Kerry affirms support for abortion rights

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Standing before thousands of women, Sen. John Kerry warned Friday that "the rights of women are under assault in this country" and promised that as president he will reverse the course set by the Bush administration -- including abortion policy.

"We will not turn the clock back in this country," the Democratic presidential hopeful told a cheering crowd at the City Museum South Plaza. "George Bush who ran as a passionate conservative, has been willing to play politics with the lives of women. ... And every step of the way, when he has been given a choice, he has made the lives of women less, not more, secure."

Speaking to those in town for the March for Women's Lives -- a rally that is expected to draw tens of thousands to the Mall on Sunday -- Kerry slammed the Bush administration on a host of counts.

He discussed Bush's staunch position against affirmative action, accused him of trying to "gut" Title IX -- which bans discrimination in schools -- and lambasted Attorney General John Ashcroft for seeking access to medical records. Bush's economic plan, Kerry said, has "made it harder for women, particularly, to be able to balance work and family."


posted by Frodgie at 9:29 AM

 

Rocket Attack Kills Five GIs; Car Bomb in Tikrit

BAGHDAD — Insurgents struck a U.S. military base north of Baghdad with rockets at dawn Saturday, killing five American soldiers, an official said, while a rocket crashed into a crowded market in the Iraqi capital, killing at least three people.

Besides the deaths in the market, up to 12 Iraqis were killed Saturday in several attacks, including an apparent homicide car bombing in Tikrit (search), fighting in Baghdad's Sadr City, and clashes between Polish troops and Shiite militiamen in Karbala.

The fighting in Sadr City (search), an eastern mostly Shiite district in the capital, came when U.S. forces launched raids against suspected militiamen, sparking a battle that the military said killed one or two Iraqis. During the fighting, three Iraqi girls were badly burned when a shell exploded in their bedroom where they slept.

Hours later, a rocket slammed into the neighborhood's crowded Chicken Market, killing at least three people and wounding dozens, residents said. Human flesh could be seen among scattered market goods and burned-out cars in the chaotic street. It was unclear who fired the rocket or what its intended target was.


posted by Frodgie at 9:28 AM

 

Bush outsources Mideast policy

"Speaking of the Palestinians, they were dealt a lethal blow," exulted a jubilant Ariel Sharon, "It will bring their dreams to an end."

Sharon was bragging about his trip to Washington where he bullied Bush into selling out the Palestinians as thoroughly as Neville Chamberlain sold out the Czechs at Munich.

"Sharon Got It All" blared a banner headline in Israel. Indeed, he did.

And Raging Bull celebrated his diplomatic victory by ordering up a Saturday night hit on Abdel Rantisi, the Hamas leader who replaced Sheik Yassin, whom Sharon had assassinated by Apache gunship in March as the crippled sheik was being wheeled out of a mosque after dawn prayers.

As he surely intended, Sharon left the Arab world with the clear impression that the Americans had given a green light to his "extrajudicial" killings. Sharon seeks to make his war on the Palestinians America's war. If Bush lets him succeed, we are finished in the Middle East.


posted by Frodgie at 9:26 AM

 

Bush: Privacy of Families Outweighs Photos

DOVER, Del. (AP) - President Bush considers the release of photographs of flag-draped military coffins a reminder of the fallen troops' sacrifice, but believes family privacy should be respected, the White House said Friday.

Pentagon officials said the photos, issued last week and posted on an Internet site, should not have been made public under a policy prohibiting media coverage of human remains. Some activists argue that the photos, released last week, underscore the war's human cost.

"America knows full well that our men and women are serving and serving brilliantly both in Iraq and around the world. ... America is aware this is a war against terrorism," Bush spokesman Trent Duffy said. But, he said, "The message is, the sensitivity and privacy of families of the fallen must be the first priority."

