petsoncrack.org

Are Private Security Firms Randomly Shooting Civilians in Iraq?

By Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent
(Filed: 27/11/2005)

A "trophy" video appearing to show security guards in Baghdad randomly shooting Iraqi civilians has sparked two investigations after it was posted on the internet, the Sunday Telegraph can reveal.

The video has sparked concern that private security companies, which are not subject to any form of regulation either in Britain or in Iraq, could be responsible for the deaths of hundreds of innocent Iraqis.

The video, which first appeared on a website that has been linked unofficially to Aegis Defence Services, contained four separate clips, in which security guards open fire with automatic rifles at civilian cars. All of the shooting incidents apparently took place on "route Irish", a road that links the airport to Baghdad.

The road has acquired the dubious distinction of being the most dangerous in the world because of the number of suicide attacks and ambushes carried out by insurgents against coalition troops. In one four-month period earlier this year it was the scene of 150 attacks.

In one of the videoed attacks, a Mercedes is fired on at a distance of several hundred yards before it crashes in to a civilian taxi. In the last clip, a white civilian car is raked with machine gun fire as it approaches an unidentified security company vehicle. Bullets can be seen hitting the vehicle before it comes to a slow stop.

There are no clues as to the shooter but either a Scottish or Irish accent can be heard in at least one of the clips above Elvis Presley's Mystery Train, the music which accompanies the video.

Last night a spokesman for defence firm Aegis Defence Services - set up in 2002 by Lt Col Tim Spicer, a former Scots Guards officer - confirmed that the company was carrying out an internal investigation to see if any of their employees were involved.

The Foreign Office has also confirmed that it is investigating the contents of the video in conjunction with Aegis, one of the biggest security companies operating in Iraq. The company was recently awarded a £220 million security contract in Iraq by the United States government. Aegis conducts a number of security duties and helped with the collection of ballot papers in the country's recent referendum

Lt Col Spicer, 53, rose to public prominence in 1998 when his private military company Sandlines International was accused of breaking United Nations sanctions by selling arms to Sierra Leone.

The video first appeared on the website www.aegisIraq.co.uk. The website states: "This site does not belong to Aegis Defence Ltd, it belongs to the men on the ground who are the heart and soul of the company." The clips have been removed. read more…

Video (Windows Media)
Video (Quicktime)

Is Google Suggest Racist?

Skeptical? Just look at Google Suggest for a glimpse in our dismal future.

Below are screen captures of Google's Suggest feature. It expands your
keywords based on result counts discovered while spidering. Click on the image to enlarge

blacks are..

whites are..

jews are..

germans are..

greeks are..

chinese are..

Its not my intension to bring grief to Google. Google is not to blame. They are only the medium we are the message.

What's the point of this warning. Maybe the simplest road is just not worth taking.. The cost is just too great, in the end.

read more…

Triumph the Insult Comic Dog Takes on the GOP

He Interviews some obscure Republicans about global warming during the TBS show,  "Earth to America." Guess how that works out?

Video (Windows Media)
Video (Quicktime)

Happy Thanksgiving…

What are you thankful for? This year I am thankful for Let Them Sing It For You! It’s an amazing web applet that finds samples of songs from the words you input, and strings them into a song. Click here for a special Thanksgiving message to all my peeps and homies.

One more thing before I stuff myself with turkey and mash potatoes…

Redneck Roller Coaster… Why didn’t I ever think of this?

The Robots of Beck’s New Video Practicing… Damn amazing robots… puny humans be afraid!

When Videoconferencing Goes South…  That chick was pretty hot!

Bikee Wheelie Blooper… Why wheelies and fast bikes don’t mix…ouch!

All video’s courtesy of Google Video of the Day!

Now, commence the hoarding of your tofurky!

Peace.

Sources Say Agency's Tactics Lead to Questionable Confessions, Sometimes to Death

By BRIAN ROSS and RICHARD ESPOSITO

Nov. 18, 2005 — Harsh interrogation techniques authorized by top officials of the CIA have led to questionable confessions and the death of a detainee since the techniques were first authorized in mid-March 2002, ABC News has been told by former and current intelligence officers and supervisors.

