"The first two or three months of 2007 represent a dangerous opening for an escalation of war in the Middle East, as George W. Bush will be tempted to 'double-down' his gamble in Iraq by joining with
Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair to strike at Syria and
Iran, intelligence sources say."::::::::
DIANE'S NEWS CLIPS begins here :)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> IF LINK DOESN'T WORK, THEN PASTE ARTICLE LINK(S) INTO YOUR BROWSER -- OR GO DIRECTLY TO >> http://www.truthout.org Robert Parry | A VERY DANGEROUS NEW YEAR http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/122106L.shtml Robert Parry writes, "The first two or three months of 2007 represent a dangerous opening for an escalation of war in the Middle East, as George W. Bush will be tempted to 'double-down' his gamble in Iraq by joining with Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair to strike at Syria and Iran, intelligence sources say." ----- Saudi Royals Snub Bush, Fund Opposition to US Troops http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/122106D.shtml Early in November, National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley recommended, in a memo leaked to the press, that Saudi Arabia play a leadership role in talks about Iraq's future. But even before the memo landed on Bush's White House desk, the Saudis were positioning themselves to directly influence strategy in Iraq. ----- USDA Stocks Organics Board With Business Reps http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/122106HA.shtml Food-safety activists are protesting the government's attempt to stack an organic-food advisory board with representatives of corporate agribusiness and food commerce. ----- US and Britain to Add Ships to Persian Gulf in Signal to Iran ... http://snipurl.com/15j06 ----- US Commanders Wary of Gates Proposal http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/122106N.shtml Defense Secretary Robert Gates found American commanders wary of a proposal to rush more US troops to Iraq as he visited the war-ravaged country Wednesday. Commanders have been uncomfortable with even a short-term troop increase, saying it might bring only a temporary respite to the violence while confronting the US with shortages of fresh troops in the future. ----- Pierre Haski | Cynicism http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/122106G.shtml Pierre Haski examines the method behind the madness in Libya's sentencing to death of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor for a crime they could not have committed: deliberately spreading the AIDS virus among Libyan children. ----- Kelpie Wilson | Visit to an Island Nation, Part I: Coming Home to Scotland http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/122106O.shtml In Part I of a two-part series about a recent trip to Scotland, Kelpie Wilson writes, "Back at the Kilmartin Hotel that night, I am sitting next to Nigel McPhail again and I tell him that I'm traveling on my own because my husband is a bioregionalist. 'He doesn't like to leave Oregon,' I say. A taciturn leprechaun, Nigel nods slowly. 'Aye,' he says, 'I don't ever leave Scotland.' 'The world is going to hell, isn't it?' I say. Nigel looks up from his pint with dark eyes, seeing me. 'The children,' he says. 'That's what I can't stand.' 'In Lebanon?' I ask. It has been nearly a week now that I've been severed from my daily news fix, but still, I've seen a few headlines in passing and I know that Israeli bombs are killing hundreds of innocent people in Lebanon and that the US is doing nothing to stop it. Nigel nods, and stares down at his pint once more. ----- How Dangerous Is the Dollar Drop? http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/122106P.shtml Investors worldwide are becoming skeptical and starting to pull their money out of the United States. They have realized that a people and a country cannot live beyond their means in the long term. The US dollar's exchange rate is starting to crumble as a result of this withdrawal. ----- Bears Have Stopped Hibernating http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/122106EA.shtml Bears have stopped hibernating in the mountains of northern Spain, scientists revealed yesterday, in what may be one of the strongest signals yet of how much climate change is affecting the natural world. ----- New York Times | Rudderless in Iraq http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/122106C.shtml ----- Bush's Signing Statement on India Nuke Deal Raises Concerns http://snipurl.com/15j03 ----- Study: Long US Work Hours Are Bad for the Environment ... http://snipurl.com/15j00 ----- Wilson Challenges Subpoena in CIA Case ... http://snipurl.com/15izz ----- Housing Bust Slows Economic Growth to Two Percent http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/122106E.shtml Investment in home building was slashed at an 18.7 percent rate - even more than previously estimated and the largest cut in 15 years. That shaved 1.2 percentage points off third-quarter growth, the most in nearly 25 years. ----- Europe Adds Air Travel to Carbon Trading Scheme http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/122106EB.shtml In the face of stiff opposition from the airline industry, the European Union moved forward Wednesday with plans to impose extra charges on foreign and domestic carriers that pollute too much. ----- Federal Subsidies Turn Farms Into Big Business http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/122106LA.shtml The shift in subsidies to wealthier farmers is helping to fuel consolidation of farmland. The largest farms' share of agricultural production has climbed from 32 percent to 45 percent while the number for small and medium-size farms has tumbled from 42 percent to 27 percent. _________________________________ NOTE from Diane: Hey! Donald; Rosie; why don't the two of you stop being such uninspiring news-hogs and let the news programmers report the real news (or not). Not only you're not news, you're not even entertaining, and embarrassing yourselves and this country even further by force-feeding nonsensical behavior to an already absentee media. I think we'd all rather watch BLOOD DIAMOND than the two of you mine your business. Give us a break. Thanks; Happy Holidays; Have a good one. _________________________________ .ron corvuswire@verizon.net Stop Funding This War! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCn70JSXF7Q ----- "His leg was completely cut off ... An Iraqi insurgent by the name of Sheikh Abu Jassim Al-Girtani describes a scene in the Duwanim (Girtan) district, south of Baghdad, when an American soldier committed suicide after a roadside bomb blew up his patrol and wounded several soldiers. "His leg was completely cut off and he started crying like a woman before he took out his pistol and shot himself in the head," Al-Girtani told the fundamental Islam Memo website. "These are the signs of victory for the Sunni community in Iraq."http://snipurl.com/15ix6 ----- HORSEGOOBERS ! Some people say there's a political solution to Iraq rather than a military one -horsegoobers! The U.S. government has no political standing in Iraq - there's simply no such thing. Iraq has been experiencing sectarian violence and turmoil for hundreds, if not thousands, of years, but no, along comes Georgie Porgie and all of a sudden the natives are supposed to just 'snap to' for the U.S. government! Who in the hell believes that's a realistic point of view? I know I don't. The reason everyone and their grandma is having such a difficult time trying to characterize the situation in Iraq, and what to do next in Iraq to "achieve victory" and "avoid defeat," is because none of those terms and paradigms apply to the ever-evolving situation in Iraq. Bush says, "Victory in Iraq is achievable." This reminds me of when I was a child trying to form words with alphabet blocks, but I didn't have all the blocks, so I had to make my own words, like Bush and His Followers, including "Democratic Party so-called leaders," trying to define and spell "Victory" with the letters: LOST THE WAR. The reason pro-occupation geniuses are having such a hard time to figure out what to do in Iraq is because they weren't supposed to invade Iraq in the first place. It's like trying to undo a car wreck -- you wrecked your car and now you have to tow it off; you can't drive it off no matter how bad you want to drive it home. Bush and His Followers remind me of the guy you see in the police chase videos, you know, they guy keeps driving the stolen car down the freeway, careening off other cars, smoking all his crack up before his car dies, and keeps on driving no matter what. Mr. President, your right front tire is smoking. Mr. President, your tire is now on fire! Mr. President, your tires have burned off and you're there's sparks on your bare rims! President Bush is determined to keep on driving on bare rims, smokin' his crack all the way to the ranch, till Daddy can call the cops off his ass. Obviously, there is nothing left to do but get the hell out of Iraq. I admired how 2008 Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich answered Wolf Blitzer when Wolf asked Dennis, "What moral responsibility, if any, do we have to all those Iraqis who supported the U.S., who worked with the U.S., who could be potentially butchered if the U.S. pulls out?" Without hesitation, Dennis replied, "Our first responsibility is to bring our troops home - we have a responsibility to all the Iraqi people, but we cannot fulfill that responsibility by continuing the occupation." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6q_FM87S9I What a brilliant, pro-American response! Dennis is da man! Kucinich was calling for the withdrawal of our troops from Iraq back in October of 2003. http://www.corvuswire.com/kucinich-10-13-2003.htm | http://kucinich.us http://www.corvuswire.com/godennis.htm ----- The Tohono O'odom Indian Reservation in Southern Arizona Prohibits Patrolling the U.S.-Mexico Border >> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXxT3pOwp9E _________________________________ http://jablankfort@earthlink.net : Forward Editorial: Dear John [Bolton] "It's no great secret why the Jewish agencies continue to trumpet support for the discredited policies of this failed administration. They see defense of Israel as their number one goal, trumping all other items on the agenda. That single-mindedness binds them ever closer to a White House that has made combating Islamic terrorism its signature campaign. The campaign's effects on the world have been catastrophic. But that is no concern of the Jewish agencies." >> If that statement by Forward editor, JJ Goldberg, (author of "Jewish Power,") is not an indictment of the Jewish lobby as a Fifth Column and Israel-First operation, I would be hard pressed to find any more damning. Those Jewish lobbyists do not care what happens to the rest of the world, do not care how many Americans and, of course, Iraqi lives, are lost and, moreover, they know, thanks to their control of Congress and the mainstream media, they will not have to pay any price political or otherwise for their actions. An editorial such as this could never be found in the mainstream press and apart from the Forward, in the nation's Jewish press.