Ray Charles
“I Got a Woman”

By HELENE COOPER and DAVID E. SANGER
from The New York Times

WASHINGTON, June 15 - A year after President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced a new strategy toward Iran, a behind-the’scenes debate has broken out within the administration over whether the approach has any hope of reining in Iran’s nuclear program, according to senior administration officials.

The debate has pitted Ms. Rice and her deputies, who appear to be winning so far, against the few remaining hawks inside the administration, especially those in Vice President Dick Cheney’s office who, according to some people familiar with the discussions, are pressing for greater consideration of military strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities.

In the year since Ms. Rice announced the new strategy for the United States to join forces with Europe, Russia and China to press Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment activities, Iran has installed more than a thousand centrifuges to enrich uranium. The International Atomic Energy Agency predicts that 8,000 or so could be spinning by the end of the year, if Iran surmounts its technical problems.

Those hard numbers are at the core of the debate within the administration over whether Mr. Bush should warn Iran’s leaders that he will not allow them to get beyond some yet-undefined milestones, leaving the implication that a military strike on the country’s facilities is still an option.

Even beyond its nuclear program, Iran is emerging as an increasing source of trouble for the Bush administration by inflaming the insurgencies in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and in Gaza, where it has provided military and financial support to the militant Islamic group Hamas, which now controls the Gaza Strip.

Even so, friends and associates of Ms. Rice who have talked with her recently say she has increasingly moved toward the European position that the diplomatic path she has laid out is the only real option for Mr. Bush, even though it has so far failed to deter Iran from enriching uranium, and that a military strike would be disastrous.

read more at THE NEW YORK TIMES

By AARON BEARD, Associated Press Writer
from YAHOO!

RALEIGH, N.C. - District Attorney Mike Nifong will be disbarred for his disastrous prosecution of three Duke University lacrosse players falsely accused of rape, a disciplinary committee decided Saturday. Even the veteran prosecutor said the punishment was appropriate.

“This matter has been a fiasco. There’s no doubt about it,” said committee chairman F. Lane Williamson.

Nifong sat motionless, one hand resting over his mouth, as Williamson recounted how he engaged in dishonest and deceitful conduct. He said Nifong’s early comments about the case - which included a confident proclamation that he wouldn’t allow Durham to become known for “a bunch of lacrosse players from Duke raping a black girl” - were purposefully designed to boost his campaign for district attorney.

“At the time he was facing a primary, and yes, he was politically naive,” Williamson said. “But we can draw no other conclusion that those initial statements he made were to further his political ambitions.”

Nifong will not appeal the punishment, his lawyer said.

The North Carolina State Bar charged Nifong with breaking several rules of professional conduct, including lying to both the court and bar investigators and withholding critical DNA test results from the players’ defense attorneys.

The committee, after deliberating for a little more than an hour on Saturday, unanimously agreed with the bar on almost every charge - including the most serious allegations - that Nifong’s actions involved “dishonesty, fraud, deceit and misrepresentation.”

By MIKE BAKER, Associated Press Writer
from YAHOO!

MONTREAT, N.C. - Ruth Graham retained her beauty even in death and surely “had a great reception in heaven,” an ailing Billy Graham told mourners who gathered Saturday to remember his beloved wife.

“I wish you could look in that casket because she’s so beautiful,” said Graham, clinging to his walker. “She was a wonderful woman.”

Ruth Graham died Thursday at age 87 following a lengthy illness. Her husband’s closest confidant, she was remembered as a spiritual stalwart and modest mentor who provided a solid foundation - both biblically and geographically - for her globe-trotting husband.

“The mama that we saw at home was the mama that the world saw,” said their son, Franklin, who is now the head of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. He recalled his mother’s headstrong and quirky nature, telling the crowd about the time she overcame a locked bedroom door by crawling on the roof, throwing a cup of cold water through his window to wake him.

“I thank you mama for your example, for your love, for your wit, for your humor, for your craziness,” he said. “I love you for all of it and I’m going to miss you terribly.”

After preaching to more than 210 million people around the world during a six-decade career, Billy Graham, 88, is largely confined to the couple’s home in Montreat by several ailments, including prostate cancer and Parkinson’s disease. He wasn’t expected to speak Saturday but surprised the crowd with his words, perhaps spurred by the sight of his 19 grandchildren.

“God bless all these grandchildren. Some of them I haven’t seen in a long time. Some of them I’ve never seen,” he said, drawing laughter from the audience. “Lots of love to everyone, and thank you.”

He wiped a tear away a before leaving the auditorium. Family spokesman Larry Ross said later that “the sense of loss is beginning to settle in on him.” Family members will hold a private burial ceremony Sunday at the new Billy Graham Library in Charlotte.

read more at YAHOO! NEWS

H/T The Other Buck! As always, informative articles at Global Research!

by Leuren Moret

The conduct of secret nuclear wars since 1991, through the use of depleted uranium weaponry by the United States and Great Britain with their allies, has taken place in the Middle East, the former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan2 and Lebanon.3 It has been carried out for the express purpose of destroying the public health and mutilating the genetic future of vast populations in oil rich and/or pipeline regions.

Carpet and grid bombing with depleted uranium weaponry in Iraq, Yugoslavia and Afghanistan has guaranteed permanent radioactive terrain contamination. The recent discovery that U.S. depleted uranium bombs dropped by Israel on Lebanon in 2006 contained enriched uranium4,5 suggests covert testing of fourth generation nuclear weapons.

The United States and its allies are fully aware that this weaponry violates the Geneva and Hague Conventions and the 1925 Geneva Poison Gas Protocol.6 It meets the definition of WMD in the U.S. Code7 in two out of three categories. And its use violates U.S. military law.8 since the U.S. is a signatory to The Hague and Geneva Conventions.

