JANUARY 13-1, 02 Archives

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PSR Condemns Choice Of Yucca Mountain As Nuclear Waste Site; Choice Based On Politics, Not Sound Science, Says Group WASHINGTON, Jan.13 /U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham recommended that President Bush designate Yucca Mountain as the repository for some 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste. Although the DOE claims that the area is "scientifically sound and suitable," there is little evidence to support this finding, which is bitterly opposed by Nevada residents, local and state legislators, and environment and health public interest groups. The nuclear industry has long pressed for the transportation of nuclear waste from commercial facilities and other sites to Yucca Mountain. This would allow current and new nuclear power stations to go on producing radioactive waste without regard for the environmental consequences. usnewswire.com

Ford to cut 35,000 jobs worldwide, 22,000 in North America 13 January, By Lawrence Porter On Friday morning, January 11, top executives of Ford Motor Company announced a dramatic restructuring plan that calls for the destruction of 35,000 jobs worldwide and 22,000 jobs in North America. These decisions will mean the near-certain impoverishment of thousands of families and the devastation of numerous towns across North America. wsws.org

Politics:
Democrat Mark Warner takes Virginia governor's post The Associated Press RICHMOND, Va. (January 12, 2002 3:25 p.m. EST) - Mark Warner was inaugurated Saturday as governor, returning the executive branch to the Democrats after eight years of Republican rule. In his inaugural address, Warner vowed to work with legislators to solve the state's budget problems. nandotimes.com

Bush links to Enron run deep By BARRIE MCKENNA January 12 Treasury official was asked by boss of failing energy company to call banks WASHINGTON -- When George W. Bush began his improbable run for the presidency two years ago, his Texas-based team of advisers and bagmen were so close to the energy industry that critics dubbed them the Houston Oilers. Now, as criminal investigators comb through the wreckage of bankrupt energy giant Enron Corp, his reputation as Big Oil's man has returned to haunt the former Texas governor. theglobeandmail.com

Bush, Enron chief’s careers, paths intersected By Deb Riechmann, Jan.12 – Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON,  President Bush bestowed the nickname "Kenny Boy" on embattled Enron executive Kenneth Lay back when the two were up-and-comers in Texas. That doesn't mean they are best buddies; Bush dispenses nicknames freely and not just on intimates. Yet as their careers soared, their interests became more intertwined, whether in business, politics or baseball. msnbc.com

Bush is no environmental defender, attorneys charge January 11. During his first year in office, President George W. Bush has failed to defend the environment and is working with industry behind closed doors to undermine existing protections, say attorneys from Earthjustice who represent environmental groups in court. enn.com

Spencer Abraham, Energy Secretary for The Bush administration announced on Wednesday a new partnership between the federal government and domestic auto makers to promote the development of a hydrogen refueling infrastructure. The new clean hydrogen car technology signals the end for the dirty old Henry Ford era cars and the oil companies which have dominated our civilization and caused global warming. There is very little oil, less than a six month supply in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and it will take years to get is out of the ground. By the time we have extracted the oil and irreparably damaged the last unspoiled regions of our country, the gas guzzler cars will have gone the way of the horse drawn buggy. Ironically the oil companies continue to enjoy the full support of the Bush White House in their dying effort to despoil our wilderness areas and milk as much profit out of the American people as possible. Sadly helping the rich get richer seems to be more important than our environment and our children's future. cbsnews.com

White House discloses Cabinet contacts with Enron January 11, By Ron Fournier WASHINGTON (AP) The White House revealed on Thursday that Enron Corp., an energy firm closely tied to President Bush, sought the administration's help shortly before collapsing with the life savings of many workers. In a separate disclosure, the company's auditors said they had destroyed many Enron documents. dailynews.com

