Going trick-or-treating or to a costume party on Halloween? How about dressing up as Dubya? He's as dangerous as any vampire or ghoul, and what's even scarier, he really exists!

I don't know whether there are Dubya costumes available. But if you call your local costume store now and ask if they have a Dubya costume, they may decide there's enough demand to make them for next year.

The Indonesian government convicted an editor for headlines that condemn the President. The stories under those headlines criticized government policies.
[Reference updated on 2018-09-04 because the old link was broken.]

If I can live with being insulted, any politician ought to be able to learn how.

Canada is threatening to deport a number of people who are accused of supporting terrorists, and keeping them in prison for a long time, but presenting no evidence against them. They did not even violate immigration rules, as they have valid visas to be in Canada.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Of course, the US is doing even worse, but that is no excuse.

US-sponsored pipeline through the Caucasus threatens environmental damage and will be a magnet for terrorism.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The UN decides not to report on the companies that fuel the civil war in the Congo.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Wal-mart isn't satisfied with the poverty wages that it pays to employees -- it contracts out cleaning so it can pay cleaners even less.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Mumia on the Corporate Party and NAFTA.

US senators fight over who to blame for lies about Iraq: Bush or the CIA.

The Israeli army refuses to acknowledge that it killed civilians with missile attacks in Gaza, despite the many Palestinian and foreign witnesses. Uri Avnery explains how trying to evade criticism for the policies of the occupation has made the Israeli army abandon its former standards of honesty, and lose its credibility, even with Israelis.

An elite US unit in Vietnam committed repeated massacres of civilians, according to fomerly-secret reports from the troops in that unit.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Senator Byrd condemned and voted against funding the occupation of Iraq.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Speaking to the australian senate, Bush was heckled by senators.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Honey, I Shrunk the Presidency

Cheney presented a distorted version of an opinion poll in Iraq, giving an impression of support for the Bush forces which contradicts the actual poll results.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Rampage by Israeli forces in Gaza causes over 100 casualties, mostly civilian. The only significant difference between this and suicide bombing is that the pilots don't commit suicide.

Bush's plan for several wars is undaunted by the costs and reverses of Iraq. He was planning back in 2001 to attack several countries, and is still planning to.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Common Cause reports on mismanagement of the funds spent for rebuilding Iraq.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Diebold, a company that makes electronic voting machines suspected of being easy to manipulate to commit election fraud, is using the Digital Millenium Copyright Act to suppress internal memos which show how vulnerable its machines are.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Bush is trying to use the FTAA to impose laws like the DMCA on all the western hemisphere. He is also trying to use FTAA to mostly abolish the right of fair use under copyright, which is the reason why publication of memos such as these is arguably lawful today.

6 US states have refused to cooperate with a US database project called Matrix, claiming it attacks the privacy of citizens.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Six cheers for their courage.

Australian anti-war protesters sentenced to 5 years imprisonment for "malicious damage": spray painting the Sydney Opera House with easily removable paint.

Groping Arnold plans to attack California women's (and men's) purses as well as their genitals. He is likely to drop state lawsuits against the electric power companies, companies that used California's electricity deregulation to cause a power shortage and make big profits.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

A previous note reports that Arnold's ties with these companies go back to the decision to push for a recall election.

Bush is trying to abolish environmental impact statements, which prevent many environmental problems before they happen.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

A UNICEF report says that a billion children and young people are in poverty, kept there by the system of global trade that lets business move to whichever country lets business treat workers the worst.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Through the courage of an Australian intelligence analyst who exposed the government's lies about Iraq, the Australian senate has censured the prime minister for lying.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Bush bans media coverage of coffins coming home from Iraq.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Supermarket workers are on strike in California.

We are seeing accusations that Iran is harboring a son of Osama bin Laden, and letting him direct terrorism.

It could be true that the Iranian mullahs are supporting Al Qa'ida in this way. On the other hand, it could be only propaganda from Bush to lay the groundwork for another unnecessary war. Like the boy who cried "wolf", the president who cried "terrorist" can't be trusted, even though he may occasionally denounce a real terrorist.

Microsoft releases an email system designed just for Enron.

Even when not equipped with nasty features, Microsoft's software is unethical because it does not respect the user's freedom to share and change software.

An important archaeological discovery, a skeleton more than 4,000 years old, discovered in Florida, will be reburied instead of saved for scientific investigation. Even photographs, from which something might be learned later, will not be made. What a senseless waste! If we want to show respect to the person whose skeleton this was, then since we could only guess at what views he would have if he knew the situation, let's do so by giving him the chance to contribute to knowledge of his times and people.

The Indian tribes in Florida today have as much connection with this skeleton as an Egyptian living today--or anyone with ancestors from the Middle East, including presumably me--has with an Egyptian mummy of the same date.

Scientists should stop legitimizing the policy of excluding human remains in the US from scientific study, and start denouncing it roundly until it is changed. If a skeleton in the ground is old enough that there is no way to relate it to any particular living people, it should belong to science.

India has no reason to be grateful to Mother Teresa, given what she really did there.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

US reservists who developed strange ailments while part of the Bush forces in Iraq are being held in squalid conditions, and wait weeks between doctors' appointments.

To revitalize the International Space Station project, it should stop claiming that its primary goal is scientific research, and adopt the goal of furthering the manned exploration of the Solar System.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Bolivian President Lozada has resigned.
[Reference updated on 2018-09-04 because the old link was broken.]

During the protests that overthrew Lozada, a soldier was shot for refusing to shoot protesters.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Here is a report on some of the provisions of an unofficial peace plan agreed on by some Israelis and some Palestinians.

The plan looks fair to me. The question is, could this or any fair plan receive official approval?

In the US, heated words in class, even reading a book, can get you questioned by the FBI nowadays--or by local police, as restraints on their activities crumble. And following the administration's policy of preemptively attacking anyone who could be imagined as an enemy, protest leaders are being arrested before the protest begins.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Alex Jackson, after reading my previous note on SunnComm, pointed this out:

Here's a direct quote from the CNET article referenced on your page:

Future versions of the SunnComm software would include ways that the copy-protecting files would change their name on different computers, making them harder to find, [SunnComm CEO] Jacobs said. Moreover, the company will distribute the technology along with third-party software, so that it doesn't always come off a protected CD, he added.

In other words, SunnComm intends to distribute software that (a) installs itself on a computer without the computer owner's knowledge or consent, by "piggybacking" on other software, (b) deliberately obfuscates itself in order to make it difficult for the owner to remove or even recognize its presence, and (c) has no purpose except to cripple the computer on which it is unwittingly installed. In short, SunnComm intends to distribute a computer virus.

It's not exactly a virus, since it doesn't automatically copy itself from one machine to others. On the other hand, this mechanism of inclusion in other software without your knowing it is just as nasty as a virus.

The solution is, don't ever trust a non-free program. If the software is not free, you can't tell what's in it, you can only put blind faith in the developers. And as SunnComm knows, many developers don't deserve that faith.

There have been massive protests in Bolivia over a plan to let foreign companies sell of Bolivia's natural gas to the US. It's not that they don't want to sell the gas; rather they want to make sure that the country and the people benefit from the sale.

The Bolivian government, supported by the US, tried labeling protesting coca growers as "terrorists".
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

protesters are now demanding the resignation of President Lozada, who ordered troops to shoot protesters.

One of President Lozada's coalition partners stopped supporting him.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Monsanto says it will pull many operations out of Europe because of its opposition to GM crops.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

This should be seen as a sign of victory, but I have a feeling it is meant to punish Europe. Now, any government or legislators that feel pressured by something as minor as a matter of a few hundred jobs must be a coward. But it would not surprise me to see European legislators giving weight even to this minor act of revenge.

A series of identical letters to the editor, praising the achievements of the Bush forces in Iraq, have been sent to various US newspapers in the name of various soldiers in the Bush forces. Some of these soldiers did not even know letters were being sent in their names.
[Reference updated on 2018-09-04 because the old link was broken.]

The letters say that in Kirkuk everything is going pretty well, and the soldiers say they agree with that. It may be true, in Kirkuk, but that doesn't generalize to the rest of Iraq. Kirkuk is inhabited to a large extent by Kurds, and was retaken first by the Kurdish forces.

Shiites in Iraq are starting to fight the Bush forces.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Bush is prepared to spend money to rebuild the Iraqi electricity infrastructure (even though it's likely to be blown up by rebels), but puts rebuilding of the shaky US electric infrastructure on the back burner.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The rich countries' plan for "development aid" for Africa is actually a plan to extract Africa's resources and won't do anything to reduce poverty in Africa.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Genetic engineering companies "tried to lie" to Europeans about genetically modified foods.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

UK plans for total phone and internet surveillance will be challenged as a violation of EU laws.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Obesity growing throughout the developed world, due to lack of exercise and fattening packaged food, is a major health risk.

