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The Big Bush Social Security Lie

MSNBC fires Savage on anti-gay remarks July 08, 2003 DAVID BAUDER NEW YORK - MSNBC on Monday fired Michael Savage for anti-gay comments. The popular radio talk show host who did a weekend TV show for the cable channel referred to an unidentified caller to his show Saturday as a "sodomite" and said he should "get AIDS and die." "His comments were extremely inappropriate and the decision was an easy one," MSNBC spokesman Jeremy Gaines said. There was no immediate comment from Savage, according to a spokesman at his office in California. miami.com

Bush's uranium remark wrong July 08, 2003 By David E. Sanger Iraq White House says comment in State of Union was taken from incomplete U.S. intelligence. The White House acknowledged for the first time on Monday that President Bush relied on incomplete and perhaps inaccurate information from Ameri can intelligence agencies Bush when he declared, in his State of the Union speech, that Saddam Hussein had attempted to purchase uranium from Africa. presstelegram.com

Sex Slavery Scandal Rattles Montenegro July 08, 2003 By MISHA SAVIC PODGORICA Serbia-Montenegro -- Svetlana has a secret -- one so dark and lurid, it has scandalized this usually unflappable corner of the Balkans. It's not the story of how she ended up in sexual slavery after being lured to Montenegro with the promise of a decent job. Nor is it the agonizing tale of how she was locked up in a brothel for three years and toyed with by clients who abused her so savagely they broke bones and scarred her genitals with cigarette burns. Svetlana's unsettling secret is the identities of those clients -- a damning account she gave police that implicated prominent Montenegrin officials in the sex trade. newsday.com

Young Iraqi woman and her baby murdered by America. Yes this is a war crime...

Permanent world court for war crimes now a reality despite U.S. boycott July 7, 2003 ROBERTA COWANTHE HAGUE (Canadian Press) - The judges' gowns have not been ordered and the courtrooms are still to be built, but the president of the International Criminal Court reckons the first case at the permanent tribunal for trying genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity will take place next year. July 1 was the first anniversary of the day when 90 countries ratified the Rome Statute, the legal foundation of the court, which was inaugurated in March. Philippe Kirsch, Canada's former ambassador in Sweden, was picked as the court's president. "Last year, the court was still an aspiration and now it's a reality," Kirsch said in an interview. canada.com

A Sad Story July 7, 2003 By Reese According to an Iraqi witness, last week an American soldier at a propane tank got into an argument with an Iraqi woman, took her propane tank away from her and tossed it on the ground, and gave her a hard shove. An Iraqi man driving by saw this, stopped his car, got out and walked back to the two American soldiers there, shot them both with a pistol and then left in his car. He killed one and wounded the second. If the Iraqi witness is telling the truth, this was not a drive-by shooting, as the American military described it. Nor was it an organized attack by a supporter of Saddam Hussein. It appears to be just an Iraqi man who got ticked off when he saw an Iraqi woman being abused by a foreign soldier. reese.king-online.com

Troop morale in Iraq hits 'rock bottom' July 7, 2003 Soldiers stress is a key concern as the Army ponders whether to send more forces. By Ann Scott Tyson | Special to The Christian Science Monitor US troops facing extended deployments amid the danger, heat, and uncertainty of an Iraq occupation are suffering from low morale that has in some cases hit "rock bottom." Even as President Bush speaks of a "massive and long-term" undertaking in rebuilding Iraq, that effort, as well as the high tempo of US military operations around the globe, is taking its toll on individual troops. Some frustrated troops stationed in Iraq are writing letters to representatives in Congress to request their units be repatriated. "Most soldiers would empty their bank accounts just for a plane ticket home," said one recent Congressional letter written by an Army soldier now based in Iraq. The soldier requested anonymity. csmonitor.com

Bush pushes for next generation of nukes July 7, 2003 By Tom Squitieri USA TODAY MERCURY, Nev. — If the Bush administration succeeds in its determined but little-noticed push to develop a new generation of nuclear weapons, this sun-baked desert flatland 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas could once again reverberate with the ground-shaking thumps of nuclear explosions that used to be common here. usatoday.com