On January 8, The republican Supreme Court
struck another devastating blow against the American people in their ruling which weakens the "Americans with Disabilities Act,"
Jan, 10. Jan, 10. Jan, 10. The republican Supreme Court has found a way to prevent many individuals whom Congress intended the "Americans with Disabilities Act" (ADA) to cover, from receiving their Social Security disability benefits, however there will be more money available for the richest 1% in the form of a 200 billion dollar tax giveaway. Bush calls this robbery of the peoples Social Security trust fund his "economic-stimulus package." This massive withdrawal from the fund will bring it closer to bankruptcy and corporate takeover. All of the wealthy individuals who will receive the peoples Social Security funds in this obscene and down right mean spirited corporate raid are already stinking filthy rich. Most of them have doubled and tripled their cash worth in the past eight years. It isn't about need, it's about greed and power. Bush said he likes the way things are done in Mexico, where 98% of the population is so beaten down and impoverished they only think of how to survive, voting and politics are beyond them. Without a Social Security system we to will know the poverty of a two class third world hell like Mexico. editor

New York Times defends Bush on links to Enron corporate fraud 10 January, By David Walsh True to form, the editors of the New York Times have rushed to the defense of President Bush against suggestions that his administration could be implicated in one of the largest corporate frauds in history, which produced the collapse of Enron Corporation, the energy trading giant. Bush administration officials, and George W. Bush personally, had the most intimate ties to top Enron officials, including Chairman and CEO Kenneth Lay, one of the biggest fundraisers for the Bush 2000 campaign and the finance chairman of the Bush inaugural. The company filed for Chapter 11 status in December, the largest corporate bankruptcy in US history, leaving thousands of workers unemployed and with decimated retirement savings, and devastating thousands more small investors. wsws.org

White House: Enron Official Phoned January 10 By KAREN GULLO, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - Enron Chairman Kenneth L. Lay reached out to two of President Bush's Cabinet officers when the energy company was collapsing, the White House disclosed Thursday as the Justice Department opened a criminal investigation of Enron's bankruptcy. Bush, who received significant campaign contributions from Lay and other Enron executives, said he himself has never discussed Enron's financial problems with its embattled corporate chairman. The president said he last saw Lay in Texas at spring fund-raiser for former first lady Barbara Bush's literacy foundation. yahoo.com

Trust Names Wendy Lee Gramm The Clean Air 'Villain of the Month' WASHINGTON, Jan. 10 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The following was released today by Clean Air Trust: What does a sunset cocktail party in ritzy Naples, Florida, have to do with an oil company indicted for "environmental crimes" and a soon-to-be-announced Bush Administration plan to weaken enforcement of the Clean Air Act? usnewswire.com

New Book Says Negotiations by U.S. with Taliban for Oil May Have Interfered With Efforts to Get Bin Laden Aired January 9, 2002 - 07:34  ET THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: As you heard in our last half-hour, the authors of a new book say secret negotiations by the U.S. with the Taliban for oil may have actually interfered with efforts to get Osama bin Laden. cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS

Let Down His Rich Pals? Over His Dead Body
January 9 by Robert Scheer Talk about the politics of class struggle. George W. Bush now is apparently willing to give his life to make the rich richer. "Over my dead body" was his response to proposals to scale back the $1.35 trillion in tax cuts planned for the next 10 years. Notice that he didn't say "over my dead body" will the homeless--many of them actually employed in low-paying jobs--sleep in the snows of Minneapolis because the "faith-based" as well as government shelters are short on funds. Nor is it "over my dead body" that Enron workers will be left holding the bag emptied by the president's good friend, Kenneth L. "Kenny Boy" Lay. Nor is it "over my dead body" that the Boeing company will be given a $22-billion Air Force contract as it fires thousands of its workers. The president cannot say that "over my dead body" will he forget his pledge to assist seniors with prescription medical costs, save Social Security and revive public education, when in fact his tax cut has made it impossible to deliver on any such promises. commondreams.org

Nuclear Arms Plan: Saving, Not Scrapping Many Weapons Covered by Bush-Putin Pact Would Go Into Reserve, Congress Told January 9 by Walter Pincus The Bush administration told Congress yesterday that many of the warheads, bombs and intercontinental missiles involved in the president's promised two-thirds reduction of deployed strategic nuclear forces over the next 10 years would be kept in reserve under its new strategic policy, according to congressional sources. commondreams.org

