His team has documented abuse dating from July 2003 to as recently as last month, when an Iraqi boy just fifteen years old says his captors at an American facility raped him. "He was told to go on all fours naked and was sodomized from behind," Akeel conveyed the fifteen year-old's testimony. "He said they made him dance and he was crying."

The party of Lincoln and Liberty was transmogrified into the party of hairy-backed swamp developers and corporate shills, faith-based economists, fundamentalist bullies with Bibles, Christians of convenience, freelance racists, misanthropic frat boys, shrieking midgets of AM radio, tax cheats, nihilists in golf pants, brownshirts in pinstripes, sweatshop tycoons, hacks, fakirs, aggressive dorks, Lamborghini libertarians, people who believe Neil Armstrong’s moonwalk was filmed in Roswell, New Mexico, little honkers out to diminish the rest of us, Newt’s evil spawn and their Etch-A-Sketch president, a dull and rigid man suspicious of the free flow of information and of secular institutions, whose philosophy is a jumble of badly sutured body parts trying to walk. Republicans: The No.1 reason the rest of the world thinks we’re deaf, dumb and dangerous.

Most of the Coalition of the Willing were promised cheap Iraqi oil by Washington, or oil concessions. But as resistance forces sabotage Iraq’s oil pipelines, these promises are coming up short, and plundering Iraq’s wealth is turning out to be a challenge.

Ironically, far from building a powerful coalition to garrison Iraq under U.S. command, what President Bush has really managed to do is to provide formerly rudderless left-wing parties around the globe with a red-hot new cause with which to rally and electrify their supporters. At the same time, he has made himself the most detested man in world affairs. Those conservative governments that continue to support him and the U.S. occupation of Iraq do so at their peril and are becoming alienated from their own voters.

In short, Mr. Bush has done more to electrify the international Left and give it a sense of common purpose than anyone since Che Guevara. That’s true coalition building—just not the kind Washington had in mind.

I bet you support the Democrats dont you.

Your little game about gulf war 2 was so far off of the truth it wasnt worth finishing it.

I have made more sacrifice in my 2 years in the army than you will ever make in your entire lifetime.

I have seen and done things your little mind will never be able to comprehend.

I am proud to be a soldier and even more proud to be and American soldier.

If we werent fighting the terroists in Iraq and Afghanistan then wed be fighting them in America.

Iraq was just a starting point in the Middle East.

Bush has led our country through some very hard times and I have faith in him as a leader.

Kerry would just fuck things up even worse.

So before you go and make fun of our President my Commander in Chief, be sure you know all the facts and be sure you know what it means to sacrifice for your country.

''People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.'' Soren Kierkegaard

''The trouble with most people is that they think with their hopes or fears or wishes rather than with their minds.'' Will Durant

''The average man never really thinks from end to end of his life. The mental activity of such people is only a mouthing of clichés.'' H.L. Mencken, Prejudices, 1925

''Too often we... enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.'' John F. Kennedy

''What luck for rulers, that men do not think.'' Adolf Hitler

The U.S. military refused to allow Japanese authorities to inspect the scene of the accident. Then it scooped up the wreckage. In addition, U.S. forces have resumed flight operations of the same model of helicopter despite vociferous protests from Okinawa Governor Keiichi Inamine and Yoichi Iha, major of Ginowan city, home to the Futenma facility.

   

Seventy per cent of Americans cannot name their senators or their congressman. Forty-nine per cent believe that the President has the power to suspend the Constitution. Only about thirty per cent name an issue when they explain why they voted the way they did, and only a fifth hold consistent opinions on issues over time. Rephrasing poll questions reveals that many people don’t understand the issues that they have just offered an opinion on.

Sources close to the investigation have said that it looks like the bomb on board the Sochi-bound plane was detonated in the toilet towards the jet's rear, close to where Ms Dzhebirkhanova had been seated. They say that explosives the size of a bar of soap would have been enough to cause the blasts.

