechsler@timesunion.com.

end quotes

But wait .....

I thought the REPUBLICANS said .....

That global warming .....

And climate change .....

Were going to be real good ....

For business ....

And so .....

This story ...

Must be made up ....

Out of whole cloth ....

By the LIBERAL MEDIA .....

Just so they can make the REPUBLICANS look bad ....

Which really isn't all that hard to do these days ....

With all of the corruption .....

That they have brought to this state ....

As well as to Washington, D.C. ....

And so ...

And speaking of corruption ....

Here is the "ROCK STAR", himself ....

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

Who is going to be the next governor of the State of New York ....

And then he is going to be President of America ....

And so ....

You know how it is ....

When you are a politician ....

Here in America ....

WHERE POLITICAL OFFICE IS BOUGHT ....

As much as it is won ....

YOU JUST CAN NEVER HAVE ENOUGH MONEY ....

And "Big EL" knows that .....

And so ....

"This way, Mr. Spitzer - The gubernatorial front-runner ought to adhere to a higher standard of campaign fundraising"

Albany, New York Times Union
First published: Tuesday, August 8, 2006

Eliot Spitzer is so far ahead at this stage of the campaign for governor in fundraising and public opinion polls that he can afford to ask himself this potentially awkward question:

Why is he taking money from donors who take advantage of a loophole in New York's shamefully porous campaign finance laws that allows for ever larger contributions?

]Ordinarily, no donor can give Mr. Spitzer, or any other candidate, more than $50,100.

If Mr. Spitzer were running for federal office, or municipal office in New York City, his high rolling donors would be hard pressed to get around even lower contribution limits.

The laws allow candidates for statewide office, though, to accept money from individual donors who give the maximum $50,100 and then contribute even more through what are known as limited liability corporations.

The existence of that loophole was first revealed by the Times Union in April.

Mr. Spitzer has accumulated at least $600,000 this way, according to a New York Times report last week.

How can he do that and still come across as such a determined advocate of campaign finance reform?

By hedging his bets, in essence.

Yes, Mr. Spitzer wants much lower legal limits on individual campaign contributions -- as early as, say, his possible race for re-election in 2010.

Mr. Spitzer already had $16.3 million at his disposal as of mid-July.

That's four times as much as both his rivals combined.

For now, however, Mr. Spitzer's campaign will only commit to abiding by the existing law, easily mocked as it is.

That's a frustrating answer from any politician.

From Mr. Spitzer, though, it's downright maddening.

This year's race for governor, and Mr. Spitzer's campaign in particular, is supposed to be all about changing the corrupting ways of Albany and breaking with the pattern of doing business in a way that's merely legal or politically expedient.

Mr. Spitzer can demonstrate what's so different already, by declaring that $50,100 is $50,100 and that slick ways of getting around that limit aren't for him.

No, he's not the only candidate who's taken money that way in this race.

Tom Suozzi, his opponent in the Democratic primary, has done it as well.

So have three candidates for attorney general.

John Faso, the Republican candidate for governor, has not taken money from limited liability corporations.

Two cheers for him.

But back to Mr. Spitzer.

He is such a strong candidate for governor this year for one reason and one reason only.

He has been zealous in his enforcement of the law as New York's attorney general, and impatient with those who try to get around the law.

It's time for him to match his support for campaign finance reform with fundraising that doesn't undermine it.

end quotes

Actually ......

"Big EL" Spitzer .....

Is quite an "ILLUSIONIST" .....

When it comes to "GOVERNMENT REFORM" .....

Yes ....

"Big EL" Spitzer .....

Has gone after some Wall Street firms ...

For doing the "hokey-pokey" .....

With other people's money .....

But as the state's top law enforcement official ....

"Big EL" Spitzer ....

Has been very soft .....

On government corruption ....

Here in New York State ....

Where he is actually perceived ....

As a staunch defender ....

Of the corrupters of government up here ....

And so ....

When it comes to some Wall Street firms ....

Perhaps "Big EL" is a zealot .....

Especially when it gets his name in the papers .....

But with respect to government corruption ....

OFF OF WALL STREET ....

Where it counts to us ....

"Big EL" Spitzer .....

Is seen ....

As being ....

SOFT ...

AS A MARSHMELLOW ....

And so ....

DEATH ....

IS NO THREAT ....

TO PEOPLE ....

WHO ARE NOT AFRAID ....

TO DIE .....

BUT EVEN IF ...

THESE (alleged) "OFFENDERS" .....

FEARED DEATH ALL DAY ....

WHO SHOULD BE RASH ENOUGH .....

TO ACT AS EXCECUTIONER?

- Lao Tze, Tao Te Ching

end quotes

Well ...

HHHHHhhhmmmmm .....

There is George W. Bush, of course ....

And Dick Cheney ......

Yes, him, too ....

Dick likes that kind of stuff .....

Especially when it involves women and children ....

The "POST-9/11 MIND-SET" that he talks about so much .....

Which is really a LICENSE .....

Given to him and George W. Bush .....

BY THEMSELVES ....

Pursuant to the UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION ....

So that they can kill whomever .....

Whenever .....

And however .....

And then ....

Of course ...

There is "CON-JOB CONNIE" Rice .....

And Donald "GASBAG" Rumsfeld ....

And .....

And ......

And .....

Politics ....

And corruption ...

And POWERFUL MEN ....

"Times Union, politicians square off in lawsuit - Bruno, Silver accused of illegally concealing names of those spending taxpayer money"

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

Last updated: 3:04 p.m., Friday, August 11, 2006

ALBANY -- The Times Union faced off against the state today, arguing before a judge that New York's most powerful political leaders have illegally concealed the names of their colleagues who arranged to spend millions in taxpayer money on their own pet projects.

"They believe they are above the law,'' argued Eve Burton, general counsel for the Hearst Corp., which owns the newspaper.

"The two leaders are subject to FOIL,'' Burton said.

"And if they don't like it, they can change it legislatively.''

The Times Union seeks to have a state Supreme Court justice compel Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to release the names of caucus members and pay legal fees for the lawsuit.

Visiting state Supreme Court Justice Robert A. Sackett of Sullivan County was assigned the case.

The lawsuit accuses Bruno and Silver of violating the state's FOI Law as well as the public's basic right to know how their own money is spent.

Assistant Attorney General Richard Lombardo, who is defending the Assembly and Senate leaders, said the names of lawmakers aren't subject to FOIL, per the state Constitution's speech and debate clause.

He said it was right to redact the names on more than 8,000 member-item initiative forms his office provided, upon request.

"We've given them all the facts the public has a right to know,'' Lombardo told Sackett.

"Simply put, a member's name on a piece of paper doesn't make it FOIL-able.''

end quotes

Don't you just love that arrogance, though .....

And the dripping contempt ....

Coming from out of the mouth ....

Of this arrogant, smarmy state lawyer ....

CONTEMPT .....

For those .....

Who happen to be ....

The citizens of the state ....

For whom these arrogant politicians ....

And mouthy, smarmy state lawyers ....

All work ....

ACCORDING TO OUR CONSTITUTION UP HERE ....

Which is not theirs ....

To do with ....

As they please ....

Which is why there is a lawsuit in this matter ...

And so ....