A Brighter 2007 Just Around the Corner

The US Capital Christmas tree in 2005

Hope your holiday season has been a happy one, Dearest Readers. Prissy intended to blog yesterday-but the power in central Ohio went out, putting things behind schedule.

All was well within a few hours, perhaps it does suburbanites some good, should they realize this is a daily inconvenience in Iraq.

Note: Prissy heads back to Washington next week to cover military families lobbying congress to stop funding the war. "They" say it won't work; "they" also used to say the public was in support of the war...

Hot Links

Mparent7777 Blogspot NIH researcher admitted to making illicit deal with drug company

With proper disclosure and approval, NIH scientists are allowed to receive outside income. But the discovery of dozens of private financial arrangements between drug companies and publicly employed scientists has embarrassed the agency in recent years and led to Sunderland's guilty plea.

"This case is not a technical mistake," Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said at a news conference after Sunderland's plea on Dec. 8. "This case is not an honest mistake."

The state's chief federal prosecutors said Sunderland "violated the fundamental rule" of being a government scientist who both oversaw a research partnership with an outside company and cut an outside deal to enrich himself on the same project.

WaPo Royal Intrigue, Unpaid Bills Preceded Saudi Ambassador's Exit

For more than a year, Saudi Arabia's ambassador journeyed to college campuses, chambers of commerce, town halls and world affairs councils across the United States in an ambitious campaign to improve his country's image.

But Prince Turki al-Faisal's goodwill tour, instead, produced millions of dollars in unpaid bills -- and a tale of murky intrigue in the enigmatic desert kingdom. Prince Turki al-Faisal, left, and his brother Prince Saud al-Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister, favor talks with Iran.

The debts by one of the world's wealthiest countries -- owed to the very lobbyists, advisers and event organizers hired to promote the kingdom -- have left a trail that weaves together bitter princely rivalries, diplomatic subterfuge and a policy clash over one of the thorniest issues of the day: what to do about Iran.

WaPo Prissy had to comment on this one...Troop Push Is Personal For McCain Senator Calls for Iraq Boost as Son Becomes a Marine

John McCain needs therapy if he is willing to sacrifice his son for political gain. Prissy became convinced of this when he whimped out and ended up supporting Dubya's torture bill. John is crying out for help!

The Economist It’s still down to George Bush

So it would not be surprising if Mr Bush chose to bunker down in 2007, treating the rest of his presidency as a damage-limitation exercise. But it would be deeply wrong for him to do so—for two reasons. First, his position is not as weak as it seems. And second, he still has a chance to establish a more useful legacy.

Um, yes his position is as weak as it seems...the people are sick of him and his legacy building exercises. In case The Economist didn't notice, Dubya has failed at every business he managed.

Houston Chronicle Records detail missing TSA badges, uniforms

More than 3,700 identification badges and uniform items have been reported lost or stolen from Transportation Security Administration employees since 2003, according to documents obtained by a San Antonio television station.

More of Dubya's security standards working...

NYT Rush at End, but Holiday Sales Fall Short

Visa USA, the credit card company, said yesterday that it would lower its closely watched forecast for holiday spending. Based on purchases by credit and debit card holders, Visa said sales rose 6.5 percent in November and December, compared with the same period last year, down from its initial forecast of a 7.5 percent gain.

The company’s unexpected downward revision — and the millions of dollars in lost sales it represents — could have broad implications for the nation’s merchants, who count on purchases during the holiday season for nearly half of their business.

Let us see...corporations continue to ship jobs overseas, import large quantities of cheap merchandise and wonder why Americans cannot/willnot continue to buy. Prissy thinks we know who the real Grinches are.

What the troops need for Christmas

Hat tip to Anthony from the UK-Prison Planet Are Bush and Cheney Planning an Early Attack on Iran?

Back on October 9, I wrote in The Nation that it looked like the Bush-Cheney gang, worried about the November election, was gearing up for an unprovoked attack on Iran's nuclear facilities, with a carrier strike group led by the USS Eisenhower being ordered to depart a month early from Norfolk, VA to join the already-on-station USS Enterprise. That article was based on reports from angry sailors based on the Eisenhower who had leaked word of their mission.

OpEd News Anthrax Attacks on U.S. Congress Were Inside Job ANTHRAX ATTACK ON U.S. CONGRESS MADE BY FT. DETRICK, MD., SCIENTIST AND COVERED UP BY FBI, EXPERT SAYS

(Dr. Francis A.) Boyle says destruction of the Ames anthrax "appears to be a cover-up orchestrated by the FBI."

Calls for comment to two FBI press offices in Washington, D.C., on this charge were not returned. Members of the Senate have been pressing the FBI for additional information on its investigation, thought to be ongoing.

If impartial scientists could have performed genetic reconstruction of the anthrax found in letters mailed to Senators Daschle(D-S.D.) and Patrick Leahy, (D -Vt.), "the trail of genetic evidence would have led directly back to a secret but officially-sponsored U.S. government biowarfare program that was illegal and criminal" in violation of biological weapons conventions and U.S. laws, Boyle said.

"I believe the FBI knows exactly who was behind these terrorist anthrax attacks upon the United States Congress in the Fall of 2001, and that the culprits were U.S. government-related scientists involved in a criminal U.S. government biowarfare program," Boyle said.

Baltimore Sun via RAW Story Bush is bracing for new scrutiny White House hiring lawyers in expectation of Democratic probes

President Bush is bracing for what could be an onslaught of investigations by the new Democratic-led Congress by hiring lawyers to fill key White House posts and preparing to play defense on countless document requests and possible subpoenas.

Bush is moving quickly to fill vacancies within his stable of lawyers, though White House officials say there are no plans to drastically expand the legal staff to deal with a flood of oversight.

"No, at this point, no," Tony Snow, the White House spokesman, said recently. "We'll have to see what happens."

Snow rebutted the notion that Bush is casting about for legal advice in the wake of his party's loss of control of the Congress.

Our soldiers are not like these, Dubya.

Time finally gets it Bush's "Way Forward" on Iraq: More of the Same

Which brings us to the last development of the week. Bush tried to make it clear in his press conference that whatever Americans' dissatisfaction with the conduct of the war, next year would not look much different from the one that is coming to a close. This was, said the administration official, a deliberate warning to Americans not to expect a lot of change. "The year 2007 could bring many of the same challenges and sacrifices as 2006," he said. "This was designed to let people know we have a lot more fight left."

It was also plain to see last week that Bush's new approach on Iraq — if it can be called that — will include a diplomatic push by Secretary of State Condi Rice, aimed not at Iran and Syria, as the Baker Hamilton commission proposed, but at the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. How sustained an effort this is likely to be is unknowable. Nor is there any word yet on what the Bush team plans to do about the political situation inside Iraq. It appears that the new Bush military strategy is likely to look a lot like the old, only more so.

If a child was drowning in the shallow end of the pool, would Dubya insist on waiting for the lifeguard to get off break, instead of jumping in to save them? Apparently so..."The White House does not yet believe Iraq is in a civil war, though they did concede that a conflict has entered a new phase. And it rhymes with 'muster bluck.'" --Amy Poehler

CNET Seeking start-ups for Boeing's border patrol

Boeing won a huge victory in September when the Department of Homeland Security picked it over four competing bidders for its much-anticipated Secure Border Initiative contract.

Huffington Post via Boston Globe MILITARY CONSIDERING RECRUITING "FOREIGNERS"...

The armed forces, already struggling to meet recruiting goals, are considering expanding the number of noncitizens in the ranks -- including disputed proposals to open recruiting stations overseas and put more immigrants on a faster track to U.S. citizenship if they volunteer -- according to Pentagon officials.

Bloomberg Saddam Hussein Will Be Executed Within 30 Days, AFP Reports

Saddam Hussein's appeal against his death sentence failed and the former Iraqi dictator will be executed within 30 days, Agence France-Presse reported, citing the appeals court judge.

``As from tomorrow, the sentence could be carried out at any time,'' Judge Arif Shaheen said today, AFP said.

Prissy is sure the cabal wants him dead so he cannot spill the beans on their former business deals...if ICC had tried him, it would of course be life in prison.

Star Bulletin Watada states his case in Moiliili Standing ovations greet a soldier facing a court-martial for refusing to go to Iraq

He called the war in Iraq an illegal war of aggression.

He quoted Nazi Germany's Hermann Goering, who said while the common people are usually not willing to go to war, "all you have to do is tell them they are being attacked."

Watada said the American people were deceived by the Bush administration, which manipulated intelligence to fit policy and regime change in Iraq.

"We have been lied to, deceived and betrayed," he said. "A crime has been committed against the constitution."

Gonzo, with nothing to brag about

And if the judge is truthful and follows the law, they will have to agree.

Slate What Was Gonzo Thinking? And what did Judge David Tatel write? By Jack Shafer

Unsealing Judge Tatel's decision, the motion states, "will allow the public to gain a full understanding of the Special Counsel's arguments to the Court as to why it was necessary to compel the testimony of two reporters, and why it was necessary to imprison one of those journalists [Miller] for 85 days for refusing to divulge her conversations with a different government official, I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby."

The motion maintains that because Armitage has outed himself as the leaker, and potential indictee Karl Rove's attorney was told his client will not be charged in the case, the law no longer requires such a high level of secrecy.

