Libertarian Candidate for Governor Speaks Out on
FBI Shooting in Maryland ANNAPOLIS, Md., March 10 /U.S.
Newswire/ -- Libertarian nominee for Governor Spear Lancaster spoke out in the wake of the
shooting of an innocent civilian by an FBI agent last weekend. The following are quotes
from his statement: "Where is the outrage? It is absolutely astounding to know that
agents of the federal government can shoot and terrorize innocent civilians, and be given
a pass by the politicians elected to represent those citizens. "I am outraged and
horrified at this unjustified overreaching by federal law enforcement. As a 68-year-old
resident of this state, I have lived through the depression, several wars, and several
disease epidemics, but this is more terrifying. "When the Founding Fathers
established this country, they limited the scope of the federal government, and did so for
a good reason: they knew humans were bound eventually to abuse their power. "There is
no provision in the U.S. Constitution for federal agents to engage in this kind of
behavior. Let's get back to the Constitution. Let's have no more terror, and no more
shooting of innocent civilians by agents of the national government."
usnewswire.com
FBI Apologizes for Shooting Mistake Wed Mar 6, By STEPHEN MANNING, AP WOODLAWN, Md. - The FBI
apologized Wednesday for shooting an unarmed man during a search for a bank robber. Iowa
Sen. Chuck Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, criticized
statements by an anonymous FBI official to The Washington Post saying the victim made a
"threatening" move before he was shot. Joseph Schultz, 20, was wounded by an
agent with a rifle Friday after the car his girlfriend was driving was pulled over in
Pasadena, about 12 miles south of Baltimore. His attorney said Schultz may have been shot
while reaching for his seat belt after he was ordered from the car. Schultz remained
hospitalized Wednesday in serious condition with a shattered right cheek and jaw. The car
Schultz was riding in was similar to the one FBI agents were pursuing in connection with
the robbery. Schultz and his girlfriend also bore resemblance to the suspect and his
companion. After the shooting, agents pulled Schultz and his girlfriend from the car and
handcuffed them before calling a helicopter to take him to the hospital. The alleged bank
robber was captured Sunday. yahoo.com
U.S. Works Up Plan for
Using Nuclear Arms March 9, 2002 - Bush Administration, in a secret report, calls for a strategy against at
least seven nations: China, Russia, Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Libya and Syria. By PAUL RICHTER, Times Staff Writer WASHINGTON -- The Bush
administration has directed the military to prepare contingency plans to use nuclear
weapons against at least seven countries and to build smaller nuclear weapons for use in
certain battlefield situations, according to a classified Pentagon report obtained by the
Los Angeles Times. The secret report, which was provided to Congress on Jan. 8, says the
Pentagon needs to be prepared to use nuclear weapons against China, Russia, Iraq, North
Korea, Iran, Libya and Syria. It says the weapons could be used in three types of
situations: against targets able to withstand nonnuclear attack; in retaliation for attack
with nuclear, biological or chemical weapons; or "in the event of surprising military
developments." latimes.com
Bush To America: Mind Yer Own Business By David Corn 3/9/2002 Every so often, our elected leaders -- or somewhat
elected leaders -- get something exactly wrong. Consider the Bush White House's
over-our-dead-bodies refusal to release records on Vice-President Dick Cheney's energy
task force to the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress. Democrats
and Republicans across town have been saying for weeks this is a boner of a move -- from a
political vantage. It makes the White House looks guilty, and it continues to draw
attention to the Bush-Enron connection. There's no one in the capital -- outside of the
White House -- who believes this information won't pop out sooner or later. athena.tbwt.com
Concord Coalition Warns That New Tax Breaks Amount
To 'Open Season' On The Budget WASHINGTON, March 8 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The
Concord Coalition said today that an expensive, three-year, thirty percent special
depreciation allowance in the economic stimulus bill passed by the House and Senate will
do very little to provide short-term stimulus but will make it more difficult to achieve a
balanced budget after the economy recovers. "Unfortunately, the main effect of this
so-called 'stimulus' provision is to signal that it is now open season on the Federal
budget. It will be much harder to hold the line on appropriations or anything else after
giving away nearly $100 billion on something as dubious as this," said Robert Bixby,
executive director of The Concord Coalition. usnewswire.com
It Can't Happen Here
by Sinclair Lewis - March 8 - Sinclair Lewis wrote his now famous satirical political novel and in
