solar electricity costs to drop over next three years ...affordable...
Solar Energy Poised to Go Mainstream, Say Researchers

Aaron Glantz, OneWorld US Thu May 24, 12:20 PM ET

SAN FRANCISCO, May 24 (OneWorld) - Solar power is the fastest growing source of energy in the world and likely will become much more affordable in the next few years, according to a new report out this week.

"As production costs fall, technologies continue to advance, and supply and demand come into balance," the report reads, "[solar power] prices will fall more than 40 percent in the next three years relative to prices in late 2006. Such a decline would make solar electricity far more affordable in markets across the globe."

Additionally, China's strong entry in the field could drive prices down even further, the report's authors predict.

Already, global production of solar photovoltaic (PV) cells, which turn sunlight directly into electricity, has risen six-fold since 2000 and grew 41 percent in 2006 alone, says the report from the Washington, DC-based Worldwatch Institute and the Prometheus Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts. That makes solar power the world's fastest growing energy source, though grid-connected solar capacity still makes up less than 1 percent of the world market.

"Today, high cost is the largest barrier, but this is a temporary challenge," said Worldwatch's Janet Sawin, who authored the report.

The growth of solar power has been fastest in Japan and Germany, the report notes. Sawin said that's no accident. Those countries, she told OneWorld, have enacted laws friendly to solar power, which is generated without emitting carbon dioxide or other significant pollutants.

In Germany a law guarantees that owners of solar panels get a fixed price when they produce more solar energy than they consume and sell the excess back to the national electricity grid. In Spain, ordinances require "that new and renovated buildings include solar [power]."

Researchers said the biggest surprise in the report was the dramatic growth in PV production in China. Last year, China passed the United States, which first developed modern solar cell technology at Bell Labs in New Jersey in the 1950s, to become the world's third-largest producer of the cells -- trailing only Germany and Japan.

"To say that Chinese PV producers plan to expand production rapidly in the year ahead would be an understatement," Travis Bradford, president of the Prometheus Institute, said in a statement. "They have raised billions [of dollars] from international [initial public offerings (IPOs) of stock] to build capacity and increase scale with the goal of driving down costs. Four Chinese IPOs are expected to come to market this month alone."

Most of the solar panels manufactured in China are made for export, according to Sawin. "China is applying its world-leading skills at low-cost light manufacturing of devices such as televisions and computers to the solar industry."

Sawin said that China, with its growing need for energy, large work force, and strong industrial base, could drive dramatic reductions in PV prices in the next few years, helping to make solar energy prices competitive with conventional power even without subsidies.

Solar energy has already dramatically improved living conditions for some 100,000 people in rural India.

In the country where millions supplement a sparse and unreliable electricity grid with kerosene lighting, which is responsible for untold pollution-related deaths and disabilities each year, roof-installed solar panels have offered a clean energy alternative to run a small fan, radio, or television, and a few lights for working or reading.

A UN-sponsored program has encouraged banks in the southern Indian state of Karnataka to finance small loans for the solar systems -- typically $300 to $500 for a system to power two to four small lights or appliances.

The UN credits the solar panels with "better grades for schoolchildren, better productivity for needlework artisan groups and other cottage industries, and even better sales at fruit stands, where produce is no longer spoiled by fumes from kerosene lamps."

The India project has been so successful that similar solar energy programs are being initiated in Algeria, China, Egypt, Ghana, Indonesia, and Mexico, the UN said.

But in the United States, growth has not taken off. The Worldwatch report said only 202 megawatts of solar electricity were produced in the United States last year -- less power than a single coal or natural gas plant.

The legal atmosphere in the United States remains largely hostile to solar power, Worldwatch's Sawin said.

"Many homeowner associations forbid them," she said, and while a handful of states have adopted "net metering" laws, encouraging the use of solar power by allowing customers to run their electricity meters backwards when they feed the power their solar panels generate back into the grid, most states have not.

"There is no state in which customers are paid the full value of the power they generate with PV and feed into the grid," Sawin added, noting that solar panels produce the most electricity on hot days when demand is highest and conventional electricity is the most expensive.

Still, she remains optimistic about solar energy's future.

"The conventional energy industry will be surprised by how quickly solar PV becomes mainstream -- cheap enough to provide carbon-free electricity on rooftops, while also meeting the energy needs of hundreds of millions of poor people who currently lack electricity," she said.

Discuss this article

an return of civilian, democratic rule save Pakistan and flush out Bin Laden?
Bhutto, Sharif vow to return to Pakistan soon

1 hour, 39 minutes ago

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Exiled former Pakistani premiers, Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, vowed to return home regardless of President Pervez Musharraf's refusal to let them in the country before a general election due later this year.

"No matter what, I'm going back this year," Bhutto told Britain's Daily Telegraph in an interview published on Sunday.

Sharif, who is living in exile in London, said he was also planning to return to Pakistan in the near future, as challenges to General Musharraf's authority are mounting.

"The iron is hot, but after a few weeks or months it will start melting and I will go when it starts melting," said Sharif, the prime minister Musharraf ousted in a widely popular military coup in 1999.

Musharraf last week ruled out allowing either exiled former prime minister to return to Pakistan to take part in elections expected in December or January.

Speculation has been rife that Musharraf and Bhutto, who lives in self-imposed exile to avoid a raft of corruption cases against her, could overcome mutual distrust to strike some kind of power-sharing deal ahead of the election.

But the chances of that happening have receded following political violence on May 12 in Karachi, when about 40 people were killed during gun battles between pro-government activists and opposition party workers.

"It is inappropriate to talk of back-channel contacts against the background of the Karachi killings," Bhutto said.

Bhutto, who served twice as prime minister in the 1980s and 1990s, said Musharraf should call a meeting with opposition leaders, including her and Sharif, to steer the country out of the crisis brought on by Musharraf's attempt to sack Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry.

