It's morning somewhere

In a rare look at how the Defense Department tracks non-U.S. casualties in the war in Iraq, the Pentagon is estimating that 26,000 Iraqis have been killed or wounded by insurgents since Jan. 1, 2004.

MIDDLETOWN, Pa. (AP) - A fuel-blending facility that is up and running in Pennsylvania is the first in the nation that can inject soy-based additives into diesel or other fuels before they are put into tanker trucks, officials said Friday.

Fuel marketers typically combine soy-based additives with diesel or heating oil in tanker trucks by "sloshing" them together. The new facility is more efficient, blending the fuels before they reach the pump, and spares marketers from having to buy and store the additives, which are also known as biodiesel...

...Soy-blended fuels are credited with burning cleaner and more efficiently in engines. Gov. Ed Rendell, who attended the ceremony, plugged the facility as a step toward reducing American reliance on foreign sources of oil...

-- culture of life, ownership society, compassionate conservative, freedom is on the march. The inclusion of these phrases is a bit disingenuous, because they're just empty phrases generated by an impotent White House and parroted by craven, disgusting, wormy little sycophants.

There is no question that Bush is a committed Christian. But he should understand he governs people of many religions and that his own faith should be personal, not presidential.

OUJDA, Morocco - The man in his thirties introduced himself as Yaya and, for a fee, promised to make Joe Kararla's dreams come true.

So began the four-year plight of the Ghanaian who simply wanted a better life in Europe. That hope and his heart are now broken. Cheated and stripped of his savings by Yaya and other human traffickers, and hauled back from Europe's threshold by Moroccan police he says beat him, the 28-year-old's trek across Africa ended with a deportation flight from Morocco, a country that did not want him, to a homeland where he sees no future.

Kararla is among thousands of victims of deception and betrayal by smugglers who prey on young men from the war zones and poverty traps of sub-Saharan Africa. With ladders fashioned from branches, slicing their hands on the razor wire, hundreds have tried to scale fences protecting Spanish enclaves on the Moroccan coast in recent weeks, with sometimes deadly results...

LI vet depicted in famous image details struggle with menacing stress disorder that escalated to a standoff...

...Army Spc. Joseph Dwyer angled a mirror out the back window of his apartment in El Paso, Texas, trying to make out the Iraqis in the evening gloom. He couldn't see them, but he felt that they were out there somewhere, ready to attack...

...Dwyer, who is still in the service, is being treated by psychiatrists on the Army base in Fort Bliss, Texas. He was released on bail and faces a misdemeanor charge of discharging a firearm in a municipality...

..."We didn't think of his mental health," said Dwyer-Ogno. "We were just so glad to have him back in our arms."

He was back, but he wasn't the same, and he continues to struggle. Dwyer can no longer go to movies or other crowded public places. At restaurants, he'll only sit facing the door, with his back to the wall. A month ago in Texas, he crashed his car when he swerved to avoid what he thought was a roadside ambush by Iraqis....

WASHINGTON (AP) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice today outlined a strategy of helping Iraqis clear out insurgents and build durable, national institutions as she sought to reassure jittery members of Congress about the path to peace in Iraq.

Rice said the United States will follow a model that was successful in Afghanistan. Starting next month, she said, joint diplomatic-military groups - Provincial Reconstruction Teams - will work alongside Iraqis as they train police, set up courts and help local governments establish essential services...
...Continuing her recent stepped-up criticism of Syria and Iran, Rice said Iraq’s two neighbors must do more to help stop the flow of foreign fighters into Iraq.

With President George W. Bush’s poll numbers dragged down by public discomfort over Iraq, Rice was seeking to reassure lawmakers - who are feeling the heat from their war-weary constituents - that U.S. policies toward Iraq are sound.

Republicans and Democrats alike are raising questions about the Bush administration’s diplomatic and military plans in Iraq amid a rising U.S. death toll, soaring costs and slumping public support for the war.

...But the "free world" we are told, as embodied in the United States and Great Britain, is different to the rest of the world since our actions are dictated and sanctioned by a moral authority and a moral passion condoned by someone called God. Some people may find this difficult to comprehend but Osama Bin Laden finds it easy...

...We have brought torture, cluster bombs, depleted uranium, innumerable acts of random murder, misery and degradation to the Iraqi people and call it " bringing freedom and democracy to the Middle East". But, as we all know, we have not been welcomed with the predicted flowers. What we have unleashed is a ferocious and unremitting resistance, mayhem and chaos...

...What do Bush and Blair actually see when they look at themselves in the mirror?

I believe Wilfred Owen would share our contempt, our revulsion, our nausea and our shame at both the language and the actions of the American and British governments.

When the possibility of far-reaching war crimes and crimes against humanity exists, people of conscience have a solemn responsibility to inquire into the nature and scope of these acts and to determine if they do in fact rise to the level of war crimes and crimes against humanity. That is the mission of the International Commission of Inquiry on Crimes Against Humanity. The first session will be held October 21-22 in New York City. This tribunal will, with care and rigor, present evidence and assess whether George W. Bush and his administration have committed crimes against humanity. Well-established international law will be referenced where applicable, but the tribunal will not be limited by the scope of existing international law.