Scandal Of 'Lost' Iraqi POWS - Only 2,000 Are Accounted For July 7, 2003 The Red Cross yesterday accused Tony Blair and George Bush of breaching the Geneva Convention over the shabby treatment of Iraqi prisoners of war. The humanitarian organisation said the true number of PoWs and their whereabouts was unknown, family visits have been denied and there was no system in place to monitor arrests or pass on details to the Red Cross. A high-ranking official of the International Committee of the Red Cross said: "It is an obligation of the occupying power to notify us of any arrests but that's not happening. We are not receiving anything like full information on prisoners of war. "There is no proper notification. No organisation. There is not the will to resolve this issue. iraqwar.ru

40 millionaires in US Senate July 7, 2003 By Jeremy Johnson At least 40 of the 100 US senators are millionaires, some many times over, according to financial disclosure filings submitted last month. Republicans on the list outnumbered Democrats by a narrow margin of 22 to 18. However, Democratic senators hold the top five spots on the list and eight of the top ten, according to an analysis of the forms by CNN. wsws.org

Will the hole-in-head machine of nuclear mass destruction soon re-open? July 7, 2003 Public anger mounting against re-start of Davis-Besse reactor Ohio's infamous nuke with the hole in its head is being forced toward critical mass. Only a global outcry can stop it. Meanwhile, ample wind power is ready right there to replace the plant. Last year the Davis-Besse reactor, near Toledo, missed bringing Chernobyl to the Great Lakes by a mere fraction of an inch of deteriorating metal. Boric acid ate through six inches of solid steel and left only a warped shard between the superheated core and unfathomable catastrophe. freepress.org

Confess or die, US tells jailed Britons Outrage over plight of Guantanamo detainees July 6, 2003 Martin Bright, Kamal Ahmed and Peter Beaumont The two British terrorist suspects facing a secret US military tribunal in Guantanamo Bay will be given a choice: plead guilty and accept a 20-year prison sentence, or be executed if found guilty. American legal sources close to the process said that the prisoners' dilemma was intended to encourage maximum 'co-operation'. guardian.co.uk

Even loyal Britain can no longer tolerate America's abuse of human rights at Camp X-Ray July 6, 2003 By Neil Mackay IN the seemingly perpetual war against terrorism, fought in the name of democracy and freedom, it was inevitable that America's hypocrisy in flouting the rule of law and the human rights of the detainees in Camp X-Ray at Guantanamo Bay would sooner or later prove to be the sticking point for US allies.Held without charge; denied the protection of the Geneva Convention by their American military captors; refused the right to legal counsel; facing trial in secret by military tribunal with no right to appeal and subsequent execution -- the unjust behaviour of the Bush administration is a step too far for its Western allies. With nine Britons held at Camp X-Ray, the UK has eventually cracked and openly criticised the US for the gross abuses perpetrated against the 680 alleged terror suspects held in the sweltering wire mesh and wood cages on Cuba. sundayherald.com

A Sad Independence Day Little to Celebrate in a Country Gone Mad July 6, 2003 By WAYNE MADSEN Amid the fireworks, parades, Wal Mart sales, professional sporting events, and other commercialized and phony tributes to what was once a holiday celebrated not only across America but around the world, Americans have very little to be proud of. With a President whose lack of mental acuity would qualify him as mentally handicapped under the provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990--signed by Bush 41--the system of U.S. constitutional government and international comity is unraveling at the seams. An elite group of neo-fascists in Washington, London, Canberra, Rome, Jerusalem, and Madrid are seeking to return independent nation states to colonialism. Republicans in the U.S. Congress and Texas are seeking to disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of African Americans and other minorities by redistricting them into Bantustan-like congressional districts. counterpunch.org

Bush: "Bloodsucking vampire" July 6, 2003 Johannesburg (SA) About 150 people gathered at the Library Gardens in Johannesburg on Saturday to protest against United States President George W Bush's visit next week.Protesting under the banner of the Anti-War Coalition, the demonstrators waved posters and sang struggle songs. Some of the posters read "Bush, the mass murderer", "Bloodsucking vampire", "Jou ma se bush", "Behind every bush is a terrorist", and "Bush you won't rape our minds". news24.com