The US government has been fighting to stop Europe from adopting new safety requirements for testing chemicals before they are sold.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Big-fee lion-hunting in Africa has reduced the lion population to just 1/3 of what it was a decade ago. Botswana decided to end lion hunting, but rich trophy-seekers such as Bush I want to bring it back.

This joke is circulating on the net.

Up in Heaven, Alexander the Great, Frederick the Great and Napoleon are looking down on events in Iraq.

Alexander says, "Wow, if I had just one of Bush's armored divisions, I would definitely have conquered India."

Frederick the Great states, "Surely if I only had a few squadrons of Bush's air force I would have won the Seven Years War decisively in a matter of weeks."

There is a long pause as three continue to watch events. Then Napoleon speaks, "And if I only had that Fox News, no one would have ever known that I lost the Russia campaign."

Ha'aretz describes the Israeli raids in the Gaza Strip, which found three smuggling tunnels by destroying the housing of 120 families.
[Reference updated on 2018-09-04 because the old link was broken.]

Powerful sonar systems kill whales by making them surface so fast that they get the bends.

The 9/11 investigation is still seeking access to key documents from the Bush administration.

The trade in tropical fish for aquariums is endangering some of the species that people want to exhibit.

Bush has close ties with electric power companies, and gets a lot of money from them. Bush appointees gave false information to Congress to weaken EPA pollution limits.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Palestinian farmers and their international shields arrested for harvesting.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

A journalist reports on conversations with Iraqi resistance fighters, including nationalists who don't like Saddam Hussein, Tikritis who support him, and Islamists.

When the NIH in the US develops a drug, it typically gives some large company an exclusive license. The details are kept secret-- but in the case of taxol, the company pays next to nothing.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Drugs that deal with major world health problems tend to be developed with publicly-funded research, not by corporate research. I think the NIH should sell licenses to its patents for the rich countries only, and a condition of the license should be that the companies that buy the licenses not use their patents to stop poor countries from producing medicine cheaply for each other.

Uri Avnery describes three tense days in Ramallah, as Israeli human shields went to protect Yassir Arafat.

SunnComm, the company that used the Digital Millenium Copyright Act to threaten a student who explained how to read certain Corrupt Discs (that is, fake CDs) into a computer running Windows, decided not to sue him.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

However, I think the person who commended this company for "looking past the bottom line" misinterpreted the situation. I expect that SunnComm made this decision based entirely on the bottom line, realizing that such a suit would get them bad publicity while doing nothing to make their system more effective.

It should not be necessary for them to sue, to get bad publicity. SunnComm, and the record companies that use these methods, deserve bad publicity merely for trying to stop you from reading music disks into your computer.

I think that a useful way to push back on the record companies would be to start regularly picketing record stores, handing out leaflets explaining why people should refuse to buy Corrupt Discs, how the record companies treat musicians like dirt, etc. The leaflet could also list popular Corrupt Discs that the buyer should avoid buying.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

If you do this, even on your own, for an hour every few days or week, I think you will be able to recruit some of the passers-by to join the effort, and thus gradually increase the scope of the effort until you are doing it for maybe ten hours a week.

Now is a great time to start, since in two months you could expand the effort enough to cause real pressure on the store during the holiday selling season. Please email me if you do this--I think it will be useful to keep in touch, so as to perhaps organize a larger effort later.

A Palestinian suicide bomber destroyed a restaurant where Jews and Arabs ate together. (I've read elsewhere that some of the victims of the bombing were Arabs, too.) The restaurant was a small hope for peace, and an especially sad choice of target.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The Israeli "response", to attack a so-called terrorist camp in Syria which wasn't really one, clearly has nothing to do with the suicide bombing. The bombing provided an excuse for an attack on Syria that they had planned for other reasons, just as September 11 was the excuse for an attack on freedom that Bush and his men had planned for other reasons.

The Catholic Church is telling the public that condoms don't stop AIDS.

Some lies can kill.

The Philadelphia Daily News report on 20 important questions about the 9/11 attacks that Bush isn't helping us answer.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Michael Moore presented his list of 7 questions in the Guardian.
[Reference updated on 2018-09-04 because the old link was broken.]

Gore Vidal explains some of the warnings that the Bush administration received and ignored before 9/11, and some of the possible motives for doing so.

Ellen Mariani, whose husband was killed in the World Trade Center, is suing the US government for failing to maintain proper security.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Mark Twain's words for the Battle Hymn of the Republic are even more appropriate today.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The CPD, which runs the official presidential debates in the US, is run by people with close ties to major corporations and has a history of selling privileges to corporations for money.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Moscow's candidate wins election for president of Chechnya, after his main rivals were driven out of the race.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Amnesty International reports that the US-installed Afghan regime does not deliver justice and safety for the women of Afghanistan.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Trophy-hunters are killing so many African lions that the species is in danger
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The Russian government reported to the US government, some ten years ago, that Reagan & Bush were bidding against President Carter in 1980 to buy the support of Iranian hostage-takers.

The Burmese government is cutting down teak forests at a rapid rate that can exhaust them.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Although Global Witness declines to say "Don't import Burmese timber under any circumstances", that's what Aung San Suu Kyi says. Back when she could still communicate, she asked the rest of the world to impose complete economic sanctions and not import anything from Burma, because the military government gets the money to stay in power from its foreign trade.

The military government renamed Burma to "Myanmar" and Rangoon to "Yangon". Using the new names is a mark of respect for the military government, and supporters of the Burmese democracy movement reject them.

See the full report
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

A US court ruled that the FBI lied to judges to get thousands of search warrants after inviting them to download so-called child pornography.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Israeli soldiers closed off Bir Zeit university, then shot at students for no reason.

Iraqis rioted and fought with Bush troops and their Iraqi police, while saying they want Saddam back.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The occupation must be pretty bad if it makes Saddam look good.

The Digital Millenium Copyright Act is being used again to intimidate a student who published trivial instructions for how to bypass the copy-restriction software included in a fake CD.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

(Note the misleading description of the DVD-playing program DeCSS, which was censored under the DMCA, as "software code that helped in the process of copying DVDs." DeCSS can be used for copying, but its primary purpose is to enable you to watch the film.)

Copying music noncommercially should be legal for everyone. Laws that prohibit this are unjust concessions to predatory record companies, which mistreat the public and musicians alike.

The US is still trying to use the FTAA to impose such laws on the rest of the Western Hemisphere.

A pesticide plant in India is polluting its neighborhood and causing deaths.

Israel plans to continue increasing its colonies in the Palestinian west bank.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The Israeli settlements in the occupied territory were intended from the start as a plan for annexation of the occupied territory and preventing the creation of a viable Palestinian state alongside Israel. We can hardly expect Palestinians (or anyone) to sit still for the continuing theft of their land and water. If Israel wants the violence to end, it has to remove the settlements.

A European company recently announced that a year from now it will be making solar cells so cheap that they would make fossil fuel electric plants obsolete. If this is true, it would be a tremendous step forward for humanity, and could help reduce global warming even as it makes electricity available to billions of poor people.

But we must be skeptical whenever a business says it's going to do something in the future. It may really happen, or it may be an exaggeration. We should not take this for granted until we have more facts to go on.

The web site blackboxvoting.org, which describes the potential for fraud in electronic voting systems, was inexplicably kept inaccessible for 10 days leading up to the California recall election.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Questions are Raised on Awarding of Contracts in Iraq
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Bush officials ignored a Pentagon report that it would be hard to export oil from Iraq, and assured the US that this would be easy.

Bush supporter compares the estate tax with the holocaust.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The Public Library of Science is launching a new freely-redistributable biology journal, as part of its campaign to liberate access to scientific literature.

A Reclaim the Streets protest in Osaka criticized a new Japanese law restricting the freedom to assemble.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

If anyone can tell me more details of this attack on democratic freedom in Japan, I would like to post them here.

A scientific study says world oil and gas reserves are much smaller than was previously believed, so that the price is likely to start going up in about a decade.

This means there is no time to lose in converting to alternative power sources, or to more efficient ways of life. Europeans use far less energy per capita and still have comfortable lives, because they have oriented their society in this direction. The US could do it too, if it didn't have a president whose goal is to boost oil company profits.

Robin Cook, who resigned from the UK government in opposition to the war, reports that immediately before the war Tony Blair did not appear to believe his statements about the threat from Iraq.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The second meeting of the World Summit on the Information Society is planned for Tunisia--ominously, a country that has imposed tight political censorship on the internet.

