Adviser To Maliki: Blackwater Staying In Iraq Is “Bad News”

By- Suzie-Q @ 4:00 PM MST

A woman passes a burned car in Baghdad where Blackwater guards killed 17 in September.

From CNN:

Iraqi official: Blackwater staying on ‘is bad news’

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — The U.S. State Department’s renewal of Blackwater’s contract to provide security in Iraq “is bad news,” an adviser to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said.

Blackwater guards shot and killed 17 people, including women and children, last September, prompting an outcry and protest from Iraqi officials.

“This is bad news,” al-Maliki adviser Sami al-Askari said. “I personally am not happy with this, especially because they have committed acts of aggression, killed Iraqis, and this has not been resolved yet positively for families of victims.”

About 25,000 private contractors from three companies protect diplomats, reconstruction workers and government officials in Iraq. Under a provision put into place in the early days of the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq, security contractors have immunity from Iraqi prosecution.

Al-Askari said he would push for the Iraqi government to contest the contract renewal.

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British fear US commander is beating the drum for Iran strikes

anthony @ 21:54 BST

Damien McElroy | UK Daily Telegraph | Saturday, April 5, 2008

British officials gave warning yesterday that America’s commander in Iraq will declare that Iran is waging war against the US-backed Baghdad government.

A strong statement from General David Petraeus about Iran’s intervention in Iraq could set the stage for a US attack on Iranian military facilities, according to a Whitehall assessment. In closely watched testimony in Washington next week, Gen Petraeus will state that the Iranian threat has risen as Tehran has supplied and directed attacks by militia fighters against the Iraqi state and its US allies.

The outbreak of Iraq’s worst violence in 18 months last week with fighting in Basra and the daily bombardment of the Green Zone diplomatic enclave, demonstrated that although the Sunni Muslim insurgency is dramatically diminished, Shia forces remain in a strong position to destabilise the country.

“Petraeus is going to go very hard on Iran as the source of attacks on the American effort in Iraq,” a British official said. “Iran is waging a war in Iraq. The idea that America can’t fight a war on two fronts is wrong, there can be airstrikes and other moves,” he said.

“Petraeus has put emphasis on America having to fight the battle on behalf of Iraq. In his report he can frame it in terms of our soldiers killed and diplomats dead in attacks on the Green Zone.”

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Conyers Smacked McCain! LOL

By- Suzie-Q @ 12:45 PM MST

From: Cafe, Election Central, Muckraker

Conyers smacks McCain – and boy was it funny

By – April 4, 2008, 4:18PM

I wish I had, had my PVR running about ten minutes ago when Alex Witt(less, she always seems to be overtly anti-Obama) on MSNBC was interviewing John Conyers about MLK and the matter of McCain being there came up.Witt asks Conyers about McCain and Conyers politely points out that McCain voted against the holiday in 83, and in 87 when Arizona’s governor moved to rescind the holiday within that state – McCain supported the governor. (Of course you may recall, it was the threat from the NFL that made them think twice on that) Conyers then says, ‘well it’s quite nice of McCain to come here today after all that’ (likely not verbatim – I was sleep deprived)

So Witt tries to pump McCain up and points out that McCain did in fact apologize and asks Conyers if he hadn’t heard that yet. So Conyers then thanks her for pointing that out and then adds that it was kinda sad that he couldn’t apologize in 82 or 87, but how nice of him ‘Now that he’s running for President’, Conyers was really having a time of it trying to avoid laughing any harder as he said that.

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Afternoon Jukebox…Take My Breath Away

By- Suzie-Q @ 12:30 PM MST

Berlin – Take My Breath Away

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Ashcroft Was Not Aware Of Yoo Memo

By- Suzie-Q @ 12:15 PM MST

Post: Ashcroft Didn’t Sign Off on Yoo Pentagon Torture Memo

By Paul Kiel – April 4, 2008, 2:17PM

More evidence that John Yoo was the most powerful deputy assistant attorney general in the Justice Department’s history. The Washington Post reports this morning that when Yoo issued his now-infamous March 14, 2003 memo to the Pentagon, neither Attorney General John Ashcroft, nor his deputy Larry Thompson “were aware.”

