Immigration Nominee's Credentials QuestionedThe Bush administration is seeking to appoint a lawyer with little immigration or customs experience to head the troubled law enforcement agency that handles those issues, prompting sharp criticism from some employee groups, immigration advocates and homeland security experts.
The push to appoint Julie Myers to head the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, part of the Department of Homeland Security, comes in the midst of intense debate over the qualifications of depar... (more)
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Speed cameras issue over 1,000 erroneous tickets per monthJohannesburg motorists who have been caught speeding by camera should check their fines carefully.
In recent weeks two cases have been brought to the attention of The Star where motorists were fined R100 for travelling more than 80km/h on the M1 North between the Glenhove and Eleventh Avenue offramps.
The speed limit, in fact, is 100km/h.
Irate motorist Ronnie Frank said he was surprised when he received his ticket.
"I know the area wel... (more)
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Dressed As Arabs, U.K. Troops Nabbed For Setting Bombs & Shooting Iraqi Cops "Two U.K. military personnel have been detained and we are liaising with the Iraqi authorities on this matter."
An Iraqi official in Basra said the British military had informed him the detained men were undercover soldiers.
"They were driving a civilian car and were dressed in civilian clothes when a shooting ... (more)
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British Soldiers Clash With Iraqi Police in BasraBASRA, Iraq, Sept. 19 -- Heavy clashes erupted Monday between Iraqi police and British soldiers based in Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, witnesses said.
The clashes are the latest in surging tensions in Basra, a Shiite-dominated city that had long been one of Iraq's calmest. Attacks have targeted Britons and Americans there.
Monday's clashes stemmed from the arrest by Iraqi police on Sunday of two British soldiers, whom Iraqi police accused of planting bombs. Ira... (more)
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I Have a Chip, but It's Not on My ShoulderCan a microscopic tag be implanted in a person's body to track his every movement? There's actual discussion about that. You will rule on that -- mark my words -- before your tenure is over.
-- Sen. Joseph Biden, to Judge John Roberts at his confirmation hearings, Sept. 12
I can't wait for the day when we all have microchips implanted in our heads. It's exciting to be so close -- pet owners are already implanting VeriChips in their animals to help track them ... (more)
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Gov. Bush & his mystical buddyAfter more than an hour of solemn ceremony naming Rep. Marco Rubio, R-West Miami, as the 2007-08 House speaker, Gov. Jeb Bush stepped to the podium in the House chamber last week and told a short story about "unleashing Chang," his "mystical warrior" friend.
Here are Bush's words, spoken before hundreds of lawmakers and politicians:
''Chang is a mystical warrior. Chang is somebody who believes in conservative principles, believes in entrepreneurial capitalism, believes in m... (more)
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Disaster relief? Call in the Marines: Bush suggests lifting the ban on using the military domestically.WASHINGTON – As Washington picks through the lessons learned from hurricane Katrina, there is a growing conviction that the only organization with the skills, expertise, and resources needed to respond quickly to a catastrophe of such magnitude is the American military.
President Bush suggested a larger disaster relief role for the armed forces in his national address last week, and Congress has indicated it will take up the issue this autumn. Though the topic has emerged at... (more)
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What has happened to Iraq's missing $1bn?One billion dollars has been plundered from Iraq's defence ministry in one of the largest thefts in history, The Independent can reveal, leaving the country's army to fight a savage insurgency with museum-piece weapons.
The money, intended to train and equip an Iraqi army capable of bringing security to a country shattered by the US-led invasion and prolonged rebellion, was instead siphoned abroad in cash and has disappeared.
"It is possibly one of the largest theft... (more)
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Mercenaries Are Prowling New Orleans: Like Baghdad, Soldiers of Fortune On Armed Patrol in LouisianaOne subject that both local authorities and federal officials have been reticent to discuss is the role that private armies and mercenaries played in providing security and law enforcement in Gulf of Mexico states hit hardest by Hurricane Katrina.
It now appears hundreds of former soldiers and law enforcement officers—possibly as many as 600 or 700—were hired by private individuals, companies and corporations to protect assets in New Orleans and other parts of the stor... (more)
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Nightmare Racism and Open Call for Revolution: Alex Jones Reports on Mexican Independence Day in Austin, TexasAlex Jones/Infowars.com | September 19 2005
I am extremely depressed and have the feeling of being struck by a thunderbolt. Words cannot describe what I witnessed. For that reason, as the pain of what I’ve seen will take some time to percolate and dissipate, this is going to be part one of a three part series.
