Where’s the Outrage?

Government investigators smuggled radioactive materials into U.S.
From David de Sola
CNN
Monday, March 27, 2006; Posted: 7:55 p.m. EST (00:55 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Two teams of government investigators using fake documents were able to enter the United States with enough radioactive sources to make two dirty bombs, according to a federal report made available Monday.

The investigators purchased a “small quantity” of radioactive materials from a commercial source while posing as employees of a fictitious company and brought the materials into the United States through checkpoints on the northern and southern borders, according to a Government Accountability Office report prepared for Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Chairman Norm Coleman, a Minnesota Republican.

“It’s just an indictment of the system that it’s easier to get radiological material than it is to get cold medicine,” said a senior subcommittee staffer about the findings.

The report, along with two others by the GAO on the subject of smuggling and detection of nuclear materials, were provided to reporters by congressional sources in advance of the first of two hearings by the subcommittee scheduled to begin Tuesday.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/03/27/radioactive.smuggling/index.html
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this is no surprise. Progressives have been stating for years that the Bush administration has not been serious about border security. This is simply more evidence to prove our point.

Tags: Border Security, Domestic Issues by ecthompson
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Moussaoui wants to get the death penalty to be a martyr to Muslim extremists. So what should you do? He just stated that he was part of a plot that was the biggest triumph of Muslim extremists. I do not believe a word that he said. Unless we are able to find any collaborating evidence his testimony is more useless than old chewing gum.

From the New York Times –

Moussaoui Says He Was Part of Plot to Attack White House
By DAVID STOUT
ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 27 — Zacarias Moussaoui testified in Federal District Court here today that he knew of Al Qaeda’s plans to fly jetliners into the World Trade Center and that he was to have piloted an airliner into the White House on Sept. 11, 2001.

Taking the stand before the jury that will determine whether he is put to death or spends the rest of his life in prison, Mr. Moussaoui related in calm, measured language that he was to have been accompanied on his death-dive into the White House by Richard C. Reid, the so-called shoe bomber, among others.

But when asked by his lawyer, Gerald T. Zerkin, about what role he had in planning the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people, Mr. Moussaoui said, “It’s difficult to say for sure what exactly my input was.”

And Mr. Moussaoui disputed the suggestion by the chief federal prosecutor, Robert G. Spencer, that he was “a big shot in Al Qaeda,” as Mr. Spencer put it in his cross-examination.

“Intermediate,” Mr. Moussaoui described himself.

Intelligence officials have long thought that Mr. Moussaoui was in some way going to be involved in an aerial attack, but have never had a clear sense of exactly what his role was to be.

Captured Al Qaeda detainees, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Ramzi Omar, also known as Ramsi Binalshibh, have portrayed Mr. Moussaoui as a relatively minor figure and said that while there were early discussions of a broader attack, the final plan for Sept. 11 was scaled back to involve only the four planes.

Tags: 9-11, Al Qaeda, Domestic Issues, Mess O'Potamia (Iraq/Iran/Israel/Palestine) by ecthompson
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Great Editorial in the NY Times today -
March 20, 2006
Editorial
The Road to Nowhere
It seems insane that the National Park Service would even think of spending $600 million on a road that few people want and nobody needs — especially when the service has barely enough money to keep up appearances. But that could happen unless the Interior Department musters the courage to resist Representative Charles Taylor of North Carolina.

Mr. Taylor, who says a new road would stimulate the local economy, runs the subcommittee that controls the Interior Department’s budget. For that reason, neither the park service nor Interior’s outgoing secretary, Gale Norton, has publicly criticized the idea. But there is more at stake here than pleasing one’s paymaster. The road would not only blow a hole in the department’s budget; it would also leave a scar on one of the most popular national parks.

At issue is a 30-mile road proposed for the north side of Fontana Lake on the eastern edge of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina. The road was promised to the residents of Swain County in 1943 when the Tennessee Valley Authority built a major hydroelectric dam, creating the lake and flooding out an existing road. After a fitful start in the 1960’s, the road was abandoned for environmental and budgetary reasons.

