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The Big Bush Social Security Lie

In Torture We Trust? March 14, 2003 by Eyal Press If patriotism has to precipitate us into dishonour, if there is no precipice of inhumanity over which nations and men will not throw themselves, then, why in fact do we go to so much trouble to become, or to remain, human? --Jean-Paul Sartre The recent capture of Al Qaeda leader Khalid Shaikh Mohammed is the latest indication that the taboo on torture has been broken. In the days after Mohammed's arrest, an unnamed official told the Wall Street Journal that US interrogators may authorize "a little bit of smacky-face" while questioning captives in the war on terrorism. Others proposed that the United States ship Mohammed off to a country where laxer rules apply. "There's a reason why [Mohammed] isn't going to be near a place where he has Miranda rights or the equivalent," a senior federal law enforcer told the Journal. "You go to some other country that'll let us pistol-whip this guy." thenation.com

FTCR: GOP Sponsors of Malpractice Bill Resort to Lies to Pass Bill Taking Power from States, Juries March 14, 2003 U.S. Newswire Congress passed legislation (HR 5) today that would dramatically limit the rights of patients injured by medical malpractice, without endorsing any provisions that mandate lower malpractice insurance rates for physicians. The bill pre-empts state laws and denies juries the right to provide full compensation to injured victims. "The Republican sponsors of this bill have trounced on states' rights in order to pass legislation that limits patients' rights but does nothing to limit insurance companies' rates," said Douglas Heller, a consumer advocate with the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR) of California. "Malpractice caps never lowered doctors' premiums. Only when California imposed strict insurance regulation did physicians see relief. Today's legislation will line the pockets of insurance companies, but it will not lowerinsurance rates for doctors." According to FTCR, the Republican sponsors of HR 5 fabricated information in order to pass the legislation. usnewswire.com

News Analysis: Water scarcity could affect billions: is this the biggest crisis of all? March 14, 2003 By Michael McCarthy Glug-glug: Not normally a sound of foreboding. But mankind's most serious challenge in the 21st century might not be war or hunger or disease or even the collapse of civic order, a UN report says; it may be the lack of fresh water. Population growth, pollution and climate change, all accelerating, are likely to combine to produce a drastic decline in water supply in the coming decades, according to the World Water Development Report, published March 5, 2003. And of course that supply is already problematic for up to a third of the world's population. At present 1.1 billion people lack access to clean water and 2.4 billion lack access to proper sanitation, nearly all of them in the developing countries. Yet the fact that these figures are likely to worsen remorselessly has not been properly grasped by the world community, the report says. "Despite widely available evidence of the crisis, political commitment to reverse these trends has been lacking." independent.co.uk

Nuclear weapons and pollution linked to 65 million deaths March 14, 2003 By Paul Waugh Pollution from nuclear energy and weapons programmes up to 1989 will account for 65 million deaths, according to a European scientific committee headed by an adviser to the British Government. Research published yesterday by the European Committee of Radiation Risk claims that previous figures massively underestimate the nuclear industry's impact on human life. The ECRR is an international body of 30 independent scientists, led by Dr Chris Busby, a member of the Government's radiation risk committee and adviser to the Ministry of Defence on the use of depleted uranium. independent.co.uk

Execution stayed in final 10 minutes March 14, 2003 By Duncan Campbell Delma Banks had already eaten his last meal, a cheeseburger, and was about to be strapped down in preparation for his execution in Huntsville, Texas, when his reprieve came through. Ten minutes before he was due to be given a lethal injection, he was told that the supreme court had granted a stay. Banks, 44, who is black, was convicted in 1980 of shooting a white teenager, Richard Whitehead, in Texarkana, Texas. He said he had been in Dallas at the time. The two had worked together in a restaurant and Banks was said to have shot Whitehead "just for the hell of it". The jury was all white - four black potential jurors had been excluded - and his defence lawyer was said to have been poorly prepared. Two prosecution witnesses have withdrawn their testimony, and evidence has emerged that one of the witnesses was paid to help the police. "I just thank the Lord," Banks said after being told of the reprieve. "Give Jesus all the credit." guardian.co.uk

New York’s City Council opposes Iraq war March 14, 2003 By Bill Vann An antiwar vote Wednesday by the City Council in New York, the city that suffered the greatest loss of life in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, has further exposed the Bush administration’s hypocritical attempt to exploit those deaths as a pretext for aggression against Iraq. With a 31-17 vote, the New York City Council joined nearly 150 other cities and counties that have passed measures opposing war. The vote in New York, however, was particularly significant given the deaths of nearly 3,000 people at the World Trade Center 19 months ago. The Bush administration has repeatedly invoked this atrocity as the principal argument for going to war, despite the absence of any evidence linking the regime in Baghdad to the terrorist attacks. In passing the measure, the council rejected this argument as well as explicit appeals to support the war in the name of the September 11 victims. wsws.org

