Top News Article | Reuters.com

Summary: Gays not good. Pedophiles tolerated.

Link: Top News Article | Reuters.com.

In the first major ruling of Pope Benedict's reign, the Catholic Church on Tuesday imposed restrictions on homosexuals becoming priests, saying only men who had overcome "transitory" gay tendencies could be ordained.The ruling came in a long-awaited eight-page Vatican document that has already sparked controversy after widespread leaks in the past few weeks.Its strict line on the place of gays in the clergy has won praise from conservatives and condemnation from liberals, and set off heated debate in other churches by confronting an issue that has divided Christian congregations worldwide.

TIME: Bearing Iraq's Bad Tidings Photo Essay (1)

Link: TIME: Bearing Iraq's Bad Tidings.

A heart-wrenching photo essay on how the military notifies the family's of the dead.

A must see.

US 'failing to stem terror risk'

And, yet... the headlines on the networks (including cable) lead with 1) escape murderes in Iowa, 2) the capture of an 18 year old murderer, and 3) really cool tornado footage.

Link: BBC NEWS | Americas | US 'failing to stem terror risk'.

"The most striking thing to us is that the size of the problem still totally dwarfs the policy response," said Mr Kean.

"We have no greater fear than a terrorist who is inside the US with a nuclear weapon."

He added that al-Qaeda had sought weapons of mass destruction for years, and had said it was willing to use them.

The group also criticised the Bush administration's efforts to improve its global image, tarnished by reports of the mistreatment of terror suspects.

The government "should work with its allies to develop mutually acceptable standards for terrorist detention", it said.

Lee Hamilton - who was co-chairman of the disbanded commission - added that "detainee abuse in Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo and elsewhere undermines America's reputation as a moral leader".

Mr Bush has previously defended his government's treatment of detainees, denying claims of torture and insisting "any activity we conduct is within the law".

CIA Covered Up Evidence of Torture

This "war on terror" just created about 100 new terrorists with this one... way to go...

Link: CIA Covered Up Evidence of Torture.

CIA interrogators tried to cover up the death of an Iraqi man who died while being interrogated at Abu Ghraib prison, Time magazine has reported, after obtaining hundreds of pages of documents, including an autopsy report, about the case.

The death of secret detainee Manadel al-Jamadi was ruled a homicide in a Defence Department autopsy, Time reported, adding that documents it recently obtained included photographs of his battered body, which had been kept on ice to keep it from decomposing, apparently to conceal the circumstances of his death.

The details about his death emerge as US officials continue to debate congressional legislation to ban torture of foreign detainees by US troops overseas, and efforts by the George W. Bush administration to obtain an exemption for the CIA from any future torture ban.

Jamadi was abducted by US Navy Seals on November 4, 2003, on suspicion of posessing explosives and involvement in the bombing of a Red Cross centre in Baghdad that killed 12 people, and was placed in Abu Ghraib as an unregistered detainee.

After some 90 minutes of interrogation by CIA officials, he died of "blunt force injuries" and "asphyxiation," according to the autopsy documents obtained by Time.

Green Party's Hatch to Take on Sen. Hatch

...but, isn't everybody in Utah related by now?

Link: Las Vegas SUN: Green Party's Hatch to Take on Sen. Hatch
.

Five-term incumbent Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, will face a challenge from a distant member of his own family, Green Party candidate Julian Hatch, in the November 2006 election.

The Green Party of Utah announced Friday that the 51-year-old environmental activist and disabled veteran accepted the party's nomination at a convention this week.

"I am opposing my own relative so citizens of Utah will finally have a real choice since Democrats have adopted so many Republican policy positions in recent years," said Hatch, a lifelong Utah resident. He works as the state's coordinator for the Western Watersheds Project, a public lands policy group based in Hailey, Idaho.

Julian Hatch opposes the war in Iraq and will also campaign for abortion rights, affordable health care, tax reform and public land protection.

"We are building a populist third party to challenge the ruling two-party system that has become immersed in big money and entrenched in fascist ideology," he said.

The Right Way in Iraq

Finally, a politician admits he's wrong and lays-out the problems with... well, himself!

Link: The Right Way in Iraq.

