Collective Sigh

...sources also said Arafat, 75, is not in complete control of his mental faculties and cannot make important decisions or communicate coherently.

(link)

Ohio State, Michigan drop naming rights for game

Forgoing more than $1 million, Michigan and Ohio State on Wednesday walked away from a deal that would have renamed their annual football game the SBC Michigan-Ohio State Classic.

SBC Communications had offered each school $260,000 for each of the next two years. A logo for the Nov. 20 game featuring SBC's name was to have been displayed on the scoreboard and on signs around Ohio Stadium, but not on the field or players' uniforms.

(snip)

Michigan athletic director Bill Martin said he and university president Mary Sue Coleman decided that giving a formal title to what has been known to generations of fans as simply "The Game" was unacceptable.

"The money was not the issue. We didn't even talk about the money," Martin said during a telephone interview. "It was a matter from president Coleman's perspective and mine in the final analysis that this was inconsistent with the values that we share with the greater Michigan family."

But after the injustice was so much and we saw transgressions and the coalition between Americans and the Israelis against our people in Palestine and Lebanon, it occurred to my mind that we deal with the towers. And these special events that directly and personally affected me go back to 1982 and what happened when America gave permission for Israel to invade Lebanon. And assistance was given by the American sixth fleet.

(link)

We found no difficulties in dealing with the Bush administration, because of the similarities of that administration and the regimes in our countries, half of which are run by the military and half of which are run by monarchs. And our experience is vast with them.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Surveys in the United States may be showing the race for president as too close to call but top Indian astrologers say the planets have clearly made up their mind: John Kerry will win.

Planets governing President Bush are eclipsed and in an uncomfortable position, making his tenure controversial and his re-election bid unsuccessful, the soothsayers said on Friday, four days before the vote.

On the other hand, the planets of Democratic challenger Senator John Kerry were in the ascendant, ensuring him success in competitions.

"Saturn, which is the lord of health and fortune for President Bush, has been eclipsed by the Sun, which is unfortunate and gives him a clear defeat," Lachhman Das Madan, editor of a popular astrology magazine, told Reuters.

"Kerry will win," said Madan, who is also known as "the emperor of astrologers." "It is cosmic writ that George W. Bush cannot become president of United States again."

Ajai Bhambi, a senior astrologer and author of several books on the science of predictions, agreed.

"Kerry is likely to beat Bush in the final verdict," he told the New Indian Express newspaper.

Bejan Daruwalla, another top astrologer, told Reuters he had yet to calculate who would win Tuesday's election. But Bush, even if he won, would not be allowed by his planets to complete a full term, he said.

Astrology is extremely popular in India and many top politicians, businessmen and movie stars consult astrologers before taking important decisions.

Tuesday's vote is forecast to be one of the closest in American history. A Reuters/Zogby poll showed on Thursday that Bush was leading Kerry by 48 to 46 percent but the lead was well within the poll's margin of error.

Wreckage From Plane Crash Six Years Ago Found in North Carolina Mountains

Robbinsville, N.C. (AP) - A bear hunter in the mountains of North Carolina found the wreckage of a small plane that crashed six years ago.

The remains of the pilot were not found at the site in Nantahala National Forest but authorities were continuing to search.

Walter Barker, 71, left Portsmouth, Ohio, on Nov. 4, 1998, on a trip to Andrews to visit his son, an FBI agent. He was flying in bad weather, said Rick Schwein, supervisor of the Asheville office of the FBI.

When Barker didn't arrive, the FBI, Civil Air Patrol and local law enforcement agents searched for the aircraft without success.

The family never quit searching. His son continued to hunt for his father, taking vacations and hiking trips in the mountains to search for the plane.

"This family has literally come and walked these mountains and searched for him for the past six years. They never gave up on it," said Schwein. "We can finally give closure to this family."

That's a very beautiful but heavily-forested part of the world. As Eric Rudolph proved, you can hide there for years, with or without help.

I hope they find the pilot's remains soon, and I'm glad the family finally has some answers.

The photo of Bush addressing a group of soldiers was edited to take out a podium, aides said, and a group of soldiers in the crowd was electronically copied and used to fill where the podium had been.

