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JULY
16-8, 03
Archives |
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439,000
file new claims, US unemployment lines hit 20-year peak
July 16, 2003 By Jeremy Johnson More workers are living on
unemployment checks in the US today than at any time in more than 20 years,
the US Department of Labor reported last week. Figures released July 10
indicated that 439,000 workers filed new claims for unemployment benefits in
the week ending July 5, an increase of 5,000 from the week before. At the
same time, the number receiving benefits jumped to 3,818,000, increasing by
87,000 in just one week, and reaching a level not seen since February 1983.
These new statistics confirm the relentless destruction of jobs that is
taking place in spite of widespread predictions by economists and government
officials of an economic recovery just around the corner. The latest report
proves that the jump in the official unemployment rate to 6.4 percent
reported a week earlier was not merely an aberration, as Labor Secretary
Elaine Chao had maintained. wsws.org
PUBLIC DOUBT GROWING QUICKLY AS
BUSH'S WAR STORIES UNRAVEL July 16, 2003 By
Bill Gallagher The lies and calculated deceptions George W. Bush used to
make his case for war with Iraq are unraveling. At long last, more Americans
are realizing how intelligence information was shaped and warped to support
the case for an attack on Iraq to protect us from the "imminent
threat" of Saddam's phantom weapons. Nearly every day now, American
soldiers die and the resistance to the occupation of Iraq grows stronger and
more organized. In a chilling interview with Newsday, a leader of Saddam
Hussein's Fedayeen militia describes the strategy that will challenge the
new American empire. niagarafallsreporter.com
President Caught In Another Lie
July 16, 2003 This is just one more example of president Bush hiding one lie
behind another. During a press briefing at the Whitehouse with United
Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan on Monday, 07/14/03, our president
continued to lie to the American people. This latest instance of
Presidential deceit relates to the reasons for the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
When questioned about his comments in the state of the union address
relating to the now discredited claim that Iraq tried to buy Uranium
yellowcake from Niger, the president said. "The larger point is,
and the fundamental question is, did Saddam Hussein have a weapons program?
And the answer is, absolutely. And we gave him a chance to allow the
inspectors in, and he wouldn't let them in. And, therefore, after a
reasonable request, we decided to remove him from power, along with other
nations, so as to make sure he was not a threat to the United States and our
friends and allies in the region. I firmly believe the decisions we made
will make America more secure and the world more peaceful." This as
clearly a lie by our president, "And we gave him a chance to
allow the inspectors in, and he wouldn't let them in. And, therefore, after
a reasonable request, we decided to remove him from power" President
Bush has rewritten history and provided a new reason as to why he ordered
the US invasion of Iraq. informationclearinghouse.info
An Age Of Lies
July 16, 2003 By Michael Rivero The latest joke making the rounds on
the internet is that truth has become so valuable that the government has
embarked on a conservation program. Lying is something we normally take very
seriously. Certainly we ourselves are exhorted by schools and clergy to
always be truthful. We demand truthfulness of those around us and those we
employ, and while we may wink tolerantly at the "white" lie, most
of us realize that society as a whole cannot function smoothly without a
certain assurance of honesty. We therefore punish children who lie. We fire
employees who lie. We choose to not associate with, listen to, or trust
people who lie. We are most demanding for the truth in the matter of
commerce. We demand that products and services we spend our hard-earned
money on function exactly as promised by the salesperson. We generally
tolerate nothing less. For most Americans, government is the single largest
expense in our lives. Combined taxes and fees for all levels of government
devour roughly half of all that we ever earn. Most Americans spend more
money on the government than on their homes. Yet for this particular
"product" and these particular "salespeople", we the
consumers seem strangely reluctant to demand the same honesty we expect of,
for example, the people we buy our cars from. Somehow, We The People have
been lured into accepting a double standard; that the government which takes
so much of our money is exempt from the normal requirement for truth upon
which at least in part our civilization is built. rense.com
Bush
feels burn of waning popularity July
16, 2003 ALEX MASSIE IF TONY Blair, the Prime
Minister, was hoping for a respite from Iraq when he arrives in Washington
tomorrow, he will be sorely disappointed. London is not the only capital
facing a "credibility gap". The troubles of the United States
president, George Bush, are mounting, as his administration finds it
increasingly difficult to shrug off claims it misled the American public
over Iraq’s weapons programmes. Democrats and the media were reluctant to
openly criticise the administration while the war was being fought, but this
week they have driven the issue of the missing weapons of mass destruction
to the top of the news agenda. thescotsman.co.uk
Bush projects record red ink July
16, 2003 By ALAN FRAM The Bush administration dramatically raised its
budget deficit projections on Tuesday to $455 billion for this year and $475
billion for next, record levels fed by the limp economy, tax cuts and the
battle against terrorism. The totals would easily surpass the $290 billion
shortfall of 1992 that has been the red ink high water mark until now. They
also mark a deterioration by more than 50 percent since February. helenair.com
Head
Start officials oppose changes pushed by Bush
July 16, 2003 By
JENNY JOHNSON Proposed changes in
national legislation has Head Start directors across Montana worried that
the Bush administration aims to ultimately turn the federal preschool
program over to the management - and coffers - of state government. The
successful pre-kindergarten program that serves 4,500 Montana children works
just fine, says Ravalli County Head Start executive director John Filz. So
why monkey with it, he asks. Started 38 years ago, the federal Head Start
program is reauthorized by the legislature every five years. This year, Bush
proposed sweeping changes in the program that transfer a significant portion
of the Head Start responsibility to state governments. ravallinews.com
Unemployed? Worried? Read
On... July 16, 2003 By Carl F. Worden
Now that at least 6% of you are unemployed in the United States and have
more free time to read, perhaps you'd like to know why you no longer have a
job, why your job-finding prospects are bleak, why our trade deficit is off
the charts and even more importantly, who did this to you. In order for you
to fully grasp what I'm about to write, we'll need to review what worked to
make this nation the most wealthy and powerful nation ever to grace the face
of this earth. First, we need to remember how wealth is created. The average
high school graduate comes out thinking that if they get more of the money
others have, then that's the way to create wealth. They don't have a clue
about wealth creation, because in most cases, the schools don't teach it,
and most of the kid's parents don't know either -- so herewith is a
refresher course. rense.com
A Big Letdown Soldiers Learn
They’ll Be in Baghdad Longer Than Expected
July 16, 2003 By Jeffrey Kofman
F A L L U J A H, Iraq The sergeant at
the 2nd Battle Combat Team Headquarters pulled me aside in the corridor.
"I've got my own 'Most Wanted' list," he told me. He was referring
to the deck of cards the U.S. government published, featuring Saddam
Hussein, his sons and other wanted members of the former Iraqi regime.
"The aces in my deck are Paul Bremer, Donald Rumsfeld, George Bush and
Paul Wolfowitz," he said. He was referring to the four men who are
running U.S. policy here in Iraq — the four men who are ultimately
responsible for the fate of U.S. troops here. "If Donald Rumsfeld were
sitting here in front of us, what would you say to him?" I asked a
group of soldiers who gathered around a table, eager to talk to a visiting
reporter. "If he was here," said Pfc. Jason Punyahotra, "I
would ask him why we're still here, why we've been told so many times and
it's changed." In the back of the group, Spc. Clinton Deitz put up his
hand. "If Donald Rumsfeld was here," he said, "I'd ask him
for his resignation." abcnews.go.com
Rumsfeld's personal spy ring
July 16, 2003 By Eric Boehlert The defense secretary couldn't count
on the CIA or the State Department to provide a pretext for war in Iraq. So
he created a new agency that would tell him what he wanted to hear. During
last fall's feverish ramp up to war with Iraq, the Pentagon created an
unusual in-house shop to monitor Saddam Hussein's links with terrorists and
his allegedly sprawling arsenal of weapons of mass destruction. With direct
access to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's office and the White House,
the influential group helped lay out, both to administration officials and
to the press, an array of chilling, almost too-good-to-be-true examples of
why Saddam posed an immediate threat to America. Six months later, with
controversy mounting over the administration's handling of war intelligence,
the small, secretive cell inside the Pentagon is drawing closer scrutiny and
may soon be the subject of a congressional inquiry to determine whether it
manipulated and politicized key intelligence and botched planning for
post-war Iraq. salon.com
A ‘free ride’ for Bush-Cheney? July
16, 2003 Pat Murphy Republicans are frantically brandishing their
long knives and checkbooks in hopes of booting California Gov. Gray Davis, a
Democrat, out of office. The GOP charges? California’s $38 billion
deficit. What’s going on here? Republicans who’re willing to oust Gov.
Davis for a deficit are also the same Republicans who’re ecstatic about
the debt-and-deficit economics of President Bush, who has drained the
Treasury of the $256 billion surplus he inherited, in addition to spending
the nation into a $455 billion-plus deficit this year and a long term
deficit of trillions of dollars for our great-grandchildren. mtexpress.com
The bush Family
July 16, 2003 We have put together some links that can give you the
background on many Bush Family affairs. We have no idea why Americans
believe this family has moral values even close to any average American
Family. If they do represent the average American Family, we should all be
disgusted. New Documentary done by Greg Palast of the BBC. This documentary
deals with the Bush's family fortunes. thelawparty.com
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Trickle
Down Lying; The Gamble Failed and it's Time for the Bush Regime to Pay,
Starting with Cheney's Impeachment July
15, 2003 Rob
Kall opednews.com
Wasington Post writer Howard Kurtz says, "But in the bluest of
blue-state precincts, it's hard to tell which emotion is stronger: disgust
with Dubya or anger at the American public for failing to share their
outrage." I am outraged. I know, because I hear from my readers that
there are many more people who are outraged with the lying in the
Whitehouse. It's a full-fledged, sloppy, incompetent cover-up and it's only
a matter of time before the liars get their due comeuppance. One thing we
know is that the CIA told the White house not to use the Nigerian Uranium
claims of nuclear threat months before the State of the Union address.
Condoleeza Rice already knew. You don't blame someone for not telling you
twice. opednews.com
House rejects requirement on
labeling origin of meats July 15, 2003 WASHINGTON
The House squared off Monday over a controversial law to require labeling so
that consumers know the country of origin for the beef and pork they buy in
grocery stores. Lawmakers who want labeling lost the debate with a 193-208
vote on an amendment that would have pushed through funding so the
Agriculture Department can continue to devise rules for a country-of-origin
labeling program. In Arizona's delegation, Democratic Rep. Raul Grijalva
voted for the amendment. Democratic Rep. Ed Pastor and Republican Reps. Jeff
Flake, Trent Franks, J.D. Hayworth, Jim Kolbe, Rick Renzi and John Shadegg
voted against it. azcentral.com
A New Hard-Liner at the DEA
July 15, 2003 by Jason Vest
Though the Republican Party prides itself on being a champion of state
sovereignty, one need only mention phrases like "medical
marijuana" or "drug law reform" to see how quickly the
Administration of George W. Bush becomes hostile to the notion of the
autonomy of states. The latest--and perhaps most egregious--example of this
enmity is about to become manifest via a new appointment: that of veteran
Justice Department official Karen Tandy, soon to be new chief of the Drug
Enforcement Administration. According to drug-reform activists, the
nomination of Tandy--a career Justice Department prosecutor and
administrator whose most recent assignments have including busting
mail-order bong sellers and those involved in Oregon and California's
state-sanctioned medical marijuana programs--is a clear signal from the
Administration that it will give no quarter on any aspect of marijuana
policy. thenation.com
Behind Bush's
wars is his attack on environment
July 15, 2003 Hank
Starr "When you look closely, you
find so many things going wrong with the environment; you are forced to
reassess the hypothesis of intelligent life on Earth." -
Carl Sagan On
June 25, columnist Charlie Rose interviewed Hans Blix on PBS. For the better
part of an hour this quiet septuagenarian, the former chief U.N. inspector
in Iraq, confirmed the obvious, that President Bush and his administration
lied to us and to the world. Blix was asked
whether he thought Bush's actions had made the world a safer or a more
dangerous place. Blix replied, in essence, that this war, like most wars
currently scattered around the globe, would probably have little lasting
effect one way or the other. What truly frightened him, however, were Bush's
actions in withdrawing America from the rest of the world's attempts to stop
the destruction of the environment. For that there was no cure, and the
damage may well be permanent and irreversible. theunion.com
Bush administration expected
to predict deficit of over $400 billion
July15,2003 Washington-AP The Bush administration budget forecast due
out today is expected to project the largest deficit in history -- and
Democrats say even that figure is underestimated. Republican congressional
aides say the report will predict a deficit of 400 to 450 (b) billion
dollars for the rest of this fiscal year and again for next year. Democrats
say the figure is misleading because it does not include the future cost of
occupying Iraq and keeping the peace in Afghanistan -- now running at nearly
five (b) billion dollars a month. kesq.com
Bush’s tour and US imperialism’s
designs on Africa July 15, 2003 By
Chris Talbot US President Bush’s African tour was something of a
public relations debacle. Though he went from one carefully staged media
event to the next and was kept well away from both protesters and the mass
of the population, he spent most of his time answering embarrassing
questions about the failure to find Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and
the false claims used to justify war. His attempt to project a compassionate
image was, to put mildly, less than convincing. wsws.org
Bush hangs Blair out to dry over
Iraqi nuclear claims, Prominent MPs call for Blair to resign
July 15, 2003 By Chris Marsden In admitting US doubts over British
intelligence reports concerning Iraqi weapons of mass destruction (WMD), the
Bush administration has deepened the political crisis of British Prime
Minister Tony Blair. In particular, Blair has been hit by recent statements
from Washington distancing Bush from British reports, exposed months ago as
having been based on forged documents, of Iraqi efforts to purchase uranium
from Niger. Proving the old saw that there is no honour amongst thieves. wsws.org
For George from Tony; not a million
dollar oil painting, just a toilet bag
July 15, 2003 Julian Borger The Saudis presented President George
Bush with a million-dollar oil painting. From the Italians he got an
exquisite alabaster sculpture depicting the Allegory of the Triumph. Tony
Blair gave him a toilet bag. It's not entirely clear what the bag of
toiletries from Mr Blair represented. guardian.co.uk
Release David Hicks and all
Guantanamo Bay detainees July 15, 2003 By
the Socialist Equality Party (Australia) The Socialist Equality Party
unequivocally condemns the Australian government’s support for the Bush
administration’s plan to put six Guantanamo Bay prisoners, including
27-year-old Australian citizen David Hicks, before a military tribunal, and
calls for their immediate and unconditional release. The trial of the six,
like their prolonged detention, is in flagrant contravention of the Geneva
Conventions on prisoners of war and constitutes a fundamental attack on
democratic rights. wsws.org
US justice department defies court
on al-Qaida July
15, 2003 Duncan Campbell The US justice department, in a remarkable
move that could have profound judicial ramifications, yesterday defied a
judge's order to allow a potential witness to be questioned by an al-Qaida
suspect, Zacarias Moussaoui. The move could technically lead to the case
against Mr Moussaoui being thrown out. guardian.co
Missile Defense Strategy Not Feasible
Against Potential Threats, Shows American Physical Society Study
July 15, 2003 U.S. Newswire Intercepting missiles while their rockets
are still burning would not be an effective approach for defending the U.S.
against attacks by an important type of enemy missile. This conclusion comes
from an independent study by the American Physical Society into the
scientific and technical feasibility of boost-phase defense, focusing on
potential missile threats from North Korea and Iran. Boost-phase defense
(disabling ballistic missiles while they are still under power) has recently
received much attention as one possible element of a National Missile
Defense system. However, the report shows that issues of timing severely
limit the feasibility of this approach. The short time window available for
disabling an enemy missile means that interceptor rockets would have to be
based close to enemy territory to have a chance of intercepting the missile
in time, if it is possible at all. usnewswire.com
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Laws of Empire
July 14, 2003
By David Moberg In 1996 Burmese peasant villagers filed a lawsuit against
Unocal. They charged the U.S. oil company with knowingly collaborating with the
country’s repressive military government to forcibly relocate peasants living
in the path of Unocal’s oil pipeline project. The military used these peasants
as slave labor to clear a path for the pipeline and build service roads. The
suit claimed that those who refused to work were often killed, beaten, tortured,
or raped. Documents filed in the case indicate that Unocal had been
well-informed by its advisors of how the military operated, and knew of its
history of using slave labor. The villagers, who had fled to Thailand, had no
legal recourse under the Burmese military dictatorship, but they did have an
opportunity to seek justice in the United States, where they filed suit under
the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA) with the help of the International Labor Rights
Fund (ILRF). inthesetimes.com
Iraq: the human toll
July 14, 2003 Ed Vulliamy As news
reporters tracked troops on the road to Baghdad, much of the suffering and loss
of ordinary Iraqi civilians was left untold. Until now. It was Rahad's turn to
hide. The nine-year-old girl found a good place to conceal herself from her
playmates, the game of hide and seek having lasted some two hours along a quiet
residential street in the town of Fallujah, on the banks of the Euphrates. But
while Rahad crouched behind the wall of a neighbour's house, someone else - not
playing the game - had spotted her, and her friends; someone above. The pilot of
an American A-10 'tank-buster' aircraft, hovering in a figure of eight. He was
flying an airborne weapon equipped with some of the most advanced and accurate
equipment for 'precision target recognition' in the Pentagon's arsenal. And at
5.30pm on 29 March, he launched his weapon at the street scene below. The
'daisy-cutter' bounced and exploded a few feet above ground, blasting red-hot
shrapnel into the walls not of a tank but of houses. Rahad Septi and 10 other
children lost their lives; another 12 were injured. Three adults were also
killed. observer.guardian.co
/ part
two of 'Iraq: the human toll' here
Examples of lies
by Bush July
14, 2003 Jack Flannigan Last
month a writer to The Union requested specifics on lies told by President Bush.
Unfortunately, I had already submitted my one letter for that month and could
not reply immediately. The following are a few examples: "Iraq
has attempted to purchase high-strength aluminum tube and other equipment needed
for gas centrifuges, which are used to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons."
Bush, Oct. 7, 2002, in Cincinnati. "The
British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant
quantities of uranium from Africa." Bush, Jan. 28, 2003, in the State of
the Union address theunion.com
Bush White House in crisis over Iraq war lies
July 14, 2003 By Patrick Martin
The admission by the White House July 7 that Bush’s State of the Union
speech contained false allegations about Iraqi nuclear weapons programs has
touched off a major political crisis for the Bush administration. CIA Director
George Tenet is rumored to be on his way out, and there are indications that the
damage will not stop there. By week’s end, Tenet had been compelled to issue
an extraordinary statement taking full responsibility for the falsification, in
what was widely understood to be an effort to protect National Security Adviser
Condoleezza Rice, Vice President Cheney and Bush himself. wsws.org
The New White House Slogan "Case
Closed. Just Move On." July
14, 2003 By DAVID LINDORFF So President Bush considers the issue
of his lying to the American people about Iraq's possessing or trying to possess
nuclear weapons to be "closed." Now that CIA Director George Tenet has
admitted he "should have" noticed this whopper and complained about
its inclusion in Bush's speech explaining his reason for attacking Iraq, the
president says we can just stop bugging him about it. So what if Iraq is now a
huge mess requiring the indefinite stationing of 145,000-150,000 or more
soldiers for years to come at a cost of $4 billion a month. So what if over 200
GIs and thousands of Iraqis, including women and children, have died? So what if
one or two U.S. soldiers are being killed and more wounded every day there? Our
president has "moved on." counterpunch.org
What would Bush say to Blair if we were
holding US citizens prisoner on the Isle of Wight?
July 14, 2003 By Menzies
Campbell Ministers' discomfort has been
palpable. Chris Mullin newly returned to government, the usually imperturbable
Baroness Symons and the Prime Minister have all in the past few days stood
embarrassed at the dispatch box unable to defend the indefensible. What is
proposed for British citizens incarcerated without charge at Guantanamo Bay - a
special US military commission that could ultimately lead to their execution -
cannot be defended. Even those accused of the most heinous crimes are entitled
to due process. A secret military tribunal without choice of counsel and no
right to cross-examine witnesses is not due process. John Walker Lindh, the only
American citizen detained in Afghanistan, was never sent to Guantanamo and faced
legal proceedings in the US system with all the protections and privileges which
that entails. Why should British citizens be in any worse position? independent.co.uk
Private Lynch, symbol of a fictitious war
July 14 2003 Malcolm Knox The rescue of Jessica Lynch defined the Iraq
war - and now defines what it was not. Private Jessica Lynch has amnesia. The
soldier, now reportedly in hospital, can bear witness neither to what happened
nor what didn't. Lynch remains the governing metaphor for the war, which, like
her, is less a substance than an absence, a portrait drawn in silhouette. Just
as Lynch is coloured around by what did not happen to her on April Fool's Day,
what is not happening in Iraq is growing clearer by the day. On April 4 The
Washington Post reported that Lynch was rescued from the Saddam Hospital in
Nasiriyah by "navy special operations forces, or Seals, extract[ing]
Private Lynch while under fire". In fact, there were no Iraqi soldiers in
or near the hospital. It was reported on April 6 that after being ambushed,
Lynch "fought fiercely and shot several enemy soldiers, firing her weapon
until she ran out of ammunition despite having sustained multiple gunshot
wounds". smh.com.au
Oh Really
O'Reilly July
14, 2003 COSMOS LEFT believes FOX talk
show host Bill O'Reilly has emerged as one of the most dangerous individuals in
this country. There are other bourgeois pundits more personally obnoxious than
O'Reilly--Hannity, Colter, Limbaugh--but none of these cretins pretends to be
working class heroes. O'Reilly does claim to speak for workers, as fascist
demagogues usually do. COSMOS LEFT will expose this liar as a deadly enemy of
working people; a demagogic windbag railing against the weak and bankrupt
liberal elites who refuse to discipline unruly Black kids in public schools, and
won't militarize the borders to keep out those damned illegal Mexicans. The
overriding theme of OH REALLY O'REILLY is that behind O'Reilly's politics of
resentment with a smile lies the face of American fascism. cosmosleft.com
Our
President is a Criminal
July 13, 2003 By
Daniel Patrick Welch It's
well past time to say it. Despite the weaseling and finger-pointing--in
fact, because of it--the Forged Niger letter is indeed the smoking gun, and
the chips have yet to stop falling. Who wrote the damn thing, and on whose
orders? Who cares whether Tenet, his job on the line, acquiesced to
including a literal truth that actually amounts to one of the great frauds
of the century? The sheer audacity and cynicism of this coterie of hacks and
hustlers is simply astounding. As a teacher, I won't let six-year-olds get
away with such transparent sophistry. The bottom line is that Bush knew the
information was bogus, and used it anyway to convince millions to go along
with his phony war.
For that alone, for the memory of the thousands of dead Iraqis and
Americans, he deserves the il Duce treatment... thepeoplesvoice.org
9/11 inquiry alleges witness
intimidation July 13, 2003 Julian
Borger A US panel investigating the September 11 terrorist attacks
yesterday accused the Pentagon and the justice department of obstructing the
inquiry and said witnesses were being intimidated. The federal commission of
inquiry was appointed eight months ago by the White House, which was under
intense congressional pressure to look into allegations that the CIA, the
FBI and the Pentagon could have done more to prevent the 2001 al-Qaida
attacks. Among a string of apparent intelligence failures, the commission
will be asking why the FBI failed to heed warnings from some of its agents
that al-Qaida could be planning to hit targets with hijacked airliners. guardian.co.uk
20 Lies About the War July
13, 2003 By Glen Rangwala and Raymond Whitaker Falsehoods ranging
from exaggeration to plain untruth were used to make the case for war. More
lies are being used in the aftermath. 1 Iraq was responsible for the
11 September attacks A supposed meeting in Prague between Mohammed Atta,
leader of the 11 September hijackers, and an Iraqi intelligence official was
the main basis for this claim, but Czech intelligence later conceded that
the Iraqi's contact could not have been Atta. This did not stop the constant
stream of assertions that Iraq was involved in 9/11, which was so successful
that at one stage opinion polls showed that two-thirds of Americans believed
the hand of Saddam Hussein was behind the attacks. Almost as many believed
Iraqi hijackers were aboard the crashed airliners; in fact there were none. independent.co.uk
Bush's Data Dump July
13, 2003 By Russ Baker The
administration is hiding bad economic news. Here's how. The Bush
administration is finally facing tough questions about its selective use of
intelligence in selling war with Iraq. But Americans shouldn't just be
skeptical of what the president says about WMD. They should be skeptical of
what he says about GDP. In economic policy even more than in war policy, the
Bushies have successfully suppressed, manipulated, and withheld evidence to
serve their policy purposes. Of course every administration likes to trumpet
its good news and hide its bad, but what's remarkable about the Bush team is
its willingness to stifle data that had been widely released and to
politicize data that used to be nonpartisan. slate.msn.com
The Plight of the Middle Class Poor
July 13, 2003 By
Rick Munarriz Recent economic data has been
disheartening. Increasingly, for the working middle class majority, nothing
-- from job security to financial sustenance -- is a given. But don't panic.
With today's low borrowing costs and a little sensible thinking, it's never
too late to start living below your means. The U.S. economy has
tended to grade on a bell curve. You have the rich. You have the poor. Then
you have the vast majority of us somewhere in the middle. But if spare
change isn't jingling the way it used to or if you're finding it harder to
make ends meet, you're not alone. Unemployment hit a fresh nine-year high
last month. While 6.4% unemployment may not seem like much on an absolute
basis, it's worse than you think. New jobless claims have topped the 400,000
mark for 18 straight weeks. fool.com
Eat Frankenfood Or Go Hungry July
13, 2003 By Thomas Smith Here in America, possibly because of our
Puritan heritage, we seem to feel the need to cast any rotten evil thing
that we do in a guise that makes us appear as the world's benefactor. This
is no less true of corporations than it is of government. Nowhere else in
the world does a nation's propaganda ministry spend so much effort to appear
"good while justifying the most evil things the mind of man can
imagine. In America, the "cover story has been raised to an artform.
Consider the willful destruction of the worlds food chain by a merger of
corporate and government interests as a case in point. A conference on
genetically engineered agricultural products was recently sponsored by the
US department of Agriculture in Sacramento, California. Police in riot gear
were sent to control the angry crowds that swarmed the streets making very
clear the fact that they do not want to be forced to consume GM food. rense.com
Canadians vote Bush least-liked
president July 13, 2003 By SHAWN
McCARTHY Ottawa
— U.S. President George W. Bush is the most unpopular American president
in recent memory among Canadians, with more than 60 per cent saying they
have an unfavourable opinion of him, according to a new poll by Environics
Research Group Ltd. Relations between Mr. Bush and Canadian Prime Minister
Jean Chrétien have been strained over the U.S. decision to invade Iraq,
among other issues, but most Canadians blame the American President for the
worsening climate, Environics said in a poll released exclusively to The
Globe and Mail. Environics senior associate Derek Leebosh said that, while
Canadians maintain a favourable attitude toward the United States, Mr. Bush
is deeply unpopular here. That's in contrast to his still high, though
declining, approval ratings among Americans. globeandmail.com
Homes
bulldozed to clear way for Bush
July
12, 2003
ABUJA Armed police backed by bulldozers tore down illegally built homes and
shops in the Nigerian capital Abuja today ahead of a visit by US President
George W Bush. The operation began yesterday after an order from President Olusegun Obasanjo
to clean up the city ahead of his American counterpart's arrival, officials
said. In one residential quarter of the city reporter saw around 60 buildings -
ranging from brick-built structures to makeshift wooden shanties - ploughed down
as hundreds of residents looked on in despair. "They didn't give us any warning," wailed tailor John Emeka, who
saved his sewing machine but lost much of his stock when a joint taskforce of
police and environmental protection agents pulled down his business. Nearby a stock of computers lay mangled in the wreckage of an electronic
goods store, and the ownwer of a grilled meat stand argued with officers
attempting to condemn his barbecue.
The police came armed with assault rifles and tear gas, but there was no
violence as the bulldozers rolled in. bday.co.za
Why
are these media organizations changing their headlines?
July
12, 2003 By Rob Kall OpEdNews.com
I think I know, and you know too. They
got a call.
It might have been Ari Fleischer or one of
his helpers, or Karl Rove. It might have been the local congressman of the
editor, or someone with an FCC connection. But someone called them and
persuaded them to change the original honest headline, the headline written
by the courageous journalist within the reporter who wrote it and the editor
who allowed it to pass into html uploaded to the website. Buzzflash.com
reports that the right wing Media Research Center (as Buzzflash describes
it, "a right wing, "prove the media is liberal"
organization,") which sends out an emailing to 14,000+ subscribers,
sent out this announcement...opednews.com
Why
does 9/11 inquiry scare Bush?
July 11, 2003 The Bush administration has
never wanted an inquiry into the intelligence and law-enforcement failures
that led up to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and it is doing
its best to make sure we never get one. Even the tame commission of
Washington insiders, led by men of the president's own party, is now
complaining that its work is being hampered by foot-dragging from the
Pentagon and Justice Department in producing documents and witnesses, in an
effort to run the clock out on it before it can complete its work. berkshireeagle.com
Dems Blast GOP
As House Backs Overtime
July 11, 2003 ALAN
FRAM Democrats
and union leaders are lambasting President Bush for a proposal they say
would cost at least 8 million workers their overtime pay after the House
backed his drive to overhaul decades-old rules determining who qualifies for
the extra money. The Republican-led
chamber voted 213-210 on Thursday to defeat a Democratic effort to derail
the proposed regulations, clearing the way for the administration to impose
changes in overtime rules as early as the end of this year. miami.com
Boiling Mad Over Bush
July 11, 2003 By Howard Kurtz
The left is now up in arms about one sentence in George Bush's last State of
the Union speech. The White House's belated admission that the president
relied on bum information in accusing Iraq of trying to buy uranium from
Africa for a nuclear-weapons program has crystallized all the doubts and
resentment that has been building in the liberal psyche. Some conservatives
have their own problems with the prez, as we'll see in a moment. But in the
bluest of blue-state precincts, it's hard to tell which emotion is stronger:
disgust with Dubya or anger at the American public for failing to share
their outrage. washingtonpost.com
As plans keep
failing, Bush restates 'em . . . July
11, 2003 Richard Cohen The
Bush White House is run on a business model. The President is the CEO. He
delegates to others. It therefore should come as no surprise that President
Bush is doing what other CEOs do when they get into trouble. In his case,
he's "restated" his reasons for going to war. Corporations
do this all the time. If a profit of, say, $2.8 billion turns out to be a
loss of a similar amount on account of unanticipated developments
(corruption, greed and the demands of mistresses), the figure merely gets
"restated." In the same way, the President recently restated some
of the reasons for invading Iraq. nydailynews.com
The political economy of American
militarism Part 2 Part
1 July
11, 2003 By Nick Beams While the collapse of the Soviet Union
provided the conditions for the US to try to realise long-held strategic
objectives, we cannot simply ascribe the eruption of imperialist violence to
opportunistic political motivations. Great changes in international
relations—in the very structure of the world capitalist order, for that is
what we are dealing with here—have their origins in the economic
foundations of the capitalist system, and, in the final analysis, are the
expression of deep-seated contradictions within it.
This presents us
with something of a challenge: how do we grasp and elucidate the
relationship between the economic driving forces of the capitalist system
and the historical process? wsws.org
One week in America: workplace
shootings, murder-suicides, killing spree plot July
11, 2003 By Kate Randall Even by American standards, the past week
has witnessed an uncommonly large number of violent incidents—including
two workplace shootings, murder-suicides and multiple homicides. Three
teenagers were also arrested for allegedly plotting a killing rampage.
Between July 1 and
July 8, 20 individuals were killed in these incidents and another 14
wounded. Many more domestic tragedies, street shootings and other
“everyday” acts of violence have undoubtedly claimed the lives of
others, but have not received national news coverage. wsws.org
AUTHORITARIANS
GONE WILD July 10, 2003 By Ted Rall
Whether, Not Who, is the Question About the 2004 Election - He has canceled
elections in Iraq. He will probably cancel them in Afghanistan. Will George
W. Bush put the kibosh on elections in the United States next year?
Frightened by Bush's rapidly accruing personal power and the Democrats'
inability and/or unwillingness to stand up to him, panicked lefties worry
that he might use the "war on terrorism" as an excuse to declare a
state of emergency, suspend civil liberties and jail political opponents.
People who have spoken out against Bush are talking exit strategy--not Alec
Baldwin style, just to make a statement, but fleeing the U.S. in order to
save their skins. "Do you or your spouse have a European-born
parent?" is a query making the rounds. (If you do, you can obtain dual
nationality and a European Union passport that would allow you to work in
any EU member nation.) Those whose lineage is 100 percent American are
hoping that nations like Canada and France will admit American political
refugees in the event of a Bushite clampdown. To these people, whether or
not the 2004 elections actually take place as scheduled is the ultimate test
for American democracy. At Guantánamo Bay the United States is converting a
concentration camp into a death camp where inmates will be executed without
due process or legal representation. Never before in history has a U.S.
president contemplated the denaturalization of native-born citizens-thus far
even people executed for treason have died as Americans--but Bush has
drafted legislation that would allow him to strip anyone he calls an
"enemy combatant" of their citizenship and have them deported. By
any objective standard he has already gone way too far, but for many it
would take the cancellation or delay of the elections to confirm that we are
trading in our wounded democracy for a fascist state. story.news.yahoo.com
Overtime pay at issue Schumer derides
Bush plan to cut OT for certain workers
July 10, 2003 By JOE LoTEMPLIO A federal plan to eliminate overtime
pay for millions of workers will not only take cash out of workers’
pockets but will hurt the economy. So says U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, who
termed "a cruel joke" a plan backed by the Bush administration to
overhaul federal labor laws to eliminate paying overtime to certain
"white-collar" workers. "The president says he wants to be
the middle-class president; well, this puts a dagger in the heart of the
middle class,’’ Schumer said in a telephone news conference with upstate
reporters. pressrepublican.com
Keep to the law, Blair tells Bush
July 10, 2003 Nicholas Watt Tony Blair gave George Bush a strong
warning yesterday that he must follow proper legal procedures in the
military trial of two Britons held at Guantanamo Bay who face the prospect
of a death sentence. As 163 MPs signed a motion calling for the men to be
repatriated, the prime minister made his unease clear when he demanded that
the US should observe the "proper canons of law". guardian.co.uk
The political economy of American
militarism Part 1 July 10, 2003 By
Nick Beams Three months after the US conquest of Baghdad, there is a
growing realisation that the world has entered a new era. It is becoming
ever clearer that the invasion of Iraq was only a phase, or an aspect, of
what is a much broader strategy: the drive by the United States ruling
elites, through the Bush administration, to undertake a complete
reorganisation of world politics. The conquest of Iraq forms part of a
strategy that aims at global domination. We are now experiencing what
Trotsky once called a “truly volcanic eruption of American imperialism”.
The aim of this conference is to reveal the underlying driving forces of
this phenomenon, which truly opens up a new era in world history, and, on
the basis of this analysis, develop a strategy and perspective for the
international working class. wsws.org
Bigger
Than Watergate! July 9, 2003 C.D.
Sludge The story you are about to read is in this writer's view the
biggest political scandal in American history, if not global history. And it
is being broken today here in New Zealand. This story cuts to the bone the
machinery of democracy in America today. Democracy is the only protection we
have against despotic and arbitrary government, and this story is deeply
disturbing. In This Edition: Bigger Than Watergate! - How To Rig An Election
In The United States - Fantasy vs Reality - How We Discovered The Backdoor -
Evidence Of Motive - Evidence Of Opportunity - Evidence Of Method - Evidence
Of Prior Conduct - Consistent Unexplained Circumstantial Evidence... scoop.co.nz
/ Inside
A U.S. Election Vote Counting Program
Health Care Insecurity Forever
July 9, 2003 By Lin Osborn What ever comes out of Congress this session in
the way of Medicare reform, you can be sure it will be confusing,
discriminatory, narrowly focused and uniquely expensive. $400 billion has
been designated as the target 10-year cost.
I wish that number were the result of some actuary’s dream mission
to compile critical health care data and accurately forecast Medicare drug
spending in the next decade or so. We should be so lucky. The total has
nothing to do with reality. The
magic number was arrived at first, then Congress decided how to fashion a
program. The result looks like “nothing in nature,” shifting the elderly
in and out of coverage, then in again as their expenditures rise.
There is no real reasoning behind the $400 billion figure. It’s not
so small as to be laughable, but not so large as to be really helpful. thepeoplesvoice.org
ACLU Demands Truth From Justice Department; New
Report Details False Claims About Scope, Impact of PATRIOT Act
July 9, 2003 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE WASHINGTON The American Civil
Liberties Union today said that it has found a consistent pattern of
factually inaccurate assertions by the Department of Justice in statements
to the media and Congress, statements that mischaracterize the scope,
potential impact and likely harm of the now-notorious USA PATRIOT Act. The
ACLU’s findings were released this morning in a special report that
contrasts the Justice Department’s assertions about the USA PATRIOT Act
with the language of the Act itself, and in some cases contrasts the Justice
Department’s public statements with language from internal Justice
Department memoranda that the ACLU was able to obtain through a Freedom of
Information Act request. The report – “Seeking Truth From
Justice” – cites about a dozen specific instances in which Justice
Department and other law enforcement officials misrepresented the scope or
impact of the USA PATRIOT Act. aclu.org
Reflecting on Independence From
Corporate Media Week July 9, 2003 Perhaps
every week should be Independence
From Corporate Media Week. As the effort
in the U.S. Congress to reverse the FCC ruling on corporate media
monopolies continues, media activists are turning
up the heat on their senators and congressional reps. Even former
president Clinton
is taking a position against the ruling. However, FCC neo-cons like Michael
Powell remain arrogant and continue fronting for the corporate media while harassing
and shutting
down micro broadcasters. At the same time, media corporados continue
business as usual, consolidating their oligarchic death grip on the news,
and touting the Whitehouse party
line, most notably on Faux
News and through the Networks. Many say it's part of the global
media oligopoly. But media activists have come up with creative
actions / http://indymedia.org/
The Lies Heard Round the World
"Pacifist" Japan and the Occupation of Iraq
July 9, 2003 By GARY LEUPP joseph C. Wilson's op-ed in the New York
Times ("What
I Didn't Find in Africa" will probably further damage the Bush
presidency. I was wondering when the "unnamed former diplomat to an
African country," sent in February 2002 to check out the Niger uranium
story for the CIA, was going to speak out and complain that the neocons
deliberately ignored or suppressed the info he gathered in Niger. Now he has
done so, declaring that "some of the intelligence related to Iraq's
nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat." I
look forward to seeing Mr. Wilson, on live television, before a
Congressional committee, interrogated about this episode. counterpunch.org
America is a harsher place
July 9, 2003 Will Hutton Hillary Clinton makes a compelling
case for why Britain shouldn't treat with American conservatism The British
are gradually being educated about America. President Bush's decision to try
six suspected al-Qaeda terrorists, including two Britons, in a secret
military tribunal that could lead to their execution is so obviously
self-defeating that both Right and Left are united in their criticism.
Surely the US realises that it must be on the side of law even against
terrorism; surely it must see that if convictions and executions follow from
a process in which the military is judge, prosecution and jury, every mad
criticism of it will seem justified. Even the doe-eyed innocents of the
Government are beginning to realise what they're up against. guardian.co.uk
Wrestling for the Truth of 9/11
July 9, 2003 The Bush administration, long allergic to the idea of
investigating the government's failure to prevent the Sept. 11 terror
attacks, is now doing its best to bury the national commission that was
created to review Washington's conduct. That was made plain yesterday in a
muted way by Thomas Kean, the former New Jersey governor, and Lee Hamilton,
the former congressman, who are directing the inquiry. When these seasoned,
mild-mannered men start complaining that the administration is trying to
intimidate the commission, the country had better take notice. nytimes.com
Amid
official predictions of recovery US jobless rate soared in June
July 08, 2003 By Bill Vann The unexpectedly steep climb in the US
unemployment rate announced by the Labor Department last week sent Wall
Street into a tailspin and opened up a fresh crisis for the Bush
administration, which has been predicting an economic upturn fueled by its
policy of tax cuts for the rich. The official jobless rate climbed by 0.3
percentage points to hit 6.4 percent for the month of June. The increase was
three times as severe as the one predicted by most analysts, who expected a
moderate rise from 6.1 to 6.2 percent. The increase was the worst since the
one posted in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. wsws.org
Treasury
plan could slash pension payouts
July 8, 2003 By Christine Dugas USA TODAY Workers could
receive significantly smaller lump sum pension payments under a Treasury
Department proposal unveiled this week. The proposal also includes relief
for underfunded corporate pension plans, which have been battered by bear
market losses and low interest rates. Companies have pressed hard for
funding relief. But worker advocates say they shouldn't get pension help at
the expense of retiree benefits. "We think this is a big deal,"
says David Certner, AARP's director of federal affairs. "They're
proposing to slash worker benefits in order to give employers funding
relief." usatoday.com
Germany In 1933: The Easy Slide Into
Fascism July 8, 2003 Bernard Weiner
If my email is any indication, a goodly number of folks wonder if they're
living in America in 2003 or Germany in 1933. All this emphasis on
nationalism, the militarization of society, identifying The Leader as the
nation, a constant state of fear and anxiety heightened by the authorities,
repressive laws that shred constitutional guarantees of due process, wars of
aggression launched on weaker nations, the desire to assume global hegemony,
the merging of corporate and governmental interests, vast mass-media
propaganda campaigns, a populace that tends to believe the slogans and lies
it's fed without asking too many questions, a timid opposition that barely
contests the administration's reckless adventurism abroad and police-state
policies at home, etc. etc. The parallels are not exact, of course; America
in 2003 and Germany seventy years earlier are not the same, and Bush
certainly is not Adolf Hitler. But there are enough disquieting similarities
in the two periods at least to see what we can learn — cautionary tales,
as it were — and then figure out what to do with our knowledge. sumeria.net
Canada: Hippie Nation?
July 8, 2003 by Naomi
Klein Canadians can't quite believe it: Suddenly, we're
interesting. After months of making the news only with our various
communicable diseases--SARS, mad cow and West Nile--we're now getting world
famous for our cutting-edge laws on gay marriage and legalized drugs. The
Bush conservatives are repulsed by our depravity. My friends in New York and
San Francisco have been quietly inquiring about applying for citizenship.
And Canadians have been eating it up, filling the newspapers with giddy
articles about our independence. "You're not the boss of us,
George," Jim Coyle wrote in the Toronto Star. thenation.com
The Effect of Sexual Deprivation on
Women July 8, 2003 Henry Makow
Ph.D. We live in a culture that doesn't admit that women need sex
every bit as much as men, if not more. Conservatives like to put women on a
romantic pedestal. They are virginal and sexless. Feminists deny women need
men for anything. "Women are made to feel guilty for needing men,"
my wife said. "We're told we're weak, co-dependent or lacking in
self-esteem." My 15-year-old son has also inculcated this message from
TV: "Women don't need sex," he said. "They're just doing men
a favor." Sex and love have become horribly confused. When religion
held sway, they were inseparable (i.e. marriage.) But today "sexual
liberation" has freed sex from love. It has taken its place. Millions
of men and women behave like addicts. They use sex to assuage a desperate
craving for love that only it can satisfy. thetruthseeker.co.uk
Some Fear
Ruin for Head Start See disaster in bill to raise
states' role July 08, 2003 By
Lily Hindy Washington - New York Head Start officials fear that a
bill pending in the House to transfer control of Head Start funds from
communities to the states will destroy the program, particularly in New
York. Advocates of the program say the Republican proposal would allow
cash-starved states to merge Head Start funds with funding for existing
state programs and would loosen current federal monitoring requirements.
Regional Head Start president Ruth Neale said last week that the bill may
"destroy Head Start programs across the United States, but particularly
here in New York," where Gov. George Pataki has tried to cut funding
for pre-kindergarten programs. Head Start provides education, medical
services, meals and other assistance to low-income children under 5 with the
goal of making them ready to compete with more affluent children when they
enter school. It serves more than 1 million pre-schoolers, including 49,000
in New York State. newsday.com
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