Mood:  d'oh

Protests target Hungary state TV

Protesters have tried to storm Hungary's state TV station after Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany admitted his party had lied to win an election.

They used stones to attack the TV HQ in the capital Budapest, demanding to be allowed to broadcast their grievances.

Police used tear gas to disperse thousands of demonstrators.

Mr Gyurcsany's comments were heard in a tape of a meeting he had with his MPs a few weeks after the election in April.

Protests have been held outside parliament since Sunday, calling for Mr Gyurcsany to resign.

The BBC's Nick Thorpe, outside the state TV building, said at least one car was set alight and crowds of largely young people threw projectiles, breaking lower windows.

Reports say demonstrators shouted "'56" in memory of Hungary's failed uprising against Soviet rule in October 1956.

'Moral crisis'
It is not clear how the tapes of the meeting which sparked the protests were leaked.

In excerpts broadcast on state radio, Mr Gyurcsany says harsh economic reforms are needed.

He thanks "divine providence, the abundance of cash in the world economy and hundreds of tricks" for keeping the economy above board.

In a speech sprinkled with obscenities, Mr Gyurcsany says: "We lied in the morning, we lied in the evening."

The prime minister has received the backing of Socialist MPs who on Monday voted unanimously to support him.

However, Hungary's President, Laszlo Solyom, said Mr Gyurcsany had created a "moral crisis", and opposition parties have called for his resignation.

The main opposition party, Fidesz, has said it will boycott parliament for a day on Tuesday to protest against the "lies" of the Socialist-led government.

These are the first clashes to take place between police and demonstrators in Hungary since the fall of communism and the establishment of democracy in the late 1980s.

BBC News ** Protests target Hungary state TV

'We Screwed Up - A Lot'

Protesters have clashed with police in Hungary over the prime minister's admission in a leaked recording that the government had lied about the economy.

Demonstrators in the capital Budapest have called for Socialist PM Ferenc Gyurcsany to resign over the revelations.

Police used tear gas and water cannon on dozens of mostly young men - many with shaved heads. Some stormed the main entrance of the state television's HQ.

But reports said the officers ejected them from the building. The activists were demanding to be allowed to put their demands forward in a live broadcast.

Mr Gyurcsany's remarks were recorded on a tape at a closed meeting in late May, weeks after the government became the first in post-communist Hungary to win re-election.

He was heard saying the economy had been kept afloat only through "divine providence, the abundance of cash in the world economy and hundreds of tricks."

He added: "We screwed up. Not a little, a lot. No European country has done something as boneheaded as we have."

He reportedly added: "I almost died when for a year and a half we had to pretend we were governing. Instead, we lied morning, evening and night."

UK Sky News ** 'We Screwed Up - A Lot'

Posted by yaahoo_06iest at 11:15 PM EDT

Updated: Monday, 18 September 2006 11:28 PM EDT

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Couple Accused of Kidnapping Daughter  

SALEM, N.H. -- A Maine couple upset that their 19-year-old daughter was pregnant tied her up, loaded her in their car and began driving to New York to force her to get an abortion, police said.

The daughter, Katelyn Kampf, escaped Friday at a shopping center and called police, who arrested her parents, Nicholas Kampf, 54, and Lola, 53, of North Yarmouth, Maine. They were jailed on a kidnapping charge and were being held on $100,000 bail each.

The parents were scheduled to be arraigned in Salem District Court. A call to attorney Mark Sisti was not immediately returned.

"Her parents chased her out into the yard, grabbed and tied her hands and feet together," Salem Police Officer Sean Marino wrote in a court affidavit. "Katelyn states that her father then carried her to their car and they headed toward New Hampshire."

Investigators said rope, duct tape, scissors and a .22-caliber rifle were found in the Kampfs' Lexus and Nicholas Kampf had a loaded .22- caliber magazine clip in his pants pocket.

The Kampfs were upset that their daughter was pregnant by a man who is now in jail, police said, and before leaving Maine on Friday they had an argument at the parents' home.

"Katelyn stated to me that upon her parents finding out that she was pregnant, they told her she had no choice but to get an abortion," Marino wrote in his court affidavit.

Katelyn Kampf escaped from her parents in Salem after persuading them to untie her so she could use a Kmart bathroom. After her father went into the men's room, she used a cell phone to call for help, then ran to a nearby Staples store, where police found "a hysterical female hiding in the back of the store," according to the affidavit.

She got into Marino's cruiser while Sgt. Kristin Fili pulled over her parents.

"They told us initially they did take her here against her will, but they denied tying her up initially," Fili said. "Obviously what happened was a crime. She was taken against her will."

Authorities in Maine said the parents apparently thought that, in light of their daughter's stage of pregnancy and the different abortion laws in each state, the abortion should be performed in New York. Fili said she did not know how many weeks pregnant she was.

Maine law prohibits abortions once a fetus is able to live outside the uterus unless the mother's life or health is at stake. The law does not specify when that is, but it generally is 20 to 27 weeks, said Dr. Dora Ann Mills, director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. New York law prohibits abortions after the 24th week of pregnancy unless the woman's life is at stake.

Breitbart.com ~ Associated Press - Katharine Webster ** Couple Accused of Kidnapping Daughter

Posted by yaahoo_06iest at 10:39 PM EDT

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Iraqi Tribes to Join Forces to Fight Insurgents

By Paul von Zielbauer, Khalid Al-Ansary and Ali Adeeb

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- More than two-dozen tribes from Iraq’s volatile Sunni Arab-dominated province west of Baghdad have agreed to join forces and fight Al Qaeda insurgents and other foreign-backed “terrorists,” an influential tribal leader said today.

Twenty-five of about 31 tribes in Anbar Province, a vast, mostly desert region that stretches westward from Baghdad to the borders of Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, have agreed to fight together against insurgents and gangs that are “killing people for no reason,” said the tribal leader, Sheik Abdul Sattar Buzaigh Al-Rishawi.

“We held a meeting earlier and agreed to fight those who call themselves mujahedeen,” Mr. Rishawi said in an interview today. “We believe that there is a conspiracy against our Iraqi people. Those terrorists claimed that they are fighters working on liberating Iraq, but they turned out to be killers. Now all the people are fed up and have turned against them.”

The agreement came on a day when a series of coordinated suicide bombings rocked two of Iraq’s most volatile cities outside the capital.

