Investigations into illegal weapons sales to Croatia in the early 1990s and the mysterious death of Col. Gerardo Huber advanced rapidly this week, as new discoveries from the Riggs Bank case shed light on the motives behind decades of arms purchases, bribes, murders and – perhaps – the origin of former dictator Augusto Pinochet’s secret wealth.
New evidence discovered by Judge Claudio Pavez has conclusively linked Huber’s 1992 death to the Riggs Bank case, an inquiry into former Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s private fortune, which is hidden in numerous offshore bank accounts. Pavez, lead investigator for the court reviewing the Huber case, asked for the appointment of a civilian judge to his military panel of investigators on Sept 27.
Col. Huber disappeared on Jan. 29, 1992, two months after United Nations (UN) officials in Hungary seized a Chilean shipment of weapons bound for the Balkan state of Croatia. The country was then under a UN arms embargo for its part in the Balkan War and the weapons shipment was illegal.
Thursday, October 06, 2005
Political Prostitution: "That's The Kicker"
Letters To The Editor
Army Times
10.3.05
Once again our country has been weakened by political prostitution in the form of so-called pork projects funded by the new highway bill; 6,371 pork projects in all stain the pages of this bill.
I am sure those who abused their power to get such projects will see no shame in their egregious actions.
I wonder if these same Republicans and Democrats are thinking about the soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines, who still today are fighting without the equipment needed to be fully combat effective.
Some questions to ask: Have all of the Humvees been armored up to add protection from improvised explosive devices or roadside bombs that have killed so many?
Are all service members in combat wearing up-to-date protective equipment?
Are they being paid commensurate to their selfless service to our country?
I think it would be safe to answer all of these questions with "probably not."
However, grandiose, self-serving bridges, highway landscaping projects, dust-control mitigation projects and warehouse rehabilitation projects are being funded.
That's the kicker.
Staff Sgt. Tim Kane (ret.)
Glendale, Ariz.
Army Times
10.3.05
Once again our country has been weakened by political prostitution in the form of so-called pork projects funded by the new highway bill; 6,371 pork projects in all stain the pages of this bill.
I am sure those who abused their power to get such projects will see no shame in their egregious actions.
I wonder if these same Republicans and Democrats are thinking about the soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines, who still today are fighting without the equipment needed to be fully combat effective.
Some questions to ask: Have all of the Humvees been armored up to add protection from improvised explosive devices or roadside bombs that have killed so many?
Are all service members in combat wearing up-to-date protective equipment?
Are they being paid commensurate to their selfless service to our country?
I think it would be safe to answer all of these questions with "probably not."
However, grandiose, self-serving bridges, highway landscaping projects, dust-control mitigation projects and warehouse rehabilitation projects are being funded.
That's the kicker.
Staff Sgt. Tim Kane (ret.)
Glendale, Ariz.
Martial Law and the advent of the Supreme Executive
On Tuesday, President Bush warned the nation that outbreaks of Bird Flu may require massive quarantines enforced by the US Military. He said that the military would be better able "to prevent people from coming in to get exposed to the flu", although he failed to explain why that task couldn't be carried out by the National Guard. Bush's comments echoed the same themes we've heard repeatedly since Hurricane Katrina, that the president needs the power to deploy troops within the country at his own discretion and without any legal restrictions. It is a conspicuous attempt to militarize the country and declare martial law, although the media has scrupulously avoided the obvious conclusions.
Bush now claims that he will need to deploy the military following a terrorist attack, a national disaster, or after the outbreak of a flu-epidemic. "Sending in the troops" has seemingly replaced "tax-cuts" as the one-size-fits-all answer for every question asked of any member of the hard-right administration.
"I am concerned about avian flu" Bush opined. "I'm concerned about what an avian flu outbreak could mean for the United States and the world. If we had an outbreak somewhere in the United States, do we not then quarantine that part of the country?
And who best to be able to affect a quarantine?
Bush now claims that he will need to deploy the military following a terrorist attack, a national disaster, or after the outbreak of a flu-epidemic. "Sending in the troops" has seemingly replaced "tax-cuts" as the one-size-fits-all answer for every question asked of any member of the hard-right administration.
"I am concerned about avian flu" Bush opined. "I'm concerned about what an avian flu outbreak could mean for the United States and the world. If we had an outbreak somewhere in the United States, do we not then quarantine that part of the country?
And who best to be able to affect a quarantine?
US teeters on the edge
WALL Street is clearly on edge again, after two months when the market had become relatively sanguine over the economic impact of various shocks to the US economy, ranging from higher oil prices to Hurricane Katrina.
Tuesday's market slump in the wake of remarks from Richard Fisher, president of the Dallas branch of the Unisted States Federal Reserve, underscored the return of edginess among traders and investors.
Fisher's remarks confirming that inflation in the US was near the upper boundary of the Fed's comfort zone and that the US economy was likely slowing down really did little more than state the obvious.
Rising energy prices have been pushing up "upstream" measures of price rises for some quarters now, and it was always likely that these would eventually flow through in some measure to the broader price indexes that the US Fed and others watch most closely.
And there have been numerous recent signs that the buoyant consumer spending in the US, which has sustained economic growth over the past few years is finally slowing, although the extent of the slowdown is hotly debated. Not only did Fisher's remarks essentially state the obvious, they were also not the first time that his willingness to speak out a little more frankly than other Fed officials had caught the market's attention.
Tuesday's market slump in the wake of remarks from Richard Fisher, president of the Dallas branch of the Unisted States Federal Reserve, underscored the return of edginess among traders and investors.
Fisher's remarks confirming that inflation in the US was near the upper boundary of the Fed's comfort zone and that the US economy was likely slowing down really did little more than state the obvious.
Rising energy prices have been pushing up "upstream" measures of price rises for some quarters now, and it was always likely that these would eventually flow through in some measure to the broader price indexes that the US Fed and others watch most closely.
