Bush battered as Democrats seize House
UK Independent
Published: 08 November 2006
Democrats have won control of the House of Representatives and are challenging the Republican majority in the Senate in a mid-term election blow to President George Bush.
Democrats rode to victory on a powerful wave of public anger over the war in Iraq and scandal at home. They also reclaimed governors' offices throughout the country, giving them a majority for the first time in 12 years.
Under a Democratic House, Bush faces the prospect of stalemate in the final two years of his presidency, with newly empowered Democratic politicians likely to investigate his administration and block his conservative political agenda.
Republicans have controlled both houses of Congress for most of the time since Bush took office in 2001.
Bush monitored the returns from the White House. "They have not gone the way he would have liked," press secretary Tony Snow said of the election returns.
By early morning, Democrats had picked at least 26 House seats held by Republicans, more than enough to guarantee a return to power after 12 years in the minority.
Bush arranged to call Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the leader of House Democrats, then hold a news conference.
Pelosi would become the first woman speaker, or House leader, in history. Pelosi, a liberal who has sharply criticised Bush, would be second in line of succession to the presidency, behind Vice President Dick Cheney.
"Mr. President we need a new direction in Iraq," Pelosi said yesterday.
If the battle for House control was settled, not so the Senate struggle.
Democrats won Republican Senate seats in Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Ohio and Missouri, defeating Sens. Rick Santorum, Mike DeWine, Lincoln Chafee and Jim Talent. But they came up short in Tennessee as Republican Bob Corker won a hotly contested race, defeating Rep. Harold Ford.
That left control of the Senate up in the air, pending the outcome of races in Montana and Virginia. Republican Sens. Conrad Burns and George Allen both trailed, and Democrats needed to win both races to emerge with a majority. The final results are not expected till this afternoon London time.
More:
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article1962535.ece
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Thank you America - You Have Restored Some of My Faith
Wow. Time to celebrate if you have been watching the world slide (Bush driven) towards the edge of hell - or if you've recognised the hell-on-earth in Iraq.
I'm not going to pretend I know much about the structure of American politics, but whatever the final result, Americans, the ordinary decent people, have let Bush know exactly what they think of his dangerous and frankly stupid attitude towards the problem of Iraq and foreign policy.
Thank you to the good people of America - for showing the world that the neocons and blatant rightwing fascists have no place here in the modern world.
They can go hang together.
LET THIS BE A WARNING TO BRITISH GOVERNMENT
Gandhi was right - The fascists will always be beaten in the end. Their way is not the way of rationale or wisdom.
The American people have rallied to save their constitution and their country from the same fate that befell Hitler's Germany.
They know the truth:
Make the world fear you = Make the world hate you.
George Bush thought he could take on the world.
He was wrong.
That's the sad thing really. That he doesn't 'get it'.
Bush failed to represent or respect his own people, let alone the Iraqi people.
He didn't understand that the bravery and strength of the nation he'd sworn to protect, would bring his downfall, despite the threats, despite the destruction of the constitution - he has failed to intimidate and fool the American people.
The vote yesterday told him - If you won't do the right thing - we'll have to do the right thing to stop you.
If you are anywhere near a person who voted to end the Bush regime - (and no matter what happens now, at least the loony flying the plane has been ejected from the controls) please shake their hand for me, give them a pat on the back, or a big kiss, because they have proved how easy it is to admit, We were Wrong.
Now shut down the torture houses, give innocent people back their lives, address the death toll in Iraq, stop the weapons manufacturers making billions out of blood, end the nuclear arms race, stop the US slave labour in Indonesia, address the environment problem, give the New Orleans victims compensation for all the horrors they've suffered and for f*ck sake, help those of us who care a **** for human life to rescue Palestine from genocide
.
Peace,
Endy
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Children in war often show trauma symptoms such as fear, anxiety and chronic bed wetting, says Justine McCabe, a Connecticut cultural anthropologist and clinical psychologist.
"The numbers of people with post-traumatic stress disorder going around Israel and the Palestinian territories are enormous," says McCabe, who has volunteered at the Gaza Community Mental Health Program in Gaza City.
She believes human beings need to develop a non-suffering part of themselves to accept the suffering parts. For Palestinian children, the non-suffering capacity has been greatly reduced and the suffering has become too much to hold, says McCabe.
more:http://journalism.berkeley.edu/projects/arccrisis/ispal-psych.html
Israeli tank fire kills sleeping families
Wednesday 08 November 2006
Israeli tanks have killed at least 18 Palestinians, including sleeping women and children, in the deadliest single attack in Gaza in four years.
Mahmud Assaly, director of Beit Lahiya hospital, said the people were killed when tanks opened fire on several houses early on Wednesday.
Attaf Hamad, a witness, said that tank shells struck and demolished at least four houses in the attack.
More than 40 people were reportedly injured, including seven children and four women, the Palestinian health minister and witnesses said.
"It is the saddest scene and images I have ever seen. We saw legs, we saw heads, we saw hands scattered in the street," Hamad told Reuters.
"I saw people coming out of a house covered in blood. I started screaming to wake up the neighbours."
more:http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/947BD007-AAEA-4B18-89E1-21CCB6593268.htm
The survivors have been taken to three different hospitals in Gaza
The American people have proven they can stand up and defend themselves - now let us all stand up and defend the little countries - who need us desperately. The Palestinians have suffered for far too long. They've been hanging onto a dream for generations - let us help them make that dream, a dream of peace - into a reality.
They need help -as do the people of Iraq.
For the sake of humanity.
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More Bad News For Bush
Ortega returns as Nicaragua president
The Sandinista leader, Daniel Ortega, a former Marxist who fought a US-backed insurgency in the 1980s, has won Nicaragua's presidential election.
With 91 per cent of the vote counted, Ortega had 38 per cent of the vote compared to 29 per cent for Eduardo Montealegre, who was backed by the US.
Under Nicaraguan law, the winner must reach 35 per cent and have a five percentage point lead to win the election outright and avoid a runoff.
Ortega's supporters celebrated in the streets following the announcement, setting off fireworks.
Montealegre immediately conceded defeat...
more:http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/E651C3ED-8BC1-45B8-9194-B10BD20E9DA8.htm
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Right on.......