1935 became the first American to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature. Sinclair Lewis
asked the question - what if an extremist right wing politician used a presidential
election to make himself into a dictator? The hero, Doremus Jessup, a small-town newspaper
editor in Vermont struggles with the new governments attempts to censor his
newspaper and ends up in a concentration camp. Buzz Windrip, the self-made dictator and
one-time senator, rules America with the same cruel tactics he had practiced in his own
state. The main ally of the fictional dictator is Bishop Peter Paul Prang, a popular right
wing radio minnister who endorses Buzz Windrips campaign. Doremus Jessup for all his
moderation in trying to get along with the right-wing dictatorship, finds himself part of
the resistance movement. He blames himself because he did not take Buzz Windrip more
seriously when there was still a chance to stop him. editor, thepeoplesvoice.org
AAPS: Unlimited Forced Drugging OK'd By Court;
Physician Group Calls Ruling 'Shocking & Inhumane' WASHINGTON, March 8
/U.S. Newswire/ -- Defendants can be forcibly drugged even though they haven't been
convicted of any charges and pose no danger to themselves or others. That's the ruling
issued yesterday by the Federal Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in the case of
United States vs. Charles Thomas Sell. (see uscourts pdf) The 2-1
split decision establishes government power to forcibly medicate a person with
mind-altering drugs even before trial. "It's a shocking, inhumane decision. Now, all
the government needs are allegations and a cooperative psychiatrist to forcibly drug any
citizen," said Andrew Schlafly, general counsel for the Association of American
Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS). That group filed an amicus brief opposing the government
drugging. "It's unprecedented to allow prosecutors to drug peaceful defendants
presumed to be innocent. Government cannot force citizens to pledge allegiance to the
flag, but now can forcibly medicate them with mind-altering drugs," said
Schlafly. usnewswire.com
Bernhard Criticises Bush
Friday, 8th March 2002 - Sandra Bernhard, the talk show host and performer, has hit out at
president George Bush. She told the Washington Post that the presidents track record
is Pretty dismal and pretty scary." Bernhard continued: I think Bush is
amateurish and self-serving, and frankly it`s disgusting. I think everybody is covering
their asses with the Enron scandal and it was very convenient that 11 September came along
to deflect the fact that they should never have been in the White House in the first
place. What happened in the election was completely corrupt." She went on to deny
that she was out of touch with what most Americans thought. Bernhard said: "I`m an
intelligent person from America. I was born in Michigan and raised in Arizona, and while I
do reside in New York, I travel the country extensively. Any thinking person who lives in
the world would be disturbed at what`s going on right now. rainbownetwork.com
George's journey makes the big screen Friday March 8, 2002 March 8, 2002
Julian
Borger in Washington Now that he has evolved into a
steely-eyed, firm-jawed wartime leader, it is sometimes hard to recall the callow and
goofy figure that George Bush cut on the campaign trail. But today, at the height of his
popularity, a ghost of his pre-presidential whimsy will come back to haunt him. A new
documentary film made about a year on the Bush campaign trail shows the candidate with his
guard down, playing the impish schoolboy with journalists at the back of his plane. News
of the film, which has its premiere today at a Texas film festival, sent the White House
into a fit of damage limitation. guardian
NLC: Poll Shows 4 in 5 Cities Oppose Bush Budget Cuts to Local Programs WASHINGTON,
March 7 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The National League of Cities (NLC) today released a poll of
180 cities that showed cities oppose key parts of the proposed Bush budget. Four out of
five (80 percent) of the surveyed officials believe budget items in four key areas will
have a net negative effect on their communities. The four budget categories are homeland
security, local law enforcement, transportation, and water infrastructure. Nine percent
said the changes would have a net positive effect and 11 percent said the effect would be
"no change." usnewswire.com
Vote on Bush Nominee
Pickering Delayed BY THOMAS
FERRARO Mar. 07, 2002WASHINGTON - (Reuters) - With President Bush facing his first
defeat over a judicial nomination, the Senate Judiciary Committee's top Republican on
Thursday postponed a vote on Charles Pickering, saying liberal groups had subjected the
conservative to a ``lynching.'' But lawmakers said they do not expect the one-week delay
to change the likely outcome: Rejection of Bush's bid to elevate Pickering, a veteran
federal judge in Mississippi, to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.
