This immoral invasion and occupation of Iraq has cost the world so much. George and his reckless war of choice have cost the American taxpayers billions of dollars that could be better spent at home. Judging from Katrina, Iraq has cost our country much of its security. It has cost the US any good standing we enjoyed in the world community. It cost America the post-9/11 good will from almost the entire world. We Americans are the laughingstock of the world community. Not only is our callous and careless leadership disdained, but we the people are scorned because we "re"-elected George for a 2nd term and not only that, we are allowing him to continue to mis-lead our country into ruin.
The price many of us are paying is so much costlier than the mere monetary expense or loss of reputation. Over 2000 American families have paid the price of our dear loved ones to the insanity. Over 15,000 of our young people are wounded. The Veterans Administration estimates that over 25% of our children will come home with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. I believe that number is higher, because I know of many cases where the military refuses to allow soldiers to seek treatment for PTSD. Many of them are sent back to battle if they even dare suggest they may be suffering from PTSD. Even if they are not wounded emotionally or physically, or killed, our soldiers will not come home entirely whole.
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Bigger Than Watergate - Bush-Cheney Traitors Deserve Prison, Impeachment
To weigh the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame against historical standards, consider that no leader of the Soviet Union--including that master of ruthlessness, Josef Stalin--ever arranged for the name of a KGB operative to appear in a newspaper. Adolf Hitler had countless millions murdered, yet getting at a political enemy by endangering agents of the Sicherheitsdienst, the Nazi intelligence service, didn't cross his mind. In this respect, not even the worst tyrants have stooped to the level of George W. Bush.
Don't let the Republicans distract you. Treasongate isn't just about deposed vice presidential chief of staff Scooter Libby, who has been charged with five felony counts and faces 30 years in prison, or even deputy presidential chief of staff Karl Rove, who may soon be charged as well. The Libby charges clearly point to the real culprit: Dick Cheney, who told Libby about Plame's covert status in the first place. Cheney abused his security clearance to find out. "Libby understood that the vice president had learned this information from the C.I.A.," reads page five of the indictment.
"Cheney doesn't have a legal problem, but he has a political problem," a White House official told the New York Times. For now.
The stink on Karl Rove rubbed off on his boss. When Treasongate first broke in 2003, Bush promised to get to the bottom of the Plame leak and fire everyone involved. Now we know that he is the bottom of the cover-up. "An angry President Bush rebuked chief political guru Karl Rove two years ago for his role in the Valerie Plame affair," reported the New York Daily News, which owns the story of this scandal, in an account the White House tacitly confirmed with a meaningful inside-the-Beltway no-comment: silence = truth. "A second well-placed source said some recently published reports implying Rove had deceived Bush about his involvement in the Wilson counterattack were incorrect and were leaked by White House aides trying to protect the President," says the News.
An earlier News report revealed a secret White House Iraq Group (WHIG) that "morphed into a virtual hit squad that took aim at critics who questioned its claims [that Saddam Hussein had nuclear and biochemical weapons]" from late 2002 to mid-2003. WHIG's members included Rove, Libby, and disgraced Times reporter/Bush stenographer Judith Miller.
Don't let the Republicans distract you. Treasongate isn't just about deposed vice presidential chief of staff Scooter Libby, who has been charged with five felony counts and faces 30 years in prison, or even deputy presidential chief of staff Karl Rove, who may soon be charged as well. The Libby charges clearly point to the real culprit: Dick Cheney, who told Libby about Plame's covert status in the first place. Cheney abused his security clearance to find out. "Libby understood that the vice president had learned this information from the C.I.A.," reads page five of the indictment.
"Cheney doesn't have a legal problem, but he has a political problem," a White House official told the New York Times. For now.
The stink on Karl Rove rubbed off on his boss. When Treasongate first broke in 2003, Bush promised to get to the bottom of the Plame leak and fire everyone involved. Now we know that he is the bottom of the cover-up. "An angry President Bush rebuked chief political guru Karl Rove two years ago for his role in the Valerie Plame affair," reported the New York Daily News, which owns the story of this scandal, in an account the White House tacitly confirmed with a meaningful inside-the-Beltway no-comment: silence = truth. "A second well-placed source said some recently published reports implying Rove had deceived Bush about his involvement in the Wilson counterattack were incorrect and were leaked by White House aides trying to protect the President," says the News.
An earlier News report revealed a secret White House Iraq Group (WHIG) that "morphed into a virtual hit squad that took aim at critics who questioned its claims [that Saddam Hussein had nuclear and biochemical weapons]" from late 2002 to mid-2003. WHIG's members included Rove, Libby, and disgraced Times reporter/Bush stenographer Judith Miller.
A U.S. nightmare? Leftist Indian may lead Bolivia
He has rallied Bolivia's coca farmers against U.S.-led eradication efforts and helped lead anti-government protests by indigenous groups that have unseated two presidents in two years.
But opposition leader Evo Morales is now closing in on the office he has helped force others to flee.
Opinion polls show the leftist congressman holding a narrow lead in an upcoming presidential election. Scheduled for Dec 4, the election could be delayed due to political bickering over Congressional seats.
If elected, Morales would be Bolivia's first Indian president and add South America's poorest country to a regional political shift leftward that has seen leftist leaders rise to power in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay and Venezuela.
But opposition leader Evo Morales is now closing in on the office he has helped force others to flee.
Opinion polls show the leftist congressman holding a narrow lead in an upcoming presidential election. Scheduled for Dec 4, the election could be delayed due to political bickering over Congressional seats.
If elected, Morales would be Bolivia's first Indian president and add South America's poorest country to a regional political shift leftward that has seen leftist leaders rise to power in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay and Venezuela.
Art teachers - who can afford them?
It's no secret that art and music programs are being reduced or eliminated all over the United States. We "can't afford such 'luxuries'" here in the richest country in the world. But it isn't a question of wealth. It's a question of priorities:
That country? Cuba, where the leader is not above expressing a corny, but no doubt totally heartfelt, sentiment: "Forward, valiant standard bearers of culture and humanism! A life of glory awaits you!"
"The Jose Marti Brigade of Arts Instructors, a vanguard detachment in the mass promotion of a general and comprehensive culture [have now reached the goal of providing] at least one instructor in the 4,898 kindergarten, elementary, junior high, special and senior high schools in the country."
That country? Cuba, where the leader is not above expressing a corny, but no doubt totally heartfelt, sentiment: "Forward, valiant standard bearers of culture and humanism! A life of glory awaits you!"
Congressman's outrage led to ban on disposal of chemical weapons at sea
The Army's ocean dumping of chemical weapons ended abruptly when Congress discovered what had been going on and halted an operation that could have sent a cloud of deadly nerve gas over New York City.
In the late 1960s a congressman from Buffalo named Richard ''Max'' McCarthy learned that a shipment of chemical weapons was heading for disposal at sea. He raised hell.
He had the prestigious National Academy of Sciences examine an Army plan to scuttle a ship full of concrete-encased nerve gas off the coast of New York.
The scientists were aghast. The Army was called on the carpet in a confrontational congressional hearing.
''That dump could have killed everyone in Manhattan,'' recalled Matthew S. Meselson, a Harvard professor and an academy member who testified at the hearings. ''The Army had maintained this was very far into the sea and they maintained it was very deep, too deep for fish. That wasn't right. Our report put the kibosh on the Army's plan.''
The dump site wasn't nearly as far from shore as the Army insisted it would be, the scientists concluded.
Scientists determined the water was not nearly as deep as the Army said it would be at the dump site, supposedly more than 7,000 feet deep, Meselson said.
Also, the plan to encase ''a whole world war's worth'' of VX nerve gas in concrete before sinking the ship was flawed from an engineering standpoint, and the concrete wouldn't contain a catastrophe, scientists determined.
Scientists feared water pressure changes as the ship sank would set off an explosion that would cause a chain reaction that would blow up the entire ship, Meselson said.
That could have sent a toxic cloud high into the air, and prevailing winds could have swept it toward New York City, Meselson said.
A drop of the nerve gas can kill a person within a minute.
As a result of the hearing, the Army pulled the plug on two scheduled sea dumps of chemical weapons in 1970. Two years later Congress passed a law that prohibits disposing of chemical weapons in the ocean.
In the late 1960s a congressman from Buffalo named Richard ''Max'' McCarthy learned that a shipment of chemical weapons was heading for disposal at sea. He raised hell.
He had the prestigious National Academy of Sciences examine an Army plan to scuttle a ship full of concrete-encased nerve gas off the coast of New York.
The scientists were aghast. The Army was called on the carpet in a confrontational congressional hearing.
''That dump could have killed everyone in Manhattan,'' recalled Matthew S. Meselson, a Harvard professor and an academy member who testified at the hearings. ''The Army had maintained this was very far into the sea and they maintained it was very deep, too deep for fish. That wasn't right. Our report put the kibosh on the Army's plan.''
The dump site wasn't nearly as far from shore as the Army insisted it would be, the scientists concluded.
Scientists determined the water was not nearly as deep as the Army said it would be at the dump site, supposedly more than 7,000 feet deep, Meselson said.
Also, the plan to encase ''a whole world war's worth'' of VX nerve gas in concrete before sinking the ship was flawed from an engineering standpoint, and the concrete wouldn't contain a catastrophe, scientists determined.
Scientists feared water pressure changes as the ship sank would set off an explosion that would cause a chain reaction that would blow up the entire ship, Meselson said.
That could have sent a toxic cloud high into the air, and prevailing winds could have swept it toward New York City, Meselson said.
A drop of the nerve gas can kill a person within a minute.
As a result of the hearing, the Army pulled the plug on two scheduled sea dumps of chemical weapons in 1970. Two years later Congress passed a law that prohibits disposing of chemical weapons in the ocean.
Hiding the Gulf of Tonkin Lie
It should come as no surprise the NSC "has kept secret a 2001 finding by its own historian that its officers deliberately distorted critical intelligence during the Tonkin Gulf episode that helped precipitate the Vietnam War," according to the New York Times. "Most historians have concluded in recent years there was no second attack [against US destroyers on August 4, 1964], but they have assumed the agency’s intercepts were unintentionally misread, not purposely altered. The research by Robert Hanyok, the agency's historian, was detailed four years ago in an in-house article that remains secret, in part because agency officials feared its release might prompt uncomfortable comparisons with the flawed intelligence used to justify the war in Iraq, according to an intelligence official."
Of course, it makes perfect sense for the NSC to hide the findings, especially now as the American people are beginning to realize Bush and crew "deliberately distorted critical intelligence" (in other words, they lied) in regard to the fantasy Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. "This material is relevant to debates we as Americans are having about the war in Iraq and intelligence reform," Matthew Aid, an independent historian, told the Times.
Lies are employed invariably to sell wars. Recall "Nayirah," supposedly a normal fifteen year old Kuwaiti girl, who claimed to witness "Iraqi soldiers come into the [al-Addan hospital] with guns, and go into the room where ... [32] babies were in incubators. They took the babies out of the incubators, took the incubators, and left the babies on the cold floor to die." As it turns out, "Nayirah" was a member of the Kuwaiti Royal Family. "Her father, in fact, was Saud Nasir al-Sabah, Kuwait’s Ambassador to the US, who sat listening in the hearing room during her testimony," according to John R. MacArthur (Second Front: Censorship and Propaganda in the Gulf WarBerkeley; see How PR Sold the War in the Persian Gulf). Nayirah's tearful story was a lie fabricated by Hill & Knowlton, then the world’s largest PR firm, in collusion with California Democrat Tom Lantos and Illinois Republican John Porter.
Of course, it makes perfect sense for the NSC to hide the findings, especially now as the American people are beginning to realize Bush and crew "deliberately distorted critical intelligence" (in other words, they lied) in regard to the fantasy Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. "This material is relevant to debates we as Americans are having about the war in Iraq and intelligence reform," Matthew Aid, an independent historian, told the Times.
Lies are employed invariably to sell wars. Recall "Nayirah," supposedly a normal fifteen year old Kuwaiti girl, who claimed to witness "Iraqi soldiers come into the [al-Addan hospital] with guns, and go into the room where ... [32] babies were in incubators. They took the babies out of the incubators, took the incubators, and left the babies on the cold floor to die." As it turns out, "Nayirah" was a member of the Kuwaiti Royal Family. "Her father, in fact, was Saud Nasir al-Sabah, Kuwait’s Ambassador to the US, who sat listening in the hearing room during her testimony," according to John R. MacArthur (Second Front: Censorship and Propaganda in the Gulf WarBerkeley; see How PR Sold the War in the Persian Gulf). Nayirah's tearful story was a lie fabricated by Hill & Knowlton, then the world’s largest PR firm, in collusion with California Democrat Tom Lantos and Illinois Republican John Porter.
Telesur new Latin American TV station goes on air.
A map of South America flashed on the screen and theme music played as live news broadcasts began Monday on a new Latin American TV station backed by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez as an alternative to large corporate media outlets.
President Hugo Chavez as an alternative to large corporate media outlets. Telesur financed by mainly by Venezuela with help from Argentina, Cuba and Uruguay began with top stories on political tensions in Bolivia and Chavez's predictions of a hearty debate over U.S.-style capitalism at this week's Summit of the Americas in Argentina.
One news anchor proclaimed it "a great day for Telesur," which has been running taped programs and limited news segments since its July 24 launch.
The station promises to be a Latin alternative to large media conglomerates like CNN, and has taken on the slogan "News from the South."
Chavez proposed the idea of a region-wide TV channel in 2003, and his government is the largest sponsor providing more than half of the station's startup capital.
Some critics say they expect the channel to trumpet Chavez's socialist political philosophy. Organizers deny it, saying they hope to challenge the status quo but that their news reports aren't aimed at pleasing Venezuela's government.
"I think it's easier to do independent journalism with a station like this than with a private station," said Jorge Botero, Telesur's Colombian news director. "There are too many interests in the private channels that impede independent journalism. Despite the fact this channel has funds from various governments; we haven't been pressured at all."
Telesur is being shown in 15 countries through 53 cable services, as well as five free stations, Botero said.
The station, which has public service announcements and musical interludes instead of commercials, launched its news with a brief live report at 7 a.m., followed by several afternoon reports.
Telesur said it has 12 correspondents in bureaus in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Haiti, Mexico and the United States, in Washington.
President Hugo Chavez as an alternative to large corporate media outlets. Telesur financed by mainly by Venezuela with help from Argentina, Cuba and Uruguay began with top stories on political tensions in Bolivia and Chavez's predictions of a hearty debate over U.S.-style capitalism at this week's Summit of the Americas in Argentina.
