Concern is growing in Europe about US plans to involve governments in an expanded, all-out campaign against Islamist extremism from north Africa to south-east Asia, using beefed-up special forces, hi-tech weaponry and more intrusive surveillance and intelligence gathering.
The Pentagon plan, designed to fight what it describes as “The Long War”, envisages “long-duration, complex operations involving the US military and international partners, waged simultaneously in multiple countries round the world”.
The post-Iraq rethink, known as the Quadrennial Defence Review, was published last week, and calls on existing allies such as Nato and “moderate” governments in the Muslim world “to share the risks and responsibilities of today’s complex challenges”.
Anyone remember my bit about Rummy selling weapons in Algeria on Monday?
Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, in north Africa this week, said the US was increasing cooperation with Algeria and others, including through possible arms sales, to help create “an environment inhospitable to terrorism”. Echoing the US thinking, Jack Straw, said while on visit to Nigeria yesterday: “The terrorist threat to and from Africa is likely to grow in the next 10 years.
“The biggest risk is not of a generation of homegrown African terrorists. It is the ability of external terrorists to use Africa as a base from which to launch attacks on African and western interests in Africa and beyond.”
Glad this is being reported in the here in the US. Oh, wait….
LAT article [via PDA]; WaPo; and Global Security. Also covered extensively, and in-depth at the usual think-tanks. Rummy’s traveling roadshow is the one he should have made in ’02, when most of the planet supported the U.S. WOT.
Now those of us in the electronic print world are fighting the WOE = War on Error.
The state board that oversees pharmacies voted Tuesday to require Wal-Mart to stock emergency contraception pills at its Massachusetts pharmacies, a spokeswoman at the Department of Public Health said.
The unanimous decision by the Massachusetts Board of Pharmacy comes two weeks after three women sued Wal-Mart in state court for failing to carry the so called “morning after” pill in its Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club stores in the state.
The women argued state policy requires pharmacies to provide all “commonly prescribed medicines.”
Hamas has accused the US and Israel of refusing to accept the result of a democratic election, after a report that the two countries are discussing means to destabilise and bring down a Hamas-led Palestinian administration.
The New York Times, citing diplomatic sources in Jerusalem, said Washington and Israel intend to block funding for the Palestinian Authority in an attempt to ensure that Hamas cabinet ministers fail and new elections are called.
After Hamas’s election victory, the US and EU warned the Islamist group that unless it renounced violence and recognised Israel’s right to exist they would cut funding for the Palestinian Authority.
Mushir al-Masri, a Hamas MP, said attempts to bring down a future Hamas government were hypocritical.
“This is … a rejection of the democratic process, which the Americans are calling for day and night,” he told the Associated Press. “It’s an interference and a collective punishment of our people because they practised the democratic process in a transparent and honest way.”
on February 15, 2006 at 11:17 am
After reading the story in yesterday’s NYT, I did a little editorial touch-up job on the article:
Washington, Feb. 13 — Germany and France are discussing ways to destabilize the United States government so that newly elected GOP officials will fail and elections will be called again, according to German officials and EU diplomats.
The intention is to starve the GOP administration of money and international connections to the point where, some months from now, its president, George W. Bush, is compelled to call a new election. The hope is that Americans will be so unhappy with life under BushCheneyCo that they will return to office a reformed and chastened Democratic movement.
The officials also argue that a close look at the election results shows that BushCheneyCo won a smaller mandate than previously understood.
Germany’s constitutional court has scrapped a law allowing the military to shoot down passenger planes suspected of being hijacked for terror attacks.
The judge found that the law infringed the right to life and human dignity.
The government of former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder proposed the law in the wake of the 11 September attacks on the US in 2001.
President Horst Koehler approved the controversial measure last year but urged the court to review it.
(snip)
However, critics argued that the government had no right to kill those on the plane to try to save the lives of others.
Germany’s constitutional court president Hans-Juergen Papier ruled that: “The protection of the right to human dignity is strict and an infringement is not permissible.”
He added that it violated a guarantee in the constitution barring German military services from being deployed for domestic security.
The German pilots’ union was also against the law, saying it could lead to a tragic mistake.
The United Nations has protested to Eritrea over the arrest of 13 local staff members employed to monitor the disputed border with Ethiopia.
Another 30 staff are in hiding, in fear of being detained as well.
No official reason has been give for the arrests, but the information minister said he would not allow the UN to give sanctuary to “fugitives”.
Recently Eritrea has clamped down on UN operations, in retaliation for the failure to implement a border ruling.
The neighbours fought a brutal war between 1997-2000 which ended with a peace agreement committing both sides to abide by the ruling of an independent commission which demarcated the boundary.
However, Ethiopia has not withdrawn its troops from the disputed border town of Badme, which the commission awarded to Eritrea. Eritrea wants the international community to put more pressure on Ethiopia to comply with the ruling.
Zimbabwe police have arrested more than 400 people, including women with babies strapped to their backs, for marching in annual protests against economic hardship, lawyers and activists said on Tuesday.
Police arrested 242 members of members of the pressure group Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) as they marched near parliament in the capital Harare to mark Valentine’s Day under the theme “bread and roses”, said WOZA spokeswoman Annie Sibanda.
“They were marching to demand affordable prices for basic food commodities and respect for their dignity. Five babies were also in the group. They are currently in police custody and looking to spend the night in jail,” Sibanda told Reuters.
Lawyers for the group and police were not immediately reachable for comment.
Another 181 activists, including mothers with 15 babies, spent Monday night in prison in the southern city of Bulawayo for marching in a pre-Valentine’s Day protest against an economic crisis many blame on President Robert Mugabe, their lawyer Perpetua Dube said.
Pamela Anderson is turning her animal rights activism against the Kentucky Derby, refusing to attend the world’s most famous horse race again because of its sponsorship deal with the parent company of Kentucky Fried Chicken.