Regarded as an attack on the independence of the judiciary, Musharraf's move sparked countrywide protests by lawyers and the opposition. The clashes in the southern port city of Karachi were the worst political violence in Pakistan in years.

"THEY WANT TO MALIGN ME"

Musharraf said the judge's case was a purely legal and judicial issue and the opposition was trying to get political mileage by politicizing it.

"They want to harm me and my allies ... They want to malign me," Musharraf said at a rally in the northwestern city of Mansehra on Monday.

"I want you to be aware of this trap. You should support only truth and rightness."

Musharraf suspended Chaudhry on March 9 and ordered a judicial panel to investigate unspecified accusations of misconduct against him.

But the Supreme Court suspended the judicial panel's hearing after Chaudhry challenged its composition and its competence. The Supreme Court is hearing Chaudhry's petition but it is not clear when it will reach a decision.

Musharraf aims to be re-elected by the present national and provincial assemblies in September or October, about a month before they are dissolved for a general election, possibly in December.

Musharraf has not made his intentions clear on whether he will quit as army chief, as he is required to do by the end of this year under the constitution.

Re-election by the sitting assemblies, and the retention of his army post would inevitably raise constitutional challenges.

Many analysts believe that is why Musharraf has sought to replace the independent-minded chief justice with a more compliant judge.

Ta-dah! The sad, stubborn decline of a heroic, sainted weasel successfully struggles forth against the odds!
Think Progress

see for yourself... (http://thinkprogress.org/2007/05/18/mccain-fbomb/)

Hot topics: Ethics Iraq Congress Administration Iran Judiciary
McCain Drops F-Bomb On Senator When Confronted With Recent Absences

Busy campaigning for his presidential bid, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has missed over 40 consecutive roll-call votes, going five straight weeks “without casting a vote on the Senate floor.”

Yesterday, after apparently skipping most of the extended closed-door White House/Senate immigration negotiations, McCain “suddenly re-emerged” to take part in the press conference announcing the deal.

This isn’t sitting well with McCain’s colleagues. Tonight, Fox News correspondent Major Garrett reported that “anger burst forth memorably and loudly” when Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) accused McCain of being “too busy running for president.” McCain responded by using “the f-word toward Cornyn,” though it’s not clear “if the f-word was a verb or a gerund.”

Watch it:

Maybe McCain should take his own advice and “lighten up.”

Digg It!

UPDATE: Apparently it wasn’t just the f-word:

At a bipartisan gathering in an ornate meeting room just off the Senate floor, McCain complained that Cornyn was raising petty objections to a compromise plan being worked out between Senate Republicans and Democrats and the White House. He used a curse word associated with chickens and accused Cornyn of raising the issue just to torpedo a deal.

Things got really heated when Cornyn accused McCain of being too busy campaigning for president to take part in the negotiations, which have gone on for months behind closed doors. “Wait a second here,” Cornyn said to McCain. “I’ve been sitting in here for all of these negotiations and you just parachute in here on the last day. You’re out of line.”

McCain, a former Navy pilot, then used language more accustomed to sailors (not to mention the current vice president, who made news a few years back after a verbal encounter with Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont).

“[Expletive] you! I know more about this than anyone else in the room,” shouted McCain at Cornyn.

Transcript:

GARRETT: As this deal was being brokered behind the scenes, Fox News has learned, Republican anger burst forth memorably and loudly. Arizona’s John McCain and Texas’ John Cornyn argued over the compromise. McCain accused Cornyn of trying to sabotage it. Cornyn told McCain he wasn’t around to negotiate, too busy running for president. McCain, Fox News has been told, used the f-word toward Cornyn. We just can’t be sure if the f-word was a verb or a gerund.

Filed under: Congress, Immigration

Posted by Nico May 18, 2007 8:33 pm

Permalink | Comment (87)...

? 2005-2007 Center for American Progress Action Fund

Evolution is still denied in 2007. So are decsions to abolish Klan rule! All LINKS present and accounted for, MASSUH!
Carter blasts Bush, Blair on Iraq

Sat May 19, 7:06 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former President Jimmy Carter blasted George W. Bush's presidency as "the worst in history" in international relations and denounced British Prime Minister
Tony Blair's loyal relationship with Bush in interviews released on Saturday.

"I think as far as the adverse impact on the nation around the world, this administration has been the worst in history," Carter, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, said in a telephone interview with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette from the Carter Center in Atlanta.

"The overt reversal of America's basic values as expressed by previous administrations, including (those of) George H.W. Bush and
Ronald Reagan and
Richard Nixon and others, has been the most disturbing to me," Carter told the newspaper.

In an interview on Britain's BBC radio, Carter slammed Blair, who leaves office next month, for his tight relations with Bush, particularly concerning the
Iraq war.

"Abominable. Loyal, blind, apparently subservient," Carter said when asked how he would characterize Blair's relationship with Bush.

"I think that the almost undeviating support by Great Britain for the ill-advised policies of
President Bush in Iraq have been a major tragedy for the world," Carter said.

Carter, who was president from 1977-1981 and won the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize for his charitable work, was an outspoken opponent of the invasion of Iraq before it was launched in 2003.

In the newspaper interview, Carter said Bush had taken a "radical departure from all previous administration policies" with the Iraq war.

"We now have endorsed the concept of pre-emptive war where we go to war with another nation militarily, even though our own security is not directly threatened, if we want to change the regime there or if we fear that some time in the future our security might be endangered," Carter said.

REPUBLICANS STRIKE BACK

The White House declined to comment on his statements, but the
Republican National Committee struck back at Carter.

"Most Americans will probably take his criticisms with a grain of salt considering he also challenged Ronald Reagan's strategy for the Cold War, and history has since proven him wrong," said RNC spokeswoman Amber Wilkerson.

