David Drake

An American member of Al Qaeda has been charged with treason after releasing a seven-minute video threatening terrorists attack worse than September 11.

Adam Yehyie Gadahn, also known as Azzam al-Amriki, wore a white turban and robe and addressed President George Bush as he made the threats in English.

He demanded the total removal of all US military and spies from Islamic countries, that all Muslim prisoners held by the US are freed, and that the US end support for Israel.

He added that US troop withdrawal from Iraq alone would not be enough, that they would instead have to evacuate from all Islamic counties.

Last year Gadahn released another video demanding that all Americans convert to Islam but did not carry such threats.

In the video, which appeared on a Web site often used by Islamic militants, said, Gadahn said, "Your failure to heed our demands ... means that you and your people will ... experience things which will make you forget all about the horrors of September 11th, Afghanistan and Iraq and Virginia Tech."

"This is not a call for negotiations. We do not negotiate with baby killers and war criminals like you," said Gadahn.

"You will go down in history not only as the president who embroiled his nation in a series of unwinnable and bloody conflicts in the Islamic world but as the president who set the United States up on its death march."

Listing al Qaeda's demands, Gadahn said: "Pull every last one of your soldiers... out of every Muslim land. If so much as one single U.S. soldier or spy remain on Islamic soil it shall be considered sufficient justification for us to continue our defensive jihad against your nation and people."

Ewa Sowinska said she was concerned the popular show promoted homosexuality to unsuspecting minors.

Her remarks were immediately likened to those several years ago of the late US evangelist Jerry Falwell who accused Tinky Winky of being gay because he carried a purse.

Lesley Stahl on U.S. sanctions against Iraq: "We have heard that a half million children have died. I mean, that's more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?"

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright: "I think this is a very hard choice, but the price--we think the price is worth it."

Then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's quote, calmly asserting that U.S. policy objectives were worth the sacrifice of half a million Arab children, has been much quoted in the Arabic press.

"This is like a fig leaf. This is a token," Pelosi said in a floor speech in which she contended that an opportunity had been missed. "This is a small step forward. We should have a giant step forward."

I have endured a lot of smear and hatred since Casey was killed and especially since I became the so-called "Face" of the American anti-war movement. Especially since I renounced any tie I have remaining with the Democratic Party, I have been further trashed on such "liberal blogs" as the Democratic Underground. Being called an "attention whore" and being told "good riddance" are some of the more milder rebukes.

[...]

I was the darling of the so-called left as long as I limited my protests to George Bush and the Republican Party. Of course, I was slandered and libeled by the right as a "tool" of the Democratic Party. This label was to marginalize me and my message. How could a woman have an original thought, or be working outside of our "two-party" system?

However, when I started to hold the Democratic Party to the same standards that I held the Republican Party, support for my cause started to erode and the "left" started labeling me with the same slurs that the right used.

[...]

This is my resignation letter as the "face" of the American anti-war movement. This is not my "Checkers" moment,

[...]

Good-bye America ...you are not the country that I love and I finally realized no matter how much I sacrifice, I can’t make you be that country unless you want it.

Natick police said they were searching for whomever stuffed decorative American flags in trash receptacles around the town square and set them on fire.

Authorities said an off-duty officer noticed a trash receptacle on fire in a Natick park near the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority station at about 4 p.m. on Thursday.

"I will tell you -- I was very, very upset about this. This area, this park, Moran Park, is considered sacred ground by the veterans here in Natick," veteran John MacGillivray said.

By Friday afternoon, the 12 flags had been replaced.

"I am aware that people have a right to protest, but they don’t have a right to take property that doesn’t belong to them and that's here to honor the veterans. It is a disgrace," MacGillivray said.

The burning flags were in a solar-powered trash compactor.

"It had to be purposefully set. It is probably not that uncommon to have trash on fire, but it is a little more uncommon to find flags," said Natick Police Lt. Brian Grassey.

Natick veterans said it was especially disrespectful to burn the flags days before Memorial Day weekend.

"We decorate this park every Memorial Day. We have never had anything like this happen," said veteran Bob White.

Those responsible for the vandalism face felony charges for destruction of property for destroying the flags and damaging the trash compactors.

"Perhaps they should be cleaning up this park or something along that nature. If it is young kids, they need to be made aware of the consequences of their actions," MacGillivray said.

A veterans group said it would properly dispose of the flags.

Police are asking for help finding the person responsible for burning the flags. They ask anyone with information to call them at 508-647-9500.

Mr Chavez refused to renew Radio Caracas TV's (RCTV) licence, saying it had tried to undermine his government.

RCTV and rights groups say Mr Chavez is limiting freedom of expression.

Employees of RCTV, Venezuela's most watched channel, embraced and chanted "freedom" as they prepared for a final night of programmes.

Some employees were vowing to occupy the station studios overnight, possibly to hinder the government takeover, the AFP news agency reported.

Three diners were sitting outside in downtown Minneapolis recently when a man walked up and asked for a dollar.