“It makes me want to avoid Kentucky altogether, which is sad because there are so many great people there,” the former Baywatch star said in a statement by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta).
Anderson, a Peta member who attended the Derby in 2001 and 2003, has been involved in a campaign to raise awareness of what she calls abuse of chickens in processing plants that supply poultry to Louisville-based KFC. “Like most people, I don’t want to support cruelty to animals, whether it’s forcing horses to race for our amusement or scalding chickens alive for our plate,” Anderson said.
with implants is protesting something “Southern”. It’s gonna fry Nascar brains down here. I bet they won’t even talk about it if someone brings something up about it. I just found out that I live in the hub of the pageant South. It was finally explained to me three days ago by a very traveled local school teacher that Dothan Alabama is the heartbeat of the beauty pageant body that the South loves so much. Pam Anderson has a power down here that I can only dream about!
Wow that was fast. Yesterday I posted about how there was a move in the Florida state lege to provide some meager legislative workaround to the most anti-gay adoption law in the country. Today that bill’s been dropped. It will continue to be categorically illegal for gays to adopt children in Florida, with no legal remedy available whatsoever.
The Senate Children and Families Committee was to have voted on an amendment that would have given judges the power to circumvent the ban but the measure’s sponsor, state Senator Nan Rich withdrew it when it became apparent the bill did not have the necessary votes to pass.
I haven’t been home in almost 11 years. Guess it’s still not safe there.
Here in SF we tried….Happy Almost Happened 2nd Anniversary
Today is the 2nd anniverary of Mayor Newsom’s historic attempt at making laws equal. San Francisco Chronicle – read more about the story 2 years later.
What do I remember? Streets filled with lots of people in love and celebrating their lives together….young and old. Flowers, champagne, double tux weddings, double wedding gown weddings, and everything in between.
So this morning I’m sending love to all of our GLBT couples and friends here at Booman – to celebrate an almost 2nd anniversary.
Thanks to an article over @ gizmag, we can now assume the Veep suffered from after-effects of TMS (Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation). “Non invasive and painless, it can temporarily inactivate an area of the human brain . . .”
In a thread last night, I asked some questions to which I have yet to see satisfactory answers or explanations, either from the corporate media, or bloggers who have been paying much closer attention to this story than I have.
So I am becoming increasingly convinced that Cheney was operating under the influence of more cocktails than anyone should have before handling firearms under any circumstances…
Feel free to debunk.
on February 15, 2006 at 11:07 am
Another question I have, Whit is said to have been shot from some distance, yet his injuries, from what know of them, sound very severe for bird shot injuries from such a great distance.
I believe someone (Murka?) addressed this same question last night on Olbermann. The 30-yd distance claim makes no sense to TX quail hunters.
On the “cocktail-theory”:
What I have been wondering forever is how these scumbags actually sleep at night, how they can live with themselves.
At this point, I’m pretty convinced that all of them are heavily medicated and/or inebriated, all or most of the time. They are in a complete fog. Either that, or they have all secretly had “bionic hearts” implanted, just like Cheney.
The way they live is beyond human comprehension. They must either be non-human (robots? clones?), or completely self-medicated, either w alcohol or drugs.
My big question thru all of this is more basic:how the fuck does the VP of the US even get off going on a leisurely drive-by hunting spree on a Saturday afternoon while at the same time Katrina victims are being evicted from motels? When do these fuckers ever work?
How many US citizens work through the weekends just to keep food on the table, and where do these scumbags get off thinking they can even consider something like “free time” with all the myriad crises this country faces?
If 9/11 “changed everything” then one thing it should also have changed is that no government official shall have any free time or vacation whatsoever. Nada. Ru(i)n(n)g the country should be a 24/7, no weekends, no vacation, full-time JOB.
Lawrence O’Donnell opined on that very same thing last night on Scarborough. There followed an audible hush, as the other guests couldn’t believe he had said it.
of the shooting. Are we to believe that Whittington just stood there and watched him raise his gun and aim, and never indicated his presence? Did not call out? Did not move to one side, or even duck?
If the victim is blind, or nearly so, they should be emphasizing that, I am surprised that no one in the media has questioned this, as some are being a bit less laudatory than usual.
It sounds more like a tipsy Cheney walked up to this guy and just shot him before he had time to react.
everytime I heare that Mr. Whittington didn’t “announce himself” as if it’s his fault he got shot in the face. Isn’t it ultimately the shooter’s responsbility to make sure he knows where every member of his party is located?
it goes a bit beyond a question of announcing himself. We are to believe that not only did he not announce himself, he stood their quietly, watched Cheney raise his gun and aim it, and waited meekly to be shot.
For men with heart disease: Get your blood sugar down – levels previously considered normal (non-diabetic) still pose a heart disease risk.
The American College of Physicians believes the US primary care system is nearing collapse, blaming problems with payments to doctors and the fact that young doctors are choosing more lucrative specialties over internal medicine.
The college released proposals on 30 January for sweeping reforms. It warned that, if they were not enacted, “within a few years there will not be enough primary care physicians to take care of an ageing population with increasing incidences of chronic diseases.”
The college called for policy makers to evaluate a new way of financing and delivering primary care, which they have called the “advanced medical home” model.
This new approach would use health information technology and other innovations to provide comprehensive and coordinated preventive care. The emphasis would be on working with patients to manage chronic conditions successfully, rather than merely intervening during an acute episode, something which the current method of reimbursement tends encourage. . . link
Ragweed pollen production can be expected to increase significantly in the future due to climate change. In a just world, Bush administration officials would be hay fever sufferers.
Astronomy and Physics News:
Astronomers studying a disk of material circling a still-forming star in the Milky Way have discovered the inner part of the disk is rotating in the opposite direction of the outer part of the disk. Link.
