how could a morman be president and alow coca cola to be a premier american brand.
look,i was raised mormon and have a super amount of respect for the people and their values.however.i do not want a mormaon president.
period. do some research.
i spent time in the temple.come on people.i don't like obama either but really.this is the great test.mcain speaks of a hundred year war in the middle east,had the term hanoi hotel coined after it was leardned that he was a valuble asset,is a part of the keating five that coinded the term junk bonds and by default...our massive financial bilking and loss of status finacialy in america.
please look at the averridge life span of an individual male in the us.
do the math.
best, and most respect to my mormon friends but i want a clear seperation between church and state..
anton alfred newcombe/fjordson
Romney veep speculation swirls
Jonathan Martin Fri Aug 22, 10:29 AM ET
Mark Halperin set off tremors in the political world last night by reporting via two Republicans that John McCain had settled on Mitt Romney to be his running mate. ADVERTISEMENT
Top sources in McCainworld, though, say this morning that no final decision has been made.
There are mixed signals at this point as to whether Romney has emerged as the favorite.
That seems to be the "body language" from the small group of aides who McCain is consulting on the decision, a GOP source says.
And that interpretation was reinforced when word spread among Romney loyalists last night that the vice presidential rollout tour included Michigan.
But Michigan is a battleground, and the tour also includes a stop in the swing state of Ohio a week from today.
Making matters more confusing, Politico has learned that McCain will visit suburban St. Louis for a major rally with Romney and his still-bitter primary nemesis Mike Huckabee on Sunday, Aug. 31, the day before the start of the GOP convention.
Top Missouri Republicans yesterday received the invitation for a rally featuring McCain and his two top primary challengers. They'll be joined by country star John Rich at a minor league baseball stadium in O'Fallon, Mo., about 35 miles west of St. Louis.
Missouri was hard-fought territory on Super Tuesday, with each of the three Republicans faring well. So the event would seem to represent a pre-convention unity rally in a swing state where each has a strong following. But Huckabee and Romney can hardly stand one another, and Huckabee has warned twice this month against selecting his once and perhaps future rival.
It would take a considerable act of pride-swallowing for Huckabee to stand before thousands of fans and watch as McCain touts Romney as his running mate.
But then it would take the same amount of magnamity for Romney to join such a rally the day before the convention if McCain were to tap somebody else as his veep choice and then laud that person in Missouri.
i would be more than happy to resolve this embarassing situation reguarding mr. glitter.i will do it free of charge but will require a few things to insure we can put this all behiend us with the least amount of effort and move on to concintrait on the pleasant things in life the uk in know world over for...like excellance in footie,world class chippies wonderful summers great comedy.
i will be more than happy to meet mr. glitter at the airport if you provide me with:
1.round trip airfair to london via easyjet and accomadation at the columbia hotel for two for three days.
2.one vauxhall nova fully registerd and legal to drive on the m1.
3.one gps unit with battery and map of england.
4.one full cricket set includeing bat and pads.
5.one cuisenart or commercial blender.
6.one set of commercial butchers knives.
7.two 100 liter plastic rubish bins.
8.the charter of a fishing vessal in cornwall for a day trip and one application form a deckhand ( cv/ mr glitter)
9.fishing tackle in good working order suitable for sea sport.
keeping track / are you experianced?
Current mood: amused
U.S. tracking citizens' border crossings: report
1 hour, 15 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government has been using its border checkpoints to collect information on citizens that will be stored for 15 years, raising concern among privacy advocates, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday. ADVERTISEMENT
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials said the collection is part of a broader effort to guard against terrorist threats, the report said, citing a Federal Register notice the agency issued last month.
Officials said the disclosure is among a series of notices to make the department's data gathering more transparent, the newspaper reported.
A notice by Customs and Border Protection, a DHS agency, said it does not perform data mining on border crossings to search for patterns that could signal a terrorist or law enforcement threat, according to the Post.
But it states that information may be shared with federal, state and local governments to test "new technology and systems designed to enhance border security or identify other violations of law," the Post reported.
A DHS spokesman was not immediately available for comment on the report.
Information on international air passengers has long been collected this way but Customs and Border Protection only this year began to log the arrivals of all U.S. citizens across land borders, the Post said.
Privacy advocates raised concerns about the expanded collection of personal data and said safeguards are needed to ensure the system is not abused.
"People expect to be checked when they enter the country and for the government to determine if they're admissible or not," Greg Nojeim of the Center for Democracy and Technology told the Post.
"What they don't expect is for the government to keep a record for 15 years of their comings into the country."
DHS spokesman Russ Knocke told the paper that the retention period was justified.
"History has shown, whether you are talking about criminal or terrorist activity, that plotting, planning or even relationships among conspirators can go on for years," he said. "Basic travel records can, quite literally, help frontline officers to connect the dots."
(Reporting by JoAnne Allen; Editing by John O'Callaghan)
Are You Ready For Nuclear War?
Paul Craig Roberts VDare August 19, 2008
McCain
The Republican candidate for president is a warmonger. There are no checks remaining in the Republican Party on the neocons' proclivity for war. What Republican constituencies oppose war? Can anyone name one?
Pervez Musharraf, the puppet installed by the US to rule Pakistan in the interest of US hegemony, resigned August 18 to avoid impeachment. Karl Rove and the Diebold electronic voting machines were unable to control the result of the last election in Pakistan, the result of which gave Pakistanis a bigger voice in their government than America's.
It was obvious to anyone with any sense—which excludes the entire Bush Regime and almost all of the "foreign policy community"—that the illegal and gratuitous US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, and Israel's 2006 bombing of Lebanon civilians with US blessing, would result in the overthrow of America's Pakistani puppet.
The imbecilic Bush Regime ensured Musharraf's overthrow by pressuring their puppet to conduct military operations against tribesmen in Pakistani border areas, whose loyalties were to fellow Muslims and not to American hegemony. When Musharraf's military operations didn't produce the desired result, the idiotic Americans began conducting their own military operations within Pakistan with bombs and missiles. This finished off Musharraf.