Carter told the BBC that if Blair had opposed the invasion he could have reduced the ensuing harm by making it tougher for Washington to shrug off critics, even if the British prime minister had not been able to stop the war.

"It would certainly have assuaged the problems that have (arisen) lately," Carter said.

"One of the defenses of the Bush administration in America and worldwide ... has been: 'Okay, we must be more correct in our actions than the world thinks because Great Britain is backing us,"' Carter said.

"I think the combination of Bush and Blair giving their support to this tragedy in Iraq has strengthened the effort and has made opposition less effective and has prolonged the war and increased the tragedy that has resulted," he told the BBC.

Blair, who made an unannounced visit to Iraq on Saturday, has said he will step down in June. His Labour Party has named his long-serving finance minister, Gordon Brown, to succeed him.

Brown was a member of the Cabinet that voted in favor of the war, but has said mistakes were made in Iraq and he will review policy there.

In the newspaper interview, Carter, who brokered the Camp David accords between Egypt and
Israel, also criticized Bush's Middle East policies.

"For the first time since Israel was founded, we've had zero peace talks to try to bring a resolution of differences in the Middle East. That's a radical departure from the past," Carter said.

(Additional reporting by Peter Graff in London)

No more evidence of absolute corruption need be gathered, unless the judge goes along with this crap!
The Plame Investigation

Trial: Evidence/Synopsis
Judge Told Leak Was Part of 'Policy Dispute'

By Carol D. Leonnig
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 18, 2007; Page A03

Attorneys for Vice President Cheney and top White House officials told a federal judge yesterday that they cannot be held liable for anything they disclosed to reporters about covert CIA officer Valerie Plame or her husband, former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV.

The officials, who include senior White House adviser Karl Rove and Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, argued that the judge should dismiss a lawsuit filed by the couple that stemmed from the disclosure of Plame's identity to the media.


Joseph C. Wilson IV and Valerie Plame say revealing Plame's job endangered their family. They are suing administration officials.
Joseph C. Wilson IV and Valerie Plame say revealing Plame's job endangered their family. They are suing administration officials. (Courtesy Of Conde Nast Portfolio)
More on the Libby Trial

The perjury trial of Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff calls up high-profile witnesses.

* Evidence Entered in Trial Government exhibits used in the trial in the format admitted in the court.
* Indictment: U.S. v Libby
* The Verdict
* Timeline
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The suit claims that Cheney, Libby, Rove and former deputy secretary of state Richard L. Armitage violated the couple's privacy and constitutional rights by publicly revealing Plame's identity in an effort to retaliate against Wilson. Plame's identity was disclosed in a syndicated column in July 2003, days after Wilson publicly accused the Bush administration of twisting intelligence to exaggerate Iraq's nuclear threat and justify an invasion.

Libby was convicted in March of lying to a grand jury investigating the leak.

The lawyers said any conversations Cheney and the officials had about Plame with one another or with reporters were part of their normal duties because they were discussing foreign policy and engaging in an appropriate "policy dispute." Cheney's attorney went further, arguing that Cheney is legally akin to the president because of his unique government role and has absolute immunity from any lawsuit.

U.S. District Judge John D. Bates asked: "So you're arguing there is nothing -- absolutely nothing -- these officials could have said to reporters that would have been beyond the scope of their employment," whether the statements were true or false?

"That's true, Your Honor. Mr. Wilson was criticizing government policy," said Jeffrey S. Bucholtz, deputy assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's civil division. "These officials were responding to that criticism."

Erwin Chemerinsky, a Duke University law professor who is representing Wilson and Plame, said the leak was no typical policy debate. President Bush himself said that revealing Plame's identity could be illegal conduct and a firing offense, he told Bates.

Chemerinsky said that after Plame's cover was blown, the couple feared for their safety and their children's safety and Plame lost any opportunity for advancement at the CIA.

"This isn't a case where the government said mean things about Mr. Wilson. This is about revealing the secret status of his wife to punish Mr. Wilson," Chemerinsky said. "In the end, this is egregious conduct that ruined a woman's career and put a family in danger."

Bates, who expressed doubts about arguments on both sides, said he will rule in the coming weeks whether to dismiss the case.

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Forgiveness for Fawell? Are you nuts? The same goes for any replacement "anti-christ" seducing Fawell's followers!
McCain panders to Falwell's flock

By John Nichols — 5/17/2007 8:23 am

The various and sundry Republican presidential contenders have been stumbling over one another this week in a rush to curry favor with the religious right by expressing their sorrow at the passing of the Rev. Jerry Falwell.

It's not that most of the Republican candidates really cared much for Falwell. Aside from Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback, the most seriously evangelical of the bunch, none of the GOP runners really qualifies as a Falwell follower in the classic sense.

But the Republicans who would be president care for those for whom Falwell claimed to speak -- the millions of fire-and-brimstone Christians in states such as Iowa and South Carolina who are expected to participate in next year's caucuses and primaries.

It may be true that Falwell had ceased to be a definitional figure on the Republican right some years ago -- perhaps even before he blamed the 9/11 attacks on pagans and feminists. But few of the Republican candidates will chance it when it comes to praising the preacher.

So get ready for the "Old Time Hypocrisy Hour."

Arizona Sen. John McCain got things rolling with a statement released just minutes after the announcement that the man who for many years was the face of evangelical politics in America had died from an apparent heart attack at age 73.

"I join the students, faculty, and staff of Liberty University and Americans of all faiths in mourning the loss of Rev. Jerry Falwell," said McCain. "Dr. Falwell was a man of distinguished accomplishment who devoted his life to serving his faith and country."

Distinguished accomplishment?