And there have been numerous recent signs that the buoyant consumer spending in the US, which has sustained economic growth over the past few years is finally slowing, although the extent of the slowdown is hotly debated. Not only did Fisher's remarks essentially state the obvious, they were also not the first time that his willingness to speak out a little more frankly than other Fed officials had caught the market's attention.
The Deadliest Flu Virus in the World: Made in USA
In the latest version of "art precedes reality," Hollywood predicted a viral outbreak that would require quarantine of an entire town in America in the 1995 movie Outbreak starring Dustin Hoffman. In that movie the virus came from a monkey being smuggled in from Zaire. The movie was more about the possibility of a virus like Ebola than the dreaded H5N1 influenza virus that now has the world in the grip of hysteria. But Outbreak dealt with the mutation of the virus, which makes it more appropriate for today’s latest viral health threat – a mutated influenza virus, probably from bird flu.
The world is being warned a flu virus might mutate at any moment and render the planet helpless against its spread. Americans don’t need to wait for a flu virus to mutate. Infectious disease specialists, working in a semi-secure laboratory at a Midwestern university have already done it ahead of nature. These American researchers obtained the viral particles from the H5N1 Spanish flu virus that killed millions worldwide and altered one of its ten genes, making it far more dangerous and virulent than any influenza virus in nature. The idea was to figure out how to make a vaccine against it. But the very idea such a virus even exists gives most people the shivers.
The world is being warned a flu virus might mutate at any moment and render the planet helpless against its spread. Americans don’t need to wait for a flu virus to mutate. Infectious disease specialists, working in a semi-secure laboratory at a Midwestern university have already done it ahead of nature. These American researchers obtained the viral particles from the H5N1 Spanish flu virus that killed millions worldwide and altered one of its ten genes, making it far more dangerous and virulent than any influenza virus in nature. The idea was to figure out how to make a vaccine against it. But the very idea such a virus even exists gives most people the shivers.
A federal court decision forces Voices in the Wilderness to disband
After 10 years of delegations, peace activism and non-violent protest, Chicago-based Voices in the Wilderness (VitW) was silenced on August 12, when a federal judge ordered the group to pay a $20,000 civil penalty for delivering medical supplies to Iraq without a permit.
Founded in 1995, VitW sought to openly violate and protest the economic sanctions against Iraq. The group spearheaded more than 70 delegations to the country, bringing children's antibiotics, blood bags and over-the-counter medications to people in need, despite numerous warnings from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the enforcement arm of the U.S. Department of Treasury.
Founded in 1995, VitW sought to openly violate and protest the economic sanctions against Iraq. The group spearheaded more than 70 delegations to the country, bringing children's antibiotics, blood bags and over-the-counter medications to people in need, despite numerous warnings from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the enforcement arm of the U.S. Department of Treasury.
Is it the “Abu Ghraib Protection Act?”
Washington, D.C., October 6, 2005 - After failing in 2000, the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is again seeking an exception from disclosure of vast quantities of important Defense Department records currently available under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The exception would render records that document "the conduct of foreign intelligence or counterintelligence operations" of the DIA Directorate of Human Intelligence (HUMINT) unreachable to the public.
The provision currently is included in the Defense Authorization Bill (S. 1042) and the Intelligence Authorization Bill (S. 1803). The provision would allow the Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency to place the DIA's "operational files" completely outside the purview of the FOIA. "The DIA tried this before and failed because it would protect records about death squads. Now it looks like the DIA wants to cover up records about Abu Ghraib," commented the Archive's director Thomas Blanton.
The provision currently is included in the Defense Authorization Bill (S. 1042) and the Intelligence Authorization Bill (S. 1803). The provision would allow the Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency to place the DIA's "operational files" completely outside the purview of the FOIA. "The DIA tried this before and failed because it would protect records about death squads. Now it looks like the DIA wants to cover up records about Abu Ghraib," commented the Archive's director Thomas Blanton.
FBI Kills Pueto Rican Independence Leader
Filiberto Ojeda Ríos, 72, a veteran fighter against U.S. colonial rule over Puerto Rico, was killed Sept. 23 in a massive raid by U.S. security forces near the Puerto Rican town of Hormigueros.
For the past four decades Filiberto Ojeda Ríos had been a leading figure in the fight for Puerto Rican independence and against U.S. colonial rule. He was wanted by the FBI for his role in a 1983 bank heist.
A leader of the Macheteros and underground since 1990, Ojeda Ríos was one of 15 independence fighters arrested in a 1985 FBI sweep in Puerto Rico and tried in Hartford, Connecticut, on charges of conspiracy to seize $7 million from a Wells Fargo depot.
The FBI carried out its murderous raid on the date of the Grito de Lares, the annual pro-independence celebration of the 1868 anticolonial revolt in Puerto Rico. This assault is part of the U.S. government's long history of using frame-ups and violence to try--unsuccessfully--to stamp out the fight for Puerto Rico's freedom.
An Associated Press article two days after the murder revealed that an autopsy performed on Ojeda Ríos' body indicated that he did not die immediately, a Justice Department statement that fueled criticism of the FBI for waiting almost 24 hours to enter the farmhouse where the fugitive lay wounded.
Independence activists have accused the FBI of assassinating Ojeda Ríos.
"They did not come to arrest Filiberto Ojeda, they came to kill him," said Hector Pesquera, president of the Hostosiano independence movement.
For more information, check out Democracy Now!'s coverage of the assassination and Puerto Rico Indymedia.
Read the text of Filiberto's last speech (Spanish).
For the past four decades Filiberto Ojeda Ríos had been a leading figure in the fight for Puerto Rican independence and against U.S. colonial rule. He was wanted by the FBI for his role in a 1983 bank heist.