"There was no need to do that," said Mark McKinnon, head of Bush's advertising team who shouldered the blame. "Everyone technically works for me so I accept the responsibility."

Since the Redskins became the Redskins in 1933, the result of the team's final home game before the presidential election has correctly predicted the White House winner. If the Redskins win, the incumbent party wins. If they lose, the incumbent party is ousted. (link, and thanks to Tinheart for the advance warning)

Consumers who have become used to writing checks in the expectation of having at least a couple of days to cover them with a deposit may soon be in for a rude awakening.

Under a federal law that will take effect today, banks will have more leeway to process checks electronically, and this will translate to shorter or even nonexistent float times - the grace period between the time the check is written and when the money is debited from the account.

Banks will be saving a lot of money through the efficiencies that the law will bring about, Gail K. Hillebrand, a senior lawyer for the group, said, but instead of passing along the savings to customers, they will be reaping extra fees for bounced checks.

While official hold times on customers' deposits will not change - banks must make funds available on local checks in two days, and five days on out-of-town checks - most banks do not make their customers wait that long.

"Everyone knows that when you deposit something in the morning, generally it's available in the afternoon," Mr. Hall said.

I felt this powerful sense that I had just seen something calibrated exactly for this moment, something hopeful and disturbing and honest...something spoken from the crux of this hour in our history and yet resolutely looking forward. Mosh is political art that, at the same time, speaks in an authentic and specific voice. It is art that seems to bear a power to unleash something new.

MIAMI (Reuters) - U.S. Postal Service investigators on Wednesday were trying to find thousands of absentee ballots that should have been delivered to voters in one of Florida's most populous counties, officials said.
(snip)

Broward deputy supervisor of elections Gisela Salas said 60,000 absentee ballots, accounting for just over 5 percent of the electorate in the county north of Miami, were sent out between Oct. 7 and Oct. 8 to voters who would not be in town on election day.
While some had begun to be delivered, her office had been inundated with calls from anxious voters who still had not received their ballots.
"It's really inexplicable at this point in time and the matter is under investigation by law enforcement," Salas told Reuters.

Mrs. Gimli? Rosie Cotton?



Scientists uncover possible new species of human

Dwarf skeleton is 18,000 years old

In a breathtaking discovery, scientists working on a remote Indonesian island say they have uncovered the bones of a human dwarf species marooned for eons while modern man rapidly colonized the rest of the planet.
One tiny specimen, an adult female measuring about 3 feet tall, is described as "the most extreme" figure to be included in the extended human family. Certainly, she is the shortest.
This hobbit-sized creature appears to have lived as recently as 18,000 years ago on the island of Flores, a kind of tropical Lost World populated by giant lizards and miniature elephants.

MILWAUKEE - Republicans are criticizing a Wisconsin get-out-the-vote campaign involving public school students, saying Democrats are exploiting the students for political gain.

Young people in the program organized by the Wisconsin Citizen Action Fund take time from regular classes to go door to door in minority neighborhoods and areas with historically low voter turnout, urging people to cast ballots.

The students, ranging in age from 11 to 18, also use phone banks to call homes and urge people to vote.

Chris Lato, spokesman for the state Republican Party, called the program "a disgraceful use of taxpayer money."

"To spend this time on a clearly partisan effort when these kids should be in school learning is shocking," Lato said.

Larry Marx, co-executive director of Wisconsin Citizen Action, denied there is any partisanship to the effort, despite the fact the advocacy group supports Democratic Sen. John Kerry.

The children do not wear any partisan buttons or clothing, and they do not encourage people to vote one way or another. Participation is voluntary, and parents are required to give their approval, he said.

Roseann St. Aubin, spokeswoman for Milwaukee Public Schools, said the administration approved of the program as long as it was not partisan and the curriculum met state standards for teaching.

"It is true President Clinton left a mess for President Bush to clean up, and nobody wanted to help, all they did was run their mouth and complain. He is more man than the whole group are.

Why are people so unthankful they do not want God or any thing that is right. The time is coming when they will get their wish. I do not think they will like it. Whatsoever a man soweth so shall he reap. The Bible is true. Life is what we make it. So trust in the Lord."

