Obama hails 'miracle' of Israel, reassures Palestinians

Obama hails 'miracle' of Israel, reassures Palestinians

Published: Wednesday July 23, 2008

Barack Obama called Israel a "miracle" as he courted Jewish voters back home Wednesday, but left Palestinians with the impression he would plunge into peacemaking if he makes it to the White House.

On the latest stage of his presidential-style tour through the Middle East and Europe, the Democratic candidate met top Palestinian and Israeli leaders, as he tried to convince Americans he is ready for the world stage.

US polls showed Obama is yet to solidify the normally solidly Democratic bloc of American Jewish voters, and he took pains to portray himself as a staunch friend of Israel, just over three months before the US election. .

Battling fatigue, the Illinois Senator held a volley of talks with Israeli leaders, toured the country's cramped topography by helicopter, and paid hommage to Holocaust victims at the Yad Vesham memorial.

Obama paid his respects to President Shimon Peres, and his role in Israel's history, before meeting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

"You have been deeply involved in this miracle that has blossomed and we are extraordinarily grateful not just as Americans but as world citizens for your outstanding service to your country," Obama told Peres.

During a day spent mostly with Israeli officials, Obama drove to the occupied West Bank and held just about an hour of talks with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in Ramallah.

"Obama told president Abbas if he wins the election in the United States he will be a full and positive partner in the peace process and will not lose a single moment in pursuing it," Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat told AFP.

"He supports a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and said from the first moment of his presidency he will be a very important partner in the peace process."

Obama angered Palestinians last month by saying an undivided Jerusalem must remain Israel's "capital", while the Palestinians want the occupied eastern sector of the city as the capital of their promised future state.

Obama made no statement after the talks.

On Tuesday, he said peace hopes were dimmed because Palestinian politics was divided between Abbas's secular Fatah party and the Islamists of Hamas, and turmoil was wracking Israel's fragile government.

"It is a very difficult process. There is a lot of history that exists between those two people. That history is not going to vanish overnight, he said in Jordan.

"So I think it's unrealistic to expect that a US president alone can suddenly snap his fingers and bring about peace in this region."

Many Palestinians welcome the change that Obama might represent after eight years with little to show from the administration of George W. Bush, but they think its unlikely he will bring about an end to the decades-old conflict.

"Change is good. Maybe Obama understands the Palestinian issue, but the question is whether he will do anything about it," said one east Jerualem resident, Munir Kort.

After visiting the West Bank, Obama journeyed to the southern Israeli town of Sderot, a few miles from the Gaza border, which has been a long time target of Hamas rockets and mortars.

Earlier, the Democratic senator toured Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem to the six million Jews who perished under the Nazis.

Wearing a white kippa, Obama laid a wreath at the Hall of Remembrance, where ashes recovered from Nazi extermination chambers are interred.

The memorial reminded him of "the core qualities of humanity that the Holocaust raises," he told reporters. "Man's great capacity for evil, and capacity to stop it. This is a place of hope."

Despite the round of presidential-style meetings, Obama's team insisted he would not attempt to interfere in current US policy on the Middle East in his meetings.

"The United States of America has one president at a time, that president is George W. Bush, so he will not be engaged in any shape or form in negotiations or policymaking or the like," said Obama foreign policy aide Susan Rice.

Obama, who has already visited Kuwait, Afghanistan, Iraq and Jordan, heads on to a three stop-tour of Europe, beginning in Berlin on Thursday