Thousands protest near dedication of center July 6, 2003 By Martha Woodall As many as 5,000 gathered at Franklin Square and marched through Center City to oppose U.S. policies.  While dignitaries marked the opening of the new National Constitution Center yesterday, several thousand of the hoi polloi marked the Fourth with a noisy, upbeat antiwar rally a block away at Franklin Square. Afterward, in a march that snaked through the hot Center City streets, 3,000 to 5,000 demonstrators shook placards to a steady drumbeat and chanted: "Stop the crazy son of a Bush! Stop the war now!" philly.com

Democrats Beat Bush at 2nd Q. Campaign Fundraising; Mainstream Media Ignores Positive News for Democrats, Reports Bush Crushed Individual Candidates July 5, 2003 By Rob Kall Individually, none of the 10 declared and undeclared democratic presidential primary candidates came close to matching the money George W. Bush raised-- a reported $34 million.  But add them all up and it looks like they either beat him or came very, very close. Not surprisingly, interviews and internet searches, including google news for any coverage of this positive aspect of the Democractic campaign failed to find any mainstream media that reported this alternate "spin" from the story that was primarily reported that Bush's fundraising was far more than what any single Democrat raised. thepeoplesvoice.org

Bush Picks Six to Face Military Tribunal July 5, 2003 By MATT KELLEY President Bush designated six prisoners to become the first people who could be tried before military tribunals, drawing renewed criticism from defense lawyers of the secretive special courts. Officials refused to identify the six suspects being held in U.S. custody and suggested their identities might be kept secret during any military trial. That drew criticism from the chairman of the American Bar Association's task force on the treatment of detainees in the war on terrorism. "The State Department issues a report every year in which it criticizes those nations that conduct trials before secret military tribunals. What I'm hearing sounds alarmingly like something similar," said Neal Sonnett, also a former president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. sunspot.net

US terror trials condemned July 5, 2003 Human rights groups have expressed outrage at the planned use of military tribunals to try terror suspects being held in Guantanamo Bay. There are at least 680 suspected al-Qaeda and Taleban members at the US naval base in Cuba. President Bush decided on Thursday that six of them, including Britons Moazzam Begg and Feroz Abbasi and Australian David Hicks should face trial in a military tribunal rather than in a regular court. But the decision has been criticised by human rights group who say the tribunals are a "legal black hole". news.bbc.co.uk

American troops plead for reinforcements July 5, 2003 By Daniel McGrory in Baghdad and Tim Reid AMERICAN troops who narrowly escaped a rocket attack yesterday joined the growing number in the military who say that reinforcements are needed or they risk being overrun by the Iraqi resistance. While President Bush and other political leaders continue to play down concerns that the peacekeeping force is struggling to cope, troops on the ground say that they must have more help. One survivor from the attacked patrol sat with his head in his hands, saying: “We are being given the run-around. There just aren’t enough of us.” Three of his men were injured, one seriously, in the attack in Haifa Street in the heart of Baghdad when a rocket-propelled grenade was fired from a pick-up truck. Senior officers scampered around ordering men not to express publicly such sentiments. Some disobeyed timesonline.co.uk

Bring 'Em On Mr. President, How Dare You! July 5, 2003 By Michael Shannon Even for a man who has made some of the stupidest, most ill-advised, poorly thought out and badly constructed off-the-cuff comments ever uttered by a high ranking government official, this was way over the line. For George Bush to declare that "we have sufficient forces" in place to handle any armed threat from Iraqi insurrectionists so "bring them on" is so lacking in common sense, so devoid of compassion for those effected by the statement, so willful a display of ignorance of how such a comment will be interpreted by both foe and friend alike that it can be considered nothing but indisputable evidence that he is by temperament and intellect grotesquely unsuited for the office of the President of the United States. democraticunderground.com

