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slide show of memorial services today at Ft. Hood includes the president and First Lady. What an emotional ceremony.
By the way jjp, it seems I have to log in for every comment I make.never used to be this way....anyway for what it is worth, too time consuming.
By MARK MAZZETTI and JAMES RISEN
Published: November 10, 2009
WASHINGTON — Top executives at Blackwater Worldwide authorized secret payments of about $1 million to Iraqi officials that were intended to silence their criticism and buy their support after a September 2007 episode in which Blackwater security guards fatally shot 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad, according to former company officials.
Blackwater approved the cash payments in December 2007, the officials said, as protests over the deadly shootings in Nisour Square stoked long-simmering anger inside Iraq about reckless practices by the security company’s employees. American and Iraqi investigators had already concluded that the shootings were unjustified, top Iraqi officials were calling for Blackwater’s ouster from the country and company officials feared that Blackwater might be refused an operating license it would need to retain its contracts with the State Department and private clients, worth hundreds of millions of dollars annually.
Four former Blackwater executives said in interviews that Gary Jackson, who was then the company’s president, had approved the bribes, and the money was sent from Amman, Jordan, where Blackwater maintains an operations hub, to a top manager in Iraq. The executives, though, said they did not know whether the cash was delivered to Iraqi officials or the identities of the potential recipients.
Blackwater’s strategy of buying off the government officials, which would have been illegal under American law, created a deep rift inside the company, according to the former executives. They said that Cofer Black, who was then the company’s vice chairman and a former top C.I.A. and State Department official, learned of the plan from another Blackwater manager while he was in Baghdad discussing compensation for families of the shooting victims with United States Embassy officials.
Alarmed about the secret payments, Mr. Black cut short his talks and left Iraq. Soon after returning to the United States, he confronted Erik Prince, the company’s chairman and founder, who did not dispute that there was a bribery plan, according to a former Blackwater executive familiar with the meeting. Mr. Black resigned the following year.
Stacy DeLuke, a company spokeswoman, dismissed the allegations as “baseless” and said the company would not comment about former employees. Mr. Black did not respond to telephone calls and e-mail messages seeking comment.
Reached by phone, Mr. Jackson, who resigned as president of Blackwater early this year, criticized The New York Times and said, “I don’t care what you write.”
The four former Blackwater executives, who had held high-ranking posts at the company, would speak only on condition of anonymity. Two of them said they took part in talks about the payments; the two others said they had been told by several Blackwater officials about the discussions. In agreeing to describe those conversations, the four officials said that they were troubled by a pattern of questionable conduct by Blackwater, which had led them to leave the company.
Blackwater continued operating as the prime contractor providing security for the United States Embassy in Baghdad until spring, when the Iraqi government said it would deny the company an operating license. The State Department replaced Blackwater with a rival company in May, but Blackwater still does some work for the department in Iraq on a temporary basis.
Five Blackwater guards involved in the shooting are facing federal manslaughter charges and their trial is scheduled to start in February in Washington. A sixth guard pleaded guilty in December. Blackwater, now known as Xe Services, has never faced criminal charges in the case, although the Iraqi victims brought a civil lawsuit in federal court against the company and Mr. Prince.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/11/world/middlee...
By DEXTER FILKINS
Published: November 10, 2009
KABUL, Afghanistan — With fertilizer bombs now the most lethal weapons used against American and NATO soldiers in southern Afghanistan, the bomb-making operation in Kandahar was something close to astonishing.
In a pair of raids on Sunday, Afghan police officers and American soldiers discovered a half-million pounds of ammonium nitrate, a fertilizer that is used in the overwhelming majority of homemade bombs here. About 2,000 bomb-making devices like timers and triggers were also found, and 15 Afghans were detained.
With a typical homemade bomb weighing no more than 60 pounds, the seizure of that much fertilizer — more than 10 tractor-trailer loads — removed potentially thousands of bombs from the streets and trails of southern Afghanistan, officials said.
“You can turn a bag of ammonium nitrate into a bomb in a matter of hours,” said Col. Mark Lee, who leads NATO’s effort to stop the bomb makers in southern Afghanistan. “This is a great first step.”
The operation in the southern city of Kandahar, which was announced Tuesday, is by far the largest of its type. Ammonium nitrate is illegal in Afghanistan; farmers here are allowed to use other types of fertilizer, like those that are urea-based, on their crops. Most of the ammonium nitrate fertilizer in Afghanistan is believed to be imported from Pakistan.