Why the Oligarchy wants War in place of Economic Development March 13, 3003 By G.C.Reid They tried to force President Clinton to support a war against Iraq in accordance to the war policy they had drawn up, but he wouldn't do it; and they cooked up the Lewinski Affair against him. The war against Iraq which Clinton rejected, was to be based on the very same weapons of mass destruction grounds being pushed at present. Elapsed time since then, has proved what a fraud this reason was back then, just as it obviously still is a fraud now. But the real problem though, is not Saddam Hussein, but the unpayable debt implosion and collapse of the many times over bankrupt, globalized financial system. This has been brought about by the effects of deregulation, speculation and free trade. The bankrupting outcome of these agendas, must have positively been realized by the leaders and controllers of governments that participated in introducing these agendas, which were dictated by policy writing 'think tanks' -- of which there are some 166 in some 38 nations including the U.S.. These think tanks were set up under the authority of the British Crown in the 1970s to push the above mentioned nation bankrupting deregulation and free trade policies globally. International financier control of nations due to this debt, is the true intention of the Globalization agenda. Indeed the true title of the predicament is not Globalization but rather, Oligarchism. thepeoplesvoice.org

Federal appeals court in Boston seeking to block Bush from launching an attack against Iraq without a formal declaration of war approved by Congress "Bush is not a king." March 13, 3003 The constitutional challenge - filed by a dozen House Democrats and a number of military members and their families - was dismissed Feb. 24 by a lower-court judge. But in a rare move that signaled heightened interest in the matter, a three-judge panel of the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals granted an emergency motion to hear an appeal of the lower-court ruling with an expedited argument and briefing schedule. An emergency hearing was held last week and the panel asked for both sides to submit briefs in the case by Tuesday, indicating that it would issue a ruling quickly. 'Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution is quite clear that Congress, and only Congress, shall have the power to declare war. Bush is not a king,' attorney John Bonifaz said." democrats.com

When bombs fall, U.S. will join ranks of war criminals March 13, 3003 Disarmament is working, and Iraq poses no direct threat to Americans The maiming or killing of a single Iraqi civilian in an attack by the United States would constitute a war crime, as well as a profound violation of the Christian notion of just war. That is because the recent report of the U.N. inspectors has made indelibly clear that disarmament is working and that Iraq at this time poses no direct threat to the well-being of the American people. Of course, we are not talking about one or two casualties. In seriously considering such war strategies as bringing a city- destroying firestorm down upon a population half made up of children, the U.S. is planning to disarm a nation of its weapons of mass destruction by using weapons that cause mass destruction. Brutal, preemptive and unilateral war under such circumstances is -- by the standards of any great civilization or religion -- morally indefensible and also seriously damages the reputation of free societies, the principles of which we are trying to market to the rest of the world. workingforchange.com

Veterans Group Outraged Over Budget Cuts March 13, 3003 U.S. Newswire The Disabled American Veterans (DAV) has labeled as "indefensible and callous" a plan by the House Budget Committee to slash $470 billion from domestic spending, including health care for sick and disabled veterans. The draft budget resolution would leave the $1.6 trillion Bush tax cut plan intact and allow huge spending increases on defense and homeland security. DAV National Commander Edward R. Heath, Sr. expressed the organization's outrage at the spending cuts proposed in a March 12 House Budget Committee hearing. "You are asking veterans to swallow a bitter pill to remedy an illness of your own making," National Commander Heath said in a letter to Committee Chairman Jim Nussle (R-Iowa). "Cutting already under funded veterans' programs to offset the costs of tax cuts is indefensible and callous." usnewswire.com

Veterans lobby Bush on war From correspondents in Washington March 13, 3003 NEARLY 1000 US war veterans have signed a letter to President George W. Bush, questioning the wisdom of another war in Iraq and requesting a meeting to express their concerns. "We feel duty-bound to share with you our serious concerns regarding issues of national security, the appropriate use of our military strength, and the health and welfare of our active-duty soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines," said the letter from the newly formed group, Veterans for Common Sense. "We understand the risks that come with war and that there are times when such risks are necessary. However, we strongly question the need for a war at this time," it said. "We are not convinced that coercive containment has failed, or that war has become necessary." Some 986 veterans signed the letter, including people who had served in World War II, Korea, Vietnam and the Gulf War. It warned of the potential for enormous casualties and a massive humanitarian crisis after any conflict, citing UN reports that warned 10 million Iraqis would need immediate relief aid and two million would be left homeless. thecouriermail.news.com

Second US diplomat quits over war March 12, 2003 A veteran US diplomat resigned today in protest over US policy toward Iraq, becoming the second career foreign service officer to do so in the past month. John Brown, who joined the State Department in 1981, said he resigned because he could not support Washington's Iraq policy, which he said was fomenting a massive rise in anti-US sentiment around the world. In a resignation letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell, Brown said he agreed with J Brady Kiesling, a diplomat at the US embassy in Athens who quit in February over President George W Bush's apparent intent on fighting Iraq. "I am joining my colleague John Brady Kiesling in submitting my resignation from the Foreign Service - effective immediately - because I cannot in good conscience support President Bush's war plans against Iraq," he said. "Throughout the globe the United States is becoming associated with the unjustified use of force," Brown said in the letter, a copy of which he sent to AFP. "The president's disregard for views in other nations, borne out by his neglect of public diplomacy, is giving birth to an anti-American century," he said. "I joined the Foreign Service because I love our country," Brown said. "Respectfully, Mr Secretary, I am now bringing this calling to a close, with a heavy heart but for the same reason that I embraced it." smh.com.au