On the scale of the vast reaches of space, matter does not seem to be obeying the laws of gravitation as formulated by Newton and modified by Einstein. The primary theory proposed to address the discrepancy has been that unseen “dark matter” exists, adding its gravitational influence. Others propose modifications to the theory of gravitation. Here is a link announcing a new theory to be presented from the latter camp in this ongoing debate.
Environmental News:
Brazil has designated an area twice the size of Belgium as an environmentally-protected zone in its Amazon region, the government announced Tuesday.
An underwater mountain that forms the world’s third-largest atoll has some of the richest diversity of marine life ever found in the Caribbean, according to scientists who recently explored the area.
Theatrical Release for Gore Documentary: The producers of a global warming documentary starring former Vice President Al Gore have landed a worldwide distribution deal with Paramount Pictures’ specialty label, the Viacom Inc.-owned studio said on Tuesday. “An Inconvenient Truth,” profiling Gore’s campaign to raise awareness about the links between carbon emissions and climate change and making his case for what should be done about it, will open in US theaters on May 26, Paramount said.
“See, we don’t need no stinkin’ Endangered Species Act…” Citing a dramatic increase in the number of bald eagles, the head of the US Fish and Wildlife Service announced a plan on Monday that could remove the national symbol from protections under the federal Endangered Species Act.
Global warming is gaining respectability as a concern in the deep red South: Story here.
Energy and Technology News:
The NY Times reports wind energy is biggest winner in push for new energy sources so far: By contrast, persistent shortages of silica, needed to make solar panels, have kept the solar energy sector from taking off on a similar trajectory. Few Wall Street dollars are going to projects that involve wresting megawatts from agricultural waste, be it crops like corn or the switchgrass Mr. Bush mentioned in the State of the Union address. There has been almost no interest, at least so far, in methane generated from manure.
Is it ok to do a little promotion of my work in this community? If so, here is an editorial from our local paper yesterday in support of the non-profit I work with.
Even though it has been around for three decades, it’s one of those community-based neighborhood programs that often flies under the radar — unless you’re a kid in trouble, a school administrator or a cop. These are just some of the groups of people who are singing the praises of St. Paul Youth Services, a quasi-family counseling, social work, criminal justice program that has had phenomenal success intervening when kids and families first get in trouble and keeping them on the straight and narrow.
It is by no means just a traditional social work program. It’s a partnership among the city, the schools and the police department that holds young first-time offenders accountable but also goes the extra step to help them get back on track. The results speak for themselves. Of the kids and families the agency works with, more than 90 percent never have another run-in with the criminal justice system.
Is it costly? You bet, especially if a student or family takes advantage of the plethora of social services, mental health, family services and jobs counseling the agency offers. But given its phenomenal success rate, the more important question is: What is the cost without it?
“There are some kids who, with a little bit of intervention, can become productive members of society,” said St. Paul City Council President Kathy Lantry, who also sits on the agency’s board.
She’s a particularly big fan of All Children Excel (ACE), a federally funded, intensive program for violent youthful offenders.
“It’s incredible how these kids turn their lives around,” Lantry said. “They have a social worker assigned full time, and that’s expensive. But what’s the cost if you don’t do it?”
Harpers Ferry. Pro: People had a great time and the location seemed to work well. Con: We’ve been there.
Washington, D.C. Pro: Lots to do. Smithsonians. Zoo. Con: Might not be best location for those who don’t get around easily but we’d love to see like barbwires.
Baltimore. Fells Point. Pro: Lots of fun for the adults. Con: Might not be as fun for the children.
A state park in Maryland like Greenbrier or Seneca. Pro: Lots to do for the children. Picnic tables for the adults to sit and talk. Con: Might not be enough of a “highlight” to bring up people from North Carolina like a more popular tourist destination.
Those all sound good. For anyone who missed the first part of this, we’re talking about a PA-MD-DC blog meetup like we did last year in May. Anybody else who’s interested, please chime in here with thoughts and/or suggestions!
Here is something interesting from the Philanthropy News Digest… For anyone who is paying off their school loans Fannie Mae is probably a household name. Nice to think the interest off our school loans are helping to finance crooked Repuglican lobbyists! _______________
Senate Committee Investigates Contributions From Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac (2/10/06)
The Senate Finance Committee (http://finance.senate.gov/) has begun an investigation into whether Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac abused the tax-exempt status of their foundations to circumvent campaign finance and lobbying laws, Dow Jones Newswires reports.
The committee is looking at whether executives of the federally chartered companies have used their charitable foundations to expand their access to key members of Congress. The move builds on the committee’s investigation of several charities tied to discredited lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who recently pleaded guilty to bribery and other criminal charges in a broader public corruption probe. Spokesmen for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac said their organizations weren’t aware of the committee’s investi-gation; both declined further comment.
Fannie Mae has dramatically overhauled its lobbying practices since last August, when the Department of Housing and Urban Development informed its CEO that the company had improperly used regional partnership offices to lobby Congress. Fannie Mae’s nonprofit arm, the Fannie Mae Foundation, has also drawn increased scrutiny from regulators for grants made to charities closely aligned with key Congressional lawmakers. Public records show the Freddie Mac Foundation also has made sizable donations to several charities directly linked to members of Congress.
“I’m concerned that we’re seeing more and more charities used in the best interests of lobbyists, not of the public,” said Senate Finance Committee chairman Charles Grassley (R-IA). “Recent reports about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and their charitable foundations have raised serious questions.”
Yesterday I wrote a diary, “Is US Attack on Iran Imminent?. In a few comments the question was: Who’ll be our allies this round?.
In the afternoon one US Senator ruled out a few key allies.
Senator Brownback, high profiled Republican – in his speech to the Heritage Foundation, (reported by Reuters) – called for tough measures (sanctions) against Russia and China; that these two powers’ would not be helping the west in curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Brownback is reported saying “The two UN vetoes were bought by Iran.”
Just mulling if Brownback recognizes sanctions are an act of hostility/war. Yea, we call that poking a finger in your banker’s eye.