One news anchor proclaimed it "a great day for Telesur," which has been running taped programs and limited news segments since its July 24 launch.
The station promises to be a Latin alternative to large media conglomerates like CNN, and has taken on the slogan "News from the South."
Chavez proposed the idea of a region-wide TV channel in 2003, and his government is the largest sponsor providing more than half of the station's startup capital.
Some critics say they expect the channel to trumpet Chavez's socialist political philosophy. Organizers deny it, saying they hope to challenge the status quo but that their news reports aren't aimed at pleasing Venezuela's government.
"I think it's easier to do independent journalism with a station like this than with a private station," said Jorge Botero, Telesur's Colombian news director. "There are too many interests in the private channels that impede independent journalism. Despite the fact this channel has funds from various governments; we haven't been pressured at all."
Telesur is being shown in 15 countries through 53 cable services, as well as five free stations, Botero said.
The station, which has public service announcements and musical interludes instead of commercials, launched its news with a brief live report at 7 a.m., followed by several afternoon reports.
Telesur said it has 12 correspondents in bureaus in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Haiti, Mexico and the United States, in Washington.
Preparations Unfold for 6th World Social Forum in Venezuela
Caracas--In January, the Sixth World Social Forum will take place on three continents: Africa (in Mali), Asia (in Pakistan) and Latin America (in Venezuela). The Caracas forum is scheduled for January 24-29 on the theme "Another world is necessary, with you it is possible."
Parque Central in Caracas has become one of many hives of activity in preparation for the Latin American forum. There, Ernesto Che Mercado (El Che), a member of the WSF youth camp national coordinating committee in Venezuela, told Green Left Weekly about how plans for the forum are shaping up. El Che is also a spokesperson for the organisation Revolutionary Youth for Popular Power.
"If you are familiar with the WSF principles, you will be aware that the forum is organised very much along the lines of horizontalism and popular power. The range of social organisations participating is very large and broad. Our role at the WSF will be to host the youth camp ... Already we are advertising the WSF on radio and television and will be launching a dossier about the event next week.
"We are expecting a record turnout of up to 200,000 participants at the WSF ... It has come to our attention that many of the African WSF participants want to move their forum forward so that they can also come to the Caracas event. We think that this is very much related to the developments in Venezuela."
October is over
From Truth About Iraqis
But I am proud today of developments in Iraq.Iraqis haven't made me this proud in some time.
In fact, it hasn't been since last January and the November before that that I have beamed like this.
In related news, voting on the referendum seems to have created two opposing currents.
1) Iraq has stepped an edge closer to civil war with different factions hunkering down and fortifying their positions; and
2) The politicization of the resistance. Fight on one hand and form political blocs on the other. Very much in line with what history has taught us.
Also, good to report is that the Arab/foreign fighters the US invading forces brought with them to Iraq seem to be waning in their influence in the country.
Media articles, corroborated by sources in and outside Iraq, indicate the legitimate Iraqi resistance is rising to the forefront and "coercing" foreign fighters to leave. Seems the Iraqi resistance and these alien groups have nary an idea in common.
Everything from ideology to execution of attacks is different. Iraqi resistance target US, UK and mercenary forces, while the foreign fighters want to transform Iraq into some Sunni caliphate by killing everyone, including Muslims, who beg to differ.
Yeah, go back home, boy.
Oh, that applies to you too Johnny Reb.
Big post comin up.
Impeach Bush for lies propelling U.S. to war
The Bush regime told lies to get support for its pre-emptive war against a country that posed no threat to our borders. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, introduced a "Resolution of Inquiry to demand the White House turn over all white papers, minutes, notes, e-mails or other communications kept by the White House Iraq Group (WHIG)."
"This group, comprised of the president and vice president’s top aides, was critical in selling the administration’s case for war," Kucinich said. "We now know that the administration hyped intelligence and misled the American public and Congress in their effort to 'sell’ the war. After 2,000 American troops have been killed in Iraq, it is long past time for this Congress to ask serious questions about WHIG and its role in the lead-up to the war."
If President Clinton could be impeached for lying about an extramarital affair, President Bush should face impeachment for lying us into this unnecessary war in Iraq, which has killed 2,000 of our citizens and vast numbers of innocent Iraqis.
I entreat all people of conscience to take a stand against this awful war and the people who fomented it. Support Kucinich's Resolution of Inquiry, and speak out against those who are ruining our country.
The Predators who rule the world
The robber barons of old ruled their world. Today’s robber barons are much more powerful than those earlier titans, and they appear to be all but unbeatable.
The planet is owned and ruled by the same people; not the heads of State, but the owners of the capital. State governments, if unyielding to the superior power of the capitals, run the risk of becoming figureheads in the claws of the neoliberals. Do what we tell you to do or we will unmask the vacuum behind your fa̤ade. Some leaders try courageously to prove their freedom of action, up to a point, but even socialists have turned towards what is to be seen as the new socialism РGerhard Schroder, or the New Labour РTony Blair. There is no real 'left' any more --anywhere.
Europe is regressing towards the feudal era when individuals had no rights. They were work horses for the lords who owned the land and later, in the industrial era, for those who owned the factories. Once again, individual rights are seen as having no reason for existance, since invincible market forces dictate the state of the planet. According to the neoliberal predators, considering individuals and their needs, except as pawns in their planetary game of creating obscene wealth for the very few, is unscientific and unreasonable.
The men and women seated at the top of the world are ruthless gamblers who don’t hesitate to destroy each other and all the people dependent on them for their livelihood, if it's in the interest of profit. The gambling instinct rules the planet though the dice are heavily loaded.
The planet is owned and ruled by the same people; not the heads of State, but the owners of the capital. State governments, if unyielding to the superior power of the capitals, run the risk of becoming figureheads in the claws of the neoliberals. Do what we tell you to do or we will unmask the vacuum behind your fa̤ade. Some leaders try courageously to prove their freedom of action, up to a point, but even socialists have turned towards what is to be seen as the new socialism РGerhard Schroder, or the New Labour РTony Blair. There is no real 'left' any more --anywhere.
Europe is regressing towards the feudal era when individuals had no rights. They were work horses for the lords who owned the land and later, in the industrial era, for those who owned the factories. Once again, individual rights are seen as having no reason for existance, since invincible market forces dictate the state of the planet. According to the neoliberal predators, considering individuals and their needs, except as pawns in their planetary game of creating obscene wealth for the very few, is unscientific and unreasonable.
The men and women seated at the top of the world are ruthless gamblers who don’t hesitate to destroy each other and all the people dependent on them for their livelihood, if it's in the interest of profit. The gambling instinct rules the planet though the dice are heavily loaded.
"Bush - Nazi Dealings Continued Until 1951" - Federal Documents
After the seizures in late 1942 of five U.S. enterprises he managed on behalf of Nazi industrialist Fritz Thyssen, Prescott Bush, the grandfather of President George W. Bush, failed to divest himself of more than a dozen "enemy national" relationships that continued until as late as 1951, newly-discovered U.S. government documents reveal.
Furthermore, the records show that Bush and his colleagues routinely attempted to conceal their activities from government investigators.
Bush's partners in the secret web of Thyssen-controlled ventures included former New York Governor W. Averell Harriman and his younger brother, E. Roland Harriman. Their quarter-century of Nazi financial transactions, from 1924-1951, were conducted by the New York private banking firm, Brown Brothers Harriman.
The White House did not return phone calls seeking comment.
Although the additional seizures under the Trading with the Enemy Act did not take place until after the war, documents from The National Archives and Library of Congress confirm that Bush and his partners continued their Nazi dealings unabated. These activities included a financial relationship with the German city of Hanover and several industrial concerns. They went undetected by investigators until after World War Two.
At the same time Bush and the Harrimans were profiting from their Nazi partnerships, W. Averell Harriman was serving as President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's personal emissary to the United Kingdom during the toughest years of the war. On October 28, 1942, the same day two key Bush-Harriman-run businesses were being seized by the U.S. government, Harriman was meeting in London with Field Marshall Smuts to discuss the war effort.
John Yoo and the Imperial Presidency - What Bush Wants to Hear
Few lawyers have had more influence on President Bush's legal policies in the "war on terror" than John Yoo. This is a remarkable feat, because Yoo was not a cabinet official, not a White House lawyer, and not even a senior officer within the Justice Department. He was merely a mid-level attorney in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel with little supervisory authority and no power to enforce laws. Yet by all accounts, Yoo had a hand in virtually every major legal decision involving the U.S. response to the attacks of September 11, and at every point, so far as we know, his advice was virtually always the same -- the president can do whatever the president wants.
Yoo's most famous piece of advice was in an August 2002 memorandum stating that the president cannot constitutionally be barred from ordering torture in wartime -- even though the United States has signed and ratified a treaty absolutely forbidding torture under all circumstances, and even though Congress has passed a law pursuant to that treaty, which without any exceptions prohibits torture. Yoo reasoned that because the Constitution makes the president the "Commander-in-Chief," no law can restrict the actions he may take in pursuit of war. On this reasoning, the president would be entitled by the Constitution to resort to genocide if he wished.
Yoo's most famous piece of advice was in an August 2002 memorandum stating that the president cannot constitutionally be barred from ordering torture in wartime -- even though the United States has signed and ratified a treaty absolutely forbidding torture under all circumstances, and even though Congress has passed a law pursuant to that treaty, which without any exceptions prohibits torture. Yoo reasoned that because the Constitution makes the president the "Commander-in-Chief," no law can restrict the actions he may take in pursuit of war. On this reasoning, the president would be entitled by the Constitution to resort to genocide if he wished.
Why are They Making New Orleans a Ghost Town?
On Halloween night, New Orleans will be very, very dark. Well over half the homes on the east bank of New Orleans sit vacant because they still do not have electricity. More do not have natural gas or running water. Most stoplights still do not work. Most street lights remain out.
Fully armed National Guard troops refuse to allow over ten thousand people to even physically visit their property in the Lower Ninth Ward neighborhood. Despite the fact that people cannot come back, tens of thousands of people face eviction from their homes. A local judge told me that their court expects to process a thousand evictions a day for weeks.
Renters still in shelters or temporary homes across the country will never see the court notice taped to the door of their home. Because they will not show up for the eviction hearing that they do not know about, their possessions will be tossed out in the street. In the street their possessions will sit alongside an estimated 3 million truck loads of downed trees, piles of mud, fiberglass insulation, crushed sheetrock, abandoned cars, spoiled mattresses, wet rugs, and horrifyingly smelly refrigerators full of food from August.
Fully armed National Guard troops refuse to allow over ten thousand people to even physically visit their property in the Lower Ninth Ward neighborhood. Despite the fact that people cannot come back, tens of thousands of people face eviction from their homes. A local judge told me that their court expects to process a thousand evictions a day for weeks.
Renters still in shelters or temporary homes across the country will never see the court notice taped to the door of their home. Because they will not show up for the eviction hearing that they do not know about, their possessions will be tossed out in the street. In the street their possessions will sit alongside an estimated 3 million truck loads of downed trees, piles of mud, fiberglass insulation, crushed sheetrock, abandoned cars, spoiled mattresses, wet rugs, and horrifyingly smelly refrigerators full of food from August.
Monday, October 31, 2005
Is Avian Flu another Pentagon Hoax?
No sooner are indictments being handed down to Scooter Libby, the Chief of Staff of the Vice President of the United States for lies and coverup of information used deliberately to suppress the fact the Bush Administration had no ‘smoking gun’ to prove Saddam Hussein was building a nuclear arsenal, but a new scandal is surfacing every bit as outrageous and ultimately, likely also criminal.
Against all scientific prudence and normal public health procedure, the world population is being whipped up into a fear frenzy by irresponsible public health officials from the US Administration to WHO to the United States Centers for Disease Control. They all warn about the imminent danger that a malicious viral strain might spread from infected birds, primarily in Vietnam and other Asian centers, to contaminate the entire human species in pandemic proportions. Often the flu pandemic of 1918 which is said to have killed 18 million worldwide, is cited as an example of what 'might' lie in store for us.
On November 1, appropriately enough the day after Halloween, President Bush is scheduled to visit the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda Maryland to announce his Administration’s strategy of how it will prepare for the next flu epidemic, whether from Bird Flu or some other strain. The plan has been a year in the making. On October 28 the Senate passed an $8 billion emergency funding bill to address the growing Avian Flu panic. Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt, in a moment of candor during the debate on the Senate bill told the press, 'If it isn’t the current H5N1 virus that leads to an influenza pandemic, at some point in our nation's future, another virus will.' In the meantime taxpayer billions will have gone to a handful of pharmaceutical giants positioned to profit. None stands to reap more lucre than the Swiss-US pharmaceutical giant Roche Holdings of Basle.
The only medicine we are told which reduce the symptoms of general or seasonal influenza and 'possibly' might reduce symptoms also of Avian Flu, is a drug called Tamiflu. Today the giant Swiss pharmaceutical firm, Roche, holds the sole license to manufacture Tamiflu. Due to the media panic, the order books at Roche today are filled to overflowing. Roche recently refused a request from the US Congress to lift its exclusive patent rights to allow other drug manufacturers to produce Tamiflu with the improbable excuse that it was in effect, too complex for others to rapidly produce.
However, the real point of interest is the company in California who developed Tamiflu and gave the marketing rights to its patented discovery to Roche.
'Rummy Flu'
Tamiflu was developed and patented in 1996 by a California biotech firm, Gilead Sciences Inc. Gilead is a NASDAQ (GILD) listed stock company which prefers to maintain a low profile in the current rush to Tamiflu. That might be because of who is tied to Gilead. In 1997, before he became US Secretary of Defense, Donald H. Rumsfeld was named Chairman of the Board of Gilead Sciences, where he remained until early 2001 when he became Defense Secretary. Rumsfeld had been on the board of Gilead since 1988 according to a January 3 1997 company press release.
An as-yet-unconfirmed report is that Rumsfeld while Secretary of Defense also purchased an additional stock in his former company, Gilead Sciences Inc., worth $18 million, making him one of its largest if not the largest stock owners today.
Against all scientific prudence and normal public health procedure, the world population is being whipped up into a fear frenzy by irresponsible public health officials from the US Administration to WHO to the United States Centers for Disease Control. They all warn about the imminent danger that a malicious viral strain might spread from infected birds, primarily in Vietnam and other Asian centers, to contaminate the entire human species in pandemic proportions. Often the flu pandemic of 1918 which is said to have killed 18 million worldwide, is cited as an example of what 'might' lie in store for us.