When the Bush Regime began its wars in the Middle East, I predicted, correctly, that Musharraf would be one victim. The American puppets in Egypt and Jordan may be the next to go.
Back during the Nixon years, my Ph.D. dissertation chairman, Warren Nutter, was Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs. One day in his Pentagon office I asked him how the US government got foreign governments to do what the US wanted. "Money," he replied.
"You mean foreign aid?" I asked.
"No," he replied, "we just buy the leaders with money."
It wasn't a policy he had implemented. He inherited it and, although the policy rankled with him, he could do nothing about it. Nutter believed in persuasion and that if you could not persuade people, you did not have a policy.
Nutter did not mean merely third world potentates were bought. He meant the leaders of England, France, Germany, Italy, all the allies everywhere were bought and paid for.
They were allies because they were paid. Consider Tony Blair. Blair's own head of British intelligence told him that the Americans were fabricating the evidence to justify their already planned attack on Iraq. This was fine with Blair, and you can see why with his multi- million dollar payoff once he was out of office.
The American-educated thug, Saakashkvili the War Criminal, who is president of Georgia, was installed by the US taxpayer funded National Endowment for Democracy, a neocon operation whose purpose is to ring Russia with US military bases, so that America can exert hegemony over Russia.
Every agreement that President Reagan made with Mikhail Gorbachev has been broken by Reagan's successors. Reagan's was the last American government whose foreign policy was not made by the Israeli-allied neoconservatives. During the Reagan years, the neocons made several runs at it, but each ended in disaster for Reagan, and he eventually drove the modern day French Jacobins from his government.
Even the anti-Soviet Committee on the Present Danger regarded the neocons as dangerous lunatics. I remember the meeting when a member tried to bring the neocons into the committee, and old line American establishment representatives, such as former Treasury Secretary Douglas Dillon, hit the roof.
The Committee on the Present Danger regarded the neocons as crazy people who would get America into a nuclear war with the Soviet Union. The neocons hated President Reagan, because he ended the cold war with diplomacy, when they desired a military victory over the Soviet Union.
Deprived of this, the neocons now want victory over Russia.
Today, Reagan is gone. The Republican Establishment is gone. There are no conservative power centers, only neoconservative power centers closely allied with Israel, which uses the billions of dollars funneled into Israeli coffers by US taxpayers to influence US elections and foreign policy.
The Republican candidate for president is a warmonger. There are no checks remaining in the Republican Party on the neocons' proclivity for war. What Republican constituencies oppose war? Can anyone name one?
The Democrats are not much better, but they have some constituencies that are not enamored of war in order to establish US world hegemony. The Rapture Evangelicals, who fervently desire Armageddon, are not Democrats; nor are the brainwashed Brownshirts desperate to vent their frustrations by striking at someone, somewhere, anywhere.
I get emails from these Brownshirts and attest that their hate-filled ignorance is extraordinary. They are all Republicans, and yet they think they are conservatives. They have no idea who I am, but since I criticize the Bush Regime and America's belligerent foreign policy, they think I am a "liberal commie pinko."
The only literate sentence this legion of imbeciles has ever managed is: "If you hate America so much, why don't you move to Cuba!"
Such is the current state of a Reagan political appointee in today's Republican Party. He is a "liberal commie pinko" who should move to Cuba.
The Republicans will get us into more wars. Indeed, they live for war. McCain is preaching war for 100 years. For these warmongers, it is like cheering for your home team. Win at all costs. They get a vicarious pleasure out of war. If the US has to tell lies in order to attack countries, what's wrong with that? "If we don't kill them over there, they will kill us over here."
The mindlessness is total.
Nothing real issues from the American media. The media is about demonizing Russia and Iran, about the vice presidential choices as if it matters, about whether Obama being on vacation let McCain score too many points.
The mindlessness of the news reflects the mindlessness of the government, for which it is a spokesperson.
The American media does not serve American democracy or American interests. It serves the few people who exercise power.
When the Soviet Union collapsed, the US and Israel made a run at controlling Russia and the former constituent parts of its empire. For awhile the US and Israel succeeded, but Putin put a stop to it.
Recognizing that the US had no intention of keeping any of the agreements it had made with Gorbachev, Putin directed the Russian military budget to upgrading the Russian nuclear deterrent. Consequently, the Russian army and air force lack the smart weapons and electronics of the US military.
When the Russian army went into Georgia to rescue the Russians in South Ossetia from the destruction being inflicted upon them by the American puppet Saakashvili, the Russians made it clear that if they were opposed by American troops with smart weapons, they would deal with the threat with tactical nuclear weapons.
The Americans were the first to announce preemptive nuclear attack as their permissible war doctrine. Now the Russians have announced the tactical use of nuclear weapons as their response to American smart weapons.
It is obvious that American foreign policy, with is goal of ringing Russia with US military bases, is leading directly to nuclear war. Every American needs to realize this fact. The US government's insane hegemonic foreign policy is a direct threat to life on the planet.
Russia has made no threats against America. The post-Soviet Russian government has sought to cooperate with the US and Europe. Russia has made it clear over and over that it is prepared to obey international law and treaties. It is the Americans who have thrown international law and treaties into the trash can, not the Russians.
In order to keep the billions of dollars in profits flowing to its contributors in the US military-security complex, the Bush Regime has rekindled the cold war. As American living standards decline and the prospects for university graduates deteriorate, "our" leaders in Washington commit us to a hundred years of war.
If you desire to be poor, oppressed, and eventually vaporized in a nuclear war, vote Republican.
Future wars 'to be fought with mind drugs' Future wars could see opponents attacking each other's minds, according to a report for the US military.
By Jon Swaine Last Updated: 6:22PM BST 14 Aug 2008 US marines in Iraq It is thought that some US soldiers are already taking drugs prescribed for narcolepsy in an attempt to combat fatigue Photo: EPA
Landmines releasing brain-altering chemicals, scanners reading soldiers' minds and devices boosting eyesight and hearing could all one figure in arsenals, suggests the study.