For details, see the Tunisia section of this long report.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Global warming is killing so many people that it should be considered a weapon of mass destruction.

An unprecedented heat-wave in France this summer probably killed 10,000 people.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The main opponent of measures to reduce global warming is the US government. Apparently this weapon is being wielded by the US against the rest of the world.

Police have made a practice of forcing protesters to stand so far away from Dubya that he can't even see them.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Amina Lawal's conviction for adultery has been overturned; she had been sentenced to death under Islamic law. But the law itself continues to be active, and other women are threatened with execution.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Effects of putting the Israeli security wall in the wrong place.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The Bush forces have found no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and only small signs of programs that might someday have developed any.

Bush and Blair responded to this report by saying that it proves the justification for the war.

Apparently the reason for the war was that Saddam did not have dangerous weapons. If he had really had them, as North Korea does, that would be a reason not to attack.

The US bullied the government of Qatar into censoring Al Jazeera.

It is hard for freedom of the press to exist in a world where one country is too powerful.

Indonesia may soon prohibit living together, visiting a prostitute, advocating communism, and black magic.

Other articles say that gay sex and oral sex will be prohibited too.

The Palestine Monitor reports that Israeli fighters in Gaza shot 17-year-old Mohammad al-Husni as he walked past a checkpoint doing nothing in particular. Subsequently, as he lay on the ground wounded, they kept the ambulance away while shooting him again from time time. By the next morning he was dead from many wounds.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

This reports such extreme cruelty that I wondered if it might be exaggerated, so I contacted Gush Shalom to check. They said they have no way to check this particular story, but that they know the Palestine Monitor as a credible source.

The US government asked the Supreme Court to overturn California's clean air regulations. When there's a conflict between any state and Dubya's friends in the oil business, you know what side he's on.

French mother faces prosecution for granting her blind, paralyzed son's wish to die.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

In Project Censored's list of the top 25 censored stories in the US in 2003, first place goes to the story that Bush and his cronies planned the invasion of Iraq even before he lost the election.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Uri Avnery: what killing Arafat will lead to--and why Sharon wants it.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, who advocates harsh policies towards illegal immigrants, violated the terms of his visa when he first moved to the US, by working for a salary.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The UN has evacuated most non-Iraqi workers from Iraq, following several attacks against UN personnel there.

At this point, even if Bush (or his possible replacement) is willing to stop trying to turn Iraq into a colony and let the UN take control, the UN might be either unwilling or unable to take over. I don't know of any other force in Iran that might be able to do so, aside from religious groups. Ironically, thus, the effect of Bush's war may be to bring about a theocratic Iraq, just the sort that would be inclined to support terrorism against the US.

The longer the occupation goes on, the worse it will be afterwards.

One third of money spent by the Bush forces in Iraq goes to contractors--and much of it goes to Halliburton.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Blair's chief of staff intervened at the last minute to alter an intelligence report on Iraq, to give an impression that Iraq posed a threat to attack using chemical and biological weapons. Blair then used the altered report to justify the plan to attack Iraq.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

After 5 months of searching, the Bush forces have found no trace of such weapons.

The Muslim chaplain for prisoners at Guantanamo Bay has been accused of spying.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Americans: want more power blackouts? The Senate voted to eliminate the Space Environment Center, which forecasts "space weather" (I think they mean solar flares)--which sometimes knock out electric power transmission.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Carbon dioxide produced by burning of fossil fuels is getting into the ocean, and slowly making it more acidic.

The Bush forces raided an Iraqi farm with only civilians in it, started shooting for no obvious reason, called in air strikes, and killed several civilians.

A spokesman for the Bush forces calls the dead farmers "enemy dead".

British public discussion of GM crops yields almost total opposition, with people initially neutral becoming opposed as they learned more.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Large Arctic ice shelf has cracked due to climate change.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Many Arctic and Antarctic ice shelves have disappeared. Since they were floating on the ocean, this did not change global sea level. But we have no way of knowing at what point this will affect ice caps on Greenland and Antarctica. If a substantial part of them melts, the ocean will rise--maybe a few feet, maybe hundreds of feet. The usual prediction is for a rise of several feet.

The US government doesn't seem to recognize the danger. The new federal court house in Boston was built just a few feet above the water of the harbor. It was probably built to last for many decades, but it could have to be abandoned.

The House of Representatives appropriated $368 billion for Pentagon, including development of new weapons of mass destruction, expensive new fighter planes for aerial combat against a nonexistent enemy air force, submarines to attack a nonexistent enemy navy, and spying on Dubya's real enemy: US citizens who disagree with the government.

Six weeks after insisting the U. S. had "sufficient force to do what is required" in Iraq, the Bush Administration admitted yesterday more reservists likely will be sent to the frontlines.

An Iraqi whose family has suffered under the Saddam regime and the Bush regime has made a careful estimate of Iraqi civilian casualties due to the war: around 37,000. The total population of Iraq is around 23 million, so this is almost .2% of the population.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

For comparison, US casualties in the entire decade of the Viet Nam war were only a little larger (55000), and came from a total population about ten times bigger.

Ashcroft, praising the pat-riot act in New York, was met by protesters including relatives of those killed in the 9/11 attack.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Bush/Cheney campaign slogans.

27 Israeli army pilots, some active and some in the reserves, including a former general, have signed a statement refusing to attack populated areas in the occupied territories.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

These pilots are defending what I was taught in the 1960s was the spirit of Israel.

By the way, I've seen how narrow Israel is at its narrowest point, and I still don't believe that Israel's safety requires taking the Palestinian's remaining land. Israel survived almost 20 years within its 1967 borders even though all the major Arab countries vowed war. Living alongside a Palestine not allowed to have an air force, in a future where none of these countries wants a war, Israel and Israelis would be much safer than they are now.

The poetry professor who wrote about his arrest for "walking while black" was falsely arrested again, and accused of being a terrorist and insane.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

His article shows how the jails in New York regularly break their own rules in mistreating arrested people.

Cheney lies about his continued income from Halliburton.

A Jewish peace activist was beaten, and then arrested, for throwing a kosher pie at an Israeli government minister who was visiting the US.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Bush puts Iraq up for sale.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice both admitted in 2001 that Saddam Hussein was no threat. After 9/11 offered an opportunity to attack Iraq, they turned around and said the opposite.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Elections appear to have been rigged in several states of the US using electronic voting machines. This casts doubt on the possibility of an honest election in 2004.

What it's like in the Bush forces in Iraq today.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

A thorough analysis of why the Cancun WTO negotiation collapsed.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The reasons presented here, manipulation of the negotiations behind closed doors by the richest countries, is a good reason for other delegates to walk out, but it is not the deepest reason to reject the WTO.

Bush is increasingly criticized from the US military and military families for foolish planning about the occupation of Iraq.

But note that the beginning of the article is somewhat mistaken: Bush really owes his presidency to the disenfranchisement of some 50,000 voters in Florida who were falsely labeled as felons.

Bush visits a power plant and praises it as a model of clean generation, at the same time he propose policies so that it can continue to pollute.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The Campaign Against Prison Slavery aims to put an end to the use of prisoners as slave labor to produce consumer products.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

When prisoners can be paid next to nothing to produce goods, it is hard for people outside prison to get paid any more than that. Unable to get work, they tend to end up in prison too, thus increasing the size of the population available for slave labor.

The former speaker of the Israeli parliament says: Israel must shed its illusions and choose between racist oppression and democracy.

Business-dominated globalization is reaching its natural conclusion as all kinds of good jobs are outsourced from the US to places where people will work for peanuts and are treated like slaves.

At that point, either the masses of unemployed will elect politicians that will abolish the WTO and rein in the corporations, or they will be permanently disenfranchised.

Over 500 members of the Israeli armed forces have put their names down as refusing to participate in the occupation, on the grounds that it violates the principles of Israel and it armed forces.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

A group of Israeli fighter pilots is planning to refuse to carry out non-military assassination missions.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Seattle voters approved a ballot resolution to give punishment of marijuana possession the lowest priority for the city's police.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Critics called this a "veiled" attempt to condone use of marijuana. I don't think it was veiled, but it was not explicit. I suspect that the reason it was not more explicit was to make it have some tangible effect at the city level. Since the prohibition of marijuana is a state law, a city ordinance cannot override or invalidate it; what the city can in principle do is reduce its cooperation in arresting violators of that law.

Some states are changing their laws to allow doctors to treat chronic pain without being imprisoned.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Salmon may be polluting Alaska's lakes--because humans have polluted the whole ocean.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The World Trade Organization negotiations broke down after poor countries refused the demands of the US and EU to give corporations more power.