The hypocrisy aside, we sure excel at dissing allies, and near allies essential to extricating us from the current hot spots – Iraq, Iran and North Korea.
Today’s news: Two items on our misadventure – a Rambo movie and a related commentary.
The movie – reported on by Knight Ridder via Laura Rozen, is a ‘runaway success.’ It’s recommended ‘a must see’ by of all people, Turkey’s Prime Minister.
Imo, it’s extremely disturbing. US military personnel are urged to avoid movie theaters where its being shown and to avoid discussing it with strangers.
It appears that I just reposted your link. I’m very sorry, Idredit. I scanned the comments for the headline and missed your post. I agree that it’s a must read. Again, sorry… if I could delete my comment, I would.
I haven’t seen this on the blogs, but maybe I missed it. This is just one more outrage in a series of outrages for me. I think it is just dandy to have the Saudi’s overseeing 6 of our major Ports in the US. I feel much safer now. . .WTF????? We not only outsource our jobs to foreign countries, now we are bringing in foreign countries to operate some of our most vital operations. Not to worry though, the Saudi’s say they will probably still hire some American longshoremen, etc. to do the grunt work. . .but knowing how they do not recognize or want to deal with Unions of any kind, how likely is that?
From the Washington Post
By Ted Bridis
Associated Press
Sunday, February 12, 2006; Page A17
A company in the United Arab Emirates is poised to take over significant operations at six American ports as part of a corporate sale, leaving a country with ties to the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers with influence over a maritime industry considered vulnerable to terrorism.
The Bush administration considers the UAE an important ally in the fight against terrorism since the suicide hijackings and is not objecting to Dubai Ports World’s purchase of London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co.
[snip]
The $6.8 billion sale could be approved Monday and would affect commercial port operations in New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia.
[snip]
DP World said it won approval from a secretive U.S. government panel that considers security risks of foreign companies buying or investing in American industry. The U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States “thoroughly reviewed the potential transaction and concluded they had no objection,” the company said in a statement.
[snip]
The State Department describes the UAE as a vital partner in the fight against terrorism. But the UAE, a loose federation of seven emirates on the Saudi peninsula, was an important operational and financial base for the hijackers who carried out the attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the FBI concluded.
I had read this also Shirl and was pretty dumbfounded…and it’s almost laughable that bushco actually says the UAE is a vital ally in the war on terror-the irony there is almost palpable. As you say..WTF?
in the war on terror. If any should balk, they have but to look to Iraq, a former client state whose native overseer became uppity and decided not to be a vital ally in the war on terror.
Or Afghanistan, where the Taliban turned down a very generous offer to become a vital ally in the war on terror.
Popular Turkish movie portrays American soldiers as brutal killers
BERLIN – A Turkish-made film that portrays American soldiers in Iraq as brutal and callous killers is setting attendance records in Turkey and has just opened throughout Europe.
From the opening seconds to the dramatic conclusion, the movie, “The Valley of the Wolves – Iraq,” portrays Americans as wearing the black hats.
In one scene, an American doctor, played by actor Gary Busey, is furious because troops keep killing Iraqi prisoners before they reach the Abu Ghraib prison. The doctor’s problem? If the Iraqis are dead, he can’t harvest their organs to send to Israel.
The movie, the most expensive production in Turkish film history, has been a runaway success in Turkey since it opened Feb. 3. Would-be viewers must wait weeks for tickets. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, according to Turkish press reports, recommended the film to friends after a private screening. His wife noted, “It’s a beautiful film.”
My prediction is that we won’t see this movie on the Oscar list next year.
looks like Ann Coulter may faces charges in Florida-a $5000 fine and five years behind bars.” Now, I won’t totally spoil it for you. Go take a read.
Hint:
Here’s the sticky part for The Right’s Lady Macbeth: She wrote down an Indian Road address instead of Seabreeze on her voter’s registration application. And she signed to certify the information as true.
“She never lived here,” said Suzanne Frisbie, owner of the Indian Road home. “I’m Ann’s Realtor, and she used this address to forward mail when she moved from New York.”
All of the lies and falafels and they just write a damn check and carry on as usual! Here’s a cool falafel recipe…….it uses Fava beans which always gives me flashbacks of Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs. Perhaps I will make some of these for the Friday Wake.
Dunno about that- just being able to pay a fine. If the reporter got the facts right, it read; “a $5,000 fine and five years behind bars.” So is it a fine OR bars?
Could be the fine and plus doing some time at the judge’s discretion, depending on FLorida statute and guidelines.
She’ll most likely take a page from Tom Delay, refuse to appear before any judge who contributed to the Democratic Party.
Former President Rene Preval said on Tuesday he won last week’s election outright and urged Haitian elections officials to hold off publishing final election results because of possible fraud. “We are sure of having won in the first round,” Preval said in his first significant comments on the election results in the week since the vote. (Preval says he won Haitian election)
Executive Director of Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) Jacques Bernard, an appointee of ‘interim’ Prime Minister Gerard Latortue, indicated Saturday evening that the percentage of votes for Presidential candidate Rene Préval in the February 7 presidential elections was actually lower than originally estimated. This was due to the addition of 72,000 blank ballots. A spokesman for the electoral council said blank votes had not been counted in past elections, but these ballots were added to vote totals used to calculate each candidate’s tally, effectively lowering each candidate’s percentage of the overall vote and dropping the vote for Préval to less than 50 percent. If this stands, there will be a runoff vote, presumably pitting Préval against elite-backed Leslie Manigat, who only received around 12 percent of the vote.
Haiti’s elections on February 7 went well enough that the post-election vote counting should have been uncontroversial. The turnout was huge, there was almost no violence, and the people’s choice was so clear that the second place finisher received less than 12% of the vote. But incredibly, a week later the final results have not been declared, and the Electoral Council is in disarray. The voters have taken to the streets to protect their vote, and the clear winner is alleging fraud.
