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Could you please provide a link to this.
Most of it is exaggerated generalizations, with most of the rest being suppositions without fact. And I cant find any credible evidence to back them up.
"Since 1979, Shia radicals have been running Iran, and supporting Islamic terrorism. But most Islamic terrorists are Sunnis" - I have found no evidence of Iran supporting Sunni Terrorists.
Just a terrible article to foment hatred and more war.
Shermann
Government is not inherently evil.
Just some of the people in government. There are also some great public servants. They are just fewer in number!!!
Shermann
In Lebanon, Christians and Muslims are protesting the Current Government together.
Being a Christian in Iran is not all peaches and cream, so to speak. A Christian male is worth 1/12 of a Muslim male according to Shariah Law, and a some of the Fundamentalist Muslims like to be violent with Christians. However, Christian Mass, Christmas, and Easter are protected by Iranian Law. Muslims dont have masses. There is currently a case in front of the Mullahs (Amadinejads bosses) to make a Christian Male equal to a Muslim Male.
People need to keep in mind that Iran is a Republic with full voting, and their constitution is only 27 years old. When the US constitution was 27 years old, we could walk down the street and shoot a Black or Indian person.
Iran has first made security, food, shelter, and education their priorities. More freedoms will come in time.
Shermann
The point here is that it is virtually impossible to tell what Iran is Saying if you read the Main Stream News. Everything is either mistranslated, or plain made up.
Too much propoganda instead of accuracy.
President Bush had 3 quotes by Amadinejad in his 9-11-2006 speech. Two were badly mistranslated, and one was flat out made up.
All I ask for is accuracy from our Government and Press.
Regardless of the Topic. You should be interested in that also.
Shermann
You Mean like this?????
And I have had this authenticated by someone who speaks Farsi
"WIPED OFF THE MAP" - The Rumor of the Century
by Arash Norouzi
Global Research, January 20, 2007
The Mossadegh Project
Across the world, a dangerous rumor has spread that could have catastrophic implications. According to legend, Iran's President has threatened to destroy Israel, or, to quote the misquote, "Israel must be wiped off the map". Contrary to popular belief, this statement was never made, as the following article will prove.
BACKGROUND:
On Tuesday, October 25th, 2005 at the Ministry of Interior conference hall in Tehran, newly elected Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad delivered a speech at a program, reportedly attended by thousands, titled "The World Without Zionism". Large posters surrounding him displayed this title prominently in English, obviously for the benefit of the international press. Below the poster's title was a slick graphic depicting an hour glass containing planet Earth at its top. Two small round orbs representing the United States and Israel are shown falling through the hour glass' narrow neck and crashing to the bottom.
Before we get to the infamous remark, it's important to note that the "quote" in question was itself a quote— they are the words of the late Ayatollah Khomeini, the father of the Islamic Revolution. Although he quoted Khomeini to affirm his own position on Zionism, the actual words belong to Khomeini and not Ahmadinejad. Thus, Ahmadinejad has essentially been credited (or blamed) for a quote that is not only unoriginal, but represents a viewpoint already in place well before he ever took office.
THE ACTUAL QUOTE:
So what did Ahmadinejad actually say? To quote his exact words in farsi:
"Imam ghoft een rezhim-e ishghalgar-e qods bayad az safheh-ye ruzgar mahv shavad."
That passage will mean nothing to most people, but one word might ring a bell: rezhim-e. It is the word "Regime", pronounced just like the English word with an extra "eh" sound at the end. Ahmadinejad did not refer to Israel the country or Israel the land mass, but the Israeli regime. This is a vastly significant distinction, as one cannot wipe a regime off the map. Ahmadinejad does not even refer to Israel by name, he instead uses the specific phrase "rezhim-e ishghalgar-e qods" (regime occupying Jerusalem).
So this raises the question.. what exactly did he want "wiped from the map"? The answer is: nothing. That's because the word "map" was never used. The Persian word for map, "nagsheh", is not contained anywhere in his original farsi quote, or, for that matter, anywhere in his entire speech. Nor was the western phrase "wipe out" ever said. Yet we are led to believe that Iran's President threatened to "wipe Israel off the map", despite never having uttered the words "map", "wipe out" or even "Israel".
THE PROOF:
The full quote translated directly to English:
"The Imam said this regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time".
Word by word translation:
Imam (Khomeini) ghoft (said) een (this) rezhim-e (regime) ishghalgar-e (occupying) qods (Jerusalem) bayad (must) az safheh-ye ruzgar (from page of time) mahv shavad (vanish from).
Here is the full transcript of the speech in farsi, archived on Ahmadinejad's web site
www.president.ir/farsi/ahmadinejad/speeches/1384/aban-84/840804sahyonizm.htm
THE SPEECH AND CONTEXT:
While the false "wiped off the map" extract has been repeated infinitely without verification, Ahmadinejad's actual speech itself has been almost entirely ignored. Given the importance placed on the "map" comment, it would be sensible to present his words in their full context to get a fuller understanding of his position. In fact, by looking at the entire speech, there is a clear, logical trajectory leading up to his call for a "world without Zionism". One may disagree with his reasoning, but critical appraisals are infeasible without first knowing what that reasoning is.
In his speech, Ahmadinejad declares that Zionism is the West's apparatus of political oppression against Muslims. He says the "Zionist regime" was imposed on the Islamic world as a strategic bridgehead to ensure domination of the region and its assets. Palestine, he insists, is the frontline of the Islamic world's struggle with American hegemony, and its fate will have repercussions for the entire Middle East.
Ahmadinejad acknowledges that the removal of America's powerful grip on the region via the Zionists may seem unimaginable to some, but reminds the audience that, as Khomeini predicted, other seemingly invincible empires have disappeared and now only exist in history books. He then proceeds to list three such regimes that have collapsed, crumbled or vanished, all within the last 30 years:
(1) The Shah of Iran- the U.S. installed monarch
(2) The Soviet Union
(3) Iran's former arch-enemy, Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein
In the first and third examples, Ahmadinejad prefaces their mention with Khomeini's own words foretelling that individual regime's demise. He concludes by referring to Khomeini's unfulfilled wish: "The Imam said this regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time. This statement is very wise". This is the passage that has been isolated, twisted and distorted so famously. By measure of comparison, Ahmadinejad would seem to be calling for regime change, not war.
THE ORIGIN:
One may wonder: where did this false interpretation originate? Who is responsible for the translation that has sparked such worldwide controversy? The answer is surprising.
The inflammatory "wiped off the map" quote was first disseminated not by Iran's enemies, but by Iran itself. The Islamic Republic News Agency, Iran's official propaganda arm, used this phrasing in the English version of some of their news releases covering the World Without Zionism conference. International media including the BBC, Al Jazeera, Time magazine and countless others picked up the IRNA quote and made headlines out of it without verifying its accuracy, and rarely referring to the source. Iran's Foreign Minister soon attempted to clarify the statement, but the quote had a life of its own. Though the IRNA wording was inaccurate and misleading, the media assumed it was true, and besides, it made great copy.
