Clarence Clemons and The Red Bank Rockers

I love me some Clarence Clemons! Get through the interview….the music is worth it.

I want to see this one…..

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The explosion in Iraq blew bits of rock into Bob Woodruff’s neck, broke open his skull, and put the ABC News journalist in a coma for 36 days.

Fourteen months later, Woodruff tells the story of his recovery in a prime-time special on Tuesday but rather than dwell exclusively on his own dramatic narrative, Woodruff turns the camera on Iraq war veterans who survived traumatic brain injury without national attention.

Woodruff suffered traumatic brain injury and calls it “the signature injury of the war in Iraq,” largely because combat troops in Iraq are so often exposed to improvised explosive devices.

While Woodruff recovered much better than his doctors expected, many veterans cannot walk or talk and require painstaking therapy or permanent attention.

He profiles some of them in a report that adds to concerns about the level of health care Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans receive after returning home.

A Washington Post series this month exposed deteriorating conditions for outpatients at the premier U.S. military hospital, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, leading Defense Secretary Robert Gates last week to brand the level of care as unacceptable and the Bush administration to order a review.

Many sufferers of traumatic brain injury find that after being discharged from major military hospitals, treatment in their hometowns is inadequate, the ABC special “To Iraq and Back” says.

Read more here

They’ll keep on pushing and keep on pushing……

BAGHDAD: A raid on a Shiite weapons cache in the southern city of Hilla one week ago is providing what American officials call the best evidence yet that the deadliest roadside bombs in Iraq are manufactured in Iran, but critics contend the forensic case remains circumstantial and inferential.

The new evidence includes infrared sensors, electronic triggering devices, and information about plastic explosives used in bombs that the Americans say leads directly back to Iran. The explosive material, triggering devices, other components, and the method of assembly all produce weapons with an Iranian signature that has never been found outside Iraq or southern Lebanon, where Hezbollah is believed to have used weapons supplied by Iran, the Americans say.

But critics assert that nearly all the bomb components could have been produced in Iraq or somewhere else in the region. Even if the evidence were to establish that Iran is the source, they add, that does not necessarily mean that the Iranian leadership is responsible.

Read more at the International Herald Tribune

BOGOTÁ — Just two weeks ahead of a high-profile visit by President Bush to Latin America, the United States’ key partner on the continent is engulfed in an extraordinary scandal that threatens to undermine the credibility of US alliances and policy priorities from Mexico to Argentina.

The widening probe linking dozens of political allies of Colombia’s president, Al-varo Uribe, to the country’s right-wing death squads and drug traffickers has started to erode support on Capitol Hill for Colombia, the biggest recipient of US aid outside the Middle East and Afghanistan.

The United States has spent $4.7 billion since 2000 fighting drugs and the insurgency in Colombia. In a show of support for his center-right ally, President Bush is scheduled next month to be the first US president since John F. Kennedy to visit the Colombian capital of Bogot.

But after a week that saw the ouster of Uribe’s foreign minister over her family’s ties to paramilitary militias and the arrest of his hand picked former secret police chief for murder, the next casualty of the scandal could be America’s reputation. The region feels forgotten by and estranged from Washington, D.C., since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and a string of victories by leftist presidents.

Bush is not expected to offer significant new aid or trade in his March 8-14 tour, his nemesis Hugo Chavez of oil-rich Venezuela is traversing the continent with an open checkbook.

Read more at Boston.com

At this point it would be about a Plan G…as in GET the hell out of there.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The most prominent Sunni in Iraq’s fragmented government said Monday that the United States is going to have to come up with a “Plan B” if the current crackdown fails to stem the violence in the capital.

Tariq al-Hashemi, the Sunni vice president, also warned that the Shiite-led government has no choice but to use force against sectarian militias, even though it may be too late to keep them from resuming killings and kidnappings when the Baghdad security crackdown ends.

He spoke as the country’s other vice president, a Shiite, escaped an apparent assassination attempt in a bombing that killed 10 people. Adel Abdul-Mahdi suffered a minor leg injury in the blast and was hospitalized for medical exams, his office said.

Al-Hashemi, head of Iraq’s biggest Sunni party, said he warned U.S. officials during a visit to Washington last December that sectarian rivalry had paralyzed the unity government and that the U.S. needed to think about alternatives if its current security strategy fails.

“I was very frank with the American administration. I encouraged them to think seriously about `Plan B,’” he said. “What sort of alternative do we have in the future in case the current security plan fails?”

