Excerpt: Growing doubts from scientists about the strength of the government's case against the late Bruce Ivins, the military researcher named as the anthrax killer, are forcing the Justice Department to begin disclosing more fully the scientific evidence it used to implicate him.
In the face of the questions, FBI officials have decided to make their first detailed public presentation next week on the forensic science tracing the anthrax used in the 2001 attacks to a flask kept in a refrigerator in Ivins's laboratory at Fort Detrick, Maryland. Many scientists are awaiting those details because so far, they say, the FBI has failed to make a conclusive case.
ROFLMAO! Said it before and will say it again: taking anything coming out of this Administration as either factual or scientific begs one's mental acumen.
Wig
The FBI's problem with this matter is that they're dealing with scientists, not reporters. And unlike reporters, scientists are going to want to see some facts.
Excerpt: The missile defense deal was announced by Polish officials and confirmed by the White House. Under it, Poland would host an American base with 10 interceptors designed to shoot down a limited number of ballistic missiles, in theory launched by a future adversary such as Iran. A tracking radar system would be based in the Czech Republic. The system is expected to be in place by 2012.
The last time Iran attacked another nation unprovoked was 1738, when Iran was called Persia and it raided India. Just out of curiosity, how many nations has the US attacked since then? Everything the Bush administration has said about Iraq and Iran has been an endless series of lies, and there's no telling what the truth might be. All Bush and his bastards seem to do is lay an endless series of Rubicons and dare other nations to cross them -- and now they're daring Russia.
Current Events: First century politics run amok in the twenty-first.
*** *** ***
The project to rescue truth from secrecy is our only hope. Only transparency should be allowed in the public sphere.
Herb Ruhs, MD
Very much agreed. There are, I believe, a tiny subset of government documents which should be kept secret, for reasons of personal privacy (your 1040s, etc.) or genuine non-fake national security (troop movements during wartime, missile launch codes, etc.) Everything else -- 99.999% of everything that's held secret now -- should be opened wide and apologized for.
When was the last convention that was teeming with protestors in need of caging? This isn't 1968,
when Martin Luther King was assassinated months before the convention, and police killed Dean
Johnson a day before planned protests began.
"Subsequently, the Walker Report to the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence assigned blame for the mayhem in the streets to the police force, calling the violence a 'police riot.'"
Give the police cages and they will eagerly fill them up. I say put the police in the cages and we'll all be better off!
SirJ
No factual dispute, these things I know, and no rhetorical dispute either. I was about to type "Do you think cops would be instructed to make fewer arrests if there weren't auxiliary jail cells?" but it occurs to me that the answer is yes so I won't use that line.
I'll just say as a veteran of countless protests, I know how police respond to peaceful protests -- a police department run by thugs busts heads, and a well-run police department just watches the march. I've seen both, and I don't know what we'll see in Denver.
With almost absolute certainty, there won't be any violent protests at the DNC Convention in Denver -- unless the violence is orchestrated by Republican operatives or triggered by police brutality. But those are real-world possibilities, so violence is something to be prepared for. I don't know much about Denver Police, beyond their well-publicized spying scandals of the past. Hope they're run by civilized adults and not utter bastards like the cops in Chicago and Miami and New York City and Philadelphia and Seattle. If they handle the DNC Convention well, I'll tip my hat to the Denver Police, and if they don't I'll add them to my mental hall of shame for bad cops.
For now, though, the bottom line is that tens of thousands of people are headed for Denver for an event that'll put the city in the nation's spotlight for a week. A police chief who doesn't prepare for the worst is a chief who's about to be fired.
Excerpt: President Bush warned Russia on Saturday against trying to pry loose two separatist regions in Georgia and said Moscow must end military operations in the West-leaning democracy that once was part of the Soviet empire.
It is just impossible for Bush to shut up.
Sherri B.
He ain't the brains of this operation, but he's always the foot in its mouth.
Excerpt: First Georgia, now Poland. The Bush Administration announced Thursday that American soldiers will begin manning missile sites in Poland -- part of an agreement that surpasses even the NATO treaty in binding Washington to an armed response to any attack on Polish soil.
Have you heard of this guy?
Sherri B.
Chris Floyd? Yes indeed, we've heard of him. He used to write for the MOSCOW TIMES, where he was by far the best writer on staff so he was fired. He's reliable on the facts, has lots of inside knowledge in his head, and sees things through a perspective far more cynical (and accurate) than most American pundits.
Helen & Harry
Terminated
by Byron Christopher
Sunday, August 17, 2008 PERMANENT LINK
Don't know if you remember me ... I'm the radio journalist in Edmonton who has been fighting for standards in the radio industry since Christ was a corporal, it seems. At one point, a few years ago, we were sending emails to one another.
Just an update ... I was "terminated" in late November last year ... given a severance package, but can't discuss details. Time and time again I fought for ethics within the industry. When I didn't cooperate with police on yet again another search warrant, I think that was it. Or maybe it was that I tried to form a union at the radio station. Or when I tried to put up a code of ethics and had it ripped down ... or ...
Whatever.
This website did quite an expose on the "conflict of interest" ... and what happens to a reporter when they try to do their job. Check it out. It's interesting reading. Talk about blatant conflict of interests.
Hope you guys are doing okay. A few years ago you had some health issues ... how are you doing now?
Cheers,
Byron Christopher
I definitely remember you and with a great big smile, especially after reading a couple of pages (here's one and here's another) about your work. I'm sorry (but somehow not terribly surprised) to hear that the station jettisoned you -- an owner who helps the cops buy a million-dollar helicopter probably doesn't want the news the way you do it...
I do hope you've landed on your feet and you're working elsewhere? From the few Canadians I'm in touch with, I have the impression that the situation for genuine journalism in Canada isn't as dire as it is in the states, where genuine journalism is almost illegal, so I cross my fingers and hope there's a slot for you at CBC or at some respectable alt-weekly?
Oh, and my health, schmealth. Ain't no illness I can't look up on the internet and find an untested herbal remedy for...
It would be nice to see one city that's prepared to handle an event like this without having their cops go batshit crazy and conduct mass arrests or provoke rioting in the streets. But I wouldn't expect such enlightenment from Denver Police, they have a history of being totalitarian. And the police will probably use the pens to hold people until the convention's over, which is blatantly illegal.
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