Portuguese will vote in referendum very soon on abortion....

Portugal is one of the few places in European family of nations which still bans abortions. Portuguese Prime Minister José(Zé) Socrates' decision to hold a referendum on legalising abortion, approved by Parliament will probably be held in mid-November and will probably bring in changes more in line with her partners in the EU. Although in 1984 the law was changed to allow abortion in certain exceptional circumstances such as risk of danger to the life or health of the mother, a malformed foetus or rape, women still face up to 3 years in prison for procuring an abortion or more for performing one.

The number of backstreet abortions annually in Portugal is estimated at between about 20,000 and 40,000, while thousands more go abroad to terminate unwanted pregnancies under different legal jurisdictions. and Figures from the Portuguese health ministry say five women died last year after secret abortions.

It is frequently claimed that 700 legal abortions take place annually. It must be remembered that in Portugal (Penal Code Art. 172,175) the age of consent for sexual intercourse with adults (i.e. over 18) is set at 14 for heterosexual sex, (and at 16 for homosexual sex ).The legal age limit for marriage is 18 but may be 16 with parental consent. Sexual orientation is now protected by the Portuguese Constitution following EU directives, and gay couples can form civil unions.

In 1998 a referendum was held on changing the law to allow abortion on demand up to 10 weeks into pregnancy. The proposal was narrowly defeated ( by 51% to 49%) but voter turnout at 30% was very low.The new referendum will probably use the question, "Do you agree that abortions, carried out in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy, with the woman's consent, in a legal medical establishment, should no longer be illegal?"

In January 2002 a mass abortion “show” trial was held involving 42 women, one of whom was 16 at the time of the abortion. A nurse who performed abortions in her home was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison. In 2004 the President commuted her sentence.

The women who were accused of having their pregnancies terminated either had charges against them dropped or had their prison sentences commuted to fines.
In March 2004, members of Portugal's parliament voted down three separate proposals to legalize abortion after more than 200,000 petitions were submitted against them.

"The solution for a woman in difficulty should never be the death of her unborn child," said one of the leaders of a pro-life coalition, Teresa Aires de Campos, after the votes.

"We want to create a society where a newborn child is never seen as a burden that needs to be eliminated. We want to create a country where a child is always welcomed."

In August 2004 the Dutch “abortion” ship, run by charity “Women on the Waves”, The “Borndiep” a white container transformed into a floating gynaecological clinic, is staffed by a doctor, gynaecologist (Gunilla Kleiverda )and a nurse. It visited Portugal after having caused outrage after visiting Ireland in 2001 and Poland in 2003. The Government banned it from docking and women were ferried to the boat for treatment where it anchored off the port of Figueira da Foz, near Coimbra, for nearly a fortnight.

The government's ban, on public health grounds, was reinforced by a court ruling. Far-right Defence Minister, Paulo Portas, was delighted and compared the women's shipboard campaign to drug trafficking. "If Portugal allowed the ship into its waters, it would not have authority against illegal fishing, drug trafficking or clandestine immigration,"

In July 2005 , the BBC reported 7 women were acquitted of illegally terminating their pregnancies, with the court ruling there was not enough evidence to convict the women. The case dating back to 1999 involved the claimed payment to a nurse of about $480 each to terminate their pregnancies . The women from the Portuguese fishing community of Aveiro were prosecuted — facing three-year prison sentences — along with 10 "accomplices,"
including husbands, boyfriends, parents and a taxi driver who had taken a pregnant woman to a clinic.

The police staked out gynaecological clinics and questioned those who emerged looking as if they might have had abortions because they looked particularly pale, weak or upset. At the trial, the most intimate aspects of their gynaecological history were revealed.

The trial had achieved notoriety when it was resumed after an eight-month suspension following a defense motion to remove presiding judge Maria de Conceicao Miranda. Pedro Delille, the lawyer for the nurse, said he was convinced his client could not receive a fair trial after the judge made a clearly biased statement.

According to the lawyer the judge stated during one of the hearings that people who "devote themselves to such crimes are generally seeking financial gain."
The nurse accused of performing the abortions is now being tried separately.

In February’s elections, which they won with a landslide the Socialists promised to introduce a referendum on abortion if elected but put it off during the summer holidays. Last week Parliament approved a referendum be taken. The measure (vote needs at least 50% turnout to be ratified )goes to President Jorge Sampaio (who is claimed to be sympathetic to a change in the law) to set a date in a crowded election schedule, The Government favour a vote on Nov. 27, between Oct. 9 municipal polls and presidential elections in January while the main opposition, the Social Democrat Party (PSD), believes the vote should be pushed to a date after the Presidential election in 2006.

A recent opinion poll shows that people in Portugal now support abortion rights, 79 percent to 14 percent. There's a growing sense that while abortion may be wrong, criminalization is worse. Remember, in the Portuguese constitution the referendum is only consultative, not legislative.

There may be a lesson here for Bushist critics of Roe v Wade.

"Prohibir el aborto no salva a nadie ni a nada" dice Sonia Fertuzinhos, parlamentaria portuguesa, "solo consigue arrestar a mujeres y humillarlas en la arena pública".

"Forbidding abortion doesn't save anyone or anything," said Sonia Fertuzinhos, a Portuguese member of Parliament. "It just gets women arrested and humiliated in the public arena."

The paradoxical result is many the Portuguese, a Catholic nation, seem to be both anti-abortion and pro-choice. They are morally uncomfortable with abortion, especially late in pregnancies, but they don't think the solution is to arrest young women, make them a public spectacle and then send them to prison.

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Operation Unending Sacrifice

Look at this.

Chavez keeps tweaking the US nose .... 2nd World gets it's act together

Last month, President Chavez of Venezuela agreed deals to provide oil on preferential terms to most Caribbean nations after a meeting of regional energy ministers in Caracas. Bilateral agreements were signed with the Dominican Republic, Dominica, Grenada, Suriname, Belize, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Antigua and Barbuda. He has earlier concluded preferential deals with both Cuba and Jamaica. The arrangement allows participating governments to pay market price for Venezuelan oil, for just a small portion of customary up-front costs, and allows them to finance the rest of the payments over 25 years at one percent interest if oil prices exceed $US40 per barrel.

Governments could also pay for part of the cost with services or goods such as rice, bananas or sugar. Venezuela has also agreed to provide assistance in expanding shipping and refining facilities.

Leaders of South American nations, without Argentina, Colombia, Guyana, Uruguay and Surinam, met with the intention of developing a South American free-trade zone.It was the first meeting of the South American Community of Nations in Brazil's capital, Brasilia.

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez boasted in a local press interview on Sunday that his country has a 'strong oil card' to play in its contentious relations with the US, and said its hand will be even stronger if other Latin American countries join it in a regional economic alliance.

'In Venezuela, we have a strong oil card to play on the geopolitical stage, and we're going to play it clearly in the interests of regional integration,' Chavez told the daily Clarin newspaper in an interview published on Sunday.

'It is a card that we are going to play with toughness against the toughest country in the world (but governed by 'transparency and respect'). With the United States,' Chavez said.

He stressed that Venezuela's actions will always be governed by 'transparency and respect'.

Chavez, who has offered to invest US$5 Bn in a 'South American Development Bank', has also expressed disappointment with the South American trade summit, which produced a vague program with no start-up date.

Chilean international affairs expert Juan de Dios Parra the secretary general of the Latin American Association for Human Rights, said that – to date – South America’s relations “with the rest of the world (have been) from the First World to the Third World.”

Saying that South America had been forced to eat the crumbs left by the big developed countries. He envisaged ,"... a united South America , ... there’s a new actor on the world stage made up of these countries of the Second World, which didn’t exist before now."

George had better get that call in to Pat Robertson ...REAL SOON NOW

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Essential UK energy information

I have just discovered the excellent site “Vital Trivia” by Chris Vernon who provides a succinct overview of the UK energy supply system, derived from the new DTI Energy Trends report and comes to these conclusions. Essential reading.

· Total energy production 7½ % lower than Q2 / 2004.

· Oil production fell by 10 % compared to Q2/2004 as production from older established fields continued to decline.

· Gas production fell by 5½ per cent compared Q2 / 2004. Gas imports increased by 53½ % while gas exports declined by 26½ per cent. The UK was a net exporter of gas in the Q2 / 2004, albeit 74½ per cent lower than in 2004. UK gas demand was 2 per cent higher than a year earlier.