The photographs were released to First Amendment activist Russ Kick, who had filed a Freedom of Information Act request.


posted by Frodgie at 9:25 AM

 

Rumsfeld rejects idea of returning to the draft

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld yesterday dismissed the notion of reinstating the military draft, saying that the Pentagon, if needed, can dig deeper into Reserve and National Guard forces to relieve troops deployed in the war on terrorism.
"I don't know anyone in the executive branch of the government who believes it would be appropriate or necessary to reinstitute the draft," Mr. Rumsfeld told a Washington gathering of members of the Newspaper Association of America, the American Society of Newspaper Editors and the Associated Press.

Using a metaphor to explain that the military already has a huge pool of personnel from which to draw, he likened the increased wartime demand on military forces to a spigot and the available pool of troops to a keg full of water.

posted by Frodgie at 11:10 AM

 

Iraqi security forces 'worked against' U.S.

FALLUJAH, Iraq — A U.S. military commander said 10 percent of newly trained Iraqi security forces "worked against" U.S. forces in the past three weeks of fighting in Fallujah and the southern city of Najaf, a sign of how difficult it will be to assemble an Iraqi army and police force.
An additional 40 percent of the Iraqi security forces walked off the job because they did not want to fight fellow Iraqis, said Maj. Gen. Martin Dempsey, commander of the Army's 1st Armored Division.

The general's admission came on a day when U.S. commanders said guerrillas fighting the U.S.-led coalition in Fallujah must honor a disarmament deal or face a new offensive, and as Bush administration officials in Washington faced sharp questioning on Capitol Hill over postwar reconstruction.
The recent surge in violence has inhibited private firms working in Iraq, with both German engineering giant Siemens and U.S.-based General Electric revealing yesterday they have suspended or halted work on infrastructure contracts because they could not guarantee the safety of their employees.
Guerrillas and residents in Fallujah have "days, not weeks" to turn in heavy weapons, Lt. Gen. James Conway, the top Marine commander in Iraq, said yesterday. He warned that fighting could resume and that a U.S. push to take the city could be costly for both sides.

posted by Frodgie at 11:09 AM

 

In the Line of Duty

Pat Tillman, a former NFL player who swapped a glamorous football career to enlist in the U.S. Army, has been killed in action in Afghanistan, ABCNEWS has learned.

The 27-year-old former football player was killed in direct action during a firefight in Afghanistan, Pentagon sources told ABCNEWS. But there were no further details available.

A former member of the Arizona Cardinals, Tillman, along with his brother Kevin, enrolled with the U.S. Army Rangers after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

Last year, the brothers were awarded an Arthur Ashe Courage Award meant for individuals whose contributions transcend sports. The award was accepted by their younger brother, Richard, while the brothers were away.



posted by Frodgie at 11:09 AM

 

Mass Casualties Feared in N. Korea Train Blast

DANDONG, China — The North Korean train explosions near the Chinese border killed at least 150 people, injured another 1,249 more and leveled 1,850 apartments and houses. The death tolls were expected to rise given the massive damage.

International relief organizations hope to descend upon the area in coming days.

North Korea's government said the explosion occurred when train cars carrying dynamite touched power lines, according to Anne O'Mahony, regional director of the Irish aid agency Concern (search).

"It says 150 people died, including some school children," O'Mahony told Irish radio station RTE by telephone from Pyongyang, the North's capital.

Red Cross (search) spokesman John Sparrow in Beijing said the blast had killed at least 54 people and injured 1,249, but that he expected the toll to rise.

The explosion damaged an additional 6,350 apartments or houses, Sparrow said, citing information from Red Cross officials in the North.

"When you look at the number of buildings destroyed, you have to be afraid of what you're going to find," Sparrow said. "We are anticipating that the casualty figures will increase," Sparrow said, citing figures from Red Cross officials in the North.

posted by Frodgie at 11:05 AM

 

Smoking explains racial cancer disparity, study finds

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- If black men stopped smoking, their cancer rates would drop by nearly two-thirds, a U.S. researcher said.