Old Antihistamine Pops Up as Potential Alzheimer's Therapy

HOUSTON, July 17 -- A nonselective antihistamine that was once sold in Russia, but is no longer marketed anywhere, can reverse cognitive effects of mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease, researchers here suggested. In a phase III trial, treatment with the drug known as dimebon improved scores on the cognitive subscale of the Alzheimer's disease assessment scale compared with both baseline (mean difference -1.9, P=0.0005) and placebo (-4.0, P<0.0001),>The Lancet. By contrast, commonly used cholinesterase inhibitors for mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease only temporarily stabilize or slow progressive deterioration without improvements over baseline, they wrote. Action Points Explain to interested patients that the study used an older drug that is not available commercially. Note that the findings will likely need to be replicated in an international trial. Dimebon appeared promising with significant improvements in five functional, cognitive, and behavioral outcomes, Dr. Doody said, "whereas with previously approved drugs we never saw benefit on all of the outcome measures in any of the trials." Dimebon was approved in Russia decades ago, said Dr. Doody, and sold for many years there as a non-selective antihistamine but was withdrawn for commercial reasons when more selective agents came on the market. It was never FDA-approved. In an accompanying Lancet commentary, Alistair Burns, M.D., of the University of Manchester in England, and Robin Jacoby, D.M., of the University of Oxford in England, said that now the drug has been discovered to attack multiple mechanisms involved in Alzheimer's disease, with weak cholinesterase, weak glutamatergic, and neuroprotective activity. Following a pilot study in Alzheimer's disease patients, the researchers conducted the current randomized trial in 183 patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease seen at 11 sites in Russia. The study was done in Russia because that was the country where there had been at least some experience with dimebon and it was considered ethical to compare it to placebo there because cholinesterase inhibitors weren't commonly used there. Patients were randomized to oral dimebon at a dose of 20 mg three times a day or matched placebo without any other antidementia drugs allowed. Treatment continued for 26 weeks with the option of a six-month extension phase. For the primary outcome measure of the main 26-week phase of the study, patients given dimebon had roughly the same degree of clinical improvement as placebo group patients had clinical deterioration. Scores on the cognitive subscale of the Alzheimer's disease assessment scale improved by 1.9 points from baseline with dimebon (P=0.0005) but declined about two points among placebo group for a four-point difference favoring dimebon (P<0.0001).> By 52 weeks for the 134 patients who continued blinded treatment in the extension phase, the difference in scores had further widened as dimebon-treated patients continued to have an average 1.23 higher score than at baseline whereas placebo group patients had clinical deterioration (mean difference -6.9, P<0.0001).> These findings suggested both that the improvements with the drug were not solely driven by deterioration in the placebo group and that benefits might continue to increase over time, Dr. Doody's group said. A secondary measure of cognition, the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), likewise showed improvement with dimebon but worsening with placebo at 26 weeks (P<0.0001).> Activity of daily living and behavioral scores also improved significantly with the drug compared with placebo at 26 weeks (P=0.002 and P=0.006, respectively). These treatment effects were likely clinically relevant, the researchers said, because improvements extended to independent physician-assessed global function as measured with the Clinician's Interview-based Impression of Change plus Caregiver Input (CIBIC-plus, mean change 0.28 with dimebon versus -0.33 with placebo). At 52 weeks, the advantage of dimebon over placebo continued to grow for both physician-assessed improvement on the CIBIC-plus and activity of daily living scores. Dimebon was well tolerated, with no increase in adverse events, although dry mouth did appear to be more common. Both the researchers and commentators noted that Alzheimer's care in Russia is still based on custodial care and drug treatment without wide or routine use of cholinesterase inhibitors and memantine (Namenda). "A larger multinational study is needed to confirm the finding," the investigators concluded. But "if such a study confirms our results, dimebon will represent an important advance in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease." The FDA has said the trial could potentially be considered a phase III trial for the purposes of registration and a multinational phase III trial with the drug was initiated just last month, Dr. Doody said. Medivation, a San Francisco firm, acquired the license to develop dimebon in 2003 from a research institute in Russia. Any compassionate use of the drug would have to be through the confirmatory phase III trial, which is still enrolling up to a planned 525 patients, according to Medivation. The study was funded by Medivation of San Francisco, which also provided the study drug. Dr. Doody reported serving on the Scientific and Clinical Advisory Board of Medivation and holding stock options in the company. Co-authors reported paid consulting for, serving on the Scientific and Clinical Advisory Board of, and holding stock options or royalty rights in Medivation. Two authors were employees of the company. Dr. Burns reported receiving research grants and consultancy fees from Pfizer, Eisai, Shire Janssen, and Novartis. Dr. Jacoby reported being chairman of the Global Initiative on Psychiatry, which works to reform psychiatric services and practice in former Soviet countries.

Primary source: The Lancet Source reference: Doody RS, et al "Effect of dimebon on cognition, activities of daily living, behaviour, and global function in patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease: A randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study" Lancet 2008; 372: 207-15. Additional source: The Lancet Source reference: Burns A, Jacoby R "Dimebon in Alzheimer's disease: Old drug for new indication" Lancet 2008; 372: 179-180.

ACLU: 'Mukasey calls on Congress to subvert Constitution'

ACLU: 'Mukasey calls on Congress to subvert Constitution'

"Mukasey is asking Congress to expand and extend the war on terror forever," said Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office, in a media advisory. "Anyone that this president or the next one declares to be a terrorist could then be held indefinitely without a trial. This is clearly the last gasp of an administration desperate to rationalize what is a failed legal scheme that was correctly rejected four times by the Supreme Court."

The Associated Press, acknowledging a Congress eager to transition into a busy election season, notes the rules are not likely to be approved. Mukasey's requests comes on the heels of a Supreme Court decision granting detainees the right to challenge their captivity in US federal court. Under Mukasey's proposals, a detainee would be able to challenge their detention, but would receive no extradition to the United States for the proceedings.

According to the Washington Post: "Under the Justice plan that Mukasey talked about today, the U.S. government could hold prisoners indefinitely so long as the armed conflict with al-Qaeda persisted."

Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) accused the attorney general of trying "to create an election-year security issue where there isn’t one."

"Our federal courts are capable of handling these cases, and no dangerous detainees held at Guantanamo will be released anytime soon," read a statement by Feingold to RAW STORY. "By repeatedly mishandling these cases, the administration has delayed justice from being served. If congressional action is needed to clean up the mess the administration created at Guantanamo, it should be taken alongside a new administration that doesn’t have such contempt for the rule of law."

"There is simply no need to invent yet another set of legal rules to govern the detention and trial of prisoners held on national security grounds, and the rules that the attorney general is proposing are fundamentally inconsistent with the Constitution," said Jameel Jaffer, Director of the ACLU National Security Project, in a media advisory. "The prisoners at Guantanamo, some of whom have been held without charges for more than six years, should be allowed a meaningful opportunity to challenge their detention in court. The handful of prisoners that have actually been charged with crimes should be tried under rules that conform to the Constitution and that the rest of the world will recognize as fair."

Among the rules Mukasey is seeking:

-Barring federal courts from allowing the detainees to be brought or released into the United States. He said detainees could participate in the court hearings by video link from Guantanamo if necessary. "Many of them pose an extraordinary threat to Americans," he said.

