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Wednesday, July 4, 2007 |
CommonDreams: "There may be moments during their summit at his family's compound in Kennebunkport, Maine when U.S. President George W. Bush looks with envy on his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, whose popularity at home guarantees him vast influence even as he prepares to leave office just nine months from now.
Not so for Bush, whose public approval ratings, according to polls released in just the past week, have reached all-time lows and whose influence - even over his own party - appears to be declining at warp speed."
NationalJournal: "Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff has testified that President Bush authorized him to disclose the contents of a highly classified intelligence assessment to the media to defend the Bush administration's decision to go to war with Iraq, according to papers filed in federal court (PDF) on Wednesday by Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor in the CIA leak case."
So, what we have here is one criminal shielding an other criminal. The mob rules. And Bush is trying to save his own butt.
CitizensForEthics: "Bush admin. believes 1) leaking classified information for political ends is justified; 2) law is what applies to other people."
CultureKitchen: "Yesterday's pardon - and yes, it was for all practical intents and purposes exactly that - of Scooter Libby by George Bush is a clear and flagrant abuse of power, intended to thwart an ongoing investigation and to undermine the proper administration of justice.
That is Nixon territory. Hence, George Bush must be impeached by the U.S. House and brought to trial in the Senate."
11:32:54 AM 
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BBC: "The controversial Russian music download site allofmp3.com has closed.
It was the subject of countless lawsuits from UK and US record labels that claimed it violated copyright law.
The site's owners, MediaServices, maintained the site was legal under Russian law and has subsequently set up a new service called mp3Sparks.com."
The greedy Western music industry is at it again. I have downloaded several Russian audiobooks, and the music of Vysotsky and Okudzjava from this site. So now they are infringing on my right to download Russian audio?
First, the prices of CDs here are exorbitant. Why do I have to pay ridiculous prices for a Celine Dione disc and finance her multi-million dollar estate?
We know that CDs can be produced profitably at prices ten times lower than the regular prices.
Second, it's contrary to free trade and the freedom of expression.
Update July 6: the new site, mp3Sparks, seems to have been taken down as well.
11:21:56 AM
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IHT: "Helicopters showered flowers into the Persian Gulf on Tuesday as family members commemorated the 19th anniversary of the downing of an Iranian passenger plane by a U.S. warship that killed 290 civilians.
The Iran Air A300 Airbus was shot down on July 3, 1988 by USS Vincennes in what the U.S. military said was an accident. The missile cruiser misidentified the plane as an Iranian fighter jet because of a radar mistake, the military said at the time.
'How could a sophisticated warship like USS Vincennes have mistaken a passenger plane for a fighter jet, which is two-thirds smaller,' said Hesam Ansari, who lost his father in the attack."
11:01:16 AM
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Wired: "Beijing persuaded the World Bank to cut from a report findings that pollution has caused about 750,000 premature deaths in China each year, the Financial Times reported.
Produced with the cooperation of Chinese government ministries over several years, the report found the deaths took place mainly from air pollution in large cities, the Financial Times reported on its Web site late Monday, citing unnamed bank advisers and Chinese officials."
10:56:57 AM
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AbuAardvark: "A lot of bloggers have been complaining about the recent American tendency to describe every insurgent attack in Iraq as 'al-Qaeda'. They are right to complain, simply on the facts. Al-Qaeda's Islamic State of Iraq coalition continues to represent only a minority of attacks against American forces or Iraqi government targets."
Analysis.
There is a perfect symbiosis between the military and the contractors. The army destroys and the contractors 'rebuild' or make a travesty of rebuilding.
LATimes: "The number of U.S.-paid private contractors in Iraq now exceeds that of American combat troops, newly released figures show, raising fresh questions about the privatization of the war effort and the government's capacity to carry out military and rebuilding campaigns."
Telegraph: "The Iraqi government has begun preparing the groundwork for what could be one of the biggest privatisations of state-owned assets.
The Sunday Telegraph has learned that officials from the government have recently held talks with banking and legal advisers in London. City sources said Iraq's minister for industry, Fawzi Hariri, was looking to appoint advisers to draw up a memorandum of understanding to sell off the country's non-oil assets, ranging from petrochemical plants to construction companies, hotels and airlines, as early as this month.
The privatisation proposals could also include a massive extension of foreign participation in the oil industry. Sources close to the foreign ministry said the government believed it had struck a deal on the long-awaited hydrocarbon law which could see Parliament vote the legislation through in two weeks' time. If the legislation is passed, arrangements to allow foreign oil majors to enter into production-sharing agreements with Iraq's national oil company could then make it into the memorandum."
It is obvious that the Iraqi population is in majority against the foreign take-over of the assets and resources of their country.
10:54:08 AM
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© Copyright 2008.
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