Friday, April 25, 2003

Progressive News Headlines Thursday, April 10, 2003 U.S. Threatens Iran, Syria, N. Korea... on Wednesday April 09 2003 @ 09:01AM PDT...ROME (Reuters) - The United States on Wednesday warned countries it has accused of pursuing weapons of mass destruction, including Iran, Syria and North Korea, to "draw the appropriate lesson from Iraq." Weapons of mass diversion What's going on while the war rages. Rumsfeld accuses Syria of aiding Saddam News Corp. to acquire Hughes Electronics The people who control US national security policy are not conservatives but extremists. Wellstone's Graceless Replacement Minnesota's Coleman claims his loyalty to Bush makes him a better senator than Paul Wellstone. Forget Bush's rhetoric about the UN's 'vital' role, post-war Iraq will be an All-American show. "It's simple. They want water. I have it, as long as they agree to get baptized." Army chaplain Josh Llano , whose 500-gallon baptism pool is the only source of clean bathing water at a sprawling camp in the Iraqi desert.... America's Sovereign Right to Do as It Damn Well Pleases Akiva Eldar Secret Bechtel Docs Reveal: Yes, the War Is About Oil GOP WANTS 'PATRIOT ACT', SET TO EXPIRE IN 2005, MADE PERMANENT. Will US Fabricate WMD Evidence? Bush Offers Crooks and Warmongers to Lead Iraq. Is There Some Element in the US Military That Wants to Take Out Journalists?... The Reason Why by George McGovern US-backed Militia Loots Town Bush should reject the empire-building ambitions of some of his neoconservative subordinates. By Stuart Taylor Jr. SPIN OUT OF THE BARREL OF A GUN MIKE HUME, SPIKED, UK - The coalition's hollow victory in Baghdad marks a fittingly surreal climax to a war that was always empty of meaning. Saddam's regime has simply imploded like the wretched, ruined state that any objective observer of Iraqi affairs knew it to be. GREAT THOUGHTS IN POLITICS SENATOR NORM COLEMAN - To be very blunt, and God watch over Paul's soul, I am a 99 percent improvement over Paul Wellstone. BUSH'S EMBEZZLER BUDDY ATTACKED BY CIA ELI J. LAKE UPI - Supporters of Iraqi National Congress leader Ahmed Chalabi are accusing the CIA of distributing a classified report critical of Mr. Chalabi as part of a politically motivated campaign to discredit him. . . Mr. Chalabi, the Pentagon's candidate to lead the first interim Iraqi government, is under fire from the CIA, as well as the State Department. Both fear he will be ineffective because many Iraqis do not like him. JOURNALIST BODY SAYS US BREAKS GENEVA CONVENTIONS JORDAN TIMES - The Committee to Protect Journalists, a watchdog group dedicated to press freedom, said it believed US military strikes against known media locations in Baghdad on Tuesday that killed three journalists violated the Geneva Conventions. REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS has called on US defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld to provide evidence that the offices of the pan-Arab TV station Al-Jazeera and the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad were not deliberately fired at by US forces earlier in the day in attacks that killed three journalists. "We are appalled at what happened because it was known that both places contained journalists," said the organization's secretary-general Robert Ménard. DEMOCRATIC GOVERNOR SIGNS CONCEALED WEAPONS LAW ASSOCIATED PRESS - New Mexicans age 25 and older can be licensed to carry a concealed, loaded handgun starting next year under legislation signed into law Monday by Gov. Bill Richardson. "This is a crime-reduction measure that I have supported throughout my career in Congress and during the campaign," Richardson said in a written statement. AFGHAN TRAGIC INCIDENT OF THE DAY THAT WE DEEPLY REGRET ASSOCIATED PRESS - A bomb dropped by an American warplane pursuing suspected attackers landed on a home in eastern Afghanistan, killing 11 Afghan civilians, the U.S. military said Wednesday. The military called the civilian deaths a "tragic incident" and said it took place at the outskirts of Shkin, near the Pakistan border. GREAT MOMENTS IN ANTI-TERRORISM CHANNEL 4000 - A hot dog cart vendor in Harrisburg is making sure he's prepared for the worst. "I'm the first hot dog vendor in all of Pennsylvania to have terrorism insurance," vendor Daniel Krehling said. "It's a $1 million policy." Krehling knows he may not be a huge target, but his stand is sandwiched between City Hall, the county courthouse, and lots of downtown high rises. ASPIRIN CAN REDUCE CHANCE OF BREAST CANCER BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL - The front page of the Daily Mail, as well as articles in several other newspapers, reports that women who take two over-the-counter painkillers each week can halve their risk of breast cancer, according to a new study. VATICAN GLOSSARY RAILS AGAINST GAYS  DATA LOUNGE A controversial new Vatican glossary of sexual terms says gay people are not normal and that countries which