Iraq attacks linked to Bush taunts July 05, 2003 By Roy Eccleston AT least 19 American soldiers were wounded in an attack on a US base in Iraq yesterday, and another US soldier was killed in an assault on his convoy in Baghdad. News of the twin attacks brought a sombre start to American Independence Day activities for the 150,000 US troops stationed in Iraq. The blows came as the US offered multi-million-dollar rewards for Saddam Hussein and his sons, and aides to George W. Bush countered claims the President had encouraged attacks on allied troops by his taunt to Hussein loyalists: "Bring 'em on". theaustralian.news.com

READY TO EXPLODE July 5, 2003 FORMER Iraqi soldier Najab fingered his pistol and glared at two British soldiers trying to calm an angry crowd protesting at crippling shortages. Speaking outside one of Saddam Hussein's old palaces just 50 yards from the British HQ in Basra, he said: "Our patience has run out. We've no money to feed ourselves, we haven't been paid for six months and we're fed up with broken promises. "We've told the British today that if we're not paid by Friday, we'll arm ourselves with guns again and start killing every foreigner we see in Iraq." iraqwar.ru

It's worse than it seems July 5, 2003 By Steve Gilliard The look on Donald Rumsfeld's face lately has not been a happy one. As the Bush Administration and its defenders try to pretend that the war in Iraq is not going badly, the reality is that things are getting worse with little hope for a solution in the near future. Viceroy Jerry has asked for 50,000 troops to maintain his rule. There's one small problem with that. There aren't 50K to give. The US military is nearly at the end of it's deployable strength and needs to withdraw the 3ID as soon as possible. dailykos.com

Public services at risk as US states face financial crisis July 5, 2003 The street lights may still be twinkling on Sunset Boulevard and the sun may still come up every morning over the Mojave desert, but California could soon be plunged into fiscal darkness. The state with an economy the equivalent of the world's fifth largest nation is bust, and a crisis which could lead to mass lay-offs and collapse of the public education system is in the offing. California is just one of many states facing the worst financial crisis for decades. guardian.co.uk

Dear Clarence Thomas: It Happened on July 4, 1776 July 4, 2003 by Thom Hartmann In 1789, Thomas Jefferson wrote a note to James Madison about the future possibility of a president who didn't understand the principles on which America was founded. "The tyranny of the legislatures is the most formidable dread at present," he wrote, "and will be for many years. That of the executive will come in its turn, but it will be at a remote period." The new so-called conservatives claim the power to violate citizens' private lives because, they say, there is no "right to privacy" in the United States. In that, they overlook the history of America and the Declaration of Independence, signed on July 4, 1776. And they miss a basic understanding of the evolution of language in the United States. thepeoplesvoice.org

War Crimes in the Name of Freedom: 227 Years of Bloody Freedom on July 4th July 4, 2003 "Great power imposes the obligation of exercising restraint, and we did not live up to this obligation" That according to Leo Szilard, the Manhattan Project physicist commenting on the United States and its decision in August of 1945 to obliterate non-military targets Hiroshima (70,000 dead instantly with 210,000 total deaths) and Nagasaki (40,000 dead instantly with 200,000 total deaths) in Japan. When the United States of America takes its place in the graveyard of empires, its tombstone will display Szilard's words alongside the inscription, "Born in violence, practiced violence and came to a violent end." Americans fancy their society as a peaceful, freedom loving enterprise when the reality is that Americans are brutally competitive and adversarial in every aspect of their lives. And they are warlike to the core. Is it any wonder that in America , the easiest act for the US government to carry out is war? english.pravda.ru

Looking for work? You and 9.4-million others July 4, 2003 By KRIS HUNDLEY There seems to be little good news for American job hunters as the nation's jobless rate hits 6.4 percent, the highest point in more than nine years. At the WorkNet Pinellas One Stop Center in St. Petersburg on Thursday, Dina Watkins, sitting, and Clarence Bouyer, pointing, are looking for work. Watkins, who was laid off that morning, said, "It's been a tough day so far, but I am determined to find another job." ST. PETERSBURG - Cindy Roberts was shocked when she lost her job as a social worker at a Gulfport nursing home in December. She's even more surprised that she's still job hunting six months later. "It was a wakeup call to find out employers can just jerk you around," said the 38-year-old St. Petersburg mother of three. "There are so many people looking for work right now that employers are taking their time and playing games with applicants. They know people are almost desperate to have a job." sptimes.com