Brits Backing Out? March 12, 2003 (CBS) Sources tell CBS News that Great Britain – America's closest ally – may find it politically impossible to commit its military to a U.S.-led attack on Saddam Hussein. And that could force the United States to go it alone in Iraq. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld hinted as much Tuesday. "To the extent that they are able to participate that would obviously be welcomed. To the extent they are not, well, there are workarounds," Rumsfeld said. War in Iraq is now supported by fewer than 20 percent of Britons, and Prime Minister Tony Blair has told Washington he needs U.N. authorization, reports CBS News Correspondent Bill Plante. cbsnews.com

Chopping Off World Democracy at the Knees March 12, 2003 by Lisa Walsh Thomas "One power, with a president who has no foresight and cannot think properly, is now wanting to plunge the world into a holocaust." - Nelson Mandela We all assumed that if there was ever a clear consensus on who the greatest enemy of world freedom was, it would be a man of dark but stunning intelligence, a man who worked his way up the power structure through military prowess, experience and brilliance. To some of us, it is still almost incomprehensible to realize that it would be a man who advertises his virtue through religious fanaticism and speechwriter cliches, who is barely literate, and who had no past of glory but was instead propelled to power by the combination of his father's great rightwing machine and the ignorance of a country softened, perhaps, by a deep lap of luxury. americaheldhostile.com

Arctic oil drilling close to passage in Senate March 12, 2003 (AP) Senate Republicans say they have moved to within a single vote of guaranteeing President Bush one of his top domestic priorities, opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. The issue could be decided as early as next week. An internal GOP memo that circulated Tuesday in the Senate expressed confidence that 49 senators now plan to vote for drilling in the refuge, starting a scramble in search of the remaining lawmaker who would be needed to get the provision through as part of a budget measure. "Dick Cheney has been working madly to secure the 50th (vote)," said the e-mail sent to GOP offices. usatoday.com

Top US firms vie for post-war Iraq contracts, Billions in profits seen from seizing oil fields March 12, 2003 By Bill Vann With war against Iraq only days away, a small group of giant American construction firms are furiously competing for a $900 million US government contract for the initial rebuilding of infrastructure that will be shattered by US bombs and missiles. The battle for the first reconstruction contract is only a foretaste of a vast plundering of the oil-rich country by US-based multinationals. This unseemly “scramble for Iraq” even before the invasion has begun is the clearest indication that the impending war is not about “weapons of mass destruction,” terrorism or Saddam Hussein’s regime, but rather about oil, profits and US economic hegemony in the Middle East and beyond. wsws.org

Cheney is still paid by Pentagon contractor March 12, 2003 Robert Bryce and Julian Borger Bush deputy gets $1m from firm with Iraq oil deal. Halliburton, the Texas company which has been awarded the Pentagon's contract to put out potential oil-field fires in Iraq and which is bidding for postwar construction contracts, is still making annual payments to its former chief executive, the vice-president Dick Cheney. The payments, which appear on Mr Cheney's 2001 financial disclosure statement, are in the form of "deferred compensation" of up to $1m (£600,000) a year. guardian.co.uk

Out of the straitjacket March 12, 2003 Alastair Hay The US wants to use potentially lethal chemicals against Iraq - despite the fact that this would contravene international law. The US secretary of defence, Donald Rumsfeld, recently argued that the military should again be allowed to use chemicals as weapons of war in Iraq - not the tonnes of lethal nerve gases, such as sarin or tabun, which the US possesses, or its supply of mustard gas, which causes severe injuries and sometimes kills; no, Rumsfeld wants to take advantage of the US's stockpile of the misleadingly named "non-lethal" chemical agents, particularly those used for riot control. These cause temporary incapacitation for the majority, but can be lethal in confined spaces. What Rumsfeld is proposing is illegal. The rules are set down by the chemical weapons convention (CWC), which became international law in 1997. It states that "any chemical which through its chemical action on life processes can cause death, temporary incapacition or permanent harm to humans or animals" is forbidden as a method of warfare. The US, along with some 140 other countries, including the UK, has signed this treaty and is pledged to uphold it. guardian.co.uk

US develops superbomb March 12, 2003 By Jeremy Campbell The US has made a superbomb which could be used to frighten Iraq into submission. The giant device contains 21,000lb of high explosive and dwarfs the huge "daisy cutter" bombs used against the Taliban in Afghanistan. The Pentagon intends to test the bomb and videotape the results as a warning to Iraq of what the US could inflict. Military planners believe just the sight of the bomb exploding could frighten Iraqi soldiers into surrendering. Tape of a test of a superbomb was shown on American TV last night, the cloud of its explosion almost as large as a small atomic blast. thisislondon.com