-Protecting counterterror intelligence gathered and used to detain the suspects from being turned over to courts.

-Prohibiting detainees charged with war crimes from challenging their capture until after they stand trial. Additionally, detainees should not be allowed to appeal their imprisonment under more than one legal standard.

-Assigning one federal court, and one judge, to oversee the detainee release cases to make sure they are heard in a coordinated effort.

-Underscoring that the United States has the authority to detain suspects it has identified as enemy combatants. "The United States has every right to capture and detain enemy combatants in this conflict, and need not simply release them to return to the battlefield - as indeed some of them have," Mukasey said.

Excerpts from ACLU press release:

#

"This is clearly the last gasp of an administration desperate to rationalize what is a failed legal scheme that was correctly rejected four times by the Supreme Court. With as little as five work weeks left in this Congress, there are more important issues than helping the lame-duck president cook up an indefensible plan to lock people up forever and throw away the key with no due process rights and limited judicial review."

"The attorney general's proposal would hide the torture and abuse conducted since 9/11," Fredrickson said. "This is one more effort to cover up the illegal activities authorized by the president and his administration. Attorney General Mukasey might be ok with helping in a cover-up, but there is no reason to think that Congress will assist him."

Whole story may be read at this link.

Feingold: Mukasey trying to 'create election-year security issue'

A top Democratic senator is accusing the Attorney General of trying "to create an election-year security issue where there isn’t one."

Congress, and not judges, should decide how to give Guantanamo Bay detainees their day in court, the attorney general said Monday in calling for new laws governing how foreign terror suspects seek their release.

It's doubtful, however, that Congress will approve the legal measures Attorney General Michael Mukasey wants before the end of the election-season year.

A federal court in Washington is currently working on rules for judicial hearings for about 200 suspected al-Qaida and Taliban foot soldiers who charge they're being illegally held at the prison at the U.S. naval base in Cuba. A Supreme Court ruling last month gave the detainees the right to challenge their capture in U.S. civilian courts.

"With so many cases, there is a serious risk of inconsistent rulings and considerable uncertainty," Mukasey, himself a former federal judge, told an audience at Washington think-tank, the American Enterprise Institute.

Left to the courts to decide, Mukasey said, many of the cases could wind up in appeals that would further delay the hearings. "It hardly takes a pessimist to expect that, without guidance from the Congress, different judges on even the same court will disagree," he said.

Critics immediately called Mukasey's request an attempt to go around the Supreme Court with legislation that also would face lengthy legal challenges. The court's June 12 ruling said Congress' earlier efforts to intervene in detainee cases were unconstitutional.

"What Mukasey is doing is a shocking attempt to drag us into years of further legal challenges and delays," said Vincent Warren, executive director for the Center for Constitutional Rights. The group has helped find lawyers to represent the detainees.

"Congress should be a part of the solution this time by letting the courts do their job," Warren said.

In a statement sent to RAW STORY, Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) complains that "The Attorney General’s comments today appeared to be an attempt to create an election-year security issue where there isn’t one."

"Our federal courts are capable of handling these cases, and no dangerous detainees held at Guantanamo will be released anytime soon," Feingold's statement continued. "By repeatedly mishandling these cases, the administration has delayed justice from being served. If congressional action is needed to clean up the mess the administration created at Guantanamo, it should be taken alongside a new administration that doesn’t have such contempt for the rule of law."

Mukasey said Justice Department attorneys are hopeful and available to help Congress craft legislation. He said lawmakers should feel spurred, and not delayed, by the election year to pass the laws. Judges have said they want to set rules governing the detainees' hearings by year's end.

Among the rules Mukasey is seeking:

-Barring federal courts from allowing the detainees to be brought or released into the United States. He said detainees could participate in the court hearings by video link from Guantanamo if necessary. "Many of them pose an extraordinary threat to Americans," he said.

-Protecting counterterror intelligence gathered and used to detain the suspects from being turned over to courts.

-Prohibiting detainees charged with war crimes from challenging their capture until after they stand trial. Additionally, detainees should not be allowed to appeal their imprisonment under more than one legal standard.

-Assigning one federal court, and one judge, to oversee the detainee release cases to make sure they are heard in a coordinated effort.

-Underscoring that the United States has the authority to detain suspects it has identified as enemy combatants. "The United States has every right to capture and detain enemy combatants in this conflict, and need not simply release them to return to the battlefield - as indeed some of them have," Mukasey said.

Hillary Clinton

Hillary Clinton

An Outrageous Attempt by the Bush Administration to Undermine Women's Rights

The Bush administration is up to its old tricks again, quietly putting ideology before science and women's health. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is poised to put in place new barriers to accessing common forms of contraception like birth control pills, emergency contraception and IUDs by labeling them "abortion." These proposed regulations set to be released next week will allow healthcare providers to refuse to provide contraception to women who need it. We can't let them get away with this underhanded move to undermine women's health and that's why I am sounding the alarm.

These rules pose a serious threat to providers and uninsured and low-income Americans seeking care. They could prevent providers of federally-funded family planning services, like Medicaid and Title X, from guaranteeing their patients access to the full range of comprehensive family planning services. They'll also build significant barriers to counseling, education, contraception and preventive health services for those who need it most: low-income and uninsured women and men.