Would that be when Falwell regularly featured segregationists Lester Maddox and George Wallace on his Old Time Gospel Hour television program in the 1960s? When he condemned the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and referred to the civil rights movement as "the civil wrongs movement"? When he opposed sanctions against South Africa's apartheid regime in the 1980s?

Or when he produced an infomercial in the 1990s accusing President Clinton of orchestrating murders of journalists and political critics, even though he would eventually admit that "I do not know the accuracy of the claims"? When he attacked "Teletubbies" character Tinky Winky as a gay recruitment tool? When he asserted that the Antichrist "must be, of necessity, a Jewish male"?

McCain did not always see the preacher as a servant of his country.

Indeed, McCain's praise of the preacher today is a far cry from what the senator said in 2000, when, in a much-heralded speech in Virginia, he described the fiery Falwell as "an agent of intolerance."

McCain has gone through some changes since the days when he was preaching "big tent" Republicanism. He learned an ugly lesson in 2000, and he's playing hard to the right this time around. As such, he has made his peace with Falwell.

Last year, the Arizona senator made his way to Lynchburg, Va., to deliver the commencement address at Falwell's Liberty University.

"Are you freaking out on us?" host Jon Stewart of "The Daily Show," once a McCain fan, asked the senator. "Are you going into the crazy-base world?"

The short answer is "yes." And McCain will have plenty of company in the rush to the crazy-base world.

While there are serious debates opening up about just how strong a force the religious right remains within a Republican Party that is struggling to position itself for the post-Bush era -- after all, pro-choice gay rights supporter Rudy Giuliani is the GOP poll leader of the moment -- there is no question that McCain and most of the other contenders fear the wrath of the evangelicals Falwell did so much to lead into the Republican fold more than a quarter-century ago.

That fear is uglier than anything Falwell ever did or said.

It is possible to treat Falwell with respect in death, to recognize that he apologized for some of his more divisive and destructive statements and that he grew beyond his segregationist stances and some of his other intolerances. It is certainly possible to regard him as a political figure of consequence and deeply held views.

But for McCain to heap praise on Falwell at this politically convenient moment is an embarrassing example of how the maverick of the 2000 race has become the predictable politician of the 2008 contest.

John Nichols is the associate editor of The Capital Times.

By John Nichols — 5/17/2007 8:23 am

McCain is a Loser!
Capitol Briefing
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McCain Misses 42nd Straight Vote ... and Counting

Sen. John McCain (R-Campaign Trail) missed another vote today on a resolution related to the Iraq war, skipping a procedural move on a war funding measure in favor of hitting the campaign trail in New York.

In fact, McCain's missed vote today marked his fifth straight week without casting a vote on the Senate floor, with this morning's vote marking the 42nd straight roll call that he has missed.

Since the first-quarter fundraising period for presidential candidates ended March 31, McCain has made just three floor votes. He hasn't cast a single vote since the full details of his wildly disappointing presidential campaign's fundraising report were revealed in mid-April.

If McCain misses the next three votes -- the $2.9 trillion fiscal 2008 budget is likely to be voted on this afternoon -- he will officially have been absent for 50 percent of the more than 170 roll calls held in the chamber so far in the 110th Congress.

Granted, McCain isn't the only senator missing votes in favor of the presidential campaign trail. And as his staff has pointed out repeatedly, none of McCain's missed votes has made the difference in a bill's fate. In a statement to Capitol Briefing, McCain's campaign said, "Regrettably, it is impossible for a presidential candidate to avoid missing votes. The Senator has not missed a vote where his vote would have affected the outcome, and he will make every effort to be in the Senate on the occasions when it would."

One of McCain's strongest backers is Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.), the Republican whip who would presumably make sure McCain got back to Capitol Hill for particularly close votes.

But the other 2008 contenders in the Senate have made an effort to be on the floor this spring. Take Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kansas), who trails McCain as the most absentee senator (Not including Tim Johnson of South Dakota, who has missed every vote this year as he's recovered from a brain hemorrhage). Brownback missed a series of votes Tuesday related to a water resources bill as he, McCain and the rest of the GOP field gathered in South Carolina for a candidates debate. But by 10:44 a.m. ET yesterday when the vote began on an amendment to cut off funding for the Iraq war, Brownback was in the chamber to vote against the provision.

In fact, McCain was the only senator running for president who missed Wednesday's vote. Parsing his campaign statement, Senate watchers shouldn't expect McCain in the Capitol very often; his pledge is only to "make every effort" to vote when he would make the difference in the outcome.

Today McCain will be in New York raising money at a private event and then speaking to the Empire State's GOP state committee dinner in Manhattan. McCain was in the Washington area for at least part of today, too, attending a 1:30 p.m. ET press conference at the Capitol to help announce a bipartisan Senate agreement on immigration legislation. He left before the event was over, presumably heading for the Big Apple.

To be fair to the senator, this morning's vote was essentially a sense-of-the-Senate resolution on troop safety in Iraq that simply moves the supplemental spending bill on Iraq back into a House-Senate conference. McCain has been a steadfast supporter of President Bush's recent handling of the Iraq war, so his views are widely known on this issue.

And for anyone wondering about Democratic frontrunners Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.), they have missed just 1.8 percent and 6.4 percent of votes this year, respectively.

UPDATE: McCain did in fact miss the budget vote Thursday afternoon, as he headed north for his political events in Manhattan. That means he's missed 43 straight Senate votes...

Here's a link to some Big Apple coverage of his and Rudy Giuliani's speaking engagement last night.

By Paul Kane | May 17, 2007; 2:15 PM ET | Category: Senate
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McCain is a fricking loser who kisses Bush's
arse like nobodies busines.. He is quite a
kiss ass.

