a branch of the u.s. navy secretly contracted a 33-plane fleet that included two gulfstream jets reportedly used to fly terror suspects to countries known to practice torture, according to documents obtained by the associated press.

at least 10 u.s. aviation companies were issued classified contracts in 2001 and 2002 by the obscure navy engineering logistics office for the "occasional airlift of usn (navy) cargo worldwide," according to defense department documents the ap obtained through a freedom of information act request.

two of the companies -- richmor aviation inc. and premier executive transport services inc. -- chartered luxury gulfstreams that flew terror suspects captured in europe to egypt, according to u.s. and european media reports. once there, the men told family members, they were tortured. authorities in italy and sweden have expressed outrage over flights they say were illegal and orchestrated by the u.s. government.

while the gulfstreams came under scrutiny in 2001, what hasn't been disclosed is the navy's role in contracting planes involved in operations the cia terms "rendition" and what italian prosecutors call kidnapping. - boston.com, ustoady and latimes

jet's travels cloaked in mystery - knight ridder via common dreams 3/2005
jet is an open secret in terror war - wapo 12/04
gulfstream n379p becomes n8068v: the price of carelessness with flight
logs, or notoriety, or just business practice - community weblog

a scandal in sweden - znet 5/004

fbi knew terrorists were using flight schools - wapo 9/01

| posted by cookie jill | 2:58 PM

| posted by skippy | 2:22 PM

torture: time magazine yesterday revealed new allegations of systematic abuse of iraqi detaineesmade by a “decorated former captain in the army’s 82nd airborne division.” for months, the captain says, u.s. soldiers were directed “to conduct daily beatings of prisoners prior to questioning.” in one instance, “a soldier allegedly broke a detainee’s leg with a metal bat.” other prisoners had “their faces and eyes exposed to burning chemicals.”

the captain revealed this abuse to human rights watch in july 2005 he also reported his charges to “three senior republican senators,” including majority leader bill frist and sen. john mccain. ..on july 27, the same month the captain came forward, sen. frist single-handedly derailed a bipartisan effort — led by sen. mccain — to clarify rules for the treatment of enemy prisoners at u.s prison camps. in what news reports at the time described as an unusual move", frist “simply pulled the bill from consideration before it could be debated.

insider trading and conflict of senate ethics rules: bill frist is under investigation by the justice department and the sec “about his sale of stock in his family’s hospital company [hca] one month before its price fell sharply.” but that’s just the beginning of frist’s problems.

frist contacted the trustee of his “blind trust” and directed him to sell the hca stock. according to senate ethics rules there is only one circumstance where that is allowed. from the senate ethics manual, page 339 in other words, the only time frist could contact his trustee and tell him to sell a specific stock is when he took on new “duties” which created a new “conflict of interest.” the problem is that frist is the majority leader, a position which he’s held since 200d

and back to insider trading:frist on his blind trusts in 2003: right now, i don’t know if i own hca [stock] because it’s a qualified blind trust. [national journal, 1/4/03]this week, frist admited that he knew he owned hca. in fact, he directed his trustees to sell the shares. office of senator bill frist press statement, 9/22/05

senate majority leader bill frist, republican of tennessee, who is a physician, insists on being addressed as dr. frist. but his misstatements on abc news’ “this week” last sunday (december 5th, 2004) about hiv and aids caused the liberal oasis web site to claim that frist is in violation of the american medical association’s code of medical ethics that require doctors to “be honest in all professional interactions” and “make relevant information available to the public.”

abcs george stephanopolous, questioning frist about the inaccuracies in many abstinence-only sex education curricula that were brought to light this week by california democratic rep. henry waxman, asked whether “tears and sweat can transmit hiv.” frist first said, “i don’t know,” then later said, “you can get the virus in tears and sweat. but in terms of the degree of infecting somebody, it would be very hard.”

