The Real Terrorist Is George W. Bush June 30, 2003 By John Kaminski skylax@comcast.net America is frightening the world. The vaunted beacon of freedom has turned into a Ku Klux Klan bonfire. Maybe some sadists think that's a good idea, but the genuinely decent people of this planet surely don't. Incited by an endless barrage of dubious bluster about the sudden need for all-out war against a bomb-ravaged Third World nation, people in 38 different countries came out by the hundreds of thousands last weekend to sound the alarm about this spreading American madness. And we all know the reason why. The man who claims to lead the fight against terror is terrorizing the entire world. He terrrorizes little old American ladies by making them strip naked at airports and having their private parts probed by minimum-wage security Nazis searching for weapons of mass destruction. He terrorizes allies around the world with bribes and threats into saying exactly what he says regardless of what they actually think. He terrorizes opposition party politicians into nervous silence when planes fall out of the sky with no explanation. rense.com

The politics of US Medicare “reform”: cynicism, cowardice and social reaction June 30, 2003 By Kate Randall Only the incurably naïve could believe that the most reactionary administration in American history, and a Congress controlled by a party that has opposed Medicare from its inception, have suddenly embraced a huge expansion of the federal program that pays for medical care for the elderly and disabled. Yet that is the picture being presented by the American media, which has largely hailed Friday’s passage by the House and Senate of conflicting bills establishing a limited prescription drug benefit under Medicare. Because of the major differences between the House and Senate bills, it is entirely possible that no legislation will actually be adopted and the prescription drug plan will be stillborn. But even if the program is finally enacted and signed into law by George W. Bush, there is still no guarantee that the federal government will pay for a single prescription for a senior citizen. Neither bill provides a penny for prescription benefits until 2006, when the federal budget is widely expected to be in such a crisis that drastic cutbacks, not increased spending, will be the order of the day. wsws.org

Calls to impeach Bush June 30, 2003 ABOUT 1,000 demonstrators shouting for US President George W Bush's impeachment gathered outside a hotel here where the president was helping raise $US3.6 million ($5.43 million) for his re-election campaign. The protesters accused Bush of lying about the presence of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq, a central justification for the US-British invasion of Iraq in March. To date no such weapons have been found in the country. Inside the hotel, meanwhile, Republican party faithful pledged another $US3.6 million ($5.43 million) for the 2004 elections, organisers said. A similar event earlier in the day in San Francisco raised $US1.6 million ($2.41 million). heraldsun.news.com

A skewed American pie Poor and average earners need larger slices June 30, 2003 The gap between the rich and poor in America is fast growing into a chasm. Latest figures show that just 400 Americans collectively had an income of $70bn. According to America's Internal Revenue Service, in nine years the incomes of the top few hundred taxpayers increased at 15 times the rate of the bottom 90% of Americans. To join the very richest taxpayers in the US in 1992 required an average income of $46.8m. In 2000, it was was almost $174m. The average income for nine-tenths of all Americans, by comparison, rose in the same period by 17% to $27,000. Of course all this happened during the dot.com boom of the Clinton years. But the Bush White House has not stemmed the rise of the rich. Instead it has accelerated their ascent. President Bush's tax cuts are heavily skewed towards rewarding the wealthy - arguing that handing back money to the most successful American wealth creators will create more wealth for America. guardian.co.uk

The ideal president June 30, 2003 By Stan Ferris President Bush is the ideal Republican president. He has all the abilities that Republicans cherish. Let's take a look at his accomplishments. Unemployment is higher than it has been in 10 years. The gap between the rich and the poor has widened. Seventy percent of the tax cuts have gone to the wealthy. We have invaded a small country (under false pretenses) that posed no threat to us. There are more soldiers in Iraq than there were in Vietnam in 1965. Ninety percent of the rest of the world hates the United States of America. Our government has been taken over by a trio of unelected bureaucrats: Donald Rumsfeld, Karl Rove and Paul Wolfowitz. Aggression has taken the place of diplomacy. Our vice president has installed his old company (Halliburton) as the new ruler of Iraq. And the most frightening thing of all: The American public seems to approve of all that Bush is doing. sltrib.com