Note how the article begins with a quote from an Australian who claims that the poor countries acted "against their national interest", but the concept of "national interest" (typically measured by the total amount of trade or production) is of little relevance to today's trade issues. WTO is designed to increase the power of global corporation, while turning production (whichever country it may be in) into sweatshops. It is "good for the global economy" only if "good" means more millionaires and lower wages, world wide. In every country, including the US, most people stand to lose.

A Korean farm activist leader committed suicide as a protest.

The talks broke down because the poor countries united and thus gained the strength to resist US demands.

I'm glad to see the poor countries unite, but if they give increased agricultural exports higher priority than defending their sovereignty against corporate rule, their new-found strength will be wasted. No agreement at all is a pretty good outcome for these talks; but even better would be less than no agreement: for a large number of countries to leave the WTO, and abolish it.

President Chavez of Venezuela said he specifically aims for that goal.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Note how the article absurdly compares this policy (not too different from what was followed in US a few decades ago) to Cuban Communism, which is completely different.

Hans Blix, formerly chief UN weapons inspector, says that Saddam Hussein destroyed his weapons of mass destruction ten years ago, and suggests that he blocked inspectors' access several years ago to give the impression he still had some, as a deterrent to attack.

This would explain why Iraq started cooperating with UN weapons inspectors once Saddam realized Bush would use the noncooperation as grounds to attack Iraq. Unfortunately, as we have seen, this was just an excuse for Bush, since the decision to attack Iraq had already been made, weapons of mass destruction or no.

CNN journalist says there was a climate of censorship regarding the war.

At least 30 policemen and other officials who participated in the attack on sleeping protesters in Genoa are now being prosecuted for it.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

One aspect of this article is not clear to me. When it says that some people have been notified that "investigations have been closed", does that mean those people will not be charged, or that they have been charged?

Wesley Clark expressed some reservations about the invasion of Iraq, but came around to support it.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

A site that details how Bush has misled the public.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

A moment of silence...or more than one?
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Michael Moore says positive things about Wesley Clark as a candidate for president.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

I continue supporting Kucinich, but I could consider Clark as a second choice.

NASA is searching for asteroids over 1km in diameter that might hit the Earth. Now there is a plan for a follow-on program to find nearly all asteroids 140 meters across.

Although the chance of an asteroid impact in any year is less than 0.01 percent, the damage one would cause is tremendous. Thus, the average rate of loss due to asteroid impacts is at least millions of dollars a year. (I think it is more like hundreds of millions per year, but I don't remember--please send me the figure and a reference if you can find it.) Even on the narrowest financial criteria, it is worth spending money to find these asteroids, so that we learn about any coming collision with enough advance notice to shift the asteroid's course and prevent it.

A prominent Egyptian archaeologist is planning experiments to see if there is actually anything potentially dangerous in ancient Egyptian tombs, in an attempt to refute a widespread supersition.

I've read that nothing in Tutankhamun's tomb spoke of cursing those who might enter it, and the people who excavated it mostly did not die soon after.

Uri Avneri and other Israelis volunteered as human shields for Arafat, after the Israeli government said it plans to "remove" him. They pointed out that "remove" could easily mean "assassinate".
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Subsequently some Israeli officials spoke in favor of an assassination, which means Avneri was right.

Some 700 species of vertebrates are close to extinction and not protected at all. Another 900 species (it's not clear whether these include only vertebrates) are being protected, but in areas too small to give them a good chance of survival.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

This doesn't count the invertebrates and plants that are endangered too. The number of those species must be at least in the tens of thousands.

I don't know whether the 700 include sharks, but sharks in the North Atlantic have been nearly wiped out.
[Reference updated on 2018-09-04 because the old link was broken.]

How "pacification" operated in Viet Nam, and how its failure has lessons for Iraq.

How the corporate media gently buys the independent heart of journalists.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Failed Israeli assassination attempt ensures Hamas will reject peace.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Al Jazeera has protested that the Bush forces arrest and shoot at its correspondents.

The Bush forces in Iraq have closed at least five newspapers. In July they closed Al-Mustaqilla ("the independent"), taking its money and computers, and arresting its chairman. They did not say why.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

If you can tell me what happened since then, I will post it here.

Two senior UK intelligence officials accuse Tony Blair of distorting intelligence about Iraq to justify a war.

In addition, UK intelligence warned that attacking Iraq could increase the danger of terrorism. When Blair said that the war would protect against terrorism, he was disregarding his own spies' advice.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Here's analysis of how the "war on terror" is being conducted in ways that increase the danger of terrorism.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Another Blair, Eric Blair, might wonder if this is no accident--if the people who run the "war on terror" want to ensure that the need for this war never goes away.

Bush resignation hailed by world leaders. (Not.)
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Information about the corporations that are pushing for genetically modified crops.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

A University of Massachusetts policeman first pushed Professor Van Der Meer, then when he objected to that, attacked him and arrested him for "assaulting an officer". This occurred after Professor Van Der Meer objected because an army recruiter told the professor and a protesting student that they should be shot in the head like Martin Luther King.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Making false accusations against citizens with is standard practice for police, which is why some of them coined the term "testilying" to describe what they do in court. What's especially outrageous is that the chief of the campus police is defending the practice. He should be fired, and replaced by someone who will charge the policeman with battery.

How concentrated are the world's media? As of 1997, just 9 companies dominated the world. Some details may have changed (and I'd like to see an updated version of this report), but the basic picture is surely the same.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

US gets low grade for freedom of the press
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Before the war in Iraq, the Bush forces threatened independent journalists that it would kill them.

This has happened several times. Just a few weeks ago, the Bush forces shot and killed a journalist. Of course, the generals said it was a tragic accident, but other journalists in the TV crew said the killer knew they were all journalists.

A senate committee voted for rolling back the FCC's media concentration policy.

But since Bush favors the policy (his administration pushed for it), he is going to try to convince the full senate to defeat it. Your senators need to hear from you now.

What useful jobs could we do with 87 billion dollars?
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

A coalition of civil liberties and consumer groups opposes a new proposed directive for stricter punishment for copyright and patent infringement.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

I agree with what they say, but the statement accepts too much that it ought to criticize. EU law is already too restrictive, and simply to prevent further changes is not enough. It is wrong to stop people from sharing music and other published works, and only draconian laws could possibly do the job, so it's no surprise to see they are being proposed. But opposing this directive without criticizing its unjust motivation is insufficient. Even using the term "intellectual property" is a point of weakness, because this is a propaganda term for those who want to restrict the public.

An extremist Bush appointee for federal appeals court judge has withdrawn his name, after seeing that Democrats in the Senate were resolved to oppose his nomination.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The Kabul government demolishes houses, Palestine-style, with the families' possessions still inside.

Medical tests carried out on thousands of people who worked at the WTC site after 9/11 find that almost half now have lasting health problems.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

If half of the tens of thousands of people who were in the area have similar health problems, Bush's order to the EPA to conceal the danger has permanently injured far more people than were killed by the terrorists.

Corporations have been running a decades-long propaganda campaign to get the public to take for granted certain corporate-friendly assumptions.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

UK police saw a car hit a protester, then summoned the protester but let the driver go.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

A former British cabinet minister under Tony Blair charges that the "War on Terrorism" pursued by his own government and the US government is bogus, that 9/11 was used as a pretext for expansionist plans laid in advance.

The government of Turkmenistan is arresting dissidents, and even the family of dissidents, and sentencing them to forced relocation without trial.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Turkmenistan's president Niyazov rejected the title of "president for life" that his obviously subservient legislature offered him, choosing instead to express his megalomania by having the month of January renamed in his honor.

Bush's Iraq "governing council" appoints ministers--but even many of those invited to join the council consider it a puppet.

Drug companies, helped by the US government are trying to weaken doctors' ethical standards.

Israelis, Palestinians and visiting foreigners have together rebuilt a house that has been demolished by Israeli forces.

ICAHD works in various ways against the Israeli system of collective punishment by house demolishion.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

A US court restricted the use of a new sonar system whose extremely strong beams are dangerous to whales and fish.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

This is a victory for environmental movement. However, Republicans are trying to give the military a blanket exemption from environmental protection laws, so that it can freely endanger not just whales and fish, but also the civilians it claims to protect.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The Burma Campaign publishes a "dirty list" of companies that do business in Burma, against the wishes of the Burmese democracy movement and its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, who is now reported to be on hunger strike. Companies that do business in Burma are a major pillar of support for the military government, while the workers get next to nothing.

Some of the companies that were criticized are now starting to pull out from Burma.

