The DCP Meets the Vulcans

Had to go to a work-related wedding shower in suburbia, but on the way saw the New York Times in hard copy.

My eye was caught by the article I'd seen earlier via TruthOut - about how US was expediting delivery of weapons to Israel, including bunker busters.

Then I dared look to the left of the page - somehow I'd feared the worst and it was realized. The numbers I'd seen out of the corner of my eye were indeed markers for graves destined for mass burial in Lebanon. On each wooden coffin were large Arabic characters.

It is so bloody obvious that we are fighting the "axis of evil" in a proxy fashion. We supply Israel, Iran & Syria supply Hezbollah. Lebanon is mashed in the process, as it's the killing field in the middle. It's the neocon plot to "remake the middle east as a democracy" but it's destined to increase terrorism.

That NYT front page made it obvious - anyone who can't see it may be already dead.

Hi everyone.

We had a really productive meeting and phone meeting today. Meeting the Vulcans was the icing on the cake.

They were kind and regaled us with their stories, schedules, and opinions. One chat I had with them that quite impressed me was the discussion of volunteerism and charity done despite the difficulty of maintaining a full-time work schedule.

These wonderful people hold full time jobs and donate their time for the cause. They make a five year commitment and are doing this for nine months of the year. They travel from St. Paul down to Florida and can include other states as time and commitments allow. They're not paid; however, they've gone out and raised money for different charities.

Many of you at the DCP and in cyberspace put in so much time on volunteerism for democracy. We serve a tremendous charitable function as well. Just like the Vulcans should be proud to have participated in their charitable work, I hope all of you are proud of all your efforts too.

We are living proof that charity begins at home and in your own heart and that with your devotion to helping others we can indeed change the world.

Lamont Leads "The Kiss" Lieberman:

(there was no link given to this article)

The NationThu Jul 20, 11:52 AM ET

The Nation -- Joe is down. And for the first time in his eighteen year Senate career, he may be going down.

A new Quinnipiac University poll released today finds Ned Lamont holding a 51 to 47 percent lead over Lieberman among likely Democratic primary voters. Just six weeks ago, Lieberman was up by fifteen points. And a month before that, Lieberman's lead was three times that size.

Talk about a surge for Lamont. In a state where 83 percent of the population disapproves of the Iraq war and only 31 percent approve of President Bush, Lieberman's in big, big trouble with Democratic voters.

If he loses the primary, Lieberman plans to run as an Independent. The Quinnipiac shows him winning handily in that scenario; 51 percent, to 27 percent for Lamont and 9 percent for likely Republican candidate Alan Schlesinger.

The new party would be called "Connecticut for Lieberman." Funny how it's not "Lieberman for Connecticut." When it comes to his state and his party, it's all about Joe.

The Nation

Glad to see everyone having fun... too bad I couldn't be with you this time!

Maybe next year.

From the previous thread:

when you expect incompetence, corruption and deceit from your government, you get exactly what you vote for. In spades.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/7/22/181659/434

Posted by: madame defarge at July 22, 2006 07:33 PM

Thanks for sharing, madame. Exactly how I've felt - the Republican Party hates government, because they are so d*mn bad at managing one.

Hey everybody!

Good pics!

The one with the group and the Vulcan Firetruck was too cute!

(Talk about spreading democracy cell groups all over the place!)

As a survivor of four winters in North Dakota, the sister state west of MN, I am very happy SOMEONE made a joint effort to figure out a way to survive the winters up here and have fun at the same time. Yes, liquor does help!

Carry on, oh players with fire. \/

Posted by: DiAnne at July 22, 2006 08:27 PM

DiAnne, remember what we were talking about earlier this past week? About not being sure if the conspiracy theories were right, or if this is just simply a fight between Israel and the Hezbollah?

So the picture from the NY Times (hard copy) is what you are basing your opinion on now?

Yes, I heard the Hezbollah was using Iranian missles, and I heard on Anderson Cooper 360 that at least some of the missles used by Israel were from the U.S.

I might ask if buying the missles and weapons from a country makes the supplying country culpable?

I remember hearing stories that the U.S. supplied both sides with weapons in at least two other wars. That is as corrupt as a nation can get.

Madame,

Thank you for sharing that link. I think people hired them because they pretended they liked kids. It was sort of like the pied piper...they played their tune, and the people forgot and just followed along.

It's important for us to keep reminding people that we deserve to hire people who like us and don't just want us to be used as cannon foder.