Special prosecutors such as Fitzgerald wield the powers of a mini-attorney general: They, not the AG, conduct their own reviews of whether a subpoena is proper. Like the FOIA fired at Gonzales, this motion means to pry lose from the responsible parties the precise justification for compelling testimony from reporters.

So all I really want for Christmas this year is Gonzales' paperwork, Judge Tatel's unredacted opinion, and Fitzgerald's affidavits. Tied up in a bow, please.

Pass the popcorn...and Judge Reggie Walton wonders why former prosecutor Melonie Sloan, Elizabeth del la Vega, John Dean, Daniel Ellsberg and even Prissy Patriot know a crime when they see one? Oh come now, unseal that part of the puzzle and we'll all know.

Unsealed, Prissy predicts we would also find out conclusively, that Rover's attorney was not given any written statement from special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald indicating Rove would not be charged in the CIA Leak Case.

It is important to note Leak case Judge Walton is the same one who gagged Sibel Edmonds and now the Joe and Valerie Wilson's attorney Melanie Sloan.

Gosh Judge, almost makes Prissy wonder if you just like telling women to "put a clamp on it." Would this please the court?

Quotes of the Day

"Freedom of the press is limited to those who own one."-- AJ Liebling

Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love.--Hamilton Wright Mabie

Remember this December, that love weighs more than gold!--Josephine Dodge Daskam Bacon

The holiest of holidays are those Kept by ourselves in silence and apart; The secret anniversaries of the heart.--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Cheney Continues to Sell the U.S. Down the River

Dick Cheney's America. Could he be "the most insidious kind of traitor?"

Hot Links Update

Boston Herald Court turns down New York Times in leak investigation

The Justice Department says the reporters’ calls tipped off the charities of upcoming government raids. A federal judge who ruled in the Times’ favor said there is no evidence in the case even suggesting that the reporters tipped off the charities about the raids or that the reporters even knew the government would raid either charity.

In August, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that federal prosecutors could see the two reporters’ phone records.

The government says the fact that the reporters relayed disclosures from a government source to “targets of an imminent law enforcement action substantially weakens any claim of freedom of the press.”

At issue are 11 days of phone records the government plans to review from 2001 - for the dates Sept. 27-30, Dec. 1-3 and Dec. 10-13. In a declaration this month, Fitzgerald said the statute of limitations “on certain substantive offenses that the grand jury is investigating” will expire on Dec. 3 and Dec. 13 of this year.

Want to Know Major Government, Military Corruption Trillions Missing at Defense Department

" 'According to some estimates we cannot track $2.3 trillion in transactions,' Rumsfeld admitted. $2.3 trillion — that's $8,000 for every man, woman and child in America."-- CBS News, 1/29/02, U.S. Secretary of Defense raises evidence of government, military corruption

"A GAO report found Defense inventory systems so lax that the U.S. Army lost track of 56 airplanes, 32 tanks, and 36 Javelin missile command launch-units. When military leaders were scrambling to find enough chemical and biological warfare suits to protect U.S. troops, the department was caught selling these suits as surplus on the Internet 'for pennies on the dollar.' " -- San Francisco Chronicle, 5/18/03

"The Defense Department spent an estimated $100 million for airline tickets that were not used over a six-year period and failed to seek refunds even though the tickets were reimbursable." -- New York Times, 6/9/04

ABC U.S. Embassy Asks Bush Twins to Leave Country

Amid a growing barrage of front-page headlines, U.S. embassy officials "strongly suggested" President Bush's twin daughters, Jenna and Barbara Bush, cut short their trip to Buenos Aires because of security issues, U.S. diplomatic and security sources tell ABC News.

But the girls have stayed on, celebrating their 25th birthday over the weekend and producing even more headlines about their activities.

Prissy has the feeling Daddy and Mom lost control of these two a long time ago...

Newsone Aussie oil-for-food probe sees crimes

Howard also said the government would review the system granting AWB a monopoly over Australia‘s wheat exports. The system has been criticized as unfairly protective by Australia‘s competitors on world grain markets.

Critics say the government was negligent for failing to respond to a string of diplomatic cables sent by Australian officials at the U.N. and in the Middle East warning that AWB may have been violating the sanctions imposed on Baghdad after its 1990 Kuwait invasion.

"What people expect of their political leadership is competence when they are handling national security matters and foreign policy matters," Beazley told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio. "And what they‘ve had from this government is gross incompetence."

Among the executives facing possible charges was AWB‘s former chairman, Trevor Flugge, who became widely known after a photograph became public of him, shirtless, brandishing a revolver during a trip to Iraq in 2003.

Sydney Morning Herald flashback Defence redefined means securing cheap energy December 26 2002

As troops and equipment pour into the Gulf for a looming war with Iraq, United States military thinkers admit that "defence" means protecting the circumstances of "daily life" - and in the US daily life runs on cheap oil.

As far back as 1975, Henry Kissinger, then secretary of state, said America was prepared to wage war over oil. Separate plans advocating US conquest of Saudi oilfields were published in the '70s. So it should come as little surprise that in May last year - four months before the terrorist attacks on Washington and New York - a battle plan for Afghanistan was already being reviewed by the US Command that would carry it out after September 11. Military strategists were highlighting the energy wealth of the Caspian Sea and Central Asia and its importance to America's "security".

The Indian media and Jane's Intelligence Review reported that the US was fighting covert battles against the Taliban, months before the "war on terrorism" was declared.

And...Also early last year, the security expert Michael Klare warned that US military action to secure oil "could emerge as the favoured response to future [oil] crises". In the months preceding September 11, US governmental and military policymakers increasingly built military frameworks around energy questions.

Mortars set fire to U.S. base in Iraq

Earlier on Sunday, Iraq ‘s leaders promised to track down those responsible for the war‘s deadliest attack by insurgents, and urged the country‘s Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish politicians to stop fanning sectarian violence by arguing with one another.

Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh read the statement on national television as Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Sunni Parliament speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani and Kurdish President Jalal Talabani stood around him.

"The crisis is political, and it is the politicians who must try to prevent more violence and bloodletting. The terrorist acts are a reflection of the lack of political accord," he said, after meeting with al-Mashhadani, Talabani and other members of Iraq‘s Political Council for National Security for a third day to discuss Iraq‘s crisis.

Al-Maliki is facing strong criticism from top Shiite and Sunni Arab leaders alike as he prepares for a summit meeting in neighboring Jordan with President Bush next week.

Finance My WayAP Analysis: Firms Crimping Oil Supplies

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (AP) — You'd think it was Texas. Dusty roads course the scrubland toward oil tanks and warehouses. Beefy men talk oil over burritos at lunch. Like grazing herds, oil wells dip nonstop amid the tumbleweed — or even into the asphalt of a parking lot.

That's why the rumor sounded so wrong here in California's lower San Joaquin Valley, where petroleum has gushed up more riches than the whole gold rush. Why would Shell Oil Co. simply close its Bakersfield refinery? Why scrap a profit maker?

The rumor seemed to make no sense. Yet it was true.

The company says it could make more money on other projects. It denies it intended to squeeze the market, as its critics would claim, to drive up gasoline profits at its other refineries in the region.

Reuters UK-more trouble for Dubya. Prissy doesn't think this week is getting off to a good start for the cabal.UK to cut Iraq troops by "thousands" by end-2007

Britain's Defense Minister Des Browne refused to give specific numbers, but said: "By the end of next year I expect numbers for British forces in Iraq to be significantly lower by a matter of thousands."

Military planners have been working on a possible troop reduction for some months, Browne said a speech in London.

He also called on neighbors Iran and Syria to give Iraq their "full and undivided support".

Alert Net Basra airport, port to close Friday

Basra's airport and port will close on Friday in protest after car bombs in a Shi'ite stronghold of Baghdad killed 160 people, an official in the southern Iraqi city said.

It was not clear how long the closure would last.

Authorities imposed a curfew in Baghdad after the bombings, the largest single attack of the war, fearing sectarian reprisals.

Iraq's transport ministry is controlled by the political faction of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, whose Baghdad stronghold was hit by the car bombs on Thursday.

Prissy read that anti-american forces were digging a trench around the Baghdad. Not a good sign at all. And now the airport is shut down. Watch for U.S. forces to end up pulling out from sheer neccesity. Watch Bush order the people ducking in their homes to be punished for not accepting Bush democracy with humility. The darkness of this cabal and their equally ugly global band of brothers, makes Prissy shudder though sunshine is on her back...

ABC Wire Woman Faces Fines for Wreath Peace Sign Colorado Subdivision Bans Christmas Wreath With Peace Sign, Says It Could Be 'Divisive'

Must live near a bunch of extremist right-wingers...This wreath is seen as santanic too, a kook claims

ABC wire story Ex-KBR Employee Pleads Guilty to Kickbacks

Heaton said Seamans, whose job at KBR involved negotiating with subcontractors, agreed to cooperate in "rooting out corruption in the military procurement supply chain." Seamans' plea agreement also said he agreed to take a kickback from another company in Kuwait, which was not identified.

Seamans, 44, is to be sentenced Aug. 4 and faces up to 20 years in prison on each of two counts, and fines of $750,000. If convicted, Khan, 49, a naturalized U.S. citizen, faces up to five years and a $250,000 fine.

"We do not tolerate this kind of behavior by anyone at any level," Norcross said in a statement.

Last month, federal prosecutors said an executive for a subcontractor hired by KBR to fly cargo into Iraq pleaded guilty to inflating invoices by $1.14 million. Halliburton was formerly headed by Vice President Cheney.