As Marty Lederman has pointed out, the fact that the memo was issued under Yoo’s own name is further indication that this was a back door authorization of interrogation practices.

The Post also sheds light on Yoo’s earlier October 23, 2001 legal memo, the one that declared that the Fourth Amendment had “no application to domestic military operations.” The memo “focused on the rules governing any deployment of U.S. forces inside the country ‘in the event of further large-scale terrorist activities’ by al-Qaeda” according to “a Justice Department official.” Just what that sort of operation that might have been discussed or how long that memo remained in effect are unclear. In fact, it’s unclear whether it might still be relied upon:

Although the memo has not been formally withdrawn, the Justice Department yesterday repudiated the idea that there are no constitutional limits to military searches and seizures in a time of war, saying it depends on “the particular context and circumstances of the search,” according to a statement.

All that is clear is that Department officials are insistent that that memo had nothing to do with the warrantless wiretapping program. But as the AP has shown, that appears not to be entirely true.

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This is what we in the U.K. call “taking the p*ss”!

anthony @ 18:21 BST

YOU [THAT'S THE U.K. TAXPAYER] HAVE TO PAY BROWN’S TV LICENCE

By Macer Hall and Sarah O’Grady – Saturday April 5,2008

GORDON Brown forces taxpayers to meet the cost of his annual TV licence and cleaning bills, it was revealed yesterday.

The details of the Prime Minister’s expenses were exposed when the shocking scale of how senior MPs stuff their pockets with your money was published for the first time.

Figures forced out of House of Commons authorities also showed that taxpayers paid ex-PM Tony Blair’s TV licence, cleaning and mortgage but also how his former deputy John Prescott gorged on £4,000-worth of groceries paid for by public money in a year.

While enjoying plush grace-and-favour accommodation, Prescott also took nearly £2,000 for his own council tax while presiding over the doubling of the charge for millions of struggling families and pensioners.

Supposedly prudent Gordon Brown managed to claim more than £11,800 in a year for air travel from his home in Scotland.

The figures released yesterday cover two financial years up to April 2006, but Downing Street sources confirmed that nothing has changed.

Mr Brown also claimed £1,941 for “TV subscriptions/licence, internal upkeep” in 2005-06. The Prime Minister is known to frequently enjoy watching live football on Sky television.

A Downing Street spokesman last night dismissed criticism of Mr Brown’s expenses claims.

She said: “The Prime Minister has always been relaxed about his expenses being made public.”

Mr Brown’s aides said most of the £1,941 was spent on “internal maintenance” for the Downing Street flat he used as Chancellor.

A source close to Mr Brown said: “He has the normal Sky TV package, including the news and Parliamentary channels.”

The grubby details of the Westminster gravy train were released by Commons Speaker Michael Martin yesterday.

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‘Monstrous’ human-cow embryos survive

by Geezer Power

By Grant McArthur

April 03, 2008 01:38am

Article from: Herald Sun

* Human-cow embryo created in world-first experiment
* Embryo survives for three days
* Critics say development is ‘monstrous’

HUMAN-cow embryos have been created in a world first at Newcastle University in England, hailed by the scientific community, but labelled “monstrous” by opponents.

A team has grown hybrid embryos after injecting human DNA into eggs taken from cows’ ovaries, which had most of their genetic material removed.

Read more…

Biofoil

The nerds at Newcastle are a bit behind the curve on this DNA stuff.
My friends Dad and Highwayman could give you an ear full on this subject and from what I see on the innertubes the NWO has been playing around with DNA for years. Do you remember the TV series in the 1980′s about the dude that could change into an animal?

Manimal was a television series that ran from September 30, 1983 to December 17, 1983 on NBC. It is about a shape-shifting man who can turn himself into any animal, and uses this ability to fight crime. It starred the British actor Simon MacCorkindale.

Opening narration

For every episode except for the pilot, actor William Conrad recites the opening narration that tells of Chase’s wealthy present life and his early days in Africa with his missionary father.
“ Dr. Jonathan Chase… wealthy, young, handsome. A man with the brightest of futures. A man with the darkest of pasts. From Africa’s deepest recesses, to the rarefied peaks of Tibet, heir to his father’s legacy and the world’s darkest mysteries. Jonathan Chase, master of the secrets that divide man from animal, animal from man… Manimal!