They say they are revealing specific details of the techniques, and their impact on confessions, because the public needs to know the direction their agency has chosen. All gave their accounts on the condition that their names and identities not be revealed. Portions of their accounts are corrobrated by public statements of former CIA officers and by reports recently published that cite a classified CIA Inspector General's report.

Other portions of their accounts echo the accounts of escaped prisoners from one CIA prison in Afghanistan.

"They would not let you rest, day or night. Stand up, sit down, stand up, sit down. Don't sleep. Don't lie on the floor," one prisoner said through a translator. The detainees were also forced to listen to rap artist Eminem's "Slim Shady" album. The music was so foreign to them it made them frantic, sources said.

Contacted after the completion of the ABC News investigation, CIA officials would neither confirm nor deny the accounts. They simply declined to comment.

The CIA sources described a list of six "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques" instituted in mid-March 2002 and used, they said, on a dozen top al Qaeda targets incarcerated in isolation at secret locations on military bases in regions from Asia to Eastern Europe. According to the sources, only a handful of CIA interrogators are trained and authorized to use the techniques:

1. The Attention Grab: The interrogator forcefully grabs the shirt front of the prisoner and shakes him.

2. Attention Slap: An open-handed slap aimed at causing pain and triggering fear.

3. The Belly Slap: A hard open-handed slap to the stomach. The aim is to cause pain, but not internal injury. Doctors consulted advised against using a punch, which could cause lasting internal damage.

4. Long Time Standing: This technique is described as among the most effective. Prisoners are forced to stand, handcuffed and with their feet shackled to an eye bolt in the floor for more than 40 hours. Exhaustion and sleep deprivation are effective in yielding confessions.

5. The Cold Cell: The prisoner is left to stand naked in a cell kept near 50 degrees. Throughout the time in the cell the prisoner is doused with cold water.

6. Water Boarding: The prisoner is bound to an inclined board, feet raised and head slightly below the feet. Cellophane is wrapped over the prisoner's face and water is poured over him. Unavoidably, the gag reflex kicks in and a terrifying fear of drowning leads to almost instant pleas to bring the treatment to a halt.

According to the sources, CIA officers who subjected themselves to the water boarding technique lasted an average of 14 seconds before caving in. They said al Qaeda's toughest prisoner, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, won the admiration of interrogators when he was able to last between two and two-and-a-half minutes before begging to confess.

"The person believes they are being killed, and as such, it really amounts to a mock execution, which is illegal under international law," said John Sifton of Human Rights Watch. read more…

There is No God by Penn Jillette

“I'm not greedy. I have love, blue skies, rainbows, and Hallmark cards, and that has to be enough… It seems just rude to beg the invisible for more.” 

 

Penn Jillette

Penn Jillette is the taller, louder half of the magic and comedy act Penn and Teller. He is a research fellow at the Cato Institute and has lectured at Oxford and MIT. Penn has co-authored three best-selling books and is executive producer of the documentary film The Aristocrats.

Video: Door thwarts quick exit for Bush
Sunday, 20 November 2005, 17:02 GMT

President George W Bush tried to make a quick exit from a news conference in Beijing on Sunday - only to find himself thwarted by locked doors.

After answering just six questions from a group of US reporters, the president strode away heading towards the door.

President Bush tugged at both handles on the double doors before admitting: "I was trying to escape. Obviously, it didn't work."

Mr Bush was in China in the latest stop of his East Asia tour.

'Jet lag'

The president had called the news session with US reporters at his hotel.

His earlier meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao did not permit media questions.

Mr Bush answered a range of questions before one reporter said: "Respectfully, sir - you know we're always respectful - in your statement this morning with President Hu, you seemed a little off your game, you seemed to hurry through your statement. There was a lack of enthusiasm. Was something bothering you?"

The president answered: "Have you ever heard of jet lag? Well, good. That answers your question."

The reporter asked for a follow-up question but the president then thanked the attending journalists and said "No you may not" as he walked away.