What KBR meant to say is they don't tolerate employees being caught stealing money from the government...

Boston Globe Court urged to stay out of Times source case

The Justice Department yesterday asked the Supreme Court to refrain from stepping into another First Amendment battle involving federal prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald and The New York Times.

The case involves Fitzgerald's attempt to track down the confidential sources of Times reporters Judith Miller and Philip Shenon for stories in 2001. Miller, who spent 85 days in jail in 2005 in connection with Fitzgerald's separate CIA leak inquiry in the Valerie Plame case, retired from the newspaper a year ago.

And...In its filing, the government cites a Nov. 13 declaration by Fitzgerald that says the time for filing criminal charges would expire in three weeks. Temporarily blocking the government from reviewing the phone records would cause "irreparable harm to a significant criminal investigation," the Justice Department told the court.

Three weeks? So you can see it's definately not over, even if Prissy got the expiration date wrong. Never was very good remembering exact dates;-)A helpful reminder would have been lovely, Professor Fitzgerald...More Plamegate see belowComing soon

Shining Light, sept 2006 flashback Plamegate Is Not Over

The WaPo led the charge on Friday with an editorial calling the conspiracy proven wrong and blaming Wilson himself for Plame's outing. Hours later Media Matters refutes WaPo's assertion using very pages of the Post! More at Next Hurrah.

Saturday, the Weekly Standard released it's broadside against Plame and Wilson. But as emptywheel at the Next Hurrah points out, the Weekly Standard has been a mouthpiece for the Administration by repackaging Feith lies about the now debunched connection between Al Qaeda and Sadaam.

The fact is that all this is window dressing in preparation for the election. While Armitage may have leaked it first, the White House's Rove and Libby picked it up from there useing the information to destroy the career of an undercover agent working on weapons of Iraqi mass destruction whom they thought failed in her mission. Her unit could find no WMDs in Iraq. Worse yet, they destroyed one of our only sources of intelligence on Iranian nuclear ambitions by outing the entire cover company she was working for, Brewster Jennings & Associates. Iran has emerged as the second most dangerous threats to world peace. To date there has been no formal criminal investigation for what surely appears to be traitous behavior for political gain.

Fitzgerald had plenty to investigate from FBI reports of suspicious behavior by Rove and Libby. Hopefully, more will come of this. Spin doctor Rove's silence suggests he's still worried.

Great new book: Attorney Elizabeth del la Vega, United States v. Bush. She lays out her case to charge Bushco with committing fraud against the U.S.

In United States v. George W. Bush et. al.,former federal prosecutor Elizabeth de la Vega brings her twenty years of experience and her passion for justice to the most important case of her career. The defendants are George W Bush, Richard Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice, and Colin Powell. The crime is tricking the nation into war, or, in legal terms, conspiracy to defraud the United States.

Ms. de la Vega has reviewed the evidence, researched the law, drafted an indictment, and in this lively, accessible book, presented it to a grand jury. If the indictment and grand jury are both hypothetical, the facts are tragically real: Over half of all Americans believe the President misled the country into a war that has left 2,500 hundred American soldiers and countless Iraqis dead. The cost is $350 billion -- and counting.

The legal question is: Did the president and his team use the same techniques as those used by Enron’s Ken Lay, Jeffrey Skilling, and fraudsters everywhere -- false pretenses, half-truths, deliberate omissions -- in order to deceive Congress and the American public?

click to enlarge

News Day Woes for Baker group

A source who spoke recently to a leader of the Iraq Study Group said he complained bitterly about internal dissension and partisanship among members of the supposedly bipartisan group, and was worried about reaching consensus on the key issues.

Former Secretary of State James Baker and former Rep. Lee Hamilton, study group co-chairmen, have said they want their recommendations, due next month, to come from a consensus of the prominent Republicans and Democrats in the group.

Baker and Hamilton have made it clear they favor a U.S. dialogue with Iraq's neighbors, particularly Iran and Syria, as one way out of the Iraq crisis. This thinking reflects hopes that Iran could use its strong influence on Iraqi Shia and Syria its control over Iraq's most porous border to alleviate insurrection against the U.S. occupation and the fighting between Shia and Sunnis.

Some of the president's advisers, including incoming Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte, are said to be supportive of the idea of negotiations with the two countries, though a spokesman for Negroponte said recently the intelligence chief had raised, but not endorsed, the idea in recent meetings overseas. Vice President Dick Cheney is expected to oppose any such move.

San Francisco Chronicle ASSAULT ON PRESS FREEDOM

But U.S. press freedom has been slipping away since Sept. 11, 2001. Now that we are in a seemingly permanent "war" on terrorism, the government claims wartime powers that result in restricting press freedom.

The Bush administration has multiplied exponentially the number of documents it classifies as secret, shielding them from public view. It has classified literally millions of documents "top secret," according to reports filed with the National Archives; and the office of Vice President Dick Cheney claims to be exempt from reporting even the numbers of records it brands with the "classified" stamp. (The administration has also tried to retrieve antique classified documents from columnist Jack Anderson's estate, contending that only the government may possess such documents, however old.) Within weeks after 9/11, President Bush issued Executive Order 13233, allowing him to veto public release not only of his own presidential papers but those of former President Ronald Reagan, Bush's father and former President Bill Clinton.

The administration also is aggressively pursuing leaks, not with a Nixonian Plumbers unit but by threatening criminal prosecution. Some Republicans in Congress have called for Espionage Act prosecution of the New York Times for publishing revelations about the National Security Agency's monitoring of communications by U.S. citizens and tracking international financial transactions. Bush himself said it was "disgraceful" for the Times to reveal these government activities and publishing the security agency's leak was "helping the enemy."

Pursuing leaks inevitably means pursuing the reporters who received and published the leaks, forcing them to give up confidential sources or telephone records or go to jail. Whatever Judith Miller's motivation and however questionable her arrangement with "Scooter" Libby, she went to jail solely because she refused to reveal communications with her source to the federal grand jury.

Huffington Post King Of Jordan: "Strong Potential" Of Three Civil Wars In Middle East Next Year

STEPHANOPOULOS: Is it a civil war in Iraq right now?

KING ABDULLAH: Well, George, the difficulty that we're tackling with here is, we're juggling with the strong potential of three civil wars in the region, whether it's the Palestinians, that of Lebanon or of Iraq...

... And we could possibly imagine going into 2007 and having three civil wars on our hands. And therefore, it is time that we really take a strong step forward as part of the international community and make sure we avert the Middle East from a tremendous crisis that I fear, and I see could possibly happen in 2007

Reuters gives us one more reason to can Dubya...Calls for calm as crowd stones Iraqi PM

Angry fellow Shi'ites stoned Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's motorcade in a Shi'ite stronghold of Baghdad on Sunday in a display of fury over a devastating car bomb that tore through their area.

Maliki was visiting the Sadr City slum to pay respects to some of the 202 victims of last week's devastating bombing.

"It's all your fault!" one man shouted as, in unprecedented scenes, a hostile crowd began to surge around the premier and then jeered as his armored convoy edged through the throng away from a mourning ceremony.

Divided Iraq threat to regional stability: UK

"A divided Iraq would also threaten regional stability. Even without that division Iraq is vulnerable to becoming a crucible for wider regional tensions."

"It is vital now that Iraq's neighbours give it full support and undivided support," he said.

"Even Syria, whose motives the international community has often had cause to question, has shown signs of constructive engagement."

Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said last week that Britain might be able to hand over security responsibility in Basra in southern Iraq by the spring.

Here's a novel idea...how about we just get out and let them rebuild their country to their own liking?

We might have won more hearts and minds if we had done it their way.

Bob Herbert NYT Select: Herbert's Heroes -The Empty Chair at the Table

The gatherings are more subdued now. Ms. Zappala can still remember almost every detail of the April evening in 2004 when the man in the dress uniform with the medals on his chest showed up on her porch with the bad news.

“He had a notebook in his hand,” she said. “I could see him very clearly even though it was dark and kind of raining. So I came out on the porch and I looked at him. And I knew, but I didn’t want to know.”

Sgt. Sherwood Baker of the Pennsylvania National Guard had been in Baghdad only six weeks when he was killed. The bitter irony that will always surround his death was the fact that he was helping to provide security for the Iraq Survey Group, which was hunting for the weapons of mass destruction. He died on April 26, 2004, in an explosion at a factory that was being inspected.

Grief is magnified during the holidays, and with the toll in Iraq steadily mounting, there are now thousands of families across the U.S. who are faced, like Sergeant Baker’s relatives, with an awful empty space at their Thanksgiving tables.

Bob is a press hero to military families nationwide.

Switching gears...the Journal 'Dominatrix' alleges bizarre sexcapade with cop

In X-rated testimony as graphic as a porno flick, a former dominatrix yesterday described a bizarre sexual encounter in the woods she claims to have had with a town police officer.

Only mentioned because a police officer was involved...very weird deviants. Cannot help but wonder if they vote republican.

BBC Iraq president begins Iran trip

Some analysts say he may use the visit to urge Iran not to use Iraq as a tool in its conflict with the US while Iran may try to exert its diplomatic muscle ahead of any future negotiations with the US on Iraq,

The US has accused Iran of funding Shia militants in Baghdad and southern Iraq.

