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The Big Bush Social Security Lie

Second Black Bodybuilder Claims Schwarzenegger Repeatedly Made Racist Comments to Him August 16, 2003 Listen to: Segment || Show  Watch 128k stream  Watch 256k stream  Printer-friendly version   KPFK/Pacifica interview with Robby Robinson who claims fellow bodybuilder Schwarzenegger repeatedly directed the term “nigger” at him. And we hear from San Jose Mercury News reporter who writes that while supporting anti-immigrant Proposition 187 Schwarzenegger himself violated the terms of his immigrant visa in the 1970s. [Includes transcript] read to full transcript

Bush defends industrial pollution rules September 16, 2003 SCOTT LINDLAW President Bush defended his proposal to ease industrial pollution rules Monday, saying the regulations would fight dirty air while keeping electricity flowing and Americans working. The proposed rules would make it easier for thousands of older power plants, refineries, factories, chemical plants and paper mills to make major upgrades without installing costly new anti-pollution controls. sfgate.com

Lawmakers hear opposition to White House pension proposal September 16, 2003 By MARY DALRYMPLE Pension plan administrators and consumers spoke up Monday against a White House proposal to rewrite the formula that companies use to measure future pension liabilities. Arguing the equation has not been tested, they told lawmakers on a House Governmental Affairs subcommittee that a drastic revision could push more employers to drop traditional pension benefits. But the White House has supporters in Congress who have started slowly moving the new formula into legislation. nj.com

The Greatest Cover-Up Of All: Vote Fraud In America September 16, 2003 by James J. Condit Jr. You're running in your first election for City Council in a crowded field of 26 candidates. Nine will be elected. The No. 1 local anchorman comes on TV at about 9:15 PM and announces that you're going to do very well for a first time candidate, then flashes on the screen that you're running 12th; only three places from victory. Such a finish would give hope to all who were daring to "fight city hall." Earlier in the evening, a liberal-leftist home-town university professor who was analyzing early returns for another local TV station had projected that your arch-rival, and his ally the sweetheart of the anti-God portion of the establishment was headed towards defeat. But HO-L-L-L-D EVERYTHING ! ! ! At approximately 9:45 PM, the same anchorman announces that there has been a computer breakdown. 45 minutes later when the computers come back up, a massive switch has occurred. You and 7 other feisty challengers have fallen to the very bottom of the heap. The establishment sweetheart has jumped into a winning position against all odds. Despite unprecedented public dissatisfaction, the same old faces are elected once again. Many conclude that "you just can't fight city hall." Things have worked out just great for all those entrenched politicians who seemed to be the object of such public dissatisfaction right up to election day. The next morning, you scan the papers in vain for any mention of the computer breakdown: no record for posterity. The above scenario is my story, but it was happening in dozens of places all across the nation. It was 1979 and a new day had quietly dawned in America - UNVERIFIABLE, RIGGABLE computerized vote tabulation. http://www.votefraud.org/Archive/Write/greatest.htm

Middle class barely treads water September 16, 2003 By Christine Dugas Millions of middle-class families can no longer afford to live on two incomes. A generation ago, a typical American middle-class family lived on the income of a single breadwinner. In recent years it has taken two working spouses to live the modern middle-class dream. Now, it seems even that is not enough to survive the skyrocketing cost of housing, health care and college while saving for retirement and shouldering growing debt loads. (More background: Excerpt from The Two-Income Trap ) Bill and Terry Will of Chesapeake, Va., together earn about $70,000 a year, and yet it's a struggle to provide for their family and pay off their credit card debt. Terry, 44, is a nurse and Bill, 50, manages a warehouse that ships food and supplies to other countries. news.yahoo.com

Journal axes gene research on Jews and Palestinians September 16, 2003 Robin McKie A keynote research paper showing that Middle Eastern Jews and Palestinians are genetically almost identical has been pulled from a leading journal. Academics who have already received copies of Human Immunology have been urged to rip out the offending pages and throw them away. Such a drastic act of self-censorship is unprecedented in research publishing and has created widespread disquiet, generating fears that it may involve the suppression of scientific work that questions Biblical dogma. informationclearinghouse.info

Cheney: $87B Won't Be Enough September 16, 2003 THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Vice President Dick Cheney hinted yesterday that the Bush administration would seek more money next year than the additional $87 billion already requested to pay mainly for postwar costs in Iraq. He also said the administration does not know when the U.S. military presence in Iraq will end. "I don't think anybody can say with absolute certainty at this point," Cheney said. newsday.com

Dizzying Dive to Red Ink Poses Stark Choices for Washington September 16, 2003 By DAVID FIRESTONE When President Bush informed the nation last Sunday night that remaining in Iraq next year will cost another $87 billion, many of those who will actually pay that bill were unable to watch. They had already been put to bed by their parents. Administration officials acknowledged the next day that every dollar of that cost will be borrowed, a loan that economists say will be repaid by the next generation of taxpayers and the generation after that. The $166 billion cost of the work so far in Iraq and Afghanistan, which has stunned many in Washington, will be added to what was already the largest budget deficit the nation has ever known. nytimes.com

