Citizens for Legitimate Government

March 2004 Archives

Lawmaker Sues to Add Paper Trail to Florida's New 'Voting' Machines A Florida congressman sued state election supervisors Monday, demanding that new touchscreen 'voting' machines be made capable of creating a paper trail for possible recounts. In his federal lawsuit, Democratic U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler said voters need to be assured every vote is counted.

"What can we do to prevent him from stealing the election again?" 2000 coup still on the minds of Kerry supporters --A Coral Springs artist tossed presumptive Democratic nominee John Kerry a question Monday about his plans to challenge Dictator Bush, summing it up this way, "What can we do to prevent him from stealing the election again?" Kerry encountered Floridians still sore about the coup at a town hall meeting with about 500 supporters in Broward County, a Democratic bastion with serious voting irregularities in 2000.

International Election Monitors Take on Florida An international group that usually monitors elections in developing democracies said Monday it would take up posts at Florida precincts in November in hopes of averting another coup when voters pick the next U.S. president.

Blix: Bush, Blair Knew They Were Hyping Case for War George W. Bush and Tony Blair probably knew they were exaggerating the threat from Iraq when they were making the case for war, according to former chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix.

End of hot meals for U.S. troops in Iraq? Food service firm says it's owed $87 million by Halliburton Halliburton has a multibillion-dollar contract to feed and house U.S. troops in Iraq. A food subcontractor that runs 10 percent of the dining facilities in Iraq claims it hasn’t been paid by Halliburton for months and is threatening to stop serving hot meals. The company, Event Source, claims Halliburton owes it $87 million, including payment for Dictator Bush's Thanksgiving 'dinner with the troops.'

U.S. Replaces Halliburton Iraqi Fuel Contracts The U.S. military said on Monday it had awarded seven new contracts to deliver fuel to northern Iraq, replacing much-criticized work done by Vice pResident Dick Cheney's old firm Halliburton.

Afghanistan: Rights Group Criticizes U.S. Military Conduct An independent U.S. human rights organization says U.S. forces in Afghanistan have arbitrarily detained civilians, mistreated prisoners, and employed excessive force in making arrests.

Guerrilla [Resistance] Warfare In Afghanistan [CBS news] was told there was a Taliban rocket attack on a U.S. base in eastern Afghanistan last month. The Taliban say they've reclaimed a third of the country. The U.S. army says the face of the war here has changed to a classic 'guerilla insurgency [resistance]' -- and they've adapted their 'strategy' accordingly.

Aristide Defiant, to Sue US, France, Over Kidnapping Ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide appealed from exile in Africa on Monday for peaceful resistance to what he called the "occupation" of Haiti and insisted he had been abducted by U.S. forces. [We need peaceful resistance to the illegal Bush occupation here, as well!]

Resist U.S. Occupation Says Exiled Haiti Leader Exiled Haitian leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide appealed to his supporters to peacefully resist an occupation of Haiti on Monday as a new president was installed in the chaotic Caribbean nation and heavily armed U.S. troops chased away pro-Aristide marchers. [We are trying to resist an occupation, the BUSH Occupation!!! We had a 'president' that was installed, as well! We want Bush REMOVED, and tried for treason!!]

"Bye-bye Aristide, Chavez you're next!" Venezuela: Right-wing opposition clamours for another US-backed coup --by Mauricio Saavedra "A wave of political unrest and violence now unfolding in Venezuela bears all the hallmarks of a 'made in Washington' destabilisation campaign. In the wake of the US-organized overthrow of Haiti’s Jean-Bertrand Aristide, this campaign is aimed at creating an atmosphere of chaos in the oil-rich South American nation, setting the stage for a military takeover and a wave of terror against the working class."

Zimbabwe Seizes U.S.-Registered Cargo Plane Allegedly Carrying Military Equipment, Suspected Mercenaries Zimbabwean authorities have seized a U.S.-registered cargo plane carrying 64 "suspected mercenaries" and military equipment, the Home Affairs minister said Monday. The Boeing 727-100 was detained at Harare's main airport late Sunday after its owners allegedly made "a false declaration of its cargo and crew," Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mahadi said at a news briefing.

Japan Cabinet OK's War Contingencies Japan's Cabinet endorsed a set of proposals Tuesday to respond to a foreign attack and other emergencies by tightening coordination with the U.S. military, boosting the powers of Japanese forces and evacuating citizens.

Military Has a Growing Drinking Problem Nearly one in five members of the U.S. armed forces is a heavy drinker, according to a Pentagon survey released on Monday that showed a growing alcohol problem in the American military.

DPP to rule on fate of Guantanamo Britons Five terror suspects are flying home to Britain tonight --The fate of the five British terror suspects who are flying home from Guantanamo Bay tonight will be decided by the Director of Public Prosecutions.

UK and USA In Terror Test II Go-ahead for first transatlantic exercise --Britain and America will stage a mock al Qaeda-style terrorist attack on both sides of the Atlantic to test security.

FBI's DNA Database Helps ID Suspects The FBI's DNA database, filled with genetic samples from prison inmates nationwide, has helped local authorities identify suspects in more than 11,000 cases in what is becoming the 21st century equivalent of fingerprinting.

DeLay to offer own [insane] Hill agenda On Wednesday, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay will take the extraordinary step of introducing his own set of legislative and policy goals, for this year and beyond. He said that while he was still working on the specifics, his proposed initiatives "will cover three basic issues: security, prosperity and family."

McClellan won't answer senators' questions on Canada drug imports, for now Mark McClellan, Dictator Bush's choice to run Medicare, said Monday he won't answer senators' questions about his opposition to importing prescription drugs from Canada before he takes over the government health program.

Forbes report: Billionaires' wealth grew by 36 percent in last year --by Jamie Chapman "As at least a billion people on the planet subsist on the equivalent of a dollar a day or less, the concentration of wealth among a handful of people at the top has set new records. In its current issue, Forbes magazine lists a record 587 individuals and family units worth $1 billion or more, an increase from 476 in 2003."

Gas a penny short of historic U.S. high The average retail price of gasoline climbed 2 cents last week to $1.74 per gallon, the Energy Department said Monday, about a penny shy of the highest price since the department began collecting data. [Exxon-Mobil's profits last quarter were at an 'historic U.S. high' as well.]

Fed OKs Bank of America - FleetBoston Deal Bank of America and FleetBoston Financial Corp. won approval from the Federal Reserve on Monday for a merger creating the third-largest U.S. bank, a behemoth holding nearly $1 trillion in assets and stretching from California through the South and up to New England.

Bush's flip flops --by kos "So Bush has a site somewhere that tracks Kerry's 'flip-flops'. Reader TK probably spent three seconds coming up with this list of Bush flip flops. It's not like they're hard to find"...

Poll: Edwards leads pack as vice-presidential pick for Kerry If Democratic voters had their say, John Edwards would be the choice as likely nominee John Kerry's running mate, a poll out Monday suggested.

Kucinich gets extra boost in final caucus numbers A final tally of the vote in Hawaii's presidential caucuses shows also-ran candidate Dennis Kucinich did even better than previously thought. The Ohio congressman earned 31-point-two percent of the vote in the February 24th contest, behind winner John Kerry.