He said smoking explained virtually all the disparity between black men and white men in cancer mortality rates.

Writing in the May issue of the journal Preventive Medicine, Dr. Bruce Leistikow of the University of California Davis said smoking accounted for more than just lung cancer in men. It is also linked to cancers of the colon, pancreas and prostate.

"African-American men have had the highest cancer burden of any group in this country for decades," said Leistikow, an associate professor of epidemiology and preventive medicine.

"This study demonstrates, for the first time, that this excess cancer burden can be clearly linked to smoking," Leistikow said in a statement Thursday.


posted by Frodgie at 11:02 AM

 

And This Guy Was Chastising Phil Nike

DUDE, WHERE'S YOUR WEBSITE: MICHAEL MOORE OUT-SOURCING DESIGN, SERVER TO CANADA!

Advocate Michael Moore may have released a book titled DUDE, WHERE'S MY COUNTRY?, and may have vaulted to stardom documenting worker's rights and corporate malfeasance in Flynt, Michigan, but that has not stopped Moore from outsourcing his website design and servers -- to companies based in Canada!

Cannes-bound Moore, the great protector of the U.S. working class, has outsourced the design of his Web site to a foreign company in Canada, records show.

PLANK -- based in Montrιal, Quιbec -- is the development and design company behind MichaelMoore.com.

Meanwhile, Moore's site is hosted by a foreign owned company, Webcore Labs, of Calgary, Alberta Canada. [Webcore does maintain an office in Beverly Hills, CA.]

Moore did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

Moore is to get star billing at this year's Cannes Film Festival with the controversial FAHRENHEIT 9/11.

posted by Frodgie at 10:38 AM

 

The symbols of service should mean something.

"I've had thorns from a rose that were worse," says Grant Hibbard, John Kerry's former commanding officer about the wound the senator received on December 2, 1968, that earned him his first Purple Heart award. Earlier this month, the Boston Globe reported that Hibbard is among the Vietnam veterans who are questioning the awards that sent John Kerry home early from Vietnam. The controversy prompted Tim Russert to ask Kerry this past Sunday whether he would release all of his military records, including medical records and his officer evaluations. Kerry assured Russert that they're already publicly available at his headquarters. But they're not. And the tragic suicide of the Navy's Admiral Mike Boorda in 1996 is a reminder of why the media should be clamoring for their release.


posted by Frodgie at 6:19 AM

 

Baghdad is not what you see on the nightly news.

BAGHDAD, IRAQ — Cars spin down the street at night, tricked out with blue neon lights and sporting CDs dangled from their rearview mirrors. Thriving shops blare 50 Cent's In Da Club, while the young techie at one of the numerous local Internet cafιs prefers to blast Nirvana. Cell phones with personalized ring tones and text messaging are literally everywhere. And teenage gamers while away their afternoons playing Vice City and Tom Clancy's Medal of Honor. Anytown, USA? No: Welcome to the new face of Baghdad, where, to quote Army Sgt. First Class Woods, the kids "want to be like Mike, not like Mahtma."

Everywhere you look in Baghdad, there are signs of capitalism. The streets are festooned with signs for Samsung and Iraqna, the major local cell-phone provider for the city. Satellite dishes — the possession of which was punishable by the state under Saddam — now hang from houses throughout the city. It is difficult to walk down Rashid Street because of all the large hand carts overloaded with televisions, computers, air conditioners, and microwaves.

The locals are snatching up not only Western goods, but Western culture. As you might expect, this is particularly true among the youth. In addition to listening to Western music, increasingly available thanks to the Armed Forces radio station, they also follow the lives of music celebrities in Arabic magazines, which chronicle events like Britney's Vegas wedding.

posted by Frodgie at 6:15 AM

 

Grand Jury Indicts Michael Jackson

LOS ANGELES — Pop star Michael Jackson (search) was indicted Wednesday by a grand jury probing allegations that he molested a 12-year-old boy.