He strode from the lectern to the door, trying both handles and then breaking into a laugh.

An aide escorted him to the correct exit and on to dinner at the Great Hall of the People.

Video (Windows Media)
Video (Quicktime)

120 arrested on immigration violations at Wal-Mart site

By Stephanie Armour and Donna Leinwand, USA TODAY

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents raided the site in Butler Township, Pa., in the early morning. The workers were nearing completion of a million-square-foot distribution center.

Wal-Mart officials say those arrested were employees of a subcontractor and that Wal-Mart has contracts with subcontractors requiring that they follow all federal, state and local laws.

"We will cooperate fully with ICE and the U.S. attorney's office in this matter," Wal-Mart said in a statement.

Wal-Mart critics say the raid will tarnish the store's public image and is a further example that the retailer violates labor laws.

"They're trying to improve their public image ... but they're undermining their own attempts," says Paul Blank, campaign director of Washington, D.C.-based WakeUpWalMart.com, a project of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union. "There's clearly a pattern where they're violating the law."

In 2003, a raid on 60 Wal-Mart stores in 21 states led to the arrests of 245 illegal workers. Wal-Mart paid $11 million in March to settle the case, without admitting guilt.

Cleaning contractors had hired the workers; a federal agency affidavit unsealed this month says two Wal-Mart executives knew about the practice of hiring illegal immigrants. Wal-Mart has denied that executives knew about the workers.

ICE was assisted by the U.S. Department of Labor, the Social Security Administration, Pennsylvania State Police and the Schuylkill County sheriff.

Schuylkill County Sheriff Frank McAndrew says local residents told him about the illegal workers about two months ago. McAndrew investigated the claims.

"It was apparent to me a lot of illegal aliens were present," he says.

ICE regularly raids worksites to root out illegal immigrants. In 2004-05, the agency conducted 511 raids. In July, special agents arrested 119 illegal aliens at Petit Jean Poultry in Arkadelphia, Ark., who were using false identities.

In April, federal agents raided a courthouse construction site in Orlando and arrested 66 people. read more…

Wal-Mart to Fight Md. Healthcare Bill with Lobbyists and Large Donations to Black Leaders

Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 17, 2005; Page A01

Preparing for a showdown with organized labor in the Maryland legislature, Wal-Mart has deployed at least a dozen Annapolis lobbyists and is making strong overtures to black lawmakers, including a $10,000 donation to help them pay for a recent conference.

The retail giant hopes to derail legislation that would effectively force the company to boost spending on employee health benefits.

"They've hired the largest cadre of lobbyists in recent history in Annapolis to try to influence this legislation," said House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel). "It really comes down to whether the legislature is going to succumb to the money and the special interests."

For Wal-Mart, the battle in Maryland represents an opportunity not only to stamp out legislation the retailer considers "really just an attack on the company" but also to curb a trend toward state involvement in its business. After years of fighting -- and often winning -- at the local level, Wal-Mart now faces battles in several state legislatures following Maryland's lead.

Wal-Mart spokesman Nate Hurst said that the donation to the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland was part of the company's continuing community outreach and that the lobbying effort was designed to inform lawmakers about the bill.

"There are several legislators out there who have requested that we continue to educate them," Hurst said.

The General Assembly passed the landmark bill in April, but it was vetoed by Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R), who called the measure an unwarranted intrusion by government. Lawmakers will seek to override his veto in January.

Wal-Mart is the only known business that would be affected by the bill, which would require companies with more than 10,000 workers to spend at least 8 percent of their payrolls on health benefits or contribute to the state's health insurance program for the poor. read more…

Study shows minorities still searched more often
November 14, 2005

PROVIDENCE, R.I. --A nine-month survey of racial profiling in Rhode Island shows that minority drivers are still more than twice as likely to be searched by police as white drivers.

But the statistics also show that white drivers were more likely to be found with contraband, such as drugs, according to statistics released Monday by the Rhode Island chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

The data was collected by police statewide from October 2004 through the end of June, covering more than 200,000 traffic stops and 6,648 vehicle searches. The analysis was mandated by state law to see whether police practice racial profiling. Conducted by Northeastern University, the study follows an initial traffic stop report in 2001-2002 that produced similar results, the ACLU said.

