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| "Despite the presence of thousands of U.S. and other international troops, the Taliban fighters and their allies hope to eventually retake the southern city of Kandahar..." LA Times |
| "I don't know what Mr. Bush has been doing on his vacation, but I know what the country has been doing: starting to worry. People are connecting the dots — the exploding deficit, the absence of allies in Iraq, the soaring costs of the war and the mounting casualties. People want to stop hearing about why winning in Iraq is so important and start seeing a strategy for making it happen at a cost the country can sustain." Thomas Friedman's NYT's Op-Ed (reg/req) |
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| "On Fox News, Brit Hume just introduced a new conservative argument
as to the reason soldiers dying in Iraq is No Big Deal. Iraq's the same
size as California, he said, and while our soldiers in Iraq are dying at
a rate of 1.7 per day, there are 6.6 murders daily in California."
(Left unsaid is the fact that there are about 150,000 U.S. troops in Iraq and more than 34.5 million people in California.) "So if we had as many troops in Iraq as there are people in California, and a comparable number were being killed, we would see 385 deaths per day, as opposed to the 6.6 murders in California." Wage Slave Journal |
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| "US scientists have suggested that people who live in a "sprawling"
district - where shops and services are widely spaced - tend to weigh more.
People living in 'compact' neighbourhoods weighed less. The researchers say this is because people are more likely to try to reach destinations on foot - and burn off calories in the process." BBC |
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| "As the second anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks nears, a majority
of Americans are seriously concerned about the nation's vulnerability to
terrorism and believe that new attacks are likely and imminent.
In a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll, 80% say associates of fugitive al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden are in the country and poised to launch major strikes at any time. And 54% say they think that it's likely that terrorists could strike within the next several weeks." |
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| "Top Bush administration officials grudgingly acknowledge that their
post-Saddam Hussein plan for rebuilding Iraq has been substantially flawed
on the security front.
Some defense officials said privately in interviews that the plan in place for security after Baghdad's fall has been an utter failure. They said it failed to predict any significant resistance from Saddam loyalists, much less the deadly combination of Ba'athist holdouts and foreign terrorists preying daily on American troops. 'Every briefing on postwar Iraq I attended never mentioned any of this,' said a civilian policy adviser." The Washington Times |
| "Halliburton, the company formerly headed by Vice President Cheney, has won contracts worth more than $1.7 billion under Operation Iraqi Freedom and stands to make hundreds of millions more dollars under a no-bid contract awarded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, according to newly available documents." Washington Post |
| Read Arnold Schwarzenegger's x-rated 1977 interview in the adult mag, Oui. We did, and now sorta, kinda, hope he wins. The Smoking Gun |
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| "The news from Iraq is mostly bad, and criticism of President Bush
from Democrats is relentless. But nearly two-thirds — 63% — of Americans
say the war in Iraq was worth fighting, a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll shows.
That is not to say, however, that they are fully satisfied with the way
things are going.
Overall, 54% say the president does not have a clear plan for the postwar effort to bring stability and democracy to the country. The U.S. death toll continues to mount in Iraq. Americans are basically split over whether more U.S. troops are needed to bolster existing forces or soldiers should start coming home: • 51% say send more troops or keep the force at current levels. • 46% say start withdrawing some troops or pull them all out." USA Today |
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| "President Bush defended his policy on Iraq today, declaring that the United States had struck a blow against terrorism in overthrowing the government of Saddam Hussein. And Mr. Bush said the United States might carry out other pre-emptive strikes." NYT (reg/req) Text of Bush's remarks. |
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| "The International Committee of the Red Cross is cutting back its operations in Iraq after warnings that it could be targeted for attack." BBC |
| "With the announcement (today) of the latest U.S. death, the number of troops killed in Iraq by combat or accident reached 138, matching the number of troops killed before President Bush declared an end to major combat in the country on May 1." AP |
| "I see George Bush as a synthetic person. He's a C student at Yale, an ex-alcoholic who believes in Jesus - what could be more dangerous?" Film director Oliver Stone in the Guardian (UK) |
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| "With nonmilitary sites being targeted, U.S. forces in Iraq face a new, potentially deadlier challenge." Washington Post |
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| Another Sept. 11-style terrorism attack is "highly likely" in the United States, according to a study to be released Monday by the World Markets Research Center ... AP via the LATimes (reg/req) |
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| "Astronomers have confirmed by a new method one of the saddest stories of the Universe - one day the stars in the sky will all stop twinkling." BBC |
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| "The American presence in Iraq is prompting a rising tide of Muslim militants to slip into the country to fight the foreign occupier." NYT (reg/req) |
| "American pilots dropped the controversial incendiary agent napalm
on Iraqi troops during the advance on Baghdad. The attacks caused massive
fireballs that obliterated several Iraqi positions.
