Howard Dean's opposition to affirmative action, his current support for the death penalty and historic support of the NRA's [National Rifle Association's] agenda amounts to an anti-black agenda that will not sell in communities of color in this country,"

He said his comments were in response to a news report yesterday that Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) plans to endorse Dean, the former Vermont governor and presumed front-runner for the 2004 Democratic nomination

Suzanne Werfelman is a mother and a teacher who has been shopping for individual body armor. This is not in response to threats from her elementary-class students in Sciota, Pa.; it's a desperate attempt to protect her son in Iraq.

Like many other U.S. service members in Iraq, her son was given a Vietnam-era flak jacket that cannot stop the type of weapons used today. It appears that parents across the country are now purchasers of body armor because of the failure of the military to supply soldiers with modern vests.

Werfelman's son, Army Spc. Richard Murphy, is a military policeman in Iraq. He was also one of my law students last year before being sent off for a 20-month stint. Upon their arrival, members of Murphy's unit were shocked to learn that they would be given the old Vietnam-era vests rather than the modern Interceptor vest. (They were also given unarmored Humvees, which are vulnerable to even small-arms fire.) Military officials admit that the standard flak jacket could not reliably stop a bullet, including AK-47 ammunition, used in Iraq and the most common ammunition in the world.

Developed in the late 1990s, the Interceptor vest is made of layered sheets of Kevlar with pockets in front and back for ceramic plates to protect vital organs. These vests — one-third lighter than the old ones — have stopped machine-gun bullets, shrapnel and other ordnance.

They can mean the difference between living and dying, which was made all too clear to Sgt. Zachariah Byrd, a soldier with the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, who was shot four times with AK-47 bullets (twice in the chest and twice in his arms) when his unit was ambushed. The vest protected his chest and he survived. Byrd had been issued a standard flak jacket and, if he had been wearing it during the attack, he'd probably be dead. However, at the beginning of the patrol, his buddy who was driving that night gave his Interceptor vest to Byrd — a passing kindness that saved Byrd's life.

Others don't have the Interceptor option — including some of the soldiers in Murphy's unit who are still wearing flak jackets. Congress has received reports of soldiers killed while wearing the old flak jackets. One from a mother related how three soldiers in her son's unit were killed while wearing the outmoded vests. The unit reportedly had only 30 modern vests for 120 men. Army Staff Sgt. Dave Harris wrote a letter to Stars and Stripes that related how his friend, Mike Quinn, was killed in Fallouja. Quinn's unit didn't have enough vests, so he gave his to a young soldier. The decision saved the young soldier's life, but resulted in Quinn's death when he was shot.

During a whirlwind campaign swing Saturday through New Hampshire, Clark, the newest Democratic presidential candidate, gave supporters one of the first glimpses into his views on technology.

'We need a vision of how we're going to move humanity ahead, and then we need to harness science to do it,' Clark told a group of about 50 people in Newcastle attending a house party -- a tradition in New Hampshire presidential politics that enables well-connected voters to get an up-close look at candidates.

Then, the 58-year-old Arkansas native, who retired from the military three years ago, dropped something of a bombshell on the gathering.

'I still believe in e=mc², but I can't believe that in all of human history, we'll never ever be able to go beyond the speed of light to reach where we want to go,' said Clark. 'I happen to believe that mankind can do it.'

'I've argued with physicists about it, I've argued with best friends about it. I just have to believe it. It's my only faith-based initiative.' Clark's comment prompted laughter and applause from the gathering. "

"Don't get too personal, brother Howard."
-Al Sharpton, at yesterday's debate

"A congressional report concludes that, under federal ethics standards, Vice President Dick Cheney still has a financial interest in Halliburton, the energy services company he used to run. "

"Two hundred and two Septembers after the creation of our Bill of Rights, Attorney General John Ashcroft drafted a document that has eroded our Constitutional rights and broken down the mutual trust between the American people and their government -- and between Americans and each other -- by making suspects out of all of us.

That is not the act of a patriot.

A true Patriot Act is not born out of fear, but out of trust; it is not born out of division, but out of community; it is not born out of suspicion, but out of faith in each of us.

We need to remind this administration what a Patriot Act is.

A neighbor lends a hand to a friend in need -- that is a Patriot Act.

