*Ø* Ransom Payments Seen to Fuel Hostage Crisis
"BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The release of two Italian aid workers in Iraq has raised hopes other hostages may soon be freed, but reports that a large ransom was paid may only feed the burgeoning hostage crisis...
"Gustavo Selva, an Italian lawmaker, told French radio a ransom of around $1 million -- a sum already mentioned in Arabic media reports in recent days -- had been handed over." Full text
How do you feel about the paying of ransoms? Or giving in to the demands of hostage-takers? Please, feel free to comment below!
"BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The release of two Italian aid workers in Iraq has raised hopes other hostages may soon be freed, but reports that a large ransom was paid may only feed the burgeoning hostage crisis..."Gustavo Selva, an Italian lawmaker, told French radio a ransom of around $1 million -- a sum already mentioned in Arabic media reports in recent days -- had been handed over." Full text
How do you feel about the paying of ransoms? Or giving in to the demands of hostage-takers? Please, feel free to comment below!
"In advance of next week's hearing, a letter was sent to the parole board on behalf of Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, requesting that Chapman be denied parole, according to a source close to Ono, who spoke only on condition of anonymity ... 
"The fast-food giant McDonald's is used to serving up super- size profits for its shareholders as well as bulging cartons of burgers and fries to a hungry public. But yesterday it was explaining away a significant decline in reported profits as it revealed its restaurants had been hit by a big drop in turnover last year.
"Chief among its tormentors is Morgan Spurlock, a film director, whose attempt to exist on a pure diet of McDonald's for a month in the hit documentary Super Size Me saw him pile on 30lbs and suffer a falling sex drive. Meanwhile, the so-called McLibel Two have reopened the scars left by the longest trial in English legal history by taking their case to the European Court of Human Rights. The company is also braced for compensation claims from obese former customers who claim their health suffered by eating too many burgers ...
Just some gleanings from the Web. Paul Berman's slate.com article on 
September 28, 1887 In one of the worst floods in history, ‘China’s Sorrow’, the Huang Ho River (Huang He; Yellow River) in China flooded, killing about 1 million people. The flooding covered about 130,000 square kilometres (50,000 sq. miles) and completely buried many villages under silt. More than two million people probably died from drowning, starvation, or the epidemics that ensued. Ten years before, in 1877, another million had died in the flooded Huang Ho, and two years later, another flood destroyed 1,500 villages.
The centenarian stopped smoking at the age of 99 because he couldn't afford the cigars. 
September 27, 2003 Colin Powell publicly lied that the Clinton administration "conducted a four-day bombing campaign in late 1998 based on the intelligence that he [UNSCOM director, Richard Butler] had. That resulted in the weapons inspectors being thrown out."
We've all read it before, but it never hurts to be reminded of the warning with which US President Eisenhower cautioned the American people in his parting speech. We've seen his prophecy come true in our times. 
"Rumours of a link between the US first family and the Nazi war machine have circulated for decades. Now the Guardian can reveal how repercussions of events that culminated in action under the Trading with the Enemy Act are still being felt by today's president
1983 On this day, it is likely that more lives were saved than on any other occasion in history, and it was by a man most of us haven’t heard of, and because he refused to obey orders. 
"Iraq's appointed leader, Ayad Allawi, put on an impressive performance yesterday in Washington ...
"The polls are wrong. They are all over the map like diarrhea. On Friday, one poll had Bush 13 points ahead -- and another poll had them both tied. There are three reasons why the polls are b.s.: One, they are polling 'likely voters'. 'Likely' means those who have consistently voted in the past few elections. So that cuts out young people who are voting for the first time and a ton of non-voters who are definitely going to vote in THIS election. Second, they are not polling people who use their cell phone as their primary phone. Again, that means 
"Dogs can be trained to sniff out bladder cancer, the first controlled experiments published claim.
"BERLIN (Reuters) - A German telecommunications company said on Tuesday it is developing the first mobile phone that will alert users when their breath is bad or if they are giving off offensive smells.
"The chemical attack on Halabja – just one of 40 targeted at Iraq's own people – provided a glimpse of the crimes Saddam Hussein is willing to commit, and the kind of threat he now presents to the entire world."
September 21, 1995 The milk miracle of New Delhi, India which spread worldwide and finished in 24 hours as suddenly as it had started. It has been called “The best documented paranormal phenomenon of modern times.” 
"Johannesburg -- The world's patience is running out on war-torn Darfur and Sudan has to immediately stop all rights abuses and end a cycle of broken promises, a senior Amnesty International official said on Sunday.
