This Website Features Northern NY State News, World News, Jokes, Inspirational Sayings, Email Forwards and every now and then, we add a little satire to the mix.
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Global Earthquake Map
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David Corn | The State of George W. Bush - 2/3/2005
Whether speaking about the Iraq war, gay marriage or Social Security, the president re-affirmed that he does not reside in a reality-based community.

...Bush's approval ratings have been low, but in the aftermath of the Iraqi elections, he approached this speech as a conquering hero - a vindicated hero. There was, of course, no mention of Iraq's (nonexistent) weapons of mass destruction. No recognition that America's standing in the world has fallen to an all-time low. No acknowledgment that the administration had failed to plan adequately for the post-invasion period. Bush has not a bashful bone. For him, the Iraqi election was a signal (from God?): full steam ahead. He did not shy away from the freedom-is-our-mission rhetoric of his inaugural speech, which was widely criticized for being cynically unrealistic...
(FULL STORY)
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Democrats Considering Filibuster of Gonzales
A filibuster, a parliamentary tactic for delaying Senate action, would require Republicans, who hold a 55-44 majority in the Senate, to win over at least five Democrats - or four Democrats plus Vermont Sen. James Jeffords, an independent - to put Gonzales in office.

Democrats were surprisingly united in opposing Gonzales in the Senate Judiciary Committee, something that was not achieved when they voted on current Attorney General John Ashcroft.

The aide, who did not want to be named because discussions were being held in private, said Democrats believe Gonzales is directly linked with prisoner abuses that occurred at Abu Ghraib in Iraq, in Afghanistan and at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and that allowing his confirmation would be akin to supporting the mistreatment.
(FULL STORY)
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A Message From The Editor Of Truthout And Senator Harry Reid - 2/3/2005
Truthout Editor's Note | Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid issued the statement below in response to today's confirmation by the Senate of Alberto Gonzales to be Attorney General. The statement is a powerful renunciation of torture and Gonzales's active role in making it acceptable U.S. policy. While we applaud this position in favor of law and principle, there are a few facts we should not lose sight of: Alberto Gonzales did write, at the behest of George W. Bush, legal opinions that dismissed U.S. law, International law, and the Geneva conventions, laying the groundwork for the atrocities we are discovering at Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo. That very same Alberto Gonzales will now be the highest ranking law enforcement officer in the United States. That is deeply troubling.

For the record, the Senate vote was largely along party lines, with all Republicans and six Democrats voting to confirm. The Democrats who voted to confirm Gonzales were: Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, Ken Salazar of Colorado, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Bill Nelson of Florida, Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Mark Pryor of Arkansas. The final vote was 60-36 in favor of confirmation. Several Democrats and at least one Republican chose not to vote. - ma/to

Voting No on Gonzales
By Senator Harry Reid
t r u t h o u t | Statement
...The Attorney General is the people's lawyer, not the President's lawyer. He is charged with upholding the Constitution and the rule of law. The Attorney General must be independent, and he must be clear that abuses by our Government will not be tolerated. Judge Gonzales's appearance before the Judiciary Committee raised serious questions about his ability to be that force in the Justice Department.
That is why I am going to vote against him.

In 2002, Judge Gonzales provided legal advice to the President of the United States calling parts of the Geneva Conventions obsolete and quaint - that is what he said, they were obsolete and quaint - opening the door for confusion and a range of harsh interrogation techniques.

What are the Geneva Conventions?
At the end of the Civil War, people from around the world decided there should be some semblance of order in how war is conducted. Starting in 1864, there was a convention adopted, and there have been four revisions to the Geneva Convention. That is why it is referred to as the Geneva Conventions because it is, in effect, four treaties.

This is basically an agreement concerning the treatment of prisoners of war, of the sick, wounded, and dead in battle. These are treaties that relate to what happens to human beings in war.
These conventions have been accepted by virtually every nation in the world.

A former Navy judge advocate general, RADM John Hutson, said:

"When you say something down the chain of command, like 'the Geneva Conventions don't apply,' that sets the stage for the kind of chaos we have seen."

The President signed an order accepting the reasoning of the Gonzales memo. The Presidential order was the legal basis for the interrogation techniques and other actions, including torture, which simply took as fact that the Geneva Conventions did not apply...
(FULL STORY)
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Is This The Best We Can Do?
By Marisa Arrona, AlterNet. Posted February 4, 2005.
...As a Latina, I feel my duty to my community is to do my homework — to understand just exactly what Alberto Gonzales will bring to the White House.

