Friday, July 15, 2005

GOP-Diddy: "We Invented The Remix"

(I want that) Special delivery!!!
(I need that) This is the remix!!! Special delivery!!!
(Can I have that?) Get wit me now come on special delivery!!!!
(Well give it to me) Bad Boy baby!!! Special delivery!!!

- P-Diddy, "Special Delivery" (Remix), We Invented the Remix

(...)

Rove Learned CIA Agent's Name From Novak

By JOHN SOLOMON,
Associated Press Writer
7 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Chief presidential adviser Karl Rove testified to a grand jury that he talked with two journalists before they divulged the identity of an undercover CIA officer but that he originally learned about the operative from the news media and not government sources, according to a person briefed on the testimony.

The person, who works in the legal profession and spoke only on condition of anonymity because of grand jury secrecy, told The Associated Press that Rove testified last year that he remembers specifically being told by columnist Robert Novak that Valerie Plame, the wife of a harsh Iraq war critic, worked for the CIA.

Rove testified that Novak originally called him the Tuesday before Plame's identity was revealed in July 2003 to discuss another story.

The conversation eventually turned to Plame's husband, Joseph Wilson, a former ambassador who was strongly criticizing the Bush administration's use of faulty intelligence to justify the war in Iraq, the person said.

Rove testified that Novak told him he planned to report in a weekend column that Plame had worked for the CIA, and the circumstances on how her husband traveled to Africa to check bogus claims that Iraq was trying to buy nuclear materials in Niger, according to the source.

Novak's column, citing two Bush administration officials, appeared six days later, touching off a political firestorm and leading to a federal criminal investigation into who leaked Plame's undercover identity. That probe has ensnared presidential aides and reporters in a two-year legal battle.

Rove told the grand jury that by the time Novak had called him, he believes he had similar information about Wilson's wife from another member of the news media but he could not recall which reporter had told him about it first, the person said.

When Novak inquired about Wilson's wife working for the CIA, Rove indicated he had heard something like that, according to the source's recounting of the grand jury testimony.

Rove told the grand jury that three days later, he had a phone conversation with Time magazine reporter Matt Cooper and — in an effort to discredit some of Wilson's allegations — informally told Cooper that he believed Wilson's wife worked for the CIA, though he never used her name, the source said.

An e-mail Cooper recently provided the grand jury shows Cooper reported to his magazine bosses that Rove had described Wilson's wife in a confidential conversation as someone who "apparently works" at the CIA.

Robert Luskin, Rove's attorney, said Thursday his client truthfully testified to the grand jury and expected to be exonerated.

"Karl provided all pertinent information to prosecutors a long time ago," Luskin said. "And prosecutors confirmed when he testified most recently in October 2004 that he is not a target of the investigation."

In an interview on CNN earlier Thursday before the latest revelation, Wilson kept up his criticism of the White House, saying Rove's conduct was an "outrageous abuse of power ... certainly worthy of frog-marching out of the White House."

Wilson also said "my wife was not a clandestine officer the day that Bob Novak blew her identity."

In an interview Friday, Wilson said his comment was meant to reflect that his wife lost her ability to be a covert agent because of the leak, not that she had stopped working for the CIA beforehand.

His wife's "ability to do the job she's been doing for close to 20 years ceased from the minute Novak's article appeared; she ceased being a clandestine officer," he said.

Federal law prohibits government officials from divulging the identity of an undercover intelligence officer. But in order to bring charges, prosecutors must prove the official knew the officer was covert and nonetheless knowingly outed his or her identity.

Rove's conversations with Novak and Cooper took place just days after Wilson suggested in a New York Times opinion piece that some of the intelligence related to Iraq's nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat.

Democrats continued this week to sharpen their attacks, accusing Rove of compromising a CIA operative's identity just to discredit the political criticism of her husband.

On Thursday, Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada pressed for legislation to strip Rove of his clearance for classified information, which he said President Bush should have done already. Instead, Reid said, the Bush administration has attacked its critics: "This is what is known as a cover-up. This is an abuse of power."

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said Democrats were resorting to "partisan war chants."

Across the Capitol, Rep. Rush Holt (news, bio, voting record), D-N.J., introduced legislation for an investigation that would compel senior administration officials to turn over records relating to the Plame disclosure.

Pressed to explain its statements of two years ago that Rove wasn't involved in the leak, the White House refused to do so this week.

"If I were to get into discussing this, I would be getting into discussing an investigation that continues and could be prejudging the outcome of the investigation," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.

SOURCE - http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/cia_leak_rove;_ylt=AlBXz2YIy_WSYEcFp47qCUes0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3ODdxdHBhBHNlYwM5NjQ-



"Republican Sen. Susan Collins said "We should not be doing this. She said "This is exactly why the American public holds Congress in such low esteem"

Dems Attempt to Strip Rove’s Sec. Clearance

A group of Democratic senators lead by Minority Leader Harry Reid put forth an amendment to the Homeland Security Appropriations Bill that would have denied security clearances to any federal official who has revealed the identity of an undercover CIA operative. The amendment read "No federal employee who discloses or has disclosed classified information, including the identity of a covert agent of the Central Intelligence Agency, to a person not authorized to receive such information shall be entitled to hold a security clearance for access to such information."

Republicans opposed the amendment, and countered with one of their own that attacked the number 2 Democrat Senator Dick Durbin for his attack on the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo where he compared it to a concentration camp and a Soviet Gulag. The amendment said "any federal officeholder that makes a statement based on a FBI agent's comments which is used as propaganda by terrorist organizations thereby putting our servicemen and women at risk, shall not be permitted access to such information or to hold a security clearance for access to such information." The Democrats' amendment went down on a 53-44 party-line vote, while the Republicans' amendment lost 64-33, with about 20 Republicans joining the Democrats in voting against it. Republican Sen. Susan Collins said "We should not be doing this. She said "This is exactly why the American public holds Congress in such low esteem right now.''




Bush Says No to NAACP for 5th Year

President Bush has once again refused to address the national convention of the nation's largest and oldest civil rights organization, the NAACP which was held this week in Milwaukee. Instead, Bush sent the chair of the Republican national Committee, Ken Mehlman who apologized to the group for the so-called southern strategy of the GOP, appealing to white southern racists to win elections. Instead of attending the NAACP conference, Bush addressed the Indiana Black Expo, which presented him with a lifetime achievement award. It marked the fifth consecutive year Bush has turned down an NAACP invitation to speak, making him the first sitting president since Warren Harding to not address the group. President Bush's father was booed when he addressed the group as Vice President in 1986 but still addressed the NAACP when he was elected president.

BBC Head Calls FOX News ‘Beneath Contempt’

The Head of BBC TV News Roger Mosey is striking back at the FOX News Network after so-called terrorism expert Steve Emerson said on the O'Reilly Factor after the London bombings that "the BBC almost operates as a foreign registered agent of Hezbollah and some of the other jihadist groups". Mosey points out that on the Fox website, there was an opinion piece called "How Jane Fonda and the BBC put you in danger". In his statement, the BBC's Mosey writes "I am writing this in a building which was bombed by Irish terrorists. My colleagues and I are living in a city recovering from the wounds inflicted last week. If I may leave our customary impartiality aside for a moment, the comments made on Fox News are beneath contempt." Again, those the words of the head of BBC TV News Roger Mosey.

SOURCE - http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/07/15/1340201

Michael Moore vs. Rush Limbaugh: Heavyweights Battle for America's Immortal Soul

who's "side" is lying on purpose,

for whom, and why?

and who's closing their eyes,

for whom, and why?

and who's misrepresenting pics and video,

for whom, and why?


(...)

it ain't over...

but man...

they are moving fast...

and we are getting confused...


(...)

i have a couple of friends who saw F-9/11...

one cried...

one said "oh, there's gotta be another side"...

inventing an entire 2-hr rebuttal on the spot...

and coming up with a "tie"...


(...)

i guess the "tie" goes to the winner...

and since they are winning...

i guess that's that...


(...)

but...

on issues of character...

make no mistake...

it ain't a "tie"...

and...

the longer we artificially equivocate...

the longer we live the lie...


(...)

if we look at history...

we see crazier stuff has been made "normal"...

the question is not whether we are there now...

but how fast we're getting there...

and whether it's a good idear...

to shoot Paul Revere's...


(...)

July 14th, 2005 5:37 pm

U.S. District Court Judge: Michael Moore’s Movie Tells Truth

For Immediate release:

July 14, 2005

Today, a federal Judge in Michigan threw out a defamation lawsuit against Oscar-winning filmmaker and best-selling author Michael Moore. The suit was filed by James Nichols, brother of Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols in regards to his portrayal in Moore's Oscar-winning documentary, "Bowling for Columbine."