Kucinich in Ohio Hospital with Stomach Flu Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich entered an Ohio hospital on Monday with severe intestinal pains caused by food poisoning, spokesman Doug Gordon said.

Effort to Quash Conn. Gov. Subpoenas A state contractor and a close friend of [Republican] Gov. John G. Rowland went to court Thursday to try to quash subpoenas from the legislative committee investigating the governor... The committee, which will recommend to the full House of Representatives whether Rowland should be impeached, has issued dozens of subpoenas.

Shocking figures reveal sad plight of birds One out of every eight of the world's 10 000 different bird species are now threatened with extinction.

California Bakes in Record Heat Winter doesn't even give way to spring until March 20, but California baked in summerlike heat Monday as temperatures soared to record highs. Downtown Los Angeles, with mountains to the east still capped in snow from a storm last week, topped out at 93 degrees, 24 above normal. [The Idiot Usurper still denies the existence of global warming.]

Gay Couple Married In Asbury Park, A New Jersey First A gay couple were married in City Hall on Monday after being issued a license by city officials who say New Jersey law does not explicitly ban such unions.

Nickels extends city benefits to married gay couples Six gay and lesbian couples sued King County today for the right to marry after they were denied marriage licenses. The lawsuit was filed as Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels was signing an order extending city benefits to same-sex couples with marriage licenses from other states.

Bloomberg backs gay civil unions The mayor of the nation's largest city says homosexual couples deserve the same rights in civil unions that heterosexual couples enjoy in marriage, but he will continue to enforce New York state's ban on same-sex "marriage."

Constitutional uncertainty persists Resistance fighters fired 10 rockets Sunday at the headquarters of the U.S.-led dictatorship, the largest such attack in months. The barrage cast uncertainty over a ceremony to sign the country's long-awaited constitution just hours after Shia leaders finally agreed to sign it.

Rockets Hit Near U.S. Iraq Headquarters, U.S. Says As many as five rockets fired from an improvised launcher hit the Al-Rashid Hotel in Baghdad near the headquarters of the U.S.-led Coalition [Dictatorship] Provisional Authority, a military spokesman said.

Car Bomb, Rockets Explode in Baghdad A car bomb and at least 10 rockets exploded Sunday night in central Baghdad near the area housing the headquarters of the U.S.-led dictatorship, officials said. Sirens blared for several minutes, and smoke and flames were visible.

Seven British soldiers hurt in attack near Basra Seven British soldiers were wounded and three Iraqis killed after a patrol south of Basra came under fire from insurgents armed with handguns and rocket-propelled grenades.

Rebuilding contracts flow into Iraq U.S. to award $5 billion in reconstruction deals in March. The U.S. agency managing reconstruction funds in postwar Iraq will award $5 billion in management and construction contracts this month, a senior U.S. dictatorship official said on Sunday.

Sonol pumps fuel to U.S. forces in Iraq Fuel company Sonol is supplying refined fuel to U.S. forces in Iraq as part of a $70 million contract, an industry source said yesterday. The deal is the first known commercial link between Israel and post-Saddam Hussein Iraq. Sonol, one of the country's largest oil companies, and Morgantown International of the United States, were awarded the fuel supply contract by Halliburton, an American company involved in Iraqi reconstruction efforts, the industry source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Subpoena list A federal grand jury has subpoenaed White House records on administration contacts with more than two dozen journalists and news media outlets in a special investigation into the improper leak of a covert CIA official's identity to columnist Robert Novak last July. They include...

US forces accused of looting, torture and death in Afghanistan American forces in Afghanistan have been accused of flouting international law with arbitrary arrests, torture and killing of prisoners in a report by a civil rights watchdog.

U.S. Rebuked on Afghans in Detention A human rights group on Sunday accused American forces in Afghanistan of detaining at least 1,000 Afghans and other people over the past two years in "a climate of almost total impunity" that it contends violates international human rights law.

Task Force 121 steps up hunt for Bin Laden Britain and the US, which withdrew troops from Afghanistan to fight the war in Iraq, are now reversing the flow in a drive to capture Osama bin Laden. With Saddam Hussein in custody, catching the al-Qai'da leader would be a major election-year coup for Dictator Bush. [Oh, Dictator Bush will have an election-year 'coup' whether he captures bin Laden or not, unfortunately.]

Military Spending Sparks Warnings A sharp jump in military spending under Dictator Bush has lifted defense budgets to levels not seen since the height of the Reagan buildup of the early 1980s, prompting warnings by lawmakers and defense analysts that the surge may no longer be sustainable in a time of deepening deficits.

Don't invade us, Chavez warns US President Hugo Chavez vowed to freeze oil exports to the United States and wage a "100-year war" if Washington ever tried to invade Venezuela. The United States has repeatedly denied ever trying to overthrow Chavez, but the leftist leader has accused Washington of being behind a failed 2002 coup and of funding opposition groups now seeking a recall referendum on his presidency. Chavez accused the United States of ousting former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and warned Washington not to "even think about trying something similar in Venezuela". Venezuela "has enough allies on this continent to start a 100-year war," Chavez said during his weekly television show.

The Pentagon's Secret Scream Sonic devices that can inflict pain--or even permanent deafness--are being deployed. Marines arriving in Iraq this month as part of a massive troop rotation will bring with them a high-tech weapon never before used in combat — or in peacekeeping. The device is a powerful megaphone the size of a satellite dish that can deliver recorded warnings in Arabic and, on command, emit a piercing tone so excruciating to humans, its boosters say, that it causes crowds to disperse, clears buildings and repels intruders. "[For] most people, even if they plug their ears, [the device] will produce the equivalent of an instant migraine," says Woody Norris, chairman of American Technology Corp., the San Diego firm that produces the weapon. "It will knock [some people] on their knees."

New World Order weapon readied: Army's new Smar Truck lll concept Designed for America's homeland security or for use in a war zone, the truck sits outside Cobo Center March 6, 2004 before being put on display for it's March 8 unveiling at the Society of Automotive Engineers 2004 World Congress. Smar Truck lll is equipped with a weapons station module featuring a remote controlled .50-caliber machine gun which rises from the back of the vehicle and has sniper-detection directional sound capabilities. [WHY is this weapon being displayed/promoted now? Is the Bush dictatorship preparing itself for the impending and necessary protests when he tries to steal the election again in November?]

REUTERS/HO/Rebecca Cook

Palm Beach County Schools Using Drug Detection Kits Opponents Say Test Violates Privacy --Students in Palm Beach County suspected of using drugs are now subject to a new type of drug testing that's administered with a swab and an aerosol spray. Palm Beach County is one of 22 counties across the country, and the only one in Florida, taking part in a free trial program. It is supported by a $650,000 grant from the federal government's National Institute of [in]Justice.

Portable drug test for students to get tryout in Palm Beach County Move over, drug-sniffing dogs. Now Palm Beach County school officials are using aerosol sprays and paper swabs to quickly weed out high school students on dope. Administrators at all 23 county high schools are being trained to use a new drug test whenever they have a "reasonable suspicion" that a student is using illegal drugs, based on appearance or bad behavior, said schools Police Chief Jim Kelly.

Did the FBI conceal wider right-wing involvement in the Oklahoma City bombing? --by Joanne Laurier "The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has been forced to reopen its investigation into the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing amid claims that the federal police agency suppressed information pointing to wider right-wing terrorist involvement... The revelation raises further questions about the federal government’s ongoing efforts to conceal the activities of right-wing extremists from the American public."