The charges on which Jackson was indicted were not disclosed. Grand jury indictments are usually secret until a defendant is arraigned.

Jackson's attorneys told Foxnews.com that he would plead not guilty on April 30 when he is arraigned in Santa Barbara Superior Court (search).

There is still no trial date set, and the district attorney's office would not comment about the indictment.

Jackson's spokeswoman, Raymone Bain, added in an interview that "nothing has been issued from the court which indicates that there is an indictment." She said she had spoken with Jackson on Wednesday and that "he is out and about."

"In the next few days, as the dust settles, things will get clearer," she said Wednesday night.

The singer and his attorneys "are confident that after a trial ... Jackson will be fully exonerated," the statement read. "Michael is looking forward to his day in court."

posted by Frodgie at 6:12 AM

 

Democracy 'necessary' in Iraq

President Bush yesterday said democracy in Iraq is an imperative, not an option, as Sen. John Kerry has asserted, and that the world should thank Israel for swapping land with Palestinians.
Without mentioning Mr. Kerry by name, the president made clear that he disagreed with the Massachusetts Democrat's remark last week that the goal in Iraq is stability, not democracy.

Asked by a newspaper executive who cited Mr. Kerry's remark whether democracy in Iraq is an option or an imperative, the president replied: "It's necessary."
"It's what will change the world — help change the world," he said at a Washington gathering of the Newspaper Association of America, the American Society of Newspaper Editors and the Associated Press. "And you either believe people can self-govern, or not."
Similarly, he said, people can disagree over whether "democracy is possible in that part of the world."
"And I think it is."

posted by Frodgie at 6:08 AM

 

Vermont nuclear plant searching for missing fuel rods

Two pieces of a highly radioactive fuel rod are missing from a Vermont nuclear plant, and engineers planned to search onsite for the nuclear material, officials said Wednesday.

The fuel rod was removed in 1979 from the Vermont Yankee reactor, which is currently shut down for refueling and maintenance. Remote-control cameras will be used to search a spent fuel pool on the property, officials said.

"We do not think there is a threat to the public at this point. The great probability is this material is still somewhere in the pool," said Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Neil Sheehan.

But Sheehan said it was possible the spent fuel was mixed in with a shipment of low-level nuclear waste and ended up at a repository in South Carolina, or a facility in Washington state. He said it was also possible it was taken to a nuclear testing facility run by General Electric, which designed the plant.

The material would be fatal to anyone who came in contact with it without being properly shielded, Sheehan said. Spent nuclear fuel also could be used by terrorists to construct so-called dirty bombs that would spread deadly radiation with conventional explosives.


posted by Frodgie at 6:04 AM

 

Catch Up?

WASHINGTON - Though John Kerry (news - web sites)'s wife is an heir to the H.J. Heinz Co. fortune, the food company and its executives are providing President Bush (news - web sites) with money and a campaign issue — jobs flowing overseas — in this year's election.

Members of the board of the Fortune 500 company and its corporate political action committee have donated thousands of dollars to Republicans in recent years, including contributions to the Bush campaign. The corporate PAC has given nothing to Kerry.

The Republicans are accepting the cash even as they criticize the Pittsburgh-based company's job cuts and overseas moves — part of an effort to taint the presumptive Democratic nominee with the conglomerate's business practices.

While Teresa Heinz Kerry gained much of her $500 million portfolio through her Heinz inheritance, she does not serve on the board and is not involved with the management of the company. Even her late husband, Sen. H. John Heinz III, R-Pa., did not serve on the board.

No Heinz family member has been employed by the company or served on its board since H.J. "Jack" Heinz II, its chairman, died in 1987.