2. a physician shall uphold the standards of professionalism, be honest in all professional interactions, and strive to report physicians deficient in character or competence, or engaging in fraud or deception, to appropriate entities.

5. a physician shall continue to study, apply, and advance scientific knowledge, maintain a commitment to medical education, make relevant information available to patients, colleagues, and the public, obtain consultation, and use the talents of other health professionals when indicated.

| posted by cookie jill | 2:00 PM

| posted by Mimus Pauly | 8:17 AM

president bush was supposed to land here on friday afternoon on the first stop of a tour intended to make clear that he was personally overseeing the federal government's preparations for hurricane rita's landfall. but the weather did not cooperate.

it was too sunny.

...another white house official involved in preparing mr. bush's way noted that with the sun shining so brightly in san antonio, the images of mr. bush from here might not have made it clear to viewers that he was dealing with an approaching storm.- nytimes

a top republican close to the white house since the earliest days said the absence of a "reelection target" and pressure from first lady laura bush and others to soften his second-term tone conspired to temper bush's swagger well before katrina hit. "a reelection campaign was always the driving principle to force them to get things together," said the gop operative, who would speak candidly about bush only if his name was not used. he said the "brilliance of this team" was always overstated. "part of the reason they looked so good is democrats were so discombobulated." since the election, this official said, white house aides reported that laura Bush was among those counseling bush to change his cowboy image during the final four years. - wapo

| posted by cookie jill | 8:15 AM

more iraqis tortured, officer says - the 82nd airborne is accused of abuses in 2003 and early 2004. a criminal inquiry begins. - washington — an army captain and two sergeants from the 82nd airborne division who were responsible for supervising prisoners in iraq have come forward with allegations that members of the unit routinely beat, tortured and abused detainees in 2003 and early 2004.

| posted by Pudentilla | 5:55 AM

| posted by Pudentilla | 5:23 AM

| posted by Mimus Pauly | 3:38 AM

| posted by skippy | 5:57 PM

the bush administration friday denied a wisconsin request for disaster assistance for three counties hit by tornadoes.

"based on our review of all the information available, it has been determined that the damage was not of such severity and magnitude as to be beyond the capabilities of the state and affected local governments," wrote r. david paulison, acting under secretary at the federal emergency management agency, in a letter to gov. jim doyle.

the governor, with the backing of the state's congressional delegation, had asked that aid be made available for individuals, businesses and local governments in dane, richland and vernon counties.

they had cited damage to more than 400 homes and to utilities and rural electric cooperatives, as well as the impact on businesses. they also cited crop losses as a result of the aug. 18 tornadoes.

in all, 28 tornadoes touched down in the state, setting a one-day record. the damage was estimated at more than $47 million. - timesleader

| posted by cookie jill | 4:44 PM

| posted by cookie jill | 3:44 PM

"gays" didn't molest those kids - "child molesters" did. any psychologist will tell you that child molesters exist among both gays and straights, and that their sexual behavior is driven by non-sexual motivations. it's about power and aggression. but hey, gays always make a handy scapegoat now that it's not fashionable to use jews anymore.

even gay men (no women, remember?) who have never engaged in sex of any kind are forbidden. this exposes a huge contradiction in their logic: if being gay is innate, it's not a choice. if it's not a choice, it's not a sin. but if it's not a sin, where's that scapegoat when you need him?

wonder if they'll purge historical gays from the church next? the great mystical writer julian of norwich has to go - she was a woman with a man's name. and i've always wondered about my favorite, st. francis. i mean, come on: all he liked to do was romp around in nature and make friends with the animals. sorry, st. francis, you've got to go. but this guy can stay.

