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11 July
As civilized countries move out of the darkness into the light, giving their people more
freedom of choice, America moves backward toward repression, control, and punishment.
Marijuana has been decriminalized in most of the democratic countries of Europe, the
Netherlands, and in Canada. Only the more extreme right wing governments continue their
attacks on the personal liberties of their people.
Cannabis laws eased by Blunkett 11 July, 2002 Cannabis is to be
reclassified as a less dangerous drug to free-up police resources to fight hard drugs such
as heroin and cocaine, Home Secretary David Blunkett has announced. He unveiled the
controversial measure in the House of Commons just hours after the government's former
"drugs czar" Keith Hellawell said he had quit his role as a government adviser
in protest. It came shortly after Tony Blair defended the move during prime minister's
question time. Mr Blunkett also announced that the controversial cannabis experiment,
currently under way in London's Brixton, would be extended across London. The decision to
reclassify cannabis was in response to a report by MPs arguing that drugs policy should
focus on tackling the problems caused by heroin addicts. bbc.co.uk
Judicial Watch Suing Cheney Halliburton’s accounting practices to be
challenged MIAMI, July 10 — Vice President Dick Cheney and Halliburton Co., the oil
company he ran for five years, are being accused of accounting fraud by a watchdog group. Washington Based JUDICIAL WATCH said it would file a shareholder
lawsuit on Wednesday against Cheney and Halliburton.
Cheney was chairman and chief executive of the oil field-services giant from 1995 to 2000.
Halliburton announced on May 28 that it received notice from the Securities and Exchange
Commission that the commission was looking into Halliburton’s accounting methods
— adopted in 1998 — for reporting cost overruns on construction jobs. The SEC
has not filed any charges against Halliburton. Judicial Watch alleges those accounting
practices resulted in the overvaluation of Halliburton’s shares, deceiving
investors. “We’re seeking actual and punitive damages for allegations of
securities fraud, for changing accounting practices and not advising the public of these
changes,” Judicial Watch chairman and general counsel Larry Klayman said Tuesday
night in Miami. Messages seeking comment from Cheney and the White House were not
immediately returned late Tuesday. msnbc.com
Bush speech leaves Wall Street doubting July 10, 2002 By Reuters Wall Street on Tuesday voiced skepticism about
President George W. Bush's proposals on accounting reform, saying strong words alone are
not enough to allay deep distrust of corporate America. "If we actually saw some guys
go to prison for these scandals--that would do something," said Bev Hendry, portfolio
manager at Phoenix-Aberdeen. "We need more action, less talk. These things take a
long, long time to be enacted." Bush, the first president with a master's degree in
business, traveled to the heart of Wall Street to recommend more jail time for those
convicted of corporate fraud and other proposals aimed at restoring confidence battered by
waves of accounting scandals and executive wrongdoing. news.com.com news.com.com
Daschle seeks SEC file on Bush July 10, 2002 - Democrat
requests release of data on 10-year-old stock trading probe - Washington -- Senate
Majority Leader Tom Daschle called Sunday on the Securities and Exchange Commission to
release the file of its decade-old investigation into possible insider trading by
President Bush when he was a corporate director of a Texas energy company. Democrats also
stepped up their attacks on Bush's top appointee to the watchdog agency, as House Minority
Whip Nancy Pelosi urged Bush to fire SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt because of his past work as
a lobbyist for the accounting industry. sfgate.com
Bush jibe angers black leaders July 10, 2002 Matthew Engel Relations
between the White House and black American leaders slumped to a new low yesterday after
President Bush gave a dismissive answer when asked why he was not addressing the
convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured Peoples, the most
respected black pressure group in the US. At his press conference on Monday night, Mr Bush
answered: "Let's see. There I was sitting around the table with foreign leaders
looking at Colin Powell and Condi Rice _ " His voice then trailed away, he shook his
head and moved on to the next question; the implication being that two black people in his
inner circle was a substitute for outreach to the rest of the community. His words were
certain to cause outrage, and seemed an uncharacteristic piece of political ineptitude.