A leader of the Macheteros and underground since 1990, Ojeda Ríos was one of 15 independence fighters arrested in a 1985 FBI sweep in Puerto Rico and tried in Hartford, Connecticut, on charges of conspiracy to seize $7 million from a Wells Fargo depot.
The FBI carried out its murderous raid on the date of the Grito de Lares, the annual pro-independence celebration of the 1868 anticolonial revolt in Puerto Rico. This assault is part of the U.S. government's long history of using frame-ups and violence to try--unsuccessfully--to stamp out the fight for Puerto Rico's freedom.
An Associated Press article two days after the murder revealed that an autopsy performed on Ojeda Ríos' body indicated that he did not die immediately, a Justice Department statement that fueled criticism of the FBI for waiting almost 24 hours to enter the farmhouse where the fugitive lay wounded.
Independence activists have accused the FBI of assassinating Ojeda Ríos.
"They did not come to arrest Filiberto Ojeda, they came to kill him," said Hector Pesquera, president of the Hostosiano independence movement.
For more information, check out Democracy Now!'s coverage of the assassination and Puerto Rico Indymedia.
Read the text of Filiberto's last speech (Spanish).
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
HOW A US CURRENCY CRISIS COULD UNFOLD
Imagine going to your bank (probably online) and wanting to take out say 50k, say half of your cash, so you can go buy say, Yen. The bank tells you, "you are only allowed to take out 5k per month, it's a new law." This would be same situation for a brokerage account.
Sound far fetched????
Argentina did that in about 2002. The Argentinean peso collapsed, people wanted to take their pesos and sell for dollars.
The Argentinean government just told the banks, don't let them pull out their money. Freeze the bank accounts.
The peso dropped like a stone and the people with money in the bank... just had to watch... and starve too.
There was rioting in the streets of course, for months.
Sound far fetched for the US? In the early 30's the US declared a bank holiday amidst having bank runs and bank collapses, after the crash of 1929... and subsequent ensuing depression.....Oh and by the way, the US outlawed gold holdings then.... ordered people to turn it in, and gave them the US exchange rate below 30 bucks, then soon after raised the gold price in USD to 35 bucks.....
I get people asking me about holding cash, instead of gold. The above things happen to people like that.
Suppose the US entered a dollar crisis where, say the dollar is collapsing via foreign currencies.... Say just for example, against the YEN. Then millions of people would want to buy Yen, and the US govt would probably just say, "you cannot take out more than 5K per month out of your accounts. IE they freeze your bank accounts, so you cannot go and buy Yen.
People worry about hyperinflation. But currency crises also come and have come to the US even, and in Dec 2004 we were flirting with pre stage events that could have boiled into a dollar crisis, when the USD was dropping fast late 2004.
Sound far fetched????
Argentina did that in about 2002. The Argentinean peso collapsed, people wanted to take their pesos and sell for dollars.
The Argentinean government just told the banks, don't let them pull out their money. Freeze the bank accounts.
The peso dropped like a stone and the people with money in the bank... just had to watch... and starve too.
There was rioting in the streets of course, for months.
Sound far fetched for the US? In the early 30's the US declared a bank holiday amidst having bank runs and bank collapses, after the crash of 1929... and subsequent ensuing depression.....Oh and by the way, the US outlawed gold holdings then.... ordered people to turn it in, and gave them the US exchange rate below 30 bucks, then soon after raised the gold price in USD to 35 bucks.....
I get people asking me about holding cash, instead of gold. The above things happen to people like that.
Suppose the US entered a dollar crisis where, say the dollar is collapsing via foreign currencies.... Say just for example, against the YEN. Then millions of people would want to buy Yen, and the US govt would probably just say, "you cannot take out more than 5K per month out of your accounts. IE they freeze your bank accounts, so you cannot go and buy Yen.
People worry about hyperinflation. But currency crises also come and have come to the US even, and in Dec 2004 we were flirting with pre stage events that could have boiled into a dollar crisis, when the USD was dropping fast late 2004.
Posse and Harriet: The real reason that Bush picked Miers
We have no idea whether the Senate is going to confirm Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court. For once, it may actually be up to the Democrats, who right now are too busy watching and laughing at conservatives and their cat fights to be bothered with taking a stand. And that may take a while, considering that it's still three years and counting for any type of Democratic position on Iraq.
We do know that's there's a lot of head fakes going on right now. Miers is a conservative...but wait, she's pro gay-rights...but wait, she belongs to a fundamentalist church that opposes abortion...but wait, she used to be a Democrat..but wait, she supports "the Founders" interpretation of the Constitution...but wait...
Don't fall for any of it. And keep your eye on the ball. George Bush wants Harriet Miers on the Supreme Court for one reason, and one reason alone. The president -- and his minions -- want to concentrate an unprecedented amount of power in the executive branch. And Bush wants to use that power to further take away your rights, to use the military to keep order here at home -- and God knows what else.
And he knows that Harriet Miers will help him get there.
Where do we get these crazy ideas from? How about from Ken Mehlman, the chairman of the Republican National Committee. Here's what he was reported saying earlier this week about Miers:
"Micromanage." Is that what the kids are calling the Bill of Rights these days?
We do know that's there's a lot of head fakes going on right now. Miers is a conservative...but wait, she's pro gay-rights...but wait, she belongs to a fundamentalist church that opposes abortion...but wait, she used to be a Democrat..but wait, she supports "the Founders" interpretation of the Constitution...but wait...
Don't fall for any of it. And keep your eye on the ball. George Bush wants Harriet Miers on the Supreme Court for one reason, and one reason alone. The president -- and his minions -- want to concentrate an unprecedented amount of power in the executive branch. And Bush wants to use that power to further take away your rights, to use the military to keep order here at home -- and God knows what else.
And he knows that Harriet Miers will help him get there.
