Paul E. Ester's Flogger

Intelligence vets are still musing over Michael Kostiw, whose reported shoplifting forced his withdrawal this month as the CIA’s prospective executive director. But what dismays the spooks most isn’t the ethics or the propriety of the case–it’s that Kostiw had served as a case officer for 10 years and still couldn’t manage to shoplift a package of bacon without getting caught in a Northern Virginia market. Says one old spy: “It’s a perfect metaphor for the sorry state of the CIA.”… Rest of Article

“We don’t give a crap. What are they going to do, send us to Iraq?”… Rest of Article

A 17-member Army Reserve platoon with troops from Jackson and around the Southeast deployed to Iraq is under arrest for refusing a “suicide mission” to deliver fuel, the troops’ relatives said Thursday.

The soldiers refused an order on Wednesday to go to Taji, Iraq Ñ north of Baghdad Ñ because their vehicles were considered “deadlined” or extremely unsafe, said Patricia McCook of Jackson, wife of Sgt. Larry O. McCook.

Sgt. McCook, a deputy at the Hinds County Detention Center, and the 16 other members of the 343rd Quartermaster Company from Rock Hill, S.C., were read their rights and moved from the military barracks into tents, Patricia McCook said her husband told her during a panicked phone call about 5 a.m. Thursday.

The platoon could be charged with the willful disobeying of orders, punishable by dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of pay and up to five years confinement, said military law expert Mark Stevens, an associate professor of justice studies at Wesleyan College in Rocky Mount, N.C.

No military officials were able to confirm or deny the detainment of the platoon Thursday…. Rest of Article

A report on these so-called ghost prisoners, issued on Tuesday by Human Rights Watch claimed that they were being held somewhere so secret that President George W Bush had asked the CIA not to tell him where it was…. Rest of Article

A leading safety group is urging MPs to scrap the UKÕs daylight saving time system, which brings lighter mornings in the winter but could cause hundreds of extra deaths on UK roads every year.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) claims 450 deaths and serious injuries could be prevented if MPs support a Private MembersÕ Bill when it receives its second reading in the House of Commons on Friday.

The Bill says turning back UK clocks at the end of October creates darker evenings when motorists are more likely to be involved in accidents and people killed as a result.

Official fatality figures show that when the clocks were turned back in 2003, road deaths rose from 256 in October to 316 in November Ð including a 50% jump in pedestrian deaths, which rose to 95.

Winter mornings would be darker as a result of the proposed change, but Kevin Clinton, head of road safety at RoSPA, said: ÔThere may be more casualties on winter mornings, but these would be outweighed by the reduction in deaths and injuries in the evenings.Õ
… Rest of Article

President Bush has some new troops in his crusade to promote “healthy marriage” and teen celibacy with federal funds — followers of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the controversial Korean evangelist and self-proclaimed new world messiah…. Rest of Article