· Coal production declined by 20 % year on year (UK Coal lost £50Bn plus). Coal imports increased by 20 % - a new record level. Generators’ demand for coal was up 6½ per cent. (As the financiers sweat dirty old crumbling ancient power stations).

· Allowing for calendar differences, year on year , coal supplied ½ % more electricity, gas supplied 4½ % less. Nuclear supplied ½ % more. Net imports of electricity were 20 % higher than a year earlier.

He concludes

“Although this report does show supplies to be adequate it makes in my opinion some extremely optimistic assumptions about gas and electricity imports, relying on untested infrastructure and untested magnitudes and similarly optimistic assumptions on CCGT electricity generation substitution.”

Basically it's a back of an envelope calculation to see how the UK energy industry is falling headlong into energy importation and loss of energy security and with a tiny excess capacity - gone are the heady post war days when the fleets of coal fired stations were operating at 50-60% capacity.

He raises three main concerns in the outlook for the Winter of 2005 as a result of reading the Ofgem forecasts ;

· In Winter 2004, 331 million cubic metres per day gas was used in UK. Forecasts for “beached” gas have been lowered from 226 to 327 mcm/d and even this may be optimistic. There were record supply disruptions last year.

· The refurbished Isle of Grain LNG terminal, will import 13 mcm/d rising to 17 mcm/d (maximum capacity of the terminal) during the very coldest days. The terminal isn’t even operational yet and early shipments have been diverted to the the US. The US is also facing shortages and importers are dominating supplies from Africa and Middle East.

· The Intercontinental interconnector has a very finite capacity -It is assumed that 42 mcm/d will be available. In 2004 the capacity of the Interconnector was 25 mcm/d but despite acute gas shortage and extremely high prices in the UK the market responded by reducing imports.

To which can be added;

· Assuming continental weather is the same as UK, harsh conditions will not encourage EU suppliers to ship gas needed at home.

... and of course we need to pay for those imports. No more an energy island, we face the problems Japan faced many years ago.

Secrecy prevails in UK nuclear power discussions

Concerned about national energy security, as supplies of natural gas are set both to soar and arrive on these shores from Russia by pipeline and the Middle East by boat to as yet unbuilt LNG ports, the Government is handing over the future of the UK energy industry to EU based enterprises.
London Evening News reports that SECRET meetings have taken place between the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the massive European based energy companies who now own the bulk of the UK energy supply industry. Germany's E.On and RWE, better known by consumers Powergen and npower, and French state run London Electricity group EDF - held meetings with DTI officials in the summer, to discuss the construction and operation of new nuclear power stations in Britain. Secrecy the common currency of the Civil Service - which resulted in the fucking shambles of the industry we have today.

The Association of Electricity Producers, which speaks for E.On, RWE and EDF, confirmed it had a formal meeting with Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks in July. It is reported that they told Wicks:

"The Government should make it clear it would welcome the construction of new nuclear power stations and then reduce obstacles to the development of new nuclear power."

British Energy, operator of the country's current 8 nuclear power stations, cannot build any new capacity due to EU regulation as a result of receiving state aid in their re-structuring. British Energy now financially re-engineered (the shares have doubled in the last 12 months) announced in early September that Dungeness (which took 18 years to build after a series of massive and hugely expensive cock-ups) will be kept open until 2018 which would allow it to continue making a "powerful contribution" to the UK's energy needs and would safeguard hundreds of jobs. It insisted the decision would not pave the way for further extensions at its other UK nuclear power stations. British Energy have successively extended the useful life of their plants (which collectively only operate at 75% load) beyond their initial design life.

An E.On UK spokesman told the Evening Standard: "The chief executive [Paul Golby] has confirmed we have been talking to the Government about security of supply issues, and that included such things as the provision of nuclear power as a carbon-free technology. Those discussions remain private.

"The Government needs to make up its mind on the issue of nuclear first, but security of supply - ensuring the lights stay on - is a key issue for us and our customers."

An EDF spokesman (Andrew Brown the Chancellor’s brother , is head of media relations at EdF Tel : 020 7752 2268), said: "We welcome the Prime Minister's comments at the Labour Party conference last week. EDF Energy, like the rest of the industry, will consider its options as and when further decisions are made on this issue."

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Pakistan / Kashmir earthquakes - 20K plus Dead _ 4 Mn homeless

All from United States Geological Survey here

USGS sent out alerts overnight Saturday - this shows how massive the quake was and the extent of the successive aftershocks immediately and several hours later.Click the logo below for more information and to receive alerts.

A magnitude 7.6 earthquake IN PAKISTAN has occurred at:
34.43N 73.54E Depth 10km Sat Oct 8 03:50:38 2005 UTC
Location with respect to nearby cities:
95 km (60 miles) NNE of ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (pop 524,000)
115 km (70 miles) ESE of Mingaora, Pakistan (pop 174,000)
125 km (75 miles) WNW of Srinagar, Kashmir (pop 894,000)
165 km (105 miles) N of Jhelum, Pakistan

A magnitude 5.9 earthquake IN PAKISTAN has occurred at:
34.82N 73.13E Depth 10km Sat Oct 8 04:26:12 2005 UTC

A magnitude 5.6 earthquake IN PAKISTAN has occurred at:
34.71N 73.11E Depth 10km Sat Oct 8 05:26:05 2005 UTC

A magnitude 5.6 earthquake IN PAKISTAN has occurred at:
34.75N 73.14E Depth 10km Sat Oct 8 05:19:48 2005 UTC

A magnitude 5.6 earthquake IN PAKISTAN has occurred at:
34.75N 73.14E Depth 10km Sat Oct 8 05:19:48 2005 UTC

A magnitude 5.5 earthquake IN PAKISTAN has occurred at:
34.52N 73.43E Depth 10km Sat Oct 8 06:15:25 2005 UTC

A magnitude 6.3 earthquake IN PAKISTAN has occurred at:
34.69N 73.07E Depth 16km Sat Oct 8 10:46:30 2005 UTC

A magnitude 5.5 earthquake IN PAKISTAN has occurred at:
34.70N 73.17E Depth 10km Sat Oct 8 11:33:33 2005 UTC

A magnitude 5.5 earthquake IN PAKISTAN has occurred at:
34.57N 73.18E Depth 10km Sat Oct 8 12:08:28 2005 UTC

A magnitude 5.9 earthquake IN PAKISTAN has occurred at:
34.79N 73.14E Depth 20km Sat Oct 8 12:25:22 2005 UTC

A magnitude 5.8 earthquake IN PAKISTAN has occurred at:
34.70N 73.18E Depth 10km Sat Oct 8 21:13:31 2005 UTC

A magnitude 5.5 earthquake IN PAKISTAN has occurred at:
34.68N 73.22E Depth 10km Sat Oct 8 21:45:10 2005 UTC

SUNDAY

A magnitude 5.5 earthquake IN PAKISTAN has occurred at:
34.56N 73.20E Depth 10km Sun Oct 9 07:09:19 2005 UTC

A magnitude 5.7 earthquake IN PAKISTAN has occurred at:
34.64N 73.15E Depth 10km Sun Oct 9 08:30:02 2005 UTC

A magnitude 5.7 earthquake IN PAKISTAN has occurred at:
34.27N 73.69E Depth 10km Sun Oct 9 19:20:37 2005 UTC

Earthquakes and active faults in northern Pakistan and adjacent parts of India and Afghanistan are the direct result of the Indian subcontinent moving northward at a rate of about 40 mm/yr (1.6 inches/yr) and colliding with the Eurasian continent. This collision is causing uplift that produces the highest mountain peaks in the world including the Himalayan, the Karakoram, the Pamir and the Hindu Kush ranges. As the Indian plate moves northward, it is being subducted or pushed beneath the Eurasian plate. Much of the compressional motion between these two colliding plates has been and continues to be accommodated by slip on a suite of major thrust faults that are at the Earth’s surface in the foothills of the mountains and dip northward beneath the ranges. These include the Main Frontal thrust, the Main Central thrust, the Main boundary thrust, and the Main Mantle thrust. These thrust faults have a sinuous trace as they arc across the foothills in northern India and into northern Pakistan. In detail, the modern active faults are actually a system of faults comprised of a number of individual fault traces. In the rugged mountainous terrain, it is difficult to identify and map all of the individual thrust faults, but the overall tectonic style of the modern deformation is clear in the area of the earthquake; north- and northeast-directed compression is producing thrust faulting. Near the town of Muzaffarabad, about 10 km southwest of the earthquake epicenter, active thrust faults that strike northwest-southeast have deformed and warped Pleistocene alluvial-fan surfaces into anticlinal ridges. The strike and dip direction of these thrust faults is compatible with the style of faulting indicated by the focal mechanism from the nearby M 7.6 earthquake. US Geological Survey. ©

This has to be one of the best designed and most informative sites on the web...if you want to scare yourself just take a look at California's history of recent shocks.