Opponents, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and
Planned Parenthood, have attacked his record on civil rights and abortion rights, saying
he is too conservative and puts personal views above the law. tallahassee.com
"The poor's sense of class superiority
over the rich is getting out of hand," said extremist right wing pundit Ann Coulter, but some
motivated by logic compassion and a love for their country disagree. The
Following is a statement by Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president of the Children's
Defense Fund: "The President says his welfare reform plan is all about getting more
parents working but his plan doesn't invest in the supports low-income families need to
get and keep a job, such as child care, education, training, and transportation. Right now
only one in seven children who is eligible for federal child care assistance gets it.
"We think the President's plan misses the opportunity to provide real help for
families struggling to get off welfare and into the workforce. "The President's plan
does not take into account: -- how many new workers are losing jobs because of the
recession. -- that half of the families who have left welfare for work earn below poverty
wages. "Families have proven they want to work -- but the President is not offering
any support to help them lift themselves out of poverty. We hope the President will put
his money where his words are and invest in doubling the number of children able to get
child care when their parents work through the Child Care and Development Block Grant. And
we're disappointed the President does not provide for one additional child to get a Head
Start next year. "We hope he will reconsider. Children can't eat promises. His
welfare plan will leave millions of children behind, not ready for school and in unsafe
child care when their parents work. We can do better." usnewswire.com
Bush plans jobs paying less than minimum Wage - Part of push to tighten rules on
welfare workers March 6, 2002 Washington
-- The Bush administration is moving to allow states to place welfare recipients in jobs
that pay less than minimum wage -- a reversal of federal policy that is sparking ire among
advocates for the poor. The White House proposes that such cut-rate jobs could take the
form of supervised community service. The Bush administration has concluded that this
"supervised work experience" does not amount to a real-world job and should not
be governed by the Fair Labor Standards Act, which sets the national minimum wage at $5.15
an hour. sfgate.com
Earthjustice: EPA Violates Clean Air Act;
Agency Attempts to Delay Public Health Protections WASHINGTON, March 6 /U.S.
Newswire/ -- The following was released today by Earthjustice: The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency approved regulations yesterday that violate a key provision of the Clean
Air Act. The agency's action will prolong and increase the public's exposure to hazardous
air pollutants -- chemicals such as dioxins, mercury, and PCBs that, even in minute
quantities, can cause cancer, birth defects, reproductive disorders, and other similarly
devastating diseases. "Once again the Bush administration is paying back its friends
at the expense of public health," said James Pew of Earthjustice. usnewswire.com
The Twilight Zone, Otherwise Known As George Bush's America 3/6/2002 By Cong. Cynthia McKinneyMs. McKINNEY I am worried about what is happening to our great country
today. I fear that many of us cannot see what is happening here. Maybe we are too close.