On November 1, appropriately enough the day after Halloween, President Bush is scheduled to visit the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda Maryland to announce his Administration’s strategy of how it will prepare for the next flu epidemic, whether from Bird Flu or some other strain. The plan has been a year in the making. On October 28 the Senate passed an $8 billion emergency funding bill to address the growing Avian Flu panic. Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt, in a moment of candor during the debate on the Senate bill told the press, 'If it isn’t the current H5N1 virus that leads to an influenza pandemic, at some point in our nation's future, another virus will.' In the meantime taxpayer billions will have gone to a handful of pharmaceutical giants positioned to profit. None stands to reap more lucre than the Swiss-US pharmaceutical giant Roche Holdings of Basle.
The only medicine we are told which reduce the symptoms of general or seasonal influenza and 'possibly' might reduce symptoms also of Avian Flu, is a drug called Tamiflu. Today the giant Swiss pharmaceutical firm, Roche, holds the sole license to manufacture Tamiflu. Due to the media panic, the order books at Roche today are filled to overflowing. Roche recently refused a request from the US Congress to lift its exclusive patent rights to allow other drug manufacturers to produce Tamiflu with the improbable excuse that it was in effect, too complex for others to rapidly produce.
However, the real point of interest is the company in California who developed Tamiflu and gave the marketing rights to its patented discovery to Roche.
'Rummy Flu'
Tamiflu was developed and patented in 1996 by a California biotech firm, Gilead Sciences Inc. Gilead is a NASDAQ (GILD) listed stock company which prefers to maintain a low profile in the current rush to Tamiflu. That might be because of who is tied to Gilead. In 1997, before he became US Secretary of Defense, Donald H. Rumsfeld was named Chairman of the Board of Gilead Sciences, where he remained until early 2001 when he became Defense Secretary. Rumsfeld had been on the board of Gilead since 1988 according to a January 3 1997 company press release.
An as-yet-unconfirmed report is that Rumsfeld while Secretary of Defense also purchased an additional stock in his former company, Gilead Sciences Inc., worth $18 million, making him one of its largest if not the largest stock owners today.
Colombia: El precio de nuestra lucha - Enlace Indígena
ALERTA TEMPRANA
Personas Y Grupos, Utilizando Amenazas Y Guerra Sucia,
Nos Quieren Callar.
LA ASOCIACIÓN DE CABILDOS INDÍGENAS DEL NORTE DEL CAUCA ACIN - CXAB WALA KIWE, SE PERMITE INFORMAR Y DENUNCIAR A LA OPINIÓN PÚBLICA NACIONAL E INTERNACIONAL QUE:
1. En días pasados, una ola de amenazas llovieron sobre varios de nuestros comuneros, líderes y autoridades, situación que para nosotros se traduce en un mensaje claro, que busca desestabilizar el proceso comunitario de las comunidades indígenas de la zona norte del Departamento del cauca.
2. Cuando creíamos que los enemigos de nuestro proceso, habían desistido de sus irracionales pretensiones, hoy tenemos que informar la orden inmediata de ajusticiamiento contra nuestro compañero co-coordinador del Tejido de Comunicación de la ACIN, EMANUEL ROZENTAL, a quien personas que hasta el momento no conocemos, lo acusan falsamente de ser terrorista internacional de alta peligrosidad y otros de ser agente de la CIA. Esta desafortunada situación, obligo a nuestro compañero a salir inmediatamente del país.
3. La reciente amenaza dirigida contra nuestro compañero, así como las anteriores, es una premeditada estrategia que busca silenciarnos en el momento en que crece la lucha para LIBERAR A LA MADRE TIERRA, y porque paso a paso viene creciendo la fuerza del Congreso Indígena y Popular que sesionará muy pronto en cualquier parte del país.
Caminamos la Palabra, Marchamos por la Vida, la Justicia, la Alegría y la Libertad, pasos que hoy recorren y resuenan por todo el país, no porque nosotros los mandamos ni porque los lideramos, sino porque la hora de levantarnos llega, buscando el otro país, ese país Posible, Justo y Necesario para todos.
Hicimos la Consulta Popular frente al TLC y el pueblo dijo NO, y el mundo fue testigo de la transparencia y validez del proceso y el país se dio cuenta de que el pueblo puede llamar y realizar procesos verdaderamente democráticos y elegir lo que le conviene, aunque los que mandan no quieran. Ahora la consulta son consultas y los pueblos han ordenado NO al TLC aunque los señores presidentes desobedeciendo al pueblo ordenen que sí.
Gritamos desde la fuerza de nuestros corazones LIBERTAD PARA LA MADRE TIERRA, y esta semilla florece y da frutos, porque quienes concentran la tierra y se la roban al pueblo para matarla, están en el Gobierno, obedecen a los Gringos y a las Multinacionales. No lo vamos a tolerar, no más.
Por caminar la palabra nos amenazan, por defender la Vida toda, nos quieren callar utilizando las armas, las amenazas, las intrigas, la guerra sucia como argumentos, creen ilusamente que la fuerza de las ideas la pueden suplantar con el ejercicio de la fuerza ilegitima. Por eso amenazan a Manuel Rozental, a Alcibíades Escue, a Ezequiel Vitonas, a Manuel Santos Poto, a Luis Acosta, a Gilberto Muñoz, a Omar Vitonas y a tantos más. Están convencidos que ordenando sus muertes van a callarlos, se equivocan porque las palabras y las acciones son de todas y de todos, ellos son la Comunidad, el Mandato, el Congreso Indígena y Popular, la Madre Tierra, nuestra libertad.
Exigimos:
Respeto para todos. Manuel no es terrorista, no es paramilitar, no es agente de la CIA ni es protagonista, ni merece ser silenciado a tiros. Es un compañero que cumple las responsabilidades que le delega la organización y la Asamblea del proceso indígena y las que le dicta su compromiso con la Vida.
Manuel y todos, deben estar entre nosotras y nosotros, el sigue y seguirá estando acá, en la Tierra, en las Montañas en la Vida, hasta cuando regrese pronto, porque su corazón está en esta tierra. Somos un solo ser con la madre tierra y la lucha. Por eso, llamamos y demandamos la solidaridad del país y del mundo para que ninguno y ninguna de los que estamos unidos tengamos que morir asesinados o ser expulsados y difamados. Porque no es justo ni natural, que nos arranquen de lo que es nuestro, de nuestro ser, de nuestra tierra, reclamamos el derecho a permanecer vivos e integrales.
Por considerar, que esta situación representa un alto riesgo y peligro, para las personas y el proceso, la asociación de cabildos indígenas del Norte del Cauca ACIN Cxab Wala Kiwe, emite una ALERTA TEMPRANA, dirigida al Gobierno Nacional, organismos defensores de los derechos humanos, Procuraduría General de la Nación, Sistema de las Naciones Unidas en Colombia, Defensoría del Pueblo y demás organismos protectores, buscando medios y mecanismos para evitar la consumación de las amenazas de muerte contra nuestros comuneros, proferidas por personas o grupos no identificados y para detener los falsos rumores y aseveraciones que se constituyen en sentencias de muerte y arrancan a la gente de nuestra Madre Tierra.
AUTORIDADES INDIGENAS DEL NORTE DEL CAUCA.
Santander de Quilichao Cauca Colombia, octubre 27 de 2005.
Reading Between the Lines
While reading through the latest issue of Harper's Magazine, I came across excerpts from the more than 750 editorial changes proposed by Ambassador John Bolton, on behalf of the United States, to a draft of the Outcome Document on United Nations Reform. The purpose of the Outcome Document was to delineate the various areas of the UN that Member States, particularly the US, hope to change.
The redactions and additions proposed (demanded?) by the US were startling in their implications. Based on the proposed changes, it would appear that the US wants to be able to target and deliberately kill civilians, encourage all but the worst forms of child labor, and make sure that no one does anything to meaningfully address nuclear proliferation, among other things.
In one curious revision, the US insisted that "the targeting and deliberate killing" of "civilians and non-combatants" is without justification or legitimacy, but only when committed "by terrorists." Why would the US insist on such "clarifying" language? Is the US of the opinion that the targeting and deliberate killing of civilians and non-combatants is justified and legitimate if such acts are committed by non-terrorists? Does the US wish to reserve the "right" to target and deliberately kill civilians and non-combatants? Does it wish to reserve that "right" for, say, Israel?
Based upon the revisions insisted upon by the US, several things become clear. First, by saying it wishes to "reform" the UN, the US really intends to exempt itself from any legal or moral obligations the UN might seek to impose. Second, the US continues to hold itself above international law. Third, the US will seize upon any and every opportunity to denigrate, subvert, and obstruct international law. Fourth, and most significantly, the US does not care at all about who it harms, or what damage it causes in its arrogant pursuit of empire and hegemony. If its support and training of death squads, or its targeting and deliberate killing of civilians happen to qualify as terrorist acts, so what? If its zeal for corporate globalization entails all but the worst forms of child labor, big deal. If its grim determination to develop and possess more and "better" nuclear weapons actually threatens international security, who cares?
The redactions and additions proposed (demanded?) by the US were startling in their implications. Based on the proposed changes, it would appear that the US wants to be able to target and deliberately kill civilians, encourage all but the worst forms of child labor, and make sure that no one does anything to meaningfully address nuclear proliferation, among other things.
In one curious revision, the US insisted that "the targeting and deliberate killing" of "civilians and non-combatants" is without justification or legitimacy, but only when committed "by terrorists." Why would the US insist on such "clarifying" language? Is the US of the opinion that the targeting and deliberate killing of civilians and non-combatants is justified and legitimate if such acts are committed by non-terrorists? Does the US wish to reserve the "right" to target and deliberately kill civilians and non-combatants? Does it wish to reserve that "right" for, say, Israel?
-----------------------------
Based upon the revisions insisted upon by the US, several things become clear. First, by saying it wishes to "reform" the UN, the US really intends to exempt itself from any legal or moral obligations the UN might seek to impose. Second, the US continues to hold itself above international law. Third, the US will seize upon any and every opportunity to denigrate, subvert, and obstruct international law. Fourth, and most significantly, the US does not care at all about who it harms, or what damage it causes in its arrogant pursuit of empire and hegemony. If its support and training of death squads, or its targeting and deliberate killing of civilians happen to qualify as terrorist acts, so what? If its zeal for corporate globalization entails all but the worst forms of child labor, big deal. If its grim determination to develop and possess more and "better" nuclear weapons actually threatens international security, who cares?
Reading between the lines, the US's message to the rest of the world is simple, direct, and clear: "Fuck you."
The Deadliness Below - Weapons of mass destruction thrown into the sea years ago present danger now - and the Army doesn't know where they all are
Original article Daily Press PART 1: The Deadliness Below
In the summer of 2004, a clam-dredging operation off New Jersey pulled up an old artillery shell.
Bomb disposal technicians from Dover Air Force Base, Del., were brought in to dismantle it. Three of them were injured - one hospitalized with large pus-filled blisters on an arm and hand.
The shell was filled with mustard gas in solid form.
What was long feared by the few military officials in the know had come to pass: Chemical weapons that the Army dumped at sea decades ago finally ended up on shore in the United States.
It's long been known that some chemical weapons went into the ocean, but records obtained by the Daily Press show that the previously classified weapons-dumping program was far more extensive than ever suspected.
The Army now admits that it secretly dumped 64 million pounds of nerve and mustard agents into the sea, along with 400,000 chemical-filled bombs, land mines and rockets and more than 500 tons of radioactive waste - either tossed overboard or packed into the holds of scuttled vessels.
A Daily Press investigation also found:
These weapons of mass destruction virtually ring the country, concealed off at least 11 states - six on the East Coast, two on the Gulf Coast, California, Hawaii and Alaska. Few, if any, state officials have been informed of their existence.
The chemical agents could pose a hazard for generations. The Army has examined only a few of its 26 dump zones and none in the past 30 years.
The Army can't say exactly where all the weapons were dumped from World War II to 1970. Army records are sketchy, missing or were destroyed.
More dumpsites likely exist. The Army hasn't reviewed World War I-era records, when ocean dumping of chemical weapons was common.
In the summer of 2004, a clam-dredging operation off New Jersey pulled up an old artillery shell.
Barges often were piled high with one-ton steel containers of mustard gas to be thrown into the ocean in the 1940s and 1950s. More than a dozen such as this were unloaded off the coast of South Carolina.The long-submerged World War I-era explosive was filled with a black tarlike substance.
Bomb disposal technicians from Dover Air Force Base, Del., were brought in to dismantle it. Three of them were injured - one hospitalized with large pus-filled blisters on an arm and hand.
The shell was filled with mustard gas in solid form.
What was long feared by the few military officials in the know had come to pass: Chemical weapons that the Army dumped at sea decades ago finally ended up on shore in the United States.
It's long been known that some chemical weapons went into the ocean, but records obtained by the Daily Press show that the previously classified weapons-dumping program was far more extensive than ever suspected.
The Army now admits that it secretly dumped 64 million pounds of nerve and mustard agents into the sea, along with 400,000 chemical-filled bombs, land mines and rockets and more than 500 tons of radioactive waste - either tossed overboard or packed into the holds of scuttled vessels.
A Daily Press investigation also found:
These weapons of mass destruction virtually ring the country, concealed off at least 11 states - six on the East Coast, two on the Gulf Coast, California, Hawaii and Alaska. Few, if any, state officials have been informed of their existence.
The chemical agents could pose a hazard for generations. The Army has examined only a few of its 26 dump zones and none in the past 30 years.
The Army can't say exactly where all the weapons were dumped from World War II to 1970. Army records are sketchy, missing or were destroyed.
More dumpsites likely exist. The Army hasn't reviewed World War I-era records, when ocean dumping of chemical weapons was common.
The Uncertainty of Elections in Bolivia
According to the Bolivian constitution, interim president Eduardo Rodriguez must hold national elections within a timeframe of no more than 180 days from the start of his presidency last June. The realization of these elections, however, remains up in the air due to a recent ruling by Bolivia's constitutional court. Conflicts surrounding the distribution of congressional seats are now putting elections, scheduled for December 4th, at risk and bringing the country to the brink of a new crisis.
