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Each political note has its own anchor in case you want to link to it.
On the Republican false accusations about ACORN's voter registration program.
The Iraqi government has demanded a firm requirement for the Bush
forces to
leave Iraq by 2011, and limitations on their immunity in the
meantime.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-15 because the old link was broken.]
The Israeli colonists in Palestinian territories regularly attack
Palestinians. Some even attack Israeli police and soldiers.
Now Ehud Barak proposes to
arrest the latter, but the former
can apparently continue enjoying impunity.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-15 because the old link was broken.]
Deborah Purdy, suffering from Multiple Sclerosis, may have to kill herself while she still has enough capability to do it on her own, so as to spare her husband from being imprisoned for helping her do so later on.
Forcing people to stay alive when their lives have deteriorated into useless suffering is tantamount to torture.
If Mr Purdy faces prosecution by England for helping his wife go to Switzerland for a later assisted suicide, instead of performing an earlier unassisted one, I wonder if the Swiss government might Mr Purdy politcal asylum.
Humans are using resources much faster than the Earth can replace them. According to these calculations, 30% faster — and that can't go on.
The winter ice in the Arctic is much thinner this year.
In effect this means that the disappearance of Arctic summer ice is proceding rapidly. That will mean positive feedback in global warming.
How the US right wing makes ignorance a virtue and education a smear.
Republican Senator Stevens has been convicted of corruption charges.
Israeli troops kept 100 international doctors from entering Gaza
for a WHO-sponsored conference on the health crisis caused
by Israel's blockade of Gaza.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-15 because the old link was broken.]
Activists are planning a second boat trip to Gaza, to bring medicine.
Israel says this time it will stop them.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-15 because the old link was broken.]
Shi'ites in Karbal are
trying to ban dancing and other forms of parties.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-15 because the old link was broken.]
Following the Repblican philosophy that nothing is too low, a woman fabricated accusations that someone attacked her because she had a McCain bumper sticker.
US citizens: How to prevent the Republicans from stopping you from voting.
US citizens:
tell Attorney General Mukasey
not to try to suppress voting in Ohio.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-15 because the old link was broken.]
The Bush forces crossed into Syria and killed several people. The attack was supposedly aimed at supporters of the Iraqi resistance but seems to have killed construction workers instead.
Lt. Ehren Watada has
escaped some of the charges that he faced
because of criticizing Bush for lying to start the conquest of Iraq.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-15 because the old link was broken.]
The Iraqi Islamic Party is
protesting the killing and arrests
of its members.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-15 because the old link was broken.]
Delivery workers at Saigon Grill won a lawsuit for fair wages. Now the movement will target other restaurants.
Australia's planned internet censorship will be worse than Iran's.
Many Republicans have endorsed Obama for president. And why not? In the 1970s, Obama's views would have made him a liberal Republican.
13,000 Iraqi Christians have fled the city of Mosul. It is not clear whether their attackers are Kurds or Sunni Arabs.
Ahmed Zaid Zuhair has kept up his hunger strike for three years in Guantanamo, even fighting the guards when they take him away to be force-fed.
Although I oppose the Islamist cause which he is accused of supporting, I admire his resistance to the injustice of perpetual imprisonment without trial.
Israeli Prime Minister designate Tsipi Livni has rejected an alliance with a right-wing hawkish party even though this could force an election.
It sounds to me like she might be serious about the concessions necessary for peace with the Palestinians.
A summary of the case against Cheney for abetting the terrorist
attacks of 9/11/2001.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-15 because the old link was broken.]
Deregulation produced the current financial crisis. Now the banks will lobby against the regulations we need to prevent the next financial crisis. This includes regulation of energy trading.
In the UK, the option to pay extra for "green electricity" is just a con game. It does not lead to increased use of renewable power generation, and it enables companies to pretend they have cut their emissions.
The US Government Printing Office outsourced the manufacturing of the passports to companies that make them cheaper. The result is that the GPO makes a profit (which it appears not to be inclined to give back to the treasury), and some of these companies might be less effective at preventing fake passports.
It may be interesting to think personally about a theoretical question: if any John Q. Public can get a false passport, and that is a bad thing, how much government violence and injustice would it take to transform that into to a good thing?
The Guantanamo Bay kangaroo courts have been denounced as unjust even by their own prosecutors and judges. The Bush regime response did little to address the problem.
The Chagos Islanders, forced out of their home 40 years ago so the US could build the military base on Diego Garcia island, have been forbidden to return to the other islands in the group.
The statements of the judges go beyond this case and asserts total power for the state, denying the very ideas of any kind of human rights.
Support the Atheist Bus Campaign, putting ads for atheism on buses in London.
As the FDA prepares to decide what to do about Bisphenol A, a company that makes it has tried subtly to corrupt the FDA head.
Gifts that don't go to an individual, but do go to something that he is attached to, have the potential to corrupt. For instance, Microsoft built a large facility in Gordon Clown's district in Scotland. Legally, this is not considered a payoff to Clown, but practically speaking it functions as one.
We should increase the taxes on companies; then the government can fund university research with that tax money. This will shield research from the corrosive effects of corporate funding.
Some Republicans face charges for voting fraud that is unrelated to computerized voting.
German tobacco companies conspired in the 90s to keep cigarette vending machines in reach of children.
Israeli colonists repeatedly attacked Palestinians harvesting their olive crops, and the Israeli army repeatedly took the side of the colonists
against the Palestinians.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-15 because the old link was broken.]
US citizens: demand that AIG refund the $534,000 of its bailout fund that it spent on partying.
The UK's Director of Public Prosecutions, on the brink of retiring, denounced the UK's regime of surveillance and control.
Interpol wants to create a massive database for face recognition.
Last I looked, face recognition was not reliable. But we cannot assume that will hold back Big Brother forever.
The Clown regime wants to make all cell phone users register.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-15 because the old link was broken.]
The Iraqi negotiators made an agreement to let the Bush forces stay in Iraq, but the Iraqi parliament seems likely to reject it.
After the army attacked a protest by indigenes in Colombia, thousands more have joined in protests all around the country.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-15 because the old link was broken.]
President Uribe of Colombia is closely associated with Colombia's worst terrorist group, the paramilitares.
Bush's plan to put 20,000 Bolivians out of work, and how Americans can oppose it.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-15 because the old link was broken.]
Massive Republican voter-suppression is stealing the election.
Millions of eligible voters may be blocked using dishonest excuses.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-15 because the old link was broken.]
A former head of MI5 (the UK's counterspy agency) condemned the political overreaction to the 9/11 attacks, and blamed the invasion of Iraq for stimulating terrorism.
China plans to identify and photograph everyone that uses an Internet
cafe.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-15 because the old link was broken.]
This is a couple of steps beyond the unjust laws of France and Italy, which forbid open wireless networks. But any nasty thing that China does to the Internet is likely to show up in "free" countries soon. The excuses are "terrorism" (which often means dissent) and "child" pornography.
Conclusive proof that most airline security is just for show. It would block stupid terrorists, but not smart ones — if the smart ones are still interested in airplanes.
Blocking stupid terrorists is worth something, but it could be done with a lot less hassle without the show.
Wall Street banks, just bailed out with 700 billion, are planning to pay 1/10 of that money to their staff.
A large oil discovery in Cuban waters may help end the US trade embargo.
The trade embargo is supposed to pressure Cuba to respect human rights, but it has achieved zero towards that goal; if anything, it convinces Cubans to rally behind their government. Likewise for the occasional US-supported terrorist attacks against Cuba.
A representative of the UK's probation agents says, give the reckless bankers ASBOs.
The idea is amusing as satire, because if anyone does deserve such treatment, it is these bankers. On the other hand, it is also a serious possibility, because many kinds of police and governments in the UK can issue these orders and there are no clear rules about when they are justified. Almost anything that results in annoying people can be the excuse to threaten someone with jail for repeating it.
But this is precisely the reason why ASBOs are an unjust system and must be abolished. In effect, ASBOs replace rule of law with a system of imprisonment for whatever the authorities do not like. Such a vague law may occasionally be used in a way that implements justice, such as telling bankers they will be jailed if they continue their recklessness. But that is the exception that proves the rule.
Can anyone show me an article which explains why the failure of some banks (private companies) in Iceland causes the state of Iceland to owe money? I have heard that banks in other countries are refusing to convert the Icelandic kronor; why is that?
The EFF has sued to overturn the law that gave retroactive immunity to telephone companies' illegal spying.
Yet again, the Bush regime claims to have struck a devastating blow against Al Qa'ida in Iraq, by killing one leader.
No leader is crucial to an underground group like that. What weakened Al Qa'ida in Iraq was that they pissed off the Sunni resistance groups, which then accepted Bush's dollar — for the moment.
The latest example of terrorism hysteria: banning drinks on trains.
The Election Protection Wiki (EPwiki.org) aims to provide a central resource about efforts to rig the US election.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-15 because the old link was broken.]
See http://www.prwatch.org/node/7840 for a brief list of some of the voter-suppression schemes described there.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-15 because the old link was broken.]
A sheriff in Texas has been accused of large-scale drug smuggling.
Whether or not this policeman is guilty, it is clear that many are, because prohibition of drugs leads to systematic corruption. Since marijuana is less dangerous than tobacco or alcohol, it ought to be as legal as they are.
I don't believe in legalizing truly dangerous drugs such as cocaine and heroin, but addicts ought to be able to get their fix in a doctor's office. That would eliminate most of the harm of prohibition while pulling the plug on the lucrative black market.
Iraq's missing generation — driven into exile.
The US plan to by stock in banks is flawed, because it does little to restrain bank executives from acting in ways that endanger the banks and harm the public.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-15 because the old link was broken.]
Mugabe has scuttled his deal with the opposition.
Clown has temporarily abandoned his demand for 42-day detention of suspects — but plans to bring it out again whenever he sees a more favorable climate.
Britons can protect their freedom from New Labour if they remain vigilant, but they deserve to be governed by a party that does not threaten it.
Human Rights Watch has criticized President Chavez of Venezuela for abuses such as political discrimination, interfering with judicial autonomy, and interference with labor unions.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-15 because the old link was broken.]
I partly disagree with some of the report's conclusions:
However, rather than administratively canceling the station's license, I think the government should have prosecuted the station and/or its management and owners.
Peace activists helped the Palestinians of Ni'ilin to harvest their olives, and were attacked by the Israeli army.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-15 because the old link was broken.]
Maryland Police put activists' names on terror lists.
This included opponents of the death penalty and antiwar activists: a strage place to look for violence.
The "temporary" US-backed Ethiopian occupation of Somalia, which has now lasted almost 2 years. Kenya has sent many prisoners to Somalia, whence they were taken to Ethiopia and tortured so that US officials could interrogate them.
Contribute funds to avoid a ban on selling hallucinogenic mushrooms in the Netherlands. (They are now sold in a small number of special stores.)
To propose to ban a non-addictive drug because on rare occasions someone dies from using it wrong reflects a double standard based on prejudice. People occasionally die from mountaineering, skydiving, and swimming in the ocean, but we do not see proposals to ban those activities.
Tell ABC TV you protest its refusal to air an ad about the influence of coal and oil companies in blocking clean energy.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-15 because the old link was broken.]
If you become a support of the Simultaneous Policy Initiative, you can vote on what policies it should support.
Alaska's ethics panel found that Palin abused her authority to get her ex-brother-in-law fired.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-15 because the old link was broken.]
Perhaps this is an instance of what Republicans call "family values".
The "temporary" US-backed Ethiopian occupation of Somalia continues, which has now lasted almost 2 years. Kenya has sent many prisoners to Somalia, whence they were taken to Ethiopia and tortured so that US officials could interrogate them.
In response to the video game about catching Saddam Hussein, Islamist extremists have released their own game, about catching Bush.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-15 because the old link was broken.]
Playing a game of shooting hundreds (or is it thousands?) of people to attack an evil ruler, whether that be Saddam Hussein or Bush, does not strike me as something likely to build good character. However, Americans with a shallow idea of what patriotism consists of, the ones who might have enjoyed demonizing Hussein, might learn some ethical maturity by seeing the shoe on the other foot.
An outbreak of Cholera in Iraq was caused by corruption.
NSA agents habitually listen to phone calls of Americans for fun, in the total absence of grounds to suspect them of terrorism (or anything else).
To prevent such things, formerly police could not listen directly to anyone's phone. When they got court orders to wiretap phones, the phone company listened, made transcripts, and gave them to the police to carry out the order. Changes in the past decade or so have eliminated this protection.
It should be no surprise that the NSA abuses its power. That is the general tendency when "authorities" are given the power to investigate people at will.
The Clown regime openly wants total surveillance of communication and web browsing for the entire population of the UK.
European governments are planning to use the financial crisis as an excuse to cancel CO2 cuts.
The US Army finall admitted to killing lots of civilians with a bomb in Afghanistan, but still refuses to apologize, saying it "did not know" the Taliban were in positions near civilians.
This excuse won't wash. This attack was on a village, a place where civilians live. An army must presume that civilians are present in their homes, unless it knows they have fled, which it certainly did not know in this case.
What happened here is that the US decided to attack the Taliban with weapons that would endanger any nearby civilians, without checking first. NATO has changed its rules to avoid such recklessness, but the US (which operates in Afghanistan separately from NATO) has not.
Excerpts from the US government's manual for crushing insurgencies.
Some of these methods seem to be in use in the US as well — for instance, surveillance of dissidents, detention without trial, surprise raids on meeting places for protestors, as well as psy ops to convince us that these attacks on our freedom are for our own good. In effect, the US government is a government of occupation.
Urgent Note: Support Freedom not Fear Day, a worldwide protest againts surveillance in the name of "antiterrorism".
and, for the US
US citizens: see if your neighbors have tried to register to vote but were rejected on a technicality, and tell them about this web site.