Amanpour: CNN practiced self-censorship September 16, 2003 CNN's top war correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, says that the press muzzled itself during the Iraq war. And, she says CNN "was intimidated" by the Bush administration and Fox News, which "put a climate of fear and self-censorship." As criticism of the war and its aftermath intensifies, Amanpour joins a chorus of journalists and pundits who charge that the media largely toed the Bush administrationline in covering the war and, by doing so, failed to aggressively question the motives behind the invasion. usatoday.com

Solar Power Energy Conversion Efficiency at "Way More Than 50 Percent" September 16, 2003 In eight minutes, the U.S. Government spends more money on running an illegal and unnecessary war than it took for a group of researchers to develop photovoltaic technology that is over 100% more efficient than previous designs. This cannot be explained away as merely "the vagaries of a big government," or some sort of endemic negligence. I'm not even sure this can be chocked up to criminal collusion at the highest levels. Nope. What we are witnessing is nothing less than death throws of a system that has gone totally insane. Read this article and think about what we could accomplish if a criminal gang hadn't stolen our entire existence at gunpoint: cryptogon.com

Bankruptcies are booming Second-quarter figures highest in five years September 16, 2003 By Michael Levensohn Sales tax collections are up around the Hudson Valley, and so are bankruptcy filings. Put another way, it appears that an increasing number of people have been spending themselves silly. "There may be some people who tried to maintain their spending styles and got hit by job losses," said Ann Davis, director of the Marist College Bureau of Economic Research, which recently issued its second-quarter report. From April to June, there were 4,825 bankruptcy filings in the Southern District of New York state, up from 4,377 filings in the second quarter of 2002. The second-quarter tally was the highest in at least a dozen years. recordonline.com

Iraqi fighters reject label of terrorist September 16, 2003 By HANNAH ALLAM BAQUBA, Iraq - A mournful voice singing of dreary days and disappointing harvests drifted across a canal and onto the hidden grounds where Abu Abdullah teaches his recruits to kill. Faded Iraqi army uniforms dried on pomegranate trees, and combat boots lined a dirt path leading into the camp. Young Iraqis picked ripe grapes and offered them to visitors. And waited for orders to attack another American convoy. From this farm hidden among tangled grapevines and tall date palms an hour north of Baghdad, guerrilla fighters, both Iraqis and foreigners, have set out on some of the raids that have killed 70 U.S. soldiers in the past four months. The farmer's song is a code from a lookout, to assure commanders that passing boaters can't see the band of guerrillas preparing for their next attack on American soldiers. The men here, armed with grenades and rifles, seem a ludicrous match for U.S. forces, whose superior weaponry is evident at every checkpoint in the country. But two leaders of guerrilla cells told a Knight Ridder reporter and photographer in separate interviews that they would fight until the last vestige of the American presence in Iraq is gone. Their fate, one said, is "victory or martyrdom." informationclearinghouse.info

The PATRIOT Act’s Assault on the Bill of Rights September 16, 2003 By Brigid O’Neil To the layperson looking at Attorney General John Ashcroft’s now-infamous road show in defense of the USA PATRIOT Act, the whole ruckus must look rather comical. In fact, with 91 percent of voters unaware of the act’s encroachment on civil liberties, according to polls, the dispute might even seem unnecessary. Unnecessary, that is, until you take a look at the act in all of its 342 pages of verbose detail and constitutional infractions. And then, somewhere between the elimination of privacy rights and abolition of checks and balances, it becomes startlingly apparent that over the furor of “preventive justice,” the White House has silently squandered our constitutional protections of due process and civil liberties. independent.org

The Terrible Truth September 16, 2003 by Timothy J. Freeman A Great and Noble Thing? When will America face up to the terrible truth about the invasion and occupation of Iraq? Every day the casualties mount. The number of American soldiers killed since Bush declared victory now outnumber those killed in the invasion itself. For every one soldier that comes home in a body bag at least another ten come home horribly wounded. If the first Gulf War gives us any indication, many times more will come home with devastating illness, most likely caused by our own depleted uranium weapons. On top of that of course there is the astronomical cost of the war and the occupation—some hundred billion dollars already gone and a billion a week and counting. informationclearinghouse.info

Where Did A Republican Party Operative Accused Of Placing "Swinging Couple" Ads Get $150,000 During The 2000 Recount To Finance A Campaign To Oust Florida Supreme Court Justices? Why is a story about a "backwater" detail of the battle over the 2000 recount still valid? Because it sheds insight into how the Bush Cartel and the Republican Party operate. The Bush Cartel depends upon our shortened news cycle (every six hours or so) -- and the Pro-Bush corporate owned media -- to prevent Americans from connecting the dots that tie together the vast right wing conspiracy. buzzflash.com

Iraq's Epic Suffering Is Made Invisible September 15, 2003 by John Pilger For the past few weeks, I have been watching videotapes of the attack on Iraq, most of them not shown in this country. The tapes concentrate on the epic suffering of ordinary Iraqis. There are photographs, too, that were never published here. They show streets and hospitals running with blood, as American and British forces smashed their way into Iraq with weapons designed to incinerate and dismember human beings. It is difficult viewing, but necessary if one is to understand fully the words of the Nuremberg judges in 1946 when they laid down the principles of modern international law: "To initiate a war of aggression... is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole." informationclearinghouse