The American Tragedy March 12, 2003 By Ranjan Abayasekara America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. --Abraham Lincoln- Bush, Iraq, Powell, Rumsfeld, Saddaam ...... how did these names come to invade all our conscious and semi-conscious - thoughts. How did we allow one issue to dominate the globe? With a global media outreach, and almost hegemonistic influence over many countries and their leaders, the American leadership of today has been able to force the world, to focus on only one issue in the past few months. "Iraq must be attacked, now!! No time to waste - our troops are 'on location'. To ensure Peace we must have War!!" To their surprise the public, and leaders of some 'old countries', have absorbed this continuous barrage, and given an unexpected verdict - NO WAR!! From being the focus of world sympathy after September 2001, the American leadership has taken a path, where they are now reviled and looked upon with scorn in many places around the world. They have taken their nation, and with it probably the fate of many other nations around the world, to the brink of an abyss. This is only part of the American tragedy. scoop.co.nz

Mass-Media Brainwashing in America March 12, 2003 “How fortunate for governments that the people they administer don’t think.” - Adolf Hitler Take it from Goebbels and Hitler, true experts on mass-brainwashing. The U.S. government, particularly the CIA, has learned a great deal from the Nazis. Yet they in turn learned a great deal from American corporate advertising techniques and the American mass-media. The American corporate mass-media is the world’s greatest practitioner of what its student Goebbels preached: repeating simple-minded lies over and over for months and years, until the lies take on a life of their own and all the American sheeple repeat them unthinkingly as commonly accepted “facts”. freespeech.org

Coalition of the billing -- or unwilling? March 12, 2003 By Laura McClure The Bush administration is lavishing billions of dollars on potential allies at the U.N. Strangely, it isn't working. The international airport at Conakry, Guinea, is busier than usual this week, as diplomats from France, the U.S. and Britain continue to descend upon the West African capital for more discreet horse-trading in preparation for the expected United Nations vote on the Iraq resolution. Although Guinea has close financial ties to France and polls show that its Muslim population strongly opposes an Iraq invasion, the developing nation could gain $21.4 million in U.S. foreign aid this year in exchange for a vote in favor of the pending resolution. Wooed by such a wealthy suitor, Guinea may not be able to afford ideology. Such are the naked politics of checkbook diplomacy, currently on gaudy display as the Bush administration tries to pull from among the 15 members of the U.N. Security Council the nine votes required to authorize an invasion. salon.com

Killing The Innocent March 12, 2003 Emil Guillermo As George Bush girds himself and the country for war and the inevitable deaths of Iraqis and Americans, we're likely to get a glimpse this week of where Bush first developed his taste to kill in the public's name -- Texas' death row. After restoring the death penalty in 1982, Texas justice has moved along like a buzz saw, and its tally could hit 300 executions by Wednesday. During Bush's Texas reign of terror, as governor of that state, he was responsible for sending more than half that number to die -- 152 in six years. Now, that's what I call real Hall of Fame blood lust -- justice system as well-oiled killing machine. sfgate.com

You Can't Run an Empire by Republican Rules "Pre-empting Global Competitors" March 12, 2003 By SAUL LANDAU Let's stop using the phrase "international community," especially as it applies to the United Nations. One member of a civilized community does not tap the phones of other members. But the Bush Administration has thrown away the short book of rules that the United States once supposedly applied and has replaced it with a criminal, imperial approach to the United Nations; not with its bullying and intimidating rhetoric during UN Security Council debates over Iraq, but by playing very dirty tricks on delegates from other countries. Since the end of January, the National Security Administration the super secret interceptors of worldwide communications -- has tapped the office and home phones and emails of non permanent members of UN Security Council delegations in New York. According to an account by Martin Bright, Ed Vulliamy and Peter Beaumont in the March 2, 2003 Observer, this "dirty tricks" operation is part of Washington's "battle to win votes in favor of war against Iraq." www.counterpunch.org

Bush-league script enraging press March 12, 2003 ANTONIA ZERBISIAS Judging by its rumblings and grumblings since that Valium-drip presidential news conference last Thursday, feathers are ruffled and may start flying. Yes, the gang that has spent the past few years pecking at the meal that dribbles from the mouth of chief spokesperson Ari Fleischer is mad as hell over how that mind-numbing newser, only the second primetime Q&A President George W. Bush has ever held, was conducted. Like a well-choreographed ballet of sleepwalkers. Bush, who seemed, in the words of The Washington Post's Tom Shales, "ever so slightly medicated," came across so rehearsed he was almost robotic. As presidential hagiographer Bob Woodward (Bush At War) would tell CNN's Larry King after the performance, Bush "was slow talking" and the news conference was "almost like a wake." "And this process of calling on people and then having long speeches somewhat from the reporters and multiple questions," continued Woodward, "I think didn't kind of get to some of the key points." "This," added Democratic Senator Chris Dodd, "is not a spontaneous press conference, the kind we're normally used to from presidents over the years." No kidding. thestar.com

