Kerry flaunts Bush snub to NAACP

PHILADELPHIA — Sen. John Kerry began his speech before the NAACP's conventioneers yesterday by showcasing the most prominent black name among his campaign leadership: former Clinton Cabinet member Alexis Herman.
Mr. Kerry said he has been "blessed, because over the last few weeks I have had the help, counsel and stewardship of a wonderful woman." Ms. Herman, who was labor secretary in the Clinton administration, is now co-chairwoman of the Kerry campaign. She is one of several recent black hires by the Kerry organization, which has been criticized for its lack of minorities in its upper ranks.
The senator from Massachusetts reminded the crowd here that he was appearing before the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People while his opponent, President Bush, snubbed the convention for the fourth straight year.     "I understand you have been having trouble getting some speakers," Mr. Kerry said. "Some people may have better things to do."     "The president may be too busy to speak to you now — but I've got news for you: He's going to have plenty of time after November second," the Massachusetts Democrat told the cheering convention.

posted by Frodgie at 7:03 AM

 

Ron Reagan Wrong on Stem Cells

Ron Reagan, the younger son of the late Republican president, announced this week that he would give a prime-time address in support of stem cell research (search) at the Democratic National Convention in Boston later this month.

"Ron Reagan's courageous pleas for stem cell research add a powerful voice to the millions of Americans hoping for cures for their children, for their parents and for their grandparents," said a spokesman for John Kerry to the Associated Press.

Reagan told the Philadelphia Inquirer that the speech was intended "to educate people about stem cell research" rather than be critical of President George Bush. But the Kerry campaign seems to want to scare people by having the son of the revered late President Ronald Reagan decry President Bush and his pro-life supporters as the major roadblocks to a host of supposedly just-around-the-corner miracle cures for cancer, Alzheimer's, diabetes and other dreaded diseases.



posted by Frodgie at 6:59 AM

 

Aids reduces African life expectancy to 33

The Aids pandemic is ravaging countries in sub-Saharan Africa, drastically reducing life expectancy in some parts to less than 33 years, a new UN report said yesterday.

The devastating impact of the crisis can be seen most clearly in seven African countries, including Malawi and Mozambique, where babies born in 2002 are not expected to live past 40 years because of the prevalence of HIV. Children in Zambia, where 17 per cent of the population are infected with the virus, are predicted to live just 32 years. The seven countries have, between them, seen an average drop in life expectancy of 13.5 years since 1990, the UN human development report said.

"In all these countries, Aids is reversing the hard-won development gains of recent decades," said Elizabeth Lwanga, the deputy director of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for Africa. "We need an unprecedented response to this crisis, which is taking a devastating toll on our communities."

With almost a quarter of its population infected with the virus, Zimbabwe has been the country most dramatically affected. Life expectancy there has plummeted from 57 years in 1990 to 34 in 2002.

In Swaziland, where one in three people between the ages of 15 and 49 are Aids sufferers, life expectancy has dropped by almost 20 years, and in Botswana, where the disease affects 37 per cent of the population, people can expect to live 16 years less now than in 1970.


posted by Frodgie at 6:56 AM

 

Philippines begins Iraq pullout

(CNN) -- The Philippines is recalling the chief of its humanitarian force and 10 other personnel in Iraq as part of efforts to comply with the demands of kidnappers.
The hostage-takers originally threatened to behead Filipino Angelo de la Cruz if Manila did not pull out its 51-member humanitarian force from Iraq by July 20.
But in a tape that appeared on Arabic Al-Jazeera network on Thursday, the hostage-takers extended the deadline to the end of the month.
The force was due to leave Iraq on August 20.
The Philippines began withdrawing its force from Iraq on Thursday, and with Friday's recall, only 32 personnel will remain in Iraq.
The government said in a statement on Friday the rest will leave the country shortly.
The 46-year-old father of eight was working as a truck driver in Iraq when he was taken hostage last week.
On the tape released Thursday, de la Cruz appeared on screen, but his voice was not heard.


posted by Frodgie at 6:54 AM

 

Kerry Asks Sen. Clinton to Introduce Bill

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - John Kerry asked Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday to introduce her husband, former President Clinton, on the first night of the Democratic National Convention, ending an intense lobbying campaign by the New York senator's backers angered by her non-speaking role.

The Kerry campaign unveiled its first set of speakers for the convention early this week, including former Presidents Clinton and Carter, Al Gore and others, but the absence of the former first lady drew criticism from Democrats, particularly women. She was to appear on stage with other female senators.