Iraqi children are suffering June 30, 2003 By MARK MacKINNON Baghdad Three-year-old Ibrahim Issam is clearly in pain. Clad in an orange jumpsuit, sitting Iraqi children are suffering on his father's knee in the Central Teaching Hospital's waiting room, he screams incessantly, unable to express where it hurts. In the already sweltering June heat, his forehead is even hotter to the touch. His parents think he's got gastroenteritis, a stomach disease that dehydrates children rapidly and that has plagued this country since the United Nations imposed sanctions here 12 years ago, a trading embargo that left Iraq without chlorine to treat its water. His sister Aisha, just 18 months old, dozes on the hospital bed behind Ibrahim. She has the same symptoms. globeandmail.com

Why the U.S. must invade Canada -- now June 30, 2003 By Steve Burgess It didn't support the war, it's soft on pot and gays, its economy is rolling and U.S. troops are bored. Anyway, reasons to invade countries are no longer needed! There's nothing like the deep, satisfying belch that follows a good meal. But hey America, what about dessert? Iran and Syria have both been offered up as succulent dishes to follow the Iraqi main course. May I suggest a simpler alternative, right next door? Invade Canada. Hell, we're asking for it. There are plenty of reasons to invade your passive-aggressive northern neighbor. (Or "neighbour," as we spitefully choose to spell it. Doesn't that just piss you off?) But never mind -- thanks to the lessons learned in Iraq, reasons are no longer necessary. The Bush administration's labored justifications for the Iraq invasion, served up as convincingly as a chocolate-smeared 6-year-old's explanation of where the cookies went, proved to be utterly irrelevant. Most Americans, it turned out, were only too happy to kick some non-American ass and didn't really require an explanation. As a prelude to the invasion of Canada, Bush could merely produce satellite photos proving conclusively that American troops are bored. Good enough for most. salon.com

World Air Quality Goes Down Tubes While Corporados Fiddle June 30, 2003 50 years ago the planet had half as many people on it and air pollution was still a problem in metropolitan areas. Today, while some improvements have come about in various major cities, the problem has spread across the globe and has been exacerbated by the increased use of the petro-driven combustion engine. In Asia ,Europe ,and metropolitan areas of the U.S., air quality is deteriorating. The health effects of breathing heavily polluted air are devastating. Additionally, The destruction of the "lungs of the Earth" in the Amazon is speeding up, leaving the Earth less capacity to supply oxygen to her inhabitants. http://indymedia.org

The Fire This Time: Why Kucinich May be the Right Guy at the Right Time June 29, 2003 Daniel Patrick Welch Kucinich may be the only guy who can win this election. Sounds far-fetched, By right? What the Brits would call Loony Left delusional thinking. The U.S. press would just ignore the whole thing, naturally, until it's no longer possible. Just plain crazy. But is it? Every finely tuned ear has recorded the spike in interest every time someone has had the guts to speak up about various aspects of the nascent fascism we are confronting. From Gore's early comments breaking the taboo of criticizing Bush to Byrd's articulate blasts, mainstream politicians have received a grateful roar from the rabble with each thrust, the bolder the better. thepeoplesvoice.org

Bush's Squeeze on Organic Farmers The Big Money Still Flows to Chemical Ag June 29, 2003 By BOB SCOWCROFT More and more Americans are buying organic food. But is our government matching this groundswell of support with federal and state agricultural dollars? No. Organic farmers work with nature to control pests, weeds and disease. No synthetic fossil-fuel fertilizers are used and no hormones or antibiotics are used in livestock production. By many measures, organic food is healthier for our soil, water, wildlife and the people who grow it. The Agriculture Department last year issued standards and labeling rules for organic production and marketing. But where is the government's support, which still flows overwhelmingly to industrial agriculture? counterpunch.org

Washington alarmed at Iraqi resistance June 28, 2003 By Thomas Ricks The increasingly sophisticated attacks on US troops and civilian occupation forces in Iraq are sparking new worries among military experts that the 21-day war that ended in April was an incomplete victory that defeated Saddam Hussein's military but not his Baathist political party. Neutralising Baathist resistance is proving a more difficult job than the Pentagon calculated and the continuing violence is becoming an embarrassment, according to a US official in Baghdad. theage.com

