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Farideh Farhi at Informed Comment Global Affairs listened to the Shrubbery’s presser and wonders: What is George Bush Smoking?

It was also during the Khatami presidency, in 2003 and beyond, that the Bush Administration reportedly ignored Iran’s offer of a deal and continuously complained about the European track to negotiate with Iran. In fact, as late as spring and summer of 2005, until the last days of Khatami’s presidency, the Bush Administration refused to allow the Europeans to entertain any scenario that would permit Iran to contemplate engagement in any enrichment-related activity even in the future.

As I discuss here in 2005, it was this intransigence that ultimately led Iran to bring its uranium conversion plant in Isfahan out of suspension during the last days of the Khatami Administration.

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If you don’t listen to NPR you probably didn’t know that, but here’s the Main Page with links to listen to the event sponsored by NPR and Iowa Public Radio, and here’s the transcript.

There were three on-air topics, Iran, trade, and immigrations, and the economy was addressed after the broadcast portion finished. No “gotcha” or “boxer or briefs / diamonds or pearls” questions, just the candidates talking about the topics.

Governor Bill Richardson was not there; he was attending a funeral.

Happy Hanukkah to my Jewish friends. I miss the latkes and jelly doughnuts my roommates received for the holiday at college. [Their grandmothers were afraid they wouldn’t celebrate or couldn’t get “real” food at that terrible Baptist university.] It was a great break.

One of the nice things about Hanukkah is that there are established “gifts”, so you don’t have to rack your brains about what to get: a card and gelt covers just about everyone.

General background at Wikipedia’s entry for Hanukkah and even more at Chabad’s Chanukah page.

[Note: on the Jewish calendar the day changes at sundown, not midnight, so it’s now the 5^th.]

In another unbelievable display of the separation from reality by the Hedgemony, the US releases portions of a National Intelligence Estimate that says Iran stopped its nuclear weapons research in 2003, and then says Iran must be punished for developing the nuclear weapons that we admit they aren’t developing.

CNN reports: U.S. report: Iran stopped nuclear weapons work in 2003

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Iran halted work toward a nuclear weapon under international scrutiny in 2003 and is unlikely to be able to produce enough enriched uranium for a bomb until 2010 to 2015, a U.S. intelligence report says.

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In the Venezuelan referendum the BBC reports: Chavez defeated over reform vote

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has narrowly lost a referendum on controversial constitutional changes.

Voters rejected the reforms, which included allowing a president to stand indefinitely for re-election, by 51% of the vote to 49%, officials said.

Mr Chavez accepted the result and urged his followers to remain calm.

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So, a teacher ends up in jail with a mob screaming for execution and diplomats and legislators flying around the globe, and what was characterized as an anti-religious assault turns out to be a disgruntled ex-employee: Grudge sparked teddy bear crisis

KHARTOUM, Sudan (CNN) — In an effort to shut down Khartoum’s Unity High School, a disgruntled former employee alerted Sudanese officials that a British teacher had allowed her class to name a teddy bear “Mohammed,” a British source and Sudanese presidential palace source told Time magazine’s Sam Dealey.

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This time it really isn’t about the sex, it’s about the money.

I’ve seen people saying that “Sex On The City” [Tryst Fund, Shag Fund, whatever] is like Bill and Monica. Au contraire, from the point of view of tax dollars Monica was the ultimate cheap date, costing no tax money. Judi, on the other hand, cost the treasury of the city of New York tens of thousands of dollars in personnel and transportation costs, that doesn’t include the increase in potential liability by having NYPD officers on duty outside their jurisdiction.

No doubt a police officer was necessary to protect Judi’s dog because of the threat posed by ferrets in New York, but this claim that Judi was due police protection and transportation because of threats would come as a major surprise to the thousands of women in New York City and State who have received orders of protection because of actual abuse by former spouses. It was misappropriation of funds, plain and simple. Rudy abused the system to impress his latest girlfriend, and now wife. It also shows how little regard Rudy had for the officers of the NYPD.

Via both Rubber Hose and Shakesville The Times [the original in London] reports US says it has right to kidnap British citizens.

