Thursday, September 14, 2006

MISTAKES, FAILURES, GAFFES, HECKLING, IMPEACHMENT Independent: "A Foreign Office minister has conceded that Tony Blair's refusal to call for a ceasefire during 34 days of slaughter in Lebanon may have been a mistake." Independent: "Tony Blair received a severe rebuke from the National Statistician yesterday for breaching the statistics code of practice by revealing a sudden fall in unemployment a day before the government figures were released. Mr Blair's slip of the tongue at the Trades Union Congress also caused controversy because only the number of people claiming unemployment benefits was down - it fell by 3,900 in August from the previous month, the sharpest decline since January 2005, and July's rise was revised to a drop of 1,000. However, unemployment measured by the internationally recognised ILO measure climbed by 93,000 in the three months to July to touch 1.7 million, the highest level since January 2000, taking the unemployment rate to 5.5 per cent." IHT: "Tony Blair received a tense farewell Tuesday in his last speech as prime minister to the annual gathering of Britain's labor unions. More than a dozen activists walked out as he began speaking to protest his pro-business stance and aggressive foreign policy. Many others booed and hissed as he mentioned controversial topics like Iraq." Independent: "US and British strategy in Afghanistan was in danger of unravelling last night after appeals for Nato partners to volunteer more troops fell on deaf ears." AtlantaProgressive: "US Rep. Steve Rothman (D-NJ) became the 38th Member of the US Congress officially listed as a supporter of H. Res. 635, a bill which could lead to recommendations to impeach President Bush." AlterNet: "The President's decision to ignore intelligence community assessments prior to the Iraq war and to make repeated public statements that gave the misleading impression that Saddam Hussein's regime was connected to the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11 cost him any credibility he may have had on this issue." Change the direction. 11:45:32 AM

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