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Take a break 
Thanks to Jörg for this link to two of my heros. Baby Please Don't Go Frank Zappa and John Lennon, live. (MP3, 3:22 min., 3,1 MB)
Responsiblilty time?
CIA Critic of U.S. War on Terror Resigns by Tabassum Zakaria
A CIA analyst who wrote a book that criticized the U.S. war on terror has resigned from the spy agency after it effectively banned him from publicly discussing his views, his publicist said on Thursday.
Michael Scheuer, whose book "Imperial Hubris: Why the West Is Losing the War on Terror" was signed as "anonymous" and published this summer, will resign effective Friday after 22 years at the Central Intelligence Agency.
In a statement, Scheuer said the CIA had not forced him to resign, "but I have concluded that there has not been adequate national debate over the nature of the threat posed by Osama bin Laden and the forces he leads and inspires, and the nature and dimensions of intelligence reform needed to address that threat."
He intends to speak to the media over the next several weeks, including an appearance on the CBS show "60 Minutes" on Sunday.
Scheuer's statement said senior leadership had allowed the intelligence officers working against al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden to be made scapegoats for pre-Sept. 11 failures.
Scheuer was chief of the CIA Counterterrorist Center's unit which focused on bin Laden from 1996 to 1999 and remained a CIA analyst after that.
"The Atlantic Monthly" in its December issue published a letter sent by Scheuer to U.S. congressional intelligence committees that said the key pre-Sept. 11 intelligence failures were mainly the result of bad decisions by senior officials.
"While the 11 September attacks probably were unstoppable, it was decisions by human beings -- featuring arrogance, bad judgment, disdain for expertise, and bureaucratic cowardice -- that made sure the Intelligence Community did not operate optimally to defend America," Scheuer said in the letter. [more]
Hmm, this sound familiar
"We're committing genocide in Iraq" by Jeff Riedel
Former Staff Sergeant Jimmy Massey, a 12-year Marine veteran, lives in Waynesville, North Carolina, a small town in the Smoky Mountains just outside of Ashville, where he spoke to the World Socialist Web Site. He is one of a growing number of American soldiers returning from Iraq who have become outspoken opponents of the war.
Massey entered Iraq as part of the initial US invasion in March 2003. He witnessed‹and in some cases participated in‹the killing of innocent civilians. During a single 48-hour period, he says, he saw as many as 30 civilians killed by US gunfire at highway checkpoints.
The brutality of the US military¹s retaliation against the growing resistance of the Iraqi people transformed his view of the occupation and changed him for life. Massey, horrified and unable to reconcile himself to what was taking place, began to speak out to his superiors. He was eventually medi-vaced out of Iraq and diagnosed with depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. Labeled as a conscientious objector by his commanders, Massey sought legal counsel and won his honorable discharge in December 2003. [more]
The "radical cleric" meme
History furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes. Thomas Jefferson
The lowest ignorance takes charge by Syndey Blumenthal
The 2004 election marks the rise of a quasi-clerical party for the first time in the United States. Ecclesiastical organisation has become the sinew and muscle of the Republican party, essential in George Bush's re-election. His narrow margins in the key states of Florida, Iowa and Ohio, and elsewhere, were dependent on the direct imposition of the churches. None of this occurred suddenly or by happenstance. For years, Bush has schooled himself in the machinations of the religious right.
Bush's clerisy is an unprecedented alliance of historically anti-Catholic nativist evangelical Protestants with the most reactionary elements of the Catholic hierarchy. Preacher, priest and politician have combined on the grounds that John Kennedy disputed in his famous speech before the Greater Houston Ministerial Association in September 1960. Kennedy's every principle is flouted and contradicted by Bush: "I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute; where no Catholic prelate would tell the president - should he be Catholic - how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote; where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference. ... where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials..."
From the White House, Karl Rove held a weekly conference call with religious leaders. Evangelical churches handed over membership directories to the Bush campaign for voter registration drives. A group associated with the Rev Pat Robertson advised 45,000 churches how to work for Bush. One popular preacher alone sent letters to 136,000 pastors advising them on "non-negotiable" issues - gay marriage, stem cell research, abortion - to mobilise the faithful. Perhaps the most influential figure of all was the Rev James Dobson, whose programmes broadcast daily on more than 3,000 radio stations and 80 TV stations, and whose organisation has affiliates in 36 states. [more]
Congratulations
From radical cleric Bob Jones: Congratulatory letter to President George W. Bush from Dr. Bob Jones III
(...)
In your re-election, God has graciously granted America--though she doesn't deserve it--a reprieve from the agenda of paganism. You have been given a mandate. We the people expect your voice to be like the clear and certain sound of a trumpet. Because you seek the Lord daily, we who know the Lord will follow that kind of voice eagerly.
Don't equivocate. Put your agenda on the front burner and let it boil. You owe the liberals nothing. They despise you because they despise your Christ. Honor the Lord, and He will honor you.
Had your opponent won, I would have still given thanks, because the Bible says I must (I Thessalonians 5:18). It would have been hard, but because the Lord lifts up whom He will and pulls down whom He will, I would have done it. It is easy to rejoice today, because Christ has allowed you to be His servant in this nation for another presidential term. Undoubtedly, you will have opportunity to appoint many conservative judges and exercise forceful leadership with the Congress in passing legislation that is defined by biblical norm regarding the family, sexuality, sanctity of life, religious freedom, freedom of speech, and limited government. You have four years--a brief time only--to leave an imprint for righteousness upon this nation that brings with it the blessings of Almighty God. [more]
Tip of the hat to Josh Marshall for the idea to start using "radical cleric" to refer to American Christian fundamentalists.
Global warming is good! (wink, wink, nudge, nudge)
Artic Thaw May Open Ship Lanes, But Risks High by Alister Doyle
A faster-than-expected thaw of the Arctic is likely to open legendary short-cut routes between the Pacific and the Atlantic but experts say icebergs and high costs will prevent any trans-polar shipping boom.
"There will be opportunities for shipping, but even in summer vessels would need thick hulls and icebreaker support," said Arne Instanes, a Norwegian scientist who wrote on transport in a eight-nation survey of global warming's Arctic impact.
The survey, being presented at a four-day conference in Iceland lasting until Friday, projects the Northern Sea Route along the coast of Russia is likely to be navigable for 120 days a year in 2100 against just 30 in 2000 as ice recedes.
It says the Arctic Ocean could be almost ice-free in summer by 2100 and that a build-up of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels is heating the Arctic twice as fast as the rest of the globe.
(...)
In the long term, the United States and other nations might find the remote routes a safer alternative to more southerly routes where terrorism or piracy could be growing risks. Cargoes like nuclear waste might be transported via the Arctic.
"Maybe these (Arctic) routes will be used because other routes have security issues," said Lawson Brigham, deputy director of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission. "Maybe terrorists don't like the cold." [more]
What's wrong with these people?
What if it was your child?
Hidden tragedy in helpless city by Fadel al-Badrani
Mohammed Abboud said he watched his nine-year-old son bleed to death at their Falluja home yesterday, unable to take him to hospital as fighting raged in the streets and bombs rained down.
"My son got shrapnel in his stomach when our house was hit at dawn, but we couldn't take him for treatment," said Mr Abboud, a teacher.
"We buried him in the garden because it was too dangerous to go out."
Residents say scores of civilians have been killed or wounded in 24 hours of fighting since US-led forces pushed deep into the rebel-held city on Monday.
Doctors saw at least 15 dead civilians at the main clinic in Falluja on Monday. By yesterday, there were no clinics open and no way to count casualties. [more]
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