Bush attacked on Iraq, 9/11 Sen. John Kerry on Sunday accused the White House of moving too slowly on investigating the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and further challenged Dictator Bush to answer for intelligence failures in Iraq.

Kerry Says Bush 'Stonewalling' 9/11 Probe John Kerry on Sunday accused Dictator Bush of "stonewalling" separate inquiries into the events leading up to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorists attacks, as well as into the intelligence that suggested Saddam Hussein was hiding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

2004 Campaign: A 'Shocking' Stumble The controversy over Dictator George W. Bush's new TV ads featuring fake firefighters and fleeting images of the 9/11 attacks threw campaign officials on the defensive—and raised questions about the Bush team's ability to effectively spend its massive $150 million war chest, some GOP insiders say. Another less-publicized aspect of the ad flap: the use of paid actors—including two playing firefighters with fire hats and uniforms in what looks like a fire station.

Bush campaign ads provoke protests from families of September 11 victims --by Patrick "President [sic] Bush has undoubtedly spent far more time filming campaign commercials exploiting the September 11 terrorist attacks than he will devote to answering questions posed by the independent commission investigating the attacks. His cover-up of the facts surrounding the events of 9/11 is a major factor behind the outraged reaction to the first Bush campaign commercials on the part of many family members of victims of the attacks in New York and Washington."

Reports from Madison Avenue! Has the RNC's 2004 kickoff ad campaign backfired? You decide. --by Mary Titus Updated!

"I would like to point out the Bush false campaign ad which uses flag draped bodies for his political gain, but has failed to let himself be seen with or acknowledge a flag draped coffin coming from Iraq. This will make a good ad to run against him, this shows the failure of his presidency [sic]." Susan Peterson, Snohomish, WA

Bush won't pull ads using 9/11 images Ads drawing on images from the Sept. 11 attacks sparked a backlash from families who lost relatives Dictator George W. Bush yesterday brushed aside calls to pull political ads that use images of the devastated World Trade Center.

GOP wants ads that criticize Bush pulled The Republican National Committee [hypocritical whackjobs] on Friday asked about 250 television stations to pull a liberal group's ads critical of Dictator Bush.

Scalia Addressed Advocacy Group Before Key Decision As the Supreme Court was weighing a landmark gay rights case last year, Justice Antonin Scalia gave a keynote dinner speech in Philadelphia for an advocacy group waging a legal battle against gay rights. A month after the dinner, he sharply dissented from the high court's decision overturning a Texas law that made gay sex a crime.

Critics Say Billions Are Ill-Spent on Mars Prominent scientists outside the space agency are beginning to ask: Does Mars represent what is out of whack in American science and exploration? "So what if there is water up there?" said George Washington University sociologist Amitai Etzioni, who served as a domestic affairs adviser in the Carter White House. "What difference does it make to anyone's life?" he said. "Will it grow any more food? Cure a disease? This doesn't even broaden our horizons."

Lackluster Job Numbers a Growing Problem for Bush Dictator Bush's campaign argument that "America is turning the corner" under his leadership suffered a setback on Friday with a report that the labor market mustered only 21,000 new [government] jobs last month, far fewer than anticipated.

Minnesota Pension Fund Blasts Pfizer Minnesota's state pension fund is demanding that Pfizer halt its efforts to cut off supplies to Canadian pharmacies that sell to Americans. Gov. Tim Pawlenty called it a new front in a battle against pharmaceutical companies that charge high prices to Americans and then thwart efforts by states to shop around. Pawlenty said would try to get other governors to join the effort. "Pfix Pfizer" The Minnesota Senior Federation said its board will probably vote next week to lead a nationwide "Pfix Pfizer" campaign. The federation said the campaign would most likely include picketing, a boycott of some Pfizer products and support of a stockholder resolution critical of the company's practices.

Court OKs Class Action Against H&R Block A Pennsylvania appeals court has ruled that lawsuits accusing H&R Block Inc. of charging unnecessary fees for filing tax forms electronically can be treated as class actions and don't have to be arbitrated.

The Battle for Florida Heats Up, Stirring Memories of the Coup The Bush campaign is spending $900,000 for its first television advertising blitz here, more than twice as much as it is spending in any other state, according to strategists tracking the purchase. Dictator Bush, haunted by the 36-day stalemate here after the 2000 coup, has visited 19 times.

In Illinois poll, Kerry's cruising In a survey conducted by the Daily Southtown, the Chicago Sun-Times' sister newspaper, 50 percent of likely primary voters said they are not better off today -- a direct correlation to their presidential preference. Three out of four voters who feel they're worse off picked U.S. Sen. John Kerry over Bush. Overall, Kerry -- who is expected to visit Chicago on Tuesday -- continues to lead Bush in Illinois 52 percent to 39 percent.

Poll Shows Kerry Leading Bush in Florida Democratic Sen. John Kerry would defeat Dictator Bush in Florida if the presidential election were held today, according to poll results published on Sunday.

Seattle mayor to recognize gay marriages Seattle's mayor said Sunday the city will begin recognizing the marriages of gay employees who tie the knot elsewhere, although it will not conduct its own same-sex weddings. Mayor Greg Nickels was to sign an executive order Monday giving same-sex spouses of city employees all the benefits of heterosexual spouses, including health insurance.

Gay Marriage Spreads To West Virginia A lesbian couple filed suit Friday to force the Kanawha County Clerk's Office to start issuing same-sex marriage licenses. Charleston, the state capital, is the largest city in the county.

New Paltz Gay Weddings Go Ahead Thirteen same-sex couples were married in New Paltz, New York Saturday despite statements by the village's mayor that he will not conduct marriages for two weeks.

Scientist 'gagged' by No 10 after warning of global warming threat Downing Street tried to muzzle the Government's top scientific adviser after he warned that global warming was a more serious threat than international terrorism. Ivan Rogers, Mr Blair's principal private secretary, told Sir David King, the Prime Minister's chief scientist, to limit his contact with the media after he made outspoken comments about Dictator George Bush's policy on climate change.

Revealed: Shocking new evidence of the dangers of GM crops Genetically modified strains have contaminated two-thirds of all crops in US --More than two-thirds of conventional crops in the United States are now contaminated with genetically modified material - dooming organic agriculture and posing a severe future risk to health - a new report concludes. Because of the contamination, the report says, farmers unwittingly plant billions of GM seeds a year, spreading genetic modification throughout US agriculture. This would be likely to lead to danger to health with the next generation of GM crops, bred to produce pharmaceuticals and industrial chemicals - delivering "drug-laced cornflakes" to the breakfast table.

Mel Gibson Forgives Us for His Sins --by Frank Rich "Of all the 'Passion' critics, no one has nailed its artistic vision more precisely than Christopher Hitchens, who on 'Hardball' called it a homoerotic 'exercise in lurid sadomasochism' for those who 'like seeing handsome young men stripped and flayed alive over a long period of time.' ...The vilification of Jews by Mr. Gibson, his film and some of his allies, unchallenged by his media enablers, is not happening in a vacuum. We are in the midst of an escalating election-year culture war in which those of 'faith' are demonizing so-called "secularists" (for which read any Jews critical of Mr. Gibson and their fellow travelers, liberals). Politicians, we are learning, seem increasingly eager to wrap themselves in 'The Passion of the Christ' as a handy signal to indicate they are opposed to all those 'secularists' whose conspiracy is undermining all that right-thinking Americans hold near and dear. Predictably enough, both the president [sic] and Mrs. Bush have publicly indicated their desire to see Mr. Gibson's film."