"Rhode Island now has close to three years of irrefutable statistics documenting significant racial disparities in police searches that cannot be explained by any factor other than race," said Steven Brown, executive director of the ACLU in Rhode Island.

Police chiefs have said they don't tolerate discriminatory practices by their officers and are working to improve the situation.

The ACLU is calling for a series of measures, including:

-- Requiring police departments to submit a report confirming that traffic stop cards have been reviewed for disparities; identifying action taken in response to any disparities;

-- Requiring police to document their "probable cause" or "reasonable suspicion" grounds for conducting a search;

-- Banning so-called "pretext stops" of drivers, which Brown characterized as police pulling drivers over for minor traffic violations and using the stops as a basis for searches. He added the practice has been ruled constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The data collection is complete, and Northeastern is to issue a full report on the results next spring, according to the ACLU. 

Have you seen the new Robert Greenwald Wal-Mart movie yet?
I haven’t but plan on seeing it soon.
Over at the Wal-Mart Movie Blog they have a video report from
the Ragtag Cinemacafe in Columbia, OH.

Enjoy!

New thermobaric weapon used by Marines in Iraq

11/14/05

At Defensetech, David Hambling blogs about the SMAW-NE, a new urban combat weapon the Marines are using -- but not talking about very much.

 

This is a version of the standard USMC Shoulder Mounted Assault Weapon but with a new warhead. Described as NE - "Novel Explosive"- it is a thermobaric mixture which ignites the air, producing a shockwave of unparalleled destructive power, especially against buildings.

A post-action report from Iraq describes the effect of the new weapon: "One unit disintegrated a large one-storey masonry type building with one round from 100 meters. They were extremely impressed." Elsewhere it is described by one Marine as "an awesome piece of ordnance."

Report: US Military Used Chemical Weapons on Falluja Offensive

Tue Nov 8, 2005 12:01 PM ET

By Phil Stewart

ROME (Reuters) - U.S. forces in Iraq have used incendiary white phosphorus against civilians and a firebomb similar to napalm against military targets, Italian state-run broadcaster RAI reported on Tuesday.

A RAI documentary showed images of bodies recovered after a November 2004 offensive by U.S. troops on the town of Falluja, which it said proved the use of white phosphorus against men, women and children who were burned to the bone.

"I do know that white phosphorus was used," said Jeff Englehart in the RAI documentary, which identified him as a former soldier in the U.S. 1st Infantry Division in Iraq.

The U.S. military says white phosphorus is a conventional weapon and says it does not use any chemical arms.

"Burned bodies. Burned children and burned women," said Englehart, who RAI said had taken part in the Falluja offensive. "White phosphorus kills indiscriminately."

A U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad said he did not recall white phosphorus being used in Falluja. "I do not recall the use of white phosphorus during the offensive operations in Falluja in the fall of 2004," Lieutenant Colonel Steven Boylan said.

An incendiary device, white phosphorus is used by the military to conceal troop movements with smoke, mark targets or light up combat areas. The use of incendiary weapons against civilians has been banned by the Geneva Convention since 1980.

The United States did not sign the relevant protocol to the convention, a U.N. official in New York said.

The Falluja offensive aimed to crush followers of al Qaeda's Iraq leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, said to have linked up with local insurgents in the Sunni Arab city west of Baghdad.

Some Western newspapers reported at the time that white phosporus had been used during the offensive.

In the documentary called "Falluja: The Hidden Massacre", RAI also said U.S. forces used the Mark 77 firebomb, a weapon similar to napalm, on military targets in Iraq in 2003.  read more…

VIDEO

Fallujah: The Hidden Massacre A Film by Sigfrido Ranucci RAINews24 11.08.05
WARNING: This video contains graphic and possibly disturbing footage.

QuickTime
DSL | 56K
Windows Media
DSL | 56K
RealMedia
DSL | 56K

No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, Can You Hear Me Know?