Rocket Blunder: Victims Fury September 15, 2003 AN Iraqi father who lost 10 of his family in a bungled British Army attack last night demanded an apology from Tony Blair. Hospital consultant Dr Akram Hamoodi's home in Basra was reduced to rubble after Army officers were wrongly told mass murderer Chemical Ali was living next door. "Mr Blair speaks about the tragedy of the loss of British servicemen, but why no word about our loss?" said Dr Akram last night. "Why are we not worthy of an apology? "We are grieving too. We were not friends of Saddam. But now I regard both Blair and Bush as murderers." The family have relatives in Britain - and were so pro-British that their teenagers loved England and Western music. Dr Akram lashed out as America apologised for shooting dead eight Iraqi policemen and injuring six others in a new friendly fire blunder in Falluja, 30 miles west of Baghdad, on Friday. informationclearinghouse

America's hidden battlefield toll September 15, 2003 By Jason Burke and Paul Harris New figures reveal the true number of GIs wounded in Iraq. The true scale of American casualties in Iraq is revealed today by new figures obtained by The Observer, which show that more than 6,000 American servicemen have been evacuated for medical reasons since the beginning of the war, including more than 1,500 American soldiers who have been wounded, many seriously. The figures will shock many Americans, who believe that casualties in the war in Iraq have been relatively light. Recent polls show that support for President George Bush and his administration's policy in Iraq has been slipping. guardian.co.uk

"Militarily Insignificant" September 15, 2003 By Robert S. Finnegan As the body bags continue to make their sad way home to America from the quagmire that is now "liberated" Iraq, I am compelled to ponder a recent statement made by a highly placed Bushite and quoted in Time Magazine: that the casualties following the war that America "won" in Iraq are "militarily insignificant." Hmm. Tell that to the families and loved ones that have paid the ultimate price for unflinchingly honoring their military commitment in the so-called war on terror. Tell that to the victims and families of the recent bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad. "Bring 'em on" crows our Idiot-in-Chief. It would now appear that "the terrorists" are doing exactly that. Is this terrorism, or simply patriotism on the part of the Iraqis? Only they can answer this question. One would think however, that Americans would react much in the same way if their country were invaded. informationclearinghouse.info

Democrats Call Republican Plan a War on Vets September 15, 2003 (Reuters) A Republican proposal on Capitol Hill amounts to "a declaration of war" against disabled military veterans, U.S. Senate Democratic leaders charged in a letter to President Bush on Friday. The measure, still under review, would limit disability benefits in the future to those who suffer injuries while in the performance of official military duties, aides said. Under current law, veterans get compensation and health care for all injuries and illnesses sustained while in uniform, regardless if they occurred while on duty. Some put in claims after leaving the military, saying they were service-related. reuters.com

Mobiles 'make you senile' September 15, 2003 By Geoffrey Lean Mobile phones and the new wireless technology could cause a "whole generation" of today's teenagers to go senile in the prime of their lives, new research suggests The study - which warns specifically against "the intense use of mobile phones by youngsters" - comes as research on their health effects is being scaled down, due to industry pressure. It is likely to galvanise concern about the almost universal exposure to microwaves in Western countries, by revealing a new way in which they may seriously damage health. news.independent

US: More than 1 million more in poverty in 2002 September 14, 2003 By Debra Watson Nearly 1.3 million more people fell below the official poverty level in 2002, swelling the number of poor in the US to nearly 35 million, according to a September report from the Census Bureau. The results of the American Community Survey (ACS) indicate that the recession hit the hardest among children and their families. Nearly half the 1.3 million increase—600,000 people—were children. The total number of people under 18 in US families designated poor has now reached 12.2 million. Poverty among children under age five increased by a full percentage point, from 18.8 percent in 2001 to 19.8 percent in 2002. A total of 7 million US families fell below the official poverty level in 2002, an increase of 300,000 families in just one year. wsws.org

Bush logging plan will increase severe fires September 14, 2003 Chad Hanson It's fire season again, and the timber industry is issuing its typical calls for increased logging of big trees on our national forests as proposed by the Bush administration's deceptively named "Healthy Forests Initiative." First, is "thinning" the answer to reducing severe fire risk? Scientific studies have shown that "undergrowth thinning" of very small trees and brush can prevent severe fires, especially when accompanied by piling and burning of brushy material. However, science has also shown that "commercial thinning"- the removal of larger trees - can have the opposite effect. In these cases, thinning is just a euphemism for logging, and the removal of mature trees increases fire hazard by reducing the cooling shade of the forest canopy, creating hotter, drier conditions on the forest floor. theunion.com

Bush Seeks to Expand Access to Private Data September 14, 2003 By ERIC LICHTBLAU For months, President Bush's advisers have assured a skittish public that law-abiding Americans have no reason to fear the long reach of the antiterrorism law known as the Patriot Act because its most intrusive measures would require a judge's sign-off. But in a plan announced this week to expand counterterrorism powers, President Bush adopted a very different tack. In a three-point presidential plan that critics are already dubbing Patriot Act II, Mr. Bush is seeking broad new authority to allow federal agents — without the approval of a judge or even a federal prosecutor — to demand private records and compel testimony nytimes.com

