Saving Society

Gary Null Speaking Out Against Mandatory Vaccination in NYC

2009-11-01T16:01:00.001-08:00

DISH Network Giving Away Free Home Theater System

2009-11-01T15:31:00.000-08:00

BREAKING NEWS - ELCR

2009-10-29T10:39:00.001-07:00

www.wallst.net

October 29, 2009

Electric Car Company, Inc. Signs Letter of Intent With Electric Vehicle Performance Conversions, LLC.

Agreement Will Provide Complete Turnkey 100% Electric Power Conversions for Company's Line of Livery and Fleet Vehicles

SPRINGFIELD, MO--(Marketwire - 10/29/09) - Electric Car Company, Inc. (OTC.BB:ELCR - News), a vehicle conversion Company that specializes in electric conversions and manufacturing for the Livery and Fleet Markets, today announces that it has signed a Letter Of Intent with Electric Vehicle Performance Conversions, LLC. (EVPC) of West Palm Beach, Florida. EVPC will provide complete turnkey, electric power conversions exclusively to Electric Car Company for the Company's line of Livery and Fleet vehicles to include "Specialty Buses" for the commuter, transit, and limousine and sightseeing transportation industries.

Mr. Paul Vaughn Liddle, CEO of EVPC, has 21 years in the high-end automotive retrofit industry and prides himself on building the finest custom super-cars and electric exotics at an affordable price. At present, EVPC offers a line of "EV" exotic sports cars, beginning at a 100% electric Porsche Boxster all the way up to a full electric Rolls Royce Phantom.

EVPC has the capability and expertise of converting just about any gasoline-powered vehicle into a fully functional, zero-emissions electric vehicle. The exclusive relationship being given to Electric Car Company by EVPC means that the vision of a greener, more environmentally friendly livery and fleet industry is that much closer to being a reality.

In addition to the extensive engineering knowledge and manufacturing expertise, EVPC has proven that its vehicles sell, having put more than 50 of their electric exotics in the hands of collectors and aficionados, worldwide. Along with its World Headquarters in West Palm Beach, EVPC has established dealerships in Los Angeles, California and Detroit, Michigan. You may view EVPC's current line of products at the Company's web site: www.evporsche.com

Mr. Gary Spaniak, CEO of Electric Car Company, Inc., stated, "We're very excited to be able to partner with Paul and his team." Mr. Spaniak continues by saying, "We've been speaking with several electric conversion companies and we believe that EVPC has the solution and price points for our needs. It's hard not to imagine a future that has the entire fleet industry going Green."

www.electriccarstocks.com

About Electric Car Company, Inc.

Electric Car Company, Inc. (OTC.BB:ELCR - News) is a vehicle conversion Company that specializes in electric conversion and manufacturing for the livery and fleet markets including corporate VIP, Party Buses, Municipal Buses and Delivery Vehicles. The company brings together businesses specializing in customizing vehicles & powertrains. This proven business strategy is building a dominating presence in the aftermarket automotive up-fitter segment, including, but not limited to "PURE ELECTRIC" cars, liquid propane conversions, limousines & other livery vehicles, specialty fleet vehicles, classic automobiles and custom restorations.

The Company fully expects to have the first zero emissions, "PURE ELECTRIC" livery vehicle ready to unveil by first quarter, 2010. The long-term strategy is to offer and expand the company's line of products that will revolutionize the specialty automotive vehicle market.

Electric Car Company's wholly owned subsidiary, Imperial Coach Works, Inc. and its custom manufacturing division Imperial Coach Builders, Inc., is a limousine and specialty vehicle manufacturing entity that operates out of a 60,000-sq/ft facility in Springfield, MO., http://www.limoland.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: The statements contained herein, which are not historical, are forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements including, but not limited to, certain delays beyond the Company's control with respect to market acceptance of new technologies, products and services, delays in testing and evaluation of products and services, and other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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BREAKING NEWS - HTDS

2009-10-29T10:34:00.000-07:00

www.wallst.net

October 29, 2009

Hard to Treat Diseases Inc. (HTDS) Targets a EU Based Stem Cell Research Company for a Merger

FRANKFURT, Oct. 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Hard to Treat Diseases (HTDS; http://www.htdsmedical.com/) and its operating subsidiary Slavica Bio Chem, announces that it is targeting an EU based company, and has initiated talks that may involve a merger.

Hard to Treat Diseases Inc. (HTDS) and the newly targeted company, which does not wish to disclose its name at the present stage of negotiations, started talks about the possibilities for future cooperation and are in the process of reviewing initial documentation. The new company would give HTDS a new competitive edge on the pharmaceutical market, including providing HTDS with an increased revenue base.

The stem cell company focuses on research and storage of the umbilical cord stem cells, the only ethical source of stem cells in the world. Umbilical stem cells are more flexible in medical applications and possess 30% higher flexibility to match the patient than the bone marrow stem cells do. The company also serves its customers as an Umbilical Cord Blood Bank. The umbilical cord blood (UCB) is stored for treatment of leukemia, anaemia and other haematological conditions in the donor's family only.

This EU based Stem Cell Bank reports revenues in the range of Euro 3 million (Approximately $4.5 million USD) and profit range 35%. This new company sees profitable opportunity in cooperation with HTDS and Slavica Bio Chem, due to Slavica Bio Chem's low research and production costs and superior infrastructure provided by the Hard to Treat Diseases Inc.

The financial information and transaction details on revenues, assets and other will follow via usual newswire service.

The merger with the new company comes after the HTDS' long-term market research in the international markets. HTDS is the parent company of the Serbian Slavica Bio Chem research facility and Chinese Mellow Hope, the largest vaccine exporter in China. HTDS closely inspects the new research possibilities and business opportunities coming from this merger.

This merger is based on the targeted merger companies being able to meet and exceed both management and long-term shareholders reasonable expectations. The HTDS' management works in concert with its preferred shareholders and its M&A advisors on this merger and develops a complex preferred share exchange arrangement. The result will see HTDS' current (both common and preferred) share structure unchanged and undisturbed after the merger.

The targeted merger candidates would over time acquire the preferred shares and have an option to convert these preferred shares at a significantly higher strike price than what HTDS is currently trading at. The targeted merger candidates hope to benefit from this merger and increase their revenues.

A research report of the stem cell project was filed with Pink Sheets www.pinksheets.com on Nov 26 under the "Research Tab". The company will shortly make announcements on its H1N1 sales progress and the Mind Up cancer project.

To be included in HTDS' email database for press releases and industry updates, please subscribe at or opt in with your email address at this link http://www.minamargroup.com/updates/.

Safe Harbor Statement
Information in this news release may contain statements about future expectations, plans, prospects or performance of Hard to Treat Diseases Inc. that constitute forward-looking statements for purposes of the Safe Harbor Provisions under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The words or phrases "can be", "expects", "may affect", "believed", "estimate", "project" and similar words and phrases are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Hard to Treat Diseases Inc. cautions you that any forward-looking information provided by or on behalf of Hard to Treat Diseases Inc. is not a guarantee of future performance. None of the information in this press release constitutes or is intended as an offer to sell securities or investment advice of any kind. Hard to Treat Diseases Inc.'s actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, some of which are beyond Hard to Treat Diseases Inc.'s control. In addition to those discussed in Hard to Treat Diseases Inc.'s press releases, public filings, and statements by Hard to Treat Diseases Inc.'s management, including, but not limited to, Hard to Treat Diseases Inc.'s estimate of the sufficiency of its existing capital resources, Hard to Treat Diseases Inc.'s ability to raise additional capital to fund future operations, Hard to Treat Diseases Inc.'s ability to repay its existing indebtedness, the uncertainties involved in estimating market opportunities, and in identifying contracts which match Hard to Treat Diseases Inc.'s capability to be awarded contracts. All such forward-looking statements are current only as of the date on which such statements were made. Hard to Treat Diseases Inc. does not undertake any obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which any such statement is made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

CONTACT: For medical and scientific dialogue inquiry only, please contact medicalinfo@htdsmedical.com; for any corporate matters, please contact www.minamargroup.com/helpdesk

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BREAKING NEWS - RMDM

2009-10-29T10:30:00.001-07:00

www.wallst.net

October 29, 2009

RMD Entertainment Group (RMDM) Targets USA Liquor Producer for a Merger

Targeted Merger Company expects to grow their profits up to 20 million over the next 2 years

BEIJING, Oct. 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - The RMD Entertainment Group (RMDM; http://www.rmdmgroup.com) announces that it initiated talks and considers entering into a business relationship or transaction that will involve a merger with growing US liquor producer.