Irene Blackburn
N. Centennial St.

High Point Surprise, August 25, 2004

Don't let sin rule in America

We read of the ones trying to convince us who is right. But the truth is this: America, God is God. His power can prevail, trust him, please do not let sin rule our nation.

God's man will win so we can trust the Lord, in all things. Glory to our Lord for God is!

Irene Blackburn
Centennial Street

Kerry/Edwards deceive America

If I'm elected president of the United States of America, so says Santa Claus Kerry and Mrs. Claus Edwards, I will personally come down every chimney in our great land, and leave my blessings and no American will be left behind.

Grow up children, after a while, even they find out a lie is a lie. But I hope it's not too late. God bless America.

Wes Luffman
South Road

Easley confronted a problem that was not his making, made hard choices that jeopardized his political career and fulfilled his duty as governor to balance the state budget. But at the same time, Easley kept the state focused on efforts to improve elementary education. That's leadership.

Nothing Ballentine did in his 10 years in the N.C. Senate and nothing he has promised to do if elected governor approach the magnitude of that accomplishment.

While Ballentine may be a fine young man who promises a new generation of conservative leadership, he doesn't have the track record to match Easley's proven levelheaded leadership ability. That's why North Carolinians should re-elect Easley to a four-year term as governor.

Former workers dispute Bush's pull in Project P.U.L.L.

...White's administrative assistant and others associated with P.U.L.L., speaking on the record for the first time, say Bush was not helping to run the program and White had not asked Bush to come aboard. Instead, the associates said, White told them he agreed to take Bush on as a favor to Bush's father, who was honorary co-chairman of the program at the time, and Bush was unpaid. They say White told them Bush had gotten into some kind of trouble but White never gave them specifics.

"Bush has behaved like a caricature of what a right-wing president is supposed to be, and his continuation in office will discredit any sort of conservatism for generations."

"In Europe and indeed all over the world, he has made the United States despised by people who used to be its friends, by businessmen and the middle classes, by moderate and sensible liberals."

"These sentiments mean that as long as Bush is president, we have no real allies in the world, no friends to help us dig out from the Iraq quagmire. More tragically, they mean that if terrorists succeed in striking at the United States in another 9/11-type attack, many in the world will not only think of the American victims but also of the thousands and thousands of Iraqi civilians killed and maimed by American armed forces."

"George W. Bush has come to embody a politics that is antithetical to almost any kind of thoughtful conservatism. His international policies have been based on the hopelessly naïve belief that foreign peoples are eager to be liberated by American armies—a notion more grounded in Leon Trotsky’s concept of global revolution than any sort of conservative statecraft."

While patients are panicking over a shortage of flu vaccine in the United States, vaccination programs in Europe are progressing smoothly with a good supply of medicine, health authorities say.

"The World Health Organization has not heard of any shortages in Europe, and it's very, very likely we would have heard if there were problems," said Dr. Nedret Emiroglu of the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe.

Most countries contract with several makers, in part to avoid critical dependence on any one supplier. And though countries other than the United States had placed orders with Chiron for a smaller part of their vaccine needs, no other country was so dependent on the Liverpool factory.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., disagreed with Bush that Kerry had "a fundamental misunderstanding" of the war in Iraq but said in an interview on NBC's "Today" show that Bush was better qualified to lead the war on terrorism, "the transcendent issue of our time."

Senior American officials are beginning to assemble a new portrait of the insurgency that has continued to inflict casualties on American and Iraqi forces, showing that it has significantly more fighters and far greater financial resources than had been estimated.

When foreign fighters and the network of a Jordanian militant, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, are counted with home-grown insurgents, the hard-core resistance numbers between 8,000 and 12,000 people, a tally that swells to more than 20,000 when active sympathizers or covert accomplices are included, according to the American officials.

(snip)

Their financing is supplemented in great part by wealthy Saudi donors and Islamic charities that funnel large sums of cash through Syria, according to these officials, who have access to detailed intelligence reports.

* Immediately fire SecDef Donald Rumsfeld, all of his Pentagon senior civilian assistants and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Richard Myers.