The judge ruled the suit was groundless and that Michael Moore’s statements in his film were "literally true" and therefore, not defamatory.

According to U.S. District Court Judge Paul D. Borman’s ruling: "...even taking the facts in a light most favorable to Plaintiff, the Court finds that Plaintiff has failed to demonstrate that Defendant's publication contained false statements or omitted material factual statements."

The court concluded: "...the Court finds that Plaintiff's [Nichols'] defamation claim as well as his False Light and Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress claims fail because [Moore's] statements were literally true."

Further inquiry or for a copy of the court's ruling contact:

Herschel P. Fink

Attorney for Michael Moore
Email: HFink@honigman.com
Phone: 313-465-7400

SOURCE - http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3338



Rush Limbaugh: The EIB (Excellence in Broadcasting) Collection

NEW! NEW! The Club G'itmo T-Shirt - What Happens in G'itmo Stays in G'itmo

NEW! The Club G'itmo T-Shirt - I Got My Free Koran and Prayer Rug at G'itmo

All New! Club G'itmo Polo

Club G'itmo Cap

The Club G'itmo T-Shirt - Your Tropical Retreat from the Stress of Jihad

The Club G'itmo T-Shirt - My Mullah went to Club G'itmo and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt

Jihad Java Cafe


A MUST Have. Club G'itmo logo on front. "What Happens in G'itmo stays in G'itmo emblazoned on back." Available in Institutional Orange only in sizes: S, M, L, XL, XXL, and now in XXXL & XXXXL!

Due to the extraordinary demand for G'itmo merchandise, shipment of overnight and 2nd day orders will be delayed for 2 - 4 days.

Available for delivery using shipping method selected on June 24th.

IT'S REAL - http://store.rushlimbaugh.com/

(...)

AND IT'S AN INFECTIOUS DISEASE...



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - June 17, 2005
CONTACT: Mark Washburn, Executive Director – Move America Forward
(916) 441-6197 or Mark@MoveAmericaForward.org

“I LOVE GITMO” CAMPAIGN
LAUNCHED BY MOVE AMERICA FORWARD


(SACRAMENTO) – The non-profit group that supports our troops and the war against terrorism, Move America Forward (website: www.MoveAmericaForward.org) has launched a campaign to rally public support for the Detention Center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The “I LOVE GITMO” campaign will take to the airwaves in the form of paid commercials urging Americans to support the men and women operating the terrorist detention facility at Guantanamo Bay.

The commercials will target those individuals who have put forth false charges about the operations at the facility so that their constituents can know about their "Blame America First" antics. One example is Illinois Senator, Dick Durbin who said GITMO and those running it had created an environment akin to the "Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime -- Pol Pot or others."

GITMO is a key arsenal in the fight against terrorism, and Americans must stand behind the heroic men and women of the Armed Forces who serve proudly there,” said Howard Kaloogian, Co-Chair of Move America Forward.

The campaign to support GITMO was launched on Thursday with the release of the “I LOVE GITMO” bumper sticker. Thousands of these bumper stickers have been sold in the first 24 hours they were available online at www.MoveAmericaForward.org

These terrorists detained are not common criminals; they are enemy combatants in our war against terrorism. They are not entitled to all of the rights that someone arrested in this country gets. Just like we held German and Japanese prisoners of war during World War II, we have to confine enemy combatants so they stop killing Americans serving their country in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Kaloogian added.

On the website Move America Forward notes that the food served to the terrorist detainees and terrorist suspects held at GITMO is better in many cases than the food being served to our troops in the Armed Services. Congressional decree prevents the military from serving MRE’s (Meals Ready to Eat – vacuum packed sealed food bags served to U.S. troops) to detainees because it would be considered “abuse.”

Instead, in the past week the anti-American terrorists and terrorist suspects held at GITMO have been served:

*Orange Glazed Chicken
*Rice Pilaf
*Steamed Peas & Mushrooms
*Fruit Roupee


In addition, on Ramadan the terrorists held at GITMO are served lamb, dates and honey as part of their religious observance.

GITMO detainees also are provided prayer mats and prayer oils and are allowed to pray five times per day – something that even U.S. schoolchildren are forbidden from doing.

“In recent days we’ve seen certain liberal politicians have the audacity to undermine American troops by falsely accusing them of torture and misconduct, including bogus charges of desecrating the Koran” said Melanie Morgan, Co-Chair of Move America Forward.

“These shameless individuals, interesting in selling magazines or rallying their leftist political followers, are willing to denigrate the important mission being conducted by our troops in Guantanamo Bay.

“By falsely provoking anti-American sentiment overseas, these domestic enemies who have fanned the flames of a ‘Gulag at Guantanamo’ are jeopardizing the lives and well being of our servicemen and women stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan,” said Morgan.

IT'S THAT BAD AND WORSE - http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1425304/posts

Jon Stewart stewing... and stewing... and stewing... for 60 mins on C-SPAN! (not "CNN's Crossfire")

Jon Stewart has been stewing...

(...)

...and stewing... and stewing... and stewing...

...he's been stewing for a while....


(...)

...his stews are delicious...

...you gotta love it...

...his stews are nutritious...

...you gotta love it...


(...)

...however tasty...

...every nite the stew takes about 23 minutes to eat...

...with a spoon...


(...)

...for an 60-minute stew that eats like a meal...

...and really reveals how he feels...

...and really reveals how he deals...


(...)

I STRONGLY RECOMMEND YOU CHECK OUT:

.
.

http://www.c-span.org/Search/basic.asp?BasicQueryText=jon+stewart&SortBy=date

.
.

Jon Stewart on the Presidential Election, the Media, and Politics
In New York City, NY, Host and Executive Producer of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," Jon Stewart, talks about presidential politics and the media.
10/25/2004: NEW YORK CITY, NY: 1 hr.

(...)

heck...

he rips the media in a room full of journalists...

and they had to love it...

he's too damned true...

he's too damned funny...


(...)

"This whole idea that the President has to be a common man, and that is.. every election, people run to the bottom. 'I'm just like you... I'm a common man.' Really, you watch 10 hours of TV a day? You thought the Macarena was fun? You're like me? Don't be like me, I have an idea, be better than me. Be WAY better than me. Be so much better than me that you keep me safe, and get me health insurance. I don't understand why they want to be us; we're fucking idiots."

(...)

...GRAB A SPORK, HE'S A FREAKIN' GENIUS...



TORRENTS:

http://www.torrentbox.com/account-details.php?id=27300

http://www.chomskytorrents.org/Torrents.php?Action=ReorderSearch&Order=-2

GOP-Diddy: "I Love You Baby"

"They want beef out here, they gon' get it
in the worst way, I'ma show em how Black play
Roll the dice, fuckin with me is like snake eyes
I break guys, sit back and watch my cake rise
It's all about the Benjamins, true that be the motto
Ran out of ammo and started, throwin bottles
Runnin, and I ain't lookin back for shit
Crooked ass bitch, today I get you back for this..."
(I'll get you back)

[Chorus]

I love you baby
No you don't

You drive me crazy
That's right

I'll never betray thee
Uhh

I love you baby
C'mon

- P-Diddy, "I Love You Baby"

(...)

Source: Rove Got CIA Agent ID From Media

By JOHN SOLOMON, Associated Press Writer
5 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Presidential confidant Karl Rove testified to a grand jury that he learned the identity of a CIA operative originally from journalists, then informally discussed the information with a Time magazine reporter days before the story broke, according to a person briefed on the testimony.

(who's leaking now and shouldn't they be punished?)

The person, who works in the legal profession and spoke only on condition of anonymity because of the secrecy of grand jury proceedings, told The Associated Press that Rove testified last year that he remembers specifically being told by columnist Robert Novak that Valerie Plame, the wife of a harsh Iraq war critic, worked for the CIA.

(who's leaking now and shouldn't they be punished?)

Rove testified that Novak originally called him the Tuesday before Plame's identity was revealed in July 2003 to discuss another story. The conversation eventually turned to former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who was strongly criticizing the Bush administration's Iraq war policy and the intelligence it used to justify the war, the source said.

(who's leaking now and shouldn't they be punished?)

The person said Rove testified that Novak told him he had learned and planned to report in a weekend column that Wilson's wife, Plame, had worked for the CIA, and the circumstances on how her husband traveled to Africa to check bogus claims of alleged nuclear material sales to Iraq.

(who's leaking now and shouldn't they be punished?)

Novak's column, citing two Bush administration officials, appeared six days later, touching off a political firestorm and leading to a federal criminal investigation into who leaked Plame's undercover identity. That probe has ensnared presidential aides and reporters in a two-year legal battle.