Al-Hashemi said he has received no indication whether his advice was accepted.

Read more at Chron.com

Sometimes you just need a little bit of cuteness. Especially after a few posts about Dick Cheney! Here’s the devil with fur fresh out of the bath. As a yorkie, his ears should stand up, but I didn’t want to tape them. As of two days ago, one ear is up and one ear is down, making him the goofiest looking dog on earth. My boyfriend has informed me if he hears me say “Isn’t he so cute” one more time, the dog is going on a one way trip…… Now we need a new picture of Ms. Kitty, please!!!!

CNN just reported one female juror was dismissed. They’re going with 11 jurors.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Jurors in the perjury trial of former vice presidential aide Lewis “Scooter” Libby may have been exposed to information on the case outside of court, the judge said on Monday.

Judge Reggie Walton said he would talk to the 12 jury members individually to determine what they may have learned and whether it would affect their ability to impartially weigh evidence in the case.

“One of the jurors may have been exposed to information related to this case outside of the courtroom, and that conceivably others may have, as a result of that, been exposed,” Walton said.

Jurors are supposed to avoid news coverage of the trial until they have reached a verdict.

The jury of eight women and four men has been deliberating since last Wednesday.

More at Reuters

One hundred years ago, on Feb. 26, 1907, concerns about a growing influx of foreigners, mostly Europeans, prompted Congress to create what became known as the Dillingham Commission, which examined the impact of immigrants on America. (The panel later recommended curtailing immigration from southern and eastern Europe through use of quotas, higher entry fees, literacy tests and other restrictions.)

On this date:

In 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte escaped from exile on the Island of Elba to begin his second conquest of France.

In 1870, an experimental air-driven subway, the Beach Pneumatic Transit, opened in New York City. (The tunnel was only a block long, and the line had only one car.)

In 1919, Congress established Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona.

In 1929, President Coolidge signed a measure establishing Grand Teton National Park.

In 1940, the United States Air Defense Command was created.

In 1945, a midnight curfew on nightclubs, bars and other places of entertainment was set to go into effect across the nation.

In 1952, Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced that Britain had developed its own atomic bomb.

In 1979, a total solar eclipse cast a moving shadow 175 miles wide from Oregon to North Dakota before moving into Canada.

In 1987, the Tower Commission, which probed the Iran-Contra affair, issued its report, which rebuked President Reagan for failing to control his national security staff.

In 1993, a bomb built by Islamic extremists exploded in the parking garage of New York’s World Trade Center, killing six people and injuring more than 1,000 others.

Ten years ago: President Clinton defended White House fund-raising tactics as “entirely appropriate,” a day after the disclosure of documents putting Clinton at the center of all-out fund-raising efforts. Israel’s Cabinet voted to build a new Jewish neighborhood in disputed east Jerusalem. “Change the World” won four Grammy awards, including record of the year; Celine Dion’s “Falling Into You” won album of the year and best pop album.

Five years ago: Former Enron chief executive Jeffrey Skilling, at times combative, insisted during a Senate hearing that he knew nothing about manipulation of company books and denied misleading Congress as alleged by some lawmakers and Enron officials. Pharmacist Robert R. Courtney pleaded guilty in Kansas City, Mo., to watering down chemotherapy drugs. (Courtney was later sentenced to 30 years in prison.) Gunmen killed 11 minority Shiite Muslims praying in a mosque in Pakistan.

One year ago: On the final day of the Turin Winter Olympics, Sweden beat Finland 3-2 to win the men’s hockey gold. Germany finished first in overall medals with 29 and golds with 11, while the Americans won 25 medals overall, nine of them gold. Drew Lachey leaped to victory with professional partner Cheryl Burke on ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars.”

Today’s Birthdays: Actress Betty Hutton is 86. Singer Fats Domino is 79. Political columnist Robert Novak is 76. Country-rock musician Paul Cotton (Poco) is 64. Actor-director Bill Duke is 64. Singer Mitch Ryder is 62. Rock musician Jonathan Cain (Journey) is 57. Singer Michael Bolton is 54. Actor Greg Germann is 49. Bandleader John McDaniel is 46. Actress Jennifer Grant is 41. Singer Erykah Badu is 36. Rhythm-and-blues singer Rico Wade (Society of Soul) is 35. Rhythm-and-blues singer Kyle Norman (Jagged Edge) is 32. Rhythm-and-blues singer Corinne Bailey Rae is 28. Country singer Rodney Hayden is 27. Actress Taylor Dooley is 14.