In Kirkuk, an oil-rich city in the north bordering an autonomous Kurdish region, suicide bombers detonated four cars and one truck laden with explosives throughout the day, killing more than two dozen people and injuring more than 100, Iraqi and American officials said. In Falluja, a Sunni Arab-controlled city in Anbar Province, 30 miles west of Baghdad, five other suicide car bombs exploded within 15 minutes, an American military official said, killing an unknown number of people.

Violence also continued today in Baghdad, where the Iraqi police reported finding 24 bodies in several neighborhoods, an Interior Ministry official said. Eight of the bodies were discovered in one area with gunshot wounds to the head and bearing marks of torture. But an American military spokeswoman said her office knew of only 11 bodies being found.

Also today, the American military said a sailor with the First Marine Logistics Group died on Saturday from wounds in fighting in Anbar Province.

Mr. Rishawi said the 25 tribes counted 30,000 young men armed with assault rifles who were willing to confront and kill the insurgents and criminal gangs that have torn at the fabric of tribal life in Anbar, dividing members by religious sect and driving a wave of violent crime.

“We are in battle with the terrorists who kill Sunnis and Shiites, and we do not respect anyone between us who talks in a sectarian sense,” said Mr. Rishawi, the leader of the Rishawi tribe, a subset of the Dulaimi tribe, the largest in Anbar Province. Half of the Rishawi are Shiite and half are Sunni Arabs, he said.

Mr. Rishawi said the insurgents counted about 1,300 fighters, many of them foreigners and backed by other nations’ foreign intelligence services, though he declined to say which ones.

Today, he said, the coalition of 25 tribes sent letters to Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki and other top Iraqi government officials asking for their support. In addition to the government’s blessing, Mr. Rishawi said, the tribes also wanted weapons and equipment to confront the Qaeda-backed insurgents.

“We are determined to go ahead with this plan and eliminate the gangs that claim jihad,” he said.

An American military official said tribes had fought Sunni Arab insurgents in Anbar in the past, but previously had not agreed to come together and fight them together. “Tribes just get fed up have fought them in the past,” an American military official said today. “This would be the first we’ve seen of tribes banding together.”

An Iraqi government spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh, said Mr. Maliki supported “any operations that try to resist terrorism and aims to maintain security in this dear and important part from the country.”

Mr. Dabbagh said that government officials were considering an official response to the tribes, but that there was no agreement to supply the tribes with weapons or tactical military support.

“We are grateful to them for their desire to protect their cities,” Mr. Dabbagh said, “and we are encouraging them.”

How quickly or violently the tribal fighters will confront Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia and other insurgents near Ramadi in unclear. But both sides have long despised and blamed one another for not being true Muslims and for the lack of security in the province.

Reuters quoted a man who identified himself as a senior leader of Al Qaeda in northern Ramadi asserting that his fighters wanted an Islamic caliphate in Anbar. Tribal leaders like Mr. Rishawi are their enemy.

“We have the right to kill all infidels, like the police and army and all those who support them,” said the man, who called himself Abu Farouk, Reuters reported. “This tribal system is un-Islamic. We are proud to kill tribal leaders who are helping the Americans.”

In Kirkuk, Iraqi and American military officials said they could not immediately tell which groups were behind the five vehicle suicide bomb attacks. Kirkuk, important because of the amount of oil in the region, has become a violent battleground between Iraqi Arabs -- Shiites and Sunnis -- and the Kurds who control Kirkuk’s police and government.

The deadliest attack, by an explosives-laden truck that blew up between the offices of two Kurdish political parties, killed at least 18 people and injured 55 others, said Lt. Col. Urhan Abdullah of the Kirkuk Police.

Two minutes later, a car bomb apparently targeting a private security firm killed two people and injured three others, said Maj. Farhad Mahmoud of the Kirkuk Police.

A third suicide car bomber detonated near an Iraqi police checkpoint about 15 miles south of Kirkuk, the police said. A fourth car bomb exploded in front of the house of Sheik Wasfi Al-Asi, who had recently publicly called on the Iraqi government to release Saddam Hussein, who is currently being tried on genocide charges. The house was empty, the police said, but the bomb killed two people and injured five others.

Firefighters battled flames at collapsed buildings and charred corpses lay in streets littered with twisted car parts, Reuters reported.

In Falluja, a Sunni Arab stronghold west of Baghdad, five car bombs in different parts of the city, killing five people -- including two Iraqi Army soldiers and two policemen -- and injuring 23 others, an American military spokeswoman said.

While violence ripped through Kirkuk and Falluja, Baghdad remained by comparison relatively calm today, though not without several gun battles and deadly attacks. At 9 a.m. local time, a roadside bomb exploded near an Iraqi Army patrol as it drove by the Shaab sports stadium, in eastern Baghdad, injuring two soldiers and one civilian, an Interior Ministry official said.

At 9:30 a.m., American soldiers arrested four security guards on the campus of Nahrain University and confiscated 11 AK-47 assault rifles, the Interior Ministry official said. At 4 p.m., a roadside bomb near a market in the Shurja area of central Baghdad injured 10 people, the Interior Ministry official said.

In Tajii, north of Baghdad, gunmen killed two policemen this morning, the official said.

Omar al-Neami and Khalid W. Hassan contributed reporting for this article. NY Times (Jihad Journal) ~
Paul von Zielbauer, Khalid Al-Ansary, Ali Adeeb ** Iraqi Tribes to Join Forces to Fight Insurgents

Posted by yaahoo_06iest at 3:02 AM EDT

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U.S. Holds AP Photographer in Iraq 5 Mos

The U.S. military in Iraq has imprisoned an Associated Press photographer for five months, accusing him of being a security threat but never filing charges or permitting a public hearing.

Military officials said Bilal Hussein, an Iraqi citizen, was being held for "imperative reasons of security" under United Nations resolutions. AP executives said the news cooperative's review of Hussein's work did not find anything to indicate inappropriate contact with insurgents, and any evidence against him should be brought to the Iraqi criminal justice system.

Hussein, 35, is a native of Fallujah who began work for the AP in September 2004. He photographed events in Fallujah and Ramadi until he was detained on April 12 of this year.

"We want the rule of law to prevail. He either needs to be charged or released. Indefinite detention is not acceptable," said Tom Curley, AP's president and chief executive officer. "We've come to the conclusion that this is unacceptable under Iraqi law, or Geneva Conventions, or any military procedure."