The battle lines have been drawn around the 50% of the total vote that former President Rene Preval needs to avoid a runoff election against his distant nearest challenger. Initial official results and unofficial reports had Mr. Preval comfortably above that bar, but his official numbers crept steadily downward over the last week. As of Tuesday morning, with 90% of the votes counted, Mr. Preval was stuck at 48.7%, 22,586 votes shy of outright victory. {snip}
Counting Some of the Votes
After the problems with registration and voting, Mr. Preval’s supporters were pleasantly surprised that the CEP gave him a large lead in initial reports. On Thursday, the CEP announced that with 22% of the votes counted, Preval had a commanding lead with 62% of the vote. Mr. Manigat trailed at 11%, and Charles Henri Baker, in third place, had 6%. Unofficial reports of the local results from international and Haitian observers and journalists consistently had Preval far over 50%. But by Saturday night the Preval’s official vote had decreased to 49.61%, and by Monday it was at 48.7%.
The IGH claims that Preval’s decrease was the result of more information coming in and better calculations. But many questions about the tabulation process, combined with the efforts to suppress the Lavalas vote before and during election day, raise doubts about those claims. On Tuesday afternoon, Mr. Preval claimed that he had proof that he won 54% of the vote, and that the Electoral Council fraudulently reduced his number. {snip}
Who’s In Charge?
The Electoral Council is supposed to be running the counting, but it is not. Jacques Bernard was appointed “Executive Director” of the Council- a position not previously recognized in Haitian law- by the Prime Minister late last year. He is running the show and has kept regular Council members out of the counting room. Councilor Pierre Richard Duchemin charges “manipulation,” and “an effort to stop people from asking questions.” Another Councilor, Patrick Fequiere, claims that Mr. Bernard is working without the Council and not telling them where his information is coming from. The UN Peacekeeping mission was forced to remove the doors to the tabulation center to prevent Mr. Bernard and his advisors from acting secretly.
Uncounted Votes
A large number of tally sheets from polling centers are not being counted. 254 sheets were destroyed, reportedly by gangs from political parties opposed to Preval. 504 tally sheets reportedly lack the codes needed to enter them officially. The missing tally sheets probably represent about 190,000 votes- over 9% of the total votes cast- and according to the UN, disproportionately affect poor areas that support Preval.
Null and Blank Votes
Electoral officials have also discarded 147,765 votes, over 7% of the total, as “null.” Article 185 of the Electoral Code allows officials to nullify ballots if they “cannot recognize the intention or political will of the elector.” The Presidential ballots were complicated- 33 candidates, each with a photo, an emblem and the names of the candidate and the party. Some Haitian voters, unused to filling out forms or writing, undoubtedly made mistakes-like marking two boxes- that made determining their choice impossible. But 147,765 voided votes is a lot, especially when that decision was made by local officials handpicked by an Electoral Council that had no representation from Lavalas or Lespwa. Overly strict criterion (such as requiring an “x” to be completely within a candidate’s box), even if neutrally applied, would have a disproportionate impact on Preval voters, who are more unused to filling out forms than their better-heeled compatriots, and therefore more likely to make mistakes.
Another group of votes, 85,290, or 4.6%, are classified as blank ballots. These votes are actually counted against Preval, because they are included in the total number of valid votes that provides the baseline for the 50% threshold. This is a potentially reasonable system, just unreasonably applied to Haiti. It allows voters to show their displeasure with all the candidates by voting for no one. It makes sense in wealthy countries, but it is absurd to think that 85,000 people would leave their babies, their fields and other work and spend hours walking or waiting in the tropical heat just to say they did not like any of the 33 candidates. A more likely explanation is that illiterate voters got confused by the complicated ballots and marked nothing. Again, this problem would disproportionately affect poor voters likely to vote for Preval. But even if it did not- if the blank votes were allocated to candidates based on their percentage of other votes- Preval would clear 50%.
The blank and null ballots combined exceeded Mr. Manigat’s vote by 17,000. The rules for blank and null votes are consistent with previous Haitian elections, so it is hard to call the rules themselves fraudulent. But the scale of the distortion of the vote caused by these rules was both foreseeable and preventable. The same problem has arisen at every election since 1990, most of which were observed by the UN and the Organization of American States, which were active in preparing the elections this time around. The distortion could be sharply reduced with a simple voter education campaign: going into poor neighborhoods, showing how to mark ballots and giving voters an opportunity to practice on sample ballots. There was money available for such a program- the election cost over $70 million dollars, most of it coming from abroad, more than $30 for every vote cast. The political parties, many of which represented a fraction of one percent of the electorate, received generous subsidies. But no concerted effort was made to help the much larger share of the voters who had demonstrated difficulty with filling out the ballots.
Haiti’s electoral council said on Tuesday it would launch an investigation after burned ballots, many cast a week ago for former president Rene Preval, were found still smoldering in a state dump . . .hundreds and maybe thousands of ballots had been found discarded in a massive garbage dump in Port-au-Prince . . .
That’s absolutely unacceptable,” said Rosemond Pradel, secretary-general of the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) charged with organizing the impoverished Caribbean country’s presidential election — the first vote since Aristide was ousted by an armed revolt and international pressure to quit.
“The CEP was not handling the ballots,” Pradel said. He said securing the ballots after they had been cast was the responsibility of the 9,000-strong U.N. force trying to keep the peace in Haiti, known by its acronym MINUSTAH.”I cannot answer to those problems but we are going to set up a commission to investigate the problem,” Pradel said.U.N. spokesman David Wimhurst said ballots were supposed to have been sealed in bags and placed in a container, protected by U.N. troops. “It’s not normal to have these ballots there.”