I remember hearing stories that the U.S. supplied both sides with weapons in at least two other wars. That is as corrupt as a nation can get.

Posted by: Truth Shall Prevail at July 22, 2006 11:50 PM

Yes, absolutely.

In the industry where I work, war is considered patriotic, because it makes lots of money. And it makes the most money when, as you said, both sides are fighting and killing each other off, using OUR weapons.

Sick, isn't it?

BTW, for this very reason, I'm seriously considering attending Camp Democracy in September, because I am fed up with the status quo, especially as I work a Marine base in the Mojave Desert. By early September, I should have some free time available (which I need badly after my crazy work schedule now, and which I was going to blow on a Canadian vacation anyway). I need all the skills I can get in order to deal with the neocons I face, both at home in Los Angeles's ethnic enclaves and at work in the desert (and hopefully strengthen my mother's budding progressive credentials at the same time).

Karen - I would appreciate the details of Camp Democracy. The website looks sketchy at this time.

Ally,

I am curious about where you are working now? Can you email me with the details?

Ally,

Yes, it is sick. I have a friend who told me about a guy she helped in therapy who was a Vietnam vet, and he told her about receiving orders to go into a village and shoot all the people in the village. He and his comrades followed orders, then he walked over to a shed, opened it up, and found weapons from the United States inside.

I know I have said this before, but I hate what war does to people's minds. Dated a guy once who seemed to be a real nice guy, but he was just really whacked from the Vietnam war. He was a chaplain at one of the Vet's hospitals, but all he did on our dates was cry and drink. (Oh well, I sat and cried and drank with him. No, not really, but I thought Polly would enjoy that part of the story.)

SPEAKING OF POLLY......

Polly, welcome back, I'm so glad you escaped!! I thought maybe you and "X" ran away together.

Posted by: Truth Shall Prevail at July 23, 2006 12:15 AM

Truth, please check your email. :)

Truth Shall Prevail
It was not so much the photo of the mass graves that made me believe there is more going on. It was the article about the Israeli weapons being expedited for delivery from America so they will arrive faster. The juxtaposition of the two stories was very powerful and just about did me in, but the suspicion about Israel possibly going more came from my observation that they were buying a bunch of bunker busters. Bunker busters are appropriate for actually trying to take out Iran's nuclear facilities. Maybe I've been reading too many Sy Hersch asticles in the New Yorker. Maybe I'm a paranoid person.

I decided to get away from it all so I went to see The Atomic Bombshells, and Dita Von Teese. That's burlesque.

If you guys want to hear Vietnam stories I have plenty but not sure this is the time or place. We'll see.

good analysis of Joe Lieberman in July 24 New Yorker by Hendrik Hertzberg. Here are opening and concluding sentences:

"Why, you may ask, is Joseph Lieberman having such a tough time with the simple task of getting himself renominated for the Senate seat he has held for the past seventeen years? Theories abound . . .
. .
If the Bush Administration, which still has two and a half years to go before America and the world are rid of it, is to be restrained and held accountable, then it is more important for at least one branch of the national legislature to be controlled by the opposition party than it is for Connecticut to be represented by a senator who is against—or for—the Iraq war. Ned Lamont, the earnest, mild-mannered J. P. Morgan heir who is the challenger in the Democratic primary, and has pledged to support Lieberman if the latter wins on August 8th, seems to have some inkling of this. The Senator does not. A couple of weeks ago, in a reprise of his 2000 maneuver, he suddenly announced that if he loses the primary he will seek a place on the November ballot as the candidate of a new “Connecticut for Lieberman” party. “I’m a loyal Democrat,” he told reporters, “but I have loyalties that are greater than those to my party.” No kidding."

For entire article (in "talk of the town section"), see hard copy of July 24 issue, or go to http://www.newyorker.com/talk/content/articles/060724ta_talk_hertzberg

The Outrage: The Political Dirty Trick to Silence YOUR Voice About The Stem Cell Override Vote

ACTION PAGE: http://www.usalone.com/stacey/pnum420.php

Once again the anti-science portion of the Administration has won the day and the President has not only used his first veto on the Stem Cell Research Bill but pulled one of the dirtiest tricks on record by putting the override vote on the floor of the House hours after the veto BEFORE you and other Americans could be heard.

This bill which, could end so many dramatic conditions and diseases, was championed by the REPUBLICAN SENATE LEADER Dr. Bill Frist. Yet even that wasn't enough to stop the Republicans from jamming the Veto Override Vote into the evening hours. And we lost.