* Replace Rumsfeld with retired Gen. Anthony Zinni and give this tough, smart, proven leader a free hand to bring in the best people to reshape and streamline our armed forces for the long counterinsurgency fight ahead.

* Fire National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and replace her with retired Gens. Wes Clark or John Sheehan.

* Reorganize the Army from A to Z, starting with doubling the size of Special Ops Forces and maneuver units, gutting the Cold War stuff and adding more civil-affairs, psych-war and military-police units. Deep-six the folks who excel in PowerPoint briefings but add nothing to the critical missions at hand, beginning with the pernicious, pervasive Pentagon blubber and working down to brigade level.

* Reduce or scrap most of the multibillion-dollar porker programs such as Star Wars II, and spike orders for platinum-plated Cold War II ships and aircraft. Then use the funds to arm and equip our warriors appropriately.

* Make every military leader from buck sergeant to four-star memorize Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, and Imperial Hubris, by “Anonymous.”

....much more

SFTT has learned of this plan from an unimpeachable & vetted source, but desires to obtain more details about this new variation of the "backdoor draft." The plan is largely complete, and is set to be announced after the election.

The Republican Party and its allies are wielding another voter turnout tool: corporate communications. "This is a huge number of people," says Gregory S. Casey, chief executive of the Business Industry Political Action Committee, or Bipac, which increased its spending ten-fold this election, to $5 million. The group is helping 700 companies and associations in pivotal states to persuade their employees to vote for candidates who favor business interests.

A recent Bipac message distributed by Al-jon, a solid-waste equipment manufacturer in Ottumwa, Iowa, to its 110 workers referred to job security in every paragraph. "Prosperity - and job security - don't just happen," the message said. "They are the result of our free enterprise system and reasonable government policies. So every vote counts."

San Francisco State University had a 40 percent drop in foreign students at its English language center this summer, from 120 to 68. City College of San Francisco's Institute for International Students saw enrollment drop 60 percent from about 175 in 2001 to 70 students this fall. It had to cut 6 of 18 classes and reassign four teachers.

UC Berkeley expects to lose 50 to 60 of its 522 foreign graduate students. One doctoral student, Jun Yang, who has been studying there for three years, was caught in the net of the new requirements after he went to Australia in July to present his research, said Professor Joe McBride.

(snip)

Foreign students provide a valuable perspective in the classroom, officials say, and they are also big business. At private institutions, foreign students generally pay full tuition. At public schools, they pay nonresident tuition, often four times as much as in-state students. And their money goes beyond the university into the economy of the area.

In the most recent data, the 2001-02 school year, 582,996 foreign students were studying for degrees in the United States and spending more than $12 billion on such things as tuition and living expenses, according to the Institute of International Education. California had the biggest share, with 78,741 students generating about $2 billion in revenue. About 100,000 foreign students in English language programs also pump about $2 billion into the U.S. economy.

Hungary to await US election outcome to decide on Iraq troop extension

Hungary will wait until after the US presidential election to decide whether it wants the country's troops to stay in Iraq beyond their current mandate, which expires in December, Defence Minister Ferenc Juhasz said late on Monday.
"The Hungarian government will only submit its recommendation to parliament on the extension of the Hungarian participation in Iraq after the US presidential election," Juhasz told public television.
The government declined to comment specifically on how the outcome of the US vote on November 2 would influence Hungary's military presence in Iraq, where Budapest currently has 300 troops, mostly logistics experts.

Nearly 1.7 million military veterans have no health insurance or access to government hospitals and clinics for veterans, according to a report Tuesday from a doctors' group that favors federally financed health care.

The number of uninsured veterans jumped by 235,000 since 2000, meaning they are losing health insurance at a faster rate than the general population, said Physicians for a National Health Program, which advocates a universal national health insurance program. About 45 million Americans have no health insurance, including 5 million who lost coverage during the past four years, according to the Census Bureau.

Almost all uninsured veterans served during the Vietnam war or more recently. Those who fought in World War II and the Korean War are older than 65, making them eligible for government health care through Medicare.