Amid heated wrangling over Iran's nuclear program, and months of continuous, unfounded accusations against Iran in an attempt to rally support for preemptive strikes against the country, the imperialists had just been handed the perfect raison d'être to invade. To the war hawks, it was a gift from the skies.
It should be noted that in other references to the conference, the IRNA's translation changed. For instance, "map" was replaced with "earth". In some articles it was "The Qods occupier regime should be eliminated from the surface of earth", or the similar "The Qods occupying regime must be eliminated from the surface of earth". The inconsistency of the IRNA's translation should be evidence enough of the unreliability of the source, particularly when transcribing their news from Farsi into the English language.
THE REACTION:
The mistranslated "wiped off the map" quote attributed to Iran's President has been spread worldwide, repeated thousands of times in international media, and prompted the denouncements of numerous world leaders. Virtually every major and minor media outlet has published or broadcast this false statement to the masses. Big news agencies such as The Associated Press and Reuters refer to the misquote, literally, on an almost daily basis.
Following news of Iran's remark, condemnation was swift. British Prime Minister Tony Blair expressed "revulsion" and implied that it might be necessary to attack Iran. U.N. chief Kofi Annan cancelled his scheduled trip to Iran due to the controversy. Ariel Sharon demanded that Iran be expelled from the United Nations for calling for Israel's destruction. Shimon Peres, more than once, threatened to wipe Iran off the map. More recently, Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu, who has warned that Iran is "preparing another holocaust for the Jewish state" is calling for Ahmadinejad to be tried for war crimes for inciting genocide.
The artificial quote has also been subject to additional alterations. U.S. officials and media often take the liberty of dropping the "map" reference altogether, replacing it with the more acutely threatening phrase "wipe Israel off the face of the earth". Newspaper and magazine articles dutifully report Ahmadinejad has "called for the destruction of Israel", as do senior officials in the United States government.
President George W. Bush said the comments represented a "specific threat" to destroy Israel. In a March 2006 speech in Cleveland, Bush vowed he would resort to war to protect Israel from Iran, because, "..the threat from Iran is, of course, their stated objective to destroy our strong ally Israel." Former Presidential advisor Richard Clarke told Australian TV that Iran "talks openly about destroying Israel", and insists, "The President of Iran has said repeatedly that he wants to wipe Israel off the face of the earth". In an October 2006 interview with Amy Goodman, former UN Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter referred to Ahmadinejad as "the idiot that comes out and says really stupid, vile things, such as, 'It is the goal of Iran to wipe Israel off the face of the earth' ". The consensus is clear.
Confusing matters further, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad pontificates rather than give a direct answer when questioned about the statement, such as in Lally Weymouth's Washington Post interview in September 2006:
Are you really serious when you say that Israel should be wiped off the face of the Earth?
We need to look at the scene in the Middle East — 60 years of war, 60 years of displacement, 60 years of conflict, not even a day of peace. Look at the war in Lebanon, the war in Gaza — what are the reasons for these conditions? We need to address and resolve the root problem.
Your suggestion is to wipe Israel off the face of the Earth?
Our suggestion is very clear:... Let the Palestinian people decide their fate in a free and fair referendum, and the result, whatever it is, should be accepted.... The people with no roots there are now ruling the land.
You've been quoted as saying that Israel should be wiped off the face of the Earth. Is that your belief?
What I have said has made my position clear. If we look at a map of the Middle East from 70 years ago...
So, the answer is yes, you do believe that it should be wiped off the face of the Earth?
Are you asking me yes or no? Is this a test? Do you respect the right to self-determination for the Palestinian nation? Yes or no? Is Palestine, as a nation, considered a nation with the right to live under humane conditions or not? Let's allow those rights to be enforced for these 5 million displaced people.
The exchange is typical of Ahmadinejad's interviews with the American media. Predictably, both Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes and CNN's Anderson Cooper asked if he wants to "wipe Israel off the map". As usual, the question is thrown back in the reporter's face with his standard "Don't the Palestinians have rights?, etc." retort (which is never directly answered either). Yet he never confirms the "map" comment to be true. This did not prevent Anderson Cooper from referring to earlier portions of his interview after a commercial break and lying, "as he said earlier, he wants Israel wiped off the map".
Even if every media outlet in the world were to retract the mistranslated quote tomorrow, the major damage has already been done, providing the groundwork for the next phase of disinformation: complete character demonization. Ahmadinejad, we are told, is the next Hitler, a grave threat to world peace who wants to bring about a new Holocaust. According to some detractors, he not only wants to destroy Israel, but after that, he will nuke America, and then Europe! An October 2006 memo titled Words of Hate: Iran's Escalating Threats released by the powerful Israeli lobby group AIPAC opens with the warning, "Ahmadinejad and other top Iranian leaders are issuing increasingly belligerent statements threatening to destroy the United States, Europe and Israel." These claims not only fabricate an unsubstantiated threat, but assume far more power than he actually possesses. Alarmists would be better off monitoring the statements of the ultra-conservative Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, who holds the most power in Iran.
As Iran's U.N. Press Officer, M.A. Mohammadi, complained to The Washington Post in a June 2006 letter:
It is not amazing at all, the pick-and-choose approach of highlighting the misinterpreted remarks of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in October and ignoring this month's remarks by Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, that "We have no problem with the world. We are not a threat whatsoever to the world, and the world knows it. We will never start a war. We have no intention of going to war with any state."
The Israeli government has milked every drop of the spurious quote to its supposed advantage. In her September 2006 address to the United Nations General Assembly, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni accused Iran of working to nuke Israel and bully the world. "They speak proudly and openly of their desire to 'wipe Israel off the map.' And now, by their actions, they pursue the weapons to achieve this objective to imperil the region and threaten the world." Addressing the threat in December, a fervent Prime Minister Ehud Olmert inadvertently disclosed that his country already possesses nuclear weapons: "We have never threatened any nation with annihilation. Iran, openly, explicitly and publicly threatens to wipe Israel off the map. Can you say that this is the same level, when they are aspiring to have nuclear weapons, as America, France, Israel, Russia?"
MEDIA IRRESPONSIBILITY:
On December 13, 2006, more than a year after The World Without Zionism conference, two leading Israeli newspapers, The Jerusalem Post and Haaretz, published reports of a renewed threat from Ahmadinejad. The Jerusalem Post's headline was Ahmadinejad: Israel will be 'wiped out', while Haaretz posted the title Ahmadinejad at Holocaust conference: Israel will 'soon be wiped out'.
Where did they get their information? It turns out that both papers, like most American and western media, rely heavily on write ups by news wire services such as the Associated Press and Reuters as a source for their articles. Sure enough, their sources are in fact December 12th articles by Reuter's Paul Hughes [Iran president says Israel's days are numbered], and the AP's Ali Akbar Dareini [Iran President: Israel Will be wiped out].