Now Your Vote Is The Property Of A Private Corporation March 11, 2003 By THOM HARTMANN "The right of voting for representatives is the primary right by which all other rights are protected.  To take away this right is to reduce a man to slavery...."  -- Thomas Paine Santa Clara County, of all jurisdictions in America, should have known better.  They could have started by looking at Florida. Jeb Bush stole the vote in Florida in 2000 by kicking thousands of legitimately registered black voters off the voting rolls because they had similar names to Texas felons, a feat well documented by Greg Palast and the mainstream British press.  In a brilliant bit of misdirection, Bush portrayed the problem as one of incompetent elderly voters, dumb minority voters, and a problem with "chads" - unreliable voting technology. thepeoplesvoice.org

Bush wants American world empire, says Normal Mailer March 11, 2003 By Khalid Hasan Celebrated American novelist Normal Mailer believes that President George Bush’s decision to launch a war against Iraq flows from his conviction that America should dominate the world militarily and politically. Describing the President as a man “who has never been embarrassed by himself,” the author asserts that by invading Iraq and removing Saddam Hussein, Bush thinks he will have avenged the September 11 attacks. In an article in the 27 March issue of the New York Review of Books, Mailer, author of such books as ‘The Executioner’s Song’, writes, “It does not matter that Iraq is not the culprit. Bush needs only to ignore the evidence, which he does with all the power of a man who has never been embarrassed by himself. Saddam, for all his crimes, did not have a hand in September 11, but President Bush is a philosopher. September 11 was evil, Saddam is evil, and all evil is connected. Ergo. Iraq.” Mailer writes that Bush uses evil as “narcotic” for that part of the American public, which feels most, distressed by what happened on September 11. Describing the President as a “flag conservative,” he writes, “Of course as he sees it, he is doing it because he believes America is good. He certainly does, he believes his country is the only hope of the world. He also fears that the country is rapidly growing more dissolute, and the only solution may be to strive for World Empire. dailytimes.com

Scientists Cite Secret Study to Oppose Bush Nuke Plans March 11, 2003 Jim Lobe Authors of a secret 1966 Pentagon study on the use of tactical nuclear weapons (TNWs) in Vietnam say their conclusions that TNWs could be ''catastrophic'' to U.S. global interests are at least as compelling today as they were almost 40 years ago. The study by four top defence consultants within the so-called JASON group, obtained and released Sunday by the California-based Nautilus Institute, found that the ''political effects of U.S. first use of tactical nuclear weapons in Vietnam would be uniformly bad and could be catastrophic'', given the concentration of U.S. forces in Vietnam at the time and the ease with which Vietnamese guerrillas could deliver nuclear weapons obtained from the Soviet Union or China. ''The use of TNW in Southeast Asia is likely to result in greatly increased long-term risk of nuclear operations in other parts of the world,'' the scientists argued, citing possible attacks on the Panama Canal, oil pipelines and storage facilities in Venezuela and even Israel's largest city, Tel Aviv. ''The main conclusion (of the report) is that the United States offers to any likely adversary much better targets for nuclear weapons than these adversaries offer to the United States,'' said Freeman Dyson, a Princeton University professor who was one of four authors of the 1966 report, 'Tactical Nuclear Weapons in Southeast Asia'. ''This is even more true in the fight against terrorism than it was in Vietnam,'' he added in an interview with Nautilus director, Peter Hayes. oneworld.net

The World Trade Center Collapse: How Strong Is The Evidence For Controlled Demolition? March 11, 2003 Could there be something so awful and yet so obvious that any serious investigation would threaten its exposure?  It is my contention that, even in the absence of the physical evidence which has now been almost entirely destroyed, there is enough photographic and video evidence to raise very serious questions about the official theories, and to point strongly to a controlled demolition. A controlled demolition on this scale would of course imply the existence of a fairly large and well-connected group of insiders with access to the buildings over a long period of time. And most important of all, they would have to be in enough positions of power and authority to ensure that there could be no real forensic analysis of the collapses, a task that was well and truly accomplished. There can be no question that the WTC site was scrubbed with remarkable haste, and virtually all the physical evidence (“debris”) sent off to landfills and recycling plants before it could be properly studied. home.attbi.com

Jiang tells Bush again Iraq crisis resolution through UN March 11, 2003 BEIJING Chinese President Jiang Zemin told US counterpart George W. Bush the international community has a consensus on the Iraq issue and it must be resolved through the Security Council, Xinhua news agency said Tuesday. "The international community does have a consensus on the Iraq issue," Jiang told Bush in a telephone conversation Monday, Xinhua reported, paraphrasing the Chinese leader. "Great efforts should be made to maintain the unity and authority of the UN Security Council and implement the Resolution 1441 well," he said, adding that it was the "foundation for resolving the crisis". inq7.net