Sophisticated drugs, designed for dementia patients but also allowing troops to stay awake and alert for several days are expected to be developed, according to the report. It is thought that some US soldiers are already taking drugs prescribed for narcolepsy in an attempt to combat fatigue.
As well as those physically and mentally boosting one's own troops, substances could also be developed to deplete an opponents' forces, it says.
"How can we disrupt the enemy's motivation to fight?" It asks. "Is there a way to make the enemy obey our commands?" Research shows that "drugs can be utilized to achieve abnormal, diseased, or disordered psychology" among one's enemy, it concludes.
Research is particularly encouraging in the area of functional neuroimaging, or understanding the relationships between brain activity and actions, the report says, raising hopes that scanners able to read the intentions or memories of soldiers could soon be developed.
Some military chiefs and law enforcement officials hope that a new generation of polygraphs, or lie detectors, which spot lie-telling by observing changes in brain activity, can be built.
"Pharmacological landmines," which release drugs to incapacitate soldiers upon their contact with them, could also be developed, according to the report's authors.
The report, which was commissioned by the Defense Intelligence Agency, contained the work of scientists asked to examine how better understanding of how the human mind works was likely to affect the development of technology.
It finds that "great progress has been made" in neuroscience over the last decade, and that continuing advances offered the prospect of a dramatic impact on military equipment and the way in which wars are fought.
It also explains that the concept of torture could be transformed in the future. "It is possible that some day there could be a technique developed to extract information from a prisoner that does not have any lasting side effects," it states. One technique being developed involves the delivery of electrical pulses into a suspect's brain and delay their ability to lie by interfering with its neurons.
Research into "distributed human-machine systems", including robots and military hardware controlled by an operator's mind, is another particular area for optimism among researchers, according to the report. It says significant progress has already been made and that prospects for use of the field are "limited only by the creative imagination."
Jonathan Moreno, a bioethicist and the author of 'Mind Wars: Brain Research and National Defense', said "It's too early to know which, if any, of these technologies is going to be practical. But it's important for us to get ahead of the curve. Soldiers are always on the cutting edge of new technologies."
Bracing for Inflation
By John K. Castle Mon Aug 18, 8:08 AM ET
Growing evidence suggests American consumers, businesspeople, and political leaders should all be bracing for double-digit inflation, probably as early as 2009. ADVERTISEMENT
The relative price stability of the past 15 years is giving way to worsening inflation, despite the recent softening of oil prices. The Consumer Price Index for all items shows the inflation rate averaged 2.6% a year from 1992 through 2007 but has doubled since January, reaching an annual rate of 5.6% in July (BusinessWeek.com, 8/14/08). By next year, the monthly figure could hit double digits, and the inflation rate for 2009 overall could triple 2007's 2.85%.
I say this not only because I have looked at a broad range of statistics that point in this direction. I also run a private equity investment firm that owns companies in a number of industries -- including restaurants, the manufacture of gardening tools, oil and gas exploration services, and distribution of entertainment products such as books and videos -- that are already being forced to pass price increases on to the consumer.
The skyrocketing price of oil is obviously a central element in the accelerating price spiral. But a sea change in China's role (BusinessWeek, 6/19/08) is beginning to have a huge impact as well.
Increasing Commodities Pricing
Anyone who hasn't been living in a cave for the past year knows that oil prices have soared and pushed up the prices of gasoline, diesel fuel, and heating oil. Largely hidden from view, however, have been steep and continuing price increases across the whole spectrum of commodities.
Oil almost doubled in price, from $78.21 in July 2007 for a barrel of benchmark crude, to $145, where it peaked before dipping below $120. But from a longer perspective, oil sold for about $30 a barrel during 2003 and much of 2004. Thus it has actually quadrupled in five years. Coal, traditionally volatile, sold for about $30 a ton during 2003, peaked briefly at $63 in 2004, and went for $45.25 at the end of July 2007. A year later it hit $139.50 before slipping back a bit. It has tripled in 12 months.
Copper, another basic commodity, went from 82% a pound in July 2003 to $1.14 a year later, and to $3.72 by the end of last month. That's an increase of 350% over five years. The price of steel has climbed from under $240 a ton for hot-rolled steel coil throughout most of 2003 to $1,125 a ton last month, quadrupling in five years.
Grains have also soared in price (BusinessWeek.com, 7/18/08). U.S. corn prices jumped from $3.01 a bushel in July 2007 to $5.37 one year later. Wheat doubled from $3.05 a bushel in July 2006 to $6.02 last month. A Midwestern bakery owned by one of our portfolio companies turns out 13 million pies a year. The cost of ingredients of a standard pie jumped 100%, from $1.20 a year ago to $2.40 today.
In every sector, cost increases are so large and pervasive that producers who might once have tried to absorb or work around them are passing them on to customers as fast as they can. Dow Chemical (NYSE:DOW - News) recently announced successive price increases of 20% and 25%, plus freight surcharges, saying energy and feedstock costs had risen fourfold in five years.
China's Role
With commodity costs rising for so long, why are we feeling the impact so suddenly?
The answer is that China can no longer bail us out with low-cost manufacturing. For years, American manufacturers and retailers offset rising costs by sourcing more products from China, where they could be made cheaply. That kept prices down for American consumers and also restrained pressures on wages, abetting price stability. But now costs are rising quickly in China, too (BusinessWeek.com, 8/12/08).
The Chinese government, under pressure from the U.S., let its currency float upward by 21% against the dollar since depegging it in July 2005. It also increased its value-added tax by 11%, and removed rebates of the tax for most exporters. New labor laws, coupled with a tightening market for skilled workers, have pushed up labor costs by about 50% over the last three years. Meanwhile, Chinese producer prices rose by 10% in July, the fastest rate of increase since 1996. As a result, Chinese producers are demanding -- and getting -- price increases of 20% to 25% on goods they make and sell to U.S. customers.
Without the Chinese life preserver, prices at the big-box American retailers are likely to be soaring in the near future, and Chinese manufactured parts and components that go into U.S. cars and appliances are likely to experience similar gains.
