There’s a very scary person working at the Ft. Lauderdale Airport….and I suggest they find out who it is.

From the Sun Sentinel:

DANIA BEACH, Florida — A gay couple is asking for an investigation after they claim they heard threatening comments announced over the intercom system at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. The couple of six years said they were in the baggage claim area Tuesday when the announcement was made. “My partner said, ‘Did you hear that?’ and I said, ‘I kind of think I did,’” said Anthony Niedwiecki. “Then about two minutes later we heard it again. ‘A man who lies with a man as if he were lying with a woman shall be subject to death.’” “It was almost so threatening that I was frightened,” said Waymon Hudson, Niedwiecki’s partner. The passage is found in the Bible. According to the New International Version, Leviticus 20:13 says, “If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death.” “I understand that it is a Bible verse, but there should be no reason why a Bible verse should be coming over the PA system of a public entity,” Niedwiecki said. Niedwiecki said he filed a report with the security manager at the airport, and in an e-mail, he advised a Broward County commissioner of the situation. Airport officials said there are numerous paging systems throughout the terminals that are reserved for employee use only. They said at that time of the morning, anyone could have gotten their hands on the system. “So far we don’t think we can identify the location but that’s what we’re trying to do,” said airport representative Steve Belleme. The couple said that someone should be held accountable.

Update: From the Sun Sentinel

FORT LAUDERDALE · An apologetic, self-described prankster was fired Monday after officials said they found out he used an airport speaker system to play a Bible verse that offended a gay couple.

Luggage attendant Jethro Monestime, 23, who worked for Superior Aircraft Services at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport for about a year, admitted he was responsible for playing the controversial message twice in the baggage area of Terminal 3 at about 12:45 a.m. May 1.

Monestime recalled using his cell phone to play a recording that said, “If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, they should be put to death.” The announcement came from Leviticus 20:13.

Anthony Niedwiecki, 40, a Nova Southeastern University law professor who heard the broadcast with his six-year partner, Waymon Hudson, said Monday he didn’t consider it a prank. He said he was scared to hear the recording in a baggage terminal with few people and no security nearby.

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“Manish Boy”
Muddy Waters & The Band

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So the Governor of Kansas doesn’t know what she’s talking about, right? This is going to get ugly this summer. We’re already having bizarre weather. The state of Florida is on fire, with over 200 fires burning around the state. There’s a big bad weather system swirling off the Georgia/Carolina coast, wreaking havoc on beaches all the way to Florida. The midwest is experiencing big time flooding. Bush is going to say everything is ok and they’re ready to respond to catastrophes at home…..until we truly find out they’re not. And Tony Snow is such an asshole. Our troops are deployed to protect Americans??? I don’t think so you friggin idiot. They are deployed to protect oil. It has nothing to do with protecting us. God I’m sick of this shit.

The White House on Tuesday dismissed charges that the Iraq war effort had stripped the United States of resources needed to fight catastrophes at home in the wake of a devastating Kansas tornado.

“I think they’re separate issues… just as in a time of war, you know, the Pentagon plans for more than one conflict at a time, you have to be able to do more than one thing at a time,” White House spokesman Tony Snow said.

“So the fact that you have people deployed in a time of war to protect Americans is important, but at the same time you also maintain your capability of dealing with domestic concerns.”

US President George W. Bush is to visit Greensburg on Wednesday after the small Kansas prairie town was flattened by a tornado on Friday which left at least 10 people dead.

Bush is still haunted by the specter of Hurricane Katrina, which ravaged New Orleans in August 2005, and left US authorities heavily under fire for failing to act quickly to send in rescue and emergency services.

Greensburg, a town of some 1,800 residents about 120 miles (200 kilometers) west of Wichita, was virtually obliterated by the giant twister which struck late Friday, and Democratic Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius has already complained of a lack of lifting equipment to help the rescue effort.

She charged that the necessary machines had been deployed out of the US for the war in Iraq, increasing pressure on Bush locked in a standoff with the Democratic-controlled Congress over funding the conflict.

Read more at Breitbart

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[youtube]-lcg1xQJnow&mode[/youtube]

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By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration and key senators are struggling to agree on draft legislation to secure the U.S.-Mexico border before putting millions of illegal immigrants on a path to citizenship that could take 13 years.

Even then, immigrants would have to leave the country and pay large fines before gaining legal status.

Officials familiar with the discussions say that despite concessions by both Republicans and Democrats, a final agreement may not come before the Senate opens debate on the issue next week - if at all.

Still, the outlines of a possible deal have taken shape in almost daily secret talks attended by two members of President Bush’s Cabinet. As contemplated, the proposal would bar undocumented immigrants from gaining legal status until the administration beefs up border security and implements a high-tech identification system for temporary workers. The same trigger would apply to new immigrants seeking temporary visas as guest workers. Such measures are expected to take up to two years.