Where do we get these crazy ideas from? How about from Ken Mehlman, the chairman of the Republican National Committee. Here's what he was reported saying earlier this week about Miers:
Mehlman yesterday unveiled a politically powerful argument linking Bush's nomination to the war on terrorism. He said that as a former White House counsel Miers would know the importance of not letting the courts or the legislative branch "micromanage" the war on terrorism.
"Micromanage." Is that what the kids are calling the Bill of Rights these days?
Bush, Bird Flu, and Martial Law
Bush, Bird Flu, and Martial Law. At a White House Rose Garden press conference yesterday, George W. Bush responded to a question about the danger of a bird flu pandemic by stating he wants the authority to use the military to enforce mandatory quarantine zones in areas infected by the virus. Bush wants Congress to overturn the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, originally enacted to limit the military's role in domestic law enforcement in the post-Civil War South.
Bush's vision for America coincides with what he and his neo-con cabal have implemented in their "democratic" Iraq: military checkpoints, breaking and entering into homes, the use of deadly force against civilians, and forcible relocation of civilians.
White House answer to bird flu outbreak: send in the military and declare martial law. Welcome to the Fourth Reich.
Essentially, instead of addressing the need to stockpile vaccines like Tamiflu and coordinate the activities of the Centers for Disease Control, National Institutes of Health, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, and the U.S. Public Health Service, Bush wants to declare martial law and suspend the Constitution in the event of a bird flu outbreak. In his current state of paranoia and drunkenness, Bush has transitioned from comical faith-based to outlandish fascist-based strategies. The regular military is not keen on the idea of enforcing martial law in the event of a bird flu outbreak. They see the National Guard as being primarily responsible for bird flu emergency operations.
Bush's military option statement: "If we had an outbreak somewhere in the United States, do we not then quarantine that part of the country, and how do you then enforce a quarantine? When -- it's one thing to shut down airplanes; it's another thing to prevent people from coming in to get exposed to the avian flu. And who best to be able to effect a quarantine? One option is the use of a military that's able to plan and move."
Bush's amazing grasp of the subject of the potential pandemic: "The reporting needs to be not only on the birds that have fallen ill, but also on tracing the capacity of the virus to go from bird to person, to person. That's when it gets dangerous, when it goes bird-person-person."
Although Bush continues to admit that mistakes were made in federal Katrina preparation and recovery, the results of his inaction and incompetence have been staggering. Local officials in New Orleans and the surrounding region are reporting a much higher death count than what is being reported through official channels. A number of children and the elderly are still unaccounted for. (Bush and his cronies' "compassionate conservatism" in Katrina and Rita particularly hit hard those in nursing homes: dozens of the elderly drowned in Louisiana nursing homes from Katrina while others, fleeing Rita, were transported along with highly flammable oxygen tanks on an unsafe evacuation bus in Houston and were incinerated when the bus exploded on a Dallas highway).
And in something that would be commonplace in the old Soviet Union, Bush's neo-cons want to control the dissemination of information about the weather. A recent Commerce Department instruction to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, which operates the National Weather Service, requires media members who receive briefings from the agency to be pre-approved. Only the Bush administration could politicize something like the weather. However, in an era of global warming and more violent weather patterns, the Bush regime wants to spin the weather.
***
It is interesting that Bush spoke of the need for Congress to pass his enhanced, no-sunset provisions Patriot Act after calling for the overturning of Posse Comitatus. Such an act would give Bush the dictatorial powers he has, on more than one occasion, opined that he would enjoy.
It should be recalled that Congress originally passed the Patriot Act during an anthrax attack on the offices of the Senate Democratic Majority Leader and the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Although the anthrax used in the attack was traced to a strain maintained by the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) at Ft. Detrick, Maryland, the perpetrators were never found. Recently, biological hazard sensors in Washington, DC detected traces of the highly-infectious tularemia (rabbit fever) bacteria on the Washington Mall during the anti-war demonstrations held in the nation's capital, a gathering that brought together over 300,000 people from all parts of the country. An anthrax attack on Congress during Patriot Act passage, tularemia found during anti-war demonstrations, bird flu being used as an excuse to scrap Posse Comitatus and impose martial law? Cui bono? Who benefits?
Growing Gulf Between Rich and Rest of US
Guess which country the CIA World Factbook describes when it says, "Since 1975, practically all the gains in household income have gone to the top 20 percent of households."
If you guessed the United States, you're right.
The United States has rising levels of poverty and inequality not found in other rich democracies. It also has less mobility out of poverty.
Since 2000, America's billionaire club has gained 76 more members while the typical household has lost income and the poverty count has grown by more than 5 million people.
Poverty and inequality take a daily toll seldom seen on television. "The infant mortality rate in the United States compares with that in Malaysia -- a country with a quarter the income." says the 2005 Human Development Report. "Infant death rates are higher for [black] children in Washington, D.C., than for children in Kerala, India."
If you guessed the United States, you're right.
The United States has rising levels of poverty and inequality not found in other rich democracies. It also has less mobility out of poverty.
Since 2000, America's billionaire club has gained 76 more members while the typical household has lost income and the poverty count has grown by more than 5 million people.
Poverty and inequality take a daily toll seldom seen on television. "The infant mortality rate in the United States compares with that in Malaysia -- a country with a quarter the income." says the 2005 Human Development Report. "Infant death rates are higher for [black] children in Washington, D.C., than for children in Kerala, India."
Abort Every White Baby!
Bill Bennett, a prominent right-wing blowhard, has recently come under intense fire for remarks made on his radio show, in which he stated, "I do know that it's true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could ... abort every black baby in this country." He quickly backed away from the proposition, saying, "That would be an impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down." It's unfortunate that Bennett chose to be so politically correct, because I think he may be onto something here. He's just wrong about the target. If we really wanna get tough on crime, it's the white babies who should start getting the coat hanger treatment.
