Ailing Castro gives power to brother

Castro said he would also temporarily relinquish his duties as first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba to Raul, who turned 75 in June and who has been taking on a more public profile in recent weeks....more

Lebanon oil spill crisis

The Lebanese government has appealed for help to clean up a huge oil spill along its coastline created after Israel bombed a power plant....more

I Think The Folk's At The Ministry of Tourism Are Out Of A Job?

LEBANON: An environmental disaster looms

This Look's Like A Job For Halliburton.When all this fighting is over, just think of all the big fat contracts Halliburton can get for reconstructing a ruined Lebanon

Too Late for Empire
Jonathan Schell
Anyone who wants to write about the constitutional crisis unfolding in the United States today faces a peculiar problem at the outset.....more

Lieberman's shameless race baiting flyer (and a few words)

Here's the racist flyer from team Joementum that everyone is dying to see. Read it and puke....more

Go Ned

Assad tells Syrian army to get ready

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has told the Syrian military to raise its readiness, pledging not to abandon support for Lebanese resistance against Israel....more

A tragic reminder of the slave trade

The Senegalese seem to really like Americans, which may seem odd these days, as ninety percent of them are Moslems.....more

Mayor envisions no-car downtown

A bus system, called circulators, would take residents between home and work and a night on the town by 2010.....more

Israeli attack draws outrage

Western and Arab leaders have condemned Israel's attack on a village in south Lebanon. Close to 550 Lebanese, most of them civilians, have been killed in Israel's 19-day-old war on Lebanon....more

Timeless Cartoon

Republicans afraid to say they are…Republicans

Nasrallah: Israel wants cease-fire, U.S. opposed

In a televised speech Saturday evening, Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah vowed rocket strikes on towns in central Israel....more

Israel is serving its American master

How can the American people accept their elected President (?) George W. Bush's rejection of a ceasefire?

Judge to Bucs: No more fan patdowns

The team's security policy of patdown searches for fans at home games is unconstitutional, a federal judge rules. "A generalized fear of terrorism should not diminish the fundamental Fourth Amendment protection envisioned by our Founding Fathers.....more

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
Benjamin Franklin

Gone with the wind

Since hurricane Katrina battered New Orleans almost a year ago, the population has halved. Amid the debris and regret, Gary Younge finds a city losing its soul.....more

Graham CRACKer Crust Bust
Who knew “New York-style cheesecake” meant “with a side of crack”?

When The Bitch heard that employees of three prominent CocoWalk eateries had been busted for running informal pharmacological operations, she got on the case; the touristy shopping zone may not contain a Nordstrom, but, hey, it's within trotting distance.....more

Denmark is the happiest country in the world

Danes came out top in the survey that measured health, wealth, education, sense of identity and the aesthetic quality of the landscape. The United States was 23rd, Germany came in at number 35, and Britain ranked 41st....more

Chicago Approves Living Wage Over Objections of Mayor, Wal Mart
The Chicago City Council has approved a measure requiring large retailers to pay employees a living wage – making Chicago the largest city with such a rule....more

"You know Ann Coulter? She was on CNBC today and she said 'Bill Clinton is gay.' Please, just because she's the only woman on the planet he wouldn't have sex with doesn't make him gay.".......Jay Leno

Tide of Arab Opinion Turns to Support for Hezbollah

At the onset of the Lebanese crisis, Arab governments, starting with Saudi Arabia, slammed Hezbollah for recklessly provoking a war, providing what the United States and Israel took as a wink and a nod to continue the fight....more

Al-Qaida's called Thursday for Muslims to unite in a holy war against Israel'

Can Democrats Take Back the U.S. House? Is Florida a Battleground?

Given the shift in the electorate, the shockwaves could reach far from Washington DC, through Tallahassee, to cities and counties across Florida......more

Among the nation's dirtiest

Progress Energy's power plant in Crystal River has four coal units - and once again, it makes a national list of polluters.....more

Beltway planned to skirt Tampa
The toll road would run from the northern part of Manatee County, through eastern Hillsborough, west across southern Pasco County and into northern Pinellas....more

"Our emphasis needs to be on mass transit, not additional beltways and expressways," Mayor Pam Iorio

Harris Demands Dean Apologize For Comparison To Stalin

TAMPA, Fla. -- U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris' Senate campaign demanded an apology Thursday from Democratic Party chairman Howard Dean, who during a Florida stop this week likened her to former Soviet ruler Joseph Stalin....more

Israel’s Barrier to Peace

Editor’s note: The former Middle East bureau chief for The New York Times and author of the bestseller “War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning” examines the way Israel’s security wall has ripped a mortal gash in the lives of Palestinians living in its shadow, and argues that there can be no hope for peace in the Middle East as long as America continues to aid Israel in its dehumanizing practices....more

Howard Dean compares Katherine Harris to Stalin

West Palm Beach -- Democrat leader Howard Dean called the Iraqi prime minister an "anti-Semite" during an address before party loyalists on Wednesday. The Democratic National Committee chairman also called Republican Senate candidate Katherine Harris a "crook" and compared her to Stalin....more

Blood in Beirut: $75.05 a Barrel

The failure to stop the bloodletting in the Middle East, Exxon’s record second-quarter profits and Iran’s nuclear cat-and-mouse game have something in common — it’s the oil....more

Americans 'too fat for x-rays'

Some scans are unable to penetrate the excess fat
Increasing numbers of Americans are becoming too fat to fit into X-ray machines, US researchers report.....more

Narcotics for Sale at Drug Clinics

Doctors at some drug treatment clinics in Turkmenistan are selling illegal narcotics instead of treating their patients....more

President Bush Sues Dixie Chicks over Hail to the Chief

Acting on information gained from cell phone surveillance, President Bush filed suit in a Washington, D.C., court yesterday to stop the Dixie Chicks from using "Hail to the Chief" to herald their arrival on stage during their present concert tour....more

South African site helps HIV sufferers find love on line

South African Ben Sassman, founder of the Internet web site "The Positive Connection," seen here 10 July 2006 in Johannesburg....more

The Positive Connection

Why Is the US in Iraq?
David Corn

Bush has led the United States into a rough thicket in Iraq. It has taken him months--perhaps years--to acknowledge the troubles there....more

The Republican War

About the other day...here

Peres to Lebanese: It's us or Hezbollah

Vice Premier Shimon Peres yesterday called on the citizens of Lebanon to get Hezbollah to disarm. "We are distressed to see how time and again your green country turns into burned black patches and heaps of ruins,".....more

Ancient Psalms Found Preserved in Irish Bog

Some people call it the Irish equivalent of the Dead Sea Scrolls....more

Medea Benjamin Arrested For Disrupting Iraqi Prime Minister’s Congressional Address

"Iraqis want the troops to leave, bring them home now! Listen to the Iraqis!" Benjamin repeated the statement several times before she was forcefully lifted from her seat, handcuffed, and escorted out by Capitol police.....more