Mr Bush will meet Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki in Jordan this week while Vice-President Dick Cheney has just been in Saudi Arabia.

Our correspondent says the Bush administration clearly remains dubious about engaging Iran but adds that US influence on events in Iraq may be becoming more limited just when the need for a clearer exit strategy is becoming politically more acute.

Debka Murdered Russian ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko passed documents to former Yukos CEO in Israel months before his death - report

DEBKAfile’s intelligence sources add that the Russian ex-spy is believed to have been a double agent, who sold trade secrets to different parties in and outside Russia, among them some of the Russian oligarchs living in exile in the West. Livinenko served as a colonel in a Russian Federal Security Services unit which investigated and carried out special operations against businessmen.

British police found traces of the radioactive Polonium 210 in Litvinenko’s urine

Dearest Readers, the suspicion of who killed the spy is rampant. The evidence strongly supports that this was a state-sponsored "hit". The question is ordered by whom?

Putin steadfastly denies it, in fact eludes to had he been responsible, it would have involved violence. Yikes Putie...Ice, ice Putie?

Scotsman Minister attacks Putin over 'murky murders'

"His success in binding what is a disintegrating nation together with an economy which was collapsing into Mafioso-style chaos ... must be balanced against the fact there have been huge attacks on individual liberty and on democracy, and it's important he retakes the democratic road."

But Alexander Lebedev, a former KGB spy who is a member of the Russian parliament, said the Putin government played no part in the 43-year-old's death.

"I completely rule out the possibility of that being done on official orders from anyone in the authorities," he told Sky News yesterday.

Tony Blair and Mr Putin famously came to verbal blows over the Iraq war, when the Prime Minister's stance on Iraq's missing weapons of mass destruction was ridiculed by the president.

Rummy goes wild with time on his hands

Quotes of the Day

Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage.--Anais Nin (1903 - 1977), The Diary of Anais Nin, volume 3, 1939-1944

When you meet your antagonist, do everything in a mild and agreeable manner. Let your courage be as keen, but at the same time as polished, as your sword.-- Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751 - 1816)

Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others.--Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894)

Fortune favors the brave.--Virgil (70 BC - 19 BC), Aeneid

It takes a long time to bring excellence to maturity.--Publilius Syrus (~100 BC), Maxims

When America Got Punked

That would be the short version of it in history. Well-dressed thugs took over the government and thought they were going to keep it for themselves. If they could make it legal while in office, all would be well. For them, anyway.

Some used to say Americans were rebels because of their freedom. May be. Prissy used to know kids that went abroad in the 1980's and were stunned to find out they didn't take their American laws and privileges with them.

But those were the good old days, when many of us thought and were even encouraged to believe dissent was truly American. Prissy still believes it is and always should be.

Dearest Readers, the lawsuits in Ohio over the vote will be ongoing for quite some time. More have been filed against the Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell. The lawyers have plenty of evidence, in fact if we get a decent Attorney General the investigation is complete, although more evidence and whistleblowers continue to emerge. All a new AG will have to do is present it.

Shame on John Kerry for not giving a dime to the folks who worked so hard on their own time and dime because they could not give up on justice or our right to vote. He had $14 million dollars left over from his 2004 campaign.

When Kerry came to Columbus, Prissy got the impression from him he was feeling out the crowd and stumping for another run. No thanks...between this and the war- where were you when we needed you, Senator?

At least Senator Edwards was coming into town, finding out how we were doing with his poverty initiatives. He knew we were scared of what this government was doing and that made him angry. You could sense his protectiveness of everyone in the room. He actually cares about the American people and this nations standing in the world. That kind of anger is a virtue...

The CIA Leak case will conclude within the next 20 some days. Not saying Fitz is going to be predictable, however he did indict Gov Ryan on the last day before the grand jury was set to expire. Did Prissy mention the governor was convicted? And it looks like that appeal won't be keeping him out of jail in the mean time, either.

So its no wonder a gift of shamrocks from the Irish prime minister makes Dubya nervous. It reminds him too much of Prosecutors Pat Fitzgerald and Paul McNulty...Not too much water, Dubya. Prissy's shamrocks are growing all over the place.

Hot Links

Reuters CIA holds an al Qaeda leader in secret jail: report

MADRID (Reuters) - A suspected al Qaeda leader, accused of being involved in September 11 and planning the 2004 Madrid train bombings, has been imprisoned in a secret U.S. jail for the past year, Spain's El Pais newspaper reported on Sunday.

Mustafa Setmarian, 48, a Syrian with Spanish citizenship, was captured in Pakistan in October 2005 and is held in a prison operated by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, Pakistani and European security service officials told El Pais.

A spokesman for the U.S. embassy in Spain declined to comment on the report

Haaretz Israeli President succumbs to pressure, cancels Knesset appearance - Attorney: He will resign if indicted

Moshe Katsav cancelled a planned appearance at the formal opening of the Knesset winter session on Monday, after lawmakers threatened to remain seated when the Presidet entered the parliamentary chamber, contrary to tradition.

On Sunday, the police team investigating allegations against the president recommended that he be charged with rape, sexual assault, eavesdropping, fraud, breach of trust and improprieties in gift distribution.

Katsav's attorney, Zion Amir, said Monday morning that if and when an indictment was submitted, Katsav will resign his post as president.

Notice how Dubya's buddies seem to be finding themselves in hot water, regardless of where they reside...

From Prissy's Inbox: Living Solder's Mom Gets Letter Stamped 'Deceased'

AP ST. PAUL (Oct. 14) - A Duluth mother who has been outspoken against the war in Iraq and against her son's deployment there said she was shocked when a letter she had sent to him came back with the word "DECEASED" stamped on it.

Joan Najbar's son, 21-year-old Sam Eininger, is alive, a National Guard spokesman said Friday.

"It's very upsetting, and somebody obviously did it," Najbar said. "I think this is somebody's cruel little joke."

Najbar, 55, works as a mental health therapist in Duluth and hasn't been shy about her feelings on the deployment that took her son out of Concordia College and sent him to Iraq in April.

She has written monthly letters to the local newspaper, appeared on television, met with Gov. Tim Pawlenty and protested in St. Paul and Duluth. She performed a poetry and dance program at the College of St. Scholastica about the struggle of a mother sending her child to war.

"I've been the most verbal mom protesting the war in this town," she said. "And I've been trashed for being a military mom speaking out. It just makes me wonder if this is a malicious thing."

Lt. Sheree Savage, a spokeswoman for the Minnesota National Guard, said the Army does not handle letters to dead soldiers that way.

"The U.S. Army does not return letters to deceased members as 'deceased,"' she said. "It would just never go back to the family like that."

When a soldier dies, she said, all of his or her personal effects are returned to the family by a casualty assistance officer, Savage said.

Angus Reid Poll which leans to the right... Americans Question Bush on 9/11 Intelligence

Many adults in the United States believe the current federal government has not been completely forthcoming on the issue of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, according to a poll by the New York Times and CBS News. 53 per cent of respondents think the Bush administration is hiding something, and 28 per cent believe it is lying.

Only 16 per cent of respondents say the government headed by U.S. president George W. Bush is telling the truth on what it knew prior to the terrorist attacks, down five points since May 2002.

Scooter better flip, they all better flip or go to prison forever. The 911 truth is a bottle with a cork about to pop. Prissy heard from a very reliable source that Mayor Michael Bloomberg is sick from the post 911 toxic air.

Lexis News Wal-Mart Faces At Least $62M In Damages

PHILADELPHIA — A state jury found Thursday that Wal-Mart broke Pennsylvania labor laws by forcing employees to work through rest breaks and off the clock, a decision plaintiffs' lawyers said would result in at least $62 million in damages.

Jurors will return Friday to determine damages in the class-action lawsuit, which covers up to 187,000 hourly current and former workers.

"I think it reinforces that this company's sweatshop mindset is a serious problem, both legally and morally," said Chris Kofinis, a spokesman for WakeUpWalMart.com, a union-funded effort to improve working conditions at the stores.

Channel News Asia North Korea considering return to six-party talks: Russian envoy

MOSCOW : North Korea still hopes six-party talks on its nuclear programme will continue and will decide on returning to the negotiating table after studying sanctions set out in a UN resolution, a Russian envoy said Sunday after visiting Pyongyang.

Speaking in Beijing, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Alexeyev told the RIA-Novosti news agency that North Korea was still interested in returning to negotiations.

"They said that only after analysing the UN resolution would they plan the subsequent character of their actions ... including in relation to the resumption of the six-sided process," said Alexeyev.

ABC Ban Ki-Moon: Rice Should Talk with North Korea

Oct. 15, 2006 — U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice should have diplomatic talks with North Korea, U.N. Secretary-General designate Ban Ki-moon told Bill Weir on Sunday's "Good Morning America Weekend Edition."

"If possible, it would be a good opportunity," he said. "The United States has expressed on many occasions that they will be prepared to talk with North Korea if and when they return to six-party talks. … I hope North Korea will take this opportunity to discuss all their concerns."

The United Nations Security Council unanimously passed a resolution Saturday that will impose harsh sanctions against North Korea just six days after Kim Jong Il's rogue regime declared that it conducted an underground nuclear test.

The Security Council said the North Korean test amounted to a "clear threat to international peace and security."

Senate Majority Project McCain Criticizes House Handling of Page Scandal

... but raises money for member that handled it.

John McCain has called for the appointment of a panel of "credible" people to investigate the House Republican Page scandal.

