"Robertson Apologizes for Chavez Remark" reads the Fox News headline Aug. 24. Actually, what he did was lie about what he said. From Blog for America, Aug. 25:

Pat Robertson announced yesterday that his comments on last weekend's "700 Club" were misinterpreted and that his use of the phrase "take him out" did not mean killing:

The metronomically predictable Ann Coulter is the latest to jump all over Cindy Sheehan for something she didn't say. Writes Ann for FrontPageMag Aug. 18:

On the bright side, Sheehan shows us what Democrats would say if they thought they were immunized from disagreement. Sheehan has called President Bush "that filth-spewer and warmonger." She says "America has been killing people on this continent since it was started" and "the killing has gone on unabated for over 200 years." She calls the U.S. government a "morally repugnant system" and says, "This country is not worth dying for." I have a feeling every time this gal opens her trap, Michael Moore gets a residuals check.

The standoff between President Bush and Cindy Sheehan is escalating again, with emotional appeals from both sides, each invoking sacrifices made by Americans after 9-11, the Washington Post reports Aug. 26. In a briefing for reporters after her return to Crawford, TX, Sheehan said she is planning an antiwar bus tour of the country next month, ending Sept. 24 in Washington, where she plans to set up a permanent vigil until Bush agrees to meet with her, as she has sought in Texas.

From New York Newsday:

Driver unknowingly crushes elderly woman in tragic case

BY JEROME BURDI and ROCCO PARASCANDOLA
STAFF WRITERS

August 27, 2005

An elderly woman who survived Auschwitz was killed Friday morning after she was run over by a truck turning a corner in Manhattan.

Leah Zimmerman, who was 86 and lived in Greenwich Village, died instantly, her head crushed by the 10-wheeleras it turned east onto West 14th Street, from Sixth Avenue.Edmund McMullen, 45, the truck driver, apparently did not see the woman, police said.

From ArtVoice of Buffalo, NY, online at MediaStudy:

I Raq and Roll Right into Fascism:
Donald Rumsfeld’s 9/11 Folly

by Michael I. Niman

Earlier this month, when Internet news reports quoted Donald Rumsfeld announcing that the Defense Department would use public funds to organize a pro-war rally on the fourth anniversary of the September 11 th attacks, many people assumed this to be an urban myth. It couldn’t be true. Rumsfeld’s supposed quest to defile the memory of 9/11 victims by pimping their tragic deaths to support an unrelated war represents a new low – even for the unabashed arrogance of the Bush administration. “Bad taste" is an understatement. This is like bringing home a hooker on your wedding anniversary. But lo and behold, this story is for real.

Via TruthOut:

More Images of Abu Ghraib
By Ari Berman
The Nation

Monday 22 August 2005

There's a new batch of photos from Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, and these are reportedly far worse than the sickening originals. Naturally, the Pentagon is trying to block their release.

The ACLU filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request in October 2003 to make public 87 photographs and four videos depicting prisoner abuse in Iraq. The Pentagon originally argued that releasing the images would violate the Geneva Convention rights of the detainees; a supreme irony considering that the US originally denied these very prisoners Geneva Convention protections. The ACLU agreed that the Pentagon could black out "identifying characteristics," but a federal judge in New York ruled last week that DoD must explain publicly why it's concealing the images. "By and large, I ruled for public disclosure," said US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein. A final ruling is expected on August 30.

From Survival International, Aug. 22:

The Botswana government has launched a massive crackdown on the Bushmen of the central Kalahari aimed at destroying their way of life. The move comes despite the resumption of the Bushmen's three-year court case against the government for evicting them from their ancestral lands in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve.

• The government has announced that it is putting guards around the Central Kalahari Game Reserve to blockade the area and stop Bushmen going in.

From Newsday:

Road rage rampage ends with SUV on sidewalk, seven hurt

BY LUIS PEREZ and PETE BOWLES
STAFF WRITERS

August 24, 2005

What began as road rage turned into several terrifying moments Tuesday when an out-of-control sport utility vehicle raced onto a sidewalk in midtown and slammed into six people.

The six suffered minor injuries, as did a police lieutenant whose arm had become caught in the driver's window and was dragged along for the bumpy two-block ride. The vehicle slammed into a car, jumped the curb, hit two pedestrians and barreled into a concrete barrier where four people were sitting in front of 1411 Broadway between 39th and 40th streets.