Clinton said she was not disappointed, but a lobbying effort quickly got under way on her behalf.

Kerry, who campaigned in Pennsylvania and West Virginia on Thursday, called Clinton and asked her to introduce her husband.

"Senator Clinton is honored and delighted to have the opportunity to address the convention, and she will continue to do everything she can to elect John Kerry and John Edwards," Philippe Reines, a spokesman for Clinton, said in a statement.

"We are thrilled that Senator Clinton has accepted John Kerry's invitation," Kerry spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said. "Senator Clinton has been a leader in the Democratic Party, and she will play a vital role in laying out" the choice between Kerry and Bush to voters.

On Wednesday, the former chairwoman of the New York State Democratic Party had called the slight of Clinton a "total outrage" and "very stupid." Kerry's campaign responded to Hope's criticism by saying it had no plans for giving the senator a speaking role, because she didn't request one.


posted by Frodgie at 6:52 AM

 

Al-Qaida Has Nuclear Weapons Inside U.S.

A new book written by a former FBI consultant claims that al-Qaida not only has obtained nuclear devices, but also likely has them in the U.S. and will detonate them in the near future.

These chilling allegations appear in "Osama's Revenge: The Next 9/11: What the Media and the Government Haven't Told You," by Paul L. Williams (Prometheus Books).
Williams claims that al-Qaida has been planning a spectacular nuclear attack using six or seven suitcase nuclear bombs that would be detonated simulantaneously in U.S. cities.

"They want the most bang for the buck, and that is nuclear," Williams told NewsMax.

"I expect such an attack would come between now and the end of 2005," the author said.

In addition to writing several books on terrorism, Williams, an investigative journalist, has worked as an FBI consultant.

Williams' contention is not far from what U.S. intelligence believes, a source close to Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge has told NewsMax. The source said Ridge claimed that U.S. intelligence believes terrorists already have smuggled into the U.S. actual atomic devices, as opposed to so-called "dirty nukes" that simply are conventional bombs that help spread radiation.

The Bush administration has warned for years that terrorists pose a nuclear threat to America.

Williams' book presents a review of the increasing spread of nuclear weapons technology, which the author says can be traced to India's nuclear tests in the early 1970s. It accelerated when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.


Shortly after the Indian nuclear tests, Pakistan made an all-out effort to join the nuclear club, the author says. Islamabad received help from sympathetic nations, namely China and North Korea.

Williams traces the rampant spread of nuclear bomb development to a leading Pakistani scientist, Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan.

Khan, described as an "Islamic extremist," also has been depicted by former CIA chief George Tenet as "the father of Pakistan's nuclear program."

It is believed the Pakistani gained his expertise while working in the Netherlands, where he allegedly stole technology used in uranium reprocessing, a key procedure for building an atomic bomb.

Pakistan successfully detonated two nuclear weapons inside a northern mountain range in the late 1990s.

Khan, arrested by Pakistani police in February under White House pressure, admitted selling nuclear technology to numerous foreign countries, including North Korea and Libya.


posted by Frodgie at 1:39 PM

 

Convention to introduce Kerry to U.S.

Democratic Party leaders officially will present Sen. John Kerry to the American people later this month in Boston, elaborately packaged as a war hero, family man and world leader.
The overriding theme of the four-day convention, which begins July 26, will be "Stronger at Home; Respected in the World."

The convention also will provide a national introduction and platform for Mr. Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat, and his running mate, Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina.
"The 2004 Democratic Convention will tell the life stories of John Kerry and John Edwards to the nation — the story of their lifetime of service to the nation and fight for average Americans, and their vision for a stronger and more secure America," said Bill Richardson, a chairman of the 2004 Democratic National Convention.
"We believe in a nation that is stronger at home, respected in the world, and this convention will showcase the team that Americans can trust to always be on their side to achieve that goal," the New Mexico governor said.
Party officials yesterday released the first detailed plans for their nominating convention, in which they hope to "fill in the blanks for voters about the presumptive presidential nominee."

posted by Frodgie at 6:33 AM

 

Bin Laden Associate Turns Self In

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — A senior associate of Usama bin Laden has surrendered to Saudi Arabian authorities, FOX News has confirmed.

Khaled bin Ouda bin Mohammed al-Harbi (search), also known as Abu Suleiman al-Makki or "the crippled sheikh," apparently turned himself in to the Saudi embassy in Tehran, Iran in response to the amnesty offered last month by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah (search) on behalf of his incapacitated brother King Fahd.

He was then flown to Saudi Arabia, U.S. officials told FOX News.