The regulations could even invalidate state laws that currently ensure access to contraception for many Americans. In fact, they describe New York and California's laws requiring prescription drug insurance plans to provide coverage for contraceptives as part of "the problem." These rules would even interfere with New York State law that ensures survivors of sexual assault and rape receive emergency contraception in hospital emergency rooms.

We've seen this kind of ideologically driven move from the Bush administration before. Senator Patty Murray and I went toe to toe with the Bush administration to demand a decision on Plan B by the FDA. We won that fight and we need to win this one too.

When I learned about these proposed rules, I immediately joined with Senator Murray to call on the Bush administration to stop these dangerous plans. I am joining with New York family planning and healthcare advocates to spread the word. Now is the time to raise our voices. I will continue to press HHS and I hope you will join me. I have posted information on how to get involved here.

Think Tank Calls For Bush to Be Dictator For Life

Think Tank Calls For Bush to Be Dictator For Life
08-16-2007
www.roguegovernment.com
Lee Rogers

Family Security Matters a neo-conservative based think tank has published an article advocating that George W. Bush should be a dictator for life. The organization has since taken the article down, but is still viewable via this cached link.

Conquering the Drawbacks of Democracy: By Philip Atkinson

The article written by Philip Atkinson states that Bush would fail his country by becoming an ex-President or can achieve greatness by becoming President-for-Life Bush in order to bring sense to Congress and sanity to the Supreme Court. Atkinson is bluntly advocating that Bush should become dictator for life with these outrageously anti-American statements.

From the article:

President Bush can fail in his duty to himself, his country, and his God, by becoming “ex-president” Bush or he can become “President-for-Life” Bush: the conqueror of Iraq, who brings sense to the Congress and sanity to the Supreme Court. Then who would be able to stop Bush from emulating Augustus Caesar and becoming ruler of the world? For only an America united under one ruler has the power to save humanity from the threat of a new Dark Age wrought by terrorists armed with nuclear weapons.

Atkinson also advocates that Bush should get rid of everyone in Iraq through military force and repopulate the country with Americans.

From the article:

If President Bush copied Julius Caesar by ordering his army to empty Iraq of Arabs and repopulate the country with Americans, he would achieve immediate results: popularity with his military; enrichment of America by converting an Arabian Iraq into an American Iraq (therefore turning it from a liability to an asset); and boost American prestiege while terrifying American enemies.

Although these statements by Atkinson are completely insane and entirely anti-American, the author also shows complete ignorance as to the type of government the United States is supposed to be. The author states that Bush is a victim of Democracy when in fact the United States is not a Democracy.

From the article:

Yet in 2007 he is generally despised, with many citizens of Western civilization expressing contempt for his person and his policies, sentiments which now abound on the Internet. This rage at President Bush is an inevitable result of the system of government demanded by the people, which is Democracy.

The inadequacy of Democracy, rule by the majority, is undeniable – for it demands adopting ideas because they are popular, rather than because they are wise. This means that any man chosen to act as an agent of the people is placed in an invidious position: if he commits folly because it is popular, then he will be held responsible for the inevitable result. If he refuses to commit folly, then he will be detested by most citizens because he is frustrating their demands.

Although I do agree that Democracy is a horrible form of government, Atkinson's argument holds no water since we do not have a Democracy in this country. The United States is in fact a Constitutional Republic, so it is not possible for Bush to be a victim of Democracy.

Unfortunately, Atkinson might get his wish of a Bush dictatorship. The HSPD-20/NSPD-51 directives issued by Bush states that the President is to have complete control over all three branches of government during a catastrophic emergency. In addition, the Department of Homeland Security plans for continuity of government operations have been kept secret from Congress.

Either way, Atkinson the author of this article is clearly an insane individual who hates America. From advocating the colonization of Iraq with Americans as well as a Bush dictatorship, it is clear this individual needs some serious help. It also leaves questions as to the judgment of this Family Security Matters organization considering they openly published this anti-American trash. An investigation by Free Market News Network, found that Family Security Matters is actually a front group for the Center for Security Policy a group that Vice President Dick Cheney is a known associate of. Removing the article was clearly a means of damage control and it shows how rabid and insane the neo-conservative base has become. This article shows that today's neo-conservative is nothing more than the 21st century equivalent of a Nazi in pre World War II Germany.

McCain camp reacts to Maliki’s call for withdrawal: Voters don’t care what Iraqi leaders say.

McCain camp reacts to Maliki’s call for withdrawal: Voters don’t care what Iraqi leaders say.

In response to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s clear statement in support of a 16-month redeployment from Iraq, a senior McCain official tells Marc Ambinder “[V]oters care about [the] military, not about Iraqi leaders.” A “prominent Republican strategist” who occasionally provides advice to the McCain campaign said more candidly, “We’re f*cked.” Recall, this is what McCain said in 2004:

QUESTION: Let me give you a hypothetical, senator. What would or should we do if, in the post-June 30th period, a so-called sovereign Iraqi government asks us to leave, even if we are unhappy about the security situation there? I understand it’s a hypothetical, but it’s at least possible.

McCAIN: Well, if that scenario evolves, then I think it’s obvious that we would have to leave because — if it was an elected government of Iraq — and we’ve been asked to leave other places in the world. If it were an extremist government, then I think we would have other challenges, but I don’t see how we could stay when our whole emphasis and policy has been based on turning the Iraqi government over to the Iraqi people.