Ammonium nitrate has long been used as both a fertilizer and an explosive. Timothy J. McVeigh and Terry L. Nichols used a 600-pound ammonium nitrate bomb, mixed with fuel oil, to attack the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995. The attack killed 168 people.
The seizure in Kandahar came on the heels of a number of initiatives aimed at taking the fertilizer out of the hands of Taliban insurgents. Until this month, Afghan and NATO officials could seize ammonium nitrate only if it was clearly associated with insurgent activity. Now, they can seize it regardless. If the police or soldiers seize ammonium fertilizer from farmers, they are legally obliged to compensate them for it.
On Sunday, Afghan police officers and American soldiers, acting on intelligence, went first to a compound in the southern part of the city and found 1,000 100-pound bags of ammonium nitrate and 2,000 bomb-making components. They detained 15 people there. They were then led to a second compound a short distance away, where they found 4,000 100-pound bags of the fertilizer.
On Tuesday, Afghans and Americans were still carting away the ammonium nitrate; so far, officials said, they had filled 10 40-foot-long shipping containers with the bags.
The statistics related to homemade bombs tell much of the story of the Afghan war.
The use of homemade bombs has been skyrocketing. Last year, 4,100 bombs either exploded or were discovered beforehand in Afghanistan. So far this year, 6,500 bombs either have been found or have gone off, military officials in Kabul said.
About 60 percent of homemade bombs are discovered here before they explode, officials in Kabul say.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/11/world/asia/11...
Anita Dunn Stepping Down As White House Communications Director
The White House on Tuesday shuffled its communications team, with Anita Dunn stepping down as expected and her deputy taking over day-to-day management of President Barack Obama's vaunted messaging machine.
Dan Pfeiffer will become White House communications director and Dunn will became a consultant to Obama's White House, officials said. They expect the full transition to take place before the end of the year.
"Anita working part-time is what most people do full-time," White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett told The Associated Press. "She'll still be a strong presence within the senior team."
Dunn, a seasoned political operative, advised Obama's presidential bid and helped shape its outreach efforts to female voters. She also joined an inner-circle that was heavy on male voices during the marathon presidential campaign.
"She really has earned the president's and the first lady's respect, and she's been a team player," Jarrett said. "She's the strongest advocate you can have on your team."
Dunn initially refused to move to the White House, saying she wanted to spend time with her family. But when the White House's first communications director, Ellen Moran, stepped down to take a job at the Commerce Department, Dunn came aboard on an interim basis.
"She's actually stayed longer that we could have imagined," Jarrett said.
Jarrett, one of Obama's closest friends at the White House, said the president had expected Dunn to scale back her role for a while.
Story continues below
"He has checked in on her on a regular basis and I think she's been clear throughout that the fall was supposed to be her end date," Jarrett said.
Administration officials say Dunn's organization helped steer Obama through a bumpy summer that saw conservatives mobilize against his health care proposals and the daily clamor for the president's time. Officials credit her with shaping the administration's message as the health care proposals inched closer to congressional passage.
Dunn's aggressive style also has made her a top target of conservative commentators. She reacted with a fight with Fox News.
"The reality of it is that Fox News often operates almost as either the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party," Dunn said last month. "And it is not ideological... what I think is fair to say about Fox, and the way we view it, is that it is more of a wing of the Republican Party."
Pfeiffer – whom Jarrett described as "stellar" – is similarly aggressive in his defense of Obama, a position he occupied during the campaign. He rose from traveling press secretary to the communications director for the campaign and later transition. A loyal Democratic communications operative, Pfeiffer previously worked for Vice President Al Gore, former Sen. Tom Daschle of South Dakota and Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana.
Obama and other administration officials initially considered Pfeiffer for the top communications job but instead brought in Moran and Dunn – both women – a communications and press operation that is otherwise heavy on males.
The personnel changes were first reported on The Washington Post's Web site.
Just axin'. . . . .
THANK U!! :>)
Hope her REPLACEMENT will DO THE SAME!! :>)
Just Call Her Honey
by digby
So it looks like Carly Fiorina is going to go for the cat fight strategy in her effort to unseat Barbara Boxer. Here's Greg Sargent:
Carly Fiorina, the businesswoman who hopes to be the GOP challenger to Senator Barbara Boxer next year, has unveiled a new attack line:
She’s faulting Boxer for wanting to be called “Senator,” not “ma’am,” hitting Boxer with a new Web ad and a new Website devoted entirely to this criticism.