Bush threatened to impose martial law the US unless Congress passed
the bailout bill, and has a special army unit trained for "crowd
control" with which to attack Americans for protesting.
1/4 of the world's species of mammals face extinction.
Using total surveillance plus data mining to find terrorists doesn't even work, according to the National Research Council.
The most efficient way to find terrorists in the US is to check people
with connections to the White House, the CIA, and the State
Department. Those state-sponsored terrorists are not the only ones
they are likely to kill more people than the ones without ties to the
state.
An European Parliament committee has voted for strict limits on CO2 emission, which would prohibit new dirty coal-burning plants.
The European Parliament does not make the final decisions on EU directives, however.
Iraq refugees (mostly Sunni) are being forced to go home where they may be killed by Shi'ites.
Uri Avnery: Olmert's recognition of the need for a fair split with the Palestinians is important even though it comes when he can no longer do anything to implement it.
U.S. to Fund Pro-American Publicity in Iraqi Media.
$100k reward for evidence tying Karl Rove and Michael Connell to computerized election fraud.
Bush made no plan to capture Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan —
because he was already husbanding forces for the war he really wanted, in Iraq.
Massachusetts DAs claim that tobacco is safer than marijuana, along with other lies, to try and defeat the decriminalization.
Green Party: how congressment's support for the bailout was bought.
Robert Kennedy Jr. explains how Republicans, using the HAVA law, plan to stop millions of Americans from voting.
The Anthrax Case Reopens: Why Did the FBI Let the Fort Detrick Scientists Investigate Themselves.
Bush created panic to get his financial bailout through Congress.
This reminds me of how the anthrax attacks were used to pass the U SAP
AT RIOT act.
Some MPs are pressing the UK to set a target of 80% cuts in CO2 emissions
by 2050.
But that is 40 years from now. To achieve such cuts, they need to
start soon — and they need a specific, practical plan.
US citizens: call on your candates to
support the Simultaneous Policy.
Police kept a union delegation prisoner in a train at the Mall of
America, blocking it from accompanying a rehired worker back to
Starbucks.
Nader:
Who Will Show Some Backbone Against the Bailout?
South Africa's new health minister will try to provide real treatment for people infected with HIV. This is a benefit of getting rid of President Mbeki.
Now the only obstacle South Africa faces in dealing with AIDS is the
patent system imposed on it by US pressure.
Dean Baker: The bailout round II: Adult Version?
Republicans are using fake polls to spread lies about Obama.
I do not support Obama, because his positions are too close to the
Republicans. But if we cannot put an end to this sort of systematic
lying, it threatens what little is left of our democracy.
A clear example of
why fair use needs to be extended.
Skype software in China is built for censorship and surveillance.
The Skype software used in the rest of the world does not participate
in this particular surveillance system. Since it is proprietary
software, we can't check whether it does some other kind of
surveillance. And if it doesn't do surveillance today, the developers
could install it tomorrow.
This illustrates the general principle that proprietary software
is a threat to your freedom.
UK citizens: tell your MP you are against 42-day imprisonment on suspicion.
Binyam Mohamed, a prisoner in Guantanamo, has no chance of a fair trial
in the US kangaroo court.
The government of Queensland, a state in Australia,
is funding a campaign to denigrate renewable energy and promote burning coal.
Whether the government of Queensland has been bought, or whether it is
thinking in narrow terms of boosting business in Queensland, is hardly
important. The world cannot afford politicians who do either of these
things.
For two weeks: US citizens: sign this petition to reregulate financial institutions, help people with mortgages, invest in energy convservation, and provide universal health care.
For two weeks: US citizens: sign this petition for Congress to put a bailout deal online for 72 hours before voting on it.
The most important thing about Sarah Palin is what her reception says about Americans.
The RNC8 face "terrorism conspiracy" charges for organizing nonviolent protests against the Republican Convention.
A Republican IT consultant has been subpoenaed in a case about stealing the Ohio election in 2004.
McCain and Obama both voted for Senator Leahy's "PRO-IP" bill, which calls for seizing people's computers for sharing.
Don't vote for them!
(The use of the term
"intellectual property" is a sign that someone is either confused
or trying to confuse you. In this case, it's the latter.)
How the US funded and arranged the invasion that overthrew President Aristide in Haiti.
Israeli colonies in occupied Palestine dump their sewage into Palestinian water supplies.
Right-wing thugs in Israel offered a huge reward for killing any
member of Peace Now.
Mugabe has shredded the agreement with the Zimbabwe opposition by claiming he will appoint all the ministers himself.
The UK's Met Office says that only significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, starting very soon,
can save the world from a catastrophe.
We have got this close to the edge as a result of politicians that
sell out to business and put economic growth above everything else.
Here's more information about these climate projections.
Sarah Palin doesn't agree with this — she cited several climate
change deniers (including those funded by oil companies) for a lawsuit
trying to block the designation of polar bears as a threatened species.
Freedom of the press is deeply endangered by pressure not to offend religion.
The bailout for the banks is the culmination of an old, corrupt US
tradition of subsidizing the rich and the businesses.
When most of the UK's public housing was sold off to its tenants at a
discount, the short-term result was increased investment and public
satisfaction. 30 years later, many of these houses have been sold to
slumlords, rents are too high, and there's a big shortage of public housing.
The US will appoint a special prosecutor to probe the firing of federal prosecutors that
would not launch bogus prosecutions for political reasons.
Olmert, now caretaker PM of Israel, says Israel will have to
withdraw from all the conquered territories (or make small swaps) in order
to have peace.
The bailout deal that Congress rejected was a bad one; it did not
protect homeowners and did too little to limit executive pay.
However, many Republicans voted against it because they want a give-away and more of the same deregulation that caused the crisis.
The Tories pulled the rug from under Clown's green pretensions, by promising to build high-speed train line instead of extending
Heathrow airport.
Through October 11 - In the UK: take photos of Big Brother surveillance for a photo protest.
A Bush regime contractor, being suid for torture in Iraq, claims that it is immune from all lawsuits in Bush's law-free zone.
25 criticisms of Bush's bailout plan.
Fascist thugs in Israel are becoming more aggresively violent as the police and courts wink at them. Recently, they planted a bomb for an Israeli professor who studies the growth of fascism.
Ahmed Agiza, seized by CIA agents and taken to Egypt for torture and emprisonment, has been awarded compensation by the Swedish government which illegally allowed him to be taken.
Unfortunately, that won't get him out of the Egyptian prison.
USAID refuses to say which groups it is funding in Bolivia, leading to suspicions that itt is funding right-wing rebels
A Peace Corps volunteer comments on being ordered by Bush to stop helping people in Bolivia.
The Sarbanes-Oxley protection for corporate whistleblowers is ineffective. The whistleblowers lose 98% of the time.
From the film "Condor: The First War on Terror", I learned something
new about Pinochet's murderous dictatorship which was established by
the 9/11 attacks in Chile. Namely, that the dictatorial governments
that ruled most of South America at the time all cooperated to
capture, torture, and kill dissidents — and that they justified
this as a way to stamp out "terrorists".
One of the organizers of this collaboration appears in the film
defending his work by saying they only did the same thing that
Bush is doing now in the "war on terror".
A former head of the UK's security service
condemned the Blair/Clown plan for 6-wek detention without trial, and also condemned ID cards.
The problem of piracy is getting worse.
Berlusconi and the people that work for him are becoming increasingly open in their support of facism.
An important McCain staffer was paid by the company Freddie Mac until a month ago.
The UK is secretly trying to sabotage EU renewable fuels targets
The Clown regime talks about conservation, but its goal is to do
as little as possible.
Michigan Republicans plan to forclose African-American voters.
Danes face jail for 'terrorism' T-shirts.
It makes sense to prohibit giving support to terrorist organizations
as long as this is done even-handedly. The most dangerous terrorists
in Colombia are the paramilitares, supported by the Colombian
government. The most dangerous terrorists in Palestine are the
Israeli troops and settlers. When Denmark punishes those that do
business with the Colombian government and the Israeli government,
this law will be just.
Olmert told diplomats that Bush denied him permssion, last May, to bomb Iran.
An U.S. military interrogation expert saw, and stopped, actos of torture in Iraq in 2003.
The people committing the torture (let's not help Bush with euphemisms like "harsh techniques") claimed that higher-ups authorized it.
Indeed, Bush regime cabinet members participated in the discussions about torturing prisoners as early as 2002.
How Republican laws created the economic crisis.
10 ways to Bail Out Wall Street (and Main Street) without soaking taxpayers in debt.
Kucinich's Main Street Recovery Plan.
Another federal court ruled that file sharing does not violate copyright law.
I am concerned that Leahy's nasty law could change this.
Global warming is making tons of methane bubble up from the arctic sea floor.
It could already be too late to avoid global disaster
Psychiatrists still participate in U.S. interrogations (i.e., assist in torture), despite the ban instituted by their association in 2006.
The U.S. Congress has again shamefully supported the continuing occupation of Iraq.
Dennis Kucinich: Protecting the public interest in any economic 'bailout'.
A Wall-street bailout must change the incentive structure or it will lead to more of the same speculation.
The FBI is investigating fraud charges against several of the failed banks and financial companies.
Iraq Veterans Against the War continues to condemn all of the politicians that vote to continue occupation of Iraq; whether Republican or Democrat.
Palin poses for photographs but refuses to talk to the press.
McCain and Palin persistently repeat lies that already have been refuted.
They are following the example of Bush.
The deal to end North Korea's nuclear program has broken down, or at least North Korea is threatening to cancel it.
If the list of terrorism-supporting states were honest, it would be
absurd to remove any country from that list as part of a deal about
something else. A country would be de-listed when, and only when, it
stopped supporting terrorism.
But the US-maintained list is a joke, since it doesn't include
Colombia (whose army and president support the murderous thugs known
as the paramilitaries), or Pakistan (whose intelligence service
started Al Qa'ida and apparently maintains close ties with the
Taliban), or the US itself. This list is merely an excuse to bash
countries arbitrarily while hiding the arbitrariness. It should be
abolished.
(Pakistan's army)
Electric generation from ocean waves is now in service. But how much will it be implemented?
It depends on whether governments dare to resist the fossil fuel
companies that have corrupted them.It depends on whether governments dare to resist the fossil fuel
companies that have corrupted them.
How Congress can make more time to plan the details of financial bailouts.
An Iraqi official says that
13 billion dollars of reconstruction money was stolen through elaborate
fraud schemes. Investigators who tried to probe them were murdered.
The American Psychological Association has voted a resolution that appears to
forbid its members to give the US government advice on torture in prisons such
as Guantanamo.
But a deliberate loophole in the APA's ethics code
strips that resolution of practical consequences.
The Bushmen's bailout plans
defend rich gamblers by crushing homeowners.
Systematic corruption in Wall Street companies leads them to steer the
public to foolish and dangerous investments. Proper government would have to
forbid these corrupt practices.
Companies want to extend Big Brother tracking of all car travel to the U.S.
Report: Voting problems in several swing states.
Greg Palast has been saying for years that the Republicans will try to steal this election by any possible means. Problems like these offer easy opportunities
As the UK hold an inquest into the police shooting of de Menezes, his relatives protest that no policemen were charged with his killing.
McCain and Palin are trying to shut down the investigation into corruption charges against Palin, at least until after the election.
Staff at the European Patent Office went on strike accusing the organization of corruption: specifically, stretching the standards for patents in order to make more money.
One of the ways that the EPO has done this is by issuing software patents in defiance of the treaty that set it up.
The Burmese military rulers released a handful of political prisoners (out of more than 2000), hoping to undermine pressure for international sanctions.
The next ships to break siege of Gaza will carry surgeons as well as food.
Iraqi detainees languish in clogged justice system.
Since Bush launched the "Annapolis peace process" — which was
only for show anyway — Israel has drastically increased construction of its "settlements" in Palestinian territory.
The Israeli government systematically aids the settlers by denying Palesinians access to their own land.
The Palestinian village of Ni`ilin faces more than the loss of much of
its land: Israel plans to wall it off. So it has persistently opposed the bulldozers with unarmed protest, standing up to violent attacks that go as far as murder.
For 15 years, Israel has been officially in favor of peace
with a Palestinian state, but has insisted that the Palestinians
make all the concessions, thus ensuring there is no deal.
Now Palestinians are on the verge of giving up on the idea.
Everyone: sign this petition asking PBS to ask McCain and Obama what they propose to do regarding illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine.
Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian president, says there is still a chance for peace between Israel and Palestine — if Israel lets Palestinians have a real state in the whole West Bank.
A Chinese milk company concealed its knowledge of melamine poisoning in milk for the sake of having nice, cheerful Olympic games.
That is a perfect illustration of the culture of false front and coverup which pervades the Chinese government and Chinese business.
US citizen: phone your congresscritter and say, "Hold Karl Rove in Contempt of Congress and make him testify."
You can also send a message through this page but a phone call counts a lot more than a message.
The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641 and
888-355-3588.
The RIAA is using a fraudulent accusation to threaten the main lawyer
that defends the RIAA's victims.
The US government and many others are displaying contempt for their
citizens by negotiating the so-called
"anti-counterfeiting" treaty in secret. 100 opposition groups
signed a demand to see the text, which so far only certain favored
businesses have been allowed to look at.
US citizens: send your congresscritter this
message not to give the auto industry a bailout without tightening
fuel economy standards.
The fact that only a big handout to business makes it possible to
defend the world from global warming illustrates the weakness of
democracy. That weakness was created by right-wing polititians
through their Free Exploitation Treaties. And they haven't stopped!
ACTA is supposed to be the next one.
So you might also say to your congresscritter that we should not have
to wait till companies need a bailout before we refuse to let them
run away with the public interest.
The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641 and
888-355-3588.
Paul Krugman: The current financial crisis results from allowing
new forms of unregulated lending to replace the old, regulated
banks.
The regulations on bank lending were put in place by President
Franklin D. Roosevelt, after a previous wave of speculation caused the
Great Depression.