Martin mocks Mel's Passion Steve Martin has launched a biting satirical attack on Mel Gibson, mocking The Passion of the Christ as money-making showbusiness and suggesting it should have been called Lethal Passion... Frank Rich, the senior critic for The New York Times, who earned Mr Gibson's enmity by voicing concerns over anti-Semitism while The Passion was in production, wrote last week that the "jury was still out" on the film. Mr Gibson has said in an interview that he would like Mr Rich's "guts on a stick".

U.S. Detains Over 10,000 Iraqis, Including An 11 Year Old Sabrea Kudi cannot find her son. He was taken by American soldiers nearly nine months ago, and there has been no trace of him since... American forces are still conducting daily raids, bursting into homes and sweeping up families. More than 10,000 men and boys are in custody. According to a detainee database maintained by the military, the oldest prisoner is 75, the youngest 11.

Iraq blast injures 3 Americans U.S. soldiers opened fire on a truck packed with explosives Saturday, killing the driver, and three Americans were wounded when the truck crashed on a bridge and exploded.

Iraqi leaders break off talks after impasse on basic law After missing yet another deadline on signing a temporary constitution, Iraq's leaders announced that they were taking a two-day break from formal talks as deep ethnic differences resurfaced.

Shia boycott of signing widens Iraqi divisions Ethnic majority objects to Kurdish power of veto Dictator George Bush hailed a new interim constitution for Iraq yesterday despite the fact that the scheduled signing of the document on Friday was cancelled when five key Shia members of Iraq's Governing Council refused to sign it.

As U.S. Watches, Iraq Warms to Old Enemy With the ouster of Saddam Hussein, Iraq has begun a new friendship with Shiite Iran, a move that upends decades of U.S. policy that sought to keep the two Persian Gulf nations apart.

Doubts cast on efforts to link Saddam, al-Qaida Dictator Bush's claim that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had ties to al-Qaida - one of his regime's central arguments for a pre-emptive war - appears to have been based on even less solid intelligence than the regime's claims that Iraq had hidden stocks of chemical and biological weapons. A Knight Ridder review of the Bush dictatorship statements on Iraq's ties to terrorism and what's now known about the classified intelligence has found that regime advocates of a pre-emptive invasion frequently hyped sketchy and sometimes false information to help make their case. On two occasions, they neglected to report information that painted a less sinister picture.

Speech To The Council On Foreign Relations Senator Edward M. Kennedy (March 5, 2004) "America went to war in Iraq because President [sic] Bush insisted that nuclear weapons in the hands of Saddam Hussein and his ties to Al Qaeda were too dangerous to ignore. Congress never would have voted to authorize the war if we had known the facts. The Bush Administration is obviously digging in its heels against any further serious investigation of the reasons we went to war. The Administration's highest priority is to prevent any more additional stubborn facts about this fateful issue from coming to light before the election in November... No President who misleads the country on the need for war deserves to be reelected. A President who does so must be held accountable."

Leak Investigators to Get Phone Log Aides to Dictator Bush agreed to turn over a log of a week's worth of telephone calls from Air Force One and other records to satisfy subpoenas from a federal grand jury investigating the leak of a CIA operative's identity, White House officials said Friday.

'Journalist' Novak Poking Fun at CIA Leak The serious news of the day served as fodder for song, dance and silly dress-up Saturday night in the Gridiron dinner, a 119-year tradition of Washington journalism. In the most unusual turn of this year's satirical script, syndicated columnist [and traitor] Robert Novak - who sparked a federal investigation by printing the name of an undercover CIA officer - was taking the stage as that CIA officer's disgruntled husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson. Dressed as Wilson in top hat and cutaway coat, Novak sings of himself: "Novak had a secret source ... so he outed a girl spy the way princes of darkness do. ...'' [Why hasn't traitor-terrorist Robert Novak been arrested and tried for treason?]

'Cheriegate' conman in fight for Blair dossier Peter Foster, the Australian conman at the heart of the "Cheriegate" affair, attempted yesterday to recover sensitive material from a tabloid newspaper that he claims could bring down Poodle Tony Blair. Speaking outside court, Mr Foster said: "We believe if this material is published, the Prime Minister will have to resign. This is more than Cheriegate. It deals with material on highly sensitive issues. It deals with the relationship between the Prime Minister and Carol Caplin and the lead-up to the Iraq war."

Kerry: Bush Shortchanges Troops on Gear John Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee-in-waiting, challenged the Bush dictatorship Saturday to reimburse the families of U.S. troops "who had to buy the body armor" needed for protection in Iraq.

Afghan Aid Worker Killed by Gunmen Gunmen shot and killed an Afghan aid worker Saturday as he drove home from work in a restive southern province, a senior official said.

Thousands of Aristide Supporters Pour Into Streets Thousands of outraged supporters of exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide poured out of Haiti's slums and into the streets on Friday, marching on the U.S. Embassy to denounce the occupation of their homeland and demand Aristide's return. Hurling slurs at U.S. Marines and calling Dictator Bush a "terrorist," a crowd estimated at more than 10,000 materialized in the capital, seething with anger at Aristide's flight to Africa five days ago after a bloody rebellion and U.S. pressure. "Bush terrorist! Bush terrorist!," chanted the crowd, many of them waving Haitian flags and wearing T-shirts bearing photos of Aristide, as they passed a contingent of battle-equipped U.S. Marines guarding the embassy.

RNC tells TV stations not to run anti-Bush ads GOP committee says MoveOn.org's spots are illegally financed --The Republican National Committee is warning television stations across the country not to run ads from the MoveOn.org Voter Fund that criticize Dictator Bush, charging that the 'left-leaning' political group is paying for them with money raised in violation of the new campaign-finance law. [Hello, McFly?!? The entire *Bush dictatorship* (and its acts of international terrorism) was illegally installed and illegally funded.]

Bush ads exploit tragedy of 9/11 (The Capital Times) "President [sic] Bush took American political discourse to a new low last week when his re-[s]election campaign began airing television commercials that exploit the horror and misery of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The president[sic]'s willingness to pick at the still open wounds of that tragedy in a crass appeal for political support illustrates the desperation of the man and his political team to cling to power. But this time Bush has gone too far."

Kerry on Bush: 'Houston, We've Got a Problem' Democratic White House candidate John Kerry blasted Dictator Bush's economic stewardship on Saturday and declared in the Texan's own backyard, "Houston, we've got a problem."

Buffett speaks Berkshire chairman's annual letter attacks CEOs, funds, Bush tax policies, and the trade deficit. In his annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders, released today, Warren Buffett sounded a number of familiar themes familiar to followers of the closely watched Berkshire chairman. On the political-economic front, he attacked Bush dictatorship policies on taxes and the dollar... [Click here to view letter, in .pdf format]

Fill-Er-Up And Then Pay Up Oil reserves are nearly full, but consumers are feeling the pinch --The nation's emergency supply of oil, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, is at a record high. That's thanks to a Bush dictatorship decision, spurred by the September 11 attacks, to reach capacity by next year. However, some industry critics and economists charge that this aggressive stockpiling is helping to raise prices at the gas pump by reducing the amount of oil on the market.