Even after that, officials said it could take more than a decade before the 12 million men, women and children estimated to be in the U.S. illegally could get permanent legal status, or green cards. First the government would clear an existing legal immigration backlog, a task estimated to take eight years. Then the government would begin processing green cards for the 12 million here illegally, expected to take another five years.

read more at YAHOO! NEWS

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It’s starting to look like the Democrats are going to wuss out on the Iraq Accountability Act. As a fellow Progressive, I strongly urge you to call your Congressman / Congresswoman today and demand, as an American citizen, for them to stand their ground and stop letting George W. Bush bully the Country into giving him more money for his cronies. Until he shores up the military by giving them the equipment they need, the training they need, and the medical care they need when they come home, there will be no more money for his Operation Iraqi Liberation (OIL). Enough is enough. We have the responsibility, whether we like it or not and whether we want it or not to take back our government and take back our country. I love America, but I hate what’s being done to her. The President, Vice-President, Attorney General, Secretary of State and others must be impeached now. Do NOT take this “off the table”. What do we need to get things straightened out? A full scale, honest to God REVOLUTION? - Jim Swanson, Blue Herald

Now the story…….

By ANNE FLAHERTY, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - House Democratic leaders planned to brief party members Tuesday on new legislation that would fund the Iraq war through July, then give Congress the option of cutting off money after that if conditions do not improve.

If members agree to back the plan as expected, a vote on the new war spending bill could come as early as this week. The proposal, pitched last week by Rep. David Obey (news, bio, voting record), D-Wis., was first disclosed Thursday by The Associated Press.

White House spokesman Tony Snow on Tuesday called the approach “just bad management.”

“We think it is appropriate to be able to give commanders what they are going to need, and also forces in the field, so that you can make long-term decisions in trying to build the mission,” Snow said.

Congressional Republicans immediately dismissed the Democratic proposal as unfairly rationing funds needed in combat and said their members would not support it.

Democrats “should not treat our men and women in uniform like they are children who are getting a monthly allowance,” said Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, his party’s leader.

read more at YAHOO! News

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There’s that phrase again….”more than.”

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon has notified more than 35,000 Army soldiers to be prepared to deploy to Iraq beginning this fall, a move that would allow commanders to maintain the ongoing buildup of troops through the end of the year if needed.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said Tuesday the deployment orders, which have been signed by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, do not mean that the military has made a decision to keep the increased level of 20 brigades in Iraq through December. A brigade is roughly 3,500 soldiers.

Instead, he said the decision gives the Pentagon the “capability” to carry the buildup to the end of the year. The replacement forces, Whitman said, would give commanders in Iraq the flexibility they need to complete the mission there.

The announcement, said Whitman, has “nothing to do” with a decision to extend the troop buildup. He said the Pentagon “has been very clear that a decision about the duration of the surge will depend on conditions on the ground.”

Early this year, President Bush ordered close to 30,000 additional troops to Iraq to quell the spiking violence particularly in and around Baghdad. Gates and his military leaders have said that commanders in Iraq will make recommendations in September on whether the buildup has been successful, and whether it should continue or if troops can begin coming home.

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By GARANCE BURKE, Associated Press Writer

FRESNO, Calif. - A college student opened fire in an apartment near the campus of California State University, Fresno, killing one person and wounding two others, police said Tuesday.

Members of a police SWAT team were communicating by telephone Tuesday morning with the suspect in the shooting, trying to get him to leave the apartment, police spokesman Jeff Cardinale said.

Cardinale identified the suspect as Jonquel Brooks, 19, of Hayward.

There was no immediate indication of the motive in the shooting, police said.

Residents of the apartment complex, just across a street from the university’s Bulldog Stadium, were evacuated to the campus cafeteria, said Fresno State spokeswoman Shirley Armbruster.

The university remained open for classes.

“The Fresno police said there was no danger to the campus because they had the suspect in the complex and we felt it was safe to have classes today,” Armbruster said.

However, the university sent out a notice to students, faculty and staff Tuesday morning and posted an alert for them on the school’s Web site.

read more at YAHOO!

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Rich or poor, we’re all Americans. We ALL deserve representation, regardless! When was the last time you saw the poor proportionally represented in Washington? When was the last time you saw the poor represented, period?

“His credibility on the issue has been challenged by critics who point to his 28,000’square-foot home in North Carolina and his $400 haircuts.”

Just who the hell are these critics? The article doesn’t say. They criticize Edwards, knowing full well that no other presidential candidate has taken a stand to fight poverty. Hey, you idiot critics, the poor deserve representation too. More now than ever!