The RMD Entertainment Group (RMDM) and United Liquor (ULA) www.united-liquor.com and www.sunshine-spirits.com targeted merger company has been seeking an adequate distribution partner for their expansion plans, a partner who would bring their superior products to the wider US public. The present talks between RMD Entertainment Group and the US liquor producer deliver both trust and promise of future cooperation. Both companies review initial documentation and the further updates on the merger process will be published shortly.

The US liquor producer, and RMDM's new partner, holds a secret to a unique liquor distillation procedure. This secret procedure allows distillation of unique spirits with superior flavour at optimal production margins. The company is able to create unique blends of traditional liquors in fractional distillation times. The company keeps the procedure secret to assure the uniqueness of their brand and secure a competitive edge over the mainstream competition.

Good pricing in the retail market also adds to the company's competitive edge and secures its 25% Gross Profit. However, the company's expansion plan predicts profits of 3 million in the first year, 12 million at the 18-month mark and 20 million in the second year of their expansion plan.

The company plans to launch its first new product in the first quarter of 2010.

The RMD Entertainment Group's management feels that this is a material event and that each stage with the new company requires a public announcement.

This merger is based on the targeted merger companies being able to meet and exceed both management and long-term shareholders reasonable expectations. The RMDM management works in concert with its preferred shareholders and its M&A advisors on this merger and develops a complex preferred share exchange arrangement. The result will see RMDM's current (both common and preferred) share structure unchanged and undisturbed after the merger, including its recent non dilution and non recapitalization policy.

The targeted merger candidate would acquire the preferred shares over time and have an option to convert these preferred shares at a significantly higher strike price than what RMDM is currently trading at. The targeted merger candidates hope to benefit from this merger and increase their revenues.

RMD Entertainment Group is a holding company that locates and invests in gaming and vending type businesses. The focus is on the entertainment, travel and leisure Industries. The issuer operates a wide-span North American distribution network.

In other company news, the company will shortly be updating Pink Sheets with balance sheets of its existing operating subsidiaries and the Q3 financials. This should suffice to have the "STOP" icon rank removed from the RMDM quote on Pink Sheets.

More details will follow shortly including an update on TiDi Gaming Division.

To be included in RMDM's email database for press releases and industry updates, please subscribe at or opt in with your email address at this link http://www.minamargroup.com/updates/.

Safe Harbor Statement
Information in this news release may contain statements about future expectations, plans, prospects or performance of RMD Entertainment Group that constitute forward-looking statements for purposes of the Safe Harbor Provisions under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The words or phrases "can be", "expects", "may affect", "believed", "estimate", "project" and similar words and phrases are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. RMD Entertainment Group cautions you that any forward-looking information provided by or on behalf of RMD Entertainment Group is not a guarantee of future performance. None of the information in this press release constitutes or is intended as an offer to sell securities or investment advice of any kind. RMD Entertainment Group's actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, some of which are beyond RMD Entertainment Group's control. In addition to those discussed in RMD Entertainment Group's press releases, public filings, and statements by RMD Entertainment Group's management, including, but not limited to, RMD Entertainment Group's estimate of the sufficiency of its existing capital resources, RMD Entertainment Group's ability to raise additional capital to fund future operations, RMD Entertainment Group's ability to repay its existing indebtedness, the uncertainties involved in estimating market opportunities, and in identifying contracts which match RMD Entertainment Group's capability to be awarded contracts. All such forward-looking statements are current only as of the date on which such statements were made. RMD Entertainment Group does not undertake any obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which any such statement is made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

CONTACT: http://www.minamargroup.com/helpdesk

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2009-10-27T21:01:00.000-07:00

Bay Bridge closing indefinitely after pieces fall

Bay Bridge closing indefinitely after pieces fall

Michael Cabanatuan,Justin Berton, Chronicle Staff Writers

Tuesday, October 27, 2009
A rod snapped on the westbound lanes of the Bay Bridge du... A rod snapped on the westbound lanes of the Bay Bridge du... Traffic backs up on the Bay Bridge approach following a b... Traffic is stopped and backed up near the Bay Bridge toll... More...

(10-27) 20:49 PDT San Francisco -- Three pieces of the Bay Bridge's cantilever section that underwent emergency repairs over Labor Day weekend snapped and crashed onto the upper deck of the span Tuesday afternoon, striking three vehicles and forcing the indefinite closure of the region's busiest bridge.

Caltrans officials ordered the closure of the bridge in both directions shortly after 7 p.m. and said they could not estimate when the bridge would reopen.

The pieces that snapped were two high-strength steel rods and a cross beam from a steel saddle, said Tony Anziano, Caltrans toll bridge program manager. Those parts were installed over Labor Day weekend during an emergency repair job that delayed the reopening of the bridge following scheduled work.

"It's way too early to say (what happened)," Anziano said. "We have to take a careful look at it."

The pieces crashed across the westbound lanes of the Bay Bridge's eastern span, east of Yerba Buena Island, at about 5:30 p.m., according to CHP Officer Peter Van Eckhardt. They hit three vehicles, but miraculously, nobody was seriously injured.

The incident caused the CHP to immediately close three lanes of the upper deck, promptly snarling traffic across the east span. Within hours, authorities began clearing traffic from both decks of the bridge, preparing it for a full closure so that engineers could inspect the damage.

"We're dealing with some high winds and it's dark out there," said Bart Ney, a Caltrans spokesman. "We want to be as safe and as thorough as possible."

With an extended closure of the Bay Area's busiest bridge possible, Bay Area transportation officials were preparing contingency plans.

BART spokesman Linton Johnson said the agency would be bringing in extra train operators today in anticipation of the thousands of additional riders likely to flock to the system.

"We're going to use every available piece of equipment," Johnson said, "meaning all the cars we can possibly muster into service."

BART had near-record ridership on Sept. 4, the Friday of the Labor Day weekend bridge closure.

Golden Gate Ferry will have an extra high-speed ferry ready if needed any time after 7 a.m. Plans for other ferries were still being developed Tuesday night.

The area of the bridge where the pieces broke off was where, over Labor Day weekend, crews found a critical flaw on a steel structural beam, called an eyebar, helping to hold up the eastern span.

The crack was discovered during the planned four-day shutdown of the span to install the 288-foot S-turn, but was unrelated to that project.

Caltrans engineers said then that there were enough safeguards in the bridge design that the crack could not have led to the bridge collapsing.

The problem forced officials to push back the announced reopening of the span while emergency repairs were made. Working nearly 70 hours nonstop, crews wrapped a steel brace around the broken beam to redistribute tension away from the damaged area. That brace was then attached to another one set lower on the span using steel rods.

In the end, the bridge reopened in time for most of the morning commute the day after Labor Day.

At the time, Dan Himick, president of the chief contractor on the project, C.C. Myers Inc., said, "Everything went perfect."

On Tuesday night, Beth Ruyak, a C.C. Myers spokeswoman, said the company was committed to helping with the repair.

After the pieces fell, the backups caused confusion and frustration among commuters. Hundreds of stalled drivers cut through the toll plaza parking lot to get out of the westbound lanes. Drivers pulling through appeared perplexed as to what was going on. Hundreds of other drivers waited to cross the bridge.

Driver Marilyn Mackel, 46, from Oakland pulled off into the toll plaza parking lot, visibly frustrated. She was headed westbound on her way to work as a waitress at Gussie's, a chicken and waffle house in the Fillmore. She said, "This is messed up. It's the second time it happened to me. I might lose my job. I need that money. I live off my tips."

She said she was stuck in traffic on Oct. 14 when a Safeway truck overturned on the highway. Taking BART is not a good option because she works nights, she said.

Chris and Elaine Zapata from Hayward were headed to San Francisco for a date night - the married couple has four children and it was to be their first getaway in more than a month when they got stuck in the traffic jam. They pulled off and parked at the toll plaza and opened up a laptop to watch an episode of "The Office" to pass the time.

After learning that the bridge was being shut down indefinitely, Elaine Zapata resigned herself to the fact that it was going to be a short date: "I guess we'll just go back home."

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/27/MNO81ABJTF.DTL

What you need to know about Vaccines (H1N1)

2009-10-26T00:52:00.000-07:00

Please do a little digging/investigation before you take the swine flu vaccine or allow your children to be vaccinated - start by watching these vids and do your own research into the vaccines, the rush to vaccinate and ask yourself why...