Those reasons still apply. The road, including three big bridges, each the length of the Brooklyn Bridge, would breach an unbroken tract of national forest, destroy wildlife habitat and poison hundreds of miles of streams. Its estimated cost of $604 million — up 40 percent from only a year ago — is three times the annual roads budget for the entire national park system, which is already suffering from a big repair backlog.

There is no pressing need for the project. Swain County has other roads. The road’s opponents include Bill Frist, the Senate majority leader, and Swain County’s own commissioners. There is broad agreement that restitution of some sort is due the residents of the region, and that the spirit if not the letter of the original agreement should be honored. A cash settlement of $52 million has been proposed.

As Mr. Taylor has noted, this will not generate the jobs and income that the road project would. But it’s fair, and it won’t do lasting damage. Interior should endorse the settlement. The department’s neutrality serves only to keep alive an idea that makes even less sense now than it did in 1943.
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this isn’t the best use of our money in my opinion.

Tags: Domestic Issues, State and Local Politics by ecthompson
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According to the National Priorities Project, we’ve spent $248 billion of the war in Iraq. 2,314 Americans have died. What have we accomplished? We have removed Saddam Hussain from power. Unfortunately, his trial has become an Iraqi version of the Montel Williams show. The biggest problem, for me, is that Iraq has diverted attention away from Afghanistan. We have not rebuilt, built, infrastructure in Afghanistan. Therefore, there is no disincentive not to grow poppy. Afghanistan is currently the number one producer of heroin in the world. Afghanistan receives more income from the sale of heroin than from any other single source. There were more American deaths in Afghanistan last year than there were during the invasion of Afghanistan. The Taliban are regrouping and reforming.

Some neoconservatives will try to convince us that Afghanistan is a success story and that is too early to tell in Iraq. Success in Afghanistan, for me, would be a stable government, the complete and total destruction of the Taliban (this includes killing or capturing the Taliban leaders). Success in Iraq, would include peace and prosperity for the Iraqi people. Outside of the Kurds in the north I’m not sure that any of the Shi’ites or Sunnis would say that they have obtained peace and prosperity.

Tags: 9-11, Afghanistan, Iraq, Mess O'Potamia (Iraq/Iran/Israel/Palestine), War on Terror by ecthompson
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T.O. is now a Dallas Cowboy. The Cowboys have also picked up an offensive tackle. It looks like they are going to pass this year to open up the run. With the Giants and Redskins being somewhat weak on the corners and strong in the front 7 it will going to be interesting in the East again this year.

Tags: Sports by ecthompson
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Yesterday, the New York Times broke a story on an elite special forces operation called task force 6 — 26. This unit operated before and after the Abu Ghraib revelations.

Before and After Abu Ghraib, a U.S. Unit Abused Detainees
By ERIC SCHMITT and CAROLYN MARSHALL
As the Iraqi insurgency intensified in early 2004, an elite Special Operations forces unit converted one of Saddam Hussein’s former military bases near Baghdad into a top-secret detention center. There, American soldiers made one of the former Iraqi government’s torture chambers into their own interrogation cell. They named it the Black Room.

In the windowless, jet-black garage-size room, some soldiers beat prisoners with rifle butts, yelled and spit in their faces and, in a nearby area, used detainees for target practice in a game of jailer paintball. Their intention was to extract information to help hunt down Iraq’s most-wanted terrorist, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, according to Defense Department personnel who served with the unit or were briefed on its operations.

The Black Room was part of a temporary detention site at Camp Nama, the secret headquarters of a shadowy military unit known as Task Force 6-26. Located at Baghdad International Airport, the camp was the first stop for many insurgents on their way to the Abu Ghraib prison a few miles away. [Read more →]

Tags: Al Qaeda, Iraq, Mess O'Potamia (Iraq/Iran/Israel/Palestine), Torture by ecthompson
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Where’s the outrage? Just hit the airwaves in Asheville, North Carolina and the Internet. The topic of my first show was border security. My guests were former Senator Bob Graham and P.J. Crowley from the Center for American progress. My guests were excellent. They were knowledgeable in their fields. They were extremely informative. You too can check out where’s the outrage? On 880 a.m. in Asheville, Saturday mornings at 9 a.m.