Admitting We Have a Problem
Most Americans will have to tighten their belts and accept lower living standards unless this inflationary spiral can be stopped. There will be pain -- higher prices and a weaker economy, resulting in fewer jobs. Meanwhile, millions of Americans who are already feeling poorer because of falling home values and a soft economy will be further pinched by higher prices for heating oil, groceries, clothing, autos and appliances. Labor is unlikely to remain so quiescent, particularly as the expectation of inflation becomes clear.
The federal government and the Federal Reserve will be under pressure to take tough and politically painful steps to curb this inflation, including strengthening the dollar, raising interest rates, and tightening credit. But the Fed's ability to raise rates is constrained -- it needs to keep rates low to manage the mortgage-backed bond mess.
The first step in solving the problem is to recognize that we have one -- and it is serious. No American housewife has any doubts about that. Our policymakers shouldn't, either.
In the long, storied history of Fourth-Place Medal's Investigative Unit (founded: Monday), one question has been asked by our readers more than any other. Today, on our five-day anniversary, we will attempt to tackle the biggest Olympic mystery of the Beijing Games: what is Michael Phelps listening to on his iPod?
In nearly every camera shot of Michael Phelps on dry land, he can be seen with iPod headphones dangling from his ears. The earbuds are a ubiquitous presence in the ready room and on the starting block; they're just as much a part of Phelps' 'uniform' as goggles and a swim cap. About two minutes prior to the start of a race, Phelps sheds the iPod along with his warm-ups. So, what is he listening to?
Podcasts of NPR's This American Life and Dylan live at The Supper Club. No wait, that's my iPod. Phelps listens to hip-hop music on his. He says it helps motivate him before a race.
While his pre-race tracklist varies, Phelps has said that "I'm Me" by Lil' Wayne has been on his playlist in Beijing. The track, off Weezy's EP "The Leak" features the line:
Yes I am the best/and no I ain't positive I'm definite/I know the game like I'm reffing it
That's about the only lyric that's printable on a family blog.
Other artists that populate Phelps' iPod include:the brian jonestown massacre,the trogs,zombies,nusurat fatah ali kahn,weird fucking chinese shit.,faloun gong chants to overthrow the chinnese bastards,skrewdriver,death in june,black flag,bronski beat,j-low,cher,tiny tim,jin neighbors,jim jones Jay-Z, Young Jeezy, Eminem and Outkast. (What, no 'Pac?) Occasionally, he'll throw some techno into the mix, but usually keeps things rap-centric. Phelps doesn't speak much about the specific songs he's listening to, but he did tell NBC in 2004 that Eminem's "'Til I Collapse" was on his most-played list at Athens. In 2005, he created a playlist for the website Rhapsody that included the songs "Roses" by Outkast, "Burn" by Usher, and this awesome jam..."golden frost" by bjm and "Smile" by G-Unit.
Mystery: solved.
(people are stupid)
-----Inline Attachment Follows-----
Thanks, Anton! We are planning to run this next Tuesday, and we will send you the link when it's up. Any questions just let us know.
Thanks again, --Evan
On Fri, Aug 15, 2008 at 11:49 AM, Anton Newcombe wrote:
how you going? > > *>>Much has been said about My Bloody Underground, > easily one of the most > polarizing records that you have released so far in your > career. The BJM > website now goes back to the Committee to Keep Music Evil > site, which makes > me wonder (in keeping with the evil theme): do you ever > read your reviews?
i do read some of them.i would be lieing if i said that i don't care what people think,because placed in context...i do....it's just that i don't think rock journalism means jack shit to an artist.it's not like magazine writers get to pick the content.it's add driven.i know that my work will be misunderstood compaired to whatever disney pre-puebesent robot simon caling is fucking back stage at pop idol. i just make audio inviroments i enjoy,and if people like them great,if some people don't great.i'm looking forward.
> When making your records as of late, what do you hope your > fans will take > out of your songs?* >
i hope they they find a way to interact with it in some way.somtimes that can just mean provoking thoughts or poseing questions.sometimes it could be engulfing the informed but submissive listener in a soundscape.it doesn't matter to me as i am working on new pieces so i am removed.i have allready explored this work in depth and have moved on.
> *>>One aspect I quite like of Bloody is how it's, > in a way, a return to form > stylistically, simply because it goes back towards your > heavier rock > inclanations after your detoured with quite a few > country-rooted EPs. What > instigated the change? >
i'm quite disapointed with the modern world and more importantly.the people in it.i got a prescription for anphetamine and did some majic mushrooms in iceland and created some art.no listen i am not advocating drug use,and it's not something i do all of the time.it was an experiment.we created some music and then made films.
> >>What is more cathartic: recording your songs or > performing them live? > Which do you ultimately prefer at the end of the day?* >
it's like a pendulum.it's swings back and forth as they are two different mediums.live involves rock and stamina.the studio involves science and retrospection.
> *>>Back in '04, much was said of your > denouncement of Dig!, yet it still > managed to introduce you (and continues to introduce you) > to a wider > audience. Have your thoughts on the movie changed at all? > What would you > have done different about that experience? >
no ondi timoner is a fucking greedy cunt,a liar and i wouldn't piss on her if she was on fire.infact,i wouldn't weep if her and her ilk were hit by an asteroid.
> >>Finally: so far in your career, what's been > your biggest regret and -- > conversely -- what's been your proudest accomplishment? >
i don't view my work as a korea.a crreer sounds like something that asshole in jet worries about.what a joke.that's something jack white works on.die!die!die!,that's a band.the church is a band...all that korea bullshit makes me want to puke.ask those fuck heads in silverchair where their career went...i don't listen to fat bald guys at record companies that think in terms of careers.i just don't.i am a productive artist.i inovate and help others do the same.i am an individual.i'm looking forward to playing australia,new zealand,my shows with my bloody valentine and going back to berlin and iceland where i live and making more albums.i could really give a shit about anything else besides that and my wife and childrens welfare.
we’re looking at a war with iran soon
Current mood: amused
raise your hand if you voted for george bush?
a.a.n.f. berlin 08 "i will be so happy when the people running the world...run it into the ground."
