TV News LIES

It was no coincidence the U.S. military jurors at Guantanamo timed the prison sentence they gave Osama bin Laden's driver to end just before President George W. Bush's term does, legal analysts say.

"My inference is that they concluded that this administration would not release Hamdan at the end of his sentence, but the next one might," said David Glazier, a national security expert who teaches at Loyola Law School.

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U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said in an interview aired on Sunday he had no interest in staying in his post beyond January when a new administration takes office.

"I'm going to run right up until the end," he said. "I'm focused on getting everything done I can get done between now and January 19th."

In March, Paulson proposed overhauling the U.S. financial regulatory system and giving more powers to the Federal Reserve in the wake of the financial market upheaval that exposed gaping holes in oversight.

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The GOP exploits terrorism because the GOP is and always has been bankrupt morally and intellectually. A rich party monetarily, the GOP is utterly bereft of ideas or hope. The GOP encouraged fear of communism and was, arguably, it's sole beneficiary. Even so, the GOP, increasingly radical under Ronald Reagan, raised other bogey men: drugs, porn and terrorism.

GOP efforts against porn and drugs would fail, it's own membership being among the worst offenders. With the collapse of the 'Soviet Union', the GOP would be left with a single bogey man: terrorism!

Terrorism is the new bogeyman, the 'ringer' for a communist threat that probable never existed but is beyond credible exploitation. Terrorism is much, much more: it is an ill-defined and incredibly convenient pretext by which the GOP may wage an Orwellian perpetual war, in fact, a series of oil wars, that John McCain says may last '10,000 years'. Terrorism, moreover, has become the convenient means by which all opposition to our fascist regimes are marginalized, demonized, and, in worse cases, silenced forever. Draconian measures insisted upon by Bush authorize him to incarcerate without charges, phone calls or habeas corpus anyone suspected of being a 'terrorist'. That means the 'Bill of Rights' is dead. It means the separation of powers is dead! Coupled with his use of 'signing statements' to rewrite laws, Bush rules by decree.

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Pakistan's embattled President Pervez Musharraf was under mounting pressure to quit, with his allies joining ruling coalition calls for him to go before impeachment proceedings begin on Monday.

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TVNL Comment: There's a moral here somewhere for Nancy Pelosi.. 

Seven militants and a security guard have been killed after a series of bombings in China's north-western region of Xinjiang, state media says.

Earlier this week, China said 16 policemen were killed in an attack by Islamist separatists in Xinjiang.

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Drug companies are quietly pushing through price hikes of 100% — or even more than 1,000% — for a very small but growing number of prescription drugs, helping to drive up costs for insurers, patients and government programs.

Among the examples: Questcor Pharmaceuticals last August raised the wholesale price on Acthar, which treats spasms in babies, from about $1,650 a vial to more than $23,000. Ovation raised the cost of Cosmegen, which treats a type of tumor, from $16.79 to $593.75 in January 2006.

The average wholesale price of 26 brand-name drugs jumped 100% or more in a single cost adjustment last year, up from 15 in 2004, the university study found. In the first half of this year, 17 drugs made the list.

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After reading the affidavits and listening to the Justice Department briefing, I was both disheartened and perplexed by the lack of physical evidence supporting a conviction.

Dr. Ivins was a friend and colleague of mine for nearly 16 years. We worked together at Fort Detrick. He was a senior scientist, and I was, first, a bench scientist and, from 1999 to 2003, the chief of the bacteriology division.

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TVNL Comment:  This OpEd article is a very important read for anyone who still believes for a moment that the FBI has made a legitimate case against Dr. Ivins. 

Of late, there has been a steady stream of brutal assaults carried out by settlers against their Palestinian neighbours in the West Bank, right under the noses of the lackadaisical army. The phenomenon is, sadly, nothing new; what has brought the story back into the spotlight are the efforts of human rights groups, such as B'Tselem to film the violence and document the shocking reality on the ground – which is why, it seems, the authorities are so keen to clamp down on their activity in the region.

However, the settlers don't confine their vindictive and vicious attacks to Palestinians; they are not averse to attacking their Jewish peers either. Two recent incidents amply demonstrated the extent to which the Wild West Bank has become bandit country, with no sheriff's posse daring to stand up to the rogue elements holding the region at ransom.

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