"The Supreme Court said in a 6-3 decision that people who smoke marijuana because their doctors recommend it to ease pain... can be prosecuted."

Calif. Suspends Medical Marijuana Plan

By LISA LEFF,
Associated Press Writer
Fri Jul 8, 9:59 PM ET

SAN FRANCISCO - California health officials suspended a program Friday that had begun providing patients who smoke marijuana for medicinal reasons with state-issued identification cards.

State Health Director Sandra Shewry has asked the state attorney general's office to review a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling to determine whether the ID program would put patients and state employees at risk of federal prosecution.

"I am concerned about unintended potential consequences of issuing medical marijuana ID cards that could affect medical marijuana users, their families and staff of the California Department of Health Services," Shewry said.

Last month, the Supreme Court said in a 6-3 decision that people who smoke marijuana because their doctors recommend it to ease pain or other conditions can be prosecuted for violating federal drug laws.

The ruling did not strike down laws in California and nine other states that permit medical cannabis use, but it said federal drug laws take precedence.

A spokeswoman for Attorney General Bill Lockyer said his office would review the health department's request.

Complying with a state mandate that lawmakers passed after California voters approved a medical marijuana law in 1996, the state health department in May launched a pilot pot card program in three Northern California counties.

One purpose of the cards is to give medical pot users a way to show they have a legitimate reason for possessing pot if they are stopped by law enforcement. So far, cards have been issued to 123 people under the pilot program, which was due to expand statewide on Aug. 1.

Other counties and cities that issue their own medical marijuana ID cards to local residents, such as San Francisco, Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz, are unaffected by the state's action.

SOURCE - http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050709/ap_on_re_us/medical_marijuana

"Viagra: Is it worth going blind?" (Hmm... maybe. Hef, whatchoosayin'?)

FDA Orders Warning Label on Viagra

Sat Jul 9, 5:16 AM ET

WASHINGTON - The government on Friday ordered warnings onto the labels of Viagra and two other impotence drugs after some users developed a form of blindness — while cautioning that it's impossible to know if the pills are to blame.

The Food and Drug Administration's move comes as the agency is under intense pressure to investigate more aggressively and warn the public about drug side effects.

At issue is sudden vision loss when blood flow to the optic nerve is blocked, a condition called NAION or non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy.

NAION is considered one of the most common causes of sudden vision loss in older people, with anywhere from 1,000 to 6,000 cases a year. Moreover, risk factors include diabetes and heart disease, two of the leading causes of impotence.

The FDA has 43 reports of NAION among the impotence drug users: 38 for Viagra, four for Cialis and one for Levitra. They include varying degrees of vision loss, including blindness.

Those are rare numbers, given that Viagra alone has been used by 23 million men worldwide since its approval in 1998, according to maker Pfizer Inc.

"It is not possible to determine whether these oral medicines for erectile dysfunction were the cause," or whether other health conditions triggered NAION in the men, the FDA said in a statement Friday.

In addition to heart disease and diabetes, risk factors include being over age 50, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and smoking.

But FDA advised patients to stop taking the pills and call a doctor if they experience sudden or decreased vision loss in one or both eyes — and to tell their doctor if they have ever suffered an episode of sudden vision loss, because such patients are at increased risk of a second episode.

Cialis is marketed by Eli Lilly & Co. and ICOS Corp. Levitra is sold by GlaxoSmithKline PLC and Schering-Plough Corp. in the United States, and by Bayer AG elsewhere.

Shares of Pfizer rose 39 cents, or 1.5 percent, to close at $27.14; shares of Eli Lilly rose $1.04, or 1.9 percent, to $56.25; shares of GlaxoSmithKline rose 2 cents to close at $48.24; and shares of Schering-Plough rose 49 cents, or 2.6 percent, to close at $18.97, all in Friday trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Shares of ICOS rose 84 cents, or 3.9 percent, to close at $22.15 on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange.

___

On the Net:

FDA information on the three drugs: http://www.fda.gov/cder/drug/DrugSafety/DrugIndex.htm

SOURCE - http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050709/ap_on_he_me/viagra_blindness

Culpability Theorists of the World Unite!

our reactions are actions...

and...

our reactions are inaction...

so...

this is now normal...

(...)

be afraid...

be very afraid...

then...

be bored...

be very bored...

(...)

they clearly hate our freedoms...

i mean...

they gave us The Patriot Act...

etc..

and...

they want to give us ID cards...

etc..

and...

i mean...

wow...

they clearly hate our freedoms...

(...)

"A child dies every three seconds."
- Brad Pitt

The ONE Campaign
SOURCE - http://www.one.org/index.aspx

(...)

what are the root causes of terrorism...

i mean...

whether you believe it's al-qaeda...

or...

whether you believe it's al-cracka...

still...

it's the people who made the world we live in...

and...

it's the people who make the world we live in...

so...

it's the same people...

and...

they just need to answer a few questions...

(...)

Seditious Summary

"The claim could not be verified; many specialists doubted its authenticity." (So: Where they at?)

An unknown group calling itself the Secret Organization of Al Qaeda in Europe took responsibility on a website. The claim could not be verified; many specialists doubted its authenticity.

“many specialists doubted its authenticity.”

“many specialists doubted its authenticity.”

“many specialists doubted its authenticity.”

(So: Where they at?)

The Boston Globe
Specter surfaces of world of local Qaeda offshoots
By Bryan Bender, Globe Staff | July 8, 2005

SOURCE – http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2005/07/08/specter_surfaces_of_world_of_local_qaeda_offshoots/

(...)

“Whitehall’s Joint Terrorist Analysis Centre (Jtac) last month reduced the threat level from al-Qaida terrorism…”

(Why…?)

Security, intelligence and police chiefs have been braced for an attack on London, which they regarded as inevitable.

But Whitehall’s Joint Terrorist Analysis Centre (Jtac) last month reduced the threat level from al-Qaida terrorism, from “severe – general” to “substantial”.

The Guardian has learned that Jtac made the decision on the grounds that the al-Qaida leadership did not have the ability to order a coordinated attack in Britain. But that did not mean a group of individuals broadly sympathetic to al-Qaida did not have the ability to mount attacks on their own initiative.

The Guardian Unlimited
Intelligence officials were braced for an offensive – but lowered threat levels
Group linked to al-Qaida cites UK’s Iraq actions
Richard Norton-Taylor and Duncan Campbell
Friday July 8, 2005

SOURCE – http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,12780,1523669,00.html

(...)

“British police warned the Israeli Embassy in London of possible terror attacks…”

(Did Netanyahu avoid going to a 9 am meeting…?)

Israel not warned about blasts – foreign minister

07/07/2005 – 12:37:23

Israel was not warned about possible terror attacks in London before at least six blasts ripped through the city, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said today.

A Foreign Ministry official had said earlier that British police warned the Israeli Embassy in London of possible terror attacks minutes before the first explosion.

“There was no early information about terrorist attacks,” Shalom told Israel Army Radio. “After the first explosion an order was given that no one move until things become clear.”

Israel was holding an economic conference in a hotel over the underground stop where one of the blasts occurred. Israeli Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was supposed to attend the conference, but “after the first explosion our finance minister received a request not to go anywhere,” Shalom said.

He said he wasn’t aware of any Israeli casualties.

(...)

Ireland On-Line
Israel not warned about blasts – foreign minister

SOURCE – http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/story.asp?

"The claim could not be verified; many specialists doubted its authenticity." (So: Where they at?)

An unknown group calling itself the Secret Organization of Al Qaeda in Europe took responsibility on a website. The claim could not be verified; many specialists doubted its authenticity.

"many specialists doubted its authenticity."

"many specialists doubted its authenticity."

"many specialists doubted its authenticity."

(So: Where they at?)

(...)

Specter surfaces of world of local Qaeda offshoots

By Bryan Bender, Globe Staff | July 8, 2005

WASHINGTON -- The attacks in London yesterday appear to be the work of an Al Qaeda offshoot, and could provide further evidence that the organization responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks is steadily morphing into a collection of largely independent groups, US intelligence officials and specialists on terrorism said.

Yesterday's bombings, as well as the Madrid commuter train attacks in March 2004, also signal how the global movement of Islamic extremists is planting new roots and terror cells in Europe's large Muslim community, the officials and experts said. They warned that the new cells, whose members can move freely in their communities and within Europe, present a new challenge to antiterror efforts that have focused largely on foreign groups.

US and European intelligence services are monitoring a more pronounced level of radicalization among young Muslim men in Europe, they said, particularly in the wake of the Iraq war, which has drawn in hundreds of European Muslim fighters, according to US military estimates.

Even with much of the Al Qaeda leadership either dead or captured, these new affiliates can continue a holy war against the West with relatively low-tech but deadly attacks such as yesterday's subway and bus bombings.

"I am in the 'homegrown' camp as opposed to the 'cell-dispatched-by-Osama-bin-Laden-from-a-cave,' " said Steven Simon, a former counterterrorism official in the Clinton White House and a senior analyst at the government-funded Rand Corp. "Madrid as a model is pretty seductive," he added of the bombings in the Spanish capital, which killed 191 people. They were planned by Spanish citizens and by residents of North African descent.

The attacks in London, which killed at least 37 people and wounded 700, displayed the hallmarks of an Al Qaeda-type operation, US intelligence officials said.

But the relative simplicity of the attacks suggests that they were not carried out under the direct orders of bin Laden or his deputies, according to the officials, but by a group operating on its own.

Bin Laden's group planned the 9/11 attacks in the United States years in advance, and trained and dispatched the hijackers. Officials say he may now be believe he is now trying to mount more spectacular attacks to top 9/11, which killed 3,000 people.