Americans Outraged at Bill to Legalize Slaughter of Horses; Texas Bill Will Allow Foreign Companies to Evade Prosecution March 11, 2003 U.S. Newswire AUSTIN, Texas - If Texas Republican Betty Brown has her way, Texas will legally become the horse slaughter capitol of the United States. Rep. Brown is sponsoring a bill that will override current state law and allow the last two remaining equine slaughterhouses in America to escape prosecution for illegally processing and selling horsemeat for human consumption. Belgian-owned slaughterhouses Beltex and Dallas Crown killed 42,312 American horses for export as food to Europe and Asia in 2002. Rep. Brown's Bill (HB 1324) will amend sections of the current Texas Agriculture Code that now makes it illegal to sell, offer for sale, or transfer horsemeat for human consumption and allow the meat of horses butchered in Rep. Brown's own Kaufman County, Texas, to be sold in Europe and Asia. To make matters worse, all profits derived from the slaughter of our horses will to go a Belgian company."This bill will leave the Lone Star flag flying over a mountainof dead horses," Jerry Finch, director Habitat for Horses said. usnewswire.com

NCADP: Gross Constitutional Errors Mar Death Sentence of Delma Banks Jr. Campaign for Clemency Grows Across Texas, U.S. March 11, 2003 U.S. Newswire The conviction and death-sentencing of Delma Banks Jr. by the state of Texas violates three U.S. Supreme Court rulings and constitutes the most severe form of constitutional error and gross injustice, the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (NCADP) said today. On Monday, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied Banks' appeal on a six to three vote. usnewswire.com

WALDO FLORIDA CITY ATTORNEY THREATENS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE UNDER USA PATRIOT ACT March 10, 2003 by Dan Dvorak "…under the USA Patriots act, we’re looking at subversive groups within the community and we will be turning them in to appropriate authorities under ‘HOMELAND SECURITY’“ - Samuel Mutch, Waldo Florida city Attorney Subversive groups my behind. There are exactly 3 groups of people in the 800 citizen city of Waldo . The elementary School kids, the senior citizens from the community center and the Waldo Area Chamber of Commerce. Who do you think Mutch is referring to? Now comes before us the real danger of the Bush Administrations assault on the U.S. Constitution and our civil rights. The “USA Patriots Act” was never meant to be an anti terrorist tool, but a tool to undermine the rights and liberties of the American People. It is a tool for harassment, snooping and crushing dissent and frightening off criticism of government activities, originally adopted by our National Government and the current administration, but now even small corrupt communities can take advantage of the Bush assault. Before it’s over the administration and governments big and small will find more and more creative uses for the Nazi Manifesto known as the USA PATRIOTS ACT. thepeoplesvoice.org

Amnesty Int'l: There Is No 'Acceptable' Torture; Admissions In NY Times Article at Odds With President Bush's Earlier Promises March 10, 2003 U.S. Newswire Just days after President Bush reportedly assured UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Sergio Vieira de Mello that the US is not torturing prisoners during interrogation, an article in today's New York Times quotes numerous US officials admitting that US interrogators are using such methods as holding prisoners in prolonged painful positions and withholding access to food and water. Amnesty International, which recently has met with Department of Defense officials on this issue, renewed its call for President Bush to condemn publicly all forms of torture, and for the commander-in-chief to enforce the international prohibition on torture in interrogation of suspects. The Times article repeatedly quotes US officials claiming they use only "acceptable techniques" for interrogation, including sleep and light deprivation and the temporary withholding of food, water, access to sunlight and medical attention, allegedly even for a prisoner who had been shot. "The tactics US officials openly admit to constitute cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or torture. These statements by US officials are an admission of complicity in torture," said Dr. William F. Schulz, Executive Director of Amnesty International USA. "Furthermore, transfer of prisoners to the custody of other countries where they are likely to be tortured is also a violation of international law. President Bush should issue a public, unequivocal statement rejecting all forms of torture by US officials and their foreign allies, just as his father did in 1992. US and international law are clear and absolute: torture is unacceptable regardless of the rationale or threat." usnewswire.com

700 US Troops Disarmed By Turks March 10, 2003 Martin White Der Spiegel The US continues to irritate allies in its strong arm bid to invade and control Iraq. Most recently Turkey has become increasingly annoyed about several recent provocative incidents in northern Iraq and the border of Turkey. These continued troop movements further indicate the impending Anglo-US military onslaught against Iraq is rapidly approaching. The following is a translation of a der Spiegel article whose link is at the end of the translation: IRAQ - NORTHFRONT US Troop build up taunts Turkish Parliament. Despite the vote of the Turkish Parliament the movement of US troops on the north front of Iraq is apparently continuing with undissipated energy. Parliament President Buelent Arinc reacted with raging criticism. Kiziltepe - Arinc criticized the activities on Sunday as disrespecting the Parliament. The television images were unusually disturbing to him, according to citations on Sunday in the Turkish press. This has challenged Parliamentarians in the opposition, who likewise have shown there disquiet, to put control mechanisms of the Parliament into action. According to a report of the Turkish newspaper "Cumhurriyet" an incident in Iskenderun on Sunday also caused irritation: At the exit of the harbor toll area 700 American soldiers and units of the Turkish army had suddenly confronted each other. The Turkish army then took their weapons and forced them to withdraw. rense.com