A mother struggles for her children's future -- that is a Patriot Act.

An immigrant becomes a member of our American family -- that is a Patriot Act.

Men and women risk life and limb on behalf of our country through our armed services -- that is a Patriot Act.

Americans come together as a community and as a country to declare their values, their rights, and their very independence. That is a Patriot Act, as it was in 1776 and as it is over two hundred years later, and as it will be, through our actions, over two hundred years from now... "

Twenty-seven reserve pilots in the Israeli Air Force presented a signed petition tonight saying that they would not take part in "illegal and immoral" strikes in Palestinian areas in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The airstrikes, aimed at Hamas militants, sometimes kill Palestinian civilians.

"We refuse to participate in air force attacks on civilian populations," said the letter, which was sent to the head of the air force, Maj. Gen. Dan Halutz. "We refuse to continue harming innocent civilians."

"Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry warned Tuesday that retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark, whose entry into the race for the Democratic presidential nomination has reshaped the campaign, will have to answer for his past support of Republicans Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan.

Kerry, a Vietnam veteran who lost his claim as the only presidential candidate with real combat experience when Clark entered the field last week, drew a direct contrast between his own ''consistent'' record and that of the retired general who only recently decided he was a Democrat.

''I know that when he voted for Reagan and he voted for Nixon, I was fighting against both of them,'' Kerry said in an interview with The Herald amid a daylong fundraising trip to Miami.

''I think your life history is what you're offering people,'' added Kerry, who was placed on Nixon's infamous enemies list for his antiwar activism upon his return from Vietnam. ``My life history is I fought Reagan, fought Nixon, fought the war in Vietnam, fought their struggle against civil rights. I fought for civil rights, and I fought against their tax cuts for the wealthy.''"

Church, State Joyfully Reunite After 230-Year Trial Separation

WASHINGTON, DC—Following a two-and-a-quarter-century-long trial separation, Church and State reunited in the U.S. Department of Justice press room Monday. "Even through all the bad times, I knew there had to be a way to get these two old friends back together," Attorney General John Ashcroft said. "With a little counseling and faith-based intervention, I knew Church and State would work it out. It was meant to be." Effective Oct. 15, prayer will be mandatory in public schools and congressional sessions will open with Holy Communion.

"Instead of bringing law and order to the nation, as Putin promised to do, he has brought Russian-style order without any law. High-profile investigations launched by the 'law enforcement' authorities are often either politically motivated or intended to redistribute the ownership of property in the interest of Kremlin favorites. According to the CEOs of several businesses, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the character of bribes has changed for the worse. 'Three years ago,' one of my longtime sources told me, 'an FSB [successor to the KGB] guy came and asked $500,000 for 'the right to live and work in the country,' as he put it then. Now they come and request a share of the business.' Several others confirmed the pattern. "

"We know that he was an apparatchik. We know that he was a member of the KGB. We know that he came to power because of the military brutality and massacre that's been taking place in Russia today – I mean in Chechnya today. We know that he worked a deal with Yeltsin, so that Yeltsin would have immunity, and he would be assured of the presidency, rather than basically a contested – I'm very concerned about Mr. Putin. I'm afraid Mr. Putin might be one of those who wants to make the trains run on time."
- Sen. John McCain

"Russia's role in the war on terrorism will be at the top of the agenda when U.S. President George W. Bush meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin later this week. Bush wants Russian troops in Iraq, help with North Korea, and cooperation with derailing Iran's nuclear aspirations. In return, he'll illustrate the harsh reality behind U.S. rhetoric about promoting democracy by largely ignoring the ways in which Putin has been undermining its foundations in Russia. "

"Ask a Democrat about 2002 and it won't take long before the name Max Cleland comes up. Cleland is the former Georgia senator who lost three limbs in Vietnam. Because he favored some union and civil service protections in the homeland security bill, Cleland was attacked in a vicious campaign ad showing pictures of Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. Cleland lost, and Democrats are still furious over the treatment of this war hero and political moderate. This is personal, not ideological. "

"Tonight we congratulate television news for becoming us - mindless ratings whores.
-- Jon Stewart, at the Emmys

it costs $3.54/min to call the cook islands, and
$2.94/min to call diego garcia.

-senor A.