"I think it needs to be addressed by people who are credible," he said.

Still on the books, however, is an October 20 McCain fundraiser for NRCC chair Tom Reynolds, who is currently up to his neck in the scandal.

Political Cortex Escape to Paraguay? Rumors of Bush Land Deal

At least two sources, including Upsidedownworld and Prensa Latina, report rumors of a Bush family purchase of land in northern Paraguay.

Upsidedownworld writes, on October 11: The Governor of Alto Paraguay, Erasmo Rodríguez Acosta has admitted to hearing that George Bush Sr. owns land in the Chaco region of Paraguay, in Paso de Patria. Acosta says that rumor has it that Bush owns near to 70 thousand hectares (173,000 acres) as part of an ecological reserve and/or ranch. However, the governor said he had no documents to prove the rumor.

Prensa Latina, writing on October 13, gives a similar story but names George W. Bush rather than his father: An Argentine official regarded the intention of the George W. Bush family to settle on the Acuifero Guarani (Paraguay) as surprising, besides being a bad signal for the governments of the region...Luis D Elia, undersecretary for the Social Habitat in the Argentine Federal Planning Ministry, issued a memo partially reproduced by digital INFOBAE.com, in which he spoke of the purchase by Bush of a 98,842-acre farm in northern Paraguay, between Brazil and Bolivia.

A visit by Jenna Bush on behalf of Unicef may have triggered speculation, as Upsidedownworld also suggests. But, could there be truth to the rumors? As calls increase for his impeachment, the President could well be thinking that South America would make a fine place to retire. Another rumored land deal, this one involving the U.S. military, attracted the attention of Project Censored, which listed "U.S. Military in Paraguay" as one of its top 25 censored stories of 2007.

Tom Dispatch Tomgram: De la Vega, Debunking the Armitage Story

Tomgram: De la Vega, Debunking the Armitage Story In the first of her two-part series on the Libby case (Pardon Me?), former federal prosecutor Elizabeth de la Vega suggested that George Bush, Dick Cheney, and their supporters might already be preparing the groundwork for a Libby presidential pardon, perhaps even before the case begins in mid-January. After all, who wants all that ugly 2002-2003 linen aired, as it will be, under oath? Aren't things bad enough?

Well, not exactly. As the Republicans brace for House losses that, according to the Washington Post, could go as high as 30 seats (a veritable tsunami in our thoroughly gerrymandered age), as that Senate majority begins to look more wobbly, as the President fights for a little media air (with a tad of help from his old axis-of-evil pal, Kim Jong Il), as Iraq simply melts down in a bloodbath of civilians and we're told that the Army's Chief of Staff is planning to maintain present troop levels into the year 2010 (or even go higher), as the Bush Bump of September morphs into the Bush polling freefall of October and every trend turns against the Republicans, as Americans now claim to find Democrats more "trustworthy" on any issue you care to mention, including (for the first time in what seems forever) "moral values" and "the war on terror," as the corruption bullet the Republicans thought they ducked when next to no one seemed to pay attention to the various Abramoff lobbying scandals circles around and comes in for the kill in a number of races nationwide, thanks to Rep. Foley's instant sex messages and the Congressional cover-up of his behavior, a Libby trial, not to speak of a Special Counsel who is still on the loose, must seem an ever less palatable proposition to look forward to.

Call it a Hobson's choice: Face the firestorm of a pardon scandal before January 15 or a riveted public focused on the political equivalent of an OJ trial later that month. In the meantime, the CIA leak case that left agent Valerie Plame twisting, twisting in the wind back in 2003, has itself gained so many twists and turns, not to speak of blind alleys and treacherous cul-de-sacs that many people have simply lost the ability to follow it -- which is why Elizabeth de la Vega offers a complex guided tour to some pretty venal territory that no one should skip. Before we're done, one way or the other, this case is guaranteed to take some more air out of the Bush political room. Tom

Hermes Press Bush -Saudi connection

The Bush dynasty has always been comfortable putting profits before patriotism. Prescott Bush, Bush Senior’s father, extended credit to Adolph Hitler and supplied him with raw materials during Word War II. The U. S. seized his assets under the Trading with the Enemy Act, but grandfather Bush found other ways to replenish the family coffers.

Bush Senior struck it rich in oil and in the defense industry. Mahfouz (yes, that Mahfouz), Prince Bandar and Prince Sultan (Bandar’s father) were also heavily invested in the defense industry through their holdings in the Carlyle Group, where Bush Senior served on the board of directors. Founded in 1987 as a private investment group with strong connections to the Republican Party establishment, Carlyle increased its original investment of $130 million to $900 million when it went public in 2001.

"In recent years, Carlyle has been successful both at raising and making money. It has raised $14 billion in the last five years or so, and its annual rate of return has been 36 percent. Its 550 investors consist of institutions and wealthy individuals from around the world including, until shortly after September 2001, members of the bin Laden family of Saudi Arabia. The family — which has publicly disavowed links with Osama bin Laden — had been an investor since 1995."

Sydney Morning Herald, Israelis Anti-what? Israeli envoy faces sack over race slur

THE immediate future of Israel's ambassador to Canberra hangs in the balance after he reportedly told a newspaper that Australians and Israelis stood out in Asia because "we don't have yellow skin and slanted eyes".

If Naftali Tamir is found to have made "this grave and unacceptable remark", the Israeli Foreign Ministry said, there would be no return to "business as usual".

The Federal Government refused to comment, but Labor's foreign affairs spokesman, Kevin Rudd, said yesterday: "If accurate, these comments are completely unacceptable. We welcome reports that the Israeli Foreign Ministry is dealing with this incident as a matter of top priority."

BBC Bush's Iraq options limited Oct 9, 2006

A warning by a senior Republican senator that "bold decisions" will be required on Iraq if progress is not made soon has prompted talk that the White House might be forced into policy changes after the mid-term elections in November.

Among the options is one to divide Iraq up into three loosely federated parts -- Shia, Sunni and Kurd. That has some serious drawbacks.

But some change is in the political air in Washington. The former US Secretary of State James Baker, who co-chairs a panel tasked by Congress to examine options, said on ABC News over the weekend: "I think it's fair to say our commission believes that there are alternatives between the stated alternatives, the ones that are out there in the political debate, of 'stay the course' and 'cut and run.'"

Toronto Star Sunnis tortured in revenge attack

BAGHDAD—Seeking revenge for the killing of 17 Shiite farm workers, Shiite militiamen surged into a town north of Baghdad yesterday to launch attacks that by nightfall killed at least 27 Sunni Arabs, many of them brought to a hospital bearing the marks of electric drills and other signs of torture, according to medical workers, police and militia leaders.

Sounds of shooting suggested the killing in Balad continued into the night as reinforcements from the Shiite-controlled Interior Ministry arrived and residents cowered in their homes.

"You hear nothing but gunshots," Hasanein Ali, assistant director of Balad's hospital, said by telephone.

Have you notice that violence began to spike in Iraq after Negroponte signed on to the cabal? Some say he and Rummy planned to start using the ‘The Salvador Option’ in Iraq. Probably another "coincidence."

Flashback from MSNBC :

Now, NEWSWEEK has learned, the Pentagon is intensively debating an option that dates back to a still-secret strategy in the Reagan administration’s battle against the leftist guerrilla insurgency in El Salvador in the early 1980s. Then, faced with a losing war against Salvadoran rebels, the U.S. government funded or supported "nationalist" forces that allegedly included so-called death squads directed to hunt down and kill rebel leaders and sympathizers. Eventually the insurgency was quelled, and many U.S. conservatives consider the policy to have been a success—despite the deaths of innocent civilians and the subsequent Iran-Contra arms-for-hostages scandal. (Among the current administration officials who dealt with Central America back then is John Negroponte, who is today the U.S. ambassador to Iraq. Under Reagan, he was ambassador to Honduras. There is no evidence, however, that Negroponte knew anything about the Salvadoran death squads or the Iran-Contra scandal at the time. The Iraq ambassador, in a phone call to NEWSWEEK on Jan. 10, said he was not involved in military strategy in Iraq. He called the insertion of his name into this report "utterly gratuitous.")Jan 14, 2005

AP News British Debate on Muslim Veils Heats Up

LONDON (AP) - A British government minister joined an increasingly bitter debate about the rights of Muslim women to veil their faces, saying a teaching assistant should be fired for insisting on wearing one in school.

Prissy isn't going to wade too far into this one, except to say men (no offense) shouldn't be telling women how they should or should not dress,period. Whether Prissy wants to wear a bikini or a dress to the floor its no one else's call...

This Canadian Revolving Door to Blackwater Causes Alarm at CIA

Plus: More on the Agency's “Wehrmacht”, Posted on Tuesday, September 12, 2006. By Ken Silverstein. Blackwater USA, the private security contractor that has operated in places such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, and New Orleans, has been booming the past few years. Founded in December of 1996, the company spent its early years “paying staff with an executive's credit card and begging for customers,” according to the Virginian-Pilot.