An American empire built on deception June 28, 2003 By Ellen Goodman LAST MONTH, when President Bush donned his coronation clothes and landed on the deck of the Abraham Lincoln, I felt like the skunk at the victory party. I went around asking the partygoers: Where were the weapons of mass destruction? What bothered me wasn't just whether we'd find the weapons we were warned about with such terrifying, repetitive certainty. The question was whether it would matter. Would the American people care if they'd been conned into conflict? I was haunted by a congressional aide who said the absence of the smoking guns of WMDs wouldn't ''sway public opinion much,'' because ''everyone loves to be on the winning side.'' The column on the con job filled my e-mail box with hundreds of incoming missives that ranged from an accountant who protested my ''whiny screed'' - ''Get over it. You lost. We won.'' - to a Californian who rued the ''outrage fatigue'' dulling the public's mind. boston.com

New formula to further cut financial aid for US college students June, 28 2003 By Joseph Kay A change in how the US federal government determines financial need will have serious consequences for the amount of aid made available to college students. The little-noted alteration occurs as public and private institutions are sharply increasing tuition across the country, further restricting access to higher education for all but the more wealthy sections of the population. wsws.org

IMPEACHMENT IS POSSIBLE June 28, 2003 ALAN BARNETT Until a few weeks ago the impeachment of President Bush and Vice- President Cheney, as deserving as it was, seemed impossible because of the Republican control of Congress. Today Senate and House Committees are investigating whether the President was properly informed by the intelligent agencies as to whether Saddam Hussein presented an imminent threat to the U.S. because he possessed weapons of mass destruction. This was the chief reason Bush gave for going to war. The implicit question of these investigations is whether Bush lied to the public and Americans and Iraqis died for a lie. server.com

Cheney, Forgery and the CIA Not Business as Usual June 28, 2003 By RAY McGOVERN former CIA Analyst As though this were normal! I mean the repeated visits Vice President Dick Cheney made to the CIA before the war in Iraq. The visits were, in fact, unprecedented. During my 27-year career at the Central Intelligence Agency, no vice president ever came to us for a working visit. counterpunch.org

Why Bush ignores the numbers June 28, 2003 (from the Columns section) Figures about the American economy give some people headaches. Recognizing this, President Bush would rather talk about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq — which have never been found — than about what is happening to most Americans. Of course, he also knows that talking about statistics would reveal that the two rounds of tax cuts he has pushed through Congress will have disastrous consequences for an America already growing more unequal. Recently, economists Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez published a path-breaking study on the income earned by the wealthiest Americans over the course of the 20th century. Their exhaustive analysis of tax returns shows that between the start of World War II and the early 1980s, America became a more economically egalitarian society. The share of wealth which went to the wealthiest citizens declined in the early 1940s and stayed low for 40 years, years characterized by the rise of the great American middle class. rutlandherald.nybor.com

A CRACK IN BUSH'S FAÇADE June 25, 2003 By Ted Rall Growing WMD Scandal Could Lead to Impeachment  MINNEAPOLIS--Bush lied about the weapons of mass destruction. He lied to us, the United Nations, and the soldiers he sent to die in Iraq. Bush's apologists defend his attempts to sell this obscene war as mere spin, but claiming certain knowledge of something that doesn't exist is hardly a question of emphasis. It's time to stop wondering where the WMDs are. Even if nukes and gases and anthrax turn up in prodigious quantities, it won't matter. Proof of Bush's perfidy, unlike his accusations that Saddam had something to do with 9/11, is irrefutable. uexpress.com

Karimov the boiler meets Bush the Texacutioner.

Our Presidents New Best Friend Boils People Alive June 27, 2003 Let me introduce you to our presidents new best friend, President Karimov of Uzbekistan. President Karimov government was awarded $500m in aid from the Bush administration in 2002. The SNB (Uzbekistan's security service) received $79m of this sum.The U.S. State Department web site states "Uzbekistan is not a democracy and does not have a free press. Many opponents of the government have fled, and others have been  arrested." and "The police force and the intelligence service use torture as a routine investigation technique." Now I would like to introduce you to Muzafar Avazov, a 35-year old father of four. Mr Avazov had a visit from our presidents friends security force (SNB), the photographs below detail the brutality and inhuman treatment our tax dollars subsidize, with the full knowledge of our president and his administration. Muzafar Avazov, body showed signs of burns on the legs, buttocks, lower back and arms. Sixty to seventy percent of the body was burnt, according to official sources. Doctors who saw the body reported that such burns could only have been caused by immersing Avazov in boiling water. Those who saw the body also reported that there was a large, bloody wound on the back of the head, heavy bruising on the forehead and side of the neck, and that his hands had no fingernails. WARNING The pictures of Mr. Avazov's body are not for the squeamish. informationclearinghouse.info / See Also: Just Who Is Our New Best Friend This  29 minute video explores the reality of life in Uzbekistan. 