US, allies weigh punishment for Russia
By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 46 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - Scrambling to find ways to punish Russia for its invasion of pro-Western Georgia, the United States and its allies are considering expelling Moscow from an exclusive club of wealthy nations and have scrapped plans for an upcoming joint NATO-Russia military exercise, Bush administration officials said Tuesday. ADVERTISEMENT
But with scant leverage in the face of an emboldened Moscow, Washington and its friends have been forced to face the uncomfortable reality that their options are limited to mainly symbolic measures, such as boycotting Russian-hosted meetings and events, that may have little or no long-term impact on Russia's behavior, the officials said.
With the situation on the ground still unclear after Russian President Dmitri Medvedev on Tuesday ordered a halt to military action in Georgia, U.S. officials were focused primarily on confirming a cease-fire and attending to Georgia's urgent humanitarian needs following five days of fierce fighting, including Russian attacks on civilian targets.
"It is very important now that all parties cease fire," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said. "The Georgians have agreed to a cease-fire, the Russians need to stop their military operations as they have apparently said that they will, but those military operations really do now need to stop because calm needs to be restored."
At the same time, however, President Bush and his top aides were engaged in frantic consultations with European and other nations over how best to demonstrate their fierce condemnations of the Russian operation that began in Georgia's separatist region of South Ossetia, expanded to another disputed area, Abkhazia, and ended up on purely Georgian soil.
"The idea is to show the Russians that it is no longer business as usual," said one senior official familiar with the consultations among world leaders that were going on primarily by phone and in person at NATO headquarters in Brussels, where alliance diplomats met together and then with representatives of Georgia.
A senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to describe confidential conversations among the leaders of other nations, said European and other leaders have been blunt with Russia that it must withdraw its forces. Russian leaders have said they do not plan a long-term occupation, the official said. The official was not specific about whether Russia has offered a timeline for withdrawal.
"People are saying, 'You know you cannot stay,'" the official said. "We have been hearing from Russia, 'We don't want to stay.'"
For now, the Bush administration decided to boycott a third meeting at NATO on Tuesday at which the alliance's governing board, the North Atlantic Council, was preparing for a meeting with a Russian delegation that has been called at Moscow's request, officials said.
In addition, a senior defense official said the U.S. has decided to dump a major NATO naval exercise with Russia that was scheduled to begin Friday.
Sailors and vessels from Britain, France, Russia, and the U.S. were to take part in the annual Russia-NATO exercise aimed at improving cooperation in maritime security. But the official said there is no way that the U.S. could proceed with it in the midst of the Georgian crisis.
The naval exercise began a decade ago and typically involves around 1,000 personnel from the four countries, officials said. The Pentagon also is looking at a variety of ways it could respond to humanitarian needs in Georgia, but officials have not yet made any final decisions.
In the medium term, the United States and its partners in the Group of Seven, or G-7, the club of the world's leading industrialized nations that also includes Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan, are debating whether to effectively disband what is known as the G-8, which incorporates Russia, by throwing Moscow out, the officials said.
Discussions are also taking place on whether to revoke or review the May 2007 invitation to Russia to join the 30-member, Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which consists primarily of established European democracies, the officials said.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because no decisions have yet been made and consultations with other countries involved are still under way.
Bush spoke on Monday and Tuesday with fellow G-7 leaders as well as the heads of democratically elected pro-Western governments in formerly Eastern bloc nations, some of which are among NATO's newest members and have urged a strong response to Russia's invasion of a like-minded country.
On Monday on his way home from the Olympics in China, Bush talked with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus and Polish President Lech Kaczynski. He then called Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, the White House said. On Tuesday, he spoke with Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Rice, who returned early to Washington late Monday from vacation to deal with the crisis, held a second round of talks with foreign ministers from the Group of Seven countries in which they were briefed on European Union mediation efforts led by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who met Tuesday with Medvedev in Moscow.
"They believe that they have made some progress and we welcome that and we certainly welcome the E.U. mediation," Rice told reporters at the White House.
Later, Saakashvili told reporters that he accepted the cease-fire plan negotiated by Sarkozy.
Despite the flurry of activity, there was still uncertainty about whether Russia had in fact halted its military action in Georgia, with reports of continued shelling of civilian and military sites.
The State Department on Tuesday recommended that all U.S. citizens leave Georgia in a new travel warning, saying the security situation remained uncertain. It said it was organizing a third evacuation convoy to take Americans who want to leave by road to neighboring Armenia. More that 170 American citizens have already left Georgia in two earlier convoys.
Just hours after Bush said in a White House address that the invasion had "substantially damaged Russia's standing in the world" and demanded an end to what he called Moscow's "dramatic and brutal escalation" of violence, Medvedev said he had ordered an end to military action.
___
Associated Press writers Jennifer Loven, Anne Gearan, Pauline Jelinek and Lolita C. Baldor contributed to this report.
Neocons Now Love International Law
Robert Parry Consortium News August 12, 2008
It's touching how American neoconservatives who have no regard for international law when they want to invade some troublesome country have developed a sudden reverence for national sovereignty.
Apparently, context is everything. So, the United States attacking Grenada or Nicaragua or Panama or Iraq or Serbia is justified even if the reasons sometimes don't hold water or don't hold up before the United Nations, The Hague or other institutions of international law.
However, when Russia attacks Georgia in a border dispute over Georgia's determination to throttle secession movements in two semi-autonomous regions, everyone must agree that Georgia's sovereignty is sacrosanct and Russia must be condemned.
U.S. newspapers, such as the New York Times, see nothing risible about publishing a statement from President George W. Bush declaring that "Georgia is a sovereign nation and its territorial integrity must be respected."
No one points out that Bush should have zero standing enunciating such a principle. Iraq also was a sovereign nation, but Bush invaded it under false pretenses, demolished its army, overthrew its government and then conducted a lengthy military occupation resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths.
