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Hillary: Pakistan troops might have killed Bhutto
2007-12-31 19:29:00
Something very interesting is happening in the Presidential Election Race. Contrary to tradition, Clinton has come out with a policy directly in conflict with the Bush Administration. Never have former presidents been more active in condemning a seated President in history than with Dubya. Now even the Presidential Candidates are critical of current foreign policy positions. If I were to guess, I think Hillary is trying to influence current events. If Musharraf knows that his support from the US ends with Bush, perhaps he will do the right thing and step down now when it's politically expedient and the pressure is supremely intense to do so. Biden has called for Musharraf to step down, perhaps Hillary is trying to make it happen. Newsday.com Hillary Rodham Clinton waded into Pakistan 's volatile internal political situation Saturday, raising the possibility the country's military might have assassinated Benazir Bhutto because the killing took place in the garrison city of Rawa...
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Spector: Assad Wants Peace
2007-12-31 17:24:00
Arlan Spector, one of the few Republicans who have shown some leadership in the past 8 years says Syria is ready for peace. He says it's largely accepted that the Golan Heights would have to be returned to Syria. Contrary to popular knowledge, to Syria, the Golan Heights is one of a few bountiful sources of water in for this arid nation. The Daily Star Two visiting US Congressmen announced after talks with Syrian leaders on Sunday that they had secured a pledge that jailed dissidents would be freed and said they saw scope for progress in the peace process with Israel. Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter, a member of President George W. Bush's Republican Party, and Congressman Patrick Kennedy, a Democratic representative from Rhode Island, met with President Bashar Assad and Foreign Minister Walid Moallem. [..]Specter also sounded an upbeat note about the prospects for movement on the peace process between Syria and Israel, which has been frozen since 2000, saying it was now gen...
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Can Obama Change His Stripes?
2007-12-30 07:29:00
It seems that Obama is feeling the pressure from Edwards, so he's changing his tune to populist themes about the working class. Tell me, why would he have to change his message if he really was a populist? Just how much can he be supportive of the working class? Los Angeles Times Working-class voters have been migrating to the former North Carolina senator in recent weeks, prompting a shift in strategy. Obama knocks CEOs who "dump" employee pensions while "pocketing bonuses." He laments Maytag workers who "labored all their lives only to see their jobs shipped overseas." He recalls humble beginnings and says his experience is "rooted in the lives of the people." That kind of hard-driving populism has formed the core of John Edwards' campaign for president. But those words have come this week from Barack Obama -- one of Edwards' chief rivals for the Democratic nomination -- who has recalibrated his campaign to appeal to working-class voters before Thursday's caucuses.
More About: Change , Election , Stripes

Huckabee the Wacko Right WingNut
2007-12-29 18:35:00
Informed Comment Mike Huckabee is a smooth-talking, fanatical country preacher who has learned to make himself likeable on camera but who spews all kinds of hateful nonsense when among like-minded devotees. The dark side of Huckabee, the anti-science and anti-gay side of Huckabee, and the anti-Palestinian genocidal side of Huckabee, are all more more dangerous than the incompetent fool side of Huckabee, but the latter is pretty dangerous, too. The incompetent fool side was on full display in his remarks, apparently provoked by the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, about the alleged threat of illegal Pakistani immigration into the United States. He actually thundered about 660 persons, claiming that the Pakistanis came right after Latinos in the ranks of illegals. He also seemed to think that building a wall around Mexico would keep out Pakistanis (the illegals among whom likely mostly just overstayed their visas and landed at LaGuardia). [..]Huckabee's first response to Benazir...
More About: Christian Right , Election