When the body is broken and one can no longer work, the republican Supreme Court simply expects sick and disabled Americans to quietly go away, die, find an interstate bridge and crawl under it.
National Council on Disability Deeply Troubled by Supreme Court Ruling Limiting Scope of Disability Law  The darkness of this decision holds great foreboding for working Americans. A cruel and cold corporate hell world approaches.Jan. 8 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The National Council on Disability is deeply troubled by today's Supreme Court ruling in Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky, Inc. v. Ella Williams (No.00-1989), in which the Court once again narrowed the scope of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in a manner inconsistent with Congress and the American people's intent in its enactment. According to NCD chairperson Marca Bristo, "Today's Supreme Court decision would prevent many individuals whom Congress intended ADA to cover from receiving its protection that they may need to secure and maintain employment." usnewswire.com

Corporations can now blow their noses on the American People and throw them in the garbage, or as the republicans say, you can always quit and go homeless and starve.
Disability Group Finds Flawed Logic In Supreme Court Decision; Toyota vs. Williams Case Raises Concern About ADA Act  January 8 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The National Organization on Disability is disappointed by today's Supreme Court decision in Toyota Vs. Williams, said group spokesperson Brewster Thackeray. "The disability community values the ADA as a civil rights law. It was written to protect people if they have, or develop, a condition that impacts their ability to fully participate in major life activities. When because of a disability, someone cannot perform a job that he or she has been trained for and held for years, that is the very kind of situation we count on the ADA to prevent," Thackeray said. "From what we have heard of this case, it does not sound like Toyota made a full-hearted effort to accommodate Ms. Williams prior to dismissing her. And if she was as it appears dismissed specifically because she had a physical disability, the U.S. Supreme Court should have joined with the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in citing the ADA to give protection to the injured employee. usnewswire.com

Judge Voids a Union Rule Issued by Bush January 8By STEVEN GREENHOUSE A federal judge has overturned one of President Bush's earliest executive orders, which required federal contractors to post notices telling workers they did not have to join unions. nytimes.com

SupremeCourt Narrows Reach of Disability Law
January 8, By Edward Walsh The Supreme Court narrowed the scope of the Americans With Disabilities Act today, ruling that the law only covers impairments that affect a person's daily life and does not apply to conditions that prevent a worker from performing a specific job-related task. washingtonpost.com

"No amount of hot rhetoric will get the economy back on track. January 7 "Let me be clear, I proposed short term tax cuts to create jobs and generate investment and long-term fiscal discipline, not tax increases. It is undeniable that the Republicans turned record surpluses into deficits in the space of just one year. It is time they explain to the American people what they intend to do about the hole they dug". truthout.com

The President's Political Potshot January 7, LIKE IT OR NOT, it seems we have entered the 2002 election season. Democratic Senate leader Tom Daschle fired first on Friday; President Bush came roaring back over the weekend. The subjects were taxes, budgets and the economy; all fair game, you might say -- this is what politicians are supposed to argue about. But Mr. Bush came close to suggesting that the partisan rhetoric he was employing to such fine effect wasn't legitimate when used by the other side. "It's time to take the spirit of unity that has been prevalent in fighting the war and bring it to Washington, D.C.," the president said. His economic stimulus plan metamorphosed over the holiday into an "economic security plan." The implication is that opposition to his tax cuts would carry a whiff of failed patriotism. washingtonpost.com

Marian and me By Kera Bolonik Jan. 7, When Michael Moore's publisher insisted he rewrite his new book to be less critical of President Bush, it took an outraged librarian to get it back in the stores. It was the kind of battle that provocateur journalist Michael Moore would ordinarily consider red meat: a major media corporation threatening a writer's freedom of speech. Moore's new book, "Stupid White Men and Other Excuses for the State of the Nation," which pointedly criticizes President George W. Bush and his administration, was due in stores on Oct. 2. As with many books scheduled for release in the weeks that immediately followed Sept. 11, plans to ship the title to stores were put on hold. According to HarperCollins, "both Moore and [Judith Regan's HarperCollins imprint] ReganBooks thought its publication would be insensitive, given the events of September 11." salon.com