Gary Null Speaking Out at the NYS Assembly Hearing (10-13-2009)

2009-10-25T23:26:00.001-07:00

Opinion

Wake Up America, YOU Can Still Stop Obamacare

Just because we have been struck nearly unconscious by the endless haranguing from President Obama does not mean that we should give up fighting the health care plan coming from the White House.

Americans are now bored with the health care debate. Our infamous short attention span is about to get us into big trouble, as voters zone out during the final push to get a bill through Congress. The looming legislation will upend a sizeable portion of our economy and without a doubt add to our nation’s fiscal woes. This is not the time to switch channels, even for the Yankees.

The most recent horror is the sleight of hand being conjured up Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. He wants to introduce a new, separate, bill which will postpone the cuts in doctors’ pay which are included in the health care bill. He knows full well that if you slice 21% off the fees that doctors can charge, fewer Medicare patients will be treated. In other words, Reid wants to hand President Obama a bill that abides by his “no increase in the federal deficit” pledge, even though the claim is completely dishonest. This bit of fiddling goes beyond the normal cynical manipulations of Congress; will Americans put up with this chicanery? Only if they are not paying attention.

The bottom line is that there is no way – there never has been the most remote possibility – that we can provide health care to tens of millions of Americans without it costing taxpayers money. If we could, it would have been done a long time ago. Remember that the administration initially promised not only to include all Americans under the medical tent, but also to lower the rising costs of health care. Sadly, that latter goal has been completely abandoned – no one is even pretending that we are going to lower the trajectory of medical costs, because it simply isn’t going to happen.

This entire debate has left out four items essential to lowering the cost of health care:

- First, there is nothing in these thousands of pages that pushes Americans to be more responsible about their own health. There are no rewards for quitting smoking, or getting on the treadmill, or getting a flu shot. That is a huge miss.

- Second, there is no attempt to rein in malpractice costs. Putting a lid on awards is not hard. though it may well be impossible given the vast amount of money that flows through the malpractice shops into Democratic coffers. Estimates vary, but many reports say that fear of lawsuits prompt some 20% or so of medical expenses for unnecessary procedures and tests.

- Third, I am not aware of any effort to cut through the regulatory impasse and allow insurers to compete across state lines. The consequence of the status quo is near-monopolies enjoyed by insurers in most states; what is the point of that? There is some talk about removing the insurance industry’s exemption from anti-trust enforcement. Why not address the problem directly?

- Fourth, there is little change in the basic model of reimbursements. Doctors get paid by the government according to formulas that encourage waste. For instance, in some cases doctors will prescribe only one month of medication so that the patient must return frequently, ringing up unnecessary monthly office visits. Hey, if you got paid by the visit, you’d prescribe only a one month dose too.

Just because it has gone on too long doesn’t mean this bill is good for America. Just because we have been struck nearly unconscious by the endless haranguing from President Obama does not mean that we should give up. And, just because the Obama administration jumps on anyone who takes issue with this push, doesn’t mean we should roll over. This is too important.

Liz Peek is a financial columnist and frequent Fox Forum contributor.

MidEast Dispatches: Cyber Resistance

2009-10-23T16:38:00.000-07:00

Cyber Resistance

Friday 23 October 2009

by: Dahr Jamail, t r u t h o u t | Report

To read story with photo click here

If technology has transformed warfare into a spectacle of shock and awe, its contribution to the cause of dissent has been no less remarkable. It has enabled solidarities across borders and facilitated networks and forums dedicated to impartial communication of ground realities beyond the sanitized projection of mainstream news. True, technological advances have not brought an end to either occupation, but it has certainly helped alternative voices and views to be heard.

During the Vietnam War, over 100 underground newspapers, run by soldiers themselves, sprouted across the United States. The modern version of this has taken root within the Internet, largely in the form of blogs.

Many American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan have been confounded by the wall of censorship they confront, jointly constructed by the military and the corporate media. The Internet offered them a convenient and powerful channel through which to get their stories out to the public. Constrained by slow military mail service from Iraq and Afghanistan, not to mention overt attempts by superiors to curtail their interaction with journalists, soldiers have long since taken to blogging, posting photographs and uploading videos online, all related to their experience of the occupations.

"Fight to Survive," one of the first soldier blogs from Iraq, had its origin before the bloggers were deployed to the country. The site's mission statement declares, "The E-4 Mafia was a group of soldiers deployed in Iraq between January of 2004 and March of 2005. The posts from this period are an expression of our raw emotions and thoughts while serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom II. Since being honorably discharged in the summer of 2005, we've continued to post additional journal entries, poetry, and reflections from our time served and our current lives as veterans as we continue our fight to survive."

Garett Reppenhagen, Jeff Englehart, Ben Schrader and Joe Hatcher were stationed in Germany, where they happened to attend a concert by a band called Bouncing Souls and befriended its members. Post-deployment they were desperate to process the grief, violence and frustration that they were experiencing in Iraq, so they started pouring their emotions into e-mails to the band members. The Bouncing Souls, impressed with the e-mails - which included powerful poetry - began posting them on their own website. In 2004, Hatcher created "Fight to Survive."

Englehart later told a reporter, "We were opposed to the war before we went. And we got together and said, 'You know what we should do? We should write about this shit.'"

Reppenhagen, the first active-duty soldier to have joined Iraq Veterans Against the War, was pulling a shift at Tower Guard in Fort Collins, Colorado, when Truthout phoned him. Tower Guard is an action designed to spread awareness about the occupation of Iraq. Veterans pull together scaffolding, cover it with camouflage and, donning their desert gear, take shifts atop the tower - this one twelve feet high - to maintain a presence where people can ask them questions, and in response they can provide information.

For him, the motivation for the blog had come from having to participate in an occupation he didn't believe in. "We were already against the war before going, and didn't know why we were going, and it didn't look good. There was no resistance to speak of within the military. But I found a purpose with the writing. I didn't want to let my friends down there by not serving, and nobody knew what would happen if you refused to go out, because nobody had done it yet. So the blogging began. As a high-school dropout I wasn't a strong writer," he explains, but I had all these ideas I just couldn't stop, and writing them down was a huge release.... Having people read them was therapeutic. This then became my mission, to have people read about what we were doing. After a while, Joe Hatcher, whom we met in basic training, created the blog website. This was summer of 2004, and I'd never heard of a blog earlier. The idea caught on and sparked something, and as far as I know, ours was the only antiwar blog from soldiers in Iraq at the time. We used aliases; mine was "heretic" or "soldier X," Jeff Englehart was "hEkLe," Joe was "Joe Public." We used these because we were unsure of the consequences of revealing our identities."

Postings from Iraq on "Fight to Survive" ranged in content from asking people to sign petitions against stop-loss, to expressing disbelief at how persistent the military was in trying to get soldiers to renew their contracts, to posting graffiti and commenting on it. An entry posted in September 2004 by heretic titled "My Struggle For Reason" reads:

"Souls, Friends, and Conspirators,

"The temperature dropped to sixty degrees last night while I huddled in a ditch near Diyala Bridge. The breeze off the river crawled into my heart and the sudden chill reflects my current mood. I found out earlier that night that I had been extended an additional two months on top of my previous stretch. It now appears that I will be in the service until July, while my original date of release is supposed to be next month. All this, and my recent two-week taste of the civilian world on leave, is leaving me empty and detached. It is so much easier to live in slavery if you had willingly accepted your fate. I am not sure if my mental fortitude is prepared for a whole extra year in oppression. And, I still don't have a certain time when I will be finished with this war.

"Three soldiers in our unit have been hurt in the last four days and the true number of Army-wide casualties leaving Iraq is unknown. The figures are much higher than what is reported. We get awards and medals that are supposed to make us feel proud about our wicked assignment. We feel privileged when we are given the smallest perk. Like a dog that is beaten everyday and then thankfully adores it's owner when he skips a day of punishment. I have more trust with some of the Iraqi locals than my own command sometimes. I know that my higher chain of command hates me for my political opinions and my moral views.

"I am called a "faggot pink-o" or a "bleeding heart traitor." It doesn't take a liberal to realize the moral wrongs involved with this or any war. Why should I feel ashamed of caring about all of humanity, even the people that ignorantly hate me? Is wanting a better standard of living for all the world so negative? In a way, deeper than sexuality, I love my friends and brothers and for that I am labeled a deviant of some kind. Does everyone buy into this Arnold ideal of fear that they are not strong enough, so they have to over-compensate and become an asshole? I believe that all weapons should be laid down [by] choice of the individual. It is the same fear I have of my bigot neighbor that causes Americans to support a war against a possible US threat. If we are all responsible enough to handle firearms, is it not sensible to allow countries like Iran and N. Korea nuclear weapons? If we think these countries are less responsible than the drunk-driving redneck or the crack-dealing gangster, I think we need to take a longer look at American society. Sure, a nuke can destroy the world, but an automatic weapon can kill my daughter and she is the world to me. I don't believe that taking away people's rights is the proper step to world peace. However, we overspend on national defense and cut education when we need to be more concerned about raising a generation of problem solvers, instead of mindless warriors.