MONTEREY, Calif. (Reuters) - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said on Monday that his speech backing President Bush at the Republican Convention in August resulted in a dramatic cold shoulder from his wife Maria Shriver, a member of the very Democratic Kennedy family.

"Well, there was no sex for 14 days," Schwarzenegger told former White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta in an on-stage conversation in front of 1,000 people. "Everything comes with side effects."

On March 19, 2004, the day before the Republic of China presidential election, President Chen Shui-bian
and Vice President Annette Lu were both shot while campaigning in Tainan in an apparent political assassination attempt.

Their injuries were not life-threatening, and both Chen and Lu were released from Chi-Mei Hospital on the same day without losing consciousness or having surgery Nevertheless, the attack provoked shock and unease in Taiwan, where political violence of this kind is virtually unheard in recent times.

The incident was widely thought to have earned Chen and Lu sympathy votes, helping to win them the election on the next day by a mere 29,500 votes. These circumstances led to widespread speculation that the assassination attempt was either staged or faked to influence an election that formerly appeared to tip towards Pan-Blue's favor.

It would be much easier than digging up Osama or staging another "mission accomplished" stunt, with the added benefit of the wingers blaming evil libruls.

A Vietnam veteran filed a libel lawsuit today claiming he was falsely portrayed as a fraud and a liar in a film criticizing Sen. John Kerry's anti-war activities.

Kenneth J. Campbell, now a professor at the University of Delaware, said in the suit that "Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal" combines footage of him appearing at a 1971 war protest with a voice-over that claims that many of the supposed veterans who took part in the event were later "discovered as frauds" who "never set foot on the battlefield, or left the comfort of the [United] States, or even served in uniform."

The suit said viewers would be left with the perception that Campbell had lied about his military service.

Campbell attached copies of his military records to the suit, showing that he received the Purple Heart medal and eight other medals, ribbons and decorations for his service as an artillery forward observer in Vietnam in 1968 and 1969.

"Guantánamo guards provide an environment that is stable, secure, safe and humane.

One regular procedure that was described by people who worked at Camp Delta, the main prison facility at the naval base in Cuba, was making uncooperative prisoners strip to their underwear, having them sit in a chair while shackled hand and foot to a bolt in the floor, and forcing them to endure strobe lights and screamingly loud rock and rap music played through two close loudspeakers, while the air-conditioning was turned up to maximum levels, said one military official who witnessed the procedure. The official said that was intended to make the detainees uncomfortable, as they were accustomed to high temperatures both in their native countries and their cells.

The shortage of flu vaccine in the United States is "not a health crisis," Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said, urging people to be patient as the government works to reallocate the nation's limited number of vaccines.

Russian President Vladimir Putin says terrorist attacks in Iraq are aimed at preventing the re-election of U.S. President George W. Bush and that a Bush defeat "could lead to the spread of terrorism to other parts of the world."

A state judge refused Friday to reopen registration for Clark County residents whose voter applications might have been destroyed by a Republican-funded group.

Clark County District Court Judge Valerie Adair said she was presented with evidence of just two voters who might have been disenfranchised by having their registration forms ripped up, and said that did not justify reopening the registration process.

"While this court believes that each individual's vote is important and must be protected ... the court finds the requested relief is not warranted," she said.

In the controversy over Sen. John Kerry's service in Vietnam, Americans have heard from Kerry, from the crew of the Navy Swift boats he commanded, and from other Swift boat veterans who question the official account of a 1969 incident for which Kerry was awarded a Silver Star. But there is one group they have not heard from: the Vietnamese who were there that day.

(snip)

According to the citation for Kerry's Silver Star, when the boats approached the hamlet, "a B-40 rocket exploded close aboard PCF 94" — Kerry's boat. He "personally led a landing party ashore in pursuit of the enemy," the citation says, before commending Kerry's "extraordinary daring and personal courage" for "attacking a numerically superior force in the face of intense fire."

That account is disputed by Swift boat veteran John O'Neill, author of "Unfit for Command," who maintains in his book that the statement "is simply false. There was little or no fire."

(snip)

Villagers say this is what they saw:

"Firing from over here. Firing from over there. Firing from the boat," Vo Thi Vi told Nightline.