American military morale shaken by Iraq quagmire June 27, 2003 By James Conachy The daily attacks and acts of sabotage against American and British forces in Iraq testify that the real war of liberation has begun—a protracted struggle by the Iraqi people to drive the foreign invaders out of their country. If US control over Iraq is to be secured, it will require an indefinite occupation by tens of thousands of troops that will result in thousands of American casualties. wsws.org

How George W. Bush Won the 2004 Presidential Election June 27, 2003 Purging voter lists is just the beginning: the U.S. has embraced a form of electronic voting that is unreliable, unverifiable and funded by the radical Christian right. ES&S, Diebold and Sequoia may not be household names like Enron or Arthur Andersen, but these three companies will decide America's next president. In the 2004 presidential election, the full effect of electronic voting will be felt for the first time and these are the companies that will report the majority of the results. infernalpress.com

Very Richest's Share of Income Grew Even Bigger, Data Show June 27, 2003 By DAVID CAY JOHNSTON The data, in a report that the I.R.S. released last night, shows that the average income of the 400 wealthiest was almost $174 million in 2000. That was nearly quadruple the $46.8 million average in 1992. The minimum income to qualify for the list was $86.8 million in 2000, more than triple the minimum income of $24.4 million of the 400 wealthiest in 1992. nytimes.com

Congress Must Impeach George W. Bush For WMD Fraud June 27, 2003 GEOV PARRISH There were NO nuclear, biological, chemical or other Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) in Iraq -- NO terrorism links between Saddam Hussein and Usama Bin Laden -- and NO imminent threat from Iraq to the USA before the unconstitutional and illegal invasion of Iraq by the US, UK and other imperialistic armed forces. "Bush used his lies to intentionally sacrifice the lives of American soldiers -- along with other coalition soldiers and countless Iraqis, soldier and civilian alike." informationtimes.com

Veil of Secrecy Around Village Hit in U.S. Raid June 26, 2003 By PATRICK E. TYLER MUGER ADDIB, Iraq On a desolate panorama of hardtack desert along the Syrian border here, the United States military has cordoned off part of this village, evicted five families whose houses were bombed six days ago and refused to say what is going on. Two villagers were killed, a young woman, Hakima Khalil, and her infant daughter, Maha, in an aerial assault that began just after 1 a.m. Thursday. At dusk today, a convoy of more than 20 military transports arrived with earth-moving equipment and pulled into the circle of Bradley fighting vehicles that guard every approach to this sandy knoll littered with broken masonry and bomb-damaged homes. "Stop right there," said Specialist Arthur Myers of New Jersey. "If you take a picture, I will break your camera." nytimes.com

The Invisible June 26, 2003 The human cost of the 21st century's first war is already enormous. In addition to those who have died, staggering numbers have been detained around the world in violation of their human rights and international law. Paul Vallely investigates their fate, and asks whether this suspension of due process in the name of defending democracy can ever be justified. independent.co.uk

More than 8 million could lose overtime pay, says study by labor group June 25, 2003 LEIGH STROPE More than 8 million professionals would lose their overtime pay under a Bush administration proposal to change the types of jobs that must receive more money for extra work, says a study by a union-supported think tank. sfgate.com

Fired June 26, 2003 Henry Norr Almost four weeks after suspending me for participating in an antiwar demonstration, the San Francisco Chronicle this week officially fired me from my job as a technology reporter and columnist. I consider this punishment a violation of my rights as a citizen and as an employee, and I intend to fight it with all the means available to me. iraqwar.r

The unofficial history of America™ June 26, 2003 The unofficial history of America™, which continues to be written, is not a story of rugged individualism and heroic personal sacrifice in the pursuit of a dream. It is a story of democracy derailed, of a revolutionary spirit suppressed, and of a once-proud people reduced to servitude. informationclearinghouse.info

