THE TENSION: The Decline and Fall of Western Civ. for 19 Sep

Heads up, this news rolls downhill.

"An extremist with a microphone can be dangerous enough; an extremist with nuclear weapons poses a danger to the entire world." --David Saperstein

"There is only one difference between a madman and me. The madman thinks he is sane. I know I am mad." --Salvador Dali

President Bush pressed Iran Tuesday to immediately begin negotiations on its nuclear program and warned Tehran that delay would bring consequences, according to AP.

AP reports that Iran's nuclear activities are "transparent, peaceful and under the watchful eye" of United Nations inspectors, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday. Ahmadinejad rips the US:

"The question needs to be asked: if the governments of the United States or the United Kingdom, who are permanent members of the Security Council, commit aggression, occupation and violation of international law, which of the U.N. organs can take them into account," he said.

"If they have differences with a nation or state, they drag it to the Security Council and as claimants, arrogate to themselves simultaneously the roes of prosecutor, judge and executioner," he added said. "Is this a just order?"

MSNBC reports Ahmadinejad said, “the world has changed." and "Nations are awakened now. They want their rights — equal rights, and fair ones. The time for world empires has ended.”

NASA searched for the source of multiple unidentified objects spotted close to the shuttle Atlantis today and to see whether they were linked to an indication from an impact sensor in the right wing that recorded several small jolts overnight, reports chron.com.

Ted Turner, showing us the mindset that put CNN squarely behind Fox News hopes, "Al Gore might be persuaded to run for U.S. President in 2008." Turner also displays his unique grasp of history that prompted him to make Jane Fonda his wife, "[The decision to invade Iraq] will go down in history -- it already is going down in history -- as one of the dumbest moves that was ever made by anybody," Turner said, citing the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor and the German invasion of Russia during the Second World War as other "dumb" moves," according to E&P.

However, AP reports Billionaire investor Warren Buffett, CNN creator Ted Turner and former Sen. Sam Nunn pledged $50 million to the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency Tuesday to create a uranium stockpile. From the article:
The aim is to discourage countries from developing their own nuclear programs. The reserve would ensure supplies of low-grade fuel for nuclear power plants around the world. One example of a program they hope to discourage is in Iran, which critics fear is ultimately aimed at developing weapons.

Sirius Satellite Radio said on Tuesday that reports suggesting that shock jock Howard Stern was planning a return to mainstream radio was "wrong," reports Reuters.

Gas prices continue to fall, upsetting both liberals and OPEC members alike. AFP reports OPEC ministers could hold an emergency meeting ahead of the next regular conference in December as the oil market is clearly "out of balance" and prices are falling, a senior OPEC official has said.