UPMC, Please don't take my organs while my brain is still functioning!

UPMC to try ER donor organ idea
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
By Joe Fahy and David Templeton, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

UPMC Presbyterian is developing a program aimed at obtaining donor organs from emergency-room patients who cannot be revived.

Dr. Michael DeVita, a University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine professor of critical care and internal medicine, yesterday said he knew of no similar U.S. program operating, though some had been attempted elsewhere.

The program, to be called Condition T, could be in place by next summer, he said after a news conference.

Under Condition T, when efforts to revive patients fail, doctors would contact the local organ recovery organization, the Center for Organ Recovery and Education, to determine whether the patient was a registered donor. If so, family members would be notified, he said, and a team separate from the professionals that attempted to resuscitate the patient would be summoned to recover the organs.

Initially at least, plans call for recovering livers and kidneys, the organs that have the longest waiting lists nationally.

Pitt doctors estimate that an additional 40 kidneys and 20 livers could be recovered annually.

Transplant experts in Michigan are working with Pitt to determine whether the program can be replicated, Dr. DeVita said.

Pitt doctors obtained a nearly $1 million, three-year grant for the local program from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration, which oversees transplant programs.

The initiative will focus on patients who suffer cardiac deaths, which occur when the heart, circulatory and respiratory systems cease to function.

The vast majority of organs now come from hospitalized donors who have suffered brain death -- that is, they were pronounced dead when meaningful brain activity ceased, the Institute of Medicine noted in a report last year.

But far more people in the United States are pronounced dead each year when their hearts stops beating, and they offer "a largely untapped source of potential organ donations," the institute said.

The group urged action on the plan but said a number of ethical and practical issues remained, such as how best to work with family members whose loved one has just died unexpectedly.

"Obviously, the organ donor shortage needs to be addressed in every way possible," said Dr. James Burdick, director of transplantation for the Health Resources and Services Administration.

More than 90,000 people are on waiting lists for organ transplants.

In 2003, the federal agency began a nationwide effort, known as the Breakthrough Collaborative, to challenge medical centers to find ways to increase organ donation. Concerns have been raised, however, that the efforts have been too aggressive in some cases.

Dr. Arthur Caplan, chairman of the University of Pennsylvania's department of medical ethics, said Pitt's plan to separate patient care from organ procurement in its new initiative is "a great idea" but does not resolve all issues.

In any emergency room, family members hoping for good news likely will protest when told that their loved one's organs are being removed, Dr. Caplan said. And while Pittsburgh has personnel trained in organ removal, he said other communities without trained personnel won't be able to adopt such a program.

People also might question the medical center's ability to keep emergency room and transplant personnel separate, he said.
First published on October 31, 2007 at 12:00 am
Joe Fahy can be reached at jfahy@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1722. David Templeton can be reached at dtempleton@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1578.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07304/829780-114.stm?cmpid=news.xml

Pittsburgh City Worker Rigs Mayoral Poll

(AP) PITTSBURGH - A city employee developed a computer program that let him rig a radio station’s online poll in favor of the mayor, who is seeking re-election.

But Mayor Luke Ravenstahl’s office said the worker, who was not named, would not be disciplined because he rigged the unscientific poll on his own time.

"As far as I’m concerned, it was all in good fun," Ravenstahl said.

The poll, posted last week, showed 86 percent of listeners believed the media was too harsh in its coverage of Ravenstahl, compared with 14 percent who didn’t.

The mayor’s office later acknowledged that the employee found a way around restrictions on repeat voting, allowing him to bombard the site with votes favoring the mayor.

"He did it as a private citizen. He’s well within his rights as a person," Ravenstahl spokeswoman Alecia Sirk said. "People do it privately all the time for ’American Idol,’ and nobody investigates that."

Ravenstahl, 27, became the youngest mayor of a major U.S. city last year following the death of the incumbent. He faces a challenge by Republican Mark DeSantis in Tuesday’s election.

KDKA Radio program director Marshall Adams said that the station is investigating the poll, and that the station has reason to believe the other polls were affected by the same city worker or others.

"Online polls are unscientific surveys," Adams said. "They can easily be manipulated, but this is all fun to watch."

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

LIES: Yeshiva Dinner Discrepancy

I just went back to listen again to the KDKA debate (kdka.com) from yesterday to make sure I heard the mayor correctly, and yes, he said that he was given a $1000+ ticket to the Yeshiva dinner for the Jewish community.[21:25] (I will not address now that the Yeshiva is one institution and does not represent the entire Jewish community or even the Orthodox Jewish community!) What amazes me, is that the dinner's tickets were only $180 each.

Then I saw an article in the Pittsburgh City Paper that says that Mayor Ravenstahl claimed the tickets were between $3000-$9000 for he and his family!!!

(http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A34957)

What is he talking about???

This all comes after the mayor's comments in his last debate in which he distorted all the facts, as reported by the Burgh Report: http://burghreport.blogspot.com/2007/10/ravenstahls-amazing-debate-remark.html

Bloggers for DeSantis

Just picked up this banner (Thanks Char). I encourage all DeSantis supporters to prominately display it on your site.

Condi is getting advice from who???? AAARRRGGHH!

Rice Looks to History for Peace Effort

By MATTHEW LEE – 3 days ago



WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is looking to the past for lessons on how to make next month's Mideast peace conference a success.

As she prepares to host the international meeting in Annapolis, Md., Rice has delved into the history of U.S. attempts to mediate peace in the region, plunging into the diplomatic annals and seeking out the major players responsible for both successes and failures.

"She's trying to draw on the historical record and the experiences of others to see what she can glean and how that may be applicable to the current day," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Friday, ahead of Rice's Nov. 4-6 trip to Israel and the Palestinian Authority, her second in three weeks to organize the Annapolis gathering.

Most recently, she met this week with Jimmy Carter, sitting down in her office on Wednesday for a talk with the former president who brokered the 1978 Camp David peace accord between Israel and Egypt, the first between the Jewish state and an Arab nation.

Carter has been a vocal critic of the Bush administration's Middle East polices and wrote a recent book, "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid," that some believe is anti-Israeli. McCormack said the differences in approach were not a subject of her conversation.

Rice has also spoken by phone with former President Clinton about his work on the 1994 Israel-Jordan peace deal. She discussed with both Clinton and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright the unsuccessful 2000 attempt in Shepherdstown, W.Va., to mediate an Israeli-Syrian agreement and their bid later that year at Camp David to forge an Israeli-Palestinian pact.