It’s a reference to a widely-noted exchange Boxer had earlier this year with a Brigadier General at a hearing. After he called her “ma’am,” Boxer rejoined: “Do me a favor, could you say `Senator,’ instead of `ma’am’? It’s just a thing. I worked so hard to get that title.”
You can watch that exchange right here, on the Fiorina campaign’s new Web site devoted to this line of criticism, CallMeBarbara.com.
In a statement accompanying the release of the new site and ad, the Fiorina campaign blasted the exchange as a sign of Boxer’s “egotistical style.”
That's really something coming from a person Portfolio Magazine named her one of the worst CEOs of all time:
A consummate self-promoter, Fiorina was busy pontificating on the lecture circuit and posing for magazine covers while her company floundered. She paid herself handsome bonuses and perks while laying off thousands of employees to cut costs. The merger Fiorina orchestrated with Compaq in 2002 was widely seen as a failure. She was ousted in 2005.
I'm pretty sure she made people call her "Your Highness."
Seriously, this is a very low road to be going especially this early in the campaign. I guess Fiorina thinks attacking Boxer for being uppity will head off her wingnut primary opponent. Calling a woman a bitch (which is essentially what this is) is always a winner, I know, but Fiorina isn't exactly the poster child for humility. I don't think she's going to get the teabags unless she goes full-on Bachman and if she does that she stands to alienate a whole lot of women in California who are far less tolerant of this nonsense than are members of the political establishment.
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/just-cal...
This calls for a BITCH SIT DOWN.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Has Leukemia, In Treatment
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is being treated for a rare form of leukemia, and the basketball great said his prognosis is encouraging. The NBA's all-time leading scorer was diagnosed last December with chronic myeloid leukemia, he told The Associated Press on Monday.
The 62-year-old Abdul-Jabbar said his doctor didn't give any guarantees, but informed him: "You have a very good chance to live your life out and not have to make any drastic changes to your lifestyle."
Abdul-Jabbar is taking an oral medication for the disease. He is a paid spokesman for the Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis, which makes a drug that treats the illness.
Citing the way Los Angeles Lakers teammate Magic Johnson brought awareness to HIV, Abdul-Jabbar said he wants to do the same for his form of blood cancer, which can be fatal if left untreated.
"I've never been a person to share my private life. But I can help save lives," he said at a midtown Manhattan conference room. "It's incumbent on someone like me to talk about this."
Abdul-Jabbar became concerned last year after feeling odd sensations. He went for tests at UCLA, where he dominated college basketball in the late 1960s, winning three straight NCAA championships from 1967-69.
"I was getting hot flashes and sweats on a regular basis," he said. "That's not normal, even for my age."
An exam showed his white blood cell count was "sky high" and a doctor quickly diagnosed his condition. At first, all Abdul-Jabbar heard was the word "leukemia."
Story continues below
"I was scared," he said. "I thought it was all the same. I thought it could mean I have a month to live."
"That was my first question," he said. "Was I going to make it?"
A longtime student in martial arts, Abdul-Jabbar said he took the approach of a samurai, to face death without fear.
"I had my face on," he said.
Instead, doctors told him CML was treatable with proper medication and monitoring.
Abdul-Jabbar is a special assistant with the Lakers and said he hasn't had to cut back his level of activity of coaching, change his regimen or adjust his diet. "I'm able to sneak out for Thai food," he said.
"There is hope. This condition can be treated. You can still live a productive, full life," he said. "I'm living proof I can make it."
Abdul-Jabbar recently returned from an academic conference in Abu Dhabi and has several speaking engagements planned. Among the people he regularly talks to about his condition is his son, a third-year medical student at the University of California, San Francisco.
The six-time NBA MVP intends to post updates to his Facebook and Twitter accounts and stay connected through , a Web site for those afflicted by the disease. http://www.CMLearth.com
About 5,000 cases of CML are expected to be diagnosed in the United States this year, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society said. More than 22,000 people are living in the US with the disease.
The disease tends to initially be diagnosed by people in their mid-to-late 60s, and usually affects men more than women.
"I want to spread the word," Abdul-Jabbar said.