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Rabbi Eliyahu: Life of one yeshiva boy worth more than 1,000 Arabs

Sudhan @17:25 CET

Ynetnews, April 4, 2008

Rabbi Eliyhau Photo: Gil Yohanan Mass Jerusalem service marks one-month anniversary of deadly attack on Mercaz Harav rabbinical seminary. ‘We do not seek vengeance, we seek retaliation,’ says yeshiva head saysSome 1,000 people attended a memorial service at the Mercaz Harav rabbinical seminary Thursday, marking the one-month anniversary of the murderous attack which claimed the lives of eight young men. Also attending the service were many prominent rabbis of the Religious Zionist Movement, who were not shy about expressing their rage against the government’s policy. Rabbi Yaakov Shapira, head of the Mercaz Harav yeshiva, chose to explain the attack by saying that “the Torah and the land of Israel are acquired only through agony.” Former Sephardi chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu called on the government to decree that for every life lost in the attack another yeshiva and township will be formed. “Even when we seek revenge, it is important to make one thing clear – the life of one yeshiva boy is worth more than the lives of 1,000 Arabs. “The Talmud states that if gentiles rob Israel of silver they will pay it back in gold, and all that is taken will be paid back in folds, but in cases like these there is nothing to pay back, since as I said – the life of one yeshiva boy is worth more than the lives of 1,000 Arabs,” added Rabbi Eliyahu. Ramat Gan’s chief rabbi, Yaacov Ariel, chose to deliver a more moderate message: “We do not seek vengeance, we seek retaliation. The terrorist’s house should have been demolished immediately, regardless of the law. It should have been done because it was a matter of life and death – the deterrence could help save future lives.” “We are against killing innocent people or harming children,” he added, “but once terrorists hide behind children, we have to strike back. The blood of those living in Sderot is worth just as much as the blood of those the terrorists hide behind.” Mercaz Harav will be holding a vigil in memory of those killed in the attack all through Thursday night.

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War Criminal Blair misusing the name of God

Sudhan @16:35 CET

Behold, a voice from out of the wilderness

Ann Treneman: Political Sketch | The London Times, April 4, 2008

And lo, but he was tanned. Tony Blair came before us yesterday not as a former Prime Minister but as a man of religion. The Vicar of St Albion is breaking free of his parish chains. He wants God to stop being so parochial. Tony Blair has decided that it’s time that God went global and he’s the man to do it.

He stood, light shining down on his golden face, in Westminster Cathedral almost directly beneath a huge red and gold encrusted cross hanging from the soaring ceiling. He spoke from a wooden pulpit before a congregation (sorry, audience) of hundreds. In the real pulpit, to the side, two TV crews were filming him. Outside, the Blair nonbelievers chanted and whistled. As I walked in a woman screamed like a banshee: “Arrest Tony Blair! This is the House of Satan!” Inside, powerful organ chords drowned out the noise of the nonbelievers. The audience was dotted with turbans, yamakas and robes.

Continued . . .

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Constitutional lawyer: Bush ‘ordered war crimes’

anthony @ 11:17 BST

Nick Juliano | Raw Story | Friday, April 4, 2008

This week’s revelation of another secret Bush administration memo that seemed to eliminate any boundaries on the treatment of detainees added to the already substantial evidence that US military and intelligence interrogators have abused and perhaps even tortured prisoners rounded up during the “war on terror.”

Former Justice Department lawyer John Yoo wrote in 2003 that Bush’s seemingly supreme authority in wartime trumped federal laws “prohibiting assault, maiming and other crimes,” as the Washington Post reported. For constitutional lawyer Jonathan Turley, the latest memo should be more than enough reason for Congress to begin some serious investigations, but hesitance to really dig into Bush-authorized “war crimes” have precluded them from doing so, he says.

“It is really amazing because Congress — including the Democrats — have avoided any type of investigation into torture because they do not want to deal with the fact that the president ordered war crimes,” Turley told MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann Thursday night. “But evidence keeps on coming out…. What you get from this is this was a premeditated and carefully orchestrated torture program. Not torture, but a torture program.”

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