Al-Harbi is best known for being in a videotape that surfaced a few days after Sept. 11, 2001, in which he is seen laughing and smiling with bin Laden as they discuss the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon over a meal, presumably in Afghanistan.

In a statement, the Saudi Interior Ministry said al-Harbi contacted the Embassy in Tehran from the Iranian-Afghan border, where he was stranded. It did not say what al-Harbi was wanted for. His name does not appear on the list of the kingdom's 26 most wanted Islamic militants.


posted by Frodgie at 6:31 AM

 

Bill Cosby reads the riot act

Twice recently, Bill Cosby has read the riot act – to his fellow African-Americans.

In May at a gala at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., celebrating the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court decision that outlawed school segregation, the comedian and actor charged that some "lower economic people" were disgracing Black America and dishonoring those who had fought for civil rights.

Roared Cosby, "They're not holding up their end on this deal."

DeWayne Wickham, a writer for USA Today and Gannett News, got a tape of the speech.

"I'm talking about these people who cry when their son is standing there in an orange [prison jumpsuit]," Cosby told his largely black audience. "Where were you when he was 2? Where were you when he was 12? Where were you when he was 18, and how come you don't know he had a pistol?

"We've got to take the neighborhood back," Cosby said. "They're standing on the corner and can't speak English. I can't even talk the way these people talk: 'Why you ain't. Where you is.' You used to talk a certain way on the corner, and when you got in the house, you switched to English. Everybody knows that at some point you switch to English, except these knuckleheads. You can't be a doctor with that kind of crap coming out of your mouth."


posted by Frodgie at 6:29 AM

 

Car bomb kills at least 10 in Baghdad

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A suicide car bomber detonated early Wednesday near the Green Zone in central Baghdad, killing 10 Iraqis -- seven civilians and three National Guard members, officials said.

At least 40 Iraqi civilians were wounded, according to a U.S. military official and Iraqi interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi. A U.S. soldier also was wounded.

"It is naked aggression against the Iraqi people. We will bring the criminals to justice," Allawi said, suggesting the bombing was in response to the recent arrest of "prominent criminals."

According to police, witnesses saw a car driving slowly in the area shortly before it exploded.

The explosion took place at 9:20 a.m. (1:20 a.m. EDT) about 300-500 meters (985-1,640 feet) from an entrance to the Green Zone, a senior official with the U.S.-led multinational forces said. The area houses the headquarters for the multinational forces.

The heavily guarded area also houses the interim Iraqi government. Visitors come into the restricted area through the checkpoint to do business with the new government.


posted by Frodgie at 6:28 AM

 

Gay Marriage Ban Divides Senate GOP

WASHINGTON (AP) - Short on votes and beset by internal divisions, Senate Republicans struggled Tuesday to salvage a respectable defeat for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, an issue that President Bush pushed toward the top of the election-year agenda.

"This issue is not going away," Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee said in a virtual concession that the measure would fall short of the 60 votes needed to advance past a Wednesday test vote. "Will it be back? Absolutely, yes," he added.

Democrats, many of whom oppose the measure, took delight in the internal Republican woes, and Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois read aloud from a recent statement on the issue by Lynne Cheney, wife of the vice president. "When it comes to conferring legal status on relationships, that is a matter that should be left to the states," he quoted her as saying.

The emotionally charged proposal, backed by the president and many conservatives, provides that marriage within the United States "shall consist only of a man and a woman."


posted by Frodgie at 6:23 AM

 

Romney seen as face of future by party leaders

Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a popular conservative in a bastion of liberalism, is fast becoming a rising Republican star and a potential 2008 presidential candidate by bashing home-state Sen. John Kerry as too left-wing and leading the charge against same-sex "marriage."
Building on his crusade for a constitutional ban on homosexual "marriage" that has put him and his state at the center of the biggest cultural debate of the year, the telegenic Mr. Romney has not only attacked Mr. Kerry as far more liberal than most voters, but has branded his running mate, Sen. John Edwards, as too inexperienced to be next in line for the presidency.

Mr. Romney has vowed to campaign for President Bush "wherever he wants me to."
The governor also plans to deliver an address tomorrow before the National Press Club on the challenges the states face from terrorism, and soon will release a book about how he rescued the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City from bankruptcy and steered the events through a safe and successful conclusion in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.

posted by Frodgie at 6:52 AM

 

Anarchists Pursue Chaos at GOP Convention

NEW YORK — Radical protesters are reportedly trying to cause chaos at the Republican National Convention (search) in New York City at the end of August.