PRAYIN' 4 HIM
That's why I take care of myself but I'm not a fanatic about it. My girlfriend's father is in his late sixties and he has smoked since he was 13. Granted he just got diagnosed with emphysema at this point but he's pushing 70. How much more does a man want? Men usually check out earlier than women anyway. My ex-girlfriend I call her Fiji Girl because all she used to drink was Fiji Water. Even when she brushed her teeth. She was one of those "Whole Foods" nuts. Organic this organic that. I think her stressing about eating organic foods and fiji water is going to kill her before a burger that's had some chemicals put in it. Jabbar is a health nut. It's just one of these things. It's just like men and prostate cancer. Get your checks because there is a good chance that you will get it and you could have been eating rabbit food your whole life.
…
It shouldn't be a shock at all.
…
How insensitive?
How can you wrote that?!
… And do you know Rolling Stones guitarist, he is maybe the most healthy MF*** alive, and knowing How much drugs and shit he stuffed in his body …
This line sent me off:
All of these cancers comes from the chemicals we consume indirectly and directly. (Smog, second hand smoke, chemically enhanced food, electronics)
…
Reason why i wrote about Keith Richard.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/09/debbie...
..."With her blonde hair and blue eyes, Debbie Shields looks nothing like First Lady Michelle Obama - but they actually share a common bond - they're related. Debbie's great, great grandfather is also Michelle Obama's great, great, great Grandfather. When Melvina was just 6-years-old, she was sent to a 200 acre farm in Rex, Georgia. At 15, she was impregnated by a white man, presumed to be Charles Marion Shields. Melvina's name from the 1870 census is listed as "Shields" as are her four children.
Debbie Shields tells INSIDE EDITION's Les Trent that when she first learned of her relation to the first lady she said, "Awesome."
Les Trent: "Did you believe it?"
Debbie Shields: "Not at first. I thought it was a joke."
She tells Inside Edition that it fills her with "pride" to be related to the First Lady and she hopes her family gets to meet the First Family one day. So does her son, 17-year-old son Brandon who now finds himself absorbing the remarkable information that he is Michelle Obama's 4th cousin....."
Just axin' . . . . . . :>)
bwa ha ha ha ha ha
Sniper John Allen Muhammad executed
generally I don't like the capitol punishment scene because too many innocents have been wrongfully executed.....but in this case...I have no sympathy.
Prayers 4 the FAMILIES & his family.
Michelle Obama On Sesame Street: Planting Gardens, Loving Vegetables (VIDEO) :>)
Michelle Obama took her public policy message about food, growing gardens and eating vegetables to the (littlest) masses when she appeared Tuesday on the 40th anniversary episode of the beloved children's show, Sesame Street. After the segment taped, The First Lady described being on Sesame Street as "It's probably the best thing I've done so far in the White House."
In this segment, Michelle talks about how great veggies taste, her love of cucumbers, and what a great salad the lettuce is going to make. Then Big Bird asks Michelle if they are from the same family, because she's so tall.
PROUD OF FIRST LADY!! :>) LOVE HER!! :>)
I heard on the radio that the first ' guest 'on Sesame Street was James Earl Jones - and now, 40 years later, they have the first Black First Lady.
TRUSTY & DUSTY - -
annnnnnnnnd - - - do the MATH- - -AGAIN!!
5 X the square root of 9, 2 the 50th power, minus the cubed root of 8,. . .
- - -2009 - 40 = 1969
YEP! U RIGHT!!
LAWD HA'MERCY!! ***shakin' my head - - like a Big Bird***
P.S. Here he is! Sesame Street - James Earl Jones counts to 10
Annnnnnnnd, They di' in't let him get past 10!!!! :>)
Ima PROTEST!! :>)
Here's another 1: Sesame Street - James Earl Jones recites the alphabet :>)
Welllllll - - They let him say ALL 26 LETTERS!! :>)
Guess he earned a Sesame Street - Ph.D. - - huh!! :>)
I'm - - THA-ROUGH!! :>)
THOSE WHO HAVE SERVED OUR COUNTRY [Including my family members.]
+Veterans Day Tribute
+Amazing Grace Veterans Day Tribute
+The Brave (American Soldiers in Iraq)
+Faces of 3,480 Fallen U.S. Soldiers
THANK YOU - - OUR BRAVE MEN & WOMEN!
REST IN HIS PEACE
AMEN
I love this rant from the young turks and I think everyone should see it. Its the best rant I have seen on religion and how quick we smear each other.