The Great Depression was caused by overheated speculation which
encouraged people to make risky investments. But the right-wing
government of the 1920s played a role by refusing to do anything to
prevent the problem. Herbert Hoover did nothing to end the
depression; instead he proclaimed his faith in the Invisible Hand.
The Invisible Hand did not see fit to do anything.
In 1929, the speculation took the form of buying stocks with too much
leverage. Suppose you borrow 90% of the money to buy some stocks,
contributing only 10% of the purchase price yourself. If the stock
goes up 11%, you can sell it, repay the loan, and end up with twice
the money you put in. But If the stock goes down 11%, you don't get
out enough to repay the loan. You'll have to sell something else.
These extra-risky bets start to look good when the market has been
rising so long that people forget it can go down. So any downturn
will ruin som people, making them sell assets, making more prices go
down, etc. That can be a chain reaction.
This time it the problem arose specifically from subprime mortgages,
which were set up to charge low interest as long as the homeowner
walks the straight and narrow and the lender doesn't get in a bad
mood. One difference is that the lenders preyed on people who were
not wealthy enough to invest in stocks. We could tell stock owners,
"Tough, you should have known better." But these borrowers were
exploited. They deserve to be protected from foreclosure, in a way
that stock investors don't.
The worshipers of the Invisible Hand generally claim that their god
will do what is good for the public. but, when pressed, they reveal
that this is a tautology, because they define "good" as "whatever the
Invisible Hand does".
U.S. citizens: call your congresscritter and say, "don't give a
bailout to big companies without protecting the taxpayers and the
homeowners and making those who have gained from dangerous speculation
pay!"
The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641 and
888-355-3588.
Also sign this petition
Although Mbeki resigned for politically arranging to prosecute of
Jacob Zuma, that
doesn't necessarily mean Zuma was innocent. He may be prosecuted
anyway.
A historical
summary of Thabo Mbeki's presidency.
I think it is partly mistaken, though. The only foreigners he
impressed were neoliberals.
Bernie Sanders: If a
company is too big to [be allowed to] fail, it is too big to [be
allowed to] exist.
Bear Stearns, Lehman Bros, and Merrill Lynch are among 5 companies to
which
Bush gave special exceptions from SEC regulations in 2004.
These exceptions from sensible precautions allowed them to get too
greedy and drive themselves bankrupt.
Mike Tabor is suing the city of Portland after policeman stopped him from using his video camera to witness an arrest.
Thabo Mbeki will step down as president of South Africa after a court condemned him for making false charges against Jacob Zuma, his political rival.
Mbeki opposed state-funded medical treatment for poor people with AIDS, because his property is to give the best possible economic treatment to profitable foreign business
What Haitian-Americans are
asking of the next U.S. president.
Paying singers to mention products is an organized industry. Ad agencies spam companies that seem to be possible clients.
Chalabi: U.S. wants secret bases in Iraq.
JK Rowling gave the UK labor party a million dollars. I fear that one
of the things she asked for in return is increased copyright power
over citizens that share.
Bush and his creature in Iraq, al-Maliki, still have not agreed on a treaty to authorize the Bush forces to remain past the end of the year. Bush demands immunity for the Bush forces, and Iraq (after they have murdered so many Iraqis) refuses.
The Colombian army and police threatened striking sugar cane workers.
The big use of private mercenaries instead of officially recognized soldiers is spreading from Iraq to Afghanistan.
The EFF has sued the NSA and Bush over the illegal surveillance.
Maybe it will argue that the law passed to authorize this surveillance by our cowardly Congress was unconstitutional
The Bush regime promised Pakistan it would not unilaterally attack
— then broke the promise a few hours later.
For businesses, labeling their activities as "carbon-neutral"
is a fad; but the claims are often bogus, or impossible to check.
The US and EU have lost a lot of power in the UN.
This shows up not only in the response to their power grabs
but also in the failure of human rights initiatives.
This is the US' fault. It is hard for the US to exert influence for
human rights when it tramples them around the world.
Roanoke VA has just one company to get health care from.
When the local newspaper wrote about how it exploits this monopoly,
the company got the reporter taken off the issue by cutting its advertising.
This must happen all the time, and mostly go unnoticed.
To prevent further financial disasters, we must reverse the policies of deregulation that set the state for this disaster.
In a multinational poll, less than half the respondents believed that Al Qa'ida was responsible for the US 9/11 attacks.
There are grounds for skepticism about plenty of the official story.
I don't believe the "missiles, not planes" theories, since I
understand that many witnesses did see the planes. I have no basis to
believe the claims that the planes were flown by remote control (set
by the Bush regime) rather than by hijackers, although I won't say it
is flat-out impossible.
But I have doubts about who the hijackers really were. It was always
suspicious that the Bush regime claimed to be sure, so soon after, who
they were. The leaked private message from Osama bin Laden, which
denied involvement, creates more reason to doubt. (The published "bin
Laden" tapes have been suspect all along.)
10 years of statements by Osama bin Laden, translated by the CIA and
then leaked, include a message he sent to the US government saying he
had nothing to do with the US 9/11 attacks.
I have no particular reason to assume bin Laden would not lie. On the
other hand, I have no reason to assume he did lie, whereas I know the
Bush regime can never be trusted. I won't treat this as proof that
bin Laden was not involved, but it creates a real doubt. Until there
is an honest investigation of those attacks, we do not know who
organized them.
If you live in Washington DC, don't use
"Smart bikes"! They are Big Brother's eyes. The system records
where a user gets the bike, and records where she returns it.
It's possible they track the bike RFIDs along the way, too. The
system in Paris is repored to do so.
When they say they do not distribute this information, they are being
disingenuous. Under the U SAP AT RIOT act, the FBI can get this information
without even a search warrant.
McCain and Palin have gone to unprecedented level of brazen lying.
The major media are
starting to report McCain's and Palin's lies.
But their respose may not be adequate to the brazenness.
Debunked: Ten
Conservative Myths About National Security.
The UK is expanding its network of cameras to record
everywhere cars go.
The opposition disappoints me. It is a mistake to quibble about how
long the data is kept. This system must be abolished!
Bush put a bioweapons
lab in Galveston, Texas, where it is sure to be destroyed by a
hurricane sooner or later.
When a garment worker in Los Angeles makes a dress that retails for
$100, the worker gets $1.72. This is according to Sweatshop Warriors,
by Miriam Ching Yoon Louie.
Next time someone claims that we can have faith in the invisible hand
to pay people according to the value of what they produce, we can suggest
he investigate why the invisible hand thinks the dress is worth so much
to the person who wears it, and so little to the person who makes it.
Aung San Su Kyi rejected food supplies from Burma's military rulers for a month in order to gain the right to receive magazines and letters from her sons.
The Burmese military rulers remain in power due to support by China.
Pakistan's army has been ordered: if US forces enter unauthorized, shoot at them!
An opposition gang shot marching supporters of Bolivian President
Morales with machine guns, leading Morales to declare a state of
emergency in that region. The opposition appears to have the support
of the US ambassador, so Morales expelled him. Perhaps he should
close the US embassy.
Both McCain and Obama condemned Morales, effectively supporting the
terrorist opposition.
It makes me very sad that Brazil is partly doing the same thing.
When Lula calls for negotiation with separatist gangsters who are escalating step by step to see how far they can get, it is tantamount to encouraging them. Unless Brazil says it will support Bolivia's government against a rebellion engineered by rich people and their hirelings, it will encourage such a rebellion.
A partial explanation for the US housing lending crisis in terms of Chinese wanting to invest.
Pakistani troops fired at, and drove off, US helicopters that were
heading to attack Taliban supporters (and civilian bystanders) in
Pakistan.
Unilateral US intervention in Pakistan was absurd when Obama
suggested it, and it's absurd when Bush does it.
Sarah Palin's career in Alaska politics has been a matter of supporting her cronies and trying to suppress critics.
After outbreaks of cholera in Iraq, the Iraqi government's response
was to block journalists from talking with the victims.
The Popov family came to France and asked for asylum, but the French
goverment is determined to deport them back to Kazakhstan where they will certainly be killed.
French President Sarcoma won election by promising to be harsh to
immigrants, because supposedly there were too many. It is typical of such regimes that they don't limit their cruelty to illegal immigrants or those who seek asylum falsely. They attack whoever they can get their hands on.
Dalits made homeless and destitute after the floods in Bihar face attempts to exclude them from emergency aid too.
A new general surveillance and dossier system in France has provoked
sustained opposition.
Gush Shalom asks for support so that more
boats can bring food to Gaza.
London subways and buses use an RFID-based payment card which seems to
have been designed
for tracking.
If you use Oyster cards, keep them in aluminum foil when you
are not using them to pay. That way, no one else can read them.
Don't register them, and swap them frequently.
As for broken cards, I suggest giving them up for lost. If you
refrain from storing a lot of money into the card, a broken card once
every couple of years will be insignificant as a loss.
A house in Texas burned down because the fire
hydrants were turned off to "prevent terrorism".
This absurd precaution is merely stupid (and perhaps partly corrupt),
but other things done to "prevent terrorism" are much more sinister.
The Republican Party wants to prevent
people from voting if they have lost their homes recently.
Do they think these people might be dissatisfied with the Bush regime?
The US is starting to admit substantial numbers of Iraqi refugees.
"Tens of thousands" may amount to 1% of the millions rendered homeless
by Bush's invasion.
Some Christian farmers say RFIDs in cattle are "the mark of the beast".
I don't agree with their religion, and I don't believe cattle have a
right to privacy. But humans do, and RFIDs are a grave threat to it.
If opposition by Christians helps block plans to put RFIDs in products
for sale, I will be glad of their support.
The RCMP tightened its policy for using tasers, because the old policy caused unnecessary deaths.
A Quebec man changed
his name to escape from the US terrorist suspect list.
The US treats everyone as a terrorist suspect, but some people more
than others.
The IRS offers tax
loopholes for booming pay for executives, including stock options.
The stock options encourage CEOs to take actions that boost the stock
price temporarily, while undermining the company.
Mugabe has agreed to a deal handing
over most of his power to Tsvangirai, who won Zimbabwe's
elections.
It sounds to me as if this deal could
be sabotaged by Mugabe through later reinterpretation.
Bush secretly ordered US troops to enter
Pakistan and attack Taliban supporters there.
Despicable as the Taliban are, unauthorized intervention in Pakistan
is the stupidest possible response.
Kucinich has called for a Truth
and Reconciliation Commission to investigate how Bush launched the
Iraq War.
Companies use "voluntary
codes" to avoid regulation, but this is an inferior substitute.
Sarah Palin was a vocal supporter of the infamous "Bridge
to Nowhere" until the project started to become embarrassing.
Police and FBI staged a violent raid on the office of several community support
groups in Berkeley California. The supposed reason could not explain this even if it were true.
Pakistan's president and its chief general have both condemned US attacks on Pakistan's territory.
2500 Iraqis live under the stands in Kirkuk's soccer stadium.
Police in St Paul attacked and arrested protestors before the protests
started, and continued doing so after. Here is the summary of how they shredded the US Constitution.
Greenpeace activists were acquitted of charges of "property damage" after they painted a statement of protest on a coal-burning power plant.
Note the subtle dishonesty in the description of painting of a word on
the chimney as "property damage". That makes it sound like sabotage,
which it wasn't.
The Church of Scientology has used the DMCA
to get criticism deleted. It has a history of strained copyright
claims.
Using copyright for censorship is not a new thing. Copyright in
England originated as a system of censorship.
US citizens: phone yor congresscritter and senators in support of the
Clean
Water Restoration Act.
Bush and the Iraqi government hold dearly to one of Saddam Hussein's laws:
the one that prohibited unions for most Iraqi workers.
US residents: canvas on Sep 20 to pull the Bush forces out of Iraq.
"Free trade" keeps poor countries poor, while protectionism can lead
to development. No wonder the the European Union is trying
to force the poor countries of the world into a "free trade"
treaty that will keep them subjugated and poor.
Republicans in Virginia told lies to scare
college students out of voting.
This reflects the Republican party ethic that any means of winning is
ok. Republicans more frequently try to scare Blacks away from voting,
and that gets less coverage.
Maqbool Fida Husain, a prominent Indian artist, lives in exile because of lawsuits from Hindus that consider his work "obscene".
A similar form of persecution in the name of Christianity is occurring in England.
NATO troops in Afghanistan have changed rules for air attacks to try to reduce civilian casualties. But I think this does not include the US troops.
A plane caught carrying drugs thru Mexico had visited Guantanamo Bay, and is being investigated by the EU on suspicion of use in US torture kidnapings.
The US troops in Afghanistan are killing more and more civilians due to increased use of air attacks.
To solve this problem, they would first have to admit it,
but the dishonest Bush regime would rather deny a mistake.
The Iraqi government is making oil deals with companies from various
countries.
This seems to mean that Bush and Cheney have lost their bid to get
control of Iraq's oil. I hope so. But Iraq as a nation has lost
also, in that its oil revenue will go to foreigners (regardless
of what country they are from).
Extreme surveillance in the UK is part of a general practice of increased
government interference in every aspect of life. Citizens must contend
with both petty and major tyrants.
The interference is haphazard and unpredictable: one town will
threaten people for putting up posters about a lost cat; other towns
commit different outrages. But codifying these intrusions would not
make them acceptable.
Georgia is the graveyard of America's unipolar world -- and that's a good
thing.
The cold war put pressure on the US and the USSR to compete to present the
world with a more appealing model, and respect for human rights was one aspect
of the competition. Maybe such pressure will help us restore human rights in
the US.
McCain and Palin attacked Obama
for supporting the US constitution and working as a community organizer.
The mainstream media treated this as valid.
I guess the press is being manipulated — either through its business
owners or through understanding of its herd instinct.
Obama on Iraq and Iran does not sound very different from Bush.