"You can't be president of all the people when you only want to be president for some
of the people," said the NAACP chief executive, Kweisi Mfume. guardian.co.uk
US preparing full-scale invasion of Iraq 10 July 2002 By Bill Vann Recently leaked Pentagon documents as well as reports on strategic
preparations by the US military indicate that the Bush administration is preparing a
massive invasion of Iraq within the next several months. Such a war would rank as one of
the great imperialist crimes of the century—an unprovoked attack by the world’s
biggest military power against a nation that has been ravaged by more than a decade of
sanctions and subjected to unceasing military and political provocations.
Washington’s basic war aims, behind the rhetoric about “weapons of mass
destruction” and the “war on terrorism,” are entirely predatory. The US
wants to seize control of Iraq’s oilfields and turn the country into an American
protectorate. President Bush again threatened military action against the Arab nation at a
July 8 White House press conference, declaring, “It is the stated policy of this
government to have a regime change ... and we’ll use all the tools at our disposal to
do so.” These “tools” are being readied. The Pentagon has placed record
orders for precision-guided munitions, the so-called “smart bombs” that allow US
forces to rain death and destruction on virtually defenseless peoples from many miles
away. wsws.org
Welcome to Bush's 1984 July 9, 2002 by Clay Evans When I read that the Bush administration's proposal for a
labyrinthine "Department of Homeland Security" included an exemption from the
Freedom of Information Act, a thought that had been scratching the back of my mind like an
industrious mouse scurried into the open: There is something Orwellian about the amorphous
"war on terrorism." The proposed new department would combine 22 federal
agencies and have more armed agents than any other agency. But the Bush administration
doesn't want you to be able to find out what the hell it's doing. National security, you
know. This and constantly trotting out "the war" as justification for whatever
the Bush crowd wants to do reminded me of Orwell's anti-totalitarian classic,
"1984." I don't want to overstate the case, but flipping though my old
paperback, there are creepy similarities. In the nightmare world of Orwell's 1984,
"Airstrip One" (aka England) is ruled by an all-powerful Party, and is in a
constant state of war; the Party's motto reads, in part, "WAR IS PEACE." But the
"enemy" shifts all the time between two distant nations, Eastasia and Eurasia.
Not unlike Bush's slowly expanding "axis of evil." commondreams.org
The Declaration of Independence... from Dubya July 9, 2002 BY JOHN SUGG (With apologies
to Thomas Jefferson) Dear Mr. Bush: It is quite likely, considering the blank, empty smirk
with which you greet the world, that you may not recognize the document I, with humility
and not arrogance, update below. The original was the statement of men who staked their
lives to affirm our right to live free; and they penned their names in abhorrence of and
opposition to a tyrant with whom you share more than a name. Although the repeated
mendacities of your administration are beyond comprehension -- far greater by many powers
than your predecessor's peccadilloes with Whitewater, White House travel agents or even
Monica's semen-stained dress -- you earn credit for telling one chilling truth. Shortly
after your brother enabled your undermining of our democracy by illegally disenfranchising
thousands of Florida voters, followed by the five Republicans on the Supreme Court halting
recounts and selecting you president, you made a surprisingly candid jest to congressional
leaders, saying: "If this were a dictatorship, this would be a heck of a lot
easier." Laughing at your own humor -- a malignant hahaha considering the hundreds of
thousands of Americans who have died battling tyranny and totalitarianism -- you then
quipped: "Just so long as I'm dictator." atlanta.creativeloafing.com
Bush acting as imperial president July 9, 2002 By HELEN
THOMAS HEARST NEWSPAPERS WASHINGTON -- The
imperial presidency has arrived. On the domestic front President Bush has found that in
many ways he can govern by executive order. In foreign affairs he has the nerve to tell
other people that they should get rid of their current leaders. Amazingly, with Americans
turning into a new silent majority and Congress into a bunch of obeisant lawmakers, he is