Brazil, whose military is leading the United Nations peacekeeping force in Haiti, said on Wednesday that the best way to ease election tensions in the Caribbean nation would be to declare former president Rene Preval the victor.”Considering the existing climate in the country, that would be the best solution,” President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s chief foreign relations advisor, Marco Aurelio Garcia, told reporters in Brasilia . . . One way the electoral council could do this, he said, would be to choose not to recognize blank and nullified ballots, which would give Preval an absolute majority.
Government officials in Haiti . . . have announced plans to form a commission to review the contested results of that country’s February 7 election . . . The commission will be composed of members of the president’s office, representatives from the Provisional Election Council (CEP), and members of the political party of leading presidential candidate Rene Preval. Final results will not be released until after the commission has completed its review.
This story from the WaPo is seriously bad news for proponents of ‘checks & balances’ opposed to unbridled executive authority:
Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. has hired one of the architects of then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft’s policies to serve as his law clerk at the Supreme Court for the rest of the current term, the court announced yesterday.
Adam G. Ciongoli, 37, a senior vice president at Time Warner Inc., served as counselor to Ashcroft from 2001 to 2003. He attended Georgetown University Law Center, clerked for Alito at the Philadelphia-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit from 1995 to 1996, and helped prepare the justice for his recent confirmation hearings.
Ciongoli was an aide to Ashcroft during Ashcroft’s years as a senator and then came to the Justice Department, where he advised Ashcroft on terrorism issues in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Among the issues he worked on were the detention of thousands of terrorism suspects in the United States and the use of military tribunals to try them. {snip}
. . . Though there has been a slight trend at the court toward hiring law clerks with a few years of work experience, the vast majority of clerks are recent law school graduates.
Among those who have come to the court after working elsewhere, none in recent memory had held a government position as senior as Ciongoli’s at the Justice Department, where he was widely regarded as one of Ashcroft’s closest confidants.
Some people travel in charmed circles — DOJ to Time Warner (whose magazine editors withheld vital news before the last election) to the Supreme Court. Only the paranoid would find this disquieting. Right?
US introduces radical new strategy: Guardian
Anyone remember my bit about Rummy selling weapons in Algeria on Monday?
Glad this is being reported in the here in the US. Oh, wait….
LAT article [via PDA]; WaPo; and Global Security. Also covered extensively, and in-depth at the usual think-tanks. Rummy’s traveling roadshow is the one he should have made in ’02, when most of the planet supported the U.S. WOT.
Now those of us in the electronic print world are fighting the WOE = War on Error.
Sounds like a war with no end. Finally the neo’s are within reach of their dream.
In Massachusetts, anyway: AP/CBS
What a surprise: Guardian
After reading the story in yesterday’s NYT, I did a little editorial touch-up job on the article:
German court rejects hijack law
Nice to see that some countries feel a need to respect their own constitution.
Protest at UN arrests in Eritrea
Full Article
Shockingly, you’ve missed the most important news story of the day:
Link
with implants is protesting something “Southern”. It’s gonna fry Nascar brains down here. I bet they won’t even talk about it if someone brings something up about it. I just found out that I live in the hub of the pageant South. It was finally explained to me three days ago by a very traveled local school teacher that Dothan Alabama is the heartbeat of the beauty pageant body that the South loves so much. Pam Anderson has a power down here that I can only dream about!
I’m no expert, but I believe that she had her implants removed. Now she’s totally down to earth, just one of us folks.
The last time I caught anything about those two particular mammary glands they were only being downsized.
Just one of the perks of being a member of Congress
Wow that was fast. Yesterday I posted about how there was a move in the Florida state lege to provide some meager legislative workaround to the most anti-gay adoption law in the country. Today that bill’s been dropped. It will continue to be categorically illegal for gays to adopt children in Florida, with no legal remedy available whatsoever.
I haven’t been home in almost 11 years. Guess it’s still not safe there.
Here in SF we tried….Happy Almost Happened 2nd Anniversary
Today is the 2nd anniverary of Mayor Newsom’s historic attempt at making laws equal. San Francisco Chronicle – read more about the story 2 years later.
What do I remember? Streets filled with lots of people in love and celebrating their lives together….young and old. Flowers, champagne, double tux weddings, double wedding gown weddings, and everything in between.
So this morning I’m sending love to all of our GLBT couples and friends here at Booman – to celebrate an almost 2nd anniversary.
Thanks, SallyCat. Wasn’t that anniversary on Feb 12, though? Good wishes are always welcome. 🙂
got it wrong! That’s what I get for reading the local paper this morning.
They were probably getting ready for Valentine’s Day with their sweeties (of all persuasions!) and got sidetracked! ;^)
Good wishes are always there!
Thanks to an article over @ gizmag, we can now assume the Veep suffered from after-effects of TMS (Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation). “Non invasive and painless, it can temporarily inactivate an area of the human brain . . .”
Yeah, th-th-that’s it.
In a thread last night, I asked some questions to which I have yet to see satisfactory answers or explanations, either from the corporate media, or bloggers who have been paying much closer attention to this story than I have.
So I am becoming increasingly convinced that Cheney was operating under the influence of more cocktails than anyone should have before handling firearms under any circumstances…
Feel free to debunk.
I believe someone (Murka?) addressed this same question last night on Olbermann. The 30-yd distance claim makes no sense to TX quail hunters.
On the “cocktail-theory”:
What I have been wondering forever is how these scumbags actually sleep at night, how they can live with themselves.
At this point, I’m pretty convinced that all of them are heavily medicated and/or inebriated, all or most of the time. They are in a complete fog. Either that, or they have all secretly had “bionic hearts” implanted, just like Cheney.
The way they live is beyond human comprehension. They must either be non-human (robots? clones?), or completely self-medicated, either w alcohol or drugs.
My big question thru all of this is more basic:how the fuck does the VP of the US even get off going on a leisurely drive-by hunting spree on a Saturday afternoon while at the same time Katrina victims are being evicted from motels? When do these fuckers ever work?