Map: Hijacked 9/11 Flights and Military Bases September 14, 2003 In this picture, which is worth even more than a thousand words, MediaLab has merged a map of the 9/11 planes' flightpaths with a map of military bases in those areas. The flights went through some of the most heavily militarized parts of the country, yet nothing could be done to stop them? thememoryhole.org

Threat to academic freedom feared, Metro group raps move to require more conservatives September 14, 2003 By Tillie The Faculty Senate at Metropolitan State College of Denver is calling for an investigation into a move by Republican legislators to require Colorado colleges and universities to seek and hire a greater number of conservative faculty. The so-called Academic Bill of Rights, the brainchild of outspoken Los Angeles conservative David Horowitz, was the subject of a June 12 meeting attended by Horowitz, Gov. Bill Owens and several top Republican legislators. rockymountainnews.com

"They have decided upon cold-blooded murder"   September 14, 2003 Gush Shalom "The government of Israel has tonight resolved to commit a cold- blooded murder, with the implementation deferred - the cold blooded murder of the elected president of the Palestinians. Let there be no mistake about it. Let no one be fooled by the talk of 'deportation'. There is no intention that Arafat will survive the encounter with Sharon's soldiers. I know Sharon, I have followed his career for decades, ever since he was a young commando officer carrying out brutal cross-border raids. He has not changed in any essential, only in the amount of power held in his hands. He means to do it, he means to kill Arafat. informationclearinghouse

Is Terrorism Making You Sick? September 14, 2003 By Mark Morford Sure BushCo has reamed the planet in the two years since 9/11. Question is, what about you? Oh great, so here you are, two full years later. Two full years after the 9/11 maelstrom and two years during which the term "hero" has been molested and slapped around and "patriotism" has been smashed and reconfigured into some mutant shellacked Maria Shriver-like perma-saluting mannequin, a conservative plastic surgeon's wet dream, all fake smiles and bleached teeth and Botoxed worry lines and pumped-up, silicone-enhanced flag-waving bravado you no longer relate to in the slightest. sfgate.com

Human Rights defenders threatened by president Uribe September 14, 2003 Colombian human rights activists are in danger of death after president Uribe stated that they are linked to "terrorist organizations". Under the war situation of Colombia this declaration means that human rights activists could be killed by right- wing paramilitaries. The declaration was a response to the publishing of El Embrujo Autoritario" (The Autoritarian Charm). This is a book launched during Semana por la Paz (Week for Peace) revealing a dramatic increase of human rights violations, poverty, and erosion of democracy under the rule of President Uribe. read the whole article

Ozone hole is bigger than it has ever been September 14, 2003 By Clive Cookson The Antarctic ozone hole is bigger than it has ever been at this time of year, threatening populated regions of south America and New Zealand with harmful levels of ultraviolet radiation. news.ft.com

WHY DON'T WE HAVE ANSWERS TO THESE 9/11 QUESTIONS? September 13, 2003 By WILLIAM BUNCH NO EVENT IN recent history has been written about, talked about, or watched and rewatched as much as the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 - two years ago today. Not only was it the deadliest terrorist strike inside America, but the hijackings and attacks on New York City's World Trade Center and the Pentagon in Washington were also a seminal event for an information-soaked media age of Internet access and 24- hour news. So, why after 730 days do we know so little about what really happened that day? philly.com

Wounded billed for hospital food September 13, 2003 By BILL ADAIR After a grenade exploded inside his Humvee in Iraq, Marine Staff Sgt. Bill Murwin was treated at a military hospital in Germany and spent four weeks at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. Part of his left foot was amputated. His medical care was free, but the government billed him $243 for the food. Then, just three days after he received his first bill for the hospital food in Germany, he got a stern letter saying the bill was overdue. It warned that his account would be referred to a collection agency. sptimes.com

American Troops Forced to Buy Own Wartime Gear September 13, 2003 By TARA COPP & JESSICA WEHRMAN Last Christmas, Mike Corcoran sent his mother an unusual Christmas list: He wanted night-vision goggles, a global positioning system and a short-wave radio. Corcoran, then a Marine sergeant in Afghanistan, wanted the goggles so he could see on patrols. They cost about $2,000 each. According to an Army internal report released earlier this summer, many ground troops like Corcoran decided to dip into their own pockets to get the equipment they needed to fight in Afghanistan and in Iraq. capitolhillblue.com

US attorney general’s “Patriot” tour: the specter of a police state September 13, 2003 By Bill Vann The Bush administration has seized upon the second anniversary of the September 11 attacks as an opportunity to push for a further expansion of the police-state powers it has assumed in the name of fighting a “war on terrorism.” On the eve of the anniversary, Bush traveled to Quantico, Virginia, to speak before FBI academy cadets and Marine Corps personnel. The trip was in keeping with a well-established pattern in which the US president’s public appearances are largely restricted to audiences packed with police and military personnel. wsws.org

