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http://www.tampatrib.com/MGA03XUK3OD.html

One can only imagine the conversation as [director of the White House Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, Jim Towey] arrived home after a hard day of hallelujahs. "Hi, dear, how was your day?" "Well, I managed to infuriate 300,000 pagans." "That's nice, honey. Some communion wine?" "Make it a double."

...Towey [recently declared] that he had never run into a pagan faith-based group, much less any pagan who cared about the poor. Actually, that's probably true. After all, when you work in President Bush's White House, how many pagans are you likely to run across from the Heritage Foundation? The insurance lobby doesn't count, does it?

...If Bush's faith-based initiative isn't about religion, why would he call it a faith-based initiative? Why not call it Good People Trying To Do Good Things With Federal Dollars - Except The Pagans - Initiative? ...Considering courts have recognized witchcraft as a religion, aren't its practitioners entitled to federal largess just as much as Baptists? And therein lies the problem when the White House plays God with federal money.

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more religion in the news

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/shared/ap/National/Church_Abuse.html

The Catholic Archdiocese of Boston mortgaged its cathedral and seminary to finance a clergy sexual abuse settlement that has grown to nearly $90 million, a spokesman confirmed Tuesday... The archdiocese also has dipped into funds for retired clergy and cemeteries to finance the settlement. The loans will enable the archdiocese to begin paying settlements to 542 clergy sex abuse victims on Dec. 22 as scheduled.

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http://alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=17379

Scientists should look beyond human health to weigh other ecological consequences as well. That's what we decided to do for Atkins-style diets. We started with the Worldwatch Institute's estimate that 1 billion of Earth's inhabitants are overweight and assumed that on average they eat 56 grams of animal protein a day. That is the average in Western countries, and most overweight people eat Western diets. If all of those people went on an Atkins-style diet, their requirement for animal protein would rise to about 100 grams... The meat, dairy, poultry and seafood industries would have to increase output by 25 percent... Their big switch to animal protein would require almost 250 million more acres for corn, soybeans and other feed grains. That's because feeding grain to animals and then eating the meat, milk, eggs or farm-raised fish is much less efficient than eating plant products directly.

...Finding a quarter-billion acres for adequate feed grain harvests would mean at least a 7 percent increase in cropland worldwide... Feeding that grain to all those extra animals would lead to greater air and water pollution from feedlots, poultry and hog confinement operations and slaughterhouses... If new pastures were to be created for, say, half of the additional animals, a billion more acres would have to be found. Most of this would probably be obtained by deforestation, meaning that 10 percent of the Earth's remaining forests would have to go.

...The kind of ecological damage we have described will occur in direct proportion to the number of people who do adopt the diet. Already, industry analysts give much of the credit for this fall's sharply higher beef and egg prices to high-protein, low-carb dieters. Stepped-up production is sure to follow.

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for example

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/ap/ap_story.html/Washington/AP.V8474.AP-Mercury-Fish.html

The government is resisting calls to advise pregnant women to limit tuna consumption, even though its own advisers say eating very large amounts could expose unborn babies to possibly harmful mercury levels. Drafts of new consumer advice being planned by the Food and Drug Administration drew an outcry from consumer advocates Tuesday. They pointed to new testing by FDA showing more expensive white, or albacore, canned tuna contains almost three times as much mercury than cheaper ``light'' canned tuna--and wonder why the new advice won't tell pregnant women to limit the albacore.

...About 8 percent of U.S. women of childbearing age have enough mercury in their blood to put a fetus at risk.

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the definition of disingenuous

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=542&u=/ap/20031212/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/halliburton_probe&printer=1

A Pentagon audit found Cheney's former company may have overcharged the Army by $1.09 per gallon for nearly 57 million gallons of gasoline delivered to citizens in Iraq, senior defense officials say. "I appreciate the Pentagon looking after the taxpayers' money," the president said. "They felt like there was an overcharge issue."

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http://www.publicintegrity.org/wow/bio.aspx?act=pro&ddlC=31

Halliburton discovered the benefits of government patronage when its support for U.S. President Lyndon Johnson resulted in several contracts, such as constructing military bases during the Vietnam War. In 1991, after the Persian Gulf War, then-Defense Secretary Cheney commissioned Brown & Root to conduct a study on the benefits of military outsourcing... In 1992, Brown & Root was awarded the U.S. Army's first Logistics Civil Augmentation Program contract, an omnibus contract that allows the Army to call on KBR [Halliburton subsidary Kellogg, Brown, and Root] for support in all of its field operations, including combat, peacekeeping and humanitarian assistance. LOGCAP is a "cost plus award fee" contract, meaning that KBR is paid a fee above the cost of the service.