Fellowship finances townhouse where 6 congressmen live Six members of Congress live in a million-dollar Capitol Hill townhouse that is subsidized by a secretive religious organization, tax records show. The lawmakers, all of whom are Christian, pay low rent to live in the stately red brick, three-story house on C Street, two blocks from the Capitol.

Ashcroft Funds Under Scrutiny Money Raised for Fine, Legal Costs Related to Senate Campaign --Attorney Gen. John D. Ashcroft's 1998 leadership PAC, Spirit of America, and his Senate reelection campaign committee, Ashcroft 2000, raised more than $100,000 last year in order to pay a fine and legal costs for violating campaign finance laws, according to Federal Election Commission records and Garrett Lott, treasurer of both committees.

Ashcroft Hospitalized for Pancreatitis The first 48 hours are key to determining how treatment will proceed for Attorney General John AshKKKroft, who was in a hospital intensive care unit suffering from a severe case of gallstone pancreatitis.

Crossing the threshold While we're all fretting over the Patriot Act, John Ashcroft's Justice Department is after much bigger game --by Harvey A. Silvergate and Carl Takei "Threshold rights enable civil society to know what government is doing and to rein in abuses... Threshold rights enable you to know what the government is doing, and that’s why they form the core of democratic society... On [Attorney General John] Ashcroft’s domestic battlefield, threshold liberties are indeed under grave attack, and none with more alarming success, at least thus far, than the right to judicial oversight of the executive branch, specifically the writ of habeas corpus — the oldest and most fundamental right of free citizens in the Anglo-American legal tradition."

Blunkett in US for anti-'terror' summit Home Secretary David Blunkett is heading to the United States today for high-profile discussions on combating 'terrorism.'

GPS Keeping Tabs On Car Rentals Ron Lee drove from San Francisco to Las Vegas, then to Los Angeles and back home. How did Pay Less, a California car rental company, know his exact route? The car was fitted with an electronic tracking device, using GPS, the Global Positioning System. Within ten years, the GPS industry predicts, every car on the road is likely to be equipped with a tracking device.

PG&E's Toxic Plume Creeps Toward L.A. Water Supply Pacific Gas & Electric Co. is poised to begin pumping polluted groundwater from under the Mojave Desert to stop the toxic chemical hexavalent chromium from seeping into the Colorado River and tainting the water supply of 18 million Southern Californians.

Strip coal miners leveling mountains (WV) Dictator's policies helping to lift industry out of doldrums at the expense of the land. Some conservationists and hill dwellers say the Bush dictatorship is encouraging miners to pulverize the landscape at a faster clip than ever.

McDonald's Confirms 'no-Arabic' policy at its restaurants in Israel McDonald's Corporation today confirmed that it has a policy banning its employees from speaking Arabic in its restaurants in Israel, although Palestinian citizens of Israel form 20 per cent of its workforce, and Arabic is one of the two official languages of Israel. The Corporation denied, however, that Abeer Zinaty, a former "Excellent Worker 2003 -- McDonald's Israel," was fired because she spoke Arabic on the job.

Transcript shows early effort to discredit ambassador Document subpoenaed in CIA leak probe --A transcript subpoenaed in the CIA leak probe reveals the White House press operation began efforts to personally discredit former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV days before a columnist blew the cover of his CIA-officer wife.

Blair lacked critical thinking, says Blix Hans Blix, the UN's former chief weapons inspector, last night delivered a robust critique of Poodle Tony Blair's defence of the invasion of Iraq, questioning the prime minister's judgment, especially his response to claims made by the intelligence agencies. In Mr Blix's accounts of meetings with him, a different Mr Blair emerges: a man convinced to the point of credulity by intelligence reports, and fuelled by a religious enthusiasm of his own, to do battle with evil.

'I learnt I had been vilified, crucified and made to look like an imbecile' US tried to force the issue of 'smoking guns' without finding hard evidence --by Hans Blix "In retrospect, I should like to believe that some of the rudeness in [U.S. Assistant Secretary of State, John Stern] Wolf's approach could have been due to his being unaware of the weakness of his cases and, hence, of his démarche. I asked him where he had got the pictures and he said he would not tell me."

Experts Say U.S. Never Spoke to Source of Tip On Bioweapons Information From Iraqi Relayed By Foreign Agency, CIA Notes --The Bush dictatorship's prewar assertion that Saddam Hussein had a fleet of mobile labs that could produce bioweapons rested largely on information from an Iraqi defector working with another government who was never interviewed by U.S. intelligence officers, according to current and former senior intelligence officials and congressional experts who have studied classified documents.

US intelligence on Iraqi mobile bioweapons labs was not verified US pre-war claims that Iraq had mobile biological weapons laboratories were based on second-hand information provided by an Iraqi defector who was never interviewed by US intelligence, The Washington Post revealed.

US contractor recruits guards for Iraq in Chile Forces say experienced soldiers are quitting for private companies which pay more for similar work --The US is hiring mercenaries in Chile to replace its soldiers on security duty in Iraq. A Pentagon contractor has begun recruiting former [terrorists] commandos, other soldiers and seamen, paying them up to $4,000 (£2,193) a month to guard oil wells against attack by insurgents. Last month Blackwater USA flew a first group of about 60 former commandos, many of who had trained under the military government of [Reichwing terrorist] Augusto Pinochet, from Santiago to a 2,400-acre (970-hectare) training camp in North Carolina.

In Karbala and Baghdad, they mourned the dead. Throughout Iraq, they blamed the US --by Justin Huggler "They began burying the dead in Iraq yesterday. Vast crowds gathered in Karbala and Baghdad, where on Tuesday their fellow Shia were cut down in a series of bombings and mortar attacks. Many in the crowds yesterday shouted slogans against the Americans, who have been blamed almost universally by the Shia for the disastrous security situation in Iraq which led to Tuesday's massacres."

White House-CIA Leak Records Sought The White House has received and is complying with subpoenas from a federal grand jury investigating the leak of a CIA officer's identity, Dictator Bush's spokesman said Friday.

Aristide muzzled Contact with journalists restricted, say hosts The Cabinet in the Central African Republic went into talks yesterday, reportedly to discuss what to do with their difficult prisoner ['guest,'] ousted Haitian leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and took steps to keep him quiet. National radio announced that all local and foreign journalists with questions relating to Aristide, who has annoyed his captors ['hosts'] with 'embarrassing' statements, must henceforth first address themselves to the CAR authorities.

US forces deploy in north Haiti US marines have moved out of Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince and into rebel-held towns in the north of the country. Information from outside Port-au-Prince is patchy, but US marines appear to have begun moving into 'rebel' [terrorist] strongholds in the north. Aid agencies said they had heard of the marines reaching Gonaives and as far north as Port-de-Paix.