The blueprint for depleted uranium radioactive poison gas weaponry - dirty bombs, dirty missiles and dirty bullets - was contained in a declassified memorandum9 dated Oct. 30, 1943. It was addressed to Gen. Leslie Groves, who was head of the Manhattan Project, the U.S. effort to build atomic bombs in World War II.

The recommendation for development of depleted uranium as kinetic energy penetrators was never mentioned in the Groves memo. It was specifically for depopulation.

The Groves memo makes it clear that in 1943, U.S. scientists recommended using radioactive poison gas weapons in order to contaminate the air, water, soil, food, environment and the blood of exposed populations. The long-term contamination is permanent, since uranium-238 has a half-life of 4.5 billion years, making contaminated areas uninhabitable for eternity.

For populations that must continue to live in contaminated areas, the long-term effects are lingering illnesses and mutilation of their DNA. Widespread depleted uranium contamination of DNA in populations results in the potential mutilation of future generations. Mutations induced in the DNA of a single egg or sperm which form a fertilized egg are expressed and repeated in every cell of the developing organism, and defects are passed on to all future generations11.

Continue reading at Global Research

Huh? This from the Duke of Deficit?

CRAWFORD, Texas –President Bush warned Congress on Saturday that he will use his veto power to stop runaway government spending.

“The American people do not want to return to the days of tax-and’spend policies,” Bush said in his radio address.

The House passed a $37 billion budget for the Homeland Security Department on Friday, but Republicans rallied enough votes to uphold a promised veto from Bush.

The measure — one of several annual spending bills that Congress began to consider this week — exceeds Bush’s request for the department by $2.1 billion.

Democrats on Friday defended the extra money in the homeland security bill, noting it contains money to hire 3,000 additional border agents, improve explosive detection at airports and provides money to double the amount of cargo screened on passenger aircraft.

The administration, hoping to appease Republicans who demand fiscal restraint, has pledged to keep overall spending to the level in Bush’s proposed budget in February.

The president has had uneven success.

More at Boston.com

Where ISN’T there a crisis? And why are we involved or somehow responsible for every one of them? Oh yah……His Highnieness got us here. I guess this is what you get when you back a dictator. Oh….and why is this dictator ok, but others aren’t? And this one ALREADY has access to the nuclear button. Guess we don’t want to piss him off now, do we.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: A senior U.S. envoy gave strong backing to the government of Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf on Friday, but balanced it with a call for more democracy amid growing opposition to his eight-year rule.

Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte was visiting as Musharraf faces street protests for suspending the country’s chief justice and as U.S. lawmakers question American backing for a military leader reluctant to yield power to civilians.

After talks with Musharraf and other senior officials, Negroponte praised Pakistan’s front-line role in fighting terrorism, in which it has captured scores of al-Qaida suspects and lost hundreds of soldiers battling militants.

The message he delivered “is one of strong friendship and trust for and with the government and the people of Pakistan. We believe we have an excellent partnership,” Negroponte told reporters.

Washington has been steadfast in its public support for Musharraf, making clear that the global fight against al-Qaida as well as the war in neighboring Afghanistan take priority.

More at the International Herald Tribune

Jimmy sent me this video of Paul Pott, a guy competing in the British equivalent of American Idol. OH MY GOD. I didn’t think I liked opera….. until now. You’ll want to listen to this over and over. Thank you Jimmah!

National Basketball Association

Finals

San Antonio Spurs win the Championship Series 4-0 over the Cleveland Cavaliers

Major League Baseball

American League

Eastern Division

Boston Red Sox in first place 8.5 games ahead of New York Yankees

Central Division

Cleveland Indians are in first place by 1 game ahead of Detroit

Western Division

Los Angeles Angels are in first place 4 games ahead of Oakland

National League

Eastern Division

New York Mets are in first place 2.5 games head of Atlanta

Central Division

Milwaukee Brewers are in first place 5.5 games ahead of the Chicago Cubs

Western Division

Los Angeles Dodgers are in first place .5 games ahead of San Diego

By ROBERT BURNS
AP Military Writer

WASHINGTON - Turns out the trouble at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the focus of a firestorm of criticism over poor treatment of wounded war veterans, reached into the mailroom.

The Army said Friday that it has opened an investigation into the recent discovery of 4,500 letters and parcels - some dating to May 2006 - at Walter Reed that were never delivered to soldiers.

And it fired the contract employee who ran the mailroom.

In an indication of the Army’s sensitivity to problems at Walter Reed, whose reputation as the crown jewel in the Army medical system was tarnished by the disclosures of poor treatment of soldiers earlier this year, officials put out a written statement late Friday afternoon detailing the problem with the mail.

Maj. Gen. Eric Schoomaker, commander of Walter Reed, said he ordered a team of 20 to 40 soldiers and civilians to launch an around-the-clock operation to screen, survey and forward all the letters and parcels. Items addressed to soldiers still at Walter Reed were being hand-delivered Friday night, he said.

“This delay is completely and absolutely unsatisfactory,” Schoomaker said.

He took over at Walter Reed after the Army fired his predecessor, Maj. Gen. George Weightman, in the wake of Washington Post stories that spelled out substandard living conditions and excessive red tape for soldiers at Walter Reed.

Army Secretary Francis Harvey also was fired in the days following the disclosures.

The acting Army surgeon general, Maj. Gen. Gale Pollock, said there have not been any complaints about delayed mail delivery at other Army medical centers. Even so, she said she ordered an immediate review and inspections of mail room procedures and supervisory controls at other medical centers.

Source