Since the Iraqi government has developed enough gumption to say no to Bush, it
seems clear that most of the Bush forces will be removed by 2010 in any case.
That is good, but it also moves Obama effectively further closer to Bush.
Still not a hint of ethical criticism of the conquest and destruction of Iraq.
Palin said that the Iraq war is "a task from god".
Supporters of the UK cracker McKinnon protest that he will be extradited
to the US and not get a fair trial there.
The US-UK extradition treaty is an obvious injustice: it doesn't even treat
the two countries equally.
This article explains other more subtle injustices in the treaty.
Everyone:
join the protests against surveillance on Oct 11.
Fighting to publish state laws, as states try to use copyright to impede
access to them.
Bush fired US attorneys who would not launch actions for partisan political
reasons.
Sarah Palin fired commissioner Monegan because he would not act to support
Palin's personal grievanes.
Supporters of the Chinese domination of Tibet like to defend it on the grounds
that China liberated the Tibetans from a feudal theocracy. That's true;
here in brief is what that feudal theocracy was like.
As the article also mentions, ending theocracy and serfdom does not justify
China's new forms of oppression and colonization, and respecting Tibetans'
autonomy and human rights does not imply restoring theocracy or serfdom there.
While Obama calls Bush's troop increase a success,
Bob Woodward says it was a minor secondary reason for the reduction in the
level of violence in Iraq.
The US Army is heading for
a record suicide rate.
War is hell, always, but it's not always equally bad. If soldiers see that
the cause they are fighting for is unjust, and that the rules of ethics that
they have been taught are supposed to be ignored, they feel worse.
Pakistan reinstated some of the supreme court judges that Musharraf fired, but
omitted the heroic chief justice.
Can anyone tell me why he was left out?
Attiqullah's bride and around 45 of his relatives were killed ago when the
US bombed his wedding party. The US says only that it is "investigating".
In two months of "investigating" it has not recognized who the bombs killed.
The UK will publish the instructions given by B'liar and his cabinet for
changes in the "dodgy dossier" in which intelligence reports were distorted to
create an apparent excuse for conquering Iraq.
Obama gave an interview on Faux News and used it
to show how right-wing he is.
The "war on terror" is a dishonest and confused concept whose main purpose is
convincing Americans and others to cede their freedom without a fight. The
US government opposes some terrorism, and supports some terrorism —
including, at present, terrorism against Iran. Obama's use of the term should
remind us he is not really a defender of human rights in the US.
Did Bush's troop increase in Iraq "work"? That depends on what goal we judge
it against.
It may have been partly responsible for the reduction in intercommunal
violence. But the main cause of that change is probably that the ethnic
cleansing campaigns between the Sunni and Shi'ites were completed, so there
was no one left to chase into exile.
Did it make Iraq stable? No, because a more conventional civil war between
Shi'ites and Sunnis is now pending. Bush made peace with parts of the Sunni
resistance, by pointing out that al Qa'ida's violence against Shi'ites only
brought retaliation, and then offering money. The result is that these
regions have some peace and some autonomy. The Shi'ites of SCIRI, who
dominate the Iraqi Army, plan to fight them next year.
Two other Bush aims, to station troops in Iraq permanently and to control
Iraq's oil,
seem also to have been thwarted.
Perhaps this is the only good thing one can say about Bush's crime in Iraq:
that it failed to bring him and his cronies the gains they sought.
The Republican Party
is the hate party.
Anchovies have been overfished, and are now endangered in Europe.
US troops raided a village in Pakistan without the approval of the Pakistani government, and reportedly killed children.
Some Pakistanis called for responding to this act of war with a warlike response.
Everyone: tell CNN and MSNBC you want them to cover the fact that police arrested journalists at the RNC.
If you'd like to find out how to phone the offices of the presidents of these networks, please tell me and I will post the phone numbers. Ten phone calls will have far more impact than ten names on a petition.
The World Bank is financing big CO2 emissions.
A sheriff in South Carolina bought a 50-caliber machine gun and threatens to shoot the public with it. This weapon cannot even be aimed carefully.
Israeli soldiers who shot a harmless Palestian and critically wounded him were acquitted by a military investigation.
It is standard practice for most parts of the the Israeli government to wink at any atrocity committed by Israelis against Palestinians. For instance, "settlers" stealing Palestinians' land can be violent with impunity.
The Israeli navy shot Palestinian fishing boats.
Bush's "peace process" for Israel and Palestine has made no progress since 2001.
What this article does not explicitly say is that the talks were doomed because the Bush regime has not dared to demand that Israel make any concessions.
California voters: support proposition 2 for humane treatment of some farm animals.
Police attacking protestors at the Republican Convention arrested Amy
Goodman as well as two other Democracy Now journalists, injuring them
as well. These journalists now face bogus criminal charges.
Al Maliki has shown surprising firmness in resisting the Bush pressure for permanent stationing of the Bush forces in Iraq. This article proposes an explanation of why.
The fact that the UN mandate Bush obtained had a termination date is also crucial. I doubt that Russia would approve an extension now.
Sarah Palin would be even worse than McCain, if that is possible.
9% of the UK's prison population is made up of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan. It seems that war is dangerous even for those that survive it.
The Bush regime won a court victory: it has the right to forbid companies from testing cattle carcasses for mad cow disease.
The housing bubble, and the crisis of its bursting, was visible years in advance. The Federal Reserve didn't look.
Chalabi Aide Arrested on Suspicion of Baghdad Bombings.
Police in the Minneapolis area are breaking into houses without warrants, and arresting potential protestors, their lawyers, and journalists. They hardly bother to try to make it seem lawful.
Here's testimony from one witness. The police sealed the building after raiding it. They claimed to have a warrant, but refused to show
it, which suggests they were lying.
The End of America, by Naomi Wolf, warned that the US had gone nearly
all the way towards a police state, and that the full-blown tyranny
only becomes unmistakably visible at the last stage. That last stage
may be now.
It might not be too late to defeat this monster, if the mass media
were to make a scandal. Obama could make this happen if he decides to
try. But I expect that they won't. The mass media are certainly part
of the monster, and Obama probably is too.
Neo-Nazis and white surpremacists are joining the US Army, which understandably has had trouble meeting recruitment quotas in recent years. Investigations against them get mysteriously cancelled.
Once trained in how to carry out overt state-sponsored terrorism, they
may subsequently use their training for covert state-sponsored
terrorism — or non-state-sponsored terrorism.
A militia of crazed Christian theocrats might welcome them too.
Three years later, New Orleans remains devastated, its population halved.
Rebuilding New Orleans in the same place would be foolish —
inviting a repeat disaster. But Bush has been equally unhelpful to
rebuilding in a new site.
Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network is campaigning for Brazil
to withdraw its troops from the US-organized occupation of Haiti.
Was Facebook built by the CIA? Links of personnel suggest that it was.
We don't need proof of any specific conspiracy to recognize that peer pressure can lead kids into many sorts of foolish behavior.
It's a mistake to post anything on Facebook unless you want to publish it.
Putin accused Bush and Cheney of having Georgia start a war to manipulate the US election.
I would not put it past them. Saakashvili surely supplied the main
enthusiasm for the attack, but it is an interesting question
whether he needed to get permission from the US before he could launch
it.
Mexico City's policy of offering abortion services at no charge
has won a court challenge.
Bush forces soldiers confessed
to murdering handcuffed prisoners. No charges have been filed
against them.
Philip Morris knew that cigarette smoke contains radioactive polonium
210, but decided not to tell the public.
It is common for the effect of a radioactive or poisonous substance to
depend on how it is ingested. For instance, a given dose of polonium
210 might be much more dangerous when breathed in than when swallowed,
or vice versa. The article does not say, but I doubt it causes lung
cancer when swallowed. If someone sends me the answer I will post it
here.
More proof that Bush
corrupted the CIA: its Oct 2002 "intelligence briefing summary"
for Congress about Iraq was drafted months before the analysis it
supposedly reported on.
Israel let humantarian
relief ships dock in Gaza, avoiding confrontation for the moment.
The ships brought children's hearing aids as well as food.
Israel can avoid this confrontation forever, if it lets relief ships
continue sailing in and out of Gaza. But that seems unlikely.
The Bush regime wants
to withhold crucial evidence from Binyam Mohamed's defense on the
grounds that it would harm the "US-UK intelligence-sharing
relationship".
Exposing these crimes might very well interfere with future
collaboration on torture. That, of course, is why they should be
published — not merely provided in secret to the defense
lawyers.
What the Bush regime says is, in effect, "Don't let anyone know about
our crimes, because we deserve not to suffer the consequences of
them!" Any other criminal saying this would meet with derision. If
the US is to claim to have rule of law, courts must give the Bushmen
the same derision.
But that is not likely, given that this is a "military tribunal" which
does not meet the usual criteria for a fair trial.
Articles in newspapers that appear to talk about a topic may have been
written to promote a
product or company.
The National Cancer Institute presents evidence that cigarette ads and
smoking in movies are important factors in
encouraging children to start smoking.
Perhaps movies should be rated "parental discretion advised" if they
depict smoking.
US agents picked up hundreds
of immigrants, even legal ones, to deport because of minor crimes.
They say this roundup is aimed at gang members, but that appears to be
a lie.
The Afghan government demanded that the US
stop bombing civilian homes. The US response is to deny that this
demand was made, just as it denies killing civilians.
Israeli concientious objectors are going to prison
rather than serve in the army of occupation.
Israeli settlers try to drive the Abu Kabaita family off its land by
killing or
stealing their sheep. The Israeli police support this campaign of
harassment by refusing to accept complaints from the family.
In Hebron, Israeli settlers attack Arabs
and their homes, and also attack the international monitors who
were placed there to discourage such attacks.
Thousands of children died in the Sichuan earthquake because their
schools were not properly built. China has used lies, travel bans, and
arrests to prevent them from being seen.
It makes me think of the way the Bush regime treats the 9/11 relatives
who want a real investigation of what happened on that day. In the US
and in China, the political system is rotten through and through.
The TSA is on guard against the Bra
Bomber.
AT&T has effectively
bought the Democratic Party by becoming the main "sponsor" of the
convention.
I think it is unconscionable for a political party to accept such
sponsorship.
US citizens: phone our congesscritter and senators to oppose
Bush's plan to negate the Endangered Species Act.
The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641 and
888-355-3588.
AT&T has effectively bought the Democratic Party by becoming the main
"sponsor" of the convention.
I think it is unconscionable for a political party to accept such sponsorship.
Mexicans are injecting themselves with RFIDs in a futile attempt
to prevent kidnaping.
This is laughable, but the danger of it is real. If a practice
becomes widespread even for stupid reasons, that makes it easier for
society to make everyone do it.
Birds are shifting north under pressure from global warming, but
not as fast as temperatures are shifting north.
Earth can flip very fast from one climate regime to another.
Senator Biden proposed a solution to the Iraq problem somewhat like mine.
In today's Iraq, the three ethnic/religious groups no longer live together;
the reason the violence has mosty ended is that each ethnically cleansed
certain territory. This resembles to a certain extent the solution that I and
later Biden proposed.
But my proposal included another element: to give each group a friendly
supporting army committed to reinforcing it in defense but not helping it
attack others. Currently the Shi'ites have the "Iraqi" army, and the Sunnis
have none. Thus they are afraid of a third stage of the war in which they
will be crushed.
Bush and Maliki are still unable to reach an agreement to keep the Bush
forces in Iraq past the end of this year. Maliki wants a deadline and won't
give them total immunity from prosecution.
If Iraqi democracy succeeds in checking Bush, that will mean it is real to
some extent after all.
The Secret
Deal For Iraq's Oil.
Here are EPIC's
comments on TSA's "Secure Flight" program, which aims to make
airlines report all air travel to a central site which will check the
list of a million terrorist suspects, rather than checking it
themselves.
Bruce Schneier points out that the system will be error-prone and
ineffective, as well as nasty and unjust.
Even though identifying all travellers has limited value for
preventing non-state-sponsored terrorism, it is really handy for
general control of the populace and suppression of dissent.
The Bush forces bought
the support of many Sunni resistance groups. Now the Shi'ite
Iraqi government wants to arrest them.
Now that these two religious groups have come to hate and kill each
other, they will either have separate governments or one will conquer
and repress the other. In the past, the Sunnis under Saddam Hussein
repressed the Shi'ites, but did not need to kill tremendous numbers of
Shi'ites to do this. It won't be so easy now, I think.
How Lucy Fairbrother planned
and organized her protest in China.
There is still no certain word on whether her blog was maliciously
altered.
The accusation that the text was altered
may be mistaken.
Has Ms Fairbrother been released? Has she made any statement?
The Afghan government says that a
US bombing killed 76 civilians. The US denies this occurred.
Bush wants to eliminate
many limits on FBI investigations, so the FBI could investigate
people without evidence of crime.
Diebold admitted its
software was to blame for lost votes.
The work-arounds might avoid accidental loss, but the only reliable
way to avoid intentional loss of votes is to count them on paper.
The NIST proposed a bizarre
theory to explain the collapse of building 7 in the World Trade
Center, after unjustifiably dismissing the straightforward theory that
explosives were used.
Binyam Mohamed is in Guantanamo and facing possible execution based on
evidence obtained by torture. In the UK, a court has exposed UK
participation in this torture.
The nominally Communist government of West Bengal forced thousands of
peasants to give up their land for a capitalist car factory, but the
dispossessed
farmers have not given up protesting.
McCain owns so many houses he
couldn't remember how many.
Aging makes it harder to recall facts like these. Perhaps 10 years
ago he would have come up with the number right away.
Israel announces it will not
allow food boats to reach Gaza.
This means it will instead lead to an international confrontation that
will highlight the cruelty of the siege.
Russian troops withdrew from the town of Gori, which could be the
start of the promised withdrawal back to South Ossetia, but it
is not going fast.