"So I finally find the drive to get out and try to make a difference in the world, and I am stuck freezing in a Middle Eastern desert. What state will the earth be in if I ever escape this combat zone? What little changes I can make, I do through the networks I have built up with my close friends. The Bouncing Souls have given us soldiers a voice and forum to express the hardships and our feelings on the Iraq occupation. All my friends, some new and some old, listen and support our efforts and they have my deepest respect and thanks. I could not survive this in any sane manner without the backing of all of you. I cannot promise that I will have a positive effect on current issues that plague our planet, but I can promise I will never give up, if you never give up on me."

Another moving entry from August 22, 2005, titled "Finding Closure," posted by Jeff Englehardt (hEkLe) after exiting Iraq, reads in part:

"There is nothing that I feel can alleviate the guilt for being directly involved with our illegal and immoral occupation of Iraq. I ask myself from time to time, "Why was I so afraid to resist the order to go to war? Why didn't I object to the whole damned thing?" I have been told many times not to be ashamed for my service to this country, but I can't help a genuine intuition that this war is not designed to promote freedom and our beautiful American way of life, but instead only carried out to proliferate Western imperialism and corporate profits every time a bullet is fired. My guilt is synonymous with the sentiment that I was indeed on the wrong side of the wire."

* * *

As the blogging continued, the audience expanded. Radio personality Randi Rhodes, who at the time brought Air America Radio its largest audience to date, began reading their dispatches on air.

As was to be expected, the military began to crack down on the writers. "It was not difficult for them to track what base and unit the writing was coming from and they were able to narrow it down to me," says Reppenhagen. "My sniper section leader walked into my room and asked if I was writing something stupid on the Internet. I admitted I was posting writings, but whether it was stupid depended on the readers' views, and he told me to report to the colonel who wanted to ask me questions about this shit I was writing."

All along, Reppenhagen felt he was leading a dual existence:

"I was living two lives, going outside the wire, but still writing on the blog, all the time looking over my shoulder. I was afraid of our e-mails being monitored, and there was a lot of isolation." He rarely crossed paths with the other members of the E-4 Mafia, and knew that he would have to deal with the colonel alone. From his perch on the tower, he recounted, "I did the whole thing, saluting him, doing the full pivot, and coming to at-ease, and he has a stack of everything we had written, and copies of personal e-mails I had written. He asked me if I had written it and I said yes. He told me I should stop writing, that I was going to be investigated by Military Intelligence and if found to have violated operational security, I would be tried for treason. I was scared."

Undeterred, he kept blogging and was soon summoned by the colonel once again.

"I told him I had a right to continue. They pulled my computers, tried to limit my access, took me off sniper duty, and put me on guard duty of Iraqis on base. The last two months were lonely and difficult for me. I was afraid I would be court-martialed. In the end, it was determined that nothing I wrote had violated operational security and that I had committed no treason and, since there were no rules prohibiting blogging, I had broken no rules either. But I was continually hazed by my superiors as long as I was there.... They were constantly looking for ways to trap me. I was made to fill sandbags and do other menial jobs. However, I was finally awarded an honorable discharge in May 2005, and gained a lot of respect from most of my fellow soldiers. Many would give me the peace sign as they passed me by."

Reppenhagen dove headlong into activism after being discharged. He took a job with Veterans for America, in Washington, DC, and volunteered at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Coming full circle, Reppenhagen had one of his poems set to music by the Bouncing Souls. They called it "Letter from Iraq."

In 2007, he moved to Green Mountain Falls, Colorado, and enrolled in a community college to study to become a history teacher.

He shares his plans: "I continue now to work at helping veterans get the mental and physical health care they deserve. And I want to teach history in high school.... One of my dreams is to teach on a Native American reservation. After coming back from Iraq, I traveled around a lot, and saw many reservations, and saw this grinding poverty there similar to what I saw in Iraq, and decided that that is where I can help the most."

On being discharged, the other E-4 Mafia members also moved to Colorado: Schrader to Fort Collins, Hatcher to Cascade and Englehart to Denver. They continue blogging, alongside antiwar activism.

* * *

Casey J. Porter, a specialist from Austin, Texas, served one year in Iraq and in fall 2008 was on his second deployment after having been stop-lossed. His contract ended January 21, 2008, but he was redeployed on March 9, although diagnosed with PTSD by a civilian doctor. As he says on a YouTube video, "I am making the best of it by making short films about what really goes on over here."

A post from him on a blog called "Soldier Voices" reads: "Some of you might already know me through my films. I am a Stop-Lossed Soldier currently in Iraq." There is a website for his work: http://www.youtube.com/caseyjporter."

Porter's films feature raw footage coupled with a compelling background score. Scenes include mortar attacks against bases, military personnel running for cover during mortar attacks as explosions echo in the background, gun battles, destroyed Humvees and soldiers talking about their low morale. One film, "Area of Operations," reveals a new weapon of the Iraqi resistance, Lob-Bombs, which are created by cutting open an oxygen tank and packing it with ball bearings, screws and bolts as shrapnel before welding it back together and pressurizing. The film also shows a Lob-Bomb attack that killed two soldiers, which the Associated Press reported as having been caused by small-arms fire. Truthout spoke with Porter by telephone when he was at Forward Operating Base Rustamiyah. He said there were two versions in the military and corporate media reportage of the deaths: "One reported it as small-arms fire and the other as indirect fire. Indirect fire is obviously a very general term, so the Army can say, 'Oh, it is indirect fire, it's not an accurate weapon.' But when the public hears of indirect fire, they think some guy is shooting at you with a machine gun."

There is a clip in the film that has audio recordings from military radios after the attack. It presents a soldier saying, "The K.I.A. [killed in action], I can't tell you who they are, they're in pieces, break ..."

Later in the film, a soldier in Iraq says to the camera, "Would this country be the way it is right now had we done anything close to what we promised before we came over? The Humvees we drive, they are not doing the drive over here as protection ... not even the slightest. The MRAP [mine resistant, ambush protected] still won't stop an EFP [explosively formed penetrator]. But it's a big vehicle and makes a lot of noise and that's what the American people want, apparently." The camera goes on to show Humvees destroyed by roadside bombs, then returns to the soldier who says, "I won't be surprised if they turn this place into a duty station. I mean look at all the nations that we've liberated. Look at Germany, Korea. I'm pretty sure at one time somebody thought, 'Hey, we're only going to be here for a couple of months.'"

Another of Porter's films, "What War Looks Like," shows scenes of destroyed military hardware. Pictures of blown-up tanks and Humvees crushed by roadside bombs are seen flashing across the screen. Other scenes show burnt-out Bradley fighting vehicles atop transport trucks, decomposed bodies of fighters, and then the names and photos of "friends we lost," US soldiers killed in Iraq. After photos of a body being loaded for shipment back to the United States, the screen goes black as the text reads, "It's not politics, it is saving soldiers' lives, bring us home now."

Truthout asked Porter what had made him decide to make the films.

He said, "After coming back from my first tour, I was so against the war that I started speaking out and showing videos I'd made from footage I'd shot during my first deployment. Then when I got stop-lossed, I decided I'm not going to be another American who complains about the situation and then does nothing. Going AWOL wasn't a realistic option for me, so instead of being complacent about something I feel is wrong, I decided to make films to show people what they're not seeing on television, and to show people that I'm not the only soldier that feels this way. Along with very realistic combat footage, I showed real threats facing soldiers, some of the financial traps, and other issues they must deal with during deployment."

Porter talks of the morale in Iraq being poor and more soldiers than ever beginning to question the mission. However, he added, "One thing that disappoints me about American soldiers is the apathy, the 'what can you do?' mentality. But they are more or less speaking their minds by not reenlisting though they are afraid of the consequences of actively speaking up. More of them are doing it, but still not as many as should. The Army seems like such a big giant, and the threat of, well, if you do this we're going to punish you, and we own you, and all this and that. Then this gets into soldiers' heads."

* * *

Iraq war veteran and former Marine Adam Kokesh also maintains a blog, "Revolutionary Patriot" where he has written about being assaulted by undercover FBI agents in Washington, DC, about his thoughts on the Democratic and Republican National Conventions in 2008, and about dealing with PTSD.

