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Al Gore, the Vice President under President Bill Clinton and the losing 2000 Democratic Party presidential candidate, last Sunday was in Saudi Arabia, bad-mouthing the United States. Was Gore’s motive money and political ambition? America’s government committed “terrible abuses” against Arabs following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Gore told a Saudi audience at the Jiddah Economic Forum. Arabs had been “indiscriminately rounded up,” said Gore, and held in “unforgivable” conditions. Gore did not mention that 15 of the 19 terrorists who carried out mass murder on September 11 in the United States were Saudis. Nor did Gore mention...

It is more than 20 years later, and Milo Hamilton hasn't forgotten. Not a single minute. Not a single incident. Not a single insult. Not a single word. And now the words are his -- more than 4,000 of them in an explosive chapter in his new autobiography that savages Harry Caray from beginning to end. ''I just felt nobody really knew him,'' Hamilton, who succeeded Jack Brickhouse as the Cubs broadcaster in 1980, said Wednesday from his home in Houston. ''I think it's time they did.'' IN HIS WORDS ''I see [the statue of Harry Caray] every time the...

Former UN Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter, promoting his book in New Mexico, said that Iran simply wants peaceful nuclear power, not nuclear weapons, and that US Ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, already has a speech written for the coming US nuclear bombing of Iran. “We just don’t know when, but it’s going to happen,” Scott Ritter said to a crowd of about 150 at the James A. Little Theater on Sunday night. Ritter described how the U.S. government might justify war with Iran in a scenario similar to the buildup to the Iraq invasion. He also argued that Iran...

Fracas erupts at GOP caucus By Mark LaFlamme, Staff Writer Tuesday, February 7,2006 LEWISTON - Stavros Mendros just wanted to keep the peace. The Republican county caucus was over and most participants had left. But there was still a small group of people there and an argument was getting heated. "There were some pretty nasty words being said. I just kept trying to calm it down, calm it down," Mendros, a city councilor, said Monday, two days after a scuffle at the Republican caucus. "The whole way it developed and exploded just made no sense." Bruce Boutilier, 40, of Auburn...

DETROIT -- Dear Seahawks fans: I've been tough on your team the last few weeks. I've called your club the Sea Frauds and said they didn't belong in a Super Bowl. After watching Sunday night's game, I believe that more than ever. But, as I've also written, your team was blessed all the way to Detroit. This was the first Super Bowl that found itself with two Cinderella stories. These Steelers, the AFC's bottom seed, weren't exactly Terry Bradshaw's Steelers of the late '70s. But although these Steelers were favored by 4 -- and although I picked them 24-14 --...

Upon further review, SportsNation finds insufficient reason to get excited about the Pittsburgh Steelers winning Super Bowl XL in Detroit on Sunday. By beating the Seattle Seahawks 21-10, the Steelers gave Jerome Bettis the perfect parting gift as the burly running back heads into retirement. The Steelers also became just the third franchise to win a fifth Super Bowl, although SportsNation voters still rank them behind the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys for dominance during the Super Bowl era. But while Pittsburgh fans can revel in the moment of Antwaan Randle El's strike to Hines Ward and savor the...

Final confirmation of Supreme Court nominee expected Tuesday WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Judge Samuel Alito stands just one step away from a lifetime appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court after a spirited ninth-inning campaign by some Democratic senators to block his nomination fizzled Monday evening.The final vote on Alito's nomination is now scheduled for Tuesday morning, and, with at least 57 senators on board, approval is virtually assured.Alito's supporters in the Senate, as expected, cleared the final roadblock Monday when senators, by a vote of 72-25, decided to cut off debate and proceed to a final vote, rebuffing an attempt by...

DIRECTOR Steven Spielberg says moviemakers have become much more politically vocal since the re-election of President George W. Bush. In remarks released by Newsweek magazine yesterday, Spielberg said: "I just feel that filmmakers are much more proactive since the second Bush Administration. "I think that everybody is trying to declare their independence and state their case for the things that we believe in. No one is really representing us, so we're now representing our own feelings, and we're trying to strike back."

I'll keep this short and bitter. Every god damned blue state senator who failed to sign on to the Alito filibuster MUST be fought in the primaries and replaced. The Democratic party has failed the rank and file members. It is time to take back the Democratic party from the right wing, loser hacks who have been fumblingly, failingly controlling it and the candidates put forward. I can't believe how many people tell me that they believe the DLC and right wing democrats are really Republican operators. IN the OpEdNews.com/Zogby people's poll I just ran in Pennsylvania, about 29% of...