Others she has reached out to include former secretaries of state Henry Kissinger and James Baker, and to one-time U.S. peace negotiators like Dennis Ross, who played a key role in the Clinton administration and the administration of former President George H.W. Bush.

In addition, Rice, whose background is in Soviet studies, asked the State Department historian's office to prepare a voluminous, and classified, compendium of its records on the U.S. role in Middle East peacemaking.

McCormack declined to offer details of her private readings and conversations or discuss any conclusions she may have drawn from them. But he noted that Rice, especially given her background as an academic, has intense interest in studying past diplomacy for clues about what might work as the Annapolis meeting approaches.

"We view the situation as qualitatively different than it has been, the history moves on, people change roles, situations," McCormack said.

"That said, you can take the lessons of history and apply them," he said. "She is a student of history and has a keen appreciation for how we can apply the lessons of history, what we can learn from those who have gone before us."

Rice faces serious obstacles in organizing Annapolis, with both Israel and the Palestinians far apart on a joint statement to be presented to the meeting that she and President Bush hope will launch the start of formal peace talks.

The two sides have fundamental differences over how detailed the document must be and whether it should contain a timeline for progress in the eventual negotiations.

The Israelis want the statement to be as vague as possible while the Palestinians are pushing for deadlines and specific references to the key issues in the conflict, among them the borders of a Palestinian state, the status of disputed Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees.

Rice's last trip to the region, a furious four-day shuttle diplomacy mission earlier this month, produced little apparent progress on bringing the two sides together.

However, she did win at least public support for the Annapolis conference from Egypt and Jordan, two critical Arab allies of the United States that had both expressed skepticism about the utility of the meeting.

Must Stop Funding Saudi Arabia Now!

Funding an Enemy

By Janet Levy
FrontPageMagazine.com



Last Friday, President Bush certified Saudi Arabia as a cooperative anti-terrorism ally and released U.S. financial aid to Riyadh. This occurred despite charges leveled against the “Kingdom” by Stuart Levey, the U.S. Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, who one day after the sixth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, declared that Saudi Arabia had failed to prosecute terrorism financiers.

Levey voiced frustration that not a single terrorist supporter identified by Washington had been prosecuted by the Saudis.

“If I could snap my fingers and cut off the funding from one country, it would be Saudi Arabia,” a frustrated Levey told the press. “When the evidence is clear that these individuals have funded terror organizations . . . then that should be prosecuted and treated as real terrorism because it is.”

Levey leads an office which marshals the Treasury Department's policy, enforcement, regulatory and intelligence functions to sever the lines of financial support to international terrorists, weapons of mass destruction proliferators, narcotics traffickers, and other threats to our national security. Yet, the United States blithely ignored the very person with the best information whose job is to help stop terrorism and safeguard our country.

Instead, we are providing U.S. aid to the world’s top oil-producing country which is also coincidentally the main financial and ideological sponsor of Wahhabism or Islamic extremism. This austere form of Islam insists on a literal interpretation of the Koran and spreads the belief that all those who don't practice their form of Islam are heathens and enemies. In effect, we are funding our enemies. Even more outrageous, we are funding wealthy enemies: a resource-rich country that is the largest source of financing for Al Qaeda and Islamic terrorists who have murdered hundreds of Americans and Israelis.

The extent of Saudia Arabia’s wealth frequently makes headlines. Recently, Prince Al-Walid bin Talal, a member of the Saudi royal family, sold a 5% share of the Kingdom Holding Company, one of the largest investment companies in the world, for more than two and a half times its initial public offering valuation. As a member of the Saudi royal family, Al-Walid holds assets estimated at $20.3 billion and is deemed by Forbes Magazine as the 13th wealthiest person in the world. The prince’s major holdings include Citibank, AOL, Apple, Inc., Worldcom, Motorola, News Corp, Planet Hollywood, and numerous other companies. He alone is the largest foreign investor in New York and his extensive real estate holdings including upscale hotel chains and resorts. In July of 2005, Talal donated $20 million to the Louvre in Paris, the largest donation ever received by the museum, for the construction of a wing to house Islamic art.

In recent years, Talal has used his financial clout to influence American foreign policy, shape media portrayals and promote Islamist ideology. Following the 9/11 attacks, in which 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi nationals, Al-Walid offered a $10 million donation to New York City toward relief efforts and suggested that the U.S. should reexamine its allegedly pro-Israel policies in the Middle East as the root cause of the attacks. The donation was turned down.

Prince Talal gave $500,000 to the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), an un-indicted co-conspirator in the funding of Hamas, for distribution to American public libraries of books that sanitize Islam and terrorist organization activities. One book declares that terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah were placed on the U.S. government’s terrorist list, not because of their well-documented terrorist operations, but because of the pro-Israel bias of American leaders.

During the 2005 Muslim riots in France, Prince Talal, the fifth largest shareholder of the parent company of Fox News, called network chief Rupert Murdoch and demanded that a screen banner identifying the unrest as “Muslim riots” be changed to “civil riots.” The Prince maintained that the U.S. media is too pro-Israel and he encouraged the Arab world and media to do more to counter this tendency.

Further, Prince Talal has tried to influence U.S. Middle East policy by donating $20 million each to Harvard University and Georgetown University, among the largest university donations in history, to finance Islamic studies and create a pro-Islamic environment among future and current policy leaders. From a country that ironically routinely punishes practitioners of Christianity, he declared that his primary reason for bestowing the gifts was the promotion of “Muslim-Christian” understanding.

Of grave concern is another donation by the Prince to the Saudi Committee for the Support of the al-Quds Intifada for $27 million given in 2002. Although committee leadership attempted to portray the gift as assistance for Arab-Palestinian families resisting the “occupation,” documents captured by the Israel Defense Forces indicated that the funds were payoffs for suicide bombings used as enticements to murder by Hamas. A Saudi-government cleric, Sheikh Saad al-Buraik, stated to television audiences viewing the 2002 fundraising telethon, “I am against America until this life ends…She is the root of all evils and wickedness on Earth…” He further urged listeners to pillage the Jews, enslave their women and wage all-out jihad.