Millions die, Bush is silent July 5, 2003 By Laura McClure The Congo's descent into a vortex of murder and destruction is the globe's worst human crisis. But as he travels in Africa this week, the president will ignore it. Salvatore Bulamuzi lost five children in Bunia while the United States was liberating Iraq, and it did not make the news. He lost his parents as well -- all killed in the Congolese war, where tribal militias fight for land rich in timber and diamonds, and Dantesque horrors of macheted infants, murderous 14-year-olds and HIV-laced rapes are so common as to be unremarkable. salon.com

Bush's Surreal AIDS Appointment Millions Die, But Big Biz Still Rules July 4, 2003 By JIM LOBE The appointment of a former top executive of a major U.S. pharmaceutical company and major Republican contributor as President George W. Bush's global AIDS co-ordinator has stunned and outraged AIDS experts and activists. Bush's choice of former Eli Lilly & Co. boss Randall Tobias was announced at the White House on July 1, just a few days before Bush's first trip as president to Africa. The U.S. Senate must confirm the nomination. counterpunch.org

Bush Bashers Celebrate the 4th of July July 4, 2003 While many Americans are marking Independence Day with traditional fireworks and backyard barbecues, others are having a good time bashing what may be the most rightwing president in U.S. history. Thousands of protesters are gathering in Philadelphia today where George W. Bush is scheduled to open the new National Constitution Center. Also, The Indypendent has just hit the streets with a special 4th of July issue that explores Bush's double-speak, uncovers his weapons of mass distraction, looks back on the erosion of civil liberties over the past 22 months and profiles a small town in northern California that is openly defying the USA PATRIOT Act. || PDF of the July 4 Indypendent. The Bush regime's Orwellian newspeak may mask some of the neo-conservative agenda in Washington, but as President Lincoln said: "You can't fool all of the people all of the time". Many U.S. citizens today are Declaring Independence from The Empire and updating the Declaration of Independence for these troubled times. http://indymedia.org/

ACLU Marks Independence Day With New Report On Main Street Movement To Protect Civil Liberties July 4, 2003 WASHINGTON – On the eve of this year’s Independence Day celebrations, the American Civil Liberties Union today released a new report documenting the ongoing grassroots movement in the United States to pass local community resolutions rejecting government policies that go beyond fighting terrorism and stray into the suppression of basic constitutional rights. aclu.org

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE In Congress, July 4, 1776, July 5, 2003 THE UNANIMOUS DECLARATION OF THE THIRTEEN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. whatreallyhappened.com

US hypocrisy astounding July 3, 2003 The United States has flexed its muscles once more by announcing a suspension of military aid to about 35 countries that ignored a deadline to exempt its soldiers from jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. The court, inaugurated in March, was created under a 1998 treaty to prosecute genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Why the mightiest economic and military power on earth would want to act outside the purview of such a court has never been adequately explained. But the only conclusion one can draw hardly needs stating - that the US military has been, or will be, committing just the kind of crimes the international court will be trying. This reveals deep hypocrisy. Since the end of the Second World War, the US has been at the forefront of internationalism when it comes to trying the kind of crimes outlined. nationaudio.com