How many US citizens work through the weekends just to keep food on the table, and where do these scumbags get off thinking they can even consider something like “free time” with all the myriad crises this country faces?
If 9/11 “changed everything” then one thing it should also have changed is that no government official shall have any free time or vacation whatsoever. Nada. Ru(i)n(n)g the country should be a 24/7, no weekends, no vacation, full-time JOB.
End of rant.
Lawrence O’Donnell opined on that very same thing last night on Scarborough. There followed an audible hush, as the other guests couldn’t believe he had said it.
of the shooting. Are we to believe that Whittington just stood there and watched him raise his gun and aim, and never indicated his presence? Did not call out? Did not move to one side, or even duck?
If the victim is blind, or nearly so, they should be emphasizing that, I am surprised that no one in the media has questioned this, as some are being a bit less laudatory than usual.
It sounds more like a tipsy Cheney walked up to this guy and just shot him before he had time to react.
everytime I heare that Mr. Whittington didn’t “announce himself” as if it’s his fault he got shot in the face. Isn’t it ultimately the shooter’s responsbility to make sure he knows where every member of his party is located?
it goes a bit beyond a question of announcing himself. We are to believe that not only did he not announce himself, he stood their quietly, watched Cheney raise his gun and aim it, and waited meekly to be shot.
That is not believable to me.
Sorry for being off-line for a couple of days due to work commitments; meanwhile the science news backed up…
Health News:
Pandemic risk rises as bird flu spreads; countries affected include Iran, Germany, Austria, Italy, Greece, and Nigeria. Authorities have declared a bird flu alert in a southern Iraqi province and called for security forces to prevent people from carrying birds in and out of the area, officials said Wednesday. Link to CDC Bird Flu web pages
For men with heart disease: Get your blood sugar down – levels previously considered normal (non-diabetic) still pose a heart disease risk.
Ragweed pollen production can be expected to increase significantly in the future due to climate change. In a just world, Bush administration officials would be hay fever sufferers.
Astronomy and Physics News:
Astronomers studying a disk of material circling a still-forming star in the Milky Way have discovered the inner part of the disk is rotating in the opposite direction of the outer part of the disk. Link.
On the scale of the vast reaches of space, matter does not seem to be obeying the laws of gravitation as formulated by Newton and modified by Einstein. The primary theory proposed to address the discrepancy has been that unseen “dark matter” exists, adding its gravitational influence. Others propose modifications to the theory of gravitation. Here is a link announcing a new theory to be presented from the latter camp in this ongoing debate.
Environmental News:
Brazil has designated an area twice the size of Belgium as an environmentally-protected zone in its Amazon region, the government announced Tuesday.
An underwater mountain that forms the world’s third-largest atoll has some of the richest diversity of marine life ever found in the Caribbean, according to scientists who recently explored the area.
Snows of Kilimanjaro disappearing at accelerating rate, worsening water shortage in drought-stricken area.
Theatrical Release for Gore Documentary: The producers of a global warming documentary starring former Vice President Al Gore have landed a worldwide distribution deal with Paramount Pictures’ specialty label, the Viacom Inc.-owned studio said on Tuesday. “An Inconvenient Truth,” profiling Gore’s campaign to raise awareness about the links between carbon emissions and climate change and making his case for what should be done about it, will open in US theaters on May 26, Paramount said.
“See, we don’t need no stinkin’ Endangered Species Act…” Citing a dramatic increase in the number of bald eagles, the head of the US Fish and Wildlife Service announced a plan on Monday that could remove the national symbol from protections under the federal Endangered Species Act.
Global warming is gaining respectability as a concern in the deep red South: Story here.
Energy and Technology News:
The NY Times reports wind energy is biggest winner in push for new energy sources so far: By contrast, persistent shortages of silica, needed to make solar panels, have kept the solar energy sector from taking off on a similar trajectory. Few Wall Street dollars are going to projects that involve wresting megawatts from agricultural waste, be it crops like corn or the switchgrass Mr. Bush mentioned in the State of the Union address. There has been almost no interest, at least so far, in methane generated from manure.
Is it ok to do a little promotion of my work in this community? If so, here is an editorial from our local paper yesterday in support of the non-profit I work with.
More than okay, it’s welcomed! Thank you!
KUDOS! NL, very heartwarming to see (I think I mentioned that I used to do a lot of work w ‘at-risk’ youth in the TC area)…keep it up!
What a wonderful story!
Here’s some possibilities for the meetup:
Those all sound good. For anyone who missed the first part of this, we’re talking about a PA-MD-DC blog meetup like we did last year in May. Anybody else who’s interested, please chime in here with thoughts and/or suggestions!
Also Virginia and North Carolina too made the trip. It was an absolutely wonderful day. The only downside was the day had to end.
Here is something interesting from the Philanthropy News Digest… For anyone who is paying off their school loans Fannie Mae is probably a household name. Nice to think the interest off our school loans are helping to finance crooked Repuglican lobbyists!
_______________
Senate Committee Investigates Contributions From Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac (2/10/06)
The Senate Finance Committee (http://finance.senate.gov/) has begun an investigation into whether Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac abused the tax-exempt status of their foundations to circumvent campaign finance and lobbying laws, Dow Jones Newswires reports.
The committee is looking at whether executives of the federally chartered companies have used their charitable foundations to expand their access to key members of Congress. The move builds on the committee’s investigation of several charities tied to discredited lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who recently pleaded guilty to bribery and other criminal charges in a broader public corruption probe. Spokesmen for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac said their organizations weren’t aware of the committee’s investi-gation; both declined further comment.
Fannie Mae has dramatically overhauled its lobbying practices since last August, when the Department of Housing and Urban Development informed its CEO that the company had improperly used regional partnership offices to lobby Congress. Fannie Mae’s nonprofit arm, the Fannie Mae Foundation, has also drawn increased scrutiny from regulators for grants made to charities closely aligned with key Congressional lawmakers. Public records show the Freddie Mac Foundation also has made sizable donations to several charities directly linked to members of Congress.
