Wednesday, April 28, 2004
So Much for the Wonders of Privatization
Why are our troops suffering in such filth and discomfort in Iraq? Private industry outsource contractors hired to take care of our soldiers' living conditions, left them in filth, heat and garbage. Mail delivery managed by contractors fell weeks behind. Some companies never even showed. "We thought we could depend on industry to perform these kinds of functions," said the Army's logistics chief. For almost a decade, the military has been shifting support jobs to the private sector. But, business likes easy profit and will reject a rough situation. Back home, a group of mothers organized a drive to buy and ship air conditioners to their sons. One army captain asked for a box of nails and screws to repair his living quarters and latrines.
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Why are our troops suffering in such filth and discomfort in Iraq? Private industry outsource contractors hired to take care of our soldiers' living conditions, left them in filth, heat and garbage. Mail delivery managed by contractors fell weeks behind. Some companies never even showed. "We thought we could depend on industry to perform these kinds of functions," said the Army's logistics chief. For almost a decade, the military has been shifting support jobs to the private sector. But, business likes easy profit and will reject a rough situation. Back home, a group of mothers organized a drive to buy and ship air conditioners to their sons. One army captain asked for a box of nails and screws to repair his living quarters and latrines.
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'Unprecedented Hatred' for US
A growing rift between America and the Arab world was exposed yesterday when two Middle Eastern allies delivered damaging rebuffs to President George Bush's policies in the region. King Abdullah of Jordan flew home from the US after abruptly canceling a meeting planned for today with the president in Washington. The king's move came as the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, said there was more hatred of Americans in the Arab world today than ever before. King Abdullah and Mr Mubarak are two of the most moderate leaders in the Middle East and the two normally closest to the US.
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A growing rift between America and the Arab world was exposed yesterday when two Middle Eastern allies delivered damaging rebuffs to President George Bush's policies in the region. King Abdullah of Jordan flew home from the US after abruptly canceling a meeting planned for today with the president in Washington. The king's move came as the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, said there was more hatred of Americans in the Arab world today than ever before. King Abdullah and Mr Mubarak are two of the most moderate leaders in the Middle East and the two normally closest to the US.
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Bush Waging Nuclear War in Iraq
Bush-Cheney have used tons of depleted uranium (DU) weapons in the Iraq war. Depleted uranium is a component of toxic nuclear waste, usually stored at secure sites. Handlers need radiation protection gear.
DU munitions are classified by a United Nations resolution as illegal weapons of mass destruction. Their use breaches all international laws, treaties and conventions forbidding poisoned weapons calculated to cause unnecessary suffering.
Any soldier now in Iraq who has not inhaled lethal radioactive dust is not breathing. Once inhaled, uranium oxides lodge in the body and emit radiation indefinitely. A single particle of DU lodged in a lymph node can devastate the entire immune system according to British radiation expert Roger Coghill.
Americans will be supporting Gulf War II veterans for years as they slowly and painfully succumb to radiation poisoning. U.S. and British troops deployed to the area are the walking dead. They are destined to a long downhill spiral of chronic illness and disability. Kidney dysfunction, lung damage, bloody stools, extreme fatigue, joint pain, unsteady gait, memory loss and rashes and,ultimately, cancer and premature death await those exposed to DU. Furthermore, many babies born to troops now in Iraq will also be afflicted with hideous deformities, neurological damage and/or blood and respiratory disorders.
Dr. Doug Rokke, Army health physicist, and his clean-up team were issued only flimsy dust masks for their dangerous work. Of the 100 people on Rokke's decontamination team, 30 have already "dropped dead. Rokke himself is ill with radiation damage to lungs and kidneys. He has brain lesions, skin pustules, chronic fatigue, continual wheezing and painful fibromyalgia.
DU remains "hot" for 4.5 billion years. Radiation expert Dr. Helen Caldicott confirms that the dust-laden winds of DU-contaminated war zones will remain effectively radioactive for the rest of time. The dust storms which ensnared coalition troops during the first few days of the war are sure to suffer significant health consequences.
George Bush's ongoing war in Afghanistan is also a nuclear war. The underground water supply is now contaminated in drought-stricken Afghanistan by DU. The Uranium Medical Research Center report that urine samples of Afghanis show the highest level of uranium ever recorded in a civilian population.