Posted by: Alan | May 17, 2007 06:06 PM

Tipically, normal fallout form US Military Intervention said to be Saving Freedom...!
Death in Iraq spawns grim subcultures

By HAMZA HENDAWI, Associated Press Writer Thu May 17, 5:34 PM ET

BAGHDAD - Abdullah Jassim expected ambulances and security forces to arrive first after a blast last month near his clothing shop. Instead, it was thieves.

"I saw them with my own eyes," said Jassim, who has survived a string of suicide bombings in Baghdad's well-known Shurja market. "Young men between 20 and 30 years old stole mobile phones, money and wrist watches from the dead and badly hurt."

The consequences of sudden and violent death — so commonplace in
Iraq's relentless turmoil — have spawned their own macabre subcultures: the human vultures, grave markers with serial numbers for unidentified victims, tattoo artists asked to etch IDs on people afraid of becoming an unclaimed body amid the carnage and killings.

It's more than just another grim tableau in a nation brimming with sad stories. It points to how deeply war and sectarian bloodshed have reordered the way Iraqis live — and confront the constant possibility of death.

"As a society, we are finished," said Jassim, whose store is only several dozen yards from the site of a car bomb that killed at least 127 people and wounded 148 on April 18. "We may have hit rock bottom."

The black banners hoisted on street corners to announce a death have markedly increased since sectarian violence intensified after the February 2006 bombing by Sunni militants of an important Shiite shrine in Samarra, about 60 miles north of Baghdad.

Estimates of civilian deaths since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion vary widely — from 62,000 by the private Iraq Body Count group to as many as 600,000 in a study published last year by the respected British medical journal The Lancet — but the figures alone can't fully explain how Iraqis have learned to treat death in different ways.

Even mourners are alert for attack. Suicide bombers have targeted the funeral tents traditionally used by families to receive relatives, friends and neighbors.

That same fear keeps relatives from going to cemeteries to bury their dead or, in some cases, even publicizing the victim's name.

Stories making the rounds in Baghdad speak of relatives receiving calls from the mobile phones of loved ones who were missing, with callers claiming to hold them hostage and demanding ransom. When the money is delivered, the families are told their relatives are dead.

A top police official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said authorities were aware of looting at bombing sites and the use of stolen mobile phones to collect ransoms from families. He blamed organized criminal gangs.

Fadil Abu Semidiah, an undertaker from the holy Shiite city of Najaf, recalls a teenage boy who recently came with his family to the city's vast cemetery to bury his father — a victim of a Baghdad bombing.

As the father was being laid to rest before him, the son's mobile phone rang. The screen showed the number of his father's missing telephone. The caller did not say anything, but it was enough to unglue the boy.

"The boy became hysterical," said Abu Semidiah, 56. "He kept shouting 'my father is alive! my father is alive!'"

The cemeteries in Najaf and Karbala, another holy Shiite city south of Baghdad, have for centuries been used exclusively by Shiites to bury their dead.

Now, they are being used to bury both Sunni and Shiite victims of sectarian violence whose bodies were not claimed by families.

Abu Semidiah said bodies in batches of 70 or more arrive from Baghdad about once a week in refrigerated trucks belonging to the Health Ministry. With each body comes a serial number that corresponds to a picture of the body kept at the Baghdad central morgue.

The number is engraved on tombstones so families that finally track down a missing relative can either exhume the remains for burial elsewhere or replace the number on the tombstone with the deceased's name, said the undertaker, who lost a 15-year-old, Salam, in a Baghdad bombing two years ago but was too grief-stricken to bury him himself.

Much of the sectarian violence in Baghdad has been blamed on Sunni militants or death squads linked to the Shiite Mahdi Army militia of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The bodies of the victims — handcuffed, showing signs of torture and with execution-style gunshot wounds — are routinely found in deserted areas, garbage dumps or floating in the Tigris river.

Ironically, the men in Najaf and Karbala who volunteer to administer the ritual washing of bodies — part of the Islamic burial rites — and pray for their souls are often volunteers from the Mahdi Army.

"The Mahdi Army has played a pioneering role in this humanitarian task," boasted Sheik Abdullah al-Karbalai, a 32-year-old Shiite cleric from Karbala and a supporter of al-Sadr.

Al-Karbalai has overseen the burial of about 3,000 sectarian violence victims, many of them in land he said was purchased by al-Sadr for that purpose.

In Baghdad, a 34-year-old man asked a tattoo artist to mark his right shoulder with three words. "My brother Hossam," reads the tattoo in blue letters.

Firas Adel said the wording was selected so his immediate family and close friends could recognize his remains in a morgue packed with decomposed, bloodied and decapitated bodies.

Such individualized markings are now the most popular tattoos in Baghdad. But people avoid tattooing their names, which can betray their sectarian affiliation, and go instead for a symbol or a name that close family and friends would recognize.

"I may be kidnapped, beheaded and then my body is burned," said Adel, who makes a living delivering goods across Iraq, braving its deadly roads on a daily basis. "I know people who spent weeks trying to locate relatives. Don't want this to happen to me."

No way to say this nicely, Cheney is the SLIME (significant appendage of Bush Senior) from which slime oozes!
CIA leak destroyed Plame's career, her lawyer says

By James Vicini Thu May 17, 3:59 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Bush administration officials destroyed
Valerie Plame's career by disclosing her identity as a secret
CIA operative, a lawyer for Plame and her husband said on Thursday in urging a federal judge to rule that their lawsuit can go forward.
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"In the end, it's about egregious conduct by the defendants that ruined a woman's career," Duke University law professor Erwin Chemerinsky said as Plame sat silently in the courtroom.

But lawyers for Vice President
Dick Cheney, one of his former aides, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, White House political adviser Karl Rove and former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage argued that the lawsuit should be dismissed.