Oh, yes, this is really going to make the US a welcome guest, wandering about grabbing people in other countries. And what can we say when it happens to a US citizen? How do we complain about an American arrested on trumped up charges in a foreign country, when we claim for ourselves, despite treaties and protocols, despite having fought the War of 1812 over this very issue, that we can grab anyone we want, anywhere we want?

They are intent on making the United States a outlaw nation. That is the goal of the Hedgemony.

Katerina Ossenova writing for the PAPER CHASE blog (University of Pittsburgh, School of Law) reports Canada court strikes down refugee agreement with US:

[JURIST] The Federal Court of Canada [official website] Thursday struck down a refugee agreement [judgment, PDF] between Canada and the US, noting that the US does not meet international refugee protection requirements or respect international conventions against torture. Justice Michael Phelan [official profile] essentially nullified the 2004 Safe Third Country Agreement [text], which barred foreign refugees who first arrived in the US from seeking refugee status in Canada and vice versa. Phelan noted that the US has not been compliant with the Refugee Convention or the UN Convention Against Torture [texts]. The court also held that the agreement discriminates against refugees based on how they first arrived in Canada and thus violates Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms [text].

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Mark Paul of Moonbats & Wingnuts, one of McClatchy’s alt.campaign blogs reviews the blog reaction to the Repub YouTube debate and it isn’t pretty: The blogs flunk the media again.

In case you didn’t notice, the Wingnuts thought the candidates were sandbagged by allowing obvious Democrats to ask questions, while the Moonbats thought the questions were inane and pointless for a Presidential primary.

I’m firmly in the camp that believes all of the legacy media™ coverage has been inane and pointless. You have to do a lot of searching to find out where any of the candidates in either party stand on any important issue, and there is no information about the stands of several candidates on many issues.

Usually the League of Women Voters sends questionnaires to candidates and then prints a booklet with the answers. No one seems to have been able to do that for the primaries. Apparently, primary voters are expected to take their best guess and select someone, and then the questionnaires will be sent to the candidates selected. This is not a reasoned process, the debates have been of absolutely no help.

The Pensacola Beach Blog has put together a nice post about the situation in surrounding Richard “Dickie” Scruggs, Mississippi Blinding, cautioning people not to jump to conclusions.

There are a lot of people who have a lot of negative things to say about Dickie Scruggs and his law practice. Most have lost to him big time and don’t like it. One of the things no one has ever accused him of, is being stupid.

The claim is that, through another attorney, Dickie tried to bribe a judge in a case involving over $12 million in attorney’s fees and expenses. Some have claimed that Dickie’s brother-in-law, Trent Lott, resigned from the Senate over this matter, and that might be partially true, but not for the reason people assume.

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The Associated Press could use a few good people with some medical knowledge to help them with the reporting on emerging threats: New deadly strain of Ebola emerges

A new strain of Ebola virus has infected 51 people and killed 16 in an area near Uganda’s border with Democratic Republic of Congo, U.S. health experts said on Thursday.
…

Ebola is a hemorrhagic fever, meaning it can cause internal and external bleeding. Victims often die of shock but symptoms can be vague, including fever, muscle pain and nausea.

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I don’t know why people are surprised by this total lack of professionalism by the legacy media™, they do it to Democratic candidates all the time.

The CBS News web site featured the story by Perry Bacon Jr. that appeared on the front page of the Washington Post: Obama Dogged By Muslim Rumors Washington Post: Foes Use Candidate’s Muslim Ties To Fuel Speculation About His Faith.

The rumors weren’t being spread as quickly or widely as the corporate media wanted, so they opened the front page of a national newspaper to the bottom feeders. There is no investigation of what is being said, just the repetition of the garbage.

When this story first appeared it took me less than an hour to figure out what was going on. The sources that you need are on the ‘Net, and in English. Several European media operations contacted reporters in the area where Obama’s family lived and determined the entire scenario was bogus.

Pathetic.

This is a fifth column operation from Ship of Fools, a Christian site, that reports on things that could show up in Christian stores. The BBC has a slideshow of Kitschmas, and it isn’t pretty.

I know people among my local friends and neighbors who would actually buy this stuff and give it to people, and they wouldn’t consider it a joke. These are people with camouflage cases for Bibles to take hunting with them.