Foreign Affairs, the Economist, and certainly U.S.News & World Report are titles you’d expect to see at the two State Department newsstands visited by the public, employees, and their kids, but Playboy and Penthouse? Yikes! Or so thought Condoleezza Rice a while back when she began receiving briefings in Foggy Bottom before her confirmation hearings as secretary of state. Alerted by an aide that the skin magazines, partially clad in brown paper covers, were placed beside newsmagazines and close to candy, nuts, and stuffed animals, she said, “I want them out.”
A few weeks later, when she took over from Colin Powell, the eviction began. “The secretary wanted them gone immediately,” says senior adviser Jim Wilkinson.”
Let me get this straight: we’re at war in Iraq, North Korea has nukes, Iran is a potential problem too, and one of Condi’s first priorities as SoS is to remove Playboy and Penthouse from the magazine rack?
Before you get too spun up, I seem to recall Jimmy Carter had to settle disputes over who got to play tennis on the White house tennis courts when. Maybe it’s something inherent in hierarchical organizations and the personality types that rise to the top in them… ;-D
We have seen hard Condi, the tough woman, supposedly banging heads in the Middle East. We have had Condi the athlete, working out in the gym. And we have had Condi the munificent, lending her fold-out bed to Jack Straw on a flight to Kuwait.[..]
Btw I read elsewhere, can’t put my finger on it, in giving up her bed, she slept in the aisle, on the floor. Where is that wedding pic? Help.
Iran Says US Military Strike Talk Psychological Warfare
Iran branded as “psychological warfare” Sunday media reports that the US military was planning air strikes to force Tehran to abandon its controversial nuclear program. “We regard that (planning for air strikes) as psychological warfare stemming from America’s anger and helplessness,” foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters.
Oy. Yeah, this will calm things down. Oh, and not wanting to be left out of the pissing contest, another skunk has been heard from:
North Korean Defense Chief Warns Of Pre-Emptive Attack On US
North Korea’s defense chief has warned that Pyongyang could also launch a preemptive attack against the United States, with state media saying soldiers were ready to be “human bombs.”
“A preemptive attack is not (the) monopoly of the US, and North Korea will never sit idle till it is exposed to a preemptive attack of the US,” Defense Minister Kim Il-Chol said, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.
If it weren’t so tragic and frightening it would almost be funny.
North Korea’s defense chief has warned that Pyongyang could also launch a preemptive attack against the United States, with state media saying soldiers were ready to be “human bombs.”
That is just too rich! I’m sure the right will fail to see the ironic humor there, however…
Ants are considerably older than previously believed, having originated 140 to 168 million years ago, according to new research on the cover of this week’s issue of the journal Science. But these resilient insects, now found in terrestrial ecosystems the world over, apparently began to diversify only about 100 million years ago in concert with the flowering plants, the scientists say.
At the dawn of the automobile age, Henry Ford predicted that “ethyl alcohol is the fuel of the future.” With petroleum about $65 a barrel, President Bush has now embraced that view, too. But Brazil is already there. Meanwhile, global prices of sugar in Colombia have doubled in the last year, hitting 15-year highs and creating a windfall. What’s fueling sugar’s rise is, well, fuel.
Less than 200 years ago, industrializing societies were carbohydrate economies. In 1820, Americans used two tons of vegetables for every one ton of minerals. Plants were the primary raw material in the production of dyes, chemicals, paints, inks, solvents, construction materials, even energy. Then we went on our fossil fuel binge. But the carbohydrate economy is making a comeback, David Morris reports in The American Prospect.
Greenpeace Links McDonald’s With Amazon Destruction
LONDON, UK, April 6, 2006 (ENS) – Greenpeace today accused McDonald’s of destroying the Amazon rainforest. Using satellite images, aerial surveillance, previously unreleased government documents, and on-the-ground monitoring, Greenpeace says it has traced soya grown on land that once was rainforest to an animal feed producer whose chickens are processed into Chicken McNuggets and other McDonald’s products.