"The central question is whether it is an Al Qaeda-directed attack or an Al Qaeda-inspired attack," said Roger Cressey, a former official in the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations. "In many respects it will be easier if it is an Al Qaeda-directed attack with a familiar command structure. If it is an inspired attack with no operational control over it, it is much more difficult to deal with. My gut tells me it was inspired."

Julianne Smith, at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, agreed. "I would put my money on either British citizens or immigrants inside the UK, or a small group returning from the fighting in the Middle East," she said.

An unknown group calling itself the Secret Organization of Al Qaeda in Europe took responsibility on a website. The claim could not be verified; many specialists doubted its authenticity.

Nevertheless, new groups inspired by Al Qaeda that have been popping up on several continents represent a trend that had been predicted by the CIA's National Intelligence Council. ''Groups inspired by Al Qaeda, regionally based groups, and individuals labeled simply as jihadists -- united by a common hatred of moderate regimes and the West -- are likely to conduct terrorist attacks," the council said in a January report.

Whether the group claiming responsibility for the London attacks exists or not, what is clear is that the Iraq war and years of alienation have increasingly radicalized Europe's Muslims, especially in London, where at least two local terror cells have been broken up in the last year. London is also where Richard Reid, the British "shoe bomber," studied with Zacarias Moussaoui, the French citizen who conspired with the 9/11 hijackers.

The British capital, described by some terrorism specialists as ''Londonistan," has a long history of pockets of Islamic militancy. The Washington-based Journal of Counterterrorism warned in a 1999 article about a "web of terror," including militant fund-raising and propaganda groups operating out of radical mosques.

"Claiming to be persecuted political dissidents, these groups manipulate British asylum and speech law to create a shelter under which they may conduct their nefarious activities," Evan F. Kohlmann, a terrorism research specialist, wrote at the time. "They have joined forces with coreligionists in Great Britain."

The new threat extends to the rest of Europe, experts said.

"Europe is a field of jihad, and it evolved from a logistical base for the operations of a centralized Al Qaeda to a battlefield itself," Simon said. ''The foot soldiers . . . recruited themselves right in their own slums. The alienation and the anger behind these attacks has been incubating in Europe for more than a decade. The war in Iraq has intensified the resentment, even fury, of these people."

Intelligence specialists worry that this new class of extremists provides a growing threat. "People who are native grown or inspired are much harder to detect or infiltrate," said Michael Kraft, a former State Department official.

And America may not be immune. "Radical Islam is spreading across Europe among descendants of Muslim immigrants," Robert S. Leiken, director of the immigration and national security program at the Nixon Center, writes in the current issue of Foreign Affairs. "Disenfranchised and disillusioned by the failure of integration, some European Muslims have taken up jihad against the West. They are dangerous and committed -- and can enter the United States without a visa."

Brian Bender can be reached at bender@globe.com.

© Copyright 2005 Globe Newspaper Company.
Previous 1 2

(...)

The Boston Globe

SOURCE - http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2005/07/08/specter_surfaces_of_world_of_local_qaeda_offshoots/

(...)

To: bender@globe.com

Subject: Re: Specter surfaces of world of local Qaeda offshoots

Dear Brian,

I enjoyed your article, but noted something key to expand upon:

"An unknown group calling itself the Secret Organization of Al Qaeda in Europe took responsibility on a website. The claim could not be verified; many specialists doubted its authenticity."

Can you let us know who these specialists are?

In the rush to conclusions crucial evidence could be missed, including whether or not the claim is a fake or real. Please let me know, or if possible have something printed in the next edition of the Globe

Thanks,
BK

(...)

NOTE: I received a nice short response on the same day, it said in part "doubts about because of how it was posted, the language used, and the fact that it was taken down later in the day" were the concerns. There wasn't much more to the email but I've decide to withold it here out of respect for Bryan's privacy. I sent him a short email thanking him and The Globe for their diligence, at least we have the specific questions worth asking with answers to look for.

Peace, BK (10/Jul/05)

"Whitehall's Joint Terrorist Analysis Centre (Jtac) last month reduced the threat level from al-Qaida terrorism..."

Security, intelligence and police chiefs have been braced for an attack on London, which they regarded as inevitable.

But Whitehall's Joint Terrorist Analysis Centre (Jtac) last month reduced the threat level from al-Qaida terrorism, from "severe - general" to "substantial".

The Guardian has learned that Jtac made the decision on the grounds that the al-Qaida leadership did not have the ability to order a coordinated attack in Britain. But that did not mean a group of individuals broadly sympathetic to al-Qaida did not have the ability to mount attacks on their own initiative.

Jtac said many of its current concerns focused on individuals or groups "only loosely affiliated to al-Qaida or entirely autonomous".

Security officials insisted that the downgrading of the threat level would not have affected the response of the police and emergency services.

(...)

Jtac - which includes officials from MI5, MI6, GCHQ and the police - is now reassessing the threat. Both the police and MI5 have been increasingly alarmed by a steady trickle of young British Muslims travelling to Iraq to join insurgent operations. But the threat from them, they believe, would come later.

"We have monitored some of them leaving, sometimes via France, but we haven't yet seen them returning," an intelligence source said last week. "Some of them have multiple identities, which makes them difficult to track."

A senior Metropolitan police source said this week: "Some of them will have been killed out there." Others will have learned a variety of terror methods - including handling weapons and explosives - though not all of that would be relevant in London.

MI5 has drawn up an extensive report on why young British Muslims become radicalised. As well as monitoring human traffic between Britain and Iraq they have been looking at the problem of young Muslims becoming indoctrinated in prison and elsewhere.

(...)

The Guardian Unlimited

SOURCE - http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,12780,1523669,00.html

Perfect FOXecution Part II: Terrorism Should Be Number One

Watch this video clip:

Quicktime
Windows Media

Fox News' Brian Kilmeade: London terror attack near G8 summit "works to ... Western world's advantage, for people to experience something like this together"

The following exchange between Fox News host Brian Kilmeade and Fox News business contributor and substitute host Stuart Varney occurred during breaking news coverage of the attacks on London subways and buses on the July 7 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends:

KILMEADE: And he [British Prime Minister Tony Blair] made the statement, clearly shaken, but clearly determined. This is his second address in the last hour. First to the people of London, and now at the G8 summit, where their topic Number 1 --believe it or not-- was global warming, the second was African aid. And that was the first time since 9-11 when they should know, and they do know now, that terrorism should be Number 1. But it's important for them all to be together. I think that works to our advantage, in the Western world's advantage, for people to experience something like this together, just 500 miles from where the attacks have happened.

VARNEY: It puts the Number 1 issue right back on the front burner right at the point where all these world leaders are meeting. It takes global warming off the front burner. It takes African aid off the front burner. It sticks terrorism and the fight on the war on terror, right up front all over again.

KILMEADE: Yeah.

— N.C.

Posted to the web on Thursday July 7, 2005 at 2:07 PM EST

(...)

Media Matters

SOURCE - http://mediamatters.org/items/200507070005

"Almost everywhere Londoners go in public, chances are they're being tracked by cameras."

Police look to closed-circuit TV

Surveillance cameras may yield clues to London bombings
Friday, July 8, 2005 Posted: 0307 GMT (1107 HKT)

LONDON, England (AP) -- Almost everywhere Londoners go in public, chances are they're being tracked by cameras.

Now officials say the British capital's ubiquitous closed-circuit TV cameras may hold the key to helping police determine who was behind Thursday's attacks. Thousands of them watch the subway system alone, and investigators have used the footage in the past to solve crimes.

London's train stations are monitored by 1,800 cameras, and there are more than 6,000 watching the capital's Underground subway network. Cameras also have been installed on some London buses.

(...)

CNN

SOURCE - http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/07/07/britain.constant.surveillance.ap/index.html

"I drink a beer every day on the subway."

Kathy Reul, 44, a health care worker from Queens, confided to a reporter: "I drink a beer every day on the subway. I don't have it in a cup. I have not seen a police officer on a subway train in a long time. If I can get away with having a beer, I can get away with having a bomb."

(...)

The New York Times
In Americans, Lurking Fears Rise to Surface
By PAUL VITELLO
Published: July 8, 2005

SOURCE - http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/08/nyregion/08alert.html?hp&ex=1120881600&en=2ff13fc717b1b9c4&ei=5094&partner=homepage

"The Enhanced Snooping, Library and Hospital Database Seizure Act."

Take My Privacy, Please!

By Ted Koppel
The New York Times
June 13, 2005
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0F1EF6355C0C708DDDAF0
894DD404482

(excerpt)

Unexpected and unfortunate things happen, of course, even to the most reputable and best-run organizations. Only last February, the Bank of America Corporation notified federal investigators that it had lost computer backup tapes containing personal information about 1.2 million federal government employees, including some senators. In April, LexisNexis unintentionally gave outsiders access to the personal files (addresses, Social Security numbers, drivers license information) of as many as 310,000 people. In May, Time Warner revealed that an outside storage company had misplaced data stored on computer backup tapes on 600,000 current and former employees. That same month, United Parcel Service picked up a box of computer tapes in New Jersey from CitiFinancial, the consumer finance subsidiary of Citigroup, that contained the names, addresses, Social Security numbers, account numbers, payment histories and other details on small personal loans made to an estimated 3.9 million customers. The box is still missing.

Whoops!

(...)

Ted Koppel is the anchor and managing editor of the ABC program "Nightline."

(...)

SOURCE - http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/070705_world_stories.shtml#4

EDITORIAL: Is Canada next?