FCUKEDD - Prime Minister wakes up ...

On January 31st Tony Blair was in Manchester, UK and in answer to a reader of the Manchester Evening News, judged it an appropriate time to discuss nuclear power in public. The answer was published the following day. The Press / TV passed this historic moment by…..

Question: We are facing a serious energy deficit and the idea of wind farms is proving to be a shambles. Is it the government’s intention to build any more nuclear power stations or further develop the UK nuclear power industry?

Answer: The issue is whether we can overcome two obstacles - cost and public concern. There are countries like China and South Africa that are developing new generation nuclear power stations and I think what we have said is that you can’t shut the door to this. We don’t have any plans to open new power stations but what you are saying is interesting and I think there is a debate to be had about nuclear power but it has to happen in a rational way. If we suggest a new generation of nuclear power in this country I can guarantee there will be public concern about it so we would have to look at what is going on in other countries very carefully.

Press comment and lobbying by the energy industry since the day after the May election has been remorseless, and the subject never off the pages of the press or our TV screens. Today the Scotsman on Sunday says Blair has decided to back new nuclear power stations, which would be built on the sites of existing plants and presented to the public and his party as a job-creating answer to climate change.

Blair's advisers are pro-nuclear. Sir David King, his chief scientific officer, said 3 years ago that renewable energy sources would not be developed fast enough to fill the gap expected in 2020. Margaret Beckett, Environment Secretary, last week claimed at a climate change conference that she has "never said" she is against nuclear power.

A commons motion opposing more nuclear energy has been signed by only 41 of Labour's obedient 354 MPs.

Brian Wilson, a former energy minister (now ex MP) say fears of a House of Commons rebellion are overblown because new plants do not require the permission of MPs.

"There has not been a nuclear moratorium - it's open to anyone to come up with new proposals," he said. "And you do not need legislation, just a level of commitment that makes new propositions economically feasible."

A DTI spokesman said it was "highly unlikely the planning issue wouldn't have ministerial involvement" but confirmed that a new power plant "wouldn't necessarily involve primary legislation".

Research conducted by the DTI has identified three sites to host a new nuclear reactor: Hinkley in Somerset, Sizewell in Suffolk and Hunterston in Ayrshire.

The reader of the MEN , founder of the Forthcoming United Kingdom Energy Debt Disaster (FCUKEDD) is astounded that the Government has finally responded to the naked facts about energy supply and security for the UK. An island which Ernest Bevan famously remarked in the height of the ’47 winter ..” is made of coal, and surrounded by fish, where it would take an organising genius to manufacture a shortage of either”.

9 months - gestation time for a baby - perhaps Tony realised he got FCUKKED when he visited Manchester ?

Now watch the market him fuck him big style while the squeeze the costs out of the UK taxpayer.(Note The DTI has been holding "discreet talks with major energy providers" about nuclear options: E-On and RWE of Germany, and EdF of France. BNFL has design for a new plant (remarkably.... the Chinese / SA pebble bed design the PM mentioned and was evidently very well briefed on in January).

UK Energy security .. that went out of the window when we sold off the N Sea oil and gas and Maggie clobbered the miners.

Here are some news links Sunday 9/10/05, Forbes ,Scoopt, Scotsman... from CND to nuclear reactor !

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Concept cars, dontcha just luv 'em !

Nissan have unveiled Pivo, its imaginative electric concept car, in partnership with renowned Japanese artist Takashi Murakami at the company's Nissan Ginza Gallery in downtown Tokyo for the 39th Tokyo Motor show..

The Ultra compact, easily manoeuvred Pivo, features an innovative cabin that revolves 360 degrees, eliminating the need to reverse. Thanks to its compact body, the car is also exceptionally easy to manoeuvre.

The three-seater (!) car is packed with “user-friendly technology”, 1. Nissan's Around View Monitor cuts blind spots by displaying the outside surroundings on LCD colour screens mounted either side of the windshield. No fuddy duddy old mirrors then. 2. A dash-mounted infrared (IR) commander allows the driver to operate the navigation and stereo systems with simple finger movements without letting go of the steering wheel. Whooooop de dooooo!!!. Finger controls !

Pivo is powered by Nissan's compact, high-performance lithium-ion battery and its unique Super Motor, resulting in zero emissions.

No mention of luggage space or number (and size) of cup holders.

Anyone remember the motor cycle engined post war Messerschmitt ?

Senate's Torture Hall of Fame - the Fuck Geneva Convention 9

Ninety of the 100 members of the Senate (Including Senate Republican majority leader, Bill Frist), voted in favour of Republican Senator John McCain’s amendment (details)which would ban "cruel, inhuman or degrading" treatment of prisoners held by the US military. Nine Senators voted to continue torturing people.

The Pro-Torture members of the Senate are:

Wayne Allard (R-CO)
Christopher Bond (R-MO)
Tom Coburn (R-OK)
Thad Cochran (R-MS)
John Cornyn (R-TX)
James Inhofe (R-OK)
Pat Roberts (R-KS)
Jeff Sessions (R-AL)
Ted Stevens (R-AK)

The amendment, is attached to the $440 billion (£247 billion) Defence Spending Bill and if Mr Bush vetoes the amendment, ( a first in his 5 year Presidency) he would have to veto the entire bill. The Amendment is opposed by the Bush Administration and by Duncan Hunter, who chairs the House Armed Services Committee, must survive a House-Senate conference committee to have even a chance of becoming law.

Senators have pointed out that a Presidential veto can be overturned by a two-thirds majority in both houses.

It looks therefore, as though the amendment’s fate depends on, secretive, closed door, smoky room, late night negotiations between the Senate and the lower chamber, the House of Representatives – which probably means some more pork on the table ... before they run out of money to pay the troops in Iraq next month.

Senator Ted Stevens (see recent posts for his Alaskan fishy porking exploits) is quoted as saying, "that requiring American troops to follow their own field manual is not practical", which is a novel legal concept which the Supreme Court will struggle with.

They might also struggle with dealing with appeals from US military personnel currently in jail for undertaking such activity, which it appears that the Commander in Chief is quite happy with.

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A US Marines tale of Iraq.."Kill,Kill,Kill!!"

Staff Sergeant, Jimmy Massey a former U.S. Marine with 12 years experience, alleges in his book, "Kill! Kill! Kill!" written with the French journalist Natasha Saulnier and published in Paris, France, that his battalion committed atrocities against Iraqi civilians during the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, including shooting unarmed protesters. He charges that US military training has created troops so desensitized to violence that battleground brutality in Iraq is rampant and has helped fuel the resistance seen there today.

He writes that he and other Marines in his unit killed dozens of unarmed Iraqi civilians because of an exaggerated sense of threat, and that they often experienced sexual-type thrills doing so. See stories about site where US soldiers exchange pics of violent death for porn.

In the book, Massey writes that at one point he told an officer that the US military campaign "resembles a genocide" and that

"our only objective in Iraq is petrol and profits."

He recalls that he and a group of Marines were near Baghdad when a group of 10 Iraqi men started to protest near them, yelling out anti-US slogans.

At the sound of a gunshot, , Massey said he and his men fired on the group, killing most of them, only to find out later that none of them was armed.

He also recounts several episodes at checkpoints where civilian cars failed to stop and their unarmed occupants were shot to death.

"Overall, we have to look at the (Bush) administration in terms of responsibility for the atrocities and the murder at the checkpoints," Massey said.

Massey said his book, (originally called 'Cowboys From Hell') was being released first in French, in France because he "didn't find an American publisher."

Natasha Saulnier, (links) a French journalist who helped him write the book, said she believed the US publishers were reluctant to touch the book because of its "controversial" nature threatened commercial interests and the US public's image of their fighting forces.(Not available on Amazon) Natasha is a freelance reporter whose articles appear in The Independent (UK), Liberation and L'Humanite among other newspapers as well as on web based left wing sites such as Common Dreams.