Heroin, Afghanistan, and the CIA
2007-12-28 15:26:00
Ever since Ronald Reagan funded Osama Bin Ladin in his fight against the Soviets using heroin profits funneled through the CIA, the CIA and the US has been heavily into funding it's covert operations through the drug trade. Confirmation that the problem continues comes from a report last fall of a CIA Gulfstream II crash loaded with cocaine. The CIA stirred up Islamic fundamentalism to undermine the Soviet Union. Now drug money continues to flow into combating those we armed and radicalized who have now turned against us. Meanwhile, the addicted in America populate homeless shelters and jails. AlterNet Perhaps the reason why the CIA?s well-documented role in the global drug trade is never really acknowledged is because it never really ended. Other Western countries like Great Britain are quite honest about their history of drug trading, but we still engage in self-censorship, even amongst the Left, when it comes to acknowledging that similar activities have been carried out by...
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The Edwards Surge: Right Message at the Right Time
2007-12-27 15:22:00
Here is why I think Edwards is the greatest hope for America. The Nation Indeed, undecided voters assembled in focus groups that watched the debate for the major television networks rated Edwards off the charts. That's going to help the 2004 Democratic nominee for vice president as the Iowa caucuses approach. Despite the intense focus on the campaigns of New York Sen. Hillary Clinton and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, most polls suggest that Edwards is very much in the running in Iowa. And rightly so. To a far greater extent than Obama or Clinton, Edwards has struck at the heart of issues that should matter most in the race to replace not just George W. Bush, but the Bush agenda of corporate giveaways, job-crushing free trade deals, war profiteering in Iraq, and subprime mortgage profiteering in Indiana, Idaho, Illinois and, yes, Iowa. Edwards summed up his increasingly aggressive and powerful anti-corporate themes with a declaration: "What makes America America is at stake: jobs,...
More About: Democrats , Time , Election , Message

Obama Running to the Right of Other Dems
2007-12-26 14:45:00
Krugman continues his verbal jabs with Obama 's campaign on his health care plan. Paul Krugman's Blog Have you seen or heard about the radio ad that Obama is running in Iowa about health care? It has a man and a woman talking, with the man leading off saying that health care mandates ?force those who cannot afford health care insurance to buy it, punishing those who don?t fall in line.? This is what I?ve been complaining about. I was willing to cut Obama slack on the lack of mandates in his plan, even though the economics says they?re necessary; I figured that in practice, if elected, he?d end up doing the right thing.* I started ramping up the criticism when he started attacking his opponents from the right, making the lack of mandates a principle rather than a compromise ? because that was poisoning the well, making it much harder for any future Democratic president to implement a plan that will work. And whaddya know, now he?s running an ad that bears a striking resemblanc...
More About: Running , Democrats , Healthcare , Election

2,500 tons of Afghan drugs enter Iran yearly
2007-12-25 05:44:00
Maybe this has always been part of the US policy for Iran . Perhaps this is one of the many ways the US has decided to attack Iran. The Daily Star Some 2,500 tons of narcotics enter Iran from neighboring Afghanistan annually, more than a quarter of which are consumed in the Islamic Republic, an anti-drugs official said on Sunday. "Afghanistan produces 8,200 tons of narcotics, 2,500 of which enter Iran," the Fars news agency quoted Mohammad Reza Jahani, deputy head of Iran's anti-narcotics organization, as saying. "Of this amount, 700 tons are consumed in the country, 500 tons are seized by the police and the rest, which is about 1,300 tons, is transited through the country," he said. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime has said that Afghanistan's opium production increased from 6,100 tons in 2006 to 8,200 tons in 2007, accounting for 93 percent of global production. Iran lies on a major narcotics route from Afghanistan and Pakistan to Turkey and Europe, and Tehran says it needs more...
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CIA withheld al Qaeda tapes from 9/11 panel-paper
2007-12-23 03:01:00
Can you imagine why the CIA would withhold tapes from the 9/11 Commission? Probably because they are incriminating. And I'd bet they were withholding the tapes under orders or at least knowledge of the White House. Reuters The Sept. 11 commission's chairmen, Lee Hamilton and Thomas Kean, said their reading of the review, a copy of which the newspaper obtained, convinced them the CIA made a conscious decision to impede the panel's inquiry, the Times said. A memo prepared by Philip Zelikow, the panel's former executive director, concluded that "further investigation is needed" to determine whether the CIA's withholding of the interrogation tapes from the commission violated U.S. law, the paper reported. CIA spokesman Mark Mansfield on Saturday said the CIA gave the commission "a wealth of information" and did not destroy the tapes while the commission was active. "The 9/11 commission certainly had access to, and drew from, detailed information that had been provided by terro...
More About: Al Qaeda , Panel , Paper , Bush I , Al-Qaeda