But today, Blackwater reportedly has revenues of about $100 million annually, almost all of it from government contracts, and maintains “a compound half the size of Manhattan and 450 permanent employees,” according to the newspaper. How did Blackwater rise so high, so fast? The “war on terrorism” got the ball rolling for the firm, but one suspects that political connections played a big part as well. Erik Prince, Blackwater's founder, is a former SEAL who is deeply involved in Republican Party politics. Since 1998, he has funneled roughly $200,000 to GOP committees and candidates, including President Bush. In 2004, Blackwater retained the Alexander Strategy Group, the PR and lobbying firm that closed down earlier this year due to its embarrassing ties to Jack Abramoff and Tom DeLay. (Paul Behrends, a former national security adviser to Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, handled the account for Alexander.

After the firm shut down, Behrends moved on to a firm called C&M Capitolink, and took the Blackwater account with him.) A number of senior CIA and Pentagon officials have taken top jobs at Blackwater, including firm vice chairman Cofer Black, who was the Bush Administration's top counterterrorism official at the time of the 9/11 attacks (and who famously said in 2002, “There was before 9/11 and after 9/11. After 9/11, the gloves came off.”)

Robert Young Pelton, author of the new book, Licensed to Kill, says that an early Blackwater contract—a secret no-bid $5.4 million deal with the CIA—came in 2002 after Prince placed a call to Buzzy Krongard, who was then the CIA's executive director. A CIA source with whom I spoke said that Prince is very tight with top agency officials and has a “green badge,” the security pass for contractors who have access to CIA installations.

Prissy does not care for this kind of "security." Blackwater could be called mercenaries or corporate America's soldiers, whom have no oath sworn to uphold the constitution...

Truthout A Nation Still at War By Cindy Sheehan

While Democrats are busy counting their unhatched chickens and Republicans are getting muscle cramps from pointing fingers at everyone - including the pages that Foley hunted down - but themselves, Congress has been busy erasing from common law and our Constitution our centuries-old rights to habeas corpus. (If anyone thinks that this abomination will only extend to "terrorists," I say: "How do you like living in fantasyland?")

The Foleygate scandal may be the thing that finally brings the corrupt party of gloat and bloat down, but it should be Iraq. It should be suspending habeas corpus. It should be the lies and subsequent cover-ups of the lies that led to now 2,738 of our young people coming home to 2,738 families in flag-draped coffins - not the scandal and subsequent cover-up of Foley and his corruption.

The war, which was never a popular news story, has fallen far behind Foley in coverage. However, the most important and potentially damaging story of all - Congress voting, once again, to consolidate power in the executive branch, by giving BushCo power to imprison us without our due process - is not in the public awareness at all. I guess I should also be jumping for joy that something is bringing the party of the corporations and hypocrites down, but I feel molested, and by the entire Congress. We the people who do feel violated by Congress and by this out-of-control administration know that Congress has been busy invalidating themselves during the past six years and it may be very hard to regain any power, because by George, George has already exonerated himself from the crimes against humanity he and the rest of the ne'er do well neo-cons have committed.

Cindy you are quite the writer. Thank you for all you continue to do for our troops.

The Baptist Standard with some good news this Sunday Italian Baptists ask U.S. Baptists to appeal for peace in Iraq

It also criticizes the Italian and American governments' rhetoric surrounding the war. "We all see our leaders, in the same vein as the exponents of Islamic fundamentalism and of terrorism, waving the flag, talking of a war between civilizations and claiming that God is on their side.

"We believe that God, who said, 'You shall not kill' and who sent Jesus to die for our sin, is a God of peace, of reconciliation and of justice--that he is on the side of the victims of war, whoever they are, military or civilian, Iraqi, American, widows, parents, orphans, prisoners, whole peoples reduced to misery and famine."

The letter asks U.S. Baptists for two responses: To organize peacemaking-focused "manifestations, round tables, focus groups, meetings for reflection on the alternative to war, that involve people of diverse religious confession, cultural tendency and nationality."

To lead "ecumenical prayer meetings in which we pray that God touches our leaders' hearts and those of terrorist and resistance leaders and that he brings them to repent, to change direction, to stop the fighting and open up a dialogue with their enemies," and to encourage the exchange of coalition forces "for U.N.-led peacekeeping forces" to occupy the country.

Chicago NBC5 Shimkus Testifies Before Ethics Committee On Foley Scandal

The downstate lawmaker who oversees the Congressional page program said, "Having 20-20 hindsight ... a lot of things would have been done differently."

Some critics have called on Shimkus to resign in the wake of the Foley page scandal.

Cox News Sailor Stabbed To Death At The VFW

A sailor is stabbed to death at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Center in Norfolk.

Police say about 2:00 Sunday morning, 23-year-old Devon Brathwaite was stabbed inside the VFW after some sort of altercation.

Investigators say he stumbled outside the building and collapsed in the parking lot. Medics pronounced him dead at the scene.

Brathwaite was a sailor on the USS Harry S Truman.

Let's hope the altercation wasn't differing views of the war in Iraq or the Naval deployment of ships near Iran. Prissy asked one "conservative" against the war, also a long time VFW member how on earth those veterans could support the war in Iraq. He gave the best logic she's heard yet "Cause they're drunk. Been sitting on a barstool for 30 or 50 years and they'll have the nerve to say war didn't affect them..."

Khaleej Times Iran and Iraq to strengthen security and intelligence ties

BAGHDAD - Iraq and Iran have formed a working group to build closer security and intelligence ties, the Iraqi government announced Sunday, despite US concerns over Teheran’s role in the country.

Iraqi National Security Advisor Muwaffaq Al Rubaie and his Iranian counterpart Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei, minister of security and intelligence, recently discussed putting into effect a prior deal to share intelligence.

“The two sides agreed to form a working group to lay down suitable mechanisms to implement the agreement to strengthen security and intelligence cooperation,” said a statement issued by the Iraqi cabinet.

The United States, which maintains 142,000 troops in Iraq, has expressed concern over what it describes as Iran’s role in fuelling the deadly violence sweeping Iraq and has accused Teheran of smuggling weapons to Iraqi militias

Quotes of the Day "Before a war military science seems a real science, like astronomy; but after a war it seems more like astrology." - Rebecca West, (60% of the victims of every war are women and children)

Shouldn't we already be there? "I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy."--John Adams

All wars are civil wars, because all men are brothers.--Francois Fenelon

The victor will never be asked if he told the truth.--Adolf Hitler

Leaders are responsible not for running public opinion polls but for the consequences of their actions.--Henry A. Kissinger, wanted war criminal by France

But when a young lady is to be a heroine, the perverseness of forty surrounding families cannot prevent her. Something must and will happen to throw a hero in her way.--Jane Austen (1775 - 1817), Northanger Abbey

Sex and the City : The 109th Congress and Friends Update

This is not the first time congress has lied to the American people. They have proved by lying us into Iraq, that laws do not matter to them.

A crime has been alledged to have been committed against a minor. The media is responding almost like the good all days.

They should, it could be their own child next...Keep in mind the pedophile priest episode, which is still not over- educated most parents about this kind of predator.

The list of pedophiles of the GOP

And Oh my, Rove's spin machine is broken. He has dealt so with many things, but he is not a specialist in kiddie sex crimes. Or is he? We shall soon know.

Anyone who condones or defends the "Foley Five" is either a dabbler themselves, or an enabler as there is no gray area on this crime. How's that for your black and white world view neorepublicans?

Children are off limits for perverts

As many of her Dearest Readers already are aware-this kind of crime against children also happens to be the field she has experience in while working in juvenile corrections.

By the time Prissy was in receipt of these youth, the damage to their young souls had been done. It was her job to help undo it. It was a difficult task, but very worthwhile work.

The first time we helped the youth to understand why they were not at fault, a large anger began to melt away from their hearts. Some had turned the anger onto others and some on themselves.

Contrary to myth, most people molested as children do not go on to molest others. In the case of children (or teens) molesting other children, that may not be the case.

Regardless, anger is the overriding characteristic left from such a life altering event.

Case in point, when Prissy was growing up, there was a boy named Drew in the neighborhood. He was about five years older than she. Drew didn't get along well with other three neighborhood boys his age.

Prissy didn't know why and didn't pay that much attention to him. There was also group of four more children, about five years younger than she and her three friends who did pay attention to Drew.

Everyone tended to play together in accordance with age- except Drew. He played with the children ten years younger-the three-five years old group.

The only game he played with them was hide and seek- at dusk. There were four little ones this age group- two little boys and two little girls.

All the parents thought that because there was almost no crime in our safe suburban street, certainly the children were safe playing in the spacious backyards-no one's was fenced.

When Drew was 19, he was picked up by police near a grade school. The police thought he was selling pot and he ended up doing a few years in prison. His mother went around with a petition to get him out and interestingly, most neighbors wouldn't sign...

We all grew-up and moved away, some of the kids parents are there to this day. It was a quiet suburban neighborhood and still is.

The little ones are now in their thirties, some with kids of their own. The four younger ones all seemed to have problems, dropping out of college, not holding jobs or working a job below their level of ability.

Prissy didn't think much about this until one of them fessed up to her-about four years ago. Drew had been molesting them all-for nearly four years, until they were about eight, since that was when Drew went to jail for selling pot.

To this day, none of them told their parents. People say all four of them? Yes, that's right. All of them and he still to this day has not done one day in jail for his crime.

In fact, Drew still lives in the same town, different house.

There are far more children there, than in the old neighborhood...

Note to politicians: The typical child molester is a married, heterosexual, middle aged white man. He usually prefers girls, but will molest boys too. One in four female children has been or will be molested, one in seven boys. Those are the stats.

Should our leaders let this go- well, you can see what determined mothers can do about how a nation views a war.