His publisher said an English language version of the book was still pending, a Spanish edition will be published early next year.

Several US newspapers / TV stations report Maj. Gabrielle Chapin, a spokeswoman at Marine Corps headquarters in the Pentagon, say the Marines are committed to investigating all allegations of violations of “law of war or rules of engagement.” “Mr. Massey made allegations of genocide by members of his command, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines, resulting in an investigation,” she said. The investigation was completed in June 2004, “and these allegations were found to be unsubstantiated in regards to law or rules of engagement violations,” Chapin said.She didn't say they didn't happen.

Massey left Iraq in May 2003 after 3 months service, and was discharged from the Marines with a diagnosed case of post-trauma stress syndrome.

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Freedom Alert ! T shirt wins place on "No fly" list in Reno

32 year old Lumber saleswoman Lorrie Heasley of Woodland, Wash., was returning with her husband from Disneyland on a SouthWest Airlines LA – Portland ,Ore and the flight was on stopover at Reno-Tahoe International Airport, halfway through Heasley's scheduled trip from Los Angeles to Portland, Ore.

As a gag to wind up her Democrat voting parents set to greet her, she was wearing a T-shirt , she bought at a shop at Venice Beach, CA. that bore images of President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and a misspelt reference to the film “Meet the Fockers” a takeoff on a 2004 movie starring Ben Stiller, Robert DeNiro and Barbra Streisand. Want one, thong, coffee mug ? Go here

Although no-one had complained in LA , passengers joining in Reno complained and she agreed to cover the words with a sweatshirt, but when the sweatshirt slipped while she was trying to sleep, she was ordered by cabin staff to wear her T-shirt inside-out or leave.

Lorrie and her husband were booted off with an offer for re-imbursement of ticket taxes. They made the rest of the journey by rental car arriving home next day. She is seeking help from ACLU to claim costs for gasoline, a $68 rental car from Avis and a $70 Reno hotel bill. ACLU point out that she was allowed to board the plane by South West and only acted when people raised the matter.(KRNTV video story)

Allen Lichtenstein, lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union in Las Vegas said Heasley's T-shirt is "protected" political speech under the First Amendment to the Constitution – although the plane is a private space and the Government was not involved. Constitutional lawyers we have consulted say (see Cohen v California) say it is covered by the 1st amendment because it is a company regulation.

However the New York Times consulted the heavyweights ..

"The Constitution only restricts the government," said Geoffrey R. Stone, a law professor at the University of Chicago and the author of "Perilous Times: Free Speech in War Times."

Unless Congress passes a law forbidding airlines from removing passengers because of messages on their T-shirts, no statute has been violated, said Eugene Volokh, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Southwest Airlines spokeswoman Marilee McInnis said several passengers complained about the shirt at Reno and she said Southwest rules (filed with the FAA) allow the airline to deny boarding to any passenger whose clothing is " “offensive, abusive, disorderly or violent or for clothing that is lewd, obscene, or patently offensive.”

"I have cousins in Iraq and other relatives going to war," Heasley told the Reno Gazette-Journal. "Here we are trying to free another country and I have to get off an airplane ... over a T-shirt. That's not freedom."

Southwest Airlines spokeswoman Marilee McInnis said several passengers complained about the shirt at Reno and she said Southwest rules (filed with the FAA) allow the airline to deny boarding to any passenger whose clothing is " “offensive, abusive, disorderly or violent or for clothing that is lewd, obscene, or patently offensive.”

Just makes you wonder what would have happened if she had taken it off as requested and sat there showing her tits.

Der Spiegel makes a big story out of it which gets the German Bloggers excited - here

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...and that's God up there...

POTUS tours a canyon with Harriet Miers, Crawford TX. 9/9/02, WHITE HOUSE PHOTO BY ERIC DRAPER

Juhl in Henson's crown.....

Jerry Juhl, the Emmy Award winner, co-wrote most of the Muppet feature films and wrote for "Sesame Street" during its early years, died of cancer Sept. 27 in Caspar CA aged 67.

Jerry was the first employee hired by Jim Henson in 1961, originally to Jim Henson’s wife. He only ever performed as the evil witch Tamanilla Grinderfall but Jerry went on to write "The Muppet Movie," which marked the Muppets' move to the big screen in 1979. He later wrote the screenplay for "The Muppet Christmas Carol" and co-wrote "The Great Muppet Caper," "Muppet Treasure Island" (the greatest film ever made – the final underwater scene of the scuba diving rats being the best piece of film ever) and "Muppets From Space."… and of course wrote “Fraggle Rock” for 5 years.

Scriptwriter for Hanson puppets for years, he also invented the incomparable Gonzo, (who for many years my wife has sworn was modelled on me), the narrator of "The Muppet Christmas Carol" as well as the lead in "Muppets from Space."

He fell out with Brian Henson, retired to Caspar, and was very active in saving the Californian Redwoods … maybe the Postal Services will produce a stamp for him.


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I was just obeying the voices in my head

Mr Shaath, the Palestinian foreign minister in 2003, claims Mr Bush told him and other delegates that he was spoken to by God over his plans for war.

He told BBC film-makers, whose 3 part series Elusive Peace: Israel and the Arabs airs from Monday :

"President Bush said to all of us: 'I'm driven with a mission from God. God would tell me, George, go and fight those terrorists in Afghanistan. And I did, and then God would tell me, George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq... And I did. "

"And now, again, I feel God's words coming to me, Go get the Palestinians their state and get the Israelis their security, and get peace in the Middle East. And by God I'm gonna do it.'"

The Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, who attended the June Sharm-el-Shaikh meeting in 2003 as well, also appears on the documentary series to recount how Mr Bush told him:

"I have a moral and religious obligation. So I will get you a Palestinian state."

Scott McClellan, spokesman and shit shifter for POTUS admitted he was not at the Israeli-Palestinian summit at the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in June 2003 when Mr Bush supposedly revealed the extent of his deep religious fervour but maintained "No, that's absurd. He's never made such comments."....WWGD? the new war cry of the neo-con?

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Cold War - Hi Tech, combine for Global Warming evidence

The satellite survey by the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC), and the space agency NASA reveals that for the fourth consecutive year there has been "a stunning reduction" in Arctic sea ice at the end of the northern summer, placing species such as polar bears at risk. Daily Telegraph

Well up to a point Lord Copper.

CryoSat is a 3 year radar altimetry mission to determine variations in the thickness of the Earth’s continental ice sheets and marine ice cover.(it also looks like a flying 'fridge) CryoSat will carry a complex radar instrument called a Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometric Radar Altimeter (SIRAL). This emits a broad radar beam which exploits a slight frequency shift across the beam to pick out signals reflected from features just 250 metres in diameter. At this resolution, CryoSat will offer a much more accurate overall picture of the ice and how it is changing.i.e it will measure every 250 metres not every 10 Killometres as previous devices.

CryoSat will therefore measure the thickness of the polar ice very accurately — said to be within a margin of just one centimetre. Positioning with a high degree of measuring accuracy, is therefore vital for the success of the mission – especially as previous NOAA temperature recording analysis has been subject to so much controversy and scrutiny.

ESA turned to the Danish company, Terma. Who have supplied 3 HE-5AS Star Trackers, which are essentially very special , compact, low power, digital cameras mounted directly on the SIRAL payload antenna bench of the CryoSat satellite, for optimized structural stability. They take a picture of the starry sky with a field of view of 22° x 22° a CCD 1024 x 1024 pixels — approx. 1 percent of the sky — and then match the patterns with a star catalogue. Thereby, the direction or attitude of the satellite can be determined with an accuracy above 1 arc second or 1/3600º.

Each tiny camera is protected by a baffle to protect them from light from the Sun, Earth, and Moon. Furthermore as the satellite’s orbital position is not solar synchronous, i.e. it will be exposed to extreme heat and permanent shadow respectively for longer periods of time, the Star Trackers are equipped with small radiators and heating elements which can cool down and warm up the electronics.

Due for launch tomorrow (8/10/05) from Russia's Plesetsk Cosmodrome, the 21st Century technological wizardry of CryoSat will sit on top of a Rockot launcher which combines a vintage Cold War,2 stage liquid fuelled ex ICBM SS-19 two-stage rocket plus Breeze-KM third stage to place the payload in orbit.

