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The Case for
Impeachment HIGH
CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS January 19, 2004
By: Ted Lang The
President, Vice President, and all civil Officers of the United States,
shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason,
Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.
- United States Constitution, Article II, Section 4 --
It seems that everyone who reads that phrase, “high crimes and
misdemeanors,” must know what it means, whether one experiences that
expression for the first time, or whether it serves as a tired and worn out
qualifier justifying the impeachment of a sitting president.
And it is doubtful that the average American even knows what
impeachment means – they assume it means removal from office.
But look again at the precise wording offered in Article II of our
Constitution; it clearly indicates that removal from office can occur only
after both impeachment and conviction. thepeoplesvoice.org
The Cost of Israel to the American People
January 17, 2004 by
Richard Curtiss By
now many Americans are aware that Israel, with a population of only 5.8 million
people, is the largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid, and that Israel’s aid
plus U.S. aid to Egypt’s 65 million people for keeping the peace with Israel
has, for many years, consumed more than half of the U.S. bi-lateral foreign aid
budget world-wide. What few Americans understand however,
is the steep price they pay in many other fields for the U.S.-Israeli
relationship, which in turn is a product of the influence of Israel’s powerful
U.S. lobby on American domestic politics and has nothing to do with U.S.
strategic interests, U.S. national interests, or even with traditional American
support for self-determination, human rights, and fair play overseas. alhewar.com
America's final wakeup call
January 17, 2004 By Arianna Huffington
Former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill's damning book may finally clue Americans
in to the deadly consequences of being governed by a disengaged dolt in the
hands of a fanatical cabal. Struggling to reconcile the ever-widening gulf
between what the Bush administration claims to be true and what is actually true
is getting harder by the day. Fortunately, Paul O'Neill has a timely, if
disturbing, diagnosis, backed up by some 19,000 pages of lab results: The White
House is being run by a band of out-and-out fanatics. salon.com
Damned lies and war loot
January 17, 2004 By Mike Carlton More and more evidence is coming in. The
jigsaw pieces are fitting into place. It is becoming appallingly clear that
President George Bush is an arrant liar and - as Mark Latham correctly suggested
- "the most incompetent and dangerous president in living memory". smh.com
U.S. still
holds children at Guantanamo
January 17, 2004
By Sue Pleming (Reuters) - The United States has held three child
detainees at its military base in Guantanamo Bay for more than a year and the
Pentagon says it has no plans to move or free them, despite international
pressure."They have been in detention since the early part of last year
without any direct contact with their families or knowledge about what is going
to happen to them"Jo Becker, Human Rights Watch reuters.co.uk
Human rights groups: US may be
guilty of “collective punishment” war crime in Iraq
January 17, 2004 By Joanne Laurier US
military forces in Iraq appear to be committing war crimes by detaining the
relatives of suspected insurgents and demolishing their homes, according to
Human Rights Watch (HRW), the international human rights organization. wsws.org
US$ plunge could lead to full-blown financial crisis
January 17, 2004 By William Choong If
confidence goes, lenders will pull loans and cause dollar to crash There
are fears the American appetite for Japanese cars, Chinese clothing and
Malaysian electronics could cause a global financial crisis sparked by a run on
the US dollar. This has led to a massive current
account deficit of more than US$500 billion (S$850 billion) - a far cry from 10
years ago, when the US enjoyed a trade surplus of US$82 billion. Its
budget deficit could hit US$450 billion this year - another record, and a
dramatic turnaround from 2001, when government coffers were in the black.
This has led commentators to lament how America's twin
deficits could grow into a 'full-blown, Third World-style financial crisis'. straitstimes.asia1.com
Are You Going To Get Mad?
january 17, 2004 by Charley Reese It
is now about as clear as it's going to get that Saddam Hussein had no weapons of
mass destruction. Secretary of State Colin Powell even contradicted himself (in
his U.N. speech) by admitting recently that there is no evidence of any link
between Saddam and al-Qaida. antiwar.com
Pentagon
Withholds Cold War Medical Data
January 17, 2004 By
ROBERT GEHRKE (AP)
- The Pentagon is continuing to withhold documents on Cold War chemical and
biological weapons tests that used unsuspecting sailors as "human
samplers" after telling Congress it had released all medically relevant
information. apnews1.iwon.com
News Blackout January 17, 2004
The FCC was getting ready to loosen the
rules limiting media concentration. A grassroots movement had sprung up to
derail the plan. But you wouldn’t have learned much about the controversy from
many news outlets owned by the big conglomerates that were eager to cash in.ajr.org
Israel answers to
no one on nuclear weapons January 17, 2004
By
CRAIG NELSON Jerusalem
-- The White House celebrated news last month that Libya will dismantle its
weapons of mass destruction and that Iran will permit snap inspections of its
nuclear program. But
the biggest nuclear power in the Middle East, the state that runs the most
secretive WMD program in the world, has signaled no intention of disarming or
even slowing down. ajc.com
Voting machine software
questioned January 17, 2004 By
STAFF REPORTS The state's Voting Systems and Procedures panel asked for
more information Thursday about software changes made without state or federal
certification by the maker of voting machines used in Alameda County and other
jurisdictions. "All of the questions, particularly better understanding how