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Three Somali police speedboats and a U.S. military vessel were headed Monday toward a U.N.-chartered cargo ship hijacked by pirates, a senior police official said. Piracy has been rampant off the Somali coast.

Somali pirates boarded the MV Rozen - which had just delivered a total of 1,884 tons of food aid in northern Somalia - on Sunday, taking the crew hostage, officials said. It is the third U.N.-chartered ship to be hijacked in Somali waters since 2005.

Police boats were within sight of the ship “but we asked them to stop going further because our biggest concern is the safety of the crew of 12 on board,” said Col. Abdi Ali Hagaafe, police chief of the Bari region.

“We have asked the U.S. navy in the Red Sea … to help us in the operation, and they told us they have started to move towards the ship,” he said.

The ship is not in international waters, but “U.S./Coalition forces are in the area and are monitoring the situation,” said Lt. Denise Garcia of the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command based in Bahrain.

Read more at Chron.com

This is one sneaky mofo!

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney landed at the largest U.S. military base in Afghanistan on Monday afternoon for consultations with American military leaders ahead of a meeting with President Hamid Karzai.

Cheney landed at the base at Bagram, an hour north of Kabul, shortly after a meeting in neighboring Pakistan where he told Gen. Pervez Musharraf that al-Qaida is regrouping in Pakistan’s remote border area and that Pakistan needs to do more to confront the problem.

Cheney’s stops in Pakistan and Afghanistan have been shrouded in secrecy, and Afghan and U.S. officials refused to comment until after the vice president left the country. He was expected to be in Afghanistan only for a few hours.

Source here

Musharraf didn’t listen to the Cowboy so they had to send in Snaggle Tooth!

WASHINGTON: Vice President Dick Cheney made an unannounced trip to Pakistan on Monday to deliver what officials in Washington described as an unusually tough message to General Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan, warning him that the newly Democratic Congress could cut aid to his country unless his forces become far more aggressive in hunting down operatives with Al Qaeda.

Cheney’s trip was shrouded in secrecy, and he was on the ground for only a few hours, sharing a private lunch with the Pakistani leader at his palace. Notably, Cheney traveled with the deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Steve Kappes, an indication that the conversation with the Pakistani president likely included discussion of American intelligence agency contentions that Al Qaeda camps have been reconstituted along the border of Afghanistan.

The decision to send Cheney secretly to Pakistan came after the White House concluded that Musharraf is failing to live up to commitments he made to Bush during a visit here in September. Musharraf insisted then, both in private and public, that a peace deal he struck with tribal leaders in one of the country’s most lawless border areas would not diminish the hunt for the leaders of Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

Read more at the International Herald Tribune

The Temptations
Ain’t Too Proud to Beg

FAMILY TIES AL SHARPTON TO THURMOND

FUEL CONTAINERS WASH ASHORE

AL SADR: SECURITY PLAN IS DOOMED

ANNA NICOLE JUDGE GETS CBS OFFER

IRAQI PRESIDENT FALLS ILL, GOES TO JORDAN FOR TESTS

ISRAELI TROOPS RAID WEST BANK CITY

NEW IRAQI TROOPS FLY TO BAGHDAD

U.S. GENERALS WILL QUIT IF BUSH ORDERS IRAN ATTACK

BOMBER STRIKES BAGHDAD COLLEGE

IRAQI MINISTRY CASTS DOUBTS ON OIL LAW

RUSSIA WARNS U.S. ON IRAN MOVES

U.S. DENIES 24-HOUR BOMBING PLAN FOR IRAN

Didn’t the Nazis do this? This is some crazy shit!

They don’t carry guns, flash badges or conduct investigations.

But store supervisors, hotel general managers and farming executives in Palm Beach County soon will be part of a new campaign to prevent terrorist attacks.

Businesspeople this spring will begin forming a nine-member council to learn techniques on spotting plots in the making, and then pass that information on to potentially thousands of workers in their fields. The council members also will receive sensitive police information concerning threats to their industries.

Before long, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office hopes everyone from utility workers to phone operators to truck drivers will be alert to signs that something may be amiss as they drive through neighborhoods, crisscross malls, visit office buildings and pass major traffic intersections.

“We can’t do it alone,” said Maj. Daniel McBride, commander of the Sheriff’s Office homeland security bureau, which devised the initiative. “We have a gap in homeland security.”

Read more at the Sun Sentinel