It's time those in charge of this nation's security started telling Canadians the truth. That is, that a terrorist attack on Canada by al-Qaida now seems inevitable.

With yesterday's atrocities in London, four of the five so-called "Christian nations" named by Osama bin Laden himself as potential targets have now been hit.

* The United States suffered through the horrors of 9-11, in which 3,000 innocent civilians were slaughtered.

* The 2003 al-Qaida bombing in Bali was aimed at Australia, whose citizens flock there on holiday. Of the 202 people killed, the single largest group - 88 - were Australians.

* Last year, an al-Qaida group operating in Spain attacked Madrid's subway system, killing 200 commuters.

* And yesterday, a group calling itself "The Secret Organization of al-Qaida in Europe" claimed responsibility for four bombings on London's transit system. Dozens of commuters on their way to work were slaughtered and hundreds more wounded, in a city that had just finished celebrating being chosen as the host of the 2012 Summer Olympics.

The fifth and final country bin Laden has singled out as a potential target, as Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan herself noted yesterday, is Canada - although she added that so far there have been no specific threats.

That's small comfort.

According to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, at least 50 terrorist groups now operate in Canada, including al-Qaida, raising money, acquiring weapons, infiltrating immigrant communities and setting up travel networks.

What is also deeply worrying is that so many Canadians continue to believe - tacitly encouraged by, if not McLellan, then far too many other Liberals - that we are safe from an al-Qaida attack because, unlike the other four countries already hit, we did not participate in the Iraq war.

No, we didn't. But we do have our soldiers in Afghanistan, where they have been involved in the war on terrorism from the very start, and where they have now assumed a leading role.

Meanwhile, the group that claimed credit for yesterday's attacks said they were in retaliation for Britain's involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.

And while it didn't mention Canada - threatening Italy and Denmark instead - al-Qaida has long made its intentions about our country crystal clear.

Just last month, the Senate Committee on National Security and Defence, chaired by Liberal Senator Colin Kenny, again warned that Canada's borders continue to be insecure.

In other words, we are sleepwalking towards a disaster.

Next story: EDITORIAL: 'Incredibly dangerous'

(...)

Edmonton Sun

SOURCE - http://www.edmontonsun.com/Comment/Commentary/2005/07/08/1122210.html

Perfect FOXecution

'You Just Have to Carry On'

Following the deadliest attack on London since World War II, residents return to work while authorities seek answers

Related Stories

•Daunting Probe Ahead
•Web Claim Taken Seriously
•Blasts Have Stamp of Al Qaeda
•Prior Attacks Provide Lessons
•Voice Your Support!

Video

•Tom Ridge Talks to Hannity
•U.S. Moves to Secure Transit
•Blair: 'Barbaric' Attacks

Photo Essays

•Blasts Rock London

(...)

FOX News

SOURCE - http://www.foxnews.com/

The Australian

In other key developments today:

AUSTRALIA'S opposition leader Kim Beazley condemned the bombers as "sub-human filth" who should be hunted down and eliminated;

AUTHORITIES in Britain reportedly found a timer which may have been used in one of the explosive devices;

CONCERNS were raised that British security organisations reduced their alert level just weeks before the attacks;

THE Australian Federal Police offered assistance to British security organisations in the hunt for the bombers, which is already underway.

(...)

The Australian

SOURCE - http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,15862221%255E601,00.html

Searching For Judith Miller

Jail for Judith Miller
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... Joseph Wilson noted last night, "The sentencing of Judith Miller to jail for refusing to disclose her sources is the direct result of the culture of ...

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Editor & Publisher - 4 hours ago
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Judith Miller
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... COSSACK: Judith Miller, Norman Solomon says that the press has become an ally of NATO in what is being accomplished in Yugoslavia. Do you agree or disagree? ...

Judith Miller Goes To Jail
DisInfo.com, NY - 15 hours ago
One of our reporters, Judith Miller, has decided to accept a jail sentence rather than testify before a grand jury about one of her confidential sources. ...
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American Journalism Review, MD - 14 hours ago
... When crunch time came, Miller hung tough. ... And that was that. If the choice was breaking that promise or going to jail, the slammer was Miller's only option. ...

RTNDA Decries Sentencing Of Reporter Judith Miller To Jail
Streaming Magazine, FL - 20 hours ago
The Radio-Television News Directors Association says that yesterday’s sentencing of New York Times reporter Judith Miller to jail for refusing to divulge a ...

Judith Miller: A hardened reporter sent to jail
Bangkok Post, Thailand - 12 hours ago
Washington _ Veteran New York Times reporter Judith Miller, who was ordered jailed on Wednesday for her refusal to reveal a confidential source to a grand jury ...

New! Get the latest news on judith miller with Google Alerts.

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SOURCE - http://news.google.com/news?q=judith%20miller&hl=en&lr=&rls=GGLC,GGLC:1969-53,GGLC:en&sa=N&tab=wn

"Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who was yards away from one of the deadly explosions that struck London on Thursday..."

...said the attacks were an eerie reminder of Sept. 11, 2001.

Giuliani said he was in a hotel near Liverpool Street Station when a bomb exploded on a train in a tunnel nearby.

"It was very strange being here today and being a block or half a block away when the bomb went off," Giuliani told the Associated Press in a telephone interview later Thursday.

"We were in a hotel having breakfast when it happened and we were told originally that it was either an accident or a device, and then obviously when the second attack happened, we knew," said Giuliani.

The former mayor noted the time of day was almost identical to the 2001 attacks, beginning about ten minutes before 9 a.m. and ending before 10 a.m.

"I told the prime minister and the head of the fire department that it's the same perplexing thought and feeling, which is why do these innocent people have to be killed? The people who were killed were people who were on their way to work in virtually the same time frame as the attacks on Sept. 11," he said.

Giuliani, who was widely praised for his calm and resolute leadership after the Sept. 11 attacks, told Sky News television earlier in the day that New Yorkers would feel "tremendous empathy" with the people of London.

The mayor praised Londoners' response to the attacks, saying he was struck by how quickly residents tried to resume a semblance of normalcy Thursday evening, even with much of the city's businesses closed.

"As I was watching it, I was saying to myself, you can see the genes — these are the same people whose grandparents and great-grandparents withstood the Battle of Britain without flinching," Giuliani said, referring to World War II.

Giuliani, who received an honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II in recognition of his post-Sept. 11 leadership, left his post as mayor in 2002.

The London attacks don't increase the chances of a similar attack on transit systems in New York or elsewhere in the United States, he said, but remind Americans that such a strike is possible.

"Maybe it shakes up anyone that's being complacent," he said.

Giuliani said those he met Thursday in London said they had been expecting a terror attack eventually.

"They didn't know the day or the hour, but everyone I talked to here, whether it's government people or civilians, say they were shocked it happened this day, but they expected something like this," he said.

(...)

Yahoo! News

SOURCE - http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050708/ap_on_re_eu/explosion_giuliani;_ylt=An5kMhSkBwGEifIMfw27vv.s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3OXIzMDMzBHNlYwM3MDM-

Weary of strife, India shows more restraint

By Y.P. Rajesh

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Weary of sectarian bloodshed and now more focused on its dream of prosperity, India saw little of its customary knee-jerk violence this week after unidentified gunmen stormed a holy site claimed by both Hindus and Muslims.

The federal government placed security agencies and all states on full alert after the attack, mindful of the past.

The controversial religious site in Ayodhya, where a makeshift temple to Hindu God-king Ram was built in 1992 after Hindu mobs razed a 16th-century mosque, has been a flashpoint for sectarian bloodshed for years.

Although the attackers -- suspected to be Islamic militants -- were killed before they could reach the makeshift structure, the trespass could have been considered sacrilegous enough to set off bloodletting again between the country's Hindus and its large, but minority, Muslim population.

But reactions were uncharacteristically restrained.

The backlash was limited to Hindu groups breaking a few car windshields, blocking roads and trains and closing shops in a few dozen cities in protests -- minimal compared to the violence sparked by such provocations in the past.

"There has been a weariness with such strife and conflict for a few years. It has been replaced by a desire for peace in a sense," said independent political analyst Mahesh Rangarajan.

"Terrorism is not becoming a signal for provocative counter-mobilisation and division on ethnic lines. Definitely it is a sign of the polity maturing," he said.

Many Hindus see Muslims as the descendants of Islamic invaders who took control of the Indian plains centuries ago and religious tensions have seldom been from the surface. More than one million people have been killed in clashes since the early 18th century, rights groups say.

The partition of British colonial India along religious lines and the creation of Islamic Pakistan in 1947 exacerbated divisions, as did a Hindu revivalist campaign launched by nationalist groups in the late 1980s.

Hundreds of thousands were killed in the aftermath of the 1947 partition while the demolition of the historic Ayodhya mosque in 1992 engulfed many parts of the country in violence and killed more than 3,000 people.

BREAD AND BUTTER ISSUES

More recently, in 2002, the torching of a train in Gujarat carrying pilgrims from Ayodhya in which 59 Hindus died led to widespread revenge attacks. About 2,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed.

Hindu groups claim that Lord Ram was born on the site in Ayodhya, about 600 km southeast of New Delhi, and that Islamic invaders destroyed a temple on the spot and built the mosque in its place.

A campaign by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its sister groups to rebuild a Ram temple there led to the demolition of the mosque by mobs and catapulted the BJP to the centrestage of Indian politics in the 1990s.

The 1990s, however, also marked the unshackling of the Indian economy from decades of state control, triggering Western-style market reforms, sparking a desire for growth, development, education and consumption.

Today, India is Asia's fourth-largest economy and a booming centre of information technology industries and services. This has helped alter national politics and has struck at the core of what the BJP stands for, analysts said.