Not a shy man, Kokesh did not hesitate to upload onto his blog a video of his speech during a march in DC, where he is seen exhorting a boisterous crowd, "The time is now. The threat is clear. The bands of tyranny are tightening around America. It is our duty to resist!"

Kokesh was part of a team of vets who met with Representative John Conyers in July 2008 to push Conyers to file Articles of Impeachment against George W. Bush. In a video of the meeting posted on his blog, Kokesh used his time at the microphone to tell Conyers, who was undecided about filing the articles:

"And I get the feeling that what you're doing and what the Democratic Party is doing is telling this country, as we are being bled dry by tyrants, that we're just going to be OK. That the only promises we get from Democrats are Band-Aids over these far deeper wounds that anyone is willing to admit to publicly. I hear one of the arguments against impeachment, that it would harm the Democrats in the upcoming elections. And I hope that you realize, because you didn't communicate this when I asked you the question, that there are real consequences to not impeaching that are far, far worse than not having Democrats in the Congress or Senate, or a Democrat in the White House. You said you've made thousands of decisions, many of them very respectable, many of them very courageous. But by your own admission, it seems that what is holding you back from this one is your own indecision. You said that I might be surprised by your plans. You haven't put forth any. And frankly, I'm not surprised."

Aside from blogging, testifying to representatives, leading marches and getting arrested, Kokesh has participated in Operation First Casualty (OFC), a tactic of street theater in which vets don their camouflage and take to the streets of US cities to carry out public patrols, realistic mock arrests, home raids and tower watches to raise awareness of the occupation. After an OFC action on March 19, 2007, the fourth anniversary of the invasion, he received an e-mail from the Marine Corps Mobilization Command that oversees the Individual Ready Reserve (IRR) to which Kokesh reported.

The e-mail accused him of violating the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) by wearing his uniform during a political event. "I was like, wait a second, I'm in the IRR, the UCMJ doesn't apply. This is bullshit." The scathing response that Kokesh sent back is posted on his blog. It concludes:

"I fail to see how reminding me of my 'obligations and responsibilities' helps you achieve either of these. It seems that while accomplishing our mission in Iraq, every corner we turn sends us further down the spiral, but there is still much that you can do to bring our fellow Marines home alive.

"So no, I am not replying to your email in order to acknowledge my understanding of my obligations and responsibilities, but rather to ask you to please, kindly, go fuck yourself."

In the chain of events that followed, the military threatened to give him a less than honorable discharge, which would affect his education benefits, but so far the military has not followed through. His case was helped by appearing on several major media programs, including "Good Morning America."

Kokesh thinks the future of GI resistance holds great possibility for social change. He told Truthout, "It's kind of a battle for the hearts and minds of the troops between resistance and obedience. And if the military power structure keeps fucking up and putting people off, then resistance is going to start winning a lot more hearts and minds, you know, and we're doing what we can to further that." Yet he is realistic.

"The forces at play here are far greater than any organization, bigger even than the military itself. It's social, it's cultural ... and I think it is great in terms of what we can do to foster a broader civilian resistance, and develop a culture of questioning authority.... Whether the GI resistance movement is actually going to be enough to end the war, I don't think you can consider it in those absolute terms. We're building pressure. And there are a lot of forces maintaining pressure to keep the war going. If nothing else, we need to be a countervailing force to those and, who knows, maybe that's going to stop the next war."

2009-10-20T07:56:00.001-07:00

Look, if you're going to off yourself, do it in the bathtub, don't jump off a bridge and hold up traffic like a moron. How inconsiderate!

Eight Dead, 20 Wounded in Massacre in Northern Puerto Rico

2009-10-19T11:41:00.001-07:00

SAN JUAN – Eight people died and 20 others were wounded by gunmen in the Puerto Rican town of Toa Baja in one of the worst massacres in the island’s history, police said on Sunday.

Around 11:37 p.m. on Saturday the attackers began firing high caliber weapons at close range upon a group of people attending the opening of a business named La Tombola in Toa Baja, in northern Puerto Rico, police said.

The murdered people included six men, a woman and an unborn child, whose mother was wounded and taken to the hospital, where she is in stable condition, Puerto Rican media reported.

The wounded are between 9 and 49 years old.

2009-10-19T10:12:00.001-07:00

Took girlfriend out for breakfast, she asked the waitress to run the bill by her because she thought it was too much...ugh tacky

Cyborg beetles to be the US military's latest weapon

2009-10-18T12:40:00.001-07:00

Cyborg beetles to be the US military's latest weapon

October 15th, 2009 by Lin Edwards

Enlarge

'Cyborg beetle.' Image credit: UC Berkeley

(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of scientists funded by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) have implanted miniature neural and muscle stimulation systems into beetles to enable their flight to be remotely controlled.

Researchers Hirotaka Sato, Michel Maharbiz, and colleagues implanted a system of nerve and muscle stimulators, a microbattery, and a microcontroller with transceiver into beetles. They were able to successfully control the beetles' take off, flight, and landing by stimulating the brain to work the wings. They controlled turns through stimulating the basilar muscles on one side or the other to make the wings on that side flap harder.

Three types of large beetles from Cameroon were used in the experiments, which were carried out at the University of California in Berkeley. The smallest, cotinis texana, is 2 cm long, while the largest is a massive 20 cm long (megasoma elephas). The third species was mecynorhina torquata, a 7 cm long beetle. The components of the system were implanted in the beetles when they were at the pupal stage.

According to Professor Noel Sharkey, an international expert on artificial intelligence and robotics from Sheffield University in the UK, there have been attempts in the past to control insects such as cockroaches, but this is the first time the flight of insects has been controlled remotely.

The ultimate military application of remotely controlled beetles is puzzling, Professor Sharkey said, since you would need to also implant a GPS transmitter/receiver to pinpoint the beetle's location, and probably a camera too, but this would be too heavy for even the largest beetle. Potential use of the system as a means of carrying a payload of biological or chemical weapons would be completely illegal.

The Berkeley researchers suggested the "cyborg" beetles -- part beetle, part machine -- could serve as models for micro air vehicles. DARPA, which funded the research, is also known to be developing a Nano Air Vehicle (NAV) that would weigh less than 10 g, and measure under 7.5 cm, and give the military the capability of carrying out indoor and outdoor operations in urban warfare situations.

Enlarge

'Cyborg beetle.' Image credit: UC Berkeley

Sato and colleagues also said the beetles could serve as couriers to inaccessible locations. The Berkeley team is also experimenting on dragonflies, flies and moths because of their "unmatched flight capabilities".

More information: Sato H, Berry CW, Peeri Y, Baghoomian E, Casey BE, Lavella G, VandenBrooks JM, Harrison JF and Maharbiz MM (2009) Remote radio control of insect flight. Front. Integr. Neurosci. 3:24. doi:10.3389/neuro.07.024.2009

Jupiter's Moon Europa Has Enough Oxygen For Life

2009-10-18T11:52:00.001-07:00

Jupiter's Moon Europa Has Enough Oxygen For Life

Jupiter's Moon Europa Has Enough Oxygen For Life
October 16th, 2009 Europa Has Enough Oxygen For Life

A model of Europa's interior, including a global ocean. If a 100 kilometer-deep ocean existed below the Europan ice shell, it would be 10 times deeper than any ocean on Earth and would contain twice as much water as Earth's oceans and rivers combined. Credit: NASA/JPL

New research suggests that there is plenty of oxygen available in the subsurface ocean of Europa to support oxygen-based metabolic processes for life similar to that on Earth. In fact, there may be enough oxygen to support complex, animal-like organisms with greater oxygen demands than microorganisms.

The global ocean on Jupiter’s moon Europa contains about twice the liquid water of all the Earth’s oceans combined. New research suggests that there may be plenty of oxygen available in that ocean to support life, a hundred times more oxygen than previously estimated.

The chances for life there have been uncertain, because Europa’s ocean lies beneath several miles of ice, which separates it from the production of oxygen at the surface by energetic charged particles (similar to cosmic rays). Without oxygen, life could conceivably exist at hot springs in the ocean floor using exotic metabolic chemistries, based on sulfur or the production of methane. However, it is not certain whether the ocean floor actually would provide the conditions for such life.

Therefore a key question has been whether enough oxygen reaches the ocean to support the oxygen-based metabolic process that is most familiar to us. An answer comes from considering the young age of Europa’s surface. Its geology and the paucity of impact craters suggests that the top of the ice is continually reformed such that the current surface is only about 50 million years old, roughly 1% of the age of the solar system.