It's unthinkable, unimaginable, that the September 11, 2001 attack on America was anything but what the US Government told us it was. I admit that I have doubts about that (although persuaded of many problems with the government's use of it), but until I see irrefutable evidence to the contrary, I accept the received wisdom.
"Tony Blair was warned a year before invading Iraq that a stable post-war government would be impossible without keeping large numbers of troops there for 'many years', secret government papers reveal.
Sanctions against rogue regimes would have been abandoned if Dick Cheney had had his way. 
Some of these websites are like the Mary fucking Celeste, ghost ships endlessly sailing the seas of the Internet unmanned. But getting cents-for-clicks channeled into bank accounts.
U.S. Intelligence Shows Pessimism on Iraq's Future
"Politicians from Northern Ireland's main parties are beginning intensive negotiations aimed at restoring devolution.
Hicks unlikely to get fair trial, lawyer says
"The US Supreme Court has the opportunity to consign the execution of child offenders to history and bring the USA into line with the vast majority of countries that have already done so, said Amnesty International today as it published a new report on the issue. 
"LONDON (Reuters) - Six pro-hunting demonstrators have burst onto the floor of parliament in the week's second audacious breach of security at a landmark site.
"The intrusion came as some 10,000 protesters gathered outside parliament in a rally against the likely vote to ban fox hunting.
The 
"BANGKOK, Sept. 9 (Xinhuanet)-- A group of Thai Buddhists on Wednesday gave the United States Embassy to Bangkok a petition demanding a ban on a Hollywood movie for its controversial poster, local press reported on Thursday.
Today's edition of 
Electioneering leader of the Australian Labor Party, Mark Latham, has announced an education funding policy that will take a little of the government funding of the richest private schools and redistribute it to some less-advantaged schools. Labor says it wants a level playing field.
Activist scales Buck House for fathers' rights
"A furious row has broken out over claims in a new book by BBC broadcaster James Naughtie that US Secretary of State Colin Powell described neo-conservatives in the Bush administration as 'fucking crazies' during the build-up to war in Iraq. 
Day of Driving the Nail, Roman Empire 
The 
Another reminder to Australians about the anger their government, with its cruel policies, has naturally caused in the Muslim world. News from Australia's nearest neighbour, Indonesia (the nation with the largest Muslim population):
Free Iraq! with every purchase
"Al Qaeda kingpin Osama bin Laden, reportedly 'furious' that his name was not mentioned once at last week's Republican National Convention, fired his publicist today and warned that more changes in the Qaeda publicity department may be imminent.
"Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams has said that the Good Friday Agreement stands in 'considerable difficulty' ahead of talks aimed at restoring devolution. 
Abbots Bromley Horn (Antler Dance; Ceremony of the Deermen), Abbots Bromley, UK
"Sir Mark, freed from house arrest in Cape Town on Friday after his mother, Baroness Thatcher, put up £165,000 bail money, is being investigated under South Africa's Foreign Military Assistance Act for his alleged part in financing a botched coup against President Teodoro Obiang Nguema's regime in March. Equatorial Guinea officials are due to arrive in South Africa today, and may be allowed to question him, but the west African nation wants Sir Mark and other Britons, including Simon Mann, an ex-SAS officer facing sentence in Zimbabwe on arms charges, Greg Wales, a British businessman, and Ely Calil, a London-based oil trader accused of masterminding the plot, to face its own justice ...
"The interim Iraqi government's decision to extend a month-long ban on Aljazeera's reporting in the war-torn country has been criticised by the network and media rights groups.
I'd hoped to post some more of 
But OSC spokesperson Cathy Deeds told Muckraker that her agency is merely "restating the Hatch Act" in response to repeated queries over the last several months from federal employees at various agencies about which campaign activities they can participate in and what federal property is fair game. [Yeah, yeah. -v] On Aug. 9, the office issued a government-wide guidance in an effort "to clear up the confusion." That just happened to be the very day that John Kerry made a campaign stop at the Grand Canyon and delivered a speech criticizing the shortfall of funding for national parks under the Bush administration. [Emphasis added. -v]
It has never snowed in Sydney, as far as anyone knows, but it does get the occasional good hail storm. The one on 
While I'm at it, I must mention I'm a bit fed up with 
It's all for 
"The bird flu virus that can kill humans has the potential to be spread by cats, scientists have found.
"The Science Museum is opening up its vast storerooms in west London.
Police reluctantly bully demonstrators
"Millions of business users face problems when installing Microsoft's big security update for Windows XP. 
EU claims ‘victory’ over US in Athens
"He also said that European Commission president Romano Prodi hoped that the blue EU flag with its 12 gold stars would be featured for the first time at the 2008 Beijing Games." 