Bush Won't Run on Drug-Use, Desertion, Failed-Business, DUI Platform in Next Election June 26, 2003 by Brent "The Duke" Johnson George W. Bush declared that he would adopt a whole new platform on which to campaign for a second presidential term, thereby abandoning the old platform that worked so well for him in the previous election. "I tell you what, I'm done taking advantage of my past drug use, my inability to run a business successfully and my being a deserter of the armed forces during a time of war in my next election," Bush said at a press conference Wednesday morning. noapologiespress.com

Everyone knows now, for sure, that something is very, very wrong June 25, 2003 By John Kaminski Fancying themselves patriots so their neighbors won't notice they don't really care about anything real, these deceiving diehards who keep shouting their memorized support for their killer country are either small, selfish minds truly unable to sift the existing evidence and actually think for themselves, or willing liars — like so many appeals court judges — who endorse America's plunder of the world because they are making money off the deal themselves. In other words, those who support the American invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, and who applaud the coverup of the World Trade Center tragedy investigation, the wholesale destruction of U.S. environmental laws, and the systematic looting of the U.S. financial system are either stupid or sinister. They have turned the USA into Scum Nation, as they watch their insane hired guns continue to shoot down hapless civilians in Iraq. lewisnews.com

Bush invokes “enemy combatant” rule against defendants June 25, 2003 By Bill Vann In the wake of a federal appeals court ruling earlier this month affirming the US government’s right to conduct secret arrests, the Bush administration has announced a series of measures that significantly escalate the police-state powers it has assumed in the name of a “war on terrorism.” On June 23, Bush signed an order declaring Ali S. Marri an “enemy combatant.” Marri, a Qatari immigrant and resident of Peoria, Illinois, was arrested in December of 2001 during the nationwide roundup of Arabs and Muslims in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks. The designation of Marri as an enemy combatant denies him the right to a trial, placing him in legal limbo, without the right to a lawyer or the right to answer charges and evidence brought against him. He is subject to indefinite detention in a military brig, with the possibility of being brought before a military court at any time. Such a drumhead proceeding could result in a death sentence, with no right of appeal. wsws.org

Denial and Deception June 25, 2003 By PAUL KRUGMAN Politics is full of ironies. On the White House Web site, George W. Bush's speech from Oct. 7, 2002 — in which he made the case for war with Iraq — bears the headline "Denial and Deception." Indeed. There is no longer any serious doubt that Bush administration officials deceived us into war. The key question now is why so many influential people are in denial, unwilling to admit the obvious. nytimes.com

Save the world — remove a Bush, experts declare June 24, 2003 By Scott Condon Want to help save the world without making much effort? Remove a Bush, advised some renowned environmental experts who spoke at the State of the World Conference in Aspen this weekend. That would be President George W. Bush. Several speakers during the three-day conference entitled “Creative Ideas for a Threatened and Threatening World” criticized the Bush administration either directly or indirectly for its positions on environmental issues. Bush was targeted for doing everything from soft pedaling global climate change to bailing out of international family planning efforts. “This is the most short-sighted administration there’s ever been,” declared author Bill McKibben, who sounded an early alarm about global warming in the book “The End of Nature,” published in 1989. aspentimes.com

Mankind's Tormentors: A Brief History of the International Bankers June 24, 2003 Randy Lavello As mankind careens toward worldwide slavery, it has become important to understand the depth and scope of the forces which we're resisting. The plot, so evident to us today, has been creeping around behind events and figureheads for as long as the United States has existed. It seems the American Revolution, a detrimental blow to the British Empire, was the "starting gun" for the wealthy bankers to covet world control. By the 1800's, the Banks of England and France (controlled by the Rothschild family) effectively commanded the policies of these nations. Through consolidation with other banking/industrialist families and the undermining of worldwide monetary systems, these "elite" have implemented their plans for domination; we are now bearing witness to the fruition of more than two hundred years of coercion and parasitism. prisonplanet.com

Our troops suffer uranium sickness June 24, 2003 Australian servicemen and women who served in the recent Iraq war were reporting symptoms of uranium sickness, a United States nuclear weapons expert said today. Dr Douglas Rokke is a former US Army nuclear health physicist and was formerly the Pentagon's expert on the health effects of depleted uranium ammunition. Speaking in Melbourne today, Dr Rokke said Iraqi women and children and American and Iraqi military personnel had reported respiratory illnesses and rashes after the recent conflict, and he had also been told of Australian servicemen and women with similar symptoms. theage.com.au