Kucinich to investigate police surveillance of protest groups

Kucinich to investigate police surveillance of protest groups

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), who has figured prominently in recent political news for his attempts to begin impeachment hearings against President George W. Bush, today announced that the congressional subcommittee he chairs will look into reports of peace groups being surveilled by police and private investigators.

"[M]ost people would be upset to know that police were spying on lawful citizens and infiltrating peaceful organizations, rather than chasing down real criminals," said Kucinich in a press release delivered to RAW STORY. "At a minimum, such police spying is clearly a waste of taxpayer dollars and a diversion from the mission of protecting and serving the people.

"I want the subcommittee to determine how widespread these activities are and who ordered them," the Ohio Democrat and former presidential candidate said.

Kucinich chairs the House Domestic Policy Subcommittee of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

The press release referred to reports that Maryland state police officers infiltrated peace and anti-death penalty groups and that private investigators working on behalf of "several large corporations" had surveilled environmental groups.

Such surveillance is apparently not limited to law enforcement and private investigators. In January 2007, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) released a report showing "widespread Pentagon surveillance of peace activists."

Atwill Interview: The Roman Conspiracy to Invent Jesus

Joseph Atwill, author of Caesar's Messiah describes the war between the Romans and the Jews and the invention of Christianity as a means to overwrite the history of the messianic Jewish movement of Judea by the Roman Flavian Caesars as post war propoganda.
http://www.rodephemet.org

Guess Who's Coming to the Impeachment

Guess Who's Coming to the Impeachment
In response to public demand for impeachment hearings and pressure from Congressman Dennis Kucinich, Congressman Robert Wexler, and others, as well as electoral challenges by pro-impeachment candidates, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi finally caved and proposed to allow Kucinich to present impeachment in a Judiciary Committee hearing.

The hearing was then scheduled for a Friday (July 25) and scheduled to last a full two-hours (10 a.m. to noon). Then the topic was altered. Rather than being about impeachment, the hearing will be about impeachment and other supposed remedies to a lawless presidency, with the bulk of the time devoted to those other remedies. Most of those other remedies will involve, believe it or not, legislative proposals. Thus, the dererrence to future presidents who follow the Bush-Cheney tradition of violating all laws and checks on power will be the knowledge that during the administration following Bush-Cheney some bills were passed criminalizing what had always been criminal activity.
Rumor has it there are two panels being planned for the hearing, one consisting of Kucinich and four other members of Congress (Jane Harman, Walter Jones, Brad Miller, and Maurice Hinchey), and the other consisting of five non-Congress Members (Elizabeth Holtzman, Bruce Fein, Frederick Schwartz, John Dean, and Bob Barr). Each of these speakers will likely have 5 minutes for opening remarks. So, Kucinich's presentation of the impeachable offenses of 7.5 years will be limited to 5 minutes. The hope of those planning this afair will be to bury impeachment.

Here's why they'll fail. Holtzman and Fein -- and Kucinich -- are among the most persuasive advocates for impeachment alive. At least those three speakers, it is safe to assume, will be standing up for our Constitution. Another you can add to that list is commmittee member Robert Wexler. Others are committee members Shiela Jackson-Lee and Tammy Baldwin. It is safe to assume that these members will direct their questioning to the need for impeachment and the advocates of beginning it. Plus Hinchey favors impeachment too.

Other supporters of impeachment on the committee are Keith Ellison, Steve Cohen, Hank Johnson, and Maxine Waters, as well as Luis Gutierrez and Anthony Weiner. Zoe Lofgren is also likely to speak up for impeachment. And those in the room as audience will be overwhelmingly defenders of our Constitution. But you can help defend it without coming to Washington. Here's how:

Contact the members of the Judiciary Committee and insist that they be there on Friday the 25th and that they speak up for impeachment:

Take action -- click here to contact your local newspaper or congress people:
IMPEACH

Click here to see the most recent messages sent to congressional reps and local newspapers

http://www.davidswanson.org

DAVID SWANSON is a co-founder of After Downing Street, a writer and activist, and the Washington Director of Democrats.com. He is a board member of Progressive Democrats of America, and serves on the Executive Council of the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild, TNG-CWA. He has worked as a newspaper reporter and as a communications director, with jobs including Press Secretary for Dennis Kucinich's 2004 presidential campaign, Media Coordinator for the International Labor Communications Association, and three years as Communications Coordinator for ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. Swanson obtained a Master's degree in philosophy from the University of Virginia in 1997.

2 Million Cats and Dogs Skinned Alive

2 Million Cats and Dogs Skinned Alive in China.

Yesterday I received a message on the internet that 2 million cats and dogs were skinned alive in China for their fur to cover figurines and trinkets. I was angry, I was crestfallen, I was incredibly horrified. And to think that the Olympic committee chose China as a venue for the Olympic games. Why give a nation known for its cruelty to animals a chance to shine as an Olympic showcase? I would tell the committee that they either don't care about animals or they just didn't do their homework well.

Even Amnesty International wanted us to know that some of its own people were unfairly treated because the government at will took away property and livelihood for the building of the Olympic venues. Amnesty told the story of one poor Chinese man who is languishing in prison because he dared protest the confiscation of his property which I imagine was taken without compensation.

Walking my dog Casey this morning as I said my rosary, it was hard for me to meditate on the mysteries of my 10-decade walk. I find that if I go around the rosary twice, that my walk is sufficient for the day. But today I was thinking more of those poor dogs and cats who were skinned alive because the Chinese think that the fur is better when taken from live dogs and cats squirming in agony and who are then left to die slowly in shock and pain. Monstrous! What kind of people are they? What can we do?

