War Strains U.S. Military in Tackling new Crises

Forget about taking on Iran. It is criminal that our government (i.e.,Bush) has put our nation in this position. I guess we'll realize it when a new military crisis arises. For now the problem is ignored. Including by the Presidential candidates:

A classified Pentagon assessment concludes that long battlefield tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with persistent terrorist activity and other threats, have prevented the U.S. military from improving its ability to respond to any new crisis, The Associated Press has learned.

Despite security gains in Iraq, the military was not able to reduce the response risk level, which was raised from moderate to significant last year, according to the report.

Glenn Beck: McCain will Destroy the Conservative Movement

John McCain has made many enemies among the Conservatives. One in particular, CNN host, Glenn Beck, had some really harsh things to say about the likely Republican nominee. Watch the video to get a real feel for the level of hostility that exists against McCain:

Retail Sales in January Worst in Almost 40 Years

This is disastrous news. Something needs to be done now before it's too late:

Consumer spending slowed to a crawl in January, with retail sales at major chains rising just 0.5% in what was by one measure the month's worst performance in nearly 40 years, according to reports released Thursday.

Evidence of consumer caution came from both ends of the marketplace.

Discounter Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said shoppers held on tight to the gift cards they received over the holidays or used them to buy milk and bread rather than toys or iPods. High-end Saks Inc. said customers shifted more of their spending to "promotional events" -- making purchases when items were specially priced.

Wal-Mart's sales were higher this January than last, though just barely, while Saks saw a 4.1% increase. Sales at Macy's Inc. stores fell so much more than expected -- by 7.1% -- that the company slashed its quarterly profit forecast and also said that as part of a restructuring plan it would eliminate 2,300 jobs. Costco Wholesale Corp., on the other hand, recorded a 7% hike.

There were widely divergent numbers for individual chains but disappointment for the industry as a whole.

The International Council of Shopping Centers, which tallied 43 retail chains, said sales at stores open for at least one year were the worst since it started keeping track in 1969.

The reason for the terrible retail sales is consumer confidence:

People's confidence in the economy sank even lower amid heightened fears about shrinking job opportunities and the possibility the country is falling into recession.

According to the RBC Cash Index, confidence dropped to a mark of 48.5 in early February, from 56.3 last month. The new reading was the worst since the index began in 2002 and surpassed the previous low reached in January.

The continued erosion in confidence comes despite the fact that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has gotten much more forceful in cutting interest rates to induce people to buy more and bolster the economy. The Fed slashed interest rates twice over the span of just eight days in January—its most aggressive rate reductions in two decades.

[...] Still, an increasing number of economists worry that the rescue efforts by the Fed and the politicians may not be enough to avert the first nationwide recession since 2001. Some economists believe the economy has already toppled into a recession.

Clinton Campaign Staffers Not Going Without Pay

It's another Clinton ruse:

So it turns out the Clinton campaign may not be so cash-strapped after all — at least not at this very moment.

After offering on Wednesday to go without paychecks to help save precious campaign resources, senior staff members on Hillary Clinton's campaign are in fact not going without pay during the month of February, ABC News has learned.

"It's not happening," said a source familiar with the situation.

Clinton's campaign has been shouting from the rooftops all day about its online fundraising efforts since Super Tuesday.

The campaign announced today that it raised more than four million dollars online in the 24 hours after polls closed on Tuesday — the biggest single haul in one day ever for the campaign.

[...]"We are gratified for this tremendous outpouring of support," said Clinton Campaign Internet Director Peter Daou.

That outpouring is the reason that a handful of senior staff who had offered to go without pay on Wednesday have been told today that they will not need to skip paychecks.

One longtime Democratic consultant not affiliated with any campaign wondered if perhaps the whole thing wasn't a big stunt to garner media attention and look like an "underdog."

"I'd take this revelation as a sign that they planned this whole thing," the consultant said.

Bush, Congress Hit Bottom in AP Poll

How low can they go:

It's almost as if people can barely stand the thought of President Bush and Congress anymore. Bush reached his lowest approval rating in The Associated Press-Ipsos poll on Friday as only 30 percent said they like the job he is doing, including an all-time low in his support by Republicans. Congress' approval fell to just 22 percent, equaling its poorest grade in the survey. Both marks dropped by 4 percentage points since early January.

The dour public mood seems to chiefly reflect distress over the doddering economy, which has seen job cuts, financial market slides and real estate losses stoke recession fears. Bush's approval for handling the economy dove to 29 percent, a slide of 4 percentage points in a month and matching his low on that issue, with noticeable slumps among middle-income people, Southerners and city residents.