Heinz Kerry, who heads the separate Heinz Family Foundation and the Howard Heinz Endowment, owns less than 4 percent of the company's stock. Major Heinz stockholders include the company's top executives, led by Chairman William R. Johnson, as well as beer magnate Peter Coors and former Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver and pro football Hall of Famer Lynn Swann.

posted by Frodgie at 6:29 PM

 

Senator says US may need compulsory service to boost Iraq force

A senior Republican lawmaker said that deteriorating security in Iraq (news - web sites) may force the United States to reintroduce the military draft.

"There's not an American ... that doesn't understand what we are engaged in today and what the prospects are for the future," Senator Chuck Hagel told a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on post-occupation Iraq.

"Why shouldn't we ask all of our citizens to bear some responsibility and pay some price?" Hagel said, arguing that restoring compulsory military service would force "our citizens to understand the intensity and depth of challenges we face."

The Nebraska Republican added that a draft, which was ended in the early 1970s, would spread the burden of military service in Iraq more equitably among various social strata.

"Those who are serving today and dying today are the middle class and lower middle class," he observed.

The call to consider a imposing a draft comes just days after the Pentagon (news - web sites) moved to extend the missions of some 20,000 of the 135,000 US troops in Iraq.

posted by Frodgie at 6:34 AM

 

Tribunal arranged to try Saddam

BAGHDAD — Iraqi leaders have set up a tribunal of judges and prosecutors to try ousted dictator Saddam Hussein and other members of his Ba'athist regime, a spokesman announced yesterday.
The announcement came as insurgents fired a barrage of mortar rounds at Baghdad's largest prison, killing 22 inmates and wounding more than 90. Saddam's whereabouts are secret, but some of his top aides are thought to be at the prison.

A U.S. general said the attack might have been an attempt to spark an uprising against the American guards.
Also yesterday, a U.S. soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in the northern city of Mosul, the 100th Americancombat death in April, the deadliest month since the U.S.-led invasion began in March 2003.

posted by Frodgie at 6:34 AM

 

Deadly Blasts at Basra Police Stations

BASRA, Iraq — Car bombs triggered a series of explosions targeting police stations and an academy during morning rush hour Wednesday, killing at least 55 people, including 10 schoolchildren, and wounding scores in the bloodiest attacks to hit this mainly Shiite (search) city since the U.S.-led occupation began a year ago.

Iraqis pulled charred and torn bodies from mangled vehicles in front of the Saudia (search) police station, located by Basra's (search) crowded main street market. Two vans carrying schoolchildren were destroyed, one carrying kindergardeners, the other carrying middle-school girls. Dead children, burned beyond recognition, were taken to hospital morgues.

British military spokesman Squadron Leader Jonathan Arnold said the blasts were believed to have been caused by car bombs. However, Iraqi Police Col. Kadhem al-Muhammedawi (search) said rockets may have been fired.

There was no immediate word who was behind the attack. U.S. officials have accused foreign Islamic militants in deadly homicide bombings in February against Shiite holy sites in Najaf and Baghdad aimed at sparking a Sunni-Shiite civil war in the country.


posted by Frodgie at 6:34 AM

 

Fellow vet blasts Kerry's antiwar comments

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A man who served in the same Navy unit as Sen. John Kerry denounced on Tuesday charges the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee made as an antiwar protester that he and other U.S. troops committed atrocities in Vietnam.

"I saw some war heroes ... John Kerry is not a war hero," said John O'Neill, a Houston lawyer who joined the Navy's Coastal Division 11 two months after the future senator left Vietnam. "He couldn't tie the shoes of some of the people in Coastal Division 11."

In a related development, the Kerry campaign said Tuesday it would post all of the Massachusetts senator's Navy records on its Web site, after the Boston Globe reported that the campaign refused to provide access to some records, despite Kerry's pledge on Sunday to let reporters see them.


posted by Frodgie at 6:31 AM

 

U.S. sees Syria 'facilitating' insurgents

Syria is "facilitating" the movement of foreign fighters into Iraq and helping supply them with arms, according to U.S. military officials with access to intelligence reports.
The sources said the reporting has not been clear on whether hard-line Syrian President Bashar Assad is involved directly in ordering the aid. But they say he has much to lose if Iraq becomes a pro-U.S. democratic country.