Sadly it seems to me that all we do is write about these horrible cruelties and nothing changes. It continues. I remember thinking a few years ago when the Darfur genocide started - surely the UN will stop it. Hardly. Here were people who were killed and driven out of their homes and no one came to their rescue.

So here are millions of helpless cats and dogs and no one will come to their rescue but we will travel there to watch the Olympic Games. It amazes me that we -a country of cat and dog lovers seem helpless to do anything to stop this horror. Of course, if we do have the will, then what can we do? Some of you may do what I and others will do - we will boycott the Olympics. I will not watch them on TV. I hope that a lot of advertizing dollars will be lost as a result. Sadly, I doubt that many will take this action. I find we commiserate for a whole minute and then -it's over and back to busines as usual.

I hope Chinese Americans will write the Chinese authorites here and in China and tell them that treating cats and dogs in this cruel fashion is causing Americans and people of other nations to look disfavorably on China. They could also mention that the old women in southern China should be educated to the cruelty of boiling cats alive for bogus health
benefits. I just can't get over their having no feeling for the horrible suffering of the cats. Some people keep on reminding me of respecting other nations' practices. If they are cruel, than a compassionate people should work to educate and reverse them.

During the years I have read of many cruel happenings to the animals in China. A few years ago when there was an outbreak of rabies in one province, soldiers were told to take all the dogs off the streets, in the yards, and in the homes to be euthanized. People who loved their dogs had them removed forcibly from their arms. Can you imagine something like this happening here?

In some parts of China - the people attend horse fights. How terrible to watch these beautiful animals engage in a bloody fight which I believe is often a family affair. Of course we have cruel dog and cock fighting, but thankfully it has become illegal in many states now.

I am saddened that we did away with tariff taxes and introduced free trade to the world. Now we are reaping the effects of accepting products from all countries like China whose practices often are lacking in the humane treatment of animals. Again, I ask what can we do? Please don't discount prayer - prayer that will wake up our legislators to effectively tell the Chinese that we don't want any of their fur- trimmed trinkets gotten at such a horrible price. Congress has banned them already, so why is this cruelty continuing? Are other countries buying them too? Can Congress do more to retaliate against a country who is treating its animals so cruelly for profit? I know it is easier said than done. How sad that we can do so little to help these suffering animals because of protocul and concern of stepping
on nation's toes.

I have been concerned about animal suffering ever since I received my first puppy Peaches in 1975. She made me take a good look at the animal kingdom and I was shocked to see how badly we treat so many animals. At 77, I've been a vegan for the past 30 years and I thank God every day that I am. I am most disturbed at how little the Catholic Church and Christian churches generally give to concern re animal suffering in their ministry. I wrote to 350 bishops in 2001 and only 10-13 responded. I feel that the very least they can do is to instruct that the priests give one sermon a year on compassion to animals. I am still waiting for that sermon. I also belong to Catholic Concern for Animals - founded in England in 1929. (They are on the internet) I recently sent a sample copy of their bi-monthly publication called the ARK to the 8 Catholic bishops of Ohio. Only ONE kindly responded. Somehow we have to reach the Christian teaching magisterium. There is next to nothing re animal concerns and compassion for them. They basically believe that animals are the lessor of God's creation and that gives us the right to do anything we want to them. Way wrong. We need to change their mindsets. The animals are God's first and He expects us to treat them compassionately.

Unearthed: News of the Week the Mainstream Media Forgot to Report

Unearthed: News of the Week the Mainstream Media Forgot to Report

Karl Rove Flees the Country, Skips Compelled Testimony Before Congress

Karl Rove failed to appear under subpoena for his scheduled July 9 testimony before the House Judiciary Committee to discuss the Bush administration's role in the firing of nine U.S. attorneys in 2006 and the prosecution of former Alabama governor Don Siegelman. Instead of appearing in front of the committee, Rove left the country. His lawyer continued to claim that Rove is "immune" and protected by executive privilege, reminiscent of last year's episode when Rove ignored a subpoena from the Senate Judiciary Committee to discuss similar politicization of the Justice Department. The House Judiciary Committee intends to vote later this month on whether to charge Rove with civil and criminal contempt for evading the most recent Congressional subpoena.

A few days after snubbing Congress, Rove somehow found a way to return from abroad in time to speak to reporters in Beverly Hills about his new TV show on Fox News Channel. When asked about his failure to comply with the federal subpoena, Rove told the assembled reporters "It's not between me and Congress. I've not asserted any personal privilege. This is between the White House and Congress." He added, "People talk about me a lot, and they don't see me very often."

Schwarzenegger Calls Bush Administration Approach to Global Warming "Bogus"

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger told reporters the Bush administration's failure to act on cutting emissions proved that it did not believe in global warming, and that any last minute attempts to act before Bush leaves office would be insincere.

"If they would have done something this year, I would have thought it was bogus anyway," Schwarzenegger said. "You don't really have an effect by doing something six months before you leave office ... it doesn't sound to me believable at all. The sincerity is not there."

Schwarzenegger's strong criticism of the failed climate policies of the Bush administration came just hours after the Environmental Protection Agency issued a report promising no new action to cut emissions and calling for 120 days of public comment, cementing Bush's legacy as an obstacle to progress in solving the climate crisis.