The first five paragraphs of the Haaretz article, credited to "Haaretz Service and Agencies", are plagiarized almost 100% from the first five paragraphs of the Reuters piece. The only difference is that Haaretz changed "the Jewish state" to "Israel" in the second paragraph, otherwise they are identical.
The Jerusalem Post article by Herb Keinon pilfers from both the Reuters and AP stories. Like Haaretz, it uses the following Ahmadinejad quote without attribution: ["Just as the Soviet Union was wiped out and today does not exist, so will the Zionist regime soon be wiped out," he added]. Another passage apparently relies on an IRNA report:
"The Zionist regime will be wiped out soon the same way the Soviet Union was, and humanity will achieve freedom," Ahmadinejad said at Tuesday's meeting with the conference participants in his offices, according to Iran's official news agency, IRNA.
He said elections should be held among "Jews, Christians and Muslims so the population of Palestine can select their government and destiny for themselves in a democratic manner."
Once again, the first sentence above was wholly plagiarized from the AP article. The second sentence was also the same, except "He called for elections" became "He said elections should be held..".
It gets more interesting.
The quote used in the original AP article and copied in The Jerusalem Post article supposedly derives from the IRNA. If true, this can easily be checked. Care to find out? Go to:
www.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-234/0612134902101231.htm
There you will discover the actual IRNA quote was:
"As the Soviet Union disappeared, the Zionist regime will also vanish and humanity will be liberated".
Compare this to the alleged IRNA quote reported by the Associated Press:
"The Zionist regime will be wiped out soon the same way the Soviet Union was, and humanity will achieve freedom".
In the IRNA's actual report, the Zionist regime will vanish just as the Soviet Union disappeared. Vanish. Disappear. In the dishonest AP version, the Zionist regime will be "wiped out". And how will it be wiped out? "The same way the Soviet Union was". Rather than imply a military threat or escalation in rhetoric, this reference to Russia actually validates the intended meaning of Ahmadinejad's previous misinterpreted anti-Zionist statements.
What has just been demonstrated is irrefutable proof of media manipulation and propaganda in action. The AP deliberately alters an IRNA quote to sound more threatening. The Israeli media not only repeats the fake quote but also steals the original authors' words. The unsuspecting public reads this, forms an opinion and supports unnecessary wars of aggression, presented as self defense, based on the misinformation.
This scenario mirrors the kind of false claims that led to the illegal U.S. invasion of Iraq, a war now widely viewed as a catastrophic mistake. And yet the Bush administration and the compliant corporate media continue to marinate in propaganda and speculation about attacking Iraq's much larger and more formidable neighbor, Iran. Most of this rests on the unproven assumption that Iran is building nuclear weapons, and the lie that Iran has vowed to physically destroy Israel. Given its scope and potentially disastrous outcome, all this amounts to what is arguably the rumor of the century.
Iran's President has written two rather philosophical letters to America. In his first letter, he pointed out that "History shows us that oppressive and cruel governments do not survive". With this statement, Ahmadinejad has also projected the outcome of his own backwards regime, which will likewise "vanish from the page of time".
Arash Norouzi is an artist and co-founder of The Mossadegh Project.
Why dont you provide some irrefutable evidence of your claim.
Shermann
As John Dean said:
"Noone died in Watergate"
Shermann
Actually, America is a one party system divided into two halves!!!!
Shermann
You would have to trust someone who supports gay rights.
It shows conviction, and the ability to stand alone.
Shermann
Pelosi is a Chicken Hawk also.
Was a big supporter of the war.
And there is no exit from that.
Check out her connections to Israel!!!
Shermann
I never seem to have enough of anything, but I like to be diversified.
The last time I was not, I got killed on SLJB.
Live and Learn!!!
Shermann
I recently picked up some RLTR - This stock could really move soon!!!
Shermann
Bushes Billion Dollar US Embassy in Iraq
New U.S. Embassy in Iraq cloaked in mystery
Baghdad locale, slated to be completed in 2007, to be largest of its Kind.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12319798/
Shermann
Karen Webb: Alberto Gonzales es loco en la cabeza
Alberto has gone completely round the bend and over the cliff into lunacy. Are they giving up on the idea of defining who gets habeas corpus, i.e., prisoners of war can get it so the guys at Gatmo aren't prisoners of war, but enemy combatants. But in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, he said:
"There is no expressed grant of habeas in the Constitution; there's a prohibition against taking it away," Gonzales said.
The Constitution prohibits taking away things we don't have? How do we know we have it? I am with Arlen Specter, but I am not as nice. I am sure I would have jumped over the railing, grabbed him by the hair and said, "Are you out of your friggin mind, Al?" The Daily Show should love this one.
Gonzales's remark left Specter, the committee's ranking Republican, stammering.
"Wait a minute," Specter interjected. "The Constitution says you can't take it away except in case of rebellion or invasion. Doesn't that mean you have the right of habeas corpus unless there's a rebellion or invasion?"
Gonzales continued, "The Constitution doesn't say every individual in the United States or citizen is hereby granted or assured the right of habeas corpus. It doesn't say that. It simply says the right shall not be suspended" except in cases of rebellion or invasion.
If you don't have it, obviously you can't have it take away, but Al, how do we get it?
"You may be treading on your interdiction of violating common sense," Specter said.
I think Al needs to go today. I really do. I think he is a lost cause. He is too stupid or criminal to remain.
Speak up or they assume you agree!!!
Karen Webb, Moore, OK
http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/contributors/736
January 23, 2007
Profile
Pacific Biometrics, Inc. (PBME) through its subsidiaries provides specialty reference laboratory services and central laboratory services in the United States . It offers specialty reference laboratory services in the areas of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, obesity, and bone and joint diseases. The company’s services comprise clinical study testing services, development of laboratory reference methods, development of clinical trial protocols, and contract research and development services. Its central laboratory services include project management and routine safety lab tests for multi-center clinical trials. The company also offers SALIVASAC, a saliva collection and processing device; and OSTEOPATCH, a sweat collection device for monitoring markers of bone. Its customers include multi-national pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and diagnostic companies.
The company was founded in 1989 and is based in Seattle , Washington . The company employs 53 individuals.
Company Highlights
Although the company reported a net loss of $0.01 per share for the quarter, the Company generated positive EBITDA, as well as gross profit of $1.3 million. The net loss was attributable to a significant charge relating to restricted shares and stock options. Excluding this stock-based compensation expense, they would have reported a profit of $342,530, or $0.02 per share.
PBME added 10 new clients to our client base during the fiscal year ended June 30, 2006, compared to 5 new clients in fiscal 2005, and they continue to diversify the total number and types of study contracts. During fiscal 2006, the Company held 76 active contracts, compared to 62 active contracts in fiscal 2005, a 22.6% increase.
