Wednesday edition - August 23, 2006

Tourism in Iraq sure isn't in the near future.

Hezbollah leader Hasran Nasrallah horrified television viewers Saturday when he told an interviewer that he would be proud if his young sons became martyrs for Islam. He ought to enjoy them while he can. These kids blow up so fast nowadays. -- Comedian Argus Hamilton

The-World-Is-A-Safer-Place-Without-Saddam News

• A look at US military deaths in Iraq Seattle Post Intelligencer

• Iraq Body Count

• Suicide bomber attacks police HQ in Iraq AP

• Canadian soldier killed in Afghan suicide attack Toronto Star

• Bomb narrowly misses Iraqi minister AP

• Marine Corps to start involuntary troop recalls Reuters

• Number of U.S. troops in Iraq climbs AP

• Video of Kidnapped Journalists Released ABC News

• Iraq launches own probe in alleged rape-murder Boston Globe

• Russia committed to Iran nuclear dialogue, new talks possibility RIA Novosti 

• Israeli president quizzed over sex allegations Scotsman, United Kingdom

• Dutch arrest 12 on US plane bound for India Reuters India

The Rapture Index?

The Rapture Index -- a popular evangelical Christian Web posting that calculates a global rise in natural disasters, war and inflation -- bills itself as "a Dow Jones industrial average of end-time activity."

An index below 85 signifies a week of "slow prophetic activity." Anything above 145 signals the apocalypse is near.

The Rapture Index this week: 158.
 

George "The Armageddonizer" Bush is Lord of the Rapturepublicans. --Shot Off The Press

www.anntelnaes.com

Disturbing News

• Death Rate on Highways Rises, and Motorcycles Are Blamed New York Times

• Relatives of 145 air crash victims to fly to site in Ukraine RIA Novosti, Russia

• One In Five Female Citadel Cadets Report Sexual Assaults

Valerie Plame Wilson Update

Former CIA officer Valerie Plame is considering suing the recent No. 2 State Department official in a case accusing members of the Bush administration of conspiring to leak her identity to the media, Plame's attorney said Tuesday.

Official State Department calendars, provided to The Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act, show then-Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage held a one-hour meeting marked "private appointment" with Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward on June 13, 2003.

Karl Rove, Thief and Dirty Trickster From Wa-y-y-y Back

CBS Islam Analyst to Jon Stewart: We’re Losing a Marketing Campaign to Cave Dwellers

Republican Shenanigans

• New Orleanians heap most Katrina blame on US govt Reuters 

• 4 hours, 2 events, half a million dollars Minneapolis Star Tribune

• Republican party lets evangelical church outreach consultant go San Francisco Chronicle,  USA 

• Bush pushes for health care information AP

• IRS moves ahead on debt-collection plan AP

• US judge blocks Bush logging plan in protected Giant Sequoia park AFP

In Holland, zookeepers have started an Internet dating service for apes. Internet dating service for apes. And at first you think wow! That's crazy. On the other hand, it worked for Maria Shriver.- David Letterman

 Osama Hasn't bin Forgotten

As the five-year anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks approaches, nearly three-fourths of those responding to a CNN poll said they believe Osama bin Laden is planning another significant attack against the United States.
 

Bush's Arab Dream Palace
Is it Narcissism? - Juan Cole

Rock-The-Voter News

• Gov. Murkowski Concedes Defeat in Alaska Forbes

• Harris, Crist lead the field in Republican straw poll St. Petersburg Times, FL

President Bush's Summer Reading List
Provided by the White House Press Office - C-Span

I don't believe Bush has read one of those books. Not one.

R&R*

Republican Sen. Conrad Burns, whose re-election campaign is pressing for tighter immigration controls, referred to his house painter as "a nice little Guatemalan man" and suggested that worker as well as employees of a roofing company he hired might be in the country illegally.

*Racism & Republicanism
 

THE RULES OF WAR HAVE CHANGED.

This year thousands of private soldiers will be deployed in conflicts worldwide.
These individuals, known as private security contractors, are changing
the face of modern warfare.
But to those at home, their world and influence remains a mystery.


Who are these security contractors ?
What do they do ?
Why do they do it ?


Shadow Company, by Nick Bicanic and Jason Bourque, is the
groundbreaking feature-length documentary that reveals
the origins and destinations of these
modern-day mercenaries.

Click below to see the trailer

http://www.shadowcompanythemovie.com/trailer2.html

Biz/Tech News

• Oil falls as world powers weigh Iran nuclear reply Reuters

• US Stock-Index Futures Rise; Exxon and Halliburton Advance Bloomberg

• Existing home sales drop in July AP

• More Than 1,500 Workers Walk Out, but LA Copes Los Angeles Times, CA

• Microsoft sues "cybersquatters" for infringement Reuters.uk

• Microsoft reaches out to Firefox lovers Silicon.com

• IBM to buy Internet Security Reuters
  Brazilian prosecutors seek lawsuit against Google Reuters.uk, UK

• Child protection site "contained porn links" Reuters

• Joke software makes comics out of speech-impaired kids AFP

BREAKING NEWS: Armageddon/Rapture/Tribulation Did Not Happen August 22!

The Register is pleasantly surprised to learn that humanity continues to muddle along after a leading Islamic scholar predicted its abrupt destruction on 22 August.

Academician Bernard Lewis, a specialist in Middle-Eastern culture and politics, and one of Dick Cheney's favorite thinkers, appeared to have it all worked out in an op-ed piece published by the Wall Street Journal. After a careful reading of scripture, and a bit of arithmetic, Lewis was able to determine the ideal day for Iran to nuke Israel, initiating the atomic Armageddon that we've all been worrying about.

 

"When Scarborough starts to suggest maybe you're an idiot ... it's like Mel Gibson saying, 'That guy's too racist for me.'" --Democratic strategist Paul Begala, on MSNBC's Joe Scarborough commenting on Is Bush an Idiot?

Bush-Prison-Torture News

• "Aussie Taliban" supporters demand his release from Guantanamo Antara, Indonesia 

Email

Subject: Marines Recalled

With the involuntary recall to active duty of an unspecified number of
Marines, because of a shortage of volunteers for Afghanistan and
Vietraq, isn't it time that reporters began asking Bush et al why their
kids of military age aren't signing up? After all, we're being told
time and time again that it's important to "stay the course" to bring
democracy to Vietraq. So just how important are we to believe it is if
it's not important enough that the children of the people who
authorized and continue to fund these illegal invasions aren't signing up to go to
battle??

PS - I sent you a little something through PayPal.

Slugger

Big hug for your support.

The Bushes are so self absorbed. At the very least, why isn't a Katrina relief effort being headed by Laura or the twins?

It is strange, but true, that the self proclaimed "War President" never served in a war and the only Bush war veteran is his father -- no cousins, brothers, sisters or aunts or uncles.

Not one military uniform in the entire Bush clan portrait. Photo/White House

Go-F***-Yourself News

• I am guessing Dick is in that "undisclosed location" again.

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