Dr. Rokke confirms that the Pentagon lies about DU dangers and is criminally negligent for neglecting medical attention needed by DU-contaminated vets. He predicts that the numbers of American troops to be sickened by DU from Gulf War II will be staggering.
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Bush-Cheney have used tons of depleted uranium (DU) weapons in the Iraq war. Depleted uranium is a component of toxic nuclear waste, usually stored at secure sites. Handlers need radiation protection gear.
DU munitions are classified by a United Nations resolution as illegal weapons of mass destruction. Their use breaches all international laws, treaties and conventions forbidding poisoned weapons calculated to cause unnecessary suffering.
Any soldier now in Iraq who has not inhaled lethal radioactive dust is not breathing. Once inhaled, uranium oxides lodge in the body and emit radiation indefinitely. A single particle of DU lodged in a lymph node can devastate the entire immune system according to British radiation expert Roger Coghill.
Americans will be supporting Gulf War II veterans for years as they slowly and painfully succumb to radiation poisoning. U.S. and British troops deployed to the area are the walking dead. They are destined to a long downhill spiral of chronic illness and disability. Kidney dysfunction, lung damage, bloody stools, extreme fatigue, joint pain, unsteady gait, memory loss and rashes and,ultimately, cancer and premature death await those exposed to DU. Furthermore, many babies born to troops now in Iraq will also be afflicted with hideous deformities, neurological damage and/or blood and respiratory disorders.
Dr. Doug Rokke, Army health physicist, and his clean-up team were issued only flimsy dust masks for their dangerous work. Of the 100 people on Rokke's decontamination team, 30 have already "dropped dead. Rokke himself is ill with radiation damage to lungs and kidneys. He has brain lesions, skin pustules, chronic fatigue, continual wheezing and painful fibromyalgia.
DU remains "hot" for 4.5 billion years. Radiation expert Dr. Helen Caldicott confirms that the dust-laden winds of DU-contaminated war zones will remain effectively radioactive for the rest of time. The dust storms which ensnared coalition troops during the first few days of the war are sure to suffer significant health consequences.
George Bush's ongoing war in Afghanistan is also a nuclear war. The underground water supply is now contaminated in drought-stricken Afghanistan by DU. The Uranium Medical Research Center report that urine samples of Afghanis show the highest level of uranium ever recorded in a civilian population.
Dr. Rokke confirms that the Pentagon lies about DU dangers and is criminally negligent for neglecting medical attention needed by DU-contaminated vets. He predicts that the numbers of American troops to be sickened by DU from Gulf War II will be staggering.
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Sunday, April 18, 2004
Reporter's Question: "After 9/11, what would your biggest mistake be, would you say?"
President Bush: "You know, I just...I'm sure something will pop into my head here in the midst of this press conference with all the pressure of trying to come up with an answer, but it hadn't yet." (Presidential News Conference to the Nation, April 13, 2004)
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In truth, 49% of Americans received less than $100 from the Bush tax cut, while the wealthiest Americans got an average cut of over $28,000. In addition, there are a handful of people who have reaped a personal windfall, especially top Bush-Cheney contributors according to a new Public Campaign report. For example, William MaGuire, CEO of United Health Group, who gave more than $100,000, received at least $329,000 in new tax breaks.
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According to a new poll by Money Magazine, "60% of Americans said the Bush tax cut did not personally help them." Meanwhile, almost half of all Americans say that their taxes have risen under Bush. The president is playing a deceitful shell game. In order to pay for his tax cut, Bush had to slash funding for federal social programs and hike other taxes. For example, Bush has refused to extend the full child tax credit to 16 million children, including 250,000 children of military families. Also, the president's 2004 budget proposed to increase almost $6billion in new federal taxes and fees. Furthermore, the record-deficit created, in part, by his tax cut forced states to raise their taxes by billions. And to top it off, he has increased IRS audits of ordinary Americans while cutting IRS audits of large profitable corporations whose tax rates have plummeted.
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President Bush denied he received warnings prior to September 11 that a terrorist incident was imminent.