In May and June of 2005, Bolivia was embroiled in mobilizations of various social movements and social sectors motivated by the call for nationalization of the country's natural gas resources. The protests resulted in the resignation of then president, Carlos Mesa, which ultimately led to the constitutional succession of Bolivia's Supreme Court President, Rodriguez, to the presidency. It’s worth clarifying that Mesa's resignation was not a demand of those mobilized in the streets, but rather an exit of his own choosing.
The Start of the Conflict
In May and June of 2005, Bolivia was embroiled in mobilizations of various social movements and social sectors motivated by the call for nationalization of the country's natural gas resources. The protests resulted in the resignation of then president, Carlos Mesa, which ultimately led to the constitutional succession of Bolivia's Supreme Court President, Rodriguez, to the presidency. It’s worth clarifying that Mesa's resignation was not a demand of those mobilized in the streets, but rather an exit of his own choosing.
The Start of the Conflict
The Life and Work of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse?
For the last several days, the flow of the Internet and a few irresponsible journalists have been warning us that Bolivia is being threatened by "peacekeeping" forces made up of Chilean, Paraguayan, and Brazilian troops led by U.S. commanders and soldiers. It has also been speculated that Peru disagrees with this plan for international intervention to "defend threatened democracies," and is willing to enter into a military conflict with Chile to settle old scores from history. I think we must be clear here: the purpose of all this, of building up a scenario of sub-continental war, is to provoke uncertainty, anxiety, and doubts among the Bolivian population going into the December 4, 2005 elections. It is also possible, though unlikely, that an attempt is being made to provoke a civil conflict between the "trade unionist west" and the "enterprising east" in order to break out of a "disastrous impasse."
On the one hand, it would seem that the horsemen of the Apocalypse, embodied in Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Rice, are sending messengers to provoke fluctuations in voter preference polls for Evo Morales and his Movement Toward Socialism (MAS), whose possible electoral victory is quite worrying to the U.S. State Department. And so, as long "Tuto" Quiroga and Samuel Doria Medina, candidates for the PODEMOS ("We Can") and UN ("National Unity") coalitions, seem to enjoy the Bolivian electorate’s preference, we can supposedly relax. The other preference (for MAS) would mean entering into fear and paranoia about the possibility of a conflict widened to involve the entire Southern Cone. Well, a few sociological paradigms would say that it is more the fear of the threat of a violent event than the fear of the event itself.
On the one hand, it would seem that the horsemen of the Apocalypse, embodied in Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Rice, are sending messengers to provoke fluctuations in voter preference polls for Evo Morales and his Movement Toward Socialism (MAS), whose possible electoral victory is quite worrying to the U.S. State Department. And so, as long "Tuto" Quiroga and Samuel Doria Medina, candidates for the PODEMOS ("We Can") and UN ("National Unity") coalitions, seem to enjoy the Bolivian electorate’s preference, we can supposedly relax. The other preference (for MAS) would mean entering into fear and paranoia about the possibility of a conflict widened to involve the entire Southern Cone. Well, a few sociological paradigms would say that it is more the fear of the threat of a violent event than the fear of the event itself.
Nightmare on Pennsylvania Ave. - BOOHOO, BOOHOO
The White House is alive with the sounds of the season -- spine-chilling screeches, bone-rattling boos, blood-curdling screams. And that's just chief of staff Andrew Card, reading the president's latest approval ratings.
The president and the first lady's annual Halloween party is in full swing when Tom DeLay steps into the room.
The congressman is feeling good. Mighty good, in fact.
He's been photographed, fingerprinted and released on bond, and he's as confident as ever that he'll beat -- as he tells everyone who'll listen -- "one of the weakest, most baseless indictments in American history."
Still, he's a bit nervous. He's not sure how his costume will go over.
DeLay pauses to let his eyes adjust to the dim lighting in the room. "I knew I should have gone with the cockroach costume," he mutters to himself. "That would have been more -- whatchamacallit -- self-effacing."
"And it would have paid homage to your early political training as an exterminator," replies a voice in the darkness.
DeLay whirls around, his hands balled into fists. Out of the shadows steps Karl Rove, dressed as a giant subpoena. "How are you doing, Tom?" the president's aide asks cheerily. "Holding up OK?"
"It's one of the weakest, most baseless indictments -- "
"Yeah, yeah," Rove interjects. "In American history. I know your full whine. So, what are you supposed to be?"
DeLay's face reddens and his eyes narrow to slits. "I'm a money bag!" he snaps, pointing to the huge dollar sign covering the front of his bulbous costume. He twirls around to give Rove the full view.
Rove chortles. "If I were under oath, Tom, I'd probably say you look like a giant diaper. But a money bag is good. Very good. Self-effacing, yet defiant."
DeLay scans the room, looking desperately for someone, anyone else, to talk to.
There's Dick Cheney, dressed as the Energy Hog. And Rep. Don Young, who's painted himself gold and is wearing a giant papier-mache bridge as a hat.
But before DeLay can choose which one to approach, Sen. Bill Frist lopes across the room, dressed in an orange jumpsuit. "Hey, Tom, great diaper!" Frist hollers.
"Thanks. Nice prison outfit you got there," DeLay replies sullenly. He tugs self-consciously at his costume.
"Well, thanks," Frist says, beaming. "You know, Martha Stewart and Donald Trump are here. You should talk to them."
"What for?" DeLay says, his voice thick with suspicion.
"They're franchising spinoffs of 'The Apprentice'!" Frist answers. "They said when my stock-selling troubles are cleared up, I should do lunch with them."
DeLay is no longer listening. His mouth is open wide in disbelief: Heading his way is Jack Abramoff, the former Republican lobbyist recently indicted on fraud and conspiracy charges.
Abramoff, accused of swindling millions of dollars from Indian tribes, is dressed in an Armani suit and full-feather war bonnet. "Hammer, my old friend," he says as he playfully taps DeLay on the head with a toy tomahawk. "How's the old shakedown going?"
"Don't call me friend," DeLay snarls. "And don't use the word 'shakedown.'"
"Whatever you say, buddy" Abramoff replies. He steps closer to examine DeLay's costume. "So, what's with the diaper?"
DeLay tries to storm off, but as he turns, he narrowly misses hitting Cheney's adviser, Lewis Libby, rolling by on a scooter. "Hiya, Hammer," Libby says, honking the horn on his handlebars. "You out on bond?"
DeLay tries to maneuver around him but gets his feet entangled in Scooter's scooter. He tumbles to the floor, bringing down Scooter, then Frist, then Abramoff, then Rove.
The room abruptly falls silent. The crowd parts, and the president -- dressed in an elaborate costume made entirely of genuine Crawford brush -- strides toward the pile of people on the floor.
"Is there a problem here?" Bush asks sternly.
"No, sir," the men squeak. "No problem at all."
Bush looks at them quizzically. As he turns to walk away, he whispers to Laura, "I forget: Is the theme of our party corruption or incompetence?"
The president and the first lady's annual Halloween party is in full swing when Tom DeLay steps into the room.
The congressman is feeling good. Mighty good, in fact.
He's been photographed, fingerprinted and released on bond, and he's as confident as ever that he'll beat -- as he tells everyone who'll listen -- "one of the weakest, most baseless indictments in American history."
Still, he's a bit nervous. He's not sure how his costume will go over.
DeLay pauses to let his eyes adjust to the dim lighting in the room. "I knew I should have gone with the cockroach costume," he mutters to himself. "That would have been more -- whatchamacallit -- self-effacing."
"And it would have paid homage to your early political training as an exterminator," replies a voice in the darkness.
DeLay whirls around, his hands balled into fists. Out of the shadows steps Karl Rove, dressed as a giant subpoena. "How are you doing, Tom?" the president's aide asks cheerily. "Holding up OK?"
"It's one of the weakest, most baseless indictments -- "
"Yeah, yeah," Rove interjects. "In American history. I know your full whine. So, what are you supposed to be?"
DeLay's face reddens and his eyes narrow to slits. "I'm a money bag!" he snaps, pointing to the huge dollar sign covering the front of his bulbous costume. He twirls around to give Rove the full view.
Rove chortles. "If I were under oath, Tom, I'd probably say you look like a giant diaper. But a money bag is good. Very good. Self-effacing, yet defiant."
DeLay scans the room, looking desperately for someone, anyone else, to talk to.
There's Dick Cheney, dressed as the Energy Hog. And Rep. Don Young, who's painted himself gold and is wearing a giant papier-mache bridge as a hat.
But before DeLay can choose which one to approach, Sen. Bill Frist lopes across the room, dressed in an orange jumpsuit. "Hey, Tom, great diaper!" Frist hollers.
"Thanks. Nice prison outfit you got there," DeLay replies sullenly. He tugs self-consciously at his costume.
"Well, thanks," Frist says, beaming. "You know, Martha Stewart and Donald Trump are here. You should talk to them."
"What for?" DeLay says, his voice thick with suspicion.
"They're franchising spinoffs of 'The Apprentice'!" Frist answers. "They said when my stock-selling troubles are cleared up, I should do lunch with them."
DeLay is no longer listening. His mouth is open wide in disbelief: Heading his way is Jack Abramoff, the former Republican lobbyist recently indicted on fraud and conspiracy charges.
Abramoff, accused of swindling millions of dollars from Indian tribes, is dressed in an Armani suit and full-feather war bonnet. "Hammer, my old friend," he says as he playfully taps DeLay on the head with a toy tomahawk. "How's the old shakedown going?"
"Don't call me friend," DeLay snarls. "And don't use the word 'shakedown.'"
"Whatever you say, buddy" Abramoff replies. He steps closer to examine DeLay's costume. "So, what's with the diaper?"
DeLay tries to storm off, but as he turns, he narrowly misses hitting Cheney's adviser, Lewis Libby, rolling by on a scooter. "Hiya, Hammer," Libby says, honking the horn on his handlebars. "You out on bond?"
DeLay tries to maneuver around him but gets his feet entangled in Scooter's scooter. He tumbles to the floor, bringing down Scooter, then Frist, then Abramoff, then Rove.
The room abruptly falls silent. The crowd parts, and the president -- dressed in an elaborate costume made entirely of genuine Crawford brush -- strides toward the pile of people on the floor.
"Is there a problem here?" Bush asks sternly.
"No, sir," the men squeak. "No problem at all."
Bush looks at them quizzically. As he turns to walk away, he whispers to Laura, "I forget: Is the theme of our party corruption or incompetence?"
Halloween muscles in on Patzcuaro holiday tradition (or cultural imperialism south of the border)
Caesar López, 13, carved a jack-o'lantern from a chilacayote gourd and brought it to Patzcuaro's Plaza Grande each night during the weeks preceding Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead.
Once there, instead of accumulating candy by calling out "trick or treat" as his counterparts north of the border might do, he collected money by asking bystanders, "Give me something for my chilacayote."
And many did. On a good night, said Caesar, he made up to 20 pesos with his gourd jack-olantern.
When asked to explain the difference between Halloween and Dia de los Muertos, he responded innocently, "It's the same thing."
Over the past 20 years, Halloween influences have crept into Patzcuaro, a colonial city where the indigenous Purepecha build impressive Dia de los Muertos alters and hold nighttime grave-site vigils to honor their deceased loved ones.
Once there, instead of accumulating candy by calling out "trick or treat" as his counterparts north of the border might do, he collected money by asking bystanders, "Give me something for my chilacayote."
And many did. On a good night, said Caesar, he made up to 20 pesos with his gourd jack-olantern.
When asked to explain the difference between Halloween and Dia de los Muertos, he responded innocently, "It's the same thing."
Over the past 20 years, Halloween influences have crept into Patzcuaro, a colonial city where the indigenous Purepecha build impressive Dia de los Muertos alters and hold nighttime grave-site vigils to honor their deceased loved ones.
Wayne Madsen Report
The GOP spinmeisters are claiming that the outing of a covert CIA agent and her network was not a conspiracy and was no big thing. However, a last minute visit by the prosecutor to the President's criminal defense attorney after Rove's attorney gave the prosecutor new evidence that caused him to "pause" means one thing -- Bush is also a target of the criminal probe. Bush's last words in Leakgate may very well be, "Et tu Karl?"
Et tu Karl?
Bush's Supreme Court pick, Samuel Alito (or "Scalito," since he's an ideological twin of Opus Dei adherent Antonin Scalia), is engineered by Karl Rove as a way to change the songsheet in DC. Now there will be discussions about invoking the Senate "Gang of 14" to filibuster this extremely conservative 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals judge who is anti-Roe v. Wade, anti-privacy, anti-civil rights, and pro-corporation. However, the special prosecutor is singing from a different songsheet.
Alito nomination: A Karl Rove diversion
Another diversion, engineered by neo-con Minnesota Republican Senator Norm Coleman, was to recently refer Senate testimony by British MP George Galloway on the UN Oil-for-Food program to the Department of Justice, US Attorneys for DC and Manhattan, and the Manhattan District Attorney for criminal investigation. It would be surprising if any law enforcement official takes seriously Coleman's charges or those of former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker that Galloway benefited from oil concessions from Saddam Hussein. The "evidence" Coleman proffered was based on crude forgeries obtained from circles associated with bank embezzler and known prevaricator Ahmad Chalabi, who is now, not coincidentally, Iraq's Oil Minister. The neocons are still upset that Galloway trounced one of their own, Labor's Oona King, a pro-Likud shill, in east London's largely East Asian Bethnal Green and Bow constituency.
Et tu Karl?
Bush's Supreme Court pick, Samuel Alito (or "Scalito," since he's an ideological twin of Opus Dei adherent Antonin Scalia), is engineered by Karl Rove as a way to change the songsheet in DC. Now there will be discussions about invoking the Senate "Gang of 14" to filibuster this extremely conservative 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals judge who is anti-Roe v. Wade, anti-privacy, anti-civil rights, and pro-corporation. However, the special prosecutor is singing from a different songsheet.
Alito nomination: A Karl Rove diversion
Another diversion, engineered by neo-con Minnesota Republican Senator Norm Coleman, was to recently refer Senate testimony by British MP George Galloway on the UN Oil-for-Food program to the Department of Justice, US Attorneys for DC and Manhattan, and the Manhattan District Attorney for criminal investigation. It would be surprising if any law enforcement official takes seriously Coleman's charges or those of former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker that Galloway benefited from oil concessions from Saddam Hussein. The "evidence" Coleman proffered was based on crude forgeries obtained from circles associated with bank embezzler and known prevaricator Ahmad Chalabi, who is now, not coincidentally, Iraq's Oil Minister. The neocons are still upset that Galloway trounced one of their own, Labor's Oona King, a pro-Likud shill, in east London's largely East Asian Bethnal Green and Bow constituency.