"Indeed, after caustically comparing the actions of the Bush administration to what he described as the abuses of Richard M. Nixon, he said that he voted for Mr. Nixon in 1972. He also said he had voted for Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984."

"Retired Gen. Wesley K. Clark said today that he 'probably' would have voted for the congressional resolution last fall authorizing war, as he charged out into the presidential campaign field with vague plans to fix the economy and the situation in Iraq.

Clark said his views on the war resemble those of Democratic Sens. Joseph I. Lieberman (Conn.) and John F. Kerry (Mass.), both of whom voted for the war but now question President Bush's stewardship of the Iraqi occupation. 'That having been said, I was against the war as it emerged because there was no reason to start it when we did. We could have waited,' Clark said during a 75-minute session with four reporters."

Still, there's an important sense in which his views remain essentially moderate: unlike the growing numbers of America-bashers in Europe, Krugman doesn't make the nebulous argument that there is something inherently objectionable about the US and its role in the world. He claims only that a fundamentally benign system has been taken over by a bunch of extremists - and so his alarming analysis leaves room for optimism, because they can be removed. "One of the Democratic candidates - who I'm not endorsing, because I'm not allowed to endorse - has as his slogan, 'I want my country back'," Krugman says, referring to the campaigning motto of Howard Dean. "I think that's about right."

Or, to quote a state department official who put it pungently to a reporter earlier this year, describing the dominance of the Pentagon hawks: "I just wake up in the morning and tell myself, 'There's been a military coup'. And then it all makes sense."

"As for the political leaders themselves, President Bush and Tony Blair should be proud of their resolve in the face of so much doubt. And especially Mr Blair, who skillfully managed tough internal politics, an incredibly powerful and sometimes almost irrationally resolute ally, and concerns within Europe. Their opponents, those who questioned the necessity or wisdom of the operation, are temporarily silent, but probably unconvinced. And more tough questions remain to be answered. "

- Gen. Wesley Clark (ret.), April 10, 2003

"Unfortunately, the people who drove the engine to get into the war in Iraq never served in Vietnam. Not the president. Not the vice president. Not the secretary of defense. Not the deputy secretary of defense. Too bad. They could have learned some lessons"

The possibility that former NATO supreme commander Wesley Clark might enter the race for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination has been the subject of furious speculation in the media. But while recent coverage of Clark often claims that he opposed the war with Iraq, the various opinions he has expressed on the issue suggest the media's "anti-war" label is inaccurate.

ABU GHRAIB, Iraq - Six people claiming to be Americans and two who say they are British are in U.S. custody on suspicion of involvement in attacks on coalition forces, an American general said Tuesday. They would be the first Westerners reported held in the insurrection against the U.S.-led occupation.

Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, who is in charge of coalition detention centers in Iraq, said the alleged Americans and Britons were considered security detainees, meaning they were suspected of involvement in guerrilla attacks. She did not identify the purported Westerners but said they were being interrogated by military intelligence.

Clause 1: Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.

Clause 2: The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted.

John Kerry's communications director has resigned over differences in the direction of the Democrat's presidential campaign.

Chris Lehane's departure comes amid speculation of a wider shake-up in the Kerry campaign, which has been torn by internal fights and a lack of public support from the candidate.

The increasingly bitter tone of the Ontario campaign took a surreal turn Friday when a press release from the Tory election machine labelled Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty a pet-eating alien.

Missouri lawmakers overrode Gov. Bob Holden's vetos of a bill mandating a 24-hour waiting period for women seeking abortions, and have legalized concealed guns.

Sept. 10, 2003

Working families win! President Bush's overtime pay
cuts suffered a major setback today when the U.S. Senate
voted to block the overtime pay takeaway. We won this
first step because the Senate Democrats and a handful
of Republicans stood up to President Bush. They acted
because they heard your voice. Your activism made a
big difference--people like you sent hundreds of thousands
of letters, faxes and e-mails and made tens of thousands
of phone calls over the past few months. This victory
is ONLY ONE STEP forward. More action is needed now.
You can act now or keep reading to learn more.
http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/houseotvote/xgbk83z05xd7

Now, the fight to block President Bush's overtime pay
cuts turns to the U.S. House of Representatives. Representatives
will be asked to vote on a similar measure--preventing
the Bush administration from taking away workers' hard-earned
overtime pay protections. Please take one minute right
now to send a fax to your representative, Representative
Jerry Costello, from
the AFL-CIO website.
http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/houseotvote/xgbk83z05xd7

After you send your fax please click on the link below
to spread the word to your friends, family and co-workers.
http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/houseotvote/forward/xgbk83z05xd7

Also, these links may be of interest.