It was a mistake to vote for this war in 2002. I take responsibility for that mistake. It has been hard to say these words because those who didn't make a mistake -- the men and women of our armed forces and their families -- have performed heroically and paid a dear price.

Santorum a Whore for his money

The ultimate flip-flopper (and closet case), Rick Santorum tries to put a malpractice cap of $250k on all lawsuits, but his wife was awarded $350k in a frivolous malpractice case (which she filed for $500k) recently!

What a double standard this idiot lives...

Link: ABC News: Lawsuit Abuse Critic Explains Suit.

The Senator's Wife Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., says that the No. 1 health care crisis in his state is medical lawsuit abuse and in the past he's called for a $250,000 cap on non-economic damage awards or awards for pain and suffering. "We need to do something now to fix the medical liability problem in this country," he declared at a rally in Washington D.C., this past spring. But Santorum's wife sued a doctor for $500,000 in 1999. She claimed that a botched spinal manipulation by her chiropractor led to back surgery, pain and suffering, and sued for twice the amount of a cap Santorum has supported.

DeLay Team Weighed Misdemeanor Plea to Save GOP Post

So... he voted to plea guilty before he voted against it...

Link: DeLay Team Weighed Misdemeanor Plea to Save GOP Post.

Lawyers for Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) tried unsuccessfully in late September to head off felony criminal indictments against the then-majority leader on charges of violating Texas campaign law by signaling that DeLay might plead guilty to a misdemeanor, according to four sources familiar with the events.The lawyers' principal aim was to try to preserve DeLay's leadership position under House Republican rules that bar lawmakers accused of felonies from holding such posts. DeLay was forced to step down as leader on Sept. 28 after the first of two grand jury indictments.The last-minute negotiations between the lawyers and Texas prosecutor Ronnie Earle were arranged after DeLay made what Earle considered a seriously damaging admission about his fundraising activities during an Aug. 17 meeting with the prosecutor in Austin.At that session, DeLay acknowledged that in 2002 he was informed about and expressed his support for transfers of $190,000 in mostly corporate funds from his Texas political action committee to an arm of the Republican National Committee in Washington and then back to Texas, according to the sources, who spoke on the condition that they not be named.

Most Americans Doubt Bush's Honesty

The great thing about liberal thinkers is that they were already new what the rest of the country is slowly starting to grasp: you can't trust this guy...

Link: ABC News: Poll: Most Americans Doubt Bush's Honesty.

Most Americans say they aren't impressed by the ethics and honesty of the Bush administration, already under scrutiny for its justifications for an unpopular war in Iraq and its role in the leak of a covert CIA officer's identity.

Almost six in 10 57 percent said they do not think the Bush administration has high ethical standards and the same portion says President Bush is not honest, an AP-Ipsos poll found. Just over four in 10 say the administration has high ethical standards and that Bush is honest. Whites, Southerners and white evangelicals were most likely to believe Bush is honest.

Bush, who promised in the 2000 campaign to uphold "honor and integrity" in the White House, last week ordered White House workers, from presidential advisers to low-ranking aides, to attend ethics classes.

US fired phosphorus in Iraq, TV reports - The Boston Globe

More fine-fucking-lining by the U.S. military.

I support our troops, but the assholes in charge sicken me.

Link: US fired phosphorus in Iraq, TV reports - The Boston Globe.

Italian television aired a documentary yesterday alleging that the United States had used white phosphorus shells ''in a massive and indiscriminate way" against civilians in the November 2004 offensive in the Iraqi town of Fallujah.

The US military has denied that it used white phosphorus against civilians. It confirmed, however, that US forces had dropped MK 77 firebombs, which a documentary on Italian state-run broadcaster RAI compared to napalm, against military targets in Iraq in March and April 2003.

The documentary showed images of bodies recovered after a November 2004 offensive by US troops on Fallujah, which it said proved the use of white phosphorus against men, women, and children who were burned to the bone.

An incendiary device, white phosphorus is also used to light up combat areas.

The use of incendiary weapons against civilians has been banned by the Geneva Convention since 1980. The United States did not sign the relevant protocol to the convention, a UN official in New York said.