I’m not an Edwards fan but, GO EDWARDS!

Yahoo! News:

Edwards: Wealth hasn’t changed advocacy

DES MOINES, Iowa - Presidential candidate John Edwards said Monday it’s silly to suggest that his wealth and expensive tastes have hurt his credibility as an advocate for the poor.

“Would it have been better if I had done well and didn’t care?” Edwards asked.

Edwards noted that some of the most acclaimed anti-poverty advocates came from privileged backgrounds, including Franklin Roosevelt and Bobby Kennedy.

“You could see and feel the empathy they had,” said Edwards, speaking from his home in North Carolina during an interview on Iowa Public Radio.

Edwards, a former North Carolina senator, has made poverty a central issue of his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination and recently released a book on the subject, “Ending Poverty in America.” He also has formed a center for the study of poverty issues at the University of North Carolina.

His credibility on the issue has been challenged by critics who point to his 28,000’square-foot home in North Carolina and his $400 haircuts. He rejected the criticism, saying a look at history shows that personal wealth doesn’t disqualify people from advocating for the poor.

“It feels a little silly to me,” Edwards said. “This is an issue I care deeply about.”

Edwards is the son of a mill worker who achieved wealth as a trial lawyer.

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By SHAUN WATERMAN
UPI Homeland and National Security Editor

By a large margin, Americans feel the Bush administration has tipped the balance of security against liberty too far towards security, a new UPI/Zogby poll shows.

But the public remains closely divided on the president’s most controversial security programs, favoring by small margins warrantless wiretaps against terror suspects and the broad mining by federal agencies of personal data about U.S. citizens.

When asked whether the Bush administration had “found the right balance between personal security and personal freedom,” only one-third (33 percent) agreed. Nearly half (49 percent) agreed instead that the “administration has tipped the balance too far towards security.”

Only 7 percent agreed with the third option, that the balance was tipped “too far towards freedom, leaving our security weak.”

Asked about specific security programs run by the administration, Americans were generally more supportive of those targeting foreigners.

Two-thirds (66 percent) agreed that the U.S. government had the right to collect personal data about foreign airline passengers coming to the country, which has been a source of ongoing friction with the European Union.

Fifty-five percent agreed that the Terrorism Surveillance Program was “a necessary and legal tool to protect Americans,” and 42 percent disagreed. Under the program, the National Security Agency conducts court-authorized but warrantless surveillance of international communications by Americans with suspected terrorists.

read more at UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL

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By KAREN MATTHEWS, Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK - Former President Bill Clinton announced agreements with drug companies Tuesday to lower the price in the developing world of AIDS drugs resistant to initial treatments and to make a once-a-day AIDS pill available for less than $1 a day.

The drugs to battle so-called “second-line” anti-retrovirals are needed by patients who develop a resistance to first-line treatment and currently cost 10 times as much, Clinton said. Nearly half a million patients will require these drugs by 2010.

Clinton’s foundation negotiated agreements with generic drug makers Cipla Ltd. and Matrix Laboratories Ltd. that he said would generate an average savings of 25 percent in low-income countries and 50 percent in middle-income countries.

Clinton also announced a reduced price for a once-daily first-line AIDS pill that combines the drugs tenofovir, lamivudine and efavirenz.

He said the new price of $339 per patient per year would be 45 percent lower than the current rate available to low-income countries and 67 percent less than the price available to many middle-income countries

read more at YAHOO! NEWS

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from YAHOO! NEWS

MOUNT LAUREL, N.J. - Six nationals of the former Yugoslavia were arrested early Tuesday on charges they plotted to attack the Fort Dix Army Base and “kill as many soldiers as possible,” federal authorities said.

The six were scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Camden later Tuesday to face charges of conspiracy to kill U.S. servicemen, said Michael Drewniak, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey. Five of them lived in Cherry Hill, he said.

A law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity because documents in the case remain sealed, said the men were arrested as part of a joint federal and local investigation.

The officials said the attack was stopped in the planning stages.

read more at YAHOO! NEWS

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by George Packer
from The New Yorker Magazine Online

Why has it become impossible to admit a mistake in Washington and accept the consequences? The last time a senior government official quit over his own job failure was more than twenty years ago, when Robert McFarlane, President Reagan’s national’security adviser, resigned during the Iran-Contra scandal and, taking accountability to a Roman level, swallowed an overdose of Valium, out of “a sense of having failed the country.” (He survived.) Today, this mostly forgotten act of personal responsibility seems rather heroic. Recent years have seen such a steep decline in shame that a book like George Tenet’s “At the Center of the Storm: My Years at the CIA,” for which the author was paid four million dollars, has become an expected destination at the end of a well-trodden path that leads from disaster through obfuscation and defiance to a well-rewarded self-justification.

