GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Travel agents report a brisk demand for visas to Cuba, one of the few places that welcomes Palestinians.
Driven by fear of civil war and increasingly bleak economic prospects, Palestinians are fleeing their violence-wracked lands in growing numbers. Many are skilled and educated, and are leaving behind an increasingly impoverished and fundamentalist society.

Many countries make it difficult for the stateless Palestinians to obtain even tourist visas, because they often overstay them.

Two popular destinations for Gazans are Canada, which still offers legal immigration, and Cuba, which imposes few restrictions on Palestinian travelers.

Those with tourist visas to Cuba often don’t plan to go there. Instead, they get off in transit at a European airport, rip up their Palestinian travel document and seek asylum.

Read more at Chicago Sun Times

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The Iraqi president said Sunday the bipartisan U.S. report calling for a new approach to the war offered dangerous recommendations that would undermine his country’s sovereignty and were “an insult to the people of Iraq.”

President Jalal Talabani was the most senior government official to take a stand against the Iraq Study Group report, which has come under criticism from leaders of the governing Shiite and Kurdish parties.

He said the report “is not fair, is not just, and it contains some very dangerous articles which undermine the sovereignty of Iraq and the constitution.”

He singled out the report’s call for the approval of a de-Baathification law that could allow thousands of officials from Saddam Hussein’s ousted Baath party to return to their jobs.

The Kurdish leader also criticized the call for increasing the number of U.S. troops embedded to train Iraqis from 3,000 to 4,000 currently to 10,000 to 20,000.

Read more at MSNBC

One managed a bowling alley. Another was a cook. Another, a convicted felon who spent time in prison.

They are among the people the state of Florida relied on as supervisors in a FEMA-funded, $23 million counseling program for hurricane victims.

Team leaders in Project H.O.P.E. (Helping Our People in Emergencies) are “mental health professionals,” Florida assured the Federal Emergency Management Agency in its applications for the counseling grants. Yet, only one in four of those hired met federal educational and licensing guidelines, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel found.

Project H.O.P.E. hired Leon Gillis in November 2005 as a team leader in the Daytona Beach area even though he wrote on his application that he had been convicted of robbery twice, aggravated assault and cocaine possession. He has been arrested 14 times in Florida from 1966 to 2002 and spent more than five years in prison, records show.

Read more at the Sun Sentinel

I have an idea. Since we’ve got this huge deficit, how about placing a special tax on American church-goers? The larger and more politically-vocal the church, the larger the tax bill. I’m thinking roughly $5,000 / person (This is for your average Southern Baptist). There needs to be some serious discussion in this area.

My logic: Until the church can start showing some respect for ‘separation‘, the rest of us shouldn’t be.

Carrying The Koran

Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to serve in Congress, intends to undermine American civilization by carrying a Koran to his swearing-in ceremony. That’s the boneheaded view of columnist Dennis Prager, who unfortunately is not alone in denouncing what he claims would be a sacrilegious act by the Democrat from Minnesota. Either use the Bible to take the oath or don’t serve in Congress, Mr. Ellison is being told by the furious right.

Nothing in the Constitution requires public office holders to bring in any sacred book to their swearing-in. Those who insist that Christianity is the operative religion in public institutions should revisit Article VI of the Constitution: Members of Congress, state legislatures and all executive and judicial officers “shall be bound by oath or affirmation to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.”

A civics lesson worth remembering is that members of Congress don’t even have to put their left hands on any book when they raise their right hands to be sworn in together by the House speaker. They may carry a book or memento of their choosing.

Link

It never ceases to amaze me how public figures can betray the public trust but manage to be re-elected to office! How do they do it? Bush’s first four years were crap, but he managed to get his foot back in the door in 2004. How?
There must be a fairly large amount of idiots-per-capita here in the US. Add those to a healthy dose of lunatics, psychotics, and those with suicidal tendencies, and you may be talking about fifty-one percent of the American population!
Do you have a better idea???

Rep. Jefferson Wins Re-Election in La.

By CAIN BURDEAU

NEW ORLEANS, (AP) — U.S. Rep. William Jefferson easily defeated his fellow Democratic opponent in Saturday’s runoff, despite an ongoing federal bribery investigation.

With 44 percent of the precincts reporting, Jefferson, Louisiana’s first black congressman since Reconstruction, led with 61 percent of the vote over state Rep. Karen Carter, who had 39 percent.

Carter was unable to capitalize on a scandal that included allegations the FBI found $90,000 in bribe money in Jefferson’s freezer.

In a concession speech, Carter embraced family members and pledged to work with Jefferson, especially on the area’s recovery from Hurricane Katrina.

“I guess the people are happy with the status-quo,” she said.

Link

Yet we should keep supplying them with new weapons?

SULAIMANIYA, Iraq: The Kurdish security contractor placed the black plastic box on the table. Inside was a new Glock 19, one of the 9-millimeter pistols that the United States issued by the tens of thousands to the Iraqi Army and police.

This pistol was no longer in the custody of the Iraqi Army or police. It had been stolen or sold, and it found its way to an open-air grocery stand that does a lively black-market business in police and infantry arms. The contractor bought it there.

He displayed other purchases, including a short-barreled Kalashnikov assault rifle with a collapsible stock that makes it easy to conceal under a coat or fire from a car. “I bought this for $450 last year,” he said of the rifle. “Now it costs $650. The prices keep going up.”

The market for this American-issued pistol and the ubiquitous assault rifle illustrated how fear, mismanagement and malfeasance are shaping the small-arms market in Iraq.

More here

WASHINGTON House Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi’s plan to repeal tax breaks for oil companies in the first 100 hours of the new Congress could face roadblocks in the Senate.

Democratic Senator Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico says trying to do it in the first couple of weeks would be rushing things.

Bingaman has been the committee’s ranking Democrat and will become its chairman under a Democratic majority.

He expressed reservations about rolling back tax breaks enacted as part of the 2005 energy act that are aimed at encouraging domestic oil and gas production. He says hearings should be held before any such incentives are killed.

Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly says the 100 hours timeframe applies to the House only. He says Pelosi will work with senators on any concerns.

Source

He had to sneak in……wonder what the troops REALLY think about his “resignation.”

WASHINGTON — Outgoing Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld made a surprise trip to Iraq on Saturday, just days after a bipartisan commission called the situation there “grave and deteriorating” and said the administration’s policy wasn’t working.

“He’s there to express his appreciation to the troops and to thank both the troops and their families for the sacrifices they are making,” said Air Force Lt. Col. Todd Vician, a Defense Department spokesman.

It was Rumsfeld’s 15th trip to Iraq since the war began; he was last there in July.

Rumsfeld’s trip follows an emotional farewell Friday at the Pentagon, where the defense secretary defended his record on Iraq and Afghanistan.

He said Friday that the worst day of his nearly six years as secretary of defense occurred when he learned of the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse.

Read more at the Sun Sentinel