The tribunal will deliberate on four categories of indictable crimes: 1) Wars of Aggression, with particular reference to the invasions and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. 2) Torture and Indefinite Detention, with particular reference to the abandonment of international standards concerning the treatment of prisoners of war and the use of torture. 3) Destruction of the Global Environment, with particular reference to systematic policies contributing to the catastrophic effects of global warming. 4) Attacks on Global Public Health and Reproductive Rights, with particular reference to the genocidal effects of forcing international agencies to promote "abstinence only" in the midst of a global AIDS epidemic...

DENVER - Chief Warrant Officer William Howell was a 15-year Army Special Forces veteran who had seen combat duty all over the world. Sgt. 1st Class Andre McDaniel was a military accountant. Spc. Jeremy Wilson repaired electronics.

They had little in common, other than having served in Iraq with the 10th Special Forces Group based at Fort Carson, Colo. They did not know each other, and they had vastly different duties.

Each, however, committed suicide shortly after returning home, all within about a 17-month period.

The Army says there appears to be no connection between the men's overseas service and their deaths, and Army investigators found no "common contributing cause" among the three. The fact they were in the same unit is only a coincidence, Special Operations Command spokeswoman Diane Grant said at Fort Bragg, N.C.

Attention mainstream media (I know you read this site): Along with Who, What, and Where, remember to ask WHY Plame was outed.
It wasn't revenge. The White House crew was trying to discourage the media from reporting on Joe Wilson's knowledge of the Niger Yellowcake Hoax. Actually, they were suckering you into killing the story and boy did they ever swindle you but good! Now is your time for some payback. The real story isn't Valerie. The real story is the forged documents used to sell the lie to the public that Iraq was buying uranium. The existence of forged documents proves the lies that tricked this nation into war were deliberate. The outing of Plame proves the White House KNEW the claim was a lie and were trying to protect it.

THAT is the real story. THAT is 'What Really Happened'!

...God, it seems to me, is the strong, silent type; it's the Other Guy who's a bit of a chatterbox, always whispering in people's ears, trying to get them to do cool-but-forbidden stuff, tempting and flattering them at the same time. If Bush is hearing voices in his head, then I fear we ought to be very worried, because it's either the delusions of a dry alcoholic, or something far more sinister...

The Bush administration's choice for deputy attorney general has withdrawn his nomination amid mounting questions from Senate Democrats over his dealings with indicted Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff and over his role in shaping controversial interrogation policies.

Timothy E. Flanigan wrote President Bush on Thursday that he was dropping out as a candidate because of "uncertainty concerning the timing of my confirmation," which has been delayed several times since Bush nominated him in May.

..."While Mr. Flanigan's nomination has been withdrawn, troubling questions remain about the Bush administration's torture policies and Abramoff's dealings with the administration and the Republican leadership of Congress," said Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.).

So even if Bush once said that God told him to go to war, let's not get too excited. There are so many more horrendous things Bush has said and done that deserve our harsh criticism. There are so many more ways he has used religious beliefs and religious language to justify immoral policies. Let's put our critical energy there, and not on one isolated statement that he'll go on denying he ever said.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Seeking to close a gap in the nation's defense against mad cow disease, the Bush administration on Tuesday proposed to eliminate cattle parts from feed for all animals, including chickens, pigs and pets.

The government already bans cattle remains from being used in cattle feed. The proposal from the Food and Drug Administration "will make an already small risk even smaller," acting FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach said...

Relief efforts to combat Hurricane Katrina suffered near catastrophic failures due to endemic corruption, divisions within the military and troop shortages caused by the Iraq war, an official American inquiry into the disaster has revealed.

The confidential report, which has been seen by The Independent, details how funds for flood control were diverted to other projects, desperately needed National Guards were stuck in Iraq and how military personnel had to "sneak off post" to help with relief efforts because their commander had refused permission...

...The report concludes: "The one thing this disaster has demonstrated [is] the lack of coordinated, in-depth planning and training on all levels of Government, for any/all types of emergency contingencies. 9/11 was an exception because the geographical area was small and contained, but these two hurricanes have clearly demonstrated a national response weakness ... Failure to plan, and train properly has plagued US efforts in Afghanistan, Iraq and now that failure has come home to roost in the United States." ...

The U.S. ambassador to Colombia has urged authorities to spray weed killer inside the country's spectacular nature parks to destroy cocaine-producing crops, insisting the chemicals will not inflict widespread damage on the parks' fragile ecosystems...
...Indian tribes and environmental advocates, however, contend that spraying would only add to the destruction and harm animals and their surroundings...

...With no US troops available, the Bush administration is revamping US war doctrine to allow for "preventative nuclear attack." In short, the Bush administration is planning to make the US the first country in history to initiate war with nuclear weapons. The Pentagon document, "Doctrine for Joint Nuclear Operations," calls for the use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear adversaries in order "to ensure success of US and multinational operations."...

...The American people need to ask themselves why of all the countries in the world, only the US and Israel believe that it is imperative to attack Iran. If Iran is such a threat to the world, why isn’t Russia, for example, concerned and ready to invade?

Americans need to ask themselves the same question about North Korea. Why is the US, half a world away, so concerned about North Korea? If North Korea is such a threat, would not China, sitting on its border, know it? Wouldn’t Japan know it? South Korea? Wouldn’t some other country besides the US see the problem and take action?...