...KBR lost a second five-year LOGCAP contract—awarded to DynCorp in 1997— after the General Accounting Office reported in February 1997 that KBR had overrun its estimated costs in the Balkans by 32 percent... Despite these findings, KBR was awarded a new contract for Balkan logistical support that ran through May 1999.

...KBR beat out DynCorp and defense giant Raytheon for the third LOGCAP contract in December 2001, which is renewable for 10 years... As of Sept. 21, 2003, KBR had been awarded 67 task orders totaling $2.2 billion—more than $2 billion for Iraq alone... [KBR] was awarded another LOGCAP-type contract with the U.S. Navy in April 2001, spanning five years and potentially worth $300 million. That contract, too, was awarded over the protests of the General Accounting Office

...Cheney became CEO of Halliburton in 1995, after impressing a former Halliburton CEO with his knowledge of world affairs on a fishing trip. Cheney nearly doubled Halliburton's U.S. government contracts during his five-year tenure... Cheney's leadership also saw a dramatic increase in subsidiaries located in offshore tax havens—at least 20 subsidiaries in the Cayman Islands, alone. [and so on]

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tons of fun for everyone

http://www.knoxstudio.com/shns/story.cfm?pk=IRAQ-BECHTEL-12-08-03&cat=II

On its corporate Web site, under a page titled "A Fresh Start for Iraqi School Children," Bechtel Group showcases sparkling new classrooms filled with happy, young Iraqi students. But the reality is far different, according to Army investigators.

...According to Iraqi education officials, Bechtel budgeted about $20,000 per school for repairs... During repairs, "reports started coming in about poor quality," said 422nd Civil Affairs Battalion Maj. Linda Scharf, who was responsible for the schools in question, and who started fielding calls from concerned teachers and headmasters. "So I asked one of my teams to go verify the rumors," Scharf said. "They took their digital camera, and the reality turned out to be worse than the rumors."

What they found: The subcontractors Bechtel hired left paint everywhere - on the floors, on desks, all over windows. The classrooms were filthy, the school's desks and chairs were thrown out into the playground and left, broken. Windows were left damaged, and bathrooms that were reportedly fixed were left in broken, unsanitary condition. "Would you allow your child to use that bathroom? I wouldn't," Scharf said, pointing to a photograph of a stained, broken hole in a dirty, tiled stall.

Iraqi Education Ministry city planner Israa Mohammed had received complaints from the schools, too, and tried to get Bechtel officials to address them before classes started, she said. But Bechtel officials would not attend regular education ministry meetings, or answer her questions, she said. "Because it is an American company, they didn't allow anyone to control them," she said. For her part, Mohammed doesn't know what Bechtel spent the money on.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/11/international/middleeast/11PREX.html?ex=1072119079&ei=1&en=b0aa9647fde8e5d2

Dec. 10 — President Bush found himself in the awkward position on Wednesday of calling the leaders of France, Germany and Russia to ask them to forgive Iraq's debts, just a day after the Pentagon said it was excluding those countries and others from $18 billion in American-financed Iraqi reconstruction projects.

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that's my bush

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=472441

12 December 2003 - George Bush poured fuel on the flames of the Iraq contracts dispute yesterday with a sneering dismissal of a suggestion by the German Chancellor that the decision to bar Germany, France Russia and Canada from bidding might violate international law. "International law? I'd better call my lawyer," the American President joked in response to a reporter's question at the White House.

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http://www.canada.com/national/story.asp?id=D333BE79-44EE-407B-B960-BF1FA49CAE39

OTTAWA -- Canadians should be careful not to appear "boastful" to Americans, who are insecure because of the war in Iraq and admit they are annoyed by northerners showing off the red maple leaf on their luggage when they travel, a recent federal report warns.

In focus groups held this fall in four U.S. cities where the federal government is opening consulates... "Some participants expressed a certain amount of annoyance at what is perceived as a systematic attempt by Canadians to make the statement that they are not Americans by sporting the maple leaf," said the recently released report.

...The report says even Americans who blame the Bush administration to some extent for the country's poor relations with the world, do not seem to understand why friendly countries and neighbours such as Canada would want to distance themselves from Americans.