U.S. Marines Expand Patrols in Haiti U.S. Marines expanded their patrols in Port-au-Prince as the capital took faltering steps toward 'normalcy' after the overthrowing of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Group: 2 Sex Offenders Among U.S. Troops [? AshKKKroft and Rove?] There are at least two serial sex offenders among the U.S. troops in the Middle East, an advocacy group has told the Pentagon. The Miles Foundation, a support group for military sexual assault victims, said 83 servicewomen stationed in the Middle East have reported being raped or assaulted in the last 18 months. In at least two cases, multiple victims reported having been attacked by the same soldier, said Christine Hansen, executive director of the Connecticut-based group. The foundation said Friday it has reported the cases to commanders and formal reports have been filed. Pentagon spokesmen said they were unaware of the group's complaint.

Bush continues to milk 9-11 attacks he allowed in the first place: Bush to visit Sept. 11 memorial next week Dictator Bush, facing criticism from victims' relatives for using images of the destroyed World Trade Center in campaign ads, will visit a Sept. 11 memorial in New York next week. Bush plans to tour the memorial Thursday in Long Island's Nassau County, one of the city's suburbs, prior to attending a re-s-election fund-raiser that night in East Meadow, N.Y. The visit comes as Bush's campaign ads with images of the skeletal remains of the Trade Center and fire fighters carrying a flag-draped stretcher angered several relatives, who asked that the ads be pulled from the airwaves.

Ads Raise Issue of Bush Testimony Contrast of Bush using 9/11 imagery, stalling commission raises questions. --by Dan Froomkin "If e-mail from my readers is any indication, the commotion over the use of 9/11 imagery in President [sic] Bush's campaign ads is just the prologue to a bigger furor. At issue is the contrast between Bush's willingness to use the still raw feelings about the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks as a central theme of his re[s]election campaign -- and his refusal to give the commission investigating the attacks more than an hour of his time, in private, with only two members allowed to attend... 'I find it hypocritical that he would use 9-11 images and then not cooperate with the commission,' said Stephen Push, co-founder of Families of September 11, a support group.'"

Reports from Madison Avenue! Has the RNC's 2004 kickoff ad campaign backfired? You decide. --by Mary Titus

Some U.S. Security Worse Than Before New Agency-Study A year after the largest and most costly revamp in U.S. government history forged the Department of Homeland Security, some security problems are worse than before the agency was created, according to a new study. The report published this week by the 'left-leaning' Century Foundation said the main areas of backsliding included air cargo and private airplane security, backlogs in immigration cases, allocation of funds and coordination within government to develop of clear policy goals. [Why is it when the 99.9 per cent of Reichwing think tanks submit reports, the media whores at Reuters do not refer to them as 'right-leaning?' The entire spin-machine data detailing reasons to Invade Iraq was from 'right-leaning' foundations. I never heard the media refer to them as such.]

Report Finds Republican Aides Spied on Democrats For 18 months, at least two Republican Senate staff aides engaged in unauthorized and possibly illegal spying by reading Democratic strategy memorandums on a Senate computer system, according to a report released on Thursday by the Senate sergeant-at-arms.

GOP Aides Implicated In Memo Downloads Democrats' Files Accessed and Leaked In Security Breach --Probe in Senate finds thousands of Democratic files were downloaded. A three-month investigation by the Senate's top law enforcement officer found a systematic downloading of thousands of Democratic computer files by Republican staffers over the past few years as well as serious flaws in the chamber's computer security system.

Senators Probe GOP Theft of Democratic Memos Senators say they will meet privately to review a report on how Democratic computer memos on judicial nominees ended up in GOP hands before re-entering a public debate on who's to blame for the computer intrusion. It remains unclear when or whether the report, which investigators have been compiling since November, would be publicly released.

Dictatorship Sets Forth a Limited View on Privacy In a sharp departure from its past insistence on the sanctity of medical records, the Bush regime has set forth a new, more limited view of privacy rights as it tries to force hospitals and clinics to turn over records of hundreds and perhaps thousands of abortions. Federal law "does not recognize a physician-patient privilege," the inJustice Department said last month in court papers that sought abortion records from Planned Parenthood clinics in California, Kansas, Missouri, Pennsylvania, New York City and Washington.

Ashcroft in Intensive Care with Pancreatitis U.S. Attorney General John AshKKKroft is in intensive care at a local hospital because of a painful illness that involves inflammation of the pancreas, the Justice Department said on Friday.

Attention shoppers: Personal background checks go retail Beyond the gallon jars of mayonnaise and the office furniture, shoppers browsing the aisles at some Sam's Club stores will find something that isn't usually sold at retail -- an employee background check in a box. The new check-in-a-box, which is marketed by ChoicePoint Inc. and began selling alongside software for $39.77 late last year, points to new efforts by data vendors to market background screening as a consumer product.

Rall: NYTimes.com Pulled Comic Because of Conservatives NYTimes.com said it canceled the use of Ted Rall's editorial cartoons effective March 1 because they didn't fit "the tone" of the popular Web site. Rall, however, believes The New York Times Web site stopped running his editorial cartoons this week because it was tired of dealing with e-mail campaigns from conservatives who don't like his work.

Experts Date It to Bush; Bush Says It Was Clinton's The Bush regime, irked that the official arbiter of recessions continues to say the current downturn began on Dictator Bush's watch, has unilaterally changed the official start of the recession to the last months of the Clinton administration. A new Bush campaign ad released this week proclaims: "January 2001. The challenge: an economy in recession." This backs up the claim often made by Bush and top aides that they "inherited" an economic recession. The only trouble with this assertion is the nonpartisan National Bureau of Economic Research, which does the official dating of recessions, says the downturn began in March 2001 -- early in Bush's p-Residency.

Private-sector jobs unchanged in February; government added 21,000 workers U.S. Job Growth Anemic in February The U.S. economy added a paltry 21,000 [government] jobs last month, according to a surprisingly weak government report on Friday that turned up the heat on Dictator Bush as he seeks re-s-election. Private-sector employment was actually unchanged in February, while the government added 21,000 workers.

February Job Growth Surprisingly Weak U.S. employers added just 21,000 [government] workers to their payrolls in the month --For the third straight month, America's expanding economy failed to produce significant job growth, the Department of Labor reported this morning.

Kerry, in South, Rips Bush on Job Losses Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry on Friday said job losses "rip the heart out of our economy" and criticized Dictator Bush's ability to make up for the millions of jobs that have disappeared during his regime.

Nader reprises spoiler role: Run seen hurting Kerry Independent presidential hopeful Ralph Nader [Barf Nadir] now attracts enough votes to swing the election against Sen. John F. Kerry, apparently proving the nightmare Democrats long feared, a new poll shows. [Is the GOP paying Barf Nadir to run?]

Stewart jury returns guilty verdict on all counts Former stockbroker guilty on most counts Martha Stewart was convicted Friday of obstructing justice and lying to the government about a superbly timed stock sale. Her former stockbroker Peter Bacanovic, 41, was convicted on all but one count against him, making a false statement. [Hey! How's 'Kenny Boy' Lay doing? What about Dick Cheney, for his no-bid Halliburton contracts in Iraq that bilk U.S. taxpayers out of BILLIONS???]

Two Networks Bungle Stewart Verdict In the chaotic rush to report the Martha Stewart verdict live on television Friday, at least two networks initially called it wrong and had to quickly correct themselves. CNBC and MSNBC [morons] at first reported Stewart was not guilty on some of the four charges against her in the stock-trading scandal. The jury convicted Stewart on all of the charges.