[...] Yet Bush's acceptance by his own party is at bottom in the AP-Ipsos poll. Just 61 percent of Republicans gave Bush positive reviews; his previous low was 65 percent last month. Only 28 percent of them expressed strong approval.

Bush's Failure: Intelligence Chief Cites Qaeda Threat to U.S.

It must be an election year if the White House starts talking about the rising threat from al Qaeda. But what does this say about Bush's presidency, which has largely been focused on defeating the Jihadists? It means he failed at his principle responsibility. It also discredits the Iraq War which we have been told is being fought to keep al Qaeda from following us home:

Al Qaeda is gaining in strength from its refuge in Pakistan and is steadily improving its ability to recruit, train and position operatives capable of carrying out attacks inside the United States, the director of national intelligence told a Senate panel on Tuesday.

The director, Mike McConnell, told lawmakers that Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, remained in control of the terrorist group and had promoted a new generation of lieutenants. He said Al Qaeda was also improving what he called “the last key aspect of its ability to attack the U.S.” — producing militants, including new Western recruits, capable of blending into American society and attacking domestic targets.

A senior intelligence official said Tuesday evening that the testimony was based in part on new evidence that Qaeda operatives in Pakistan were training Westerners, most likely including American citizens, to carry out attacks. The official said there was no indication as yet that Al Qaeda had succeeded in getting operatives into the United States.

The testimony, in an annual assessment of the threats facing the United States, was the latest indication that Al Qaeda appears to have significantly rebuilt a network battered by the American invasion of Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 attacks.

It follows a National Intelligence Estimate last summer that described a resurgent Al Qaeda, and could add fuel to criticisms from Democratic lawmakers and presidential candidates that the White House focus on Iraq since 2002 has diverted attention and resources from the battle against the Qaeda organization’s core.

Do We Have a Government at the Steering Wheel?

The economy is facing a crisis and the Congress can't seem to agree on what to do about it:

The fate of $600-$1,200 rebate checks for more than 100 million Americans is in limbo after Senate Republicans blocked a bid by Democrats to add $44 billion in help for the elderly, disabled veterans, the unemployed and businesses to the House-passed economic aid package.

GOP senators banded together Wednesday to thwart the $205 billion plan, leaving Democrats with a difficult choice either to quickly accept a House bill they have said is inadequate or risk being blamed for delaying a measure designed as a swift shot in the arm for the lagging economy.

The tally was 58-41 to end debate on the Senate measure, just short of the 60 votes Democrats would have needed to scale procedural hurdles and move the bill to a final vote. In a suspenseful showdown vote that capped days of partisan infighting and procedural jockeying, eight Republicans—four of them up for re-election this year—joined Democrats to back the plan, bucking GOP leaders and President Bush, who objected to the costly add-ons.

Democrats choreographed the vote for maximum political advantage, presenting their aid proposal as a take-it-or-leave-it proposition for Republicans and calling back their presidential candidates to make a show of party unity behind their stimulus plan. They calculated that Republicans would pay a steep price for opposing rebates for older Americans and disabled veterans, as well as heating aid for the poor, unemployment benefits and a much larger collection of business tax breaks than the House approved.

Then there is the collapsing war in Afghanistan:

NATO's top official rejected on Thursday U.S. concern that some member countries were not pulling their weight in the fighting in Afghanistan.

On a visit to troops in Afghanistan with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice kept up the pressure on reluctant allies to share the combat burden against the Taliban.

The government in Afghanistan is worried that they might be abandoned:

The Afghan government warned Thursday of "catastrophe" if NATO abandoned its mission as US Secretarary of State Condoleezza Rice and her British counterpart flew into the heart of the Taliban insurgency.

"The consequences of not finishing the job here, and we have seen them first-hand in the events of September 11, will be catastrophic for the region and the world," President Hamid Karzai's spokesman Homayun Hamidzada told AFP.

There has been rising debate among NATO allies about the fight against radical Taliban insurgents, with calls for more help from those in the thick of the fight in the volatile south and some threats to pull out.

McCain Wins Big, Hillary and Obama Still in Tight Race

Despite the manufactured debate, McCain won big last night. He won 9 states, including California and New York. He now has a massive delegate advantage 615 to the nearest rival Romney, 243. Huckabee and Romney split the vote conservatives guaranteeing victory for McCain.