allow gay marriages are inhabited by people with "profoundly disordered minds." NORTH DAKOTA REJECTS COHABITATION DATA LOUNGE - The North Dakota Senate voted last week to retain its 113-year-old anti-cohabitation law that makes it a crime for unmarried couples to live together. Democratic efforts to repeal the law, which says a man and woman may not live together "openly and notoriously" as if they were married, was defeated in a party-line vote 26 to 21. Cohabitation in North Dakota is listed as a sex crime, along with rape and incest. Violations of the cohabitation law carry a maximum 30 days in jail and a $1,000 fine. CARLISLE GROUP OFF TO LISBON FOR CONFERENCE PORTUGAL NEWS - Directors of one of the world's largest armament companies are planning on meeting in Lisbon in three weeks time. The American based Carlyle Group is heavily involved in supplying arms to the Coalition forces fighting in the Iraqi war. It also holds a majority of shares in the Seven Up company and Federal Data Corporation, supplier of air traffic control surveillance systems to the US Federal Aviation Authority. The 12 billion dollar company has recently signed contracts with United Defense Industries to equip the Turkish and Saudi Arabian armies with aviation defense systems. Top of the meeting's agenda is expected to be the company's involvement in the rebuilding of Baghdad's infrastructure after the cessation of current hostilities. Along with several other US companies, the Carlyle Group is expected to be awarded a billion dollar contract by the US government to help in the redevelopment of airfields and urban areas destroyed by Coalition aerial bombardments. U.S. CLAIMS 'SOVEREIGN RIGHT' OVER IRAQ WAR CRIMES DAVID RENNIE - The United States has the "sovereign right" to prosecute Iraqi leaders for war crimes in its own courts, and will not hand Saddam Hussein or his henchmen to any international tribunal, senior American officials said yesterday. In a move likely to alarm Downing Street, senior Pentagon and State Department officials summoned reporters to hear a pre-emptive rejection of any role for the International Criminal Court - the permanent war crimes tribunal established in The Hague. Congressional Republicans Moving to Make Anti-Terrorism Powers Permanent Senate Republicans working with the Bush administration are pushing a proposal that would make permanent the sweeping anti-terrorism powers of the controversial Patriot Act passed after 9/11 to temporarily assist the government in the war on terroism. — Utne Web Special, April 9, 2003 Stonewalling Security... by Danielle Brian ... Why is the Bush administration obstructing the progress of a key Republican-led counter-terrorism investigation for U.S. nuclear facilities? FBI Snoops At Libraries Walter Cronkite Denounces The War April 9, 2003... Click here for POW/MIA items Contradicting CAIR: The Islamic School Book Controversy American Muslim organizations have been working hard these past few months to present Islam as a peaceful, tolerant religion. Those who dare to dissent will run afoul of the `Political Correctness' crowd. April 9, 2003... 08:00PM EST   Mobile-eyes: Resisting War and Repression 10:00PM EST   Fear & Favor in the Newsroom 10:55PM EST   Three Nights at Ground Zero Wednesday, April 09, 2003 PERLE IS NO GEM You've got to admire the audacity, chutzpa, and gall of the Bushites. Even as they relentlessly push their economic and military agenda of global conquest.... they still take time for the small things. Info for Whistleblowers... Alternative Resources on the US-Iraq Conflict... BushWhackedUSA... TOMORROW! Monday, 4/14 Tuesday, 4/15 Atlanta appearance Wednesday, April 9, 2003  6:22 PM... April 9, 2003 Dave Zweifel: Another day, another tax loophole Is Al-Jazeera Being Targeted by the U.S. Government? by Andrew Limburg, Independent Media TV With events that have taken place over the past few weeks, one might reach the conclusion that the United States government has been trying to silence Al-Jazeera, the Arab run Satellite Channel out of Qatar. Journalists' organizations demand inquiry – US bombs Al-Jazeera center in Baghdad The strike on Al-Jazeera's broadcasting facilities was undoubtedly deliberate. Is there some element in the US military that wants to take out journalists? Far more disturbing, however, is the fact that the al-Jazeera network – the freest Arab television station, which has incurred the fury of both the Americans and the Iraqi authorities for its live coverage of the war – gave the Pentagon the co-ordinates of its Baghdad office two months ago and received assurances that the bureau would not be attacked. Two Different Wars! Gerald Butt, Al-Hayat Al-Jazeera takes viewers to Baghdad and other Iraqi cities and shows the war as it is experienced at the grass roots - the terror and gruesome results of being on the receiving end of sustained missile attacks and heavy bombing. It shows the conflict from the perspective of people