Now you have the chance to let your Senators and Representative know how you feel about this bill and their despicable actions! The potential for Stem Cell Research to change millions of lives over the next decades is gone for now. Yet this fight isn't over. It will come up over and over again.

You need to make it clear to both Houses that this is one of those issues, supported by a majority of the nation, that will help determine your vote in the next election.

Write your letter below in your own words. Write it from your heart. If your family or friends have been touched by one of the many diseases and conditions that Stem Cell Research may eventually cure or stop....tell that story. And tell them that political dirty tricks are from days gone past...and you recognize them for exactly what they are....dirty politics.

Write from the heart with passion. These actions, which make the voice of the people unimportant, cannot be ignored. My campaign is fully behind you as are hundreds of other Democrats and many Republicans.

Today is an important day. Today we can make a difference by telling them, as Gov. Dean has said, "Enough is Enough!" It's up to us.

Hey DCP conferees,

Thanks for the updates - can't wait to see the notes and plan for the coming months!

I'm sorry I missed you all, but was with you in spirit!

Trying to avoid the news this vacation week away - too damn depressing, and makes me feel guilty for being on vacation. That's not a feeling I like, or have had before.

Grrr.

This relates to discussion during the conference call - about how organized conservatives are. This comes from a local cell leader.

----

I have been busy in many directions.  The Seattle Voice web site has a new webmaster and will probably have a new name.  It will relaunch right after the Primary.  At that point, we can all take a look and see what we can do together.  Meanwhile here's a short article that demonstrates what Republicans are willing to do.  I even received a cold call asking me to as a Small Business Leader to join this inner circle with direct access to Chairman Tom Reynolds.  Where are the Democrats organizing?  Where are the legal and legitimate  Democratic calls?  Something to think about.  Meanwhile read this and think what we could do to organize?

With Insurance Policy Comes Membership
Unbeknown to Some, Those Signing Up With Firm Are Joining Conservative Group

By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, July 23, 2006; A05

In 2001, Jennifer B. Chace heard an insurance broker's pitch for a new insurance company marketing tax-free medical savings accounts. She jumped at the offer, but first, the broker told her, she would have to sign an application -- already filled out -- that would entitle her to a low group rate.

With that signature, Chace, a Florida dentist in the market for health insurance, unwittingly joined one of Washington's most prominent conservative organizations, Citizens for a Sound Economy, she would later testify.

"Before I showed you this form today, did you even realize that you signed a form that was an application for membership in Citizens for a Sound Economy?" her lawyer would ask during a 2004 deposition.

"I don't know what Citizens for a Sound Economy is," she replied.

Chace's experience has brought to light an obscure arrangement between a prominent Republican businessman, J. Patrick Rooney, and a free-market interest group that has netted the grass-roots organization hundreds of thousands of dollars and thousands of new members. Citizens for a Sound Economy -- now called FreedomWorks and headed by former House majority leader Richard K. Armey (R-Tex.) -- has netted more than $638,000 and about 16,000 members through the sale of insurance policies.

Officials from FreedomWorks say the insurance sales are just another way for grass-roots groups to garner members and are no different from the activities of such giants as AARP, the senior citizens lobby.

"This is one of several avenues through which nonprofits do their job," said Kent Lassman, vice president for strategy at FreedomWorks.

Critics see the effort as a way for political groups to inflate their membership rosters -- and their bottom lines -- by taking dues from people with no interest in the groups' politics.

"We have clearly concluded these folks had no idea what Citizens for a Sound Economy was," said Louis M. Silber, a lawyer involved in a Florida class-action suit against Rooney's firm. "They had no idea where their money was going."

Officials from Rooney's Medical Savings Insurance Co. did not respond to numerous telephone calls and e-mails.

Documents produced through the suit against Rooney's company show how FreedomWorks, a political group that made its name fighting for a flat income tax and questioning global warming, has joined the insurance business. Under the deal, proposed by Rooney in 2000, brokers for Medical Savings Insurance Co. sell high-deductible insurance policies and tax-free savings plans at a group discount to buyers who join the conservative political organization.

"We are pleased with your offer to benefit CSE and we are ready to go forward subject to alterations of the contract," Ann House Quinn, then vice president for development of Citizens for a Sound Economy, wrote to Rooney on Sept. 13, 2000.

That was the first of a series of letters that revealed that insurance policy holders' names would be rented out as CSE members, that the group's bylaws would be changed to accommodate Rooney and that CSE would control dues rates.