The travesty of U.S. funding for a wealthy terrorist-sponsoring nation is further demonstrated by a 2005 study, “Saudi Publications on Hate Ideology Invade American Mosques” by Freedom House, a non-profit, nonpartisan organization that seeks to advance the worldwide expansion of political and economic freedom. Freedom House researchers found that over 80% of U.S. mosques had been radicalized by Saudi-appointed, Wahhabist imams and ideology. These Saudi-trained clerics, the ideological arm of the royal family, advocate the rejection of Christianity and Judaism, the full application of the Sharia or Islamic law in America, hatred of non-believers, renunciation of allegiance to America and the waging of jihad by all Muslims against infidels.

It is indeed troubling that U.S. leaders overlook the role that the Saudi government plays in supporting terrorism worldwide and the spreading of extremist ideology within America. It is the height of irony that while Saudia Arabia bans churches and arrests Christians praying in private homes, it is also freely funding a fifth column inside America in the form of “religious” instruction. For President Bush to praise Saudi Arabia as an “anti-terrorism” ally while Saudi-funded efforts within our borders are undermining and threatening our very existence as a free nation, nullifies American counter-terrorism measures and ignores the warnings of those charged with protecting us. Such a decision dangerously ignores reality and courts our own destruction.

Muslim Minister Stopped And Searched

Muslim Minister Stopped And Searched

Updated: 10:31, Monday October 29, 2007



International Development Minister Shahid Malik, the MP for Dewsbury, said he was annoyed at being singled out, especially as the same thing happened to him in the US last year.

Mr Malik - and two other Muslim passengers - were taken aside at Dulles Airport in Washington DC.

His hand luggage was analysed for traces of explosive materials.

He was searched and detained by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) - the same department whose representatives he had been meeting during his visit.

Mr Malik said: "After a few minutes a couple of other people were also taken to one side. We were all Muslims - the other two were black Muslims, both with Muslim names."
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Mr Malik said he was particularly annoyed as a similar thing happened to him last year, when he was detained for an hour at JFK airport in New York by the DHS.

This was despite the fact he was a keynote speaker at an event organised by the department, alongside the FBI and Muslim organisations in New York.

The theme of that speech was tackling extremism and defeating terrorism.

Mr Malik said he received numerous apologies and assurances from US authorities after that incident.

After his second detention, which lasted about 40 minutes, he said: "I am deeply disappointed.

"The abusive attitude I endured last November I forgot about and I forgave.

"But I really do believe that British ministers and parliamentarians should be afforded the same respect and dignity at US airports that we would bestow upon our colleagues in the Senate and Congress.

"Obviously, there was no malice involved, but it has to be said that the US system does not inspire confidence."

SKY NEWS

The Newest Music Video From the PA

EXTRA, EXTRA: Post Gazette Endorses DeSantis!!!

For mayor: Mark DeSantis is the choice for a new Pittsburgh
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Pittsburghers are living in a unique time. There has never been an election for mayor in which the incumbent has served for 14 months, in which the winner will get only two years and where the future of the city, now under strict oversight from the state, hangs in the balance.

Unusual times call for more than the usual leadership. For Pittsburghers on Nov. 6, that means voting for Mark DeSantis, the first Republican the Post-Gazette has endorsed for mayor since John Tabor in 1969.

•

Why should a city dominated by Democrats consider a Republican for mayor? Because one-party rule has failed Pittsburgh and failed it repeatedly. It has failed to prevent population loss and business erosion. It has failed to head off the city's near-bankruptcy and job loss. It has failed to generate the big ideas that should be propelling Pittsburgh into the 21st century.

A Democratic mayor and a nine-member Democratic council have robbed the city of the robust political competition that renews the state and keeps the federal government in check. We see the invigorating value of shifting party control in Harrisburg and Washington, but on Grant Street we see rust, cobwebs and a city bravely trying to manage its own decline.

The latest mayor challenged with the task is Luke Ravenstahl, 27, of the North Side. As everyone knows, the incumbent was the council president who became mayor in September 2006 upon the death of Bob O'Connor, an outgoing salesman for the city who won election on the basis of charm, enthusiasm and a determination to clean every neighborhood.

Mr. Ravenstahl moved into the mayor's chair and, out of respect for the memory of his predecessor, pledged to push Pittsburgh in the same direction. But it was soon apparent: The new mayor may have adopted the O'Connor agenda, but he was no Bob O'Connor.

Call it youth, inexperience or simply lack of judgment, Mayor Ravenstahl began treating the city to a series of well-publicized disappointments, embarrassments and outrages, and he was slow to accept responsibility for some of his actions.

On the substance of governing, too, Mayor Ravenstahl has left much to be desired. Sure, he has continued his predecessor's "redd-up" campaign, stepped up the tear-down of abandoned buildings, sworn off new borrowing and submitted two balanced budgets.

But he is unable, despite his fresh arrival and the promise of generational change, to think big enough to break with the past. Instead of privatizing a service like trash collection, he extends it to Wilkinsburg -- not because it saves Pittsburgh money but because it's created a few more city jobs while helping a municipal neighbor. Instead of initiating action to combine services with the county, he's merely open to discussion and waiting to see a blueprint "put in front of me" (translation: not really interested).

He can't get the city's own parking authority to cut rates to reflect the lower parking tax. He (and the city school superintendent) can't get more than the teachers union to contribute to the Pittsburgh Promise, an otherwise good program to help students pay for college. And he says he's pressed rich nonprofits to boost their municipal aid, and they've said they'll give again, but no one knows if they'll get off with a paltry sum like the last time.
•

This is not an election, though, about who should not be mayor. It's a campaign about who can muster the vision and leadership to modernize city government. In this four-way race, Tony Oliva, 28, of Oakland is the Libertarian nominee and Ryan Scott, 24, of Friendship represents the Socialist Workers Party. None of them holds the promise of Mark DeSantis.

The 48-year-old former aide to the late Sen. John Heinz is a high-tech businessman and consultant. With a Ph.D. in public policy, he is an adjunct professor at Carnegie Mellon University, but he's no ivory-tower geek.

Five years ago, he co-founded Citizens for Democratic Reform, a group that championed the successful drive to consolidate county row offices, saving taxpayer dollars. He was chosen by Jim Roddey, the first county chief executive, to lead his economic development transition team, the New Idea Factory. With such a reformist pedigree, a Republican mayor like Mr. DeSantis will be able to add to the Democratic support the city already gets from Harrisburg and Washington the GOP backing that has eluded Pittsburgh for so long.