Mario Ehlers, M.D., Ph.D., the Chief Medical Officer of Pacific Biometrics, Inc. presented at the 5th annual Partnering with Central Labs, ECG, and Imaging Labs conference. The conference took place January 17-19.
In 2006, twelve of the thirteen insider trades were buys.
PBME has an institutional investor, which is rare for penny stocks. Pacific West Financial Consultants, Inc. as invested in the company.
Risks - The two largest clients represent in excess of 50% of our revenue.
Financial
For the first quarter of fiscal 2007, ended September 30, 2006. Revenues for the first quarter increased 42% to $2,604,884 from $1,834,442 for the comparable period last year.
Operating income for the first quarter of 2007 was reduced by a significant stock-based compensation expense of $545,558 relating to restricted shares and stock options granted during the quarter, and resulted in a net operating loss of $95,686 compared with net operating income of $50,155 for the same period last year.
Total net loss for the first fiscal quarter was $203,028, or $0.01 per share, compared with a total net loss of $180,166, or $0.01 per share, for the same period during fiscal 2006.
Net cash flow from operations has improved significantly to a positive $633,377 for the first fiscal quarter, compared to a negative $307,282 for the same period last year.
Cash and cash equivalents balance has improved to $5,944,456 for the first fiscal quarter, compared to $652,342 for the same period last year.
Conclusion
PBME is experiencing increased demand for their specialty laboratory services and greater volume in the size and number of clinical trials they are working on. In addition to their core client base, they are receiving business from new entities that they have never worked with before. This reflects their successful increase in new business development efforts, and recognition as a leading provider of high-quality laboratory services in the areas of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and bone and joint disease.
Al Gore running would Make My Day!!!!
Shermann
I picked up some shares of PBME today - Looks like a good value in a growing market. O/S - 18.8 Million
January 23, 2007
Profile
Pacific Biometrics, Inc. (PBME) through its subsidiaries provides specialty reference laboratory services and central laboratory services in the United States . It offers specialty reference laboratory services in the areas of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, obesity, and bone and joint diseases. The company’s services comprise clinical study testing services, development of laboratory reference methods, development of clinical trial protocols, and contract research and development services. Its central laboratory services include project management and routine safety lab tests for multi-center clinical trials. The company also offers SALIVASAC, a saliva collection and processing device; and OSTEOPATCH, a sweat collection device for monitoring markers of bone. Its customers include multi-national pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and diagnostic companies.
The company was founded in 1989 and is based in Seattle , Washington . The company employs 53 individuals.
Company Highlights
Although the company reported a net loss of $0.01 per share for the quarter, the Company generated positive EBITDA, as well as gross profit of $1.3 million. The net loss was attributable to a significant charge relating to restricted shares and stock options. Excluding this stock-based compensation expense, they would have reported a profit of $342,530, or $0.02 per share.
PBME added 10 new clients to our client base during the fiscal year ended June 30, 2006, compared to 5 new clients in fiscal 2005, and they continue to diversify the total number and types of study contracts. During fiscal 2006, the Company held 76 active contracts, compared to 62 active contracts in fiscal 2005, a 22.6% increase.
Mario Ehlers, M.D., Ph.D., the Chief Medical Officer of Pacific Biometrics, Inc. presented at the 5th annual Partnering with Central Labs, ECG, and Imaging Labs conference. The conference took place January 17-19.
In 2006, twelve of the thirteen insider trades were buys.
PBME has an institutional investor, which is rare for penny stocks. Pacific West Financial Consultants, Inc. as invested in the company.
Risks - The two largest clients represent in excess of 50% of our revenue.
Financial
For the first quarter of fiscal 2007, ended September 30, 2006. Revenues for the first quarter increased 42% to $2,604,884 from $1,834,442 for the comparable period last year.
Operating income for the first quarter of 2007 was reduced by a significant stock-based compensation expense of $545,558 relating to restricted shares and stock options granted during the quarter, and resulted in a net operating loss of $95,686 compared with net operating income of $50,155 for the same period last year.
Total net loss for the first fiscal quarter was $203,028, or $0.01 per share, compared with a total net loss of $180,166, or $0.01 per share, for the same period during fiscal 2006.
Net cash flow from operations has improved significantly to a positive $633,377 for the first fiscal quarter, compared to a negative $307,282 for the same period last year.
Cash and cash equivalents balance has improved to $5,944,456 for the first fiscal quarter, compared to $652,342 for the same period last year.
Conclusion
PBME is experiencing increased demand for their specialty laboratory services and greater volume in the size and number of clinical trials they are working on. In addition to their core client base, they are receiving business from new entities that they have never worked with before. This reflects their successful increase in new business development efforts, and recognition as a leading provider of high-quality laboratory services in the areas of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and bone and joint disease.
Countries cant really call us on the US Govt Paper they buy. They are guaranteed a return after x period of time. They can dump it on the open market driving the price down, however.
Shermann
I have already written my Senator who voted against it, and voiced my displeasure.
That would be Voinovich - Brown voted for it.
Shermann
When AWOL Is the Only Way Out
By Peter Laufer
AlterNet.org
Friday 02 June 2006
The following text is an excerpt from Peter Laufer's new book, "Mission Rejected: U.S. Soldiers Who Say No to Iraq" (Chelsea Green, 2006).
"We was going along the Euphrates River," says Joshua Key, a 27-year-old former U.S. soldier from Oklahoma, detailing a recurring nightmare - a scene he stumbled on shortly after the U.S. invasion of Iraq in March 2003. "It's a road right in the city of Ramadi. We turned a real sharp right and all I seen was decapitated bodies. The heads laying over here and the bodies over here and U.S. troops in between them. I'm thinking, 'Oh my God, what in the hell happened here? What's caused this? Why in the hell did this happen?' We get out and somebody was screaming, 'We fucking lost it here!' I'm thinking, 'Oh, yes, somebody definitely lost it here.'"
Joshua says he was ordered to look around for evidence of a firefight, for something to rationalize the beheaded Iraqis. "I look around just for a few seconds and I don't see anything." But then he noticed the sight that now triggers his nightmares. "I see two soldiers kicking the heads around like a soccer ball. I just shut my mouth, walked back, got inside the tank, shut the door, and it was like, I can't be no part of this. This is crazy. I came here to fight and be prepared for war but this is outrageous. Why did it happen? That's just my question: Why did that happen?"
He's convinced there was no firefight that led to the beheading orgy - there were no spent shells to indicate a battle. "A lot of my friends stayed on the ground, looking to see if there was any shells. There was never no shells, except for what we shot. I'm thinking, Okay, so they just did that because they wanted to do it. They got trigger happy and they did it. That's what made me mad in Iraq. You can take human lives at a fast rate and all you have to say is, say, 'Oh, I thought they threw a grenade. I thought I seen this, I thought I seen that.' You could mow down 20 people each time and nobody's going to ask you, 'Are you sure?' They're going to give you a high five and tell you that you was doing a good job."