Tourist Chained and Held Incommunicado, No Food, or Sleep for 24 Hours
2007-12-21 17:07:00
Here is an incredible story about a tourist who came to New York to spent money. Welcome to America! Signs of the Times News During the last twenty-four hours I have probably experienced the greatest humiliation to which I have ever been subjected. During these last twenty-four hours I have been handcuffed and chained, denied the chance to sleep, been without food and drink and been confined to a place without anyone knowing my whereabouts, imprisoned. Now I am beginning to try to understand all this, rest and review the events which began as innocently as possible. Last Sunday I and a few other girls began our trip to New York. We were going to shop and enjoy the Christmas spirit. We made ourselves comfortable on first class, drank white wine and looked forward to go shopping, eat good food and enjoy life. When we landed at JFK airport the traditional clearance process began. We were screened and went on to passport control. As I waited for them to finish examining my passport ...
More About: Food , Sleep , Civil Liberties , Tourist , Hours

Iraq Surge Displaced a Million to Syria
2007-12-20 15:50:00
The news from Iraq is so controlled, we may never know the consequences of the American invasion. But even the surge seems to have hurt more civilians than anyone. Informed Comment The US troop escalation that began last February seems to be implicated in the displacement of over one million Iraqis to Syria between March and October of this year, adding to the nearly 450,000 that fled there in 2006. This is according to projections from a United Nations weighted survey of nearly 800 refugees. Some 78% of those interviewed in Syria said that they came from Baghdad. Many of the refugees are from the white collar middle class, and are the people Iraq can least afford to lose. Most of them are only 3 months or less from exhausting all their saving and being thrown into complete destitution. Children are not being educated, and literacy is falling dramatically in the next generation. Many girls are forced into 'survival sex,' i.e. prostitution. How the US 'surge' drove one milli...
More About: Surge , Million , Iraq surge

Was Rice's trip to Iraqi Kurdistan Deliberately Sabotaged?
2007-12-19 15:19:00
Now, why would Rice go to Iraq i Kurdistan at the precise moment of a Turkish incursion? There is no way Rice would do that on purpose. Yet, there is a leak saying the US provided real time intelligence to Turkey on the location of PKK terrorists, just as Rice was leaving Washington. Sure looks like a set up. And guess who has been setting up the Secretary of State for the past 7 years? This has Cheney's smell all over it. Informed Comment it is absolutely impossible that Condi plans out a trip to Kirkuk and a meeting with Barzani with full knowledge that while she is there, Turkey will send 500 Turkish soldiers into northern Iraq to occupy the villages of Kaya Retch Binwak, Janarok and Gelly Resh. Or even that when she set out on her trip, she knew that Turkey was planning to bomb Iraqi Kurdistan on Sunday, killing 3, wounding 8, and displacing 300 Kurdish villagers. [..]So in my view Turkey is trying to drive a wedge between the US and Barzani, and Turkish chief of staff Y...
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The Story Behind Zawahiri's Video
2007-12-18 19:56:00
It would appear that Al Qaeda's Zawahiri is concerned about become irrelevant. He defends the Islamic State of Iraq, the Sunni insurgents largely quieted by other Sunni militias, and attacks Iran and other prominent Shiites. Here is Juan Cole's assessment of the video. Informed Comment The USG Open Source Center summarizes the main points in the new video released by al-Qaeda's number 2 man, Ayman al-Zawahiri. Zawahiri identifies Iraq as the primary field for jihad or holy war and defends the Islamic State of Iraq (radical Sunni Muslims in Iraq) from charges of having been especially vindictive and destructive. Zawahiri also again slams the the Shiites. He sees Iran as hypocritical and actually tacitly cooperating with the US. He dismisses Muqtada al-Sadr as an Iranian cat's paw. He attacks Hasan Nasrallah of Lebanon's Hizbullah. This sectarian approach is typical of the Salafi Jihadis' failures in Iraq, where only a pan-Islamic movement against US occupation could have had ...
More About: Video , Story , S Video , The Story