(who's leaking now and shouldn't they be punished?)

On Thursday, Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada pressed for legislation to strip Rove of his clearance for classified information, which he said President Bush should already have done. Instead, Reid said, the Bush administration has attacked its critics: "This is what is known as a cover-up. This is an abuse of power."

(who's leaking now and shouldn't they be punished?)

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said Democrats were resorting to "partisan war chants."

(who's leaking now and shouldn't they be punished?)

Across the Capitol, Rep. Rush Holt (news, bio, voting record), D-N.J., introduced legislation for an investigation that would compel senior administration officials to turn over records relating to the Plame disclosure.

(who's leaking now and shouldn't they be punished?)

Rove told the grand jury that by the time Novak had called him, he believes he had similar information about Wilson's wife from another reporter but had no recollection of which reporter had told him about it first, the source said.

(who's leaking now and shouldn't they be punished?)

When Novak inquired about Wilson's wife working for the CIA, Rove indicated he had heard something like that, according to the source's recounting of the grand jury testimony.

(who's leaking now and shouldn't they be punished?)

Rove told the grand jury that four days later, he had a phone conversation with Time magazine reporter Matt Cooper and — in an effort to discredit some of Wilson's allegations — told Cooper that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA, though he never used her name.

(who's leaking now and shouldn't they be punished?)

An e-mail Cooper recently provided the grand jury shows Cooper reported to his magazine bosses that Rove had described Wilson's wife in a confidential conversation as someone who "apparently works" at the CIA.

(who's leaking now and shouldn't they be punished?)

Robert Luskin, Rove's attorney, said Thursday his client truthfully testified to the grand jury and expected to be exonerated.

(who's leaking now and shouldn't they be punished?)

"Karl provided all pertinent information to prosecutors a long time ago," Luskin said. "And prosecutors confirmed when he testified most recently in October 2004 that he is not a target of the investigation."

(who's leaking now and shouldn't they be punished?)

Rove's conversation with Cooper took place five days after Wilson suggested in a New York Times opinion piece that some of the intelligence related to Iraq's nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat. Novak's column identifying Wilson's wife as a CIA employee and Cooper's magazine piece came out a few days later.

(who's leaking now and shouldn't they be punished?)

Pressed to explain its statements of two years ago that Rove wasn't involved in the leak, the White House refused to do so this week.

(who's leaking now and shouldn't they be punished?)

"If I were to get into discussing this, I would be getting into discussing an investigation that continues and could be prejudging the outcome of the investigation," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.

(who's leaking now and shouldn't they be punished?)

(who's leaking now and shouldn't they be punished?)

(who's leaking now and shouldn't they be punished?)

(who's leaking now and shouldn't they be punished?)
__

Associated Press special correspondent David Espo contributed to this story.

SOURCE - http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050715/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/cia_leak_rove

Tiny New Reparations: Pessimistic, Optimistic or Euphemistic?

Tiny New Zealand's big role in restorative justice

Thu Jul 14, 4:00 AM ET

AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND - New Zealanders are generally an unassuming bunch who've distanced themselves from the more belligerent policies of their close cousins, the Australians, and pride themselves on being low-key. But if they were the crowing sort, they could crow modestly about at least two aspects of their domestic policy: the commitment of the white majority to make serious amends to the indigenous Maoris, now just 15 percent of New Zealanders; and the country's innovative experimentation with "restorative" approaches to criminal justice.

One good example of the changing policies is the experience of the family of Mike Roberts, a successful news anchor on national TV. Mr. Roberts strongly self-identifies as a Maori and has, by his own account, "about one-third" Maori blood, but he can't speak much Maori at all. His father had grown up speaking Maori - until, at 14, he was sent to a residential school where Maori was forbidden. He almost completely lost his facility with the tongue. "That's one of my dad's biggest regrets," Roberts says.

Then in 1986, a high-level tribunal ruled that the Maori language certainly constituted one of the Maori "treasures" that the British had promised to protect in the seminal 1840 Treaty of Waitangi.The tribunal recommended several steps the government should take to revive the language and culture, including supporting Maori- language schools, as well as Maori broadcasting.

Maori radio stations have operated locally for some years and a nationwide Maori TV station started up just last year. Roberts's kids, ages 5 and 3, have both been to total-immersion Maori-language preschool programs. Does he think that Maori language and culture will survive in New Zealand?

"If you'd asked me 10 years ago, I would have said no. Now, I'm more optimistic. I think it will."

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





Thursday, July 14, 2005

Cover-Fire in Hotel Rwanda; Cover-Up in Hotel Sudan

First Lady on Emotional Visit to Rwanda

By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer
20 minutes ago

KIGALI, Rwanda - Overlooking this city's red, dusty hills where thousands were killed, Laura Bush on Thursday urged Rwandans not to lose hope as they try to heal the pain — "still so fresh" — of their country's genocide.

She drew a parallel to U.S. history, saying, "We haven't totally moved on" from slavery 130 years after the Civil War.

"Of course there's no slavery any more," she told a group of Rwandan schoolgirls, one of whom had asked her how America dealt with the aftermath of its internal conflict. "But I don't know that we've totally reconciled what it means to our history," the U.S. first lady said.

Still, Bush sounded an optimistic tone for Rwanda, still reeling from the 100 days in 1994 when Hutu militias shot and hacked to death some 800,000 minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus. Many men were killed or fled the country. Many women contracted the virus that causes AIDS when they were raped. Many children were left orphaned.

"Rwandans have done extraordinary work recovering from that devastation," Bush said at the FAWE School, where girls receive U.S. scholarships for their studies. "Now this is a country with growing opportunity, with confidence in the future."

Bush did not speak publicly about the violence in another part of Africa, the Darfur region of Sudan. More than two years of conflict in Darfur have left tens of thousands dead and more than 2 million displaced. Arab, pro-government militias have mounted a counterinsurgency against black African rebels; many have compared the situation to Rwanda's genocide.

During a brief meeting with Rwandan President Paul Kagame, Bush did discuss Darfur. Before the session, the first lady had said she wanted Kagame's advice about how the U.S. should respond in Darfur.

Her spokeswoman, Susan Whitson, said afterward that Bush wanted to keep private the substance of her conversation with Kagame.

Paul Rusesabagina, the lifesaving hotel manager portrayed in the movie "Hotel Rwanda," set at a hotel not far from where Bush's entourage stayed, recently accused the world of failing Darfur just as it did Rwanda.

Instead of bolstering its peacekeeping force, the United Nations pulled troops. The massacre ended when Tutsi rebels led by Kagame ousted the ruling government.

"Some would call the tragedy in Rwanda unspeakable, but that's precisely the problem," Bush said. "Too few people around the world spoke out about what was happening here. Too few people recognized the scale of suffering."


Her first stop in Rwanda was at a genocide memorial where it is said that the remains of 250,000 victims are buried.

Joined at the museum by Cherie Blair, wife of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Bush laid a wreath at one of the memorial's mass tombs set amid tranquil gardens and fountains.

Graveside, members of the entourage bowed their heads in silence to coincide with observations in Britain marking one week since deadly bus and subway bombings in London.

Blair said it was especially poignant to be honoring the British dead at a site that remembers those lost in Rwanda.

"I am very moved by what I have seen, also distressed that the world looked on while it happened," Blair said.

The group took in the museum's haunting account of the genocide. Then Bush, daughter Jenna, Rwandan first lady Jeanette Kagame and Blair — their faces strained from holding back emotion — signed the visitor's book.

Bush also spent time in Kigali promoting ways the U.S. is helping Rwanda, such as assisting with the treatment of AIDS patients and helping girls get an education.

Bush began her day in Zanzibar, Tanzania, where she reached out to East Africa's large Muslim community by promoting U.S. efforts to help that often-disenfranchised population educate its children.

After traveling this week through South Africa and Tanzania, Bush was heading back to Washington on Friday.

SOURCE - http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/laura_bush;_ylt=Aop1VPJ_Rr_Vt_gOwc1.4Y5vaA8F;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

$8 million ways to "Pump You Up!"

Gov. to Be Paid $8 Million by Fitness Magazines

By Peter Nicholas and Robert Salladay
Times Staff Writers
Thu Jul 14, 7:55 AM ET

SACRAMENTO — Two days before he was sworn into office, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger accepted a consulting job paying an estimated $8 million over five years to "further the business objectives" of a national publisher of health and bodybuilding magazines.

The contract pays Schwarzenegger 1% of the magazines' advertising revenue, much of which comes from makers of nutritional supplements. Last year, the governor vetoed legislation that would have imposed government regulations on the supplement industry.