"The excited manner in which the BJP leadership has seized on the terrorist attack in Ayodhya simply shows that the Sangh Parivar refuses to understand that the India of 2005 cannot possibly remain in the thrall of the 1992-minted hate mantras," wrote Harish Khare, an editor with The Hindu newspaper.

Khare was referring to weak attempts by the BJP and its allies -- called the Sangh parivar, or family -- to capitalise on the Ayodhya attack for a revival of its fortunes after last year's defeat in national elections.

"This is a pointer that politics is about bread and butter issues. It's about jobs and food and grain prices and sugar and industry," Rangarajan said. "You can see evidence of this in the ambivalence and hesitation of the BJP because they don't see these issues striking a chord."

Even in Ayodhya, there was little enthusiasm to dwell on the issue much longer.

"Because of this attack and protests, business will be ruined during the month-long monsoon fair starting soon," said Shiv Kumar, a Ayodhya shopkeeper. "People will be scared to come here and that is not good for us."

© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.

(...)

Reuters

SOURCE - http://in.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2005-07-08T103750Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-208620-1.xml

"British police warned the Israeli Embassy in London of possible terror attacks..."

Israel not warned about blasts - foreign minister

07/07/2005 - 12:37:23

Israel was not warned about possible terror attacks in London before at least six blasts ripped through the city, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said today.

A Foreign Ministry official had said earlier that British police warned the Israeli Embassy in London of possible terror attacks minutes before the first explosion.

“There was no early information about terrorist attacks,” Shalom told Israel Army Radio. “After the first explosion an order was given that no one move until things become clear.”

Israel was holding an economic conference in a hotel over the underground stop where one of the blasts occurred. Israeli Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was supposed to attend the conference, but “after the first explosion our finance minister received a request not to go anywhere,” Shalom said.

He said he wasn’t aware of any Israeli casualties.

(...)

Ireland On-Line

SOURCE - http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/story.asp?j=122106240&p=yzzyx68zx

"The reality is that the US war with Iran has already begun."

Scott Ritter, former U.S. Marine intelligence officer and U.N. weapons inspector in Iraq, has written that "The reality is that the US war with Iran has already begun. As we speak over flights of Iranian soil are taking place, using pilotless drones and other, more sophisticated capabilities." President Bush has authorized covert offensive operations inside Iran, he writes, adding that "The most visible of these is the CIA-backed actions recently undertaken by the Mujahedeen el-Khalq, or MEK". But, according to Ritter, "the CIA-backed campaign of MEK terror bombings in Iran are not the only action ongoing against Iran." The US is using Azerbaijan, to the north, to prepare "a base of operations for a massive military presence that will foretell a major land-based campaign designed to capture Tehran." From bases in Azerbaijan, military aircraft "will have a much shorter distance to fly when striking targets in and around Tehran."

(...)

Counterpunch Magazine

SOURCE - http://www.counterpunch.org/hammond07062005.html

The Clash of Civilizations: London Calling

like any good cop'll tell you...

separate the (rather) arresting suspects on TV...

and get independent confessions...

before they get their stories straight...

it's tough...

the suspects are playing it cool...

almost too cool...

(...)

BBC News

SOURCE - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4661059.stm#

"Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the bombings had "the hallmarks of an al-Qaeda-related attack".

(how the hell does he know? no one could possibly know yet, and isn't naming suspects right after the crime irresponsibly scaring people unneccessarily?)

(he also said tomorrow people should act normal, and that transportation services will be up and running: how the hell does he know? is that a rational decision to make yet? can't they close the subways for a day just in case there are more bombs? haven't they ever heard of a "snow day"?)

"Prime Minister Tony Blair promised the "most intense police and security service action to make sure we bring those responsible to justice"."

(intelligence is key...)

"We know that these people act in the name of Islam but we also know that the vast and overwhelming majority of Muslims here and abroad are decent and law-abiding people who abhor those who do this every bit as much as we do," he added.

(so, since we like all the good ones, we can torture the ones we don't like, because if we're torturing them, they must be the bad ones.)

"US President George Bush told reporters at the G8 Summit in Gleneagles "the war on terror goes on."

(he sounds bored.)

(...)

BBC News

SOURCE - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4659933.stm

"Home Secretary Charles Clarke said he did not think military action had raised the terrorism risks. The terrorists simply wanted to destroy democracy and freedoms, he said, stressing that the 11 September attacks in America had come before the Iraq war."

(relax...)

(chill out...)

(turn off your brains...)

(many are very-very sure of very-very many things...)

(and they are clearly in control of the situation...)

BKBA: Kicking it in a Kurtha

throwback blog...

(...)

Aug. 20, 2004. 01:00 AM

Kicking it in a kurtha

Some clothes make the man, but clearly the sports jersey doesn't cut it in Toronto's bar scene, says Black Krishna.

I was at the Bier Market, a trendy bar on The Esplanade in downtown Toronto an hour ago. It's Friday night.

Notice I wasn't "in" the Bier Market, I just showed up "at," and was told very politely that I couldn't enter wearing my brown bandana as part of my T-shirt, baggy shorts and sandals.

Now, coming from a Hip Hop Peace and Unity Fest, I expected to brave a yuppie cold shower to see friends there, and was fine with it. Plus, I'm familiar with Toronto dress codes.

Still, I ask the young lady what their full dress code policy is, and she obliges by reading a few items scribbled on a note-pad: no torn jeans, no tank tops, no bandanas, and no jerseys — except during Leaf games, when white and blue jerseys gain black-tie status. Baseball hats are fine, as are all manner of casual modest clothing such as T-shirts, jeans, and sneakers.

Except for jerseys.

I noticed the same policy in hip hop-hotbed Atlanta, where some bars welcomed the teeming masses wearing jerseys while others aggressively turned them away. This, despite the fact that most jerseys cover at least as much of the body as any other shirt and, unlike tank tops, conform to international decency standards (basketball jerseys are often worn with T-shirts underneath), even more so when oversized.

So, what's the problem?

Well, as most people know, in North America, black people wear jerseys. In fact, many others copy young black (urban) culture and wear jerseys. But at its core, it's a "black thing." So are bandanas and skull-wraps.

Thus the dress code policy may be rooted in racist and stereotypical thinking about blacks, denying them free expression, and labelling them as more likely to cause trouble if not conforming to established so-called mainstream, traditional or white clothing options.

But I'm not black, and I'm not wearing a jersey, so what's my problem? Why can't I just take the bandana off? It's just a poser-thing, isn't it? What the heck's wrong with my hair?

Well, as a South Asian born in Toronto, I wondered if I could instead just roll up and kick it in a kurtha, the pajama-style outfit worn in India and by ex-pats here, or maybe just a long kurtha-shirt with a nice pair of jeans.

If I couldn't, while my peers were in ratty beer-label T-shirts, then that would suck. But even if I could, is that really fair? What are the roots of this dress code policy? What is the logic behind it?

I can trace my East Indian cultural history back 5,000 years, and can also make a convincing argument for my Canadian Charter rights to wear a kurtha anywhere in Canada. I've even worn fancy kurthas to non-Indian weddings for appreciative audiences.

African-Americans can trace their North American history back 400 years, but weren't given most of their rights in the U.S. until 1964, just 40 years ago, with many racist roadblocks to cultural evolution kept in place.

Some still exist.

This is what makes hip hop's global dominance all the more spectacular in just 25 years, utterly eviscerating racial superiority arguments, and proving to be well on its way into a permanent and continuing place in history.

The concepts of peace, love, unity, respect, family, language, style, art, humour, and social structure are all present in hip hop, like any other society, with many regional variations, and empirically it should then qualify for culture status.

Travel around the world and you'll be able to recognize hip hop style as distinct and identifiable in any country — jerseys, hats, skull caps, baggy jeans, etc.

For a fair and equitable society based on standards from all of Toronto's varied communities, we have to throw out the tired arguments based on stereotypes, such as hip hop clothing equalling gang-banger. Hundreds of millions of hip hop CDs are sold worldwide but that does not translate to hundreds of millions of gang-banger buyers.

In fact, hip hop culture is just the opposite of a destructive force. It originally provided a window into the world of disenfranchised blacks for themselves and, later, for everyone. Much maligned in its early days, hip hop struggled because it needed to convert each fan one by one.

It has evolved considerably, but even at its most excessive it is no more extreme or damaging than any other culture's most bizarre behaviour, and objectively less damaging than nearly every Western culture's foreign policy decisions — and most of their domestic ones.

Taken as a cultural entity, it is among the least destructive on the planet. As the late rapper Tupac Shakur noted about his own tales of the ghetto: "I didn't create thug-life, I diagnosed it."

Well, we should all be glad at least some people do. It's easier than admitting the selfish and systemic faults of our more established culture, the one that actually sets the rules for everyone else.

So, either we force African-Americans to skip over their history on this continent for any legitimate cultural claim, or we concede its already globally admitted value, forged stronger in the fires of persistent discrimination, and certifiable as clearly "hip hop" or "new black" culture in Canada and throughout the world.

Outside of subjective individual taste and values, commerce is a clear and objective judge of how people around the world truly feel about hip hop. And much of the world clearly likes it.

Therefore, as a matter of communal principle, this must include widespread acceptance of the humble sports jersey as casual evening-out leisurewear.

After some thought I decided not to go into the bar, simply because I knew in my heart that if I can kick it in a kurtha, then we should all be able to kick it in a jersey .

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Black Krishna is a writer and hip hop activist living in Toronto.

The NEW "What Is Your Race, Please?"

-------------------------------------

Starting today, if your name isn't on this list, I will delete your posts. Period.