Two of the companies that make voting machines in the US have close ties with Bush--and there is evidence that one of them has a secret illegal back door into the machines.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Bush told the EPA not to warn New Yorkers about the danger from the fumes, chemicals and asbestos in the air around the burning World Trade Center. The eventual casualties from this callous decision may be numerous.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The latest news on figuring out why the US was unprepared for 9/11.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The murder of a Shiite cleric who cooperated with the Bush forces is variously being blamed on Saddam Hussein loyalists and Al Qa'ida. A tape purporting to come from Saddam Hussein says he did not do it. Whoever did it, it will tend to cause problems for the Bush forces.

An Alaska court has overturned the law against possession of marijuana.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The EPA ruled that it cannot regulate carbon dioxide emissions, twisting the law to suit the corporations that the US government normally works for.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Here is a proposal for how to establish democracy in Iraq that at least tries to take account of the difficulties of the situation. http://troydavis.blogspot.com

While Exxon-Mobil says that it takes the threat of global warming seriously, it is funding several organizations that oppose efforts to slow down global warming.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

US citizens: through the Union of Concerned Scientists, you can send mail to your senators to urge support for the Climate Stewardship Act.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Also, ask the senate to reject a plan to delay regulations to clean up car exhaust and reduce smog.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Mussolini, who originated fascism, defined it as "the merger of state and corporate power." The US government still formally operates as a democracy, but in practice, it fits Mussolini's definition pretty well.

Blair admits he was responsible for releasing Dr Kelly's name to the public--and that he previously lied about this.

Almost 10 Americans per day are being wounded in action, while serving in Iraq as part of the Bush forces.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The Bush spokesmen are trying to distract attention from this by not talking about it.

Bush is considering a plan to mortgage Iraqi oil--which is effectively equivalent to seizing it outright.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

"Finally, a candidate who can explain the Bush administration's positions on civil liberties in the original German."

---Bill Maher, on Arnold Schwarzenegger

The city of Tampa, Florida has scrapped its face-recognition software. But the officials say it's because the system didn't work, not out of concern for the dangers of government surveillance.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

In other words, this initiative for orwellian total surveillance may have failed, but governments in the US and elsewhere will keep trying.

The right-wingers who castigated Clinton for having sex with a willing intern are now supporting Arnold Schwarzeneger for governor of California, disregarding his history of trying to pressure unwilling women into sex.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Either this is a double standard, or what they dislike about Clinton is that he asked.

The same article also discloses that Schwarzeneger has been considering a political carrer since the 70s, contrary to some of his recent statements.

The US government has been fighting for years, on behalf of the big pharmaceutical companies, to stop poor countries from making cheap medicines that their citizens can afford. However, step by step it has been forced back. Its first concession was to allow poor countries to make medicine for their own use, but many poor countries have no facilities to do it, and the US has since been fighting to stop poor countries from selling cheap medicines to other poor countries.

Now the US has agreed to a compromise allowing poor countries to make cheap medicine for each other, but problems remain: the compromise imposes bureaucracy that Oxfam says will be disastrous.

The Canadian government has begun selling marijuana to medical patients who need it. They no longer have to buy it on the street.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Bush is abusing financial audits to punish an HIV prevention organization for oppositing Bush policies.

A Russian TV magnate who is an enemy of President Putin has been arrested in Greece.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

It would not surprise me if he is guilty of some corrupt practices. At the same time, it is dangerous that Putin has essentially eliminated all independent TV in Russia.

A Palestinian suicide bombing and an Israeli missile attack torpedoed the cease-fire.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Uri Avneri explains how Sharon arranged for something like this to happen.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Bush plans to appoint a strong supporter of increased pollution to head the EPA.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Bush plans to let electric generators increase pollution.

The New York Times published a prominent story saying that more deregulation is the way to prevent the power blackouts caused by past deregulation.

They did not say that the many of experts cited in the story work for, represent or own the electric companies that caused the problem.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Shiites in the Baghdad suburb of Sadr City demanded that Bush forces leave the area. This follows a gunfight that broke out between a large number of protesters and the Bush forces there.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

If you know what happened there subsequently, please send me mail.

The Burma Campaign UK has published a " dirty list" of companies that have invested in Burma. Aung San Suu Kyi, who was elected president in Burma but prevented by the generals from taking office, asks all countries to impose trade sanctions, and asks people to penalize companies that do business there. (All businesses operating in Burma must provide money to the dictators.)
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

They have also published a " clean list" of companies that stopped doing business in Burma.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Other reports say that some of the companies in the dirty list are already cutting their ties with Burma.

The Blair administration changed its statements about Iraq at the last minute, distorting them to support the goal of war against Iraq.
[Reference updated on 2018-09-06 because the old link was broken.]

An intelligence officer in the UK was complaining about this distortion as early as September 2002.

How the US twists and disregards international treaties: rogues, as defined arbitrarily by the US, have no right to self-defense.

25 civilians per day are being shot in Baghdad. Some are being killed by the Bush forces, and others in battles with robbers.

It is almost 3 months since Dubya declared victory. If this rate of killing keeps up for a year, it will add up to 9000 murders per year.

New York Times journalist Judith Miller appears to have beeen systematically planting falsehoods to help Dubya's policies.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Amina Lawal, who was sentenced to death by stoning for having sex while not married, is having an appeal.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The appeal may save Amina from execution, but will not cure the root cause of the problem: sharia law. This barbaric cruelty should not be tolerated anywhere.

Bush has targeted African oil now.

We can expect Bush to arrange for his friends in the oil business to make most of the money off the oil extracted from Africa, while the people of the countries the oil comes from remain poor (and get flooded by global warming).

Increased local generating capacity is a way to reduce the danger of catastrophic failures of the power grid.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

One of the causes of the blackout was that many nuclear power plants shut down. Reportedly they shut down automatically after losing power.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Since these plants generate electricity, I am not sure how they can "lose power" while still operating. Does anyone understand what's going on here? Also, if they need for some reason to have an external source of power available, why don't they have backup generators to do that job?

Dennis Kucinich, who is now running for president, started his political career by opposing privatization of electric power in Cleveland. If you were blacked out last week, vote for Kucinich!
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Sabotage of oil pipelines is preventing the Bush forces from exporting Iraqi oil to pay for the occupation.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Iraqis bombed the UN compound in Baghdad, perhaps in an attempt to make the UN refuse to participate in the occupation.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Iraqis who support Saddam Hussein, if there are any, would not have done this, and neither would Iraqis who just want Bush out of their country. The UN refused to authorize Bush's war, and the UN could possibly offer Bush an easier way withdraw from Iraq; those Iraqis would want to invite the UN in, not scare it away. So I can only suppose it was done by religious fanatics, whose goal is to defeat the whole West rather than to kick Bush out.

So I think that Bush's dishonest and unnecessary war will turn out to be a disaster in terms of encouraging terrorism. A disaster for Americans, that is. Bush, on the other hand, may find it useful, since he could point to the danger of terrorism to excuse further attacks on freedom in the US.

Mergers, deregulation, and blackouts: the causes of the Northeast power failure fall on Bush administration policies.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

US companies are using foreign visa programs to bring foreign workers to the US at a time when many in the US, in high tech fields, are unemployed. It's a convenient way to move jobs permanently so they can pay their workers less.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

EFF founder (and free software contributor) John Gilmore was kicked off a plane for wearing a button saying "Suspected Terrorist".

His point is that in the US today everyone is treated as a suspected terrorist, and no particular justification is needed.

Gilmore is also suing the government and airlines to abolish the requirement for airline passengers to show identification. I think he's doing this also for trains and buses. (I don't ride Amtrak because they demand ID before selling a ticket.)

If you do e-commerce (which I don't, because I don't like the fact that it isn't anonymous), you can get your own "Suspected Terrorist" button from here.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

I partly disagree with Gilmore--I think that searching air travelers for weapons is legitimate, and that even if the searches are just 80% reliable (say), that would be enough to put a crimp in plans to hijack a plane that way.

Cheney is being paid a million dollars a year by Halliburton, and is aiding his former company in various corrupt ways.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Thorough scientific studies show astrology is completely false.

The study of the lives of people who born at the same time and place is noteworthy because changing the details of the astrological system cannot rescue it. Any system that claims people's lives or personalities depend on the time and place of birth, regardless of the details, must be false.

The study which asked astrologers to match people with their charts is noteworthy because it shows that whatever inchoate knowledge astrologers possess does not help.

How the USA PATRIOT act and the Homeland Security Act have laid unprecedented groundwork for a police state in the US.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Argentina has overturned a law that shielded the military government's torturers and murderers.