Lassman said emphatically that no one has been signed up for the organization unwittingly and no one who joined through an insurance policy has quit upon learning of the group's political activities. An "MSA [Medical Savings Accounts] Association" membership form that CSE produced in 2000 to accompany application forms is emblazoned with the phrases "Flat Tax," "Across-the-Board Tax Cuts," "Limited Government" and "School Choice" among other political slogans.

"I have every confidence that new members to FreedomWorks know what we're about and what that relationship means to them," Lassman said. "There is no confusion about their relationship to us."

He did not deny that the $638,040 that has flowed to the group over 5 1/2 years in monthly checks for "association fees" collected by Medical Savings Insurance Co. is a boost. But, he said, it is a small one for a group with a $7 million budget. A database search of the group's 800,000 members indicated roughly 2 percent -- or about 16,000 -- joined by signing up for insurance, he said.

"If people want an account like this and are not aware of FreedomWorks, and they come to us this way, that's great," said FreedomWorks spokesman Adam Brandon.

But Jeffrey M. Liggio, a lead lawyer in the lawsuit, pointed to the insurance policies themselves, which never mention FreedomWorks or Citizens for a Sound Economy and label the group policyholder simply by a number: 1214.

"The certificates of insurance issued to class members, despite the clear language contained therein, did not disclose the identity of the Group Policyholder of the group policy, despite the fact that each putative insured must 'join' and pay money to such group as a condition of obtaining the insurance," the suit's motion for class certification states. The motion was granted in December.

Larry Butcher, a plaintiff in the case, said in a deposition that he signed on to a policy simply because his insurance broker son thought it was a good deal.

FreedomWorks and its predecessor, CSE, were careful about the deal's financial aspects. In a Sept. 13, 2000, letter, CSE's Quinn said documents should overtly refer to dues, suggesting they be set at $12 a year, to be raised at CSE's discretion upon notifying Medical Savings Insurance Co. She also noted: "I would assume that these people will become CSE members for all purposes and therefore will go on the CSE mailing list. Since the CSE mailing list is rented, as a matter of course, those names would be rented as CSE members . . . without specific identification as MSIC insureds."

A Sept. 20, 2000, correspondence from Medical Savings President Randal E. Suttles to Rooney said the deal could not go through because the CSE charter states "the corporation shall not have members" and therefore does not comply with the law governing group insurance.

Fifteen days later, Quinn told Suttles the group had solved the problem, amending its charter to allow for voting members.

The money that Medical Savings collected on behalf of CSE and FreedomWorks trickled in at first, canceled checks show. The first, in December 2000, was for $28. In April 2001, it was $738. But according to financial documents, the program gathered steam quickly. By March 19, 2003, the monthly "association fees" totaled $10,060. By 2004, they were topping $15,000, peaking that August at $15,309. They have since ebbed, to $10,687 last month.

Last month, Lassman said, about four times as many FreedomWorks members dropped out of the organization as joined by purchasing a policy.

But the total raised so far, $638,040, is not insignificant, Lassman said.

"In the nonprofit world, every dollar is precious," he said, "but to put it in context, hundreds of thousands of dollars over five years does not strike me as out of the realm of normal."

Torture report released on a Sunday - will anyone notice?

Report: US Torture Widespread in Iraq
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/072306Z.shtml
Iraqi detainees were routinely subjected to beatings, sleep deprivation, stress positions and other forms of abuse by US interrogators, according to a Human Rights Watch report released on Sunday that offers first-hand accounts from three former soldiers.

On Camp Democracy:

We still need help, and we are having a big meeting Tuesday. The plan right now is to have activities going on continuously between September 5 (when Cindy Sheehan will be there with Camp Casey), through the 8-11 (three days of concerts, training sessions, and creative activities to prepare for the following three weeks), Sept. 12-20 as lobbying days and civil actions, culminating on September 21 as the Declaration of Peace Day (actions and music on the Mall), followed by local and national actions from the 22-28, followed by the World Can't Wait's October 5 actions on the Mall.

It's going to be a pretty full month; all I can do is work very hard on the Sept. 8-11 activities. After that I will be a participant only, as I can be there.

We need help with organizing documentary films, teaching mini-workshops on democracy, social justice concerns, voting, creative products, etc. The website is, right now, designed to capture interest. As we set more, we will update the site.

I hope that thousands of us show up. It's the only thing that will make it work,

That last comment was ME, not Suz.

I did not notice she had posted on my laptop!