getting away with such acts. The lawmakers are worried that Bush will play the
"patriot card" in the November elections to attack dissenters and opponents. The
Democratic leaders have already rolled over. They have given him a blank check by passing
the USA Patriot Act, which permits outrageous invasions of privacy, and by seconding
Bush's foreign policy with a weak "me too." seattlepi.nwsource.com
Fouling Our Own Nest
July 9, 2002 by Bob Herbert For me, Pig-Pen's attitude embodies President Bush's approach to
the environment. We've been trashing, soiling, even destroying the wonders of nature for
countless ages. Why stop now? Who is Mr. Bush to step in and curb this venerable orgy of
pollution, this grand tradition of fouling our own nest? Oh, the skies may once have been
clear and the waters sparkling and clean. But you can't have that and progress, too. Can
you? This week we learned that the Bush administration plans to cut funding for the
cleanup of 33 toxic waste sites in 18 states. As The Times's Katharine Seelye reported,
this means "that work is likely to grind to a halt on some of the most seriously
polluted sites in the country." commondreams.org
Bush’s past business dealings come back to haunt him 9 July 2002 By Barry Grey On the eve of a much publicized speech to business executives on
Wall Street, George W. Bush held an impromptu press conference Monday at which he was
peppered with questions regarding his own dealings as a board member of Texas-based Harken
Energy more than a decade ago. Even as he read a prepared statement pledging to take a
tough stand against corporate law-breakers, Bush could not suppress his trademark smirk.
Asked about the 1991 Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) probe into his sell-off of
Harken stock only weeks before the company reported massive losses, Bush continued to
stonewall. wsws.org
Daschle, Gephardt to Meet with Former Worldcom and Enron Employees 9 Jul U.S. Newswire Leader Tom Daschle, House Democratic Leader Richard Gephardt,
former WorldCom employee Cara Alcanter and former Enron employee Debbie Perrotta will hold
a press conference (July 9) at 10:30 am in 138 Dirksen, calling for an Investors' Bill of
Rights to restore corporate integrity and trust. usnewswire.com
NAACP chairman denounces Bush administration on civil rights law, use of surveillance July 8, 2002 By DEBORAH KONG
HOUSTON (AP) -- NAACP board chairman Julian Bond criticized the Bush administration
Sunday, saying it had failed to enforce civil rights laws, and he denounced the FBI's use
of increased surveillance powers in fighting terrorism. "We have a president who owes
his election more to a dynasty than to democracy," Bond told about 3,000 people at
the 93rd annual convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People. Two years ago, President Bush "promised to enforce the civil rights
laws," Bond said. "We knew he was in the oil business -- we just didn't
know it was snake oil." nj.com
Earth Will Expire By 2050 July 8, 2002 by Mark Townsend and
Jason Burke by Mark Townsend and
Jason Burke Earth's population will be forced to
colonize two planets within 50 years if natural resources continue to be exploited at the
current rate, according to a report out this week. A study by the World Wildlife Fund
(WWF), to be released on Tuesday, warns that the human race is plundering the planet at a
pace that outstrips its capacity to support life. In a damning condemnation of Western
society's high consumption levels, it adds that the extra planets (the equivalent size of
Earth) will be required by the year 2050 as existing resources are exhausted. The report,
based on scientific data from across the world, reveals that more than a third of the
natural world has been destroyed by humans over the past three decades. commondreams.org
US 'to attack Iraq via Jordan'July 7, 2002 The Observer Military planners prepare to use British forces in an allied
assault within months American military planners are preparing to use Jordan as a base for
an assault on Iraq later this year or early in 2003, The Observer can reveal. Although
leaked Pentagon documents appear to show that Turkey, Kuwait and the small Gulf state of
Qatar would play key roles, it is believed that Jordan will be the 'jumping-off' point for
an attack that could involve up to 250,000 American troops and forces from Britain and
other key US allies. observer.co.uk
Bush readies corporate scandal plan Jul. 07, 2002
By JESSE J. HOLLAND AP