The US senate is considering a plan to bail out companies that owe damages to asbestos victims--at taxpayer expense. Halliburton, which is Vice President Cheney's former company, would receive a $3.5 billion handout.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

An interview with Sherman Austin, who has been imprisoned for the contents of his web site.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

"The Anarchist's Cookbook" used to be easily available in print. I wonder if it still is.

Many Bush appointees are the subjects of ethics probes for their links with industry.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

In Afghanistan, the Taliban are getting stronger again.

The Zapatistas in Chiapas have formalized an end to armed conflict with the Mexican government, and unilaterally implemented the unratified accords which gave them local autonomy.

For years, Voices in the Wilderness delivered food and medicine to Iraq, violating US sanctions. Bush is trying to fine them for that.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

You can sign the petition against this prosecution.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Voices in the Wilderness plans to continue delivering food and medicine to Iraq, despite the state of emergency which Bush recently renewed.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

I guess Bush-style "freedom and democracy" does not include eating.

Bush planned to express his support for his troops in Iraq by cutting their pay.

Over the last 30 years, controls on carbon monoxide emissions have saved 11,000 lives in the US. That equals almost 4 September 11 attacks.

Police in Dublin aided an illegal eviction of squatters carried out by men with no identification or legal grounds for an eviction.

Dublin, like many other cities, has a shortage of housing.

The General Agreement on Trade in Services is a treaty designed by corporations to pressure governments into privatization of water, schools, etc., and prohibit them from undoing it when the people object.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

"We now know that the EU, with the agreement of the UK Government, has chosen to target working state and not-for profit service provision, for submission to the ultra free-market rules of this agreement. This is most notably in water but they have also made extensive demands for access to energy, transport and telecommunications markets in poor countries. In some cases they are targeting countries where European companies have actually already been booted out by the government or by public protest."

The lawyer for British citizens held by Bush in Guantanamo threatens to boycott their military kangaroo court to protest its unfairness. She has not been allowed to speak with the defendants she is supposed to represent.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

A psychological study identifies neuroses that can lead to conservative political views.
[Reference updated on 2018-09-06 because the old link was broken.]

A thorough analysis of what is known or reported about what Bush and Norad were doing on September 11 shows many contradictions among the reports.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

In February, Colin Powell made a speech at the UN with a long list of accusations against Saddam Hussein, meant to justify the war. Comparing them now against the facts, most can be seen to have been false.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The Bush forces in Iraq were attacked, and then shot randomly at civilians.

An article argues that the Israeli security wall is a non-issue, a distraction from the fact that the leaders on both sides do not try to achieve peace, and that the US doesn't really care.

I think he is right that there are deeper issues than the wall. But when the wall cuts people off from their farmland or from other towns, that is a real issue.

There is evidence that CIA director Tenet knew before 9-11 that attacks with airliners were likely, and told Bush before 9-11 also.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

A new web site tracks Dubya's special-interest campaign contributions.

German police attacked protesters near Cologne, who were planning to protest against a neo-Nazi march.

An article from 2001 reported that the US deployed tactical nuclear weapons near Afghanistan and was prepared to be the first to use them.

A racist Israeli law prohibits Israel-Palestinian married couples from living together--either in Israel or in Palestine.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Meanwhile, Israeli settlements in the West Bank have taken most of the available water. Now Palestinians find it hard to get water to drink or wash.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The number of homeless and hungry people in the US is increasing, as 30% of the population is close to poverty. At the same time, cities that find homeless people to be ugly and inconvenient for the wealthy are adopting laws to punish the homeless people and drive them away. (Where will they go? To the cemetary?)

I've been expecting this result from the Reagan/Clinton economic policies, including treaties such as GATT and NAFTA that were designed to drive wages down. Instead of making things worse with the FTAA, the US should repudiate GATT and NAFTA.

Depleted uranium munitions are causing severe illness and death for thousands--including US veterans, civilians in the US, and civilians in countries where US forces have fought, such as Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Americans: the primary purpose of the US army is to defend our country from attack. Do you want it to pollute the US permanently by doing so? Wouldn't you rather it get rid of these DU munitions, so it won't have to destroy the country in order to "save" it?

Niger-Iraq whistleblower accuses Bush of "dirty tricks" campaign.

A thorough sonar survey of Loch Ness shows there isn't any monster in the lake.

When the US overthrew the democratic government of Mossadegh in Iran, it laid the groundwork for the 9/11 attacks.

As a result, when the US government talks about promoting democracy in the Middle East, it is hard for anyone there to take this seriously.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

90% of the loggerhead turtles population in Queensland, Australia disappeared between 1976 and 1997, largely due to pollution. Only 300 remain.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Australia has started a program to protect them. These programs sometimes work but are far from certain.

An FBI agent framed several NASA employees for corruption charges in 1992, says another agent who wants to clear his conscience. He also says that the FBI's leadership knew about it.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Al Gore, from whom one might not have expected it, made a hart-hitting speech accusing Bush of thoroughgoing dishonesty and hostility to democracy.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

An Iraqi weapons scientist who tried to cooperate with the US is being held under arrest in Kuwait because his information was not what Bush wanted to hear.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The Bush forces are subjecting prisoners in Iraq to torture and inhuman cruelty. Some were found looting, some are political prisoners, and some were arrested just for being in the wrong place.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The Transportation Security Agency admits having a list of non-criminals to search and harrass at airports--a list that is known to include American political activists with no connection to terrorism.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

A Bush executive order gives oil companies operating in Iraq legal immunity from a wide variety of lawsuits, including for violating the human rights of civilians.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Farmed salmon has high levels of toxic PCBs, which they get from the fish they eat.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

With California's peculiar recall law, if the voters vote the same way as they did in the last election, Governor Davis will be replaced by another candidate who gets fewer votes.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The victory preventing a home in Qalquliya from being made into a "security area", so that its residents are forbidden to go out the door, was short-lived. Here's more information from Gush Shalom.

The cost of "rebuilding" (and occupying) Iraq is increasing, and the idea of using oil to pay for it is not working out.

Israeli peace activists blocked the building of the separation wall through the Amer family's front yard. If the wall is built, they will be forbidden to leave their house without an army permit.

I just listened to a radio discussion about the Pentagon's canceled plan to establish a futures market for predictions about political developments in the Middle East. The person who set up this research project said it would be a way the US might add a little to its intelligence about the region.

The absurd thing is that this is just a side issue. The best way the US can improve its intelligence about the Middle East is to stop Bush from distorting it by "cherry-picking" the reports that supports the conclusions he prefers.

Attacks against the Bush forces in Iraq are running at 10 to 20 per day. On July 27 they once again fired at protesting Iraqis.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The Economist condemns the Bush plan for military trials instead of real courts.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Bush is pushing a plan for a pipeline in Peru that would enrich his cronies while endangering the ecosystem.
[Reference updated on 2018-09-06 because the old link was broken.]

Here's a joke I received in the mail:

Attorney General John Ashcroft visited an elementary school to give a civics presentation. After he finished, he asked the young boys and girls, "Are there any questions?"

Bobby raised his hand and said, "I have three questions. How did Bush win the election with fewer votes than Gore? Are you using the Patriot Act to limit civil liberties? And why haven't you caught Osama bin Laden yet?"

Just then, the bell rang and the teacher announced it was recess. Half an hour later, the children returned. Ashcroft said, "Let's start where we left off. Are there any more questions?"

A girl raised her hand and asked, "Is it really legal to hold suspected terrorists without letting them talk to attorneys? Why did the recess bell go off 10 minutes early? And where did Bobby go?"

British troops occupying Basra are not facing guerrilla war--not much, at least--but the city is still in violent chaos with no sort of civil authority.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

A tetanus vaccine used in the Philippines also contained substances that might make women infertile, according to the Philippine Medical Association.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

I see a couple of loose ends in the suggestion that this was a deliberate plan to test a vaccine against pregnancy. For one thing, if only 20% of the samples include the contaminant that might prevent pregnancy, the experiment would not be very effective. Why did they not put it in 100%? Second, if someone has a vaccine that really works to prevent pregnancy, why not test it openly and honestly? There are plenty of women who get sterilized because they don't want more children, and many might be glad to try a non-surgical method.

Human Rights Watch reports that the warlords who rule most of Afghanistan are behaving cruelly, and in particular stopping girls from going to school, destroying one of the gains that resulted from the US invasion.

Violent chaos is spreading in Iraq, as Bush claims of restoring a functioning society turn out to be window dressing.