According to records filed Wednesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Schwarzenegger entered into the agreement with a subsidiary of American Media Inc. on Nov. 15, 2003. The Boca Raton, Fla.-based company publishes Muscle & Fitness and Flex magazines, among others.

Watchdog groups and state lawmakers called the contract — which refers to Schwarzenegger as "Mr. S" — a conflict of interest.

(...)

In a new book about Schwarzenegger, author Laurence Leamer said the governor was aware that his contract with AMI would prompt the publisher to end any negative coverage of him. In the book, Schwarzenegger is quoted as saying: "Do you want to work with someone who you are attacking?"

For his pay, the governor's most public role is his monthly columns. A seven-time Mr. Olympia winner, he speaks with the magazine editors by phone every few weeks. They take notes, draft a column and send it to him for review, said Vincent Scalisi, editor-in-chief of Muscle & Fitness.

"Obviously, we know that he has a busy, full-time job," Scalisi said in an interview in recent months. "And we don't want to be a drain. But the reality is … what a wonderful resource we have access to."

SOURCE - http://news.yahoo.com/s/latimests/govtobepaid8millionbyfitnessmagazines;_ylt=AhFLhfocUspm1DjSqozu6t134T0D;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

A Sign Of The Times

Anti-Bush protester sues police after arrest for carrying sign

Associated Press
July 14th, 2005 1:11 pm

HOUSTON - A protester has sued several police officers, accusing them of violating his free-speech rights after he was arrested last year for carrying a sign critical of President Bush.

Chris Kelly, 43, was holding the cardboard sign near a crowd of Houston Astros baseball fans Oct. 18 when police approached him. Police handcuffed him, put him into a police car and drove through downtown before releasing him without explanation, according to the lawsuit filed Wednesday.

A municipal judge later dismissed the misdemeanor citation.

SOURCE - http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3331

(...)

so...

nothing happened.

what's he complaining about?

Vote Or Die Candy?

this just may be crazy enough to work...

next time...








i mean hot chicks can sell anything...

but...

we still have to know what they're selling...




then again...



ah screw it...

"Vote Quimby!"


GOP-Diddy: "We ain't, going, nowhere, We ain't going nowhere, We can't be stopped..."

"I'm the definition of: half man, half thug,
Ask the clubs - Bad Boy, that's whassup
After bucks, crush crews after us
No games, we ain't laughin much
Nothin but big thangs, check the hitlist
How we twist shit, what changed but the name?
We still here, you rockin wit the best
Don't worry if I write rhymes - I write checks (hah!)
Who's the boss? Dudes is lost
Don't think cause I'm iced out, I'ma cool off
Who else but me? (who else?) And if you don't feel me
That mean you can't touch me, it's ugly, trust me
Get it right dawg, we ain't ever left
We just, moved in silence and repped to the death (yeah)
It's official, I survived what I been through
Y'all got drama, "The Saga Continues..."

[Chorus]
We ain't, go-in' nowhere, we ain't, goin nowhere
We can't be stopped now, cause this Bad Boy for Life
We ain't, go-in' nowhere, we ain't, goin nowhere
We can't be stopped now, cause this Bad Boy for Life

- P-Diddy, "Bad Boy For Life"

(...)

GOP Nervously Eyeing Rove and CIA Probe

By RON FOURNIER,
AP Political Writer
42 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Republicans are nervously watching the fight over Karl Rove's involvement in a news leak that exposed a CIA officer's identity, fearing that President Bush's chief adviser has become a major political problem.

While the president passed up another chance Wednesday to express confidence in his deputy chief of staff, his political team engineered a series of testimonials from members of Congress who praised Rove and condemned Democratic critics.

"The extreme left is once again attempting to define the modern Democratic Party by rabid partisan attacks, character assassination and endless negativity," said Rep. Tom Reynolds, R-N.Y., chairman of the GOP congressional committee. The Republican National Committee, virtually a political arm of the White House, urged GOP lawmakers to go public.

Still, several top GOP officials — including some White House advisers — said the fight was becoming a distraction to Bush's agenda. The GOP officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid looking disloyal, said the president may face a credibility problem because his spokesman said in September that anybody involved in the leak would be fired.

These Republicans, all admirers of Rove, said they were surprised and disappointed when Bush stopped short of publicly backing his longtime aide.

A survey of Republicans outside Washington revealed similar concerns, though few officials were willing to go on record.

"I think he should resign," said Jim Holt, a GOP state senator from Arkansas who is running for lieutenant governor. He joked, "I hope Karl Rove doesn't come gunning for me."

Bush said he would not discuss the matter further until a criminal investigation is finished.

"This is a serious investigation," the president told reporters after a Cabinet meeting, where Rove sat just behind him. "And it is very important for people not to prejudge the investigation based on media reports."

Later in the day, White House spokesman Scott McClellan insisted that Rove did have Bush's support. "As I indicated yesterday, every person who works here at the White House, including Karl Rove, has the confidence of the president," McClellan said.

(...)

McClellan said Bush had not expressed confidence in Rove in a session with reporters because no one had asked him that directly. Still, Bush had three opportunities in two days to defend Rove publicly after questions about the case were posed to him and, for whatever reasons, he chose not to do so.

___

On the Net:

White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov

SOURCE - http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050714/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/cia_leak_investigation



The Clash of Civilizations: London Learning - "I'm Starting With The Man In The Mirror..."

"I'm Starting With The Man In
The Mirror
I'm Asking Him To Change
His Ways

And No Message Could Have
Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World
A Better Place

Take A Look At Yourself,
And Then Make A Change..."

- Michael Jackson, "Man In The Mirror"

(...)

The Mirror

14 July 2005

7/7: WAR ON BRITAIN: MY GIRL WAS ON THE PHONE TO ME AS THE BUS BOMB WENT OFF. I'M GLAD SHE WAS SPEAKING TO ME WHEN IT HAPPENED

By Nick Henegan And Brendon Williams

HEARTBROKEN John Falding told yesterday how he was speaking to his partner on a mobile phone when she was blown up on the No 30 bus.

Anat Rosenberg, 39 - who fled her native Israel to escape terrorism - was one of 13 killed as the blast ripped the bus apart.

Moments earlier she had been telling John how lucky she was to have found a seat on the packed double-decker.

John, 62, said: "I am really glad that Anat was speaking to me when it happened. She would have wanted to have been speaking to me - and I feel exactly the same way."

SOURCE - http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=15733492%26method=full%26siteid=94762%26headline=7%2d7%2d%2dwar%2don%2dbritain%2d%2dmy%2dgirl%2dwas%2don%2dthe%2dphone%2dto%2dme%2das%2dthe%2dbus%2dbomb%2dwent%2doff%2d%2di%2dm%2dglad%2dshe%2dwas-name_page.html

(...)

The Mirror

14 July 2005

Europe to silently mourn London bomb victims

By Jeremy Lovell

POLICE RAIDS

The raid followed those on several addresses connected to the bombers in the northern English city of Leeds on Tuesday in which one man was arrested on suspicion of the "commission, instigation or preparation of acts of terrorism".

On Wednesday police were given until Saturday to continue questioning the unnamed 29-year-old.

Police also searched two cars on Tuesday that had been left at Luton train station 48 km north of London, finding some explosives.

Security experts said the four bombers -- who included a teaching assistant for disabled children -- would have received training and direction from a more senior militant.

"He would have arrived in the UK a knowledgeable bomb maker, trained in the art of evading the authorities by keeping a low profile ... He likely left the UK immediately before the bomb blasts, so as to ensure escape," consultancy group Janusian Security Risk Management said in an analysis for clients.


As police -- who have been deluged with calls from relatives of the missing and eye witnesses of the blasts as well as still and video images from cellphones -- appealed for more to come forward, several domestic newspapers identified more suspects.

SOURCE - http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/latest/tm_objectid=15733791%26method=full%26siteid=94762%26headline=europe%2dto%2dsilently%2dmourn%2dlondon%2dbomb%2dvictims-name_page.html

(...)

The Mirror

13 July 2005

Clarke challenges EU to accept anti-terror measures

By Paul Taylor

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Home Secretary Charles Clarke challenged the European Union on Wednesday to set aside civil liberties concerns and agree to new anti-terrorism measures such as the compulsory storage of phone and Internet usage records.

(...)

"I argue that it is a fundamental civil liberty of people in Europe to be able to go to work on their transport system in the morning without being blown up and subject to terrorist attack," he said.

"The question of civil liberties has to be treated in a proportionate way. It is a different civil liberty question whether you have CCTV or not, or whether you retain telecommunications data, or whether you have biometrics on an ID card, to whether somebody is tortured in a country to which they are sent," Clarke added.