Tags: Domestic Issues, Other Political Thoughts by ecthompson
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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — The U.S. military will transfer detainees from Abu Ghraib to a new facility within three months, a U.S. military spokesman said Thursday.

About 4,500 detainees will be moved to Camp Cropper, a detention facility at Baghdad International Airport that is being expanded to handle the influx, said Lt. Col. Keir-Kevin Curry, in charge of detainee operations.

Camp Cropper has been holding “high-value detainees” and Saddam Hussein himself has been held there.

The new prison could be completed as early as two to three months from now, Curry said.

Abu Ghraib will be handed over to the Iraqi government, he said.

Abu Ghraib, notorious in Iraq for the treatment of prisoners there under Saddam Hussein, became notorious worldwide for the treatment of detainees there under U.S. forces after the U.S.-led invasion.

More than 25 people have been held accountable for criminal acts and other misconduct associated with prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib, according to the U.S. Defense Department’s Web site.

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This is no surprise. Wait until no one’s looking and cover up the mess.

Tags: Afghanistan, Mess O'Potamia (Iraq/Iran/Israel/Palestine), Torture by ecthompson
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WASHINGTON (CNN) — Congress sent its first shot across President Bush’s bow Wednesday, as the House Appropriations Committee voted 62-2 to block a controversial deal that would allow Dubai Ports World to operate some terminals at U.S. ports.

The amendment was inserted into an emergency supplemental funding bill for military actions in Iraq and Afghanistan. The bill also includes about $19 billion in disaster assistance for the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The full House could vote on the measure as early as next week. The committee’s approval was bipartisan. Democrat Rep. Jim Moran of Virginia and Republican Jim Kolbe of Arizona cast the only “no” votes.

The move comes after a series of congressional threats to challenge Bush. Members in both legislative houses announced this week they had introduced or were planning legislation to stop the United Arab Emirates-controlled firm from taking over operations at some U.S. ports. (Watch Republicans rocking the boat over the ports deal — 1:36)

Rep. Jerry Lewis of California, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, worked with other GOP leaders to amend the $68 billion Iraq war spending bill to include language that addresses security concerns raised by the deal.

The White House said it was concerned about the Lewis amendment because it could slow the passage of important legislation.

Find the rest of this article at:

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interesting development.

Tags: Domestic Issues, Legal, Mess O'Potamia (Iraq/Iran/Israel/Palestine) by ecthompson
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Peace at last
Owners approve labor deal; CBA extended six years
Posted: Wednesday March 8, 2006 11:48AM; Updated: Wednesday March 8, 2006 9:23PM

Paul Tagliabue can now turn his attention to other league matters after recent marathon negotiation sessions.
AP

GRAPEVINE, Texas (AP) — Labor peace was restored to the NFL when the owners agreed to the players’ union proposal Wednesday, extending the collective bargaining agreement for six years.

There were no further details on the accord, including whether it includes expanded revenue sharing.

The vote was 30-2, with Buffalo and Cincinnati, two low-revenue teams, voting against it.

Free agency, put off twice by the protracted negotiations between the owners and players, now will start at 12:01 a.m. Friday.

“It was a good compromise,” said Jim Irsay, owner of low-revenue Indianapolis. “We’re happy with it — 30-2 is a good vote.”

The agreement comes after a week of on-again, off-again negotiations, culminating in a two-day owners meeting.

No work stoppage was imminent — at least for the next two years — but no agreement would have sent teams scrambling to get under a lower salary cap, at $94.5 million. That would have put a number of veterans on the street and limited the amount of money available for other free agents.
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I hate when millionaires argue with millionaries over money. Don’t you?