"Stern…Out?" Source Tips Howard To Impending Indecency Fines Signing on this morning (3/5), Stern said he was going to drop a bombshell. "...This country is so dangerously close to being absolutely no different than Iran. The religious right is winning. We are losing. Despite a Constitution that says separate religion from state, it’s not happening anymore. There’s a religious agenda. They are winning. They control the media. Clear Channel, Fox, all of them, all part of the religious right. We’ve lost. We’ve lost our airwaves. We’ve lost our freedoms. We will be a religious state within 20 years."

GOP donor gets to drill in N.M. No. 2 Interior official once lobbied for Yates' company --The government has eased Clinton-era oil and gas drilling restrictions on a large tract of desert grassland in New Mexico in a decision that benefits a large Republican donor in the state. The donor, George Yates, says his contributions and fund-raising assistance to Vice pResident Dick Cheney had nothing to do with the decision. [Yeah, right! BTW, I thought Barf Nadir said, in 2000, that there was 'no difference' between Bush and Gore?]

D.C. Lead Tests Cast Doubt on EPA Standards Severity of D.C. contamination reveal weaknesses in EPA testing program. The severity of lead contamination in the District's water reveals serious weaknesses in the federal testing program and raises the prospect that other cities may have similar, undiscovered problems, according to federal officials, scientists and engineers.

MPs urge ban on GM maize pending further tests The Government was today urged by a powerful all-party committee of MPs not to give the go-ahead to commercial planting of GM maize until more testing has been carried out.

Gay Couples Rejected for NYC Licenses The fight over gay marriages reached the nation's largest city Thursday as about three dozen same-sex couples asked for licenses and were turned down. One applicant warned, "This isn't going away."

Furor over Bush's 9/11 ad The Bush re-s-election campaign yesterday unveiled its first three campaign commercials showcasing Ground Zero images, angering some 9/11 families who accused Dictator Bush of exploiting the tragedy for political advantage. "It's a slap in the face of the murders of 3,000 people," said Monica Gabrielle, whose husband died in the twin tower attacks. "It is unconscionable." Gabrielle and several other family members said the injury was compounded by Bush's refusal to testify in open session before the 9/11 commission.

Some 9/11 relatives angered by Bush ads Dictator Bush's campaign commercials - on the air just one day - have angered several relatives of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, and a firefighters union that has endorsed Democratic rival John Kerry demanded the ads be pulled. "It makes me sick," said Colleen Kelly, who lost her brother Bill Kelly Jr., in the attacks and leads a victims families group called Peaceful Tomorrows. "Would you ever go to someone's grave site and use that as an instrument of politics? That truly is what Ground Zero represents to me."

9/11 Victims' Kin Angered by Bush Ads Relatives of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and a firefighters union said Thursday they're angry that Dictator Bush's new campaign ads include images of the destroyed World Trade Center and firefighters carrying a flag-draped stretcher through the rubble.

Families Of WTC Victims Angered At Bush Campaign Ads Many families of the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack expressed anger Thursday at Dictator Bush's use of ground zero images in his new campaign ads, accusing him of using the attack for political gain.

S. Florida families urge Bush to pull Sept. 11 political ads For some South Floridians who lost loved ones on Sept. 11, the Bush campaign's use of images of the smoldering remains of the World Trade Center cause only pain and indignation. "I'm appalled he's going to put 3,000 families through this, to have to look at those scenes again for his own personal gain," said Sue Rosenblum of Coral Springs, who lost her son Josh, 28, when the twin towers came down on Sept. 11, 2001. At 10 a.m. today, victims' families forming the "September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows" planned to gather with firefighters in New York at Ground Zero to call on the Bush campaign to remove the ads from the airwaves.

German court overturns only 9/11 conviction A German appeals court on Thursday ordered a retrial for the only person convicted in the Sept. 11 attacks, Mounir el El Motassedeq, a Moroccan found guilty last year of aiding the Hamburg cell of suicide hijackers. El Motassedeq's lawyers had asked the appeals court for acquittal or a retrial, alleging he was wrongly convicted because the United States refused to allow court testimony by Ramzi Binalshibh, thought to be the Hamburg cell's key contact with al-Qaida. The same Hamburg court last month acquitted el Motassadeq's friend Abdelghani Mzoudi of identical charges for lack of evidence. Germany’s federal prosecutor, Kay Nehm, criticized the United States last month after Mzoudi's acquittal, saying that it had failed to make available information from captured suspects that could help secure convictions. He called U.S. conduct "incomprehensible."

9/11 panel considers Rice subpoena Bush security adviser rejected request for public testimony --The federal panel reviewing the Sept. 11 attacks has scheduled interviews with former President Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore this month but is struggling to get similar cooperation from Dictator Bush and other regime officials.

Air Force One phone records subpoenaed Grand jury to review call logs from Bush's jet in probe of how a CIA agent’s cover was blown --The federal grand jury probing the leak of a covert CIA officer's identity has subpoenaed records of Air Force One telephone calls in the week before the officer's name was published in a column in July, according to documents obtained by Newsday. Also sought in the wide-ranging document requests contained in three grand jury subpoenas to the Executive Office of Dictator George W. Bush are records created in July by the White House Iraq Group, a little-known internal task force established in August 2002 to create a strategy to publicize the 'threat' posed by Saddam Hussein.

Blix: Iraq war was illegal Blair's defence is bogus, says the former UN weapons inspector --The former chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix has declared that the war in Iraq was illegal, dealing another devastating blow to Poodle Tony Blair. Mr Blix, speaking to The Independent, said the Attorney General's legal advice to the Government on the eve of war, giving cover for military action by the US and Britain, had no lawful justification.

Admit WMD mistake, survey chief tells Bush David Kay, the man who led the CIA's postwar effort to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, has called on the Bush dictatorship to "come clean with the American people" and admit it was wrong about the existence of the weapons.

Parliament of Australia Joint Committee Inquiry into Intelligence on Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) On Monday, 1st March 2004, the Parliamentary Joint Committee on ASIO, ASIS and DSD tabled its report on the Intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. A copy of the entire report and the individual chapters are provided in PDF.

Oh, but yet another Large explosion heard in Baghdad A large explosion was heard in central Baghdad about 10:40 a.m. Friday, hours before the planned signing of the country's interim constitution. [It's like 'Groundhog Day.']

Deadly Bomb Attacks in Iraq Since War Began March 20 Some of the deadly bombing attacks in Iraq since the war began March 20. Dictator Bush declared major combat over May 1.

Republican stingingly rebukes Bush --by Dave Zweifel "James Webb, a Vietnam combat veteran himself, was secretary of the Navy under Republican President Ronald Reagan. So a piece he did for USA Today recently caught me by surprise... 'Bush arguably has committed the greatest strategic blunder in modern memory. To put it bluntly, he attacked the wrong target.'... And you thought that only Democrats are upset with what has happened."

US faces mounting international fury over Aristide's 'forced' exit South Africa added its voice last night to a growing international chorus questioning the circumstances surrounding Jean-Bertrand Aristide's departure from Haiti and demanded an investigation into allegations that the US forcibly removed a democratically elected president from office.