Condoleeza Rice: No To Multipolar World US National Security Advisor invents theory and then attacks it July 3, 2003 It would appear that members of the Bush administration have an internal competition to see which one can come up with the most absurd statement, like an Ionescu play gone wrong. In recent months, Rumsfeld has added his nonsense to Bush's clunkers but Rice could well be the dark horse in the howler race. "Multipolarity is a theory of rivalry, of competing interests and at its very worst, of competing values" stated Condoleeza Rice recently at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London . Why is it that the members of the Bush adminstration, in their entirety, are utterly incapable of engaging in dialogue or of handling difference of opinion? Why does multipolarity have to involve competing interests? The fundamental principles of democracy, which the USA expounded ad nauseam during the time of the Cold War, are debate, discussion and dialogue, backed up by diplomacy. The fundamental principles of democracy include the freedom to state and defend a position and then discuss any difference in an open and civilized forum of debate. To state that multipolarity is rivalry, is to say that "if you're not with us, you're against us". To state that multipolarity can lead to competing values and then describe these as a threat, is an admission by Ms. Rice that she is incapable of comprehending alternative schools of opinion, alternative lines of thought, alternative ways of being. english.pravda.ru

Bush's 'blind' justice in Texas executions July 3, 2003 By Derrick Z. Jackson AN ARTICLE in the current issue of The Atlantic Monthly should further inform and inflame the debate over the honesty of President Bush. When Bush was governor of Texas he routinely denied last-ditch pleas for clemency on execution day by systematically hearing no evidence, seeing no evidence, and sealing himself away from any tragic possibility that any evil was done at all. The ''system'' was Bush and his legal counsel from 1995 to 1997, Alberto Gonzales. In 1997, Bush appointed Gonzales as Texas secretary of state. In 1998, Bush elevated Gonzales to the Texas Supreme Court. Gonzales followed Bush to Washington to be White House counsel. Gonzales is widely speculated to be high on Bush's list of potential nominees for the Supreme Court. Gonzales would be the first Latino justice. On execution day in Texas, it was the job of Gonzales to give Bush a summary of the case. The summary was the last information standing between an inmate and lethal injection. Gonzales provided 57 summaries to Bush. Gonzales intended for the memos to be confidential, but author Alan Berlow obtained them under Texas public information law. Berlow found that Gonzales routinely provided scant summaries to Bush. The summaries, according to Berlow, ''repeatedly failed to apprise the governor of crucial issues in the cases at hand: ineffective counsel, conflict of interest, mitigating evidence, even actual evidence of innocence.'' boston.com

Bush Wants To Bankrupt America: There is Method To His Madness July 3, 2003 By Sam Hamod Some have wondered if GW Bush knows what he's doing with his tax cut that benefits the corporations and the very rich, and cuts away the remaining money of the poor and the middle class. I say yes, he does know what he'd up to, as do his corporate advisors and his neo-con economist friends and theorists, chief among them Grover Norquist. Norquist has been the chief architect behind the dismantling of the American federal financial structure in terms of benefits for the common citizen, but has helped to create the superstructure of tax breaks for the very rich and the corporatocracy that now has a choke-hold on America. The plan is very simple, but not obvious on first blush. Make sure that all the money is gone from the U.S. treasury, make sure the deficits are so great that all social and educational programs are cut, increase the military and security budgets to "protect our nation" with all these monies going to corporations and security firms who are extra-national (not tied to any country, but actually more than multi-national in that they are outside the purview of any nation at any single moment) and stave in the social security fund by allowing it to go to private corporations for "investment"-and you have the perfect scenario for saying, "only the private sector can save us-we're broke and they have the money to run every program, fund every program, but of course, at huge costs and profits for the private corporations." informationclearinghouse.info

Kickback July 3, 2003 By David Podvin Many Americans have wondered how George W. Bush can be blatantly corrupt, yet receive such positive coverage from the media - the same media that spent the previous eight years so desperate to uncover presidential scandals that it felt compelled to invent some. With the recent deregulation of the broadcasting industry by the Federal Communications Commission, the mystery has been solved. The answer is money. makethemaccountable.com

BUSH'S WILLING EXECUTIONERS America Betrayed by Cowardly Citizens July 3, 2003 By Ted Rall Today's version of the heroic Nathan Hale would fall to his knees, beg for mercy, and swear fealty to the British crown. A 21^st century Patrick Henry would no doubt argue that homeland security trumps personal liberty. Benedict Arnold would make the rounds of the TV talk shows, lauded as an "heroic pragmatist." In a land of wimps, the dimwit is king--such is the dismal state of post-9/11 America.As George W. Bush's aristocorporate junta runs roughshod over hard-earned freedoms, as his lunatic-right Administration loots $10 trillion from the national treasury, as his armies invade sovereign nations without cause, as he threatens war against imagined enemies while allowing real ones to build nuclear weapons, those charged with standing against these perversions of American values remain appallingly, inexplicably silent. news.yahoo.com

