Partisan Compromises gave no-one anything worthwhile...
Senate deals major blow to immigration bill

By Donna Smith Thu Jun 7, 9:59 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A White House-backed bill to revamp immigration laws stalled in the Senate on Thursday, handing
President George W. Bush a major legislative setback.

The sharply divided Senate refused to limit debate on the fragile compromise hammered out by a bipartisan group of senators and the White House. The vote was 45-50, 15 short of the 60 votes needed to advance significant legislation in the 100-member body toward a final vote.

As a result, the bill was set aside and the Democratic-led Senate moved on to other legislation.

Any delay diminishes chances that an immigration overhaul, already an issue in advance of the November 2008 presidential election, can be enacted before Bush leaves office.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (news, bio, voting record), a Nevada Democrat, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (news, bio, voting record), a Kentucky Republican,

held out hope that lawmakers could return to the controversial bill at another time. "I doubt the prospects will get better with the passage of time," McConnell said. "I wouldn't wait a whole long time to do it."

The bill, which has drawn fire from both the right and the left, ties tough border security and workplace enforcement measures to a temporary worker program and a plan to legalize most of the 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States. It also would create a new merit-based system for future immigration.

Supporters scrambled throughout the day on Thursday to patch together an agreement that would have allowed the bill to advance toward a final vote in the Senate. The delicate compromise painstakingly negotiated by senators from both parties and the White House had begun to unravel after a series of amendments that backers said upset its balance.

Although Bush has sought to make immigration reform a centerpiece of his domestic policy, senators from his Republican party sought to offer more amendments and said they would not be rushed. Most of them voted against the motion to limit debate.

"The majority is simply not going to get anywhere trying to stuff the minority and prevent the amendment process," McConnell said.

Sen. Edward Kennedy (news, bio, voting record), a Massachusetts Democrat who helped negotiate the bipartisan legislation, said he would continue to push for it. "This issue is not going to go away," he said.

Conservatives say the measure would give amnesty to people who broke U.S. laws, while labor unions say the temporary worker program would create an underclass of cheap laborers.

Steve Rapp: Globe-trotting Prosecutor...when will he get to prosecute Bush and Company?
Rights Groups Welcome Trial of African Dictator

Haider Rizvi, OneWorld US Tue Jun 5, 10:46 PM ET

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 5 (OneWorld) - Both the
United Nations and some of the world's leading human rights organizations are welcoming the start of the trial of former Liberian president Charles Taylor.

"This is an important day for the international community," said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson Marie Okabe. "This is a significant move towards peace."

Taylor is accused of committing war crimes during Sierra Leone's 11-year armed conflict. His trial started Monday in front of a UN-backed special court sitting in
The Hague, Netherlands.

Human rights groups said they hoped Taylor's trial would send a strong signal to those who considered themselves above the law.

"The trial of a former president associated with human rights abuses across West Africa represents a break from the past," said Elise Keppler, counsel with Human Rights Watch's international justice program.

Commenting on Taylor's trial, Keppler added in a statement: "All too often, there has been no justice for victims of serious human rights violations. This trial puts would-be perpetrators on notice."

Taylor is the first African head of state to be indicted on serious crimes under international law.

Taylor, who ruled Liberia from 1997 to 2003, is being tried on 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity during Sierra Leone's conflict. The alleged crimes include murder of civilians, using women as sex slaves, and using children as soldiers.

The former Liberian leader is charged on the basis of his alleged role as a major supporter of the Sierra Leone rebel group, known as the Revolutionary United Front. Taylor is accused of using Liberian forces to assist the Sierra Leone rebels.

Taking note of the complexities that marked the trial of the deceased Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosovic, Human Rights Watch said trying former leaders is not easy.

"We have seen that trials of former presidents are difficult business," Keppler said. "The Special Court's judges must guarantee Charles Taylor a fair trial, and also conduct proceedings efficiently."

Though based in Sierra Leone's capital city of Freetown, the UN-backed special court relocated Taylor's trial to The Hague last June due to concerns over political stability in West Africa. The trial is now taking place within the premises of the International Criminal Court.

On Monday, for his part, Taylor refused to attend his trial, saying it would not be fair because he only had one defense lawyer. Judge Julia Sebutinde ordered the trial to continue without Taylor, amid intense protests from his lawyer, Karim Khan. Some reports say Taylor's counsel walked out, defying the judge's order to stay seated.

Those watching the case closely say the court proceedings are likely to last between a year and 18 months, and Britain has offered to oversee Taylor's imprisonment if he is convicted.

The Special Court trying Taylor is composed of Sierra Leonean and international judges. It does not have its own mechanism to imprison those it condemns.

The Special Court was established in 2002 by agreement between the UN and the government of Sierra Leone. The court has a mandate to prosecute those responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law and Sierra Leonean law that took place in the country since 1996.

As many as eight men associated with the warring factions during the conflict are currently being tried in Freetown by the Special Court. Most of the cases are near completion and the judges are expected to issue verdicts in the next couple of months.

Taylor fled to Nigeria, where he was granted freedom in exile, soon after the court unsealed the indictment against him in June 2003. He was surrendered for trial in March 2006, however.

Following the Special Court's request to relocate the trial, the Netherlands agreed to the trial being held in the Hague, but on the condition that Taylor leave the country after a judgment is delivered.

Eat the Rich!
UN Official Calls for No More G8 Summits

Haider Rizvi, OneWorld US 2 hours, 9 minutes ago

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 7 (OneWorld) - A prominent
United Nations representative this week joined ranks with thousands of activists gathered in Germany to protest the economic and political dominance enjoyed by the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized countries.

This year should be the "last" G8 Summit, said Jean Ziegler, the world body's special rapporteur on the right to food, at the launch of the "Alternative Summit" called by rights groups to counter the annual G8 meeting, which is currently in session in the resort town of Heiligendamm.

Ziegler reportedly said he could not see why the annual meeting of the G8 leaders, which has run since 1975 and is costing German taxpayers about $135 million this year, should continue.

Arguing that "another world is possible," he observed that globalization as pursued by the G8 leadership had lost its way and that there was a need for a new "revolution" from below.