SOURCE - http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/latest/tm_objectid=15731089%26method=full%26siteid=94762-name_page.html

(...)

JON RAPPOPORT www.nomorefakenews.com

JULY 12, 2005. From the British newspaper, the Mirror:

TV CAMERAS NOT WORKING ON LONDON BUS

But the investigation received a serious setback when it was discovered the CCTV cameras on the bus that blew up were not working so detectives will not get vital images of the bomber.

One senior Yard source said: "It's a big blow and a disappointment. If the cameras had been running we would have had pin-sharp close-up pictures of the person who carried out this atrocity.

"We don't know if the driver forgot to switch them on or if there was a technical problem but there are no images."

The bus had four cameras - one covering people getting on, the second at the exit doors and one on each deck scanning the length of the vehicle.

end Mirror snip

I assume, from press reports, that these cameras carry tape and do not transmit directly to remote locations where police view action (and do their own taping) in real time.

If so, I wonder whether the tape in the bus cameras would have survived the blast. However, it is more than odd that the cameras in bus were not functioning on the morning of 7/7.

This is classic and obvious op control. Turn off the cameras. Leave no visual evidence.

That the police would regard these non-functioning cameras as merely strange and sad is also a classic reaction. It speaks of a naive level of ignorance that is massive. Of course, I'm sure there are London cops in the ranks who assume turning off those cameras was pure op control. And at the top of the London police, there are certainly men who are issuing releases they know to be false.

If you were a cop, what would you think? A bus is blown up, killing and maiming many people. Your first line of investigation on that day is the bus cameras. They didn't work. They were turned off. Would you shrug your shoulders and decide it was all a coincidence?

JON RAPPOPORT www.nomorefakenews.com

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

(...)

The Mirror

13 July 2005

THE SUICIDE MURDERERS

"HE has gone to London with some friends" - what worried parents said when they called bomb helpline.

By Jeff Edwards And Patrick Mulchrone

All four were caught on video at the station. A police source said yesterday: "On the CCTV all of the men look completely normal.

"They are dressed in casual clothes with big rucksacks on their backs and look for all the world like four men off on a backpacking holiday, instead of four mass murderers on the last leg of their deadly mission."

(...)

Yesterday one man was arrested in police swoops on six addresses in Leeds and Dewsbury. In one of the raids a large stock of explosives - enough for several more bombs - was found.

Four controlled explosions were carried out on a suspect car dumped at Luton station, Herts, since last Thursday.

(...)

THE car - a Nissan Micra or Renault Clio - is thought to have been hired by sports mad Tanweer who has not been seen by his family since Thursday.

His best friend Mohammed Answar, 19, insisted yesterday there was no way Tanweer could have been involved.

He said: "It's impossible. It's not in his nature to do something like this. He's the type of guy who would condemn things like that."

(...)

In London Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, Head of the Anti-Terrorist Squad, said: "We're conducting a complex investigation which is moving at great speed.

"We're checking the movements of three men who came to London from West Yorkshire to find out if they all died in the London explosions."


A security services spokesman said: "We're certain the bombers were not acting alone.

"Where are the plotters and the planners? They may have already fled the country. But they may be lying low ready to launch a second wave in the next weeks or months."


Met Commissioner Sir Ian Blair said the operation was intelligence-based and "directly connected" to last week's London blasts.

He said: "There have been a series of searches carried out in Yorkshire. Those searches are still going on.This activity is directly connected to the outrages on Thursday."

Sir Ian said it was "likely" there would be another attack but insisted the terrorist threat could be defeated.

He said: "Another attack is likely, there's no doubt about that. But when - who knows?

"Together with New York we are sister cities joined in resolve. But we are both major terrorist targets."


SOURCE - http://www.mirror.co.uk/archive/archive/tm_objectid=15729250%26method=full%26siteid=94762-name_page.html

(...)

The Mirror

11 July 2005

FOR SHAHARA'S SAKE, DON'T HATE MUSLIMS

Tony Parsons

IN THE aftermath of Thursday's mass murder, it was one of the first pieces of breaking news: the Muslim Council of Great Britain had been sent so many hate emails that its computers had crashed.

Not true. Or at least, it is not true that so many people felt a sudden loathing for Muslims that they were compelled to bombard the Muslim Council of Great Britain with hate email.

Because it now turns out that 30,000 emails were sent to the Muslim Council from just one source.

SOURCE - http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tonyparsons/

(...)

The Mirror

14 July 2005

7/7: WAR ON BRITAIN: BE SILENT

YOU WILL FAIL: Millions to remember victims of bomb attack


By Alexandra Williams

DEFIANT Britain will fall silent at midday today to remember victims of the 7/7 terror attacks.

SOURCE - http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=15733490%26method=full%26siteid=94762%26headline=7%2d7%2d%2dwar%2don%2dbritain%2d%2dbe%2dsilent%2d-name_page.html

(...)

DEAD OR MISSING

Shahara Islam Miriam Hyman Philip Russell Jamie Gordon William Wise Ciaran Cassidy Jen Nicholson Richard Gray Mihaela Otto

(...)

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

The Clash of Civilizations: London Living - "He was normal. We used to drink Coke and Fanta together."

MSNBC

Sports, flirting: Different view of blast suspects

'We used to drink Coke and Fanta together,' says a soccer teammate

AP - Associated Press
Updated: 5:32 p.m. ET July 13, 2005


LEEDS, England - Every week, 22-year-old Shahzad Tanweer joined friends for games of soccer and his beloved cricket.

Hasib Hussain, 19, was a charmer who liked to flirt. He wore blue contact lenses and hair so long that one friend said it “fell like a curtain” atop his lanky frame.

Thirty-year-old Mohammed Sidique Khan worked as a counselor in a youth center. He seemed to spend more time in the gym than the mosque.

Such images and memories of bright young men have been crushed by a grim portrait given by police: It portrays them as Britons of Pakistani origin united by radical Islam who, with a fourth man, carried out suicide bus and subway bombings in London that killed at least 52 people and wounded 700.


Police have not publicly confirmed the identities of any suspects, but British media have named three — all from Leeds. Their possible dual lives and what might have driven them to violence was the only topic Wednesday in this working-class northern city with a vibrant, multiethnic population.

Tanweer, whose Pakistani-born father owns a fish-and-chips shop, lived all his life in the city’s Beeston area. A devoted athlete, he studied sports science at Leeds Metropolitan University and planned to get involved in sports professionally. He showed up twice a week for pickup soccer games, said a teammate who gave his name only as Saj.

“He was normal. We used to drink Coke and Fanta together,” said Saj. “He was quiet. He was religious. He went to every mosque here. There are loads of mosques here.”

It was unclear what might have driven the three men to the radical side, as it was unclear how much contact they had with Muslim extremist groups or cells outside Britain.

Tanweer went to Lahore, Pakistan, this year to study the Islamic religion, and his family believed he was attending “some religious function” on the day of the bombings, said his uncle, 65-year-old Bashir Ahmed.

Forensic evidence has linked Tanweer to the blast on the Underground train near Aldgate.

The uncle said the family was “left shattered” and in disbelief that Tanweer could have organized such violence, the Press Association reported. “It wasn’t him. It must have been forces behind him.

“It was total shock, I mean, it’s unbelievable,” Ahmed told reporters, but he denied that his nephew had gone to Afghanistan and taken part in training camps.

“There is no way, I have seen his passport,” he said.

Another friend, Azzy Mohammed, 21, added: “He’s the kind of person who gets along with anyone. His sense of humor is very good. He’s a sweet lad.”

Hussain — suspected of carrying out the suicide attack that claimed 13 lives on a double-decker bus — was known for his sense of humor and style. He wore blue contact lenses and long hair parted in the middle.

“It fell like a curtain on his head,” said a friend, who asked to be identified only by the initial G. Many Muslims in Leeds refused to give their full names to reporters for reasons including community loyalty, suspicion of the media, or fear of reprisal for being associated with the suspects.

“He was a good lad ... a good-looking man. He had a good personality,” the friend said.

Some people said Hussain became more religious two years ago but never abandoned his boyhood friends for radicals.

Khan was born in Pakistan and has an 8-month-old daughter. He grew up in Leeds but moved five months ago to Dewsbury in West Yorkshire. He worked with disabled children while his wife, Hasina, was involved in education, neighbors said.

One neighbor, Sara Aziz, 28, said she saw him going to the gym in the mornings. Others neighbors said they rarely saw him in the local mosque and he never talked with them about religion.

Documents in the debris

Documents belonging to Khan were found in the debris of the Edgware Road subway blast.

