OpEdNews - Diary: Woolsey, Lee and Waters | Congress Must Act on Iraq

"... our bill would remove the specter of an endless occupation by preventing the establishment of permanent military bases and reiterate our commitment, at the invitation of the Iraqi government, to working with the international community to assist Iraq in its reconstruction and reconciliation efforts. We also would stand ready, if asked by the Iraqis, to participate in an international stabilization force. Our bill also ensures health benefits for all of our military personnel."

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DIANE'S NEWS CLIPS begins here :)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> Excerpted from: http://www.truthout.org

Woolsey, Lee and Waters | Congress Must Act on Iraq http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021507A.shtml Representatives Lynn Woolsey, Barbara Lee and Maxine Waters write: "The political battle lines are clear: On one side, we have a bipartisan Congressional majority; roughly two-thirds of the American people; the Joint Chiefs of Staff; the Iraq Study Group; and former military leaders such as Colin Powell. On the other, an unpopular, lame-duck president; too many Congressional Republicans; and the editors of The Weekly Standard - all of whom are willing to accept more American casualties in the name of a policy that is making us less secure and damages our standing in the world." --- Carl Bernstein on Nixon vs. Bush http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021507E.shtml Carl Bernstein tells Frontline: "First, Nixon's relationship to the press was consistent with his relationship to many institutions and people. He saw himself as a victim. We now understand the psyche of Richard Nixon, that his was a self-destructive act and presidency. I think what we're talking about with the Bush administration is a far different matter in which disinformation, misinformation and unwillingness to tell the truth - a willingness to lie in the Oval Office, in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, in the office of the Vice President, the vice president himself - are such that I have never witnessed before on this scale." --- Bush Order Allows Guantanamo Trials to Move Ahead http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021507F.shtml President George W. Bush on Wednesday issued an executive order that will allow cases against prisoners at Guantanamo Bay to move forward and be considered by military tribunals, the White House said. --- Velayati: We Only Want Security http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021507G.shtml Ali Akbar Velayati, diplomatic adviser to Iran's Supreme Guide Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, discusses the sensitive issues of Iranian foreign policy: nuclear power, Israel, the Holocaust conference, Iraq and Lebanon. Jean-Pierre Perrin analyzes the ever-growing isolation of Iran's president in even conservative circles. --- Cheney Announces Bush Will Veto Workers Rights Bill http://snipurl.com/1adf1 --- The New York Times | Not Supporting Our Troops http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021507L.shtml "How do you explain to the thousands of American troops now being poured into Baghdad that will have to wait until the summer for the protective armor that could easily mean the difference between life and death?" asks the New York Times. --- William Fisher | Rush To Peace? http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021507J.shtml William Fisher writes: "These days, trying to identify the most outrageous news story of the month presents an embarrassment of riches.... But then came an event so bizarre that it easily broke through the fog of delusion to rise right to the top of the list. That event was the nomination of Rush Limbaugh for the Nobel Peace Prize." --- Ex-Aide Says Rice Misled US Congress on Iran http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021507K.shtml Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice misled the US Congress when she said last week that she had not seen a 2003 Iranian proposal for talks with the United States, a former senior government official said on Wednesday. --- Report: Nevada Governor Facing FBI Probe http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021507T.shtml The FBI is investigating whether Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons failed to properly report gifts or payments from a software company that was awarded secret military contracts when he was in Congress. Investigators are looking at whether federal contracting rules were violated or whether gifts or payments were offered in exchange for official acts by Gibbons, the newspaper said. --- Ted Glick | Peace, Justice and a Clean Energy Revolution http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021507O.shtml "Only a powerful people's alliance organized all throughout the country, one which 'gets it' on the interconnections between peace, justice and clean energy, can finally end the war in Iraq, prevent one in Iran, undercut the appeal of al Qaeda, get US troops out of Afghanistan and take action to end Israel's occupation of Palestinian lands leading to a just peace for both Israelis and Palestinians. Only such a people's movement can prevent the US from an intervention in Venezuela, Bolivia, Nigeria or other areas rich in oil or natural gas," writes Ted Glick. --- NOW | Is the Government Reading Your Email? http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021507U.shtml Is the government reading your email? On February 16 at 8:30 p.m. (check local listings), NOW reports on new evidence suggesting the existence of a secret government program that intercepts millions of private emails each day in the name of terrorist surveillance. --- CIA Sounded Out Italy About "Renditions" in 2001 http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021507D.shtml The CIA spoke with Italy's spy chief about kidnapping terrorism suspects in Italy and flying them abroad days after the September 11 attacks, according to testimony being used to prosecute US and Italian agents. --- Chairman Kennedy Carries the Ball http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021507N.shtml As Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid seeks to finish up the Democrats' initial, and much ballyhooed, legislative priorities over the next few weeks, Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Chairman Edward Kennedy is plowing full-speed ahead with the broader Democratic playbook on health and education issues. --- Not in Our Name: Bid to Stop Trident http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021507P.shtml A powerful coalition of 100 scientists, lawyers, church leaders, actors, writers and Members of Parliament is demanding a halt to the rush by Tony Blair towards a replacement for Britain's Trident nuclear weapon system. Stephen Hawking, the astrophysicist, is among the prominent figures fronting the campaign, which will strengthen growing demands in Parliament for the vote on the replacement of the system to be delayed until a full debate on the options has taken place. --- George Lakoff | Escalating Truth http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021507M.shtml --- How Feds' Top Environmental Prosecutor Built Home With Big-Oil Lobbyist http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021507S.shtml A House committee will investigate and request documents on a real estate deal involving the government's top environmental prosecutor and ConocoPhillips's top lobbyist, and also legal agreements between the government and the oil company. The inquiry by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee was announced hours after The Associated Press reported that the prosecutor, Sue Ellen Wooldridge, bought a $1 million vacation home with ConocoPhillips Vice President Donald R. Duncan, nine months before agreeing to let the company delay a half-billion-dollar pollution cleanup. --- Disaster Feared in Ship Fire off Antarctica http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/021507EA.shtml Officials warned of a potential environmental disaster in Antarctica after fire erupted Thursday on a Japanese whaling ship, as the search continued for a missing crewmen from the crippled ship. "It is a serious situation - a ship badly damaged and full of toxic oil," New Zealand Conservation Minister Chris Carter told National Radio. --- Groups Sue to Protect Marine Mammals http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/021507EB.shtml Two conservation groups sued the federal government, claiming that the US Fish and Wildlife Service did not fully consider the effects of global warming as it wrote regulations allowing for incidental harassment of polar bears and walruses by the industry in the Beaufort Sea and nearby coastal areas. --- Dying for a Home: Toxic Trailers Are Making Katrina Refugees Ill http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/021507HA.shtml _________________________________