and why these upgrades happened, still have not been fully answered," said
Doug Stone, spokesman for Secretary of State Kevin Shelley. "We hope the
information that we believe Diebold will provide to us will provide a more
comprehensive and detailed answer." State officials in December revealed
Diebold Election Systems had supplied uncertified software to all 17 California
counties in which it has machines. Critics have noted Diebold CEO Walter
O'Dell's ties to Republican fund-raising and are concerned the company's system
is prone to illegal manipulation. oaklandtribune.com
Martin Luther King: Terrorist
January 17, 2004 Geov Parrish On the stunning disparity between a nation
that glorifies war and one that honors Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with a
holiday Let’s not mince words. Were Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. alive today,
he would be at risk for being imprisoned indefinitely, without charges or access
to legal counsel, as an “enemy combatant.” workingforchange.com
 Israeli
ambassador kicked out of Swedish museum after vandalizing art January 17, 2004
Israel's ambassador to Sweden was kicked out of Stockholm's Museum of National
Antiquities after he destroyed an artwork featuring a picture of a Palestinian
suicide bomber, the artists said. The incident, widely reported in the Swedish
media, occurred at the opening on Friday of the "Making Differences"
exhibit, part of an upcoming international conference on genocide hosted by the
Swedish government and in which Israel is scheduled to participate. sg.news.yahoo.com
IRS to audit Nature Conservancy
January 17, 2004 By
Joe Stephens and David B. Ottaway A team of IRS examiners will move into the
global headquarters of the Nature Conservancy in Arlington to begin auditing the
charity, the world's largest environmental organization. A letter sent to the
Conservancy by the Internal Revenue Service last month indicates that the audit
will be of uncommon scope for a charity. msnbc.msn.com
Bush's space plan opposed January 17, 2004
By Bob Kalish Is the Bush administration's push to send astronauts to the
moon and Mars one small step for man or one giant step for the militarization of
space? An international peace group based in Brunswick argues that the new
policy outlined Wednesday by President Bush is motivated more by expansionist
military thinking than a scientific quest to further humankind's knowledge about
the universe. timesrecord.com
Schwarzenegger budget to slash health and
education in California January 17, 2004
By Rafael Azul and Jerry Isaacs California’s
Republican governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, outlined a budget proposal January 9
that constitutes a massive assault on health, education and other social service
programs upon which millions of people in the state rely. wsws.org
US sugar barons 'block global war on
obesity' January 18, 2004 Jo Revill and
Paul Harris Leading scientists accused the Bush administration last night of
putting the interests of powerful American sugar barons ahead of the global
fight against obesity. guardian.co.uk
in New York
The
Ugliest American January 17, 2004
By Mick Youther In
three years, George W. Bush has managed to alienate most of the world. What will
he do next? The U.S. has a serious problem with international relations.
It is called the Bush Administration. Admittedly, it is hard to live up to the
Jeffersonian ideal of “Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all
nations,” but the Bush Administration can’t seem to get along with
anyone—even our allies. interventionmag.com
Facing questions, Clark backs Army
January 17, 2004 By Joanna Weiss school Retired General Wesley K. Clark
sometimes downplays his Army background, and criticizes the military's
"don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays. But there is one military
institution he vigorously defends: the controversial academy once known as the
US Army School of the Americas. boston.com
Overtime
Pay For Millions of Americans in Peril January 16, 2004
by Katherine Stapp NEW YORK An electronic technician with the U.S. Navy,
John Garrity has two young children and another on the way. He often works extra
hours to help make ends meet, but worries that under new overtime pay rules
proposed by the Labor Department, he will lose about six thousand dollars a
year. "It's a pay cut and an attack on workers' rights," he said in an
interview. "They're trying to roll the clock back. People fought and went
to jail to have a 40-hour work week so they could spend more time with their
families. The president just wants to pay back his corporate friends." commondreams.org
Factories
suffer 41 months of layoffs January
16, 2004 By Sue Kirchhoff USA TODAY Manufacturers still aren't producing
the one item the economy needs most: jobs. Despite recent sharp jumps in orders
and shipments, factories shed 26,000 workers in December, the Labor Department
said Friday. The December figures mark the 41st consecutive month of layoffs,
and bring overall manufacturing job losses to 2.8 million since mid-2000. usatoday.com
Bush to Revive Social Security Tax Plan
January 16, 2003 SCOTT
LINDLAW President Bush will use next
week's State of the Union address to try to revive a proposal that would allow
younger workers to invest a portion of their Social Security taxes in the stock
market, aides say. His election-year agenda
also calls for pressing Congress to make already-enacted tax cuts permanent,
such as the elimination of inheritances taxes and reductions in capital gains
taxes. tallahassee.com
The
Unlocked Box How
Bush is plundering Social Security to close the deficit
January 16, 2004 By
Daniel Gross The International Monetary Fund, which usually
frets about runaway fiscal policies in developing countries, yesterday released a
report that warned of the dangers to the global economy posed by the United
States' lack of spending discipline, its reliance on foreign creditors, and its
failure to plan adequately for future government liabilities. Earlier this week,
even as he called
for making the Bush tax cuts permanent, Treasury Secretary John Snow
pooh-poohed the deficit problem and insisted the government has a plan to