Zaher Birawi, chairman of Leeds Grand Mosque, condemned the bombings and said he feared possible reprisals against Muslims.

“We hope there will be no more Islamophobic attacks on our community,” he said Wednesday in an interview with British Broadcasting Corp. radio. He said the Muslim safety forum had received reports of more than 400 such attacks around the country.

“I feel angry that those people came from the Muslim community in Leeds, because there is no evidence, no indications that such wrong understanding is distributed within the community,” said Birawi, adding he had not met any of the suspects.

Immigrants from western Asia started coming to Leeds after World War II. Today, ethnic minorities account for 8.2 percent of the 715,000 population of Leeds; Pakistanis and Indians are the two largest groups, according to the 2001 census.

Racial tensions erupted in Leeds in the 1990s, with riots between whites and South Asians, blacks and Caribbean immigrants. But over the years this waning industrial hub has managed to revive itself as a center for shoppers, museum-goers and fiercely devoted football fans.

“Leeds has reinvented itself fabulously in the last 25 years, moving away from textiles and heavy industry. It’s quite striking,” said Roger Boyle, a computer professor at Leeds University and amateur historian.

© 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

SOURCE - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8565149/

(...)

MSNBC

Police widen search in London blast probe

Police pursue fifth suspect, possibly the mastermind behind deadly attacks

AP - Associated Press
Updated: 7:58 p.m. ET July 13, 2005


LEEDS, England - Police pursued what they suspect is a mastermind behind London’s terrorist attacks, raiding a home Wednesday and widening their search to a new area. The top law enforcement official suggested the bombers were “foot soldiers” intent on causing mayhem.

Wednesday night’s raid in Aylesbury, some 40 miles northwest of London and near the city of Oxford, resulted in no arrests but police were searching the house, Scotland Yard said.

As a show of defiance, London’s trademark black taxis and red double-decker buses were asked to pull to the side of the road and workers were urged to take to the streets at midday Thursday for a moment of silence marking the week that has passed since the July 7 terrorist bombings killed at least 52 people.

Another at large?

Details emerged Wednesday about the lives of the suspected bombers, one of whom was only 19 years old. But authorities suspected the four attackers — including at least three Britons of Pakistani descent — didn’t work alone, and that their collaborators or leader were likely still at large.

“These foot soldiers who have done this are only one element of an organization that is bringing about this kind of mayhem in our society,” Home Secretary Charles Clarke, the country’s top law enforcement official, told the British Broadcasting Corp. “We are looking very, very closely at the relationship between the people who may have committed the offenses and the wider network around them.”

Clarke said nations needed to defend their values “against those who would destroy it.”

“That means standing out against, in a very strong way, anybody who preaches the kind of fundamentalism, as I say, which can lead four young men to blow themselves and others up on the tube on a Thursday morning,” he said.

Authorities reluctant to use ‘suicide’

His comments went beyond the cautious statements of police, who said Tuesday that they were investigating the possibility that all four suspects died in explosions on a bus and three subway trains.

The Home Office said there was no evidence at this point to support a conclusion that the bombers intended to die.


Several officials, including Foreign Minister Jack Straw, have said the attacks bore the “hallmark” of al-Qaida. Two claims of responsibility purportedly from militant Islamic groups have surfaced.

A U.S. government official confirmed Wednesday that Shahzad Tanweer, Hasib Hussain and Mohammed Sidique Khan are thought to have been three of the bombers. The names are being checked to see if they appear on any U.S. databases. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because British investigators have not publicly released the identities of the suspected attackers.

Britain’s Press Association, citing police officials, said Wednesday that police had identified the fourth suspected bomber but no name or details were reported.

Surveillance cameras captured the four as they arrived in the capital 20 minutes before the beginning of the rush-hour explosions.

Police refused to comment on a BBC report that authorities were seeking a fifth suspect.

Sifting through evidence

In London, police continued to search through voluminous evidence from closed-circuit TV footage and the grisly scene where the blasts ripped apart three trains and a bus.

In and around the northern city of Leeds, home to a large Muslim community, police searched for evidence in sealed-off neighborhoods where three of the four suspects lived.

More than 100 alleged revenge attacks — including the killing of a Pakistani immigrant — have been reported in Britain since the bombings. Police increased protection in Muslim communities.

Blair calls for calm

With fears of further backlash growing, Prime Minister Tony Blair urged Britons not to judge all Muslims by the acts of those inspired by a “perverted and poisonous misinterpretation” of Islam. Muslims spoke out about the need to protect their own children from the kind of extremist thinking believed to have led the four men to commit the first successful suicide bombings in Western Europe.

Addressing the House of Commons, Blair said the government also would look urgently at how to strengthen the process for excluding from Britain those who incite hatred and make it easier to deport such people.

In a series of police raids on six homes in the Leeds area on Tuesday, police hunted for explosives and computer files that could lead to a mastermind behind the London attacks. They arrested a 29-year-old man identified by Press Association as a relative of one of the suspected bombers. On Wednesday, a judge approved a warrant for police to keep the unidentified man in custody through Saturday.

One of the alleged bombers, Shahzad Tanweer, was a 22-year-old cricket-loving sports science graduate; Hasib Hussain was 19; and Mohammed Sidique Khan was the 30-year-old father of an 8-month-old baby.

‘It's unbelievable’

Tanweer’s uncle, Bashir Ahmed, said his nephew had gone to Pakistan for two months earlier this year to study religion, and that the family believed he was attending “some religious function” on the day of the bombings.

“It was total shock, I mean, it’s unbelievable,” Ahmed told reporters.

“Our lives have been shattered,” he said. “It’s impossible to describe it. We have had a very pleasant time here. I don’t think we can continue here.”

Neighbors of Tanweer in Leeds’ rows of Victorian-era red brick houses were apprehensive and hostile, walking quickly past reporters gathered at the cordons. One warehouse worker, who would only give his first name, Saj, said Tanweer was a “good lad” and athlete.

“He was quiet,” he said. “He was religious. He went to every mosque here. There are loads of mosques here.”

Two militant Islamic groups have claimed responsibility for the bombings.

Big Muslim population

Leeds, about 185 miles north of London, has a population of about 715,000. About 15 percent of residents are Muslim, and many come from a tight-knit Pakistani community, mostly from Mirpur, south of Islamabad in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir. Other pockets of the community are mostly Arab.

Khalid Muneer, 28, a spokesman for the Hyde Park Mosque in Leeds, said the community was surprised by the raids and police claims that the bombers may have come from there.

“That connection would surprise us all, even shock the whole community. We still think it’s too early to say,” he told AP, adding that Muslims in the area were not opposed to Britain.

“I’ve seen no calls in this area for jihad against British or American forces.”


Forensics experts have said it could take weeks to identify the bodies, many of which were blown apart and would have to be identified through dental records or DNA analysis. Investigators say 11 bodies have been identified.

In Brussels, Belgium, British Home Secretary Charles Clarke told a special European Union anti-terrorist meeting Wednesday the EU had to share more intelligence.

Clarke said help from European police and intelligence agencies has made “material differences” to the investigation into the London bombings, and he added that such cooperation proved that more could be done to prevent further attacks across Europe.

© 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

SOURCE - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8507035/

The Clash of Civilizations: London Bombing Blackout, Power Failure Blamed

London Underground Exercises and the Magically Exploding Terrorists: Important Questions

Paul Joseph Watson & Alex Jones

Official government story changes every minute

Paul Joseph Watson & Alex Jones/Prison Planet | July 13 2005

Since we posted our original article about the exercises being conducted on the London Underground which targeted the exact same spots as the bombings that happened on the morning of Thursday 7th July, a firestorm of interest on the subject has swept the internet.

Important questions need to be asked of both Peter Power and Visor Consultants, the agency who were running the drill.

(...)

Power has been hired by the government before and he is always used to release information after terrorist incidents in London.

Two previous examples of this are the March 2001 BBC television center bombing and the September 2000 rocket attack on the MI6 building.

SOURCE - http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m13656&l=i&size=1&hd=0

(...)

1) March 2001 = NO POWER.

SOURCE - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1201444.stm

2) September 2000 = POWER!

Thursday, 21 September, 2000, 17:41 GMT 18:41 UK

'Rocket' theory over MI6 blast

Anti-terrorist expert Peter Power told the BBC the MI6 building was one of the most high profile in central London.

"If you wanted to make a name for yourself, get yourself back onto the front pages, why not go for something that's high profile and minimal risk."

He said there was growing evidence that it was a mortar-type device that was fired from several hundred yards away.

"The balance of probabilities, I think, indicates we are now looking at a republican act, very, very similar in more ways than one to the Hammersmith Bridge bomb a few months ago," he said.

