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Federal contract fraud crackdown has loophole Plan to make contractors report abuse exempts Iraq, other overseas work
President Bush in his own words A look at the quotable foreign policy speeches that define George W. Bush’s presidency. Produced by Kevin Flynn and Lisa Desai. MSNBC.com
updated 9:14 p.m. ET Feb. 12, 2008 WASHINGTON - A Bush administration plan to crack down on contract fraud has a multibillion-dollar loophole: The proposal to force companies to report abuse of (…)

Limbo for U.S. Women Reporting Iraq Assaults Left, Andrew Cutraro for The New York Times; Right, David Ahntholz for The New York Times Jamie Leigh Jones, left, a former employee for the military contractor KBR, told Congress that she had been gang-raped by co-workers in Iraq in 2005. Mary Beth Kineston, also a former KBR worker, said she was sexually assaulted by one driver, groped by another worker and fired after complaining.
By JAMES RISEN Published: February 13, 2008 WASHINGTON — (…)

Each country has got its own Berlusconis, Blairs, Bushes or Popes. It is a kind of globalization thing and Blair may seem to have exaggerated recently in France whilst speaking about the current political situation. In reality he was just making another of his speeches on the "third-way" and that which he has really not been able to do; bring peace. Instead he has been able only to open discontent, the consequences of which he has sought to manage with repressive laws. Has the Blair era been (…)

“Obama’s campaign...may be creating...a powerful constituency for ‘real’ change.” - Dave Lindorff, political pundit
Sen. Barack Obama’s vote-generating juggernaut came very close to burying Sen. Hillary Clinton’s presidential aspirations in Maryland’s primary, on Feb. 12, 2008. Clinton’s candidacy in the “Free State” was aligned with its powerful Democratic Party Political Machine, while Sen. Obama was forced to reach out to the grassroots. In the Clinton camp, was the senior U.S. Senator (…)

Campaign Against the EU Constitution
Vote No to the Lisbon Treaty
Next public meeting: Reject the Lisbon Treaty
Start: 15/02/2008 - 19:30
A public meeting organised by Sinn Féin outlining the arguments for rejecting the Lisbon Treaty.
Date: Friday, 15 February at 7.30pm.
Venue: Wynn’s Hotel, Abbey St., Dublin 1.
All welcome.
http://www.caeuc.org/

DONEGAL Sinn Féin Councillor Pádraig Mac Lochlainn has been appointed the party’s director of the Lisbon Treaty referendum campaign.
Speaking at the launch of the party’s Lisbon Treaty alternative in Dublin on Tuesday, Councillor Mac Lochlainn said Sinn Féin will be mounting a major campaign against the Lisbon Treaty and he is calling on people from across the political divide to get involved. He said Sinn Féin members across the country will be going door to door to distribute more than (…)

1. It puts at risk our automatic right to a referendum on future changes to existing treaties.
2. It gives the EU too much power and reduces our ability to stop decisions that are not in Ireland’s interests.
3. It gives 105 additional powers to the EU on issues such as international relations, security, trade and economic policy – and in more than 60 of these areas we will lose our right to stop laws not in our national interest.
4. It creates an EU Foreign Minister and (…)

LAUNCHING Sinn Féin’s alternative guide to the Lisbon Treaty, Dublin MEP Mary Lou McDonald said this week that the referendum campaign will be very different to previous EU referenda.
“People know that Ireland’s place in the EU is secure and that it is possible to support the EU and be against the Lisbon Treaty,” she said. “People will be deciding how to vote on the basis of how this treaty will impact on Ireland. This will inform the debate for the coming months.”
McDonald was speaking (…)

Iraq death toll ’over one million’
aljazeera :: 2008-02-01 ::
Over 1,000,000 Iraqis Killed as a Result of the Conflict Started by the US-led Invasion of Iraq in 2003
More than one million Iraqis have died as a result of the conflict started by the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, according to a new survey by a UK polling group.
The report was followed by more violence on Thursday, with five people killed and eight injured in a bomb blast in the Kazimiyah neighbourhood of Baghdad, (…)

“A team of NASA and university scientists has detected an ongoing reversal in Arctic Ocean circulation triggered by atmospheric circulation changes that vary on decade-long time scales. The results suggest not all the large changes seen in Arctic climate in recent years are a result of long-term trends associated with global warming...
“The team of scientists found a 10-millibar decrease in water pressure at the bottom of the ocean at the North Pole between 2002 and 2006, equal to (…)