Crowd of 1,200 boos Ashcroft September 13, 2003 By Allison Brown With fists and middle fingers upraised, a booing, hissing and chanting crowd of about 1,200 people awaited United States Attorney General John Ashcroft when he arrived at Faneuil Hall Tuesday morning, decrying his support of what some protesters called government policies undermining civil rights. Ashcroft was bombarded by cries of "Shame!" and the sound of the "Imperial Death March" from the movie "Star Wars" as he entered a meeting with law enforcement officials in Faneuil Hall. uwire.com

Ashcroft Tries to Hide From Court Testimony September 13, 2003 Associated Press A lawyer for the government said Friday that U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft should not be required to appear in federal court to explain why he violated a judge's gag order during a terrorism trial. Two weeks ago, U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen ordered Ashcroft to respond to a motion filed by lawyers for three men who were convicted in June on various charges. capitolhillblue.com

ARMED STANDOFF AGAINST FEDS LOOMING IN MICHIGAN September 13, 2003 Posted By: rumormillnews Alanson, MI Charlevoix County. Land Owner: "I've had enough. I'm going to fight!" Lyle Barkley, has been ordered to remove two manufactured homes from a 4-acre parcel in Bay Township by September 18. Barkley says he will not comply with the illegal and unconstitutional order of the court but will defend his property with arms if necessary. His cause has drawn the attention of Rick Stanley, leader of an organization called Mutual Defense Pact 2d American Revolution Militia who offers to send more than 600 armed defenders to Barkley's aid once the standoff has begun. Lyle's daughter, a single mother of three who refuses to leave the property. She told me today, "This is the only home I know. My father is staying and I'm staying. Someone has to stand up against these gangsters. rumormillnews.com

Fed 'strike force' targeting tax reformers? September 13, 2003 By Jon Dougherty Activists say teams of IRS agents in 'campaign to silence' them. "Tax honesty" activists say they are being targeted for reprisals by "strike force" teams comprised of Internal Revenue Service agents and Department of Justice officials for attempting to force the federal government to answer key questions about the legality of the income tax. wnd.com

Dollar Falls Against Euro for a Third Week on Economic Reports September 13, 2003 The dollar fell for a third week in New York trading against the euro, reaching its lowest level in a month, after economic reports showed the U.S. economy shed jobs and consumer confidence declined. Concern the U.S. won't attract the $1.5 billion a day needed to finance its current-account deficit, the broadest measure of trade and investment, dragged the dollar 1.7 percent lower on the week, the biggest decline since July. bloomberg.com

The truth is "hate speech" only to those who have something to hide September 13, 2003 This article was originally was written in response to efforts to conceal the Israeli spy scandal, the largest spy ring ever uncovered in the United States, behind cries of "hate" and "anti-Semite". I am not "anti-Jewish", I am anti-espionage. There's a difference. I don't blame the Jewish people for the crimes of the Israeli government and the Mossad any more than I blame Americans for the crimes of the United States Government and the CIA. Israel's supporters constantly spin any criticism of Israel's actions as hate against the Jewish people. Indeed so desperate are Israel's supporters to dismiss criticism of Israel while being unable to refute the actual facts that they have taken to describing Jewish critics of Israel as "self-hating Jews." whatreallyhappened.com

Israel says it will 'remove' Arafat whenever it chooses despite world opposition September 13, 2003 Israeli leaders defended their decision to ''remove'' Yasser Arafat despite international condemnation, saying he is an obstacle to peace and should have been cast aside years ago. Statements of concern rolled in from country after country Friday a day after Israel made the vaguely worded announcement that it would act to remove Arafat. The threat set off pro-Arafat marches in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and drew opposition from the European Union, the United Nations and Arab countries.  Israeli Education Minister Limor Livnat bristled at the U.S. government's insistence on letting Arafat be. ''Israel is an independent and sovereign state,'' she said. ''It doesn't take orders from America.'' msnbc.com

Lindh was to succeed Goeran Persson as prime minister

Swedish FM Dies Of Stab Wounds After Attack September 12, 2003 By Yahia Abu Zakariya  STOCKHOLM Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh, a key advocate of the Palestinian cause and critic of Israel, died of her wounds on Thursday, September 11, a day after she was stabbed by an unknown assailant in Stockholm. There is little information on her attacker, other than a report which said he had Swedish features and was in his 30s to early 40s, according to an IslamOnline.net correspondent. The attack on Lindh, who had no bodyguard, brought back memories of the assassination of former prime minister Olof Palme, who was also a key supporter of the Palestinian cause, attacked as he was leaving a cinema in downtown Stockholm in 1986. islamonline.net

Thousands of federal jobs may go abroad, U.S. says September 12, 2003 By Marilyn Geewax President Bush's push to outsource hundreds of thousands of federal jobs could end up shifting some high-tech employment to foreign workers, administration and industry officials said Thursday. statesman.com

US recovery fails to create jobs September 12, 2003 Mark Tran The US jobs market today showed unexpected weakness as the number of workers filing initial claims for unemployment benefits rose last week. The number of people filing for state benefits rose by 3,000 to 422,000 in the week ending on September 6, the labour department said. The increase, bringing claims to their highest level since early July, confounded Wall Street expectations for a drop to 400,000 from the previous week of 413,000. guardian.co