They said the officials could not be sued personally when acting in their official capacity, that the couple waited too long to bring the lawsuit and that courts traditionally were barred from getting into classified CIA information, like Plame's job duties.

According to the lawsuit, the officials disclosed Plame's identity to reporters in 2003 to discredit, punish and seek revenge against her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, for publicly disputing statements made by
President George W. Bush justifying the war in
Iraq.

The lawsuit seeks money damages from the officials for violating the couple's constitutional free speech, due process and privacy rights.

Lawyer Michael Waldman, representing Armitage at the hearing before U.S. District Judge John Bates, cited a "myriad of legal reasons why each claim fails" and said the lawsuit should be thrown out.

"Put bluntly, your honor, this suit is principally based on a desire for publicity and book deals," Waldman said. Plame has signed a book deal reportedly worth more than $2.5 million.

Attorney John Kester, representing Cheney, said that allowing the case to proceed would result in the examination of CIA activities, including how Plame's duties changed after the disclosure of her identity.

"This is a fishing expedition, inevitably, about the duties at the CIA," Kester said. "The courts just don't go there and the court should not go there."

Rove's lawyer, Robert Luskin, said there was no evidence the couple suffered any actual harm or loss of employment, which is required in such cases.

The Bush administration supported the officials, arguing they are entitled to immunity.

Nobody was ever charged with the leak of Plame's identity. But Libby was convicted in March of obstructing the leak investigation and lying about how he learned about Plame. He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 5.

The judge, who vigorously questioned both sides, said at the end of the hearing that he would rule in the future.

This horror in France is Bush's fault! Bush so lowered the West's natural security as to frighten nearly everyone!
French PM sworn in, hits ground running

By JAMEY KEATEN, Associated Press Writer Thu May 17, 3:34 PM ET

PARIS - France's new prime minister hit the ground running — literally.

After a brief inauguration where he promised to "assure an eminent place" in the world for France, reform-minded conservative Francois Fillon turned up in shorts at the presidential palace for a jog with his new boss, President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The hour-long run showcased the vigor France's new leadership wants to project after 12 years under Jacques Chirac.

Fillon was putting together a revamped Cabinet to make good on promises of change and restored pride for the economically sluggish nation.

The new Cabinet, to be announced Friday, will be likely be slimmed down to about eight men and seven women, including at least one minister from the opposition left. Many of those thought likely to head ministries met with Fillon at his office Thursday.

Among them was popular leftist Bernard Kouchner, a co-founder of the Nobel Prize-winning
Doctors Without Borders medical charity. Kouchner, who could become foreign minister, was the first U.N. administrator for
Kosovo in 1999-2000.

On the campaign trail, Sarkozy promised a break from the Chirac era of sluggish growth, failed reforms, mounting debt, persistent unemployment and 2005 riots in poor neighborhoods where many immigrants from Africa and their French-born children live.

Several Chirac-era veterans, however, met with the new premier Thursday, including Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie, Labor Minister Jean-Louis Borloo and former Health Minister Xavier Bertrand.

Former Prime Minister Alain Juppe appeared poised for a remarkable political comeback, with speculation that he would be chosen to head the Ministry for Sustainable Development — newly created to help fight global warming and other environmental threats.

Juppe, who for years was thought to be Chirac's preferred successor, was convicted in a party financing scandal in 2005 and was barred from holding office for a year. Sarkozy has said battling global warming will be one of his priorities.

Fillon, 53, is known as an efficient four-time minister skilled at negotiating difficult reforms. He comes across as a cool-headed man of the shadows compared to Sarkozy, a media-savvy operator who once said his biggest defect was that he was "in a hurry." Sarkozy is likely to be far more involved in the daily operation of government than Chirac.

At a brief ceremony in which he took over from outgoing Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, Fillon echoed Sarkozy, promising to defend the heritage and identity of France and keep the nation together while pushing through change.

"In a world of 6 billion people, the 60 million French people must remain united," he said. "I will respect all of the commitments we made."

Events moved quickly after Sarkozy took office Wednesday and flew to Berlin to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel. On Friday, he will visit struggling European aircraft maker Airbus, which plans to shed some 10,000 jobs, a hot issue in the presidential campaign.

Sarkozy has many detractors on France's left. Angry youths clashed with police shortly after his victory; there have already been a few peaceful street protests against him; unions say they'll call strikes if they feel he is watering down France's labor protections.

Sarkozy, elected May 6, has sought to ease concerns, meeting union leaders and saying that he wants to include people from outside his political camp in his government. For Socialists, Kouchner's expected appointment as foreign minister would be a blow.

Fillon has led several reforms, including tough changes to retirement benefits in 2003 as social affairs minister, and ending the monopoly of France Telecom. As education minister from 2004-05, Fillon led a reform of the baccalaureate college examinations system that drew huge protests.

Sarkozy plans to put big reforms before parliament at a special session in July, including making overtime pay tax-free to encourage people to work more. He also wants to make it easier for companies to hire and fire workers, make it tougher for immigrants to bring their families to France and curb the ability of unions to cripple the country with strikes.

The future of such reforms hinges largely on whether Sarkozy's conservative Union for a Popular Movement party retains its parliamentary majority in legislative elections next month.

___

Associated Press Writer Emmanuel Georges-Picot contributed to this report.

...about so-called "conservatives;" resistence fighters who don't think they are fascists...
Methodist leader equates U.S. flag to swastika
Suggests symbol inappropriate in denomination's churches
Posted: May 18, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern


? 2007 WorldNetDaily.com

A leader in the United Methodist Church has equated the U.S. flag to the Nazi swastika, drawing the criticism of a watchdog organization that says it is an example of the church's "contemptuous" attitude towards the nation and its heritage.