Bremen based Eurockot Launch Services is a joint venture between EADS Space (formerly Daimler Chrysler Aerospace) and Russia's Khrunichev rocket-makers, CryoSat will be their sixth such launch. Khrunichev have ten SS-19s in storage at their Moscow plant at any one time, which leaves around 150 still to be flown. Khrunichev in 1998-9 designed the wider-diameter Breeze-KM upper stage to satisfy the requirements of Iridium LLC, the Israeli corporation that established a 66-satellite constellation for worldwide telephone services.

All launches are performed by military personnel.

CryoSat will be their sixth such launch. Khrunichev have ten SS-19s in storage at their Moscow plant at any one time, which leaves around 150 still to be flown. Khrunichev in 1998-9 designed the wider-diameter Breeze-KM upper stage to satisfy the requirements of Iridium LLC, the Israeli corporation that established a 66-satellite constellation for worldwide telephone services. (the element Iridium has 66 electrons)

All launches are performed by military personnel, this their first for ESA.

After CryoSat, Eurockot plan launches for ESA's, Earth Explorer missions GOCE in 2006 (GOCE (Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Mission) - provide the data set required to accurately determine global and regional models of the Earth's gravity field and the geoid. It will also advance research in the fields of steady-state ocean circulation, physics of the Earth's interior, geodesy and surveying, and sea-level change.)and SMOS in 2007 (SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) - will provide global observations of soil
moisture and ocean salinity to improve modelling of the weather and climate.It will also monitor vegetation water content, snow cover and ice structure.)ESA's technology demonstrator Proba-2 will probably be flying in 2008. The company hopes for further ESA launch contracts into the next decade, and additional launches for Japanese and Korean customers.

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SUV 's... kill kids and slays the old.

Road crashes are the leading cause of death and hospital admission for people under 50 years old in the European Union. In the UK 100 people per week die in road accidents. For every death, eleven require hospital treatment and two people suffer permanent disability. (1*) A New Zealand study showed that victims of road traffic crashes accounted for 30% of intensive care admissions and 40% of inpatient days in their Auckland based intensive care unit.

In 2001 the EU determined that by 2010 the 40,000 road deaths a year (of the then members) should be reduced by by 50% by 2010(2*) Figures available suggest it is virtually unchanged – as more vehicles hit the road , each other and pedestrians.

22 years of crash research has been coordinated by the European Enhanced Vehicle-safety Committee, they originally proposed standardised car crash tests in 1991 and updated them in 1994 and 1998. The Governments of Catalonia, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom, support the resultant tests, which are undertaken by Euro NCAP in 3 classes : Adult occupants, Pedestrians and Children and the results are available here. Check your vehicle out, it makes sobering reading


The British Medical Journal in an editorial today reveals that SUV’s , result in more frequent and more severe damage to pedestrians, especially the vulnerable old and the young and now represent almost 8% of new UK registrations. In the United States 40% of new vehicles purchased are classified as light trucks or vans. Analysis of accidents show that, for the same collision speed, the likelihood of a pedestrian fatality is nearly doubled in crash with an SUV compared with a passenger car. If you want to learn more about the physics of car crashes, and how injuries rise as a square of the speed, go here . More sobering reading.

People over 60 are more than four times as likely to die if injured in a crash.


Small children are over represented in driveway accidents with SUV’s, probably a result of the increased height of the vehicle and the driver's reduced ability to see things immediately around the vehicle. An Australian study in New South Wales (2004) showed that typically, the injury involved a parent or relative reversing a motor vehicle in the home driveway over a toddler or preschool-age child in the late afternoon or early evening. Four-wheel-drive or light commercial vehicles were involved in 42% of all injuries, such vehicles were associated with a 2.5-times increased risk of fatality. In 13 of the 14 deaths, the cause was a severe head injury not amenable to medical intervention.

It is a popular belief that increase in vehicle mass of SUV’s results in an increased hazard to pedestrians. However, mass is important in car to car crashes, but given the large disparity between the weights of the pedestrian and of the vehicle is a variable of no significance to outcomes. Increased mortality and morbidity arises primarily from the geometry of the front end structure and speed of impact. Typically in a car crash, the bumper strikes the lower legs and the leading edge of the bonnet strikes the femur/pelvis, causing the pedestrian to rotate towards the bonnet resulting in the head and shoulders hitting the bonnet or windscreen. Consequently the principal pedestrian injuries from cars are fractures of the tibia and fibula and knee injuries from the primary bumper impact and secondary head injuries from impact with the bonnet or windscreen.

The leading edge of SUV’s at (typically 850mm) are a great deal higher than cars (500mm) so crash impact, results in a more severe primary impact on the critical central body regions of the upper leg and pelvis. This results in a doubling of injuries to vulnerable regions such as the head, thorax, abdomen and internal soft organs.... gulp!

So called “bull bars” which are often fitted on SUV’s are an extra (and unecessary) hazard which result in, isolating any built in “crumple zones” and focus the energy on impact, so that it is not disspated and results in forces of many tonnes per square inch, just as being trodden on by a high heel, increases the force of impact compared with a normal shoe heel.... but hey they look good...Whoooop de doooo!!!!

Advertising for vehicles always stresses safety to the occupants, crumple zones, air bags, seat belts, and never that of pedestrians – the potential purchaser never wants to be reminded that the vehicle they are buying is a lethal weapon which keeps A & E (ER) intensive care units busy around the world, around the clock.


General Motors SUV and light truck sales fell 30 percent in September Ford’s 20%, even with employee pricing .. perhaps these gas guzzling behemoths of the blacktop are on the way out … and helping making the roads in the US that bit safer. In 2004 US road fatalities fell overall from a peak of 43,000 in 2002 to 42,000 with all types of vehicle classes declining except SUV’s and motorcycles (up 6/7%) ..... an astonishing 17,000 or 40% were alcohol related.


1. European Transport Safety Council. Transport safety performance in the EU: a statistical overview. Brussels: ETSC, 2003.

2. Commission of the European Communities. White paper on the common transport policy for 2010: Time to decide. COM (2001) 370, 2001.)

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Something fishy in the pork barrel...

President Bush vowed on taking office to cut pet projects from the federal budget... the nation waits for him to veto his first spending bill.. so I now take an interest in the things that he doesn’t veto.

Since meeting Stacey Fritz of Fairbanks based No Nukes North I have taken a special interest in things Alaskan, so have been puzzled by the latest Pacific culinary delight .......

…Salmon and pork ?

If it takes a week to paint your standard 737, how come it takes Mark Boyle 1 year to plan and 30 painters (including three Hollywood set-design specialists), 24 days to paint Alaskan Airlines 120-foot-long Boeing 737 ?

Well, federally funded Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board ($29 million in 2 years of taxpayers money) added $225,000 to the normal $75,000 repaint budget. The rest of the $500,000 budget goes on bookmarks that will be passed out to passengers as part of an educational campaign about the state of Alaska's fishing industry. Of course don't forget that senator Ted Stevens son, state Sen. Ben Stevens, is chairman of the agency’s board of directors…. (go here at the Anchorage Daily News for the court cases, secret deals with Ben, Adak fisheries and Aleut fishing profits etc., etc., .. but that's another juicy fishy story)

The Alaska Airlines salmon jet is to make its local debut… today at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.

There is also the federally funded Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, they $5 million a year from taxpayers and the same from fishing companies. Alaska Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Ted Stevens both claim credit for grabbing federal money for the state's salmon industry, including the money to research use of salmon as a base for baby food.The Alaska Airlines salmon jet made it's local debut… at .... Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.

The one-of-a-kind "Salmon-Thirty-Salmon," is Alaska Airlines’ name for the flying billboard, which remains a passenger plane to …er …give it maximum exposure to potential seafood consumers. After that, the plane will fly West Coast passenger routes as far south as Mexico. It will also fly to Denver, Chicago and the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

“You can catch a salmon in Alaska waters, and within 24 hours you'll have it on a plate in New York City. We're pretty much the only airline that can do that kind of business," said Matt Yerbic, managing director for the airline's cargo operations.

"Is there something wrong with these fish that warrants such an expensive program to convince us to eat them?" wondered Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in 2004.


Surely a case of a federal budget which could be “given back” and re-directed to Katrina .. for more see

Citizens Against Government Waste, say Congress spent more tax dollars on pork spending in 2005 than in any other year in history with 31% more projects = 13,997 (40.5% increase) projects for $27.3 billion. (2004 $22.9). (yes folks - that's an eye -popping $27,300,000,000!)