He is tired of a city that puts up new buildings and sunny facades without adding net new jobs and businesses. He's heard enough talk and seen too little action on city-county consolidation, especially when both entities are led by Democrats. He's grown impatient with the sacred cows preserved by one-party rule, whether it's the number of fire stations, the size of the city budget or a lax approach to ethical behavior.

He wants to approach long-standing problems in a different way. Besides extracting more voluntary contributions from tax-exempt institutions, Mr. DeSantis says Pittsburgh should look beyond cash and, for instance, negotiate a deal with UPMC, the region's most profitable nonprofit, to provide health care for city retirees. He wants an ethics policy for city officials and employees that prohibits all freebies and uses an ethics compliance officer for enforcement. He wants city departments not just to operate well but to be judged against other cities' performance.

Mr. DeSantis, who lives Downtown and works on the South Side, is articulate, forceful and persuasive in his goals for change. As a self-proclaimed nonpolitician, he is refreshing and even chafes at the notion that mayoral politics expects him to "pound my chest and say I'm great." That's not him, he said. "I'll tell you what I don't know." Yet, in reality, there's not much he doesn't know.
•

One thing we do know is the Republican, this year, can win. With $285,000 raised in cash and in-kind contributions, more than any recent mayoral candidate from his party, the DeSantis challenge has a shot.

If the number of Post-Gazette readers reading this editorial agree he should win, then he will win. These readers, these voters, have that kind of power, even though some of them may have voted for few or no Republicans in the past. Other "Democratic" cities, after all, have had successful Republican mayors -- New York, Los Angeles, San Diego, to name a few. In Pittsburgh, plenty of disaffected Democrats and others have been waiting for a credible candidate to return two-party democracy, debate and decision-making to the city.

That would be the first big change under Mark DeSantis. For Pittsburgh, it should be the start of many more.
First published on October 28, 2007 at 12:00 am

Will Israel Attack Iran?

Putin compares U.S. missile shield to Cuban crisis

GET READY TO HIDE UNDER YOUR DESKS!!!

Putin compares U.S. missile shield to Cuban crisis
Fri Oct 26, 2007 11:46am EDT

MAFRA, Portugal (Reuters) - Russia's President Vladimir Putin drew a parallel on Friday between U.S. plans for a missile shield in Europe and the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, widely regarded as the closest the world came to nuclear war.

"I would remind you how relations were developing in an analogous situation in the middle of the 1960s," he said when asked at a news conference about Washington's plans to station elements of a missile defense shield in eastern Europe.

"Analogous actions by the Soviet Union when it deployed rockets on Cuba provoked the Cuban missile crisis," Putin said after an EU-Russia summit in Portugal.

"For us, technologically, the situation is very similar. On our borders such threats to our country are being created.

"Thank God, we do not have any Cuban missile crisis now and this is above all because of the fundamental way relations between Russia and the United States and Europe have changed," Putin said.

© Reuters 2006. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.

Palestinian Militant Use of Google Earth

Palestinian Militant Use of Google Earth
By Daveed Gartenstein-Ross

The Guardian reports that Palestinian militants have relied on Google Earth for their attacks against Israeli military and civilian targets:

Members of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a group aligned with the Fatah political party, say they use the popular internet mapping tool to help determine their targets for rocket strikes. "We obtain the details from Google Earth and check them against our maps of the city centre and sensitive areas," Khaled Jaabari, the group's commander in Gaza who is known as Abu Walid, told the Guardian. Abu Walid showed the Guardian an aerial image of the Israeli town of Sderot on his computer to demonstrate how his group searches for targets. The Guardian filmed an al-Aqsa test rocket launch, fired into an uninhabited area of the Negev desert, last month. Despite the crudeness of the weapons, many have landed in Sderot, killing around a dozen people in the last three years and wounding scores more.

Google's response to this revelation was predictable. In a statement, the company said: "We have paid close attention to concerns that Google Earth creates new security risks. The imagery visible on Google Earth and Google Maps is not unique: commercial high-resolution satellite and aerial imagery of every country in the world is widely available from numerous sources. Indeed, anyone who flies above or drives by a piece of property can obtain similar information."

This is not the first time that militant use of Google Earth has been alleged. Back in January, the Telegraph reported that in raids of insurgent homes in Iraq, British soldiers found printouts and photographs taken from Google Earth. From these finds, the soldiers concluded that insurgents were using Google Earth "to pinpoint their attacks." It is quite obvious how terrorists could find Google Earth a useful tool, as it contains an enormous amount of information about such appealing targets as nuclear reactors, military bases, government installations, and much more. Other countries have voiced their concerns about the possible security implications. DMEurope.com reported in late 2005 that Dutch politicians were "concerned that certain locations in the Netherlands, such as the port of Rotterdam, the royal palace in the Hague and Amsterdam Airport, already potential terrorist targets, could be made more vulnerable to terrorists thanks to the detailed images created from satellites and aircraft within the last three years available via Google Earth." The operators of Australia's nuclear reactor at Lucas Heights were so concerned that they asked Google to censor images of the reactor.

As has often been the case with Google, the company's defense of the images is fatuous. Google's statement that "anyone who flies above or drives by a piece of property can obtain similar information" is true enough, but most people can't just hop in a plane and fly over a nuclear reactor. Those who stop to scope out likely targets will often attract authorities' attention. In the Guardian's latest story, Palestinian militants themselves speak of Google Earth's utility to them.

This highlights one of the tensions of the information age, between freedom of information and security. Google Earth is a useful tool for many people, terrorists among them. Terrorists have been adept at exploiting the West's liberties and technology in their war against us, and Google Earth is no exception. There aren't easy answers to the conflict between freedom of information and security, but to pretend that no problems exist -- as Google does -- is not helpful.
October 26, 2007 07:58 AM

This about says it all...;-)

https://www.cia.gov/news-information/cia-the-war-on-terrorism/dci-counterterrorist-center-terrorist-buster-logo.html

CNN: Police seize 'world jihad' team

Police seize 'world jihad' team
From CNN Madrid Bureau Chief Al Goodman

MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- Six suspected Islamic militants were Wednesday arrested in northern Spain on suspicion of using the Internet to recruit for and plot a 'world jihad,' a Ministry of Interior statement said.

The arrests came in Burgos province, a few hours' drive north of Madrid.