The Pentagon denied using napalm at the time, but Marine pilots and their commanders have confirmed that they used an upgraded version of the weapon against dug-in positions. They said napalm, which has a distinctive smell, was used because of its psychological effect on an enemy. A 1980 UN convention banned the use against civilian targets of napalm, a terrifying mixture of jet fuel and polystyrene that sticks to skin as it burns. The US, which did not sign the treaty, is one of the few countries that makes use of the weapon. It was employed notoriously against both civilian and military targets in the Vietnam war." Independent (UK) |
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| "There's something at least a little crazy about an environment in which people are literally stumbling over one another to hear what Arnold Schwarzenegger has to say about the budget crisis in California (short answer: nothing), while ignoring what a thoughtful former vice president has to say about the budget and the economy of the U.S." NYT Op-Ed (reg/req) |
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| "Has the nation's television audience burned out on serious news?
American soldiers are dying in Iraq almost daily, questions are continuing to swirl around the Bush administration's case for the March invasion and United States Marines are poised off the coast of Liberia. At home, decisions by the Supreme Court prompted national debates on affirmative action and gay rights, a basketball star stands accused of sexual assault and the California governorship suddenly hangs in the balance. And yet, television news viewers are tuning out." NYT(reg/req) |
| It was 1985 and we were at a Chicago Film Festival screening of White Knights. We sat in the VIP/Press section near the back of the theater. The lights went down, the screen lit up, and the film began. Sometime later, we heard a loud “Oh, shit!” directly behind us. We turn to see an embarrassed Greg Hines reacting to something he didn’t like seeing on the screen. Later, during one his dancing scenes, he starts to tap under our seat, kicking us in the ass on occasion, keeping perfect time with his screen moves. We thought it very cool at the time, but haven’t thought of it since. Until this weekend, when news of his premature passing saddened us. Thank you for the memory Mr. Hines. - A.D. |
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| "The American-led administration in Iraq has received intelligence reports that hundreds of Islamic militants who fled Iraq during the war have returned and are planning to conduct major terrorist attacks." NYT(reg/req) |
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| "Now For The First Time Ever You Can Have A Real Celebrity Call You Or A Friend For Just $19.95..." Hollywood Is Calling (thanks to the letters section of Romenesko's MediaNews) |
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| "Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger told a roaring audience on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno Wednesday that he'll run for governor..." USA Today |
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Comedian Leo Gallagher Porn magazine publisher Larry Flynt Porn star Mary Carey Columnist Arianna Huffington Republican congressman Darrell Issa Billboard model Angelyne BBC |
| "Gary Cooper's Western classic 'High Noon' is the film most requested
by American presidents, according to a list of the 5,000 movies shown by
the official White House projectionist.
Bill Clinton watched the picture of a marshal deserted by friends and facing outlaws in an against-the-odds showdown 30 times, Dwight Eisenhower asked for three screenings, and President Bush has seen it once at the White House--so far. Bert Kearns, co-executive producer of the documentary 'All The Presidents' Movies,' to air Sunday on the Bravo channel, said the popularity of the 1952 film stemmed from the idea of a strong-willed leader taking a situation of imminent danger into his hands--and winning." Chicago Sun Times via the Daily Telegraph |
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| The hatred that some of the world feels for America is perhaps easier for its black citizens to understand than its white, argues Walter Mosely in Index On Censorship. |
| "Some 400 journalists rush to Colo. town of 3,500, congesting traffic and complicating lives." LA Times Any wonder the general public holds the news media in such low regard? What's the justification for this overkill? That the American public wants it? Well, the majority of the American public is overweight. Why not slip slices of baloney into their daily papers & really give 'em something to chew on? |
| Private developers and city planners in metropolises around the United States, looking to increase the economic base and become more culturally competitive, have turned to marketing homosexuals to settle in economically depressed neighborhoods. UPI |
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| "Well, well, well. President George was in one hell of bind this week when it turned that that Saudi Arabia funded Al Qaeda, not Iraq. Realizing we'd invaded the wrong country, Bush did the honorable thing: he's come out against gay marriages." gregpalast.com |
| How To Sell a War: The Rendon Group deploys ‘perception management’
in the war on Iraq
In These Times |
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| "After more than a year of complaints by some US anti-war activists
that they were being unfairly targeted by airport security, Washington
has admitted the existence of a list, possibly hundreds or even thousands
of names long, of people it deems worthy of special scrutiny at airports.