Reports show that fringe groups are hatching a plot on the Internet, telling people how to attack and trick police with the ultimate goal of evacuating Madison Square Garden (search). The suggestions include everything from throwing marbles in the path of police-mounted horses to going to shooting ranges before heading to the convention so that their clothes will reek of gunpowder and trick bomb-sniffing dogs on the subways and commuter trains.

New York City police (search) say they are worried about the tactics diverting their time and resources from preventing authentic attacks, and add that they are preparing for "black blocs" of anarchists who cover their face with bandanas and vandalize corporate targets.


posted by Frodgie at 6:49 AM

 

Security will decide election, candidates say

(CNN) -- While both major candidates made their case Monday that the presidential race will boil down to a question of security, a new poll revealed a significant change in how safe Americans feel.

During a speech at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, President Bush declared half a dozen times that the American people were safer.

The Republican incumbent said the country was safer because of his decision to invade Iraq, even though he acknowledged the weapons of mass destruction that he warned Saddam Hussein possessed have not been found.

"Although we have not found stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction, we were right to go into Iraq," Bush said.

"We have removed a declared enemy of America who had the capability of producing weapons of mass murder and could have passed that capability to terrorists bent on acquiring them. In the world after September 11 [2001], that was a risk we could not afford to take."

Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry rejected Bush's claim that his policies have made America safer.


posted by Frodgie at 6:45 AM

 

Iraq: Do not negotiate on hostages

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Baghdad has urged governments not to negotiate with hostage takers amid uncertainty over whether Manila is going to withdraw its troops earlier than planned.

Militants holding a Filipino in Iraq have said they will release him on Tuesday, according to a diplomatic source in Baghdad.

The news came moments after the Philippine government said it would withdraw its 50-member humanitarian force from Iraq "as soon as possible" to save the life of Angelo de la Cruz, a 46-year-old father of eight.

The statement was made by the Philippines deputy foreign minister Rafael Seguis on the Arabic-language Al-Jazeera network.

The Philippine force is due to depart on August 20 and Seguis did not announce a new departure date.

But the abductors have demanded that the Philippine troops leave Iraq by July 20.

Most governments have said that although they talk with militants, no ransoms have been paid or demands met.


posted by Frodgie at 6:43 AM

 

A nation faces its demons

For 60 years, Germany has been feeling worried. Worried by its own criminal history, worried by the judgement of others - and worried that the lure of Adolf Hitler is not yet dead. Few Germans would seriously argue that modern German democracy is endangered. None the less, the just-in-case taboos remain in place, above all when it comes to the dictator himself.

Elsewhere in Europe, it is easy to find copies of Mein Kampf on the shelves. In the words of the English-language edition, "It remains necessary reading for those who care to safeguard democracy." In Germany, where it was once compulsory reading, it is considered too sensitive to put on sale. Even the dictator's image is subject to powerful taboos. English-language books on the Third Reich often have photographs of the Führer on the cover. When those same books are translated into German, the pictures of Hitler and the swastikas vanish, to be replaced with something more anodyne. Several decades after the war, a German commentator explained why he believed the ban on Mein Kampf to be essential: "The bacillus is too lively, the danger of infection too acute." Even in the 21st century, that fearful logic - though rarely made so explicit - remains in place.

Now, however, remarkable change is on the way. Two new German films both put the Führer unashamedly centre screen.

posted by Frodgie at 6:37 AM

 

Hostage Deadline Extended; Three GIs Slain

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Insurgents killed three U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi civilian in separate attacks, and a militant group threatening to kill its Filipino hostage extended until Tuesday its deadline for Manila (search) to agree to withdraw peacekeepers early.

The Philippine government previously rejected that ultimatum.

Also, Iraqi interim President Ghazi al-Yawer (search) said his government will soon offer an amnesty to those who have fought against the U.S.-led coalition, a British newspaper reported Monday.

"We are offering an amnesty definitely, for people who have not committed too many atrocious acts," al-Yawer was quoted as telling The Financial Times. "Everybody except murderers, rapists and kidnappers."

He said the amnesty would be offered within "a couple of days."

The proposal was first mentioned earlier this month by a spokesman for interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi (search), signaling the new government's desire to distance itself from the 14-month U.S.-led occupation of Iraq.