Russia Tries to Assure As Dollar Sinks March 10, 2003 MOSCOW The finance minister urged Russians not to shift their savings out of dollars Sunday, saying there is no need to worry about the U.S. currency falling dramatically despite recent declines. Russia is the biggest dollar economy outside the United States, and by some estimates its citizens have tucked away as much as $40 billion in mattresses, closets and shoe boxes. Most Russians keep their savings in dollars because of the instability of the ruble since the Soviet Union collapsed. The Russian government also is dollar-dependent, with most hard currency reserves held in dollars and the Russian ruble unofficially pegged to the dollar. But the dollar has lost ground in financial markets lately against the euro and even the ruble, leaving many nervous about keeping their savings in dollars. newsday.com

Industrial-scale mortuaries being sought for mass terror fatalities March 10, 2003 By Geoffrey Lean Environment Editor Ministers are secretly scouring the country for mortuaries to take thousands of civilian bodies from a terrorist attack after war breaks out with Iraq. David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, has appointed one of Britain's leading coroners to spearhead the search for huge temporary mortuaries, such as aircraft hangers. Richard Sturt, who retired as the East Kent Coroner two years ago, is touring the country meeting planning chiefs to assess how they could cope with "mass fatalities". But emergency planners are criticising the search as too small and too slow to meet the urgency of the threat. news.independent.co.uk

America in the dock March 10, 2003 By: Michael Byers The new International Criminal Court has been set up to bring dictators and war criminals to book. So why does the United States stand alone against Europe in opposing it? With the swearing in of 18 judges, the International Criminal Court will come to life in the face of hostile opposition from the United States (which already has legislation on its books authorising the President to use military force to rescue any soldiers detained in The Hague). Many of Britain's European partners, including Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium, count themselves among the strongest supporters of the new court. The International Criminal Court is empowered to hear cases concerning war crimes and crimes against humanity, including genocide, the bombing of civilians, and systematic rape and torture. The court is mandated to deal with crimes committed after 1 July 2002, provided that either the accused are citizens of a country that has ratified the court's statute, or the alleged crimes were committed on the territory of a ratifying country – regardless of the nationality of the accused. The latter is intensely annoying to the US. With soldiers deployed in more than 140 countries, a view of the laws of war that is somewhat lax when compared to its allies, and anti-Americanism increasing worldwide, the US government worries that its foreign policy and military decision-making could be subject to unwanted judicial scrutiny. informationclearinghouse.info

BUSH: CLAP ME OR NO EU SPEECH March 10, 2003 By Paul Gilfeather GEORGE Bush pulled out of a speech to the European Parliament when MEPs wouldn't guarantee a standing ovation. Senior White House officials said the President would only go to Strasbourg to talk about Iraq if he had a stage-managed welcome. A source close to negotiations said last night: "President Bush agreed to a speech but insisted he get a standing ovation like at the State of the Union address. "His people also insisted there were no protests, or heckling. "I believe it would be a crucial speech for Mr Bush to make in light of the opposition here to war. But unless he only gets adulation and praise, then it will never happen." Mr Bush's every appearance in the US is stage-managed, with audiences full of supporters. It was hoped he would speak after he welcomed Warsaw pact nations to Nato in Prague last November. But his refusal to speak to EU leaders face-to-face is seen as a key factor in the split between the US-UK coalition and Europe. The source added: "Relations between the EU and the US are worsening fast - this won't help." mirror.co.uk

A History of Secret Human Experimentation March 10, 2003 1931  Dr. Cornelius Rhoads, under the auspices of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Investigations, infects human subjects with cancer cells. He later goes on to establish the U.S. Army Biological Warfare facilities in Maryland, Utah, and Panama, and is named to the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. While there, he begins a series of radiation exposure experiments on American soldiers and civilian hospital patients.
1932  The Tuskegee Syphilis Study begins. 200 black men diagnosed with syphilis are never told of their illness, are denied treatment, and instead are used as human guinea pigs in order to follow the progression and symptoms of the disease. They all subsequently die from syphilis, their families never told that they could have been treated.
1935  The Pellagra Incident. After millions of individuals die from Pellagra over a span of two decades, the U.S. Public Health Service finally acts to stem the disease. The director of the agency admits it had known for at least 20 years that Pellagra is caused by a niacin deficiency but failed to act since most of the deaths occured within poverty-striken black populations.
1940  Four hundred prisoners in Chicago are infected with Malaria in order to study the effects of new and experimental drugs to combat the disease. Nazi doctors later on trial at Nuremberg cite this American study to defend their own actions during the Holocaust.
1942  Chemical Warfare Services begins mustard gas experiments on approximately 4,000 servicemen. The experiments continue until 1945 and made use of Seventh Day Adventists who chose to become human guinea pigs rather than serve on active duty. thepowerhour.com It continues on until the last recorded horror was reported in 1997. Of course we know it truly continues at this moment.