SOURCE - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/934937.stm

(...)

The New Zealand Herald
World News

'Police shot bombers' reports New Zealander

09.07.05

A New Zealander working for Reuters in London says two colleagues witnessed the unconfirmed shooting by police of two apparent suicide bombers outside the HSBC tower at Canary Wharf in London.

The New Zealander, who did not want to be named, said the killing of the two men wearing bombs happened at 10.30am on Thursday (London time).

Following the shooting, the 8000 workers in the 44-storey tower were told to stay away from windows and remain in the building for at least six hours, the New Zealand man said.

He was not prepared to give the names of his two English colleagues, who he said witnessed the shooting from a building across the road from the tower.

Reports of attacks carried out by suicide bombers have been rife in London.

Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper reported an unconfirmed incident of police shooting a bomber outside the HSBC tower.

Canadian Brendan Spinks, who works on the 18th floor of the tower, said he saw a "massive rush of policemen" outside the building after London was rocked by the bombings.

SOURCE - http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10334992

(...)

While it's up (thank goodness MSNBC needs ratings) may as well have someone double-check the original "Secret Decoder Ring" statement - even MSNBC says it's wrong...

Quietly...


(...)

MSNBC staff and news service reports
Updated: 1:37 p.m. ET July 7, 2005

Islamic group claims London attack

Previously unknown group says blasts in retaliation for Iraq, Afghanistan

AFP-Getty Images

A screen grab shows a statement posted on a violent Islamic Web forum by a previously unknown group calling itself 'The Secret Organization of al-Qaida in Europe' claiming Wednesday's attacks in London.

(...)

But MSNBC TV translator Jacob Keryakes, who said that a copy of the message was later posted on a secular Web site, noted that the claim of responsibility contained an error in one of the Quranic verses it cited. That suggests that the claim may be phony, he said.

"This is not something al-Qaida would do," he said.

SOURCE - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8496293/

(...)

INFOWARS COMMENT:

In an email, Power responds to inquiries concerning the bombshell he dropped about the drills his company was conducting, stating:

It is confirmed that a short number of 'walk through' scenarios planed [sic] well in advance had commenced that morning for a private company in London (as part of a wider project that remains confidential) and that two scenarios related directly to terrorist bombs at the same time as the ones that actually detonated with such tragic results. One scenario in particular, was very similar to real time events.


How very interesting, this confidential "wider project." In his initial interviews following the bombings, Power implied the drills were undertaken for just one client (to remain nameless but which our sources indicate is the Underground authority itself) but this statement suggests the involvement of additional parties.

The rest of the statement continues very defensively:

However, anyone with knowledge about such ongoing threats to our capital city will be aware that (a) the emergency services have already practiced several of their own exercises based on bombs in the underground system (also reported by the main news channels) and (b) a few months ago the BBC broadcast a similar documentary on the same theme, although with much worse consequences [??]. It is hardly surprising therefore, that we chose a feasible scenario - but the timing and script was nonetheless, a little disconcerting.


According to Power, now trying to quickly cover for his gaffe, absolutely EVERYONE knows that such drills are being conducted all the time in the Tube. And despite the statistical analysis proving otherwise, Power suggests that given the frequency of these drills, its possible one would occur at the exact same time as a real terrorist event.

And while he is "disconcert[ed]" by the presumed coincidence of the drills matching completely to the actual terrorist attack that went on around them, he greatly plays down the frightful reaction he had in his initial interviews ("the hair standing up on the back of his neck") by insinuating that the public is crazy for caring about this. We are just investigating this to get to the truth.

We have seen this pattern before: Drills playing out simultaneously with attacks to serve as operations cover. It happened precisely this way on September 11th with Norad standing down.

So after this response, which Peter Power are we supposed to believe? The Peter Power interviewed on radio and TV following the bombings that told reporters that the drills were sponsored by one group or the one that’s now telling us its two? Are we to believe the Peter Power that said that it was six bombs exploding in the same stations that his exercises were being conducted in or are we to believe the Peter Power of this email response that now claims it was just a couple of similar explosions?

We challenge Power to reveal the true scope of the drills that his company was conducting that fateful day and to stop evading the question of who his company was hired by to carry out the drills.

SOURCE - http://www.infowars.com/articles/London_attack/power_responds_terror_drills.htm

"Steve Nash, last season’s NBA MVP, joined a pickup game in Hudson River Park the other night."

Gawker

He Loves This Game

It’s a good week to be outside in Tribeca. First came the new old park. Then was the big New York-New Yorker soccer game. All that, though, was merely prelude to this: Phoenix Sun Steve Nash, last season’s NBA MVP, joined a pickup game in Hudson River Park the other night.

Unless, of course, that’s not actually him. Our source on this is a lawyer, and you can never trust those guys.

After the jump, a half-dozen blurry cameraphone pics for your scrutiny.

Click on an image to expand:

SOURCE - http://www.gawker.com/news/culture/neighborhoods-landmarks/he-loves-this-game-112394.php

(...)

January 19, 2005
The New York Times

Nash Displays Polished Look: On the Court, of Course

By LIZ ROBBINS

HOENIX, Jan. 12 - Steve Nash has been doing some light reading on the road, studying a playbook of sorts that outlines team concepts like discipline and sacrifice for the common good.

"I'm actually reading the Communist Manifesto," Nash said with a smile after a recent practice.

Nash's eclectic tastes range from Pat Conroy to Dickens to Kant. "I don't know if guys notice, which is good," he said. "I just want to be one of them."

So people won't think he is sympathetic to alternative causes, Nash explained that he picked up the manifesto, "only because I was reading the autobiography of Che Guevara and I wanted to get a better perspective."

Naturally. Nash's game, like his life, is about perspective.

SOURCE - http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/19/sports/basketball/19nash.html?ex=1121400000&en=1ae6f80a52764f40&ei=5070&pagewanted=print&position=%20target=&oref=login

(...)

CNN/Sports Illustrated
An AOL Time Warner Company

Steve speaks out

Mavericks' star voices opposition to war in Iraq

Posted: Friday February 07, 2003 5:43 PM
Updated: Friday February 07, 2003 10:19 PM

Steve Nash had more than basketball on his mind Friday.
Glenn James/NBAE/

ATLANTA -- NBA All-Star Game media days are usually filled with pithy quotes and clichés, but Dallas Mavericks guard Steve Nash veered wildly off the standard course Friday by using the occasion to speak out against war in Iraq.

Wearing a T-shirt that said "No war -- Shoot for peace," the Canadian celebrated his 29th birthday by making his position perfectly clear.

"I believe that us going to war would be a mistake," he said. "Being a humanitarian, I think that war is wrong in 99.9 percent of all cases. I think it has much more to do with oil or some sort of distraction, because I don't feel as though we should be worrying about Iraq."

Nash said he felt that U.N. weapons inspectors should be allowed to complete their mission before any further action is taken, and that the United States in particular had provided insufficient evidence to warrant an attack.

"I think that Saddam Hussein is a crazy dictator and in some ways a scary person, but I don't think he's threatening us at this point in time," he said. "We haven't found any nuclear weapons -- no matter what anyone says -- and that process is still under way. Until that's finished and decided I don't think that war is acceptable."

He also blamed the media for beating the war drum. "I think a lot of what we hear in the news is misleading and flat-out false, so I think it's important for us to think deeper and find out what is really going on."

Nash did allow that he's still learning more about the situation in Iraq, and he encouraged others to do the same. "I'm still trying to educate myself ... and I think people should should just go out and try to educate themselves and learn so they can make an informed decision."

He then reiterated his position that "unfortunately, this is more about oil than it is about nuclear weapons."

Playing in his second consecutive All-Star Game, Nash is best known for his wild mane of hair and frenetic on-court style. He is averaging 17.8 points and 6.9 assists for the Mavericks, who lead the NBA with a 38-10 record at the All-Star break.

SOURCE - http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/nba/2003/all_star/news/2003/02/07/nash_war/

(...)

GOOGLE IMAGES - SEARCH: Steve Nash + Iraq

Results 1 - 4 of 4 for steve nash + iraq. (0.03 seconds)

(zero relevant)

SOURCE - http://images.google.com/images?q=steve%20nash%20%2B%20iraq&hl=en&lr=&rls=GGLC,GGLC:1969-53,GGLC:en&sa=N&tab=wi

GOOGLE IMAGES - SEARCH: Steve Nash + War

Results 1 - 5 of 5 for steve nash + war. (0.03 seconds)

(zero relevant)

SOURCE - http://images.google.com/images?q=steve%20nash%20%2B%20war&hl=en&lr=&rls=GGLC,GGLC:1969-53,GGLC:en&sa=N&tab=wi

GOOGLE IMAGES - SEARCH: No War Shoot For Peace

Results 1 - 4 of 4 for no war shoot for peace. (0.27 seconds)

(zero relevant)

SOURCE - http://images.google.com/images?q=no%20war%20shoot%20for%20peace&hl=en&lr=&rls=GGLC,GGLC:1969-53,GGLC:en&sa=N&tab=wi

(...)