Fifty-two year old men, coming on to sixteen year old boys, will make it so much easier to throw you out. While a nation can somewhat support a war based on lies, knowing your own child can molested by these same politicians- those who pretend it was not classic grooming behavior- you might as well resign right now if you fail accountability on this issue.

You see, the people can forgive powerfule men's extra marital affairs (not Prissy) they may "forgive" their congressman for being gay-but forgive a child molester? Never!

Age of consent or not-this old goat made a nice young man very uncomfortable. He was trying to show respect the congressman. Of course he doesn't deserve that respect...

Everyone of them (Hastert, Reynolds, Tony Snow and others) to whom it was known before Friday should resign immediately or face indictment. It is a crime to know that pedophile behavior is going on and not report it.

A sixteen year old "good kid" IE- one who tends to obey and respect authority figures-like congressmen-should have been protected right away. Anything less is complicity.

By the way, Prissy has never seen a juvenile deliquent who said they wanted to be a page in congress.

Shame on anyone who would ever blame this youth.

Hot Links

Star-Telegram TX Foley reportedly made teens uncomfortable

WASHINGTON -- More than a dozen former House pages say Rep. Mark Foley was known to be extraordinarily friendly in a way that made them uncomfortable but none say they received a sexual or suggestive overture from him during their time on Capitol Hill.

Yet many of them said they were uneasy about Foley's actions and felt awkward complaining to anyone about them.

"Mark Foley knew that he could get away with this type of behavior with male pages because he was a congressman," said Mark Beck-Heyman, a Democrat. "But many people on Capitol Hill, including many high-level Republican staffers and members, have known for over 11 years about what was going on and chose to do nothing."

In 1995, Beck-Heyman said, male House pages were warned to steer clear of the freshman Republican from Florida, who was already learning the names of the teen-agers, dashing off notes, letters and e-mails to them and asking them to join him for ice cream.

From the Desk of Patrick J Fitzgerald- nicely cited as always. Prissy just adores him, but who doesn't-besides the neocons? A Prissy Patriot hat tip to Fitz Chicken And Egg..?

Let's ask a few former pages their thoughts on Rep. Foley and which came first - being a page or turning gay?

Notable pages: John Kolbe - 1958 (later U.S. Congressman) Bauman, Robert - (later U.S. Congressman)

Speaker says he won't resign

"That e-mail they call an 'overly friendly' e-mail, that had predator stamped all over it," said Bay Buchanan, president of American Cause, a conservative advocacy group.

Meanwhile, Hastert said he has no intention of resigning.

"I'm not going to do that," he told conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, warning of a Democratic takeover of Congress in November.

"We could lose and let the Democrats be in power for 10 or 15 or 20 years, 40 years, like they were the last time."

Star Tribune, hat tip to Bolixi Powell: Staying course in Iraq isn't enough

In Iraq, "staying the course isn't good enough because a course has to have an end," Powell said.

More than any other event of this era, the war will define the Bush presidency and Powell's own tenure as Secretary of State, Powell said.

In the U.S. today, a challenge the war poses is a question of whether an essential "bond of trust that must exist within a nation...has been shaken," he said. The extent of the damage to trust will be measured in the November elections, he said.

Oh it sure will...

CNN Money Remember the "Puts for Oct 6?" A big rally gave the S&P 500 its best 3rd quarter in 9 years and pushed the Dow near record highs.

The third quarter is usually the worst of the year. And this year it was supposed to be especially bad since 2006 is a mid-term election year, and third quarters in those years tend to be the worst of the worst (see chart at right).

The rally has put the S&P 500 at another 5-1/2-year high and pushed the Dow near its record close set in January 2000, at the end of the 1990s boom. How did all this happen? And what's next for the market?

"A good third quarter in any year is unusual and one in a mid-term election year is even more unusual," said Jeffrey Hirsch, editor of Stock Trader's Almanac. "But there's no historical record of what it means for the fourth quarter."

Dearest Readers, this wasn't just a joke on South Park, unfortunately:

NAMBLA -The National Man-Boy Love Association. They are a group of men, mostly over 30, who like to date/have sex with underage boys. They like to use historical "evidence" like how in ancient Greece, this sort of thing was tolerated, to try and support their movement. (They also like to take text from books, out of context, to support their movement, the author unaware of their doing so, thus making that author look bad.)

(From the Urban Dictionary)

About that CIA Leak Case...by Elizabeth del la Vega

Tom Dispatch A Libby Pardon for Christmas?

Indeed, a review of court documents makes it abundantly clear that Judge Reggie Walton has no intention of letting this matter laze around on his docket. Filings in the case make it no less clear that Lewis Libby's opportunities to make the charges go away by exercising his rights within the judicial system are dwindling rapidly. Early on, Walton ruled that any motions to dismiss that the defendant wished to bring should be filed by February 24, 2006. Libby's attorneys filed one such motion and it was denied.

In that motion, Libby's defense team argued that the case should be dismissed because it was "obtained, approved and signed by an official -- Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald -- who was appointed and exercised his powers" in violation of the Constitution. Without getting too technical, the defense argument was that Fitzgerald was taking actions that could only be taken by a presidential appointee. This was essentially a more lawyerly version of accusations the Republican National Committee (directly tied into the Bush administration's political arm, the Office of Strategic Initatives) had begun hurling even before Libby's indictment. In various veiled -- and sometimes not so veiled -- attacks, they argued that Patrick Fitzgerald was "overzealous" and had exceeded his authority by bringing perjury and false-statements charges when he was, according to the Libby defense team and the RNC, only authorized to investigate the possible unauthorized disclosure of a CIA officer.

Not surprisingly, Judge Walton was unimpressed with Libby's motion. He ruled that it was perfectly appropriate and prudent for the Department of Justice to appoint someone outside the hierarchy of the Executive Branch when its highest officials were under investigation. He also said that Fitzgerald's letters of authority "unambiguously" authorized him to investigate and prosecute not only the disclosure of a CIA employee's identity, but also "any violations of federal law that arise during the course of that investigation."

All the prosecutors Prissy has asked about this say his "Greymail" defense, while commonly used in these kinds of cases-won't fly. Fitz nailed him tight, there is no way out-except a pardon from the king. Prissy wouldn't advise it, the troubles it would cause in democract controlled congress make it political suicide. Besides, the king himself may be indicted by then...

Talk Left. Coloradan Sues Cheney Secret Service Agent

Steven Howards and his son were walking by a Dick Cheney event this summer in Beaver Creek, on their way to a piano lesson. Howards told Cheney he didn't approve of his war policy. When Howards walked back from the lesson, passing the site again, he was arrested. Charges later were dropped.

Colorado First Amendment Lawyer David Lane (think Ward Churchill) sued the secret service agent today, for violating his First and Fourth Amendment rights. The full complaint is here (pdf). Here are the factual recitations:

APFN via tbr...gossip about Karl Rove Karl Rove’s “good friend” ‘Jeff Gannon’

Malice and disapproval aside, the real problem here is this: George W. Bush, supported closely by Karl Rove, was reelected as President of the United States on the so-called Moral Majority vote. In sum, Bush, via Rove, was projected as a moral man who would return a hedonistic America to the simpler virtues of a bygone era. This would be a moral crusade with strong religious overtones. Rove, who is brilliant if depraved, saw this and was successful. A large part of the American public, unhappy with what they saw as debilitating liberalism, abortion on demand, disgusting gay marriage and other forms of what they considered moral decay, put Bush back in office.

What will happen when these devout and angry people discover that their beloved symbolic President is just as bad as the evil, liberal Clinton? It was the Christian Right, financed by the weird Mellon heir, who harassed Clinton and got him impeached because of a seedy affair with the zaftig Monica Lewinski. Now they have to deal with rampant male whores prancing around the White House in consort with a small army of closet queens and all of whom very obviously have the ear, and the confidence, (and hopefully, that’s all they have) of their “moral” choice for President. Shakespeare said that hell had no fury like a woman scorned and from the letters and emails we are getting here, the duped and conned Moral Majority types are going to be a source of great trouble for Bush. How can this happen, you ask? After all, Bush has been elected for four more disastrous years.

The Congressional Mid-Term elections are coming up and betrayed and angry members of the Religious Right will not vote for Bush-type Congressmen and will either not vote or will vote out what they will see as co-conspirators and traitors to their cause. This is the very real danger and since the smelly and mangy cat is out of the bag now, all Bush and Rove can do is to try to find some kind of sensational disaster to cloud the issue as much as possible. (‘Al Quaeda-trained Eskimo terrorists have just blown up the Alaska pipeline!’)

In addition to exposing the freak show in the Monkey Palace, here is a bit more information for your mills to grind. I did not go to Europe with St. George but have access to the official, and unofficial, reports (I have connections with the tour) and you all might be interested to note that the so-called ‘New Beginning with Old Europe’ was a dismal failure. There were the obligatory press PR pictures of Bush smiling and shaking hands with various European heads of state but his goal, to have Europe send troops to Iraq so he could deal militarily with Iran and Syria, ended in complete disaster. The French treated George very coldly and he was told to stop threatening world peace and get out of Iraq.