The invasion of Iraq also wasn't a spur of the moment decision. In the months after the 9/11 attacks, Bush proclaimed an exceptional right of the United States to invade any country that might become a threat to American security or to U.S. global dominance. [For details, see Consortiumnews.com's "Bush's Grim Vision" or see our book, Neck Deep]
When asked questions about international law, Bush would joke: "International law? I better call my lawyer."
The neocons' contempt for international law goes back even further – to the 1980s and the illegal contra war against Nicaragua and the invasion of Panama. Only in the last few days have the neocons discovered an appreciation for multilateral institutions and the principles of non-intervention.
Despite this history, leading U.S. newspapers don't see hypocrisy. Instead, they have thrown open their pages to prominent neocons and other advocates of U.S.-led invasions so these thinkers now can denounce Russia while not mentioning any contradictions.
On Monday, the Washington Post's neoconservative editorial writers published their own editorial excoriating Russia, along with two op-eds, one by neocon theorist Robert Kagan and another co-authored by Bill Clinton's ambassador to the United Nations, Richard Holbrooke.
All three – the Post editorial board, Kagan and Holbrooke – were gung-ho for invading Iraq, but now find the idea of Russia attacking the sovereign nation of Georgia inexcusable, even if Georgia's leaders in Tblisi may have provoked the conflict with an offensive against separatists in South Ossetia along the Russian border.
"Whatever mistakes Tblisi has made, they cannot justify Russia's actions," Holbrooke and his co-author Ronald D. Asmus wrote. "Moscow has invaded a neighbor, an illegal act of aggression that violates the U.N. Charter and fundamental principles of cooperation and security in Europe."
And to top matters off, the authors accused Russia of breaking an even older international covenant: "Beginning a well-planned war … as the Olympics were opening violates the ancient tradition of a truce to conflict during the Games."
The New York Times ran an op-ed by neocon columnist William Kristol, who also condemned Russia's aggression without indicating any remorse for his own enthusiasm for U.S. invasions of countries that Washington didn't like.
Wearing Blinders
While major U.S. news outlets may be comfortable wearing blinders that let them see only wrongdoing by others, the rest of the world views the outrage from Bush and the neocons over Russia as a stunning double standard.
This larger problem is that the Bush administration – along with its neocon allies and many establishment Democrats – have lost any credibility with the world community when it comes to invoking international law.
Bush has applied these legal principles a la carte for years (for instance, ignoring the Geneva Conventions when he chooses), and many longer-serving U.S. officials have viewed events through the lens of American exceptionalism for decades.
For instance, even as the Reagan administration condemned terrorism in the 1980s, it secretly armed the Nicaraguan contras who engaged in acts of terrorism inside Nicaragua. In 1990, when President George H.W. Bush denounced Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, everyone conveniently forgot that he had invaded Panama in 1989.
It has been as if the rules moved on separate tracks, one set for the United States and one set for everyone else – and it was impolite to notice.
Since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, however, it has become harder to ignore Washington's double standards. Also, after the five-plus-year fiasco in Iraq, the Bush administration must confront both the limitations on its own imperial reach and the fact that it has done grave damage to the protocols of international behavior.
As Russia is now demonstrating in its conflict with Georgia, other big powers may want to play by the same do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do rules laid down by the United States.
It is a case of Washington, Bush and the neocons reaping what they have sown.
Currently
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My Bloody Underground
By
The Brian Jonestown Massacre
Release date: 2008-04-15
TONIGHT MONDAY AUGUST 11 AT BASSY CLUB NEXT DOOR TO 8MM
LIVE: Singapore Sling (Reykjavik) Index (Berlin) Eagle Boston (Berlin/Finland)
DJs: Anton Newcombe (Brian Jonestown Massacre)
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rest in peace mister hayes
Soul icon Isaac Hayes dies in Memphis at 65
By Dean Goodman Sun Aug 10, 6:38 PM ET
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Oscar-winning soul singer Isaac Hayes who, along with Al Green, James Brown and Stevie Wonder, was one of the dominant black artists in the early 1970s, died in Memphis on Sunday. He was 65. ADVERTISEMENT
His friend and former manager, Onzie Horne, told Reuters he spoke to Hayes' wife, Adjowa, who confirmed that Hayes had died.
Hayes, who once told Reuters that he was a "health fanatic," was reportedly found unconscious near a running treadmill at his home. He was rushed to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. The cause of death was not known. In early 2007, Hayes suffered a stroke.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee enjoyed two distinct musical careers, first as a session musician, songwriter and producer at the Memphis soul label Stax Records, where he worked primarily with Sam and Dave; then as a solo artist whose lushly orchestrated albums were some of the first concept works by a black artist.
"He was a real powerhouse in music," Don Cornelius, the founder of the "Soul Train" TV series, told Reuters. "He took black music to another level, made it more classic."
The deep-voiced performer was the first black composer to win the Oscar for best song, with 1971's "Theme from 'Shaft,"' an irresistibly urgent mix of wah-wah guitars and hi-hat cymbals spiced by the famous line, "They say this cat Shaft is a bad mother-/Shut your mouth!"
STAX STAR
Hayes, born August 20, 1942, in Covington, Tennessee, was raised by his grandparents after being orphaned. He joined Stax in 1963, and often subbed for the label's primary keyboardist, Booker T. Jones.
He eventually teamed with lyricist David Porter to write and produce songs for the soul duo Sam and Dave, including "Soul Man" and "Hold On! I'm A Comin'."
Hayes told Reuters in 2005 that he came up with the introductory horn line for the latter tune while Porter was in the bathroom. He yelled at his collaborator to hurry up, and so Porter barreled out with pants around his ankles, yelling the words that would become the song's title.
With his shaved head, dark shades, extravagant clothing and plentiful jewelry, Hayes was groomed as a star by Stax executives. He released his debut album, the poor-selling "Presenting Isaac Hayes," in 1968. He broke through the following year with "Hot Buttered Soul," which contained just four songs but sold over a million copies.