Disney bought a US law to extend the copyright on the drawing of
Mickey Mouse, but it may have lost
that copyright in 1929 through an error.
While that would be the beginning of fitting punishment for Disney, it
would not undo the harm done by copyright extension.
Iran blocked
actress Golshifteh Farahani from travelling outside Iran.
To stop people from leaving a country is inexcusable injustice. The
Soviet Union and its puppet governments used to do this; today Israel
does this in Gaza, and Iran has put itself in the same category.
Was Georgia's foolish provocation of with Russia encouraged by US
perception that it has a nuclear
first strike capability against Russia?
The Russian government is more overtly tyrannical than the Bush
regime, but less powerful and not so broadly aggressive. Thus,
overall the Bush regime is a bigger threat to freedom around the
world.
Both the US and Russia need regime change, but neither one is likely
to get it. In the mean time, there is no reason to wish for either
one to gain over the other.
McCain's top foreign policy advisor was, until recently, a
lobbyist for the government of Georgia. And previously lobbied
other governments to support the conquest of Iraq.
The Clown regime has misplaced/leaked
the personal information of up to four million citizens in one
year alone.
Perhaps the reason the UK leaks so much personal data is that it
collects such data more aggressively.
US citizens: Bush has possibly withdrawn his attempt to define birth
control as "abortion", or perhaps just disguised it. Sign this
petition to make sure it really gets withdrawn.
30 years after Franco's death, the tens of thousands of Spaniards that
his supporters murdered are being
exhumed and identified.
The Popular Party opposes this because it is the party of Franco's
supporters.
The deputy director of Arlington National Cemetary is accused of
talking families out of press coverage of their relatives' burial,
then claiming
it was their wishes all along.
Israelis have petitioned for more serious charges against the colonel
who effectively ordered a
soldier to shoot a handcuffed palestinian.
Israel's tight siege of Gaza continues to keep the
inhabitants in poverty.
Israel continues killing Gazans by stopping them from travelling
for medical treatment.
For Hedy Epstein, whose parents were killed by the Nazis, bringing food
to Gaza by ship is carrying out the principles of Judaism.
Bush's October surprise -- a
blockade of Iran?
In the US, freedom of speech includes
general advocacy of illegal actions, as well as publishing
information that someone might use to do something illegal.
In accord with this principle, the gag order against the MIT students
has been lifted.
The UK, however, unabashedly imprisons
people for general opinions that might lead someone to commit a
crime at an indefinite future time.
Airline pilot James Robinson has
trouble getting to his flights because he's on the terrorist watch
list.
Another pilot has sued for being listed, since it cut
him off from his livelihood.
A TSA inspector got a clever
idea for "inspecting" planes. Nine planes he damaged were
grounded for repairs.
Russia's borders are full
of potential flash points comparable to South Ossetia.
Russian troops burned,
killed and kidnapped in Georgia.
The Bush forces take Iraqis prisoner, torture
them, and keep them for years without charges.
Artist James Powderly was arrested
in Beijing before he could present a new art work which is also a
protest for Tibet.
When the DEA destroys medical marijuana dispensaries, it takes
the houses and the children of the people who run them.
Civil forfeiture, the practice of seizing the property of people
accused of selling or even buying drugs, is a system of punishment
without trial. It causes multiple injustices.
Russia is starting to withdraw a few troops from Georgia,
and international truce monitors are coming in.
US citizens: support the Employee
Free Choice Act.
Ohio is suing Diebold for making
voting machines that lost votes.
For US immigration agents at JFK airport, bullying is
standard practice. They detain people for hours, forbidding them
to urinate, and proudly say they will hold people longer as an act of
repression.
Microsoft consummated
its corruption of the International Standards Organization, which
dismissed an appeal by several countries against the approval of
OOXML.
However, I think the EU's criminal investigation of this corruption is
still live. (Is it?)
Russia defeated Georgia's attempt to conquer territory with an
unwilling population of Ossetians. Now it appears Russia
is trying to conquer territory with an unwilling population of
Georgians.
The US would be in a better position to oppose this if it had not
conquered an unwilling population of Iraqis.
South Ossetia is holding
Georgian civilians hostage for the return of supposedly kidnaped
Ossetians.
Since Georgia denies holding those Ossetians, they cannot be being
held as hostages. But are they prisoners of Georgia? If not, what
happened to them (if they were real people)?
Musharraf resigned
to avoid impeachment.
No one can predict what will happen to Pakistan in the future; every
political event there creates imponderable good and bad possibilities.
However, in ethical terms, his attempt to sack the independent
judiciary was an attack on democracy; if this means that the court's
legimate judges will return, it is a victory for democracy.
Although Georgia started the war and lost it, it is now winning
the PR battle to present itself as right.
But I don't think we can credit this solely to a PR agency.
Saakashvili is more or less a poodle of Bush, so he gets the US
government's PR assistance, and that probably includes secret inside
media help as well.
Burma's military rulers imprisoned
protestors after a Bush-style fake trial.
Using the names "Myanmar" for Burma and "Yangon" for Rangoon grant
legitimacy to the military government; Aung San Suu Kyi asks people
not to use those names.
Uri Avnery: for peace between Israel and Palestine, the peoples
must read each others' poets.
The FARC has suffered reverses, but the government-sheltered
paramilitaries in Colombia are still a big threat.
Hiu Ng was arrested by the Department of Homeland Security due to
its own confusion, then denied the chance to see a doctor to diagnose
what turned out to be cancer. When he became unable to walk, guards
dragged him on the ground. When he could not stand on line to receive
painkillers, he was denied them. He was forbidden to see his
US-citizen wife and children until a couple of days before he died.
Even if the plan to deport him had not been a mistake, it could not
justify this callous cruelty. And the government officials whose job
is to parrot claims that this sort of thing never happens are just as
guilty for covering this up as the people who did it.
Fully half of the Bush forces are "civilian" contractors, making official
"troop" figures meaningless.
British protestors for Tibetan independence climbed
a building in Beijing to drop a banner. The were arrested, of
course.
A UN human rights report criticized the UK government for disrespecting
freedom of speech in several ways.
What a shame that the UK falls into the same category as China.
In a rare act of thoughtfulnes, the TSA has decided not
to add to its "terrorist suspect" list everyone that forgets to
bring ID.
John Gilmore was once kicked off a plane for
wearing a sticker saying "terrorist suspect". The morons on the
flight crew thought that meant he was dangerous, but it only referred
to the fact that everyone who flies in a plane is treated by the TSA
as a terrorist suspect.
Polls about coastal oil drilling manipulate
the answers through their choice of how to ask the question.
The UK government plans to record all
phone calls, all emails, and all web browsing.
This is to "fight crime", but crime is a minor danger compared with that
of an all-powerful all-seeing state. When the government declares suspicion
grounds to imprison someone, everyone has a valid reason to conceal his
activities from the state.
Pakistan's president Musharraf faces
imminent impeachment. Of course Bush begs them not to do so.
The Russian army continues
moving through Georgia, unimpeded by the completely smashed
Georgian army, and is accused of massive atrocities against civilians.
However, those claims are unconfirmed and could be exaggerated. Human
Rights Watch says that Russia is exaggerating
the casualty figures for Georgia's attack on South Ossetia, and is
concealing real data.
The critics of Russia point out that Georgia's attempt to reestablish
control over South Ossetia was quite analogous to Russia's two
reconquests of Chechnya. That is right: Russia's positions conflict
hypocritically.
Russia responds to this by pointing out that the US defense of
Georgia's "territorial integrity" conficts hypocritically with its
removal of Kosovo from Serbian control. That is right too, but
criticism of the US doesn't invalidate the criticism of Russia. Both
the US government and the Russian government are hypocrites, and
neither one can make itself honest just by criticizing the other.
So what about the substance of the issue? Since the South Ossetians
mostly would rather be part of Russia, I see no reason to force them
to be part of Georgia.
Bush contractors, often cronies, have
made 85 billion dollars from the conquest and occupation of Iraq.
Movie companies are not interested in making a movie about
Toussaint-Louverture, who led the Haitian revolution against slavery,
because it has "no
white heroes".
US citizens: sign
this petition denouncing Bush's plan to call contraception
abortion.
If you want to trick someone with a photograph... you don't need a
computer. All you need to do is change the caption.
Supporters of Tibet, and their web sites, are
the targets of persistent malware attacks.
The Iraqi government is making an oil deal with China. Perhaps it will
really turn out to be Iraqi rather than Bushi.
Talks in Zimbabwe broke down because
Mugabe insisted on keeping the real power.
Foreign journalists visited South Ossetia and reported on
the destruction caused by the Georgian attack, which included shelling the
capital's main hospital.
Sherri Davidoff reports on flying in the US without her wallet, concluding
that the TSA's attempts to identify people have nothing to do with protecting
passengers and are solely about control.
The truce in Gaza is working fine
for Israel.
It is not working very well for the inhabitants of Gaza, who remain
under siege. Sick people who want to leave for medical treatment are
forced to
become informers.
Activists from many countries plan to bring food and
supplies to Gaza by boat.
If the Israeli navy blocks them, it will highlight the siege.
US citizens: phone your congresscritters in support of HR 1258
(impeachment of Bush) and HR 33 (impeachment of Cheney).
The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641 and
888-355-3588.
Also sign Kucinich's petition.
Bush is trying again to render
the Endangered Species Act meaningless by allowing any federal
agency to ignore it.
Imprisonment without trial is standard Israeli practice for
Palestinians — even for
journalists.
The Palestinian Authority refused an Israeli peace proposal that would
involve giving Israel
all the land behind the annexation wall and getting desert in
return.
Georgia's invasion of South Ossetia has turned into a major victory
for Russia, perhaps giving it permanent
control over Georgia.
Bush, dishonest as always, accuses Russia of planning
this invasion for a long time.
That may be so, but it was Georgia that started this war.
Russian dominion over Georgia would be a bad thing. It may be worse
than the partial US domination that has existed for several years,
because Russia may have more complete control.
The operators of remote-control bomber drones see the Iraqis they
killed, and even though they mentally label all their victims as "bad
guys", it causes
them remorse.
Was Georgia's attack against Russia a diversion
for attacking Iran?
I have never before seen these claims about Iranian biological
weapons, and this article isn't enough to convince me of them. But
the claims about maneuvers and ship movements should be easy to check,
so I expect they are true.
After Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian child and a teenage
bystander during nonviolent protests in Ni'ilin, Israelis protested the
commander of the regiment, who has the responsibility to make sure his troops
do not commit atrocities. 23
protestors were arrested and badly beaten.
Tens of thousands of poor
Iraqi squatters face eviction.
The UK's Climate Camp goes on despite police
confiscation of everything from soap to buses.
When a government displays this propensity towards dirty tricks,
it is clear that surveillance done by that government is a threat
to the human rights of its citizens.
The protestors say they may
make a permanent protest camp.
A glossary
of Iraq Euphemisms.
Some
Chinese activists have disappeared
recently.
Italy's major ISPs have blocked
access to the Pirate Bay, a major bittorrent site.
While I appreciate the sassy attitude of calling this activity
"Pirate", it is better
to reject and denounce the practice of using that smear term to
refer to sharing.
China presented a computer
simulation of Olympic fireworks as the real thing.
If filming from a helicopter was dangerous, it was right and proper
not to do it. There would be nothing wrong with broadcasting a
computer simulation instead, if it were labeled as such. The wrong
committed here was that of lying, and lying is characteristic of the
Chinese government.
After Georgian troops in South Ossetia were totally defeated by
Russian forces, Georgia says it withdrew them as a "humanitarian"
gesture. Will anyone believe that? But Russia rejected the
opportunity to declare victory, and is attacking
Georgia elsewhere.
This seems to be part
of a game of rivalry between Russia and the US.
Russia seems to have won this move, but the important point is that
neither Russia nor the US deserves anyone's support. Neither
government respects human rights. Both of them rig elections. Both
deserve defeat in their ambitions.
Chavez' government has banned
hundreds of opposition candidates from running for office.
Arbitrarily excluding people from running for office is no better in
Venezuela than in Iran. If there is evidence to accuse these
candidates of corruption, they should be given fair trials and thus a
chance to clear their names.
US citizens: support
the ACLU's campaign to end the nasty practices of the "Department
of Homeland Security".
Notice the similarity between "Department of Homeland Security" and
"Committee for Public Safety"? The latter, headed by Robespierre,
carried out "the terror".
CIA agent Rob Richer told Ron Susskind that he (Richer) circulated
a faked letter connecting Saddam Hussein with Al Qa'ida. After
Susskind's book appeared, Richer first said it was true, then denied
it. So Susskind published the text of Richer's interview where he
admitted this. The original text of the letter arrived on White House
letterhead.
Obaidullah Rahimi faces
deportation to Afghanistan although he does not even speak the
language.
It is absurd to punish anyone for having sex with someone of age 15
— it is normal for Americans of age 15 to have sex. But even if
he had committed a real crime, such as robbery, for which punishment
is appropriate, deporting someone who arrived in the US so young is
absurd.
Here's what happens when people are deported to countries which
they hardly know.
The evil aspect of the EU is revealed by
a plan to merge surveillance with the US.
This is supposedly to serve the goals as "freedom, security and justice", but
it can hardly respect freedom and justice if the US is involved.
The Bush forces keep
prisoners in wooden boxes in the heat of Iraqi summer.
More information about the war in Georgia
reveals duplicity on both sides.
It seems clear that Russia gave Russian citizenship to most South Ossetians as
a prelude to annexation. Citing that now as an excuse for intervention is
bogus.
It seems virtually certain that Georgia started the war. The attack it made
takes preparation, and the preparations must have started several days before
the start of the Olympics, timed for an attack on that day. If Georgia had
responded to a surprise attack by the South Ossetians on that day, it might
have counterattacked, but the counterattack would not have been so big.
