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To: Peter Dierks who wrote (8310)	6/18/2006 8:13:01 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 14758

Shill to Hack (Kos co-author exposed) New York Post ^ \| June 18, 2006 \| RODDY BOYD nypost.com CELEBRATED LIB STRATEGIST HAS SHADY MARKET PAST Jerome Armstrong, the political strategist who followed a famous Internet fundraising effort for Howard Dean in 2004 with a book on "people-powered politics," has a sordid past as a shill for a worthless dot-com stock. Armstrong, 42, touted a dubious Chinese software company, BluePoint, beginning in 1999, without disclosing that he accepted "below-market" shares in exchange for the glowing reports he posted on a site called Raging Bull, according to a 2003 civil suit that named him as a defendant. "Armstrong posted over 80 times on the BluePoint message board located on the Raging Bull Web site in the first three weeks [it traded]," reads the complaint, filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission. At no point in any of the 80 posts did Armstrong disclose he was paid for the service, the suit alleged. In fact, The Post has uncovered hundreds of Armstrong posts from 1999 to 2003, many supporting now virtually or entirely worthless stocks.

To: Peter Dierks who wrote (8310)	6/19/2006 2:15:58 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 14758

Hamas refuses to approve payment for Israeli medical treatment of Palestinians IMRA ^ \| 6-19-06 Hamas refuses to approve payment for Israeli medical treatment of Palestinians Lack of funds deprives Palestinian children of bone marrow transplants By Avi Issacharoff Haaretz 16 June 2006 www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/727571.html [The Hebrew version - www.haaretz.co.il/hasite/pages/ShArtPE.jhtml?itemNo=727763&contrassID=2&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0 adds: "The Palestinian Ministry of Health says that Israel should pay for the treatment of the sick "since they are the occupiers". Regarding the decision of the ministry not to issue commitments it was relayed that this was a decision of principle since Israel cannot set for the Palestinians that they will be treated only in Israel (the amount deducted from the tax revenue can only be transferred to Israeli hospitals). " ] HEBRON - Mustafa Ahmaro, two and a half, from Hebron, was released from the hospital three days ago. He was hospitalized for 17 days to receive preventive treatment for lymphoma. Dr. Ghassan al-Banura, his doctor from Al Husseini Hospital in Beit Jala, told Haaretz that "Mustafa's condition is greatly improved and he seems to have recovered. However, Mustafa must undergo a bone marrow transplant so that the disease does not recur." But Mustafa will not be able to undergo that transplant soon. It is not performed at hospitals in the territories, and no backer has been found to pay for the $40,000 transplant in Israel or overseas. Mustafa is in relatively good shape, but 27 other Palestinian children are not as fortunate, according to the records of Akhram Samhan, who is in charge of outpatient care at the Palestinian Health Ministry. They are in urgent need of a bone marrow transplant, and there is no one to pay the hospitals in Israel. Until a few weeks ago, the Palestinian Health Ministry covered the costs of bone marrow, liver and kidney transplants for children. According to Health Minister Basim Naim of Hamas, the ministry's coffers are empty because of the economic siege on the Palestinian Authority. But the truth is more complicated than Naim and human rights organizations like to admit. Since Hamas came to power, the PA has not transferred money directly to Israeli hospitals. So the Israeli government takes the funds from the taxes that it collects on the PA's behalf and transfers them to those hospitals. But, according to a senior Palestinian official, the Hamas government has other priorities right now: It needs the tax revenues to pay Israel for electricity, gas and fuel. "Patients are less important at the moment," he said. Mustafa's father, Mohammed, is in a desperate bind: "We can't pay the amount required. We appealed through various channels to PA Chairman Abu Mazen [Mahmoud Abbas], Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and other senior officials. None got back to us with an affirmative answer. I asked for an entry permit to Israel so I could go with him to the hospital, but the Israel Defense Forces liaison office informed me that I am prevented from entering for security reasons. They agreed to allow Mustafa's mother into Israel, but among us, a woman does not go to another town by herself." Jumana Alfahouri, 2, a leukemia patient from Hebron, is in worse condition. She was initially hospitalized at the local Alia Hospital, where she was administered pain killers. Then she was moved to Hadassah University Hospital, Ein Karem, but every day, her condition worsens and her treatment costs rise. She needs an urgent bone marrow transplant. Quite a few volunteer organizations, mostly Israeli, have come to the children's aid, notably activists from Keshev - the Center for the Protection of Democracy in Israel, and the Peres Center for Peace, which has helped pay for the treatment of some 2,500 Palestinian children at Israeli hospitals. But since the PA stopped its coverage, the Peres Center cannot defray the transplant costs on its own. Adults are no better off. Dozens of adult patients are also waiting for coverage pledges from the Palestinian Health Ministry in order to undergo transplants and even operations to remove growths that can only be performed at Israeli or overseas hospitals. The pledges are not forthcoming. Several of these patients talked with at the office of Azmi al-Shiyukhi, secretary general of the Popular Resistance Committees. Nadia Rahur, 37, married with five children, has a cancerous growth in her head and cannot go to Israel for an operation. Maher Shuhada, 56, has leukemia and needs special treatment only available abroad. Shiyukhi explains that "many others might simply die. Beside the ones we're fighting for, there are those who have given up." Shiyukhi is critical of both the Israeli and the Palestinian governments. "Your decision to besiege Hamas hurts the simple folk first of all. But our government must also understand that they may want jihad and 'resistance,' but treating sick people - that's the real jihad. Our government must take responsibility and take care of its citizens."