Consider the fact that whites commit three times as many violent crimes as blacks every year, just in raw numbers. This is just for ordinary "street crimes" such as assault. The numbers become skewed out of this world when you consider "white-collar" crimes (typically, the collar isn't the only thing that's white).
Consider the fact that whites commit three times as many violent crimes as blacks every year, just in raw numbers. This is just for ordinary "street crimes" such as assault. The numbers become skewed out of this world when you consider "white-collar" crimes (typically, the collar isn't the only thing that's white).
FEMA, La. outsource Katrina body count to firm implicated in body-dumping scandals
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has hired Kenyon International to set up a mobile morgue for handling bodies in Baton Rouge, Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina, RAW STORY has learned.
Kenyon is a subsidiary of Service Corporation International (SCI), a scandal-ridden Texas-based company operated by a friend of the Bush family. Recently, SCI subsidiaries have been implicated in illegally discarding and desecrating corpses.
Louisiana governor Katherine Blanco subsequently inked a contract with the firm after talks between FEMA and the firm broke down. Kenyon’s original deal was secured by the Department of Homeland Security.
In other words, FEMA and then Blanco outsourced the body count from Hurricane Katrina -- which many believe the worst natural disaster in U.S. history -- to a firm whose parent company is known for its "experience" at hiding and dumping bodies.
Kenyon is a subsidiary of Service Corporation International (SCI), a scandal-ridden Texas-based company operated by a friend of the Bush family. Recently, SCI subsidiaries have been implicated in illegally discarding and desecrating corpses.
Louisiana governor Katherine Blanco subsequently inked a contract with the firm after talks between FEMA and the firm broke down. Kenyon’s original deal was secured by the Department of Homeland Security.
In other words, FEMA and then Blanco outsourced the body count from Hurricane Katrina -- which many believe the worst natural disaster in U.S. history -- to a firm whose parent company is known for its "experience" at hiding and dumping bodies.
Detroit invites Venezuela to discuss energy aid
With winter's chill edging into Michigan, Detroit City Council members have sent a letter inviting the Consul General of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to meet with them and the community at large "to discuss more fully President Chávez's proposal and possible ways of implementing it" in this city. All eight current Council members signed the Sept. 19 letter.
President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, when visiting the United States during the opening of the United Nations General Assembly, offered to help poor communities get oil and gas cheap during this period of high world oil prices. Venezuela is the largest oil producer in the Western Hemisphere.
President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, when visiting the United States during the opening of the United Nations General Assembly, offered to help poor communities get oil and gas cheap during this period of high world oil prices. Venezuela is the largest oil producer in the Western Hemisphere.
Low Lights from Bush’s Press Conference
At his press conference Tuesday, Bush strung together a series of low lights.
On Iraq, for instance, he said, “We’re making good progress in Iraq,” despite all the evidence to the contrary.
And he said, “I have pledged to the American people—and, more importantly, the troops and their families—we’ll make sure they have what it takes to succeed.” This, after woefully underequipping the troops for more than two years now.
On the subject of Harriet Miers, he claimed she was the most qualified person in the country to sit on the Supreme Court.
That echoed his father’s assertion about the lamentable Clarence Thomas, who reflexively votes along with Antonin Scalia. (The old New York Times columnist Anthony Lewis once said that Bush the First could have saved the taxpayers money by not paying Thomas a salary and simply giving Scalia two votes. Now Scalia would have three.)
George W. all but winked and tugged at his earlobe to signal that Miers is pro-life now and will remain pro-life forever. He went out of his way to say that he’s “a pro-life President” and to stress, several times, that Miers shares his philosophy.
“Twenty years from now she’ll be the same person with the same philosophy that she is today,” Bush said. No need to worry about a Souter or an O’Connor or a Kennedy here, he signaled to his base.
Another alarmingly noteworthy comment came when Bush said he believes the Pentagon should take over part of the country if there is an avian flu outbreak there, repeating a suggestion he made after Katrina. This is a man who is desperate to overturn the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act and to have the military patrol our streets.
On Iraq, for instance, he said, “We’re making good progress in Iraq,” despite all the evidence to the contrary.
And he said, “I have pledged to the American people—and, more importantly, the troops and their families—we’ll make sure they have what it takes to succeed.” This, after woefully underequipping the troops for more than two years now.
On the subject of Harriet Miers, he claimed she was the most qualified person in the country to sit on the Supreme Court.
That echoed his father’s assertion about the lamentable Clarence Thomas, who reflexively votes along with Antonin Scalia. (The old New York Times columnist Anthony Lewis once said that Bush the First could have saved the taxpayers money by not paying Thomas a salary and simply giving Scalia two votes. Now Scalia would have three.)
George W. all but winked and tugged at his earlobe to signal that Miers is pro-life now and will remain pro-life forever. He went out of his way to say that he’s “a pro-life President” and to stress, several times, that Miers shares his philosophy.
“Twenty years from now she’ll be the same person with the same philosophy that she is today,” Bush said. No need to worry about a Souter or an O’Connor or a Kennedy here, he signaled to his base.
Another alarmingly noteworthy comment came when Bush said he believes the Pentagon should take over part of the country if there is an avian flu outbreak there, repeating a suggestion he made after Katrina. This is a man who is desperate to overturn the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act and to have the military patrol our streets.
Bush military bird flu role slammed
A call by President George W. Bush for Congress to give him the power to use the military in law enforcement roles in the event of a bird flu pandemic has been criticized as akin to introducing martial law.
Bush said aggressive action would be needed to prevent a potentially disastrous U.S. outbreak of the disease that is sweeping through Asian poultry and which experts fear could mutate to pass between humans.
Such a deadly event would raise difficult questions, such as how a quarantine might be enforced, the president said.