Overtime Pay News from the AFL-CIO
http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/q7a6cR4147a6/

U.S. Senate Vote Tally by State from Sept. 10
http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/qpa6cR4147aO/

Thanks for all you do.

"Dean, Dean, Dean, Dean, Dean..." - John Kerry

"Howard Dean came under fire yesterday from two rivals for the Democratic nomination for saying the United States should not 'take sides' in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "

"Anti-globalization protesters stripped out of their clothes and spelled out the words 'No WTO' with their naked bodies Monday, the first of several actions against the World Trade Organization meeting in this Caribbean resort."

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Denying any anti-American sentiment on his part, actor Johnny Depp (news) said on Thursday that quotes attributed to him as likening the United States to a "dumb puppy" were inaccurate and taken out of context.

"I am an American. I love my country and have great hopes for it," Depp said in a statement released by his Los Angeles-based publicist. "It is for this reason that I speak candidly and sometimes critically about it. I have benefited greatly from the freedom that exists in my country and for this I am eternally grateful."

Depp, currently starring in the swashbuckling film "Pirates of the Caribbean," issued the statement a day after the German news magazine Stern published an interview in which he ridiculed Washington's confrontation with France, where he lives, over the U.S. war in Iraq (news - web sites).

The magazine quoted the actor as saying "America is ... like a dumb puppy that has big teeth that can bite and hurt you, aggressive." He was further quoted as saying he wanted his children to "see America as ... a broken toy" that they should explore, get the feel of, then "get out."

Explaining his comments a day later, Depp he had been using a metaphor that was taken "radically out of context," adding, "There was no anti-American sentiment."

"What I was saying was that, compared to Europe, America is a very young country and we are still growing as a nation," he said. "My deepest apologies to those who were offended, affected, or hurt by this insanely twisted deformation of my words and intent."

His spokeswoman added that the Kentucky-born Depp, 40, lives in the south of France with his family because his wife, actress-singer Vanessa Paradis (news), is French.

"BERLIN (Reuters) - Hollywood star Johnny Depp said on Wednesday the United States was a stupid, aggressive puppy and he would not live there until the political climate changed.

The 40-year-old actor, who stars in the 'Pirates of the Caribbean,' told the German news magazine Stern he was happier staying in the south of France with his wife, the French actress and singer Vanessa Paradis, and their two children.

'America is dumb, it's like a dumb puppy that has big teeth that can bite and hurt you, aggressive,' he said.

'My daughter is four, my boy is one. I'd like them to see America as a toy, a broken toy. Investigate it a little, check it out, get this feeling and then get out,' said the star of the off-beat films 'Edward Scissorhands' and 'Dead Man.'

Depp slammed George W. Bush's administration for its criticism of French opposition to the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

'I was ecstatic they re-named 'French Fries' as 'Freedom Fries'. Grown men and women in positions of power in the U.S. government showing themselves as idiots,' he told Stern."

"And what is the temper of the Democratic Party base? They loathe Bush and everything he stands for -- he's become a lightning rod for dark and febrile passions in the same way Bill Clinton was (and is) for the GOP core. It's not just his harebrained ideological nostrums for how to reorder America and the world. They hate him and it's personal. They hate his frat-boy smirk, his phony fly-boy act, his cringe-inducing mangling of the language, his born-again sanctimony, even his Texas twang and his godforsaken, tumbleweed ranch where only someone as fence-post-dumb as W. would hole up in August. They hate him like their lives depended on it, lives that will certainly be unbearable if this bumbling extremist is reelected (or elected) in 2004. "

"[M]ainly it was Coleman’s proxies who played it dirty," Al Franken writes. "The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) ran an ad called ‘Pork’ that hit the hypocrisy jackpot. It savaged Wellstone for voting ‘to spend thousands of dollars to control seaweed in Maui,’ claiming that he prioritized seaweed control over national defense. In fact, Wellstone did vote for S.1216, as did Strom Thurmond, Trent Lott and 84 other senators. That bill did appropriate the seaweed control spending—but it also provided $21 billion for veterans’ health care, $27 billion for veterans’ compensation and pensions, and block grants to assist New York City’s recovery from 9/11. The NRSC was chaired that year by Bill Frist, who later replaced Lott as Senate majority leader. Before the memorial, Frist spoke with the Wellstones’ older son, David, who later recounted the conversation to me.