To dramatize their claim, this morning dozens of seven foot tall chickens invaded McDonald’s restaurants across the UK and chained themselves to chairs. Scores of McDonald’s around the country, including Leicester Square, London, were also fly-posted overnight with images of Ronald McDonald wielding a chainsaw.
In Munich, Germany, protestors also gathered at McDonald’s European environmental affairs headquarters and called on the company to stop destroying the Amazon rainforest.
It was the first day of school and a new student named Pedro Martinez, the son of a Mexican restaurateur, entered the fourth grade. The teacher said, “Let’s begin by reviewing some American history.
“Who said ‘Give me Liberty, or give me Death?'” She saw a sea of blank faces, except for Pedro, who had his hand up. “Patrick Henry, 1775.”
“Very good!” apprised the teacher. “Now, who said, “Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth?” Again, no response except from Pedro: “Abraham Lincoln, 1863.”
The teacher snapped at the class, “Class, you should be ashamed! Pedro, who is new to our country, knows more about its history than you do!”
She heard a loud whisper: “Screw the Mexicans!” “Who said that?” she demanded. Pedro put his hand up. “Jim Bowie, 1836.”
At that point, a student in the back said, “I’m gonna puke.” The teacher glared and asked, “All right! Now, who said that?” Again, Pedro answered, “George Bush to the Japanese Prime Minister, 1991.”
Now furious, another student yelled, “Oh yeah? Suck this!”
Pedro jumped out of his chair waving his hand and shouting to the teacher, “Bill Clinton to Monica Lewinsky, 1997!”
Now, with almost a mob hysteria, teacher said, “You little shit. If you say anything else, I’ll kill you!” Pedro frantically yelled at the top of his voice, “Gary Condit to Chandra Levy, 2001.”
The teacher fainted, and as the class gathered around her on the floor, someone said, “Oh shit, we’re in BIG trouble now!” Pedro whispered, “Saddam Hussein, 2003.”
Finally someone throws a eraser at Pedro, someone shouted “Duck”! Teacher, raising her head, asked “Who said that? Pedro: “Dick Cheney 2006!”
For those of us feeling that with all our reading on the CIA leak probe, there are many unanswered questions that no one article fully addresses. Here it is. Won’t spoil it for you by providing snippets. You’ll wanna save it, it’s that goooood.
Do you recall the famous Watergate question? After your read, you’ll be asking, Who will pardon Bush?
The article, over at TomDispatch, weaves in simple language – no legalese – the problem Joe Wilson presents in marketing the Iraq war and the threat to Bush’s re-election, the questions within the questions, the events leading up to this weekend and finally does the president have… Go read. You’ll thank me later.
Elizabeth de la Vega is a former federal prosecutor with more than 20 years of experience. During her tenure, she was a member of the Organized Crime Strike Force and Chief of the San Jose Branch of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California.
THANK YOU TOM. I was begining to think this may all slip into the memory hole.
In early June 2003, Vice President Dick Cheney met with President Bush and told him that CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson was the wife of Iraq war critic Joseph Wilson and that she was responsible for sending him on a fact-finding mission to Niger to check out reports about Iraq’s attempt to purchase uranium from the African country,[..]
Other White House officials who also attended the meeting with Cheney and President Bush included former White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card, then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, her former deputy Stephen Hadley, and Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove.
This information was provided to this reporter by attorneys and US officials who have remained close to the case. Investigators working with Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald compiled the information after interviewing 36 Bush administration officials over the past two and a half years.
Now that President Bush’s knowledge of the Plame Wilson affair has been exposed, there are thorny questions about whether the president has broken the law – specifically, whether he obstructed justice when he was interviewed about his knowledge of the Plame Wilson leak and the campaign to discredit her husband.
Attorneys close to the case said that Fitzgerald does not appear to be overly concerned or interested in any alleged discrepancy in Bush’s statements about the leak case to investigators.[.]
Throughout the second half of June, Andrew Card, Karl Rove, and senior officials from Cheney’s office kept Bush updated about the progress of the campaign to discredit Wilson via numerous emails and internal White House memos, these sources said, adding that some of these documents were only recently turned over to the special counsel.[..]