Iraq and Al Qaeda: another lie unravels June 24, 2003 By Bill Vann According to press reports, some US soldiers in Iraq carry pictures of the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers inside their Kevlar vests to convince themselves that the killing of Iraqi civilians and the continued military occupation the country are justified by the slaughter of thousands of civilians in New York City on September 11, 2001. Opinion polls indicate that fully half the American population believe that Iraqi citizens participated in the hijacking of the four aircraft utilized in the September 11 attacks, while 40 percent think that Saddam Hussein was behind the terrorist actions of that day. Both these phenomena are the product of a systematic disinformation campaign waged by the Bush administration with the complicity of the mass media. wsws.org

BUSH RE-ELECTION PLANS June 23, 2003 by Dan Dvorak THE ONLY THING THAT KEEPS THE BURNING BUSH UNDER CONTROL IS HIS NEED FOR RE-SELECTION. A one term Presidency is out of the question for W. He MUST best his old man and set the tables for his baby brother. From the instant of his 5-4 Supreme (?) Court "mandate" Boy George's only real concern has been the 2004 re-selection campaign. Maybe so he can get another shot at "election" or maybe just so that he can take off the gloves and finish us off once and for all. thepeoplesvoice.org

Washington to Nation: Drop Dead on the Job June 23, 2003 By Joe Robinson You may be thinking, as summer approaches, about tropical beaches with swaying palms where all cell phones are impounded. But if you work for a living, this could be the worst summer of your life. American workers already put in more time than those in most other industrialized nations. Now, with little comment or scrutiny, the Labor Department and Congress have declared open season on the 40-hour week, pushing ahead on new workplace rules that could turn offices into all-night crash pads. Bring your own sleeping bag. Despite having to cancel a vote to avoid an outright defeat, House Republicans have vowed to continue fighting for a bill, brazenly titled the "Family-Time Flexibility Act," that has about as much to do with families as a Vegas strip joint, yanking more parents for longer hours away from the home. It would allow employees asked to work overtime to opt for compensatory time off, instead of overtime pay. The choice of being paid in time or money would be at the employee's discretion. alternet.org

Venezuelan move to replace US$ with the €uro upsetting Washington more than Saddam's €uro conversion last November June 23, 2003 By Roy S. Carson A move by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Frias to replace the US$ with the €uro is seen as upsetting Washington more than when Iraq's Saddam Hussein started using the €uro for oil transactions last November ... precipitating the US-led action to invade Iraq.  Beltway bullies are now said to be angered by Venezuela's decision to barter oil with thirteen other Latin American countries, dealing moves to dollarize South America currencies.  Intelligence reports say that while the US was able to pull the wool over the international community and ally with Britain's Blair to bulldoze action against former Iran War ally Hussein, the situation with Venezuela is proving more difficult. vheadline.com

US appeals court approves secret roundup of immigrants June 23, 2003 By John Andrews A panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has given another green light to the Bush administration’s attacks on democratic rights. It voted 2-1 to reverse a lower court order compelling Attorney General John Ashcroft to identify hundreds of people from the Middle East rounded up by the government in the immediate aftermath of September 11. None of those imprisoned in the course of this dragnet has been charged with any crime relating to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. wsws.org

911 HIGH TREASON!! June 22, 2003 by Brian Downing Quig quig@dcia.com I can now give 25 compelling reasons to indict Daddy Bush, Cheney, the PENTAGON and the CARLYLE GROUP for the real terror behind 911. Daddy Bush and Cheney were in the SITUATION ROOM at the WHITE HOUSE during the terror attacks (during the 34 minutes between the second WTC hit and the PENTAGON hit while a stand down order was issued to the AIR FORCE to supersede established intercept procedures for planes that stray off course). Junior Bush was reading stories to grade school children during the attacks.  He knew one plane had crashed into the WTC when the reading started.  When his top aid Andrew Card whispered in his ear about the second plane hitting the WTC this was caught on videotape and is widely available on the internet.  Junior Bush only looks up and nods and then goes back to reading stories to the kids for 25 more minutes!!  It clearly looks more like Card is informing Bush of an expected event.  There was for example no time for Card to add AND THERE ARE SEVERAL OTHER HIJACKED PLANES IN THE AIR. questionsquestions.net