The three, Minneapolis Council Members Sandy Roy and Ralph Remington and state Senator Linda Higgins, politely declined.

The panhandler turned to Remington and went into a profanity-laced tirade.

... banning verbal solicitation for money within 10 feet of a crosswalk, convenience store and liquor stores or within 50 feet of entrances to a park or sporting arena.

It also wants to prohibit panhandling in groups of two or more people and at night.

Rybak advises those intimidated by panhandlers to call 911. "We want you to do that," he said, "I do it all the time."

* Changing federal law to give FDA (Food and Drug Administration) [the] authority to regulate tobacco products, including powers to restrict how they can be marketed.

* Requiring all public and private health insurance plans to make coverage of smoking cessation programs a lifetime benefit.

* Licensing retail outlets that sell tobacco products.

* Launching additional efforts aimed at curbing youth interest in smoking and access to tobacco, including bans on online sales of tobacco products and direct-to-consumer shipments.

*Limiting tobacco advertising and promotional displays to text-only, black-and-white formats.

* Requiring new, large pictorial warnings on the harmful effects of smoking -- similar to those required in Canada -- on all cigarette packs and cartons.

* Requiring manufacturers to correct false or misleading information on products and at the point of sale.

* Restricting the type or number of outlets that can sell tobacco products, and requiring them to display warnings and give a proportional amount of space to cessation aids.

* Prohibiting tobacco companies from targeting youth for any purpose and urging them to redirect money they now spend on prevention to independent public health organizations.

* "We propose aggressive steps to end the tobacco problem -- that is, to reduce tobacco use so substantially that it is no longer a significant public health problem. This report offers a blueprint for putting the nation on a course for achieving that goal over the next two decades."

* As a long-term strategy, the report also recommends that FDA look into developing a plan to gradually reduce the nicotine content of cigarettes and thereby decrease their addictive power.

Cigarettes are a unique consumer product in that they contain carcinogens and other dangerous toxins and would be banned under federal public health statutes if these statutes did not expressly exempt tobacco, the report states.

The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health found that 884 of the chemicals available for use in cosmetics have been reported to the government as toxic substances.

A U. S. General Accounting Office report notes that the FDA has committed no resources for assessing the safety problems of those chemicals which have been found to cause genetic damage, biological mutations, and cancer. Because of minimal regulation, products plainly dangerous to your health can be, and are being, sold.

Suzanne was surprised to find out that nearly all of the personal care products she uses on her face and body contain ingredients suspected of causing cancer; potential neuro-, liver-, and immunotoxins; and suspected hormone disruptors that could cause birth defects in any children she might bear in the future.

The jingle of the ice cream truck also meant pot sales on wheels...

The driver, a Mexican national, was arrested Thursday. Police on Friday were withholding his identity pending an expected arraignment on drug possession charges.

Schumer is now undergoing a 21-day treatment with antibiotics, which can cause fatigue in some patients.

He said he hasn't noticed any symptoms and is being treated "to prevent it from developing into the disease."

Perennial Democratic strategist Bob Shrum drops a bombshell in his new book, according to a report in today’s Washington Post.

In the book, he says he asked former Sen. John Edwards at the outset of his 1998 Senate campaign, “What is your position, Mr. Edwards, on gay rights?”

“I’m not comfortable around those people,” was Edwards’ reply, according to Shrum.

WASHINGTON--With only months left on a moratorium restricting state governments from taxing Internet access, the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday began a debate over whether the ban should be made permanent or allowed to lapse.

[...]

"If a moratorium is made permanent, there is a slippery slope where other industries will seek their own preemptions of state laws," said David Quam, director of federal relations for the National Governors Association.

The current ban should be extended temporarily, "if at all," said Senator Daniel Inouye, a Hawaii Democrat and chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.

[...]

...other senators called for the tax ban to be made permanent. If the ban expires, consumers in some U.S. cities could pay up to an additional 30 percent for Internet access, said Annabelle Canning, vice president for state tax policy at Verizon.

"Sen. Metzen was given no special treatment, nor did he request any special treatment," [Police Chief Michael] Messerich said. "He was treated like anyone else."

[...]

Metzen's attorney, Paul Rogosheske, told the Star Tribune of Minneapolis the senator had been at Kelly Inn, a favorite haunt of the Capitol crowd, before heading home.

In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller, Metzen apologized "for my lapse in judgment."

He said he had attended a celebratory gathering with his peers after leaving the Capitol and used bad judgment.

[...]

Metzen has drawn attention for alcohol-related issues before.

In 2004, a Twin Cities television station aired a hidden-camera report on drinking at the Capitol. At one point, the footage showed a House member and lobbyists drinking in Metzen's office.

WASHINGTON — Flinching in the face of a veto threat, Democratic congressional leaders neared agreement with the Bush administration today on legislation to pay for the Iraq war without setting a timeline for troop withdrawal.

Despite the concession, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada refused to characterize the move as a defeat for Democrats, many of whom strongly supported including the withdrawal timetable in the war funding bill.

"If Ireland can ban cigarette smoking, we can do it too,"