George Bush Does Not Care About......

"I think President Bush might very well be the worst president in U.S. history," -Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Joseph Ellis (2008)


As the Bush administration draws to its logical conclusion I have been reflecting on what aspect of his Presidency he will be best remembered.

The comments made by Kayne West in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina?




Maybe for his war on terror or should that be his war of terror which he inflicted on the innocent Iraqi people who have died as a result of his search for invisible Weapons of Mass Destruction?

His game of hide and seek then hide again with Osama Bin Laden?

Or maybe his vision of a world in which "freedom will prevail" sorry I mean his vision that America will prevail especially in offering support to the genocide of thousands of innocent Palestinians.

By authorising his signature on a memorandum which stated that the Third Genenva Convention regarding the treatment of enemy prisoners taken in wartime, did not apply to members of al-Qaeda or the Taliban sealing the fate for those abused at Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo Bay?

Those will be some of the things that I will most remember, well done you did your father proud Mr Bush, and you get the credit for his legacy.

Life is like a box of chocolates!!!

Mystery Surrounds Soldiers' Deaths, Altered DOD Photograph

Mystery Surrounds Soldiers' Deaths, Altered DOD Photograph: "AUSTIN, TX (September 19, 2008)

A mysterious story about an unnamed American soldier who is being held in connection with the fatal shooting deaths of two of his fellow American troops at their patrol base south of Baghdad on Sunday grew even more confusing last night when the Associated Press issued a 'mandatory kill' advisory for a Department of Defense-released photograph of one of the dead soldiers.AUSTIN, TX (September 19, 2008) – A mysterious story about an unnamed American soldier who is being held in connection with the fatal shooting deaths of two of his fellow American troops at their patrol base south of Baghdad on Sunday grew even more confusing last night when the Associated Press issued a 'mandatory kill' advisory for a Department of Defense-released photograph of one of the dead soldiers.AUSTIN, TX (September 19, 2008)
The face and shoulders of one of the deceased soldiers, Staff Sgt. Darris Dawson, 24, of Pensacola, FL, appears to have been digitally altered some time before the DOD provided the image to AP for distribution.

In the standard soldier's portrait, seated before an American flag while wearing a basic Army uniform, the DOD photograph appears to have Dawson's head and shoulders pasted onto the body of an unknown soldier. The picture of Dawson is very similar to the photograph of the other killed soldier, Sgt. Wesley R. Durban, 26, of Hurst, TX.

William Luther at the San Antonio Express-News said that photographer Bob Owen on the picture desk last night saw the pictures of Dawson and Durban move on the network and was "toggling" back and forth between the two and noticed the similarities. Owen called AP and soon after that the "kill" notice moved on AP picture network.

AP national photography editor Victor Vaughan said this morning he's working with the DOD and their public information officials to try to find out more information about the suspected altered the image, and why it may have been changed before it was provided to AP for distribution.

Vaughan told News Photographer magazine that he will reserve comment on the situation until he and the DOD have been able to unravel all of the facts.

The military said in a statement that Dawson and Durban were "victims of an early morning shooting" under circumstances that were "non-hostile" at their base near Iskandariyah, about 30 miles south of Baghdad.

Details are sketchy about how Dawson and Durban were killed, but the military statement said that "A US soldier is in custody in connection with the shooting deaths. He is being held in custody pending review by a military magistrate."

Sgt. Dawson's family told CNN that they don't understand why the Army refuses to tell them the circumstances surrounding their son's death.

The deceased soldiers were assigned to the Third Battalion, Seventh Infantry Regiment, Fourth Brigade Combat Team, Third Infantry Division, based in Fort Stewart, GA.

A press release sent to CNN from the commanding general of the Third infantry Division at Fort Steward said, "We do know that one soldier, a fellow noncommissioned officer, allegedly opened fired and mortally wounded his squad leader and fellow team leader."

Loose Change - 9/11 Conspiracy

Israel’s Barrier to Peace

The horrors of "life" and death under Israeli Occupation are revealed in this poignant article. The former Middle East bureau chief for The New York Times and author of the bestseller “War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning” examines the way Israel’s security wall has ripped a mortal gash in the lives of Palestinians living in its shadow, and argues that there can be no hope for peace in the Middle East as long as America continues to aid Israel in its dehumanizing practices.

read more | digg story

ICANN Watch - Questions that everyone should be asking

To reach another person on the Internet you have to type an address into your computer - a name or a number. That address has to be unique so computers know where to find each other. ICANN coordinates these unique identifiers across the world. Without that coordination we wouldn't have one global Internet.

ICANN was formed in 1998. It is a not-for-profit partnership of people from all over the world dedicated to keeping the Internet secure, stable and interoperable. It promotes competition and develops policy on the Internet’s unique identifiers.read more on the ICANN website

ICANN Watch say however

ICANN says that it is private, non-profit, consensus-based, California corporation charged with technical coordination of the Internet. Some others, including some of the people behind this web site, worry that ICANN has a somewhat manipulable idea of what constitutes a consensus, or that ICANN's close relationship with the U.S. Department of Commerce might make it a "state actor" under U.S. law-- a formally private body that has the same legal obligations to provide due process and non-discrimination as a government agency. read more on ICANN Watch website

This is worrying for the future of a free and open internet. Censorship of the internet is already a highly controversial topic and more people need to be made aware of the role of ICANN and the close relationship it shares with the U.S. Department of Commerce.