— Jailing crooked executives and strengthening laws
against corporate wrongdoing are needed to restore Americans' confidence in big business,
lawmakers said Sunday as they surveyed the wreckage of companies such as Enron Corp. and
WorldCom Inc. The White House defended top market watchdog Harvey Pitt, the Securities and
Exchange Commission chairman, after Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle called for his
ouster, saying Pitt was soft on the industry he regulates. "We could do a lot better
than Harvey Pitt in that position today," said Daschle, D-S.D. White House press
secretary Ari Fleischer, with the president in Maine, said the SEC under Pitt has acted
aggressively against wrongdoers and that the charges against him were "without
merit." macon.com
Jobless rate climbs July
7, 2002 NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The unemployment rate edged up to 5.9 percent in June, the
government said Friday, as the labor market struggled to recover from a recession that led
to more than a million job cuts in 2001. "This report is clearly disappointing,"
Wells Fargo Chief Economist Sung Won Sohn said in a research note, citing businesses'
reluctance to hire amid the weak stock market and the economic slowdown. Sohn added that
the recent layoff announcements by WorldCom and EDS will worsen the employment picture in
the coming months. money.cnn.com
THE ROGUE STATE
July 6, 2002 Legendary
foreign correspondent JOHN PILGER on America's bid to control the world FOR 101 days, Royal Marines have been engaged in a
farcical operation as mercenaries of the United States whose lawlessness now qualifies it
as the world's leading rogue state. Shooting at shadows, and the occasional tribesman,
blowing up mounds of dirt and displaying "captured" arms for the media, all have
been part of the Marines' humiliating role in Afghanistan - a role foisted upon them by
the Blair government, whose deference to and collusion with the Bush gang has become a
parody of the imperial courtier. Gang is not an exaggeration. The word, in my dictionary,
means "a group of people working together for criminal, disreputable ends". That
describes accurately George W Bush and those who write his speeches and make his decisions
and who, since their rise to power, have undermined the very basis of international law. mirror.co
FOR 101 days, Royal Marines have been engaged in a
farcical operation as mercenaries of the United States whose lawlessness now qualifies it
as the world's leading rogue state. Shooting at shadows, and the occasional tribesman,
blowing up mounds of dirt and displaying "captured" arms for the media, all have
been part of the Marines' humiliating role in Afghanistan - a role foisted upon them by
the Blair government, whose deference to and collusion with the Bush gang has become a
parody of the imperial courtier. Gang is not an exaggeration. The word, in my dictionary,
means "a group of people working together for criminal, disreputable ends". That
describes accurately George W Bush and those who write his speeches and make his decisions
and who, since their rise to power, have undermined the very basis of international law. mirror.co
Deluge of Hate Crimes After 9/11 Pours Through System July 6, 2002 by Richard A. Serrano
by Richard A. Serrano DALLAS -- Mark Anthony Stroman was an easy
case. A white supremacist, in the days after Sept. 11 he walked into a succession of
convenience stores in the Dallas area and killed a clerk from Pakistan and another from
India, and he partially blinded a third from Bangladesh. Tried, convicted and sentenced to
death, Stroman voices no remorse. He recalls telling each of his victims, "God bless
America." As the incidence of hate crimes against suspected Middle Easterners
subsides, authorities are beginning to prosecute cases growing out of more than 420
investigations nationwide. Although some offenders show no regret, many others are
expressing embarrassment over their hostile acts in the wake of the terrorist attacks on
the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Joe Montez drew two years' probation for
telephoning a truck stop in Hewitt, Texas, on Sept. 17. After asking whether the clerks
were Iranians, he said, "There's a bomb where you're standing.... There's a bomb in
your building." commondreams.org
No quick fix for fraud and corruption July 5, 2002 Colin Mayer, The Guardian
Colin Mayer, The Guardian Recent
revelations in corporate America are illustrative of a corrupt system riddled with greed.