The Secret Behind the Tar Sands of Alberta
2007-12-17 16:24:00
What if Alberta Canada becomes one big open pit mine? Thats the plan for a section of Alberta the size of the UK. BP will strip the vegetation from the surface, divert huge water resources and burn natural gas to bring each barrel of oil out of the ground. AlterNet calls this "The Biggest Global Warming Crime in History". Greenpeace pledged a direct action campaign against BP following its decision to reverse a long-standing policy and invest heavily in extracting so-called "oil sands" that lie beneath the Canadian province of Alberta and form the world's second-largest proven oil reserves after Saudi Arabia. Producing crude oil from the tar sands -- a heavy mixture of bitumen, water, sand and clay -- found beneath more than 54,000 square miles of prime forest in northern Alberta -- an area the size of England and Wales combined -- generates up to four times more carbon dioxide, the principal global warming gas, than conventional drilling. [..]The oil rush is also scarring a w...
More About: Environment , The Secret , Secret , Sands

The Rich Keep Getting Richer
2007-12-14 18:00:00
Why has so many in the middle class voted Republican over the years? They haven't been paying attention. Paul Krugman Here?s what the numbers say about percentage gains in after-tax income from 2003 to 2005: Bottom quintile: 2% Next quintile: 2.4% Middle quintile: 3.9% Fourth quintile: 3.7% Top quintile: 16% Top 10%: 20.9% Top 5%: 27.7% Top 1%: 43.5% It was a boom, all right ? but only for a few people. One other thing that?s striking from the report, by the way, is that over the 26 years the estimates span, the only significant gains for the bottom two quintiles, and most of the gains for the middle quintile, took place during the Clinton years.
More About: Rich , Class Warfare , Richer

Edwards Is More Electable. Period.
2007-12-13 17:18:00
Somebody finally said it. And it was Ian Welch at The Agonist CNN's poll ... shows Edwards crushing Republicans. Versus McCain: Clinton loses by 2%, Obama is in a dead heat, and Edwards wins by 8%. Versus Giuliani: Clinton wins by 6%, Obama by 7%, Edwards wins by 9%. Versus Romney: Clinton wins by 11%, Obama by 13%, and Edwards wins by 22%. Versus Huckabee: Clinton wins by 10%, Obama wins by 15%, and Edwards annihilates Huckabee by 25%. Basically, current polling shows the popularity of the candidates in direct inverse relationship to how well they poll against Republicans in a general. Edwards polls better than Obama who polls better than Clinton. [..]Voting your beliefs (the poor and middle class are getting screwed) and choosing the most electable candidate aren't in opposition to each other this time. So what I'm asking Democratic primary voters is to take a good hard look at Edwards again. Stop accepting the media's narrative of Edwards as "the number 3 guy". Look a...
More About: Democrats , Election , Period

Huckabee: A Wife Should Graciously Submit
2007-12-12 17:41:00
Daily Kos Huckabee 's opinion on gay marriage is out there, but we should also be publicizing Huckabee's opinions on heterosexual marriage. Specifically, what he believes about a women's role in a marriage. In August of 1998, Huckabee was one of 131 signatories to a full page USA Today Ad which declared: "I affirm the statement on the family issued by the 1998 Southern Baptist Convention." What was in the family statement from the SBC? "A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ." The ad wasn't just a blanket, "we support the SBC statement," but rather highlighted details. The ad Huckabee signed specifically said of the SBC family statement: "You are right because you called wives to graciously submit to their husband's sacrificial leadership." Add "graciously submit" to his "Take back the nation for Christ" statement, and if the media does its job, he's well on his way to b...
More About: Wife , Christian Right , Submit