- JB http://www.forward.com/articles/dear-john/# ----- Congressional Junkets to Israel to Continue As I predicted, the new Congressional "ethics" rules pushed by the Democrats, will not prohibit, AIPAC's special "education" foundation from sending members of Congress on "fact-finding" junkets to Israel. http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/newscontent.php3?artid=13434 Israel Missions OK ----- Clinton's fundraising in California The quoted item is found near the bottom of this article, (SF Chronicle, see link at end,) which describes how the old line California Democratic donors have been cultivated by Hillary Clinton. What is significant about the cited passage is that it illustrates how individual donors are far more important when it comes to political donations, than are the PACs. 'Shorenstein is the most powerful Democrat in California and has been for decades. Back in the 80s, Shorenstein, who is said to own close to one third of the commercial property in San Francisco, gave $900,000 to the unsuccessful presidential candidacy of Joe Biden. That he has also served as a board member of AIPAC gives one an idea of how inseparable the America Jewish lobby is from the Democratic Party. It is no coincidence that in 1993, when the District Attorney from San Francisco, Arlo Smith, decided not to pursue a case in court against the ADL for its illegal spying activities, in view of his own desire to run for state attorney general, which would require Jewish funding, the first person he reportedly told that he was dropping the case was Shorenstein. >> http://snipurl.com/15iwy JB _________________________________ [NEWSDISSECTOR] New Study Calls For Policy Change http://www.newsdissector.com/blog/2006/12/21/new-study-calls-for-policy-change/ _________________________________ Excerpted from: http://mediamatters.org Matthews likened Sen. Clinton to a "strip-teaser," asked, "Is she a convincing mom?" On the December 19 edition of MSNBC's Hardball, host Chris Matthews compared Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) to a "strip-teaser"; said she had "a nice, mellifluous voice" and "her hair looked ... great"; and wondered if Clinton is "a convincing mom." Read more >> http://mediamatters.org/items/200612200011?src=other [VIDEO] ----- On MSNBC, Mitchell allowed McCain aide to distance Terry Nelson from controversial RNC ad NBC News' Andrea Mitchell did not challenge Sen. John McCain aide Rick Davis when he asserted that Terry Nelson was not "behind" a campaign ad attacking Rep. Harold Ford Jr. that was criticized as racist. In fact, Nelson was head of the political unit that paid for the ad and presumably in a position to sign off on its creation and broadcast. Read more >> http://mediamatters.org/items/200612200014?src=other [VIDEO] ----- Wash. Post's Cohen touted McCain's "visceral hostility" toward lobbyists, ignoring longstanding, growing relationship Read more >> http://snipurl.com/15izf _________________________________ Study: Psilocybin Relieves OCD Symptoms A preliminary study of the active ingredient in psychedelic mushrooms has found it is effective in relieving the symptoms of people suffering from severe obsessive compulsive disorder... http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/link.php?id=27839 _________________________________ Eating a small amount of dark chocolate daily can help combat the symptoms of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, according to UK researchers. The findings suggest that chocolate enhances the action of neurotransmitters such as serotonin, responsible for regulating mood and sleep, reported ConfectioneryNews.com. Full Story: http://snipurl.com/15jyc _________________________________ SCIENTISTS PREDICT BIG SOLAR CYCLE ... NASA Science News Evidence is mounting: the next solar cycle is going to be a big one. http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/21dec_cycle24.htm?list748463 _________________________________ http://www.consortiumnews.com | http://www.waynemadsenreport.com _________________________________ ..........................Custom tags The big day will soon be here! I'll bet you're as excited as I am. But, if you're still rushing around, putting the last-minute touches on things, you're probably a bit frazzled. Gift tags are often overlooked. I can't tell you how many times I forgot about them until the last minute. Or how many times I've run out. Unfortunately, this late in the game, pickings will be slim. But, you can make your own tags. All you need is an Internet connection and printer. At today's Cool Site, you can select from a number of different Christmas-themed gift tags. And, if your handwriting is messy, you can even fill them out before you print them. Now, take time to relax and enjoy the season. TO VISIT TODAY'S COOL SITE, GO HERE: http://www.dltk-cards.com Be sure to listen to me Monday through Friday. Use my map to find me near you http://www.komando.com/listen/index.aspx _________________________________ eHEALTHY NEWS Do Drugs Work Better Than Gravity? - Humorous parody that effectively illustrates many of the ludicrous FDA positions. Also reviews effective alternatives to drugs to improve your bone density. http://snipurl.com/15j0w ----- Another Wacky Illustration of How Conventional Medicine Thinks - You just have to read this to believe it. Why would you cut out part of your lung to treat asthma when there are other non-drug approaches that work better and don't hurt you? http://snipurl.com/15j0z _________________________________ VIDEO: Better Life 4:48 click here _________________________________ NationalGeographic.com http://lava.nationalgeographic.com/pod/ _________________________________ NASA Astronomy picture of the day http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html _________________________________ Submitted by: bigkidjojo@yahoo.com http://www.powerpres.com/xmas03.html