She was only a couple hundred yards away when a Swift boat turned and approached the shore, she said, adding that the boat was unleashing a barrage of gunfire as it approached.

"I ran," she recalled, "Running fast. … And the Americans came from down there, yelling 'Attack, Attack!' And we ran."

Her husband Tam said the man who fired the B-40 rocket was hit in this barrage of gunfire. Then, he said, "he ran about 18 meters before he died, falling dead."

Was the man killed by Kerry or by fire from the Swift boat? It was the heat of battle, Tam said, and he doesn't know exactly how the man with the rocket launcher died. But he knows the man's name — Ba Thang. He was one of the 12 reinforcements sent to the village by provincial headquarters, and after he died, the firefight continued, according to Tam.

"When the firing started, Ba Thanh was killed," Tam said. "And I led Ba Thanh's comrades, the whole unit, to fight back. And we ran around the back and fought the Americans from behind. We worked with the city soldiers to fire on the American boats."

(snip)

None of the villagers seems to be able to say for a fact that they saw an American chase the man who fired the B-40 into the woods and shoot him. Nobody seems to remember that. But they have no problem remembering Ba Thang, the man who has been dismissed by Kerry's detractors as "a lone, wounded, fleeing, young Vietcong in a loincloth." (The description comes from "Unfit for Command," by Swift boat veteran John O'Neill.)

"No, this is not correct," Nguyen Thi Tuoi, 77, told ABC News. "He wore a black pajama. He was strong. He was big and strong. He was about 26 or 27."

The president has exploited the terrorism issue for political ends - trying to make it into another wedge issue like abortion, guns or gay rights - to rally the Republican base and push his own political agenda. But it is precisely this exploitation of 9/11 that has gotten him and the country off-track, because it has not only created a wedge between Republicans and Democrats, it's also created a wedge between America and the rest of the world, between America and its own historical identity, and between the president and common sense.

Federal judge cites widespread fraud in gathering of state petitions. Florida agency under scrutiny over falsification of some signatures.

Petition signatures include 'Mickey Mouse, Fred Flintstone'

A suicide attack and roadside bombings killed six American soldiers, and Iraq (news - web sites)'s prime minister warned residents of insurgent bastion Fallujah on Wednesday to hand over terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi or face military action.

Drug companies have pulled out of flu vaccine production because it's not very profitable and it's financially risky, health experts said.

One big problem is that demand for flu shots fluctuates from year to year as public interest waxes and wanes. Last season brought huge demand for a flu shot; the year before saw little interest, Poland said. But flu shots have to be made far in advance, so the manufacturers must rely on estimates and then they're "out there naked in the marketplace," said (Dr. William Schaffner of Vanderbilt University).

If a flu shot isn't used during the season, it must be discarded. So companies generally throw away millions of doses a year, Poland said.

What's more, making vaccines requires massive capital investment and involves the costs of complying with federal regulations, and the market is relatively small, he said.

The plans let workers create tax-free savings accounts to use for medical costs, combined with lower-cost, high-deductible insurance to cover major medical care.

Uwe E. Reinhardt, a Princeton University economist and health policy expert, said the new plans were "a bum deal" for people with chronic illnesses. But "for chronically healthy people,'' he said, "it's another 401(k) savings account, and Wall Street is licking its chops at the prospect of managing the money."

Germany might deploy troops in Iraq if conditions there change, Peter Struck, the German defence minister, indicated on Tuesday in a gesture that appears to provide backing for John Kerry, the US Democratic presidential challenger.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Struck departed from his government’s resolve not to send troops to Iraq under any circumstances, saying: “At present I rule out the deployment of German troops in Iraq. In general, however, there is no one who can predict developments in Iraq in such a way that he could make a such a binding statement [about the future].”

Mr Struck also welcomed Mr Kerry’s proposal that he would convene an international conference on Iraq including countries that opposed the war if he were to win next month's election.

Germany would certainly attend, Mr Struck said. “This is a very sensible proposal. The situation in Iraq can only be cleared up when all those involved sit together at one table. Germany has taken on responsibilities in Iraq, including financial ones; this would naturally justify our involvement in such a conference."