Chastened by his unsuccessful debut, Hayes took artistic control of the follow-up. Even though he was a successful songwriter, three of the four tunes were covers that he reinvented, including an 18-minute version of Jimmy Webb's "By the Time I Get To Phoenix."
Hayes' work on director Gordon Parks' urban crime drama "Shaft," a project he had hoped to star in, was the first of many forays into movie soundtracks. He got in front of the camera for the 1974 cult classic "Truck Turner" and kept busy with film work. He had a cameo role in an episode of "The Bernie Mac Show," whose star died on Saturday.
Hayes left Stax in a dispute over royalties in 1975, the year the faltering label went bankrupt. He filed for bankruptcy shortly thereafter and lost all his songwriting royalties.
In his later years, Hayes reached a new audience by supplying the voice for Chef, the libidinous sage on the cartoon series "South Park." But he left the show a few years ago because he disagreed with its attacks on Scientology, the religious movement to which he belonged.
(Reporting by Dean Goodman; Editing by Chris Wilson)
Operation Brimstone ended only one week ago. This was the joint US/UK/French naval war games in the Atlantic Ocean preparing for a naval blockade of Iran and the likely resulting war in the Persian Gulf area. The massive war games included a US Navy supercarrier battle group, an US Navy expeditionary carrier battle group, a Royal Navy carrier battle group, a French nuclear hunter-killer submarine plus a large number of US Navy cruisers, destroyers and frigates playing the "enemy force".
The lead American ship in these war games, the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN71) and its Carrier Strike Group Two (CCSG-2) are now headed towards Iran along with the USS Ronald Reagon (CVN76) and its Carrier Strike Group Seven (CCSG-7) coming from Japan.
They are joining two existing USN battle groups in the Gulf area: the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN72) with its Carrier Strike Group Nine (CCSG-9); and the USS Peleliu (LHA-5) with its expeditionary strike group.
Likely also under way towards the Persian Gulf is the USS Iwo Jima (LHD-7) and its expeditionary strike group, the UK Royal Navy HMS Ark Royal (R07) carrier battle group, assorted French naval assets including the nuclear hunter-killer submarine Amethyste and French Naval Rafale fighter jets on-board the USS Theodore Roosevelt. These ships took part in the just completed Operation Brimstone.
The build up of naval forces in the Gulf will be one of the largest multi-national naval armadas since the First and Second Gulf Wars. The intent is to create a US/EU naval blockade (which is an Act of War under international law) around Iran (with supporting air and land elements) to prevent the shipment of benzene and certain other refined oil products headed to Iranian ports. Iran has limited domestic oil refining capacity and imports 40% of its benzene. Cutting off benzene and other key products would cripple the Iranian economy. The neo-cons are counting on such a blockade launching a war with Iran.
The US Naval forces being assembled include the following:
Carrier Strike Group Nine USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN72) nuclear powered supercarrier with its Carrier Air Wing Two Destroyer Squadron Nine: USS Mobile Bay (CG53) guided missile cruiser USS Russell (DDG59) guided missile destroyer USS Momsen (DDG92) guided missile destroyer USS Shoup (DDG86) guided missile destroyer USS Ford (FFG54) guided missile frigate USS Ingraham (FFG61) guided missile frigate USS Rodney M. Davis (FFG60) guided missile frigate USS Curts (FFG38) guided missile frigate Plus one or more nuclear hunter-killer submarines
Peleliu Expeditionary Strike Group USS Peleliu (LHA-5) a Tarawa-class amphibious assault carrier USS Pearl Harbor (LSD52) assult ship USS Dubuque (LPD8) assult ship/landing dock USS Cape St. George (CG71) guided missile cruiser USS Halsey (DDG97) guided missile destroyer USS Benfold (DDG65) guided missile destroyer
Carrier Strike Group Two USS Theodore Roosevelt (DVN71) nuclear powered supercarrier with its Carrier Air Wing Eight Destroyer Squadron 22 USS Monterey (CG61) guided missile cruiser USS Mason (DDG87) guided missile destroyer USS Nitze (DDG94) guided missile destroyer USS Sullivans (DDG68) guided missile destroyer
USS Springfield (SSN761) nuclear powered hunter-killer submarine
IWO ESG ~ Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group USS Iwo Jima (LHD7) amphibious assault carrier with its Amphibious Squadron Four and with its 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit USS San Antonio (LPD17) assault ship USS Velia Gulf (CG72) guided missile cruiser USS Ramage (DDG61) guided missile destroyer USS Carter Hall (LSD50) assault ship USS Roosevelt (DDG80) guided missile destroyer
USS Hartfore (SSN768) nuclear powered hunter-killer submarine
Carrier Strike Group Seven USS Ronald Reagan (CVN76) nuclear powered supercarrier with its Carrier Air Wing 14 Destroyer Squadron 7 USS Chancellorsville (CG62) guided missile cruiser USS Howard (DDG83) guided missile destroyer USS Gridley (DDG101) guided missile destroyer USS Decatur (DDG73) guided missile destroyer USS Thach (FFG43) guided missile frigate USNS Rainier (T-AOE-7) fast combat support ship
Also likely to join the battle armada:
UK Royal Navy HMS Ark Royal Carrier Strike Group with assorted guided missile destroyers and frigates, nuclear hunter-killer submarines and support ships
French Navy nuclear powered hunter-killer submarines (likely the Amethyste and perhaps others), plus French Naval Rafale fighter jets operating off of the USS Theodore Roosevelt as the French Carrier Charles de Gaulle is in dry dock, and assorted surface warships
Various other US Navy warships and submarines and support ships. The following USN ships took part (as the "enemy" forces) in Operation Brimstone and several may join in:
USS San Jacinto (CG56) guided missile cruiser USS Anzio (CG68) guided missile cruiser USS Normandy (CG60) guided missile cruiser USS Carney (DDG64) guided missile destroyer USS Oscar Austin (DDG79) guided missile destroyer USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG81) guided missile destroyer USS Carr (FFG52) guided missile frigate
The USS Iwo Jima and USS Peleliu Expeditionary Strike Groups have USMC Harrier jump jets and an assortment of assault and attack helicopters. The Expeditionary Strike Groups have powerful USMC Expeditionary Units with amphibious armor and ground forces trained for operating in shallow waters and in seizures of land assets, such as Qeshm Island (a 50 mile long island off of Bandar Abbas in the Gulf of Hormuz and headquarters of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps).