Richard Greenberg of the University of Arizona has considered three generic resurfacing processes: gradually laying fresh material on the surface; opening cracks which fill with fresh ice from below; and disrupting patches of surface in place and replacing them with fresh material. Using estimates for the production of oxidizers at the surface, he finds that the delivery rate into the ocean is so fast that the oxygen concentration could exceed that of the Earth’s oceans in only a few million years. Greenberg presented his findings at the 41st meeting of the American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Sciences now under way in Fajardo, Puerto Rico.

Greenberg says that the concentrations of oxygen would be great enough to support not only microorganisms, but also “macrofauna”, that is, more complex animal-like organisms which have greater oxygen demands. The continual supply of oxygen could support roughly 3 billion kilograms of macrofauna, assuming similar oxygen demands to terrestrial fish.

The good news for the question of the origin of life is that there would be a delay of a couple of billion years before the first surface oxygen reached the ocean. Without that delay, the first pre-biotic chemistry and the first primitive organic structures would be disrupted by oxidation. Oxidation is a hazard unless organisms have evolved protection from its damaging effects. A similar delay in the production of oxygen on Earth was probably essential for allowing life to get started here.

Richard Greenberg is the author of the recent book “Unmasking Europa: The Search for Life on Jupiter’s Ocean Moon”, which offers a comprehensive picture of Europa for the general reader.
Source: American Astronomical Society, via Astrobio.

Modern man a wimp says anthropologist

2009-10-16T19:38:00.001-07:00

Modern man a wimp says anthropologist | Reuters.com

Modern man a wimp says anthropologist
Wed Oct 14, 2009 10:24am EDT

By John Mehaffey

LONDON (Reuters) - Many prehistoric Australian aboriginals could have outrun world 100 and 200 meters record holder Usain Bolt in modern conditions.

Some Tutsi men in Rwanda exceeded the current world high jump record of 2.45 meters during initiation ceremonies in which they had to jump at least their own height to progress to manhood.

Any Neanderthal woman could have beaten former bodybuilder and current California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in an arm wrestle.

These and other eye-catching claims are detailed in a book by Australian anthropologist Peter McAllister entitled "Manthropology" and provocatively sub-titled "The Science of the Inadequate Modern Male."

McAllister sets out his stall in the opening sentence of the prologue.

"If you're reading this then you -- or the male you have bought it for -- are the worst man in history.

"No ifs, no buts -- the worst man, period...As a class we are in fact the sorriest cohort of masculine Homo sapiens to ever walk the planet."

Delving into a wide range of source material McAllister finds evidence he believes proves that modern man is inferior to his predecessors in, among other fields, the basic Olympic athletics disciplines of running and jumping.

His conclusions about the speed of Australian aboriginals 20,000 years ago are based on a set of footprints, preserved in a fossilized claypan lake bed, of six men chasing prey.

FLEET-FOOTED ABORIGINALS

An analysis of the footsteps of one of the men, dubbed T8, shows he reached speeds of 37 kph on a soft, muddy lake edge. Bolt, by comparison, reached a top speed of 42 kph during his then world 100 meters record of 9.69 seconds at last year's Beijing Olympics.

In an interview in the English university town of Cambridge where he was temporarily resident, McAllister said that, with modern training, spiked shoes and rubberized tracks, aboriginal hunters might have reached speeds of 45 kph.

"We can assume they are running close to their maximum if they are chasing an animal," he said.

"But if they can do that speed of 37 kph on very soft ground I suspect there is a strong chance they would have outdone Usain Bolt if they had all the advantages that he does.

"We can tell that T8 is accelerating toward the end of his tracks."

McAllister said it was probable that any number of T8's contemporaries could have run as fast.

"We have to remember too how incredibly rare these fossilizations are," he said. "What are the odds that you would get the fastest runner in Australia at that particular time in that particular place in such a way that was going to be preserved?"

Turning to the high jump, McAllister said photographs taken by a German anthropologist showed young men jumping heights of up to 2.52 meters in the early years of last century.

STARK DECLINE

"It was an initiation ritual, everybody had to do it. They had to be able to jump their own height to progress to manhood," he said.

"It was something they did all the time and they lived very active lives from a very early age. They developed very phenomenal abilities in jumping. They were jumping from boyhood onwards to prove themselves."

McAllister said a Neanderthal woman had 10 percent more muscle bulk than modern European man. Trained to capacity she would have reached 90 percent of Schwarzenegger's bulk at his peak in the 1970s.

"But because of the quirk of her physiology, with a much shorter lower arm, she would slam him to the table without a problem," he said.

Manthropology abounds with other examples:

* Roman legions completed more than one-and-a-half marathons a day carrying more than half their body weight in equipment.

* Athens employed 30,000 rowers who could all exceed the achievements of modern oarsmen.

* Australian aboriginals threw a hardwood spear 110 meters or more (the current world javelin record is 98.48).

McAllister said it was difficult to equate the ancient spear with the modern javelin but added: "Given other evidence of Aboriginal man's superb athleticism you'd have to wonder whether they couldn't have taken out every modern javelin event they entered."

Why the decline?

"We are so inactive these days and have been since the industrial revolution really kicked into gear," McAllister replied. "These people were much more robust than we were.

"We don't see that because we convert to what things were like about 30 years ago. There's been such a stark improvement in times, technique has improved out of sight, times and heights have all improved vastly since then but if you go back further it's a different story.

"At the start of the industrial revolution there are statistics about how much harder people worked then.

"The human body is very plastic and it responds to stress. We have lost 40 percent of the shafts of our long bones because we have much less of a muscular load placed upon them these days.

"We are simply not exposed to the same loads or challenges that people were in the ancient past and even in the recent past so our bodies haven't developed. Even the level of training that we do, our elite athletes, doesn't come close to replicating that.

"We wouldn't want to go back to the brutality of those days but there are some things we would do well to profit from."

(Editing by Clare Fallon; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

Six killed as explosion hits Pakistan's Peshawar

2009-10-16T01:22:00.001-07:00

Six killed as explosion hits Pakistan's Peshawar | Reuters.com

Six killed as explosion hits Pakistan's Peshawar
Fri Oct 16, 2009 3:24am EDT
- For full coverage of Pakistan and Afghanistan, see [nAFPAK] (Writes through)

By Augustine Anthony

ISLAMABAD, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Pakistani forces attacked the Taliban in their South Waziristan stronghold with aircraft and artillery on Friday as an explosion killed six people near a police station in Peshawar, the government and a witness said.

The government says a ground offensive against the Pakistani Taliban in their South Waziristan lair is imminent and the army has been stepping up its air and artillery attacks in recent days to soften up the militants' defences.

The militants have launched a string of brazen attacks in the past 11 days, attacking the United Nations, the army headquarters, police and general public, killing about 150 people, apparently trying to stave off the army assault.

Friday's explosion was near a police station in the capital of North West Frontier Province, a way station for U.S. supplies into neighbouring Afghanistan.

"I can count six bodies," a Reuters witness said. No other details were immediately available.

The government says the violence has only reinforced its determination to defeat its enemies.

Nuclear-armed Pakistan is under U.S. pressure to crack down on Islamic militancy as President Barack Obama considers a boost in troop numbers fighting in neighbouring Afghanistan. [ID:nLE394500]

Aircraft and artillery struck militant positions in their strongholds of Ladha, Makeen and in the mountainous Shahoor region overnight, hours after killing 27 militants in the region in various strikes.

"We could see thick smoke and flames leaping into the sky from caves in the mountains after the bombing by jet fighters," said a resident near Shahoor who declined to be identified.

Security officials said they had no information about casualties in the latest attacks.

"SOME FLEEING"

An army official in the region said some Taliban were trying to leave the area in disguise ahead of the offensive.

"They are now trying to run but we have tightened controls around their areas and are checking every person leaving," said the military official in Wana, the main town in South Waziristan, where the army has a base.

About 28,000 troops are in place to take on an estimated 10,000 hard-core Taliban, army officials have said.

Pakistan's stock market slipped as the violence escalated at the beginning of the week, but the main index .KSE was 0.88 percent higher at 9,932.77 at 0618 GMT.

Investors would be reassured by an offensive on South Waziristan, dealers say.

Pakistani Taliban fighters made advances towards Islamabad early this year, raising fears about the stability of the U.S. ally.

But significant military gains in the Swat valley, from where militants have largely been driven out in recent months, have reassured the U.S. and Western allies about Pakistan's commitment to fighting terrorism.