"2.7 billion of the world's population is living below the extreme poverty line. That is nearly 40 percent," he said in a speech. "Capitalism may have conquered the world but it has left behind a rash of diseases that are purely man-made."

The UN representative insisted the G8 countries eliminate farming subsidies, a demand that the world's poorer nations have been raising for years, though they have failed to get a positive response from their wealthier counterparts.

The Alternative Summit was organized by a wide range of environmental and social justice organizations, including Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, ActionAid, Christian Aid, and Oxfam International.

Those who spoke at the Alternative Summit came from as many as 40 countries. The first day of protest this week saw more than 1,000 demonstrators wounded when police cracked down on the protests.

But organizers described their summit as a great success.

"After the demonstrations and violence it's good to see something that we have supported from the start come to fruition," said ActionAid Germany's Astrid Schwietering, adding that the event was about refocusing globalization from the perspective of the southern hemisphere.

The G8 leaders are due to continue their talks until Friday. This year, among other issues, the summit leaders focused their talks on climate change. On Thursday, the group announced it had reached a deal to seek a "substantial cut" in greenhouse gas emissions, but failed to set any mandatory targets.

In addition to the civil society protestors, a number of developing countries have also raised concerns about the way rich nations are pushing their agenda on globalization, economic development, and environmental sustainability.

On Wednesday, the UN-based largest coalition of developing nations, known as the Group of 77 and China (G77), said it was concerned about the G8's role in perpetuating inequalities between the industrial North and the largely agriculture-based economies of the global South.

Munir Akram, Pakistani envoy to the UN and chairman of the G77, said that developing countries have demonstrated a sincere commitment to fulfilling the pledges made in successive international conferences and summits during the past few years, but added "unfortunately our development partners have not reciprocated."

Akram lamented that Official Development Assistance, the international aid given by wealthier countries to support the development of poorer ones, has declined in recent years. He feared it was likely to continue to decline in the near future.

He urged the G8 members to take "bolder and innovative measures" to meet the internationally agreed upon target of putting 0.7 percent of national budgets toward development assistance for poorer countries.

Of the G8 member countries, which include Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, none have yet reached that target. The United Kingdom came closest last year, allocating just over one half of one percent of its national income to development assistance. At 0.17 percent, the United States gave a lower percentage of its income than any other wealthy country except Greece.

Stressing that the aid given to poor countries should be "responsive to their national polices and free from any conditionality," Pakistan's Akram said the G77 would like to see comprehensive reforms of the international financial system and its governance architecture.

He also called on rich countries to reduce the huge subsidies provided to their agricultural sectors, which he said threatened food security for the poorest, and he urged his colleagues from wealthier nations to lift restrictions on access to technology, a vital component for any country's economic development.

Compromise Law is Crap!
Immigration bill survives major challenge

By Donna Smith 59 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As the U.S. Senate headed for a showdown vote on immigration, backers of a fragile compromise thwarted what they said on Wednesday was an effort to gut a provision to legalize millions of illegal immigrants and torpedo the bill.

The Senate defeated an amendment by Sen. John Cornyn (news, bio, voting record), a Texas Republican, that would have barred large numbers of illegal immigrants from taking advantage of the proposed legalization program.

The measure would have excluded anyone convicted of document fraud or identity theft, ignored deportation orders or committed felonies from gaining legal status.

Cornyn said the measure would ensure respect for U.S. laws, but opponents argued the amendment was too broad and would have gutted the legalization program and threatened the delicate compromise brokered by a bipartisan group of senators and the White House.

"This amendment would exclude hundreds of thousands from benefits in this bill and undermine the bipartisan compromise that members of this body worked so long and so hard to produce," said Sen. Edward Kennedy (news, bio, voting record), a Massachusetts Democrat who help negotiate the measure.

The Senate adopted a less-sweeping alternative offered by Kennedy that expanded the types of crimes, such as drug trafficking, sex offenses and gang activity, that would exclude immigrants from the legalization program. Those whose transgressions were associated with getting a job would still be eligible for legalization.

The bill's backers also fended off an effort to greatly expand the number of family-based visas and opted for a more limited alternative that keeps the compromise intact.

CRUCIAL VOTE SET

The bill ties tough border security and workplace enforcement measures to a guest-worker program and a plan to legalize an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants.

It has come under attack from the right and left, with conservatives arguing it will give amnesty to people who broke U.S. laws and unions saying the temporary worker program will create an underclass of cheap laborers.

The Senate also beat back an amendment that would have dramatically altered the guest-worker program and undermined the compromise.

Backers say the bill will allow the government to get a grip on who is living in the United States and help fix the broken immigration system.

The bill's supporters are battling to hold the delicate compromise together against a storm of amendments. Dozens have been drafted, prompting Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (news, bio, voting record), a Nevada Democrat, to set a vote on Thursday on a motion to limit debate. The move angered Republicans who want more time to offer amendments, and they have threatened to block the motion.

"It's premature to close off debate and limit amendments," Cornyn said.

Reid said if he failed to get the 60 votes needed in the 100-member chamber to advance the legislation, the bill would be dropped and the Senate would move on to other matters.

"It would be outrageous to pull this bill," said Sen. Arlen Specter (news, bio, voting record), a Pennsylvania Republican.

Specter said the result would be "a lot of finger pointing" and "some toe pointing" by Republicans and Democrats trying to blame each other for failure to pass what would likely be the most significant legislative accomplishment of
President George W. Bush's final years in office.

If the bill stalls in the Senate, the House of Representatives could still move ahead with its version, but that is unclear.

"We'll have to see the effect on us," said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (news, bio, voting record), a Maryland Democrat. "We are still of a mind-set of moving forward."

(Additional reporting by Richard Cowan)

Prehistoric european art seems to be case of monkey see monkey do...

Reuters
World's oldest adornments found, Morocco says

Wed Jun 6, 8:55 AM ET

RABAT (Reuters) - Perforated shells discovered in a limestone cave in eastern Morocco are the oldest adornments ever found and show humans used symbols in Africa 40,000 years before Europe, the kingdom's government said.

