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Terror label 'paves way for air strikes' By Philip Sherwell in New York, Sunday Telegraph Last Updated: 1:41am BST 26/08/2007 The White House's plans to designate Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps as a terrorist organisation are intended to give the Bush administration cover if it launches military strikes on the Islamic republic, according to a prominent former CIA officer. Washington accuses Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps of backing attacks on American forces in Iraq Robert Baer, who was a high-ranking operative in the Middle East, said last week that senior government officials had told him the administration was preparing for air strikes...

An ordinary trip to the supermarket meat department could turn into an experience in international comparison-shopping under House legislation scheduled to be debated today that for the first time would require meat products to be labeled by their country of origin. The farm bill House members will consider includes a provision mandating that meat -- including beef, pork and lamb -- include a label stating where it came from. Only meat from animals born, raised and slaughtered in the United States would be eligible for a domestic label. The measure aims to enforce a five-year-old law that has already been...

Rocker Jon Bon Jovi is threatening legal action against the makers of energy drink Mijovi -- because he thinks the beverage bears too much similarity to his own name. Marcos Carrington launched the coffee-based product in 2004 and claims he was inspired to name the drink Mijovi after his girlfriend Jovita. But the singer is demanding Carrington change the product label -- which is also marketed using the slogans "itsmijovi" and "itsmilife" -- or face a court battle. In a recent letter to Carrington, Bon Jovi's lawyer Peter Laird says, "As you should be aware, one of Bon Jovi's most...

We often argue about left/right or conservative/progressive (liberal is a misnomer in the classical sense). I thought a little diversion from the standard debates might be interesting. The link to the Political Compass will allow anyone interested to see where their beliefs fall. It assesses your beliefs both economically and socially, take the test to see where you fall. My score: Economic Left/Right: 6.00 Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -1.33 I don't claim to be another Milton Friedman, but my score places my political compass beliefs close to his, far right economically and moderate socially.

Self-medicating sheep shake off the 'stupid' label 10:00 01 May 2006 From New Scientist CAN sick sheep write their own prescriptions? Almost, since it seems that sheep can select the correct medicine to treat a specific ailment. In anecdotal reports, primates have been observed engaging in self-medication by selecting a specific plant when something has made them ill. Now biologists at Utah State University, Logan, have run experiments that show sheep choosing the right drug to cure an illness. Juan Villalba and colleagues gave lambs food and mild poisons - either grains, tannins or oxalic acid - that made them...

WASHINGTON – It has to be rough right now, being a lobbyist in the nation's capital. Perhaps it is also rough being Brian Bilbray. He's the congressman-turned-lobbyist-turn-ed-congressional candidate who must convince voters that he is part of the solution to the ethically challenged climate on Capitol Hill, rather than part of the problem. As tales of bribery dominate the headlines and lawmakers scramble to curb the influence lobbyists have on Congress, Bilbray finds himself unique among the 50th District candidates for his experience as a member of Congress, and as a lobbyist seeking to influence members. “If you're a lobbyist,...

A group of people dressed as sperm cross a main avenue during a campaign promoting use of condoms in Bogota, Colombia, in this May 18, 2005 file photo. Roman Catholic priests in a Colombian town are furious over a councilman's proposal that people 14 and older must carry a condom at all times to reduce unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases, Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2006. (AP Photo/ Javier Galeano, file)

WASHINGTON, Dec. 4, 2005 – U.S. military officials in Iraq today labeled a video as "disinformation" that was posted to a terrorist Web site and aired by some media showing the roadside bomb attack that killed 10 U.S. Marines on Dec. 1. "The circumstances of the IED attack near Fallujah do not match those shown on the video," they added in a statement. The videos authenticity has not been determined, but "the statement claiming that the video shows the Dec. 1 attack near Fallujah is false," the officials said. In other news, Army and Air Force units teamed up...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 30, 2005 – "Insurgents" just seems like too positive a word to describe terrorists in Iraq and implies a level of legitimacy they don't have and don't deserve, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told Pentagon reporters Nov. 29. The secretary mused during a Pentagon news briefing about terms that might be more appropriate: "terrorists" and "enemies of the government" among them. "We frequently call them insurgents, (but) I'm a little reluctant to, for some reason," Rumsfeld said. "They don't have broad support in that country. ... They're against a legitimate government. ... There are also growing divisions among...