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feel the security

http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,61519,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_1

Dec. 09, 2003 - British business travelers, French filmmakers and Teutonic tourists visiting the United States will soon have their pictures and fingerprints registered in the world's largest biometric database before being allowed in the country... The massive project, called US-Visit, will replace a patchwork of disparate immigration databases and paper-based files and will require that almost all visitors be digitally fingerprinted and photographed... Under the new plan, visitors' names and fingerprints will be rapidly compared to lists of terrorists, previous immigration offenders and federal law enforcement search warrants. Border control officers will also have access to the centralized database when checking on foreign students and workers.

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http://alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=17357

In the midst of the Reagan presidency, back before SUVs were the rage, the IRS began to allow small business owners a tax deduction for purchases of vehicles over 6,000 pounds... The law makes no distinction between an accountant commuting in a Hummer and a contractor updating a fleet of pickups... The deduction, up to $25,000 until May, was raised to $100,000 as a part of President Bush's recent "economic stimulus package."

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meanwhile

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1105382,00.html

Nearly half the newly recruited Iraqi army has quit in a row over poor pay, officials in Baghdad admitted yesterday. At least 300 troops from the 700-strong 1st Battalion of the New Iraqi Army walked out less than two months after completing training.

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http://www.msnbc.com/news/870749.asp?0cv=CB10&cp1=1

Dec. 12 — Friday, shortly after midnight, rebels fired a salvo of mortar shells at coalition headquarters in the first attack against the U.S. seat of power since U.S. forces mounted “Operation Iron Hammer” in Baghdad last month to prevent strikes against the coalition’s military and civilian targets... The suicide bombing of the 82nd Airborne headquarters hours earlier also confirmed that the pace of attacks was quickening. The three bombers drove up to the gates of the Army base... and blew themselves up in the third suicide attack on U.S. troops in Iraq just this week.

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http://www.hrw.org/press/2003/12/us-iraq-press.htm

December 12, 2003 – Hundreds of civilian deaths in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq could have been prevented by abandoning two misguided military tactics, Human Rights Watch said in a comprehensive new report released today... The use of cluster munitions in populated areas caused more civilian casualties than any other factor... U.S. and British forces used almost 13,000 cluster munitions, containing nearly 2 million submunitions, that killed or wounded more than 1,000 civilians.

Meanwhile, 50 strikes on top Iraqi leaders failed to kill any of the intended targets, but instead killed dozens of civilians, the Human Rights Watch report revealed. The U.S. “decapitation” strategy relied on intercepts of senior Iraqi leaders´ satellite phone calls... The U.S. military could only locate targets within a 100-meter radius – clearly inadequate precision in civilian neighborhoods.

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http://www.statesman.com/news/content/auto/epaper/editions/thursday/news_f38d61ef23c7420c00ba.html

December 11, 2003 -- Iraqi Health Ministry officials ordered a halt to a count of civilian casualties from the war and told workers not to release figures already compiled, the chief of the ministry's statistics department said Wednesday... Dr. Nagham Mohsen, chief of the ministry's statistics department... said the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority, which oversees the ministry, didn't like the idea of the count. "We have stopped the collection of this information because our minister didn't agree with it," she said, adding: "The CPA doesn't want this to be done."

... A spokesman for the occupation authority said the coalition had no comment. The U.S. military doesn't count such civilian casualties... The Associated Press conducted an investigation of Iraq's wartime civilian casualties, documenting the deaths of 3,240 civilians between March 20 and April 20. That investigation, conducted in May and June, surveyed about half of Iraq's hospitals and reported that the real number of civilian deaths was sure to be much higher. The Health Ministry's count, which was to be based on the records of all Iraq's hospitals, promised to be more complete.

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human interest

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/florida/orl-asecapache11121103dec11,0,1537303.story?coll=sfla-news-florida

It's against the rules for U.S. soldiers in Iraq to have pets, but the skinny black puppy that wandered up to the Florida National Guard soldiers at a base in northern Iraq wouldn't go away. So the soldiers from Alpha Co. of the 2nd Battalion of the 124th Infantry Regiment adopted the mutt and named her Apache... Family members said Wednesday that the soldiers were eventually forced to obey orders and have the dog killed. "My husband was devastated," said Maggie Ford of Melbourne, whose husband, Sgt. 1st Class Bill Ford, had hoped to bring the dog back to Florida... Around Thanksgiving, the soldiers took their pet to a veterinarian, who destroyed her.

...Kim Alfonso of Tampa, whose husband, Sgt. 1st Class Mark Alfonso, is the leader of the platoon that adopted Apache... said her husband has tried to keep his men from dwelling on the dog's fate. The soldiers conduct frequent raids and patrols looking for guerrillas and can't afford to be distracted.