improve matters: slate.msn.com
Bush has to be stopped, say activists at Indian forum January 16, 2004
Mumbai
Activists have declared war on US President George Bush on the eve of the top
anti-globalisation gathering. The activists have vowed that the six-day World
Social Forum taking place in Mumbai will denounce the US president on everything
from the Iraq war to trade policies. Organisers of the forum, which was due to
open today, yesterday said the annual get- together would provide a common
ground for diverse movements that led protests against last year's invasion of
Iraq. "Bush has to be stopped. His country's policies are creating
devastation around the world, militarily and economically," said Chico
Whitaker, who spearheaded the forum that was held between 2001 and 2003 in
Brazil. thestar.co.za
Nightmare vision January 16, 2004
By David Cogswell Imagine for a moment
that a group was absolutely relentless in its pursuit of power and was
unrestrained when it came to seeking power and holding it. What if a group was
totally dedicated to power as its ultimate goal, and all other values were
secondary? What if such a group sought to gain control of the U.S. government,
the seat of the greatest economic, military and political power in the world,
and it would stop at nothing to achieve its goal? And what if, having taken
control of the U.S. government, its plan would be to then parlay that power to
military, economic and political domination of the world? onlinejournal.com
Blind Loyalty to
an Empire of Greed: The Corruptions of Patriotism
January 16, 2004
By GLEN T. MARTIN The United States administers a
global empire. This used to be a secret. Through the 1990s, our government told
us that we stood for democracy, freedom, and independence of nations worldwide
(lying to us). But the majority of U.S. citizens refused to critically examine
their government out of patriotism. Sheeplike, we acted in defiance of the
founding fathers of our nation who distrusted the power of government, who
realized that small acts of terrorism (which existed then as now) were nothing
compared to the potential for tyranny from those who wield governmental powers. informationclearinghouse.info
Continuing
slaughter of Iraqi civilians, police, and US soldiers
January 16, 2004 Dahr Jamail Electronic
Iraq Today on CBS television, Paul Bremer boasted, "In the last
three or four weeks we've seen a rather dramatic reduction in the number of
attacks on the coalition. They are down by about 50 percent," I read this
quote to my friend Hamoudi here in Baghdad. He raises his eyebrows and says,
"But attacks on helicopters has been up 100%. The resistance is finding it
easier to attack the helicopters than the ground patrols. Attacks are not
decreasing, they are changing. Doesn't Mr. Bremer see this?" electroniciraq.net
Gore blasts Bush space plan and says president neglects Earth January 16, 2004
By Nichola Groom, Reuters Former Vice President Al Gore
scoffed at President Bush's plan to send astronauts to the moon and Mars and
said Bush was a "moral coward" for ignoring global environmental
threats. Speaking at an event sponsored by political advocacy groups MoveOn.org
and Environment2004, Gore said Bush's record on the environment routinely puts
the wishes of the coal, oil, utility, and mining industries ahead of public
interests. "Instead of spending enormous sums of money on an unimaginative
and retread effort to make a tiny portion of the moon habitable for a handful of
people, we should focus instead on a massive effort to ensure that the Earth is
habitable for future generations," Gore said to a cheering Manhattan crowd.
enn.com
Gore Calls Bush a 'Moral Coward'
Environmental Policies Decried as Driven by Campaign Funds
January 16, 2004 By Eric Pianin Former vice president Al Gore called
President Bush "a moral coward" yesterday for allegedly tailoring his
policies on global warming and other environmental and energy matters to benefit
his allies in the coal, oil and mining industries. In a stinging assessment of
the president's environmental record, Gore criticized Bush for reneging on his
2000 campaign pledge to regulate carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas blamed by many
scientists for Earth's rising temperature, and for launching a "totally
meaningless" voluntary program after disavowing a 1997 international accord
negotiated in Kyoto, Japan, that imposed mandatory emissions cuts. washingtonpost.com
Gore says Bush abandoned public on environment January
16, 2003 Associated Press Former Vice President Al Gore
on Thursday blasted President Bush as a "moral coward" who abandoned
the public's environmental interests to accommodate his financial backers. Gore,
in a speech before a full house at the Beacon Theater, said it sometimes
appeared that "the Bush-Cheney administration is wholly owned by the coal,
oil, utility and mining industries." billingsgazette.com
Cheney's grim vision: decades of war Vice
president says Bush policy aimed at long-term world threat January 16, 2004
James Sterngold In a forceful preview of the Bush administration's
expansionist military policies in this election year, Vice President Dick Cheney
Wednesday painted a grim picture of what he said was the growing threat of a
catastrophic terrorist attack in the United States and warned that the battle,
like the Cold War, could last generations. "Scattered in more than 50
nations, the al Qaeda network and other terrorist groups constitute an enemy
unlike any other that we have ever faced, " he said. "And as our
intelligence shows, the terrorists continue plotting to kill on an ever-larger
scale, including here in the United States." Cheney provided no details,
however, of the kinds of attacks he expected. "Instead of losing thousands
of lives, we might lose tens or even hundreds of thousands of lives as the
result of a single attack, or a set coordinated of attacks," Cheney said. sfgate.com
CBS REJECTS ANTI-BUSH SUPER BOWL
COMMERCIAL January 16, 2004 By Ira
Teinowitz (AdAge.com) -- Viacom's CBS today rejected a request from liberal
group MoveOn to air a 30-second anti-President Bush ad during the Super Bowl,
saying the spot violated the network's policy against running issue advocacy