The six, allegedly linked to international Islamic terrorist activity, were seized in an operation involving U.S., Danish and Swedish intelligence agencies, the statement said.

"A large part of the activity was carried out on restricted Internet 'chats' and forums, which shows that the cell arrested was the first one detected and dismantled in Spain that promoted 'world jihad' through the Internet," the statement said.

Police were searching the homes of the six suspects and also a butcher shop run by one of them. Documents and computers were seized, the statement said.

Some of the money raised by the group allegedly was sent to Islamic terrorist convicts or suspects in prison, it said.

The alleged ringleader is Abdelkader Ayachine, an Algerian, and his top aide, Wissan Lotfi, a Moroccan. They were allegedly preaching violent jihadi ideology to promote an international "holy war," especially in Iraq, the statement said.

Spain has detained 250 suspected Islamic terrorists since the Madrid train bombings in 2004 that killed 191 people and wounded more than 1,800 others.

Spain's defense minister recently told radio network SER. But most of those arrests have been in Madrid, Barcelona, and coastal areas.

A verdict in the Madrid bombing trial is expected next week. The trial earlier this year involved 28 defendants, mostly Islamic terrorist suspects.

Last week in Madrid, another terrorism trial began with 30 defendants, mostly Algerians, charged in what prosecutors said was a failed suicide truck bombing plot against the National Court in central Madrid.


Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/10/24/spain.arrests/index.html

© 2007 Cable News Network.

Ahmadinejad Proposes Relocating the 'Zionist State'

THE MIDDLE EAST MEDIA RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Special Dispatch Series - No. 1748
October 25, 2007 No.1748

Iranian President Ahmadinejad Reiterates Proposal for 'Zionist State' in Canada or Alaska, Suggests International Committee of 'Truth-Seekers' Examine Holocaust, 9/11


The following are excerpts from a public address delivered by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which aired on Channel 1, Iranian TV, on October 6, 2007.

To view this clip visit: http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1585.htm.

To view more clips of Iranian President Mahoud Ahmadinejad visit: http://memritv.org/subject/en/358.htm

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: "The Western governments that bear the standard of secularism, anti-religion, and lack of respect for the rights of the peoples, and for the followers of all Abrahamic religions, themselves consider the defense of the Zionist regime to be the most sacred value in the world. Zionism and the existence of the Zionist regime are so important to them that they do not even allow the raising of questions about the preparations and pretexts that led to the establishment of this regime."

[...]

"In some of these superpowers, anyone who runs for president must first officially declare that he is committed to supporting Zionism and the Zionist regime, and he must prove this by his actions."

[...]

"If any country in Latin America, Africa, or Asia wants to sign an agreement with any Western country, it must first recognize the Zionist regime, support it, and maintain economic ties with it."

[...]

"They have created a certain organization, something sacred, a sacred phenomenon no one can oppose. They have all committed themselves to supporting this. This [Zionism] is the axis around which they unite. As a result, all the wars, animosity, and crimes of the Western countries have moved to other countries. They have moved these wars away from themselves, and by uniting around this [Zionist] regime, they have transferred the wars to other peoples."[...]

The Leaders of Several Western Superpowers "Created Something Called Zionism" and "Invented the So-Called 'Genocide of the Jews'"

"The leaders of several Western superpowers comprise the Zionist party. They are the ones who pull the strings. They created something called Zionism, and invented the so-called 'oppression' of the Jews. They themselves created the background for this, and today as well, it is they who are running the show."

[...]

"After World War II, they invented the so-called 'genocide of the Jews.' Throughout Europe, and in countries under the control of the Western superpowers, they established an anti-Jewish movement. By means of propaganda and a certain psychological atmosphere, and by using the issue of the so-called 'crematoria,' they created the sense that the European Jews were oppressed. They used the pretext that some Jews were oppressed and were harmed during World War II and by the wave of anti-Judaism in order to lay the foundations for the establishment of the Zionist regime. Later, of course, they called it 'the massacre of the Jews,' and only after World War II did they call it 'the Holocaust.' They made this issue more sacred than all the sacred things in the world."[...]

"You Have Turned This Phenomenon... Which You Yourself Invented After The War, And Which You Began Calling 'Holocaust' Only In 1975 – Into Something So Sacred...?"

"How can it possibly be that you have turned this phenomenon – a phenomenon which you yourself invented after the war, and which you began calling 'Holocaust' only in 1975 – into something so sacred that nobody is permitted to even raise questions about it? In World War II, there were several incidents similar to a plane crash. Later, under the pretext of these incidents, they have been perpetrating an ongoing genocide of historic proportions in Palestine. They have been perpetrating an ongoing crime in Palestine."

[...]

"They permit themselves, under the pretext of the Holocaust, to commit every type of crime. They even built secret prisons in Europe, and they kidnap people and publicly announce that they would kill them."

[...]

"Why don't you allow the deciphering of the code of the World War II 'black box?' Why don't you permit this? We want to help you. Let's open that 'black box,' and see what is happening there and who caused it. If people were killed there, who were they? Who was responsible? Who supported this? Let's examine the role played by other peoples in all of this. If the leaders of the Western countries are not members of the Zionist party, they should enable an international team of truth-seekers to unlock the mysteries of this phenomenon. What really happened there? Under the pretext of what happened, crimes are still being committed, and the [Nobel] Peace Prize is awarded to the Zionist criminals."

[...]

"It happened in Europe, so we proposed allocating them a place in Europe. They might say, as some of them already did: 'Oh really?! We worked so hard to drive those Jews out of Europe, and now you want us to take them back?' We say: 'Fine, you can't bear the presence of these Zionists in your region, but you want to impose them upon the peoples of this region? You have vast territories. Give them part of Canada or Alaska, so they can establish a state. After all, you give them $30 or 40 billion in aid every year – so give them that money in order to establish their state there.'"

[...]

"An Incident Occurred on September 11, and Look What They Did Afterwards... They Are Creating Another Incident Like the Holocaust"

"Politicians who dream at night of reconciliation with the Zionist regime should know that the Palestinian people is steadfast, the Iranian people and the free peoples of the world are steadfast, and they will not rest for a day until the entire land of Palestine is liberated."

[...]

"An incident occurred on September 11, and look what they did afterwards. They used this pretext to occupy Afghanistan and Iraq, they killed dozens of thousands of peoples, and they want to continue to kill. They are creating another incident like the Holocaust. We advise them not to create something sacred, not to fabricate another sacred lie, and to allow a group of truth-seekers to get to the bottom of things, to identify and expose those behind it, and get it over with."