He still cannot get the scene out of his head. "You just see heads everywhere," he says. "You wake up, you'll just be sitting there, like you're in a foxhole. I can still see Iraq just as clearly as it was the day I was there. You'll just be on the side of a little river running through the city, trash piled up, filled with dead. Heads and stuff like that. I don't sleep that much, you might say. I don't sleep that much."
His wife, Brandi, nods in agreement and says he cries in his sleep.
We're sitting in the waning summer light on the back porch of the Toronto house where Joshua and his wife and their four little children have been living in exile since Joshua deserted to Canada. They've settled in a rent-free basement apartment, courtesy of a landlord sympathetic to their plight. Joshua smokes cigarettes and drinks coffee while we talk. He's wearing a T-shirt promoting a 2002 peace rally in Raleigh, North Carolina. There's a scraggly beard on his still-boyish face; his eyes look weary.
Sleep deprivation while on duty, first in Kuwait and then in Iraq, was routine, Joshua says, and he thinks exhaustion was generated intentionally by his commanders. "You'll do whatever the hell they say just to get that sleep. That's the way they controlled us. You ain't had no sleep and you got shitty food all the time. I got to call my wife once every month, maybe once every two weeks if I was lucky. Mail, shitty, if it even came." Food and water were inadequate, he says.
"When we first got to Kuwait we were rationed to two bottles of water a day and one MRE [meals ready to eat]. In the middle of the desert, you're supposed to have six bottles of water a day and three MREs. They tell us they don't have it. I'm thinking 'How in the hell can the most powerfullest nation, the most powerfullest military in the world, be in the middle of a damn desert and they don't even have no food to feed us?'"
Joshua rejects the U.S. government line that the Iraqis fighting the occupation are terrorists. "I'm thinking: What the hell? I mean, that's not a terrorist. That's the man's home we killed. That's his son, that's the father, that's the mother, that's the sister. Houses are destroyed. Husbands are detained and wives don't even know where they're at. I mean, them are pissed-off people, and they have a reason to be pissed off. I would never wish this upon myself or my family, so why would I do it upon them?"
Pulling security duty in the Iraqi streets, Joshua found himself talking to the locals. He was surprised by how many spoke English, and he was frustrated by the military regulations that forbade his accepting dinner invitations to join Iraqis for social evenings in their homes. "I'm not your perfect killing machine," he admits. "That's where I broke the rules. I broke the rules by having a conscience."
And the conscience developed further the more time he spent in Iraq. "I was trained to be a total killer. I was trained in booby-traps, explosives, landmines, and how to counterresolve everything." He pauses. "Hell, if you want to get technical about it, I was made to be an American terrorist. I was trained in everything a terrorist is trained to do." In case I might have missed his point, he says it again. "I mean terrorist."
Deserting to Canada seemed the only viable alternative, Joshua says. He did it, he insists, because he was lied to "by my president." Iraq - it was obvious to him - was no threat to the United States. He says he followed his orders while he was in Iraq, and so no one can call him a coward for deserting. "I was not a piece of shit. I always did everything I was told and I did it to the highest standards. They can never say, 'Oh, he was a piece of shit soldier.' No bullshit."
Joshua doesn't mind telling his war stories again and again. He readily agrees to talk about the horrors he experienced in Iraq, his life AWOL and underground in the States, and his new life as a deserter in Canada.
Telling the stories helps him deal with his post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), he says, and he apologizes in advance if his narrative is not linear or if he has trouble expressing himself. In fact, his scattered approach to his timeline and his machine gun-like delivery set the scene for his troubled memories - there is nothing smooth or simple or easy to understand here.
-------
http://www.truthout.org/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi/61/20241
When AWOL Is the Only Way Out
By Peter Laufer
AlterNet.org
Friday 02 June 2006
The following text is an excerpt from Peter Laufer's new book, "Mission Rejected: U.S. Soldiers Who Say No to Iraq" (Chelsea Green, 2006).
"We was going along the Euphrates River," says Joshua Key, a 27-year-old former U.S. soldier from Oklahoma, detailing a recurring nightmare - a scene he stumbled on shortly after the U.S. invasion of Iraq in March 2003. "It's a road right in the city of Ramadi. We turned a real sharp right and all I seen was decapitated bodies. The heads laying over here and the bodies over here and U.S. troops in between them. I'm thinking, 'Oh my God, what in the hell happened here? What's caused this? Why in the hell did this happen?' We get out and somebody was screaming, 'We fucking lost it here!' I'm thinking, 'Oh, yes, somebody definitely lost it here.'"
Joshua says he was ordered to look around for evidence of a firefight, for something to rationalize the beheaded Iraqis. "I look around just for a few seconds and I don't see anything." But then he noticed the sight that now triggers his nightmares. "I see two soldiers kicking the heads around like a soccer ball. I just shut my mouth, walked back, got inside the tank, shut the door, and it was like, I can't be no part of this. This is crazy. I came here to fight and be prepared for war but this is outrageous. Why did it happen? That's just my question: Why did that happen?"
He's convinced there was no firefight that led to the beheading orgy - there were no spent shells to indicate a battle. "A lot of my friends stayed on the ground, looking to see if there was any shells. There was never no shells, except for what we shot. I'm thinking, Okay, so they just did that because they wanted to do it. They got trigger happy and they did it. That's what made me mad in Iraq. You can take human lives at a fast rate and all you have to say is, say, 'Oh, I thought they threw a grenade. I thought I seen this, I thought I seen that.' You could mow down 20 people each time and nobody's going to ask you, 'Are you sure?' They're going to give you a high five and tell you that you was doing a good job."
He still cannot get the scene out of his head. "You just see heads everywhere," he says. "You wake up, you'll just be sitting there, like you're in a foxhole. I can still see Iraq just as clearly as it was the day I was there. You'll just be on the side of a little river running through the city, trash piled up, filled with dead. Heads and stuff like that. I don't sleep that much, you might say. I don't sleep that much."
His wife, Brandi, nods in agreement and says he cries in his sleep.
We're sitting in the waning summer light on the back porch of the Toronto house where Joshua and his wife and their four little children have been living in exile since Joshua deserted to Canada. They've settled in a rent-free basement apartment, courtesy of a landlord sympathetic to their plight. Joshua smokes cigarettes and drinks coffee while we talk. He's wearing a T-shirt promoting a 2002 peace rally in Raleigh, North Carolina. There's a scraggly beard on his still-boyish face; his eyes look weary.
Sleep deprivation while on duty, first in Kuwait and then in Iraq, was routine, Joshua says, and he thinks exhaustion was generated intentionally by his commanders. "You'll do whatever the hell they say just to get that sleep. That's the way they controlled us. You ain't had no sleep and you got shitty food all the time. I got to call my wife once every month, maybe once every two weeks if I was lucky. Mail, shitty, if it even came." Food and water were inadequate, he says.