advertising. The
moveon ad / adage.com
Protesters at MLK grave demand: ‘Go home, Bush’ January
16, 2003 Associated Press ATLANTA Looking for election-year
support from black voters in the South, President Bush was greeted at Martin
Luther King's grave here Thursday by noisy demonstrators who chanted "Go
home, Bush!" after receiving a warmer reception at a run-down church in New
Orleans. As Bush placed a wreath on King's crypt, a low chorus of boos could be
heard from across the street where an estimated 700 to 800 protesters beat drums
and waved signs bearing slogans such as "War is not the answer" and
"It's not a photo-op, George." billingsgazette.com
Rather than a noble
journey into space, Bush desperately wants new ways to distract Americans from
dwelling on his political disasters here on earth
January 16, 2004 By John Greeley What a way
to identify with a noble and uplifting tradition begun by JFK! What a way to
turn our attention away from the chaos we have created in Afghanistan and the
morass of Iraq. What a way to soften the impact of the now almost five hundred
needless American deaths in that country since we invaded it, not to mention the
huge casualty lists nor, heaven forbid, the civilian deaths! Let's go to Mars! interventionmag.com
Bush is from Mars when it comes to budget
January 16, 2004 Last month, the Bush White House reportedly was searching for a
"Kennedy Moment," announcement of some big, non-Iraq issue to define
the reelection campaign. In fact, George W. Bush today will announce a
"Bush Moment" -- taken from President George H.W. Bush. Fifteen years
ago, the president's father proposed that the United States set up a base on the
moon, then push on to Mars. palmbeachpost.com
9/11 director gave evidence to own
inquiry January 16, 2004 By Shaun Waterman
(UPI) The panel set up to investigate why the United States failed to prevent
the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, faced angry questions Thursday after
revelations that two of its own senior officials were so closely involved in the
events under investigation that they have been interviewed as part of the
inquiry. upi.com
2 Halliburton subcontractors killed in
Iraq January 16, 2004 Houston Chronicle
Two Halliburton Co. subcontractors were killed and one company employee was
injured today, when their convoy was ambushed near Saddam Hussein's hometown of
Tikrit, company officials confirmed. chron.com
Venezuela Decriminalizes Drug Possession January 16, 2004
Today's neo-libertarians, if they truly believe what they claim to believe about
freedom, really need to take a second look at Venezuela and it's president Hugo
Chávez. The democratically-elected government of Venezuela has survived
attempted coups - military, economic, and mediatic - and keeps moving forward
with the most sweeping reforms and advances in democracy and human rights in the
hemisphere today. The latest: a reform of the penal code that, while increasing
penalties for drug traffickers like every other country, has just decriminalized
possession. In sum, the drug addict or user no longer faces prison or penalty in
Venezuela if he possesses small amounts of his drug of choice (specifically
mentioned by the law are marijuana, hashish, cocaine and its derivatives, opium
and its derivatives, and synthetic drugs). bigleftoutside.com
 The
O’Neill Factor THE REAL NO-SPIN ZONE! January
15, 2004 By: Ted Lang The truth stands alone and is founded in
fact. It is unemotional and vital in securing justice. It would
indeed be comforting if truth could always be found in an aura fostered by good
intentions, compassion, understanding and tolerance. But more often than
we care to admit, the truth is usually exposed via jealousy, recrimination or
base retaliation. To the intellectually mature, the politically astute,
and the worldly among us, this should never come as a surprise. We should
always prefer the truth over the manner and mode in which it is delivered to our
doorstep. thepeoplesvoice.org
Arizona Prepares For Secession From US
January 15, 2004
1. That when or if the President of the United States, the Congress of the
United States or any other federal agent or agency declares the Constitution
of the United States to be suspended or abolished, if the President or any
other federal entity attempts to institute martial law or its equivalent
without an official declaration in one or more of the states without the
consent of that state or if any federal order attempts to make it unlawful for
individual Americans to own firearms or to confiscate firearms, the State of
Arizona, when joined by thirty-four of the other fifty states, declares as
follows: that the states resume all state powers delegated by the Constitution
of the United States and assume total sovereignty; that the states re-ratify
and re-establish the present Constitution of the United States as the charter
for the formation of a new federal government, to be followed by the election
of a new Congress and President and the reorganization of a new judiciary,
similarly following the precedent and procedures of the founding fathers; arizona.indymedia.org
New Hampshire
House bill would defy provisions of Patriot Act January 15, 2004
By WARREN HASTINGS The federal
anti-terrorism Patriot Act endangers traditional freedoms and should not be
recognized by New Hampshire, supporters of proposed legislation said at a
public hearing yesterday. In
part, House Bill 1246 says: "The state of New Hampshire no longer
recognizes the USA Patriot Act, including any subsequent rules, executive
orders or judicial interpretations to have effect or to be binding on the
state or residents of this state." sianews.com
Watching the HORROR
of the Patriot Act: How we Can Make a Difference
January 15, 2004 Norma Sherry Art often
imitates life. The star of a recent episode of the TV series, ‘The
Practice’(1/11/04,) was not James Spader or Sharon Stone, it was The
US Patriot Act – and what a despicable role it was. If there
is still a citizen unaware of the US
Patriot Act and the soon to be Victory
Act, and how the US
Patriot Act has eroded seven of ten amendments in our Bill of
Rights, this episode was a rude awakening.
The show opened with a hysterical call to the lawyer’s offices by
a young white male, pleading for a lawyer to come immediately to the
hospital because his friend was being tortured by the police. Disbelief
was soon replaced with fear as the young man held his phone towards the
screams of his buddy.
opednews.com
Children's Defense Fund Fears President's Space
Plan Will Carry an Out-of-This-World Price Tag
January
15, 2004 U.S. Newswire Children's Defense Fund President Marian
Wright Edelman today said that President Bush's space exploration program will
likely cost the country much more than the Administration is willing to reveal
and will divert critical resources away from important domestic priorities. "Today's speech by the President was an attempt to mask
the enormous price tag on further space exploration," said Edelman.
"When the President's father proposed similar goals back in 1989, the
estimates were $400 billion. But even if the price tag today has been trimmed
down, it is still too much. This is the wrong priority for America at a time
when its children are facing so many challenges and our federal deficit is
reaching record high levels." Edelman explained
that instead of spending money to colonize the Moon, and travel to Mars and
asteroids, a much smaller amount could be invested in some critical areas that
would make a difference right now in the lives of children. "Eighty-one
billion dollars phased in over five years would provide health insurance to
all uninsured children in America, and $81 billion phased in over five years
would give Head Start to every eligible pre-schooler who needs it." releases.usnewswire.com
Bush's Space Vision Thing Critics
will no doubt accuse
President Bush of fiscal folly for proposing a grandiose plan for space
exploration at a time when the nation faces onerous deficits and insufficient
money to meet costly obligations on planet Earth. The critics would be right
that money is short and there are many more important things to do than put
astronauts on the Moon or Mars. But Mr. Bush is a canny enough politician to
avoid committing much money to his new space vision. He calls for only $1
billion in new financing for NASA over five years and a reallocation of the
current five-year budget of $86 billion. The cost will of course explode later
on, when NASA tries to actually carry out the program. What Mr. Bush has really
done is promise the moon (literally) while leaving future presidents and
Congresses to figure out how to pay the potentially large future bills while
they cope with the severe revenue losses caused by Mr. Bush's reckless tax cuts.
nytimes.com
NASA Ames
Center looks at problem of drilling on Mars January 15, 2004
By Kristen Nelson Briggs said NASA has been working with Halliburton, Shell,
Baker-Hughes and the Los Alamos National Laboratory to identify drilling
technologies that might work on Mars.
The first goal, he said, would be “to drill a hole down into the permafrost,
maybe 100 meters as a trial of the technology; ultimately we want to go to
several kilometers.” The
earliest drilling opportunity would be 2007, and one of the problems will be
power. A very power-efficient system might cut out cores a meter at a time,
Briggs said, perhaps grinding away at material needed to get the core at a
rate of one core a day for hundreds of days. petroleumnews.com
The Next War January 15, 2004
By Doug Ireland It’s a
helluva New Year’s present: a new neocon manifesto which wants to put the
United States on a course for war with three countries. Published the day
before 2004 by Random House, An End to Evil: How to Win the War on Terror
bears the signature of two of Washington’s most influential ideologues.
Richard Perle, known as the “Prince of Darkness”, helped put together the
now-famous 1999 neocon manifesto (signed by Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney,
among others) calling for war on Iraq. David Frum is Dubya’s former
speechwriter, the man who coined “axis of evil” and put it in the
president’s mouth. The book proposes harsh action against France(1) —-
which Perle and Frum say should be treated as an "enemy"—and
thunders that "We should force European governments to choose between
Paris and Washington." thetruthseeker.co.uk
Who Rules America?
January 15, 2004 The Alien Grip on Our News and Entertainment Media
Must Be Broken There is no
greater power in the world today than that wielded by the manipulators of
public opinion in America. No king or pope of old, no conquering general or
high priest ever disposed of a power even remotely approaching that of the few
dozen men who control America's mass media of news and entertainment. Their
power is not distant and impersonal; it reaches into every home in America,
and it works its will during nearly every waking hour. It is the power that
shapes and molds the mind of virtually every citizen, young or old, rich or
poor, simple or sophisticated. The
mass media form for us our image of the world and then tell us what to think
about that image. Essentially everything we know -- or think we know --
about events outside our own neighborhood or circle of acquaintances comes to
us via our daily newspaper, our weekly news magazine, our radio, or our
television. natvan.com
OPEC mulls move to euro for
pricing crude oil January 15, 2004 By PATRICK BRETHOUR Calgary
— OPEC is considering a move away from using the U.S. dollar — and to the
euro — to set its price targets for crude oil, the highest-profile
manifestation of the debilitating effect of depreciation on the greenback's
standing as the currency of international commerce. globeandmail.com
Protests grow against US-led occupation of Iraq January 15, 2004
By Mike
Head Amid a wave of protests against the US-led occupation of Iraq, the
country’s most senior Shiite cleric has reiterated his opposition to the
Bush administration’s plans to instal an unelected provisional government on
July 1. Both these developments—mass demonstrations demanding jobs and food,
and the objections of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani—point to deepening
problems for Washington and its allies. wsws.org
The New York Times whitewashes Bush’s lies about Iraq January 15,
2004 By Patrick Martin An editorial published January 11 in the New York
Times, the leading US daily newspaper, demonstrates the intellectual and
moral bankruptcy of what passes for liberalism in contemporary America. It is
a cover-up of the systematic lying employed by the Bush administration, the
congressional Republicans and Democrats, and the American media to justify the
US invasion and occupation of Iraq. wsws.org
US consumer debt reaches record levels January 15, 2004
By Joanne Laurier
US consumer debt has reached staggering levels after more than doubling over
the past 10 years. According to the most recent figures from the Federal
Reserve Board, consumer debt hit $1.98 trillion in October 2003, up from $1.5
trillion three years ago. This figure, representing credit card and car loan
debt, but excluding mortgages, translates into approximately $18,700 per US
household. wsws.org
REAL CROOKS WALK, DONATE TO GOP January 15, 2004
By Bill Gallagher They
kill and cause illnesses and suffering for millions of people. They do great
harm to the water we drink and the air we breathe.
They steal and plunder and routinely rob the American taxpayers. They
shamelessly exploit the young and the poor, stripping them of their dignity
and using human beings like cheap commodities. Their crimes are often
unreported and, when they are caught, they rarely face serious consequences.
Corporate criminals in the United States get away with murder, sometimes
literally. When they steal from their shareholders or the public treasury, it
seems the more outrageous the thievery, the more likely the culprits are to
avoid prosecution. The crimes
run the whole spectrum of violence and deception. Denials and cover-ups
supported by armies of corporate lawyers form the shields of dishonor to
protect the dirty deeds and evil-doers. niagarafallsreporter.com
U.S. Journalist Quits Pentagon Iraqi Media Project
Calling it U.S. Propaganda
January 15, 2004 We talk to a longtime TV producer about the massive problems
he saw in the new U.S.-funded Iraqi Media Network, which he said became an
"irrelevant mouthpiece for Coalition Provisional Authority propaganda,
managed news and mediocre programs." democracynow.org
The Real National Security Threat: The Bush Economy January 15, 2004
By
Ian Williams A lot of liberals accuse George Bush of cowardice. It's a
preposterous accusation to level at a president who is running at least two
staggeringly expensive wars at the same time, even as he threatens to take on
more, not to mention planning an invasion of Mars and cutting taxes on all
your rich friends. And all this in the face of the world's biggest ever trade
and budget deficits. Now that takes cojones ... unless, of course, you
think that the president keeps his brains in the same general area of his
anatomy. alternet.org
BUSH: GO FETCH ME A BURGER January 15, 2004
By Graham Brough
PRESIDENT Bush interrupted a White House meeting to tell his chief of staff to
go and get some cheeseburgers, it was revealed last night.
After waiting in vain for an earlier food order, Bush called in White House
Chief of Staff Andrew Card, and said: "You're the chief of staff. You
think you're up to getting us some cheeseburgers?"
The story is one of further allegations about Bush's behaviour in the Oval
office from former US Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill's account. mirror.co.uk
Surreal moments serving a mythological president
January 15, 2004 By Marian Wilkinson (Sydney Morning Herald) The
weekend after September 11, George Bush's former Treasury secretary, Paul
O'Neill, sat in a leather armchair at Camp David, the presidential retreat,
devouring a pile of intelligence documents on al-Qaeda handed out by the CIA
boss, George Tenet. A two-day crisis meeting of Mr Bush's senior advisers had
finally wound up. The President had gone to bed. Across the room, the National
Security Adviser, Condoleezza Rice, was singing hymns, accompanied on the
piano by the Christian fundamentalist Attorney-General, John Ashcroft. Leafing
through the CIA documents, Mr O'Neill was astonished to read plans for covert
assassinations around the globe designed to remove opponents of the US
Government. The plans had virtually no civilian checks and balances.
"What I was thinking is, 'I hope the President really reads this
carefully', Mr O'Neill said. "It's kind of his job. You can't forfeit
this much responsibility to unelected individuals. But I knew he
wouldn't." smh.com.au
US soldier suicides rising in Iraq January
15, 2004 Pentagon At least 21 United States troops have committed
suicide in Iraq, a growing toll that represents one of every seven American
"non-hostile" deaths since the war began last March, the Pentagon
said. "Fighting this kind of war is clearly going to be stressful for
some people," Assistant Defence Secretary for Health Affairs William
Winkenwerder told reporters. He said the military was taking steps to prevent
suicides, ascribed by one defence analyst to a perception among young soldiers
that the US force in Iraq was spread thin and faced an endless task. jihadunspun.com
Kennedy: Iraq war a product marketed by Bush to win elections
January 15,
2004 By Lolita C. Baldor (AP) The Iraq war was a ''political product''
marketed by the Bush administration to win elections, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy
said in a speech Wednesday. As a result, Kennedy said, Bush and the
Republicans in Congress ''put the state of our nation at risk, and they do not
deserve another term in the White House or in control of Congress.'' boston.com
Can
PM appease Bush? January
15, 2004 By THOMAS WALKOM Some
refer to George W. Bush as another Hitler. This is a gross exaggeration. He
has constructed no death camps and only one concentration camp — at
Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. While
it does seem, in Nuremberg terms, that Bush could be called a war criminal
(invading other countries on the flimsiest of pretexts), he has not engaged in
genocide. Nor, unlike Volkswagen supporter Hitler, does he promote the
production of small, cheap cars. True,
both came to power constitutionally (although under dubious circumstances and
with the support of only a minority of voters). True, both masterfully used
traumatic events at home (the 1933 Reichstag fire for Hitler; 9/11 for Bush)
to make a frightened and resentful populace accept restrictions on civil
liberties. thestar.com
Brazil Fines U.S. Pilot for Making
Gesture January 15, 2004 By STAN LEHMAN
SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) - An American Airlines pilot was fined nearly $13,000
Wednesday on accusations he made an obscene gesture when being photographed at
the airport as part of entry requirements for U.S. citizens, officials said.
Brazil imposed the new rules that Americans be fingerprinted and photographed at
entry points in response the similar rules in the United States for citizens of
Brazil and other countries whose citizens need visas to enter. The pilot, Dale
Robin Hersh, lifted his middle finger while undergoing the new security process
at Sao Paulo's Guarulhos International Airport, said federal prosecutor Matheus
Baraldi Magnani. Police accused the Miami-based pilot of showing contempt to
authorities, a crime in Brazil, and escorted him to a nearby federal courthouse.
lasvegassun.com
Ford: Holding America Hostage to Oil January 15, 2004 In the
wake of an ominous and important new climate change study
released in the scientific periodical "Nature", last week in Los
Angeles, California human rights and environmental activists with Global
Exchange and Rainforest Action Network daringly rappelled down a 32-story
skyscraper near the LA Auto Show and unfurled a giant banner reading, “Ford:
Holding America Hostage to Oil.” Ford Motor Company and other auto
manufacturers are needlessly keeping the US dependent on oil by refusing to
increase the fuel economy of their vehicles. “Our own automakers are holding
us hostage to oil,” said Mike Brune, executive director of the environmental
organization Rainforest Action Network. indymedia.org
Spanish prime minister: Bush acts
like an emperor and Europeans don't like it January
15, 2004 By HARRY DUNPHY WASHINGTON
(AP) -- Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar was warmly welcomed at the
White House Wednesday after saying in an interview that Europeans' perceptions
of the United States as an empire explain President Bush's unpopularity there.
"The combination of being a
Republican, of being an emperor, a Texan and outspoken is really a bad
mix," Aznar, one of Bush's staunchest allies on Iraq and other issues,
said in an interview Wednesday in The Washington Post. "To
be politically correct in Europe, people cannot digest the mix that is George
Bush as I have described him. They are allergic to that," Aznar said. nj.com
Lieberman outraged by phony calls to
undeclared voters By Kate McCann LITTLETON, N.H. - Democratic
presidential hopeful Joe Lieberman said he hopes New Hampshire finds out who has
been calling undeclared voters to tell them they cannot vote in the presidential
primary. Lieberman said he was outraged and hopes the
attorney general's investigation will catch the culprits and force them to pay
the costs of calling all undeclared voters and telling them they can indeed vote
in the Jan. 27 primary. "I don't know who's
doing this, but it has to stop -- that amounts to voter suppression, voter
intimidation." Lieberman said. "I went through this in Florida in 2000
and nobody wants New Hampshire to become the Florida of 2004." boston.com
Most want money spent on Earth
January 14, 2004 By
WILL LESTER Associated Press WASHINGTON -- President Bush's plan to build a
space station on the moon and eventually send astronauts to Mars hasn't grabbed
the public's imagination, an Associated Press poll suggests. More than half in
the poll said it would be better to spend the money on domestic programs rather
than on space research. chron.com
Bush to ask for 5%
budget increase for Mars missions
January 14, 2004 US
President George W Bush will seek to boost NASA's budget by 5 per cent annually
for the next three years to help pay for his plan to put a base on the moon and
to mount a manned expedition to Mars later in the century, a senior
administration official has said. The plan calls for establishing a permanent
presence on the moon within two decades and to put astronauts on Mars sometime
after 2030, the official said. Congressional negotiators have previously agreed
to a budget for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of nearly USD 15.5
billion for fiscal 2004, which began last October 1. That's a USD 90
million boost over the previous year. deepikaglobal.com
BUSH 'ON
PAR WITH GERMAN WAR PLAN' January
14, 2004 AMERICA'S war on terror was likened yesterday to Germany's
strategy during two world wars. President Bush was warned that his campaign
could drag the US into conflicts with countries that posed no real threat. The
invasion of Iraq was an unnecessary part of America's "dangerously
indiscriminate and ambitious" war on terror, said a report published by the
US Army War College. It said the White House should focus on al-Qaeda. The
report's author, Professor Jeffrey Record, said the anti-terrorism campaign is
"strategically unfocused, promises more than it can deliver, and threatens
to dissipate US military resources in an endless and hopeless search for
absolute security". mirror.co.uk
The big lie
made clear The study by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
stating that the Bush administration "systematically misrepresented"
the threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction doesn't break new ground but,
combined with assertions by former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill that the
White House was plotting a pre-emptive invasion of Iraq before September 11,
2001, the picture of a White House spoiling for war and willing to misrepresent
the truth to justify it is cast in even sharper relief. The administration
intentionally misled the American people in embarking upon a strategy that has
done perhaps irreparable harm to long-held American principles. berkshireeagle.com
The Awful Truth
By PAUL KRUGMAN People are
saying terrible things about George Bush. They say that his officials weren't
sincere about pledges to balance the budget. They say that the planning for an
invasion of Iraq began seven months before 9/11, that there was never any good
evidence that Iraq was a threat and that the war actually undermined the fight
against terrorism. But these irrational Bush haters are body-piercing,
Hollywood-loving, left-wing freaks who should go back where they came from: the
executive offices of Alcoa, and the halls of the Army War College. nytimes.com
What, We Worry?
Yes.
January 14, 2004 By William H. Gross The United States is overextended,
not just militarily but economically. We are trying to do too much, borrow too
much, spend too much, and sooner or later we will have to suffer the
consequences. We are a country in the beginning stages of what can best be
described as hegemonic decay. washingtonpost.com
America accused of war crimes in Iraq
January 14, 2004 The US military is committing war crimes by demolishing homes
of suspected insurgents and arresting the relatives of Iraqi fugitives, a top
human rights group said today. The military denied the charges by Human Rights
Watch, saying it only destroyed homes that were being used to store weapons or
as fighting positions and all Iraqis detained were suspected of taking part in
attacks on coalition forces. theage.com
Paranoid Shift: One Mind
Awakens January
14, 2004 By Michael Hasty Just before his death, James Jesus Angleton,
the legendary chief of counterintelligence at the Central Intelligence Agency,
was a bitter man. He felt betrayed by the people he had worked for all his life.
In the end, he had come to realize that they were never really interested in
American ideals of "freedom" and "democracy." They really
only wanted "absolute power." sianews.com
Consumer appetite erodes quality
of life for all January 14, 2004 By
GreenBiz.com The world is consuming goods and services at an unsustainable
pace, with serious consequences for the well-being of people and the planet,
according to the Worldwatch Institute's annual report, State of the World 2004. enn.com
US beef exports 'to drop by 90%
January 14, 2004 US beef exports will fall by 90% in 2004 after the discovery of
the first case of mad cow disease, the US Department of Agriculture has said.
Its forecast comes after virtually all foreign countries banned imports of US
beef following the single outbreak of BSE in Washington state last month. The
department also predicts a big fall for US cattle prices across the year. news.bbc.co
The Exploitation of
the American Soldier, Part II of II: Of The Vietnam Example, Guinea Pigs and
Systemic Abuse January
14, 2004 To fully understand the epidemic
that is the exploitation of the American Soldier one need look no further than
the 250,000 to 500,000 homeless veterans that on any given day wonder the
streets of the United States. Up to half a million veterans, mostly those who
fought in the terror-filled jungles of Vietnam, have been forgotten in time,
left to fend for themselves lost among concrete jungles and steel-glass canyons.
iraqwar.ru
Poll: Alternative News Gaining Influence
(AP) People are shifting
from traditional news sources such as newspapers and nightly network news for
information about the presidential campaign, a poll found. Led by young adults'
changing habits, the public is finding more of its information from such
alternative sources as the Internet and even television shows like ``The Daily
Show'' and ``Saturday Night Live.'' Young adults were leading the shift, with
one-fifth considering the Internet a top source of campaign news for them, said
the poll by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, released
Sunday. nytimes.com
W & aides
broadcast media hate
January 14, 2004 He
didn't free the slaves. He didn't rid the world of
Hitler. He didn't even - like his father - preside
over the destruction of the Berlin Wall. Yet
George W. Bush tells New Yorker writer Ken Auletta: "No President has ever
done more for human rights than I have." With
stunners like that, no wonder he spends so little time with journalists. The
President's eyebrow-raising assertion comes during some Oval Office chitchat
after Auletta - writing about the testy relations between the Bush White House
and the news media - sits in on an interview with a British newspaper reporter.
In the latest New Yorker, Auletta reports that Bush and his minions have little
use for the Fourth Estate. nydailynews.com
G.I.'s Fire on Family in Car, Killing 2,
Witnesses Say By EDWARD WONG BAGHDAD, Iraq, American soldiers on Monday
night killed an Iraqi man and a boy and wounded four others in a car that was
driving behind their convoy. Witnesses said. The family's driver, a man whose
first name was Haider, was killed, as was a 10-year-old boy named Mustafa in the
seat beside the driver, said family members, a neighbor and a police officer.
Mustafa's mother and two of his siblings and his aunt were injured and taken to
local hospitals. "You want to know the truth?" said Lt. Muhammad Ali,
an Iraqi policeman who was driving away from Al Kindi Hospital with several
colleagues after taking one of the women there. "I'll tell you the truth.
The Americans did this. I know after this conversation they will fire me from my
job, but that's what happened." nytimes.com
| t
r u t h o u t Poll |
| Final
Results of the TO Straw Poll. Our Readers have spoken. |
|
|
|
Remember the recent CNN liars poll in which
Kucinich scored 0.3% popularity and Dean had 40%?
January 13, 2004 Editor Well take a
look at how different the poll numbers are on this survey taken on the
Truthout web site! Notice that Lieberman holds the 0.3% position that CNN
tried to pin on Kucinich. Truthout
How Low Can The Right Wing Media Go?
January 13, 2004 By Rob Kall Far right wingers don't want facts, don't
want unbiased news. They want bullshit that feeds into their existing, deformed
beliefs. They want snide, smarmy reporting that supports their biased, partisan
perspectives. They Want Fox and Limbaugh and his copycats. Watching Fox, lying,
despicable, dishonest propaganda channel today, I had to turn it off. opednews.com
|
44.5%
32.4%
14.6%
3.6%
2.4%
0.9%
0.7%
0.6%
0.3%