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WASHINGTON - A study by two nonprofit journalism organizations found that President Bush and top administration officials issued hundreds of false statements about the national security threat from Iraq in the two years following the 2001 terrorist attacks. The study concluded that the statements "were part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses." The study was posted Tuesday on the Web site of the Center for Public Integrity, which worked with the Fund for Independence in Journalism. White House spokesman Scott Stanzel did not comment on the merits of the study Tuesday night but reiterated the administration's position that the world community viewed Iraq's leader, Saddam Hussein, as a threat. "The actions taken in 2003 were based on the collective judgment of intelligence agencies around the world," Stanzel said. The study counted 935 false statements in the two-year period. It found that in speeches, briefings, interviews and other venues, Bush and administration officials stated unequivocally on at least 532 occasions that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction or was trying to produce or obtain them or had links to al-Qaida or both. "It is now beyond dispute that Iraq did not possess any weapons of mass destruction or have meaningful ties to al-Qaida," according to Charles Lewis and Mark Reading-Smith of the Fund for Independence in Journalism staff members, writing an overview of the study. "In short, the Bush administration led the nation to war on the basis of erroneous information that it methodically propagated and that culminated in military action against Iraq on March 19, 2003." Named in the study along with Bush were top officials of the administration during the period studied: Vice President Dick Cheney, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and White House press secretaries Ari Fleischer and Scott McClellan. Bush led with 259 false statements, 231 about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and 28 about Iraq's links to al-Qaida, the study found. That was second only to Powell's 244 false statements about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and 10 about Iraq and al-Qaida. The center said the study was based on a database created with public statements over the two years beginning on Sept. 11, 2001, and information from more than 25 government reports, books, articles, speeches and interviews. "The cumulative effect of these false statements — amplified by thousands of news stories and broadcasts — was massive, with the media coverage creating an almost impenetrable din for several critical months in the run-up to war," the study concluded. "Some journalists — indeed, even some entire news organizations — have since acknowledged that their coverage during those prewar months was far too deferential and uncritical. These mea culpas notwithstanding, much of the wall-to-wall media coverage provided additional, 'independent' validation of the Bush administration's false statements about Iraq," it said. ___ Article By DOUGLASS K. DANIEL, Associated Press Writer
Center For Public Integrity: http://www.publicintegrity.org/default.aspx Fund For Independence in Journalism: http://www.tfij.org/
Tags: Bush Iraq Lies False
MONTPELIER, Vt.- A man who says he bit into a Burger King sandwich and found an unwrapped condom inside has sued the owner of the restaurant.
Van Miguel Hartless, 24, of Fair Haven, said Friday he bought the Southwestern Whopper at a Burger King in Rutland on June 18 and made the discovery when he got home and started eating it.
"My third bite into the burger, it was just a foreign taste," he said. "It was a very sour, bitter sort of taste. It almost had a numbing sensation.
"As I went to bite down a little harder, I felt a rubber grind in between my teeth. I saw it half in my mouth, half hanging out. It was an immediate sick-to-my-stomach type of thing."
Hartless said he waited three weeks before contacting an attorney. His lawsuit, filed Nov. 16, names store owner Carrols Corp., of Syracuse, N.Y., and seeks damages for pain and suffering, emotional duress and medical expenses.
Messages left with Carrols Corp. were not returned Friday. A spokeswoman for Burger King said it has referred the matter to Carrols Corp.
Similar claims have turned out to be fraudulent in other cases. A California couple was sentenced to nine years in prison in 2006 for planting a severed finger in a bowl of Wendy's chili in a scheme to extort money from the fast-food chain.
Hartless, a student at Green Mountain College, defended his claim.
A search of court filings in Rutland Superior Court — where Hartless' suit was filed — and the Civil Court in El Paso, Texas, where he lived before showed no prior or existing lawsuits, according to the Rutland Herald, which first reported the lawsuit Friday.
Hartless' lawyer, Devin McLaughlin, said he had Hartless undergo a lie detector test before the suit was filed, and that he passed "with flying colors."
Hartless said he has suffered from vomiting, nightmares and emotional distress. He said he also has incurred medical expenses, because he's worried about whether the condom had been used.
He said stored the sandwich and its original wrapper in a plastic bag in a freezer in his garage.
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The other day, hangout with Kuipers...I was able to watch the show Assy McGee...Man what a waste of time. We were waiting for Moral Orel to come on and this piece of trash was on before it. The show did have a couple of some-what funny parts...but for a show thats main character looks like this:  only wearing socks, shoes, a gun and hostler - you would expect more laughs.
Nothing beats getting woken up, after having slept only a few hours - so you can clear the driveway of snow. What is the deal with this snow? Its really lightweight, until you step on it....Then it has no problem compacting down, into a block my cheap plastic shovel can't move. The physics right is great to go a compact snow. Those ice crystals my be in just the right shape around the nuclei of the snow flake to allow this to happen at this temperature. Sure beats the wet snow though. 
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