CNN's CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: 'IRAQ WAR HAS BEEN A DISASTER' Mon Jan 30 2006 21:56:52 ET CNN's top war correspondent Christiane Amanpour now says the Iraq war has been a disaster and has created a "black hole." Amanpour made the comments Monday evening on the all-news network. "The Iraq war has been a disaster. It's a spiraling security disaster," Amanpour explains to Larry King. "It just gets worse and worse." MORE

Senator Joseph Biden (D-DE) failed today to address rumors that Nevada Senator Harry Reid will step down next month as Senate Minority Leader. Reid has been stung by revelations that his political action committee (PAC) accepted more than $60,000 in contributions from Indian tribes linked to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Appearing on CNN's Late Edition, Biden avoided discussing either the Reid situation or any upcoming changes in Senate Democratic leadership. Reid is no stranger to scandal, having been the subject of a 1979 Justice Department probe into allegations that Reid — then Nevada Gaming Commission chairman — had received bribes...

WASHINGTON -- Long-smoldering Democratic dissension flared openly Friday as liberals sought support for a last-minute filibuster of Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito against the advice of leaders worried about a backlash in the 2006 elections. "I reject those notions that there ought to somehow be some political calculus about the future. ... The choice is now," said Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, the party's 2004 presidential candidate and a White House hopeful for 2008. He said it was imperative to fight for "those people who count on us to stand up and protect them." Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., announced she would...

"Senator Clinton will vote against cloture, thereby supporting the filibuster of Judge Alito’s nomination," said Philippe Reines, press secretary to Sen. Clinton.

Filibuster Alito by John Kerry Do I support a filibuster? The answer is yes. Yesterday Senator Kennedy and I spoke with our colleagues about it. I don't have a shred of doubt in my opposition to Sam Alto's nomination. I know Senator Kennedy does not either. He has truly been a great leader in the effort to oppose Judge Alito. I spent a lot of time over the last years thinking about the Supreme Court and who America needs on the highest court in the land. So I don't hesitate a minute in saying that Sam Alito is not that...

NEW ORLEANS -- Gov. Kathleen Blanco complained on Thursday that Louisiana is not getting its fair share of hurricane aid from the federal government. Blanco said that Louisiana suffered 70 percent of the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina but that it is not getting an equivalent amount in aid. "We are all American citizens, we cannot allow ourselves to be treated like second-class citizens," the governor said during an update on rebuilding to the New Orleans city council. Sam Jones, Blanco's deputy director of community programs, pointed out that Louisiana got only $6.2 billion out of $11.5 billion in Community...

Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2006 10:00 p.m. EST President Bush Blamed for Mine Disaster Less than 24-hours after 12 of the 13 workers trapped by a West Virginia mine explosion were found dead, critics were already politicizing the disaster, with at least one mine safety expert blaming President Bush. "This mine should have been closed," former director of the National Mine Safety and Health Academy, Jack Spadaro, told Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes" Wednesday night. "There were too many serious [safety] violations and the record is very clear," he added. Asked why the allegedly unsafe mine continued to operate, Spadaro...

Global petition to stop the war in Iraq Date: 5 Jan 2006 GLOBAL CALL FOR NONVIOLENT CIVIL RESISTANCE TO END THE U.S.-LED MILITARY OCCUPATION OF IRAQ Contact: dm@aglobalcall.org Global Call to Action Voluntown, CT, USA Our website: www.aglobalcall.org FROM: Nobel Peace and Literature Laureates Cindy Sheehan and other peace and human-rights activists Religious leaders of various traditions Prisoners of Conscience Former government ministers Poets, authors, journalists A Global Call for Nonviolent Civil Resistance at U.S. and British government installations around the world has been issued by Nobel Peace and Literature Laureates along with Cindy Sheehan and other peace and human-rights activists, religious...

A too-close-to-call federal election campaign in Canada has spurred the nation’s beleaguered Liberal leader to try and cling to power by attacking the nation’s oldest ally and largest trading partner. That Canada sells 83% of its world exports to the United States and some 50% of all Canadian jobs depend either directly or indirectly on those exports seems irrelevant right now. It’s a bizarre world Up North these days. Prime Minister Paul Martin is in the fight of his political life against Conservative leader Stephen Harper and that’s obviously why he’s been trying to whip up anti-American fervor in the...

DePaul U Confronts Amerikan "Empire" By Steven Plaut FrontPageMagazine.com | January 3, 2006 Q: How do you know when America has crossed the line into an oppressive, occupational empire? A: When DePaul University begins studying it. The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at DePaul and its Dean, one Chuck Suchar (a sociologist), have officially announced a “College Theme Series” entitled “Confronting Empire” for the 2005-6 academic year. This is a DePaul faculty initiative involving the participation of various departments and programs throughout the college. The organizers call themselves the “Empire Committee,” sounding like something out of Star Wars. Naturally,...