Antarctic ice shelf on verge of collapse

Scientists warn that a massive ice shelf near the base of the Antarctic Peninsula is hanging by a thread and could disintegrate very rapidly once it breaks off, despite the fact that it is now the middle of winter in the southern hemisphere.

Satellite images from the European Space Agency show that the Wilkins shelf - the largest to be threatened so far - is "hanging by its last thread." The thin ice bridge connecting the 5,600 square mile ice shelf to Charcot Island is currently fracturing. The fact that it is continuing to melt in the depths of winter worries scientists, who believe that warm ocean water is contributing to the melting from underneath.

Scientists previously predicted the shelf would not collapse until the early 2020s, providing further evidence that the planet is warming more quickly than previously thought. A recent collapse in the same area caused a loss of roughly 520 square miles of ice, the first-known collapse to occur during the Southern Hemisphere winter. So far seven shelves on the peninsula have collapsed due to climate change.

Bush Library Fundraiser Solicits Cash for Access to Administration Inner Circle

Bush-Cheney campaign fundraiser and lobbyist Stephen Payne was caught on tape offering access to key members of the Bush administration in exchange for "six-figure donations to the private library being set up to commemorate Bush's presidency," according to the UK Sunday Times. Seeking to confirm rumors that library fundraisers are offering favors in exchange for hefty donations, the Times launched an undercover investigation and taped Payne dangling the promise of private meetings with Dick Cheney, Condoleeza Rice and other Bush insiders - perhaps even Bush himself - in exchange for $250,000 donations to the planned library. Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, TX announced in February that it would host Bush's $200 million presidential library, a decision immediately met with widespread protests from faculty, administrators, staff, and Methodist ministers. The library plan includes a think tank designed to "promote the vision of the president" and "celebrate" Bush's presidency. Karl Rove will serve as a key advisor to the library, which will be guided by a design firm rather than by historians who typically oversee the set-up of outgoing presidents' archives. Payne promised the undercover reporter that he could set up a D.C. meeting with Bush insiders for an exiled Asian politician in exchange for a fee of roughly $750,000, of which $250,000 would go to the library with the rest pocketed by Payne's own lobbying firm, Worldwide Strategic Partners.

U.S. Terrorism Watch List Tops 1 Million Records

The American Civil Liberties Union announced that the FBI's watch list of terrorism suspects just surpassed 1 million records, corresponding to about 400,000 people. The ACLU asserts that the number of records renders the list ineffective.
The government's "no-fly" list prior to the September 11 terrorist attacks contained just 16 people considered threats to aviation. The TSA's list swelled to over 100,000 names last year and now stands at about 50,000 names after a reluctant cleanup. Targeted passengers face additional screening, travel bans or even arrest, and currently have no right to challenge their inclusion on the list, the ACLU said.
"Members of Congress, nuns, war heroes and other 'suspicious characters,' with names like Robert Johnson and Gary Smith, have become trapped in the Kafkaesque clutches of this list, with little hope of escape," said Caroline Fredrickson, director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office.

Mukasey Suggests Officials Behind Torture Authorization 'Cannot and Should Not' Be Investigated or Charged

Attorney General Michael Mukasey testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee July 9 that he "cannot and should not" prosecute Bush administration officials who authorized torture even though they violated federal and international law. Mukasey said any investigation of CIA interrogators who tortured detainees or the officials who authorized torture would be ill-advised. "I think what lawyers have to do is focus on what's legal and not be concerned with what is politically acceptable later on. And if we go after them and prosecute them that's exactly what they will be concerned about," he told the committee. Less than a year ago, Mukasey had a different outlook, stating the Bush administration's infamous torture memo was "worse than a sin, it was a mistake."

McCain Adviser Phil Gramm Describes U.S. As "A Nation of Whiners"

Phil Gramm, former Texas senator and current advisor to Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign, told the Washington Times he thinks Americans are overly pessimistic about current economic conditions and claims there's no recession in sight.
"We have sort of become a nation of whiners," he said. "You just hear this constant whining, complaining about a loss of competitiveness, America in decline," said Gramm.

"We've never been more dominant; we've never had more natural advantages than we have today," he said. "We have benefited greatly" from globalization in the last 30 years. "Thank God the economy is not as bad as you read in the newspaper every day," Gramm said. McCain responded to the remarks by saying that Gramm "does not speak for me," although McCain remarked in April that "A lot of our problems today, as you know, are psychological." The Center for American Progress points out that Gramm played a key role in gutting many of the institutions designed to keep the economy sound and that financial maneuvers enabled by Gramm's legislative measures would become "the heart of the subprime meltdown."

Arlington Cemetery Whistleblower Canned For Exposing Limits on Media Access to Soldiers' Funerals

Gina Gray, until recently the public affairs director at Arlington National Cemetery, was fired for exposing the fact that cemetery officials attempted to limit media coverage of funerals of soldiers killed in the Iraq war, often despite the fact that fallen soldiers' families granted permission for the coverage. After Gray told The Washington Post in an April interview that the new limitations were contrary to Army regulations, she was demoted and ultimately fired.

"Had I not put my foot down, had I just gone along with it and not said regulations were being violated, I'm sure I'd still be there," Gray told the Post recently. Gray blew the whistle after observing that the cemetery's deputy superintendent, Thurman Higginbotham, had moved the media area 50 yards away from funeral sites, obstructing photography and making the service inaudible. Through at least 2005, reporters were stationed so that they could hear the prayers and the eulogies and film the handing of the folded flag to the next of kin. Gray says that cemetery officials began calling the families of the dead to encourage them not to allow media coverage at the funerals.