Britain to recruit spies from video game

Yahoo! News

Britain to recruit spies from video game

Thu Oct 18, 3:06 AM ET

One of Britain's intelligence agencies will embed advertisements into popular video games this month in a bid to attract new recruits, The Times reported on Thursday.

The Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), Britain's intelligence listening post, will embed the adverts as billboards in video games including "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent" in a bid to attract "computer-savvy, technologically-able, quick-thinking" recruits.

"We find increasingly we have to use less conventional means of attracting people ... to go beyond glossy brochures and milk-round stalls," a GCHQ spokeswoman told the newspaper.

The advertisements will not be written into the games themselves, but will instead be fed into them while they were played on personal computers or Microsoft Xbox 360 consoles connected to the Internet.

"We will monitor the results from this campaign and are ready to change our recruitment methods ... We know we can't stand still," the spokeswoman said, adding that GCHQ hoped to "plant the idea in the heads of younger players".

The Times said that GCHQ declined to specify how much the month-long campaign would cost, but cited industry sources as saying it would likely cost in the low tens of thousands of pounds.

Britain's other intelligence agencies have slowly emerged from the shadows in recent years -- the country's foreign intelligence service MI6 placed its first-ever advertisement for jobs in a newspaper in May, and in recent years it has launched its own website and accepted job applications online.

Copyright © 2007 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AFP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Agence France Presse.

Police Listening Devices in Use on London Streets

BBC NEWS
Bugs used to fight London gangs
Listening devices and hidden cameras are being used by police in London to help infiltrate gangs of youths.

Detectives hope the hi-tech gadgets - which can be placed in cars, homes or on street corners - can help yield vital intelligence.

The technology is already deployed in Lambeth, south London, where a number of teenage gangs are based.

A police spokesman said the devices are used to gather information but any evidence is not admissible in court.

Police have admitted difficulties in breaking into tight-knit groups, which often include teenagers, and identifying key figures and activities such as drug dealing or gun violence.

Such "covert tactics" have only previously been used against organised criminal networks and terrorist organisations.

A police spokesman declined to say how the technology is used by police because details would harm "operational requirements".

The admission of the Metropolitan Police's tactics against gangs came as the force released figures showing gun crime had risen 10% in the last six months.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Janet Williams said: "You will be aware of some of our surveillance capability.

"It is using these sort of facilities and seeing if they are acceptable and we can apply them locally."

How can we help the rising cohort of people... and stop them becoming the gang members of the future
Met Commissioner Sir Ian Blair

Dept Com Williams said police were also having problems getting witnesses to come forward, especially in cases investigated by Operation Trident, which deals with gun crime among the black community.

Criminal gangs from other countries - including Nigeria, Jamaica, Turkey, Ukraine and Brazil - have been found to be operating in London this year.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair said more effort needed to be made to stop youngsters joining gangs.

"How can we help the rising cohort of people, they are maybe 11 or 12, and stop them becoming the gang members of the future?

"The idea that people have of gangs is of a very organised Cosa Nostra (the Mafia's nickname). You are in it for life or not. That is not what these are."

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/7050493.stm

Published: 2007/10/18 16:21:20 GMT

© BBC MMVII

They would be mayor...

Sunday Forum: They would be mayor
Mark DeSantis and Luke Ravenstahl explain why they should be elected
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

MARK DESANTIS: Let's change the city's insider politics and the way it does business

I want to be mayor of Pittsburgh not for my own fame and not because I think it would be fun, but because I want to solve the real and formidable problems we're now facing. Because I want to change the back-room, closed-door, insiders-with-access politics that have shaken our faith in city government. And because I love this crazy, beautiful city.
Mark Desantis , a high-tech businessman and consultant, is the Republican candidate for mayor of Pittsburgh (www.desantisformayor.com).

Being mayor isn't something to play at or put on my resume. It's a calling. A commitment. Something I feel in my head and my heart and my gut.

I believe in Pittsburgh. And I know you do, too. But we can't unleash this city's true potential until we deal with its problems honestly and directly.

If I sometimes sound negative, I don't mean to. I'm just facing some unfortunate realities. Because that's what you have to do as mayor. Real leaders don't smile and tell you everything's going to be all right in the end. They don't shrink from tough problems. They face them head-on.

And I promise you: If we face Pittsburgh's problems head-on, if we join together and really work at them, we can solve them.

We can improve public safety by placing new emphasis on community-oriented policing, getting more officers out of the stations and onto the streets, returning to merit-based promotions and instituting the kind of broken-window policing that worked so well in New York City and other communities.

We can reduce our crippling $500 million pension debt -- and ensure that our retirees get the money we owe them -- by devoting all gaming revenues and nonprofit contributions to the pension fund, and by requiring all new city employees, starting with me, to participate in defined contribution plans.

We can create a thriving economy by getting government off the backs of our citizens and our businesses, collecting fewer and fairer taxes, emphasizing the birth and growth of new businesses and providing opportunities to all Pittsburghers -- especially minorities -- through micro-lending and entrepreneurship programs.

We can make our government and our budget reflect economic reality by reducing spending, consolidating some city and county services, learning to do more (and better) with less and reducing taxes to increase our population and create new jobs.

The financial realities we're facing pose a tremendous challenge. But they also provide a tremendous opportunity, a chance to forge a new and responsive and transparent city government.

This is a critical moment in Pittsburgh's history, one that calls for a new and different kind of leader: someone with a record of success in private business and public service. Someone who's started companies, created jobs, mentored students and helped launch small businesses. Someone who's worked for a senator and advised a president. Someone who understands how business and government work. Someone who wants to apply the full depth of his knowledge and breadth of his experience to a city he loves and wants desperately to improve.

On Nov. 6, for the first time in more than 50 years, we'll have the chance to chart a bold new direction for this city, a clear choice between the mistakes of the past and the possibilities of the future.

We can do more of the same -- just cheerleading and happy talk and hope that all our problems one day magically disappear -- or we can take a chance and strive for something better. We can once more accept the enabling timidity of wishful thinking, or we can rise up to embrace the undaunted courage of visionary change.

I know the path we should take. I'm ready to lead us upon it. And I'm asking you to follow me.