Foreign fighters from Syria have become a major stumbling block to stabilizing Iraq and turning over sovereignty by June 30.
The bloody fighting in Fallujah, for example, is inspired, in part, by well-armed foreign jihadists who crossed the Syrian border and have committed some of the most gruesome attacks against Americans and their allies.

posted by Frodgie at 6:29 AM

 

Bush outsources Mideast policy

"Speaking of the Palestinians, they were dealt a lethal blow," exulted a jubilant Ariel Sharon, "It will bring their dreams to an end."

Sharon was bragging about his trip to Washington where he bullied Bush into selling out the Palestinians as thoroughly as Neville Chamberlain sold out the Czechs at Munich.

"Sharon Got It All" blared a banner headline in Israel. Indeed, he did.

And Raging Bull celebrated his diplomatic victory by ordering up a Saturday night hit on Abdel Rantisi, the Hamas leader who replaced Sheik Yassin, whom Sharon had assassinated by Apache gunship in March as the crippled sheik was being wheeled out of a mosque after dawn prayers.


posted by Frodgie at 6:26 AM

 

Talks yield disarmament deal in Fallujah

FALLUJAH, Iraq — Direct talks between the United States and leaders of the besieged city of Fallujah produced their first concrete results: an appeal for insurgents to turn in their mortars, surface-to-air missiles, rocket-propelled grenades and other heavy weapons, U.S. officials announced yesterday.
In return, the U.S. military said it does not intend to resume its offensive in the Sunni Muslim stronghold west of Baghdad so long as militants are disarming.

But with Marines encircling Fallujah and holding their positions inside the city, commanders warned that if the deal falls through, they quickly could launch an all-out assault, which would likely mean a resumption of bloody urban combat.
"There is also a very clear understanding ... that should this agreement not go through, Marine forces are more than prepared to carry through with military operations," Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt told reporters in Baghdad.
He said the Marines were poised to take the city "in a very short order."
In Najaf, a city in south-central Iraq patrolled by 9,500 peacekeepers from 23 countries, including Spain, the standoff against radical cleric Sheik Muqtada al-Sadr was effectively put on hold yesterday.

posted by Frodgie at 9:48 AM

 

Bush criticizes Spanish pullout

President Bush yesterday rebuked Spain's new socialist prime minister for pulling Spanish troops out of Iraq, a move that prompted Honduras to follow suit while other nations stood firm.
During a five-minute phone call with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Mr. Bush expressed "regret" for Spain's "abrupt" withdrawal of 1,300 troops — less than 1 percent of allied forces in Iraq, said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.

"The president stressed the importance of carefully considering future actions to avoid giving false comfort to terrorists or enemies of freedom in Iraq," he said. "The president urged that the Spanish withdrawal take place in a coordinated manner that does not put at risk other coalition forces in Iraq."
The decision by Mr. Zapatero, who took office over the weekend, prompted Honduras to announce that it rapidly would pull out its 370 troops, who had been scheduled to leave Iraq at the end of July.

posted by Frodgie at 9:47 AM

 

U.S.: Turn In Your Weapons

FALLUJAH, Iraq — As U.S. officials and local leaders in Fallujah called on insurgents to lay down their weapons during a tense ceasefire, U.S. Marines continued to come under some fire in the city that's proved to be one of the most dangerous for them.

In return for laying down their weapons, the enemy wants a U.S. promise that it won't resume its offensive against the Sunni Muslim (search) stronghold. The deal will depend on how much influence the civil leaders have with the rebels.

Before dawn on Tuesday, gunmen in Fallujah (search) opened fire briefly on a Marine patrol near the Euphrates river, Capt. Jamie Edge said. Marines and gunmen exchanged fire for about five minutes, Edge added. There were no reports of injuries.