| posted by RJ Eskow | 1:22 PM

| posted by RJ Eskow | 12:55 PM

| posted by Mimus Pauly | 12:46 PM

| posted by skippy | 11:59 AM

setting the stage for the most sweeping restructuring of endangered species protections in three decades, the house resources committee yesterday approved legislation that would strengthen the hand of private property owners and make it harder for federal officials to set aside large swaths of habitat for imperiled plants and animals. - wapo

the endangered species act has been successful now for 30 years. without it, there might not be a single bald eagle or peregrine falcon in our skies; no manatees or cutthroat trout in our waters; no gray wolves or grizzly bears in our forests. and, the esa preserved our natural heritage during a time in which the u.s. economy grew at record rates. - congressman john dingell

following is a statement by tom kiernan, president, national parks conservation association:

"in an outrageous budget reconciliation draft obtained by the national parks conservation association, rep. richard pombo (r- 11-ca), chairman of the house resources committee (the most influential house committee on public lands issues), has outlined a plan to close 15 national parks and sell them off to oil and gas industries and private developers; demand that park vehicles and facilities be turned into billboards for commercial advertising; and sell commercial naming rights for park buildings, among other devastating proposals.

..."congressman pombo has proposed removing from the park system and selling for profit 15 national park sites, including several that honor revolutionary war heroes, african american leaders, american indian culture, magnificent alaskan wilderness and wildlife, priceless archeological sites, and even the memorial to our greatest conservation president, theodore roosevelt.

..."these 15 parks make up approximately 23 percent of the total park system acreage -- which is already only 2 percent of u.s. public lands. - uswirenews

| posted by cookie jill | 9:56 AM

two days after hurricane katrina made landfall, as images of devastation along the gulf coast and despair in new orleans flickered across television screens, the head of one of the nation's largest bus associations repeatedly called federal disaster officials to offer help.

peter pantuso of the american bus association said he spent much of the day on wednesday, aug. 31, trying to find someone at the federal emergency management agency who could tell him how many buses were needed for an evacuation, where they should be sent and who was overseeing the effort.

"we never talked directly to fema or got a call back from them," pantuso said.

....instead the agency had farmed the work out to a trucking logistics firm, landstar express america, which in turn hired a limousine company, which in turn engaged a travel management company.

though it was well-known that new orleans, much of it below sea level, would flood in a major hurricane, landstar, the jacksonville company that held a federal contract that at the time was worth up to $100 million annually for disaster transportation, did not ask its subcontractor, carey limousine, to order buses until the early hours of aug. 30, roughly 18 hours after the storm hit, according to sally snead, a carey senior vice president who headed the bus roundup.

[...] she said landstar turned to her company for buses sunday after learning from carey's internet site that it had a meetings and events division that touted its ability to move large groups of people. "they really found us on the web site," snead said.

...the day the hurricane made landfall, victor parra, president of the united motorcoach association, called fema's washington office "to let them know our members could help out."

parra said fema responded the next day, referring him to an agency web page labeled "doing business with fema" but containing no information on the hurricane relief effort.

landstar express is a subsidiary of landstar system, a $2 billion company whose board chairman, jeff crowe, also was chairman of the u.s. chamber of commerce, one of the nation's premier business lobbies, from june 2003 until may 2004.

landstar's regulatory filing also said that because of hurricane katrina, the maximum annual value of its government contract for disaster relief services has been increased to $400 million.

| posted by cookie jill | 8:10 AM

limiting government's role - bush favors one-time fixes over boosting existing programs to help katrina victims.as president bush tackles the monumental task of easing the social problems wrought by katrina, he is proving deeply reluctant to use some of the big-government tools at his disposal, apparently out of fear of permanently enlarging programs that he opposes or has sought to cut.

instead of depending on long-running programs for such services as housing and healthcare, the president has generally tried to create new, one-shot efforts that the administration apparently hopes will more easily disappear after the crisis passes. that has meant relying on the federal emergency management agency, which has run virtually all of the recovery effort.