Hussein is one of an estimated 14,000 people detained by the U.S. military worldwide -- 13,000 of them in Iraq. They are held in limbo where few are ever charged with a specific crime or given a chance before any court or tribunal to argue for their freedom.

In Hussein's case, the military has not provided any concrete evidence to back up the vague allegations they have raised about him, Curley and other AP executives said.

The military said Hussein was captured with two insurgents, including Hamid Hamad Motib, an alleged leader of al-Qaida in Iraq. "He has close relationships with persons known to be responsible for kidnappings, smuggling, improvised explosive device (IED) attacks and other attacks on coalition forces," according to a May 7 e-mail from U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Jack Gardner, who oversees all coalition detainees in Iraq.

"The information available establishes that he has relationships with insurgents and is afforded access to insurgent activities outside the normal scope afforded to journalists conducting legitimate activities," Gardner wrote to AP International Editor John Daniszewski.

Hussein proclaims his innocence, according to his Iraqi lawyer, Badie Arief Izzat, and believes he has been unfairly targeted because his photos from Ramadi and Fallujah were deemed unwelcome by the coalition forces.

That Hussein was captured at the same time as insurgents doesn't make him one of them, said Kathleen Carroll, AP's executive editor.

"Journalists have always had relationships with people that others might find unsavory," she said. "We're not in this to choose sides, we're to report what's going on from all sides."

AP executives in New York and Baghdad have sought to persuade U.S. officials to provide additional information about allegations against Hussein and to have his case transferred to the Iraqi criminal justice system. The AP contacted military leaders in Iraq and the Pentagon, and later the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad.

The AP has worked quietly until now, believing that would be the best approach. But with the U.S. military giving no indication it would change its stance, the news cooperative has decided to make public Hussein's imprisonment, hoping the spotlight will bring attention to his case and that of thousands of others now held in Iraq, Curley said.

One of Hussein's photos was part of a package of 20 photographs that won a Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography last year. His contribution was an image of four insurgents in Fallujah firing a mortar and small arms during the U.S.-led offensive in the city in November 2004.

In what several AP editors described as a typical path for locally hired staff in the midst of a conflict, Hussein, a shopkeeper who sold cell phones and computers in Fallujah, was hired in the city as a general helper because of his local knowledge.

As the situation in Fallujah eroded in 2004, he expressed a desire to become a photographer. Hussein was given training and camera equipment and hired in September of that year as a freelancer, paid on a per- picture basis, according to Santiago Lyon, AP's director of photography. A month later, he was put on a monthly retainer.

During the U.S.-led offensive in Fallujah in November 2004, he stayed on after his family fled. "He had good access. He was able to photograph not only the results of the attacks on Fallujah, he was also able to photograph members of the insurgency on occasion," Lyon said. "That was very difficult to achieve at that time."

After fleeing later in the offensive, leaving his camera behind in the rush to escape, Hussein arrived in Baghdad, where the AP gave him a new camera. He then went to work in Ramadi which, like Fallujah, has been a center of insurgent violence.

In its own effort to determine whether Hussein had gotten too close the insurgency, the AP has reviewed his work record, interviewed senior photo editors who worked on his images and examined all 420 photographs in the news cooperative's archives that were taken by Hussein, Lyon said.

The military in Iraq has frequently detained journalists who arrive quickly at scenes of violence, accusing them of getting advance notice from insurgents, Lyon said. But "that's just good journalism. Getting to the event quickly is something that characterizes good journalism anywhere in the world. It does not indicate prior knowledge," he said.

Out of Hussein's body of work, only 37 photos show insurgents or people who could be insurgents, Lyon said. "The vast majority of the 420 images show the aftermath or the results of the conflict -- blown up houses, wounded people, dead people, street scenes," he said.

Only four photos show the wreckage of still-burning U.S. military vehicles.

"Do we know absolutely everything about him, and what he did before he joined us? No. Are we satisfied that what he did since he joined us was appropriate for the level of work we expected from him? Yes," Lyon said. "When we reviewed the work he submitted to us, we found it appropriate to what we'd asked him to do."

The AP does not knowingly hire combatants or anyone who is part of a story, company executives said. But hiring competent local staff in combat areas is vital to the news service, because often only local people can pick their way around the streets with a reasonable degree of safety.

"We want people who are not part of a story. Sometimes it is a judgment call. If someone seems to be thuggish, or like a fighter, you certainly wouldn't hire them," Daniszewski said. After they are hired, their work is checked carefully for signs of bias.

Lyon said every image from local photographers is always "thoroughly checked and vetted" by experienced editors. "In every case where there have been images of insurgents, questions have been asked about circumstances under which the image was taken, and what the image shows," he said.

Executives said it's not uncommon for AP news people to be picked up by coalition forces and detained for hours, days or occasionally weeks, but never this long. Several hundred journalists in Iraq have been detained, some briefly and some for several weeks, according to Scott Horton, a New York-based lawyer hired by the AP to work on Hussein's case.

Horton also worked on behalf of an Iraqi cameraman employed by CBS, Abdul Ameer Younis Hussein, who was detained for one year before his case was sent to an Iraqi court on charges of insurgent activity. He was acquitted for lack of evidence.

AP officials emphasized the military has not provided the company concrete evidence of its claims against Bilal Hussein, or provided him a chance to offer a defense.

"He's a Sunni Arab from a tribe in that area. I'm sure he does know some nasty people. But is he a participant in the insurgency? I don't think that's been proven," Daniszewski said.

Information provided to the AP by the military to support the continued detention hasn't withstood scrutiny, when it could be checked, Daniszewski said.

For example, he said, the AP had been told that Hussein was involved with the kidnapping of two Arab journalists in Ramadi.

But those journalists, tracked down by the AP, said Hussein had helped them after they were released by their captors without money or a vehicle in a dangerous part of Ramadi. After a journalist acquaintance put them in touch with Hussein, the photographer picked them up, gave them shelter and helped get them out of town, they said.

The journalists said they had never been contacted by multinational forces for their account.

Horton said the military has provided contradictory accounts of whether Hussein himself was a U.S. target last April or if he was caught up in a broader sweep.

The military said bomb-making materials were found in the apartment where Hussein was captured but it never detailed what those materials were. The military said he tested positive for traces of explosives. Horton said that was virtually guaranteed for anyone on the streets of Ramadi at that time.