Maybe there are even people who do not want us to see; but our friends and allies in
Europe and elsewhere are reporting that they are seeing disturbing developments in our
country, like the fading of our fundamental constitutional rights, the creation of a war
machine that threatens world peace, the spending of a generation of Americans on this war
on terrorism, and even an attack on truth in government by forming the Office of Strategic
Influence to lie to us and to the rest of the world. The President even asked Hollywood to
make these developments palatable to the American people. With this as a backdrop, I would
just like to ask that Members close their eyes and imagine being drawn deeper and deeper
into black space. You unlock this door with the key of understanding. Beyond it is another
dimension, a dimension of hearing that which is not spoken, a dimension of seeing that
which is invisible, a dimension of reading that which is not written. We are moving into a
land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. Welcome. We just crossed over into
the Twilight Zone, otherwise known as George Bush's America. For it is here and only here
that the White House could receive warning after warning of massive attacks that were
going to take place on American soil, the attack happens, and both the President and the
Vice President, in separate phone calls to TOM DASCHLE, ask that Congress not investigate
what happened and why. That could only happen in the Twilight Zone. athena.tbwt.com
Appeals court overturns New York police torture convictions 6 March 2002 By Bill Vann A federal appeals court on February 28
overturned the convictions of three out of the four cops found guilty in the 1997
stationhouse torture of Haitian immigrant Abner Louima. The stunning decision provoked
outrage in New York Citys minority and working class communities alongside claims of
vindication from the police officers themselves and their union, the Patrolmens
Benevolent Association. The decision has in no way, however, called into question the
essential facts of the case, nor its broader social significance. The three-judge panel
made it clear that it was offering no opinion on the guilt or innocence of the three
police officers implicated in the savage assault carried out against Louima in the 70th
Precinct stationhouse bathroom in Brooklyn in the early hours of August 9, 1997. Earlier
that night, Louima had challenged the authority of cops who had knocked a man to the
ground and threatened to beat a pregnant woman while attempting to disperse a crowd
outside a Haitian nightclub in Brooklyns East Flatbush section. He was grabbed by
the cops and beaten inside a patrol car before being taken to the stationhouse. Once there
he was marched to the bathroom, his pants around his ankles in front of dozens of police
officers. Inside the bathroom, Police Officer Justin Volpe took a broken piece of
broomstick and rammed it into Louimas rectum, causing serious and permanent internal
injuries. wsws.org
Bush Should Lay Off Social Security Issue March 5, 2002 GEORGE W. Bush is now pushing
Social Security reform-or, as he calls it, "retirement security." That word
choice suggests where the president is headed: away from the traditional idea of a public
pension program and toward a new idea of a semi-privatized system. "I want America to
be an ownership society," he said at the National Summit on Retirement Savings last
week. newsday.com
Gephardt Special Order Statement on Social Security
WASHINGTON, March 5 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Following is a Special Order Statement on Social
Security by House Democratic Leader Richard A. Gephardt: (As Delivered on the Floor of the
House) "Mr. Speaker: I rise to urge a full and fair debate on Social Security.
"Three months ago, the President's Commission issued a report. It called for sweeping
changes to the Social Security system. It called for the creation of private accounts. It
called for three plans to meet these goals. "Then last week, in a speech to the Cato
Institute, the Majority leader urged a debate on this issue. He urged us to reform Social
Security. He urged us to privatize Social Security. And the President of the United States
argued the same in speeches also delivered last week. "Yet in Congress, Republicans
are refusing to have that full and fair debate on their schemes of privatization. Do they
have something to hide? usnewswire.com
Bush administration is obstructing our right to know
By Arianna Huffington TRIBUNE
MEDIA SERVICES Mar. 05, 2002 The war has moved into a new phase: It's David Walker and the War on
the Public's Right to Know. Walker is the comptroller general of the United States. His
foe is the vice president of the United States. Their battleground is government
accountability versus the Bush administration's desire to keep secrets. Of course, to hear
the White House spin it, this unprecedented legal showdown between the legislative and
executive branches - prompted by the recent filing by the General Accounting Office -
isn't really about lifting the veil on the energy industry's influence over the
administration's regressive energy policy. It's about protecting freedom, liberty, the
Constitution, motherhood, puppies and everything good. tallahassee.com
Judge Sets Timetable for Cheney March 5, 2002 By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON
(AP) -- A federal judge Tuesday rebuffed the Bush administration on a lawsuit concerning
Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force and ordered half a dozen federal agencies
to release records within the next two months. Ruling in a case filed nearly a year ago,
U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman said the Bush administration has had sufficient time to
collect thousands of pages of material from its files. Also covered by Friedman's order is
the White House Office of Management and Budget. nytimes.com
White House's slow pace on
records stirs frustrations Mar. 04, 2002
BY ELLEN NAKASHIMA Washington Post Service WASHINGTON - The federal judge who ordered the Bush administration to
turn over some records related to Vice President Cheney's energy task force wondered
''what in the world'' the Energy Department was doing, acting at such a ''glacial pace''
in response to Freedom of Information Act requests. ''The government can offer no legal or
practical excuse for its excessive delay,'' Judge Gladys Kessler of the U.S. District
Court in Washington wrote in an order made public on Wednesday. But while Kessler
expressed amazement at the Energy Department's response to information requests under
FOIA, the 36-year-old cornerstone law for government transparency, the reluctance to
provide information has become routine throughout the administration, liberal and
conservative public interest groups say. Kessler's order, they say, reflects a growing
frustration with the information control tactics used by the Bush administration. They say
it is a gathering trend, fed by, but not rooted in, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. miami.com
Daschle irked Congress was kept in dark Bush
should have told leaders of 'shadow government,' he says
March 4, 2002 Washington -- The Senate's leading Democrat
chastised the Bush administration yesterday for not informing Congress about a
"shadow government" that the White House set up after Sept. 11 in case of a
catastrophic attack on the nation's capital. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D.,
raised questions after a Washington Post report last week that the administration has
dispatched about 100 senior civilian managers to live and work at two fortified secret
locations on the East Coast. White House officials were motivated by fear that al Qaeda
terrorists might try to explode a nuclear bomb in Washington. sfgate.com
Bush Is Withholding War
Information, Daschle Says March
4, 2002 By AARON ZITNER, TIMES STAFF WRITER - THE NATION WASHINGTON -- President Bush has not been
forthcoming about progress in the war on terrorism or about a "secret
government" operating since Sept. 11, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.)