"I'm concerned about what an avian flu outbreak could mean for the United States and the world," he told reporters during a Rose Garden news conference on Tuesday.
"One option is the use of a military that's able to plan and move," he said. "So that's why I put it on the table. I think it's an important debate for Congress to have."
The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 bans the military from participating in police-type activity on U.S. s
Wanted a leader for America By Noam Chomsky
AS THE survivors of Hurricane Katrina try to piece their lives back together, it is all the clearer that a long-gathering storm of misguided policies and priorities preceded the tragedy.
Government failures at home and the war in Iraq found a confluence in Katrina’s wake that graphically illustrates the need for fundamental social change, lest we suffer worse disasters in the future.
In a pre-9/11 report, the Federal Emergency Management Agency had listed a major hurricane in New Orleans as one of the three most likely catastrophes to strike the United States. The others: a terrorist attack in New York and an earthquake in San Francisco.
New Orleans had become an urgent priority at FEMA since January, when the agency’s now-departed director Michael Brown returned from touring the tsunami devastation in Asia.
"New Orleans was the No. 1 disaster we were talking about," Eric L. Tolbert, a former FEMA official, told The New York Times. "We were obsessed with New Orleans because of the risk."
A year before Katrina hit, FEMA conducted a successful simulated-hurricane drill for New Orleans, but FEMA’s elaborate plans were not implemented.
The war played a role in the failure. National Guard troops that had been sent to Iraq "took a lot of needed equipment with them, including dozens of high-water vehicles, Humvees, refuelling tankers and generators that would be needed in the event a major natural disaster hit the state," The Wall Street Journal reported. "A senior Army official said the service was reluctant to commit the 4th brigade of the 10th Mountain Division from Fort Polk, because the unit, which numbers several thousand soldiers, is in the midst of preparing for an Afghanistan deployment."
Bureaucratic manoeuvring also trumped the risk of natural disaster. Former FEMA officials told The Chicago Tribune that the agency’s capabilities were "effectively marginalised" under President George W. Bush when the agency was folded into the Homeland Security Department, with fewer resources and extra layers of bureaucracy, a "brain drain" as demoralised employees left and a completely unqualified Bush political crony put in charge.
Once a "tier-one federal agency," FEMA now isn’t "even in the back seat," Eric Holdeman, director of emergency management in King County, Washington, told The Financial Times. "They are in the trunk of the Department of Homeland Security car."
Bush funding cuts in 2004 compelled the Army Corps of Engineers to reduce flood-control work sharply, including badly needed strengthening of the levees that protected New Orleans. Bush’s 2005 budget called for another serious reduction — a speciality of Bush-administration timing, much like the proposed sharp cut in security for public transportation right before the London bombings in July 2005.
A disregard for the environment was another factor in this perfect storm. Wetlands help reduce the power of hurricanes and storm surges, but Sandra Postel, a water-policy expert, wrote in The Christian Science Monitor that wetlands were "largely missing when Katrina struck," in part because "the Bush administration in 2003 effectively gutted the ‘no net loss’ of wetlands policy initiated during the administration of the elder Bush."
The human toll of Katrina is incalculable, especially among the region’s poorest citizens, but a relevant number is the 28-per cent poverty rate in New Orleans — more than twice the national rate. During the Bush administration the US poverty rate has grown, and welfare’s limited safety net has been weakened further.
The effects were so striking that even the right-wing media were appalled by the scale of the class-based and race-based devastation. While the media were showing vivid scenes of human misery, the back pages reported that Republican leaders wasted no time in "using relief measures for the hurricane-ravaged Gulf coast to achieve a broad range of conservative economic and social policies," The Wall Street Journal reported.
Those agenda-promoting measures include suspending rules that require payment of prevailing wages by federal contractors and providing displaced schoolchildren with vouchers — another underhanded blow at the public-school system. They included lifting environmental restrictions, "waiving the estate tax for deaths in the storm-affected states" — a great boon for the population fleeing New Orleans slums — and in general making it clear once again that cynicism knows few bounds.
Lost in the flood is a concern for the needs of cities and for human services. The larger agenda of enhancing global domination and domestic concentrations of wealth and power takes precedence.
The images of suffering in Iraq, and in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, could hardly depict the consequences more dramatically.
Government failures at home and the war in Iraq found a confluence in Katrina’s wake that graphically illustrates the need for fundamental social change, lest we suffer worse disasters in the future.
In a pre-9/11 report, the Federal Emergency Management Agency had listed a major hurricane in New Orleans as one of the three most likely catastrophes to strike the United States. The others: a terrorist attack in New York and an earthquake in San Francisco.
New Orleans had become an urgent priority at FEMA since January, when the agency’s now-departed director Michael Brown returned from touring the tsunami devastation in Asia.
"New Orleans was the No. 1 disaster we were talking about," Eric L. Tolbert, a former FEMA official, told The New York Times. "We were obsessed with New Orleans because of the risk."
A year before Katrina hit, FEMA conducted a successful simulated-hurricane drill for New Orleans, but FEMA’s elaborate plans were not implemented.
The war played a role in the failure. National Guard troops that had been sent to Iraq "took a lot of needed equipment with them, including dozens of high-water vehicles, Humvees, refuelling tankers and generators that would be needed in the event a major natural disaster hit the state," The Wall Street Journal reported. "A senior Army official said the service was reluctant to commit the 4th brigade of the 10th Mountain Division from Fort Polk, because the unit, which numbers several thousand soldiers, is in the midst of preparing for an Afghanistan deployment."
Bureaucratic manoeuvring also trumped the risk of natural disaster. Former FEMA officials told The Chicago Tribune that the agency’s capabilities were "effectively marginalised" under President George W. Bush when the agency was folded into the Homeland Security Department, with fewer resources and extra layers of bureaucracy, a "brain drain" as demoralised employees left and a completely unqualified Bush political crony put in charge.