Tags: Sports by ecthompson
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(CNN) — South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds signed a bill Monday that bans nearly all abortions in the state, legislation in direct conflict with the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion in 1973.

The new law defines life as originating “at the time of conception.”

“In the history of the world, the true test of a civilization is how well people treat the most vulnerable and most helpless in their society,” said a statement released by Rounds, a Republican.

“The sponsors and supporters of this bill believe that abortion is wrong because unborn children are the most vulnerable and most helpless persons in our society. I agree with them.”

Although the law — intended as a constitutional challenge to Roe v. Wade — is set to take effect July 1, Rounds said in the statement that he expects legal action will prevent that. He added that a settlement of the issue could take years and might ultimately be decided by the nation’s highest court.

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Of course, the governor is wrong. The most vulnerable people in our society are not the unborn but yet the born. We have millions of children that are being kicked off of welfare and Medicare payrolls. Tens of thousands of children are being abused and Child protective services are unable to protect these children because of budgetary cutbacks. We have left millions of children behind in education. We have far more important and pressing problems than abortion. But the far right continue to bring it up over and over again to distract us from the real problems.

Tags: Domestic Issues, Legal, Talkin' out Loud by ecthompson
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When is Michael Brown, former FEMA director, going to learn that we simply don’t care what he has to say. He has lied to us all a number of occasions. Someone needs to take the microphone away from this man.

The Associated Press has released a video which reveals that President Bush was briefed about the severity of hurricane Katrina. Again, this is not news. There was no doubt in my mind that he was briefed. The big question is did he hear and did he understand.

There are calls for a special commission to investigate the failures in Hurricane Katrina. There is no need for an investigation. We have all of the information that we need. Federal, State and local officials failed in planning and in implementing a plan to help the residents of the Gulf Coast. Republicans and Democrats failed.

The real tragedy is that the failure continues today. New Orleans is allowed to writh in agony. we either need to completely destroy it or rebuild it. Right now we’re doing neither and it is incredibly painful to watch and probably, most likely, more painful to live through.

 

 Bush briefed pre-Katrina [2:57m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Domestic Issues, Katrina by ecthompson
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From CNN.com: 

Former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham was sentenced Friday to eight years and four months in federal prison for collecting $2.4 million in homes, yachts, antique furnishings and other bribes on a scale unparalleled in the history of Congress.

It was the longest term ever meted out to a congressman. He was immediately taken into custody.

Cunningham, who resigned from Congress in disgrace last year, was spared the 10-year maximum by U.S. District Judge Larry Burns.

Cunningham, a Republican who resigned last year in disgrace, accepted money from defense contractors and others in exchange for steering government contracts their way and other favors.

Federal prosecutors sought the maximum and his attorneys asked for mercy.

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 Cunningham sentenced [5:14m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: House of Representatives, Legal by ecthompson
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CNNMoney.com:

BlackBerry maker Research in Motion said Friday it agreed to pay $612.5 million to patent holding company NTP to settle a long-running dispute that had threatened to shut down the popular wireless e-mail service for its 3 million users.

Canadian-based Research in Motion (Research) announced the settlement late Friday ahead of a U.S. judge’s expected ruling on damages in the case.

Under the settlement, NTP granted RIM the right to keep running its BlackBerry business, the company said in a statement.

“The agreement has been finalized and NTP’s lawsuit against RIM has been dismissed by a court order,” the Canadian company said. “The settlement means no further court proceedings or decisions about damages are necessary.”

RIM also issued a warning Friday, lowering its 4th-quarter revenue projections.

“This is an extremely positive development for RIM. The settlement basically makes the pre-warning irrelevant,” said Peter Misek, an analyst with Canaccord Capital. “There’s a lot of pent-up demand for RIM products, and competitors have not been able to capitalize on this.”

“This settlement was less than Wall Street expected,” he said.

Steve Maebius, an intellectual property lawyer with Foley & Lardner, said that recent developments at the patent office may have influenced the suit to be settled for less than the $1 billion that NTP had once demanded.
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Tags: Domestic Issues by ecthompson
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