Bush plan leaves forest care to timber companies March 10, 2003 MATTHEW DALY The Bush administration is confident it has found a novel, inexpensive way to clear overgrown forests and prevent catastrophic wildfires. Critics say it's a blatant giveaway to timber companies. The plan, approved last month as part of a giant spending bill, allows logging companies to cut large, commercially valuable trees in national forests in exchange for clearing smaller, more fire-prone trees and brush. Known as "stewardship contracting," the approach allows the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to issue 10-year contracts to private contractors for clearance work with no limits on the size of trees to be cut or the number of acres cleared. By allowing long-term contracts, the program gives companies incentive to invest needed equipment while saving the government much of the cost of wildfire prevention ---- in effect paying them with trees, said Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey, the plan's chief architect. Critics say that timber companies are unlikely stewards and say the administration is turning over huge swaths of national forests to an industry that supported President Bush in 2000. "The bottom line: It's a license to steal," said Marty Hayden, legislative director for Earthjustice, an environmental advocacy group. nctimes.ne

WHAT IS THE MANDRAKE MECHANISM? IT'S THE MOST IMPORTANT FINANCIAL LESSON OF YOUR LIFE! WHY? IT'S NOT PART OF ANY CURRICULUM..... March 10, 2003 What is it? It is the method by which the Federal Reserve creates money out of nothing; the concept of usury as the payment of interest on pretended loans; the true cause of the hidden tax called inflation; the way in which the Fed creates boom-bust cycles. In the 1940s, there was a comic strip character called Mandrake the Magician. His specialty was creating things out of nothing and, when appropriate, to make them disappear back into that same void. It is fitting, therefore, that the process to be described in this section should be named in his honor. In the previous chapters, we examined the technique developed by the political and monetary scientists to create money out of nothing for the purpose of lending. This is not an entirely accurate description because it implies that money is created first and then waits for someone to borrow it. On the other hand, textbooks on banking often state that money is created out of debt. This also is misleading because it implies that debt exists first and then is converted into money. In truth, money is not created until the instant it is borrowed. It is the act of borrowing which causes it to spring into existence. And, incidentally, it is the act of paying off the debt that causes it to vanish. gooff.com

German Official: U.S. Acting Like 'Dictator' March 9, 2003 BERLIN A German junior minister said on Sunday the United States was behaving like a dictator over the Iraq crisis, a statement likely to put relations between Washington and Berlin under further strain. "The Americans look more and more like dictators with their unilateral decisions," Walter Kolbow, junior minister in the Defense Ministry, was quoted as saying in the Welt am Sonntag newspaper. Kolbow confirmed to Reuters he had made the remarks and said they referred to the U.S. stance on Iraq and environmental issues. Transatlantic tensions remain high over Germany and other European nations' opposition to a U.S.-led war in Iraq. Kolbow said his comments were a criticism of the phrase used by U.S. leaders: "Anyone who is not with us, is against us." news.yahoo.com

The U.S. shouldn't seek to emulate world's tyrants March 9, 2003 By TOM MALINOWSKI During his State of the Union address, President Bush spoke about the horrifying torture techniques Saddam Hussein uses on prisoners in Iraq. He described the use of electric shock, burning with hot irons, acid, and rape. He said that the Iraqi government arrests and tortures children to get their parents to confess to crimes. President Bush concluded: "If this isn't evil, then evil has no meaning." Millions of Americans heard the president say that torture is evil; I can't believe that many disagreed with his chilling words. Yet somehow, when it comes to how the United States should treat captured terrorists like Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, some people find it convenient to forget basic principles of right and wrong. Commentators cavalierly suggest that al-Qaida detainees be tortured without mercy to force them to reveal what they know. Officials in President Bush's administration, speaking off the record of course, boast about beating detainees to "soften them up" for interrogations. One unnamed official told the Wall Street Journal this week that Mohammed might be sent "to some other country that'll let us pistol whip this guy." Another even said that the United States had "access" to Mohammed's elementary-school-age children and would use it to pressure him to talk. freelancestar.com

Bush administration facing total isolation March 9, 2003 IRNA Brussels US President George W.Bush might be talking tough in public of attacking Iraq even without an UN mandate, but inside the White House there is lot of nervousness and worries, say analysts in Brussels. As the day passes, the Bush administration and its strong ally British Premier Tony Blair are slipping into total isolation because  of increasing world opposition to war. ''Bush alone at home. More in solitary, the US pursues its war plans in Iraq,'' said a front-page headline in the German weekly paper 'Die Zeit.' Russia and France, both SC permanent members, have said they do not support a second UNSC resolution that gives Iraq an ultimatum to disarm by 17 March or face military action. Analysts opine that the Bush administration has miscalculated the strong opposition to war by its European allies like Germany, France, Belgium and even from Russia. irna.com