Once a "tier-one federal agency," FEMA now isn’t "even in the back seat," Eric Holdeman, director of emergency management in King County, Washington, told The Financial Times. "They are in the trunk of the Department of Homeland Security car."
Bush funding cuts in 2004 compelled the Army Corps of Engineers to reduce flood-control work sharply, including badly needed strengthening of the levees that protected New Orleans. Bush’s 2005 budget called for another serious reduction — a speciality of Bush-administration timing, much like the proposed sharp cut in security for public transportation right before the London bombings in July 2005.
A disregard for the environment was another factor in this perfect storm. Wetlands help reduce the power of hurricanes and storm surges, but Sandra Postel, a water-policy expert, wrote in The Christian Science Monitor that wetlands were "largely missing when Katrina struck," in part because "the Bush administration in 2003 effectively gutted the ‘no net loss’ of wetlands policy initiated during the administration of the elder Bush."
The human toll of Katrina is incalculable, especially among the region’s poorest citizens, but a relevant number is the 28-per cent poverty rate in New Orleans — more than twice the national rate. During the Bush administration the US poverty rate has grown, and welfare’s limited safety net has been weakened further.
The effects were so striking that even the right-wing media were appalled by the scale of the class-based and race-based devastation. While the media were showing vivid scenes of human misery, the back pages reported that Republican leaders wasted no time in "using relief measures for the hurricane-ravaged Gulf coast to achieve a broad range of conservative economic and social policies," The Wall Street Journal reported.
Those agenda-promoting measures include suspending rules that require payment of prevailing wages by federal contractors and providing displaced schoolchildren with vouchers — another underhanded blow at the public-school system. They included lifting environmental restrictions, "waiving the estate tax for deaths in the storm-affected states" — a great boon for the population fleeing New Orleans slums — and in general making it clear once again that cynicism knows few bounds.
Lost in the flood is a concern for the needs of cities and for human services. The larger agenda of enhancing global domination and domestic concentrations of wealth and power takes precedence.
The images of suffering in Iraq, and in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, could hardly depict the consequences more dramatically.
Noam Chomsky, the author, most recently, of Imperial Ambitions: Conversations on the Post-9/11 World (Metropolitan Books, 2005), is a professor of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Night And Fog Revisited - Is Harriet Miers a Closet Sadist?
Field Marshall Wilhelm Keitel, supreme chief of the German armed forces, explained the thinking behind the Nazis' "Night and Fog" (the term comes from Goethe) decree: "Efficient and enduring intimidation can only be achieved...by measures by which the relatives of the criminals do not know the fate of the criminals...These measures will have a deterrent effect because the prisoners will vanish without a trace and no information may be given as to their whereabouts or their fate."
Anyone who doubts the extravagant pain of not knowing what happened to a loved one should talk to Natalee Holloway's parents.
Night and Fog came to the United States when federal agencies built and filled a global, ad hoc network of prisons and concentration camps during the months following 9/11, and began filling it with Muslims of varying status. Officials promising to update lapsed visas lured foreign-born residents to immigration offices and arrested them when they showed up. Captured Taliban soldiers, stripped of their rights under the Geneva Conventions, were thrown together with civilian shopkeepers sold by local warlords for bounties to the CIA in Afghanistan, to whom were added anti-communist rebels from China and democracy activists from Pakistan. Some were shipped to Cuba, where many were tortured, some to death. Others were delivered for "extraordinary rendition" via covert CIA jets to countries reputed for their pain-inflicting expertise, including Syria, Yemen and Uzbekistan. No one knows what happened to them.
Four years after 9/11, the U.S. government still refuses to release information about the disappeared. We do not know how many there are, where they are being held, how many are dead and alive, or even their names. The vanished have access to neither their families nor legal representation. They cannot send or receive mail or packages. Because there was no evidence against them, none have been charged with a crime. But catching terrorists was never the purpose of America's new Night and Fog policy. The goal was to instill fear, particularly among Muslims. It has also worked with other "enemies of the state": since 9/11, "See you in Gitmo" has become a standard joke among activists on the left.
The legal cover for the Bush Administration's updating of Night and Fog comes courtesy of then-White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales, since promoted to attorney general. In his January 22, 2002 memo, for example, Gonzales repeatedly twisted the facts in order to obtain the result Bush desired.
Gonzales' contradictory linguistic contortions, here to argue that the Taliban were not covered by Geneva and could thus be vanished into thin air because they were not a viable government, would be comical if not for the man's chilling willingness to suspend intellectual honesty along with fundamental human rights: "It is unclear whether the Taliban militia ever fully controlled most of the territory of Afghanistan. At the time the United States air strikes began, at least ten percent of the country, and the population within those areas, was governed by the Northern Alliance."
Since when does 90 percent, or nearly 90 percent, fail to qualify as "most"?
Harriet Miers, Bush's nominee to succeed Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court, replaced Gonzales in November 2004. Has she ever questioned Gonzales' extreme and bizarre legal opinions justifying the torture, indefinite detention and disappearing of countless innocent people? We don't know. Her legal opinions have yet to be released and Senate Republicans, in keeping with the Bush Administration's obsession with keeping the people's business secret from the people, say they'll fight to keep them shrouded by the night and fog.
We know that Miers has chosen not to issue a full-fledged rebuttal of Gonzales' disappear-'em-and-torture-'em philosophy, which remains in full force at Abu Ghraib, Bagram, Guantánamo, Camp Mercury and other giant memory holes. Reports continue to emerge, most recently from a former Muslim chaplain at Gitmo, that top officials encourage soldiers to abuse inmates.
This comes as little surprise, given that Miers' reluctance to rock the boat appears to be more highly developed than the average striver. "In [a] White House that hero-worshipped the president, Miers was distinguished by the intensity of her zeal: She once told me that the president was the most brilliant man she had ever met," right-winger David Frum writes in the National Review.