The Bush Administration has come close to perfecting the art of unaccountability. Tenet’s memoir shows just one of several styles of evasion lately on display: last month, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’s admission that mistakes were made in the firing of eight United States attorneys had the air of a schoolboy hoping that bogus contrition would get him off the hook. “I accept full responsibility,” he told the Senate Judiciary Committee, meaning only that he was sorry he had allowed the matter to become such a nuisance. He spent the next five hours explaining-through repeated memory failure and a steady refusal to acknowledge the contradictions and lies in which he kept entangling himself-why he bore no responsibility for anything else. Afterward, the President praised Gonzales for his “very candid assessment” and said that it “increased my confidence in his ability to do the job.” This is unaccountability as pure chutzpah, and so far it seems to be working.

Paul Wolfowitz, the World Bank president and former Deputy Secretary of Defense, in answering charges that he favored his girlfriend by giving her a promotion and a hefty pay raise at the bank while holding impoverished countries to a high standard of good government, has taken a different approach. Wolfowitz, in his most recent statement, prepared for an investigatory panel, conceded nothing, and denounced a “smear campaign” waged by his enemies inside the bank. “I acted transparently, sought and received guidance from the bank’s ethics committee, and conducted myself in good faith in accordance with that guidance,” he asserted. Assertion is the neoconservative style of avoiding accountability: don-t give an inch or they-ll tear you to pieces. Wolfowitz’s ally Richard Perle once said that to express public doubts about the Iraq war “would be fatal.” And, of course, the World Bank scandal is all about Iraq.

read More HERE

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from The New York Times
By CLAUDIO GATTI and JAD MOUAWAD

Chevron, the second-largest American oil company, is preparing to acknowledge that it should have known kickbacks were being paid to Saddam Hussein on oil it bought from Iraq as part of a defunct United Nations program, according to investigators.

The admission is part of a settlement being negotiated with United States prosecutors and includes fines totaling $25 million to $30 million, according to the investigators, who declined to be identified because the settlement was not yet public.

The penalty, which is still being negotiated, would be the largest so far in the United States in connection with investigations of companies involved in the oil-for-food scandal.

The $64 billion program was set up in 1996 by the Security Council to help ease the effects of United Nations sanctions on Iraqi civilians after the first gulf war. Until the American invasion in 2003, the program allowed Saddam’s government to export oil to pay for food, medicine and humanitarian goods.

Using an elaborate system of secret surcharges and extra fees, however, the Iraqi regime received at least $1.8 billion in kickbacks from companies in the program, according to an investigation completed in 2005 by Paul A. Volcker, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve.

By imposing surcharges on the sale of crude oil, the Iraqi regime skimmed about $228 million from its oil exports.

A report released in 2004 by an investigator at the Central Intelligence Agency listed five American companies that bought oil through the program: the Coastal Corporation, a subsidiary of El Paso; Chevron; Texaco; BayOil; and Mobil, now part of Exxon Mobil. The companies have denied any wrongdoing and said they were cooperating with the investigations.

read more HERE

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from The Christian Science Monitor

by Marilyn Gardner

Every newly minted college grad clutching a diploma feels victorious. When Yissy Perez dons a cap and gown at Tufts University in May, she will have particular reason to celebrate. She earned her degree in civil engineering the hard way, living a double life as student and single mother to a daughter, now 22 months.

Her living arrangements made that academic journey even more difficult. Like most universities, Tufts (in Med­ford, Mass., a Boston suburb) offers no on-campus housing for mothers. Home for Ms. Perez has been a dorm. Her baby, Alleyh, lives with Perez’s mother and grandmother in Lawrence, Mass., a two-hour commute by bus, subway, and train.

“I only get to see her on weekends,” Perez says. “It’s very hard for me.”

Women now outnumber men in colleges and universities. But for those with young children, the path to a degree - and self’sufficiency - is often blocked by two obstacles: housing and child care.

Now those obstacles are propelling mothers at Tufts and elsewhere to speak up. “We want to start a movement to provide equal housing to everyone,” says Griselmarie Alemar, a married Tufts student who is the mother of a 6-month-old son.

As a first step, the Tufts Community Union Senate has just passed a resolution calling for equal access to on-campus housing for undergraduate mothers. The group also gathered signatures from 600 students in support of the measure.

Bruce Reitman, dean of students, notes that the school has worked individually with mothers to meet their needs. That includes legal help, financial support, and counseling. Calling the request to provide housing for undergraduate parents “a new discussion for us,” he says, “We can’t tell you if it’s possible to do that or not. If it’s possible, we’ll do it. But we’ve got to have the conversation about what it is they’re looking for.” He adds that providing a day-care center is particularly difficult.

read more HERE

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