The large and very advanced nature of the US Naval warships is not only directed at Iran. There is a great fear that Russia and China may oppose the naval and air/land blockade of Iran. If Russian and perhaps Chinese naval warships escort commercial tankers to Iran in violation of the blockade it could be the most dangerous at-sea confrontation since the Cuban Missile Crisis. The US and allied Navies, by front loading a Naval blockade force with very powerful guided missile warships and strike carriers is attempting to have a force so powerful that Russia and China will not be tempted to mess with. This is a most serious game of military brinkmanship with major nuclear armed powers that have profound objections to the neo-con grand strategy and to western control of all of the Middle East's oil supply.
The Russian Navy this spring sent a major battle fleet into the Mediterranean headed by the modern aircraft carrier the Admiral Kuznetsov and the flagship of its Black Sea Fleet, the Guided Missile Heavy Cruiser Moskva. This powerful fleet has at least 11 surface ships and unknown numbers of subs and can use the Russian naval facility at Syria's Tartous port for resupply. The Admiral Kuznetsov carries approximately 47 warplanes and 10 helicopters. The warplanes are mostly the powerful Su-33, a naval version (with mid-air refueling capability) of the Su-27 family. While the Su-33 is a very powerful warplane it lacks the power of the stealth USAF F-22. However, the Russians insist that they have developed a plasma based system that allows them to stealth any aircraft and a recent incident where Russian fighters were able to appear unannounced over a US Navy carrier battle group tends to confirm their claims. The Su-33 can be armed with the 3M82 Moskit sea-skimming missile (NATO code name SS-N-22 Sunburn) and the even more powerful P-800 Oniks (also named Yakhonts; NATO code name SS-N-26 Onyx). Both missiles are designed to kill US Navy supercarriers by getting past the cruiser/destroyer screen and the USN point-defense Phalanx system by using high supersonic speeds and violent end maneuvers. Russian subs currently use the underwater rocket VA-111 Shkval (Squall), which is fired from standard 533mm torpedo tubes and reaches a speed of 360kph (230mph) underwater. There is no effective countermeasures to this system and no western counterpart.
A strategic diversion has been created for Russia. The Republic of Georgia, with US backing, is actively preparing for war on South Ossetia. The South Ossetia capital has been shelled and a large Georgian tank force has been heading towards the border. Russia has stated that it will not sit by and allow the Georgians to attack South Ossetia. The Russians are great chess players and this game may not turn out so well for the neo-cons. UPDATE 8 August 2008 ~ War has broken out between Georgia and South Ossetia. At least 10 Russian troops have been killed and 30 wounded and 2 Russian fighter jets downed. American Marines, a thousand of them, have recently been in Georgia training the Georgian military forces. Several European nations stopped Bush and others from allowing Georgia into NATO. Russia is moving a large military force with armor towards the area. This could get bad, and remember it is just a strategic diversion....but one that could have horrific effects. Link to story "Russia sends forces into Georgia rebel conflict". FURTHER UPDATE ~ Russian military forces in active combat; now total of four Russian fighter jets reported downed. ADDITIONAL UPDATE ~ Georgia calls for US help; Russian Air Force bombs Georgian air bases. DEBKA, the Israeli strategy and military site, states that Israeli military officers are advising the Georgian armed forces in combat operations and that 1,000 Israelis are in-combat on the side of Georgia at this time.
Kuwait has activated its "Emergency War Plan" as it and other Gulf nations prepare for the likelihood of a major regional war in the Middle East involving weapons of mass destruction.
The two-ton elephant in the living room of the neo-con strategy is the advanced biowar (ABW) that Iran, and to a lessor extent Syria, has. This places the motherlands of the major neo-con nations (America, France, the United Kingdom), as well as Israel, in grave danger. When the Soviet Union fell the Iranians hired as many out-of-work former Soviet advanced biowar experts as possible. In the last 15 or so years they have helped to develop a truly world class ABW program utilizing recombination DNA genetic engineering technology to create a large number of man made killer viruses. This form of weapon system does not require high tech military delivery systems. The viruses are sub-microscopic and once seeded in a population use the population itself as vectors. Seeding can be done without notice in shopping malls, churches, and other public places. The only real defense to an advanced global strategic biowar attack is to lock down the population as rapidly as possible and let those infected die off.
Unless the public gets it act together and forces the neo-cons to stop the march to yet another war in the Middle East we are apt to see a truly horrific nightmare unfold in OUR COUNTRIES.
Stirling
Do something about this ~ email this article to as many of your friends as possible and post it on as many sites as possible, demand that your political leaders stop this nonsense before it kills us all. Blog EUROPE ~ home Scottish barony title for sale ~ link The Earl of Stirling is available for public speaking engagements ~ earlofstirling@yahoo.com
UK questioned on online ad system Commissioner Reding The commissioner for the Information Society wants to know more
The UK government has until the end of August to respond to a letter from the European Union about a controversial system which monitors web traffic.
EU commissioner Viviane Reding has asked the UK government to clarify whether the Phorm system is in breach of European data laws.
Phorm tracks users' web habits in order to better target ads at them and three UK ISPs are so far signed up to it.
BT is due to begin a widescale trial of the service imminently.
No action
Revelations that the telco conducted secret trials without seeking the consent of customers have led opponents of the scheme to call for it to be prosecuted.
They believe BT's two earlier trials were illegal because users were not informed that their web habits were under surveillance.
But the Information Commission ruled in May that no action would be taken against the telco due to the difficult nature of explaining to consumers what it was doing.
It said anyone using Phorm must ask for the consent of users before goi
amused