The irony of this is that it was only a few months ago that the US systems of corporate
governance, disclosure and accounting were held up as examples for the rest of the world.
guardian.co
US Supreme Court Justice Scalia on capital punishment: "Death is no big deal" 5 July 2002 By Kate
Randall Recent rulings by the US Supreme Court
on the death penalty have focused attention on the high court’s attitude toward
capital punishment—a practice still upheld by 38 US states. In a 6-3 decision June
20, the Court ruled that executing the mentally retarded is a violation of the
Constitution’s Eighth Amendment ban on “cruel and unusual punishment.” The
decision incurred the ire of the three dissenting justices—Chief Justice William
Rehnquist and Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, all known for their
extreme-right views—who denounced the Court’s majority for caving in to
international and domestic public opinion opposing execution of the mentally retarded.
wsws.org
Bush changes story on $848,560 stock sale July
5, 2002 DANA MILBANK THE
WASHINGTON POST Queries about late disclosure of 1990 trade gain traction amid
WorldCom fiasco. The White House on Wednesday changed President
Bush's account of his failure to file timely disclosures to the Securities and Exchange
Commission about a 1990 stock trade, as Bush aides sought to distance the president from a
wave of corporate accounting scandals. A decade ago, Bush blamed the 34-week delay in his
filing on the SEC, which he said lost the disclosure document. But facing new inquiries
sparked by the leaking of a 1991 SEC report, Bush's spokesman Wednesday laid the blame on
a "mix-up" by company's lawyers. The delayed filing was related to Bush's sale
of $848,560 in shares of Harken Energy Corp., of which Bush was a director, two months
before the company announced a large loss and a steep fall in its stock price. theolympian.com
theolympian.com
DID GEORGE BUSH TRAIN ENRON AND
WORLDCOM IN MURKY DEALS? July 5, 2002 by By Vasily Bubnov Much
is said now about credibility gap as concerning American companies, bankruptcy of Enron
and other corporations, Kmart retail trade network for example. Then
Worldcom, Vivendi and
Xerox, companies currently said to be on the bankruptcy verge. It seems that moment has
come for the US President to justify himself. George W. Bush was perfectly lucky to come
clear from the Enron scandal, although much was said about friendly relations between the
President and Enron management. This time political opponents to the US Administration are
unlikely to lose the chance: George W. Bush’s activity at Texas oil company Harken
Energy Corporation board of directors is actively discussed nowadays. The incumbent
American president sold his Harken Energy Corporation shareholding in 1990. What is
unusual about the sale? The problem is that George W. Bush sold main part of the
shareholding right before the company announced its $23 million quarterly losses, which
entailed a triple reduction of the company’s 4-dollar shares. english.pravda
US media silent on anthrax cover-up charge 5 July 2002 By Patrick
Martin Several days have passed since a
leading writer for the New York Times charged that the FBI and the Bush
administration were refusing to arrest the man believed responsible for last fall’s
anthrax attacks that killed five people. But not a single major American media outlet has
reported or commented on the charge, nor has the issue been raised at the daily press
briefings given by White House spokesman Ari Fleischer and other government officials. The
American media is thus complicit in the cover-up being orchestrated by the Bush
administration. The media justifies the repression and anti-democratic actions of the
government as necessary steps in the “war on terrorism,” even while the
administration is protecting a suspected terrorist who shares its right-wing, militaristic
standpoint. wsws.org
Bush and Cheney face scrutiny in financial scandals July
04, 2002 By Rupert Cornwell in WashingtonSome financial skeletons are starting to rattle in the
cupboard for both President Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney, increasing the political
danger to the Republican Party posed by the series of accounting and insider trading
scandals. The Vice-President's potential embarrassment is the most recent, revolving
around alleged accounting irregularities at the Halliburton oil services company between
1998 and 2000 when Mr Cheney was its chief executive. Halliburton is said to have massaged
its figures by booking more than $100m of disputed costs as revenues in statements