I wonder whether Georgia asked Bush's permission before attacking. A
government so dependent on the US that it would send troops to the Bush forces
is compelled also to obey.
Bailouts for failing US banks, which reward the abuses permitted by past
deregulation,
create worse distortions for the future. Proposed "reforms" could make
things even worse.
Russia and Georgia are at
war over South Ossetia.
South Ossetian is obviously acting as a pawn of Russia, and I think it
likely that Georgia is acting as a pawn of the US, but I don't
understand the situation enough to have any further opinions about it.
The president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference sees
nothing wrong in letting banks write statements for him to sign. But
he takes great offense when
those statements criticize Wal-Mart.
His various purchasers failed to keep track of what parts of him they
had bought.
Bush is negotiating an agreement to remove all
troops from Iraq. It will take several years, but not a century.
The Israeli officer who ordered a soldier to shoot a handcuffed
prisoner will
get off with a slap on the wrist.
The leader of Malaysia's opposition party faces
possible imprisonment for "sodomy".
Whether Anwar is "guilty" is unimportant; what matters is that
Malaysia is guilty of having an unjust law against homosexuality, and
its government is guilty of trying to sabotage the opposition.
Malaysia also denies religious freedom. People of Malay ancestry are
legally required to be Muslims.
US citizens: support the campaign for digital publication of Senate campaign contribution reports.
Salim Hamdan was
convicted in a phony trial for the crime of being
Osama bin Laden's driver — under an ex-post-facto law,
which is explicitly unconstitutional. We cannot tell whether some
of the "evidence" was obtained by torture.
Here is what
makes there trials totally unjust.
The Bush regime is no better than Osama bin Laden.
An arrested pro-Tibet protestor's web site has had pro-Chinese
propaganda mysteriously added.
The Chinese spokesman pompously hopes people will "obey the laws of
China", but why should anyone do that? The tyrannical laws of China
deserve obedience just as much as the tyrannical laws of the US
— which is to say, not at all.
Can humanity adapt
to a temperature rise of 4 degrees C?
US citizens: call your senators to tell them to end government subsidy
for the oil companies (and tax them instead). You can also sign
this petition.
The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641 and
888-355-3588.
The Bush regime is accused of faking a letter purporting
to establish a link between Saddam and al-Qaida.
Pro-Tibet protestors were
arrested in Beijing for displaying banners.
Barack Obama's political
background.
Obama, like McCain, gets lots of big campaign contributions.
They reflect the fact he will not challenge the dominion of big business
and the organization of society primarily for the rich.
MoveOn is not a
movement for progressive change.
The Beijing Olympic games take commercialization to
a new height.
Activists are about to sail boats to Gaza to break the siege, daring
Israel to stop them. One activist explains
why.
Scott Ritter: The US
is funding and supporting the Mujahadeen-e Khalk in a campaign of
sabotage and terrorism in Iran.
It is a strange reversal for an organization that once patriotically
fought the US-imposed Shah to work with the regimes of Saddam Hussein
and Bush that are clearly enemies of their country. It could be the
result of carrying a grudge too far, or it could be simple corruption.
The governor of Texas is in a
hurry to execute a Mexican before his violated right to consult
Mexican consular officials can be protected.
US citizens: call your representatives and ask them to cosponsor
these two bills:
The Medical
Marijuana Patient Protection Act of 2008 (H.R. 5842) would give
states greater authority to determine their own medical marijuana
policies.
The Personal
Use of Marijuana By Responsible Adults Act of 2008 (H.R. 5843)
would remove federal penalties for possessing up to 3.5 ounces of
marijuana.
The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641 and
888-355-3588.
The Bush forces reduced violence in Iraq by informally supporting tame
Sunni as well as Shi'ite militias. However, the Shi'ite militias are
called the "army" and "police", while the Sunni militias are not. And
the Shi'ite
militias are prepared to use that to reignite the massacres.
What Bush did is partially similar to what I called for two years ago,
but not entirely similar. My plan was to give both Shi'ites and
Sunnis non-Bush foreign military support to defend themselves. With
Bush's way, the Shi'ites have foreign military support and the Sunnis
do not.
McCain wants literal
armies of occupation in the US.
How appropriate this would be in a state that acts, in effect, as a government
of occupation by the empire of the megacorporations.
Meanwhile,
Obama made a rather enigmatic vague statement that points in a similar
direction.
I cannot tell whether it was a real proposal for something new, or a too-witty
reference to something prosaic.
Iraq refugees in Jordan need not fear being shot, but they can barely survive
since
they are forbidden to work.
The WTO and China are campaigning against state laws designed to protect
the public from dangerous products.
Over 1% of US adults are in prison, so
the prison business is booming.
The University of Nottingham has given servile support to arresting
students in the "international security and terrorism" course for downloading
an Al Qa'ida manual from a US government web site.
Note how the police cite the "university authorities" as having decided that
Sabir is not allowed to study these materials, while these supposed
"authorities" duck their responsibility to defend academic freedom by saying
nothing and only citing the police.
Evidently the "university authorities'" decision has nothing to do with truth,
justice, or academic freedom, and merely represents obedience to the Sheriff
of Nottingham. This law, which prohibits possession of documents that "might
be useful" for terrorism, is nothing but a veiled way of imprisoning people on
suspicion.
The UK government is a bigger threat to Britons' lives than any
non-state-sponsored terrorist group, and what's worse, it attacks their
freedom as well.
The Clown regime wants to fingerprint everyone boarding a plane in the UK.
Supposedly for security, of course, but maybe the real motive is commercial.
So don't board a plane in the UK. Take the train to Paris or Brussels.
The Bush regime has secretly held Aafia Siddiqui prisoner for five years
in Afghanistan, lying about her all the while. She was a student in the US
and disappeared while visiting Pakisan.
But the regime still won't say what happened to her children, who disappeared
with her.
Israel has agreed to shift the annexation wall back in some areas so as to
restore some of the confiscated Palestinian land.
"Security" is the standard excuse for a broad range of crimes.
As Mohammed Omer returned to Gaza after receiving an international
prize for journalism, Israeli border guards wanted to steal the prize
money. But he didn't have it on him, so they tortured
him instead.
Ex-prosecutor Bugliosi says that any
D.A. could prosecute Bush for murder.
False information about anthrax samples, promulgated by the same lab
where the anthrax came from, was used
to put the blame on Saddam Hussein.
The anthrax attacks of 2001 have reputedly been traced
to a US government researcher, who reputedly killed himself.
I have no way of judging whether to believe either claim, but what is
most interesting is that the anthrax letters were very effective at
convincing Congress to pass the U SAP AT RIOT act which attacked human
rights in the US. If Ivins carried out the attacks, we will probably
never know whether someone such as Cheney planned them.
The designer of Beijing's olympic stadium has condemned the Chinese
government for making
the Olympic Games an excuse for worse tyranny.
Protestors against coal power in the UK defy
police threats to imprison them for nonviolent protests.
Binyam Mohamed's lawyers say the UK
government knew that Bush was having him tortured, and lied about
it.
Bush's latest Attorney General asked Congress to formally give Bush
the power to
imprison anyone without trial.
It's just a tiny step beyond what Congress has already given him.
Here are some congressional elections that can affect abortion
rights.
Now if only they let everyone vote and count the votes accurately...
The pentagon's audit agency has actively covered up bad
news about cost and performance of weapons.
Bush regime torture practices follow those used by China against UN
troops captured in the Korean war. Over 100
prisoners have died in US custody, many of them killed by their
captors.
The war in Afghanistan involves ever more bombing, killing ever
more civilians.
I supported the war against the Taliban in 2001. After the quick
victory, I thought there was a chance to make Afghanistan a much
better and fairly peaceful place. Was that a delusion, or was it
ruined by Bush's invasion of the country he had always wanted to
invade?
After a teen fell off a bridge and broke his back, cops shot him 19 times
with a tazer. The effects on his blood forced doctors to delay
the surgery he needed.
The police are obviously lying. The reason their lie is so lame is
that it's hard even to fabricate a good excuse for attacking a person
lying motionless on the ground with a broken back.
China has imprisoned people for talking
about the structural flaws of schools that collapsed in the
earthquake. And the International Olympic Committee made a deal
agreeing to censorship of foreign reporters' internet access.
The IOC strikes me as disgustingly hypocritical, pretending that it
will uplift humanity through an event which is really just
entertainment, and then making the event go by conniving at
suppression of human rights.
Sami el Haj, an Al Jazeera journalist held captive in Guantanamo for
six years, now campaigns for the release of other prisoners and the
end of torture. Here he describes
how he and others were tortured in Guantanamo.
EPA tells its staff: don't answer to the EPA's inspector general
(or to Congress).
US citizens: call your senators to oppose S.3212, which pretends
to address the danger of computerized voting machines but actually
protects them.
The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641 and
888-355-3588.
More information, plus a petition
you can sign.
The Bush forces banned US
journalist Zoriah Miller for publishing bad news.
Being embedded in a military unit tends to bias a
journalist, who comes to think of the troops as his buddies.
This article argues that it is unfeasible for journalists to work if
not "embedded" in a Bush forces unit. Maybe it is true for most of
them, but some, such as Dahr
Jamail do this.
A RAND report says that the "war
on terror" is self-defeating.
Not to mention that it is the excuse to hurt Americans much worse that
Al Qa'ida might have done.
In the latest Ni'ilin protest, Israeli
troops killed a 10-year-old boy by shooting him in the head.
The CIA openly accused its Pakistani counterpart, the ISI,
of supporting the Taliban.
I've always heard that the ISI set up the Taliban, and Al
Qa'ida too. The fact that the CIA talks about this in public suggests
that things are pretty strained between Bush and Pakistan.
The "Justice" Department illegally
applied political criteria for hiring.
Bush's new method to oppose birth control is to redefine it as
"abortion".
He has already redefined "torture", so why not "abortion"?
What will he redefine next?
Richard Perle, one of the not-yet-cons who planned to conquer Iraq, is
trying to cash
in on Iraqi oil.
McCain got big money from oil company executives after he changed
his position on offshore oil drilling.
If a person does this even once, it means he has no integrity.
The US and UK, by rejecting
nuclear disarmament and applying a double standard to Israel and
India, encourage Iran to develop nuclear weapons and undermine the
Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The UK proposed to give battered women a defense if they kill
their oppressors.
The same principle should apply to Iraqis that kill some of the Bush
forces.
Three questions for Barack Obama.
A Canadian band put up their own CDs as posters to oppose
the unjust C-61 copyright law.
Illegal wiretapping in Sweden has created an even bigger scandal after
the police tried
to arrest the person who exposed it.
The WTO negotiations have broken down because China and India (leading
many of the poor countries) would not accept
some US demands about power for the agribusiness megacorporations.
We should cheer this failure, because any agreement made now has to be
a change for the worse. Whatever the US and EU agreed to on 18
"resolved" issues surely gives more power to megacorporations, else
the US and EU would not accept it.
Here's a report about why the deal is bad for the poor.
Amnesty International: China obtained the Olympic Games by promising
to respect human rights more, but it
has done the opposite.
Republicans have disenfranched
hundreds of thousands of Democratic voters in several swing
states.
I don't hold any enthusiasm for Obama; at best he will be like Clinton
but even less liberal. However, systematic destruction of democracy
is dangerous even if there is no good candidate is likely to win this
year.
And you can be sure that if Obama loses because of this
disenfranchement, Democrat activists will blame it on the Green
candidate.
The Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul is illegally trying to
destroy the Landless Workers Movement.
Kenya's government has been torturing
thousands to make them identify rebels.
I wonder if the US military aid included torture training.
Remember the video of the Israeli soldier shooting a handcuffed
Palestinian prisoner? The girl who made it feared retaliation, and
now Israelis
have arrested her father.
For once the
Bush forces admit that the Iraqis they shot in a car were
noncombattants.
What's crucial here is that it demonstrates the way the Bush forces
always claim their victims were enemy fighters, regardless of the
truth. The story about a "misunderstanding" caused by the gun in the
car (surely a normal thing in Iraq) is not believable: the dead
driver's son was at the scene while the car was still burning, so the
Bush forces knew who they had killed before they had a chance to look
at what was in the car.
I suspect that the Bush forces admitted the "mistake" this one time
only because they feared alienating the other people that work at
Baghdad airport, and that this does not represent a change in policy.
A Canadian human rights worker faces deportation from Israel for
photographing soldiers brutalizing a nonviolent protest at Ni'ilin.
Poor farmers in South Africa are being pressured
to plant genetically modified crops.
Refugees from Fallujah say people starved in their homes because the Bush
forces' curfiew did not let them get food. And the (Shi'ite) Iraqi Bush
forces are just as bad in different ways.
Obama glowingly praised the right-wing President Sarkozy, who is Bush's
French poodle.
This demonstrates once again that Obama himself is right-wing, but it could be
worse. Sarkozy is known for his draconian law which has made even the
possession of a copy of DeCSS a crime. I hope this doesn't indicate that
Obama will attack the freedom of computer users even further.
After a uranium spill in Tricastin, France,
EDF tried to hold back informing the public. The amount of uranium
contamination seems to prove there were other spills in the past.
Sarkozy wants to build more nuclear plants, even in other countries. Is this
what Obama admires?
People who flee to the UK after being tortured in other countries are
subject to torture and permanent injury when they are deported back for
more torture.
The EFF and ACLU have sued to declare the new unjust wiretap law as
unconstitutional.
The Bush forces systematically
arrest large numbers of Iraqis, just fishing at random.
Obama's lack of concern for how Israel treats Palestinians is second
only to McCain's.
Major ISPs are planning to limit their
subscribers' access to all but a few preferred commercial internet
sites.
Charlie Lynch faces 100 years imprisonment because he filled
a 17-year-old cancer patient's prescription for marijuana.
Owen Beck is probably suffering horrible pain now. That's the sort of
thing that delights a DEA agent's heart.
