A Minnesota court confirmed Monday that Democrat Al Franken won the most votes in his 2008 Senate race against Republican Norm Coleman, who had already announced plans to appeal the decision.
Minn. Court Declares Franken Leading Vote-getter

Coleman is expected to appeal. But I would have to agree with the following analysis:

April 13, 2009

Initial Thoughts on the Decision in the Coleman-Franken Dispute: Coleman’s Chances on Appeal Appear Quite Small

I have taken a very quick look at the opinion of the three judge court in the Coleman election contest. Here are some initial thoughts.

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Even NPR made a big deal at the beginning of the Democratic convention about identifying and interviewing the hard core Clinton supporters who have frequently said they would vote for McCain, if Obama was the Democratic candidate.  Once Hillary Clinton told them to get real, forget the ego part of the issue, that if they really supported her in the first place they would not consider voting for McCain, and then was followed by Bill Clinton’s complete and total support for Obama,  they seem to have vanished from the landscape.  That was then sealed by Hillary Clinton calling for a suspension of the roll call and selecting Obama by acclamation which was preceding by nearly all of her delegates polling for Obama anyway. I don’t remember hearing any dissent at that point at all.

They seem to have dropped off the news reporters’ radar.   I have suspected all along that their numbers were inflated by the news services to the point that if Iraqi war opponents had been given the same proportional news coverage, that would have been just about all we heard in the news for the past five years.  It looks like virtually all of Clinton’s convention support had transitioned to Obama well before the convention started, and those delegates were selected in most states long enough ago that they should have included a significant proportion of the hard core had it been a real factor in the first place.  If they had been as numerous as previously reported there should have been more noise made by them at the convention.   I don’t remember seeing any and the news services had to dig to find anything at all and then seem to have dropped them as an issue, too, apparently.

It really looks to me like a lot of the hoopla was planted from outside by those who were never Clinton supporters in the first place.

*

Uh, oh!

See how Russia’s ‘PRAVDA‘ sees it.”

** ESCALATION UPDATE **

(Cross posted from How This Old Brit Sees It)

*

Cor blimey, Charlie. Can you Adam & Eve it?

(For the none intelligent intelligence types (lagging behind) among us, that’s Cockney rhyming slang.)

Take all the time you need to try to figure it out for yourself if you can’t comprehend all that quickly. Since from here on in, we’re staying schtum on said subject. After all, who ever said we were here to educate enemies? Especially, enemies within.

(Sarcastic British black humour ends.)

Unfortunately, much as we’d cherish the chance to show certain special things, we can’t.

But we can show you - and speak shout out about - what follows below, since it’s now in the public domain.

CIA destroyed interrogation tapes

The CIA destroyed the tapes when being scrutinised over secret prisons The CIA has confirmed that it destroyed at least two video tapes showing the interrogation of terror suspects.

According to the intelligence agency, the tapes were destroyed to protect the identity of CIA agents and because they no longer had intelligence value.

But civil liberties lawyers have refused to accept this, saying the CIA previously denied such tapes existed.

They say the move appears to be an attempt to destroy evidence that could have brought CIA agents to account.

The New York Times, which broke the story, quotes current and former government officials as saying the CIA destroyed the tapes in 2005 as it faced Congressional and legal scrutiny about its secret detention program.

Officials feared the tapes could have raised doubts about the legality of the CIA’s techniques, the newspaper says.

Well now, slap us in the kisser with wet flat fish and flatten us all with that fabled feather duster! Surprise, surprise. NOT.

They can recognise a vehicle registration plate from satellites circling in space. They can examine at will every single one of everyone’s emails with ease. They can continually listen in to (and tape), all of our telephone talks.

Yet they can’t (like even the most unsophisticated civilian TV techies do daily), simply blank or fuzz out faces?

Yeah, sure. And the band played ‘Believe me if you like’.

Call this continual load of lying crap what you want to - coincidence, conspiracy, careless - or perhaps to put it more politely, a clear cut (and dried) case of economy of truth.

Whatever you care to call it, remember the famous literary line, “A Rose by any other name” ?

There are also questions over whether CIA agents withheld information from the courts and a presidential commission.

The CIA’s failure to make the tapes available to a federal court hearing the case of the terror suspect Zacarias Moussaoui or to the 9/11 Commission could amount to obstruction of justice, according to the New York Times.

Well, we say the CIA are shower of slimey serial liars. What’s more, we challenge absolutely anyone to prove us wrong.

Read the rest of this report.

*(Cross posted at How This Old Brit See It)

Moshe Kanovsky jumped to his death from the 69th floor of New York’s Empire State Building yesterday, forcing all of his childhood friends to revisit an ethical dilemma that was presented by their mothers many years ago:

Well, if Moshe Kanovsky jumped off the Empire State Building, would you have to jump off the Empire State Building, too?