"‘I’m sorry about your parents and your sister,’ Frist told David.

"‘Did you authorize the seaweed ad against my dad?’ David asked.

"‘Yes,’ said Frist.

"‘And did you vote for the seaweed bill?’

"There was a pause. They both knew that the answer was yes. Finally, Frist said, ‘It wasn’t personal.’

"‘My dad took it personal,’ David said. ‘Thanks for coming to my family’s memorial.’"

The lesson of the Depression was that if ordinary workers lacked jobs and adequate incomes, the economy would crash because too few people could afford to buy what businesses hoped to sell. This was demand-side economics and it laid heavy stress on spreading incomes and job opportunities broadly.

The supply-siders insisted that supply created its own demand. In plain English, this meant we should think less about labor and more about capital -- specifically, investors who created the means to produce the goods. If the New Dealers glorified the role of the worker, the supply-siders glorified the entrepreneur.

Just as Ford, GM and the UAW once drove up wages for workers who were nowhere near auto factories, so Wal-Mart drives down wages for workers who never set foot there. Controlling as it does so much of the low-end retail market, Wal-Mart has, with great success, pressured suppliers to cut their labor costs. No other American company has done as much to destroy what's left of the U.S. clothing and textile industry or been so loyal a friend to the dankest sweatshops of the developing world. And unless American unions can find the political leverage to block Wal-Mart's expansion into non-southern metropolitan areas, the company poses a huge threat to the million or so unionized clerks who work at the nation's major supermarket chains.

What's required? It's obvious we need more troops in Iraq. Since the administration played down the cost of the occupation before hostilities started, that may be hard to sell to the American people now. As we don't want to bear the whole burden of this enterprise ourselves, we desperately need much more help from allies. We'll soon learn how much crow the administration is willing to eat to make that happen.

And we need to spend a lot more money to put Iraqis to work, to fix Iraq's oil facilities and to repair its electric power system. Will the administration and its neoconservative allies ever admit that their big government policies abroad are inconsistent with their tax cuts for the rich at home?

Now that we have invaded Iraq, we cannot afford to let the place go to pieces. The administration can hold fast to its arrogance. Or it can acknowledge its mistakes and chart a new course.

"I enjoy watching FOX NEWS and I think every country should have their own Al-Jazeera."
- Jon Stewart

In fact, William Shatner calls the "Star Trek" outlook "somewhat dire."

When asked if he felt the film series was finished, Shatner replied, "I would say so, yes -- at least for the present.

"I think that Patrick (Stewart) doesn't want to do it anymore," he said. "The other cast of 'Star Trek' . . . they have run their race and have made many films -- good ones, I think -- so there's another phase, but we don't know what it is."

But all is not lost for devoted followers of the Federation.

The series still has its hardcore fan base, especially those at conventions. Trekkers are notoriously loyal to the series and to most anyone associated with the series, Shatner said.

"I find that the conventions are like a built-in audience and I treat them like stand-up comedy and work on new material," he said. "It's great fun and you can't fail because they love you."

And while he wouldn't discuss specifics, Shatner said he has an idea for a new "Star Trek" series.

"In fact, I'm trying to interest the powers -- and that has many levels to it -- for me to conceive another 'Star Trek' manifestation," he said. "It would be a concept for a series."

"If your workplace is safe; if your children go to school rather than being forced into labor; if you are paid a living wage, including overtime; if you enjoy a 40-hour week and you are allowed to join a union to protect your rights -- you can thank liberals. If your food is not poisoned and your water is drinkable -- you can thank liberals. If your parents are eligible for Medicare and Social Security, so they can grow old in dignity without bankrupting your family -- you can thank liberals. If our rivers are getting cleaner and our air isn't black with pollution; if our wilderness is protected and our countryside is still green -- you can thank liberals. If people of all races can share the same public facilities; if everyone has the right to vote; if couples fall in love and marry regardless of race; if we have finally begun to transcend a segregated society -- you can thank liberals. Progressive innovations like those and so many others were achieved by long, difficult struggles against entrenched power. What defined conservatism, and conservatives, was their opposition to every one of those advances. The country we know and love today was built by those victories for liberalism -- with the support of the American people. "

" One of the leading Democratic candidates for President is making a foray into the heart of Gephardt Country.