There is more to Gonzales than the January 2002 memo he sent to President Bush in which he wrote, "In my judgment, this new paradigm [of war] renders obsolete [the Geneva Convention’s] strict limitations on questioning of enemy prisoners." In that memo, Gonzales acknowledges that this position "would likely provoke widespread condemnation among our allies and in some domestic quarters." Despite repeated requests to explain the memo in his confirmation hearing, Gonzales failed to offer any legal reasoning for his conclusions in the memo and opted instead to "promise" the Senate that, as Attorney General, he will abide by treaties prohibiting the torture of prisoners.
(Full Story)
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Rumsfeld Seeks to Revive Burrowing Nuclear Bomb
Bush budget may fund program that Congress cut.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld sent a memo last month to then-Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham saying next year's budget should include funds to resume study of building an earth-penetrating nuclear weapon designed to destroy hardened underground targets.
(FULL STORY)
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"WHATEVER HAPPENED TO PEACE ON EARTH?"
Rep. Dennis Kucinich, AlterNet
Willie Nelson's song does not confuse peace with passivity or promote acquiescence to
violence in the guise of championing democracy.
http://www.alternet.org/story/20867/
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Torture Continues: Iraqis Beaten, Hung by Wrists, Shocked
http://www.truthout.org/docs_05/012605Z.shtml
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 Depleted uranium: Dirty bombs, dirty missiles, dirty bullets
A death sentence here and abroad
“Military men are just dumb stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy.” - Henry Kissinger, quoted in “Kiss the Boys Goodbye: How the United States Betrayed Its Own POW’s in Vietnam”
(FULL STORY)
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Who's Dying in Our War?
The answer is Army Reservists and National Guardsmen such as Californian Patrick McCaffrey.
CAMP ANACONDA - Some months after the Americans took over the sprawling Balad Air Base, about 50 miles north of Baghdad, someone posted an enigmatic sign on the main gate asking: "Is Today the Day?" Soldiers at the base, which the U.S. military renamed Logistics Support Area Anaconda, or Camp Anaconda, take turns speculating about what the sign means. In the tense months leading up to today's planned national elections in Iraq, the population at the base has swollen to more than 22,000 soldiers and civilian contractors. Some Camp Anaconda residents-;installed in relative comfort inside the 15-square-mile compound that now features four dining halls, two swimming pools, a first-run movie theater and a Burger King franchise-;have concluded that the sign is a military safety message: "Stay Alert!"
(FULL STORY)
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Saturday, January 29th , World Indigo Day, will go down in history as
the day that the Indigo children finally came out of the closet and
showed the world the full force of their unique powers and their mission.
What Neale Donald Walsch, Stephen Simon & Jimmy Twyman have
achieved, first with the making and now with this worldwide premiere of
INDIGO, The Movie is nothing short of astonishing.
Over 100,000 people will see this movie tomorrow.  Indigo Day has already
begun in Australia!!!!
Many U.S. Locations are completely sold out.  More will be made available as
the weeks progress.
CHILDREN OF THE NEW EARTH ARE IN THE MOVIE, AND ON THE MOVE!!!!
For more updates in this, please visit: 
http://www.indigothemovie.com
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The 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence
Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence? Five signers were captured by the British as traitors and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons serving in the Continental Army; another had two sons captured. Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War. They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. What kind of men were they? Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated. But they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured. Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags. Thomas McKean...
(FULL STORY)
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  Survival Links
Rhema's Terrorism, Disaster and Emergency Preparedness Resources I Wilderness Survival I Survival I.Q. I Wild Food I
Edible Wild Kitchen I Foraging the Edible Wild I Food and Waterin an Emergency I Disaster Preparedness Guide I
Root Cellars I Home Storage of Fruits and Vegetables in Root Cellars I Root Cellar Storage I Emergency Survival List I
~Alternative Energy~
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Quotable quote By One Of President Bush's Family Heroes
"Naturally, the common people don't want war, but after all, it is the leaders of a country who determine a policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag people along whether it is a Democracy, or a Fascist Dictatorship, or a Parliament, or a Communist Dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders.  This is easy.  All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked and denounce the Pacifists for lack of Patriotism and exposing the country to danger.  It works the same in every country."
[Hermann Goering] - Hitler's Reich-Marshall
at the Nuremberg Trials after WWII
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How Bush's Grandfather
Helped Hitler's Rise To Power
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1312540,00.html
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On September 12th, Le Monde said "Nous Sommes Tous Les Americans!!!
" There was an opportunity for the people of the world to finally come together, putting aside our petty differences to work as one humanity. The American Government instead saw an opportunity to loot and pillage, squandering all goodwill through its arrogance, its greed, its corruption. Once a beacon of hope,
 the United States has now come to represent the abuse of power...
http://www.breadwithcircus.com/leader.html
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A list of aid agencies accepting contributions for
those affected by the earthquake and tsunamis.
http://www.alternet.org/story/20870/
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Pictures of the Tsunami in action.
 http://coreykoberg.com/Tsunami/
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This is a crime of unprecedented proportions and should be exposed.*
..These reports confirm that the US military base on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean received a warning of the impending tsunami, but civilians did not. As we know now, the warning was not passed on...
(FULL STORY)
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...At present, more than 90 percent of the world's wealth, in a world of six billion people, is controlled by less than 10,000 individuals, mostly from two dozen families who can trace their bluebloody lineage back many hundreds of years. At the head of the line is the Rothschild family, which controls all the others. It has been estimated that the aggregate Rothschild wealth is at a minimum 5,000 times greater than the annual gross national product of the United States, although it's difficult to calculate, because the Rothschild octopus (and its loyal lieutenants of the Rockefeller family) literally own the U.S. money supply, the Federal Reserve, and all the major banks of the Western world.