[NEWSDISSECTOR] "Scooter" Libby Trial Nearing End A MARK FIORE ANIMATION IS A GOOD WAY TO START YOUR DAY http://www.markfiore.com DEFENSE "RESTS" IN LIBBY TRIAL | BRITISH WAR PLANE CRASHES | CRIME AS HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSE IN HAITI http://www.newsdissector.com/blog/2007/02/15/scooter-libby-trial-nearing-end/ _________________________________ Excerpted from: http://www.counterpunch.org 2.12.07 ..........................................Submitted by: http://jablankfort@earthlink.net : CP: Walsh: A Splintered Antiwar Movement Nader and Libertarians Not Welcome ... A Splintered Antiwar Movement ... by John Walsh The roster of speakers for the UFPJ demonstration in Washington D.C. on January 27 speaks volumes. The key was not so much who was included but who was not. The list of speakers certainly had a lot of wonderful activists in the peace movement, but to a considerable degree it was a line-up of Democrats and movie stars. Ralph Nader, who was in Washington that weekend, was pointedly not invited to speak. On Saturday night Nader was reportedly inquiring of other independents just who had been invited to speak among their growing number. Imagine that; the only antiwar candidate in the 2004 elections was not an invited speaker, even though he and Cindy Sheehan drew tremendous applause at the last mass rally in 2005 (Notice how these rallies occur now only in only non-election years, nicely tailored to get activists to work for Dems, but not to pressure the Dems to take a strong anti-war stand.) The non-invitation removed Nader from the movement every bit as effectively as the censors armed with air brushes removed dissidents in the "socialist" Czech republic chronicled by Milan Kundera. Nor was there anyone who ... [snip] Continued: http://www.counterpunch.org/walsh02122007.html ----- Scheer: Before the invasion, there was Feith "SOMEDAY, you are going to read a whole lot about the shenanigans of one Douglas J. Feith and an elaborate scheme to get the United States to invade Iraq." What Scheer writes here is not new. It has long ago become clear that the Zionist Lobby, of which Feith and the neocons are a critical part, was the main factor in getting the US to invade Iraq, as it will be the key factor should the US attack Iran or come to Israel's "defense" should it attack Iran. The big question is how long will it be before the American people wake up and take the lobby and its major players out behind the political woodshed? JB >> http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17065.htm _________________________________ Excerpted from: http://americanpolitics.com Anna Nicole Smith: What Does She Have to Do with Politics? Written by Jeff Koopersmith