Hey NY Times: Go to Hell You Criminal Bastards!
The NY Times and the rest of the criminal corporate media are lying bastards! I can not repeat this enough: none of the information related to the Plame case that is being presented to the public by the corporate media is new. It is almost as if they are visiting sites such as TvNewsLIES.org, Buzzflash.com, Whatreallyhappened.com or the like and skimming through our archives. They are printing 2-3 year old news stories as if they are suddenly finding out new information during some kind of journalistic investigation.
There is no investigative journalism taking place. The criminals who work for the corporate media outlets are not leaving their desks or lifting their telephone handsets. They are doing google searches and they are reprinting information that was reported by real investigative journalists 2-3 years ago. The entire news industry has become Jason Blair! They are presenting work that is not theirs.
The NY Times has and the rest of the Times wannabes are pulling another scam on us.
There is no investigative journalism taking place. The criminals who work for the corporate media outlets are not leaving their desks or lifting their telephone handsets. They are doing google searches and they are reprinting information that was reported by real investigative journalists 2-3 years ago. The entire news industry has become Jason Blair! They are presenting work that is not theirs.
The NY Times has and the rest of the Times wannabes are pulling another scam on us.
Voices from the grave - The world's new Halloween reality
I'm told by fiends, I mean friends, that the Iraqi prisoner who was draped in electrical wires and a black cape is the top new Halloween costume for this season.
If you think these are in bad taste, let me respectfully point out that there is no worse taste than a people who accept obvious lies as an excuse to kill people and rob them, who ignore the mass murder of 3,000 of their own countrymen without even a decent investigation, and who are too afraid to even say to their own leaders, "Just tell the truth."
Still stuck for a decent Halloween costume? Don't worry. We're making ghosts a lot faster now.
And if all else fails, you can always go as the scariest, most menacing character of all this Halloween, the one surest to invoke pure and unadulterated horror at the evil injustice and wanton cruelty that forged his reputation across many decades of blood, false statements and broken promises. You can go as an American.
If you think these are in bad taste, let me respectfully point out that there is no worse taste than a people who accept obvious lies as an excuse to kill people and rob them, who ignore the mass murder of 3,000 of their own countrymen without even a decent investigation, and who are too afraid to even say to their own leaders, "Just tell the truth."
Still stuck for a decent Halloween costume? Don't worry. We're making ghosts a lot faster now.
And if all else fails, you can always go as the scariest, most menacing character of all this Halloween, the one surest to invoke pure and unadulterated horror at the evil injustice and wanton cruelty that forged his reputation across many decades of blood, false statements and broken promises. You can go as an American.
Torture and Misery in the Name of Freedom
"We cannot accept that there can be free democratic elections in a country under foreign military occupation"
George Bush (referring to Lebanon, not Iraq of course)
The following remarks were adapted during Mr. Pinter's acceptance speech on winning the Wilfred Owen Award earlier this year.
The great poet Wilfred Owen articulated the tragedy, the horror -- and indeed the pity -- of war in a way no other poet has. Yet we have learnt nothing. Nearly 100 years after his death the world has become more savage, more brutal, more pitiless.
But the "free world" we are told, as embodied in the United States and Great Britain, is different to the rest of the world since our actions are dictated and sanctioned by a moral authority and a moral passion condoned by someone called God. Some people may find this difficult to comprehend but Osama Bin Laden finds it easy.
What would Wilfred Owen make of the invasion of Iraq? A bandit act, an act of blatant state terrorism, demonstrating absolute contempt for the concept of International Law. An arbitrary military action inspired by a series of lies upon lies and gross manipulation of the media and therefore of the public. An act intended to consolidate American military and economic control of the Middle East masquerading -- as a last resort (all other justifications having failed to justify themselves) -- as liberation. A formidable assertion of military force responsible for the death and mutilation of thousands upon thousands of innocent people.
An independent and totally objective account of the Iraqi civilian dead in the medical magazine The Lancet estimates that the figure approaches 100,000. But neither the US or the UK bother to count the Iraqi dead. As General Tommy Franks of US Central Command memorably said: "We don't do body counts".
We have brought torture, cluster bombs, depleted uranium, innumerable acts of random murder, misery and degradation to the Iraqi people and call it " bringing freedom and democracy to the Middle East". But, as we all know, we have not been welcomed with the predicted flowers. What we have unleashed is a ferocious and unremitting resistance, mayhem and chaos.
You may say at this point: what about the Iraqi elections? Well, President Bush himself answered this question when he said: "We cannot accept that there can be free democratic elections in a country under foreign military occupation". I had to read that statement twice before I realised that he was talking about Lebanon and Syria.
What do Bush and Blair actually see when they look at themselves in the mirror?
I believe Wilfred Owen would share our contempt, our revulsion, our nausea and our shame at both the language and the actions of the American and British governments.
Harold Pinter recently won the 2005 Nobel Prize for Literature. Published on Friday, October 14, 2005 by the Independent/UK.
The new McCarthyism: the witch-hunting of Ward Churchill
PBU44 - Happy Halloween
The witch-hunt spearheaded by the ultra-right, with the assistance of the media, against University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill has dangerous implications for academic freedom and free speech in the US. It represents the latest manifestation of the new McCarthyism, the drive to suppress and silence critics of Bush administration policy and its "global war on terror" in particular.Churchill, a Native American activist, is professor of American Indian Studies and former Chair of Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado in Boulder (he resigned from the latter post as a result of the current controversy). A member of the leadership council of the Colorado American Indian Movement and a past national spokesperson for the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee, Churchill is an outspoken opponent of American imperialism. He is also co-author of The Cointelpro Papers: Documents from the FBI’s Secret Wars Against Dissent in the United States and Agents of Repression: The FBI's Secret Wars Against the Black Panther Party and the American Indian Movement.
Churchill has been singled out for attack by Colorado Republicans and the right-wing governor of Colorado, Bill Owens, for an article he wrote following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington. The piece, " 'Some People Push Back' - On the Justice of Roosting Chickens," essentially argued that America got what it deserved in the attacks. Churchill wrote that the "most that can honestly be said about those [suicide bombers] involved in September 11 is that they finally responded in kind to some of what this country has dispensed to their people as a matter of course."
READ FULL ARTICLE
ALSO READ EXCELLENT PIECE BY David Cole, Professor at Georgetown University Law Center
AND JUAN COLE'S ARTICLE
Officials: Bush Picks fascist "Scalia-lite" for Supreme Court
President Bush is nominating Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court, The Associated Press has learned, choosing a long-time federal judge embraced by judicial conservatives to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
The choice likely will mend a rift in the Republican Party caused by his failed nomination of Harriet Miers.
Miers bowed out last Thursday after three weeks of bruising criticism from members of Bush's own party who argued that the Texas lawyer and loyal Bush confidant had thin credentials on constitutional law and no proven record as a judicial conservative.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to preview Bush's remarks, said Alito was virtually certain to get the nod from the moment Miers backed out.
The 55-year-old jurist was Bush's favorite choice of the judges in the last set of deliberations but he settled instead on someone outside what he calls the "judicial monastery," the officials said.
Bush believes that Alito has not only the right experience and conservative ideology for the job, but he also has a temperament suited to building consensus on the court. A former prosecutor, Alito has experience off the bench that factored into Bush's thinking, the officials said.
Democrats Warn of Partisan Brawl
While Alito is expected to win praise from Bush's allies on the right, Democrats have served notice that his nomination would spark a partisan brawl. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, said Sunday that Alito's nomination would "create a lot of problems."
Unlike Miers, who has never been a judge, Alito, a 55-year-old jurist from New Jersey, has been a strong conservative voice on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals since former President George H.W. Bush seated him there in 1990.
So consistently conservative, Alito has been dubbed "Scalito" or "Scalia-lite" by some lawyers because his judicial philosophy invites comparisons to Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. But while Scalia is outspoken and is known to badger lawyers, Alito is polite, reserved and even-tempered.
The choice likely will mend a rift in the Republican Party caused by his failed nomination of Harriet Miers.
Miers bowed out last Thursday after three weeks of bruising criticism from members of Bush's own party who argued that the Texas lawyer and loyal Bush confidant had thin credentials on constitutional law and no proven record as a judicial conservative.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to preview Bush's remarks, said Alito was virtually certain to get the nod from the moment Miers backed out.
The 55-year-old jurist was Bush's favorite choice of the judges in the last set of deliberations but he settled instead on someone outside what he calls the "judicial monastery," the officials said.
Bush believes that Alito has not only the right experience and conservative ideology for the job, but he also has a temperament suited to building consensus on the court. A former prosecutor, Alito has experience off the bench that factored into Bush's thinking, the officials said.
Democrats Warn of Partisan Brawl
While Alito is expected to win praise from Bush's allies on the right, Democrats have served notice that his nomination would spark a partisan brawl. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, said Sunday that Alito's nomination would "create a lot of problems."
Unlike Miers, who has never been a judge, Alito, a 55-year-old jurist from New Jersey, has been a strong conservative voice on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals since former President George H.W. Bush seated him there in 1990.
So consistently conservative, Alito has been dubbed "Scalito" or "Scalia-lite" by some lawyers because his judicial philosophy invites comparisons to Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. But while Scalia is outspoken and is known to badger lawyers, Alito is polite, reserved and even-tempered.
Doubts Cast on (official version of) Vietnam Tonkin Gulf Incident, but Secret Study Stays Classified
Those of us who lived, bled, and died in that period know the bullshit our lying government fed us.
The National Security Agency has kept secret since 2001 a finding by an agency historian that during the Tonkin Gulf episode, which helped precipitate the Vietnam War, N.S.A. officers deliberately distorted critical intelligence to cover up their mistakes, two people familiar with the historian's work say.The historian's conclusion is the first serious accusation that communications intercepted by the N.S.A., the secretive eavesdropping and code-breaking agency, were falsified so that they made it look as if North Vietnam had attacked American destroyers on Aug. 4, 1964, two days after a previous clash. President Lyndon B. Johnson cited the supposed attack to persuade Congress to authorize broad military action in Vietnam, but most historians have concluded in recent years that there was no second attack.
The N.S.A. historian, Robert J. Hanyok, found a pattern of translation mistakes that went uncorrected, altered intercept times and selective citation of intelligence that persuaded him that midlevel agency officers had deliberately skewed the evidence.
Sunday, October 30, 2005
Winter Soldier - The Film
In February 1971, one month after the revelations of the My Lai massacre, a public inquiry into war crimes committed by American forces in Vietnam was held at a Howard Johnson motel in Detroit. Vietnam Veterans Against the War organized this event called the Winter Soldier Investigation with support from Jane Fonda and Mark Lane. More than 125 veterans spoke of atrocities they had witnessed and committed. "The major that I worked for had a fantastic capability of staking prisoners," goes one piece of testimony, "utilizing a knife that was extremely sharp, and sort of fileting them like a fish. . . . Prisoners treated this way were executed at the end because there was no way that we could take them into any medical aide and say, 'This dude fell down some steps.'"
Though the event was attended by press and television news crews almost nothing was reported to the American public. Yet, this unprecedented forum marked a turning point in the anti-war movement. It was a pivotal moment in the lives of young vets from around the country who participated, including the young John Kerry. The Winter Soldier Investigation changed him and his comrades forever. Their courage in testifying, their desire to prevent further atrocities and to regain their own humanity, provide a dramatic intensity that makes the film Winter Soldier an unforgettable experience.
VIEW TRAILER: QUICKTIME
or WINDOWS
Though the event was attended by press and television news crews almost nothing was reported to the American public. Yet, this unprecedented forum marked a turning point in the anti-war movement. It was a pivotal moment in the lives of young vets from around the country who participated, including the young John Kerry. The Winter Soldier Investigation changed him and his comrades forever. Their courage in testifying, their desire to prevent further atrocities and to regain their own humanity, provide a dramatic intensity that makes the film Winter Soldier an unforgettable experience.
VIEW TRAILER: QUICKTIME
or WINDOWS
'None dare call it Treason'
"Treason doth never prosper: what's the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason."
Sir John Harrington (1561-1612)
I've never had particularly warm feelings towards either President Bush or his Vice President Dick Cheney. Cheney spooked me early - as soon as I discovered that having been tasked to find a Vice Presidential running mate for George Bush, he selected himself.
Later, when his wife disclosed some of his personal predilections, he spooked me even more. It had been her husband's habit, Mrs Cheney said, to baby-sit his infant daughters by taking them with him to view Civil War battlefields.
To me, the story suggested a racist bitter-ender, obsessing about what might have been had Robert E Lee been more successful.
Fanciful? Perhaps, but the behaviour of Cheney and the rest of the Bush administration since has given me no cause to revise my speculation. They have emphasised their racist agenda in many ways, from Affirmative Action to Katrina, from Haiti to Darfur - and of course, above all, in Iraq.
And the main architect has been Mr Cheney.
So, although like every other Cassandra in the world I hate saying 'I told you so', it was not without some satisfaction that I watch the howling winds of Hurricane Patrick approaching Washington as I write, while the greedy and the powerful, the mighty and the unscrupulous, sit quivering and agonising about the wrath to come.
The 'dumb blonde' who excelled as a spy
Long before Valerie Plame became America's most famous spy, she learnt Greek and moved to Athens. It was 1990, her first foreign posting and not long after graduation from Penn State University - and recruitment to the CIA - nearly everything she dreamed of.
Ambitious, blonde and beautiful, Plame, then 27, took to the job with alacrity. With 'State Department Cover' at Athens' US embassy, the secrets of her trade were easy to conceal. Greece, under the unpredictable governance of Andreas Papandreou, a former US citizen turned anti-American populist, was an interesting place. But the first Gulf war was about to happen, making the country's proximity to the Middle East critical.
As a junior operative, determined to rise through the bureaucracy, Plame would be remembered as unusually diligent and unusually good. So good that even if, privately, she displayed remarkable dexterity with an AK-47 machine gun, publicly she would use charm and good looks if it meant maintaining the interest of a potential recruit.
'She was willing to dress the part of a dumb blonde,' one colleague told The Observer. 'To let yourself be underestimated in a trade craft that is secret is not at all stupid. It shows a lot of skill.'
Ambitious, blonde and beautiful, Plame, then 27, took to the job with alacrity. With 'State Department Cover' at Athens' US embassy, the secrets of her trade were easy to conceal. Greece, under the unpredictable governance of Andreas Papandreou, a former US citizen turned anti-American populist, was an interesting place. But the first Gulf war was about to happen, making the country's proximity to the Middle East critical.