"I think this is something we'll continue to deal with, regardless of what the security situation ends up being in Fallujah," Edge said.

The U.S. military said Monday that it does not intend to resume its offensive in the Sunni Muslim stronghold as long as militants are turning in their heavy weapons, but warned that the Marines could quickly storm the city if the agreement collapses. Meanwhile, a shorter curfew in the city has allowed residents unrestricted access to the hospital.


posted by Frodgie at 9:44 AM

 

U.S. support grows for more troops in Iraq

(CNN) -- As deadly attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq continue to mount in April, American support for sending more troops to the battle front is slowly increasing, a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released Monday finds.

One-third of respondents polled over the weekend said more troops are needed in Iraq.

Just two weeks earlier, only 20 percent supported such a move and in January, the level of support was only 11 percent.

Thirty-eight percent of respondents said they would be upset if more troops are deployed to Iraq.

April has become the deadliest month for U.S. forces since the war began more than a year ago. April's death toll climbed to 101 after 12 American troops died over the weekend.

But more than half of Americans polled said it was worth going to war.

And despite the increased violence, there is decreasing support for withdrawing any U.S. troops from Iraq, down from 46 percent two weeks ago to 37 percent now.


posted by Frodgie at 9:42 AM

 

Saudi Arabia or Japan?
Our two immigration options.

Reading Tamar Jacoby's recent piece "Getting Immigration Right" in the New York Post, I got to thinking about the Shakers.

Ms. Jacoby supports President Bush's January proposal to offer some kind of formal "guest-worker" status to the 10-12 million foreigners living illegally in the U.S. Ms. Jacoby's fundamental argument, in this piece and in others she has written on the topic, is that current U.S. immigration law is seriously at odds with the reality of what Americans want. We want our lawns mowed, our fruit picked, and our hogs gutted. We should prefer not to have these things done by our own citizens, for reasons she does not enlarge on (but which I myself have had a go at). Therefore we must import millions of ill-educated, non-English-speaking foreigners to do these things for us. Unwilling to face this truth, we stubbornly refuse to change our immigration laws appropriately, to provide a decent welcome to these needed workers. It is the kind of self-deceiving doublethink, Ms. Jacoby says (not in this piece, but elsewhere) that we attempted with Prohibition, and has led to the same kind of widespread lawlessness.
posted by Frodgie at 9:39 AM

 

Hillary Clinton leaves Jamaica Holidayed at Tryall

FORMER US first lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton, left Jamaica yesterday after a one-week vacation at the exclusive Tryall Club in Hanover, highly placed sources confirmed.

Hotel officials declined to confirm or deny Rodham Clinton's stay at the property, but one knowledgeable source told the Observer: "She had a quiet, delightful and restful holiday. That was the way she wanted it."

According to Observer sources, between her aides, friends and Secret Service protectors Rodham Clinton's entourage occupied 40 rooms.

Her visit, like that of President George Bush's daughter, ??, was kept quiet for privacy and security reasons.

The wife of former president Bill Clinton, Rodham Clinton is now a member of the US Senate from New York, the first former first lady ever to be elected to the US legislature. She is being touted as a likely Democratic presidential candidate in 2009.


posted by Frodgie at 9:24 AM

 

Rage over Rantisi

TEL AVIV — Hundreds of thousands of angry Palestinian mourners poured into the streets of Gaza City yesterday for the funeral procession of a Hamas leader killed in an Israeli missile attack the previous evening.
With calls for revenge against Israel, a parade of Hamas' green banners, and masked gunmen firing into the air, the funeral of Abdel Aziz Rantisi bore many similarities to the one held less than a month ago after the assassination of Hamas' founder and spiritual leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin.