who have to endure it. Gulf War Syndrome: The Sequel Steven Rosenfeld, TomPaine "People are sick over there already," said Dr. Doug Rokke, former director of the Army's depleted uranium (DU)project. "It's not just uranium. You've got all the complex organics and inorganics [compounds] that are released in those fires and detonations. And they're sucking this in.... You've got the whole toxic wasteland." The War for the White House Is On Geov Parrish, WorkingForChange.com There is no more critical task in the coming months than to oust George W. Bush, and the lunatics surrounding him, from the White House. The New Christian Crusaders By Bill Berkowitz. War Tax Resistance Made Simple Matt Wheeland, AlterNet What to expect and how to prepare if you want to withhold your hard-earned cash from the Pentagon. PLUS: The Noble American Tradition of Tax Evasion Democrats request Iraq investigation Democratic representatives Henry Waxman of California and John Dingell of Michigan have asked the General Accounting Office to examine how the Bush administration is awarding contracts to rebuild Iraq -- with a special emphasis on the contracts already awarded to Halliburton. Republican Railroad: Mary Lynn F. Jones on GOP efforts to steamroll legislation through Congress. [04.09.03] Web Only... Rupert Redux: Michael Tomasky on how Rupert Murdoch continues to take advantage of "reasonable" Democrats. [04.09.03]... Now would be a good time for all the Democratic presidential contenders to put out statements supporting John Kerry's comments calling for "regime change" in the U.S. Why? Not just for Kerry's sake, but for their own. The Republicans and their proxies in the conservative press aren't just looking to hurt Kerry; they're seeking to set a standard for criticizing George W. Bush that will make it unacceptable to criticize the incumbent for almost anything. Republicans Want to Make Patriot Act Dismantling of Constitutionally Guaranteed Civil Rights Permanent: The Slouching Toward the Gulag Continues. These Powers Will Ultimately be Used Against Bush Cartel Political Enemies. The Lowliest and Most Hypocritical of Betrayals: Bush Cartel Targets Veterans for Billions of Dollars in Cuts Bush's Secretary of Education Says That  the Best Schools are Christian Schools 4/10 New Yorkers most affected by Sept. 11  least likely to support war 4/10 WellstoneAction: a non-profit organization dedicated to continuing Paul and Sheila Wellstone's fight for progressive change and economic justice. 4/10 Robert Scheer: The View From the Throne 4/10 "A federal jury convicted three Roman Catholic nuns Monday of obstructing national defense and damaging government property after they cut through fences and sprayed their own blood on a Minuteman III missile silo" 4/9 Another Mall Arrest for Wearing an Antiwar T-Shirt, This Time in Arkansas 4/9 Shut down the WTO!... Marcos on Wednesday April 09 2003 @ 12:43PM PDT... With the US mobilizing hundreds of thousands of troops to assert its unilateral military dominance over the world community, it’s easy to forget about the other game in town: the continued campaign for world dominance by corporations and the capitalist system. But these two forms of dominance are like two faces of the same coin. If people around the globe really want to fight the US military machine, we’re ultimately going to have to fight global economic structures like the World Trade Organization (WTO). CalPERS to Invest in Israel, Despite Dismal Civil Liberties Record...Preighm Schoen on Wednesday April 09 2003 @ 12:01PM PDT...The California Public Employees' Retirement System, or Calpers, is considering investing some of its US $1.8 billion emerging market funds in Israel. As one of the largest public pension fund administrators, many other investment boards consider CalPERS leadership in their own investment allocation Anti-biotech activism Here's a call to action for the June 23-25 industrial agriculture & biotech summit in Sacramento, California. DR Congo: Africa's worst war... a sim on Tuesday April 08 2003 @ 11:38AM PDT...Diamonds are forever... The four-and-a-half year conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been described as worst since World War II http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/2928127.stm Tell President Bush: Working Families Count on Overtime Pay - The Bush administration has proposed changing federal overtime rules and eroding the 40-hour workweek-reducing overtime protections and cutting the pay of hundreds of thousands of America's workers. Take action! AFL-CIO Rein In Corporate Tax Deserters Many brand name companies save huge amounts simply by creating a P.O. box headquarters in the Caribbean without moving any real operations. In an effort to stop this abuse, Representative Richard Neal has introduced the Corporate Patriot Enforcement Act. Urge your representative to support and co-sponsor HR 3884, the Corporate Patriot Enforcement Act. 12:29:27 PM    comment []