I will request your racial identity ONCE and, if you choose to post anything before you've complied, it will be gleefully destroyed.

There will be NO EXCEPTIONS.

SOURCE - http://p076.ezboard.com/fpoliticalpalacefrm1.showMessage?topicID=9922.topic

(...)

Black Krishna sez hey...

------------------------------------

Nice to meet everybody, I'm letting you know in response to this thread that I'm a "brown" guy, born of East-Indian immigrant parents in Canada.

I'm not here to cause controversy, but some people (just a few) invent beef with my name on principle, so I may as well set the record straight now in response to this topic.

I'm not black.

I know that.

However, I'm down for the cause of any oppressed people, and frankly, largely thanks to hip hop I know and sympathize with the ills of North American black culture more than those of say... the people of East Timor. (Though I wish them all the best too.)

And if I understand why a lot of rappers tell "real" tales of street-life based on systemic prejudice society needs to eradicate, I think that was the point.

As Tupac said: "If I keep showing people how bad it really is, maybe they'll do something to stop it."

Sold.

So, while I wouldn't want to appropriate any voices, I also don't want to sit quietly in the corner either. I've kicked-it with various artists, activists and intellectuals of all races, and as I come up in the revolutionary game I bounce ideas off everybody for everybody - One World, One Love, let's do this...

I really see it as giving "friends" advice, and welcoming the same. I think most people deeply involved in any movement are intelligent and strong-willed anyway, so they're going to make their own decisions. If I can help suggest ideas to tactically help improve the approach of someone doing something positive... then why not?

I think the obvious key is how respectfully and thoughtfully they present their ideas, a judgment call to be sure. Confidence can be misinterpreted as arrogance (or, it can really be arrogance), but we have to remember why people are engaging in the dialogue in the first place, or visiting a "foreign" space.

First there's curiousity, then appreciation, then understanding, then a relationship, and then you speak. Unless you can count the money it's tougher to find the malice, and since no one's paying me to write this...

(The following analogy may be screwy in principle, but it works in practice if you accept the logic and not the stereotypical characters.)

I've reminded countless sensitive girlfriends (well... okay, not "countless"! :) when I was met with a pout after offering constructive criticism: "Honey, I'm saying this because I love you, so please, try and take it positively for your benefit. If you take every contrary opinion like a personal insult than I'm just gonna have to stop talking or stop being honest: is that better? Why the hell am I here with you if we ain't cool in the first place?"

Keeping an eye out for fakes is smart, but I think with racial politics as sensitive as ever, people who are the "other" in any clique may feel they have to suppress their personality in order to "fit in" to a proscribed role. It's good to know who's saying what, but to deny their freedom to contribute uniquely isn't empowering or inclusive, and can result in any race in any unfamiliar situation feeling like they have to express themselves in a formulaic way someone's stereotype of them insists on.

Individuals break these moulds, and advance the cause of freedom for whatever they represent, so I don't think anyone wants to get hated-on for deviating from the stereotype someone else in a position of power has of them. That goes for everybody, including "black quarterbacks" and "white coaches". There's a fine-line in judging different forms of expression, and the smartest and most progressive people in the world tread it carefully...

People will instinctively judge based on experience and racial cliches reinforced by the media, and for the freest country in the world, a pretty racist society. 181 black men recently arrested in Queen's, NY over a pot-bust that resulted in a cop flesh-wound? If I didn't catch it on democracynow.org I may have missed it completely with the mainstream media ignoring it.

On race, I'm just glad that if I slept on my hip hop + politics news source that day at least these white liberals called it out for me to see. They also hold it down for people unlike me who may never check a hip hop + politics news source, or who, if they google the info they where shocked by, may find Davey D's site. Plus people are busy, so insisting they broaden their horizons is often less-effective than creating more mirrors for the truth...

As investigative journalist Seymour Hersh said about the hidden yet brutal U.S. civil liberties-erosion over the last few years: "People ask me as a reporter if I'm bugged... no-no, they're too smart for that. They left all of us light-skinned people alone and went after those we don't care about, immigrants, foreign students, arabs, muslims, blacks..." and others whose fates don't mobilize collective outrage even when rarely reported about.

(See: Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib... and everything else.)

I recently learned about Viola Liuzzo, the only white woman murdered in the 1960's civil rights struggle in Alabama. The FBI knew her potential power as a tragic and heroic icon white people could relate to, and one that might make them sympathetic to the civil rights movement. So, they worked to discredit and bury her story for years, and now you hardly hear about her civil rights heroism.

Now...

I'm not saying she should get credit over any of the numerous black activists murdered, but it's worth noting that when the bad guys want to isolate us by race in order to destroy us, it's probably not in our best interests to think the same way. It's also worth noting that all progressive movements that succeed eventually became more inclusive to do so, and that meant white people marching with Dr. King, and sikhs and muslims marching with Mahatma Gandhi...

Tactically, we've got to play the golf ball where it landed, and it's been in a white-sand trap for a minute now. We can get creative in finding many different ways to get it rolling towards the black hole, but we can't forget that working with white people - and ANY people, is a sensible option to find the best and most diverse angles to hit it.

It's also the best way to flex in a democracy, since logically even the best ideas are only good enough to work in practice if enough people support them.

I also believe a people's army can only succeed if it is comprised of the most diverse group of people possible, each providing "cover-fire" for it's members. It always helps to have someone say to someone else of their own race: "Nah, he's cool... hear him out." As long as it's true then the educated network grows bigger and stronger, and I'll step to "brown" people on behalf of black friends and (by extension) black culture and correct any negative perceptions I can.

Ignorant fools still operate in mindless herds, and while they're always on the radar as an immediate concern, systemically there's really only a small group of rich evil people in significant positions of power who keep riling them up to keep the world screwed-up. We've got to keep narrowing our enemies-list until we can clearly see who's really keeping the structures in place that are holding us back, and I think we'll probably find the least of our enemies are the people sharing ideas with each other on this message board.

Incidentally, my formal response to the "Why Black Krishna?" name question is:

1) The main Hindu God "Krishna" was historically portrayed as very dark-skinned (often dark "blue" in artwork), and in an East-Indian culture that still obsesses with "light-skin = better", it helps to remember that the "God" we have for all people was conceived as being dark.

2) I'm the "black sheep" of the family.

3) I love "black" culture and hip hop.

There are more answers, but I think I've written enough and hope that's cool for now. I'm just flippin' you the fresh game I'm bringing (with some timeless ideas recycled), thanks for your ear.

If you'd like (as many others have), please check the article on Tupac Shakur I wrote shortly after seeing "Tupac: Resurrection". I finally understood waht the heck he was talking about after years of half-knowledge, and I'm still eatin' off the inspiration. There's only certain times I can write certain things, and it's probably the best examination of the core desire he fought for that we all share: freedom...

Tupacumentary: Living How You Want To Live
shumans.com/guest/tupacumentary/?p=1

Peace, (NOW!!!)
BK

_________________

...

Black Krishna Brand

Philosophy - blackkrishna.blogspot.com/

Music - www.soundclick.com/bands/0/blackkrishna.htm

...

-------------------------------------

SOURCE - http://p076.ezboard.com/fpoliticalpalacefrm1.showMessageRange?topicID=9922.topic&start=121&stop=134

July 11th: A Day Of Reckoning

ORIGINAL ARTICLE AND RESPONSE...

(...)

Rumsfeld has until July 11 to produce Iraq benchmarks

Mon, 4 Jul 2005 18:23:47 -0700

Summary:

The information required by this legal provision of the defense spending bill is specific and detailed. It includes measures of the security environment, including the number of engagements per day, the count of trained Iraqi forces and more. It orders up indicators of economic activity. It directs Rumsfeld to provide—either in public or in classified annexes—an estimate of U.S. military forces needed in Iraq through the end of calendar 2006 and the criteria the administration will use to determine when it is safe to begin withdrawing forces.

Broder’s “If” of “If and when it comes in…” is tantalizing. What might occur to prevent full compliance? A claim of Executive privilege? An invocation of a need for a cloak of secrecy so as no to tip the enemy off?

Will the Bush Administration allow the Pentagon to be so honest that it hurts?
[Posted By notforprophet]

By David S. Broder
Republished from The Daytona Beach News-Journal

A little-noticed provision of the defense spending bill requires a "comprehensive set of performance indicators and measures of stability and security," President Bush is facing a legal deadline to deliver what he has been most resistant to providing: a set of specific benchmarks for measuring progress toward military and political stability in Iraq.

Under a little-noticed provision of the defense spending bill passed by Congress in May, Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld has until July 11 to send Capitol Hill a “comprehensive set of performance indicators and measures of stability and security” two years after the fall of Saddam Hussein.

If and when it comes in, it could do much more than the president’s Tuesday night speech at Fort Bragg to provide a factual basis for judging how close we may be toward reaching our goals in Iraq.

In that address, Bush once again demolished a straw man, denouncing any talk of a deadline for withdrawal of U.S. and coalition forces and any timetable for phasing them out. While public support for a pullout has grown, almost no one in Congress is advocating such a step.

What serious people are asking of the administration is a set of yardsticks by which the situation is Iraq can be realistically measured—and accountability established for a strategy to reach those goals. That is something the president has refused to provide.

This is our first M.B.A. president, a business school grad who generally operates on the principle that if you can’t measure something, you are flying blind. He insists that his Office of Management and Budget keep score on how well each department and agency is meeting its program responsibilities. Why not measure the enormously expensive investment in Iraq?