INTERNET PROPAGANDA SEARCH: STEVE NASH IN A "NO WAR, SHOOT FOR PEACE SHIRT"

GOOGLE, YAHOO, LYCOS, ALTAVISTA

Results 0 - 0 of 0 for steve nash anti war activist picture.

(zero relevant)

SOURCE - WORLD WIDE WEB OF MISSING INFORMATION.

(...)











50 CENT CELEBRATES 30TH BIRTHDAY ON MOVIE SET

Hip-hop star 50 CENT took some time out of working on his movie debut last week (ends 08JUL05) to celebrate his 30th birthday.

The IN DA CLUB rapper, currently in New York City's Bronx area filming GET RICH OR DIE TRYIN', was serenaded by cast and crew members to mark his big day on 6 July (05).

Director JIM SHERIDAN presented 50 Cent - real name CURTIS JACKSON - with his birthday cake, complete with candles in the shape of the numerals "5" and "0", reports MTV NEWS.

13/07/2005 09:35

SOURCE - http://www.contactmusic.com/new/xmlfeed.nsf/mndwebpages/50%20cent%20celebrates%2030th%20birthday%20on%20movie%20set

(...)

GOOGLE NEWS SEARCH - PAGE ONE: 50 cent birthday

SOURCE - http://news.google.com/news?q=50%20cent%20birthday&hl=en&lr=&rls=GGLC,GGLC:1969-53,GGLC:en&sa=N&tab=wn

Results 1 - 10 of about 170 for 50 cent birthday. (0.60 seconds)

Sorted by relevance Sort by date

50 CENT CELEBRATES 30TH BIRTHDAY ON MOVIE SET
Contactmusic.com, UK - 3 hours ago
... Director JIM SHERIDAN presented 50 Cent - real name CURTIS JACKSON - with his birthday cake, complete with candles in the shape of the numerals "5" and "0 ...

For The Record: Quick News On 50 Cent, Luther Vandross, P. Diddy ...
MTV.com - Jul 12, 2005
50 Cent had a working birthday last week. The rapper turned 30 on Wednesday and was serenaded by cast and crewmembers on the Bronx ...
For The Record: Quick News On Beyoncé, Britney Spears, Hilary ... MTV.com
all 2 related »

News on Michael Jackson, 50 Cent, Beyonce & More
Eurweb.com, CA - Jul 11, 2005
... In May, AR PR Marketing teamed with TUG to host a joint record-release party for Omarion's solo debut, “O,” and birthday party for his half-brother ...

News on Michael Jackson, 50 Cent, Beyonce & More
Eurweb.com, CA - Jul 11, 2005
... The Post also says that before the sentencing, invites were sent out for a surprise birthday party that was to be held for the rapper today. ...

Newsmakers | Paging Nurse Jolie: Brad in LA hospital
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA - 17 hours ago
... he of (that loin-warming number) "Lean Back" and feudin'-with-50 Cent fame - will ... an homage to the master, MI3 will be released on Kierkegaard's birthday, May 5 ...

News on Michael Jackson, 50 Cent, Beyonce & More
Eurweb.com, CA - Jul 8, 2005
... “The Ski Trip,” about five New York City friends who hit the Catskills to celebrate the lead character’s 30th birthday, airs at 10 pm on Sunday, July 17. ...

Heavy on grog, light on fruit but Canberrans still live longer
Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey - 15 hours ago
... And a high proportion of local residents celebrated their 85th birthday - 38.9 per ... in the ACT - the lowest rate in Australia - and about 50 per cent of men ...

Big Man Disease Killing Africa
AllAfrica.com, Africa - 2 hours ago
... is only enough to purchase about 45 birthday parties for ... It operated at 4 per cent capacity and cost £277,000 a ... Africa life expectancy: In 1980 it was 50 years ...

More nurses needed for at-risk babies
Scotsman, UK - 1 hour ago
... is nearly three times more likely to die before its first birthday in parts of ... born into units that are running to overcapacity are 50 per cent more likely ...

How I Was Misled, By Tobi
AllAfrica.com, Africa - Jul 12, 2005
... and very seriously I need a birthday present from you, not a card, but the birthday present I ... He insisted on a minimum of 50 per cent derivation, starting ...

New! Get the latest news on 50 cent birthday with Google Alerts.

"The claim could not be verified; many specialists doubted its authenticity." (So: That's that.)

Q: "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?

A: "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.

SOURCE - http://blackkrishna.blogspot.com/2005/07/claim-could-not-be-verified-many.html

(...)

and...

he said there was supposed to be a piece about it on sunday.

there wasn't.

crap.


(...)

now, it's not his fault...

he said it 'cause he thought it true...

but instead we have...


(...)

The Boston Globe

Al-Zarqawi blasts mentor for remarks

By Salah Nasrawi,
Associated Press Writer
July 12, 2005

CAIRO, Egypt --Terrorist mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi criticized his spiritual mentor for urging militants in Iraq to rein in attacks on civilians and warned that the sheik's comments could split Islamic fighters, according to a purported statement posted on an Islamic Web site Tuesday.

The statement, signed by al-Zarqawi, warned his sheik -- Isam Mohammed al-Barqawi -- "do not follow the path of Satan that leads to your destruction. Beware, our noble sheik, of the trick of God's enemies to lure you to drive a wedge in the ranks of the mujahedeen."

(...)

In the six-page statement al-Zarqawi addressed al-Barqawi as "his beloved sheik" and asked God to forgive him.

SOURCE - http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/07/12/al_zarqawi_blasts_mentor_for_remarks/

(...)

6 pages???

can we see one?

c'mon, how 'bout a peek?

c'mon...

all a nigga really need, is a lil' bit...

not a lot, boston globe, just a lil' bit...


"...not simply equality as a right but equality as a reality and practice..."

"I got my MBA at Marcy Projects."

- Jay-Z

(...)

"You have a higher chance of getting shot because you're talking to me than if you never met me. See, my lifestyle's different from what you'd consider the norm, because I come from an environment where the price of life is cheap."

- 50 Cent

(...)

"I don't think of myself as a poor deprived ghetto girl who made good. I think of myself as somebody who from an early age knew I was responsible for myself, and I had to make good."

"I always knew I was destined for greatness."

"When I look into the future, it's so bright it burns my eyes."

"I still have my feet on the ground, I just wear better shoes."

- Oprah Winfrey

(...)

"I'm rich, bitch!"

- Dave Chappelle

(...)

it's not the exceptional people we should worry about...

nor cite as examples to celebrate minority progress...

they'll usually be successful one way...

or the other...


(...)

so really...

if we look hard...

we can all clearly see...

it's just the rest of our peers...


(...)

Los Angeles blacks still fare poorly, study shows

By Alexandria Sage
46 minutes ago

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Blacks in America's second-largest city fare the worst among all major races in education, health, economics, housing and criminal justice, according to a study released on Wednesday.

"The State of Black Los Angeles," prepared by the United Way and the Urban League of Los Angeles, said the promise of the American Dream was still out of reach for many blacks in the city.

"At the heart of this shortfall is a fundamental issue of equality -- not simply equality as a right but equality as a reality and practice," it said.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was joined by religious and community leaders, including Police Chief William Bratton, at a downtown panel to voice concern at the sobering picture presented in the study.

The study found that nearly half of black L.A. high school students don't graduate within four years, that the median household income for blacks is more than $20,000 below that of white families and that the 14 percent black unemployment rate is more than double that for whites and Asians.

SOURCE - http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050713/us_nm/life_blacks_dc_1

(...)

If I wasn't in the rap game
I'd probably have a key knee deep in the crack game
Because the streets is a short stop
Either you're slingin crack rock or you got a wicked jumpshot
Shit, it's hard being young from the slums
Eatin five cent gums not knowin where your meals comin from
And now the shit's gettin crazier and major
Kids younger than me, they got the sky grand pagers
Goin outta town, blowin up
Six months later all the dead bodies showin up
It make me wanna grab the nine and the shottie
But I gotta go identify the body
Damn, what happened to the summertime cookouts?
Everytime I turn around a nigga gettin took out
Shit, my momma got cancer in her breast
Don't ask me why I'm motherfuckin stressed,
Things done changed...

- The Notorious B.I.G. "Things Done Changed"