"Despite a record $427 billion deficit predicted for fiscal 2005, members of Congress are engaging in the worst form of blatant self-interest – larding the budget with pork for home districts and states," claims CAGW President Tom Schatz.

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Zimbabwe - time to ACT

Geoff Hill, will be signing copies of his latest book, now out in paperback, “What happens after Mugabe?” Geoff , winner of the 2000 Commonwealth Short Story Award for Africa. will be speaking about his book at the Africa Book Centre, 38 King Street, Covent Garden, London WC2E 8JT on Friday, 7th October from 6.30 pm.

Schools and hospitals have collapsed, a third of the population lives in exile and 3,000 people are said to die of AIDS every week. Once Africa’s second-biggest exporter of food, 70 per cent of the country lives under conditions of famine in the wake of violent land reform.
What will it take to rebuild Zimbabwe? Geoff discusses many relevant issues and asks serious questions, including:

• Will 4 million exiles go home to a country with 80 per cent unemployment?
• Should there be war-crimes trials?
• Can the economy be revived?
• Where will the billions of dollars come from that are needed to put things right?

Saturday 7th October is Week 156 of the Vigil, outside the Zimbabwe Embassy, 429 the Strand, London, which takes place every Saturday from 12.00 to 18.00* to protest against gross violations of human rights by the current regime in Zimbabwe. The Vigil will continue until internationally-monitored, free and fair elections are held in Zimbabwe.

There is an excellent piece at Canned Revolution about the role of China in propping up Mugabe and their rape of African raw materials . Link

“In a Channel 4 special report on China’s involvement in Africa, Sierra Leone Human Rights politician Zainab Bangura expressed a fear that the Chinese ‘no strings attached’ aid policy will be a more appealing prospect to African dictatorships than the development model promulgated by the World Bank; leading the West to lower their high human rights benchmark.
“If anyone starts trying to change the constitution or imprisoning journalists or breaching procurement rules and regulations, they’ll (the US and UK) pretend not to understand because they’re afraid they’ll go over to China.”

In the Darfur region of Sudan, where civil war led to a humanitarian catastrophe, the CCP’s arms sale and foreign investment ran counter to the international attempt to restore peace.”

Go and read it.... NOW ... also excellent Zimpundit blog also look at this.

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Miss Piggy will get licked all over

It seems remarkable but Jim Henson's "Sam and Friends" which introduced Kermit, Miss Piggy, the Swedish Chef, and Dr. Bunson Honeydew and his assistant Beaker started 50 Years ago.

The puppets are to feature in a set of 20, new 37 Cent stamps to be launched on Thursday to celebrate their longevity .... although I'll swear Miss Piggy doesn't look a day older.The stamps include a 1986 Norman Seeff photograph of Henson accompanied by his visionary quote: "When I was young, my ambition was to be one of the people who made a difference in this world. My hope is to leave the world a little bit better for my having been there."

Suggestions that Helen Miers modelled herself on the very tough lady pig are waaaaaay outta line.

Dubya takes a gamble with Helen Miers

Working for a lawfirm that specializes in "union busting avoidance" seems to be a "Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval" for Bush administration nominees. Like Ed Foulke, Bush's recent nominee for head of OSHA, Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers' former lawfirm, Austin based Locke Liddell & Sapp, of which she was co-managing partner, had an active union avoidance practice (they have also contributed to the Tom Delay Expenses fund):

The threat of a union organizing effort or strike can be traumatic for any company- which is why you need an experienced partner on your side. Locke Liddell labor and employment law lawyers have handled hundreds of union arbitrations and labor contracts, and have extensive experience in union avoidance counseling....For union-free companies, we provide union-avoidance advice and strategies in emerging situations. Our experience extends to the most specialized areas, including the Railway Labor Act that governs many union actions. We have handled a major strike against a national transportation company, and use such experience to counsel any size business on its labor relations concerns.

She has had no experience in judging ...so neither have many other Supreme Court Appointees see here

More here

Helen Miers is of course, like Condoleezza Rice, unmarried, childless and a “very close personal friend” of Dubya’s with overnight visiting rights to the Austin Gubernatorial mansion (see "The White House Wives"). She has ties to evangelical Christian churches but this didn’t stop her being Chairman of the Texas Lottery...(see more below) run by Gtech. UK readers will remember Gtech’s Guy Snowden not only provided flights for the UK Oflot regulator but also had a misunderstanding of what was discussed in a meeting and resulted in Virgin’s Richard Branson suing for libel

Branson claimed that Guy Snowden, GTech's chairman and chief executive had offered him a bribe to withdraw his non-profit bid to run the UK national lottery.
He won £100,000 and Snowden resigned. GTech has been the subject of six FBI investigations in the US.

Ex IBM manager Snowden now heads Richardson, TX based GTESS …”Simply put, GTESS applies specialized, proprietary technology to automate highly manual, error-prone medical claim payment processes.”

However that’s not all….... in 1997, when GTech's licence for operating the Texas State lottery was under fire.. The lottery director was sacked following the revelation that GTech had put her boyfriend on the company payroll while he was under indictment for bribery

A new, clean-hands director, Lawrence Littwin, was appointed by the Texas Lottery Commission then headed by Governor Bush, recently appointed "close personal friend", Helen Miers. Littwin demanded an audit of GTech's accounts, he ended GTech's contract and put it out for re-tender. He also launched an inquiry into GTech's political donations.

But something went wrong. The Texas Lottery Commission headed by Helen Miers fired Littwin. Almost immediately, Governor Dubya Bush’s -appointed commissioners cancelled the bidding for a new operator, although the winner had already been announced - and it was not GTech. The commissioners John Hill, and Anthony Sadberry and Helen Miers also halted the financial audit, ended the political payola investigation that Littwin was keen on - and re-instated GTech.

Why ?

Well Gtech paid lobbyist Ben Barnes, ( then and now (ex) lieutenant-governor of Texas), fees of an eye - popping $23 million (£14.2 million) – the same Ben Barnes whose aide had suggested in 1968 to Brigadier-General James Rose that he find a safe spot in the Air Guard for Congressman Bush's son. Who was now the Governor....and is now the POTUS.

News of the payment to Barnes was in an unsigned letter to the US Justice Department, in a civil suit by Littwin – Barnes did concede he got Bush Jnr into the Guard; and he received millions from GTech.

Coincidentally GTech chairman Guy Snowden was a partner in a big real estate venture with Barnes's wife. Anyway in November 1999 Gtech agreed to pay $300,000 to Littwin. In return, the former Texas Lottery agreed to seal Barnes's five-hour deposition transcript....and of course this silences Littwin - unless of course the Senate Appointments Committee asked him to testify ?

After Littwin was dismissed, the Democratic-controlled Texas House of Representatives passed a resolution accusing the commission of stopping the investigation of GTech.

''The investigation was never completed," the resolution stated. ''The Texas Lottery Commission did not take any action."

Helen Miers resigned in 2000 before her 4 years were up. The pic above shows Helen advising her "very close friend" about Osama Bin Laden - maybe if Reuters run those pictures by Photoshop they will find he was probably asking for some "bathroom" time.

Gtech is still running the Texas State Lottery.

You can, of course be certain that they have cleaned up their act....of course.


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Sex, drugs, DynCorp, crooked staff and a link to Dubya

The FBI arrested Link Thomas Nelson Barnes III, (48) of DynCorp International, as he arrived at Dulles International Airport on September 20th 2005.

He was charged Link with distributing identity badges that control access to Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone to people not allowed to receive them, including an Iraqi woman he was dating. He could face up to 5 years in prison.

The 50 year old Irving, TX.-based DynCorp was awarded a $7.7 million Pentagon contract in March 2004 to establish a program with 50 staff to centralize ID badges being given out for the Green Zone by a variety of government agencies.

The badges are in different colours indicating level of access to the Green Zone. The highest access is blue. An FBI affidavit, filed in federal court in Alexandria, said Barnes gave a Mohammad Al-Tarawneh, a badge that provided the highest level of access to the Green Zone, two levels higher than he was cleared to receive.
The FBI affidavit alleges that. Barnes sidestepped security checks and issued top-access badges to an Iraqi woman he was dating and several members of her family, all of whom were entitled only to lesser-access badges.
Barnes, of Fort Worth, appeared in U.S. District Court in Alexandria yesterday and was released on a personal recognizance bond pending another hearing Thursday – for which there are no press reports – maybe he was a no – show ?