Hussein has been a frequent target of conservative critics on the Internet, who raised questions about his images months before the military detained him. One blogger and author, Michelle Malkin, wrote about Hussein's detention on the day of his arrest, saying she'd been tipped by a military source.

Carroll said the role of journalists can be misconstrued and make them a target of critics. But that criticism is misplaced, she said.

"How can you know what a conflict is like if you're only with one side of the combatants?" she said. "Journalism doesn't work if we don't report and photograph all sides."

Michelle Malkin Blog ** Bilal Hussein Photos

Breitbart.com ~ Associated Press - Robert Tanner ** U.S. Holds AP Photographer in Iraq 5 Mos

Posted by yaahoo_06iest at 1:59 AM EDT

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BALTIMORE -- Rep. Benjamin Cardin has fired a campaign staffer who posted racially charged comments against his opponent on the Internet, the congressman's campaign said Saturday.

The staffer's blog includes references to Oreo cookies. Cardin's opponent, Republican Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, who is black, has said people threw Oreos at him during a 2002 debate as a slight directed at his race and political views.

In a statement, Cardin, who is white, also condemned comments written by the female staffer on her blog that he considered derogatory to Jews.

"I am deeply offended and disgusted by the blog's racial and anti- Semitic overtones," the 10-term congressman said. "The staff person responsible was promptly dismissed and will have nothing to do with my campaign."

Melissa Sellers, a Steele spokeswoman, criticized the blog.

"It is deeply disturbing to learn that a staff member of 10-term Congressman Ben Cardin would keep a blog chronicling racial prejudices toward Lt. Gov. Steele and others," Sellers said. "This is the kind of attitude and gutter politics that Marylanders are sick of and why they are ready for change."

The woman was "a junior staffer" who worked for the campaign for about a month, said Cardin spokesman Oren Shur. He declined to identify her or elaborate on her duties.

Shur said the woman was fired Friday "as soon as we learned of this."

A blog posting Aug. 25 refers to a stack of Oreo cookies "looming in the back of one of the campaign pantries" and how staffers have to "surreptitiously glance around" before eating them.

"The subterfuge would be unnecessary, and snack time would be far less amusing, had an angry citizen not thrown the aforementioned delicious snack food at one of our opponents to comment on his lack of racial loyalty," the blog entry reads.

The blog also contains an entry describing Cardin's friends as "large men with strong, loud voices and Jewish noses."

Breitbart.com ~ Associated Press - Brian Witte ** Md. Rep. Fires Staffer Over Race Comment

Posted by yaahoo_06iest at 6:35 AM EDT

Updated: Sunday, 17 September 2006 6:41 AM EDT

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HuffPo Analyst Says Pro-Lifers Are Just as Dangerous as Islamic Extremists

By Noel Sheppard

As hard as it might be to believe, the liberal defense of Rosie O’Donnell’s anti-theistic comments on Tuesday’s “The View” has become almost as absurd and offensive as the remarks themselves. First a media analyst on Wednesday night claimed that "Radical Christianity" is just as bad as radical Islam because abortion clinics in the past have been attacked as reported here. Then, on Thursday’s “Scarborough Country” (hat tip to Hot Air), Huffington Post media analyst Rachel Sklar suggested that Christians opposed to abortion and condom use are just as dangerous to America as Islamic extremists (video link and full transcript to follow).

So, in the course of 24 hours, the definition of "Radical Christianity" has miraculously expanded to include anyone that is pro-Life and/or is against the use of condoms. Here’s the amazing exchange:

SCARBOROUGH: Rosie O`Donnell compared Christian extremists to Muslim extremists, said they were just as dangerous to America.

SKLAR: Radical to radical, and well they are dangerous to America. They`re extremely dangerous to America.

SCARBOROUGH: Are they as dangerous to America...

SKLAR: Anti-abortion...

SCARBOROUGH: Are they as dangerous to America...

SKLAR: ... anti-condom use...

SCARBOROUGH: ... as Islamic extremists?

SKLAR: Check.

Yikes. So, in this woman’s view, pro-Lifers are just as dangerous to Americans as the terrorists trying to kill us. Shocking.

Luckily, Scarborough offered the viewer some balance in this segment inviting on Republican strategist Jack Burkman who said of this incident:

Boy, Joe, I think it`s one of the most mindless and terrible things ever said on American television! I think this is so serious, I`m shocked that she`s still on the air. I`m shocked that that show is still on the air.

Phew. I thought the whole world was going nuts for a second. What follows is a full transcript of this segment, and a video link.

JOE SCARBOROUGH: Rosie rants against Christians, saying followers of Jesus Christ are as dangerous to America as radical Islamic terrorists who attacked us on September 11. Rosie also accused Christians of dropping bombs on foreigners.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROSIE O`DONNELL, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": We are attacked not by a nation, and as a result of the attack and the killing of nearly 3,000 innocent people, we invaded two countries and killed innocent people in their countries.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But do you understand that the belief funding those attacks, OK, that is widespread. And if you take radical Islam and you want to talk about what`s going on there...

(CROSSTALK)

O`DONNELL: Just one second. Radical Christianity is just as threatening as radical Islam in a country like America...

(APPLAUSE)

O`DONNELL: ... where we have a separation of church and state. We`re a democracy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We`re not bombing ourselves here in the country. We were attacked.

O`DONNELL: No, but we are bombing innocent people in other countries, true or false?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But -- but...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Christians are not threatening to kill us~!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, we`re talking about...

(CROSSTALK)

O`DONNELL: Well Iran never threatened to kill us, and Iraq -- Iran is a danger. Iraq and Afghanistan never threatened to kill us, ever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCARBOROUGH: Oh! The reaction was swift, with one Washington minister calling the comments dangerous and demanding an immediate apology from Rosie and ABC. Now, I was flooded with e-mails agreeing with O`Donnell and suggesting she was being attacked because of her sexual orientation. Of course, were Rosie O`Donnell to deliver such a rant in an Islamic republic, chances are very good she`d be flogged for her words and stoned to death in a soccer stadium for being a lesbian. Here, we can all thank God that even people like Rosie O`Donnell have the right to say what they want, as do we, which we`ll do right now with Jennifer Pozner. She`s a media analyst and founder of Women in the Media. We also have Rachel Sklar. She`s media analyst for the Huffingtonpost, and Jack Burkman. He`s a Republican strategist.