.. I am struck by how truly poignant I believe her death is -- and how accurate was my gut feeling, upon hearing of the death, that the media would go after this sad story big time if given only a toehold. ....................snip................... This piece is not about how Anna Nicole died or who might have killed her, or who will inherit how much. It is about the damnable meanness of so many people, specifically the press and the pundits who are taking full advantage of her death -- including me. It is about American society as it exists, in all its hell, today. All of us -- from our nightmare President to the nightmarish Greta Van Susteren to smarmy has-been prosecutor and television social Gestapo agent Nancy Grace to the elderly Larry King, who should know better -- -- are guilty. We all watched her, amused, from the corner of our eyes, but denied her in public. Now we can add to the list that abomination of a man, "Prince" Frederic von Anhalt who is not a prince at all, but apparently the son of a policeman who married a woman much like Anna Nicole, Zsa Zsa Gabor. This piece of parasitic non-royal Eurotrash claims he had an affair with Anna Nicole Smith for more than ten years, that she begged him to "make her his princess," and that he may also be the father of Anna Nicole's baby -- and therefore would be next in line for the fortune the courts in Texas might or might not award her dead mother. This "Prince," it appears, was born in 1933 and then adopted -- in 1980, at 47 years of age -- by Princess Marie Auguste von Anhalt, who died in 1983. Upon his "adoption" he changed his name from Hans Lichtenberg to Federic "Prinz" von Anhalt -- but the dimwits on American television continue to refer to him as a true Prince. [snip] Full article >> http://www.apj.us/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=161&Itemid=2 _________________________________ Submitted by: .ron corvuswire@verizon.net Bomb Kills 11 on Military Bus in Iran ... By NAZILA FATHI TEHRAN, Feb. 14 - A car loaded with explosives blew up today in front of a bus carrying members of the Revolutionary Guards in southeastern Iran, killing at least 11 and injuring 34 others, according to state-run news outlets.

[snip] ... Iranian officials have repeatedly accused the United States and Britain of stirring up ethnic unrest in Iran and supporting opposition groups. Zahedan, the capital of Sistan-Baluchistan province, is home to many ethnic Baluchis, who are mostly Sunni Muslims; the majority Persian ethnic group in Iran is mainly Shiite. Hossein Ali Shahriari, who represents Zahedan in Parliament, said today that the bombing attack was carried by "insurgents and smugglers who are led by the world imperialism," a common reference to the United States and Britain. Full article: http://snipurl.com/1a8b2 ----- ron corvus videos: http://www.corvuswire.com/myvideos.htm ----- Ordered To Kill: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGgaEfRZzRw ----- Tavis Smiley | http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gziNIVmg01I _________________________________ http://palast@gregpalast.com Thursday, February 15th, 2007 Palast Hunts the Real Life Goldfinger for BBC - watch it on Democracy Now! "Vulture Fund" Company Wins $20 Million Payment from Zambia on $4 Million Debt