Sen. John Kerry to the St. Louis Post Dispatch, 1991 "Labels don't mean anything." Sen. John Kerry in the second debate with President Bush, 2004 Unfortunately for Democrat John Kerry, labels DO mean something. Kerry's career-long affiliation with a political ideology built on big government, high taxes and a weak record on national defense and foreign policy is the ball and chain shackled to his presidential campaign. It's George W. Bush's ace in the hole in the president's drive to persuade an evenly divided electorate that Kerry is out of step with mainstream political values and represents a risk not...

Given what I had written about them, I had no right to expect my lunch companions to be friendly. But apart from one fraught moment (of which more later), the spokesmen for the international music industry were perfectly amicable. I had written several columns and editorials arguing that the internet had deprived the record companies of their purpose, that the bullying of teenagers who downloaded free music smacked of desperation and that the industry's only hope of survival was finding a new business model. Determined to convince me that I was wrong were Jay Berman, chairman of the International Federation...

Last night, President George W. Bush brought the L-word out of the closet. He pointed out that Senator Kerry has been named the most liberal senator on Capitol Hill. Kerry lurched to his feet, and stated, "Let's stay away from labels. Labels don't mean anything." I would like to rebut that statement. Since the dawn of humanity, men found labels necessary to communication. The sentences, "There is a large four-legged furry being with retractable claws and extremely long teeth behind you. This is one of those beings that tends to eat those that are two-legged." would likely take too long,...

A CONTROVERSIAL plan to replace national origin labels with "Made in the EU" was quietly withdrawn yesterday after the EC reported little interest in the idea among the 25 member nations. "There does not seem to be sufficient support for the introduction of a compulsory marking scheme for EU products," the European Commission said. The commission therefore does not consider it worthwhile to pursue this possibility further." Italy and France, along with their fashion industries, suggested the idea of standard rules for labelling products. Italy’s proposal called for a "Made in the EU" label together with the name of the...

One Music Label or Several? Pearl Jam Weighs Options  Brian Babineau/bpbphotography.com Pearl Jam, seen here performing earlier this month in Mansfield, Mass., sells recordings of each of its concerts on the Internet.   By CHRIS NELSON ARTICLE TOOLS                                 TIMES NEWS TRACKER Topics Alerts Pearl Jam Music Recordings (Audio) Copyrights     or the musician who wants to get CD's into stores around the world, the best approach has long been assumed to be signing a contract with an international giant like Sony Music. These...

IRS Says Drug Money Laundered Through Record Label Sat May 3,12:40 PM ET Add Entertainment - Reuters to My Yahoo! By Sue Zeidler LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Murder Inc., a rap label partly owned by the world's biggest music company, Universal Music, allegedly was used to launder money for a drug dealer, according to court papers unsealed this week.   The document, filed in January in Brooklyn federal court by an Internal Revenue Service (news - web sites) special agent, alleges that convicted drug dealer Kenneth McGriff, who was released from prison in 1995, has returned to the drug business,...

U.S. beer giant Anheuser-Busch said Friday it has won the latest round in a worldwide court battle to prevent a Czech brewing company from using the name of its flagship brand, Budweiser. Anheuser-Busch president Stephen Burrows said in a statement Friday that New Zealand's Court of Appeal reversed a High Court decision and ordered Budejovicky Budvar to stop importing, advertising, or selling beer under the Budweiser name. Burrows called the ruling "another significant victory" after it stopped Budvar from using the Budweiser name in Argentina, Australia, Denmark, Finland, Spain and most recently, Italy. Anheuser-Busch, which brews Budweiser and holds the...