Jimi Hendrix - “The Star-Spangled Banner”

CNN VIDEO: CNN gives a good overwiew of options in Iraq. The Rumsfeld
speech in Kansas features Rummy giving the finger to a hippie asking the
former secretary to grade his personal job in Iraq. This is as good as the
Santorum son giving the finger to the audience as “Man on Dog” Santorum
gives his loser speech. Priceless!

H/T JoeWo for this post

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s resignation on November 8th represents a first step toward accountability for the Bush Administration’s widespread practices of torture and unlawful detention, said attorneys at the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR).

Under Donald Rumsfeld’s direction–often under his direct orders–the Department of Defense adopted the practices of torture and indefinite detention that CCR is currently challenging in many court cases.

The Center will be filing a new case charging him with war crimes under Germany’s universal jurisdiction law together with the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH), the Republican Attorneys Association (RAV) and others next week. CCR attorneys called on his successor to close Guantánamo and put an end to the unlawful torture and detention of thousands in the so-called war on terror.

The Center for Constitutional Rights represents hundreds of men detained at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

source

By Doreen Hemlock
Havana Bureau
Posted November 9 2006

HAVANA · A record 183 countries of the United Nations voted Wednesday to condemn the U.S. embargo against communist-led Cuba, with one country abstaining and only three others joining the United States to endorse the tough economic sanctions.

Cuba called the vote a diplomatic triumph, marking 15 straight years that the U.N. General Assembly has rejected the embargo and urged Washington to lift it.

Indeed, Havana declared “double victory,” because an amendment proposed by Australia to condemn human rights violations in Cuba was rejected from the embargo resolution. Even so, Cuban leaders have said they expect no let-up in the sanctions, as long as George W. Bush remains in the White House.

Read more at the Sun Sentinel

WASHINGTON - More senior Pentagon officials are likely to step down in the coming days in the wake of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s announced departure, Pentagon officials told FOX News on Thursday.

Meanwhile, at Kansas State University, Rumsfeld said it was the “highest honor in my life” to serve as defense secretary. He also joked about the timing of the resignation announcement, one day before the long-planned speech for the Landon Lecture Series.

“I hope all of you appreciate how I have managed so skillfully public affairs for this event. I wanted to put the Landon Lecture on the map, so I did my best,” Rumsfeld said to laughter from the audience.

Asked afterward what grade he would give himself as head of the Defense Department, Rumsfeld said he’d “let history decide that.”

More here

Anyone care to grade Rummy??

A look at the new Democratic leaders and committee chairmen in the U.S. Senate when a new Congress convenes in January. Senate Democrats, including new members elected this week, will caucus next Tuesday to formally pick their leaders.

continue reading

Note: I’m sure CBS/AP meant to write “chairpersons”

Associated Press Writer

HELENA, Mont. (AP) - U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns conceded defeat to Jon Tester on Thursday, acknowledging that a tight election had gone to the Democrats’ favor, Burns’ campaign told The Associated Press.

Burns, a three-term senator whose campaign was troubled by verbal gaffes and voter discontent, congratulated Tester, a farmer and state legislator.

“I stand ready to help as Montana transitions to a new United States Senator,” Burns said in a statement provided to the AP. “We fought the good fight and we came up just a bit short. We’ve had a good 18 years and I am proud of my record.”

Burns, 71, did not plan any public appearances Thursday, his campaign said.

Burns did not give any indication of what he plans to do now, though he indicated he was looking forward to taking some time off. “I hope there is still a good’sized buck out there, because I am going hunting,” he wrote.

Source here

I’ll tell ya what. I’m sick to fucking death of Israel’s mistakes. I’m sick to death of the U.S. government doing NOTHING to stop Israel’s ethnic cleansing, illegal occupation and war crimes against Palestinians. You think our newly elected congress will do something about this??? Answer….. A BIG NO!

The Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, today said the barrage of shells that killed 18 civilians in their Gaza Strip homes had been “a mistake”.
Mr Olmert called for an immediate meeting with the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas.

His words came after tens of thousands of Palestinians gathered in the Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun to bury the victims of yesterday’s attack.

Stretchers carried the bodies from 18 ambulances that had taken them from hospital morgues through the artillery-damaged apartment buildings where they died.

More here

By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 9, 2006; 12:08 PM

Ed Bradley, the veteran “60 Minutes” correspondent and one of the pioneering black journalists of his generation, died today. He was 65.

Bradley, who had won 19 Emmy awards, covered an incredible array of stories after joining the CBS newsmagazine in 1981, from brain cancer to sexual abuse in the Catholic Church to the high school shootings at Columbine.

He also reported a number of award-winning documentaries, covered political conventions and filled in on the “CBS Evening News” and other programs.

More at the Washington Post