40 Bush lies listed and debunked.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

US corporations are still overestimating their earnings despite insufficient post-Enron reforms.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Dick Cheney's believe it or not.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Iraqis say (Bush) troops are too eager to shoot, and kill harmless civilians.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

A raid meant to kill Saddam Hussein killed many civilians instead.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The start of the deportation hearing for Amer Jubran, a Palestinian human rights activist in the US, was marked by unfair conduct by the judge.

Previously the government tried intimidating witnesses for the defense.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Bush forces turn a raid to capture Saddam into a massacre of civilians.

Project Censored lists the 25 most important buried news stories of 2001-2002.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Bush has denied and obstructed access by the 9/11 inquiry to many different kinds of crucial information.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The inquiry's delayed report shows that either the Bush White House knew about the potential of terrorists flying airplanes into skyscrapers, or the CIA (which did know) failed to tell the White House. But which? Some of the documents Bush refused to show to the inquiry would have shown which.

There is a strange correlation between falls in Bush's poll ratings and terror alerts--suggesting that the real purpose of these terror alerts is only to manipulate public opinion.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The Israeli Army has a tradition of applying the highest standards to itself, but due to the prolonged occupation these standards have turned into hypocrasy. Palestinial children are frequently shot even when there is no fighting going on, and then the army denies the facts.

US colonel takes family of Iraqi general hostage. This is a war crime, according to treaties the US has signed.

Greek lawyers have taken a case against Tony Blair to the International Criminal Court for war crimes against Iraqi civilians.

Dubya is accused of delaying a congressional report on 9/11 because it mentioned the fact that there was no link to Iraq.

White House vs CIA: who is telling the truth?
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Mugabe's supporters are wiping out wildlife in preserves in Zimbabwe.

Scientists in the UK report that there is no knowledge about how use of genetically modified crops might affect wildlife. The danger is that the use of high-power weed killers with crops engineered to be immune to them could wipe out wild plants and the animals that depend on them.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Scott Ritter (former UN weapons inspector) says that the UK has had a special group to produce distorted intelligence reports about Iraq ever since 1991.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Condoleezza Rice has been proved to be either incompetent or dishonest in handling the fraudulent Iraq-Niger uranium evidence. She was also telling people in the government back in July 2002 that the decision to attack Iraq had already been made. This confirms the impression we had that all the "evidence" and "reasons" were just for show.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Dick Cheney is also facing accusations of deceiving the public and distorting the intelligence system, from Melvin Goodman, a former CIA agent.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

As Japan presses for an increase in hunting of whales, it turns out there is so little demand for whale meat in Japan that it's being used for dogfood.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

24 deceptions in 704 words: analyzing Dubya's 2003 State of the Union address.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

A Coke plant in India sucks so much water out of the ground that local people's wells have run dry. They can't afford to buy the bottled drinking water that coke sells.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The Coca Cola plant has tried to help local farmers by providing some of its wastes for them to use as fertilizer. Unfortunately it contains toxic metals including lead.

Russia is trying to extradite a Chechen exile from the UK, claiming that he is a "terrorist". Now it turns out that a main Russian witness was tortured by the Russians and forced to lie.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Officials in the US are trying to prevent a meeting of the Palestinian Solidarity Movement.

The UK human rights group Liberty says that UK police in 2003 repeatedly used "anti-terrorism" laws to crush protests.

See this [pdf]. Note that each "page" of that file contains two side-by-side pages of the report.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The Bush administration is offering corporate criminals plea bargains so that they can escape real punishment for their crimes.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

"Designer clothes" made by the inmates of a Berlin prison are being bought by many Europeans who consider them chic.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The article reveals that the inmates make only 12.5 euros per day, around 15 dollars. Do the purchasers of these clothes really want to buy from sweatshops?

I believe there are treaties against exporting goods made by prison labor; it could be useful for people in Germany to study whether the export of these clothes violates them.

How schools in New York pressure pregnant students to drop out.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The Bush forces in Iraq are arresting people, even people who opposed Saddam, without paying much attention to guilt or innocence, without notifying their relatives or their nations' consulates. And some of the prisoners are being tortured in various ways.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

This isn't as bad as what Saddam did, but it's getting there. Just give them time to establish some military "courts" and we may see executions as well.

Meanwhile, it seems that Saddam's sons were killed by the Bush forces. I have no sympathy for them, since from all reports they were nasty tyrants, but I don't think their death is going to alter Iraqi resentment towards the occupying forces.

Sharon knows he must publicly give the appearance of cooperating with Bush's roadmap for peace, but his real actions give the Palestinians next to nothing in exchange for their cease fire. It's only a matter of time before they decide that the cease fire is a failure.

Israel used to say that it needed true peace with Arab countries, not just peace in name. Now the Palestinians need real peace with Israel, not just peace in name.

Bush made a public statement that Saddam Hussein had refused to admit UN weapons inspectors.

"The larger point is, and the fundamental question is, did Saddam Hussein have a weapons program? And the answer is, absolutely. And we gave him a chance to allow the inspectors in, and he wouldn't let them in."

As we all know, that's not true. Either Bush is an extremely audacious liar, or he is good at creating a fantasy world which he then believes.

More evidence that his administration has a high capacity for self delusion is the fact that the Bush forces made no real plans for what to do in Iraq after the war. They expected to be welcomed as liberators and to install Challabi to rule for them. When it became clear that wouldn't work, they were at a loss.

The Association of Civil Rights in Israel accused the Israeli government of an effort to " undermine the foundations of democracy" in Isreal.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

A New Deck of Cards: Operation Hidden Agenda.
[Reference updated on 2018-09-06 because the old link was broken.]

Israel is about to deport eight international peace activists, in an attempt to crush nonviolent resistance to the occupation.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Coral reefs in the Carribean are 80% dead, due to human activity.

As the US tramples human rights in its little piece of Cuba, and proposes to impose severe punishmemts without real trials, the Castro regime is doing likewise in the rest of Cuba.

And the Castro regime cites the US to say "We're not so bad".
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Isn't it a shame that Bush has lowered the US to a level where Castro can point to it for this purpose?

A Canadian journalist in Iran, who was arrested just for taking pictures of a prison, died while in custody from a blow to the head.
[Reference updated on 2018-09-06 because the old link was broken.]

David Kelly, the inside source who told the BBC that Blair's administration had exaggerated its claims about Saddam Hussein's supposed weapons of mass destruction, appears to have killed himself. Before he died he blamed the government, not the BBC, for making his role public.

Some people are speculating that Kelly was murdered, because of the absence of any suicide note. However, his family seem to believe it was suicide.

Although the cease-fire has brought an end to suicide bombings in Israel, Israeli troops continue acts of terror against Palestinians.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The so-called "worst of the worst", imprisoned without trial by Bush in Guantanamo Bay, include three children of ages 13 to 15.

The US government is developing systems for tracking your movements everywhere, by car or by foot.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Award-winning journalists report on the extent of corporate censorship in US news media.

An article argues that Americans have realized all along that Bush & co are deceiving them, but they want to be deceived.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

A major newspaper in Belarus has been shut for three months for criticizing the government.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Censorship is not limited to Belarus. Simon Shaw was arrested in Edinburgh for displaying "Fuck Bush" and a swastika on an upside-down American flag.

Shaw is not a Nazi; rather he was comparing Bush to a Nazi. But he was perversely accused of "inciting racial hatred". There is a campaign to support him by sending "Fuck Bush" postcards to the police who arrested him, and to display signs at his trial.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

I must confess I feel somewhat uncomfortable with that slogan. I'd rather not describe what I feel about Dubya using a word that refers to making love.

Zacharias Moussaoui is accused of planning to participate in the September 11 attacks. The judge in his trial ruled he has a right to call witnesses, including a prisoner in US custody, Binalshibh. But the US government refuses to let Binalshibh testify.

Of course, they say this is for "national security", which is the standard excuse, but here it is absurd. Security from whom? Al Qa'ida already knows whatever Binalshibh was planning. The only thing they don't know is how much he has told the US, but they must know what he could tell, and they are smart enough to have planned for the worst case. So this has to be just an excuse for undermining the trial.

A proposed US law would make it a felony to distribute even one song through a peer-to-peer music sharing network.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The record companies, and the legislators who serve them, will stop at nothing to keep the public divided and helpless. US citizens, please call or write to your congressional representatives and say that music sharing should be legal.

Bush created a "shadow intelligence network" to provide reports skewed to suit Bush policies. The reports from the professionals in the CIA were too objective for him.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The military non-trials that Bush plans for prisoners in Guantanamo supposedly offer them the possibility to use a civilian lawyer. But any lawyer who agrees to do this would become almost a prisoner himself. The possibility is simply a fraud.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Metallica defends its legal action claiming exclusive rights to use the E and F chords together.
[Reference updated on 2018-09-06 because the old link was broken.]