The list had been kept secret until its disclosure last week by the new US agency in charge of aviation safety, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA)." Independent |
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| "This summer, many journalists seem to be in hot pursuit of the Bush
administration. But they have an enormous amount of ground to cover. After
routinely lagging behind and detouring around key information, major American
news outlets are now playing catch-up.
The default position of U.S. media coverage gave the White House the benefit of doubts. In stark contrast, the British press has been far more vigorous in exposing deceptions about Iraq. Consider the work of two publicly subsidized broadcasters: The BBC News has broken very important stories to boost public knowledge of governmental duplicities; the same can hardly be said for NPR News in the United States." Newsday |
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| "The Pentagon office that proposed spying electronically on Americans
to monitor potential terrorists has a new experiment. It is an online futures
trading market, disclosed today by critics, in which anonymous speculators
would bet on forecasting terrorist attacks, assassinations and coups.
Traders bullish on a biological attack on Israel or bearish on the chances of a North Korean missile strike would have the opportunity to bet on the likelihood of such events on a new Internet site established by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The Pentagon called its latest idea a new way of predicting events and part of its search for the "broadest possible set of new ways to prevent terrorist attacks." Two Democratic senators who reported the plan called it morally repugnant and grotesque. The senators said the program fell under the control of Adm. John M. Poindexter, President Ronald Reagan's national security adviser..." NYT(reg/req) --- UPDATE: The Pentagon will abandon a plan to establish a futures market to help predict terrorist strikes, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said Tuesday. ABC News |
| US officials say they have learned that terrorists may be planning new suicide hijackings of commercial airliners in the next months, similar to the attacks of September 11, 2001. VOA |
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| "... the war will have devastating effects on future recruiting by the reserves. A widely circulated photo from Iraq shows a sign in the windshield of a military truck that reads, "One weekend a month, my ass." Paul Krugman writes in the NYT(reg/req) |
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Editor & Publisher |
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| A top United States general said today that American troops in Iraq were now facing a "classical guerrilla-type campaign" — the sort of phrase Bush administration officials have so far avoided — and he added that American troops should be prepared for duty tours of perhaps a year. International Herald Tribune via NYT (reg/req) |
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| Public support for President Bush has dropped sharply amid growing concerns about U.S. military casualties and doubts whether the war with Iraq was worth fighting, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. |
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| MERCURY, Nev. — If the Bush administration succeeds in its determined but little-noticed push to develop a new generation of nuclear weapons, this sun-baked desert flatland 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas could once again reverberate with the ground-shaking thumps of nuclear explosions that used to be common here. USA Today |
| US troops facing extended deployments amid the danger, heat, and uncertainty of an Iraq occupation are suffering from low morale that has in some cases hit "rock bottom." Christian Science Monitor |
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| President George W Bush's declaration that the United States is preparing for a "massive and long-term undertaking" in Iraq will have confirmed the fears of many in Baghdad - that the US is establishing itself as a force for occupation, not liberation. BBC |
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| Last week, behind closed doors, veteran attorneys of the tobacco wars
taught a class on how to attack what they say is the nation's latest health
affliction: fast food.
The session at Northeastern University was as secretive as McDonald's has been about the special sauce on a Big Mac. Those who attended the day-long event — about two dozen lawyers, health activists and nutritionists, most of them svelte — signed affidavits promising not to reveal to the food industry any of the strategies they learned at the symposium: "Legal Approaches to the Obesity Epidemic." Although the obesity-lawsuit movement is in its infancy, attorneys who won billion-dollar judgments against cigarette makers see similar possibilities in going after companies that sell fat-laden, calorie-loaded fare. LA Times |
| Kraft Foods, the maker of such goodies as Oreos, Mallomars and Chips Ahoy cookies, says it will change some of its recipes and reduce portion sizes to put healthier snacks in kids' lunch boxes and fight obesity. AP (via NYT reg/req) |