DynCorp are the Pentagon’s rent-a-cop business, they run the security show in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the US-Mexico border. They run the coca crop-dusting business in Colombia, and are responsible for all security on Air Force One and state aircraft.

In 2001 Ben Johnston, a DynCorp aircraft mechanic for Apache and Blackhawk helicopters in Kosovo, filed a lawsuit against his employer alleging that that in the latter part of 1999 Johnson "learned that employees and supervisors from DynCorp were engaging in perverse, illegal and inhumane behavior [and] were purchasing illegal weapons, women, forged passports and [participating in] other immoral acts." Johnston was fired, the men alleged to have bought and sold 13 /14 year old girls quietly left the company.

Kathryn Bolkovac, a U.N. International Police Force monitor ( A US citizen from Nebraska) filed a lawsuit in Salisbury,Britain, wher DynCorp had offices, in 2001 against DynCorp for firing her after she reported that Dyncorp police trainers in Bosnia were paying for prostitutes and participating in sex trafficking. Many of the Dyncorp employees were forced to resign under suspicion of illegal activity. None were prosecuted, since they enjoy immunity from prosecution in Bosnia. DynCorp officials said they fired eight employees serving in Tuzla between 1999 and 2000. She was awarded £110,000.

DynCorp are just one of many privatised armies paid for by the Pentagon -- The Steele Foundation, which provided the security detail for former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was briefly embroiled in controversy when Aristide accused it of withdrawing its agents under orders of the U.S. government when he was overthrown in February.

Sometimes you wonder who they report to - The BBC reported The US State Department rebuked DynCorp over the "aggressive behaviour" of guards hired to protect Afghan leader Hamid Karzai one of whom slapped an Afghan Minister.

DynCorp hires the pilots, mostly retired U.S. military flyers, who defoliate
coca and opium poppy crops in Colombia as part of a U.S.-Colombian operation called Plan Colombia. In Peru, a plane carrying an American missionary was accidentally shot down when a DynCorp pilot misidentified it as a drug-smuggling flight.


One of the interesting Former Chairmen and now a Director of Dyncorp is Herbert S. "Pug" Winokur, Jr., is described as Chairman and CEO of Capricorn Holdings, Inc., and Former Senior Executive Vice President, Penn Central Corporation.

As the Insiders' Insider, "Pug" Winokur has been such a permanent fixture in the Washington Old Boy Network that he's even mentioned in a 1978 book by Daniel Guttman called "The Shadow Government."

Historically Winokur's Capricorn Holdings ( and good ol’ boy Kenny Lay was /is a Director) was used as an investment vehicle in NHP, an apartment management firm headed by Roderick Heller III.

In turn, NHP's assets included oft-purloined and defaulted HUD Section 8 subsidy housing, a notorious and well-known vehicle for fraud and money laundering.

Winokur was also on the Board of Directors of Harvard Endowment Fund, which purchased 50 percent of NHP, making the prestigious Harvard a prototypical, but very low-profile, slum landlord. (See Bushwacked"

It should also be noted that George Bush Jr. attended Harvard Business School. Later, after Bush joined Harken Energy Corp and became a director, the largest stock position and seat on the board was acquired by Harvard Management Co.

Winokur was also on the Board of Directors of Enron.

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Stable doors banged shut ......

EU bans arms sales to Uzbekistan - BBC

The EU has approved an arms embargo on Uzbekistan after the violent suppression of anti-government protests in the city of Andijan in May.

It has also decided to deny visas to top Uzbek officials.

Danish soldier killed by remotely triggered IED...in Iraq

A Danish soldier was killed and 2 others were seriously wounded when a roadside bomb blew up alongside their vehicle on a bridge near Basra on Saturday Link. Denmark's Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Danish soldiers were making praiseworthy efforts to create a better life for the Iraqi people.

"Terrorists may not, by these hateful and cowardly acts, succeed in preventing progress and create chaos in Iraq," he said in a statement. "The government therefore intends to continue its policy in Iraq."... which is Danish for "Bring 'em on!!"

Iraqi police officer Mohammed Uraibi said at the scene of the attack that it may have been a remotely controlled explosion. Danish forces commander Lieutenant Colonel Tommy Kjær said that there would probably be a change in procedures to avoid future casualties. (See below for the US experience)

"There are a number of possibilities. We can use other roads than we normally take and use more heavily armoured vehicles,' Kjær noted that insurgents' methods were becoming more dangerous.There is a tendency that they use more and more advanced technology. For example, they use remote control to trigger bombs. We are aware of that, and we try to take steps to prepare for that, but it's difficult," said Kjær.

The fallen soldier was the first Dane killed by enemy fire in Iraq, and a sombre mood prevailed at the Danish soldiers' base, Camp Danevang, after the weekend's event. A memorial service was held, and soldiers had been offered counselling.

This is the second death of Danish soldier, the first was killed by “friendly fire” Corporal Preben Pedersen, 34, in Al-Madinah, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of Basra, in January 2004.

At the time Denmark's Defence Minister Svend Aage Jensby told Danish radio. "It's tragic that one of our soldiers...has lost his life while working to help the Iraqi people get back on their feet," "We have lost soldiers in the Balkans, in Afghanistan, and now it has also hit us in Iraq." He said the death would not affect Denmark's decision to keep troops in Iraq. The Danish public has been very was divided over the issue and large peace rallies have been held in Copenhagen.

The prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen , Liberal Party (Venstre) called a snap election on January 18th 2005, with a year left of his 4 year term. Mogens Lyketoft of the opposition Social Democrat Party (SD) said at the time in a TV debate ...

“I am in favour of the withdrawal of our contingent at the end of its mandate at the beginning of June since we cannot continue to take part in something that many Iraqi’s consider to be an army of occupation,”… “Denmark will never take part in a war against Iraq that the Secretary General of the UN qualified as illegal. We shall never commit the same error that Anders Fogh Rasmussen committed by entering a war without the UN’s mandate and thereby breaking up European cohesion. We shall not follow the USA blindly as the present government has done. We shall be a critical ally,”

Denmark has a population of 5.34 million with 4 million registered voters and a remarkably dutiful 84.4% of them voted .The Social Democrats lost 5 seats and leader Mogens Lykketoft honourably resigned immediately after the election.

A recent poll showed 63% of responders agreed with the withdrawal of Danish troops from Iraq. Today's news will encourage others to join them in calling for the troops to leave Iraq as soon as practicable.

Joseph Heller should be writing this ...

Tom Lasseter of Knight Ridder spent 5 days as an embedded at Muqdadiyah in Diyala Province, a “quiet” area. Yet on the main supply route to the base, Route Vanessa, on the edge of Muqdadiyah, the U.S. military has reduced patrols from 24-hour cycles to two daily five-hour rotations. Explosives hit the military's bomb-detecting truck every day for 11 straight days in August. Commanders routinely call in F-16s to provide close support for the vehicle.

"We go out and kill the bad guys one at a time," said Hendricks, 32, who speaks with the soft accent of his native Claremore, Okla., where his high school graduating class had 55 students. "But we're just whittling down one group so it's easier for the other groups to kill them."

"They say attacks are down. Well, no shit," Hendricks said. "We're not patrolling where the bad guys are."

Pointing to Route Marie on a map on the wall of his barracks, Hendricks traced a 2-mile stretch of the road with his index finger where patrols ended in late May.

"They kicked our ass off this road," Hendricks said. "They hit us with so many IEDs we had to stop using it."

Meanwhile ... U.S. Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, a military spokesman in Baghdad, pointed to Diyala and the 13 other provinces in September as examples of a weakened insurgency.

"So what I'm trying to show you is ... there is indeed areas of Iraq that are relatively safe and secure, and those people in those provinces are working their way towards a peaceful society as they work their way towards democracy," Lynch said, motioning to a map of Iraq.

What emerges is a picture of an occupation force with its hands full, it's morale down, trying to keep the roads open to its forward operating bases, while leaving the rest of the province to Iraqi police or military units, or to the insurgents -- who, of course, are often the same people.