Anti-Bush Protest March Halted by Police January 6 By AndrewKramer Chanting slogans against President Bush, about 500 activists marched through a Portland neighborhood Saturday to protest the president's policies just before his arrival here. "Hey George, we didn't like your dad and we don't like you," the protesters shouted, alluding to hostile receptions that Portland activists would give Bush's father when he was president. The protesters -- many of them opponents of the war in Afghanistan -- had planned to march to a job training center where President George W Bush spoke to unemployed people. But police barricades and a line of riot police prevented the marchers from getting close to the job center. As the protesters milled around the barricades a military helicopter watched them from above. The march started from a park several blocks from the job center. Later, outside Bush's second stop at a high school, mounted police cleared an intersection by spurring their horses into a crowd of jeering protesters, pushing them onto the sidewalk. kgw.com

Bush: ‘Not over my dead body’January 6 ONTARIO, Calif. (AP) - Firing back in an election-year debate over the recession, President George W. Bush yesterday painted Democratic opponents as tax-raisers and pointedly vowed he won’t allow his tax cuts to be rolled back. "Not over my dead body will they raise your taxes," he shouted to California workers. He called for bipartisan unity but deflected talk of compromise on an economic stimulus package, blaming the Democrats for blocking it. With unemployment at a six-year high of 5.8 percent last month, Bush told a packed high school gym in Portland, Ore.: "If you’re unemployed, it’s 100 percent, and I’m worried about that." showmenews.com

Daschle challenges Bush on economy
January 5, By Kevin Galvin Seattle Times Washington Bureau WASHINGTON — The balance between tax cuts and spending to reinvigorate the nation's economy is shaping up as the first big partisan test of this election year. In advance of President Bush's visit to Portland today, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle challenged the president to help workers displaced by the downturn and chided him for his $1.3 trillion tax cut passed last spring. "Sept. 11 and the war aren't the only reasons the surplus is nearly gone," Daschle said yesterday. "The biggest reason is the tax cut." The South Dakota Democrat was drawing party battle lines for the anticipated confrontation over economic stimulus when Congress returns from recess later this month. seattletimes.nwsource.com

Reyes backs Daschle's bash of Bush January 5, Sergio Bustos WASHINGTON -- Backing his party's top leader, U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, said Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle's critique Friday of President Bush's handling of the economy was right on the mark. borderlandnews.com

CBO Report Rates Bush Economic Proposals Poorly January 5, By Glenn Kessler, President Bush plans to tout his economic stimulus plan in a California town-hall meeting today, arguing it is critical to reviving the economy. But the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office gave poor grades to several of the president's proposals in a report issued yesterday. The report said several Democratic proposals had a better chance of reviving the economy at the lowest cost. It reserved its highest praise for a "payroll tax holiday" advocated by Sen. Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.). The administration has been cool to Domenici's plan, but Senate Democrats were open to it during the inconclusive negotiations on a stimulus bill last month. washingtonpost.com

Nation's Unemployment Rate Rises to 5.8%   January 5, By DANIEL ALTMAN- The unemployment rate continued to creep upward last month, though fewer Americans lost their jobs than in any of the previous three months. The Labor Department reported yesterday that the economy lost 124,000 jobs in December, the smallest decline since August. The unemployment rate rose two- tenths of a percentage point, to 5.8 percent, a level it last reached in April 1995. nytimes.com

Democrat Assails Bush on Economy By ALISON MITCHELLWASHINGTON, Jan. 5 ˜ Senator Tom Daschle, the capital's most prominent Democrat, accused President Bush and the Republicans today of causing the "most dramatic fiscal deterioration in our nation's history" when they pushed through a major tax cut last year. nytimes.com

Drug Discount Cards Give the Elderly Small Savings January 5, 2002 by ROBERT PEARWASHINGTON ˜ Federal investigators said today that drug discount cards of the type proposed by President Bush had not significantly cut costs for elderly consumers buying brand-name medicines in metropolitan areas, where savings averaged less than 10 percent of retail prices. nytimes.com

Ruling Eases Restrictions on Tax Shelters for Companies January 4 By DAVID CAY JOHNSTON, A federal appeals court has issued a ruling in a case involving Compaq Computer (news/quote) that tax experts say will make it much more difficult for the Internal Revenue Service to demolish many corporate tax shelters. A federal appeals court has issued a ruling in a case involving Compaq Computer (news/quote) that tax experts say will make it much more difficult for the Internal Revenue Service to demolish many corporate tax shelters. Some experts predicted that tax shelter promoters would quickly take advantage of the ruling to fashion new shelters for corporations to shed billions of dollars in taxes. http://www.nytimes.com