In a sign of U.S. continuing support, President Barack Obama signed on Wednesday a $7.5 billion aid bill for Pakistan over the next five years.

But Pakistan's military has complained about the bill because the legislation ties some funds to fighting militants and is seen by critics as violating sovereignty. (For more Reuters coverage of Afghanistan and Pakistan, see: here) (Reporting by Hafiz Wazir; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Interracial couple in Louisiana denied marriage license - CNN.com

2009-10-16T00:40:00.001-07:00

Chrissy

Interracial couple in Louisiana denied marriage license - CNN.com

Interracial couple in Louisiana denied marriage license

* Story Highlights
* Justice of peace urged to resign after denying marriage license to interracial couple
* Keith Bardwell told newspaper he's not racist, claims interracial marriages don't last
* Couple received marriage license from another justice, considers taking legal action

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- Civil rights advocates in eastern Louisiana are calling for a justice of the peace of Tangipahoa Parish to resign after he refused to issue a marriage license to an interracial couple.

"He's an elected public official and one of his duties is to marry people. He doesn't have the right to say he doesn't believe in it," Patricia Morris, president of the NAACP branch of Tangipahoa Parish, located near the Mississippi line, said Thursday. "If he doesn't do what his position calls for him to do, he should resign from that position."

The demands for Keith Bardwell, justice of the peace for Tangipahoa Parish's 8th Ward, to step down came after he wouldn't issue a marriage license to Beth Humphrey, 30, and her boyfriend, Terence McKay, 32, both of Hammond.

"I was just really shocked, because he's an elected official," Humphrey said.

Bardwell didn't immediately return calls from CNN on Thursday.

However, Bardwell told Hammond's Daily Star newspaper that he was concerned for the children who might be born of the relationship and that, in his experience, most interracial marriages don't last.

"I'm not a racist," Bardwell told the newspaper. "I do ceremonies for black couples right here in my house. My main concern is for the children."

Bardwell, stressing that he couldn't personally endorse the marriage, said his wife referred the couple to another justice of the peace.

The bride says the case boils down to discrimination.

Humphrey told CNN that she called Bardwell on October 6 to ask about getting a marriage license, and was asked by his wife whether it would be an interracial marriage. Humphrey said she was told that Bardwell does not sign off on interracial marriages.

She said the couple -- who received their marriage license October 9 from another justice of the peace in the same parish -- have reached out to an attorney to determine their next step.

"We would like him to resign," she said. "He doesn't believe he's being racist, but it is racist."

Morris told CNN that her NAACP chapter has forwarded the case to the state and national levels of the civil rights group.

According to the Census Bureau, Tangipahoa Parish is about 70 percent white and 30 percent black.

CNN's Samira Simone contributed to this report.

All AboutLouisiana • NAACP

BBC NEWS | World | South Asia | Explosion shakes Pakistani city

2009-10-16T00:37:00.001-07:00

Chrissy

BBC NEWS | World | South Asia | Explosion shakes Pakistani city

Explosion shakes Pakistani city

At least six people have died in a bomb last in the north-western Pakistani city of Peshawar, police officials say.

The explosion is reported to have taken place in the Swati Pathak area of the city, which is close to the Pakistani army garrison.

Security has been tightened across Pakistan after a series of attacks in Lahore and the north-west on Thursday .

About 40 people died in those attacks, the latest in a recent wave of brazen militant assaults across the country.

The bomb exploded near a police investigation bureau close to the army garrison, police official Asghar Hussain told AFP news agency.

Peshawar was targeted last Friday when a deadly bomb ripped through a busy market in the city.

A selection of your comments may be published, displaying your name and location unless you state otherwise in the box below.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/8310117.stm

Published: 2009/10/16 07:32:28 GMT

© BBC MMIX

Balloon boy's story turned out to be hot air

2009-10-16T00:22:00.001-07:00

Balloon boy's story turned out to be hot air

Chrissy

Balloon boy's story turned out to be hot air

C.W. Nevius

Friday, October 16, 2009
Six-year-old Falcon Heene gets hugged by his mother, Mayu... Club One trainer Timothy Plantikow watches the televised ... Six-year-old Falcon Heene shows where he was hiding. Ronnie Folmsbee (center) and Katherine Folmsbee (right) w...

America was transfixed as it watched a silver helium balloon - said to be carrying a frightened 6-year-old boy - sail through the Colorado sky Thursday morning.

As the saucer-shaped balloon finally began settling toward earth, Dave Wyatt paused, his beer halfway to his lips, waiting for it to touch down. When it did, there were sighs of relief at Lefty O'Doul's bar just off Union Square.

"Let's all celebrate that nobody got hurt," Wyatt said.

But it wasn't that kind of story.

Little Falcon (yes, that's his name) Heene may have been scared, but he wasn't soaring 6,000 feet off the ground in a runaway balloon. He was hiding in a box in the attic of his parents' garage - no doubt thinking he was in big trouble.

He has no idea.

In an impressive display of new media, the flight of the balloon boy swept the country. While some were alerted to the news by their favorite Web site, or by news shows that were streaming the soaring balloon live, others heard the news through Facebook and Twitter and searched for updates on "balloon boy," "saveballoonboy" and "Falcon."
Story takes flight

Thirty-nine of the top 40 entries for "Google Hot Trends," were balloon-boy related. (The 40th was "Garth Brooks out of retirement.")

"It's like a live-action movie on television," said bartender Jason Walker.

On a slow news day in October, Falcon's flight in his family's homemade, weather-chasing balloon looked like it was on its way to becoming the most famous televised journey since O.J. Simpson's white Ford Bronco. And then it turned out we'd been watching an empty balloon for nearly two hours.

The amazing thing is that the entire arc of the story took only a few hours. Falcon went from a national icon, to a missing child, to a product. By noon, "Go Falcon, Go!" T-shirts ($17.95) had appeared on the Internet.

It was what Sandra Ramos feared all along.

"It just seems like titillation," she said after a workout at Club One Fitness in SoMa and before the boy was found safely. "This happens, and we're glued to the TV. But when it is over and it comes to health care, or taxes or what's going on all over the world, we aren't glued to the set any more."

Sure, the story was shallow and exploitive. And yes, it eventually turned out to be a kid hiding in the attic. But you have to admit it had all the elements.

There was a cute young kid who appeared to be in terrible danger. There were sensational visuals of the balloon tumbling and whirling across the backdrop of the Colorado mountains. There was dilemma - how to get the balloon down safely - as Black Hawk and Kiowa helicopters were dispatched to rescue the boy.

At Little Joe's on Fifth Street, someone suggested that acrobatic parachutists could drop out of planes and land on top of the balloon.

And then what?

"Hang on really tight," said Jesse Santiago, an Oracle conventioneer.
It had to end

But most of all, this drama was compelling because we all knew there was going to be a resolution. One way or another, this story was going to have a beginning, middle and end, and we were all going to be able to watch it, and comment on it on Facebook, Twitter and Internet news sites, live.

"People are losing their jobs, feeling a lot of stress," said Tim Plantikow, who was watching the coverage while he pedaled an exercise bike at Club One. "Here's an opportunity to take a break from all that."

Of course, the perfect ending would have been if Falcon had stepped out of that balloon, unhurt and jubilant.

Instead, we got punked.

The Associated Press contributed to this story. C.W. Nevius' column usually appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail him at cwnevius@sfchronicle.com

Funny Blog of The Month

2009-10-15T16:16:00.000-07:00

http://chinoacdc.blogspot.com

Leona Lewis Punched by Man at Book Event

2009-10-14T22:58:00.001-07:00

Leona Lewis Punched by Man at Book Event

Leona Lewis Punched by Man at Book Event

Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Last updated 8:33 p.m. PT

By KATE STANHOPE
TV GUIDE

A man was arrested after allegedly punching pop songstress Leona Lewis at a book signing in London, the BBC reported.

Lewis, 24, was signing copies of her autobiography, Dreams, for about 90 minutes Wednesday when "a guy came up and punched her to the side of the head," Lewis' spokesman told the BBC. "Leona's understandably badly shaken and apologizes to the fans she was unable to meet and complete signings for."

According to a witness, "[the attacker] walked up there with the book, she signed it and, as she looked up, he just punched her." Another onlooker said: "She was running out with her hand over her eye and I just saw a man on the floor."