Jack, I`ll start with you. Your take on Rosie`s comments.

JACK BURKMAN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Boy, Joe, I think it`s one of the most mindless and terrible things ever said on American television! I think this is so serious, I`m shocked that she`s still on the air. I`m shocked that that show is still on the air.

SCARBOROUGH: Wait, wait, wait! Wait. Hold it a second. Why are you shocked? Because after she said -- well, first of all, I got a lot of e- mails last night from people who supported Rosie O`Donnell, and when she made that statement -- there you go. You hear that audience applauding?

BURKMAN: Well...

SCARBOROUGH: The audience actually applauded.

BURKMAN: You have a lot of very sick and mindless people in that audience and perhaps in that area. You know, I saw your interview with Bernie Kerik Monday night. What a good job. She`s spitting on the graves, Joe, of the thousands of people who died in the World Trade Center. Just thinking of my friend, Barbara Olson, of those people...

SCARBOROUGH: Well, how is she doing...

(CROSSTALK)

SCARBOROUGH: How is she doing that? Because, I mean, she`s attacking Christians, but...

BURKMAN: Al Qaeda! Al Qaeda, Joe, is a group that killed thousands of people. They would, if they could, nuke every city in the United States, perhaps the Western world. If bin Laden could, he would...

SCARBOROUGH: Well, no doubt...

BURKMAN: ... he would kill -- he would kill tens of millions of people!

SCARBOROUGH: No doubt about that. You`re arguing -- you`re not -- you`re arguing a point that I think most of us would agree with, that they want to kill as many of us as possible.

BURKMAN: But the comparison. And that`s on the one side. For her to suggest that people who would attack abortion clinics of whatever kinds of things they`re doing in this country, for her to make the equation, my goodness gracious! That`s the moral equivalent of coming out on national television and saying you love Adolf Hitler!

SCARBOROUGH: Well, there is...

BURKMAN: Joe I would -- I would...

SCARBOROUGH: ... absolutely -- there`s no absolutely -- there`s absolutely no moral equivalence there. But Rachel...

BURKMAN: But she has made that!~

SCARBOROUGH: No, I know she has.

BURKMAN: She has made that.

SCARBOROUGH: I know she has. And Rachel, I want to ask you, you analyze the media a good bit for the Huffingtonpost. I mean, that`s your job. Do you think Rosie O`Donnell`s words rose to the level of bigotry by today`s media standards?

RACHEL SKLAR, HUFFINGTONPOST.COM: Not at all. I mean, she did not come out against Christianity. She came out against radical Christianity. She came out against radical extremism of all forms, and...

SCARBOROUGH: What is radical Christianity?

SKLAR: ... that is the common denominator. Radical Christianity is someone like Fred Phelps (ph), standing at military funerals and holding up signs saying, "God hates fags."

SCARBOROUGH: OK...

(CROSSTALK)

SCARBOROUGH: OK, hold on a second. Rachel, fine. That is extraordinary offensive. It`s offensive because he`s using those funerals, basically, blaming American troops that have died for...

SKLAR: But we`re talking about the extreme. We`re talking about the extreme...

SCARBOROUGH: I know we`re talking about the extreme. But idiots like that aren`t responsible for the death of 3,000 people on 9/11 or 2,000 people injured in Madrid or...

SKLAR: Yes, but Joe...

SCARBOROUGH: ... or 55 people killed in Britain or...

SKLAR: But Joe, it is like that on the extreme side of the fringe bastardizing Christianity...

SCARBOROUGH: Right.

SKLAR: ... who consider themselves and call themselves and are very well funded radical Christians are responsible for the deaths of many people over a number of years...

BURKMAN: But Rachel, are you --

(CROSSTALK)

SCARBOROUGH: Hold it a second. Let me stop right here. Hold on. Jennifer...

JENNIFER POZNER, MEDIA ANALYST: Yes?

SCARBOROUGH: Give me numbers. I don`t want speeches. I don`t want stories. How many Americans have been killed by Christian extremists this year?

POZNER: This -- I -- the statistics that I have are between 99 and 2000, there were -- you know, I had them at my fingertips yesterday, but there were somewhere between 20 or so bombings and somewhere around 8 attempted murders and deeply, gravely wounded people...

SCARBOROUGH: OK, OK...

POZNER: ... but over a decade, 500 -- you remember -- Joe, do you remember after 9/11, when we in the media were all in a panic about the anthrax letters that had been sent to...

SCARBOROUGH: Right.

POZNER: ... media outlets? Well, for -- if we in the media had paid attention to the terrorism on America -- on American soil, home-grown terrorists have...

BURKMAN: Joe, let me...

POZNER: ... sent 500 anthrax letters before 9/11...

SCARBOROUGH: OK, I want to...

(CROSSTALK)

SCARBOROUGH: OK, guys, I want to -- OK, hold on, Jack. Here`s my point. It`s certainly not that Christian extremists should be forgiven. They are -- Christian extremists that go out and threaten to bomb abortion clinics are despicable. But at the same time...

POZNER: Right. We all agree.

SCARBOROUGH: Hold on. But at the same time, we`re talking about Rosie O`Donnell saying that Christian extremists are as much a danger as Islamic extremists, and "The New York Times" just reported a few months ago that Muslim radicals killed on average 110 civilians every day, on average, in Iraq. That`s 110 people killed every day not by American bombs but by Muslim extremists.

POZNER: So...

SCARBOROUGH: And if you add up all of the people that have been killed by Muslim extremists through the years, there is just no -- there`s no proportionality. There`s no balance~!

BURKMAN: But Joe, I think we should get a "yes or no" answer from your guests. Are they suggesting -- are they arguing that there should be a direct comparison between al Qaeda and radical Christians who would bomb abortion clinics? And I want a "yes or no" answer from each of them~! Is that what they`re saying?

SCARBOROUGH: Well, before they answer that question, Jack, let me ask you. Do you think radical Christians who blow up abortion clinics are doing a morally reprehensible thing?

BURKMAN: Oh, absolutely...

(CROSSTALK)

SCARBOROUGH: OK, so you agree with that. But...

BURKMAN: Oh, there`s no question.