He answered that even asking such a question was "an absurd insinuation." And, Adviser Condoleezza Rice, who said in May of 2002 that "[no one predicted] that they would try to use a hijacked airplane as a missile. However, ABC News reported in May of 2002, "White House officials acknowledge that U.S. intelligence officials informed President Bush weeks before September 11 that Osama bin Laden's terrorist network might try to hijack American planes.” No warning was issued for the general public, but Attorney General Ashcroft was flying exclusively by leased jet instead of his usual practice of using commercial airlines because of an official "threat assessment by the FBI."
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As a presidential candidate in 2000, George Bush pledged to use his "political capital" to influence OPEC when gas prices soared. But, now with record high gas prices, newspapers report that the president refuses to "personally lobby oil cartel leaders”. Because of his lack of action, OPEC opted to cut oil supplies to further inflate prices and bilk American consumers. And, in spite of the Saudi ambassador’s claim that his country opposed higher oil prices, their government gave a pass to support the OPEC production cut since the president refused to use his close relationship with the Saudis.
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Combat veterans wounded in Iraq were left waiting weeks and even months for proper medical attention at military bases. According to an officer, their living conditions were so unacceptable for injured soldiers he said they "were being treated like dogs." Then the Pentagon underreported the number wounded.
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Bush allows gays to be fired for being gay.
According to the Federal Times, the president's appointee at the Office of Special Counsel ruled that federal employees will now "have no recourse if they are fired or demoted simply for being gay." The Bush Administration says they have the legal right to fire or demote someone based on their sexual orientation. To carry out the directive, the White House has begun removing information from government websites about sexual orientation discrimination in the workplace.
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One year after Baghdad fell to victorious U.S. troops, the Americans had to conquer the country all over again. The great rebellion of April 2004 expelled the U.S. from much of the capital, humiliated coalition allies, cut supply and communications lines to the south, and revealed a reservoir of popular hatred for the U.S. among both some Sunni Arabs in Fallujah and some Shiites in their cities. But perhaps the most ominous development for the U.S. was that the events tied together two occupations and two intifadas, or popular uprisings -- Iraq and Palestine.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
President Bush: "You know, I just...I'm sure something will pop into my head here in the midst of this press conference with all the pressure of trying to come up with an answer, but it hadn't yet." (Presidential News Conference to the Nation, April 13, 2004)
_____________________________________________________________________________________
In truth, 49% of Americans received less than $100 from the Bush tax cut, while the wealthiest Americans got an average cut of over $28,000. In addition, there are a handful of people who have reaped a personal windfall, especially top Bush-Cheney contributors according to a new Public Campaign report. For example, William MaGuire, CEO of United Health Group, who gave more than $100,000, received at least $329,000 in new tax breaks.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
According to a new poll by Money Magazine, "60% of Americans said the Bush tax cut did not personally help them." Meanwhile, almost half of all Americans say that their taxes have risen under Bush. The president is playing a deceitful shell game. In order to pay for his tax cut, Bush had to slash funding for federal social programs and hike other taxes. For example, Bush has refused to extend the full child tax credit to 16 million children, including 250,000 children of military families. Also, the president's 2004 budget proposed to increase almost $6billion in new federal taxes and fees. Furthermore, the record-deficit created, in part, by his tax cut forced states to raise their taxes by billions. And to top it off, he has increased IRS audits of ordinary Americans while cutting IRS audits of large profitable corporations whose tax rates have plummeted.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
President Bush denied he received warnings prior to September 11 that a terrorist incident was imminent.
He answered that even asking such a question was "an absurd insinuation." And, Adviser Condoleezza Rice, who said in May of 2002 that "[no one predicted] that they would try to use a hijacked airplane as a missile. However, ABC News reported in May of 2002, "White House officials acknowledge that U.S. intelligence officials informed President Bush weeks before September 11 that Osama bin Laden's terrorist network might try to hijack American planes.” No warning was issued for the general public, but Attorney General Ashcroft was flying exclusively by leased jet instead of his usual practice of using commercial airlines because of an official "threat assessment by the FBI."