| posted by Pudentilla | 7:27 AM

| posted by G. D. Frogsdong | 5:54 AM

| posted by Mimus Pauly | 11:25 PM

| posted by cookie jill | 9:10 PM

republican lobbyist jack abramoff bragged two years ago that he was in contact with white house political aide karl rove on behalf of a large, bermuda-based corporation that wanted to avoid incurring some taxes and continue receiving federal contracts, according to a written statement by president bush's nominee to be deputy attorney general.

timothy e. flanigan, general counsel for conglomerate tyco international ltd., said in a statement to the senate judiciary committee last week that abramoff's lobbying firm initially boasted that abramoff could help tyco fend off a special liability tax because he "had good relationships with members of congress," including house majority leader tom delay (r-tex.).

abramoff later said "he had contact with mr. karl rove" about the issue, according to the statement by flanigan, who oversaw tyco's dealings with abramoff and his firm and received reports from abramoff about progress in the lobbying campaign. flanigan's statement is the latest indication that abramoff promoted himself as having ready access to senior officials in the bush administration. - wapo

| posted by cookie jill | 8:03 PM

this appears to be a proposal to audit people who claim to be poor, to make sure they are truly poor and deserving of the tax credit. ...the gop apparently believes that massive fraud exists in this program, and that we could ease the federal deficit by aggressively collecting taxes from the not-truly-poor -- people who could be defined as the merely non-affluent, the not-doing-so-well, the just-scraping-by. but not "poor." the gop wants these posers to pay up. [and then the gop will eliminate the estate tax, but that's another matter entirely.] - wapo

on march 30, congress was told that 78 percent of known tax cheats in investment partnerships are not even asked to pay because there are not enough tax collectors to go after them. congress and the bush administration rejected the request by the irs oversight board, a citizen panel congress created, for extra money to pursue some of these tax cheats and stop about 1 percent of the $311 billion in estimated annual tax cheating.

in the late '90s, a crooked banker gave the irs records on 1,600 criminal tax cheats who used his cayman islands bank. the justice department prosecuted 49 of them, but the other 1,551 were not even asked to pay, lawyers for some of them say.

two billionaires in new york, the art dealer alec wildenstein and his former wife, jocelyn, testified under oath in their divorce that for 30 years they never filed a tax return. they have not been prosecuted.

there are now seminars that show business owners how to drop out of the tax system with virtually no risk of detection by the irs, which relies on a computer system installed when john f. kennedy was president- common dreams/sfgate

| posted by cookie jill | 7:48 PM

| posted by skippy | 11:16 AM

| posted by cookie jill | 11:10 AM

do you want a seven-day weather forecast for your zip code? or hour-by-hour predictions of the temperature, wind speed, humidity and chance of rain? or weather data beamed to your cellphone?

that information is available for free from the national weather service.

but under a bill pending in the u.s. senate, it might all disappear.

the bill, introduced last week by sen. rick santorum, r-pa., would prohibit federal meteorologists from competing with companies such as accuweather and the weather channel, which offer their own forecasts through paid services and free ad-supported web sites. - the palm beach post

| posted by cookie jill | 9:38 AM

in the wake of hurricane katrina, president bush and republicans in congress have refused to consider rolling back the $336 billion in new tax cuts that the richest 1 percent are slated to get over the next five years. they say we need to pay for reconstruction not by asking the wealthiest to sacrifice just a little bit, but by massive cuts to spending. and now we see what that means: the navy times today reports that those cuts "include trimming military quality-of-life programs, including health care." this, while troops are in battle. -

...we've seen tax cuts put before making sure troops have adequate body armor heading into war - a tax/budget decision that very likely increased u.s. casualties. we've also seen republicans vote down efforts to reduce tax cuts for the very wealthy in order to restore cuts to military family housing. and we've seen tax cuts come as the white house has refused to adequately fund a variety of other programs for troops. the truth is, the gop has in moments of candor admitted that they care about cutting taxes for the wealthy far more than they care about the troops. - david sirota

| posted by cookie jill | 8:41 AM

| posted by G. D. Frogsdong | 5:00 AM