The comments came from Rev. Clayton Childers, of the Washington-based United Methodist Board of Church and Society, who said, "The presence of a national flag in worship can imply endorsement of national policies which often run counter to the teachings of Jesus Christ and our Christian faith. … One need only recall the way the swastika flag was displayed prominently in German churches during the Nazi era."


Mark Tooley

He was discussing on the organization's website the propriety of having Old Glory in Christian churches, but his condemnation drew the ire of Mark Tooley, the executive director of UMAction, which monitors the eight-million member church and its activities.

"The United Methodist Church, under its liberal leadership, is losing over 50,000 members a year, and this church lobby official is oddly worried about getting American flags out of our churches," Tooley said.

"Unlike the blood-soaked swastika flags that the Nazis forced upon German churches, American churches voluntarily display their country's flag as a reminder of the country in which God has providentially placed them," Tooley said. "Typically, American flags stand against the side walls of American churches, quietly and [un]obtrusively. They are hardly the idolatrous object of imperialistic worship against which the United Methodist lobby official warned."

(Story continues below)

"Religious Left figures, like the United Methodist official, are hardly concerned about idolatry when their politically correct, rainbow paraphernalia and peace banners are woven into church worship services," he added. "They oppose the United States flag because they are contemptuous of our country, its history, its institutions, its culture, and its leadership role in the world," Tooley said.

Childers wrote that he, in fact, is "fond" of the flag.

"On the other hand, I do not believe in blind loyalty. I cannot affirm the idea of 'my country, right or wrong.' There are times when the United States has been very wrong in its actions, even outrageously wrong, and until we are able to own the hard truth of our failures, dare we say 'sins,' we will never be able to experience the full and abundant life God would have for us as a people and as one member in the world community of nations," he wrote.

He noted according to the denomination's director of worship resources, Rev. Dan Benedict, there is no church-wide policy on the use of the flag, but "the use of flags in worship has been discouraged over the years."

Childers said he believes it is inappropriate to continue displaying a U.S. flag in denominational churches, a tradition begun to encourage the preservation of the Union during the Civil War, because the "Church's confession 'Jesus is Lord' was actually a political statement and a direct challenge to both the Empire and Emperor."

He also noted 20 percent of Methodists live outside the U.S., and Old Glory sends "a message which limits our global vision and sense of oneness with the global community."

He cited another church leader, Hoyt Hickman, who concluded, "An American flag used in the worship of the universal church is no more appropriate than hanging a cross in a civil courtroom used by Americans of all religions."

"Most United Methodists, and most religious people in America, display the flag as a symbol of God's blessings upon our nation," said Tooley. "Following the commandments of Christ, all Christians are called upon to love their nation, wherever they live, and to render unto Caesar his due, even as they render their worship only to God."

"For the Religious Left, forever frustrated that more Americans do not share its views, the American flag is an angry 'sentry' that pollutes the church, glorifying imperial crimes, and blocking the stateless utopia about which the Religious Left dreams. But most religious Americans simply see the American flag on the side wall of their sanctuaries as a quiet reminder of their own history, civil duties, and cultural blessings, for which they give thanks to God," Tooley concluded.

On a blog run by Childers, a clergy member of the South Carolina Conference and director of annual conference relations for the General Board of Church and Society, church members didn't have too many objections.

"Appropriate to worship, NO. Appropriate in the sanctuary and present for worship, ABSOLUTELY," said Steve Nelson. "We periodically do a pledge of allegiance to the flag during our service, as requested by various members in the congregation."

Warren's Commision either naive or corrupt! "I hear four shots that are not echoes," - Experienced Combat Veteran
Researchers challenge Kennedy lone gunman theory

By David Morgan Thu May 17, 3:33 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Bullet analysis used to justify the lone assassin theory behind President John F. Kennedy's assassination is based on flawed evidence, according to a team of researchers including a former top
FBI scientist.

Writing in the Annals of Applied Statistics, the researchers urged a reexamination of bullet fragments from the 1963 shooting in Dallas to confirm the number of bullets that struck Kennedy.

Official investigations during the 1960s concluded that Kennedy was hit by two bullets fired by Lee Harvey Oswald.

But the researchers, including former FBI lab metallurgist William Tobin, said new chemical and statistical analyses of bullets from the same batch used by Oswald suggest that more than two bullets could have struck the president.

"Evidence used to rule out a second assassin is fundamentally flawed," the researchers said in their article.

"If the assassination (bullet) fragments are derived from three or more separate bullets, then a second assassin is likely."

The Kennedy assassination set off a whirlwind of theories about who killed the 46-year-old president.

The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, known unofficially as the Warren Commission, concluded in 1964 that Lee Harvey Oswald, acting alone, fired three shots, one of which missed the president's car. There have been many challenges to its conclusions over the years.

The House of Representatives Select Committee on Assassinations concluded that Oswald was probably part of a conspiracy that could have included a second gunman who fired but missed Kennedy.

The panel's supporting evidence was a bullet analysis that said fragments collected from the site were too similar to be from more than two slugs.

But the latest report found that many bullets from the same batch used by Oswald had a similar composition.

"Further, we found that one of the thirty bullets analyzed in our study also compositionally matched one of the fragments from the assassination," the article said.

"This finding means that the bullet fragments from the assassination that match could have come from three or more separate bullets."

Bloomberg said, "I think it's sick, is the nicest way to phrase it."
'Bloomberg Gun Giveaway' draws hundreds

By MATTHEW BARAKAT, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 13 minutes ago

ANNANDALE, Va. - Openly armed firearms enthusiasts packed a normally sedate government building Thursday night, hoping to win a pistol or rifle and at the same time send a defiant message to gun-control advocates, especially New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
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The Virginia Citizens Defense League, a gun-rights group, organized the "Bloomberg Gun Giveaway" in large part to thumb its nose at Bloomberg, who accuses some shops of allowing illegal purchases of firearms that later were used in crimes in his city.