It's a hoax; there's no real legal action. But some real copyright and patent claims are just as ridiculous as this--and all software patents are just as outrageous. (See http://softwarepatents.co.uk.)

UK minister Jack Straw misleadingly cited 12-year-old Iraq nuclear activities (before the first gulf war) to give the impression they were recent.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The 9/11 investigation accuses the Bush administration of stonewalling and trying to intimidate witnesses.

The CIA knew of the Iraq-Niger forgeries a long time ago and told various people in the Bush administration. Now they are trying to blame CIA director Tenet for not telling Bush before Bush referred to this as truth.

However, another article says that Tenet in fact informed the White House about this in October.

The Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity talk about what Condoleeza Rice and Dick Cheney knew and when.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Bethlehem sees little change after Israeli "pullout".

The Observer, in London, suggests that the "war on drugs" has failed and should be abandoned.

Europe is not bowing down to US pressure to market genetically organisms under the table.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

It is noteworthy that the US government wants the World Trade Organization to rule that Europeans are not allowed to know whether their food is genetically modified. This illustrates why the World Trade Organization must be abolished.

Former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson investigated the Iraq-Niger uranium documents and told the CIA, state department and Cheney's office they were forged--before Dubya referred to them in the State of the Union Address.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Korean activists are on hunger strike to protest against a large government database collecting information about students.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

While South Korea's government is nowhere near as bad as North Korea's, we must not let the contrast make us assume that South Korea's government fully respects freedom and human rights.

An Israeli helicopter pilot trainee was cashiered and the army won't say why, but he believes it is because he expressed qualms of conscience about killing civilians. The commander who cashiered him said he feels nothing at all when he drops a bomb that will kill people.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Why bother with Faux News or Commercial-Nationalist News? Get your patriotic news about Iraq straight from the people who make it up, in the Ministry of Truth.

Three conservative foundations have paid to produce and air a show on PBS which is designed to disguise the conservative party line as careful academic thought. It brings on dissenters but carefully arranges for them to lose. It also violates the PBS funding rules.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The show's name is "Think Tank", but "Septic Tank" might be more appropriate.

Amnesty International reports that US agents have used various forms of torture against suspected Al Qa'ida members: beating them, throwing them against walls, depriving them of sleep, and tying them in painful positions. In Guantanamo Bay, 25 prisoners have tried to commit suicide. (Amnesty Now, Summer 2003 issue.)

Is this the behavior of a civilized country?

A Guantanamo Bay prisoner who was released is demanding compensation from the US government for the way he was treated there.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Elections in the US can easily and tracelessly be rigged by the Republican-controlled companies that make the voting machines. Journalist Bev Harris has nailed down the possibility.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Greg Palast investigated the favoritism that got Dubya into the Air National Guard, so he could avoid going to Vietnam.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The UK is increasing its military support for Colombian government despite that government's support for death squads.

Colin Powell was pressured into endorsing bogus claims about Iraq. He called the speech he was asked to read " bullshit".

The US is once again trying to impose deadly patent restrictions on poor African countries.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Clinton had Gore doing the same thing, until he realized it would look bad for the 2000 election.

A group of Iraqi leaders met and called for self-rule, and criticized US plans to continue dominating Iraq.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

A Briton facing a military court in Guantanamo Bay is expected to face a stark choice: plead guilty or die.

The choice of citizens of various allies as the first batch to be threatened with execution seems to be a calculated gesture of contempt towards those countries, a demonstration to them that they have to take a kick in the teeth from the US. I hope that the pressure in the UK builds up to the point that Blair will be unable to keep supporting Bush.

Another Briton plans to sue the city of New York after police chained him and dragged him along the ground. He was arrested for not paying the fare on the bus-- they were not interested in looking at his receipt.

I find this report entirely believable, because my personal experience is that many police are ready to make false accusations without the slightest qualm. Their power has corrupted them.

Arms control experts now accuse the Bush regime of distorting intelligence information to justify attacking Iraq.

The US-supported Afghan government has banned a newspaper and arrested its editor for "blasphemy".
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Americans, that is your tax dollars at work.

Hong Kong's government delayed an anti-democracy bill after half a million people protested.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

A New York school principal forced students to get tested for pregnancy after they went to a party.

The specter of Vietnam hangs over Iraq today, and not just because of the gradually increasing guerilla resistance.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

A town in Michigan erupted in flames in June, after police callously murdered a local man and then crowed about what they had done.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Both the Republican and Democratic parties accept money from corporate criminals.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Police in Montreal removed and arrested activists who were protesting for affordable housing.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

It gets very cold in Montreal in the winter. I would hate to have to sleep on the streets there.

An important former UK judge calls for marijuana to be treated like tobacco and alcohol.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Actually, tobacco and alcohol seem to be more dangerous than marijuana, because they are addictive with physical withdrawal symptoms (not the case for marijuana), and many people use them very heavily.

Senator Byrd demands Bush account for the deception over Iraq.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Israel is continuing non-stop expansion of its settlements on Palestinian territory despite the "withdrawal" of troops from parts of the Gaza Strip.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

When MEP Martin Schulz criticized Berlusconi, Berlusconi responded by saying Schmidt would be great for the movie part of a concentration camp commander.

This was interpreted as a terrible insult, and many officials pressed Berlusconi to apologize. He refused, then said something people took to be an apology. But now he says it was not an apology.

I think I understand why Berlusconi feels he does not need to apologize. It is because he did not mean the comparison with fascism as a criticism. In his mind, it was a compliment.

A controversial study finds that "passive smoking" does not cause heart disease or cancer.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

I have not studied the details and I cannot form a scientific opinion of the validity of this or other studies; I hope the question will be studied carefully and objectively.

Regardless of the issue of passive smoking, I support prohibition of smoking in most public indoor spaces, for two reasons. One is that dense smoke can be quite painful for nonsmokers. The other is that bars and music venues, where many young people go and nearly everyone smokes, probably pressure many into taking up smoking, or smoking more often. It is wrong to prohibit recreational drugs, even dangerous ones like tobacco, but discouraging people from taking up dangerous drugs should have very high priority.

Will the palestinian cease-fire last? Uri Avnery's commentary.

Just as Bush is preventing the EPA from talking about global warming, the World Meteorological Organisation has announced that "extreme weather events" such as tornadoes are increasing, a consequence of global warming, and that record high temperatures are being observed in many places around the world.

A man in Oklahoma has been sentenced to life in prison for spitting at a polceman.

If a policeman hits you and your blood gets on him, would you be sentenced to life in prison?

The US State of Maine has adopted a law to reduce CO2 emissions.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

An article argues that the real movers and shakers in the US have decided to dump Bush.

The Bush government proposed to solve the problems of the Middle East with a new "free" trade zone.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

These "free trade" agreements, like GATT and NAFTA, typically subordinate democracy, the environment, public health, and labor standards to the dictates of megacorporations. Putting aside the issues mentioned in that article, I expect that such a treaty would impose unjust laws on the countries that sign it.

A French judge who has fought corruption wrote a book about her experiences. The book has been banned in French.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The UK government decided not to prosecute a woman with multiple sclerosis who provided marijuana to others with the same condition. Only marijuana relieves the pain. She is disappointed with the decision, because she wanted to use the trial to publicize the issue.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

I can understand her intention to commit suicide. Multiple sclerosis can leave a person permanently helpless, and she can remain so for years since it is not directly fatal. It's not unusual for people in this situation to ask for help in killing themselves.

Several Palestinian militant groups have announced a temporary end to attacks on Israelis, even against settlers stealing their land.
[Reference updated on 2018-09-06 because the old link was broken.]

The question now is whether Sharon will take steps that allow Palestinians who are not involved in violence a decent life.

The Bush forces canceled an election in the Iraqi town of Najaf because they were unhappy with who they thought would get elected.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

There you have it--Bush league democracy, Florida style.

To join Bush's "most wanted" deck of cards, now there's a "most wanted" deck of cards for war profiteers.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

A peaceful British protester in Greece was beaten by police, then framed with a planted bag of explosives [pdf].
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

California's Supreme Court exonerated an ex-Intel employee who sent critical emails to other Intel employees. Intel claimed he had committed "trespass" on Intel's computers.

The real reason for Dubya's attack on Iraq has been revealed: he thinks God told him to do it. All the reasons he gave us were actually irrelevant.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The Indian government developed its plans to send troops for the occupation of Iraq secretly, without informing the Indian people.

Violence against women in Pakistan is at terrible levels.

Students in the Chinese University of Hong Kong are asking for support for their campaign for democracy in Hong Kong.

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