Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Random News & Views Roundup

- The tense situation in Caledonia, Ontario around a disputed first nations land claim became exponentially worse on Monday when natives and non-natives came to blows:

The native protesters had briefly dismantled their barricade earlier in the day as a sign of goodwill after the province pledged to indefinitely halt development on a plot of disputed land.

But hundreds of town residents turned up and barred access to the site. The scene turned ugly when a van driven by a Six Nations protester tried to force its way through the locals, prompting a fist fight.

"They're instigating, [they're] a bunch of irate radicals," said Janie Jamieson, a spokeswoman for the native protesters.

CBC has video. The status of the negotiations is now in question.

- Fierce fighting against the Taliban in Afghanistan on Monday claimed the lives of at least 16 innocent civilians, including women and children, when the US decided to send air strikes into the village of Azizi. The Pentagon's response? "Regrettable". What's really regrettable is that 'Operation Enduring Freedom' is actually 'Operation Enduring War with no end in sight'.

Local anger, though, was vented on the allied attackers. Attah Mohammad, 60, said: “Oh my God, they killed my kids.” His silver beard was streaked with tears and his hands were covered in blood. “God may take revenge on them. They took everyone from me,” he said, his voice crackling with emotion.

Haji Ikhalf, 40, a villager, said Taleban fighters had taken shelter in a religious school. When the bombing started, they fled into family homes. “Then those homes were bombed. I saw 35 to 40 dead Taleban and around 50 dead or wounded civilians,” he said.

Zurmina Bibi, who was caught in the fighting with her family, cradled her wounded eight-month-old baby as she said that ten people were killed in her home. “There were dead people everywhere,” she wailed.

The death toll seemed certain to rise, with many villagers unable to get to the hospital in Kandahar. Ambulances were denied access to the area.

- Seymour Hersh weighs in on the NSA domestic spying program and Wired has published documents related to the lawsuit filed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation against AT&T which explain the technological intricacies of the phone records collection methods by the NSA.

- It seems MSNBC has now come out of the closet and is jumping on the 'Rove will be indicted soon' bandwagon along with truthout's Jason Leopold.

MSNBC's David Shuster declared Monday evening that Karl Rove's legal team expects Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald to announce a decision "at any time" in the ongoing CIA leak investigation and that new documents put Cheney's former chief of staff in the hot seat.

As always, stay tuned...

- Drudge was forced to pull his story about Howard Dean's supposed attempts to stop NOLA mayor Ray Nagin from being re-elected. Drudge made racist claims against Dean and his so-called 'secret operatives' and the 'white' donors like Democratic Sen Ben Nelson of Florida who reportedly gave money to Nagin's opponent's campaign.

DNC: DRUDGE IS DEAD WRONG, WE DID NOT PICK LANDRIEU OVER NAGIN

The Democratic National Committee strongly denies it placed political operatives in the city of New Orleans to work against the reelection efforts of incumbent Democrat Mayor Ray Nagin.

Well-placed DRUDGE REPORT sources claimed DNC Chairman Howard Dean made the decision to back mayoral candidate and sitting Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu (D-LA).

The DNC says the report is "unequivocally and absolutely false."

DNC Communications director Karen Finney explained: "The DNC does not as a policy get involved in Democratic primaries... The only thing that the DNC did was a campaign helping ensure that displaced voters had an opportunity to vote."

The DRUDGE REPORT takes chairman Dean and his spokesman at their word.

That's because Drudge doesn't want to get his ass sued over the racist lies he published.

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