[emphasis added]
Exposing all the lies. Go read the explosive stuff..that also is very damaging for Cheney – viewed in the context of De la Vega’s article Final Jeopardy, linked upthread. I hope Fitz is just playing poker.
The Nation outlines the steps leading to South Dakota’s abortion ban
Alternet did a profile on South Dakota Oglalla Sioux president, Cecelia Fire Thunder
Those who oppose the SD abortion ban have gathered one-third of the signatures they need to put it to a referendum vote in November in just 2 weeks
For a look at how life in a world where abortion is completely illegal, and carries a stiff prison sentence, here’s the link to the Pro-Life Nation article by Jack Hitt, mentioned in Friday’s News Bucket
Just in from the Guardian — the French students and workers have won their strike against the erosion of younger workers employment rights.
Hmmm…US News & World Report
Let me get this straight: we’re at war in Iraq, North Korea has nukes, Iran is a potential problem too, and one of Condi’s first priorities as SoS is to remove Playboy and Penthouse from the magazine rack?
These people are nuts.
Is this micromanagement or another example that freedom of speech is only for Republicans?
CabinGirl,
Before you get too spun up, I seem to recall Jimmy Carter had to settle disputes over who got to play tennis on the White house tennis courts when. Maybe it’s something inherent in hierarchical organizations and the personality types that rise to the top in them… ;-D
I think you’re right…which chromosome do you think the arrogant dumbass gene is located on?
Never mind, “Condi shows up her human side: so what is she up to?” asks “The Independent, UK” drawing attention to the series of photos in (yesterday’s) The Sunday New York Times.
Btw I read elsewhere, can’t put my finger on it, in giving up her bed, she slept in the aisle, on the floor. Where is that wedding pic? Help.
link
Iran branded as “psychological warfare” Sunday media reports that the US military was planning air strikes to force Tehran to abandon its controversial nuclear program. “We regard that (planning for air strikes) as psychological warfare stemming from America’s anger and helplessness,” foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters.
Oy. Yeah, this will calm things down. Oh, and not wanting to be left out of the pissing contest, another skunk has been heard from:
link
North Korea’s defense chief has warned that Pyongyang could also launch a preemptive attack against the United States, with state media saying soldiers were ready to be “human bombs.”
“A preemptive attack is not (the) monopoly of the US, and North Korea will never sit idle till it is exposed to a preemptive attack of the US,” Defense Minister Kim Il-Chol said, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.
If it weren’t so tragic and frightening it would almost be funny.
North Korea’s defense chief has warned that Pyongyang could also launch a preemptive attack against the United States, with state media saying soldiers were ready to be “human bombs.”
That is just too rich! I’m sure the right will fail to see the ironic humor there, however…
Cracks and fins in the sand in an American desert look very similar to features seen on Mars and may indicate the recent presence of water at the surface of the red planet, according to a new study by researcher Greg Chavdarian and Dawn Sumner, associate professor of geology at UC Davis.
EPA’s current ‘reference doses’ for exposure to several phthalates (chemicals added to plastics to keep them flexible) may be far too high, perhaps by as much as a factor of 100-fold or more. The reference dose is the level thought low enough to cause no adverse effects. This conclusion is based upon calculations, using pharmokinetic models, of the maternal exposures that would have been required to cause urinary phthalate metabolite levels associated with altered genital tract development in boys.
Ants are considerably older than previously believed, having originated 140 to 168 million years ago, according to new research on the cover of this week’s issue of the journal Science. But these resilient insects, now found in terrestrial ecosystems the world over, apparently began to diversify only about 100 million years ago in concert with the flowering plants, the scientists say.
Scientists are studying the violent outburst of a dead star as it tries to fire back into life. The white dwarf star in the Ophiuchus constellation has exhausted its own nuclear fuel but is now stealing it from a neighboring giant. Every 20 years or so, it gathers sufficient material to explode with enough intensity to be seen from Earth with the naked eye.