The governor's four ballot proposals, the foundation of his sweeping plans for change in Sacramento, are halted at the polls.

November 9, 2005

In a sharp repudiation of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Californians rejected all four of his ballot proposals Tuesday in an election that shattered his image as an agent of the popular will.

Voters turned down his plans to curb state spending, redraw California's political map, restrain union politics and lengthen the time it takes teachers to get tenure.

The Republican governor had cast the four initiatives as central to his larger vision for restoring fiscal discipline to California and reforming its notoriously dysfunctional politics.

The failure of Proposition 76, his spending restraints, and Proposition 77, his election district overhaul, represented a particularly sharp snub of the governor by California voters. It also threw into question his strategy of threatening lawmakers with statewide votes to get around them when they block his favored proposals.

Also, Schwarzenegger's defeat on Proposition 75 was a major victory for his rivals in organized labor. It would have required unions for public workers to get written consent from members before spending their dues money on politics.

On a Beverly Hills stage Tuesday night next to his wife, Maria Shriver, Schwarzenegger pledged "to find common ground" with his Democratic adversaries in Sacramento.

"The people of California are sick and tired of all the fighting, and they are sick and tired of all the negative TV ads," he told supporters at the Beverly Hilton. He did not concede, saying instead that "in a couple of days the victories or the losses will be behind us."

Dogging the governor, as it has for months, was the California Nurses Assn., which organized a luau at the Trader Vic's in the same hotel. As Schwarzenegger's defeats mounted, giddy nurses formed a conga line and danced around the room, singing, "We're the mighty, mighty nurses."

 At labor's election night party in Sacramento, union leaders were not in a forgiving mood, vowing revenge against the governor next year when he seeks reelection. They were particularly incensed that he had not given union members their due for what they believed to be a clean sweep of his agenda.

"He never apologized once for trashing every one of us," said Mike Jimenez, president of the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn. "And I can tell you, tomorrow we're not going to apologize for the way this election turned out. Tomorrow starts Round 2."  read more…

LINK: Official Poll Results

State Ballot Measures
99.5% ( 17637 of 17726 ) precincts reporting as of Nov 9, 2005 at 5:23 am

Propositions Yes Votes Pct. No Votes Pct.

73 N Minor's Pregnancy 3,129,340 47.4 3,465,146 52.6 Map

74 N Teacher Tenure 2,986,287 44.9 3,662,429 55.1 Map

75 N Public Union Dues 3,091,713 46.5 3,550,563 53.5 Map

76 N Spending/Funding 2,521,709 37.9 4,114,787 62.1 Map

77 N Redistricting 2,672,882 40.5 3,919,919 59.5 Map

78 N Rx Drug Discounts 2,719,375 41.5 3,821,383 58.5 Map

79 N Rx Drug Rebates 2,523,419 38.9 3,949,942 61.1 Map

80 N Electric Regulation 2,188,786 34.3 4,181,536 65.7 Map

Documents from a federal investigation of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. suggest that at least three executives at the world's largest retailer knew its cleaning contractors used illegal immigrants who worked as many as seven days a week for less than minimum wage.

One executive also instructed a multistate cleaning contractor to set up numerous companies so the contractor could continue cleaning stores if one company was found to be hiring illegal immigrants and was dropped by Wal-Mart, according to an account by the contractor and included in a sworn affidavit by a federal investigator.

The documents -- including a search warrant and sworn affidavit by a federal immigration agent summarizing findings by other federal investigators -- were unsealed In federal District Court in Fayetteville, Ark., Thursday as part of a pretrial investigation in a civil lawsuit seeking back pay and damages from Wal-Mart for the workers who claim they worked long hours without overtime pay. The civil case is before federal District Judge Joseph A. Greenaway Jr., of U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, in Newark.