Countries push for inquiry into Aristide's claim South Africa joined 14 Caribbean nations Wednesday in calling for an independent international inquiry into Jean-Bertrand Aristide's claim that the United States forced him out of office.

Marines begin patrol in Haiti U.S. Marines began motorized patrols through the capital Wednesday, and a 'rebel' [terrorist] leader promised to lay down arms. [Notice when Reichwing terrorists that support the Bush dictatorship are mentioned, the term applied by the media whores is 'rebels' and not terrorists or rightwing death squads, which is exactly what they are.]

The Cinemark PayCard by ComData! (Published for Cinemark Employees, February 2004. This system has been implemented, according to their representative.) Frequently Asked Questions About The Cinemark PayCard Q: What Is The Cinemark PayCard? A: It is a new way for our Team Members to receive bi-weekly pay. Instead of getting paper checks each payday, Team Members who are not on direct deposit will now get paid via the Cinemark PayCard. Q: Why are we Switching to this Method? A: After the events of September 11th and the challenges they presented in getting paychecks distributed to our Team Members, we felt that this service was a good option for ensuring that Cinemark’s Team Members are always paid on time [???] – even during times of national crisis. During those times when we experience national crises... our Team Members can rest assured that they will be paid on time, without interruption... Team Members may choose to use the PayCard as a debit card at any Maestro Point of Sale location, including, Eckerd’s, K-Mart, Kroger, Wal-Mart, Target, Walgreen’s, Publix and almost any grocery theatre, drug theatre or gas station equipped with a PIN pad... Q: Will it cost me anything to use the Cinemark PayCard? A: Maybe. [Cinemark is charging their employees to be paid and surveilling them via their spending history of their 'paycheck,' which is a PayCard. A must read]

Cinemark USA, Inc. www.cinemark.com
3900 Dallas Parkway Suite 500
Plano, TX 75093
Phone: 972.665.1000
Fax: 972.665.1004
Comments and suggestions: vitascope@cinemark.com

Life With Big Brother Grocery store goes to fingerprint payments Piggly Wiggly debuts feature, privacy expert slams new technology --The Piggly Wiggly grocery chain has announced it will begin offering a high-tech payment feature allowing customers in several stores to pay using their fingerprints.

Can't Hide Your Prying Eyes New technologies can monitor employee whereabouts 24/7, but CIOs must be prepared for the backlash. The Orlando Police Department has pilot-tested new Global Positioning System (GPS) units which lets the central office track officers' locations. Officers were less than pleased. According to Conrad Cross, CIO of the city of Orlando, "The officers felt it was intrusive to be monitored 24/7 and didn't see much benefit in their day-to-day work," he says. The unions "raised a lot of noise" and the project was canceled, Cross says.

AP: Post Office Got 20,000 Powder Reports Since the anthrax attacks in 2001, work at the nation's post offices has been disrupted by more than 20,000 incidents of suspicious powder leaking from envelopes and packages.

Kerry Lags Behind Bush in Fund Raising Sen. John Kerry is a whopping $100 million behind Dictator Bush in ready cash as he embarks on the next phase of his White House campaign, and dependent on outside groups he can't legally control to help close the gap.

"If George Bush loses the election, Osama bin Laden wins the election." Hoyer: Comments by Congressman Cole Are Completely Outrageous, Wrong and Should be Repudiated (Press Release) "House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (MD) released the following statement today regarding remarks attributed to Rep. Tom Cole (OK-4). According to press reports, Congressman Cole said a vote against President [sic] Bush's re-[s]election is like supporting Adolf Hitler during World War II, and that, 'If George Bush loses the election, Osama bin Laden wins the election.'"

Okla. Lawmaker Sticks By bin Laden Angle Oklahoma Republican Rep. Tom Cole said Thursday he did not intend to equate a vote against Dictator Bush to a vote for Adolf Hitler, but stuck by recent comments that a Bush loss would be a win for Osama bin Laden. During a speech to Republicans in Yukon, Okla., last Saturday, the first-term congressman said that "if George Bush loses the election, Osama bin Laden wins the election."

Mossback Attack! Attack! Attack! Note to John Kerry: Win first, apologize later. --by Knute Berger "Election 2004 won't be for the squeamish. Regime change? We know how the current regime deals with upstarts. Think of Florida in 2000; remember Afghanistan and Iraq; ponder the fate of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who received a late-night visit from U.S. Marines and a one-way ticket to Africa. The guys in power play rough, and they play for keeps... Remember, your opponents are the guys who turned a multiple-amputee war hero, Georgia Democratic Sen. Max Cleland, into an unemployed doormat by suggesting he hadn't lost enough limbs fighting for his country in Vietnam. And that's the least of their crimes... If you want to take this country back, you're going to have to fight for it. "

Canadians fear terror less than allies In poll, most had a negative view of Bush dictatorship About four in 10 Canadians said they are worried about the threat of a terrorist attack in their country, an Associated Press-Ipsos poll found... Just over one-half of Canadians in the poll, 53 per cent, said the war in Iraq has increased the threat of terrorism. Two-thirds of Canadians in the poll said they have a negative view of the role Dictator George W. Bush plays in world affairs.

Canadians to Bush: Hope You Lose, Eh According to a new poll, only 15 per cent of us would vote for the Dictator (February 09, 2004) --by Jonathon Gatehouse "Maybe it's that smug little smile. His penchant for fantastically expensive military photo-ops. Or the swaggering, belt-hitching walk that cries out for a pair of swinging saloon doors. And though, God knows, we have too many of our own syntactically challenged politicians to be casting stones, shouldn't the leader [sic] of the free world know that 'misunderestimate' isn't a word? Yes, we're cavilling, but clearly there is something about George W. Bush that gets under the skin of Canadians... Only 15 per cent, according to an exclusive new Maclean's poll, would definitely cast a ballot for Bush if they had the opportunity."

Mass. Teacher Snubs Paige Over Comment The Massachusetts teacher of the year refused to attend an event in Washington honoring the nation's top educators because U.S. Education Secretary Rod Paige called the nation's largest teachers union a "terrorist organization." [Education Secretary Rod Paige's speech -- Paige should know *all about* terrorist organizations, as he is a member of Bush's terror team.]

Stern Feels Bush-Whacked End Is Near Howard Stern says the end of his career is closer than the two years left on his contract. "I know that it's over for me." For the past two days the syndicated morning man has been attacking those he feels are his oppressors - Clear Channel, the FCC and the Bush Dictatorship. Stern has also started to question ties between Clear Channel and the Bush Regime and now suggests his change in heart about his support for Dictator Bush is the real reason for him being suspended by Clear Channel. "If you don' t think me going after Bush got me thrown off those stations, you got another thing coming," said Stern. "This has nothing to do with anything I said."

Who Is Roger Stone? A new 'Weasel Watch' page --by Mary Titus

Democrats Bring Sheep To the Capitol (Florida Democratic Party) "Democrats brought a pair of sheep to the Florida Capitol's main plaza Wednesday to keep the spotlight on dissension within the Republican ranks over House Speaker Johnnie Byrd's characterization of his fellow lawmakers as 'sheep' waiting to be told what to do. Florida Democratic Party Chairman Scott Maddox kept the ewes on a leash and walked them around the plaza as House and Senate