Watch the BBC Newsnight investigative report at the BBC Newsnight > http://snipurl.com/1adkt website -- or at Democracy Now! > http://snipurl.com/1adkx with Palast and Amy Goodman. ...............snip.................. "Vulture fund" companies buy up the debt of poor countries at cheap prices, and then demand payments much higher than the original amount of the debt, often taking poor countries to court when they cannot afford to repay. Investigative journalist Greg Palast reports on one company that has won the right to collect $20 million from the government of Zambia after buying its debt for $4 million. In his recent State of the Union address, President Bush declared the United States was taking on the challenges of global hunger, poverty and disease, and urged support for debt relief, which he called the best hope for eliminating poverty. [snip] http://www.GregPalast.com _________________________________ Submitted by: http://ImJackPineSavage@msm.com Interesting reading. >> http://www.newswithviews.com/McIntyre/Liz16.htm _________________________________ http://www.WantToKnow.info/070215newsantiterrorismdolphins 9/11: The Conspiracy Files ... To Air on February 18, 2007, BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/6160775.stm We all know what happened on 9/11, the day the world changed. Or do we? The Conspiracy Files investigates the growing number of conspiracy theories surrounding the 9/11 attacks. Incredibly some believe the American Government allowed or actively helped the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. Those who question the official version believe the World Trade Centre buildings were actually demolished by explosives; others ask why there was so little damage to the Pentagon's outer wall if a plane really had hit it. And why was America so unprepared when terror attack warnings had been received? The Conspiracy Files travels across the United States to investigate, speaking to eye witnesses and tries to separate fact from fiction. More articles: http://www.WantToKnow.info/070215newsantiterrorismdolphins _________________________________

Excerpted from: http://mediamatters.org Fool me twice? -- NY Times, CBS, NBC report Bush allegations about Iran without context, skepticism In reporting on the Bush administration's allegations about Iran's role in Iraq, media outlets have covered the matter in a muddled, incomplete manner, omitting any skeptical or critical analysis of these allegations, which suggests, in the words of washingtonpost.com's Dan Froomkin, that "the lessons we should have learned from Iraq may not have been learned at all." Read more >> VIDEO: http://mediamatters.org/items/200702140007?src=other ----- CNN's Verjee ignored Newsweek report that N. Korea was included in "axis of evil" to "avoid focusing solely on Iraq" Read more >> VIDEO: http://mediamatters.org/items/200702150001?src=other _________________________________ GREENTIPS - Is Your Fridge Running (Efficiently)? (2/07) http://www.ucsusa.org/publications/greentips/ _________________________________ VOTE FOR POLAR BEAR PROTECTION!

http://www.nrdconline.org/campaign/polarbearsos_0207 _________________________________ http://www.correntewire.com | http://cosmiciguana.com | http://www.tpmcafe.com _________________________________ Feeling the weather Being National Arthritis Month, I thought we should talk about aches and pains. My grandma used to predict the weather by her sore wrists. As a child, I didn't believe that was possible. Now, it's a known fact that the weather can affect people directly. Today's Cool Site allows you to get more than a weather forecast. It will also predict how much that weather will cause pain. Simply enter your ZIP code. Pain is measured on a numerical scale. A U.S. map is also available to track the Aches and Pains Index. You can change the map to check for air quality, allergies and other health issues. An explanation of how the weather causes pain is also on the site. When explained, it seems very logical. I guess my grandma could sense the weather after all. TO VISIT TODAY'S COOL SITE, GO HERE: http://snipurl.com/1a6ct 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 Fighting Colon Cancer With Spices, Onions - Patients given phytochemicals found in onions and turmeric saw the number and size of their precancerous colon polyps drop dramatically. http://www.mercola.com/2006/aug/19/fighting_colon_cancer_with_spices_onions.htm ----- Chocolate Improves Baby Boomer Blood Flow - Still more evidence that the bioflavanoids in chocolate have many powerful benefits -- but most chocolate you eat have these processed out of them. http://snipurl.com/1a6de ----- Football Star Uses New Acupressure Technique To Calm His Road Rage -- No Drugs Needed - Depression, anxiety and addictions all have the same energetic and emotional roots as anger and rage. They can be permanently calmed with simple tools. http://snipurl.com/1a6dk _________________________________ ~~~ RAPPING IN IRAG 00:04:52 ~~~ Sgt. Neal Saunders gives you a peek at the lightning-rod album he cut while serving in Iraq. http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=a70a2e61fd5f0ba8f8f80526d6e600e7.535259 _________________________________ NationalGeographic.com http://lava.nationalgeographic.com/pod/ _________________________________ NASA Astronomy picture of the day http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html _________________________________ One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important. ~ Bertrand Russell _________________________________ Link to: Diane's News Clips http://www.opednews.com/author/author2300.html?entry=diary