In a thoughtful June 21 speech, Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, a Democrat who supported the invasion and vehemently opposes an early withdrawal, said continued public support depends on “a new compact between the administration and Congress to secure the informed consent of the American people, so that they give the president the time we need to succeed in Iraq.”

“The administration,” Biden said, “should develop with Congress clear benchmarks or goals in key areas: security, governance and politics, reconstruction and burden-sharing. We in Congress should aggressively assert our oversight responsibility by insisting that the administration report on progress toward those goals every month in public testimony.”

Last week, Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania, the ranking Democrat on the Defense Appropriations subcommittee, pointed to language in the report accompanying last May’s Iraq funding bill that would satisfy most of those demands. It orders the first detailed status report on July 11 and follow-ups every 90 days.

The information required is specific and detailed. It includes measures of the security environment, including the number of engagements per day, the count of trained Iraqi forces and more. It orders up indicators of economic activity. It directs Rumsfeld to provide—either in public or in classified annexes—an estimate of U.S. military forces needed in Iraq through the end of calendar 2006 and the criteria the administration will use to determine when it is safe to begin withdrawing forces.

As a senior congressional aide told me, “if the Pentagon takes the law seriously and responds as robustly as it is capable of doing,” we may finally begin to learn where we stand.

SOURCE - http://www.gnn.tv/headlines/headline.php?id=3628

(...)

Maybe I'm just a conspiracy theorist...

Maybe just looking at what they've done over and over it makes sense...

Maybe I'm just checking in with GNN.tv 'cause of the causal-approach to news...

Maybe stuff just doesn't happen...

Maybe I'm just being trite...

(...)

I was discussing middle-east politics with a Palestinian friend yesterday until 5 am. While it was obviously a great discussion, it's clear that there was a simple reason we didn't see eye-to-eye: how do you interpret what "they" say and do?

Do you take it straight?

Do you look for the roofies in the drink?

Maybe...

He was saying (paraphrased): "(Most of us Arabs think) they want democracy - on their terms, obviously, in Iraq and the middle-east. That's why they are doing this, and they're just cowboy idiots waging war so poorly they are accidentally creating more terrorism with every blunder".

I agreed with the former (sort of), but I disagreed with the latter: they don't seem to want to win this war very quickly. In fact, they don't seem to want to achieve any different results than what they are achieving now.

How can we tell?

Simply because they are so lazy in thinking of better solutions, or even in making simple logical changes to flawed existing policy.

I'm not even talking about "peace", I'm talking about waging the current "war on terrorism" better. There's a bunch of factors to judge in looking at this mess, but each one is a separate, important and relevant diagnostic. The fact that they always "justify and deny" seems more than just a classic character flaw of the paranoid and immoral...

I mean, they get called-out all the time for screwing up: from Osama, to pre 9/11 intelligence, to 380 tonnes of stolen weapons, to Guantanamo, to troop shortages, to Abu Ghaib, to lack of body-armor, to Zarqawi, to Fallujah, to Zarqawi, to...

July 11th.

So, this is the day of reckoning?

Hmph.

Now, I'm not saying it wasn't negotiated into the defense spending bill by Democrats with the best of efforts and intentions...

I really don't know...

But...

Let's see what happened after the last major reckoning...

(...)

From:

Yahoo! News
June 29, 2005

Bush OKs Shake-Up of Spy Agencies

By KATHERINE SHRADER,
Associated Press Writer

"In its scathing 600-page report released in March, the commission called the spy community "dead wrong on almost all of its prewar judgments" about Iraq's weapons."

To:

"President Bush granted the new national intelligence chief expanded power over the FBI on Wednesday and ordered dozens of other spy agency changes as the White House heeded a presidential commission that condemned the intelligence community for failures in Iraq and elsewhere."

And the beating goes on...

It's much clearer in this example, where a "presidential commission" ripped into faulty intelligence agencies for failures - yet again, thus diverting attention from "their" (neo-con cabal) potential culpability - yet again, and conveniently suggesting they get more power and responsibility to fix the situation - yet again.

This story is easily picked-up as an "Oops! My bad!" slo-pitch home-run for the press, their largely forgotten journalism-school-rooted liberal conscience finally getting to breathe by attacking the failures of government and the CIA a bit.

Unfortunately, the wind-and-steroid-assisted homer is hit by citing the "presidential commission" negative findings and suggested solutions verbatim, with a smattering of mostly bland quotes from politicians usually endorsing whatever policy suggested by the "presidential commission" is on the table. Even those who question it are usually they just hoping for a better version of the same policy, or that it follow-through on promised success.

It also legitimizes the insane idea that more intelligence power and authority given and directed by the President's Office is needed: can the best-trained, equipped and funded intelligence service(s) in the world really screw up that badly? And if so, what makes us think giving them more money and power is the answer? And if so, should the President's Office royally screwing up nearly every domestic and foreign policy geared to "winning" the "war on terrorism" sooner rather than later, really get a free-press-corpse-pass to run all the intelligence agencies better too?

Insane...

Maybe it's the editors with the corporate guns to their heads killing journalistic analyses, but it's also becoming a disturbing trend to snootily close-ranks around the reality of their job-restrictions as opposed to fighting them, classic defiant reactions of a proud profession to losing independence, power and relevance.

It makes sense for journalists to look at overwhelming evidence supported by millions of potential readers outside of conventional wisdom, even if only to nuance or confirm it. This isn't the olden days where random "conspiracy nuts" would supposedly write bizarre libertarian tracts about alleged crimes of government secrecy: it's right now, where the internet is proving that there are in fact millions of "conspiracy theorists" cross-referencing sources - and proving many of the conspiracy O.G.'s were actually right. As we know there are few mainstream eyes out for true lies, and outside of a guys like Seymour Hersh, few ready to dig deep enough to assign extended culpability beyond suggested incompetence...

So, what's going to happen on July 11th?

I'm not sure, but I believe you can bet on one of two things:

1) An utter pack of lies suggesting Iraq is going well, and on it's way to being a beacon of freedom and democracy and role-model for the middle-east.

2) An utter pack of truth saying things are going horribly, and more money, more troops, more private contractors, more intelligence... more "war" is needed to control the evil fundamentalist "terrorist breeding ground" we've created.

Oh, and by the way the "terrorist breeding ground" is full of horrible Islamic young male filthy Arab "terrorists" (As seen on TV!) who hate us more and more every day, and are quite likely to blow up The World's Biggest Hoagie in Springfield, Wherever. So, and sadly, even though the nation has been shamefully caught and apologised for it several times, more "torture" is an unfortunate yet acceptable response to protect The Homeland.

(...)

As I said to my Palestinian friend, if I saw him kickin' it outside our local shawarma joint and called him a racial epithet in full-public view of others on the block, and no one said anything, I would gain power from it. The next day I may try spitting on him, and if no one said anything, my power would grow. The next day I might smack him in the head, and if no one said anything...

Classic stuff.

So, recently added to the torture "camps, prisons, flights and renditions", are new (or newly discovered) "torture ships" afloat in international waters, where no U.S. laws can "prosecute" them.

So... I guess it's okay then.

It seems there has never been a "moral" imperative to change policy, only a "practical" one: how can we find a way to keep doing this? How can we say "we're not breaking any laws"? How can we phrase responses like "Karl Rove never **knowingly** revealed any classified information about CIA Agent Valerie Plane to TIME Magazine"?

How do we (slowly but surely) change laws and policies to make all this stuff legal, and thus publicly morally justifiable through the corporately-controlled media in using conventional legislative yardsticks?

(...)

There are solutions to this, but the first step is accurately diagnosing their own solutions. We just can't expect their own checks and balances to work, they haven't so far, and so we can't digest them easily like tasty red-herrings. Our natural cynicism is often tempered by our worship of power and the convoluted legitimacy it inherently conveys, so while it makes sense to hope for the best on July 11th, it makes at least as much sense to expect the worst.

As distasteful as the reality is, "they" haven't reacted to accusations or evidence that should obliterate Watergate from history with anything approaching humility thus far. It seems that any problems found are at best finally barely acknowledged, and then turned into billion-dollar solutions, like war-appropriations bills, intelligence-spending bills, recruitment-effort bills, corporate-tax-cut bills, weaponization-of-space bills...

Damn.

That's a whole lot of bills.

(...)

Like any good cop'll tell you: to find the crime, just follow the money...

Peace, (NOW!!!)
BK

Poppin' Kristof In Da Club...

smooth moove dood...

caught my crooked-eye...

no lie as to why...

but gave it a try...

(...)

had me trippin'...

'til ya started flippin'...

seen ya reachin' teachin'...

preachin' double-dippin'...

(...)

The New York Times
Op-Ed Columnist

Bush, a Friend of Africa

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: July 5, 2005

Those who care about Africa tend to think that the appropriate attitude toward President Bush is a medley of fury and contempt.

But the fact is that Mr. Bush has done much more for Africa than Bill Clinton ever did, increasing the money actually spent for aid there by two-thirds so far, and setting in motion an eventual tripling of aid for Africa. Mr. Bush's crowning achievement was ending one war in Sudan, between north and south. And while Mr. Bush has done shamefully little to stop Sudan's other conflict - the genocide in Darfur - that's more than Mr. Clinton's response to genocide in Rwanda (which was to issue a magnificent apology afterward).

So as the G-8 summit meeting convenes this week, focusing on Africa, it's worth acknowledging that Mr. Bush, and conservatives generally, have in many ways been great for the developing world. At their best, they bring a healthy dose of hands-on practicality to their efforts.

The liberal approach to helping the poor is sometimes to sponsor a U.N. conference and give ringing speeches calling for changed laws and more international assistance.