Poor communication between brain areas in people with autism may give clues to difficulties they have in relating with other people, a study has found. As the weak links mean they benefit less from social situations, it may explain why they do not interact well, said the study published in Neuroimage, the BBC reported Sunday.
At the dawn of the automobile age, Henry Ford predicted that “ethyl alcohol is the fuel of the future.” With petroleum about $65 a barrel, President Bush has now embraced that view, too. But Brazil is already there. Meanwhile, global prices of sugar in Colombia have doubled in the last year, hitting 15-year highs and creating a windfall. What’s fueling sugar’s rise is, well, fuel.
Experiments with eel embryos indicate the collapse of Atlantic eel populations is likely to be the result of the acute sensitivity of eel embryos to PCB and dioxin contamination.
Less than 200 years ago, industrializing societies were carbohydrate economies. In 1820, Americans used two tons of vegetables for every one ton of minerals. Plants were the primary raw material in the production of dyes, chemicals, paints, inks, solvents, construction materials, even energy. Then we went on our fossil fuel binge. But the carbohydrate economy is making a comeback, David Morris reports in The American Prospect.
Every Joule is precious: The heat in wastewater is being collected using heat pump technology in Oslo, Norway to provide usable energy to warm homes.
Attack of the seven foot tall chickens:
Link
It was the first day of school and a new student named Pedro Martinez, the son of a Mexican restaurateur, entered the fourth grade. The teacher said, “Let’s begin by reviewing some American history.
“Who said ‘Give me Liberty, or give me Death?'” She saw a sea of blank faces, except for Pedro, who had his hand up. “Patrick Henry, 1775.”
“Very good!” apprised the teacher. “Now, who said, “Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth?” Again, no response except from Pedro: “Abraham Lincoln, 1863.”
The teacher snapped at the class, “Class, you should be ashamed! Pedro, who is new to our country, knows more about its history than you do!”
She heard a loud whisper: “Screw the Mexicans!” “Who said that?” she demanded. Pedro put his hand up. “Jim Bowie, 1836.”
At that point, a student in the back said, “I’m gonna puke.” The teacher glared and asked, “All right! Now, who said that?” Again, Pedro answered, “George Bush to the Japanese Prime Minister, 1991.”
Now furious, another student yelled, “Oh yeah? Suck this!”
Pedro jumped out of his chair waving his hand and shouting to the teacher, “Bill Clinton to Monica Lewinsky, 1997!”
Now, with almost a mob hysteria, teacher said, “You little shit. If you say anything else, I’ll kill you!” Pedro frantically yelled at the top of his voice, “Gary Condit to Chandra Levy, 2001.”
The teacher fainted, and as the class gathered around her on the floor, someone said, “Oh shit, we’re in BIG trouble now!” Pedro whispered, “Saddam Hussein, 2003.”
Finally someone throws a eraser at Pedro, someone shouted “Duck”! Teacher, raising her head, asked “Who said that? Pedro: “Dick Cheney 2006!”
(via email from a friend)
For those of us feeling that with all our reading on the CIA leak probe, there are many unanswered questions that no one article fully addresses. Here it is. Won’t spoil it for you by providing snippets. You’ll wanna save it, it’s that goooood.
Do you recall the famous Watergate question? After your read, you’ll be asking, Who will pardon Bush?
The article, over at TomDispatch, weaves in simple language – no legalese – the problem Joe Wilson presents in marketing the Iraq war and the threat to Bush’s re-election, the questions within the questions, the events leading up to this weekend and finally does the president have… Go read. You’ll thank me later.
THANK YOU TOM. I was begining to think this may all slip into the memory hole.
That was definitely worth the read. Thanks idredit!
Thanks for that link. It was very much worth reading.
She’s right. The legal question flows from the facts. And she frames the question very well.
It’s becoming a gusher. BTW, that reference to new information to be revealed is now available Jason Leopold at Truthout.org just published this am.
Exposing all the lies. Go read the explosive stuff..that also is very damaging for Cheney – viewed in the context of De la Vega’s article Final Jeopardy, linked upthread. I hope Fitz is just playing poker.