The small oval Nassarius mollusc shells, some dyed with red ochre, were probably pierced to be strung into necklaces or bracelets 82,000 years ago.

"This classes the adornments in Pigeon's Cave at Taforalt as older than those discovered previously in Algeria, South Africa and Palestine," the Culture Ministry said in a statement.

The find represents "a big step in the understanding of cultural innovations and the role they played in human history."

Morocco has yielded important prehistoric finds including one of the oldest known dinosaur skeletons but little is known of the humans that inhabited the region before Berber farmers settled over 2,000 years ago.

The shells were found and dated by a team of scientists from Morocco, Britain, France and Germany trying to find out how climate and landscape change affected human behavior between 130,000 and 13,000 years ago.

The work is part of a broader study into whether the Strait of Gibraltar dividing Morocco from Spain acted as a corridor or a barrier for early humans trying to move between Africa and Europe.

21st century versions of ancient mythical heroes and gods gets boost.
Stan Lee signs deal with Disney

By GARY GENTILE, AP Business Writer Wed Jun 6, 6:10 PM ET

LOS ANGELES - Zowie! Stan Lee, the creator of such comic-book superheroes as Spider-Man and X-Men, has signed an exclusive content deal with Walt Disney Studios, it was announced Wednesday.

Under the multiyear agreement, the studio gets first shot at films, TV shows, books and video games devised by the 84-year-old Lee and his company, POW! Entertainment.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

Disney Studio Chairman Dick Cook said the deal was designed to create characters and projects that can become franchises for Disney.

Lee's characters have made hundreds of millions of dollars for other studios. Sony Pictures produced the Spider-Man series and saw "Spider-Man 3" open in early May with a record $151.1 million weekend domestically.

Twentieth Century Fox made the highly profitable X-Men films. Also in production at various studios are movies about The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man.

Sony Pictures is part of Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE - news). Twentieth Century Fox is owned by News Corp.

Lee is no longer associated with Marvel Entertainment Inc., which produces comic books and feature films based on characters he created while employed there.

At Disney Studios, part of The Walt Disney Co., Lee will work on developing characters for action films that might also be featured in direct-to-DVD productions, video games, comic books or other formats.

"I've got millions of them," Lee said. "I have file cabinets filled with ideas for movies and television shows and all sorts of things, and I've been waiting to be associated with someone like Disney so I can start tearing into these things."

Some of the characters that Lee developed at Pow! Entertainment, such as the superhero stripper "Stripperella," featuring the voice of
Pamela Anderson as "Erotica Jones," won't be made into Disney films, Lee said.

Lee said he isn't concerned that Disney's family image will hurt his projects.

"There is such a big difference between action and violence," Lee said. "I have never been a fan of violence, but I love action and so does Disney."

___

On the Net:

http://www.disney.com

http://www.powentertainment.com

Prehistoric european art seems to be case of monkey see monkey do...

Reuters
World's oldest adornments found, Morocco says

Wed Jun 6, 8:55 AM ET

RABAT (Reuters) - Perforated shells discovered in a limestone cave in eastern Morocco are the oldest adornments ever found and show humans used symbols in Africa 40,000 years before Europe, the kingdom's government said.

The small oval Nassarius mollusc shells, some dyed with red ochre, were probably pierced to be strung into necklaces or bracelets 82,000 years ago.

"This classes the adornments in Pigeon's Cave at Taforalt as older than those discovered previously in Algeria, South Africa and Palestine," the Culture Ministry said in a statement.

The find represents "a big step in the understanding of cultural innovations and the role they played in human history."

Morocco has yielded important prehistoric finds including one of the oldest known dinosaur skeletons but little is known of the humans that inhabited the region before Berber farmers settled over 2,000 years ago.

The shells were found and dated by a team of scientists from Morocco, Britain, France and Germany trying to find out how climate and landscape change affected human behavior between 130,000 and 13,000 years ago.

The work is part of a broader study into whether the Strait of Gibraltar dividing Morocco from Spain acted as a corridor or a barrier for early humans trying to move between Africa and Europe.

When bad taste becomes travesty against the Constitution...
Soldier funeral protester arrested

By ERIC OLSON, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 59 minutes ago

OMAHA, Neb. - A member of the Kansas group that has drawn criticism for protesting at soldiers' funerals has been arrested for letting her 10-year-old son stomp on a U.S. flag during a demonstration. She promised Wednesday to challenge the state's flag desecration law in court.

Shirley Phelps-Roper, 49, will be charged with flag mutilation, disturbing the peace and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, Sarpy County Attorney Lee Polikov said Wednesday.

Phelps-Roper, a member of the Westboro Baptist Church, acknowledged that she allowed her son Jonah to stand on the flag Tuesday — something she says is protected by the U.S. Constitution.

"It's utter nonsense," said Phelps-Roper, a lawyer. "I don't know what else to tell you other than that we'll see them in federal court."

Phelps-Roper is a daughter of Westboro's founder, the Rev. Fred Phelps. Members have protested at more than 280 military funerals in 43 states since June 2005, she said.

The group says the deaths of U.S. soldiers are God's punishment for a nation that harbors gays and lesbians. Nebraska and 37 other states have laws restricting how close protesters can get to funerals, inspired at least in part by the Westboro protests.

Tuesday's funeral in suburban Bellevue was for Nebraska Army National Guard Spc. William "Bill" Bailey, who was killed May 25 when an explosive device struck his vehicle in
Iraq.

Phelps-Roper was arrested because she was involved in a potentially volatile situation in the presence of Bailey's friends, relatives and fellow soldiers, Polikov said. Bellevue has a strong military presence, with Offutt Air Force Base located at the south edge of town.

"To come into that environment and communicate what I would call fighting words — provocative language and acts — you can't do that," Polikov said. "You might illicit a violent response. That's against community peace and community law."

Phelps-Roper was arrested about an hour before Bailey's funeral when an officer observed the boy stomping on the flag, Bellevue Police Capt. Herb Evers said. She was booked and released after posting $150 bail.