LUKE RAVENSTAHL: I'd focus on financial responsibility, job creation and public safety

Growing up on Pittsburgh's North Side, I witnessed a phenomenon that changed me forever. I watched sons and daughters say goodbye to their families as they left the city they love to find jobs.
Luke Ravenstahl is the mayor of Pittsburgh and the Democratic candidate for mayor (www.lukeformayor.com).

When it was my turn to decide, I chose to stay in Pittsburgh. I chose to follow the path of public service, to implement changes to our policies and programs. Changes that will not only keep Pittsburgh's families here and together, but will also grow our city again.

Over the last year we have faced some unique challenges. We managed through a difficult time following the loss of Mayor Bob O'Connor. I have proudly carried on many of his programs, while creating an aggressive agenda of my own to move Pittsburgh forward. My strategy for Pittsburgh's renewal and resurgence focuses on three fundamental objectives: financial responsibility, job creation and public safety.

We have just had our 2008 budget unanimously approved by Pittsburgh's financial oversight board. This is proof positive that my administration is bringing responsible, common-sense financial management back to city government. We have eliminated $150 million more in expenditures than the Act 47 plan recommended. As a result, our projected spending over the next five years is more than $100 million below what is called for in the plan.

Our savings will allow us to create a pay-as-you-go program for capital improvements. This program will move us away from the credit-card mentality of the past by not issuing new debt.

As the financial health of our city continues to move forward, so too do our efforts in job creation and economic development. Today, there is more than $3 billion in investments and job creation in Pittsburgh. From major corporate headquarters on the South Side, to new skyscrapers Downtown, to new development in our East End, North Shore and Uptown, evidence of progress can be seen everywhere.

We are making city government business-friendly. That's a big change from the days when doing business in the city involved climbing mountains of red tape. We are working closely with job generators and economic engines like our universities and medical centers. If a business idea is created here, we want it to stay here. To enhance these opportunities, I have put a number of programs in place: residential tax abatement, urban redevelopment programs that reward green building practices, a streamlined permitting process and money to rebuild neighborhood business districts.

Finally, my public safety action plan is making our streets among the cleanest and safest in the country. We must be responsible for the safety and conditions of our city and our people. I am putting more officers on the street -- more than 100 since I became mayor -- and keeping them there through beat-cop programs and by investing in technology that allows them to report from the field.

I have doubled the budget to demolish condemned structures that are hazards in our neighborhoods. I have asked my staff to proactively market the city's Side Yard Program, which, by encouraging ownership, empowers residents to turn blight into beauty.

Pittsburgh has talked for many years about ways to retain its young people as a means to secure a bright future. It is now time to make those plans a reality.

Making Pittsburgh the city we all want it to be will require hard decisions and boundless energy. Most of all, though, it will take us working as a team. It is my goal to make Pittsburgh the kind of place that my future children and grandchildren will choose to call home, just as I have.
First published on October 21, 2007 at 12:00 am

Saudi Religious Hatred Taught in Schools

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2007/10/19/todd.saudi.schools.cnn

Very Comforting...

By Jeanne Meserve
CNN


WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Screeners failed to find most of the fake bombs smuggled by plainclothes investigators through checkpoints at two major airports from late 2005 until last fall, the Transportation Security Administration said Thursday.
art.screener.gi.jpg

The TSA now conducts daily testing, which has led to improvements at airports across the country, the agency said.

Investigators successfully smuggled 75 percent of the fake bombs through checkpoints at Los Angeles International Airport in California, and 60 percent through Chicago's O'Hare International Airport in Illinois, according to a report obtained by USA Today. In tests at California's San Francisco International Airport, where a private company conducts inspections, 20 percent of the contraband made it through security.

The TSA confirmed the results but said the tests, conducted in fiscal year 2006, prompted the agency to change its protocols. Taking a cue from the experiences in San Francisco, the TSA now conducts daily testing, which has led to improvements at airports across the country, the agency said.

The agency conducts 2,500 tests a day nationwide, said spokeswoman Ellen Howe. "There are tests literally in every lane, every shift, every day," she said. The TSA does not release test results, but she said the increased tests have shown an overall improvement.

The agency's Office of Investigations conducted the tests in question from October 2005 to September 2006, Howe said. Investigators posed as passengers, concealing fake bombs, bomb components and weapons in their clothing and carry-on bags as they went through security screening.

The TSA conducted about 70 tests in Los Angeles, 75 in Chicago and 145 in San Francisco.

The government has conducted similar testing in the past, with similarly poor results. Repeated tests by the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General led the Government Accountability Office to conclude that better technology would improve security.

The TSA said it's working to deploy improved machinery such as X-ray machines that can better distinguish between harmless objects and bombs. However, the agency also has worked to emphasize the search for bomb components, said TSA Administrator Kip Hawley.

Some 30,000 screeners, renamed as transportation security officers, underwent training in fall 2005 to detect such components. The TSA chief also increased weekly training from three to four hours, Howe said.

San Francisco's practice of continuous testing has become the norm, Howe said. With constant testing, it becomes second nature to find components, she said. "We have to keep challenging screeners; we have to keep changing it up," she said.

In the past, San Francisco screeners were criticized when it was learned they had advance warning of the testing and used the airport's security cameras to follow investigators to checkpoints.

More recently, Richard L. Skinner, the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general, disclosed that screeners at Jackson-Evers International Airport in Mississippi had advance notice of tests in 2004, and were given descriptions of undercover investigators and the type and location of items to be sneaked through checkpoints.

Skinner said he's expanding his probe of possible cheating to include other, unnamed airports.

In addition to the physical tests of airport checkpoints, the TSA uses "threat image projection," which digitally inserts images of "threat objects" such as knives and bomb parts into X-ray machine images of passengers' bags. The system is intended to train screeners and keep them alert. E-mail to a friend E-mail to a friend

CNN's Mike Ahlers contributed to this report.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TRAVEL/10/18/airport.screeners/index.html

DeSantis Campaign

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/103-10142007-1423497.html

Pittsburgh has serious GOP mayoral candidate for a change

By JOE MANDAK
The Associated Press

PITTSBURGH - This city's last GOP mayor served during the Depression and Democrats outnumber Republicans 5-to-1, but business executive Mark DeSantis has emerged as a serious challenger to Democratic incumbent Luke Ravenstahl, in part because of the young mayor's missteps.