Local supporters of the Howard Dean campaign will be at the Bevo Mill tonight for a phone-conference fundraiser with the former Vermont Governor on the line.

Is this a big deal?

'He's coming into Gephardt's turf, not physically, but by phone,' says St. Louis University Political Science Professor Ken Warren. 'That's somewhat embarassing for Gephardt.'

Warren says Gephardt is not doing as well as expected by now, and the political fact of life is he's lagging at number three in the Democratic pack behind Dean and Massachusetts Senator John Kerry.
'Dean doesn't have any chance of winning Missouri,' Warren says. 'But still, he will be able to raise some money here.'"

As people do better, they start voting like Republicans -- unless they have too much education and vote Democratic, which proves there can be too much of a good thing.
-- Karl Rove, W.'s chief political strategist

Spc. Kristopher Haney, who serves with West in Germany, told The Seattle Times the family was informed that Longstreth died of a gunshot wound to the head. Investigators believe it was an accident and that no other soldiers were involved, Haney added.

PROTOCOL ON PROHIBITIONS OR RESTRICTIONS ON THE USE OF INCENDIARY WEAPONS (PROTOCOL III)

Article 1

Definitions

For the purpose of this Protocol:

1. "Incendiary weapon" means any weapon or munition which is primarily
designed to set fire to objects or to cause burn injury to persons
through the action of flame, heat, or a combination thereof, produced by
a chemical reaction of a substance delivered on the target.

(a) Incendiary weapons can take the form of, for example, flame
throwers, fougasses, shells, rockets, grenades, mines, bombs and other
containers of incendiary substances.

(b) Incendiary weapons do not include:

(i) Munitions which may have incidental incendiary effects, such
as illuminants, tracers, smoke or signalling systems;

(ii) Munitions designed to combine penetration, blast or
fragmentation effects with an additional incendiary effect,
such as armour-piercing projectiles, fragmentation shells,
explosive bombs and similar combined-effects munitions in
which the incendiary effect is not specifically designed to
cause burn injury to persons, but to be used against military
objectives, such as armoured vehicles, aircraft and
installations or facilities.

2. "Concentration of civilians" means any concentration of civilians, be
it permanent or temporary, such as in inhabited parts of cities, or
inhabited towns or villages, or as in camps or columns of refugees or
evacuees, or groups of nomads.

3. "Military objective" means, so far as objects are concerned, any
object which by its nature, location, purpose or use makes an effective
contribution to military action and whose total or partial destruction
capture or neutralization, in the circumstances ruling at the time,
offers a definite military advantage.

4. "Civilian objects" are all objects which are not military objectives
as defined in paragraph 3.

5. "Feasible precautions" are those precautions which are practicable or
practically possible taking into account all circumstances ruling at the
time, including humanitarian and military considerations.

Article 2

Protection of civilians and civilian objects

1.It is prohibited in all circumstances to make the civilian population
as such, individual civilians or civilian objects the object of attack by
incendiary weapons.

2. It is prohibited in all circumstances to make any military objective
located within a concentration of civilians the object of attack by
air-delivered incendiary weapons.

3. It is further prohibited to make any military objective located within
a concentration of civilians the object of attack by means of incendiary
weapons other than air-delivered incendiary weapons, except when such
military objective is clearly separated from the concentration of
civilians and all feasible precautions are taken with a view to limiting
the incendiary effects to the military objective and to avoiding, and in
any event to minimizing, incidental loss of civilian life, injury to
civilians and damage to civilian objects.

4. It is prohibited to make forests or other kinds of plant cover the
object of attack by incendiary weapons except when such natural elements
are used to cover, conceal or camouflage combatants or other military
objectives, or are themselves military objectives.

American pilots dropped the controversial incendiary agent napalm on Iraqi troops during the advance on Baghdad. The attacks caused massive fireballs that obliterated several Iraqi positions.