US citizens: sign
this petition urging Congress to refrain from menacing Iran with
war.
Air travellers now face strip
searches in public.
Remember the Shoe Bomber? Wait till they catch the Bra Bomber and
start requiring all women passengers to remove their bras.
Israel has flagrantly disregarded promises to stop
extending its colonies in the West bank.
Israeli "peace" negotiations consist of demanding that the
Palestinians concede everything, while offering them nothing.
A Maryland State Police document shows massive
government surveillance of political actvists — who are
falsely called terrorists or drug traffickers — by all levels of
government.
The press director of Arlington National Cemetery was fired for
letting the families of deceased veterans decide whether they wanted
press at the funeral.
It's a minor issue in itself, but shows how far the Bush regime
goes to control the press.
A reporter for CNN reported on the million-strong "terrorist" watch
list. The TSA denies punishing him by putting him on the list, but
they refuse
to explain why he gets hassled every time he flies.
The major ISPs in the UK have agreed
to help the music factories against their own customers. People
should move, if at all possible, to other ISPs.
Clown talks very green, but meanwhile he's trying to undermine
EU plans to promote renewable electric generation.
Nuclear reactor companies want government subsidies to build more
nuclear power plants, because they are far more expensive than safe
renewable electric generation or more efficient use of electricity.
They make no economic sense except as handout to the rich.
IMF meddling has been scientifically identified as causing
an increase in tuberculosis. It does this by forcing countries to
cut health care expenditures.
Chavez' activities have freed a number of countries in Latin America
from the IMF's power, and now it is weak. Perhaps we can kill it off.
Oil prices will probably
get even higher because demand will exceed supply.
Bush is using oil and food prices as an opportunity to gain more
power for his cronies. And Obama supports most of it.
China announced it would open a few
locations for protests during the Olympics, but Human Rights Watch
says that restrictions and surveillance would make this an
insignificant opening.
We have seen similar schemes to limit protests in the US, where the
locations are hypocritically called "free speech zones".
The reason Mugabe agreed to a deal is that his supply of
paper for printing money was cut off.
That makes sense, but I find it fishy to claim that Mugabe, who does
not shrink from murder and torture, would shrink from the wrong of
using a proprietary program without a license. He has already
committed the more grave wrong of using it with a license.
And if he doesn't fear that torture victims might sue him, how could
he fear that the developer might sue him?
Cigarette companies adjust
levels of menthol to help people start smoking and then cater to
hard-core addicts.
This year's Netroots Nation event, formerly the Yearly Kos, has been
totally tamed by the
center-right Democratic Party.
CORE, which in the 60s campaigned strongly for civil rights, has been
corrupted by the coal
industry.
A racist UK cop used the "terrorism act" powers to meddle
with a mixed-race family. There was absolutely no basis to
suspect the family of terrorism.
The crucial issue, which this exemplifies, is that the UK's
"anti-terror laws" relate to terrorism only in their name. What they
really do is give police too much power over everyone.
The makers of electronic voting machines distort the facts so
that states will not protect their elections from being stolen.
Pakistan's government has imprisoned
hundreds of Pakistanis in secret prisons, Bush-style, and held
them for years. Their families cannot find out what happened to them.
Europe is considering building
massive solar power plants in the Sahara desert.
Wetlands contain so much carbon that, if they were destroyed, it would
cause disastrous
global warming. And many of them are threatened with destruction.
A committee of MPs concluded that the UK
cannot trust the Bush regime's statements that it does not torture
people, because its definition is suspect.
Israeli settlers often shoot at Palestinian homes with rifles. Now
they are also firing home-made
artillery shells.
In Nil'in, scene of many nonviolent protests, a soldier fired
on a handcuffed protestor at close range while an officer stood
by.
But the only thing which makes that
incident unusual is that it was caught on video, much as the video
of the Rodney King beating offered proof of what cops habitually get
away with.
The Bush forces seem to be planning to
destroy Falluja again.
Last time, they even killed
patients in the hospital.
The House Judiciary Committee has finally agreed to examine some of
Bush's injustices, but still refuses
to consider impeachment.
I think that representatives that do not support impeachment do not
deserve support.
Everyone: sign the
petition calling on McCain to oppose all forms of torture.
The government of Pakistan forbade
Dr Khan from saying anything about Pakistan's proliferation of
nuclear weapons information.
It is the general practice of the Bush regime and its allies to issue
orders to silence people who can testify to the evil they have done.
Consider for instance the gagging of Mordecai
Vanunu in Israel (even though he has no nuclear secrets as such
left to tell) and the translator Sibel
Edmonds in the US.
The judge in a military trial rejected evidence obtained by blatant
torture, but allowed
confessions obtained by the less brutal forms of torture used in
Guantanamo.
Further information about the deal between Mugabe and Tsvangirai
explains that the deal means his giving up real power. Apparently
economic desperation is the reason he agreed.
Radavan Karadzic, who led the Bosnian Serbs as they attacked
multi-ethnic Sarajevo, has been
arrested and will probably soon be sent to the Hague for trial.
Karadzic is estimated to be responsible for 300,000 deaths. Bush is
in the same way responsible for probably 4 times as many; when will he
be tried?
US citizens: sign the
petition in support of Al Gore's renewable electricity challenge.
Due to global warming, the only way to protect many species from
extinction is to move
them to new habitats. But this is only possible for a fraction of
them.
Al-Maliki endorsed
Obama's not-really-timetable for removing some parts of the Bush
forces.
However, if large numbers of "non-combat troops" and mercenary
"non-troops" remain in Iraq, I'm not convinced that means the end of
the occupation.
Prejudice against Gypsies in Italy has led to scandal
about bathers who did not react when two Roma girls drowned.
It isn't explicitly clear whether the other bathers knew that the
girls were Roma, or even noticed that they were dead. But even if
they did, I think the scandal's focus is in the wrong place.
I don't see why it is obligatory to make a fuss about a stranger's
corpse. That won't help anyone, least of all the person who died.
The time that we have an obligation to pay attention is while the
person in danger is still alive. Someone did call for help, but did
others neglect that duty out of prejudice? If so, that should be the
real scandal.
Tsvangirai and Mugabe have made a deal, under the influence of
Mbeki.
It is astounding good news, but it is likely to be fragile. What I
wonder is, what led Mugabe to change his tune?
Global warming appears
to be making invertebrates more common and fish less common in
parts of the ocean.
The long drought that is devastating agriculture in Australia is likely to get worse in
coming decades, due to global warming.
DDT being used in Africa is damaging
coral reefs in the Caribbean.
A major bird sanctuary in the Gulf or Mexico, off the Louisiana coast,
is being washed
away. With the rising sea levels, it is probably doomed.
The Palestinian town of Ni'lin has launched a
persistant campaign of nonviolent protest against the Israeli
confiscation of its land, in cooperation with Israeli and
international supporters, and continues it even though Israeli troops
respond with cruelty.
Obama calls the
conquest of Iraq "a strategic error". It was one, of course, but
saying only that whitewashes a terrible crime.
Torture and murder at Iraqi juvenile prison.
The article understates the general situation which led to this. The
department of the "Iraqi" government which runs the prisons was (and probably
still is) in the hands of Shi'ites linked to the Badr brigades, and murdering
Sunnis was their aim.
When the killer cops were aquitted,
New Yorkers rioted — against the police, not against their neighborhoods.
Archeologists voted to reject the idea of making a list of Iranian
archeological sites for Bush not to attack, saying that making the list would
legitimize the attack.
China and Russia blocked an embargo on selling arms to Mugabe.
So it looks like Mugabe wins. The world's powers give lip service to concern
about his tyranny, but nothing more, since freedom is not particularly
important to them anyway.
There are reports that
Israeli fighters are landing in Iraq near Haditha as practice for attacking
Iran. The "Iraqi" government denies this, but you could hardly expect them to
be more honest than their master.
Iraqi refugees, now in desperate circumstances in Syria and Turkey,
are trying to
sneak into Europe. The countries that turned Iraq into a disaster
do nothing for them.
30% of all reef-building
coral species now face imminent extinction due to the effects of
human CO2 production. 10 years ago it was just 3%.
Tenants in Boston organized to
block the eviction of one of the victims of the mortgage crisis.
Three cheers!
Increased US corn production, aimed at making ethanol for cars, is
making the dead
zone in the Gulf of Mexico the biggest ever.
Burmeses activists talk
about an armed uprising — if they can get any arms.
I see nothing wrong in foreign support for resistance against
the military rulers, even if its motive is amoral international
rivalry. But it looks like just enough to stir the pot, and
nothing that could actually help.
Israeli troops demolished Palestinian homes in Hebron.
They did not say why they did this, but whatever the reason may be, it is
collective punishment, and thus a crime.
Meanwhile, in Nablus,
the Israeli army has attacked and destroyed many institutions — a
school, a clinic, and a large shopping mall — and stolen even the school
buses.
For the long term,
Israel is stealing the West Bank's water supplies.
When the Israeli Supreme Court ruled to move the annexation wall away from the
lands of the farmers of Bil'in, that was the main victory for non-violent
Palestinian activism. Now
the government is making a mockery of the court decision, disregarding it
while building new colonies that it will later claim it has to "protect".
China is arresting, killing and deporting people, using
dubious accusations of terrorism as an excuse.
All in all it sounds a lot like the Bush regime.
China also searches people's baggage for entering trains, which makes no sense
at all except to boost employment.
A multitude of US agencies regularly
spy on the activities of the public.
The people quoted in the article hesitate to denounce this as strongly as it
deserves. But since the Bush regime is already guilty of torture,
imprisonment without trial, and wars of aggression, we need not suppose that
things have to get any worse before regarding its power as a threat to
liberty. The US government is already Americans' worst enemy.
If Bush attacks Iran, the price of oil will skyrocket.
This article argues that ultimately this will discourage any attack.
I am not convinced: Bush's cronies profit from the high price of oil.
Segolene Royal accused Sarkozy's men of being behind a strange burglary of
her home in which nothing was stolen.
Such accusations are not at all absurd. Remember Nixon and Watergate? Perhaps
Sarko's men were behind this; but the question is why.
There was a clear motive for Nixon to send people to burglarize the Democratic
Party headquarters: knowing the opposition's campaign plans. Sarco defeated
Royal a year ago, so that motive would not apply. Is there another possible
motive?
Karl Rove disobeyed a summons to testify to a congressional committee, and
could face imprisonment for contempt of Congress, if Congress has the guts to
insist.
Rove's central role in the dirty tricks of a dishonest administration is
plenty of reason to insist that he testify under oath.
The US Senate gave
final approval to almost unlimited government spying on Americans.
The British Army has formally apologized for torturing Baha Mousa to
death, and will pay compensation to his family.
I think that the UK made a serious attempt to convict Mousa's killers of
murder, and the failure reflects the fact that the system and the situation
make this very difficult to do.
The military occupation of a hostile civilian population will inevitably lead
to such events, and it will inevitably be hard to prosecute them. Therefore,
anyone considering ordering the military occupation of a hostile civilian
population ought to realize in advance that this is part of what will result.
A crusading judge has convicted some of the Italian fascist police
that attacked, injured and tortured sleeping protestors in Genoa. Now
the fascist government of Italy intends to make sure
they never go to prison.
Israeli settlers have taken over part of the al-Kurd family home in
Hebron, and now the government
says it will demolish the home.
Evidence that Diebold
stole an election in 2002 by trickery with voting machines.
The Bush regime is pushing a new cold war by installing ABM systems in
Europe. One price of this may be the survival of Mugabe's brutality
in Zimbabwe.
It is callous and absurd for Russia to strike back at Bush by
punishing innocent millions in Zimbabwe that have never helped Bush.
However, Bush is also to blame for the provocation. Between these two
tyrannical regimes, there is little reason to prefer one or the other.
A US appeals court upheld Bush's
power of arbitrary imprisonment. This means there is nothing to
protect Americans from their worst enemy, their own government.
The US constitution is a dead letter if it cannot prevent this.
Protestors who destroyed computers in an arms factory, to stop
production, were acquitted in Ireland on the grounds that they were preventing the
commission of war crimes.
Speaker Pelosi called Bush a "total
failure".
I wish it were true, but the Bush regime has an almost perfect record
of abolishing freedom and democracy in the US, and a very good record
of handing out money to his cronies. The 9/11 attacks might also be
one of its successes; sabotaging and corrupting the investigation
certainly was.
Israeli troops attacking a nonviolent Palestinian protest beat
up a medic so badly that he could not stand, then arrested him.
The general Israeli policy seems to be, no medical care for Palestinians.
Bush may increase
diplomatic contact with Iran.
The US "terrorist" watch list now
has a million names on it, which means that millions of people are
likely to be harassed when they fly. But they can't be absolutely
sure of stopping every terrorist unless they put every person in the
world on the list.
Despite the cease-fire which has pretty much ended overt violence in
Gaza, Israel
continues to kill harmless residents of Gaza by preventing them
from leaving to get the medical treatment they need.
The EU has cut its biofuels
plans after recognizing that they have driven up food prices.
Meanwhile, Bush continues to deny the whole thing.
Nuclear waste was spilled at the Tricastin nuclear power plant in
France. People have been warned not to drink water from the rivers or
eat any fish from them.
A Taliban child soldier, imprisoned in Guantanamo, faces charges with
"war crimes" for fighting against the US. It appears that his
treatment in prison amounts to torture.
Taking enemy soldiers prisoner is not wrong, but torturing them is;
and so is putting them on trial merely for fighting against soldiers.
While the Bush regime rejects all civilized standards for its own
behavior, it imposes ridiculous standards on its enemies. That's
"victor's justice", and would bring more shame on the US (as if there
weren't enough already).
In Iraq -- A
Generation with No Education.
The B'liar regime used Pakistani
agencies to torture a series of British citizens.
I wonder if it also used Pakistani agencies to torture other people
who are not British citizens, but are entitled to the same human
rights.