Nebraska's flag law says: "A person commits the offense of mutilating a flag if such person intentionally casts contempt or ridicule upon a flag by mutilating, defacing, defiling, burning, or trampling upon such flag."

Flag mutilation and disturbing the peace are each punishable by 90 days in jail, a $500 fine or both. Contributing to the delinquency of a minor is punishable by a year in jail, a $1,000 fine or both. All three are misdemeanors.

Polikov said he was considering filing a negligent child abuse charge because Phelps-Roper put her son in a dangerous situation.

CSI: Geneva
Scientists say 'Iceman' died from arrow

By FRANK JORDANS, Associated Press Writer Wed Jun 6, 3:51 PM ET

GENEVA - A prehistoric hunter known as Oetzi whose well-preserved body was found on a snow-covered mountain in the Alps died more than 5,000 years ago after being struck in the back by an arrow, scientists said in an article published Wednesday.

Researchers from Switzerland and Italy used newly developed medical scanners to examine the hunter's frozen corpse to determine that the arrow had torn a hole in an artery beneath his left collarbone, leading to a massive loss of blood.

That, in turn, caused Oetzi to go into shock and suffer a heart attack, according to the article published online in the Journal of Archaeological Science.

Even today, the chances of surviving such an injury long enough to receive hospital treatment are only 40 percent, according to the article.

Oetzi, also known as the Iceman, caused a sensation after his body was discovered by hikers in 1991 on a glacier 10,500 feet above sea level on the border between Austria and Italy.

The body has provided researchers with a wealth of information about the late Neolithic Age, or 3,300 to 3,100 B.C. Archaeologists believe Oetzi, who was carrying a bow, a quiver of arrows and a copper ax, may have been a hunter or warrior killed in a skirmish with a rival tribe.

The fact that the arrow's shaft was pulled out before his death may have worsened the injury, said Frank Ruehli of the University of Zurich, who carried out the research with scientists from Bolzano, Italy, where the iceman's body is preserved.

The findings confirm earlier suspicions that linked the arrowhead embedded in Oetzi's body with his death, and virtually rule out other theories that he had been the victim of a ritual sacrifice or had gotten caught in a storm.

The use of high-resolution computer tomography — normally used to diagnose living patients — allowed the researchers to create three-dimensional images of Oetzi without having to use surgical procedures that would have damaged the body.

"They've applied noninvasive techniques from medical imaging to a specific question and have confirmed that it was the arrow which killed Oetzi, without having to thaw him out," Dean Falk, professor of anthropology at Florida State University, said in a telephone interview.

"I think it's very illustrative of the importance of these new techniques to science," said Falk, who had previously studied the corpse but did not take part in the latest research.

___

On the Web:

South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology: http://www.archaeologiemuseum.it

I defy anyone to reveal how White Amerikkka is not totally accountable for the travesties in all of Liberia's history!
Liberia's Taylor faces war crimes trial at Hague

By Alexandra Hudson Sun Jun 3, 6:21 PM ET

THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Former Liberian President Charles Taylor goes on trial before a U.N.-backed court at
The Hague on Monday charged with instigating murder, rape and mutilation during Sierra Leone's civil war.

Prosecutors and human rights campaigners hope the case will send a message that no leaders, including heads of state, should expect to escape punishment for atrocities.

Taylor, 59, has pleaded not guilty to the 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity he faces at the Special Court for Sierra Leone. Some 50,000 people were killed in the West African country's 1991-2002 civil war.

Even among Africa's horrific wars, the fighting in Sierra Leone stood out for its exceptional brutality -- casual murder, mass rapes, the hacking of limbs from civilians and the forced recruitment of child soldiers as young as eight.

Taylor, driving force behind a tangle of conflicts in West Africa, was brought to The Hague because of fears that a trial in Freetown could spark new regional instability.

"We view this trial as one where we have an opportunity to get it right -- to show how one can go about prosecuting a chief of state at international level and do so in a way which is accessible," said prosecutor Stephen Rapp, an American.

"Some of these crimes involve the most horrendous things human beings can do to one another."

DIAMONDS

Prosecutors state in the indictment that Taylor sought to gain control of Sierra Leone's mineral wealth, particularly its diamond mines, and destabilize the Freetown government, to boost his own regional influence.

They argue that Taylor supported and directed Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels as they carried out a campaign of terror against Sierra Leone's civilians. Prosecutors say he failed to use his power to prevent war crimes being committed.

Taylor's defense does not dispute the horrors, but says he was not giving orders to fighters in Sierra Leone, supplying weapons to the rebels or recruiting child soldiers.

It says the prosecution cannot prove his involvement during the period of the charges, which start from 1996, and says his contacts with the RUF after that were solely aimed at bringing regional peace.

Taylor invaded Liberia with a rebel force in 1989 to end a dictatorship and was elected president in 1997. His enemies regrouped abroad and their fighters forced him from Monrovia in 2003, first to refuge in Nigeria.

Taylor was handed over by the Nigerians under international pressure. In the past, ousted African rulers often lived out their lives in comfortable exile.

The Special Court aims to complete Taylor's trial quickly and hopes to avoid the disappointment felt when former Yugoslav President
Slobodan Milosevic died months before a verdict after a trial of more than four years.

Sic 'em, Larry!
Hustler offers $1 million for sex smut on Congress

Sun Jun 3, 1:44 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hustler magazine is looking for some scandalous sex in Washington again -- and willing to pay for it.

"Have you had a sexual encounter with a current member of the United States Congress or a high-ranking government official?" read a full-page advertisement taken out by Larry Flynt's pornographic magazine in Sunday's Washington Post.

It offered $1 million for documented evidence of illicit intimate relations with a congressman, senator or other prominent officeholder. A toll-free number and e-mail address were provided.

The last time Flynt made such an offer was in October 1998 during the drive to impeach President
Bill Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

In the following months, the pornographic publishing mogul threatened to expose one or two members of the Republican Congress pushing for the impeachment, according to media reports at the time.

That long-awaited expose, published months after Clinton's trial, dropped no bombshells, according to a 1999 Slate.com article, but Flynt's efforts played a role in the resignation of House-speaker designate Bob Livingston of Louisiana.