It's not so decisive among the Democrats. Although, Obama won more states and delegates last night Clinton, with the help of her victory in California, has an overall delegate advantage of 825 to 732. The Illinois Senator has narrowed the gap and has made this race very competitive when Hillary Clinton had a large lead just days ago. The Democratic race has a long way to go:

Senator Hillary Clinton won the biggest of the Super Tuesday primaries while Senator Barack Obama won more states, extending their struggle for the Democratic presidential nomination into next month and beyond.

Clinton, 60, won California, the largest prize in yesterday's voting. She scored victories in her own region, winning her home state of New York as well as New Jersey and Massachusetts, on the biggest day of voting in the nomination race. She also took Arkansas, Oklahoma, Arizona and Tennessee.

Still, Obama, 46, prevailed in Connecticut, next door to Clinton's home base. He also won his own state of Illinois as well as Georgia, Delaware, Alabama, Kansas, North Dakota, Minnesota, Colorado, Idaho, Alaska, Utah and Missouri. The only race still undecided was New Mexico, where Obama held a 518-vote lead over Clinton with 92 percent of voting precincts reporting, according to the Associated Press. Thousands of provisional ballots remained to be counted.

[...]Hispanics gave about 60 percent of their votes to Clinton, he said. These voters were especially important in California, where they made up about 30 percent of the total Democratic electorate, Kohut said.

Most white Democrats favored Clinton, though Obama fared somewhat better among those voters than in earlier primaries, Kohut said. Blacks heavily favored Obama.

MSNBC reported that the exit polls found white voters split 51 percent to 44 percent for Clinton while blacks favored Obama by 80 percent to 17 percent. Women favored Clinton by 51 percent to 46 percent while men backed Obama 53 percent to 42 percent. Clinton's performance was slightly better than predicted by exit polls.

UN Survey: Afghan Opium High in 2008

Just part of Bush's legacy. It won't be long before Americans are dying from Heroin grown in U.S. occupied Afghanistan. So not only can't King George find Bin Laden but he is also funding al Qaeda:

Opium growth in Afghanistan's unstable south and southwest continues at an alarming rate, and is a windfall for anti-government forces who tax farmers, a U.N. report said Wednesday.

The report also predicted a further rise in cannabis cultivation this year.

"Europe, Russia and the countries along the Afghan heroin routes should brace themselves again for major health and security consequences," said Antonio Maria Costa, chief of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime.

Overall cultivation of opium the main ingredient in heroin is likely in 2008 to be similar to or slightly lower than it was in 2007, according to UNODC's latest Afghanistan Opium Winter Rapid Assessment Survey.

"Opium cultivation in Afghanistan may have peaked, but the 2008 amount will be shockingly high," Costa said in a statement.

At least the Bushies admit failure:

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the NATO-led military mission in Afghanistan is "bumpy," and the international aid effort needs firmer coordination among the many nations participating.

[...]The United States is also seeking to bridge a rift among NATO allies participating in unequal measure in Afghanistan.

"It's bumpy and it's a lot of maturing that the alliance is having to do to do this," Rice told reporters.

Some major European allies failed to send significant number of troops to the southern front lines, leaving troops from the United States, Britain, Canada and the Netherlands to bear the brunt of a resurgence of Taliban violence in the region. Canada has threatened to pull out unless other allies do more of the hard work.

"It's true and we've made no secret about it that there are certain allies that are in more dangerous parts of the country and we believe very strongly that there ought to be a sharing of that burden throughout the alliance," Rice told reporters. "That said, I think we ought not to also dismiss the contributions that are being made by all alliance members."

Asian Stocks Sink after Dow Plunges

This is very dangerous. While the attention is on the primaries, we are seeing a crisis in the markets. We need to worry:

Asian markets plunged Wednesday after a steep drop on Wall Street overnight fanned investors' fears the U.S. economy was sliding into a recession that would sap demand for Asian exports.

n Hong Kong, the benchmark index plunged more than 6 percent in morning trading, while Japan's Nikkei 225 index sank more than 4 percent.

"It's unbridled pessimism," said Francis Lun, general manager at Fulbright Securities Ltd. in Hong Kong. "Everyone is concentrating on U.S. recession, but Europe is also looking bad. ... We are in for a bear market now."

Economic data Tuesday showing the U.S. service sector shrank last month for the first time since March 2003 wiped out nascent optimism about the American economy that had lifted global markets last week.

The news sent the Dow Jones industrial average plunging 370 points, or 2.93 percent, its largest one-day percentage drop since Feb. 27, 2007.