But just days after a Washington summit in which Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon won key concessions from President Bush, many Palestinians directed their rage equally at Israel and the United States.
"Bush has Rantisi's blood on his hands," one mourner at the procession told the Reuters news agency. "All doors to hell should be opened against the Israelis and the Americans."

posted by Frodgie at 9:54 AM

 

Kerry broadens attack on Bush's leadership

(CNN) -- Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. John Kerry, who has made the notion that President Bush "misleads Americans" a central campaign theme, said Sunday that Bush extends that pattern of behavior to his own Cabinet.

"This president not only misleads America about my record, he misleads his own administration. He misleads his security adviser. He misleads his secretary of state about his own planning for a war," Kerry told NBC's "Meet the Press" in a hour-long live interview.

Kerry was referring to "Plan of Attack," a new book by journalist Bob Woodward that says Secretary of State Colin Powell did not learn of Bush's plans to go to war in Iraq until after Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar bin Sultan had been shown them.

The book says Bush did not ask for Powell's advice on the decision, only for his support, and though Powell was wary, he said he would back the decision.

Kerry told NBC that as president he would draw international support to the war in Iraq.


posted by Frodgie at 9:51 AM

 

Iraq Remains 'Eerily Quiet'

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraq was relatively quiet Monday, even in violent hotbeds like Fallujah, as a rebel Shiite Muslim (search) militia stuck to a cease-fire it called in the south.

But the top U.S. administrator in Iraq, L. Paul Bremer (search), said again that insurgents responsible for recent waves of violence against coalition troops and who want to "shoot their way to power" must be stopped.

He said Iraqi security forces were not up to the job and defended the continued heavy presence of U.S. troops even after an Iraqi government takes over June 30.

Spain's new foreign minister, meanwhile, said his country's plans to withdraw its troops from Iraq should not harm its long-term relations with the United States.

Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos also said the government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero (search) will honor Spain's pledges at the recent Iraq Donor's Conference and help in Iraq's reconstruction and transition to democracy.

"We're not washing our hands" of the situation, Moratinos said in an interview Monday in the El Pais newspaper.

Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry — who has been critical of President Bush's Spain's pullout decision — issued a statement saying he "regrets" Spain's decision to pull out of Iraq.


posted by Frodgie at 9:50 AM

 

Thinking the unthinkable

"I hope you got a sense of conviction about what we're doing," said the president, as he ended his primetime press conference.

We certainly did. Indeed, listening Tuesday night, one must concede the convictions, the earnestness and the resolve of the president that he is doing what he believes best for America. And he has put his presidency on the line behind those beliefs.

"The consequences of failure in Iraq would be unthinkable," he declared. "Every friend of America would be betrayed to prison and murder as a new tyranny arose. Every enemy of America would celebrate, proclaiming our weakness and decadence, and using that victory to recruit a new generation of killers."

There is truth here. Prison and murder were the fate of America's allies when China fell in 1949 and Saigon in 1975. Millions who had declared themselves on our side in the war against communism paid with their lives. The president is also right that America's enemies will rejoice in any U.S. defeat.

That raises the question: Why did he risk such a defeat and humiliation?


posted by Frodgie at 9:49 AM

 

KEVIN SPACEY MUGGED AND BEATEN IN LONDON PARK

KEVIN Spacey baffled police by complaining he had been mugged - then telling them to forget all about it.

The Oscar-winning movie star said a mystery attacker beat and robbed him of his mobile phone as he walked his dog in a London park at 4.30am.

He reported the assault to officers within 30 minutes and went to hospital for treatment for a minor head injury.

But hours later Spacey, 44, returned to the police station where he made his complaint and dropped the robbery claim.

Confirming that a man in his 40s had reported a mugging, Scotland Yard said yesterday: "He had a head injury and said he'd been robbed of his phone.

"But then he returned and withdrew the theft allegation. As far as police are concerned, there's no crime to investigate." Spacey, who has constantly fought off rumours that he is gay, was not available for comment last night.


posted by Frodgie at 9:47 AM