   

Iran and South Africa have agreed to increase defense cooperation in a process that could result in the transfer of Israeli-origin technology to the Islamic republic.

Iran and South Africa have signed a memorandum of understanding meant to pave the way for cooperation in defense and other fields. The MoU was signed on Aug. 17 during a visit by South African Defense Minister Mosiuoa Lekota to Teheran.

the Iraqis overcame almost unimaginable challenges to reach here. When Uday Hussein was in charge of the country's Olympic program, the players faced routine torture for poor play. The continued fighting in Iraq forced the team to train and play its "home" games in other countries. Even now, one of Uday's former right-hand men heads up the national soccer program. And when the Olympics end, they will return to a war-ravaged country.

The Cheesecake Factory is one of the most popular family food chains in the US — and for me the most grotesque example of American food. A single slice of cheesecake is as big as a brick and would more than suffice for a meal. An entire cheesecake could quite easily put a small child into hyperglycaemic shock. It must put a strain on family life, having to watch your nearest and dearest eating this gunk.

The cheesecake is just one of the ‘factory’ specials whose metal menu lists hundreds of other dishes, like the Tons of Fun burger: ‘Yes, It’s True! Double Patties, Double Cheese, Triple Sesame-Seed Bun with Lettuce, Tomato, Red Onion, Pickles and Secret Sauce. Served with Fries’ and the Mile-High Meatloaf Sandwich ‘Topped with Mashed Potatoes, Crispy Onions and Barbeque Au Jus. Served Open-Faced on Extra Thick Egg Bread.’

In the general election of 1964, Patrick Gordon Walker was confidently expected to win the inner Birmingham seat of Smethwick and, in the event of a national Labour victory, go on to be Harold Wilson's foreign secretary.

But Gordon Walker did not win. He was sensationally defeated by a Tory nonentity, Peter Griffiths, whose campaign featured the infamous 10-word slogan: "If you want a nigger for a neighbour, vote Labour."

   

I hadn't heard anything about US warplanes bombing Kut on US television news on Thursday. It is useless, but I would like to point out that bombarding al-Sharqiyyah district because it has Mahdi Army fighters is inhumane and probably illegal. Civilians live there, and they will inevitably be hurt by the bombing. Unfortunately, there are no mechanisms for enforcing international law. Apparently, the American public will not even be told by their mass media that the US is behaving in this way.

This morning, they're doing bag searches again to get on the ferry. And the guy doing the searches pulls me aside and says, "Sir, I feel that I need to confiscate this book."

I pause and say, in that tone of voice that most people would recognize as meaning, "have you lost your grip completely, chuckles?": "You need to confiscate... a book."

"Yes. I feel it's inappropriate for the other people on the ferry to be exposed to it."...

...My response: "Well, let me call the ACLU and have them come down here, and see what they think about your attempt to confiscate a book that was not in the plain sight of others due to your feeling it's not appropriate." And I pull out my cell and start scrolling down the list - ACLU-NJ is at the top, actually, before 'Amanda' and 'ardaniel' since it sorts alphabetically.

He gets all pissy at me and says, "Don't you understand this is for your safety?"

"Confiscating someone's gun or bomb is for my safety. PErhaps confiscating someone's pocketknife or nailfile may be for my safety. What's so damn dangerous about my book?"

"It's INAPPROPRIATE!"

"That's NOT YOUR DECISION! I could be carrying a copy of Hustler in here, and it's STILL not your decision! You're looking for bombs and knifes and guns and things that hurt people, and a book that is IN MY BAG is not going to leap out of its own damn accord and HIT SOMEONE!"

   

   

   

Ninety minutes after taking off from Sydney Airport, a flight attendant on a United Airlines flight bound for Los Angeles found an airsickness bag - presumably unused - in a lavatory with the letters "BOB" written on it.

The flight attendant decided that the letters stood for "Bomb On Board" and immediately alerted the captain, who decided the risk was serious enough to turn the plane around and land back in Sydney.