said Sunday. As a result, lawmakers are finding it difficult to carry out their
constitutional duties of approving money for the war and providing oversight of the
executive branch, he said. latimes.com March
4, 2002 By AARON ZITNER, TIMES STAFF WRITER - THE NATION WASHINGTON -- President Bush has not been
forthcoming about progress in the war on terrorism or about a "secret
government" operating since Sept. 11, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle
(D-S.D.)
said Sunday. As a result, lawmakers are finding it difficult to carry out their
constitutional duties of approving money for the war and providing oversight of the
executive branch, he said. latimes.com
Bush: "U.S. should prepare for more
casualties" Bush:"From
the beginning of this, I have cautioned the American people that this is going to take a
while." March
4, 2002 Posted: 7:24 PM EST (0024 GMT) EDEN PRAIRIE,
Minnesota (CNN) -- EDEN PRAIRIE,
Minnesota (CNN) --
President Bush said Monday he
was saddened by the death of at least eight U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan, but said the
nation should expect more military operations in Afghanistan and prepare itself for more
casualties. "Obviously I'm saddened by the loss of life," Bush said here
during a trip designed to highlight White House education reforms as well as raise money
for Minnesota Republicans. cnn.com
Daschle: Congress won't 'rubber-stamp' Bush March 3, 2002 WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Declaring it was not
the job of Congress to "rubber-stamp" the president's priorities, Senate
Majority Leader Tom Daschle insisted Sunday that the Bush administration must keep
Congress better informed of its plans for the war on terrorism. "We need to support
our troops," Daschle said on NBC's "Meet the Press" in a joint appearance
with Minority Leader Trent Lott. "They've done an outstanding job, but we also have
to ask the right questions. "That is the role of Congress. We're a co-equal branch of
government, and I don't think we ought to rubber-stamp any president." Similar
comments from Daschle last week raised the ire of several Republicans. He was defended
Sunday by fellow Democrats and one prominent Republican, Sen. John McCain of Arizona. cnn.com
Bush Uses Own Brand of Math on Social Security March 2, 2002 By EDWARD WYATT In promoting the benefits of his
proposal to overhaul Social Security, President Bush adopted an example this week that few
financial planners would be likely to embrace, and one that more than doubles the
potential of the recommendations of his own commission on Social Security. In an address
on Thursday to the National Summit on Retirement Savings, Mr. Bush maintained that a
person who directed the investment of his Social Security taxes into the stock market
would have three times the monthly retirement income of someone who had depended on Social
Security. "Someone retiring today after 45 years of work would be entitled to a
monthly benefit of $1,128 a month from Social Security," Mr. Bush said. "If that
same retiree, if those Social Security taxes had been invested in the stock market over
the last 45 years, during the same period of time, that person would now have a nest egg
of $590,000, or income of more than $3,700 a month." But to get that $3,700 a month,
a person would have to invest every penny of his retirement savings or Social Security
payroll taxes in the stock market his entire work life. "That is ill-advised at best
and unconscionable at worst," said Harold Evensky, a principal at Evensky, Brown
& Katz, a financial planning firm in Coral Gables, Fla., that is part of the Alpha
Group, an influential caucus of financial planners. nytimes.com
Congress Not Advised Of Shadow Government March
2, 2002; By Amy Goldstein and Juliet Eilperin Washington Post Staff Writers.Key
congressional leaders said yesterday the White House did not tell them that President Bush
has moved a cadre of senior civilian managers to secret underground sites outside
Washington to ensure that the federal government could survive a devastating terrorist
attack on the nation's capital.Senate Majority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) said he
had not been informed about the role, location or even the existence of the shadow
government that the administration began to deploy the morning of the Sept. 11 hijackings.