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i am not making this up

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1102940,00.html

Israeli advisers are helping train US special forces in aggressive counter-insurgency operations in Iraq, including the use of assassination squads against guerrilla leaders, US intelligence and military sources said yesterday. The Israeli Defence Force (IDF) has sent urban warfare specialists to Fort Bragg in North Carolina, the home of US special forces, and according to two sources, Israeli military "consultants" have also visited Iraq.

...The secret war in Iraq is about to get much tougher, in the hope of suppressing the Ba'athist-led insurgency ahead of next November's presidential elections. US special forces teams are already behind the lines inside Syria attempting to kill foreign jihadists before they cross the border, and a group focused on the "neutralisation" of guerrilla leaders is being set up, according to sources familiar with the operations. "This is basically an assassination programme. That is what is being conceptualised here. This is a hunter-killer team," said a former senior US intelligence official... "It is bonkers, insane. Here we are - we're already being compared to Sharon in the Arab world, and we've just confirmed it by bringing in the Israelis and setting up assassination teams."

...Colonel Ralph Peters, a former army intelligence officer and a critic of Pentagon policy in Iraq, said yesterday there was nothing wrong with learning lessons wherever possible... "I think what you're seeing is a new realism. The American tendency is to try to win all the hearts and minds. In Iraq, there are just some hearts and minds you can't win."

...The new counter-insurgency unit made up of elite troops being put together in the Pentagon is called Task Force 121, New Yorker magazine reported in yesterday's edition. One of the planners behind the offensive is... Lieutenant General William "Jerry" Boykin. In October, there were calls for his resignation after he told a church congregation in Oregon that the US was at war with Satan, who "wants to destroy us as a Christian army".

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anybody remember afghanistan?

http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AFGHAN_CHILDREN_KILLED?SITE=DCTMS&SECTION=HOME

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- American soldiers should not be held responsible for the deaths of six children during a raid... the U.S. military said Thursday... Spokesman Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty said Thursday U.S. forces could not safeguard all civilians if they are living with known suspects.

...On Dec. 2, the military launched Operation Avalanche, which it said involved 2,000 troops in southern and eastern Afghanistan and was the largest offensive since the Afghan war ended in late 2001.

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women and children first

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20031229&s=sandler

Millions of women have found themselves living under... de facto house arrest since the coalition forces claimed Baghdad in April. They have been forced into this situation by a menacing triple threat that has emerged since the war: First, Saddam Hussein threw open the doors to his prisons in October 2002, releasing criminals onto Iraq's tightly policed streets. Then came the fall of the regime and the concomitant crumbling of law enforcement. And now, the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) is treating a growing human rights crisis for women as an extracurricular issue at best, leaving women at the mercy of thugs on the streets and the religious parties that have rushed into the political vacuum. Upwards of 400 women have been kidnapped in this city alone, according to various women's groups, and each horror story ripples with alacrity throughout each neighborhood.

...If you talk to women throughout Bagdhad, from the brave few who venture out to beauty salons--some of which are now being targeted by fundamentalist groups--to many others at their dining tables, "This is liberation?" emerges as a constant, insistent refrain... As demeaning, terrifying and tragic as life under a dictator was for Iraqis, threats were not random acts from random criminals but rather tightly controlled, deliberately deployed terrors. These days the sheer unpredictability of violence is what makes the fear so pervasive. Then, women may have been afraid to step out of line, but now they're afraid even to step outside their homes alone.

...As anticoalition violence erupts with greater intensity, officials retreat farther behind the tank-guarded checkpoints of their security compound, and many of the existing resources of Iraq--the once-great university system, the numerous women's groups that dream of the opportunity to take advantage of their newfound freedom of speech, the millions of educated women who survived the terrors of the regime only to be threatened by random abduction, rape and murder--are being overlooked and squandered in favor of tribal and Islamic structures and the airlifted and imposed rule by US-led committee. The Americans' utter lack of comprehension of what Iraqi women have to offer was apparent at a meeting about women's work prospects, when one well-meaning camouflage-clad officer said to rows of female attendees, including many professionals such as judges and doctors, "Under the occupation, you can think about what work is appropriate for women to do--you don't have to just sew anymore."

...Unless the coalition and the conservative tribal and religious authorities of Iraq are somehow compelled to recognize that women are crucial to the future of the country--not just as mothers and homemakers but as full members and leaders of Iraqi society--the current situation is not likely to improve.