SCARBOROUGH: But we`re talking about proportionality there. Do you think, Rachel Sklar, that there`s a proportionality between Islamic extremists who just, again, kill thousands of people every month, and radical Christians, a few scattered freaks that blow up abortion clinics maybe once every two or three years?

SKLAR: I`m not going to get into proportionality discussions...

(CROSSTALK)

SCARBOROUGH: Hold on. That`s what this is about because...

SKLAR: I don`t think that is what this is about!

SCARBOROUGH: ... Rosie O`Donnell compared Christian extremists to Muslim extremists, said they were just as dangerous to America.

SKLAR: Radical to radical, and well they are dangerous to America. They`re extremely dangerous to America.

SCARBOROUGH: Are they as dangerous to America...

SKLAR: Anti-abortion...

SCARBOROUGH: Are they as dangerous to America...

SKLAR: ... anti-condom use...

SCARBOROUGH: ... as Islamic extremists?

SKLAR: Check.

SCARBOROUGH: Now, come on. You got to answer my question. Rachel Sklar...

SKLAR: Are they as dangerous...

SCARBOROUGH: ... are Christian extremists as dangerous to America as Muslim extremists?

SKLAR: I`m going to stick to my guns and say that radical extremism in any for any religion...

SCARBOROUGH: Is bad.

SKLAR: ... taken to the extreme...

SCARBOROUGH: Fine.

SKLAR: ... is dangerous. Now, are we going to...

SCARBOROUGH: Is dangerous?

SKLAR: Are we going to say -- obviously, we have a very obvious example here of al Qaeda and Muslim extremism, and I`m not going to sit down here and argue that that`s not...

BURKMAN: Rachel, do you know of any...

SKLAR: ... a huge concern.

BURKMAN: ... Christians -- do you know of any Christians who would like to see nuclear -- even the radical ones, even the ones who hit abortion clinics -- do you know of any of those who are involved in systematic, deliberate and concerted efforts to obtain nuclear devices to kill millions of people in cities? Do you know of any?

SKLAR: I`m happy to say that they don`t...

POZNER: You know what...

(CROSSTALK)

SKLAR: ... my acquaintance, no.

BURKMAN: But do you know of any?

SCARBOROUGH: But -- and of course, the point -- Jack, actually, your point is, again, that you do have Osama bin Laden, you do have other Muslim terror groups that would like to acquire those weapons, that are trying to acquire those weapons so they can kill millions of people in New York...

POZNER: Joe...

SCARBOROUGH: ... and Los Angeles...

POZNER: Can I jump in here?

(CROSSTALK)

POZNER: I`d like to jump in here, Joe.

SCARBOROUGH: Go ahead.

POZNER: Because I -- around -- on this issue, I think that we`re conflating a number of things. If you -- it`s really an issue -- if you`re saying it`s an issue of scale, then it`s about a matter of who you are. If you`re a woman in Pensacola, as you said yesterday, you`d seen those bombings in Pensacola abortion clinics -- if you`re a woman in Pensacola or in any number of states that have been subjected to this kind of anti- abortion terrorism in this country carried out in the name of...

SCARBOROUGH: Right.

POZNER: ... a bastardized version of Christianity, you fear for your life...

SCARBOROUGH: OK, but...

(CROSSTALK)

SCARBOROUGH: But let me tell you this...

(CROSSTALK)

SCARBOROUGH: OK, but hold on. And I`m glad you brought up Pensacola because I live in Pensacola. I`ve got three children in Pensacola. I`ve got two in Pensacola. And now I`ve got one that goes to college in New York. If I had to weigh the dangers between my children living in Pensacola or my child that goes to school in New York, I`m a little more concerned about the student that goes to New York because of the terror attacks...

POZNER: But it depends. If you`re...

SCARBOROUGH: ... in New York.

BURKMAN: Joe, this is so serious...

POZNER: But if your kid were in Pensacola...

(CROSSTALK)

POZNER: ... was 17, if she had to go to a women`s health clinic...

SCARBOROUGH: All right...

POZNER: -even just for a check-up, right...

SCARBOROUGH: OK, but...

POZNER: ... and then there were those people who would bomb...

SCARBOROUGH: I understand, and that`s a good point.

POZNER: ... that clinic...

SCARBOROUGH: And let me answer that question, too. If I had a daughter who was 18 years old, she went to an abortion clinic or she went to a women`s health care clinic...

POZNER: Even just for a check-up.

SCARBOROUGH: ... in Pensacola, Florida, I would not be nervous because I would have to go all the way back to, I think, like, 1992, 1993 to find an instance where an abortion clinic was bombed. And I mean, that`s a huge difference. Whereas all I have to do is look in the newspapers today, and I can show you an instance of where 55 people were blown up by Muslim terrorists today.

POZNER: All over the country...

SKLAR: I don`t think any...

(CROSSTALK)

POZNER: All over the country, there are these instances of violence. And Rachel`s absolutely right. Nobody is saying, Rachel or I -- neither of us, and I don`t think anyone who supported Rosie`s comments -- are saying that there was any excuse in any way, shape or form for the terrorism that was carried out on 9/11 and the terrorism that is carried out in the name of Islamic fascism.

BURKMAN: Well...

POZNER: But we`re also saying that, as Rosie said and as the discussion on "The View" was a little broader, that the response to that terrorism by U.S. foreign policy has been to kill other innocent people, and that`s...

BURKMAN: No, wait! Are you...

(CROSSTALK)

SCARBOROUGH: Hold on a second! Hold on a second! The response right now in Iraq -- our biggest problem in Iraq is not that Americans are shooting at and killing Iraqis. It`s that Muslim extremists are blowing up children, Muslim extremists are blowing up women, Muslim extremists are blowing up any civilians...

POZNER: As are U.S. bombs!

SCARBOROUGH: ... they can blow up. No, they aren`t! Shi`ites are killing Sunnis, and Sunnis are killing Shi`ites.

BURKMAN: Joe, if I...

(CROSSTALK)

SCARBOROUGH: Hold on a second! Stop! The Brookings Institute says that 75 percent of the deaths that are occurring in Iraq every day are occurring because of sectarian violence, Muslim extremists killing Muslim civilians. Now...

(CROSSTALK)

SCARBOROUGH: I need a yes or a no answer, and then we got to go. Rachel, yes or no. Do you believe that Christian extremists pose as much of a threat to American safety today as Islamic extremists? Yes or no.