DeSantis, who won the Republican mayoral nomination as a write-in, has government experience, is wooing black voters , despite their history of overwhelmingly rejecting GOP candidates , and is benefiting from a unique set of circumstances.

Ravenstahl is only 27 and was not elected to office. As City Council president, he was next in line to take over when then-Mayor Bob O'Connor died of brain cancer last September.

Ravenstahl landed feel-good spots on David Letterman's "Late Show" and other national media outlets as the youngest mayor of a major U.S. city, but since then he's stumbled , several times.

Most recently, Ravenstahl was criticized for using a special police SUV bought with federal Homeland Security funds to take his wife and friends to a Toby Keith concert. Ravenstahl said he did not know how the vehicle was purchased, and stopped using it when he found out.

"The fact that he went from 'Golden Boy' to Pinocchio, that is his biggest problem," said Joseph Sabino Mistick, a law professor and longtime political insider who served as top aide to former Mayor Sophie Masloff in the late 1980s.

DeSantis, 48, runs a high-tech firm, is a former aide to the late U.S. Sen. John Heinz and was a science policy adviser to the first President Bush and later did similar work in the U.S. Department of Commerce.

The first mayoral debate Tuesday attracted a standing-room-only crowd, a sign the GOP has put forward a serious candidate and not just its traditional sacrificial lamb.

"The turnout and enthusiasm established this as a real race," the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editorialized, "where perhaps anything can happen."

Unlike many Republicans before him, DeSantis is actually spending a significant amount on ads, including a daring TV spot that compares him to the city's most famous ex-mayors, David L. Lawrence and Richard Caliguiri (both Democrats, by the way).

Still, no one is betting that DeSantis will necessarily take more than the 25 percent to 35 percent of the vote that Republican mayoral candidates typically manage in Pittsburgh.

"If all the stars aligned, there could be the making of an upset here, but it's against the course of history and against odds," Mistick said. "You just need a young mayor to keep making mistakes. The right one could be a deal breaker."

Ravenstahl declined to be interviewed for this story, but he has said most of the criticism directed against him has been because of his age, not because of anything substantial.

DeSantis said it's imperative to erase the city's $1.1 billion debt and right-size a city government that, despite cuts in recent years, still appears to be shrinking more slowly than the city it serves. Since 1950, Pittsburgh has lost more than half its population, from 677,000 to about 312,000.

DeSantis' platform has gotten mostly positive press as Ravenstahl's peccadilloes have made his age more of an albatross than an advantage.

His response to the SUV flap also raised eyebrows.

Though saying he wouldn't use the vehicle any more, he also said: "I'm still going to continue to be who I'm going to be, and go to concerts like I always have, and go to have a drink with my wife in bars."

"That's what 27-year-olds do and I shouldn't be any different ....," he said.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette columnist Brian O'Neill said the response did not show great judgment and "the mayor's answer invites the observation that one of the things a 27-year-old generally doesn't do is run a major American city."

In January, reports surfaced that then-Councilman Ravenstahl was briefly handcuffed while arguing with police outside a Pittsburgh Steelers game in October 2005. Ravenstahl said the dispute was a misunderstanding that he and the officer resolved at the time.

In March, Ravenstahl took a private jet to New York with Pittsburgh Penguins co-owner and Democratic Party heavyweight Ron Burkle just hours after the mayor helped negotiate a new state-subsidized hockey arena. Ravenstahl's political organization later reimbursed Burkle.

A city ethics panel grilled him after the Penguins and a hospital network paid his $9,000 entry fee at a charity golf tournament in June. Ravenstahl said he did nothing improper and would continue to appear at charity events because it's his job to promote the city.

Since then, Ravenstahl has been criticized for allowing his police chief to promote three officers who had a history of domestic violence complaints.

Despite being handed such advantages, DeSantis won't raise the $750,000 he targeted for his campaign because the biggest donors are hesitant to back a longshot, said Jim Roddey, the Republican powerbroker and former Allegheny County executive who is backing DeSantis' campaign.

Still, DeSantis will raise far more than the $20,000 GOP attorney Joe Weinroth spent to garner 27 percent of the vote in the 2005 mayoral election. O'Connor spent $1 million and got 67 percent.

Roddey said the campaign will cut costs by doing without pollsters, but should still be able to afford saturation ads just before the Nov. 6 election.

Meanwhile, critics say DeSantis can't possibly deliver on promises to start paying off the city's debt and cutting $193 million in spending over four years.

City Council President Doug Shields, a Democrat and top O'Connor aide when the late mayor headed council in the 1990s, said that's unrealistic because costs like gasoline and health care premiums are beyond the city's control.

"We do backflips if health care only goes up 7, 8, 9 percent instead of the double-digit increases we usually see," Shields said.

DeSantis brushes off such criticism. "When I talk about right-sizing government, the response is 'What are you going to cut?'" DeSantis said. "What that presumes is that we are as efficient as we can possibly be."

"We're not even close to that," he said.

Roddey said 30 Democratic committee members have defected to the DeSantis camp, while about 500 other Democrats are quietly supporting the campaign. Some of that's occurring because other Democrats are maneuvering to challenge Ravenstahl in the May 2009 primary.

Some Democrats, like Darnell Greene, a black single mother, said they simply believe in DeSantis.

Greene was on active duty in the Army when she attended DeSantis' lectures on how to help veterans start a business at Robert Morris University a few years ago. The two stayed in touch as Greene learned to run her convenience store in the city's historically black Hill District.

"I'm actually a registered Democrat, but I definitely believe in Mark and what he's about," Greene said. "He says he's a Republican, but he has a Democrat heart because he's all about, like, people and the community and helping, too."

October 14, 2007 12:24 PM

Terrorists Support CAIR - Any Questions?

Wanted Nazi death camp doctor killed, book claims - Israel Jewish Scene, Ynetnews

Very interesting article about a secret US group known as 'The Owl' that hunts down former Nazis!

Wishful Thinking...

The Associated Press: Jimmy Carter: U.S. Tortures Prisoners

WHAT ARE THE CHANCES OF HAVING JIMMY CARTER DESIGNATED AS AN ENEMY COMBATANT AND SENT OFF TO GITMO???

Dragonfly or Insect Spy? Scientists at Work on Robobugs. - washingtonpost.com

Dragonfly or Insect Spy? Scientists at Work on Robobugs. - washingtonpost.com

Religious Freedom