Blame Bush for California's Budget Woes July 3, 2003 by Robert Scheer the other day a woman asked me to sign a petition calling for the recall of California Governor Gray Davis. Why, I asked. Because he bankrupted the state, she said. When I begged to differ that it was the Bush Administration and its buddies at companies like Enron that had put the state into an economic tailspin, she said she was being paid according to the number of petitions signed and didn't really care. But voters should care because Davis is being used as a fall guy for problems that are beyond his control. thenation.com

Take a good look Americans. This is what the body of a man who has been tortured to death looks like. This is what Bush and the Neocons are doing with your tax dollars.

Another detainee dies in US custody in Afghanistan July 2, 2003 By Rick Kelly US military authorities reported last week that a man detained in Afghanistan had died on June 21. In a brief statement, media spokesman Colonel Rodney Davis reported that the Afghan detainee died while imprisoned at a US “holding facility” near Asadabad in the eastern province of Konar. Military authorities refused to release any information on the deceased man’s identity, or on any of the circumstances surrounding his death. “The man was taken under control June 18 [and] transported to the holding facility at a security compound, where he stayed until his death,” the statement read. “The man’s death is under investigation.” No explanation was given as to why the man was detained or the conditions under which he was held. wsws.org

US uses aid threat to block court July 2, 2003 Julian Borger The US yesterday threatened to stop aid to countries which refuse to exempt American soldiers from prosecution by the new international criminal court (ICC). The threat includes close allies such as Colombia, where a US delegation is trying to cajole President Alvaro Uribe to issue a waiver. Colombia, which signed the the 1998 Rome Treaty establishing the ICC, could lose nearly $1bn (£600m) a year for its battle against guerrillas and drug warlords. It is the third biggest recipient of US military aid, after Israel and Egypt. Similar threats have been issued to eastern European countries. guardian.co.uk

US admits to 50 secret tests of bio weapons on troops July 2, 2003 The Pentagon used potentially dangerous chemical and biological agents in 50 secret tests involving US military personnel in a decade-long project to measure the weapons' combat capabilities, according to Pentagon findings. The tests were done between 1962 and 1973 and involved 5,842 service members. Many were not told of the tests, some of which involved releases of deadly nerve agents in Alaska and Hawaii. smh.com.au

Amid propaganda campaign over Iraq: Guatemala’s mass graves ignored by mass media July 2, 2003 By Bill Vann Last month, the people of Xiquin Sanahi, a small village in the Guatemalan highlands, reburied the remains of 75 of their family members and neighbors who were massacred two decades ago by the Guatemalan army. The skeletal remains had been exhumed a year earlier by a team of forensic anthropologists. A moving report on the reburial ceremony written by T. Christian Miller of the Los Angeles Times (“Dignity Recovered at last,” June 26, 2003) was all the more notable because of its rarity. The mass media has virtually ignored what is a gruesome ongoing exposure of massive atrocities carried out during a protracted US-backed counterinsurgency operation. wsws.org

On "Hating America" July 2, 2003 Ernest Partridge Do I "hate America" because I criticize its government? On the Contrary, I love America which is why I hate what the right-wing zealots are doing to my beloved country and to its international reputation. These zealots have bought out our once-free media and have shut out informed dissent, they have seized control of our government through an illegal election, they have intimidated the "opposition party" into meek submission, and worst of all, they are proceeding to tear up our Bill of Rights and to abscond with our national wealth and treasure, impoverishing the rest of us and our posterity...enter.net