War Coverage Buried by Networks, Reporters Say

Reporters attempting to cover the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan say that getting their stories on the air is increasingly difficult as network brass cut staff and fail to air many filed reports.

Data compiled by Andrew Tyndall, a television consultant who monitors the three network evening newscasts, reveals that coverage of the Iraq war has been "massively scaled back this year." The three major newscasts have shown 181 weekday minutes of Iraq war coverage so far this year, compared with 1,157 minutes for all of 2007. The "CBS Evening News" has devoted the fewest minutes to the war, 51, versus 55 minutes on ABC's "World News" and 74 minutes on "NBC Nightly News."

The networks have also pulled reporting staff out of the war zone. CBS News no longer stations a single full-time correspondent in Iraq after being "drastically downsized" in the spring, according to CBS News correspondent Lara Logan. No American television network has a full-time correspondent in Afghanistan.

Big Brother Shock Therapy: Is Homeland Security Considering Requiring All Airline Passengers to Wear High-Tech Tasing Devices?

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT
by Meg White

Start with long lines and rising prices. Now add the possibility of walking into an airport and having a bracelet attached to your wrist with the power to completely incapacitate you.

No wonder air travel is increasingly unpopular.

As reported by The Washington Times earlier this week, Paul Ruwaldt, an official with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, wrote a letter to the Canadian security company Lamperd Less Lethal, Inc. requesting a proposal for a stun-gun-type device to be used for international border management, prisoner transfer and other security situations. Ruwaldt also wrote, "it is conceivable to envision a use to improve airline security, on passenger planes."

The company has suggested in the past that the device could not only contain airline passengers' personal information and track their whereabouts, but could have the ability to render each passenger "completely immobile for several minutes."

The device on which Ruwaldt based his request, innocuously called "The EMD Safety Bracelet," uses electro-muscular disruption to incapacitate dangerous passengers once a security problem is identified upon an aircraft. A video -- which the company said was not produced by them -- promotes the device and was, until recently, available at the the company's website.

The video draws a clear line from their product to airline security, opening with news reports of the terrorist attack on 9/11 and identifying problems with current safety precautions.

"The technology is only as good as the people using it," says the narrator of the video.

The video disparages the use of armed marshals on airplanes, and instead advocates putting flight attendants in a security role. The company later explained details of the operation of the device in a press release titled, Clearing Up Misconceptions About The EMD Safety Bracelet:

"The steward/stewardess will have a laser activator that can activate any bracelet as needed by simply pointing the laser at the bracelet - that laser dot only needs to be within 10 inches of the bracelet to activate it."

The video narrator says wearing the bracelet is "a small inconvenience." The video ends with a confident appraisal of passengers' willingness to submit to Big Brother:

"Many if not most passengers would happily opt for the extra security of the EMD safety bracelet."

There is an immediacy in Ruwaldt's letter to the company. The undated letter begins by expressing interest in technologies introduced by the company in a July 2006 meeting with the Department of Homeland Security, and ends with urgency:

"Most of the organizing for this program/project will happen within the next month ..."

One of the patent-holders of the device explained the idea to a reporter at Information Week:

"I like to call it the next generation of Taser," said co-inventor Per Hahne, "theirs being a one-shot deal and mine being a multiple-shot deal."

According to Amnesty International, dozens of Americans are killed by police Tasers every year. The company addressed the differences between Tasers and their device, noting their product is cheaper and effective at greater distances. They say there are no long-term effects from their device (only bruising and lacerations are mentioned), but their testing has only been done on cadavers.

The Washington Times reporter who wrote the original story, Jeffrey Denning, is a "private security specialist" and U.S. Army Reservist who just returned from his last tour of duty in Iraq, according to his blog. While the credibility and provenance of this story have been questioned, we at BuzzFlash would not be shocked if President George W. Bush's Homeland Security Department were looking into the production of such a device.

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT

Legal scholar: Evidence suggests Bush committed crimes

Legal scholar: Evidence suggests Bush committed crimes

Law professor rebukes Democrats for letting Bush off hook

Nancy Pelosi needs to hold meaningful impeachment hearings that will focus on evidence that President Bush has committed crimes in office, constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley said Wednesday.

Turley was speaking with MSNBC's Keith Olbermann about the House Speaker's indication that she would let the Judiciary Committee hold an hearing to consider an impeachment article introduced by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH).

The problem, Turley says, is that Pelosi has already rendered a "not guilty" verdict on the impeachment question, and the hearing organizers are making sure they won't be exposing any additional criminal activity. This makes the whole exercise more like a "fancy dress ball," than a criminal prosecution, he said.

Recalling his testimony to an impeachment hearing during the Clinton administration, Turley said the Republican Congress was focused on its goal of impeaching the president in a way the Democrats simply are not.

"It covered crimes," Turley said of Clinton's congressional inquisition. "What [Pelosi and others are] already saying is that they'll be talking about a wide array of abuses by the president.

"An impeachment hearing needs to be focused and it needs to deal with things directly and frankly, as whether the president committed crimes," he continued, "And there is considerable evidence to say that the answer is yes."

This video is from MSNBC's Countdown, broadcast July 16, 2008.

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