As a junior operative, determined to rise through the bureaucracy, Plame would be remembered as unusually diligent and unusually good. So good that even if, privately, she displayed remarkable dexterity with an AK-47 machine gun, publicly she would use charm and good looks if it meant maintaining the interest of a potential recruit.
'She was willing to dress the part of a dumb blonde,' one colleague told The Observer. 'To let yourself be underestimated in a trade craft that is secret is not at all stupid. It shows a lot of skill.'
Empresas pressionam para liberar sementes Terminator
Batizadas de "sementes suicidas", Terminator só germinam uma única vez, graças a uma tecnologia transgênica. Com comercialização proibida desde 2001, empresas pressionam por sua liberação. Ambientalistas denunciam riscos à biodiversidade e de monopólio.
O Terceiro Encontro das Partes do Protocolo de Cartagena sobre Biossegurança da ONU (MOP-3, na sigla em inglês), que acontecerá em março de 2006 no Brasil, será cenário de uma nova ofensiva política dos países e empresas que defendem a liberalização da produção e da comercialização de alimentos transgênicos em todo o mundo. Enquanto o movimento ambientalista se esforça para que o encontro internacional consolide uma visão sobre os transgênicos que priorize a realização de estudos prévios de impacto ambiental e a adoção do princípio de precaução quanto aos riscos trazidos por estes alimentos ao meio ambiente e à saúde humana, os setores pró-transgênicos já articulam medidas para impulsionar o mercado. O que mais preocupa os ambientalistas é que algumas dessas medidas significam retrocesso em relação a decisões já tomadas pelos países, como é o caso da moratória global da utilização das sementes Terminator.
Desenvolvida pela primeira vez pela empresa norte-americana Delta & Pine Land, a tecnologia Terminator - ou Tecnologia de Restrição de Uso Genético (TRUG), como preferem seus defensores - é um conjunto de técnicas que possibilita a criação de plantas transgênicas para produzir sementes que alcançam a maturidade uma única vez e depois não germinam mais se novamente plantadas.
O Terceiro Encontro das Partes do Protocolo de Cartagena sobre Biossegurança da ONU (MOP-3, na sigla em inglês), que acontecerá em março de 2006 no Brasil, será cenário de uma nova ofensiva política dos países e empresas que defendem a liberalização da produção e da comercialização de alimentos transgênicos em todo o mundo. Enquanto o movimento ambientalista se esforça para que o encontro internacional consolide uma visão sobre os transgênicos que priorize a realização de estudos prévios de impacto ambiental e a adoção do princípio de precaução quanto aos riscos trazidos por estes alimentos ao meio ambiente e à saúde humana, os setores pró-transgênicos já articulam medidas para impulsionar o mercado. O que mais preocupa os ambientalistas é que algumas dessas medidas significam retrocesso em relação a decisões já tomadas pelos países, como é o caso da moratória global da utilização das sementes Terminator.
Desenvolvida pela primeira vez pela empresa norte-americana Delta & Pine Land, a tecnologia Terminator - ou Tecnologia de Restrição de Uso Genético (TRUG), como preferem seus defensores - é um conjunto de técnicas que possibilita a criação de plantas transgênicas para produzir sementes que alcançam a maturidade uma única vez e depois não germinam mais se novamente plantadas.
O herói cubano que lutou dez anos ao lado do comandante Che Guevara
Aos 65 anos, Pombo é o único guerrilheiro vivo que lutou com Che Guevara nas montanhas da Sierra Maestra, no Congo e na Bolívia. Foram dez anos de convivência com o comandante, até a sua morte, em 1967. Hoje, Pombo é general das Forças Armadas Revolucionárias de Cuba.
Na semana passada, ele esteve no Brasil para participar da conferência internacional "Pensamento e Movimentos Sociais na América Latina e Caribe: Imperialismo e Resistências", promovida pelo Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST) e pela Via Campesina.
Não foi a primeira vez que ele pisou em solo brasileiro. Em 1966, quando a guerrilha de Che se instalou na Bolívia, Pombo passou por São Paulo e por Campo Grande (MS) como estratégia para sua entrada no país vizinho sem chamar atenção. Em entrevista ao Brasil de Fato, Pombo explica que o desfecho trágico da guerrilha na Bolívia, quando Che foi assassinado, teve origem na traição do Partido Comunista Boliviano e na decisão de Che de não abandonar uma coluna de guerrilheiros que havia se perdido do seu grupo. Ao comentar a situação da América Latina, Pombo diz que a Venezuela é a esperança do povo do continente e do Terceiro Mundo.
Na semana passada, ele esteve no Brasil para participar da conferência internacional "Pensamento e Movimentos Sociais na América Latina e Caribe: Imperialismo e Resistências", promovida pelo Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST) e pela Via Campesina.
Não foi a primeira vez que ele pisou em solo brasileiro. Em 1966, quando a guerrilha de Che se instalou na Bolívia, Pombo passou por São Paulo e por Campo Grande (MS) como estratégia para sua entrada no país vizinho sem chamar atenção. Em entrevista ao Brasil de Fato, Pombo explica que o desfecho trágico da guerrilha na Bolívia, quando Che foi assassinado, teve origem na traição do Partido Comunista Boliviano e na decisão de Che de não abandonar uma coluna de guerrilheiros que havia se perdido do seu grupo. Ao comentar a situação da América Latina, Pombo diz que a Venezuela é a esperança do povo do continente e do Terceiro Mundo.
We Have Been Warned
We have been warned. Prepare for a broader war in the Middle East, as plans are being laid for the next U.S. led regime change-- in Syria. A UN report on the death of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafig Hariri elicited this comment from a senior U.S. policy maker: "Out of tragedy comes an extraordinary strategic opportunity." This statement reflects the continued neo-conservative, Machiavellian influence on our foreign policy. The "opportunity" refers to the long-held neo-conservative plan for regime change in Syria, similar to what was carried out in Iraq.
This plan for remaking the Middle East has been around for a long time. Just as 9/11 served the interests of those who longed for changes in Iraq, the sensationalism surrounding Hariri's death is being used to advance plans to remove Assad.
Congress already has assisted these plans by authorizing the sanctions placed on Syria last year. Harmful sanctions, as applied to Iraq in the 1990s, inevitably represent a major step toward war since they bring havoc to so many innocent people. Syria already has been charged with developing weapons of mass destruction based on no more evidence than was available when Iraq was similarly charged.
Syria has been condemned for not securing its borders, by the same U.S. leaders who cannot secure our own borders. Syria was castigated for placing its troops in Lebanon, a neighboring country, although such action was invited by an elected government and encouraged by the United States. The Syrian occupation of Lebanon elicited no suicide terrorist attacks, as was suffered by Western occupiers.
Condemning Syria for having troops in Lebanon seems strange, considering most of the world sees our 150,000 troops in Iraq as an unwarranted foreign occupation. Syrian troops were far more welcome in Lebanon.
This plan for remaking the Middle East has been around for a long time. Just as 9/11 served the interests of those who longed for changes in Iraq, the sensationalism surrounding Hariri's death is being used to advance plans to remove Assad.
Congress already has assisted these plans by authorizing the sanctions placed on Syria last year. Harmful sanctions, as applied to Iraq in the 1990s, inevitably represent a major step toward war since they bring havoc to so many innocent people. Syria already has been charged with developing weapons of mass destruction based on no more evidence than was available when Iraq was similarly charged.
Syria has been condemned for not securing its borders, by the same U.S. leaders who cannot secure our own borders. Syria was castigated for placing its troops in Lebanon, a neighboring country, although such action was invited by an elected government and encouraged by the United States. The Syrian occupation of Lebanon elicited no suicide terrorist attacks, as was suffered by Western occupiers.
Condemning Syria for having troops in Lebanon seems strange, considering most of the world sees our 150,000 troops in Iraq as an unwarranted foreign occupation. Syrian troops were far more welcome in Lebanon.
He's not a guy to scoot easily to any prison
The new man on a cellblock should never have to introduce himself like this:
"Hi, I'm Scooter."
Not "Snake." Not "Killer." Not any of those other tough-guy prison monikers that can keep a fresh con safe as he settles nervously into his new life behind bars.
But it's way too late for I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby to change his name.
His goofy boyhood nickname is all over the papers. His face is all over the TV. He's spent the past five years as a top official in the White House. And his name is now at the top of a five-count indictment in the high-publicity CIA-leak case.
Honestly, the prison-movie dialogue almost writes itself: "Wha-cha in for, Scooter? Lyin'? Well, at least you're not a covert-agent leaker. You know what we do to leakers around here."
Yikes!
"Hi, I'm Scooter."
Not "Snake." Not "Killer." Not any of those other tough-guy prison monikers that can keep a fresh con safe as he settles nervously into his new life behind bars.
But it's way too late for I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby to change his name.
His goofy boyhood nickname is all over the papers. His face is all over the TV. He's spent the past five years as a top official in the White House. And his name is now at the top of a five-count indictment in the high-publicity CIA-leak case.
Honestly, the prison-movie dialogue almost writes itself: "Wha-cha in for, Scooter? Lyin'? Well, at least you're not a covert-agent leaker. You know what we do to leakers around here."
Yikes!
Hugo Chávez: "Estaremos en Mar del plata para decirle al ALCA al carajo"
El presidente Hugo Chávez, irá a la IV Cumbre de las Américas en Mar de Plata, Argentina, con la meta de profundizar su oposición al Area de Libre Comercio de las Américas (ALCA) en lo que será un nuevo capítulo de su enfrentamiento con Estados Unidos.
El mandatario confirmó sus intenciones en su peculiar estilo la noche del jueves cuando declaró: "Estaremos en Mar del plata para decirle al ALCA al carajo". Al mismo tiempo, denunció una vez más que Estados Unidos quiere aislar a Venezuela.
Chávez reiteró que el ALCA "ha muerto" y vaticinó que no se podrá concretar en el hemisferio, "porque creo que el gobierno de Estados Unidos no contaba con las fuerzas" de gobiernos progresitas como el de Argentina, Brasil o Uruguay, ni con los movimientos populares.
Aseguró que la reunión de Mar del Plata "fue planificada" en 2001 en la Cumbre de las Américas de Canadá, en la que Venezuela -recordó- fue el único país que expresó sus reservas al ALCA.
"Claro que en las cuentas del imperio no estaban cuando definieron ellos mismos la sedes de estas cumbres (...) que el pueblo, digno, hermano, profundo, infinito de Argentina se iba a rebelar como se rebeló aquel diciembre para romper el camino impuesto por el neoliberalismo", señaló.
Estados Unidos impulsaba el ALCA para enero de 2005 pero el acuerdo general no se concretó y devino en bilaterales de libre comercio (TLC) como el firmado con México, previo a la propuesta del ALCA, así como los de Chile, Centroamérica y República Dominicana.
El mandatario confirmó sus intenciones en su peculiar estilo la noche del jueves cuando declaró: "Estaremos en Mar del plata para decirle al ALCA al carajo". Al mismo tiempo, denunció una vez más que Estados Unidos quiere aislar a Venezuela.
Chávez reiteró que el ALCA "ha muerto" y vaticinó que no se podrá concretar en el hemisferio, "porque creo que el gobierno de Estados Unidos no contaba con las fuerzas" de gobiernos progresitas como el de Argentina, Brasil o Uruguay, ni con los movimientos populares.
Aseguró que la reunión de Mar del Plata "fue planificada" en 2001 en la Cumbre de las Américas de Canadá, en la que Venezuela -recordó- fue el único país que expresó sus reservas al ALCA.
"Claro que en las cuentas del imperio no estaban cuando definieron ellos mismos la sedes de estas cumbres (...) que el pueblo, digno, hermano, profundo, infinito de Argentina se iba a rebelar como se rebeló aquel diciembre para romper el camino impuesto por el neoliberalismo", señaló.
Estados Unidos impulsaba el ALCA para enero de 2005 pero el acuerdo general no se concretó y devino en bilaterales de libre comercio (TLC) como el firmado con México, previo a la propuesta del ALCA, así como los de Chile, Centroamérica y República Dominicana.
El País, el Katrina, Cuba (Sobre la Retórica de Aristóteles y un caso práctico)
Como ustedes saben, para Aristóteles el conocimiento no es un supuesto vacío, algo que pueda darse en abstracto, sino que nace de una premisa, el desarrollo de las facultades del hombre. Dicho de otro modo, para Aristóteles el hombre no está hecho, el hombre tiene que hacerse y no se hace en soledad sino en la polis. Para Aristóteles no vale con decir el hombre es así, la condición humana es así. Por el contrario, hay cosas buenas que deben ser buscadas, pongamos el valor o la magnanimidad, y es posible buscarlas, como es posible aprender a leer. También hay cosas que deben ser evitadas, pongamos la mezquindad, la cobardía.
En la Retórica, Aristóteles intenta que exista un control racional del lenguaje político y judicial. Pero él no entiende por razón lo mismo que entendemos nosotros. La razón no es, en Aristóteles, lo que se opone a los sentimientos, sino lo que los encauza. Quizá resulte más claro hablar de prudencia. Entre el poder y el hacer, que es el camino por donde transita todo conocimiento, ha de mediar siempre la prudencia, la consideración acerca de si lo que se está haciendo favorece al bien de la comunidad y no sólo al interés de uno. No me propongo hablar aquí de las indicaciones concretas que hace Aristóteles sobre cómo se debe argumentar en un juicio, o sobre qué elementos han de tenerse en cuenta al tomar la palabra en la asamblea.
Quiero en cambio referirme al significado que tiene el texto de Aristóteles en su totalidad. Así como, a mí entender, no existe un capitalismo salvaje, pues todo capitalismo lo es -la estructura del capitalismo lo determina, no hay ningún valor que pueda estar por encima de la tasa de ganancia-, sin embargo, sí cabe distinguir entre el habla salvaje, el habla de los deseos, y el habla instituida por Aristóteles para cada espacio de conocimiento, pongamos la poética, la dialéctica o la retórica.
En la Retórica, Aristóteles intenta que exista un control racional del lenguaje político y judicial. Pero él no entiende por razón lo mismo que entendemos nosotros. La razón no es, en Aristóteles, lo que se opone a los sentimientos, sino lo que los encauza. Quizá resulte más claro hablar de prudencia. Entre el poder y el hacer, que es el camino por donde transita todo conocimiento, ha de mediar siempre la prudencia, la consideración acerca de si lo que se está haciendo favorece al bien de la comunidad y no sólo al interés de uno. No me propongo hablar aquí de las indicaciones concretas que hace Aristóteles sobre cómo se debe argumentar en un juicio, o sobre qué elementos han de tenerse en cuenta al tomar la palabra en la asamblea.