Apparently white supremist groups don't like pedophiles either German White Nationalists Stand Against Pedophiles from 2003

As many Conservative/Republican spokesmen piously spout their rhetoric about “Family Values” in America and Germany, White nationalists show the courage to take their message against moral/racial decay to the streets in direct confrontation. A corollary to this “all talk no action” syndrome is the trend of “Conservative” talk show hosts like Mike Savage, Rush Limbaugh, Howie Carr and Alex Jones to call for a crackdown on illegal immigration -- but remain silent and avoid endorsement when true patriots stand together in public to confront the illegals, as members of the National Alliance recently did in New Jersey. In Hamburg, and all across Germany, more and more citizens are willing to take that stand against racial decline and not just talk about it.

Under the slogan of “Death Penalty for Child Molesters” members of the Free Network of White Nationalists assembled in front of a residence on 7 Sven-Hedin Street housing known child molesters belonging to a NAMBLA-like (Man Boy Love Association) group named “Krumme 17” to send a strong message to the public that upright citizens in Germany will no longer tolerate clemency for perverts and non-White criminals.

BBC Washington sex e-mail row deepens It was actually instant messenges which got Foley outed, not emails.

The BBC's Justin Webb in Washington says that over the weekend it has become clear that a minor embarrassment for the Republican party might become something far worse.

It has emerged that Mr Foley's behaviour had been known about for some time by senior colleagues, including the party's leader in the House.

They are now arguing about how much they knew - but the Democrats and some Republicans have called for the party's Congressional leaders to step down.

Our correspondent says the scandal could cost the Republicans votes in next month's mid-term elections - votes they cannot afford to lose.

They will lose, but America will win.

Wa Po. Fitz wasn't kidding-he said this last week! Attorney: Foley Was Abused by Clergyman

President Bush today professed shock, dismay and disgust over revelations that a disgraced former Republican congressman sent sexually explicit messages to teenaged boys who served as congressional pages, but he expressed confidence in House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) in the face of calls for his resignation over the matter.

Meanwhile, the lawyer for Mark Foley, the Florida Republican who resigned his House seat Friday as the scandal was emerging, said Foley was molested between the ages of 13 and 15 by a clergyman.

Well Mr. Foley, thousands of youth were molested by clergymen-and they did not go on to molest others.

Liberty Forum IRAN WAR PLAN EXPOSED! PREPARE FOR THE SINKING OF A U.S. AIRCRAFT CARRIER - The USS Enterprise CVN-65!

The Hal Turner Show has been told that within the next five (5) weeks, the United States will "suffer" a missile attack upon the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, presently on patrol near the Persian Gulf. This attack will appear to be from numerous "Silkworm" and/or "Sunburn" missiles which will sink the vessel and kill most of the 5,000 crew onboard.

The "attack" will be blamed on Iran and thus provide the Bush Administration with an excuse to go to war with that nation.

The Hal Turner Show has learned that the missiles used to attack the USS Enterprise will not be fired from or by Iran, but rather will be a "false flag operation" made to LOOK as though Iran carried out the attack!

The USS Enterprise is the worlds first nuclear powered aircraft carrier. It was Commissioned in 1961 and is due to be decommissioned in 2014 or 2015. The ship was selected to be the "victim" of this "attack" due to its age.

There are several ships stationed in the Gulf right now...and more headed there.

Howard Empowered Blogspot Excerpt from Woodwards Book re: 2004 Election

"At 2:43 a.m., someone noted that Bush was ahead in the popular vote nationwide, prompting the President to sneer, "If the popular vote made it, I wouldn't be here."

The campaign was left to anxiously wait for a statement from Kenneth Blackwell, a former black power student leader who had morphed into Ohio's gadfly Republican secretary of state.

"I'm the President of the United States," Bush fumed, "waiting on a secretary of state who is a nut."

Blackwell is a former black-power-saluting student leader who had decided to be a member of the Republican party. Hmm, wonder why$

Prissy warned him when all but bragged about messing up the vote that he would be the first one Dubya kicks to the curb when the truth comes out about the vote.

The voter fraud which took place in Ohio was on Mr. Blackwell, (also the chairman for the Ohio Bush/Cheney 2004 campaign) happened on Blackwell's watch.

Coming this week: John Kerry visits Ohioans to talk about the vote. On HBO Nov. 2nd watch "Hacking Democracy" by blackboxvoting.org

Killtown 911 Review Did Flight 93 Crash in Shanksville? Lot's of interesting photographic evidence Prissy had not seen before.

Westhawk Blogspot Mr. Rumsfeld’s gamble comes due

It seems apparent that U.S. ground forces are finding it very difficult to maintain the current pace of overseas deployments and combat operations. Well thought out deployment plans are fraying at their edges; the Army is now making frequent changes to deployment schedules in order to maintain troop levels in Iraq, as yet another recent press release from the Pentagon explained:

WASHINGTON, Sept. 26, 2006 – Adjustments to Iraq troop-rotation schedules announced yesterday will allow 15 U.S. combat brigades to be in Iraq through spring, DoD officials said today.

The 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 1st Armored Division, based in Friedberg, Germany, will stay in Iraq for another 46 days. The brigade was scheduled to redeploy in mid-January 2007. This will shift to late February. The 4th Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, based at Fort Hood, Texas, will deploy 30 days earlier than originally scheduled, beginning in late October.

Perhaps the Hague will take care of Rummy, if our military leaders don't tribuanl him themselves...

Voices of Iraq or what the problem in the Green Zone was about. They say it was a coup attempt. Malki-Coup

Coup almost toppled Malki’s cabinet - MP

Baghdad, Oct 1, (VOI) – A coup almost toppled Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Malki’s government over the last two days, the Iraqi legislator Baha’ al-A’raji said on Sunday.

“Al-Malki’s government has survived a coup planned by Saddamists and Islamic extremists who wanted to send a clear message to the Iraqi government of their presence in Iraq,” Parliamentarian Baha’ al-A’raji, of Unified Iraqi Coalition, told reporters.

And...Only recently, A’raji pointed out, explosives were found in a well known law maker’s house , explosives that were used to make car bombs and charges. “These accusations were confirmed with clear evidence, which I do not have but surely the government would have, including CDs , photos and trigger devices,” A’raji said.

The U.S. army arrested a suspect working as a body guard with Legislator Adnan al-Duleimi, head of the Sunni Iraqi Accordance Front.

The U.S. army said in a statement the arrest was based on reliable intelligence the suspect was planning along with sevens others to blow up a car bomb inside the green zone in Baghdad. The U.S army statement also accused the arrested body guard of association with Qaeda in Iraq armed group.

Didn't see that in the msm.

Bangor Maine About 1,500 attend anti-war on Bangor Waterfront

Richard Clement’s wife, Rita, marched a few feet behind with Military Families Speak Out, the group to which she belongs.

"This war should have never been started in the first place, and we’ve got to do everything in our power to stop our politicians," said Rita Clement.

Brian Clement, 24, was stationed in Iraq, just north of Baghdad, from 2004 to 2005 as an Army specialist.

When he signed up for the military, he was confident that he was doing the right thing and would be able to make a difference in the lives of the Iraqi people.

Finland Terror fight sparks anguish in immigrant suburbs in Nordic region

"We have started to be afraid. I like Denmark, but nowadays I feel that people on the street stare at me", says one Palestinian-born woman in Odense, Denmark. Her feelings are shared by many Muslims in the Nordic Countries. The international fight against terrorism came into her neighbourhood store when a man working at the cash register was arrested along with eight others. Seven of the men are still being held. They are under investigation in a case which the Danish Minister of Justice has described as the most serious in the country's history.

A couple of weeks later four people were arrested on suspicion of planning a bomb attack against the embassies of the United States and Israel. In Sweden, meanwhile, three young men were given a prison sentence this past summer over a planned arson attack against a prayer room of a Christian congregation in Uppsala.

Chicago Tribune GOP faces 'inconvenient truth'

Hastert moved quickly over the weekend to call for a Justice Department investigation, which had the benefit of high-mindedness but also raised the prospect that the probe would not be finished by Election Day and would leave troubling questions hanging.

Bush offered his support for the Speaker during an appearance in California on Tuesday, reminding Americans of Hastert's prior life as a teacher and coach as measures of Hastert's concern for the well-being of children. The speaker clearly needed to hear the strong backing of the president in the face of mounting calls for his ouster.

Even that backing might not be enough. "There will be dramatic change," said one Republican consultant with ties to some of the House leadership. "It will either be imposed by a new set of leaders in the party or it will be imposed by the voters.

"The political environment today is such that Republicans feel defeated, all of America feels defeated and under siege at this point," he added. "You don't feel in control of your life. I think Republicans have felt the burden especially heavily because this is their president and their Congress. There hasn't been a lot of good news."

Bangkok Post Turkey hijacking protests Pope visit

Reports said the extremists hijacked the plane while it was flying over Greek airspace and asked to land in Italy.

The two reportedly seized control of the plane to protest against a trip to pre-dominantly Muslim Turkey by Pope Benedict planned for November 28.

The pontiff recently angered Muslims around the world by linking Islam to violence during a speech in Germany on September 12.

Anti-terror security measures were in place at Brindisi airport, which was closed off to traffic.

Quotes of the Day

“No one ever suddenly became depraved”--Juvenal, Roman satiris

“Do not separate text from historical background. If you do, you will have perverted and subverted the Constitution, which can only end in a distorted, bastardized form of illegitimate government.”--James Madison

“We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.”--Abraham Lincoln

“How do I know pornography depraves and corrupts? It depraves and corrupts me”--Malcolm Muggeridge,English iconoclast journalist