Hollywood's most famous film flop, the legendary box office disaster "Heaven's Gate," has been resurrected.

The 1980 movie that buried the career of Academy Award winning director Michael Cimino and imploded an entire film studio is born-again as an art film with an engagement starting on Friday at New York's Film Forum, where a documentary on the movie is also being shown.

A Finnish commuter ferry captain has been suspended after crashing into a pier because he forgot to turn off the autopilot -- for the second time in three days.

The captain was given a second chance to prove his seamanship after an accident on Tuesday when two passengers and one crew member were injured after the Suomenlinna II hit the pier at its destination, an island just outside downtown Helsinki.

Our nation is in deep trouble, and the coming election will be the most important in the modern history of the United States. George W. Bush and his Republican Leadership allies in Congress represent the most reactionary clique to govern our country in the last hundred years. During the last three years their policies have been a disaster for the people of America and for the world.

The Bush administration plans to delay major assaults on rebel-held cities in Iraq until after U.S. elections in November, say administration officials, mindful that large-scale military offensives could affect the U.S. presidential race.

Although American commanders in Iraq have been buoyed by recent successes in insurgent-held towns such as Samarra and Tall Afar, administration and Pentagon officials say they will not try to retake cities such as Fallouja and Ramadi — where the insurgents' grip is strongest and U.S. military casualties could be the highest — until after Americans vote in what is likely to be an extremely close election.

President Bush's campaign announced Sunday its plans to use as the basis of a new commercial a quote from an 8,000-word New York Times Magazine article about Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry.

The parsing prompted the Kerry camp to retort that the soon-to-be-released Bush ad was another example of the president's campaign taking words out of context to create a misleading impression.

The article, a largely analytical cover story in the magazine, says the interviewer asked Kerry "what it would take for Americans to feel safe again."

''We have to get back to the place we were, where terrorists are not the focus of our lives, but they're a nuisance,'' the article states as the Massachusetts senator's reply.

''As a former law enforcement person, I know we're never going to end prostitution. We're never going to end illegal gambling. But we're going to reduce it, organized crime, to a level where it isn't on the rise. It isn't threatening people's lives every day, and fundamentally, it's something that you continue to fight, but it's not threatening the fabric of your life.''

The goal of the editorial page has been to provide an arena for the expression of a variety of thoughtful opinions, some by the publishers, some by columnists, and some by our readers.

The new mode of operation, I am told, is that when a newspaper prints an editorial of which some sectors might disagree, the focus is now upon how to run the newspaper out of business. Out the window are the contributions the newspaper has made to the community in the past and the newspaper’s extensive investment in the community.

French President Jacques Chirac considered committing up to 15,000 troops to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq until a dispute over U.N. support scuttled prospects for cooperation, according to a new book.

The book, "Chirac Contre Bush: L'Autre Guerre" ("Chirac vs. Bush: The Other War"), claims Chirac was on the fence about offering French forces as late as January 2003 – two months before the invasion – but balked amid signs that President Bush was bent on war.

The book maintains Chirac ruled out any prospect of sending troops because of a seemingly clear intent in the U.S. administration to attack Saddam Hussein's regime without support from the U.N. Security Council.

At the time, France pressed for renewed efforts by U.N. weapons inspectors to disarm Iraq. Chirac became a leading advocate for a peaceful resolution to the threat posed by Saddam.

A shaky personal relationship between the two presidents contributed to the ill-feeling engendered during the Iraq debate, and U.S. officials eavesdropped on phones used by Chirac, the book alleges.

Authors Thomas Cantaloube and Henri Vernet, reporters for Le Parisien newspaper based respectively in Washington and Paris, say the book is based on interviews with at least 50 French and American government and military officials. The book hit stores in France on Wednesday.

In one of its most significant allegations, the book claims a French general, Jean-Patrick Gaviard, was sent to Washington on Dec. 16, 2002, and offered between 10,000 and 15,000 troops, plus military planes and other equipment for an Iraq invasion – on condition U.N. inspectors were allowed to continue their work.

A spokesman for Chirac could not immediately be reached for comment about the book.