An aide to House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.) said he similarly was unaware
of the administration's move. washingtonpost.com
Patriotic stupor: White House junta is
undermining democracy March 2, 2002 News-Journal editorial
News-Journal editorial
In the months following Sept. 11 the debate about waging war on terrorism has been
understandably mute. With rare exceptions, the question boiling out of the nation's anger
hasn't been whether to fight a war or where to fight it, but how quickly. Once it began,
President Bush's strangely paradoxical promise that the war would certainly be won but
that its duration would be open-ended should have been the first warning that such a
colossal national commitment deserves less vagueness and clearer strategy, if not
accountability. Nothing of the sort has happened. The president has instead redefined
success to mean whatever his administration says it means. Victory was attained in
Afghanistan, even though Osama bin Laden and the Taliban leader are still at large and
anarchy promises to be the Afghan spring's bitterest crop. news-journalonline.com
Sen. Kerry Chides GOP on War Comments, Bashes
Bush March 2, 2002 9:40 pm EST By Christopher Noble CONCORD, N.H. (Reuters) - U.S. Sen. John Kerry, in
New Hampshire to support Democratic candidates for Congress, on Saturday accused
Republicans of hiding behind a "false cloak of patriotism" as they attacked
Democrats for questioning White House plans to expand the war on terrorism. The
Massachusetts liberal was speaking at a party fund-raiser in New Hampshire, whose
first-in-the-nation presidential primary will play a key role in choosing the Democrat who
will challenge President Bush in 2004. news1.iwon.com
ABC News "Missed Opportunities" evades central questions of government
role in September 11 attacks March 2, 2002, By Kate
Randall - On February 18-20, the ABC News evening program World News Tonight broadcast a
three-part series titled Missed Opportunities, which purported to explain the
lapses in US intelligence that opened the way for the September 11 terror attacks on the
World Trade Center and the Pentagon. wsws.org
Democrats Raise Questions On War Daschle, Byrd
remarks draw rebuke from GOP March 1, 2002 By Elaine S. Povich and William Douglas BUREAU; Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) said there
seems to be "expansion without clear direction" of the war. He told reporters it
would not "do anybody any good to second-guess what has been done to date. I think it
has been successful. But I think the jury is still out about future success." Daschle
added that before Congress commits additional resources to the war, "I think we need
to have a clearer understanding of what the direction will be." He also said the war
will not be a success until Osama bin Laden and other leaders of al-Qaida are found.
Daschle's comments came on the heels of criticism from Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), who
pointedly asked administration defense officials about their plans for continuing or
ending the war. "If we expect to kill every terrorist in the world, that's going to
keep us going beyond Doomsday," Byrd said. "How long can we afford this?" newsday.com
New Report Cites Worsening Abuses of Growing Contingent
Workforce; Hear from Policy Experts, Exploited Workers at Briefing on Monday 1
Mar U.S. Newswire News Advisory: A report to be released next week by the National
Campaign for Jobs and Income Support documents worsening trends in the abuse of temporary
workers, day laborers and other low-wage contingent workers who toil in this growing and
unregulated industry where most existing protective laws are not enforced. Policy experts
and exploited workers will speak at the briefing. usnewswire.com
Democrats' questions about war anger GOP Posted on Fri, Mar. 01, 2002 BY
STEVEN THOMMA WASHINGTON - In the first partisan
fight over the war on terrorism, congressional Democratic leaders on Thursday questioned
whether the war is on the right track as it broadens beyond Afghanistan.The questions
brought an angry response from congressional Republicans, who accused the Democrats of
being unpatriotic. miami.com In the first partisan
fight over the war on terrorism, congressional Democratic leaders on Thursday questioned
whether the war is on the right track as it broadens beyond Afghanistan.The questions
brought an angry response from congressional Republicans, who accused the Democrats of
being unpatriotic. miami.com
A Democratic senator goes nuclear on the White House March 1, 2002 By Jake Tapper
By Jake Tapper | WASHINGTON -- Nevada's Harry Reid talks with Salon about why he
joined the GAO lawsuit against Dick Cheney and why he called George W. Bush a liar. It's
nuclear war. Or nuclear waste war, at any rate. It began on Feb. 15, when President George
W. Bush announced that he would formally recommend Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of
Las Vegas, Nevada, as the site where the United States would bury its nuclear waste. And
it has accelerated this week, as Sen. Harry Reid, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, filed
a "friend of the court" brief with the General Accounting Office's lawsuit
against Vice President Dick Cheney, which seeks to compel Cheney to provide information to
the Congress about the meetings that task force had with energy executives while
formulating the policy. salon.com
Judge bangs gavel on Bush-Cheney stonewalling March 1, 2002 By
Anthony York Environmentalists cheer, expect to
find dirty laundry list of corporate polluters in secret energy plan documents.| You
know that if Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe and the National
Review are finding common cause on an issue, the Bush administration is in real trouble.