The city has filed federal lawsuits against more than two dozen shops, including six in Virginia.

Two guns were awarded Thursday, a Para-Ordnance pistol and a Varmint Stalker rifle, each worth about $900. The winners did not immediately receive the weapons — they will still be required to undergo federal and state background checks.

The first winner, Jay Minsky, responded with an obscene hand gesture when asked what message he hoped to send to Bloomberg.

"If he doesn't like people in New York having guns, he should deal with New York," said Minsky, who grew up in Brooklyn. "Just keep out of Virginia."

The event drew an overflow crowd at a Fairfax County government building, with the fire marshal aggressively enforcing an occupancy limit of 150 for the meeting hall. Others stood outside and peered through open windows. About 200 people showed.

County officials opposed the drawing but concluded they could not prohibit a group from using the community meeting room because of its political views. The gun-rights group has met in the building for years.

The event drew protests from gun-control advocates and the parents of those killed in last month's shootings at Virginia Tech.

Peter and Cathy Read, whose daughter Mary was one of those killed, held a photo of their daughter outside the building.

"We're not here to have a debate. We're here to witness for our daughter," Peter Read said. "The victims need to be witnessed to. People of the commonwealth can make intelligent decisions about what's right."

Philip Van Cleave, the league's president, said he sympathizes with the families but maintained that some of the deaths might have been prevented if somebody had been armed.

Many in attendance said they were motivated not by the chance of a free gun, but to make a point to Bloomberg and express support for the Second Amendment.

"It'd be nice if I win, but that's not what this is about. It's about my constitutional right to defend myself," said Ron Stuebing, a league member.

The event had been planned for months as a fundraiser for two gun shops being sued by New York City. But officials said that giveaway violated state gambling laws, so the league quickly organized a new giveaway, open to anybody who showed up at its Thursday night meeting.

Most but not all in attendance carried holstered handguns. In Virginia, individuals need a permit only to carry a concealed weapon. Openly visible, holstered guns are permitted without a permit.

Anybody who showed up at Thursday's event was eligible for the drawing — except Bloomberg and his immediate family.

Asked Thursday about the giveaway, Bloomberg said, "I think it's sick, is the nicest way to phrase it."

Van Cleave responded that the members of his organization are law-abiding citizens, including many retired military, police officers and firefighters.

"If you're saying these are sick people, then I'm proud to be sick," Van Cleave said.

___

Associated Press writer Sara Kugler in New York contributed to this report.

___

On the Net:

http://www.vcdl.org

http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov

The brightest/best idea since Franklin flew his key in the rain...(?!)
First trains cross Korean Cold War border since 1951

By Jessica Kim 49 minutes ago

MUNSAN, South Korea (Reuters) - Two trains from North and
South Korea crossed the heavily armed border on Thursday, restoring for the first time an artery severed in the 1950-1953 fratricidal war and fanning dreams of unification.

It took the two Koreas 56 years to send the trains -- one starting in the South and one in the North -- across the Cold War's last frontier for the runs of about 25 km (15 miles).

The trains carried 100 South Koreans and 50 North Koreans -- including celebrities, politicians and a South Korean conductor from one of the last trains to cross before the rail link was cut in 1951.

"Today the heart of the Korean peninsula will start beating again," South Korean Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung said before the crossing. "The trains represent the dreams, the hopes and the future of the two Koreas."

The train from the South was seen off to fireworks, traditional drumming and hundreds of people waving flags showing a unified Korean peninsula in blue on a white background.

"I wish I could operate this train myself," said Han Chun-ki, 80, the conductor who made one of the last cross-border runs more than a half century ago. "I never thought this day would come."

North Korea's military, fearful of increased openings between the isolated country and the outside world, cancelled a planned run a year ago. It agreed last week to a one-off run, despite pressure from Seoul for more crossings.

The South Korean government has been criticized at home for sending massive aid to the North only to see Pyongyang respond to its largesse by halting cooperation projects and sparking a security crisis with a nuclear test last year.

South Korea, mindful of the hundreds of billions of dollars it would cost to unify with its impoverished neighbor, has sought a series of projects to gradually bring the two together.

The two Koreas, still technically still at war because their conflict ended only in a truce, have lived with a razor wire and land-mine strewn border dividing the peninsula for decades and while over a million troops are stationed near the countries' demilitarized buffer zone.

To entice the North to allow the crossing, South Korea has offered some $80 million in aid for its light industries.

Eventually, South Korea, which only shares a border with the North, said it wants to send passengers and cargo via its neighbor into China and Russia and link with the Trans-Siberian railway. Export-dependent South Korea could see huge savings in moving cargo if North Korea allows the rail link.

All these folks are getting old. Who's coming next now that George (etc.) has destroyed New Orleans?
Bo Diddley hospitalized after stroke

2 hours, 24 minutes ago

DES MOINES, Iowa - Bo Diddley is in intensive care after suffering a stroke in western Iowa, a publicist said Wednesday.

The 78-year-old singer-songwriter-guitarist and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer was listed in guarded condition at Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha, Neb., said Susan Clary, a publicist for the musician's management team.

Diddley, who has a history of hypertension and diabetes, was hospitalized Sunday following a concert in Council Bluffs in which he acted disoriented, she said.

Tests indicated that the stroke affected the left side of his brain, impairing his speech and speech recognition, Clary said.

Clary said she has no other details on Diddley's condition or how long he would be in intensive care.

Diddley, with his black glasses and low-slung guitar, has been an icon in the music industry since he topped the R&B charts with "Bo Diddley" in 1955. His other hits include "Who Do You Love," "Before You Accuse Me," "Mona" and "I'm a Man."

Diddley was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 and was given a lifetime achievement Grammy in 1998.