Flynt's target this time, if he has one, was not immediately known.

Saddly, Cindy has left the building...!
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/5/28/12530/1525/


Story Updated.
Daily Kos
"Good Riddance Attention Whore"
by CindySheehan
Mon May 28, 2007 at 09:57:01 AM PDT

I have endured a lot of smear and hatred since Casey was killed and especially since I became the so-called "Face" of the American anti-war movement. Especially since I renounced any tie I have remaining with the Democratic Party, I have been further trashed on such "liberal blogs" as the Democratic Underground. Being called an "attention whore" and being told "good riddance" are some of the more milder rebukes.

* CindySheehan's diary :: ::
*

I have come to some heartbreaking conclusions this Memorial Day Morning. These are not spur of the moment reflections, but things I have been meditating on for about a year now. The conclusions that I have slowly and very reluctantly come to are very heartbreaking to me.

The first conclusion is that I was the darling of the so-called left as long as I limited my protests to George Bush and the Republican Party. Of course, I was slandered and libeled by the right as a "tool" of the Democratic Party. This label was to marginalize me and my message. How could a woman have an original thought, or be working outside of our "two-party" system?

However, when I started to hold the Democratic Party to the same standards that I held the Republican Party, support for my cause started to erode and the "left" started labeling me with the same slurs that the right used. I guess no one paid attention to me when I said that the issue of peace and people dying for no reason is not a matter of "right or left", but "right and wrong."

I am deemed a radical because I believe that partisan politics should be left to the wayside when hundreds of thousands of people are dying for a war based on lies that is supported by Democrats and Republican alike. It amazes me that people who are sharp on the issues and can zero in like a laser beam on lies, misrepresentations, and political expediency when it comes to one party refuse to recognize it in their own party. Blind party loyalty is dangerous whatever side it occurs on. People of the world look on us Americans as jokes because we allow our political leaders so much murderous latitude and if we don’t find alternatives to this corrupt "two" party system our Representative Republic will die and be replaced with what we are rapidly descending into with nary a check or balance: a fascist corporate wasteland. I am demonized because I don’t see party affiliation or nationality when I look at a person, I see that person’s heart. If someone looks, dresses, acts, talks and votes like a Republican, then why do they deserve support just because he/she calls him/herself a Democrat?

I have also reached the conclusion that if I am doing what I am doing because I am an "attention whore" then I really need to be committed. I have invested everything I have into trying to bring peace with justice to a country that wants neither. If an individual wants both, then normally he/she is not willing to do more than walk in a protest march or sit behind his/her computer criticizing others. I have spent every available cent I got from the money a "grateful" country gave me when they killed my son and every penny that I have received in speaking or book fees since then. I have sacrificed a 29 year marriage and have traveled for extended periods of time away from Casey’s brother and sisters and my health has suffered and my hospital bills from last summer (when I almost died) are in collection because I have used all my energy trying to stop this country from slaughtering innocent human beings. I have been called every despicable name that small minds can think of and have had my life threatened many times.

The most devastating conclusion that I reached this morning, however, was that Casey did indeed die for nothing. His precious lifeblood drained out in a country far away from his family who loves him, killed by his own country which is beholden to and run by a war machine that even controls what we think. I have tried every since he died to make his sacrifice meaningful. Casey died for a country which cares more about who will be the next American Idol than how many people will be killed in the next few months while Democrats and Republicans play politics with human lives. It is so painful to me to know that I bought into this system for so many years and Casey paid the price for that allegiance. I failed my boy and that hurts the most.

I have also tried to work within a peace movement that often puts personal egos above peace and human life. This group won’t work with that group; he won’t attend an event if she is going to be there; and why does Cindy Sheehan get all the attention anyway? It is hard to work for peace when the very movement that is named after it has so many divisions.

Our brave young men and women in Iraq have been abandoned there indefinitely by their cowardly leaders who move them around like pawns on a chessboard of destruction and the people of Iraq have been doomed to death and fates worse than death by people worried more about elections than people. However, in five, ten, or fifteen years, our troops will come limping home in another abject defeat and ten or twenty years from then, our children’s children will be seeing their loved ones die for no reason, because their grandparents also bought into this corrupt system. George Bush will never be impeached because if the Democrats dig too deeply, they may unearth a few skeletons in their own graves and the system will perpetuate itself in perpetuity.

I am going to take whatever I have left and go home. I am going to go home and be a mother to my surviving children and try to regain some of what I have lost. I will try to maintain and nurture some very positive relationships that I have found in the journey that I was forced into when Casey died and try to repair some of the ones that have fallen apart since I began this single-minded crusade to try and change a paradigm that is now, I am afraid, carved in immovable, unbendable and rigidly mendacious marble.

Camp Casey has served its purpose. It’s for sale. Anyone want to buy five beautiful acres in Crawford , Texas ? I will consider any reasonable offer. I hear George Bush will be moving out soon, too...which makes the property even more valuable.

This is my resignation letter as the "face" of the American anti-war movement. This is not my "Checkers" moment, because I will never give up trying to help people in the world who are harmed by the empire of the good old US of A, but I am finished working in, or outside of this system. This system forcefully resists being helped and eats up the people who try to help it. I am getting out before it totally consumes me or anymore people that I love and the rest of my resources.

Good-bye America ...you are not the country that I love and I finally realized no matter how much I sacrifice, I can’t make you be that country unless you want it.

It’s up to you now.

Tags: Recommended, Cindy Sheehan, GBCW, Camp Casey, Peace, Heroine (all tags)

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Planet-hunters find bonanza of new solar systems

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor Mon May 28, 4:09 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Planet-seekers who have spotted 28 new planets orbiting other stars in the past year say Earth's solar system is far from unique and there could be billions of habitable planets.

The most recent planet discoveries bring the number of known exoplanets -- planets outside our solar system -- to 236, the researchers told a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Honolulu on Monday.

"We are beginning to see that our home is not a rarity in the universe," said Geoffrey Marcy, a professor of astronomy at the University of California Berkeley, who led the team.