September 11—30 years since the US-backed coup in Chile September 12, 2003 September 11 marked the 30th anniversary of the bloody US-backed coup that brought to power the fascist-military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet. The struggle in Chile that culminated in bitter defeat three decades ago constituted one of the most important strategic experiences of the international working class. The coup itself was an event that played no small role in shaping the world as it exists today. wsws.org

France, Germany, Russia offer US trade-off on Iraq September 12, 2003 France, Germany and Russia have offered the United States a deal on Iraq: approving US military leadership but downgrading US civilian control in favour of Iraqis and the United Nations. The three nations submitted amendments, circulated on Wednesday, to a US-drafted Security Council resolution shortly before a weekend foreign ministers meeting in Geneva to see if a compromise can be reached. However, US Secretary of State Colin Powell immediately ridiculed the idea...smh.com

Bin Laden Tape Is Old Material September 12, 2003 French Expert PARIS (Reuters) - A leading French terrorism expert cautioned Thursday against taking the latest Osama bin Laden video at face value, saying it was largely an edited collection of old footage and sound tracks that have already been aired. yahoo.com

The Genetically Modified Bomb September 11, 2003 by Thom Hartmann Imagine a bomb that only kills Caucasians with red hair. Or short people. Or Arabs. Or Chinese. Now imagine that this new bomb could be set off anywhere in the world, and that within a matter of days, weeks, or months it would kill every person on the planet who fits the bomb's profile, although the rest of us would be left standing. And the bomb could go off silently, without anybody realizing it had been released - or even where it was released - until its victims started dying in mass numbers. Who would imagine such a thing? Paul Wolfowitz, for one. William Kristol for another. And, history shows, when the men who define U.S. military policy from the shadows set their sights on something, it's worthy of our attention. thepeoplesvoice.org

How We Lost The Vote - How To Get It Back Again September 11, 2003 by Lynn Landes ...Today, the right to vote in America is held hostage by technology - a technology that stands between the voter and a real ballot - a technology that delivers only circumstantial evidence of a vote while people push buttons, punch holes, throw levers, and dial-up. What is a real vote? In many countries it's a paper ballot that you can touch and mark and know who you voted for, that gets hand counted at the end of the day by local election officials in full view of fellow citizens and poll watchers...all engaged in safeguarding your right to a free and fair election. But in America today, a vote is an electronic image, or an indecipherable punch card, or a paper tab that lever machines produce. Do we need both man and machine counting the votes? And if that's the case, whose count should prevail in the end? opednews.com

Folly Taken To A Scale We Haven't Seen Since WWII September 11, 2003 By Robert Fisk (The Independent) When the attacks were launched against the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon two years ago today, who had ever heard of Fallujah or Hillah? When the Lebanese hijacker flew his plane into the ground in Pennsylvania, who would ever have believed that President George Bush would be announcing a "new front line in the war on terror" as his troops embarked on a hopeless campaign against the guerrillas of Iraq? Who could ever have conceived of an American president calling the world to arms against "terrorism" in "Afghanistan, Iraq and Gaza"? Gaza? What do the miserable, crushed, cruelly imprisoned Palestinians of Gaza have to do with the international crimes against humanity in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania? informationclearinghouse.info

THEODORE A. STRECKER - THIS IS A BIO-ATTACK ALERT, MARCH 28, 1986 September 11, 2003 Historically speaking, the document "This Is A Bio-Attack Alert", written March 28, 1986, by Attorney Theodore A. Strecker and Robert B. Strecker M.D. Ph.D., is probably the single most important document written about AIDS, in defense of human life on this planet and against the unrelenting lies given to American Citizens and the World population about AIDS. This was a legitimate attempt to tell the Truth and at least save the countless lives of American Citizens, regardless of their Race, Creed, Color, Religion or Natural Origin. umoja-research.com

Iraq: Eyewitness says US helicopter attack killed ITN reporter Terry Lloyd September 11, 2003 By Chris Marsden Britain’s Daily Mirror newspaper has run an exclusive interview with an Iraqi businessman who claims he saw ITN reporter Terry Lloyd shot dead during a criminal attack by a US helicopter gunship on a civilian ambulance. Lloyd was covering the Iraq war as a non-embedded journalist when he was killed on March 22 on the southern Iraq warfront. At the time, Lloyd’s death caused outrage, as it was believed he had died as a result of US troops opening fire on Iraqi soldiers who appeared to be surrendering. wsws.org

Audience members disrupt debate September 11, 2003 BALTIMORE, Maryland (AP) Supporters of perennial presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche and other hecklers interrupted Tuesday's Democratic debate at Morgan State University and university police arrested four people. "Where's LaRouche?" shouted one woman during remarks by Sen. Joe Lieberman. There were at least five interruptions during the 90-minute debate. Debra Freeman, national spokeswoman for LaRouche, said supporters disrupted the debate because LaRouche was not allowed to participate. cnn.com

Want to See the World Implode September 10, 2003 by Jim Donahue I'd like to see some real hell unleashed in the upcoming year. I want a briefcase full of weaponized toxins to explode in front of the New York Stock Exchange. I want to see political assassinations take place all over Amerika, melee assassinations, live on television during a press conference. I want power outages to roll their way through the countryside, from Boston to D.C. to Miami to Dallas to Los Angeles to San Francisco to Seattle and back again. I want the economy to collapse into a pile of green ashes. I want 401(k) plans and IRAs and mutual fund investments to disappear. I want the twelve Federal Reserve Bank branches to go up in flames. strike-the-root.com