SKLAR: I don`t believe that, but I also believe that if you adopt...

SCARBOROUGH: OK, well, you mention...

(CROSSTALK)

SCARBOROUGH: We all agree -- you`re saying something we all agree.

SKLAR: Oh, good.

SCARBOROUGH: We all agree that Christian...

SKLAR: I`m so glad.

SCARBOROUGH: ... extremists are dangerous. We set that out at the beginning. Jennifer, I`ll ask you the same question, yes or no. Do you think Christian extremists pose as much of a threat to the safety and wellbeing of Americans as Islamic extremists today?

POZNER: It depends on which American safety you`re talking about.

BURKMAN: Wow!

SCARBOROUGH: Any American safety.

BURKMAN: Wow!

POZNER: It really depends. If you`re a woman who needs health care, then -- then yes, but if...

SCARBOROUGH: OK...

POZNER: But if...

SCARBOROUGH: Jack Burkman...

POZNER: ... you`re a New Yorker, maybe not.

SCARBOROUGH: All right, Jack Burkman, I know your answer. I`m going to ask you this question.

BURKMAN: Yes?

SCARBOROUGH: Do you think there will be a boycott against ABC by advertisers and Christian groups that will force Rosie O`Donnell to either apologize or get off the air?

BURKMAN: Oh, probably not because everybody wimps out. But I`ll tell you, Joe, let`s start one right now. I`ll call for one right now. If she`s not off the air in seven days, will you join me right now in a -- in calling for a national boycott?

SCARBOROUGH: You always...

(CROSSTALK)

SCARBOROUGH: We got to go. We got to go. Thanks so much, Jennifer, Rachel, Jack. No, Jack, I won`t call for a boycott, but I will tell everybody to call ABC right now, write ABC, send e-mails to ABC and make Rosie O`Donnell apologize for those outrageous comments that showed -- I mean, they were stupid, but they were also dangerous. They showed a bigotry and an intolerance that ABC needs to apologize for. Bigotry and intolerance! Bigotry and intolerance! That`s what Rosie O`Donnell was guilty of!

Video Link
News Busters ~ Noel Sheppard ** HuffPo Analyst Says Pro-Lifers Are Just as Dangerous as Islamic Extremists
Noel Sheppard's blog | login or register to post comments
Categories: Online Media | Scarborough Country | ABC | Abortion | MSNBC | Religion | Rosie O'Donnell | The View

Posted by yaahoo_06iest at 1:48 AM EDT

Updated: Saturday, 16 September 2006 2:16 AM EDT

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Mood:  cheeky

GOP's Kean Leads Menendez in N.J.

Republican Tom Kean Jr. has taken the lead over Democratic incumbent Robert Menendez in the race for the Senate seat from New Jersey, a new poll discloses.

In the survey of likely voters by Strategic Vision, LLC, 44 percent of respondents favored McKean and 40 percent favored Menendez, with 16 percent undecided. It was a complete reversal of the past two Strategic Vision polls, which had Menendez in the lead.

On Monday, NewsMax reported that a new Zogby poll found Kean had pulled into a dead heat with Menendez.

The Strategic Vision poll revealed that 39 percent of respondents viewed Kean favorably, compared to 42 percent for Menendez. But 29 percent had an unfavorable view of Menendez, while only 22 percent felt that way about Kean.

"New Jersey appears to present Republicans with a potential pickup seat with Kean having a magic name in New Jersey politics and a feeling that Senator Menendez is part of the status quo,” said David E. Johnson, CEO of Strategic Vision.

When asked if they felt New Jersey was going in the right or wrong direction, 22 percent said right, 65 said wrong and 13 percent were undecided.

Other poll results:
Respondents were split on whether U.S. forces should withdraw from Iraq within the next six months -- 45 percent said yes, 45 percent said no, and 10 percent were undecided.

84 percent said they expected another terrorist attack in the United States in the next six months.

67 percent said they opposed granting amnesty to all illegal immigrants currently in the country, 16 percent favored it, and 17 percent were undecided.

News Max.com ** GOP's Kean Leads Menendez in N.J.

Posted by yaahoo_06iest at 2:01 AM EDT

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Mood:  celebratory

AFP Photo: A wounded Iraqi rests inside a hospital in Baghdad. Iraq announced the slaying of a top Al-Qaeda militant as police recovered 20 tortured and bullet-riddled bodies of men shot dead in sectarian killings across Baghdad.

Top aide of Qaeda leader in Iraq killed

BAGHDAD -- A Libyan who was a top aide of Al-Qaeda in Iraq's leader, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, has been killed in an operation by Iraqi security forces, an interior ministry spokesman has told AFP.

Abu Jaafar al-Lybi was killed on Sunday, Brigadier General Abdel Karim Khalaf said Thursday.

He said Lybi was the head of "Al-Qaeda's criminal operations" in Baghdad's Rusafa, Karrada districts and the restive province of Diyala, northeast of Baghdad.

Yahoo News ~ Agence France-Presse ** Top aide of Qaeda leader in Iraq killed

But that's impossible. Everybody knows there were no connections between Iraq/Al Qaeda!

Posted by yaahoo_06iest at 1:28 AM EDT

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Mood:  d'oh

Air America Radio Bankruptcy, Sale Possible

BANKRUPT?

Air America Out Of Ca$h, Up For Sale

Cash- starved Air America Radio is broke and up for sale, the Radio Equalizer has learned exclusively.

In addition, a liberal website is reporting that the so- called "progressive" radio network will announce a bankruptcy filing on Friday. As of this moment, the story has yet to be verified.

What our own sources are telling the Radio Equalizer is that two potential buyers have recently been looking to scoop up Air America's assets. But internal board squabbling has created a disunited front, with some members looking to hand the network back to eccentric co- founder (and Huffington Post contributor) Sheldon Drobny, while the rest shop for buyers.

Jon Sinton, a former Air America and Clear Channel Radio executive, is said to be leading the effort to seek a purchaser.

Drobny, meanwhile, has been scrambling to figure out a way to retake the network and intends to rehire former COO Carl Ginsburg if he is successful.

To Radio Equalizer readers as well as Air America staffers, none of this should come as any surprise. Big layoffs came earlier this week and insiders have been bracing for the worst possible news.

Recently, we had reported on a number of management departures and the fact that Air America could no longer afford to pay the Associated Press for wire service coverage. Plus, the Gloria Wise scandal has still not been resolved.