The "Bleeding Love" singer did not seek medical attention but pulled out of a planned Wedneday night appearance on the BBC show The One

MidEast Dispatches: Attorney Reports Human Rights Abuses of GI Resisters

2009-10-13T23:01:00.000-07:00

Attorney Reports Human Rights Abuses of GI Resisters

Tuesday 13 October 2009

by: Dahr Jamail, t r u t h o u t | Report

Attorneys and veteran's groups are alarmed by recent reports that two US Army soldiers imprisoned at the Fort Lewis Regional Correctional Facility (RCF) have been subjected to human rights abuses and violations of their constitutional rights.

Travis Bishop, who has served a tour of duty in Iraq and is now recognized by Amnesty International as a "Prisoner of Conscience," resisted deployment to Afghanistan. The other soldier, Leo Church, recently went absent without leave (AWOL) from his unit in order to prevent his family from going homeless.

The civilian defense attorney for both soldiers, James M. Branum, told Truthout that both soldiers have been strip-searched while possibly being filmed. Bishop and Church have also been watched by female guards during strip-searches, while using the restroom as well as while in the showers. Both soldiers have been denied one in-person visit by their attorneys and all phone calls with their attorneys have been illegally monitored by guards.

Branum reported, "The Fort Lewis Brig is violating the constitutional rights of my clients, namely their protections under the Eighth Amendment (the prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment) and the Sixth Amendment (the right to counsel). This mistreatment must end."

Seth Manzel, a Fort Lewis Stryker Brigade veteran and executive director of the veteran support group G.I. Voice, said of the matter, "These techniques of sexual humiliation are far too similar to those practiced on foreign prisoners at Abu Ghraib in Iraq and Bagram in Afghanistan. Is the Army at Fort Lewis using enhanced interrogation techniques to break down American soldiers here at home?"

Manzel, speaking with Truthout via telephone, said his group wants people to know that these abuses are occurring against soldiers "who signed up to defend the country" and "the idea that we do this to our own soldiers demonstrates how amazingly barbaric this system is."

Other attorneys and military veteran bloggers have long commented on reports of human rights abuses in the RCF, including the use of female guards to sexually humiliate prisoners. The reports include the 2005 case of Michael Levitt, who plugged up his cell toilet in response to reported sexual humiliation by guards, and was then chained to a "stress-chair" (with metal frames, but no seat) for 109 hours. Other war resisters, such as Sgt. Kevin Benderman and Spc. Suzanne Swift have been held at the Fort Lewis RCF.

Manzel, who also helps run the GI resistance coffee house near Fort Lewis, Coffee Strong, added, "We're trying to raise awareness and give direct support to these two men. Ideally, we hope to pressure the leadership at Fort Lewis to respect their basic human rights, so that the leadership, courts, and other soldiers on base know that there is support out there for other soldiers who resist."

On September 28, Truthout reported that both soldiers had been held incommunicado, which violated their Sixth Amendment rights.

The Sixth Amendment is the part of the Bill of Rights that sets forth rights related to criminal prosecutions in federal courts, and reads, "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district where in the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense."

According to Branum, guards are monitoring his conversations with the soldiers, in addition to the fact that the room at Fort Lewis where they meet is not soundproof.

"The guards say we don't have the room set up yet, but the problem is they had the new brig as a grand opening in August," he explained. "But the attorney room is not set up. So they need to be transferred to another building where we can have private conversations."

"The last time I talked to Travis on the phone, he was telling me there was more issues of abuse, but he couldn't go into detail with me since our conversation was not private," Branum added.

Attorney LeGrande Jones, who practices in Olympia and was designated by Branum as the local counsel for Bishop, was also denied access to Bishop.

Branum said that the soldiers' Eighth Amendment rights had been violated as well.

"The Eighth Amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishment," Branum explained to Truthout, "You can't use sexual humiliation as punishment. In the civilian world, it would not fly to have female guards watching over men using the shower. There's just no reason to use guards of a different gender to do this, particularly when the military is so male dominated. It's really weird that they are doing this at Fort Lewis."

Branum said that Leo Church had been strip-searched in a room while told that cameras were running.

Bishop is in the brig for having gone AWOL from Fort Hood, Texas, on the day of his deployment to Afghanistan to give himself "time to prepare for my application process." He was away from his unit for about a week, during which he drafted his CO application and sought legal advice. He returned voluntarily and on his return to the unit he submitted his application, but was court-martialed even as the Army was still reviewing it.

Church was imprisoned for having gone AWOL, which he did in order to prevent his wife and children from becoming homeless. He tried to get help from his unit, but was denied, and received eight months prison time. Church was eventually forced by this ordeal to give his newborn son up for adoption. According to Church, "With everything that was going on, from me leaving, even though it was to care for my family, because I could find no support from the Army, Amanda and I had to place our son, Austin in a loving home through adoption. We did not want him enduring the strife that we had endured and for him to end up being fatherless, because I would be living in prison."

Andrew VanDenBergh, a Marine veteran of the Iraq war and a G.I. Voice staff member, said of Leo Church in a press release, "He joined the Army, found out his family was homeless, wasn't allowed to keep his children from living on the streets, went to take care of his family, had to give a child up for adoption and is now locked in prison and being abused. Being abused for what? For taking care of his children?"

Fort Lewis continues to be a center of controversy with the recent revelation that a civilian security employee has been spying on groups opposing the shipment of Stryker combat vehicles through local ports.

Another star knocked out of the 'Dancing' ballroom

2009-10-13T20:40:00.001-07:00

The Associated Press: Another star knocked out of the 'Dancing' ballroom

Another star knocked out of the 'Dancing' ballroom

By SANDY COHEN (AP) – 41 minutes ago

LOS ANGELES — Ultimate Fighting champ Chuck Liddell has been knocked out — of "Dancing With the Stars."

The 39-year-old athlete was eliminated from the ABC dance competition Tuesday.

"It's hard to do," he said. "I made a shot at it."

Liddell and his professional partner, Anna Trebunskaya, earned praise from the judges for their entertaining country two-step Monday, but the pair collected just 17 points out of 30 for the performance.

"You not so much danced but raided the two-step," judge Bruno Tonioli said. "You bring carnage and mayhem to everything you do."

Head judge Len Goodman cited the "novelty value" of the mixed martial artist donning dance shoes, "but your quality of dancing isn't there."

Though the couple never topped a score of 19, Trebunskaya said Liddell made her proud each week.

"You are my bear and you are my hippo," she said. "I loved working with you."

Viewer votes are combined with judges' scores to determine which contestant is eliminated each week.

Shakira also appeared on Tuesday's show, performing her hit "Hips Don't Lie" and her new single, "Did It Again."

Ten celebrity contestants remain on the ABC dance-off. Each is set to perform two dances on Monday.
On the Net:

* http://abc.go.com/shows/dancing-with-the-stars

WTF Chat Moments

2009-10-12T20:26:00.001-07:00

White House says the FOX network reporting as a political opponent.

2009-10-12T17:13:00.001-07:00

October 12, 2009, 6:49 pm

Beck Responds to White House Stance on Fox News

By Brian Stelter

On both its news and opinion programming Monday, the Fox News Channel responded to the White House’s portrayal of the network as a part of the political opposition.

The commentator Glenn Beck was the most judgmental, claiming at the beginning of his opinion show that “they’re more worried about the war on Fox than the actual war in Afghanistan.”

Mr. Beck then whipped out a map of Manhattan and circled Fox’s headquarters, sarcastically calling Fox “the enemy” as he surrounded the spot on the map with toy tanks and barbed wire. Later, he suggested that the White House was using “your tax dollars to target the media.”

Mr. Beck was reacting to Anita Dunn, the White House communications director, who told The New York Times on Sunday that the Obama administration is treating Fox News “the way we would treat an opponent.”

Fox always swings back at critics. Mediaite says it is a “strategy that is an extension of their current policy, as they play up the feud just as much as the White House is.”

Ms. Dunn has said that administration officials would still talk to Fox, and that Mr. Obama was likely to be interviewed on the network in the future.

But Fox reported Monday that the channel has been told by the White House not to expect an interview with the president this year.

Referring to Ms. Dunn, the Fox News correspondent James Rosen reported, “One of her own aides formally notified Fox News that none of the news programs that had requested interviews with the president, including ‘America’s Newsroom with Bill Hemmer and Megyn Kelly,’ ‘Special Report with Bret Baier,’ or ‘Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace’ would receive one anytime this year.

Mr. Rosen’s nearly five-minute-long report was shown on an afternoon newscast on Monday.

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Leona Lewis Punched by Man at Book Event

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Another star knocked out of the 'Dancing' ballroom

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White House says the FOX network reporting as a political opponent.

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