So you have the most powerful military forces in the world, supporting a corrupt, divided, untrustworthy, Iraqi military / police force, trying to stumble along to elections, in a country that the capital can boast of six hours electricity a day.... which is worse than it was before the whole violent bloodletting started. Yossarian would be at home.
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US soaps - The New Labour reality

The Sunday Herald today reports that John McTernan, Tony Blair’s Directorof political operations said that building a new nuclear power station at Dounreay would be the ideal way of undermining their Liberal Democrat coalition colleagues. It is claimed he said the plan would boost the chances of First Minister Jack McConnell’ s party winning Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, the seat that is home to Dounreay and which is held by the LibDems. The proposal is part of a Labour strategy personally approved by Blair to attack the LibDems in the run up to the poll. It was aired at a gathering of Labour special advisers in August at St Andrews House in Edinburgh. The Dounreay episode confirms that nuclear power is seriously back on the political agenda. When asked, McTernan downplayed but did not deny his remarks and said he was joking. John McTernan has also worked as head of strategy for Scotland's former first minister, Henry McLeish.'It's an extremely rich experience,' he told the Observer on March 11th 2002

'You get unparalleled access to government at the highest levels. If you like politics - and most of the people who become advisers are complete addicts - this is the ultimate job. It's like The West Wing, only you're in it instead of watching it.

So now you know where New Labour gets it's wet dreams ideas from. Recent blogs on same topic here

U turn if I want to, this laddy is for turning. T Blair. Visionary Statesman

"Concerted international effort' necessary to fight climate change"
24 February 2003

On the eve of pubishing the Energy White paper in 2003, Tony Blair spoke about the Government's energy policy.

"We know now, from further research and evidence, that to stop further damage to the climate we need a 60% of emissions reduction world-wide. The Royal Commission on Environmental Protection found just that: a 60% reduction by 2050 was essential.
So it is clear Kyoto is not radical enough. But it is at the moment the most that is politically achievable. And even the Kyoto targets have proved controversial with some countries, notably America. Many see it as a threat to the pursuit of economic growth."

"I believe this needn't be the case. If we harness new technology the evidence is mounting that we can achieve a target of 60% - and at reasonable cost."

"Solar energy alone, for example, could supply world energy demand using 1% of the land currently under crops and pasture. There is also huge potential from wind, wave and other renewable technologies.
"
"Improving the efficiency with which we operate our energy processes also offers enormous savings - up to half our energy use could be saved by the use of known efficiency techniques."

"The ability of hydrogen to replace fossil fuels, especially in transport, will also transform our energy system …"

"We will also set out later today our ambition to double the amount of energy supplied by renewables."

On 27 January 2005, Tony Blair, spoke to the World Economic Forum..where of course he had the oportunity to speak to POTUS (presumably after he had fallen off his bike).He could also review the fact that energy consumption relentlessly increases 1-2% per annum and the total installed base of renewable energy was less than 1/2% of electrical production, and that only by including hydro lectric power (for which there is zero potential growth in the UK) can any meaningful level of output be claimed. Also whilst massive claims have been made for offshore wind power, the steam ..er ... or wind is being knocked out of their sails, by the horrendous (and entirely predictable cost of installing distibution networks).

Secondly, through the G8 process I want to develop a package of practical measures, largely focused on technology, to cut emissions. And here I don’t just mean research into new technologies, important though that is. I also think we need to work much harder to find ways to implement the vast range of low-carbon technologies that have already been developed. Energy efficiency. Renewable energy sources. Cleaner fossil fuels. Avoiding waste. All of this can be done, and often at a much lower cost than we realise.

Tony Blair Pulls the Plug on Kyoto at Clinton Summit

Mr Blair told the New York conference organised by Bill Clinton :

"I would say probably I'm changing my thinking about this in the past two or three years. (ie since publishing Energy White Paper)I think if we are going to get action we have got to start from the brutal honesty about the politics of how we deal with it. "The truth is, no country is going to cut its growth or consumption substantially in the light of a long-term environmental problem. "Some people have signed Kyoto, some people haven't signed Kyoto, right? That is a disagreement. It's there. It's not going to be resolved."

so...a few days later at the Labour Party Conference ...

.... Government is to hold a full review of nuclear power and renewable energy sources - including clean coal - next year. Malcolm Wicks, the Energy minister, said it would be "more difficult" for Britain to meet its targets on cutting carbon emissions without nuclear power.

Speaking at a fringe meeting organised by the nuclear industry at the Labour Party Conference 2005 , newly appointed Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks (5th so far under Tony) said the government was "keeping options open" about expanding the nuclear industry as a way of reducing global warming.

"I think, in principle, we can meet our climate change targets without going down the nuclear route but it would be more difficult," Mr Wicks said. "I think it would help us tackle our challenge of climate change, all things being equal. But there is no silver bullet."

Malcolm Wicks is to lead the review into energy sources that will examine the cost of nuclear power and the role it can play in securing future energy supplies and tackling climate change.

Tony Blair has put his personal authority behind a fresh look at nuclear power as a way to cut carbon emissions. He also strongly indicated it could help guarantee the security of future energy supplies in Britain, reducing reliance on oil and gas piped in from abroad.

In an interview with The Observer, Wicks, who stresses he is a nuclear agnostic, said: "I feel that the issue is much more open. There always seem to be those who will be dead opposed - the history, the linkages to nuclear weapons."

Asked if political and public opinion had moved on the issue since the government's 2003 Energy White Paper - which questioned the economic case for nuclear and concluded it was an 'unattractive' option - he said:

"I do feel among many of my parliamentary colleagues and in public opinion there is more open-mindedness. There are hearts and minds to be won."

As one of his apparatchik Ministers said on BBC Question Time, admitting there had been a U turn in Government policy,(one of many) " Yes, but we are pressing forward fast , just in a different direction".

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Give us the tools ! ..and we might possibly finish the job.

Tony Blair’s Labour Party Conference speech (if you can call his staccato, breathy, “I speak you weight” delivery, a speech) will never be held up as those of Cicero as a masterpiece of rhetoric, or style. They do however bear consideration to try to identify strands of Government (of what we will call for want of a better expression) ,thinking…

Under pressure, as in the blitz, when we stood alone, unlike the cheese eating surrender monkeys and the armless and charmless Germans no doubt looking for a sun-bed to lob their towel on in a pre-dawn sneaky raid ..

And when terrorism struck, the same pride and confidence asserted itself, to the envy and awe of the watching world.

London, that day, did Britain proud. (sic)

This is a country today that increasingly sets the standard.

Not for us the malaise of France or the angst of Germany.

Written it would appear by the Sun leader writer, he seeks only to confirm, if confirmation is needed, that, when needed, we cannot rely on our European second cousins. However this uber Jingoism is married to a profound realism baout the place of the UK in the "manifest destiny". Westward look the land is bright !

Britain should also remain the strongest ally of the United States.

I never doubted after September 11th that our place was alongside America and I don't doubt it now.

One may see this theme developed earlier by Lord Drayson,(the man who did rather well our of the smallpox vaccine war on terror initiative) the recently appointed Minister for Defence Procurement, made his first keynote address to the Royal United Services Institute on 12 September 2005 on the subject of the Defence Industrial Strategy.

By December, we will not be able to cover all the sectors to the same depth, and there will be an element of ongoing work. But I am demanding gritty conclusions on shipbuilding and ship support; fixed wing aircraft (including Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)); rotorcraft; guided weapons; general munitions; armoured fighting vehicles; and a number of other key areas.(nuclear war heads update ?)

…….those who are most keen for us to set out what we want to source uniquely from the UK may not get all the conclusions they would like.

……..ultimately, if foreign taxpayers end up subsidising the equipment we operate, so be it.

The assembled UK industrialist, who looked as though they hadn't done very well out of the war, were given a stark warning …

…….The list of industrial capabilities that must be sourced from the UK will, I expect, be a short one.

Which bears repeating .. so he did a couple of paragraphs later.

So, as I said, I do not expect the list of capabilities that must be fostered and sustained in the UK to be a long one.

It is therefore interesting to see that the MOD managed to hide away an interesting item on Friday afternoon 30th September 2005.

Iraqi Army takes charge at Camp Chindit

On 29 September 2005 the 1st Royal Anglians handed over Camp Chindit near Al-Zubaya. The camp was a company location used to support about 120 troops, and will in future serve as a base for engineers from the Iraqi army. Camp Chindit is the first such camp to be handed over.

The handover was conducted by Lt Col Eddie Thorne MC, Commanding Officer of 1st Battalion the Royal Anglian Regiment and Lt Col Abdul Hussain, Commanding Officer of 2nd Battalion the Iraqi Army which is part of 10 Division based in Multi-National Division (South East). (MOD pic)

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