_____________________________________________________________________________________
As a presidential candidate in 2000, George Bush pledged to use his "political capital" to influence OPEC when gas prices soared. But, now with record high gas prices, newspapers report that the president refuses to "personally lobby oil cartel leaders”. Because of his lack of action, OPEC opted to cut oil supplies to further inflate prices and bilk American consumers. And, in spite of the Saudi ambassador’s claim that his country opposed higher oil prices, their government gave a pass to support the OPEC production cut since the president refused to use his close relationship with the Saudis.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Combat veterans wounded in Iraq were left waiting weeks and even months for proper medical attention at military bases. According to an officer, their living conditions were so unacceptable for injured soldiers he said they "were being treated like dogs." Then the Pentagon underreported the number wounded.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Bush allows gays to be fired for being gay.
According to the Federal Times, the president's appointee at the Office of Special Counsel ruled that federal employees will now "have no recourse if they are fired or demoted simply for being gay." The Bush Administration says they have the legal right to fire or demote someone based on their sexual orientation. To carry out the directive, the White House has begun removing information from government websites about sexual orientation discrimination in the workplace.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
One year after Baghdad fell to victorious U.S. troops, the Americans had to conquer the country all over again. The great rebellion of April 2004 expelled the U.S. from much of the capital, humiliated coalition allies, cut supply and communications lines to the south, and revealed a reservoir of popular hatred for the U.S. among both some Sunni Arabs in Fallujah and some Shiites in their cities. But perhaps the most ominous development for the U.S. was that the events tied together two occupations and two intifadas, or popular uprisings -- Iraq and Palestine.
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Friday, April 16, 2004
"We are going to be in such a fix
when this war is over, or before this war is over.
Our grandchildren's grandchildren are going to be paying for this war.
I look at our future as, I'm sorry, being very, very dark."
- Walter Cronkite, March 19, 2003
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Thursday, April 15, 2004
Mahmood Mamdani, a Uganda-born political scientist and cultural anthropologist at Columbia University, says in his book ("Good Muslim, Bad Muslim”) that the American government fought global Communism towards the end by supporting low-level insurgency by private armed groups. Using third and fourth parties, the C.I.A. supported terrorist in Afghanistan and elsewhere. "The real damage the C.I.A. did was providing information about how to produce and spread violence - the formation of private militias - capable of creating terror." The best-known C.I.A.-trained terrorist is Osama bin Laden.
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It has now become impossible for the Bush administration to claim that their policies are good for Iraqis or Americans alike.
Lies regarding weapons of mass destruction and failures of an Iraq-obsessed White House to take real terrorist threats seriously has brought about the deaths and maiming of thousands young Americans as well as an unprecedented ballooning deficit. Bush’s claims of liberating Iraq from tyranny fall on Iraqi deaf ears when they see foreign soldiers outside their doors occupying their country. Violence is escalating on a scale unprecedented inside Iraq since the Iran-Iraq War. Many Iraqis, particularly many women, are afraid to leave their homes becomes of the surging violence.
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President Bush presents himself as a man of the people, but a look at his fundraising shows otherwise. Over $95 million of his money has come in the form of bundles of $2,000 checks from high-rolling CEOs and lobbyists.
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On the contradictions of the American right wing...The Coors family helped create the current conservative movement, founding the Heritage Foundation and giving the nation Paul Weyrich and James Watt. While the family was funding the Christian would-be theocrats, their company was airing TV hedonistic beer commercials.
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Please visit my website...cartoons-political.com/
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It has now become impossible for the Bush administration to claim that their policies are good for Iraqis or Americans alike.
Lies regarding weapons of mass destruction and failures of an Iraq-obsessed White House to take real terrorist threats seriously has brought about the deaths and maiming of thousands young Americans as well as an unprecedented ballooning deficit. Bush’s claims of liberating Iraq from tyranny fall on Iraqi deaf ears when they see foreign soldiers outside their doors occupying their country. Violence is escalating on a scale unprecedented inside Iraq since the Iran-Iraq War. Many Iraqis, particularly many women, are afraid to leave their homes becomes of the surging violence.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
President Bush presents himself as a man of the people, but a look at his fundraising shows otherwise. Over $95 million of his money has come in the form of bundles of $2,000 checks from high-rolling CEOs and lobbyists.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
On the contradictions of the American right wing...The Coors family helped create the current conservative movement, founding the Heritage Foundation and giving the nation Paul Weyrich and James Watt. While the family was funding the Christian would-be theocrats, their company was airing TV hedonistic beer commercials.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Please visit my website...cartoons-political.com/