"We are easily able to detect giant planets like Jupiter and Saturn around other stars. Most orbit far from the star like our own Jupiter and Saturn orbit from the sun," Marcy said in a telephone interview.

"It's a common structure among planetary systems."

New techniques allow astronomers to detect planets that are not enormous although Earth-sized objects cannot yet be seen, said the researchers, who have posted details of their findings on the Internet at http://exoplanets.org.

Four of the systems also have multiple planets, like Earth's own with its sun, eight planets (Pluto was demoted from planet status) and smaller orbiting objects.

"We are finding that most stars have not just one planet but when we find one there is a second or a third or a fourth," Marcy said.

"The ... attribute which really has us the most excited is this new planet which we found three years ago," Marcy said. The Neptune-like planet orbiting the star Gliese 436 has intrigued scientists because it appears to be covered with water -- albeit rock-hard, hot water in a most un-Earthlike chemical state because of the intense pressures on the planet.

"JUMPING OUT OF OUR CLOTHES"

Earlier this month, Swiss and Belgian researchers imaged the star as this planet crossed between it and the Earth. The tiny change in the star's light gave them the planet's diameter and density.

"From the density of two grams per cubic centimeter -- twice that of water -- it must be 50 percent rock and about 50 percent water, with perhaps small amounts of hydrogen and helium," Marcy said.

"Now we are very sure it has a rocky core and this giant thick envelope of water," he added.

"This is why we are jumping out of our clothes. It is the first time we have determined the structure of one of these extrasolar planets. It is rocky like Earth but it has a lot of water which is the essential ingredient for life."

This is almost certainly happening over and over again, Marcy said. Scientists had theorized this for decades but now the hard evidence is starting to pour in.

"Our Milky Way galaxy has 200 billion stars. I would estimate that 10 percent of them, perhaps, have planets that are habitable," Marcy said.

"There are hundreds of billions of galaxies, all of which are more or less like our Milky Way Galaxy, which is tens of billions of planets like our own."

There is one unusual property to our solar system: the nearly circular orbits of the planets, which gives a consistent dose of radiation from the Sun.

Other solar systems seen so far are not usually like this. "Most of the planets are not in circular orbits around the host star but in elongated ones called elliptical orbits," Marcy said.

"We enjoy nearly constant temperatures throughout the year," he added. "If the Earth got too close to the Sun, the Earth would heat up, the water would boil off and that would be bad." Too far, and it would freeze.

"An elongated orbit could not sustain life," Marcy said.

It's business as usual for embattled House speaker

Posted on Sun, May. 27, 2007

By JAY ROOT and AMAN BATHEJA
Star-Telegram staff writer
If House Speaker Tom Craddick, R-Midland, was worried about becoming the first speaker since 1871 to get the boot, it didn't show.
If House Speaker Tom Craddick, R-Midland, was worried about becoming the first speaker since 1871 to get the boot, it didn't show.

* External Link Local delegation speaks on fight

AUSTIN -- His enemies call him a dictator, unfit for high state office. But on Saturday it was hard to argue with House Speaker Tom Craddick's staying power. Never mind the resignation of two top aides hours earlier. Forget the coup plotters.

The Midland Republican gaveled in the House at 11:15 a.m. as if he weren't facing the political fight of his life, as if the state police hadn't been ordered to the chamber to beef up security -- as if he had absolute power.

"The House will come to order," Craddick said calmly. He then instructed members to start debating legislation while his parliamentarians -- hurriedly sworn in Friday night to replace the two who quit in protest -- methodically blocked opponents from taking him out.

If Craddick was worried about becoming the first speaker since 1871 to get the boot, it didn't show. He laughed and joked while state photographers snapped pictures of him and his wife, Nadine, posing with the staff of the House sergeant-at-arms.

The previous night, those same security officers were scrambling to keep an angry band of lawmakers from storming the podium to protest what they see as Craddick's iron-fisted rule. Then, and again Saturday, Craddick asserted absolute authority to cut off any talk of removing him from his powerful job.

So did many of his supporters, from both political parties, who took turns wielding the speaker's gavel while Craddick worked the members on the floor and behind closed doors.

"There is no appeal," said Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, echoing Craddick's assertion of unqualified authority.

"You don't have the power to overrule my appeal," said Rep. Tommy Merritt, R-Longview.

The reply -- silence -- said it all.

Surreal replay

It was a replay of the surreal events of Friday night, complete with whispering huddles and a House gallery full of nervous lobbyists, who fear uncertainty more than anything else. Rumors have swirled for weeks that Craddick, accused of despotic tendencies and chaotic lawmaking, would face the rare spectacle of an internal move to oust him before the waning legislative session ends.

But when the moment of truth came shortly after midnight Friday, Craddick was ready with a brand-new legal argument, courtesy of his brand-new rules experts.

The denouement came after Rep. Fred Hill, R-Richardson, tried to make a formal motion to remove Craddick as speaker. Craddick cited "absolute discretion" to ignore Hill.

That left the coup against Craddick in limbo, and, depending on whom you talk to, threatens to stop passage of the state budget, which could spark a special session this summer.

The only thing that seemed safe to predict was a steady stream of uncertainty and bitterness. Saturday saw the announcement of a fifth Republican Craddick challenger, veteran Rep. Delwin Jones of Lubbock.

Many of the Democrats, meanwhile, wasted no time accusing the new parliamentarian, Terry Keel, and new assistant parliamentarian, Ron Wilson, both former state representatives, of conflicts of interest.

They also said Craddick was using the House security guards and state troopers to watch certain Democratic members and keep them from getting to the podium and other areas in the chamber. Craddick denied that.

Show of force

In an unusual show of force, uniformed Department of Public Safety officers guarded entrances at the front and rear of the chamber. Craddick spokeswoman Alexis DeLee said Rep. Tony Goolsby, R-Dallas, appointed to oversee internal administration matters, requested their presence.

Craddick aides stressed their desire to keep order and minimize distractions. "The speaker's position is that he will see to it that the House conducts the important business of the state," DeLee said. "The other side wants to go outside the House rules to carry out a speaker's race during the session, and we are not going to play that game."