Bolivian president Evo Morales

Bolivian troops seize key smelter

The Bolivian government has seized control of the country’s largest, privately-run tin smelter complex. Signing a decree nationalising the Vinto complex, President Evo Morales said there were no immediate plans to pay compensation to the site’s owners. More than 200 Bolivian soldiers were sent to occupy the complex, run by Swiss company Glencore.

Opposition Party Activists Killed In Pakistan

Authorities have confirmed that six members of the main opposition Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) have been shot and killed by unidentified gunmen. The attack also wounded two other people in the town of Attock located west of Islamabad. The heightened political tensions are due to the upcoming general elections scheduled for late 2007 or early 2008.

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USA

Marine Withdraws Guilty Plea

A military judge granted a Marine corporal’s request Thursday to withdraw his guilty plea to charges of murdering an unarmed Iraqi civilian, but warned the serviceman that he could be sentenced to death if convicted.

Cpl. Trent Thomas, 25, pleaded guilty as part of a pretrial agreement to several charges Jan. 18, including kidnapping and murder, in the slaying of 52-year-old Hashim Ibrahim Awad in Hamdania last year. But Thomas said Thursday that he no longer believes he’s guilty and was following a lawful order.

U.S. airstrike on rebels reportedly kills civilians

A U.S. airstrike Thursday killed 13 insurgents in a volatile area west of Baghdad, the military said. Local officials said 45 civilians, including women and children, died in the attack. American forces launched the attack after intelligence showed suspected insurgents were assembled in two safe houses for foreign fighters northeast of Amiriyah, 25 miles west of Baghdad, the military said.

Five militants were detained and a weapons cache including armor-piercing ammunition was found in an initial raid on a nearby target, the military said. That operation was followed by the airstrike on the two suspected safe houses in which the military said 13 insurgents died. Police and hospital officials in the area offered a conflicting account, saying the airstrike hit the village of Zaidan south of Abu Ghraib and flattened four houses, killing 45 people, including women, children and old people.

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Gates says he hopes to begin bringing troops home from Iraq late this year

Defense Secretary Robert Gates testified today that if President Bush’s new plan for Iraq succeeds, he hopes to begin bringing home U.S. troops late this year, but cautioned that U.S. forces will likely remain in Iraq “for a number of years.”

Army made video warning about dangers of depleted uranium but never showed it to troops

A special investigation on the effects of depleted uranium reveals the Army made a tape warning of the effects of depleted uranium which was never shown to troops despite the fact the Pentagon knew the agent to be potentially deadly, CNN reports Tuesday.

Depleted uranium — or DU — was used in the Gulf War as a projectile that could penetrate tank armor. A group of soldiers are suing the US government because they are sick from exposure; despite the unshown video, the Army denies that depleted uranium represents a serious health risk.

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Iran envoy ‘abducted in Baghdad’

An Iranian diplomat has been kidnapped by gunmen in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, Tehran has confirmed. Jalal Sharafi, the embassy’s second secretary, was abducted from his car on Sunday in central Karrada district by men wearing Iraqi army uniforms. Iran condemned the kidnapping and said it held the US responsible for his life. A US military spokesman said no US or Iraqi troops were involved.

(I think there’s a lesson here: when you openly state that your official policy allows for the abduction and asssassination of Iranian envoys, then you will be blamed when they are abducted or assassinated.–g)

EuropeanCar industry facing 18% CO2 cut

The European Commission is proposing forcing carmakers to make an 18% cut in CO2 emissions from new cars by 2012. A spokesman said the commission was aiming for a 25% cut in car emissions overall, with the “bulk of the effort” coming from better motor technology. The rest of the cut is expected to be achieved by measures such as greater use of biofuels and better tires.

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China offers Sudan unrestricted aid as abuses continue in Darfur region

In Sudan, China’s No-Strings Aid Undermines the West

Last week China’s leader, Hu Jintao, provided Sudan with an interest-free loan to build a presidential palace. With that gesture, Hu demonstrated his contempt for the Western understanding of the world — and for Western policy toward his own country.

Sudan, you will recall, is the scene of the Darfur genocide. Since the killing began three years ago, the United States and its allies have flown in food and medicines, provided logistical help and money for a token African peacekeeping force, and done their best to isolate the Sudanese regime, which orchestrates the massacres. They have done this not because they have a selfish interest in Darfur but because tossing babies into bonfires is a crime against humanity.

Vietnam detains rights lawyers

Police in Vietnam have detained two lawyers who organised the country’s first public training in human rights law. The two lawyers, Nguyen Van Dai and Le Thi Cong Nhan , who are both democracy activists, were arrested on Saturday, other activists say. The men were held for two days while their homes and offices were searched.

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