Time Magazine Cover story:

with childlike simplicity, Time Mag. analyzes the Middle East problems

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/07/23/time.cover.story.tm/index.html

The 6 Keys to Peace

1. Get the U.S. involved
Rice's trip is evidence that the U.S. is involved in the Middle East, whether it wants to be or not. This is not, for once, because it is the world's sole superpower, the policeman to which those in any tough neighborhood eventually turn. It is because it has a unique relationship with Israel and is committed to guaranteeing its security. That means Washington can talk to the Israelis and, occasionally, convince them that their best interests require them to talk to those whose motives and behavior they despise.

2. Don't forget the Palestinians
Like any birth, this one won't be easy. The leading Sunni Arab states, if they are to join the U.S. in opposition to Hizballah and Iran, are likely to ask for something in return, and it is not hard to divine what it would be: a full-hearted U.S. commitment to revive the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians.

3. Guarantee Israel's security
Israel finds itself in a dilemma. The Jewish state's superb armed forces never failed when asked to fight against massed armies in conventional wars. But Israel is not fighting a standard war now; with Hamas and Hizballah, it is battling against cells of well-trained militias energized by religious fervor. Armies surrender when their leaders tell them to; guerrillas just slip back to a safe house and wait to fight another day. All of that means that Israel has to fight a war that inevitably results in terrible and visible damage to towns and cities -- and costs innocent lives. In the court of world public opinion, that is a fight Israel ultimately can never win.

4. Stabilize Lebanon
By leaving soldiers in the West Bank after any future withdrawal, Israel might hope to be able to guarantee security on its eastern border. But the same tactic wouldn't work to the north; nobody is going to countenance Israel occupying a swath of southern Lebanon again (as it did from 1982 to 2000) to deny Hizballah room from which to fire its rockets -- least of all Israelis themselves, who are horrified by the idea of a re-occupation. That is why the fourth key to peace is to stabilize Lebanon. In part, that means propping up the fragile government of technocrats led by Fouad Siniora and pumping donors to help Lebanon rebuild itself (again). But it also means ensuring that Hizballah can no longer use its strongholds in the south to threaten regional peace.

5. Handling Iran
Assuming Iran was behind Hizballah's raid, what happens next? The U.S. and other powers are discussing how to rein in Iran's nuclear program, and it may be easier to jointly impose sanctions now that Iran is viewed as responsible for mayhem in Lebanon. But what then? European officials talk of a "constructive dialogue" with Tehran that involves recognizing it as an important regional power while maintaining the right to sanction it if it breaks the nuclear rules. But Israel -- along with many supporters in the U.S. -- thinks a dialogue with a nation whose leader has said that Israel "must be wiped off the map" is a waste of breath.

6. Pray for Iraq
The failure of the U.S. to impose order in Iraq after the invasion of 2003 has emboldened all those who believe that more spasms of violence will stop Washington and its allies from pushing for fundamental change. And there are worse possible outcomes than that. Iraq could become the launching pad for a full-on war between Sunni and Shiite, with Iran entering the fray on the Shiite side and the Arab states defending Iraq's Sunnis. Seen in that light, there's little wonder that Rice is off on her travels.

Carol,

Have a great vacation. Don't feel guilty. The mess will be here when you return. Just turn off the voices that say, "Clean up in the USA aisle..."

Ralph,

Thanks for those easy steps. Problem is that we have the wrong people in office to even accomplish those easy steps.

But...we can work hard to change the makeup in Congress now, so that we can perhaps force our messege to be heard in the W.H. and on our tv screens.

BTW - I don't believe anyone can solve the ongoing, centuries-old problems in the Middle East - not even Time Magazines writers.

Ralph,

Thanks for those easy steps. Problem is that we have the wrong people in office to even accomplish those easy steps.

But...we can work hard to change the makeup in Congress now, so that we can perhaps force our messege to be heard in the W.H. and on our tv screens.

Posted by: sparrow at July 23, 2006 10:47 AM

@@@@@@@@@@@@@

Condi Rice is a lying, incompetent, Bush-lackey NeoCon. I don't know why the Arabs would even meet with her.

The larger point:

Time Magazine is just trying to boost magazine sales by this cover story and its overly-simplistic keys to peace. Everybody wants "A SOLUTION" or "THE SOLUTION" to the middle east.

It Ain't Gonna Happen.

The Israelis have been fighting the Arabs as long as I have roamed the earth - over four decades now. Why would the fighting stop in this decade?