Asian markets have dropped sharply from the beginning of the year amid worries about a U.S. — and global — slowdown. Many stocks rebounded some over the last two weeks after the U.S. Federal Reserve made two big interest rate cuts to shore up the weakening American economy.

But pessimism returned after the Institute for Supply Management reported Tuesday that its index of activity in the U.S. service sector, which accounts for about two-thirds of the economy there, dropped below 50, indicating contraction. It was the first time the service sector reading has contracted since March 2003.

Clinton Gets Most Lobbyist Money, McCain Most Help

Obama just alluded to Hillary's ties to the lobbyists. She and John McCain are the champions of what is wrong with America:

Democrat Hillary Clinton has raised more money from lobbyists than any other presidential candidate while Republican John McCain has more of them assisting his campaign.

Clinton took in $823,087 from registered lobbyists and members of their firms in 2007 and the second-biggest recipient was McCain, who took in $416,321, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based group which tracks political giving. Barack Obama, Clinton's rival for the Democratic nomination, doesn't take money from registered lobbyists, although he received $86,282 from employees of firms that lobby, according to the center.

McCain has 26 registered lobbyists as campaign advisers or fundraisers compared with 11 for Clinton and none for Obama, according to review of records compiled by Public Citizen, a Washington-based group that favors stronger disclosure laws for lobbyists.

Hillary Clinton Fakes Tears...Again

I was right. Hillary has faked tears a day before Big Tuesday. The last time we saw the crocodiles, it was the day before her surprise win in New Hampshire. She is doing it again. And she might get away with it despite the obviousness of it. The Clintons have no shame.

From Hot Air:

How remarkably coincidental is it? ABC predicted it when the event started.

ABC News’ Kate Snow, Eloise Harper and Ann Compton Report: On the morning before the New Hampshire primary, we Reporters Who Cover Hillary found ourselves at the Cafe Espresso in Portsmouth, N.H. Senator Clinton was sitting at a large rectangular table, surrounded by 16 undecided voters. All were female except one.

You’ll remember that morning as the morning Clinton got emotional and teared up while answering a question about “how she does it”.

On the morning before Super Tuesday, we Reporters Who Cover Hillary find ourselves at the Yale Child Study Center in New Haven, Connecticut. We are in a nicely appointed conference room. And in the center is a rectangular table. Seated around the table are 12 voters. All are women. Clinton organizers say the goal was to have them all be “undecided” voters (though a local organizer says some may be supporting Clinton coming in).

Here's another view:

The first time, I bought it.

Now I’m suspicious.

Yesterday, for the second time in a month, Hillary Clinton teared up on the eve of a primary with the outcome looking tougher than expected.

Are we looking at the first candidate in our history to weep her way to the White House?

“This one here? I don’t know,” said Marianne Pernold Young, the New Hampshire woman whose question there to Hillary (“How do you do it?”) sparked the first near-tears moment. Pernold Young believed that first one genuine, though she voted for Obama anyway. “It’s curious that she should be crying again the day before another primary,” she said. “But, hey, listen, if it worked the first time, why not try again?”

Why not indeed? Even Hillary conceded her New Hampshire near-weep may have turned around an expected double-digit win by Barack Obama.

Why shouldn’t strategic tears go national?

- See the video...

Interest-Group Campaign Spending Nears Record

It is why we've lost our government. We'd like to think that our votes are what matter. The truth is that money is what rules our political system. And two parties are beholden to powerful/wealthy special interest groups:

Spending by interest groups in the current presidential campaign is on pace to far exceed the record amount spent by outside groups in the last presidential election -- and could top $1 billion for the first time, according to new campaign-finance reports.

The data show that spending by 50 of the largest independent political groups -- ranging from American Federation of Teachers on the left to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth on the right -- jumped to $130.8 million in 2007, up 55% from 2003, the year before the last presidential election. There were 28 groups that spent more than $1 million each on politics in 2007, twice as many as in 2003, according to the reports released this week.

If that pace continues in 2008 -- and there is every indication that it will -- the amount of money spent by interest groups to influence elections will exceed $1 billion. Outside political entities spent at least $800 million during the 2003-04 campaign season.

[...]The 527 organizations were widely criticized for injecting big money into the political system when they first came to prominence in 2004. In August, the Federal Election Commission fined the largest Democratic group, America Coming Together, more than $775,000 for accepting large donations from donors with the premise that the money would be used to defeat President Bush. The fine amounted to less than 1% of the $78 million that group spent in 2004.