Dubya's Somalia Devolves
2007-12-12 15:43:00
Dubya's foreign policy has been a disaster. Somali is a good example. A Muslim fundamentalist regime was the only likely successful government to stabilize Somalia . Because there were a few Al Qaeda sympathizers in their ranks, then they had to be all bad. The truth is there are no good guys left in Somalia. The only group with any hope of leading must engender the kind of loyalty that comes automatically for many Islamists. Constructive engagement has been a tried and true diplomatic way to influence a government toward mutually favorable policies. It's time to make constructive engagement as the center piece of American foreign policy. Dubya, we can't just kill everyone we disagree with, duh! The Daily Star Repeated regional and internecine violence, which has now spanned 16 years and been worsened by nearly a year of bloody insurgency, has left Mogadishu in ruins, with most basic services completely wiped out. The remaining residents in Mogadishu, many were driven out by...

Obama's Progressive Stripes Are Skin Deep
2007-12-11 15:51:00
It would appear that Obama isn't the man he's appeared to be. He's now using Republican talking points to attack his rivals. Paul Krugman makes his point that Obama's health plan has a big problem. Now Obama has hit back in a Swift Boat type attack. DailyKos has the scoop on the Obama attack dog back lash. It would appear Obama's progressive stripes are skin deep. New York Times From the beginning, advocates of universal health care were troubled by the incompleteness of Barack Obama?s plan, which unlike those of his Democratic rivals wouldn?t cover everyone. But they were willing to cut Mr. Obama slack on the issue, assuming that in the end he would do the right thing. Now, however, Mr. Obama is claiming that his plan?s weakness is actually a strength. What?s more, he?s doing the same thing in the health care debate he did when claiming that Social Security faces a ?crisis? ? attacking his rivals by echoing right-wing talking points. The central question is whether there...
More About: Progressive , Skin , Healthcare , Election

Something is Wrong with Our Justice System
2007-12-10 19:14:00
There is something wrong with our justice system. Michael Vick gets 23 months in prison Monday for his role in a dogfighting conspiracy, and Barry Bonds faces a 30 year in prison term if convicted for lying to a grand jury about steroid use. The US has the highest rate of imprisonment of any country in the world, 40 percent greater than those of our nearest competitors (the Bahamas, Belarus, and Russia). One in 32 Americans are in jail or prison. Too many are young African Americans and way too many are imprisoned for petty drug offenses. Not only are we creating more victims, we're ensuring their future success as criminals in the best training grounds (prisons). We can no longer afford this sick system, by taxes, or moral responsibility.
More About: System , Justice , Judiciary , Class Warfare , Wrong

A Shifting Balence of Power in the Asian Pacific
2007-12-09 17:50:00
The Chinese decision to deny US ships access to Hong Kong harbor marks a significant shift in the balence of power in the South China Sea. At the same time, Chinese ships have ported in Tokyo harbor for the first time. While largely symbolic, the meaning of these events should not be underestimated. PINR [..]On November 20, two navy minesweepers, the USS Patriot and USS Guardian, were performing routine patrol missions in the South China Sea when a weather storm descended upon them. Both ships were also running low on fuel. They sent an emergency request to Chinese authorities to dock at Hong Kong in order to weather the storm and refuel. The request was denied. The two ships were forced to stay out at sea. Another incident centers around a U.S. aircraft carrier, the USS Kitty Hawk. The Kitty Hawk and the five support vessels that travel with her were scheduled to dock in Hong Kong on November 21, one day before Thanksgiving. The arrangements for this port call had been worked ou...
More About: Power , Pacific , Asian , Asia Pacific