As Bush spreads lies throughout the land, dissenters are corralled into “Free Speech Zones” –- is this America? September 10, 2003 By Mick Youther You may have seen the item yesterday about demonstrators against President Bush being herded inside a fence at Neville Island for his Labor Day visit. Police called this enclosure the designated free-speech area, though anyone who had signs praising the president was evidently OK to line the island's main street for the motorcade.” --Brian O'Neill Pittsburgh Post-Gazette September 5, 2002 “We were not allowed anywhere near any kind of position where the president, or the media which follows him, would see or hear us…. The effort being made to hide political opposition in this country is more than cowardly. It's un-American.”--Peter Buckley, candidate for Congress in Oregon “I asked him if it was the content of my sign, and he said, ‘Yes, sir, it's the content of your sign that's the problem.’ And so it's just become a matter of procedure that the Secret Service is clearing the area of anybody that would have a message that would be contrary to George Bush's policies.” “When I asked the officer why we were not allowed on the sidewalk like the people walking to the picnic and residents holding pro-Bush signs, he simply said, ‘Orders.’” --Regis T. Sabol, New Deal Publications. Demand that your representatives in Congress pass legislation that will put an end to “Free Speech Zones.” When it comes to peaceful assembly and protest, America is the Free Speech Zone. interventionmag.com

Eating Humble Pie Less Secure, Isolated and Dead Broke September 10, 2003 By WILLIAM A. COOK A cynic may be the only person enjoying the current scene Bush administration officials scurrying frantically around, like so many roaches caught with the light suddenly turned on, to the UNSC, to Germany, France, Congress, and the compliant mainstream media talk shows, diligently explaining the virtues of a broader based coalition of forces for Iraq carrying full UN endorsement. But the cynic also sees the roaches peering out from beneath the stove hoarding the goodies they've acquired by their invasion in the dark of night. Powell and Rumsfeld, buddies once again we're assured, proclaim how this is an international concern requiring all members of the United Nations to join the coalition by sending troops and money. When asked what's in it for them beyond loss of revenue and body bags, the dynamic duo can only mutter, "It's in your best interest." counterpunch.org

Republicans Seem to Want to Keep Computerized Voting Easily Corruptible September 10, 2003 by Rob Kall Before the age of computers, there were all kinds of ways for a local politico to "mess" with the voting apparatus. He could arrange for a mechanical machine to count wrong. Or, the names of people in cemeteries could be kept or put on the voter rolls. But now, in the wondrous age of computers and the internet, it's possible, with a virtually undetectable line of software code that can make itself disappear after its done its dirty work, to wreak corruption on hundreds or thousands of computerized voting machines reflecting hundreds of thousands or millions of votes. A number of recent elections are suspected of being tainted by this voting corruption. We've opened a Pandora's box with computerized voting, not knowing what was going to come out. opednews.com

The Bear's Lair: Giant sucking sound? September 10, 2003 By Martin Hutchinson September 10, 2003 It was Ross Perot who predicted a "giant sucking sound" of U.S. jobs heading southwards if Congress ratified the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994. Sophisticated economists derided him. Well, listen up, guys -- since the economy peaked in 2000, and more particularly in 2003, there has indeed been a "giant sucking sound" of U.S. manufacturing jobs disappearing down memory lane. U.S. manufacturing in August lost 44,000 jobs, and U.S. manufacturing employment has declined by 16 percent since its peak in August 2000. Admittedly, self-employment is up, by 400,000 in 2003, but as I can speak from experience, many of the self-employed may simply be seeking to scratch together an income while they bemoan the loss of full time employment; we are not talking about a dazzling surge in entrepreneurship. The only age cohort of the workforce that has increased its workforce participation rate is the over 55's; of course this owes much to the decline in the stock market and in interest rates since 2000, and the consequent failure of many people's savings to support the lifestyle to which they had been accustomed. upi.com

CNN = “Contains No News” 1 Hour of CNN Yields Less Than 5 Minutes of News September 10, 2003 by TvNewsLies.org A Detailed Analysis. What on earth is happening in this country? The most recent polls reveal that 69% of Americans still believe that Saddam Hussein and Iraq were involved in the terror attacks of 9/11! How could this totally erroneous idea be shared by a majority of the public? Any informed individual would have known that this is absolutely untrue – that no connection between Iraq and 9/11 has ever been substantiated. Are Americans simply not listening to the news? No way.  They really believe they are getting information they can rely on from the media. The poll is just one example of the complete failure of the American television news networks to accurately inform the public. tvnewslies.org

Reserve Tours Are Extended Army Orders 1-Year Stay In Iraq, Nearby Nations September 10, 2003 By Vernon Loeb and Steve Vogel With U.S. forces stretched thin in Iraq and the Bush administration still searching for additional international peacekeepers, the Army has ordered thousands of National Guard and Army Reserve forces in Iraq to extend their tours in the country to a year, months longer than many of the troops had anticipated, Army officials said yesterday. washingtonpost.com