Quiero en cambio referirme al significado que tiene el texto de Aristóteles en su totalidad. Así como, a mí entender, no existe un capitalismo salvaje, pues todo capitalismo lo es -la estructura del capitalismo lo determina, no hay ningún valor que pueda estar por encima de la tasa de ganancia-, sin embargo, sí cabe distinguir entre el habla salvaje, el habla de los deseos, y el habla instituida por Aristóteles para cada espacio de conocimiento, pongamos la poética, la dialéctica o la retórica.
Aziz denies Galloway claims
Tariq Aziz, the former deputy prime minister of Iraq, has denied telling investigators that George Galloway personally profited from the UN oil-for-food programme for Iraq.
Mr Aziz's lawyer, Badia Aref, described claims regarding the Respect MP for Bethnal Green and Bow as "lies". Republican Senator Norm Coleman used interviews with Aziz as evidence that Saddam's regime granted 23 million barrels of oil to Mr Galloway and his Mariam Appeal fund. The US Congressional report said Aziz, under questioning by the subcommittee, had discussed oil allocations with Galloway. "These are lies ... He [Aziz] denied this," Mr Aref said. "It is part of a media campaign aimed at smearing Galloway's reputation," said the lawyer.
IWW Professor David Graeber kicked out of Yale
NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- By all accounts, Yale anthropology professor David Graeber is one of the brightest minds in his field. His books are taught worldwide and the London School of Economics recently asked him to give its annual Malinowski lecture, an offer reserved for the world's most promising young anthropologists.
And he's about to be unemployed.
Graeber is an anarchist whose counterculture writings are nearly as popular as his academic work. He carries an Industrial Workers of the World union card and has been arrested during anti-globalization protests.
So when Yale recently told Graeber not to return next year, it touched off a letter-writing campaign from professors worldwide, some of whom suggested that the Ivy League university is letting politics influence its hiring.
"It's extremely odd that one of the most brilliant anthropologists is being excluded from the department at Yale in such an extraordinary fashion," said Maurice Bloch, a London School of Economics anthropologist and one of many professors to write letters to Yal
And he's about to be unemployed.
Graeber is an anarchist whose counterculture writings are nearly as popular as his academic work. He carries an Industrial Workers of the World union card and has been arrested during anti-globalization protests.
So when Yale recently told Graeber not to return next year, it touched off a letter-writing campaign from professors worldwide, some of whom suggested that the Ivy League university is letting politics influence its hiring.
"It's extremely odd that one of the most brilliant anthropologists is being excluded from the department at Yale in such an extraordinary fashion," said Maurice Bloch, a London School of Economics anthropologist and one of many professors to write letters to Yal
Rick Santorum on Perjury
So far we haven't heard much from our junior senator in regards to the Libby Indictments. The P-G had this:
But what, if anything, does he think of perjury?
Luckily, someone's tracked him down on this. At the dkosopedia, you can find that our lil Ricky said this:
You can certainly argue ... that someone who breaks the law in not upholding and not telling the truth under oath and someone who obstructs justice does, in fact, threaten the republic.
Cool. It's good to know where Rick stands.
Since he believes that anyone who commits perjury and obstruction of justice threatens the republic and since (as most everyone knows by now) that's precisely what I. Scooter Libby was charged with, Rick Santorum must now believe that if the charges are proved true, then Libby is a threat to the republic.
Then why didn't he just say so?
A spokesman for Mr. Santorum, who is chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, said the senator was unavailable for questions because he was traveling.
Mr. Santorum, who is facing a difficult re-election campaign that could be compounded by the problems of the Bush administration, released a decidedly neutral statement saying any indictment was "a serious matter" and that he had confidence the legal system would provide a "thorough review of the facts and evidence and render a fair and deliberative decision in this case."
But what, if anything, does he think of perjury?
Luckily, someone's tracked him down on this. At the dkosopedia, you can find that our lil Ricky said this:
You can certainly argue ... that someone who breaks the law in not upholding and not telling the truth under oath and someone who obstructs justice does, in fact, threaten the republic.
Cool. It's good to know where Rick stands.
Since he believes that anyone who commits perjury and obstruction of justice threatens the republic and since (as most everyone knows by now) that's precisely what I. Scooter Libby was charged with, Rick Santorum must now believe that if the charges are proved true, then Libby is a threat to the republic.
Then why didn't he just say so?
The Ringworm Children: How the Israeli Government Irradiated 100,000 Israeli Kids
On August 14, at 9 PM, Israel's Channel Ten television screened a documentary film which exposes the ugliest secret of Israel's Labor party founders: the deliberate mass radiation poisoning of nearly all Sephardi youths of a generation.
"The Ringworm Children" (translated in Hebrew as "100,000 Rays"), directed by David Belhassen and Asher Hemias, recently won the prize for "best documentary" at the Haifa International film festival, and in the past year has made the rounds of Jewish and Israeli film festivals around the world. But it had yet to come to Israeli television screens. The subject is the mass irradiation of hundreds of thousands of young Israeli immigrants from Middle Eastern countries -- Sephardim, as they are called today. The story goes like this:
In 1951, the director general of the Israeli Health Ministry, Dr. Chaim Sheba, flew to America and returned with seven x-ray machines, supplied to him by the American army.
They were to be used in a mass atomic experiment with an entire generation of Sephardi youths to be used as guinea pigs. Every Sephardi child was to be given 35,000 times the maximum dose of x-rays through his head. For doing so, the American government paid the Israeli government 300 million Israeli liras a year. The entire Health budget was 60 million liras. The money paid by the Americans is equivalent to billions of dollars today.
To fool the parents of the victims, the children were taken away on "school trips" and their parents were later told the x-rays were a treatment for the scourge of scalpal ringworm. 6,000 of the children died shortly after their doses were given, while many of the rest developed cancers that killed thousands over time and are still killing them now. While living, the victims suffered from disorders such as epilepsy, amnesia, Alzheimer's disease, chronic headaches and psychosis.
"The Ringworm Children" (translated in Hebrew as "100,000 Rays"), directed by David Belhassen and Asher Hemias, recently won the prize for "best documentary" at the Haifa International film festival, and in the past year has made the rounds of Jewish and Israeli film festivals around the world. But it had yet to come to Israeli television screens. The subject is the mass irradiation of hundreds of thousands of young Israeli immigrants from Middle Eastern countries -- Sephardim, as they are called today. The story goes like this:
In 1951, the director general of the Israeli Health Ministry, Dr. Chaim Sheba, flew to America and returned with seven x-ray machines, supplied to him by the American army.
They were to be used in a mass atomic experiment with an entire generation of Sephardi youths to be used as guinea pigs. Every Sephardi child was to be given 35,000 times the maximum dose of x-rays through his head. For doing so, the American government paid the Israeli government 300 million Israeli liras a year. The entire Health budget was 60 million liras. The money paid by the Americans is equivalent to billions of dollars today.
To fool the parents of the victims, the children were taken away on "school trips" and their parents were later told the x-rays were a treatment for the scourge of scalpal ringworm. 6,000 of the children died shortly after their doses were given, while many of the rest developed cancers that killed thousands over time and are still killing them now. While living, the victims suffered from disorders such as epilepsy, amnesia, Alzheimer's disease, chronic headaches and psychosis.
The US, Venezuela & Columbia by Noam Chomsk
In Venezuela, the US has tried even more drastic measures, like supporting a military coup that (briefly) overthrew the democratically elected government in 2002.
The US had to back down in the face of enormous protest in Latin America, where democracy is taken much more seriously than among US political leaders, and because the coup was quickly reversed by a popular uprising. Since then it has resorted to subversion and other measures. But the situation is quite different from Colombia. There the US effectively controls the government, and is attacking guerrillas and is also engaged in the long-term project of driving peasants off the land so that it can be cleared for resource extraction, agribusiness export, etc. In Venezuela the enemy is the government and its popular supporters, mostly the poor majority. So tactics have to be completely different. Each country poses its own tactical necessities.
...Several years ago, the [Columbian] guerrillas had an identifiable political program, which appealed to large elements of the poor majority in a very rich country with highly concentrated wealth and tremendous suffering. One of the successes of Clinton's Plan Colombia is that it militarized the conflict, and by now it's likely that the guerrillas are seen by campesinos and indigenous people as just another terrorist army, like the Colombian military and the paramilitaries that have been closely linked to it. US direct involvement in counterinsurgency goes back to Kennedy, who sent a special forces mission to Colombia in 1962 which advised "paramilitary terror" directed against "known Communist proponents" - a broad term in counterinsurgency rhetoric, which refers to union leaders, priests working with peasants, human rights activists, etc. This was only part of a massive wave of repression that included military coups in Brazil and other countries, later Chile, finally Reagan's murderous terrorist wars in Central America. Throughout it's about the same, and the leading scholar-advocates of Reagan-Bush "democracy promotion" don’t conceal the facts. E.g., Thomas Carothers... Throughout, the basic principle is that we have to "protect our resources" (as George Kennan put it), and that means beating down and destroying popular movements, including democratic governments, that threaten the dominance of local elites closely linked to US investors and government. No secrets there. The documentary is overwhelming, and accords closely to the history. All matters that I (along with others) have written about extensively in book after book.
The US had to back down in the face of enormous protest in Latin America, where democracy is taken much more seriously than among US political leaders, and because the coup was quickly reversed by a popular uprising. Since then it has resorted to subversion and other measures. But the situation is quite different from Colombia. There the US effectively controls the government, and is attacking guerrillas and is also engaged in the long-term project of driving peasants off the land so that it can be cleared for resource extraction, agribusiness export, etc. In Venezuela the enemy is the government and its popular supporters, mostly the poor majority. So tactics have to be completely different. Each country poses its own tactical necessities.
...Several years ago, the [Columbian] guerrillas had an identifiable political program, which appealed to large elements of the poor majority in a very rich country with highly concentrated wealth and tremendous suffering. One of the successes of Clinton's Plan Colombia is that it militarized the conflict, and by now it's likely that the guerrillas are seen by campesinos and indigenous people as just another terrorist army, like the Colombian military and the paramilitaries that have been closely linked to it. US direct involvement in counterinsurgency goes back to Kennedy, who sent a special forces mission to Colombia in 1962 which advised "paramilitary terror" directed against "known Communist proponents" - a broad term in counterinsurgency rhetoric, which refers to union leaders, priests working with peasants, human rights activists, etc. This was only part of a massive wave of repression that included military coups in Brazil and other countries, later Chile, finally Reagan's murderous terrorist wars in Central America. Throughout it's about the same, and the leading scholar-advocates of Reagan-Bush "democracy promotion" don’t conceal the facts. E.g., Thomas Carothers... Throughout, the basic principle is that we have to "protect our resources" (as George Kennan put it), and that means beating down and destroying popular movements, including democratic governments, that threaten the dominance of local elites closely linked to US investors and government. No secrets there. The documentary is overwhelming, and accords closely to the history. All matters that I (along with others) have written about extensively in book after book.
US Failure in Iraq & Iraqi Opinion on Withdrawal by Noam Chomsky
I'd suggest rethinking the term "failure." In occupied Europe, the Nazis were extremely successful. They imposed client governments which ran the countries including the security forces, with Germany always in the background, but not much involved. The partisans were very courageous, but would have been wiped out without massive foreign support. Russia was even more successful in Eastern Europe. Plenty of other cases. The issue is not success or failure in such cases. Or Iraq.
...No serious person pays the slightest attention to stated objectives of great power(s). They carry precisely zero information, because they are entirely predictable: nobility of purpose. That’s true of even the worst monsters.
In this case, there is every reason to accept the view of the overwhelming majority of Iraqis expressed in US-run polls: that the goals are to control Iraq’s resources and to use Iraq as a base for extending US control over the world's energy resources. It's true that we are sternly instructed to believe that the US would have "liberated" Iraq even if it was producing pickles and lettuce. It takes North Korean-style subordination to authority to accept the Party Line in this case.
There's very good reason to believe that the US will continue, as until now, to do anything it can to prevent realization of the "stated objectives": democracy and sovereignty. It's sufficient to consider what the policies of a sovereign democratic Iraq would be: an utter nightmare for Washington.
... The Kurds would doubtless prefer for the US to stay, as long as the US doesn't once again betray them, as it has done, repeatedly, in the past. The Sunnis, about as numerous as the Kurds, doubtless want the US out. As for the Shiites, it's not so simple. The Sadrists have called for withdrawal. The last poll I know of was on the eve of the election: about 70% of Shiites favored US withdrawal immediately or right after the January elections. The National Sovereignty Commission of the Parliament recently issued a report calling for a timetable for withdrawal of the "occupation forces." The main Shiite Party in the South, SCIRI, just demanded that the British troops there stay in their barracks. According to Steven Kull, one of the most respected polling experts in the country, the International Republican Institute, which had been taking regular polls, stopped reporting them after the elections because of the results they were finding.
It's correct that an occupying army has no rights, only responsibilities, including the responsibility to pay massive reparations and to withdraw unless there is powerful evidence that the population wants them to stay. I don’t see evidence of that. And the decision should be made by the victims. We have little to say about it, whatever our subjective judgments, as a matter of principle.
...No serious person pays the slightest attention to stated objectives of great power(s). They carry precisely zero information, because they are entirely predictable: nobility of purpose. That’s true of even the worst monsters.
In this case, there is every reason to accept the view of the overwhelming majority of Iraqis expressed in US-run polls: that the goals are to control Iraq’s resources and to use Iraq as a base for extending US control over the world's energy resources. It's true that we are sternly instructed to believe that the US would have "liberated" Iraq even if it was producing pickles and lettuce. It takes North Korean-style subordination to authority to accept the Party Line in this case.
There's very good reason to believe that the US will continue, as until now, to do anything it can to prevent realization of the "stated objectives": democracy and sovereignty. It's sufficient to consider what the policies of a sovereign democratic Iraq would be: an utter nightmare for Washington.