"When we first got to Kuwait we were rationed to two bottles of water a day and one MRE [meals ready to eat]. In the middle of the desert, you're supposed to have six bottles of water a day and three MREs. They tell us they don't have it. I'm thinking 'How in the hell can the most powerfullest nation, the most powerfullest military in the world, be in the middle of a damn desert and they don't even have no food to feed us?'"
Joshua rejects the U.S. government line that the Iraqis fighting the occupation are terrorists. "I'm thinking: What the hell? I mean, that's not a terrorist. That's the man's home we killed. That's his son, that's the father, that's the mother, that's the sister. Houses are destroyed. Husbands are detained and wives don't even know where they're at. I mean, them are pissed-off people, and they have a reason to be pissed off. I would never wish this upon myself or my family, so why would I do it upon them?"
Pulling security duty in the Iraqi streets, Joshua found himself talking to the locals. He was surprised by how many spoke English, and he was frustrated by the military regulations that forbade his accepting dinner invitations to join Iraqis for social evenings in their homes. "I'm not your perfect killing machine," he admits. "That's where I broke the rules. I broke the rules by having a conscience."
And the conscience developed further the more time he spent in Iraq. "I was trained to be a total killer. I was trained in booby-traps, explosives, landmines, and how to counterresolve everything." He pauses. "Hell, if you want to get technical about it, I was made to be an American terrorist. I was trained in everything a terrorist is trained to do." In case I might have missed his point, he says it again. "I mean terrorist."
Deserting to Canada seemed the only viable alternative, Joshua says. He did it, he insists, because he was lied to "by my president." Iraq - it was obvious to him - was no threat to the United States. He says he followed his orders while he was in Iraq, and so no one can call him a coward for deserting. "I was not a piece of shit. I always did everything I was told and I did it to the highest standards. They can never say, 'Oh, he was a piece of shit soldier.' No bullshit."
Joshua doesn't mind telling his war stories again and again. He readily agrees to talk about the horrors he experienced in Iraq, his life AWOL and underground in the States, and his new life as a deserter in Canada.
Telling the stories helps him deal with his post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), he says, and he apologizes in advance if his narrative is not linear or if he has trouble expressing himself. In fact, his scattered approach to his timeline and his machine gun-like delivery set the scene for his troubled memories - there is nothing smooth or simple or easy to understand here.
-------
http://www.truthout.org/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi/61/20241
German Weekly: Americans Playing Soccer with Severed Iraqi Heads
I guess we have learned to accept a certain amount of idiocy in the never ending quest of the German media to paint negative pictures of America. Still, every now and then you come across a piece that's even more outrageous, even more venomous than the usual run-of-the-mill anti-American crap you get used to from the German media. Here's a shining example from the liberal weekly "Die Zeit": American soldiers playing soccer with severed heads of Iraqis.
Medienkritik reader CH made as aware of this story about a deserter from the American army because of the war in Iraq:
I am writing to you because I came across this article in 'Die Zeit'. Among other things, the article makes the claim that the American soldiers play soccer with the heads of dead Iraqis:
Josh has no fear. What should one be afraid of when one has stormed 75 houses in Ramadi and Falludscha and has seen how his comrades play soccer with severed heads of dead Iraqis? What should one still be afraid of, then, someone should tell him. No one can say that to him – not to him.
That which lies behind them is the stuff the people in Hollywood will make movies out of in ten years, when the Iraq war, like that in Vietnam, goes down in history as a great failure. In the film it’s about a simple religious man from Oklahoma who becomes
a traitor to his country. But the traitor possesses an amount of boldness and defiance that makes heroes out of men, and which is seldom to be encountered in an Army that demands unquestioning obedience. (...)
The patriot Joshus Key has become a man who is appalled over the destructive power of the war and his own naivety. (...)
For now Joshua and Brandi Key live off of donations, and lectures that Key gives. In front of unionists, pupils, students. He speaks of his experiences in Iraq and of the guilt that he feels – but that people not damn him, he was part of a system from which he distances himself and that he holds for wrong. He appears himself in Mosques and apologizes for the calamity that he and his men had wrought. That is how he sees it. There stands a young father of four, who might come from the lower class, who might have been apolitical, but who now hauntingly reports and sharply analyzes. And sometimes cries. (emphasis added)
I find the (I feel, unsupported) claim (of playing soccer with heads) (which is sort of just presented as a matter of fact typical thing that Americans would do) quite out of line. If something like that were happening then obviously I'd want it to be addressed, but it just seems to me that the journalists are using the claims of this deserter as fact in order to propagate the Amis = Terrorists crap (excuse me) that seems to be plastered everywhere in the German newspapers daily. I probably should stop reading them, since it makes me infuriated with Germany in general, and I know that (despite what it would seem like from the press) a lot of Germans are not wrapped up in this political tripe. I am still worried however at where this direction will lead, because I see nothing good coming from it. Hopefully more people will start to question what they read.
Gold is starting another run as People are running away from the devaluing dollar.
Look at the 10 Billion Dollars in Treasury Bonds dumped onto the market by Saudi Arabia yesterday!!!!
Shermann
Tax breaks sidetrack minimum wage bill
Senate fails to get the 60 votes needed to end debate
The Associated Press
Updated: 12:58 p.m. ET Jan 24, 2007
WRITE YOUR SENATOR And HELP GET THIS PASSED!!!
WASHINGTON - Democrats' promise of a quick increase in the minimum wage ran aground Wednesday in the Senate, where lawmakers are insisting it include new tax breaks for restaurants and other businesses that rely on low-pay workers.
On a 54-43 vote, Democrats lost an effort to advance a House-passed bill that would lift the pay floor from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour without any accompanying tax cut. Opponents of the tax cut needed 60 votes to prevail.
The vote sent a message to House Democrats and liberals in the Senate that only a hybrid tax and minimum wage package could succeed in the Senate. But any tax breaks in the bill would put the Senate on a collision course with the House, which is required by the Constitution to initiate tax measures.
In a separate vote, the Senate also effectively killed a modified line-item veto bill. The Republican-inspired measure would have permitted a president to pluck individual items out of spending bills and submit them to Congress for a vote.
Lack of GOP support highlighted
Raising the minimum wage is one of the new Democratic Congress' top priorities. The wage floor has been unchanged for 10 years. The bill would increase it to $7.25 in three steps over 26 months.
"Why can't we do just one thing for minimum wage workers, no strings attached, no giveaways for the powerful?" asked Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., a leading sponsor of the bill.
The House passed the increase two weeks ago. Since then Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Rep. Charles Rangel, the chairman of the tax writing Ways and Means Committee, have prodded the Senate to keep tax proposals out of the bill.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., scheduled Wednesday's vote to demonstrate the Democrats' lack of Republican support for a straight minimum wage bill without tax cuts. Every Democrat present voted to end debate and five moderate Republicans joined them.