ENRON CORP.: Senate may probe ties with president January 4,WASHINGTON -- Enron Corp. faced further scrutiny on Capitol Hill Wednesday, with another committee announcing a probe of the company's collapse, possibly looking at connections between Enron and the White House. chicagotribune.com

Bush administration repeals rule barring lawbreaking companies from federal contracts January 4, , WASHINGTON – The Bush administration repealed a Clinton-era rule that prevents the government from awarding federal contracts to businesses that have broken environmental, labor, tax or other federal laws. signonsandiego.com

Incarcerated Republican Ex-Mayor, Wife Sell Waterbury House January 3, By STEPHANIE REITZ, WATERBURY -- Another tie between Philip A. Giordano and his hometown has been severed with the recent sale of the imprisoned former mayor's house. Documents filed in Waterbury City Hall say that Giordano and his wife, Dawn, sold their three-bedroom ranch home at 157 Southwind Road in December. ctnow.com / Read about how this corrupt republican pervert raped children.

Making more money for corporate America is more important to Bush than national security. Stalin said that "America would sell Russia the rope with which we will hang them" Or, in order for the world to be a bad place,  justifying our military industrial complex, we must make it into a bad place by selling our enemies the technology to destroy us with. So basically the Chinese stole the plans for our advanced multiple warhead interconental ballistic missiles and now Bush will sell them the computer systems they need to successfully use these missiles on us. THANKS BUSH. editor
Bush eases Cold War restrictions on computer exports January 3, The US government has lifted a Cold War ban on the export of high-speed computers. The move means that high-speed machines can now be shipped to Russia, China, and other 'Tier 3' security risk countries. The restrictions were designed to stop other countries' attempts to develop computer-powered nuclear weapons programmes. ananova.com

Bush's Stealthy Pursuit of a Partisan Agenda By David S. Broder January 2, It was a classic stealth maneuver -- and it worked. Two days after Christmas, with President Bush at his Texas ranch and most of official Washington on vacation, the White House announced the rejection of regulations that would have barred companies that repeatedly violate environmental and workplace standards from receiving government contracts. washingtonpost.com

Goodbye stock market, goodbye economy, goodbye environment, goodbye constitutional rights, goodbye Social Security, hello Bush.
Stocks fell on Monday, a fitting end to the stock market's worst year in more than a quarter century January 2 NEW YORK (Reuters) - Money managers closed the books on a year marked by economic recession, shrinking interest rates, dwindling corporate profits, Wall Street job losses, and the Sept. 11 attacks that devastated the heart of New York's financial district. truthout.com


Monsanto Hid Decades Of Pollution PCBs Drenched Ala. Town, But No One Was Ever Told by Michael Grunwald January 2 ANNISTON, Ala. -- On the west side of Anniston, the poor side of Anniston, the people ate dirt. They called it "Alabama clay" and cooked it for extra flavor. They also grew berries in their gardens, raised hogs in their back yards, caught bass in the murky streams where their children swam and played and were baptized. They didn't know their dirt and yards and bass and kids -- along with the acrid air they breathed -- were all contaminated with chemicals. They didn't know they lived in one of the most polluted patches of America. commondreams.org

My Way, the High Way
- By JAMES M. JEFFORDS RecommendedJan 1, WASHINGTON -- In the months since my decision to leave the Republican Party and become an independent, I have been both hailed and admonished. This is not surprising, given the impact of my decision. Yet, I find that many of the journalists, legislators and ordinary citizens who offer their thoughts still don't understand the reasons behind my decision. During my 26 years in Congress, I have been labeled many things--a moderate, a liberal, a maverick, an independent--but always, at least until last May 24, with the party affiliation Republican. latimes.com

Bush popularity won't save GOP observers say if economy flops Jan 1, By KAREN MASTERSON WASHINGTON -- The public rallied behind President Bush after the Sept. 11 attacks, wrapping up a banner year for Republicans and handing a near blowout to Democrats who just months earlier had taken control of the Senate. But many experts, including conservative-leaning analysts, say Bush's high popularity ratings are unlikely to save his party this year from a public frustrated with reappearing budget deficits, a weakened economy and high unemployment rates. chron.com

 

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