Hostages of the empire July 1, 2003 Andrew Murray The words of Paul Bremer, Washington's overlord in Iraq, need no "sexing up". "We are going to fight them and impose our will on them and we will capture or... kill them until we have imposed law and order on this country," he declared at the weekend. "We dominate the scene and we will continue to impose our will on this country." Neither General Dyer at Amritsar nor General Westmoreland in Vietnam could have put it any clearer. Welcome to the new colonialism. Bremer's words are not just bluster. US forces are now engaged in massive search-and-destroy sweeps in central and northern Iraq against forces opposing their rule. guardian.co.uk

Iraq: Everyone Now Needs Food Aid July 1, 2003 by Ricardo Grassi ROME The war in Iraq has made the entire population of 27 million dependent on food aid, leaders of aid programs say. Before the war that the U.S. and Britain launched March 20 to remove the Saddam Hussein regime, 60 percent of the population had depended entirely on food aid. ”Today, the lives of 100 percent of the Iraqi population, 27 million people, depend on the provision of monthly food rations,” UNICEF chief representative in Iraq Carel de Roy told IPS in a phone interview. commondreams.org

Hell starts now July 1, 2003 Winning the war was easy. Winning the peace will be a nightmare. The war on Iraq was "officially" over on May 1. But almost two months later, British Premier Tony Blair has been forced to admit that the security situation in Iraq is "serious". He missed the point though: there's no "security" (for Westerners) because of the widespread hostility of the Iraqi population towards the Anglo-American occupiers. And for most Iraqis, the occupiers are indistinguishable. 1.iraqwar.ru

Seniors blow whistle on Bush-GOP Rx scam July 1, 2003 By Tim Wheeler Nearly 1,000 senior citizens rallied on Capitol Hill June 25 and blew plastic whistles to show their anger at sham prescription drug bills that benefit drug companies and George W. Bush’s election while opening the door to privatizing Medicare. “I wish this was a celebration. Instead it is a protest,” said George Kourpias, president of the Alliance of Retired Americans (ARA). “Both the Senate and House are taking every step to privatize Medicare. We are here to blow the whistle on this sham legislation.” pww.org

Presidental Term and Jobs created per month:
Truman 1: 60,000
Truman 2: 113,000
Eisenhower 1: 58,000
Eisenhower 2: 15,000
Kennedy: 122,000
Johnson: 206,000
Nixon 1: 129,000
Nixon/Ford: 105,000
Carter: 218,000
Reagan 1: 109,000
Reagan 2: 224,000
G. Bush: 52,000
Clinton 1: 242,000
Clinton 2: 235,000
G.W. Bush: 69,000 jobs DESTROYED per month
- Since Bush signed the biggest tax cut in American
history in June of 2001, more then 1.7 million jobs
have been destroyed in the economy. buzzflash.com

As 2004 Nears, Bush Pins Slump on Clinton July 1, 2003 By Dana Milbank With the start of his reelection campaign in the past two weeks, President Bush has revived his pastime of blaming his predecessor, Bill Clinton, for the economic recession. washingtonpost.com

US: Incomes of the ultra-rich quadrupled in eight years July 1, 2003 By Jeremy Johnson The 400 top-earning US taxpayers nearly quadrupled their income over the past decade, according to a report released by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) last week. The IRS report documents just how much the rich got richer in the decade of the 1990’s. It states that the adjusted gross income (AGI) of these 400 super-rich taxpayers went from an average of $46.8 million in 1992 to $174 million in 2000. Similarly, the minimum AGI required to be included in the elite group rose from $24.4 million to $86.8 million. wsws.org

US plans hypersonic bomber July 1, 2003 The United States is planning to build an unmanned hypersonic aircraft capable of striking any target in the world within two hours. The initial description of the concept - called the "reusable hypersonic cruise vehicle" (HCV) - has recently been placed on the website of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), the central research and development organisation of the Pentagon. A conference of companies interested in the project is to be held soon. bbc.co.uk

US-based missiles to have global reach July 1, 2003 Julian Borger Allies to become less important as new generation of weapons enables America to strike anywhere from its own territory The Pentagon is planning a new generation of weapons, including huge hypersonic drones and bombs dropped from space, that will allow the US to strike its enemies at lightning speed from its own territory. guardian.co.uk