... The Kurds would doubtless prefer for the US to stay, as long as the US doesn't once again betray them, as it has done, repeatedly, in the past. The Sunnis, about as numerous as the Kurds, doubtless want the US out. As for the Shiites, it's not so simple. The Sadrists have called for withdrawal. The last poll I know of was on the eve of the election: about 70% of Shiites favored US withdrawal immediately or right after the January elections. The National Sovereignty Commission of the Parliament recently issued a report calling for a timetable for withdrawal of the "occupation forces." The main Shiite Party in the South, SCIRI, just demanded that the British troops there stay in their barracks. According to Steven Kull, one of the most respected polling experts in the country, the International Republican Institute, which had been taking regular polls, stopped reporting them after the elections because of the results they were finding.
It's correct that an occupying army has no rights, only responsibilities, including the responsibility to pay massive reparations and to withdraw unless there is powerful evidence that the population wants them to stay. I don’t see evidence of that. And the decision should be made by the victims. We have little to say about it, whatever our subjective judgments, as a matter of principle.
The US, Israel, & Corporate Power by Noam Chomsky
It's certainly arguable that the US policy towards Israel-Palestine has not been in the interests of US state-corporate power. That's been argued in the mainstream. I suspect if you did a poll of energy corporation CEOs, that's what you'd hear. But then they'd say the same about US policy toward Iran, and much else.
On the other hand, it doesn’t seem difficult to understand the fairly systematic reasoning of planners. To take just a few high points, in 1958 they suggested that support for Israel would be a "logical corollary" of US opposition to "radical nationalism" - meaning independent (and then secular) nationalism that sought independent development and use of the resources of the region for its own people. Israel’s very welcome victory in 1967 sealed the bargain, and established the arrangements that still persist, which I won’t review again. By now, Israel is virtually an off-shore US military base and industrial center, with very close links to US military and high-tech industry - and some important conflicts too. It's far and away the most powerful state in the region from a military point of view, and the tacit alliance with the oil monarchies isn't really threatened.
The Palestinians, in contrast, offer nothing to US global planners. They have no wealth, no military force, very little support from regional elites (who mostly consider them a nuisance because they stir up popular anger, which could turn against them). Not hard to see why US planners line up with the powerful force against the weak. Pretty close to historical truism.
It's quite true that joining the international consensus would hardly harm US geostrategic and economic interests in the region, and might benefit it. Clinton came pretty close to it in the final days of his presidency, January 2001, with tolerance of the Taba negotiations, which were coming pretty close to a diplomatic settlement that probably would have been accepted locally and regionally, and certainly by the relevant global actors. Israel called them off, so we don’t know whether the remaining open questions could have been resolved, though subsequent informal but high-level negotiations suggest that it might well have been possible, if Bush-Sharon had been willing.
On the other hand, it doesn’t seem difficult to understand the fairly systematic reasoning of planners. To take just a few high points, in 1958 they suggested that support for Israel would be a "logical corollary" of US opposition to "radical nationalism" - meaning independent (and then secular) nationalism that sought independent development and use of the resources of the region for its own people. Israel’s very welcome victory in 1967 sealed the bargain, and established the arrangements that still persist, which I won’t review again. By now, Israel is virtually an off-shore US military base and industrial center, with very close links to US military and high-tech industry - and some important conflicts too. It's far and away the most powerful state in the region from a military point of view, and the tacit alliance with the oil monarchies isn't really threatened.
The Palestinians, in contrast, offer nothing to US global planners. They have no wealth, no military force, very little support from regional elites (who mostly consider them a nuisance because they stir up popular anger, which could turn against them). Not hard to see why US planners line up with the powerful force against the weak. Pretty close to historical truism.
It's quite true that joining the international consensus would hardly harm US geostrategic and economic interests in the region, and might benefit it. Clinton came pretty close to it in the final days of his presidency, January 2001, with tolerance of the Taba negotiations, which were coming pretty close to a diplomatic settlement that probably would have been accepted locally and regionally, and certainly by the relevant global actors. Israel called them off, so we don’t know whether the remaining open questions could have been resolved, though subsequent informal but high-level negotiations suggest that it might well have been possible, if Bush-Sharon had been willing.
Poll: Bush Approval at 39%; Ethics Rating Lower Than Clinton's
Taking its toll: The new Washington Post/ABC Poll finds President continue to scrape along with a 39 percent approval rating. While that may be bad news for Bush, it remains a remarkably high approval rate for America's Worst President Ever:
In the aftermath of the latest crisis to confront the White House, Bush's overall job approval rating has fallen to 39 percent, the lowest of his presidency in Post-ABC polls. Barely a third of Americans - 34 percent - think Bush is doing a good job ensuring high ethics in government, which is slightly lower than President Bill Clinton’s standing on this issue when he left office.
The survey also found that nearly seven in 10 Americans consider the charges against Libby to be serious. A majority - 55 percent - said the decision of Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald to bring charges against Libby was based on the facts of the case, while 30 percent said he was motivated by partisan politics.Who are the Americans in the 30 percent who think the indictment of Libby was pure politics? We know who.
Thoughts on Education
George Bernard Shaw: A fool's brain digests philosophy into folly, science into superstition, and art into pedantry. Hence University education.
John Dewey: Education ... is a process of living and not a preparation for future living.
Dean Wormer: Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son.
Nelson Mandela: Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.
Pete Seeger: Education is when you read the fine print. Experience is what you get if you don't.
Albert Einstein: It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education.
Flannery O’Conner: Everywhere I go I'm asked if I think the university stifles writers. My opinion is that they don't stifle enough of them. There's many a best-seller that could have been prevented by a good teacher.
Ralph Waldo Emerson: If the colleges were better, if they really had it, you would need to get the police at the gates to keep order in the inrushing multitude.
David Lee Roth: Got it bad, got it bad, got it bad...I'm hot for teacher.
Mark Twain: I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.
George Santayana: A child educated only at school is an uneducated child.
Pablo Picasso: All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.
Zack de la Rocha: The teacher stands in front of the class with a lesson plan he can't recall /The students eyes can't perceive the lies bouncing off every fucking wall/His composure is well kept/I guess he fears being played the fool/The complacent students sit and listen to that bullshit he learned in school. (from “Take the Power Back")
Oscar Wilde: Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing worth knowing can be taught.
Paulo Freire: Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate integration of the younger generation into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity OR it becomes the practice of freedom, the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world.
Walker Percy: You can get all A's and still flunk life.
Al Qaeda disputes US death toll in Iraq
The number of invading troops killed in Iraq is at least 10 times higher than the published toll of 2,000, the Iraqi branch of the Al Qaeda terrorism network says.
"We are not exaggerating when we say that the number of deaths in the ranks of the crusader army is 10 times higher than the 2,000 announced in the pernicious media," the group said in a website statement.
"Their forces have encountered difficulties disposing of the corpses which they are burying in mass graves in the desert, throwing in the rivers, or incinerating."
No evidence is offered for the claims.
Three US soldiers were killed on Saturday in two incidents in Iraq, the US military announced, as two more US servicemen were reported dead in neighbouring Kuwait.
The latest deaths bring to 2,013 the number of US military personnel killed in the Iraq operation since the March 2003 invasion, according to an AFP tally.
That figure closely tallies with the official Pentagon count and the toll figures published by the independent Iraq Coalition Casualty Count website (icasualties.org)
The Pentagon also lists more than 15,000 troops wounded since the start of the war.
"We are not exaggerating when we say that the number of deaths in the ranks of the crusader army is 10 times higher than the 2,000 announced in the pernicious media," the group said in a website statement.
"Their forces have encountered difficulties disposing of the corpses which they are burying in mass graves in the desert, throwing in the rivers, or incinerating."
No evidence is offered for the claims.
Three US soldiers were killed on Saturday in two incidents in Iraq, the US military announced, as two more US servicemen were reported dead in neighbouring Kuwait.
The latest deaths bring to 2,013 the number of US military personnel killed in the Iraq operation since the March 2003 invasion, according to an AFP tally.
That figure closely tallies with the official Pentagon count and the toll figures published by the independent Iraq Coalition Casualty Count website (icasualties.org)
The Pentagon also lists more than 15,000 troops wounded since the start of the war.
Use the old method: Take "their" claimed number and "our" claimed number AND the "real" number is most probably between the two.
Hundreds of Howard U. Students Greet Laura Bush With Protest Threatened With Arrest, Students Refuse to Back Down
On Thursday, October 27, hundreds of Howard University students greeted Laura Bush with a militant protest against the war in Iraq, the criminally negligent and racist conduct of the federal government in response to Hurricane Katrina and cuts in education.
Holding signs that read, "2000 Dead, End Occupation: Palestine, Afghanistan, Iraq, Haiti..., Money for Education Not War," the students began their demonstration at 11am in protest of Laura Bush’s presence on the Howard University campus.
The demonstration was led by Youth and Student A.N.S.W.E.R. and Cimarrones, a progressive Black Student Union of Caribbeans, Central and South Americans, as well as various other campus organizations such as Howard University Student Association (HUSA), Howard Amnesty International and Ubiquity.
The demonstration turned into a confrontation as university officials working with Secret Service and DC Police threatening to arrest the students unless they moved. "They are trying to force us to disperse or at least move back 30 feet, but we in the Black community have been told to move for 300 years," said Eugene Puryear, a coordinator of Youth and Student A.N.S.W.E.R and Howard sophomore.
Holding signs that read, "2000 Dead, End Occupation: Palestine, Afghanistan, Iraq, Haiti..., Money for Education Not War," the students began their demonstration at 11am in protest of Laura Bush’s presence on the Howard University campus.
The demonstration was led by Youth and Student A.N.S.W.E.R. and Cimarrones, a progressive Black Student Union of Caribbeans, Central and South Americans, as well as various other campus organizations such as Howard University Student Association (HUSA), Howard Amnesty International and Ubiquity.
The demonstration turned into a confrontation as university officials working with Secret Service and DC Police threatening to arrest the students unless they moved. "They are trying to force us to disperse or at least move back 30 feet, but we in the Black community have been told to move for 300 years," said Eugene Puryear, a coordinator of Youth and Student A.N.S.W.E.R and Howard sophomore.
There is a cancer on the presidency
There is a cancer on the presidency, and it cannot be exorcised by the resignation of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. Libby, assistant to the president and Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, has been indicted on five federal counts, including obstruction of justice, making false statement and perjury. The charges stem from the investigation into a leak disclosing that Valerie Plame, wife of former ambassador Joseph Wilson, was a covert CIA operative.
Based on the allegations special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald laid out in the indictments Friday, it's increasingly evident that officials within the Bush administration disclosed Plame's identity as part of an effort to discredit Wilson's criticism of one of the pretexts for war against Iraq.
Fitzgerald said that the investigation remained open, and the indictments make intriguing reference to the conversation another senior White House official, identified only as "Official A," had with columnist Robert Novak in which Wilson's wife was "discussed as a CIA employee." No matter where the investigation goes from here, the question is why President Bush didn't fire Libby long ago if his role in outing Plame was as clear as the indictments indicate. It raises the uncomfortable and inevitable question: What did the president know and when did he know it?
The larger, more important context goes beyond palace intrigue: the lengths to which the Bush administration was willing to go to protect its trumped-up justifications for an unjustifiable war.
Based on the allegations special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald laid out in the indictments Friday, it's increasingly evident that officials within the Bush administration disclosed Plame's identity as part of an effort to discredit Wilson's criticism of one of the pretexts for war against Iraq.
Fitzgerald said that the investigation remained open, and the indictments make intriguing reference to the conversation another senior White House official, identified only as "Official A," had with columnist Robert Novak in which Wilson's wife was "discussed as a CIA employee." No matter where the investigation goes from here, the question is why President Bush didn't fire Libby long ago if his role in outing Plame was as clear as the indictments indicate. It raises the uncomfortable and inevitable question: What did the president know and when did he know it?
The larger, more important context goes beyond palace intrigue: the lengths to which the Bush administration was willing to go to protect its trumped-up justifications for an unjustifiable war.
Wayne Madsen Report
October 30, 2005 -- The Washington Punditocracy is Wrong As Usual. This morning, many pundits are spinning for the White House that Karl Rove, "Official A," in the indictment of Lewis Libby, is off the hook. Au contraire. One must look back at another Fitzgerald indictment and an "Individual A." In April 2003, prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald indicted two aides to Illinois Governor George Ryan for corruption. During his press conference announcing the indictments of the two corrupt aides, Fitzgerald would not comment on "Individual A" because he was not charged in the indictment. Fitzgerald said the same thing when asked about "Official A" in the Libby indictment. On December 17, 2003, former Governor Ryan was indicted by a grand jury in Chicago. It turned out that Ryan was "Individual A" cited in Fitzgerald's earlier indictment of the two Ryan aides. Fitzgerald started out his criminal investigation of corruption in the Ryan administration by one indictment. Ryan was Fitzgerald's 66th indictment in his criminal probe. No, Karl, you're not quite off the hook yet.
October 30, 2005 -- Judge assigned to Libby case has links to Republican Right. US District Judge for DC Reggie Walton has been assigned the Lewis Libby case. It is noteworthy to point out Walton's past and current links to the Republican Right and to elements in the Bush administration who have covered up important details about 911. Walton was appointed to the DC Superior Court in 1981 by Ronald Reagan. In 1989, he was appointed by George H. W. Bush as the deputy drug czar under Bill Bennett. Walton was reappointed to the DC Superior Court by the senior Bush. George W. Bush nominated Walton to the US District Court for DC in 2001. Walton was the judge who, under pressure from the Justice Department, placed a gag order on former FBI translator and whistleblower Sibel Edmonds and cleared his courtroom of the public and media in Edmonds' hearing in her case against the FBI. Edmonds brought to light important information about how the FBI failed to translate important wiretap intercepts before and after 911.
October 30, 2005 -- Judge assigned to Libby case has links to Republican Right. US District Judge for DC Reggie Walton has been assigned the Lewis Libby case. It is noteworthy to point out Walton's past and current links to the Republican Right and to elements in the Bush administration who have covered up important details about 911. Walton was appointed to the DC Superior Court in 1981 by Ronald Reagan. In 1989, he was appointed by George H. W. Bush as the deputy drug czar under Bill Bennett. Walton was reappointed to the DC Superior Court by the senior Bush. George W. Bush nominated Walton to the US District Court for DC in 2001. Walton was the judge who, under pressure from the Justice Department, placed a gag order on former FBI translator and whistleblower Sibel Edmonds and cleared his courtroom of the public and media in Edmonds' hearing in her case against the FBI. Edmonds brought to light important information about how the FBI failed to translate important wiretap intercepts before and after 911.
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