Secrecy masks Patriot Act’s conduct Amid rights debate, scope of law is cloaked September 10, 2003 By Amy Goldstein In Seattle, the public library printed 3,000 bookmarks to alert patrons that the FBI could, in the name of national security, seek permission from a secret federal court to inspect their reading and computer records - and prohibit librarians from revealing that a search had taken place. msnbc.com

Health Premiums Swell, U.S. Public Worried - Poll September 10, 2003 By Kim Dixon Americans fret more over soaring health costs than terrorism and consumers have more cause for anger as premiums rise at the steepest rate in a decade, a report on Tuesday said. asia.reuters.com

Santa Cruz to ask Congress to consider impeaching Bush September 10, 2003 By MARTHA MENDOZA SANTA CRUZ, Calif. With a sweeping 6-1 vote, the Santa Cruz City Council became the first local government in the country Tuesday to ask Congress to look into impeaching President Bush. "It's time for us to open up this can of worms," said councilman Tim Fitzmaurice. sacbee.com

Thousands of US troops evacuated from Iraq for unexplained medical reasons September 9, 2003 By James Conachy Citing the US military Central Command as its source, the Washington Post reported on September 2 that “more than 6,000 service members” had been medically evacuated from Iraq since the launch of the war. At the time, the number of combat wounded stood at 1,124. A further 301 personnel had been injured in non-combat incidents such as vehicle accidents. The figure of “more than 6,000” supplied to the Post therefore implies that over 4,500 US troops have required evacuation from Iraq for medical reasons other than combat or non-combat injuries. wsws.org

Bush's Speech: The War in Iraq is Not Over and Neither Are the Lies to Justify It September 9, 2003 by Stephen Zunes President George W. Bush’s nationally-broadcast speech Sunday evening once again was designed to mislead Congress and the American public into supporting his administration’s policies in Iraq. Despite record deficits and draconian cutbacks in government support for health care, housing, education, the environment and public transportation, the president is asking the American taxpayer to spend an additional $87 billion to support his invasion and occupation of Iraq. It is disturbing that President Bush has once again tried to link the very real threat to American security from mega-terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda to phony threats originating in Iraq. Not only does he try to link the terrorism that has grown out of the post-invasion chaos in Iraq to the devastating Al-Qaeda attacks on the United States two years ago, President Bush has depicted all the current violence against Americans and other foreigners in Iraq as part of this terrorist threat. commondreams.org

According to plan, Think Bush isn't meeting his economic goals? Think again September 9, 2003 If you are a middle-aged software designer still looking for work a year after a layoff, or a former Enron manager now selling shoes in a department store, or a seamstress laid off when a textile mill shut down, you might think President Bush's program for economic recovery isn't working. You'd be wrong. The president's economy policy is working just as he planned it -- for the well-to-do. The stock market is bouncing back, sales of Rolexes and Range Rovers are humming right along, and compensation for CEOs is still in the stratosphere. Among the president's friends, there is little anxiety about the kids' trust funds. (Notice how well Halliburton has been doing since the invasion of Iraq?) Bush's multibillion-dollar tax cuts largely benefited the wealthy while doing little to produce jobs for average workers. Conservatives fiercely defended the tax cuts as redress to rich capitalists who paid most of the taxes and who would create jobs if given appropriate incentives. They neglected to mention that many of those jobs would be created in other countries. workingforchange.com

US Labor Realtions - 40 hour week September 9, 2003 A US Senator from Iowa, Tom Harkin is leading the fight against the US Bush administration's latest attempt to gut the hallmark piece of US labor relations, the 40-hour week. The Bush Department of Labor wants to allow employers to reclassify nearly every employee who has any degree of eduation a "professional" and therefore exempt from guarantees that employees who work more than 40 hours per week receive overtime pay overtime. The Bush Department of Labor has also been mulling over changes that would allow employers to force their employees to accept compensatory time instead of cash for working more than 40 hours. The US Senate is expected to take action on Tuesday, September 9th, to make a "pre-emptive strike" against these regulations, before they take effect. Journalist Paul Almeida is calling the proposed regulations, "the biggest pay cut in US history." Most US workers have been guaranteed a work week of no more than 40 hours since 1938. US Labor Unions are marshalling support for Harkin's move and even some corporate media sources have weighed in editorially against this radical change in US labor relations. startribune.com

Yellowstone Super Volcano Update September 9, 2003 By Dr. Bruce Cornet, Geologist, Paleobotanist, and Palynologist. Mt. Sheriden has been rumbling (15+ micro-quakes) between 1:00 pm and now (9/7/03). There were three small earthquakes at Yellowstone lake between 10:00 am and 1:00 pm MT (9/7/03), which were felt at Norris Junction. There were some small quakes between Midnight and 6:00 am (9/7/03) at Norris Junction. There was a whole string of micro-quakes (25 or more) at Madison River between 6:00 am and now, which are continuing. There have been sporadic micro-quakes (32+) all day at Mammoth Hot Springs. Micro-quakes started around Noon and have continued to the present at Mirror Lake Plateau. All in all, activity is picking up from a lull for about two weeks, before which a series of small and large quakes (including a 4.4) occurred. That quake prompted the web report. rense.com