The allegations, if true, appear to contradict Wal-Mart's claims earlier this year that company executives weren't aware that illegal workers were employed by contractors to scrub its floors. Wal-Mart agreed to pay $11 million in March to settle a federal investigation into the matter. The company at the time said it settled because it should have had better safeguards in place to ensure contractors weren't hiring illegal workers. read more…

Spending Inquiry for Top Official on Broadcasting

November 5, 2005

By Kathy Boccella, Knight Ridder  |  November 6, 2005

PHILADELPHIA -- When her daughter was preparing for a mock courtroom debate on evolution versus creationism for a biology class, Lisa Bonfanti gave her the book ''Of Pandas and People" to read.

''It's a wonderful book," said Bonfanti, who homeschooled her two children. ''It presents a strong argument for our world having been created in an orderly fashion."

Few people outside the homeschool community had heard of the book until September.

That is when the textbook took center stage at a landmark trial in Harrisburg scrutinizing the teaching of intelligent design at public schools in Dover.

The national publicity has boosted sales, which have jumped from an average of 125 a month to more than 300, said Dean Anderson, a spokesman for the Foundation for Thought and Ethics, a publisher of Christian books in Richardson, Texas.

''It definitely shows quite a significant increase around the country," Anderson said.

''Obviously, controversial news gets people's attention, and this is something that really hits home with a lot of people. There's just no neutrality on this issue. It's very pro or very against. That's what makes sales, isn't it?" he said.

The 170-page book offers an alternative, some say religious-based, theory about the origins of life and presents what it says are gaps and problems with Darwin's theory of evolution. Intelligent design, the book says, holds that ''life was formed according to an intelligent plan by an intelligent designer."

Written by Percival Davis and Dean H. Kenyon, ''Pandas" was published in 1989 and revised in 1993, eliminating any mention of creationism or creation science after the Supreme Court deemed it illegal to teach in government-funded schools.

For a small, arcane work, the book has succeeded in its struggle to survive.

The $24.95 book has sold 25,000 copies and is about to get a sixth printing of 5,000, according to the publisher. Those figures could not be confirmed by an independent publishing source. The book is sold mostly to homeschoolers through Christian book distributors.

The Dover school board decided in November 2004 to require biology teachers to read a statement on intelligent design as an alternative to evolution, and referred students to ''Of Pandas and People" for more information on the topic -- a first for a public school district.

Eleven parents sued, arguing that the policy was a veiled attempt to teach creationism and was unconstitutional.

Bonfanti, who said she believed in creationism, thought the book was a good resource for her daughter. ''It gave a strong, solid presentation" of intelligent design, she said. read more…

Closing Arguments Made in Trial on Intelligent Design

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
Published: November 5, 2005

HARRISBURG, Pa., Nov. 4 - The nation's first trial to test the constitutionality of teaching intelligent design as science ended Friday with a lawyer for the Dover school board pronouncing intelligent design "the next great paradigm shift in science."

His opponent, a lawyer for the 11 parents suing the school board, dismissed intelligent design as dishonest, unscientific and based entirely on "a meager little analogy that collapses immediately upon inspection."

The conclusion of the six-week trial in Federal District Court on Friday made it clear that two separate but interconnected entities are actually on trial: the Dover school board and the fledgling intelligent design movement.

The board in Dover, a growing town south of Harrisburg, voted last year to read to ninth-grade biology students a four-paragraph statement saying that there are "gaps" in the theory of evolution, and that intelligent design is an alternative they should explore.

At the trial, board members repeatedly said they wanted to "encourage critical thinking." But the parents presented evidence that the board's purpose was religious and that the intelligent design statement was a compromise that the board settled for after learning it could not teach creationism.

Operating on another plane in the case were the dueling scientists, those who argued that intelligent design is an exciting new explanation, versus those who testified that it does not deserve to be called science.

The case, Kitzmiller et al v. Dover, will be decided by Judge John E. Jones III, who says he hopes to issue his ruling before the end of the year, or early January at the latest.

The scientists who advocate intelligent design explained that the complexity of biological organisms and the "purposeful arrangement of parts" are evidence that there is a designer. They said their theory is not religious because they are not claiming the designer is God, since that is untestable.