Prince Andrew Rebukes Bush for Iraq War Mistakes

Even the rarely politically outspoken Prince of England is trashing our joke of a President. What a disgrace:

The United States could have avoided some of the problems it is experiencing in Iraq if it had listened to Britain's advice and learned from its experiences, Prince Andrew said in an interview published Tuesday as he began a trade mission to the U.S.

In a rare airing of political opinion by a senior member of the British royal family, the prince said the invasion and its aftermath had created a "healthy skepticism" in Britain about what was said in Washington and led many to ask, "Why didn't anyone listen to what was said and the advice that was given?"

Queen Elizabeth II's second son, a former Royal Navy helicopter pilot who now promotes British business abroad, told the International Herald Tribune that Britain's history as an imperial power meant it had valuable experience to share.

The United States was Britain's chief ally, he said, but, there were "occasions when people in the U.K. would wish that those in responsible positions in the U.S. might listen and learn from our experiences."

Britain, which has about 4,500 troops in Iraq, down from a 40,000 during the 2003 invasion, has a long military history in the region; British troops invaded what was then Mesopotamia in 1914 during World War I, and fought insurgents until Iraq gained its independence in 1932.

"If you are looking at colonialism, if you are looking at operations on an international scale, if you are looking at understanding each other's culture, understanding how to operate in a military insurgency campaign — we have been through them all," the prince said in comments confirmed by Buckingham Palace.

"We've won some, lost some, drawn some. The fact is there is quite a lot of experience over here which is valid and should be listened to."

Proposed Military Spending Is Highest Since WWII

Apparently Bush wants to go down in American history as the warmonger. He wants to go out with a bang. It also means that the neocons have him under their spell. Let's see if the feckless Democratic controlled Congress will go along. Will they give us more bullets and less butter, so that they can go into the election in November looking tough on national defense. The American people be damned:

As Congress and the public focus on more than $600 billion already approved in supplemental budgets to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and for counterterrorism operations, the Bush administration has with little notice approached a landmark in military spending.

The Pentagon on Monday will unveil its proposed 2009 budget of $515.4 billion. If it is approved in full, annual military spending, when adjusted for inflation, will have reached its highest level since World War II.

That new Defense Department budget proposal, which is to pay for the standard operations of the Pentagon and the military but does not include supplemental spending on the war efforts or on nuclear weapons, is an increase in real terms of about 5 percent over this year.

Overall since coming to office, the administration has increased baseline military spending by 30 percent, a figure sure to be noted in coming budget battles as the American economy seems headed downward and government social spending is strained, especially by health-care costs.

Let them eat cake:

President Bush today unveiled a tough-minded, $3 trillion budget proposal for fiscal 2009 that would slice $14.2 billion from the growth of federal health care programs, eliminate scores of programs and virtually freeze domestic spending--but would still record a $407 billion budget deficit.

[...]"What he is proposing to do would dismantle after-school programs," said Jodi Grant, executive director of the Afterschool Alliance.

Under the plan, a $301 million program that trains 4,700 pediatricians and pediatric sub-specialists at children's teaching hospitals also would be eliminated, at a time when pediatric sub-specialties, such as rheumatology and pulmonology, face critical shortages.

"The request to eliminate funding to train the doctors that care for kids comes on the heels of the president's veto of the State Children's Health Insurance Program," said Lawrence McAndrews, president and CEO of the National Association of Children's Hospitals. "I don't think the president could be any clearer about his intentions towards children's health care. 'Wrong' doesn't begin to describe his actions."

Defense Dept.'s Weapons Programs Wasteful

What have Hillary Clinton and John McCain done to change this corrupt system. Nothing, of course. And if either one is elected you can expect more of the same. The military-industrial complex is alive and well. And that won't change unless we force from power the two-party system:

The Defense Department's major weapons programs have suffered cost overruns in the billions of dollars, years-long delays and quality shortfalls because of poor acquisition practices by the department, according to a report released yesterday by the Government Accountability Office.

The GAO warned that the cost of designing and developing weapons systems could "continue to exceed estimates by billions of dollars" if the Defense Department doesn't improve its acquisition practices.

The report, which focused on 11 troubled weapons programs, said contractors had "poor practices" for systems engineering and relied on "immature designs, inadequate testing, defective parts and inadequate manufacturing controls."

The report said the Defense Department did not provide effective oversight as projects were being developed, and often entered into weapons-development contracts before engineering of the project had been analyzed, driving up costs.