"There seems to be agreement to raise the minimum wage," said Republican Sen. Michael Enzi of Wyoming. "The difficulty has been how do we take care of some of the impact to small businesses that will result from this."
Full vote expected by week's end
Reid is backing an $8.3 billion tax package that would extend for five years a tax credit for employers who hire low-income or disadvantaged workers. It also extends until 2010 tax rules that permit businesses to combine as much as $112,000 in expenses into one annual tax deduction.
The cost of the proposal would be paid with revenue realized from a proposed cap of $1 million on executive compensation that can be tax deferred. The tax package also would end deductions for court settlements or punitive damages paid by companies that have been sued.
A vote on the full tax and wages package is not expected until early next week.
The differences between the House and Senate bills will require Pelosi and Reid to work out an agreement on how to move a similar tax package through the House.
Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., the chairman of the Senate's tax writing Finance Committee and co-author of the tax proposals, said the Senate bill will be held in the Senate until the leaders resolve the impasse.
"It's just a couple or three steps away from the goal line," Baucus said.
© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16789599/
Tax breaks sidetrack minimum wage bill
Senate fails to get the 60 votes needed to end debate
The Associated Press
Updated: 12:58 p.m. ET Jan 24, 2007
WRITE YOUR SENATOR And HELP GET THIS PASSED!!!
WASHINGTON - Democrats' promise of a quick increase in the minimum wage ran aground Wednesday in the Senate, where lawmakers are insisting it include new tax breaks for restaurants and other businesses that rely on low-pay workers.
On a 54-43 vote, Democrats lost an effort to advance a House-passed bill that would lift the pay floor from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour without any accompanying tax cut. Opponents of the tax cut needed 60 votes to prevail.
The vote sent a message to House Democrats and liberals in the Senate that only a hybrid tax and minimum wage package could succeed in the Senate. But any tax breaks in the bill would put the Senate on a collision course with the House, which is required by the Constitution to initiate tax measures.
In a separate vote, the Senate also effectively killed a modified line-item veto bill. The Republican-inspired measure would have permitted a president to pluck individual items out of spending bills and submit them to Congress for a vote.
Lack of GOP support highlighted
Raising the minimum wage is one of the new Democratic Congress' top priorities. The wage floor has been unchanged for 10 years. The bill would increase it to $7.25 in three steps over 26 months.
"Why can't we do just one thing for minimum wage workers, no strings attached, no giveaways for the powerful?" asked Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., a leading sponsor of the bill.
The House passed the increase two weeks ago. Since then Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Rep. Charles Rangel, the chairman of the tax writing Ways and Means Committee, have prodded the Senate to keep tax proposals out of the bill.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., scheduled Wednesday's vote to demonstrate the Democrats' lack of Republican support for a straight minimum wage bill without tax cuts. Every Democrat present voted to end debate and five moderate Republicans joined them.
"There seems to be agreement to raise the minimum wage," said Republican Sen. Michael Enzi of Wyoming. "The difficulty has been how do we take care of some of the impact to small businesses that will result from this."
Full vote expected by week's end
Reid is backing an $8.3 billion tax package that would extend for five years a tax credit for employers who hire low-income or disadvantaged workers. It also extends until 2010 tax rules that permit businesses to combine as much as $112,000 in expenses into one annual tax deduction.
The cost of the proposal would be paid with revenue realized from a proposed cap of $1 million on executive compensation that can be tax deferred. The tax package also would end deductions for court settlements or punitive damages paid by companies that have been sued.
A vote on the full tax and wages package is not expected until early next week.
The differences between the House and Senate bills will require Pelosi and Reid to work out an agreement on how to move a similar tax package through the House.
Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., the chairman of the Senate's tax writing Finance Committee and co-author of the tax proposals, said the Senate bill will be held in the Senate until the leaders resolve the impasse.
"It's just a couple or three steps away from the goal line," Baucus said.
© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16789599/
The Ron Paul 2008 Presidential Website is being built:
http://www.ronpaulexplore.com/
Shermann
Glad to hear I am not alone. I broke even on GBDX, and have NO CLUE what it is going to do.
Shifted my money to UWNK - Got back in. Looks like another run coming.
Also put more into PBLS and THPW.
Those Sub Pennies have been getting me lately!!!
Shermann
I am not good with big numbers!!!!
The Homeless do not vote.
I have met many homeless Vietnam Vets. It just makes me sick.
Shermann
This is once for Edwards - I will be watching to see if he repeats these words.
There is absolutely no reason for Military Action against Iran.
Shermann
St. Petersburg Police cutting up homeless tents
... but another few billion dollars are on their way to Israel.
...nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation. -- Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution.
Israel faces nuclear Holocaust warns Gingrich
"And a 'Death Star'. Iran has a Death Star! Really!"
(Ahem)
If Israel, the only actual nuclear power in the Middle East, is really that nervous about the nuclear threat which might someday maybe kinda sorta exist from other nations in the region, perhaps the best strategy is to learn to get along peacefully with other nations, rather than the current belligerent course of having American soldiers invade anyone Israel does not like.
Maybe it is time for Israel to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and allow inspectors into the weapons lab hidden under Dimona.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3356103,00.html
Edwards Pledges
Allegiance
Tuesday, January 23rd, 2007 in News by Matt Barganier|
Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards is out on the stump:
“Iran is serious about its threats,” former US Senator John Edwards has told an audience in Israel.
“The challenges in your own backyard – represent an unprecedented threat to the world and Israel,” the candidate for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination told the Herzliya Conference, referring mainly to the Iranian threat.
I don’t know about New Hampshire, but I’d say Edwards is off to a strong start in Tel Aviv.
In his speech, Edwards criticised the United States’ previous indifference to the Iranian issue, saying they have not done enough to deal with the threat.
Hinting to possible military action, Edwards stressed that “in order to ensure Iran never gets nuclear weapons, all options must remain on table.”
On the recent UN Security Council’s resolution against Iran, Edwards said more serious political and economic steps should be taken. “Iran must know that the world won’t back down,” he said.
Take that, Dubya.
After opening his speech with great praise for Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Edward’s continued to express great appreciation for the Israeli people and the special bond between the two countries, saying it was “a bond that will never be broken.”
Sure, Ariel Sharon is the greatest – he’ll always have a place in our hearts – but Edwards needs to get hip, reach out for that youth vote. There’s a new badass to kiss in the Knesset.
In a further display of support for Israel, Edwards went so far as to suggest that Israel should even be made a member of NATO, saying it was only natural that the organization would seen [sic] to include Israel next.