Massachusetts voters: support Question 2, to eliminate criminal penalties for possession
of small amounts of marijuana.
Many welders develop neurological damage due to manganese exposure.
The problem has been known for around a century. But their employers
deny it, and rather than provide them with clean air to breathe,
prefer to corrupt
scientific studies in order to deny the danger.
The Wedding Crashers: A
Short Till-Death-Do-Us-Part.
The expiring UN mandate for occupying Iraq has given the Iraqi
government the chance to stand up to Bush. Bush has had to
abandon the plan to get an agreement to make the occupation permanent.
Bush must be amazed to see his puppet rebel, but the "Iraqi"
government depends on the Bush forces, so I doubt it stand up to them
for long. However, I would be pleasantly surprised if it succeeds.
Al-Maliki is also talking about taking
control of the Bush forces' "green zone" fortified enclave.
In Turkey the secular
nationalists are fighting the elected Islamist party with coup
plots and a court case.
The president of Sudan has been indicted by the International Criminal
Court.
But when will they indict Bush?
Ex-prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi has had three fiction bestsellers, and his
nonfiction book that proposes to try Dubya for murder is a bestseller too. But
newspapers and TV refuse to review it.
Here is the biofuels/food price report that the World Bank tried to cover
up to pander to Bush.
Despite the cease-fire in Gaza,
Israel has not ended the siege.
A Bush forces soldier who rejected Christianity while in Iraq is now
suing the Defense Department over religious harassment. He says that
Christians have gained dangerous power throughout the army.
I hope he also reconsiders whether his participation in the occupation of Iraq
was good or evil.
The US government is making sure that
future movies about the conquest of Iraq take a pro-US line.
The International Red Cross says that things are not improving for the
millions of Iraqis who were driven to flee their homes by the sectarian
violence.
Iran tested ballistic missiles to show Bush that it could counterattack if
Bush attacks.
Obama supported the Bush line that this makes Iran a "great threat".
The supposed threat of Iran is certainly a great thing for those who want to
distract Americans while picking their pockets of freedom. Iran is no threat
to the US. It could attack US forces in the Middle East, but since those
forces are engaged in an act of aggression, attacking them is not wrong at all.
A nuclear-armed Iran could theoretically bomb and destroy Israel, but Israel
could retaliate and destroy Iran, and I don't think the Iranian generals want
that outcome.
The annexation wall
cut off the village of Jayyous from its farmland. Israel allows the
farmers to go to their land, but the restrictions are so onerous that they
prevent real farming.
Cheney's men were directly involved in censoring an EPA report on global
warming.
The G8's statement on CO2 is
even more lame than it appears. Meanwhile, these governments, like
colonies of the empire of the corporations, continue trying to strengthen the
empire's grip.
The Department of "Homeland Security" is seriously interested in
forcing all airline passengers wear remote control punishment devices for
the whole flight. This may seem like a joke, but it isn't.
The biggest laugh is that this is supposed to be needed to protect passengers
from hijackings — but this is a solved problem already (there has been
no airplane hijacking in the US in a long time).
US Customs seizes travellers' laptops randomly. Imagine what a
disaster that could be for you!
Bush responded to the pressure to ban cluster bombs with a plan to
pretend to make them safer.
US citizens: phone your congresscritter and senators to support of Title X
funding for birth control, and against the cruel abstinence only "sex
education".
The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641 and
888-355-3588.
Will the U.S. support terrorists to destabilize Iran?
How dare they rip the Fourth Amendment?
This is an example of why I do not support Obama for president. I don't
expect him to make things much better than they are under Bush.
Legal arguments that the invasion of Iraq, and the sanctions that preceded
it, constitute genocide.
Mbeki's latest proposal would give the real power in Zimbabwe to the MDC
and Tsvangirai, while allowing Mugabe to remain as a titular head of state.
Japanese are protesting the G8 summit. Independent journalists and activists
are
facing police harassment.
Let's hope Obama
does not choose Senator Nunn as a running mate.
Patriotic Haitians admire Dred Wilme, who led the resistance to the US
invasion in 2004, and was assassinated in 2005.
This assassination, which was expected, follows
a historical pattern seen in previous US interventions.
The backlash against feminism
has taken over the UK.
When a Bush crony got an oil deal from Iraqi Kurdistan, undermining the
control of the "Iraqi" government, Bush said he was surprised and unhappy. It
turns out
his men knew about it and encouraged it.
Dr. Khan says it was
Pakistan's army that gave uranium isotope separation centrifuges to North
Korea, and that General Musharraf must have approved it.
Amnesty International is lobbying the US government to respect human
rights and close the Guantanamo prison.
The American Association of Public Health Professionals condemns the sham
tobacco regulation bill.
At a formal debate in the UK about surveillance and detention,
the audience affirmed that these threaten their liberty.
This doesn't change any policies, but it might be the start of effective
resistance.
The Iraqi government persists in demanding a withdrawal timetable for the
Bush forces.
When Edna Spennato put links to uruknet into her blog on
blogspot.com, she
started getting told her blog was "spam".
ClearChannel continues to censor criticism of conservatives, on the radio
and on billboards.
If we had a government that supported democracy, it would ban companies from
owning billboards or radio stations in more than one state.
Iran responded with interest to new nuclear offers from the EU.
It would not surprise me if Iran's leaders really want nuclear weapons. The
twin examples of North Korea and Iraq show that nuclear weapons are the only
way for a country to be safe from the US. So they might want nuclear weapons
only for self defense. I would not put it past them to consider wars of
aggression. But they are not likely to attack Israel, which could retaliate
with its own nuclear weapons.
Mugabe is arresting and kidnaping the opposition's MPs.
The Colombian army freed 14 hostages from the FARC with a ruse, including
presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt.
This is a good achievement, but it would be an ironic shame if it boosts the
popularity of President Uribe. He is closely linked to the paramilitaries,
who are worse terrorists than the FARC.
A secret World Bank report concludes that the
food price crisis is mainly caused by using corn to make fuel.
Obama says he will continue Bush's policy of encouraging government support
to religious organizations, with some changes in details.
Obama is not as bad as McCain, but I don't think he will undo the harm that
Bush has done.
The US midwest has seen
two "500-year floods" in 15 years. But now that it's impossible to deny
the fact of global warming, the same business interests continue trying to
prevent any solution.
A US court ordered Google to
turn over to Viacom all records of who watched what on Youtube. Viacom is
one of the companies that uses copyright to attack the public.
Although Google tried to prevent this, it is still Google's fault to have kept
such records in the first place.
stallman.org does not record your IP address, and this is why.
The African Union made a weak response to Mugabe's tyranny,
"power-sharing". Tsvangirai has rejected this.
The Iraqi government invites Iraqi refugees to return from foreign
countries, but cannot take care of those who are already internal refugees.
Some Iraqis do return — usually because the countries they fled to make
life so difficult for them that they have to go.
Scientists evaluating the danger of extinction of various species have
underestimated the danger level.
The nuclear power industry has conviced the US government to change the rules
for building nuclear power plants. Now it
wants a big subsidy to make them profitable.
If they were safe and didn't produce waste we don't know a safe way to handle,
this might even make sense.
The Dutch "coffee shops" that sell marijuana
are now forbidden to mix it with tobacco.
The policy is inconvenient in the short term, but maybe it makes sense.
Tobacco is addictive, so it is far more dangerous than marijuana. If the
coffee shops find a way to satisfy their marijuana customers without the
tobacco, they will remain successful, and this policy will prevent marijuana
from being a gateway to hard drugs. But if that doesn't work, I think they
should make an exception.
The Bush forces have recruited many Iraqis to betray their country by joining
the "Iraqi" army or "Iraqi" police. Many of them have been wounded. Bush, a
treacherous type,
has betrayed them.
The Bush regime says that
things in Iraq are rosy.
CIA agents in Chile asked Chilean police in 2002 to kidnap a legal resident of
Chile, and hand him over to be taken to Guantanamo or someplace even worse.
Ultimately the police refused, and carried out their duty to defend
human rights in Chile.
The article calls for an investigation of how things were able to get this
far.
Both McCain and Obama are accepting donations of up to $70,000 through
twisting campaign finance law.
Canada keeps wages down for agricultural workers by bringing them from
Mexico, where NAFTA has conveniently ruined the rural economy.
Mohammed Omer, returning to Gaza after receiving a journalistic prize in
Europe, was
stripped, cavity searched, threatened at gunpoint, knocked out, and
dragged across the floor with his head banging.
Israel said that it normally takes special care so that this won't happen to
journalists. This treatment is supposed to be limited to ordinary
Palestinians, who won't be in such a good position to write about it.
Bush has commenced war against Iran, paying fanatical Sunni underground
groups to kill soldiers and officials. In the process he is jerking around
Congress and his generals.
Paranoia about terrorism
killed 1600 Americans in 2002.
It also enabled Bush to deny human rights
France has become Bush's agent to allow the US government broad access to
personal information about Europeans.
The EU's data protection rules are one of the best things it has done. At
that time, the EU had statesmen who looked at goals beyond increasing their
own power and the power of business. What a sad contrast is the EU of today.
Any change that it proposes today which affects human rights or democracy will
generally be bad.
One Labour MP is tells the truth about the UK's participation in Bush's
conquest of Iraq.
Mugabe's thugs forced many Zimbabweans to vote for him, but many others
spoiled their ballots in protest.
Civilian casualties have greatly increased in Afghanistan, due to the
Taliban's suicide bombings.
When fighting against a guerrilla army, the US government standard practice is
to claim that anyone it kills in battle was an enemy fighter. Those claims
are meaningless; the US tactics inevitably kill many civilians. However, the
Taliban cares even less about them.
The participants in Delhi's Gay Pride march wore masks because they face
life imprisonment if they are identified.
The two lesbians who burned themselves to death should have killed their
oppressors instead.
'Infrastructure for a Police State' is at stake in the FISA bill vote.
The Bush forces tried to take control of Mosul,
and failed.
Congress has kept taxes low for oil companies, but has not extended the
tax incentives for renewable energy.
This is what happens when business holds political power.
The Baltic sea has many large dead zones, caused by pollution runoff, and
its entire ecosystem could collapse if they keep growing.
A natural feedback cycle
keeps the amount of CO2 in the air stable. Unfortunately, human CO2
emissions are 100 times too much for this cycle to handle.
There may be open water at the North Pole this summer, as the ice
continues to shrink.
Greenland ice cores show that the world's climate can change abruptly.
However, thus far global warning is still slow by human time scales.
Our ability to monitor warming in great detail means there will be hundreds of
minor milestone moments. So it will be easy for the deniers to respond, about
each one, that it isn't important by itself. That's true, but the continuing
process they are part of can be fatal.
Trevor Paglen takes photos of things
that the government doesn't want you to see.
Florida will buy a large sugar plantation in order to protect the
Everglades.
The Everglades are basically a broad shallow river full of grass, descending
gradually to the sea. Protecting it from direct contamination is the right
thing to do, but I'm worried about another pollution threat: salt water.
Global warming is making sea level rise. What's the elevation of the highest
point in the Everglades?
The UN's human rights investigator condemned the Bush regime.
Obama, who wasn't very liberal to begin with, is
taking more conservative positions to get elected.
What bothers me most is advocating the death penalty. That is a setback I
didn't expect.
If Greg Palast is right, these concessions are all futile, since the
Republicans have sewn up the election regardless of how people vote.
North Korea has won a deal in which it keeps its limited collection of
nuclear weapons and escapes from sanctions.
This deal makes sense, given that North Korea already has nuclear weapons, and
that it can threaten South Korea with great destruction even without them. I
won't criticize Bush for doing something that is right.
But compare this with Iraq. Bush gave three excuses for attacking Iraq:
developing nuclear etc. weapons, support for terrorists, and Hussein's
oppression of the Iraqi people. The first one was false for Iraq but true for
North Korea. The second was false for both. On the third point, Kim Jong Il
is far more cruel than Saddam Hussein ever dreamed of being. So if you're not
going to attack North Korea, why attack Iraq? Only oil.
Note also how removing North Korea from the list of "sponsors of terrorism"
proves that the list is dishonest. The change that North Korea is now making
in its nuclear programs has nothing to do with terrorism. So either there was
no reason for Korea to be on the list, or there is no reason to remove it now.
Clearly this list is just an "enemies list", an insult that the US government
makes against countries it does not like, and has nothing to do with the truth.
Cigarette companies
treat tobacco with ammonia. This enables them to make cigarettes that are
just as addictive although the nicotine content is less.
Here's an explanation of what the terms in that article really mean,
scientifically.
Nelson Mandela criticized Mugabe in a weak way, catering to Mbeki.
It is sad to see a great man deny society his greatness to cater to a lousy
man.
Will Bush attack Iran
between election day and inauguration day?
Another reason to keep any RFID-infected cards in aluminum foil at all
times.
Kucinich:
put oil company executives on trial for their role in starting the war of
aggression in Iraq.
Exxon delayed 20 years in paying damages for the Alaskan oil spill, and
the Supreme Court eliminated 95% of them for invalid reasons.
Think of this when you consider Bush and McCain's proposals for offshore
drilling.
Bush is aiming propaganda at Iran and the West in favor of war, and the
tempo is speeding up, suggesting that the time for his next attack is getting
closer.
Report:
Telling the facts abut Obama.
McCain is the head of the International Republican Institute, which uses US
funds to
overthrow democratically elected governments in other countries.
Bush forces bases in Iraq are being set up for war with Iran.
A UK journalist won part of his case against a subpoena for his source
material, but
the court says that the decision was a defeat for him.
Bush's oil company cronies are about to collect the payoff for their
conquest of Iraq. And Afghanistan.
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(Pakistani troops drive off US helicopters)
(US troops secretly ordered)
(Pakistan's officials condemn US attacks on Pakistan's territory)
(US troops raid a village in Pakistan)
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