approved by Andersen, the accounting firm convicted of obstruction of justice in the Enron
affair. Mr Cheney's office has refused comment on the matter, but Harvey Pitt, chairman of
the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) watchdog body, has been been forced to make
clear that the SEC will examine the Halliburton allegations without fear or favour. news.independent
Stocks Hammered, Close at Multiyear Lows July 4,
2002 By Reuters | New York Times, NEW YORK - Stocks sank to closing levels
not seen for 4-1/2 years on Tuesday as investors fled shares of companies with any hint of
accounting irregularity and worried about the outlook for corporate profits. Stocks fell
through lows touched in September, after the attacks on New York and the Pentagon, and
kept sliding past levels touched in October 1998 when financial markets were roiled by the
blow-up of hedge fund Long Term Capital Management. ``One word to sum it up is nervous,
investors are very nervous,'' said Gary Wedbush, head of trading at regional investment
bank Wedbush Morgan. ``Investors are worried about a terrorist attack around the July 4
holiday, and worried about corporate accounting fraud and also about fundamentals of
companies.'' truthout.com
Bush's business practices under question July 4,
2002 The Associated Press The Associated Press WASHINGTON - As a Texas oilman, President Bush engaged in some of
the same kinds of business practices he's now promising to clean up in response to a wave
of corporate scandals. Bush was a board member of Harken Energy Corp. in 1989 when the
company engaged in a transaction that later prompted an inquiry by the Securities and
Exchange Commission. The SEC forced the company to amend its books to reflect millions of
dollars in losses that had been masked by the sale of a subsidiary to a group of insiders.
And Bush, who was on the company's audit committee, was the subject of a separate insider
stock trade investigation by the SEC. The SEC now is investigating insider deals and
questionable bookkeeping at Enron, WorldCom and other companies, and Bush is promising to
crack down on corporate wrongdoers. Questions about Bush's past business practices
prompted the White House to acknowledge Wednesday that he had failed to promptly disclose
the 1990 sale of his Harken stock as required by federal law. gainesvillesun.com
Bad judgment by Bush July 4, 2002 The Boston
Globe When President George W. Bush
decided in May to "unsign" the Treaty of Rome creating an International Criminal
Court in The Hague to try individuals for war crimes, he chose to point the world's sole
superpower right at a craggy protuberance marked Isolation Reef. Bush compounded his error
by having his UN ambassador, John Negroponte, cast a veto Sunday against a Security
Council resolution extending by six months the mandate for a UN peacekeeping force in
Bosnia. By endangering a crucial UN mission in Bosnia to allay a groundless anxiety about
the International Criminal Court, Bush has made the United States look every bit as
unilateral as the country's critics contend it is, and he has allowed the United States to
be utterly isolated on the world iht.com
US warplanes massacre villagers in central Afghanistan July
3, 2002 By Peter Symonds The bombing of the village of Kararak in central Afghanistan in the
early hours of Monday morning adds another tragic chapter to the long list of criminal
acts carried out by the US military since its invasion of the country last October. Full
details are not yet available and estimates vary as to the number of civilian casualties.
The lowest, provided by an Afghan Defence Ministry official Dr Gulbuddin, puts the death
toll of men, women and children at 30. Bismullah, a spokesman for Uruzgan province where
the village is located, stated that there were around 40 dead and 70 injured. Other
sources put the number of dead and injured at over 300. According to Afghan officials, US
warplanes attacked a wedding celebration in the village, mistaking the traditional
exuberant firing of shots into the air as a hostile attack. Abdul Saboor, a resident, told
the BBC: “We managed to transfer some of the wounded to Kandahar in the morning. Some
of the foreigners’ choppers also came to help. There are no Taliban or Al Qaeda or
Arabs here. These people were all civilians, women and children.” Reports from
hospitals in the Afghan city of Kandahar, about 160 km south west of the village, gave a
clearer picture of the extent of the disaster. A number of children were among the
injured, including Paliko, a six-year-old girl, who was still in her party dress.