Many communities around the country, such as Ithaca, N.Y., have already begun implementing their own alternative currency systems, but the vast majority of Americans are trapped in a financial system that will consume the assets of almost everyone should it ever collapse, or sag significantly, an event which many knowledgeable observers think is imminent...
http://www.rense.com/general61/fore.htm
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* Study: Soaring Medical Bills Account for Half of All U.S. Bankruptcies *
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/02/04/1537243
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THE HOMELAND SECURITY STATE
Nicholas Turse, Tomdispatch.com
In the ever-evolving interest of 'security,' civil rights
are disappearing before our eyes. Think someone's watching?
They probably are.
http://www.alternet.org/rights/21128/
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EDITORS NOTE: We don't support special interest groups and they don't support us. I  put countless hours into researching and building this website to help educate the world about news stories that they might not see otherwise.  Because of that fact, we welcome all website and news related viewer feedback from all countries.  This site is here to help everyone we can to be better informed about what is going on in all parts of the world.

If you have a link or a news story that you would like to see posted on this website, please send it to me in an email for my consideration.  This website is one of several websites owned and operated by just one person. However, none of them would be anywhere near as well known and liked around the world without the help of my family, friends and viewers like you.
Email Us
NOTE ABOUT SENT EMAILS: If you send it... I own it and I can do whatever I want to with it !
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Viewer Email Dated - 2/2/2005
Subject: Questions I have
Dear friend,
Last week I was proud to introduce the Senate Democratic agenda and ask all of you to become citizen cosponsors of it. What makes me prouder still is that more than 25,000 of you choose to stand with Senate Democrats and fight for the American values of opportunity, security and responsibility.

If you haven’t already you can still become a citizen cosponsor of the Democratic Agenda by visiting:

http://democrats.senate.gov/cosponsor-form.html

Tonight the President will go before Congress and give his State of the Union address. With all the talk coming from the White House about the need to privatize Social Security, I think there are two important questions for the president to answer.

First, to what extent will Americans have their guaranteed benefits cut under your proposal?

Second, how much additional debt will be added under your privatization plan?

These are the two main questions Americans are asking and it is time for all of us to get some straight answers.

For 70 years, Social Security has been a remarkable success. If not for the program, about 50 percent of seniors would be living in poverty. Instead, that figure is less than 10 percent.

The Republican privatization plan would only dismantle Social Security. By diverting payroll taxes from the Trust Fund, this plan amounts to a large cut in Social Security funding. That, in turn, would lead to deep benefit cuts. And these cuts would harm all seniors, even those who choose not to participate in privatized accounts.

Beyond the deep benefit cuts, the White House plan calls for borrowing more than $2 trillion, much of which will come from countries like China and Japan. I think that's a mistake. Social Security's health should not depend on the willingness of foreign countries to lend us money.
I look forward to hearing the President remarks on this subject.
Thank you,
Harry Reid
 

New York State Facts - kids room

What is a Billion?
A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but one
advertising agency did a good job of putting that figure into
perspective in one of its releases:
A billion seconds ago - it was 1959.
A billion minutes ago - Jesus was alive
A billion hours ago- our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.
A billion dollars ago - was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the
rate that the Federal Government in Washington D.C. spends it.
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Despite what President Bush says, the war on Iraq is not over. The cost of this war to the American tax payer is going up every second. Since we can't put a price on human lives, we will just give you the figures in tax dollars that the American tax payers have paid as of right now. These figures were provided by the Costofwar.com website.

Cost of the War in Iraq

$175,658,511,461

To see more details, click here.

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This page was last updated:
01/15/08 04:46 PM

 

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