Iraq is broken and it cannot be restored - despite much prayer.

Islamic extremism is growing, potent and spreading - this will not be reversed anytime soon either.

Ralpeh
TIME magazine told us to pray?!!

That is the last straw.

Ralpeh
TIME magazine told us to pray?!!

That is the last straw.

Posted by: DiAnne at July 23, 2006 12:53 PM

@@@@@@@@@@

I know, the whole thing borders on the silly/absurd. If we are going to pray for point #6, we might as well pray for points 1 through 5 as well....

If prayer helped, I'd be glad to.
I;ve only ever prayed for one thing - world peace (since I was a child that's all I prayed for) - didn't work.
It's arrogant to pray for a human outcome.
If there is a God, "it" operates on a different scale.

We learned nothing about asymmetric/guerilla warfare from
Vietnam. Here we are unable to do anything about the
situation in the middle east - we're marooned in a civil
war in Iraq, Afghanistan is back to growing poppies, we
send a few Marines to Lebanon to help get people out,
we can't afford to help with any peacekeeping buffer
via NATO or UN, we hurry up our delivery of bunker
busters to Israel (which aren't appropriate for Hezbollah
but were probably intended to nuke Iran's nuclear
facilities), & who we gonna turn to - Bandar Bush -
Condi is headed over there as we speaki.

There is no situation so bad that we cannot make it worse by showing up for it. Condi cannot help.

We didn't cause it, we can't cure it, can't control it, but we CAN contribute to it.
(from Alchoholics Anonymous literature--seems wholly appropriate to consult that now.)

Posted by: karen at July 23, 2006 10:38 AM

Thanks - I hope I can contribute something BEFORE Camp Democracy starts.

I'll see how my scheduling works - I would rather use my "vacation" in DC this September, helping out with this cause, than elsewhere. (I may throw in a trip to NY to meet with DCPers in that area...)

I should spend the Labor Day week (first week of September) in DC, if it works out. I'm hoping to see you then!

A Challenge Emerges to Bush's Signing Statements
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/072206A.shtml
In a report to be released Monday, an American Bar Association task force will recommend that Congress pass legislation providing for some sort of judicial review of presidential signing statements. Some task force members want to give Congress the right to sue over the signing statements; other task force members will not characterize what sort of judicial review might ultimately emerge.

White House Moves to Confirm Bolton to UN Post
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/072206C.shtml
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee announced it will hold a hearing with Bolton on July 27 and top Senate Republicans said they would move quickly to confirm President George W. Bush's pick.
{{{Interesting: last paragraph says Bu$h could appoint Bolt-Head again, but if he did, Bolton would not receive a salary.}}

More Troops to Be Deployed in Baghdad
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/072206E.shtml
The top US commander for the Middle East said Friday that the escalating sectarian violence in Baghdad had become a greater worry than the insurgency and that plans were being drawn up to move additional forces to the Iraqi capital.
{{{Withdrawal from Iraq any time soon...? R-i-i-i-ight.... Sure, I believe the LIES about troop withdrawal, um hum... When pigs fly...!}}}

Report: US Torture Widespread in Iraq
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/072306Z.shtml
Iraqi detainees were routinely subjected to beatings, sleep deprivation, stress positions and other forms of abuse by US interrogators, according to a Human Rights Watch report released on Sunday that offers first-hand accounts from three former soldiers.

{{{GWB: Imposing "freedom and democracy" on Iraq, gaining converts to the idea of democracy... one torture victim at a time....}}}
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/5206908.stm
Iraq prisoner abuse 'was routine'
Another story about torture from a Brit paper.

I probably shouldn't mention it 'cuz I think the fellow's gone now, but at last year's Winter Carnival the guy who was head of the Vulcans inappropriately touched a woman at a bar. I think he was charged with it but I don't remember the disposition of the case. Maybe Vic remembers.

Better not bring Merkel to the Vulcans then - she might not get it.

White House Moves to Confirm Bolton to UN Post
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/072206C.shtml
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee announced it will hold a hearing with Bolton on July 27 and top Senate Republicans said they would move quickly to confirm President George W. Bush's pick.
{{{Interesting: last paragraph says Bu$h could appoint Bolt-Head again, but if he did, Bolton would not receive a salary.}}

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

This is because Republican Sen. Voinovich has changed his mind on Bolton - Sen.V. had originally voted against confirmation.

BTW - it should be remembered that Bolton is a NeoCon right out of the PNAC,,,