Sure. And when are we going to do something about Israel’s exclusion from the Arab League? The Organization of American States? The United Federation of Planets? When, dammit, when is an American president finally going to get to work on these vital matters?
http://www.antiwar.com/blog/2007/01/23/edwards-pledges-allegiance/
The Empire Turns Its
Guns on the Citizenry
by Paul Craig Roberts
In recent years American police forces have called out SWAT teams 40,000 or more times annually. Last year did you read in your newspaper or hear on TV news of 110 hostage or terrorist events each day? No. What then were the SWAT teams doing? They were serving routine warrants to people who posed no danger to the police or to the public.
Occasionally Washington think tanks produce reports that are not special pleading for donors. One such report is Radley Balko's "Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America" (Cato Institute, 2006).
This 100-page report is extremely important and should have been published as a book. SWAT teams ("special weapons and tactics") were once rare and used only for very dangerous situations, often involving hostages held by armed criminals. Today SWAT teams are deployed for routine police duties. In the U.S. today, 75-80 percent of SWAT deployments are for warrant service.
In a high percentage of the cases, the SWAT teams forcefully enter the wrong address, resulting in death, injury, and trauma to perfectly innocent people. Occasionally, highly keyed-up police kill one another in the confusion caused by their stun grenades.
Mr. Balko reports that the use of paramilitary police units began in Los Angeles in the 1960s. The militarization of local police forces got a big boost from Attorney General Ed Meese's "war on drugs" during the Reagan administration. A National Security Decision Directive was issued that declared drugs to be a threat to U.S. national security. In 1988 Congress ordered the National Guard into the domestic drug war. In 1994 the Department of Defense issued a memorandum authorizing the transfer of military equipment and technology to state and local police, and Congress created a program "to facilitate handing military gear over to civilian police agencies."
Today 17,000 local police forces are equipped with such military equipment as Blackhawk helicopters, machine guns, grenade launchers, battering rams, explosives, chemical sprays, body armor, night vision, rappelling gear, and armored vehicles. Some have tanks. In 1999, the New York Times reported that a retired police chief in New Haven, Conn., told the newspaper, "I was offered tanks, bazookas, anything I wanted." Balko reports that in 1997, for example, police departments received 1.2 million pieces of military equipment.
With local police forces now armed beyond the standard of U.S. heavy infantry, police forces have been retrained "to vaporize, not Mirandize," to use a phrase from Reagan administration Defense official Lawrence Korb. This leaves the public at the mercy of brutal actions based on bad police information from paid informers.
SWAT team deployments received a huge boost from the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant program, which gave states federal money for drug enforcement. Balko explains that "the states then disbursed the money to local police departments on the basis of each department's number of drug arrests."
With financial incentives to maximize drug arrests and with idle SWAT teams due to a paucity of hostage or other dangerous situations, local police chiefs threw their SWAT teams into drug enforcement. In practice, this has meant using SWAT teams to serve warrants on drug users.
SWAT teams serve warrants by breaking into homes and apartments at night while people are sleeping, often using stun grenades and other devices to disorient the occupants. As much of the police's drug information comes from professional informers known as "snitches" who tip off police for cash rewards, dropped charges, and reduced sentences, names and addresses are often pulled out of a hat. Balko provides details for 135 tragic cases of mistaken addresses.
SWAT teams are not held accountable for their tragic mistakes and gratuitous brutality. Police killings got so bad in Albuquerque, N.M., for example, that the city hired criminologist Sam Walker to conduct an investigation of police tactics. Killings by police were "off the charts," Walker found, because the SWAT team "had an organizational culture that led them to escalate situations upward rather then de-escalating."
The mindset of militarized SWAT teams is geared to "taking out" or killing the suspect – thus, the many deaths from SWAT team utilization. Many innocent people are killed in nighttime SWAT team entries, because they don't realize that it is the police who have broken into their homes. They believe they are confronted by dangerous criminals, and when they try to defend themselves they are shot down by the police.
As Lawrence Stratton and I have reported, one of many corrupting influences on the criminal justice (sic) system is the practice of paying "snitches" to generate suspects. In 1995 the Boston Globe profiled people who lived entirely off the fees that they were paid as police informants. Snitches create suspects by selling a small amount of marijuana to a person whom they then report to the police as being in possession of drugs. Balko reports that "an overwhelming number of mistaken raids take place because police relied on information from confidential informants." In Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, 87 percent of drug raids originated in tips from snitches.
Many police informers are themselves drug dealers who avoid arrest and knock off competitors by serving as police snitches.
Surveying the deplorable situation, the National Law Journal concluded: "Criminals have been turned into instruments of law enforcement, while law enforcement officers have become criminal co-conspirators."
Balko believes the problem could be reduced if judges scrutinized unreliable information before issuing warrants. If judges would actually do their jobs, there would be fewer innocent victims of SWAT brutality. However, as long as the war on drugs persists and as long as it produces financial rewards to police departments, local police forces, saturated with military weapons and war imagery, will continue to terrorize American citizens.
Find this article at:
http://www.antiwar.com/roberts/?articleid=10382
JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) -- Allegations that Sen. Barack Obama was educated in a radical Muslim school known as a "madrassa" are not accurate, according to CNN reporting.
Insight Magazine, which is owned by the same company as The Washington Times, reported on its Web site last week that associates of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-New York, had unearthed information the Illinois Democrat and likely presidential candidate attended a Muslim religious school known for teaching the most fundamentalist form of Islam.
Obama lived in Indonesia as a child, from 1967 to 1971, with his mother and stepfather and has acknowledged attending a Muslim school, but an aide said it was not a madrassa. (Watch video of Obama's school )
Insight attributed the information in its article to an unnamed source, who said it was discovered by "researchers connected to Senator Clinton." A spokesman for Clinton, who is also weighing a White House bid, denied that the campaign was the source of the Obama claim.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/01/22/obama.madrassa/
I have read many books on this topic. That does not answer my question.
Go read is not an answer. I did not know specifically what you meant.
Shermann
Got any good Michael Jackson stories. Or anything else of similar importance???
Shermann
Well lets see - That was a hatchet job by Fox News - Exactly what are we paying attention for.
Shermann
Sarcasm - Nice Touch - I think my post is more likely correct than not - Assigning Blame has nothing to do with it. That is by all accounts from White House staffers what happened. I will never know for sure.
Anyways, we have to get out of this Blame mentality. We need to lead by example. It is by far the most effective approach. Martin Luther King Jr. did it, and look at what that accomplished. Jesus did it, and look how many religions are based on it. Mahatma Ghandi did it, and reshaped the future of India. Mother Theresa did it, and look at all of the people that were helped as a result.
Fix the Problem, not the blame.
We have to focus on the problems, and realistic means to fix them - which will probably be incrementally. This country has always been slow to change.
Shermann
All those Neocons I named were always called the crazies by Most republican Insiders.
Except for Colin Powell, who called them the F---ing crazies.
My guess is that the "Dark Overlord" (Cheney) helped the rookie pick all those other neocons.
Shermann