In contrast, a standard conservative approach is to sponsor a missionary hospital or school. One magnificent example is the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, where missionary doctors repair obstetric injuries that have left Ethiopian women incontinent.

Liberals also often focus on changing laws, but in a poor country, the legal system is often irrelevant outside the capital. Sudan, for example, banned female genital mutilation back in 1957; since then, the practice has expanded steadily. Sure, lobbying for better laws is important, but it's usually much more cost-effective to vaccinate children or educate girls. Nobody gets more bang for the buck than missionary schools and clinics, and Christian aid groups like World Vision and Samaritan's Purse save lives at bargain-basement prices.

Liberals may also put too much faith in aid itself. What Africa needs most desperately are things it can itself provide: good governance, a firmer neighborhood response to genocide in Sudan, and a collective nudging of Robert Mugabe into retirement.

Plenty of studies have shown that aid usually doesn't help people in insecure, corrupt or poorly governed nations. Indeed, aid can even do harm, by bidding up local exchange rates and hurting local manufacturers.

All that said, in the right circumstances aid can be tremendously effective, especially in well-governed countries - Mozambique is an excellent example. And Mr. Bush's new push to help Africa is smartly designed, targeting problems like malaria and sex trafficking, where extra attention and resources will make a big difference on the ground.

Mr. Bush's signature foreign aid program, the Millennium Challenge Account, is off to an agonizingly slow start, but is shrewdly focused on encouraging good governance and economic growth. The first grant went to Madagascar, a well-run country, to clarify property rights there. This isn't sexy, but nothing would help the poor in Africa more than giving them clear title to their land so they could secure loans and start businesses.

The divide I portray between the left and right is, of course, a caricature. Some of the very best work to help the poor is done by liberal-leaning groups, like the Carter Center, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and Doctors Without Borders. They all use their resources to make real changes on the ground.

And while Mr. Bush has done much more for Africa than most people realize, there's one huge exception, because anything with a whiff of sex in it makes some conservatives go nuts. Mr. Bush's decision to cut off funds for the U.N. Population Fund means that more African girls will die in childbirth. Even more tragic is the administration's blind hostility to condoms to fight AIDS - resulting in more dead Africans.

Mr. Bush has another blind spot as well: while he is right that aid is not a cure-all, sometimes he seems to use legitimate concerns about aid as an excuse for stinginess. Aid has shortcomings, but Mr. Bush himself has shown that it can be used effectively to save lives by the millions.

Yet Mr. Bush is resisting the G-8's calls for further help for Africa; he thinks the sums are better spent on cutting the taxes of the richest people on earth than on saving the lives of the poorest. Come on, Republicans! You need to persuade Mr. Bush to be more generous this week, because his present refusal to help isn't conservative, but just plain selfish.

E-mail: nicholas@nytimes.com

SOURCE - http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/05/opinion/05kristof.html

Last 3 voicemails from Lenny…

July 4th, 2005

Last 3 voicemails from Lenny...

This includes his message saying he was called into his commanding officer’s quarters and reprimanded. Remember, he signed up for the National Guard… he is now patrolling the streets of Baghdad.

I was in DC all last week working with members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, so I had not been able to post his last 2 recordings. I have included them here. I have also included his last one this morning.

This is where he is thanking the activists and the organization I work for (PDA), which by the way has NO association to this site, although we are in solidarity of his message. The launch of this site was my independent venture.

http://leonardclark.com/audio-files/Leonard-Clark-from-Iraq-June-27-2005.mp3

This is where he talks about why this is an occupation, and why we must leave the Iraqi people to their own self-sufficient governance. Also, he tells a story of beauty in a time of darkness. Way to go for the American Troops! This story made me very happy and at the same time very sad…

http://leonardclark.com/audio-files/Leonard-Clark-from-Iraq-July-2-2005.mp3

This is the final voicemail saying he will not be posting for some time because he was “called in”...

http://leonardclark.com/audio-files/Leonard-Clark-from-Iraq-July-4th-2005.mp3

On that note… I will be taking specific “operational” material down which Lenny’s commanders instructed him to do. He has called me and told me the specifics of the material that needs to be taken down. I will take it down in the next 48 hours. For now… pray for him, and keep our brave troops in your hearts on this July 4th.

Damn the man for putting us in this situation, and remember: it is because of our leaders that we are in this mess. Shed no shame for our brave men and women who are put in harm’s way because of this President. Hold your resentment toward our President, not these brave men and women. Hold those folks in your hearts!

Peace,
Kevin Spidel

Popularity: 100%

SOURCE - http://leonardclark.com/blog/?p=22#more-22

(...)

July 5th, 2005

The evil of the mind is conquered by the goodness of the heart

Folks, I have decided to write you this email in response to those who are wondering in their own views why I am apparently violating the “rules”. Since I don’t have much time here is the gist of it: I believe American soldiers (my brothers and sisters) are being killed needlessy over here in this lie we call the “Occupation of Iraq”. To me it is a great offense to the laws of humanity to have American soldiers die needlessly in a place far from their native home when this evil practice could be stopped. When should a person, a human being if you will, speak out ? Well, for me these fellow soldiers are my loved ones, and if I were ever going to speak out about anything it would be to save the lives of those I love. To have human beings sacrifice their lives for a lie is a violation of their human rights, and so there you have it – I believe that not only are my human rights being violated but those of my fellow soldiers as well.

To me it is no different than knowing that people are being murdered and that a fellow human being has the supreme moral obligation to prevent these murders from taking place. These are not the actions that an unreasonable person would take but to the contrary – ones that a very reasonable and humane person would take.

I know now in my gut that I have angered and scared very poweful people. Now, I know that I will probably pay the price but I am a human being first, and to me it is then condoning a war crime to stand by and let what I am seeing with my own eyes and other soldiers’ eyes take place over here in Iraq. I am being threatened for these reasons that I have stated: the evil that is in the minds of men being conquered by the good that is in the hearts.

Leonard Clark
soon to be a prisoner of conscience

P.S. If I am cut off with communications with my wife and daughter please tell my friends to tell them that I will always love them and to trust in GOD.

Popularity: 16%

SOURCE - http://leonardclark.com/blog/

300 Bars

Game got a unique style, I'll give him that, but he often hides behind explanations as opposed to making them interesting. I've heard this track a couple of times, and like his other (written?) shit he just shouts out events like "You went out with Vivica / 3 months after Wanksta". Is that a diss? Gangsta rappers wanting to fuck Vivica? Shit, if Game can crave da Halle Berry Cherry then why the fuck G-U-Not...

I was kickin' it with a gang-banger homie the other day, and he was surprised when I said I fuck with both of 'em. Fuck it: it's not my beef, I like both their albums (both are flawed), and play music I wanna when I wanna. If they want to go at each other, fine - hopefully some good shit (Takeover/Ether/Hit'Em Up, etc.) comes out of it.

(That Olivia "a man" shit sticks in your head though... wonder what that "saw her large penis" was really about... ugh. Foul. I can't even enjoy trans-shorty as eye-candy no mo'...)

Knowing 50, I'd say he'll time a response with a release (eg. "Piggybank"), a valuable lesson learned with Fat Joe wasting ammo from his fo'-fo' well before his album dropped. In his XXL interview, "Crr-aack!" aired out his whole clique for being slackasses (kind of sad really, like he can't get his kids to mow the lawn or take their careers seriously), and claimed the streets were bugging him for a response so he had to hit back. He would've been better (and looked stronger) to promise to hit Fiddy back later, and milk it for a minit 'til he needed the publicity around his new joint.

It's also weird how Dre and Em stay out of this, again like frustrated parents unable to control their youngest son (rebel) from beefing with their more accomplished son (yuppie). Em told 50 when he first signed "You don't have to act crazy or beat anybody up to prove your street cred, you've got it, so just chill and don't mess anything up." (paraphrase) Outside of wax-beefs he's been pretty chilled, so Game rolling through NY and Fiddy not catching a case by sending shooters seems reasonable to me. What should he do? Get an Aftermath (Dre?) chain snatched and then get shot in L.A.? I think taking it to a street-level is just bad for biz, and beyond Big'n'Pac as Che-like icons for rap-violence, all you gotta do is check Shyne phonin' in raps from prison to sober up...

I'm a bit of a conspiracy theorist on this shit, and can't say for sure what the hell they're all up to, it's just too messy now. Simply, with how far Game is taking it I'm starting to think it's just personality conflicts spiraling out of control between leaders of different cliques. Maybe it'll all end as Em'n'Dre finally say "Children! Enough!", and the PR people will work overtime in a few months to end the new East/West beef in a celebrated way.

Maybe...

Who knows?

Anyway, I'm a writer, so thanks for letting me vent. I just googled "300 Bars" and found this blog, Bol I think you're on the money when you say freestyling ain't as impressive anymore, cats are just spittin' harder instead of smarter...

fyi, I wrote "My 50 Cent's on The Game" when beef first dropped in March, it's at:

http://blackkrishna.blogspot.com/2005/03/my-50-cents-on-game.html

And that's it from me from the T-Dot...

Peace, (NOW!!!)
BK

(...)

SOURCE - http://www.byroncrawford.com/2005/06/teh_ghey_300_ba.html#comment-6809417

(...)

Bonus: Hip-hoppin' around...

BIG PUN’S FAMILY FINANCIALLY STRAPPED:

Late rapper’s Terror Squad chain being auctioned.