In addition, this indication of Air America's financial condition allows Al Franken to trigger a clause in his contract that would allow him to immediately depart the network if he so chooses. He first must request a financial statement, however.

If Air America isn't able to continue its programming, it opens the door for new feminist talk radio network GreenStone Media to take over some, or perhaps many, of its stations. As we've reported exclusively, GreenStone, founded by Jane Fonda and Gloria Steinem, has gradually begun to take over Air America's physical operations in New York City.

Because readers are telling us they've been having trouble getting to the Think Progress report on Air America's possible bankruptcy, here's an excerpt:

EXCLUSIVE: Air America To Declare Bankruptcy, But Progressive Radio Remains Strong

Air America Radio will announce a major restructuring on Friday, which is expected to include a bankruptcy filing, three independent sources have told ThinkProgress.

Air America could remain on the air under the deal, but significant personnel changes are already in the works. Sources say five Air America employees were laid off yesterday and were told there would be no severance without capital infusion or bankruptcy. Also, Air America has ended its relationship with host Jerry Springer.

The right wing is sure to seize on Air America’s financial woes as a sign that progressive talk radio is unpopular. In fact, Air America succeeded at creating something that didn’t exist: the progressive talk radio format. That format is now established and strong and will continue with or without Air America. Indeed, many of the country’s most successful and widely-syndicated progressive talk hosts -- Ed Schultz and Stephanie Miller, for instance -- aren’t even associated with Air America.

But Think Progress is dead wrong, progressive radio simply isn't strong, beyond the moderate success Jones Radio has found with Schultz and Miller. Two examples aren't enough, especially when there have been so many failures.

In addition, it's quite clear that the "leak" to the liberal blogger was intended to allow the left time to spin the network's failure. It can't be that "progressive" radio is unpopular, instead, the problem is with Air America's mismanagement. Expect that one to be seared into the left's talking points list.

What's next for Air America? That isn't clear, but what is known from our end is that the most explosive stories on what has gone on behind the scenes have yet to be written. Watch for them here.

Meanwhile, Matt Drudge continues his bizarre antagonism toward conservative bloggers, ignoring every story about Air America's troubles that originated from the blogosphere. But today, he had no problem running with the bankruptcy story, since it originated from a left- wing site, even though it isn't yet verified. Update: he provides MORE links to liberal sites!

SPECIAL THANKS to Michelle Malkin for her continued support, read her take here. Michelle has a great point: some of the very sites (sometimes even on the conservative side of things) who have resisted linking to our reports (going all the way back to our collaborations on the Gloria Wise scandal) have now, without hesitation, immediately bought into an unconfirmed "report" from the left, that may or may not be true. We don't trust our own to be accurate, but assume the other side knows what it is talking about.

UPDATE: Randi Rhodes says she will address these reports after a staff meeting being held now. We may be able to get confirmation at that time. Rhodes sounds very distracted. Rush Limbaugh also discussed the story on his show today.

Randi: "why does all the scary crap happen on my watch? I'll be briefed shortly."

AIR AMERICA DUCKS THE ISSUE: a big hat tip to Perry Simon, who just obtained this quote from the company:

"If AIR AMERICA had filed for bankruptcy every time someone rumored it to be doing so, we would have ceased to exist long ago; it may be frustrating to some that this hasn’t happened. No decision has been taken to make any filing of any kind, we are not sure of the source of these rumors and frankly can not respond to every rumor in the marketplace."

Hey guys, this report comes from LEFTISTS! Are you smoking crack in there?

UPDATES: Randi is filibustering, rather than addressing the issue at hand.

Al Franken says he hasn't been paid in some time. Reader John B notes:

He hasn't been paid in a while? Hmmm... might be true, but I recall you had a detailed explanation of how he got paid in advance, on a quarterly basis. So he could be appearing to tell the truth, (woe is me!), but still laughing all the way to the bank (I already got mine!).

John, that's true, Franken and executive producer Billy Kimball planned for this years ago.

Images: David A Lunde
Thanks to Michelle Malkin, National Review's Media Blog, Ace Of Spades, Gawker, Wizbang and others for links today.

Technorati tags: al franken air america liberal talk radio talk radio jane fonda gloria steinem air america bankrupt randi rhodes

The Radio Equalizer ~ Brian Maloney ** Bankrupt? Air America Out Of Ca$h, Up For Sale

Posted by yaahoo_06iest at 2:21 AM EDT

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Mood:  party time!

Federal deficit shrinks

WASHINGTON -- The federal budget deficit, helped by a surge in government revenue, is running 14.1% below the pace of last year, the government reported Wednesday.

The Treasury Department said that with just one month to go in the budget year, the deficit totals $304.3 billion, down from $354.1 billion during the same period a year ago.

The Congressional Budget Office is forecasting that the deficit for the entire year will be $260 billion, which would mean that September will see a sizable surplus.

The administration is somewhat less optimistic, forecasting a deficit of $295.8 billion for the current budget year, which ends Sept. 30.

However, both the CBO and the administration are expecting an improvement from last year's deficit of $319 billion, the third highest amount of red ink in history. The record deficit in dollar terms was $413 billion set in 2004.

Even with the improvement, Democrats point to CBO forecasts that the deficit over the next decade will total $1.76 trillion as evidence that President Bush's emphasis on tax cuts has put the country on an unsustainable fiscal path.

The administration counters that Bush's first term tax cuts helped to lift the country out of the 2001 recession and provided support for a strong economic rebound that has resulted in the gusher of revenues this year.

For August, the deficit jumped to $64.6 billion, up from $51.3 billion in August 2005. The federal government has run a deficit in August every year since 1954.

Through the first 11 months of the current budget year, revenues have totaled a record $2.12 trillion, up 11.5% from the same period a year ago.

Government spending is also at record levels so far this budget year, totaling $2.43 trillion, an increase of 7.6% from the same period a year ago.

The faster growth in revenues than in spending has meant that the 11-month deficit of $304.3 billion is 14.1% below the red ink run up during the same period a year ago.

USA Today ~ Associated Press ** Federal deficit shrinks
Also at:
Breitbart.com ~ Associated Press - Martin Crutsinger ** Treasury: Federal Deficit Down 14.1 Pct.

Posted by yaahoo_06iest at 1:27 AM EDT

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