Also, Iraq's national security adviser, Mouwaffaq al-Rubaie (search), said Sunday the country would honor the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and other international agreements banning the use of chemical and biological weapons.


posted by Frodgie at 6:47 AM

 

Civilization vs. Trivia

ast week, the carnivore Saddam Hussein faced the world in the docket. There was none of the usual Middle East barbarity. The mass murderer was not hooded and then beheaded on tape, in the manner of al Qaeda. Civilization has come to Iraq.

Nor was the destroyer of Iraqi dissidents hitched — Saudi-style — to a Humvee and dragged to pieces through the streets of Baghdad. The pillager of Kuwait did not lose a limb on the precepts of a sharia-inspired fatwa. A young Saddam-like Baathist assassin did not break in and shoot the desecrator of the Mesopotamian marshlands in the back of the head. And a West Bank-like mob did not lynch the torturer of dissidents in the public square. Even al Jazeera, an enthusiast of the usual barbarity, was wondering what the heck was going on in its own neck of the medieval woods.

Surely, the slow emergence of real civilization in Iraq is one of the seminal events in the history of an Arab and Muslim Middle East that has had no prior record of either consensual government or an independent judiciary. Unlike Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot, a global criminal is facing his victims in a legitimate court administered by the beginnings of a free republican government. The more Washington, D.C., insiders insist that the transfer of power was a meaningless construct, the more we are beginning to see the future shape of an autonomous, free, and civilized Iraq. Don't listen to cynical American reporters and played-out professors who laugh at the idea of civilization. Watch instead how dictators and monarchs in the region recoil at it all. After all, such autocrats have lots to worry about: 70 percent of the world is democratic; excluding Israel, 0 percent of the Middle East is.

posted by Frodgie at 6:45 AM

 

Americans object to graphic online war images

NEW YORK (AP) -- Half of Americans object to the online availability of graphic war images, though millions have actively sought them out, a new study finds.

In a report released Thursday, the Pew Internet and American Life Project also found a major cultural divide: Men, Democrats and younger Americans were more likely to approve of having such images on the Web.

Television, newspapers and the Web sites of mainstream media outlets generally refrained from using the most graphic images of Iraqi prisoner abuses and the killings of Nicholas Berg and other Americans in Iraq.

But photos and even video could be readily found elsewhere -- at anti-war sites, Web journals, the Drudge Report and discussion boards frequented by sympathizers of terror groups.

According to the study, 24 percent of adult Internet users, or 30 million people, have seen such graphic images online, and 28 percent of those people actively sought them out. That comes out to more than 8 million active seekers.

Yet overall, Americans disapprove of the postings by a margin of 49 percent to 40 percent. Another 4 percent say approval depends on circumstances, while the rest wouldn't say or have no opinion.


posted by Frodgie at 6:38 AM

 

An arranged marriage ... that may work

Gephardt was the safe choice. The former minority leader in the House would have helped Kerry in his home state, Missouri, a Red State George W. Bush must win again in 2004.

An opponent of NAFTA and the trade deals that have caused the loss of 2.6 million manufacturing jobs, Dick Gephardt could have helped Kerry in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, where this election will be decided.

Not only do Gephardt and Kerry respect and like each other, Gephardt passes the "heft test." No one would question his capacity to stand a heartbeat away. As Bush has in Cheney, Kerry would have had an experienced partner in every foreign-policy deliberation and decision.

Moreover, Gephardt has been vetted by his years in Washington and two runs for the nomination. There was near-zero risk of a scandal exploding or a skeleton turning up in the Gephardt closet. While he would not have added excitement to the ticket, he would have brought strength.

But Kerry passed over his old friend for John Edwards, a man of whom he said before the Iowa caucuses: "When I came back from Vietnam in 1969, I don't know if John Edwards was out of diapers ..."

Ridiculing the notion of so green a rookie leading the party, Kerry added, "In the Senate four years, and that is the full extent of public life – no international experience, no military experience – you can imagine what the advertising is going to be next year."


posted by Frodgie at 6:36 AM

 

Exclusive: Election Day Worries

July 19 issue - American counterterrorism officials, citing what they call "alarming" intelligence about a possible Qaeda strike inside the United States this fall, are reviewing a proposal that could allow for the postponement of the November presidential election in the event of such an attack, NEWSWEEK has learned.

The prospect that Al Qaeda might seek to disrupt the U.S. election was a major factor behind last week's terror warning by Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge. Ridge and other counterterrorism officials concede they have no intel about any specific plots. But the success of March's Madrid railway bombings in influencing the Spanish elections—as well as intercepted "chatter" among Qaeda operatives—has led analysts to conclude "they want to interfere with the elections," says one official.


posted by Frodgie at 6:33 AM