By: . EURWeb
Jul. 01, 2005

Liza Rios, the widow of rapper Big Pun, has placed his $100,000 blinged-out Terror Squad medallion on eBay in order to ease the family’s financial burden. “Since Pun's untimely passing in 2000, Pun's wife has struggled to raise their three children as well as make mortgage payments on their home and other expenses,” reads the auction posting. “Contrary to what some believe, the family is far from millionaires. Pun's wife and children do not receive royalty checks for Pun's first two albums, and only one small royalty check was paid for Pun's final album. The family's attempts to get the money due to his children have been unsuccessful to date. By bidding on this piece of hip hop history, you are helping the family of a rap legend. Part of the funds will also go towards legal efforts to retrieve any unpaid album sale money the children could receive.” The pendant is yellow gold dipped in white gold and roughly 598 grams, according to the posting. There are approximately 1728 baguette diamonds, and approximately 173 round diamonds in the medallion. As of press time, the bidding had reached $15,050. The auction ends July 4. The winner will travel to New York (flight expenses will be deducted from the total) where they will receive the T.S. medallion personally from Liza Rios.

SOURCE - http://www.blackwebportal.com/wire/DA.cfm?ArticleID=2279

CHAIN REACTION - http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=108756&item=7526357976&rd=1

(...)

Pitchforkmedia
Wed: 06-22-05

The Game:
"300 Bars & Runnin'"
genre: hip-hop

If a typical rap verse is 16 bars and a typical rap song contains three verses, this 14-minute hip-hop phonebook dis-a-thon features enough unadulterated Game-spitting to break down into about six separate songs. Upping the ante on his own impressive "200 Bars & Runnin" trek, Game gets a Susan Lucci-load of high drama off his chest while officially breaking his semi-silence on the whole 50 truce and airing out on everyone from Memph Bleek to Olivia ("For a man, she hot!"). If modern rap beefs are akin to pro-wresting, this track is Survivor Series with Game as the Ultimate Warrior, taking on all comers at once with little mercy. But "300 Bars" is not all hate; after all, dude has to get a little help for his follow-up LP. Between the sometimes-hard, sometimes-funny shots aimed at his one-time G-Unit (ahem, G-Unot) cohorts, he wisely aligns himself with others that helped make The Documentary far superior to The Massacre-- people like Kanye West, Dr. Dre and Just Blaze.

Morphing beats back Game's uncanny, mimicking flow: Expertly segueing from "The Takeover" to "Shook Ones" to "Keep Their Heads Ringin'" to "Dead Presidents" to "Diamonds From Sierra Leone" to the slept-on "Blueprint 2" instrumental just to name a few, Game aces nearly all portions of the endurance test by matching his delivery to each original's with aplomb--even doing hilariously on-point impersonations of 50 Cent and Lloyd Banks. Around bar 280, the running man forgoes modesty as he pronounces, "The new Hov, the new Big, the new Pac, I need three spots," which doesn't sound nearly as ludicrous as it should by the end of this feat. [Ryan Dombal]

SOURCE - http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/tracks/05-06-22.shtml

(...)

Hip-Hop Endorsements On The Rise, Eminem's Clothing Line Slumps

Tuesday - July 5, 2005
by Carl Chery

As Jay-Z, Nelly and others continue to profit off the power of celebrity endorsements, Eminem's clothing line is failing to make the grade.

Following the wave of celebrity endorsements, The Game, Nelly and 50 Cent recently launched new ventures. Chuck Taylor recently joined forces with 310 Motoring and Skechers to introduce a shoe line; while Nelly just launched his Pimp Juice Light energy drink. Meanwhile, Jacob "The Jeweler" Arabo teamed up with couture sneaker company SneakerLuxe to form Jacob & Co. Footwear. On another note, 50 is presently promoting Reebok's GXT II Cross-trainer and is set to release his G-Unit watch line in the near future. The watches will come in several styles, including an MP3-playing model pricing $3,500.

"There are a lot of people who believe that celebrity is enough of an added value to any product to make it successful," stated Robert Passikoff, founder and president of Brand Keys, a New York-based brand and customer loyalty consulting company. "But it's usually not."

While certain celebrity-endorsed brands have achieved great success, others have struggled a bit. According to Ed Foy, CEO of eFashion Solutions, brands such as Jay-Z and Damon Dash's Rocawear, Sean "P. Diddy" Combs' Sean John, Russell and Kimora Lee Simmons' Phat Farm and Baby Phat and Nelly's Apple Bottoms have all enjoyed much success. On the other hand, Foy contends that Eminem's Shady Limited brand "is struggling big time."

50 might have racked up good numbers with Reebok, yet experts are uncertain about the potential of his upcoming ventures; including the watch.

"He [50] can go broad, but his foundation needs to be strong and sturdy," offered Jonah Disend, president of New York-based brand strategy consulting firm, Redscout. "He must not lose sense of his artistry."

Disend added that consumers aren't likely to fork up big dollars for 50's $3,500 watch.

"At that point, buy an entry-level (luxury) product like Rolex. The status is in Rolex, not 50 Cent."

SOURCE - http://www.sohh.com/thewire/read.php?contentID=7282

(...)

Judge Orders R. Kelly Outta The Closet In Other Sex Video Suit

Friday - July 1, 2005
by Jesse Gissen

R. Kelly has recently been ordered to give a deposition in a civil case by a woman who claims the R& B star secretly videotaped them having sex.

This woman has filed invasion of privacy claims against Kelly and says the footage from the alleged tape is on the Internet. The judge's order will make Kells available to be questioned in court about his knowledge of the video.

R's lawyer has argued that the statute of limitations has ran out for the woman's accusations. He also said that the singer will probably use his 5th Amendment right to avoid incriminating himself in his criminal child pornography case.

Kelly's deposition will take place later this summer after his criminal trial.

SOURCE - http://www.sohh.com/thewire/read.php?contentID=7279

(...)

McDonald's In Talks With Hip-Hop Designers For Uniforms

By Nolan Strong
Date: 7/5/2005 11:53 am

McDonald’s has already tapped into Hip-Hop music to help sell their food and promote their brand and now the fast food giant is in talks with Sean John, Rocawear and Fubu to give employee’s uniforms a makeover.

McDonald’s has hired music mogul Steve Stoute, who runs Translation Consulting and Brand Imaging to oversee the project.

The fast food giant’s aim is to make the employee uniform more desirable and to turn the clothing into walking advertisements for the McDonald’s brands.

“McDonald’s has evolved and become a lifestyle brand,” Stoute told AdAge.com. “Since it now is relevant to our lifestyle, let’s go one step further and make its employees relevant to our lifestyle as well.”

Other designers being considered for the uniform revamp include American Apparel, American Eagle Outfitters, Tommy Hilfiger and others.

In recent months, McDonald’s offered royalties to rappers who include the “Big Mac” sandwich in a hit record.

In that campaign, the artist who name checks the song in the song will be paid a royalty based on the amount of times the record is played on the radio.

Representatives said the initiatives are part of a broader marketing campaign to use Hip-Hop to sell their products.

The company also hired various rapper’s to perform at certain offline events and more recently, used the Kanye West produced single “Move Around” by Chicago rapper Bump J in a commercial.

SOURCE - http://www.allhiphop.com/hiphopnews/?ID=4573

I Don't Support The Troops, I Support The Truth...

I don't support--
The troops,

I support--
The truth,

The truth is:

We shouldn't teach--
The youth--
To shoot!

We don't need--
Teens--
Killin' the poor,

Comin' home--

Can they stop--
Killin' for sure?

Stop--
Feelin' the war?

Flashbacks!
Iraq's back!

Better now--
Try crack!

Better--
High--
Than back!

Better--
Buy--
My smack!

Better lie back,
And forget,
The pain,

Tap the cold-vein,
Insane,
'Cause the old game,
Of shame,

The whole thing,
In vain,
To maintain,
The game,

Chase the funny-money...
Just to sharpen your aim,

Complex,
Military-flex,
Major-connex,
Since Poppy Bush--
Cashed--
Hitler's cheques,
Cash-stash,
Comes-correct,

So they resurrect--
The Reichstag,
Like--
A hype-stag,
Gettin'--
Married to murder--
And body-type bags,

Tall, small, fat, thin,
Just pile 'em all in,

Never see 'em on TV,
'Cause that would be, a sin!

So the spin is now:

The War to End All Wars.

Settle--
All scores,

The U.S. is on--
A world tour!

The 3rd World War.

Or the war--

On the 3rd World.

See--
The plan unfurl,

Since--
The plan-Perle,

To be The Man--
In Klan-world,

Is a simple endeavour:

Wage war that'll last forever...

"Forever-ever...?"
"Forever-ever...?"
"Forever-ever...?"

How clever!

An enemy--

We can't see!

A stranger--
To you and me,

Except for--
On TV!

Like--

Zarqawi!

But--
Who the hell--

Is he?

Prime-time like KFC,
We crave him--
Fort-nightly!

See--
From Jordan,
It's crunch-time,
Coach Cheney--
Calling plays,

Fade-away--
'Til lunch-time,
Such--
Mysterious ways!

Then he's back,
Wearin' the 4-5,
Wanted: Dead or Alive.

Yet somehow--
Some way--
He always survives!

See--

This cat--
Ain't killable,
'Cause the war--
Is billable,

So--

It can't be winnable,
As we forget--
Mission critical,

Twin-towers gone:

"Bring me the head of Osama!"

I hate to say it,
But they'd rather kill--

Barack Obama!

Bad karma?
'Cause I said it?
I don't regret it!
Don't you get it?

They ain't changing course:
They want us to forget it!

It's the war.
Ho-hum.
(Yawn.)
So damn bored.

Heard what Lebron scored?

Heard--

We all--

Got Al-Gore'd?

My pal-scored,
Tix to the game,
So I'm out,

Forget what I said,

I'm so sick of caring about--

WAR!

(...)