First off, anyone who knows me and the body of my work knows that I stand up for the little guy. Whether it’s innocent black farmers in Tulia, Tex... (more)
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'I could have saved her life but was denied permission' Refugees from New Orleans died after private doctors were ordered to stop giving treatment because they were not covered by United States government medical liability insurance, according to two American surgeons.
Mark N Perlmutter, an orthapædic surgeon from Pennsylvania, was told by a senior US Coast Guard officer representing the embattled Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) that he must leave the overstretched disaster relief hospital at New Orleans airport.
... (more)
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Teams track ticket holders' patterns electronicallySAN JOSE, Calif. - (KRT) - The phone rings.
It's the San Francisco Giants. They're calling season-ticket holders. The team wants to make sure they know all the options for reselling or donating seats they can't use. They ask if there's any interest in sharing seats next season with someone else who hasn't been making it to many games lately.
Wait a minute. The Giants know who isn't using their tickets?
Yes, they do. That and more.
Data ... (more)
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Shoreline Spotted on Saturn's Moon TitanThe idea of a large sea on Saturn's moon Titan was all but ruled out after the Cassini mission found no evidence early in its mission.
But a new image shows what scientists think is a shoreline with bays and channels feeding liquid into a possible sea.
Scientists have long speculated that Titan might contain liquid methane or other hydrocarbons. The chemistry resembles prebiotic Earth, but Titan lacks liquid water. Nonetheless, earlier this month another group of re... (more)
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Wake Up: By Cindy Sheehan So we have come to cash this check - a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. -- Martin Luther King Jr., August 28, 1963, "I Have a Dream" speech
What Bush's Katrina shows once again is that my son died for nothing. If you listen to Bush - and ... (more)
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UK may increase Iraq deployment Britain said overnight it would, if necessary, increase the number of troops in Iraq as fears that the country is sliding towards civil war increase.
Britain, the main ally of the United States in Iraq, has about 8500 soldiers deployed there and has frequently said its soldiers would stay until the Iraqi government asked them to leave.
"We don't need them (more troops) at the moment, if that's necessary, of course we would do that," British Defence Minister John Re... (more)
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Britain rules out war over Teheran's nuclear planBritain ruled out military action to halt Iran's nuclear programme yesterday on the eve of a diplomatic battle by the West to take Teheran to the United Nations Security Council for possible political and economic sanctions.
As hostile rhetoric between the West and Iran intensified, Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, sought to allay fears that the dispute would ultimately lead to war.
He said that an intransigent speech at the UN a day earlier by the Iranian preside... (more)
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IRAQ: New York Times Reporter SlainBaghdad, 19 Sept. (AKI) - The body of an Iraqi journalist working for the US daily New York Times was found abandoned in a street near the southern city of Basra on Monday. Four gunmen, apparently wearing police uniforms, abducted the reporter, Fakher Al-Tamini, from his home on Sunday night. The group told his wife they were taking Al-Tamini away as part of a "routine investigation."
Al-Tamimi, 38, began working for the New York Times in Iraq in 2003 and was also employed as a re... (more)
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Military Recruiters Are Professional LiarsA friend recently asked me what I would tell a young man thinking about enlisting in the military. (He had in mind his son.) I would tell him this, which I wish someone had told me:
Kid, you are being suckered. You are being used. You need to think carefully before signing that enlistment contract.
First, notice that the men who want to send you to die were draft-dodgers. President Bush was of military age during Vietnam, but he sat out the war in the Air National G... (more)
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Crude Oil, Gasoline Rise as Storm Heads for the Gulf of MexicoSept. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil and gasoline rose, as natural gas surged to an all-time high, on forecasts that Tropical Storm Rita will strengthen into a hurricane and disrupt production in the Gulf of Mexico.
Rita, which gained strength over the Bahamas as it headed toward southern Florida, may become a hurricane within a day and approach the Texas coast by Sept. 24. Hurricane Katrina last month caused the shutdown of eight oil refineries and forced at least 10 others to slow ... (more)
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