But the unusual coalition leaning on the White House to come clean about the energy task
force doesn't stop there. Conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch has joined forces
with the Sierra Club, conservative Andrew Sullivan with neo-liberal Arianna Huffington,
all to demand that the White House turn over documents concerning the formation of the
administration's energy plan. salon.com
ADL Says Billy Graham's Anti-Semitic Views On
Nixon Tape Are 'Chilling And Frightening' NEW YORK, March 1 /U.S. Newswire/ --
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today called the anti-Semitic views the Rev. Billy Graham
shared with President Richard Nixon "chilling and frightening even today, 30 years
after the statements were made." ADL was shocked to learn from the just released
tapes that the spiritual advisor to American Presidents believed and espoused age-old
classical anti-Semitic canards. usnewswire.com
First Amendment Center / U.S. Comedy Festival
Survey: Nearly 4 In 10 Americans Favor Gov't Limit On Humor After Incidents Like
WTC Attack 1 Mar U.S. Newswire ASPEN, Colo., March 1 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Nearly 40
percent of Americans favor the government stepping in to block comedy routines that make
light of events such as the World Trade Center attacks, according to a new nationwide
survey by the First Amendment Center. Results were released here today at the U.S. Comedy
Arts Festival, which runs through March 2. usnewswire.com
Study Reveals Wide Gaps Among States in Child Poverty, Children's Well-Being;
Economic Boom Failed to Help Most Poor Children 1 Mar. U.S. Newswire News Advisory:
Children at Risk: State Trends 1990-2000, is the first analysis of conditions affecting
the nation's children based on new data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Published by the
Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Population Reference Bureau, the study provides a
sweeping look at state-by-state trends in child well-being over the past decade. The new
study finds huge gaps among the states in child poverty rates, with child poverty rising
dramatically in several states from 1990 to 2000. National child poverty rates remain
among the highest in the developed world. usnewswire.com
Bush Renews Push to Partially Privatize Social Security
March 1, 2002 By ELISABETH BUMILLER WASHINGTON, Feb. 28 Wading into what is expected to be a major battle
of the 2002 midterm elections, President Bush today promoted his plan to let workers
invest part of their Social Security money in the stock market. Mr. Bush also spoke out
for pension changes in the wake of the filing for bankruptcy protection by Enron that cost
thousands of workers their retirement savings but left top executives with millions of
dollars from selling the company's stock. nytimes.com
US troops deployed to former Soviet republic of Georgia 1 March 2002 By Patrick Martin Two US Air Force planes brought
forty American military personnel to Tbilisi, capital of the former Soviet republic of
Georgia, on February 21, marking the first deployment of US combat forces in the Caucasus
region, adjacent to one of the worlds largest oilfields. According to a report by
the security intelligence service STRATFOR.com, [T]he personnel include Special
Forces troops, who specialize in counterterrorism operations, and Air Force logistics
personnel normally based at Incirlik, Turkey. STRATFOR cited an account of the
arrival in the Russian newspaper Nezavisimoe Voennoye Obozrenie. wsws.org
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