Villagers said all of her family were dead. Another injured child, Malika, 7, lost both
her parents as well as a brother and sister. Hospital officials said that most of the dead
and injured were women and children. One nurse Mohammed Nadir told the press: “We
have many children who are injured and who have no family ... Everyone says that their
parents are dead.” wsws.org
Business Scandals Creating Political Peril for the White House July 3 By RICHARD W. STEVENSON
WASHINGTON, ˜ George W. Bush is the
first president with an M.B.A., and his administration once proudly promoted its corporate
experience as evidence of how it could bring boardroom smarts to governance and policy.
But as the hard-charging, profit-producing, globe-conquering chief executive of the 1990's
gives way in popular culture to the disgraced, book-cooking defendant of the post-boom
era, the political appeal of a corporate pedigree is no longer so certain. nytimes.com
Why is the US government protecting anthrax terrorist? July 3, 2002 By the
Editorial Board An extraordinary commentary
published in Tuesday’s New York Times declares that the FBI is refusing to
arrest or seriously investigate the most obvious suspect in the anthrax attacks last fall
which killed five people. The allegations made by Times columnist Nicholas Kristof
are so serious that they deserve immediate and thorough public investigation. But so far,
both the Bush administration and the media have remained silent on what is, without
exaggeration, one of the most astounding articles ever to appear in a major American
newspaper. Kristof indicts the FBI’s “lackadaisical ineptitude in pursuing the
anthrax killer,” writing: “Almost everyone who has encountered the FBI anthrax
investigation is aghast at the bureau’s lethargy. Some in the biodefense community
think they know a likely culprit, whom I’ll call Mr. Z. Although the bureau has
polygraphed Mr. Z., searched his home twice and interviewed him four times, it has not
placed him under surveillance or asked its outside handwriting expert to compare his
writing to that on the anthrax letters.” Kristof confirms that the identity of the
prime suspect is well known in media and government circles, although he chooses not to
name the name. “If Mr. Z. were an Arab national,” Kristof comments, “he
would have been imprisoned long ago. But he is a true-blue American with close ties to the
US Defense Department, the CIA and the American biodefense program.” wsws.org
 US Supreme Court authorizes school vouchers: July 2, 2002 By Don
Knowland A simultaneous assault on freedom of
thought and public education. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution sought
to guarantee freedom of thought in word and deed—freedom of speech and freedom of the
press; freedom to associate, peacefully assemble, and petition the government for redress;
and, critically, freedom of and from religion. Underscoring its signal importance to the
country’s Enlightenment-steeped founders, the very first clause of the First
Amendment prohibited Congress from making any law respecting the establishment of
religion. As Thomas Jefferson explained, the purpose of the “Establishment
Clause” was to build “a wall of separation between Church and State.” That
prohibition was later extended to the several states shortly after the Civil War by the
adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment.