The fight started Friday about 7:30 p.m. after Craddick was asked about procedures related to the removal of the House speaker. Over shouts and objections, the speaker declared a temporary recess, denying opponents any chance to challenge or even question him.

Rep. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth, said he decided then and there to run for re-election. He had been planning to retire. "I want to serve under a speaker, not a dictator," Geren said.

In parliamentary terms, Craddick says the rules give him unchecked discretion to "recognize" members. Members who aren't recognized can't cause trouble.

"The power to recognize is absolute," Craddick said.

That interpretation of the rules directly contradicted the advice he was given by House parliamentarian Denise Davis, several House members said. A couple of hours later, she resigned in protest and took her deputy, Chris Griesel, with her.

Craddick, after swearing in Keel and Wilson as the new in-house lawyers, laid out his updated legal theory. He said the only way to remove a speaker is through impeachmentlike proceedings and a two-thirds vote of the House.

'Dirty Thirty'

Some saw shades of the Sharpstown era in the early 1970s, except that back then Craddick was a member of the reformist "Dirty Thirty" members who opposed the heavy-handed tactics of House Speaker Gus Mutscher.

Now Craddick "has essentially ruled he can shut off the flow of speech on the floor by simply not recognizing a member," political analyst Harvey Kronberg said. "It's extraordinary. There is nothing even resembling this since 1971."

At least five Republicans are now seeking the speaker's ouster before the session ends, by law, on Monday. Only once has the House voted to remove its speaker -- in 1871, when Ira Hobart Evans, the first Republican speaker of his generation, was canned by the colleagues who had elected him.

The Republicans hold an 81-69 majority in the House, but there are members of both parties on each side of the Craddick divide. Several "Craddick D's" expressed dismay and embarrassment at the mutiny on the House floor. But four Democratic representatives said Craddick should remain speaker for the session so that the House can finish its work.

Staff writers R.A. Dyer, John Moritz, Patrick McGee and John Kirsch contributed to this report.

Milestones in Craddick's career

Republican Rep. Tom Craddick rose from a rank-and-file West Texas lawmaker to be the powerful speaker of the Texas House of Representatives. Here are some significant events in Craddick's long legislative career.

November 1968: Craddick is elected to the Texas House at age 25, one of eight Republicans in the 150-member House.

May 1971: A legislative session concludes after the "Dirty Thirty," of which Craddick is a member, continually criticizes Speaker Gus Mutscher over the Sharpstown stock fraud scandal. The "Dirty Thirty" is made up of liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans. Mutscher was a conservative Democrat.

November 2002: After years of planning his rise to power, Craddick announces immediately after the November election that he has enough pledges of support from House members to be elected speaker over incumbent Democrat Pete Laney when the Legislature convenes.

Jan. 14, 2003: Craddick is elected speaker as Republicans take control of the House. Craddick is the first Republican to hold the job in 130 years.

May 12, 2003: House Democrats, complaining about Craddick's attempt to push a GOP congressional redistricting through the chamber, secretly flee to Ardmore, Okla., to break a quorum and block the bill. The Democrats said they crossed the state line to be out of reach of state troopers Craddick sent to apprehend them.

June 2, 2003: Craddick's first session as speaker ends with the Legislature passing a Republican-pushed lawsuit limitation bill and deep budget cuts to cope with a $10 billion shortfall. The redistricting bill, however, is dead for the moment. It is approved in a special session later in the year.

May 30, 2005: The regular legislative session ends with Craddick and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, a fellow Republican, butting heads over school funding. Negotiations between the House and Senate leaders break down. Craddick later claims there was no tension between them, but Dewhurst jokes that he wanted to kill Craddick the last month of the session.

May 15, 2006: After two failed special sessions the previous year, lawmakers adjourn a 30-day special session after approving an overhaul of public school funding. Craddick, who had been at loggerheads with Dewhurst and Republican Gov. Rick Perry in previous attempts to pass school funding, leads his chamber to approve the plan.

Jan. 9, 2007: Craddick narrowly defeats a GOP insurgency and survives a close re-election battle.

May 8, 2007: Craddick suffers a rare rebuke over a rules dispute, sparking rumors of rebellion.

May 25, 2007: Facing a mutiny, Craddick declares he has absolute power to block a motion to remove him. Two top aides resign.

-- Staff writer Jay Root, The Associated Press

Noriega compared to terrorist

In a dispute over what exactly happened Friday night in a chaotic Texas House, Rep. Jodie Laubenberg, R-Parker, compared Rep. Rick Noriega, D-Houston, to a terrorist in Afghanistan. Laubenberg was speaking at a news conference Saturday evening in which she condemned Noriega for rushing the dais reserved for Speaker Tom Craddick on Friday night, after Craddick abruptly adjourned to boos and protests. Noriega said he was trying to turn the microphones back on so that debate could continue on whether a motion should be made to replace Craddick as speaker. Laubenberg, referencing Noriega's recent stint in Afghanistan, said she had feared he might have been trying to install himself as speaker in Craddick's absence. "Representative Noriega just came from Afghanistan ... trying to establish a rule-of-law system ... yet he used the same tactics last night that those who would destroy that democracy in Afghanistan [would use], which is just amazing," she said. Noriega called the comparison "irresponsible." -- Aman Batheja

A history lesson from a century ago

The Texas House of Representatives at least once before has forced out a sitting speaker during a legislative session. Austin M. Kennedy, elected speaker in 1909, ultimately resigned before completing his first term after being accused of improper spending for staff and furniture. Kennedy stepped down as speaker but was re-elected and served two more terms.
jroot@star-telegram.com
Jay Root, 512-476-4294

Can I get the Bush clan to move in next door to me?
PARAGUAY: Solidarity Lending Bolsters Community Development

David Vargas, Inter Press Service (IPS) Fri May 25, 7:08 PM ET

ASUNCION, May 25 (IPS) - Esperanza Santos Aranda, who lives in a poor neighbourhood in the Paraguayan capital, used to sell vegetables at a precarious market stall. But thanks to a 60-dollar loan, she was able to open up her own small clothes-selling business.