Senate Democrats and patriotic Republicans should insist on a full review of Miers' advice to Bush on torture and disappearances before voting on confirmation to the Supreme Court. No one who agrees with Alberto Gonzales' monstrous contempt for human rights ought to be elevated to such a powerful post--even if her consent is expressed through tacit silence.
Ted Rall, is America's hardest-hitting editorial cartoonist for Universal Press Syndicate, is an award-winning commentator who also works as an illustrator, columnist, and radio commentator. Visit his website www.tedrall.com
Anyone who doubts the extravagant pain of not knowing what happened to a loved one should talk to Natalee Holloway's parents.
Night and Fog came to the United States when federal agencies built and filled a global, ad hoc network of prisons and concentration camps during the months following 9/11, and began filling it with Muslims of varying status. Officials promising to update lapsed visas lured foreign-born residents to immigration offices and arrested them when they showed up. Captured Taliban soldiers, stripped of their rights under the Geneva Conventions, were thrown together with civilian shopkeepers sold by local warlords for bounties to the CIA in Afghanistan, to whom were added anti-communist rebels from China and democracy activists from Pakistan. Some were shipped to Cuba, where many were tortured, some to death. Others were delivered for "extraordinary rendition" via covert CIA jets to countries reputed for their pain-inflicting expertise, including Syria, Yemen and Uzbekistan. No one knows what happened to them.
Four years after 9/11, the U.S. government still refuses to release information about the disappeared. We do not know how many there are, where they are being held, how many are dead and alive, or even their names. The vanished have access to neither their families nor legal representation. They cannot send or receive mail or packages. Because there was no evidence against them, none have been charged with a crime. But catching terrorists was never the purpose of America's new Night and Fog policy. The goal was to instill fear, particularly among Muslims. It has also worked with other "enemies of the state": since 9/11, "See you in Gitmo" has become a standard joke among activists on the left.
The legal cover for the Bush Administration's updating of Night and Fog comes courtesy of then-White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales, since promoted to attorney general. In his January 22, 2002 memo, for example, Gonzales repeatedly twisted the facts in order to obtain the result Bush desired.
Gonzales' contradictory linguistic contortions, here to argue that the Taliban were not covered by Geneva and could thus be vanished into thin air because they were not a viable government, would be comical if not for the man's chilling willingness to suspend intellectual honesty along with fundamental human rights: "It is unclear whether the Taliban militia ever fully controlled most of the territory of Afghanistan. At the time the United States air strikes began, at least ten percent of the country, and the population within those areas, was governed by the Northern Alliance."
Since when does 90 percent, or nearly 90 percent, fail to qualify as "most"?
Harriet Miers, Bush's nominee to succeed Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court, replaced Gonzales in November 2004. Has she ever questioned Gonzales' extreme and bizarre legal opinions justifying the torture, indefinite detention and disappearing of countless innocent people? We don't know. Her legal opinions have yet to be released and Senate Republicans, in keeping with the Bush Administration's obsession with keeping the people's business secret from the people, say they'll fight to keep them shrouded by the night and fog.
We know that Miers has chosen not to issue a full-fledged rebuttal of Gonzales' disappear-'em-and-torture-'em philosophy, which remains in full force at Abu Ghraib, Bagram, Guantánamo, Camp Mercury and other giant memory holes. Reports continue to emerge, most recently from a former Muslim chaplain at Gitmo, that top officials encourage soldiers to abuse inmates.
This comes as little surprise, given that Miers' reluctance to rock the boat appears to be more highly developed than the average striver. "In [a] White House that hero-worshipped the president, Miers was distinguished by the intensity of her zeal: She once told me that the president was the most brilliant man she had ever met," right-winger David Frum writes in the National Review.
Senate Democrats and patriotic Republicans should insist on a full review of Miers' advice to Bush on torture and disappearances before voting on confirmation to the Supreme Court. No one who agrees with Alberto Gonzales' monstrous contempt for human rights ought to be elevated to such a powerful post--even if her consent is expressed through tacit silence.
Ted Rall, is America's hardest-hitting editorial cartoonist for Universal Press Syndicate, is an award-winning commentator who also works as an illustrator, columnist, and radio commentator. Visit his website www.tedrall.com
Do Paraguai, EUA miram recursos energéticos
A presença de cerca de 400 militares estadunidenses em solo paraguaio já é um fato. A grande questão, contudo, é o que eles pretendem fazer - e o que farão - por lá. Em maio desse ano, o governo do Paraguai firmou acordo (aprovado posteriormente pelo parlamento) com os EUA que previa exercícios e intercâmbios militares em seu território até dezembro de 2006.
No entanto, certamente, a atuação militar dos EUA no Paraguai não é de hoje. É o que afirma Alberto Buela, vice-presidente da Fundação Centro de Estudos Estratégicos Sul-Americanos (CEES), com sede na Argentina: "De acordo com nossas próprias fontes e com dados recolhidos pessoalmente por nós na capital, Assunção, os EUA já estavam estabelecidos clandestinamente desde 1999 na região do chaco paraguaio". Trata-se da base de Mariscal Estigarribia, localizada na província de Boqueronen, no oeste do país. Com apenas 3 mil habitantes, a localidade está situada a 250 quilômetros da Bolívia e seu gás natural e conta com pista de aterrissagem de 3800 metros de extensão, o que permite o pouso de aviões de grande porte.
De acordo com o CEES, o desembarque dos 400 militares estadunidenses teria como objetivo a ampliação desta base (que poderia abrigar 16 mil homens) e sua transformação em instalação militar permanente dos EUA na região - o que permitiria, segundo Buela, uma "intervencão rápida em metade dos países sul-americanos: Paraguai, Brasil, Bolívia, Argentina e Uruguai".
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