The Pentagon denied using napalm at the time, but Marine pilots and their commanders have confirmed that they used an upgraded version of the weapon against dug-in positions. They said napalm, which has a distinctive smell, was used because of its psychological effect on an enemy.

A 1980 UN convention banned the use against civilian targets of napalm, a terrifying mixture of jet fuel and polystyrene that sticks to skin as it burns. The US, which did not sign the treaty, is one of the few countries that makes use of the weapon. It was employed notoriously against both civilian and military targets in the Vietnam war.

The upgraded weapon, which uses kerosene rather than petrol, was used in March and April, when dozens of napalm bombs were dropped near bridges over the Saddam Canal and the Tigris river, south of Baghdad.

"We napalmed both those [bridge] approaches," said Colonel James Alles, commander of Marine Air Group 11. "Unfortunately there were people there ... you could see them in the [cockpit] video. They were Iraqi soldiers. It's no great way to die. The generals love napalm. It has a big psychological effect."

A former Intel software engineer admitted Wednesday that he and five other men were prepared to take up arms and die as martyrs if necessary to defend the former Taliban government in Afghanistan.

Maher "Mike" Hawash's surprise plea deal with federal prosecutors requires him to testify against his alleged co-conspirators in exchange for a seven- to 10-year prison sentence. Experts say Hawash's cooperation strengthens the government's case against the remaining six defendants.

Noticeably absent from Wednesday's hearing were the throngs of friends and supporters who publicly protested on Hawash's behalf at previous hearings.

Hawash pleaded guilty to one count: conspiring to contribute services to the Taliban. The charge relates to his participation in an October 2001 trip in which he and five other men flew from Portland to China in an unsuccessful attempt to reach the Afghan battlefield. A seventh defendant never left the country.

If the 21st century is to be well started, we need a national agenda that is worked out in concert with the people, a healing agenda that is built on a true national consensus. Millions of Americans got the impression that George W. Bush wanted to be a "healer, not a divider", a president devoted first and foremost to "honor and integrity." Yet far from uniting the people, the president's ideologically narrow agenda has seriously divided America. His most partisan supporters have launched a kind of 'civil cold war' against those with whom they disagree.

And as for honor and integrity, let me say this: we know what that was all about, but hear me well, not as a candidate for any office, but as an American citizen who loves my country:

For eight years, the Clinton-Gore Administration gave this nation honest budget numbers; an economic plan with integrity that rescued the nation from debt and stagnation; honest advocacy for the environment; real compassion for the poor; a strengthening of our military -- as recently proven -- and a foreign policy whose purposes were elevated, candidly presented and courageously pursued, in the face of scorched-earth tactics by the opposition. That is also a form of honor and integrity, and not every administration in recent memory has displayed it.

So I would say to those who have found the issue of honor and integrity so useful as a political tool, that the people are also looking for these virtues in the execution of public policy on their behalf, and will judge whether they are present or absent.

"We need to recognize a government that would deny a gay man a bridal registry is a fascist one."
- Margaret Cho

Despite all the new laws, rules, lawsuits and headlines over the last year, earnings reports continue to overstate corporate income.

Despite all the new laws, rules, lawsuits and headlines over the last year, earnings reports continue to overstate corporate income.

Kellogg Canada next week will launch the All-Bran Two-Week Challenge, a national marketing effort featuring actor William Shatner.

The campaign is intended to encourage Canadians to take charge of their health by increasing their daily fiber intake with just a half cup per day of All-Bran Original.

LEONARD Nimoy, who ruffled religious feathers last year when he published a nude photography book, "Shekhina," based on his study of the Jewish mysticism Kaballah, is taking his act to the stage. Elisa Monte, a former principal dancer with the Martha Graham dance company, is choreographing a piece based on Nimoy's photos that bows Nov. 19 at NYU's new Skirball Center. Meanwhile, Nimoy hasn't been keeping close tabs on former "Star Trek" shipmate William Shatner. The former Mr. Spock told us he was unaware that Shatner was hosting "Iron Chef USA" on the Food Network. "Bill has his own energy," Nimoy chuckled to PAGE SIX. "We're very good friends, but we don't necessarily follow what each other is doing."