On June 27 the right-wing majority of the US
Supreme Court took a pile driver to that wall of separation. The Court decided in
a 5-4 ruling in the case Zelman v. Harris-Simmons that Ohio’s school voucher
program, which funds almost all of the tuition for low-income Cleveland students who
attend private religious schools, did not violate the Establishment Clause. To reach this
result the Court’s majority was forced to depart sharply from longstanding Supreme
Court jurisprudence, and to otherwise engage in factual distortion and verbal and logical
subterfuge. That this sweeping social intervention occurred for political reasons is
transparent: school vouchers have long been the main educational program of right-wing
opponents of both public education and constitutional prohibitions against government
sponsorship of religion. wsws.org
BUSH
VETOES TRIBUNAL Jul
2, 2002 The world's first permanent war crimes tribunal was officially born today. But the
International Criminal Court was immediately threatened, as the US President George Bush
expressed his opposition to the project. The US vetoed a UN Security Council resolution to
UN peacekeeping in Bosnia because it did not exempt US troops from prosecution. dailyrecord.co.uk
A TIME FOR DISSENT IN AMERICA July 1, 2002 By Richard Reeves
WASHINGTON -- The presidency seems to be going to George Bush's head. With each morning's
paper or evening's news, depending on your preference, our leader is jumping up and saying
truly extraordinary things, some of them preposterous, some stupid, some terrifying. Ariel
Sharon, he says, is "a man of peace." I must have missed something. If Yasser
Arafat, that other sometimes man of peace, wins an election, the election doesn't count.
Nothing counts unless we like it. We are now in the first-strike business, ready to launch
pre-emptive or preventive strikes against countries or groups judged hostile to our
interests by someone at Central Intelligence or the Republican National Committee.
Frankly, I prefer what a bit more experienced Republican president, Dwight Eisenhower,
said on that subject in 1954: "Preventative war ... I don't believe in such a thing,
and frankly I wouldn't even listen seriously to anyone that came in and talked about such
a thing." Ah, what did he know? Now, the United States can do anything it wants,
right? World's only superpower and all that. We define morality now. yahoo.com
Bush slashing aid to Superfund sites July 1, 2002 By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE The New York Times WASHINGTON — The Bush administration has designated 33
toxic waste sites in 18 states for cuts in funding under the Superfund cleanup program,
according to a new report to Congress by the inspector general of the Environmental
Protection Agency. The cuts, imposed because the cleanup fund is hundreds of millions of
dollars short of the amount needed to keep the program on schedule, mean that work is
likely to grind to a halt on some of the most seriously polluted sites in the country,
confronting the surrounding communities with new uncertainty over when the work will
resume, how quickly it will proceed and who will pay for it. timesargus.nybor.com
If He Runs Again, Gore Says, 'To Hell With the Polls' July
1, 2002 By Dan Balz Washington Post Former vice president Al Gore conceded today that his 2000
presidential campaign was too heavily influenced by polls, consultants and tactical
maneuvering, telling key supporters here that, if he runs in 2004, he will "let it
rip" and "let the chips fall where they may." "If I had it to do over
again, I'd just let it rip," Gore told a private gathering of many of his most
significant donors and fundraisers, according to an aide who relayed the remarks to
reporters. "To hell with the polls, tactics and all the rest. I would have poured out
my heart and my vision for America's future." Gore's comments won a standing ovation
from those supporters, who were near-universal in their encouragement for him to run
again. His remarks came after both his wife, Tipper, and eldest daughter, Karenna Gore
Schiff, emphatically said they would like to see him challenge President Bush in 2004. washingtonpost.com
Gore derides Bush hunt for Bin Laden July 1, 2002 Oliver
Burkeman in New York Al Gore has
launched a vociferous attack on the Bush administration's handling of the war against
terrorism, accusing it of incompetence in the hunt for Osama bin Laden. Mr Gore's senior
foreign policy adviser added to the force of his boss's remarks by accusing the White
House of fuelling anti-Americanism abroad. The Gore team's comments were interpreted as a
strong indication that the former vice-president, who lost to George Bush in the 2000
election after a splenetic legal dispute, intends to seek the Demo- cratic nomination in
2004. They haven't gotten Osama bin Laden or the al-Qaida operation," Mr Gore told
donors and fundraisers from his 2000 campaign, meeting in Memphis on Saturday night.
"They have refused to allow enough troops from the international community to be put
into Afghanistan to keep it from sliding back under control of the warlords." His
adviser, Leon Fuerth, said Mr Bush's lack of commitment to supporting democratic movements
overseas had contributed to a "deterioration in support for America" around the
world. guardian.co.uk
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