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feel a draft?

http://usatoday.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=USATODAY.com%2B-%2BCongress%2Bpushes%2Bfor%2Blarger%2Bmilitary&expire=&urlID=8513053&fb=Y&url=http%3A//www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2003-12-12-army_x.htm&partnerID=1660

Members of Congress from both parties are pushing for the first significant increase in the size of the active-duty military in 16 years... Fifty-four of the 61 members of the House Armed Services Committee, joined by the top Republican and Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, have sent President Bush a letter urging him to expand the U.S. combat force. The letter also asks Bush to reassess the ratio between active and reserve forces used in long deployments because of concerns that the military is overly reliant on the Guard and Reserve in the war on terrorism.

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how about now?

http://radio.weblogs.com/0112894/2003/11/14.html

I found myself late this afternoon with my 15 year old son talking his learner's permit exam at the DMV. Imagine my surprise to see that all the examiner's cubicles have a hastily copied black and white sheet posted in them which reads:

To All of our Customers Who are Male and Age 18 through 25: Effective November 3, 2003: ...Completion of this application will be considered as proof of your consent to be registered with the Selective Service System per the requirements of Federal and State Law. If you decline to register, your application for a driver license, learner's permit or ID card will be denied.

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February 27, 1933: The German Parliament (Reichstag) burns down. February 28, 1933: President Hindenburg and Chancellor Hitler invoke Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution, which permits the suspension of civil liberties in time of national emergency.

http://cjonline.com/stories/121003/kan_antiterrorgroup.shtml

A Topeka man has helped form what he calls the U.S. National Patrol to keep an eye out for terrorists and other people who might pose a threat to national security. Robert Lee Horton, 54, said the nationwide volunteer organization would help serve as the eyes and ears of law enforcement. He estimates membership at between 600 and "720-plus" in five states: Kansas, Missouri, Mississippi, Texas and Oklahoma. For $25, members receive a lifetime membership, an ID card and three official-looking patches that must be sewn onto a black Windbreaker... Horton's group asks members to stay alert for suspicious activity, whether it be terrorism or drug dealing, and to call police whenever they see such activity.

...Horton acknowledged that would-be terrorists can't be identified strictly by their appearance, but he isn't concerned that some people might view his goals as troublesome. "We're not out there snitching on anyone," he said. "It ain't about me. It's about us as a whole -- a force of one across America."

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as below, so above

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A54565-2003Dec10?language=printer

While expressing regret... the Secret Service also stopped short of offering the apology that the waiter, Mohamad I. Pharoan, 58, has sought. Pharoan, a Syrian-born Muslim who immigrated to the United States in 1992 and became a citizen in 1996, was told to go home shortly after he arrived Friday morning at the Hyatt Regency at the Inner Harbor, where he has worked for seven years. He had expected to help serve lunch to 550 people at a banquet at which President Bush raised $1 million for his reelection campaign. Instead, he says, he was given a few minutes to change clothes and was escorted off the premises after a manager asked him one question: "Is your name Mohamad?" Last week, the Secret Service denied that it had requested the hotel's management to dismiss Pharoan for the day. But a spokesman said yesterday that after further review, the Secret Service found it was responsible.

..."We seek to assure Mr. Pharoan and the Arab American community that the problems he experienced on that day were in no way related to his ethnic or religious background. These problems simply stemmed from confusion over a work schedule," [an SS spokesperson] said... The Hyatt Regency's general manager, Robert L. Steele III, did not return calls seeking comment. Pharoan said Steele apologized, promised to pay him for Friday and assured 100 employees at a staff meeting Monday that the hotel had merely followed the Secret Service's orders.

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it's... the postmodern condition

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/nation/7471222.htm

The strength of the Earth's magnetic field has decreased 10 percent over the past 150 years, raising the remote possibility that it may collapse and later reverse, flipping the planet's poles for the first time in nearly a million years, scientists said Thursday. At that rate of decline, the field could vanish altogether in 1,500 to 2,000 years, said Jeremy Bloxham of Harvard University.

...Over the southern Atlantic Ocean, a continued weakening of the magnetic field has diminished the shielding effect it has locally in protecting the Earth from the natural radiation that bombards our planet from space, scientists said. As a result, satellites in low-Earth orbit are left vulnerable to that radiation as they pass over the region, known as the South Atlantic anomaly. Among the satellites that have fallen prey to the harmful effects was a Danish satellite designed, ironically, to measure the Earth's magnetic field, Bloxham said.