In addition, the report said, the Pentagon often pays the cost of the contractors' mistakes, providing the companies with little incentive to perform higher-quality work. "Risk," the report said, "is not borne by the prime contractor, but by DOD.

Bush Proposes Budget With $400B Deficit

Bush's going away gift to the nation:

The spiraling growth of Medicare and the high cost of renewing President Bush's tax cuts are squeezing popular education, health, housing and anti-poverty programs in the budget blueprint that he hands lawmakers Monday.

Even with difficult-to-digest proposals to curb Medicare costs and kill programs to repair dilapidated public housing, fund community action agencies and provide food to the elderly poor, Mr. Bush's $3 trillion budget will project deficits around $400 billion this year and next.

Mr. Bush's submission is already absorbing brickbats from Democrats castigating him for inheriting a government in surplus and leaving Washington with a budget deficit that is likely to break the $413 billion record set four years ago, once war bills and the cost of giving the economy a fiscal jolt with tax rebate checks are factored in.

"The next president is going to inherit a colossal mess because of the fiscal irresponsibility of this president," Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., chairman of the Budget Committee said Saturday.

Mr. Bush's budget will demonstrate a way to produce balance in four years and still renew tax cuts on income, investments and people inheriting large estates - cuts now scheduled to expire at the end of 2010. The cost of renewing those tax cuts exceeds $300 billion by 2013, according to congressional scorekeepers.

Poll: Clinton, Obama Neck-and-Neck

It looks like the Democratic race will continue after Tuesday's primaries. Both Clinton and Obama will split most of the delegates, which means there will be no clear cut winner. On the contrary, Obama is surging. And the longer the race continues the better for the Illinois Senator. He has plenty of money and he is getting major endorsements. African-Ameicans are increasingly believing that Obama can win, and the Clinton race-baiting has backfired. The more the American people listen to Barack Obama the more they like him. As for Hillary, she is running out of dirty tricks. Although, expect a few fake tears between now and Tuesday:

Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are running neck-and-neck in California, New Jersey and Missouri two days before the sprawling "Super Tuesday" presidential showdown, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Sunday.

Obama has a slight lead in California and is virtually tied with Clinton in New Jersey and Missouri heading into the biggest day of voting in a U.S. presidential nominating campaign, with contests in 24 states from coast to coast.

"It looks like we have some serious horse races going on with Clinton and Obama," said pollster John Zogby said. "However it turns out, we can be pretty sure it is too close to be resolved on Tuesday."

Japan finds Insecticide on Bags of Chinese Dumplings

Now Japan has been hit by a free trade mentality that ignores China's disregard for human life, and puts profits above the same. It is only a matter of time before Americans start dying before we wake up to our dangerous trade policies. We know now our government can't be trusted to protect us:

Investigators found insecticide on the packaging of six bags of Chinese-made dumplings among millions being recalled after a tainted batch sickened 10 people in western Japan, police said Sunday.

Chinese and Japanese food safety officials meanwhile prepared for Sunday evening talks in Tokyo on the tainted dumplings that prompted a nationwide scare over imported food.

Investigators detected methamidophos on the outside of six bags of dumplings made by Tiangyang Food Processing Ltd., and found that one of those bags had two tiny holes, a Hyogo prefecture (state) police official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity citing policy.

Whether the dumplings inside are contaminated is under investigation, the police official said.

The bags were among items that were recalled from Sojitz Food Corp., a wholesaler, he said, adding that investigators have yet to determine how the products were delivered to Sojitz.

Predictably the Chinese are stonewalling:

China's product safety agency announced Saturday that tests on the ingredients of dumplings made by a Chinese company found none of the insecticide cited by Japanese authorities.

Japanese authorities say dumplings made by Tianyang were contaminated with methamidophos.

Chinese experts tested 30 ingredients in dumplings from the same batch as those exported to Japan and found no trace of the insecticide, said the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.

Related:
- Chinese dumpling scare hits Japan (CNN)
- Insecticide-Tainted Dumplings From China Sicken 175 in Japan

Keith Olbermann Ridicules Hillary Clinton on her Iraq Vote

Now Hillary is getting it from the sympathetic press. Keith Olbermann regularly denounces George Bush and Bill O'Reilly on his nightly MSNBC program. And you can't dismiss him as some radical anti-war extremist. So Olbermann derides Hillary Clinton's "revisionist" explanation, during Thursday's debate, for voting for war with Iraq, he ain't buying it. These comments by Olbermann and his guest, MSNBC political analyst,Richard Wolffe, was on Friday: