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The Big Bush Social Security Lie

Did Schwarzenegger pay the Wiesenthal Center to "shut up" about his father's Nazi past? August 24, 2003 by Ernesto Cienfuegos The great success of the Rabbi Marvin Heir's Los Angeles based Simon Wiesenthal Center is due primarily to the rabbi's uncanny ability to capitalize on Jewish victimhood concerning the much exaggerated and propagandized holocaust that occurred under the Nazi regime in Germany. This ability has allowed Rabbi Heir to collect vast amounts of money, not only from the ever wary Jewish community, but from guilt ridden Gentiles as well such as Arnold Schwarzenegger. Arnold Schwarzenegger is originally from Austria and is presently a candidate for governor of California. The Simon Wiesenthal Center discovered that Schwarzenegger had a notorious Nazi father, Gustav Schwarzenegger, who was a member of the Sturmabteilungen, also known as the "storm troopers" or "brown shirts" responsible for merciless brutality against the Jews. Why has the Rabbi Marvin Hier not made this information readily available? The truth will shock many! aztlan.net

Leave No Millionaire Behind August 24, 2003 By Arthur I. Blaustein Driven by hollow political priorities, the Bush administration's disastrous economic policies are undermining our national ideals. The President and his party have cooked up the ultimate recipe for keeping political power. A nation in a constant state of anxiety -- over the thereat of terrorism, or a potential war -- is a nation off balance. And that insecurity is the perfect cover to divert public attention from the country's serious domestic problems and the administration's political agenda. Figures Don't Lie By the numbers alone, the Bush administration's economic policy has been a disaster. And the middle class and poor are paying for the failure. motherjones.com

A war without end? August 24, 2003 By Justin Huggler Any illusion that the occupation might be working lies in the ruins of the UN's HQ. More British soldiers are dead. The UN building is reduced to rubble. An oil pipeline is bombed. Water is cut off and the only law is that of the gun. No one can pretend the occupation is bringing peace and democracy. Yet the US, eager to blame 'foreign' terrorists, will not admit that Iraqi resistance is organised and growing news.independent

Another Lie, One Among Many August 24, 2003 Jimmy Breslin I was a few hundred yards up on Liberty Street when the Two Tower of the World Trade Center blew. I put my nose inside my shirt and ran through smoke that turned day into night. In the smoke were computers, asbestos, pulverized glass, human bodies, lead. I got on another street and one tower blew up. Again, the air was black with a pulverized 110-story building. I did not feel well for two months. I never said anything because I was too embarrassed. A couple of thousand had died. So many others were scorched and broken and maimed. I had no right to open my mouth, I thought. Besides, from the first day, the government's Environmental Protection Agency had announced that air was remarkably clean. Work on. Breathe on. You're fine. They lied. They lied because the administration did not want people not going to work. They lied the first week and they lied the week after that and they have lied every day of the past two years to the people of this city. nynewsday.com

On July 13, a new scandal touching the Vice President August 24, 2003 came to light, by way of an investigative report in the London Observer.  According to this news item, the U.S. occupying power in Iraq, has devised new plans to grab the revenue stream from Iraqi oil production, and stick it in the pocket of U.S. contractors (like Halliburton).  Again, we see the imprint of the venality of Dick Cheney. In a piece called "Pipe Dreams of Iraq Oil," the Observer  reported that the U.S. occupying force has already begun exporting  freshly pumped oil from Iraq. While the capacity is only a bit above 300 thousand barrels a day, the local U.S. officials, including Halliburton executives, are determined to push it up to three million barrels per day as quickly as possible. A four day conference was held in Baghdad recently at which Halliburton's subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root, and the Army Corps of Engineers discussed how this could be done. nex.net

Brace for shock at pump, Gas prices may reach highest level in history August 23, 2003 By NELSON ANTOSH and JENALIA MORENO The highest gasoline prices in history appear to be just down the road. Dwindling supplies in the face of increased demand threaten to push pump prices over the national record set last mid-March, when markets were shaken by the prospects of a war with Iraq. On Thursday, the markets "went ballistic," says Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst for the Oil Price Information Service in Lakewood, N.J. That means the highest pump prices ever seen are just a few days away. chron.com

Living In a Kleptocrat Nation August 23, 2003 By Jim Hightower kleptocrat nation (klep toe krat nay shun), n. 1. a body of people ruled by thieves. 2. a government characterized by the practice of transferring money and power from the many to the few. 3. a ruling class of moneyed elites that usurps liberty, justice, sovereignty, and other democratic rights from the people. 4. the USA in 2003. The Kleptocrats have taken over. Look at America's leadership today – not just political, but corporate, too. Tell me you wouldn't trade the whole mess of them for one good kindergarten teacher. Forget George W. for a moment and sneak a peek at practically any big-deal CEO, congressional heavy, media baron, talk-show yakker, pompadoured TV preacher, or any the other pushers of America's new ethic of grab-it-and-go greed. In a crunch, would you want to be tied at the waist to any of them? alternet.org

Lootocracy August 23, 2003 By Paul Loeb Bush tries to exempt powerful from all limits on taking what they want If you run a lootocracy, you have no conception of sufficiency. You set up the rules to grab as much money as you can, as if you've won a supermarket shopping spree. You also concentrate power, the better to arrange the world for your benefit. Unchecked by modesty, satiety, or shame, you take all you can get away with. You loot until someone stops you. The word lootocracy was originally coined to describe the corrupt cartels that have ruled and plundered countries like Nigeria, Kenya, and some of the former Soviet Republics. But with an amazingly small amount of national debate, George Bush is installing a more global and sophisticated version -- one where those on top can do whatever they choose without the slightest constraints. workingforchange.com

Healing the wounds of war August 23, 2003 By JOSEPH L. GALLOWAY You don't hear much about them or see their faces very often, but you should. Planes land at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington every night bringing these American soldiers home from Iraq the hard way. Ambulances ferry them to Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where doctors and nurses stand ready to rush them into the operating rooms. Maj. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley, the commander of Walter Reed and a medical doctor, said that since the beginning of July, two months after the official end of major combat operations, there had been only two days when his hospital hadn't received soldier casualties. More than 1,000 injured American soldiers have flowed through Walter Reed since the war in Iraq began, and another 300 have arrived from the continuing conflict in Afghanistan since it began in October 2001. "We are in this for the long haul," Kiley said. "This is going to continue for a long, long time." kansascity.com

Bush's pollution charter August 23, 2003 Republican supporting energy firms set to escape controls on emissions Julian Borger The Bush administration plans to open a huge loophole in America's air pollution laws, allowing an estimated 17,000 outdated power stations and factories to increase their carbon emissions with impunity. Critics of draft regulations due to be unveiled by the US environmental protection agency next week say they amount to a death knell for the Clean Air Act, the centrepiece of US regulation. guardian.co.uk

Protesters Greet The President With Chorus of Boos August 23, 2003 By KOMO Staff Several hundred protesters awaiting President Bush's arrival at a private fund-raiser here derided his record on the environment, the war in Iraq and administration policies they said are gutting basic civil liberties. Police officers barred protesters from approaching the home of billionaire Craig McCaw, where Bush was to attend a $2,000-a-plate luncheon. komotv.com 

Bush Bypasses Senate to Appoint Scholar August 23, 2003 Associated Press President Bush bypassed the Senate and appointed an outspoken Middle East scholar to a federal think tank over the objections of Democrats and others who say he is anti-Muslim. Bush on Friday appointed Daniel Pipes, director of the Philadelphia-based Middle East Forum, to the board of the U.S. Institute of Peace. The White House, which made the announcement in a statement released in Burbank, Wash., where Bush was visiting, called him a well-respected scholar. His supporters include a number of Jewish groups such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and the Anti-Defamation League. bradenton.com

Half Century Of Israeli Assassinations August 23, 2003 By Yasser Al Banna Killing Hamas political leader Ismail Abu Shanab on Thursday, August 22, topped half a century of assassinations – one of the most heavily-used weapons in the Israeli arsenal. History can tell. Even before the creation of Israel, assassination was one of many tools used by Jewish gangs to pave the ground for the would-be state. On July 22, 1946, they struck at the King David Hotel, the south wing of which housed the British military command and the Mandatory government secretariat, killing some 91 people, including 28 Britons, 41 Arabs. islam-online.net

Children's author faces Jewish wrath August 23, 2003 Fiachra Gibbons Tale of boy's life in West Bank prompts pressure groups to call for withdrawal. Jewish pressure groups are calling on a publisher to withdraw a children's book about a Palestinian boy growing up amid the intifada on the West Bank. A Little Piece of Ground, by the multi-award-winning author Elizabeth Laird, is a fictional account of how a 12-year-old called Karim - whose family's olive groves have been confiscated by settlers - copes when his father is stripped and humiliated by Israeli troops. guardian.co.uk

The North American blackout: deregulation, profit and the decay of the social infrastructure August 23, 2003 By Joseph Kay Within 24 hours of the resumption of electrical power in New York, Cleveland, Detroit, Toronto and a large swath of the East Coast and Midwest of the US and Canada, the Bush administration was declaring that the cost of securing the electrical grid would be borne by ordinary consumers. “The people who benefit from the system have to be part of the solution here,” Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham said on a Sunday morning television news program. “That means the rate-payers are going to have to contribute. We think the rates need to be sufficient to incentivize the building of new transmission.” Abraham estimated that the future cost to consumers would be in the tens of billions of dollars. wsws.org

In Courtroom, Laughter at Fox and a Victory for Al Franken August 23, 2003 By SUSAN SAULNY A federal judge in Manhattan told Fox News yesterday that it had to learn how to take a joke. Then he rejected the network's request for an injunction to block the satirist Al Franken from using the words "fair and balanced" on the cover of his book, "Lies, and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right." Calling the motion "wholly without merit, both factually and legally," the judge, Denny Chin of United States District Court, said that a person would have to be "completely dense" not to realize the cover was a joke, and that trademark protection for the phrase "Fair and Balanced" was unrealistic because the words are so commonly used. nytimes.com

Rumsfeld Does Bogota Right Turns in South America? August 23, 2003 By FORREST HYLTON Helicopters circling the city, combat planes roaring overhead; the streets, airports and public buildings patrolled by 13,000 police, soldiers, secret servicemen and spies, U.S. as well as Colombian. The arrival of Donald Rumsfeld in Bogotá on August 19 did not portend anything but the further ratcheting up of imperial terror in South America. counterpunch.org

Excerpts From Speech by Governor of California About the Recall Election August 23, 2003 Following are excerpts from a speech on Tuesday by Gov. Gray Davis of California about the recall effort, as recorded by The New York Times . I know California is going through a difficult time and this is a challenging moment for all of us. I come here tonight to take responsibility, to set the record straight and to talk about our future. Let's first talk about energy. I know many of you feel that I was too slow to act during the energy crisis. I got your message and I accept that criticism. I played the hand I was dealt as best I could. I inherited the energy deregulation scheme which put all of us at the mercy of the big energy producers. We got no help from the federal government. In fact, when I was fighting Enron and the other energy companies, these same companies were sitting down with Vice President Cheney to draft a national energy strategy. Recent federal investigations have proven that California was victimized by a massive fraud. Energy executives are on their way to jail. nytimes.com

Conan the Deceiver August 23, 2003 By PAUL KRUGMAN The key moment in Arnold Schwarzenegger's Wednesday press conference came when the bodybuilder who would be governor brushed aside questions with the declaration, "The public doesn't care about figures." This was "fuzzy math" on steroids — Mr. Schwarzenegger was, in effect, asserting that his celebrity gives him the right to fake his way through the election. Even Mr. Schwarzenegger's description of the state economy is pure fantasy. He claims that the state is bleeding jobs because of its "hostile environment" toward business, and that California residents groan under an oppressive tax burden: "From the time they get up in the morning and flush the toilet, they're taxed." One look at the numbers tells you that his story is fiction. Since the mid-1990's California has added jobs considerably faster than the nation as a whole. And while the state has been hit hard by the technology slump, it has done no worse than other parts of the country. A recent study found that California's tech sector had actually weathered the slump better than its counterpart in Texas. Meanwhile, California isn't a high-tax state: through the 1990's, state and local taxes as a share of personal income more or less matched the national average, and with the recent plunge in revenue they're now probably below average. nytimes.com

Jerusalem bus blast wounded more than 100, including 40 children, returning from the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest shrine.

Bush's policies lead to more disasters August 22, 2003 By Brian Cooney The incompetent foreign policy of the Bush administration has presented us with fresh disasters in Palestine and Iraq. Regarding Palestine we need to keep in mind this principle: It's the "settlements," stupid! Despite the occasionally reasonable language coming from Israeli politicians, settlements continue to grow under Sharon as they did under his predecessor, Barak. The only conceivable goal of this settlement policy is ultimate annexation or else creation of a patchwork of Arab ghettos in a weak and divided Palestinian state. The American taxpayer contributes three billion dollars a year to subsidize a continuing violation of international law. amnews.com

Media can't be threatened by Zionists August 22, 2003 EDITOR I am pleased that my hometown newspaper had the courage to suggest in an editorial that there may be two sides to the Israel Palestinian dispute. Of course you must have known what would happen. There isn't a newspaper in our country that hasn't been harassed and threatened by Zionists for departing from the Israeli Party Line. Good for you. This highly successful Zionist policy has resulted in U.S. news coverage that is little better than propaganda. You have only to pick up a foreign paper to see the difference. Foreign friends and visitors are aghast at the deliberate deception that we tolerate. Our American democracy depends on an informed citizenry. That is why freedom of the press is in the Bill of Rights. As an American, I can't help but be upset that some of my fellow citizens are determined to suppress news. libertyforum.org

'Hero sandwiches: Troops get death while Bush gobbles barbecue' August 22, 2003 By Alan Bisbort Not since the days of Marie Antoinette, or at least Nancy Reagan, has there been such a disconnect between the ruling elite and what Marie and Nancy might call the unwashed masses. A potent symbol of this cynical detachment is provided by George W. Bush's month-long vacation, during which his only forays among the unwashed masses have been to whack his little white balls around a golf course -- and to host a "down-home" barbecue to shake down rich donors for another run at the White House. The cover charge for barbecue with the Bushes? Each of the 350 "very special guests" paid $50,000 to nibble on those Republican pig and cow carcasses. Meanwhile, the temperature in Iraq is 30 degrees hotter than it is in Crawford, Texas, and 20 degrees hotter than what killed 3,000 French people and hundreds of other Europeans. Iraq is, in fact, so hot that official meteorological data has been blocked from the media by the Department of Defense, presumably so that Americans won't know that our troops are the human equivalent of down-home barbecue. What the DoD has also tried to keep a lid on, though foreign news services haven't been so easily bullied as the embedded American press, is that our troops are operating in this inferno without adequate water supplies, sanitation, shelter or barbecue -- actually, any type of food. smirkingchimp.com

Why Americans should celebrate Ashcroft's tour to defend Patriot Act August 22, 2003 WASHINGTON, DC Americans should celebrate the fact that Attorney General John Ashcroft has launched a public relations campaign to defend the USA Patriot Act, Libertarians say, because it proves that public opposition to the measure is growing. "Let's roll out the red, white and blue carpet for John Ashcroft and force him to explain this un-American legislation," said Libertarian Party Executive Director Joe Seehusen. "The more the nation learns about the misnamed Patriot Act, the less they're going to like it." Rushed through Congress within weeks of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, the legislation grants the government sweeping new surveillance and arrest powers. As a result, legislatures in three states and 165 communities have passed resolutions either condemning the law or refusing to help federal agents enforce its provisions. lewisnews.com

Latvia seizes illicit arms shipment bound for Iran August 22, 2003 RIGA Latvian police and customs officers have seized 28 tonnes of military hardware labelled as farm machinery and ready to be smuggled to Iran, the security police said on Thursday. The $500,000 shipment contained spare parts for tanks, night-vision instruments and armament parts, including anti-aircraft systems, a police official said, adding military experts were still investigating the contents of the shipment. ''After receiving information about the cargo, security police in cooperation with customs seized the cargo bound for Tehran in Iran,'' Assistant Security Police Chief Kristine Apse told Reuters. ''It was then discovered that the cargo consisted of goods for military purposes,'' she said. Iran, branded part of an ''axis of evil'' by President George W. Bush, is subject to tough U.S. sanctions preventing the export of arms and spares for its forces. Washington also strongly discourages friendly nations from selling arms to Iran. Apse said military experts believe the cargo was equipment earlier used by Russia that was still in working order and sent to Latvia by a Russian company. famulus.msnbc.com

The Iraq quagmire August 22, 2003 By the Editorial Board The truck bomb that blew up the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad on Tuesday shattered the Bush administration’s claims that it is well on the way to pacifying Iraq. The bombing, coming on the heels of explosions that severed Iraq’s northern oil pipeline and cut off water to much of the country’s capital, as well as the daily casualties inflicted on US troops, makes it clear that the resistance to the US occupation is serious and growing. wsws.org

Investigation reveals why America is hated August 22, 2003 By Billy I Ahmed According to investigations carried out at the end of 2002 by the PEW Research Centre, dislike of the USA has risen in the last year in Latin American countries as well as in Middle Eastern nations. Around 81% of Pakistanis expressed aversion to US foreign policy. In Argentina loathing of America reaches 73% and just 6% of the Egyptian public has a favourable view of the United States. The report in general states that the spread of U.S. ideas and customs is disliked by majorities in almost every country included in this survey. nation.ittefaq.com

Show of the week True Stories: Israel's Secret Weapon August 22, 2003 "Which country in the Middle East has undeclared nuclear weapons?" "Which country . . . has undeclared biological and chemical capabilities . . . no outside inspections . . . jailed its nuclear whistleblower for 18 years?" The whistleblower is Mordechai Vanunu, former physicist at Dimona, the top-secret nuclear plant in Israel's Negev. Sworn to secrecy, Vanunu received a warning after a minor breach, but decided to leave, taking with him the only known interior photographs of Israel's plutonium factory. The pictures were offered to the London Sunday Times, his claims were substantiated and Vanunu was smuggled into the newspaper offices to tell his story. When Vanunu's revelations were published in 1986, Mossad triggered a classic honey trap with an American woman Vanunu met in apparent innocence. She suggested it would be safer if he flew with her to Rome. He did, but Mossad was waiting; he was drugged, chained and taken by boat to Israel. Sentenced to 18 years for treason and espionage, Vanunu was held in solitary confinement for 11 years and remains in jail. smh.com.au

Death By Slow Burn - How America Nukes Its Own Troops What 'Support Our Troops' Really Means August 22, 2003 By Amy Worthington On March 30, an AP photo featured an American pro-war activist holding a sign: "Nuke the evil scum, it worked in 1945!" That's exactly what George Bush has done. America's mega-billion dollar war in Iraq has been indeed a NUCLEAR WAR. Bush-Cheney have delivered upon 17 million Iraqis tons of depleted uranium (DU) weapons, a "liberation" gift that will keep on giving. Depleted uranium is a component of toxic nuclear waste, usually stored at secure sites. Handlers need radiation protection gear. sierratimes.com

France: More than 10,000 dead in record heat wave August 22, 2003 By Francis Dubois The unprecedented heat wave in Europe has caused many deaths across the continent, but the highest number of victims has been in France, where illness and death have reached epidemic proportions. While the full extent of the health disaster has still to emerge, the heavy death toll has led to a serious political crisis for the French government. At the beginning of this week, the number of deaths linked to the heat was estimated at 5,000, and this figure was, according to medical experts, likely to rise, since 50 percent of the deaths have occurred outside hospitals and are not yet accounted for. France’s leading undertakers organisation reported on Thursday that as many as 13,000 may have died from exposure to the intense heat. wsws.org

America hopes to cut toll of 50m migrating birds killed by phone masts August 22, 2003 Paul Brown A federal investigation has been launched into the plight of up to 50 million migratory birds killed each year by mobile phone and broadcast masts strung across the US. The communications commission has a legal duty to minimise the environmental effect of the hundreds of thousands of masts spread across the country. At some masts located on migratory routes, thousands of birds have been recorded as being killed in a single night. guardian.co.uk

ARNOLD'S MISTRESS HIS SHOCKING 7-YEAR AFFAIR August 21, 2003 For seven years, Arnold Schwarzenegger hid a mistress from his loving wife Maria Shriver -- and hours after learning The ENQUIRER discovered his sordid secret, "The Terminator" terminated his run for governor of California. The brazen actor began his affair with former child actress Gigi Goyette when she was only 16 -- and even made love to her in the very same hotel where he was staying with "Dateline" star Maria. A bombshell ENQUIRER investigation -- featured in our issue that hits the stands Friday -- has exposed the whole shocking story, including how the father of four hid the trysts from his family. nationalenquirer.com / And asked in a recent appearance about his views on the environment, he said: "Don`t worry about that." On gay marriage, Arnold was once quoted as saying: "I don`t want to get into that right now." On the status of women, he had this to say: "When you see a blonde with great tits and a great ass, you say to yourself, `Hey, she must be stupid...thetruthseeker.co.uk

Mass graves to reveal Iraq war toll August 21, 2003 Jamie Wilson in Baghdad The task of identifying thousands of Iraqi soldiers and civilians who died during this year's war has begun with the exhumation of a mass grave at one of Saddam Hussein's former palaces in Baghdad. The Iraqi Red Crescent, the Islamic version of the Red Cross, which is coordinating the exhumations, said 45 bodies had been recovered since vthe palace beside the Tigris river, now used as the coalition headquarters. Nobody knows exactly how many Iraqis died in the war, but an Anglo-American research group, the Iraq Body Count, has estimated the number of civilian fatalities at between 6,000 and 7,800. The number of military casualties is between 10,000 and 45,000. guardian.co.uk

CIA Accused Of Bank Heist August 21, 2003 By Gordon Thomas Shortly before U.S. forces began streaming across the Iraqi border, commencing Persian Gulf War II, the CIA and the Department of Defense, with a little help from Israel and some Europeans, pulled off a massive bank heist in Iraq to the tune of several billion dollars. The CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) are accused by International Currency Review, the London-based journal, of mounting a joint ultra-secret operation to electronically remove an estimated $10 billion out of the Iraqi Central Bank hours before the start of Persian Gulf War II. The whereabouts of the money is not known. americanfreepress.net

Personal Bankruptcies Continue to Surge August 21, 2003 NEW YORK (AP) Personal bankruptcies continued at a record pace in the 12 months ended June 30 as Americans struggled with the debt they took on in the 1990s. The American Bankruptcy Institute said Monday that personal bankruptcy filings totaled 1,613,097--an all-time high for any 12-month period. The figure was up 10 percent from the 1,466,105 cases filed in the 12-month period that ended June 30, 2002 springfieldnewssun.com

Feds See Gas Prices Rising August 21, 2003 By Tom Doggett U.S. drivers can expect gasoline prices to rise over the next few weeks thanks to tighter motor fuel supplies and strong demand, the government warned on Wednesday. reuters.com

Corporate insiders are on a selling spree August 21, 2003 By Josh Friedman Corporate insiders have been unloading shares at a fast clip this summer, raising concerns among some analysts about the outlook for the stock market and the economy. Last month, officers, directors and big individual shareholders at U.S. companies sold more than $32 of company stock for every $1 they bought on the open market -- making July the heaviest selling month in more than two years, data tracker Thomson Financial said Tuesday. Heavy selling by insiders is seen by some investors as bearish, and for them the early trend for August is negative as well, with insider sales outstripping purchases by about 22 to 1 so far this month. What's especially notable is that the insider sell-to-buy ratio has topped 20-to-1 for three months running, the longest such streak since July-September 2000. bayarea.com

California governor attacks recall as Republican power grab August 21, 2003 By ERICA WERNER Gov. Gray Davis, taking a defiant stance in his first major address since the recall qualified for the statewide ballot, on Tuesday denounced the Oct. 7 vote as a Republican power grab and made no apologies for his record as governor. In the address, televised statewide, the governor acknowledged that ‘‘we made our share of mistakes'' handling the state's energy crisis and budget deficit. But in asking for voters' support, he sought to place the state's troubles in the perspective of an American economy that has ‘‘tanked'' and touted his record on education, health care, privacy protection, the environment and reproductive rights. ‘‘The Republicans behind this recall say they want you to oust me for past mistakes,'' he said. ‘‘My friends, they don't give a rip about past mistakes. This is all about control in the future, seizing back the governor's chair and believing with so many candidates running they can do it with just a handful of California voters.'' helenair.com

Justice Department Kicks Off PATRIOT Act Roadshow; ACLU Doubtful Public Relations Offensive Will Change Minds August 21, 2003 WASHINGTON In response to the Justice Department’s launch today of a multi-city public relations “roadshow” promoting the controversial USA PATRIOT Act, the American Civil Liberties Union criticized the tour’s closure to the public, presumably intended to squelch protests, and questioned the agency’s use of public money to counter broad public concern about the expansive surveillance powers in the law. “An Attorney General going on the road, away from his official duties, to favorably spin policies violative of civil liberties is troubling, to say the least,” said Laura W. Murphy, Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office.  “It raises two serious questions: is this tour -- which incidentally hits Iowa, Michigan and Ohio – political in nature and how prudent is it to be spending public money on a ‘PATRIOT Act’ charm offensive?” aclu.org

A Price Too High August 21, 2003 By BOB HERBERT How long is it going to take for us to recognize that the war we so foolishly started in Iraq is a fiasco — tragic, deeply dehumanizing and ultimately unwinnable? How much time and how much money and how many wasted lives is it going to take? At the United Nations yesterday, grieving diplomats spoke bitterly, but not for attribution, about the U.S.-led invasion and occupation. They said it has not only resulted in the violent deaths of close and highly respected colleagues, but has also galvanized the most radical elements of Islam. nytimes.com

Bush's secret war August 21, 2003 Rory Carroll How five Muslims in Malawi were spirited away in the night  When security agents took away her husband in the middle of the night they did not tell Ellah Ulusam that Washington had just opened a new front in its war against terror. They said he would be back the next day. Arif Ulusam vanished along with four other Muslim men, all arrested at home, handcuffed and bundled into a car for a bizarre odyssey which has not yet ended. This is a part of George Bush's war which does not make it on to television news, for it is waged on a front so remote few know it exists. In less eventful times what happened would be considered extraordinary. As it is, their story has been barely reported. guardian.co.uk

Dems Start Group to Try to 'Recall' Bush August 21, 2003 By SHARON THEIMER The latest Democratic drive to make sure President Bush serves just one term takes a page from the effort to oust a Democratic governor in California, calling its web site "bushrecall" and garnering support through petitions. A new committee called the Fair and Balanced PAC plans to launch its www.bushrecall.org Web site Thursday. The PAC's founders include Joe Lockhart, a press secretary to former President Clinton, and Mike Lux, a Democratic political consultant. ftimes.com

We're losing the war in Afghanistan, too August 21, 2003 A human rights worker reports from the other front in the U.S. war on terror, where warlords rule supreme, music is once again banned, journalists hide from gunmen, and even the streets of Kabul are filled with fear. salon.com

Bush's stealth attack on the atmosphere August 21, 2003 The same administration that denies global warming now wants to dramatically increase the use of an ozone-eating chemical. Agribusiness is very happy. salon.com

Private passion August 21, 2003 Washington's fondness for privatisation and deregulation is creating dangerous problems at home and abroad, says Julian Borger. The electrical forensics are still under way, but the big picture emerging from last week's unprecedented blackout is already clear: it was nature's warning against Washington's worship at the altar of privatisation. guardian.co.uk

"Just say no to Dick and Bush Tour" August 21, 2003 All along the west coast, as Bush travels around to raise funds, people are organizing to stop him. Some are calling it the "Just say no to Dick and Bush Tour". People are coming out for a myriad of reasons. http://indymedia.org/

As Iraqis die, hate for U.S. spreads August 21, 2003 An Iraqi man pleads for help after another Iraqi was shot in the head by US soldiers and was critically wounded, Ezhar Mahmood Ridha and her sister-in-law were on their way to a wake when they met their deaths at the hands of U.S. soldiers. As their broken-down car stood stranded on a dusty overpass, a guerrilla fighter nearby detonated a huge explosive device at a passing U.S. military convoy. As the soldiers turned and fired, the car carrying the assailant sped away, according to witnesses and U.S. military officials. The Americans hit the only object left on the overpass: Ridha's blue 1982 Mitsubishi sedan. 1.iraqwar.ru

Why Won't Government Agencies Tell What 115 Eyewitnesses Saw? August 21, 2003 After TWA Flight 800 exploded and crashed off the coast of Long Island, the FBI interviewed 115 credible eyewitnesses who said they saw an object now believed to be a missile streak upwards high into the sky and explode. The FBI has refused to release these eyewitness statements and the National Transportation Safety Board refused to let a single one of the eyewitnesses appear at the highly publicized final hearing on the cause of the tragedy. themedianews.com

Iraq Resistance *Condemns* the UN Bombing! August 20, 2003 In a recent statement aired by Al-Jazeera, an Iraqi Resistance group CONDEMNED the recent bombing of the UN Headquarters in Baghdad. They suggeset that the bombing was done to DISCREDIT the Iraqi Resistance in general. This UN bombing couldn't be yet another staged "terror "attack/provocation could it? Remember, false Flag operations are an integral feature of US (and Israel) covert operations. Notice how the Western "free" press completely ignores this story/issue and automatically assigns blame to the Iraqi Guerrilla Movement. Also, note the excerpt from the NY Times article below which admits that the USA could actually *BENEFIT* from this bombing! portland.indymedia.org

Cameraman Killed For Filming U.S. Graves: Brother August 20, 2003 By Awad al-Ragoub Mazen told me by phone a few days before his death that he discovered a mass grave dug by U.S. troops to conceal the bodies of their fellow comrades killed in Iraqi resistance attacks. Mazen Dana said he was deliberately murdered for discovering mass graves of U.S. troops killed in Iraqi resistance attacks. "The U.S. troops killed my brother in cold blood," Nazmi Dana told IslamOnline.net in exclusive statements. palestinechronicle.com

PENTAGON THREATENS TO KILL INDEPENDENT REPORTERS IN IRAQ August 20, 2003 The Pentagon has threatened to fire on the satellite uplink positions of independent journalists in Iraq, according to veteran BBC war correspondent, Kate Adie. In an interview with Irish radio, Ms. Adie said that questioned about the consequences of such potentially fatal actions, a senior Pentagon officer had said: "Who cares.. ..They've been warned." According to Ms. Adie, who twelve years ago covered the last Gulf War, the Pentagon attitude is: "entirely hostile to the the free spread of information." "I am enormously pessimistic of the chance of decent on-the-spot reporting, as the war occurs," she told Irish national broadcaster, Tom McGurk on the RTE1 Radio "Sunday Show." gulufuture.com

A Vision For America, Year 2020 August 20, 2003 By Jesse Lee This administration has gone to great pains to polarize, and thereby paralyze the citizens of this great nation.  While we cling to the hate, ideology, and combativeness that the administration and their regurgitators have concocted for us, the administration robs the treasury blind, sacrifices untold numbers of American and foreign lives in wars to support their corporate empire, and works inch by inch to undermine our most essential rights and liberties.  Fanatical Bushism has been used to subdue all checks on the power of the executive, namely the free press, the Congress, and even the Judiciary.  The danger of a tyranny of a majority, in which 49% of the nation can be excluded from all policy decisions by a majority united not by common interest, but by hate, has become all too real. opednews.com

State's Huge Job Loss Raises Eyebrows August 20, 2003 By BARBARA NAGY Sharp Jump In Unemployment Startles Economists, But Numbers Are Subject To Revision Connecticut lost a staggering 12,100 jobs in July, the biggest one-month drop since the 1989-92 recession, and the unemployment rate jumped three-tenths of a point to 5.2 percent. The plunge in employment across almost all industry sectors suggests that the state's job outlook is worse than economists thought. ctnow.com

Dead Reckoning August 19, 2003 By Eric Cripe Today the public debate centers on the potential success of our occupation in Iraq. The Bush administration has long declared the war over, and the untidiness begun. The papers, always optimistic these days, dutifully quote the generals, who make it sound as though our opposition is reduced to a few remaining pockets of loyalists hiding in caves, plus some foreign mercenaries. Gen. Franks wouldn't call it guerrilla warfare, since there is no popular support - whatever that means.  The death toll of American troops - the only number of any concern to the most patriotic Americans - are reduced to single digits, which seems manageable. The problems of the Iraqi people are reduced to public utility shortages, also nothing more than a nuisance. What is left, as has been said by many politicians and pundits recently, is to 'teach them to rule themselves'. The time frame for such an enterprise has been opened to speculation by the public at large. thepeoplesvoice.org

Iraq: No letup in anti-US riots and guerrilla attacks August 19, 2003 By Alex Lefebvre Iraqi and US casualties have continued to rise over the last week, as US and British forces mounted campaigns to locate former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and put down riots in Baghdad and Basra, the two largest Iraqi cities. Anger is growing in Iraq over killings of innocent civilians by US and British forces, and over the deplorable state of public services. Armed confrontations continue in north-central Iraq, the major southern city of Basra, and the capital city Baghdad. wsws.org

Saudis in Iraq 'preparing for a holy war' August 19, 2003 By Mark Huband Increasing numbers of Saudi Arabian Islamists are crossing the border into Iraq in preparation for a jihad, or holy war, against US and UK forces, security and Islamist sources have warned. A senior western counter-terrorism official on Monday said the presence of foreign fighters in Iraq was "extremely worrying". informationclearinghouse.info

Troops wounded in action not listed among casualties August 19, 2003 By Dawn House His buddies remember Jesus Vidana dropping like a rock when shrapnel crashed through his helmet and into his skull on April 8 during during a fierce street fight in Baghdad. Under fire, Sgt. Derryl Spencer, Salt Lake City, and Cpl. Robert Reeves, Las Vegas, carried the unconscious Marine to safety. His head wound was so severe that their commander radioed he was dead. Cpl. Vidana, 25, survived and has undergone three operations and months of rehabilitation to learn all over again how to feed himself, talk and walk. A fourth surgery is scheduled to remove more shrapnel from his brain. They are called WIAs for wounded in action, but their numbers are not listed under casualty postings from the U.S. Central Command or the Pentagon. So far, 1,007 U.S. military personnel have been wounded since March 19 when U.S. troops crossed the border into Iraq, said Lt. Ryan Fitzgerald from Central Command. informationclearinghouse.info

Another U.S. war crime? Iraqi cities 'hot' with depleted uranium August 19, 2003 by Sara Flounders Has U.S. use of depleted-uranium weapons turned Iraq into a radioactive danger area for both Iraqis and occupation troops? This question has already had serious consequences. In hot spots in downtown Baghdad, reporters have measured radiation levels that are 1,000 to 1,900 times higher than normal background radiation levels. It has also opened a debate in the Netherlands parliament and media as 1,100 Dutch troops in Kuwait prepare to enter Iraq as part of the U.S./British-led occupation forces. The Dutch are concerned about the danger of radioactive poisoning and radiation sickness in Iraq. globalresearch.ca