Senator Whitehouse Takes On Dubya's Double Doings
2007-12-09 07:37:00
Thanks to Cosmic Tap for the tip on Senat or Sheldon Whitehouse 's speech today. A few Dems and even Republicans are willing to talk turkey about Double think Dubya. In a nutshell, these three Bush administration legal propositions boil down to this: 1. ?I don?t have to follow my own rules, and I don?t have to tell you when I?m breaking them.? 2. ?I get to determine what my own powers are.? 3. ?The Department of Justice doesn?t tell me what the law is, I tell the Department of Justice what the law is.? When the Congress of the United States is willing to roll over for an unprincipled President, this is where you end up. We should not even be having this discussion. But here we are. I implore my colleagues: reject these feverish legal theories. I understand political loyalty, trust me, I do. But let us also be loyal to this great institution we serve in the legislative branch of our government. Let us also be loyal to the Constitution we took an oath to defend, from ...

Huckabee Is a Liar, A Christian Right Wingnut
2007-12-09 05:02:00
Clearly, Huckabee intervened to get a convicted rapist released. After all the victim was a relation to Clinton and the Parole Board were Democrat appointees. Except DuMond was guilty and after Huckabee got him released, he went on to rape and murder another woman. Meanwhile, Huckabee insists he had nothing to do with getting him released. The parole board members disagree. Also in this article is a story that Huckabee advocated interning AIDs victims and called homosexuals dangerous. New York Times As new polls highlight Mike Huckabee?s ascent in the Republican presidential field, he is drawing new scrutiny of his record in Arkansas, particularly his actions in the release of a convicted rapist who went on to murder a woman and his response to a questionnaire in which he said people with AIDS should be quarantined. Two former parole board members in Arkansas said yesterday that as governor, Mr. Huckabee met with the board in 1996 to lobby them to release the convicted rapist,...
More About: Christian , Christian Right , Election , Liar

White House Reveals Bush Lied: "No One Told Me Not To"
2007-12-06 20:03:00
Here is an incredible story from AlterNet. Dubya lied about knowing about the intelligence on Iraq and said that "no one told him to stop" talking about Iran. Clearly, this man is a figurehead without someone to lead him around and even White House officials aren't covering for him anymore. How dysfunctional can this Administration get? On Tuesday, President Bush said he was never forewarned by the intelligence community that Iran had suspended its nuclear weapons program in 2003: In August, I think it was John -- Mike McConnell came in and said, We have some new information. He didn't tell me what the information was. Now the White House is revealing that wasn't true. In fact, Bush did know what the information was. CNN reports: President Bush was told in August that Iran's nuclear weapons program 'may be suspended,' the White House said Wednesday, which seemingly contradicts the account of the meeting given by Bush Tuesday." The White House statement released by Dana ...
More About: Bush I

The Get-Tough-On-Crime Bug is Making Us Sick
2007-12-06 04:37:00
AlterNet Doctors recommend people get the flu shot this time of year. And I recommend folks get inoculated for the get-tough-on-crime bug before the campaign season gets in full swing. The highly contagious mental malady prevents people from thinking clearly about crime and punishment. It's how we get legislation like the "Aid Elimination Penalty" provision in the Higher Education Act (HEA) that bars students with drug convictions from receiving federal financial aid for college; apparently, to teach them a lesson. By "them," in this case, we're talking about disproportionately disadvantaged students. Rich, stoner kids don't need financial aid. The push to repeal the provision from the HEA was dropped in Congress two weeks ago, despite the efforts of the Coalition for Higher Education Act Reform, though they did get one small victory in getting the law amended so that the AEP applies only to offenses committed while a student is getting financial aid. Still, an estimated 200,...
More About: Crime , Class Warfare , Tough , Sick , Social Policy

More Gazans turn away from Hamas
2007-12-05 19:54:00
csmonitor.com Support for Hamas , the Islamist militant group that has controlled Gaza since June, has frayed as Israel keeps intense pressure on the thin, coastal strip and its chief Palestinian rival is embracing a language of peace. A vast majority of Gazans now favor Fatah's path to formal talks with Israel, according to the Ramallah-based Near East Consulting, an independent market research firm. Sixty-one percent of those Palestinians who responded to a November poll also said they see Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah Party, which controls the Palestinian Authority (PA), as the legitimate government for the Palestinian people. While the numbers represent a dramatic drop in its popularity since its overwhelming win in Palestinian polls last year, Hamas remains steadfast in its opposition to new talks, as prescribed in the Annapolis, Md., summit of Arab and Israeli leaders last week. And yet, say analysts, this potent and still widely influential force must be reckoned with before any...
More About: Palestine , Turn

Spinning up Iranian Nukes
2007-12-04 15:51:00
Much is currently being made about the National Intelligence Estimate released this week about the risk of a nuclear Iran . The most important story, however, has to be dug out of several sources. Despite all the rhetoric from Dubya about Iran building nukes, the Bush Administration has been sitting on this report for nearly a year, apparently attempting to spin up a more negative result. IPSNews.net Cheney Tried to Stifle Dissent in Iran NIE A National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran has been held up for more than a year in an effort to force the intelligence community to remove dissenting judgments on the Iranian nuclear programme, and thus make the document more supportive of U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's militarily aggressive policy toward Iran, according to accounts of the process provided by participants to two former Central Intelligence Agency officers. But this pressure on intelligence analysts, obviously instigated by Cheney himself, has not produced a draft e...
More About: Middle East , Asia , China , Britain

Chavez Tastes Defeat Over Reforms
2007-12-03 15:25:00
There is good new for democracy from TIME. The Venezuela n president Dubya insisted was a budding dictator lost a referendum and is respecting the outcome. In the third world, money dominates politics even more so than in the West. Hungry bellies make for loyal political allies. But the students recognized excess and put down Chavez 's power grab. We'll see in coming days if he intends to do as he says. Venezuela's polls had closed in a national referendum on a raft of constitutional reforms that would have profoundly tightened his hold on political power in Venezuela ? including an amendment to eliminate presidential term limits (which currently last six years). Instead, Chavez's Vice President, Jorge Rodriguez, appeared as the night wore on and told reporters, "We will respect the result, whatever it is." And, to the astonishment of his opponents, Chavez did. At around 2 am this morning, Caracas time, Chavez conceded his first electoral defeat since winning Venezuela's pres...

Will Bush Go To Jail Over Abramoff?
2007-12-03 01:37:00
It's beginning to look pretty obvious that something improper went on between Abramoff and Bush . Clearly, Bush has been lying about his contact with Abramoff. Now, as is typical, Bush is attempting to cover his tracks by claiming his security will be compromised if the details come out. He may not be impeached, but maybe he'll go to jail in 2009. The Associated Press The Bush administration is laying out a new secrecy defense in an effort to end a court battle about the White House visits of now-imprisoned lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The administration agreed last year to produce all responsive records about the visits "without redactions or claims of exemption," according to a court order. But in a court filing Friday night, administration lawyers said that the Secret Service has identified a category of highly sensitive documents that might contain information sought in a lawsuit about Abramoff's trips to the White House. The Justice Department, citing a Cold War-era court ru...
More About: Bush I , Jail

Preserve Internet Liberty, Prevent Corporate Monopoly
2007-12-01 23:27:00
A great article from Juan Cole at Informed Comment. We all know the drawbacks of corporate news outlets, and the great blessing that the internet represents for grassroots organizing and information sharing. But of course, the big corporations are very unhappy about losing some control of these matters, and have been pushing for legislation to end internet liberty and make it into the Corporate Monopoly Internet (CMI), cutting out individuals and small groups. Some may think the word "monopoly" an exaggeration. But all private television news broadcasts are owned by only five corporations in the United States. Five is too little for healthy competition, and all five disallow centrist and progressive points of view as most Americans would define them (i.e. the range of acceptable opinion on the US airwaves is from center-right to far right). Opinion polling decisively shows that the American public is very substantially to the left of virtually all television broadcasts with a soci...
More About: Liberty , Freedom of Speech , Freedom of Information