“I’m concerned that we’re seeing more and more charities used in the best interests of lobbyists, not of the public,” said Senate Finance Committee chairman Charles Grassley (R-IA). “Recent reports about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and their charitable foundations have raised serious questions.”
“Senate Finance Panel Probes GSE Charities.”
Dow Jones Newswires 2/07/06.
Losing Allies
Yesterday I wrote a diary, “Is US Attack on Iran Imminent?. In a few comments the question was: Who’ll be our allies this round?.
In the afternoon one US Senator ruled out a few key allies.
Senator Brownback, high profiled Republican – in his speech to the Heritage Foundation, (reported by Reuters) – called for tough measures (sanctions) against Russia and China; that these two powers’ would not be helping the west in curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Brownback is reported saying “The two UN vetoes were bought by Iran.”
Just mulling if Brownback recognizes sanctions are an act of hostility/war. Yea, we call that poking a finger in your banker’s eye.
The hypocrisy aside, we sure excel at dissing allies, and near allies essential to extricating us from the current hot spots – Iraq, Iran and North Korea.
Today’s news: Two items on our misadventure – a Rambo movie and a related commentary.
The movie – reported on by Knight Ridder via Laura Rozen, is a ‘runaway success.’ It’s recommended ‘a must see’ by of all people, Turkey’s Prime Minister.
Imo, it’s extremely disturbing. US military personnel are urged to avoid movie theaters where its being shown and to avoid discussing it with strangers.
So I caution, should you chose to read We’re losing Turkey
In light of the ongoing Danish cartoon protests and recent newly revealed pictures of Abu Garaib, we’re loss. Unbelievable.
The other piece is related: “Guess Who Is Sticking It To the Man?”
Our foreign policy, is designed to bring on the hate. Where’s maven Karen Hughes? Where’s Condi?
It appears that I just reposted your link. I’m very sorry, Idredit. I scanned the comments for the headline and missed your post. I agree that it’s a must read. Again, sorry… if I could delete my comment, I would.
No problem. Like we say in french, English = don’t mention (it).
But say how did you do that?
Do what? Screw up? Easy… I have lots of practice. 🙂
OK then, go for it. Enjoy.
I haven’t seen this on the blogs, but maybe I missed it. This is just one more outrage in a series of outrages for me. I think it is just dandy to have the Saudi’s overseeing 6 of our major Ports in the US. I feel much safer now. . .WTF????? We not only outsource our jobs to foreign countries, now we are bringing in foreign countries to operate some of our most vital operations. Not to worry though, the Saudi’s say they will probably still hire some American longshoremen, etc. to do the grunt work. . .but knowing how they do not recognize or want to deal with Unions of any kind, how likely is that?
Read the full article here: WaPo
I had read this also Shirl and was pretty dumbfounded…and it’s almost laughable that bushco actually says the UAE is a vital ally in the war on terror-the irony there is almost palpable. As you say..WTF?
in the war on terror. If any should balk, they have but to look to Iraq, a former client state whose native overseer became uppity and decided not to be a vital ally in the war on terror.
Or Afghanistan, where the Taliban turned down a very generous offer to become a vital ally in the war on terror.
Sometimes it makes you feel as if you are the only sane person in the asylum.
Link to Knight-Ridder story
BERLIN – A Turkish-made film that portrays American soldiers in Iraq as brutal and callous killers is setting attendance records in Turkey and has just opened throughout Europe.
From the opening seconds to the dramatic conclusion, the movie, “The Valley of the Wolves – Iraq,” portrays Americans as wearing the black hats.
In one scene, an American doctor, played by actor Gary Busey, is furious because troops keep killing Iraqi prisoners before they reach the Abu Ghraib prison. The doctor’s problem? If the Iraqis are dead, he can’t harvest their organs to send to Israel.
The movie, the most expensive production in Turkish film history, has been a runaway success in Turkey since it opened Feb. 3. Would-be viewers must wait weeks for tickets. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, according to Turkish press reports, recommended the film to friends after a private screening. His wife noted, “It’s a beautiful film.”
My prediction is that we won’t see this movie on the Oscar list next year.
WaaaaaaaaaaH. This IS rich.
via Reddhedd FDL
looks like Ann Coulter may faces charges in Florida-a $5000 fine and five years behind bars.” Now, I won’t totally spoil it for you. Go take a read.
Hint:
Why did she do that?
Read “I know but I’m not going to say,” Frisbie replied
I’d like to see the 5 year stint=jail time
That one’s funny…but you know she’ll just pay the fine.
All of the lies and falafels and they just write a damn check and carry on as usual! Here’s a cool falafel recipe…….it uses Fava beans which always gives me flashbacks of Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs. Perhaps I will make some of these for the Friday Wake.
Dunno about that- just being able to pay a fine. If the reporter got the facts right, it read; “a $5,000 fine and five years behind bars.” So is it a fine OR bars?
Could be the fine and plus doing some time at the judge’s discretion, depending on FLorida statute and guidelines.
She’ll most likely take a page from Tom Delay, refuse to appear before any judge who contributed to the Democratic Party.
Attempt to Block Democracy in Haiti, Again:
From Counting Some of the Votes in Haiti:
Burned ballots inflame Haitian election tensions:
Behind the Manipulation of Haiti’s Election
Haiti Democracy Project has U.S. Defense Dept Chief as an “election observer”
Brazil backs Preval’s claim to victory in Haiti:
Haiti government to review election returns:
This story from the WaPo is seriously bad news for proponents of ‘checks & balances’ opposed to unbridled executive authority:
Some people travel in charmed circles — DOJ to Time Warner (whose magazine editors withheld vital news before the last election) to the Supreme Court. Only the paranoid would find this disquieting. Right?