Bush is a Coward June 22, 2003 By: Jack Balkwill Bush is a coward. I am the one who took his place in Vietnam, so I should know. Corporate media have convinced the masses of a fictitious warrior Bush, who is a hero. This has been effective, as a neighbor recently told me that “If Gore had been elected, he wouldn’t have had the guts to attack Iraq.” My heart sank when I heard that, as I cannot fathom how it “takes guts” to order bombs to be dropped on children. Only cowards can do such things. Cowards who desert from war themselves while insisting that the working class bleed and die for the excesses of their national security state. liberalslant.com

Belgium goes ahead with war crimes lawsuits June 22, 2003 Brussles War crimes lawsuits had been filed in Belgium against eight top officials including United States President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, said the Belgian authorities. But the Belgian government had refused to handle the cases arising from the conflict in Iraq, referring them on to the US and British governments, said the justice ministry. Nevertheless the lawsuits, brought under Belgium's "universal competence law", are likely to deepen tensions between Washington and Brussels, which firmly opposed the war in Iraq. Last week US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld - who is one of the eight high-ranking officials named in the lawsuits - said Belgium would face consequences unless it revised the "absurd" law. informationclearinghouse.info See also: U.S. Charged With War Crimes: The Evidence File

Home Foreclosures Hit Record High June 22, 2003 By Richard Leong U.S. mortgages in foreclosure climbed to a record high in the first three months of 2003 as job losses and personal bankruptcies forced more people out of their homes, a mortgage industry group said on Friday. Home loans in the process of foreclosure climbed to 1.2 percent of all mortgages in the first quarter, beating the previous high of 1.18 percent set in the fourth quarter of 2002, the Mortgage Bankers Association of America said. informationclearinghouse.info

Gray Davis and the vast right-wing conspiracy June 22, 2003 By Tim Grieve The effort to recall California's Democratic governor shows again that the GOP will stop at nothing to win more power. Darrell Issa is a second-term Republican congressman from Southern California. He's as conservative as they come -- pro-business and anti-abortion, supports prayer in school, opposes affirmative action, never met a tax cut or an oil well he didn't like. In socially liberal California, he's got exactly no chance of ever winning statewide office. And yet, he just might be the state's next governor. salon.com

Settlers torch Palestinian grain fields June 22, 2003 By: Al-Khalil Messianic Jewish terrorists have been torching Palestinian grain fields in the central and southern parts of the West Bank, Palestinian sources reported Saturday. The sources said the messianic terrorists torched several fields of dry grain near Ramallah Thursday and Friday in full view of the Israeli army. "They apparently wanted to avenge the removal by the Israeli army of two caravans from the nearby hilltop, so they burned our harvest of the entire year," said Muhammed Sadaka, one of the peasants afflicted  by the arson. "The settlers are the Nazis of our time. Their ideology toward non-Jews is very much similar to the Nazi ideology toward Jews," he added.  irna.ir

Down on Our Knees: An American Tale June 21, 2003 By: Walter Brasch Standing before more than 1,400 loyalists and lobbyists who threw him more than $3.5 million, President Bush claimed he "got the economy going again . . . laid the foundation for greater prosperity" and defended the country against terrorism. Assuming he was neither drunk or stoned, he may have believed what he was spinning. But, let's look at the record. First up, the economy. --More than 2.7 million jobs have been lost during the past two years. More than 10 million are unemployed, the highest unemployment rate since the Bush I era. --The Republican-controlled Congress failed to pass any significant legislation to raise the minimum wage or to provide health coverage for 60 million Americans--although the Administration says it wants to extend universal health coverage to all Iraqis. --President Bush declared that leading economists said if the $350 million tax cut was approved, the economy would grow by 3.3 percent. As Gordon Livingston, writing in the Baltimore Sun, correctly noted, "no such report exists." --What does exist is a welfare package for the rich. The top one percent, many of whom live on dividends and stock sales, benefit far more than most Americans who are paid hourly. Among their benefits are reduced income taxes, dividend exclusions and capital gains benefits, and a special deduction of up to $100,000 for any vehicle over three tons. About 50 million lower- and middle-class families get nothing; about 20 million get less than $100. In his original proposal, eventually modified by Congress, President Bush allocated nothing for military pay increases, nor any provisions to cover military families. liberalslant.com