Aranda is a resident of Banado Tacumbu, an area in Asuncion that has one of the highest poverty rates in this land-locked South American country of six million, and which is flooded every year when the Paraguay River overflows its banks. Her husband is a construction worker who only finds casual work, and she supports her 21-year-old daughter, a single mother.

Four years ago, Aranda heard about a community organisation that granted low-interest loans to people who wanted to set up small businesses, and she did not hesitate: she applied for and immediately obtained 60 dollars to open a small clothing shop in her home.

Her business prospered and grew into one of the most popular neighbourhood clothing shops, which offers clients the possibility of paying in "comfortable, widely-spaced" installments, Aranda told IPS.

"I often visited banks and other financial institutions to apply for credit, but no one wanted to lend me money because I'm poor, or they asked me for collateral or a guarantor and a ton of documents," she added.

Now Aranda buys clothes wholesale at a popular market in Asuncion, mainly contraband items brought in from Brazil or Argentina. She earns around 200 dollars a month, below the minimum monthly wage of 240 dollars, but four times the estimated value of the basic basket of food items.

She is one of the beneficiaries of ACRES (Area de Creditos Solidarios, or solidarity lending branch) of the non-governmental CAMSAT (Health for All Mutual Aid Centre), which has been operating for 17 years in Banado Tacumbu.

"CAMSAT emerged with the aim of undertaking activities that provide training and help organise the neighbourhood, with the ultimate aim of overcoming poverty," Catholic priest Pedro Velasco told IPS.

Velasco set up the organisation along with volunteers from the Catholic Church's Social Pastorate. The commission that runs it is made up of local residents who are elected by assembly every three years.

Based on a census that it carried out last year, CAMSAT estimates that 85 percent of the more than 10,000 people living in this poor neighbourhood have no formal employment.

Most are involved in precarious activities, like informal waste collection and recycling, fishing or the artisanal manufacturing of bricks and tiles. And of the 15 percent who are employed in the formal economy, only one-tenth earn the official minimum monthly wage of 240 dollars or more.

Some 750 families are members of CAMSAT, paying a monthly quota equivalent to three cents of a dollar, which entitles them to medical care, medicines from a low-cost pharmacy, tutoring classes for children, a soup kitchen for children, and skills training courses for adults.

A
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) publication in February (part of the Human Development Publication Series) described CAMSAT as a model of community development and organising against poverty.

The official poverty rate in Paraguay is 38 percent.

The ACRES credit programme is one of the pillars of CAMSAT. It was organised in 2000, emulating the idea of Bangladeshi economist Muhammad Yunus, who in the 1970s put into practice the concept of microcredit for poor people without access to commercial bank loans to start up their own small businesses.

Last year, Yunus was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his Grameen Bank, or "bank for the poor".

ACRES currently benefits 650 local clients, and moves around 60,000 dollars a year. The loans have an annual interest rate of 1.6 percent, and the payoff rate is 97 percent.

In Paraguay, interest rates for loans are regulated by the Central Bank and range between 20 and 26 percent a year in banks and 25 and 30 percent in finance companies.

ACRES' loans are granted to groups of five people, under the solidarity group lending model, in which peer pressure and collective group responsibility help ensure that the payments are made. The initial microcredit is 60 dollars -- an amount that can grow as the initial loan is paid off and the client builds a strong repayment history.

The quotas are paid weekly and in accordance with what each beneficiary can afford. The profits derived from interest allow ACRES to maintain the flow of credit, cover administrative costs, and absorb the unpaid loans.

One peculiarity of the programme is that it does not require loan applicants to live up to specific requirements or sign any document: all that is needed is a personal commitment. "The less they have, the better. Because those who have nothing are the people we want to help," said Father Velasco.

Another innovative aspect is that the programme's loan officers actually go out to knock on doors in search of clients, constantly combing the neighbourhood in search of new business opportunities for people, and providing advice to candidates on the possibilities of new activities that they could get involved in.

"We are more like social workers than bank employees," Zulma Garcia, the ACRES administrator, joked to IPS.

The programme has enabled many poor people, who had no access to the financial system, to free themselves of loan sharks who charge up to 30 percent a week interest, making their loans a practically unpayable burden.

One of the most dynamic initiatives to come out of the solidarity credit programme was the "Banado Poty" bakery run by a local women's organisation.

The company was set up in 2001 with a 100-dollar loan. "We took out the first credit to buy the raw materials," Vicenta Rodriguez, who coordinates the bakery, told IPS.

The business now employs 19 people, most of whom are women, and produces between 600 and 800 kgs of baked goods a day, enough to supply over 90 percent of the neighbourhood's food stores. The company bills around 8,000 dollars a month.

"For the women in the bakery, one of the main achievements of this project was that they don't leave the neighbourhood to work, and they don't have to leave their children alone for hours on end," said Rodriguez.

The UNDP report said the opening of the bakery was a fundamental step towards achieving autonomy for the women involved. The members "are now aware of their rights; they stand up for themselves and demand respect, and tell the men that 'I also have rights; we are equal'," Rodriguez added.

The loans benefit families on various levels, one of which is to encourage people to continue studying. An adult literacy programme, for example, is being carried out by means of a community radio station that operates in the neighbourhood, a joint initiative with the Catholic organisation Fe y Alegria (Faith and Happiness), which is active in 14 countries of Latin America in popular education and social development and has been working in Paraguay since 1992.

ACRES' main challenge is to grow.

"When we had 30 or 40 (solidarity loan) groups, we were unable to support ourselves," said Garcia, the programme administrator. "When we grew to 70 groups, we began to cover our expenses with the interest earned, and now, with 130 groups, we even take in a small profit."

"Unfortunately, no institution has come forward to provide us with a relatively large sum of money. If we could receive a significant boost in terms of aid, we could achieve stability in this area," she added.

Father Velasco said that "If we could turn over one billion guaran�es (200,000 dollars) a year with 300 groups, that would enable us to take in profits and expand into other areas, like housing for example."