Scott A. Minnich, an associate professor of microbiology at the University of Idaho, testified for the defense on Thursday and Friday, likening intelligent design to seeing a watch and implicitly knowing that it had a designer - the argument the plaintiffs' lawyer called "a meager little analogy."

In his blunt closing argument, the plaintiffs' lawyer, Eric Rothschild, accused the intelligent design movement of lying, just as he said the school board members had lied when they testified that their purpose for changing the science curriculum had nothing to do with religion.

They lied, he said, when they testified that they did not make or hear religious declarations at board meetings, and when they claimed they did not know that 50 copies of an intelligent design textbook were bought for the school with money collected at a church and funneled through the father of a school board member, Alan Bonsell.

This week, the judge himself grew agitated as he questioned Mr. Bonsell about whether he had lied about the books. Mr. Rothschild reminded the judge of that interchange and said that the board's dishonesty "mimics" the intelligent design movement.

"Its essential religious nature does not change whether it is called 'creation science' or 'intelligent design' or 'sudden emergence theory,' " Mr. Rothschild said. "The shell game has to stop." read more…

a joke for friends…

The President, the First Lady and Dick Cheney are

flying on Air Force One. George looks at Laura, chuckles and says

"You know, I could throw a $1,000.00 bill out the window right now and make

somebody very happy."  Laura shrugs her shoulders and says, "Well, I could

throw ten $100.00 bills out the window and make 10 people very

happy."  Cheney says, "Of course then, I could throw 

one-hundred $10.00 bills out the window and make a hundred people very

happy."  The pilot rolls his eyes, looks at all of them and

says to his co-pilot,  "Such big shots back there . 

Hell, I could throw all of them out the window and make 56 million people very happy."

Wal-Mart to sponsor debate over its impact

November 3, 2005

BY ANNE D'INNOCENZIO

NEW YORK -- Under a barrage of criticism that Wal-Mart is bad for the overall economy, the world's largest company is taking a public look at itself.

In an unusual move, Wal-Mart is sponsoring a gathering of noted economists who will debate the company's impact on the economy and individual communities. The session, to be held Friday in Washington, is Wal-Mart's latest step in a campaign to appear more open and repair its reputation among investors, politicians, employees and consumers.

Wal-Mart has built a $285 billion machine on a low-cost model whose prices have given it a competitive edge over its rivals. Now, even as the discounter prepares for the holiday season with a public pledge to be even more aggressive on prices, it faces a dilemma on how to continue its momentum while also appeasing its critics. Negative publicity has already hurt its stock price and a tough economy has slowed its sales growth.

But holding an economic conference, to be attended by about 80 people from the press and academia, is a risky strategy. Some unflattering assessments of Wal-Mart are expected to be presented, according to papers obtained by the AP. Even some supporters who were presenting upbeat studies raised doubts about the retailer's business model.

''Wal-Mart has brought lower prices to people, but some of Wal-Mart's labor practices are questionable,'' said Jerry Hausman, economics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His study found that Wal-Mart's entry into the food business has forced supermarkets to lower their prices by 5 percent more than they had planned, straining their profitability.

Wal-Mart's critics have argued that the retailer's low-cost model comes at the expense of the economy; its pay and benefits drive down those at other companies trying to compete. The retailer's low benefits have also forced employees to rely on Medicaid as a safety net, squeezing state coffers, they say. Opponents also believe Wal-Mart destroys communities and creates retail sprawl. read more…

Inspector criticizes government's deal with Wal-Mart 
November 1, 2005

The inspector general for the Department of Labor said an agreement the government reached earlier this year with Wal-Mart Stores was "significantly different" than agreements the government has made in the past. The Department of Labor said it stands by its agreement, which calls for 15 days' notice before investigating the retailer's stores for labor violations.   The New York Times

Rapid response PR at Wal-Mart
November 1, 2005

Besieged by campaigns from labor unions, political activists and city governments looking to prevent the building of big box stores within their borders, Wal-Mart Stores has established a public relations "war room" staffed by top tier consultants with ties to both major parties. The first test of the rapid response strategy will come with the November release of a documentary film critical of Wal-Mart.   The New York Times