Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Fox's Brit Hume Minimizes U.S. Iraq Casualties to Deflect Flack Directed at Bush
Major mainstream media figure Brit Hume, Fox News Channel anchor, has stated that the deaths of 2000 American soldiers in Iraq was not really a big deal. Such a statement is an outrageous affront to our troops and a belittling of their sacrifices.
On the October 13 broadcast of Special Report, the show he regularly hosts, Hume said of U.S deaths in Iraq, "by historic standards, these casualties are negligible."
What history is he talking about? Of course, U.S. deaths were substantially higher in World War I and II, Korea and Vietnam--major wars fought either against major world powers or against well-armed states backed by superpowers. But when compared to other conflicts in its category--wars and counterinsurgency operations against comparatively weak, isolated nations and guerrilla movements--the death toll in Iraq is strikingly high.
Fox failed to mention that in the first four years of the Vietnam War (1961-1965) roughly 2250 US servicemen died in Vietnam. And, the Iraq War has only been going on for two and a half years-- and will almost certainly surpass the four year toll in Vietnam in another couple of months. So, even in comparison with a major war, and the most traumatic in American memory, the casualties in Bush's war are hardly negligible. And some US military leaders in Iraq are talking in terms of a ten year war.
If Vietnam War protests started in earnest much sooner, that war might have been halted early on and we wouldn't have that big black wall in Washington. But, of course the corporate war profiteers would be much less richer. It is something worth considering in respects to the Iraq War.
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Major mainstream media figure Brit Hume, Fox News Channel anchor, has stated that the deaths of 2000 American soldiers in Iraq was not really a big deal. Such a statement is an outrageous affront to our troops and a belittling of their sacrifices.
On the October 13 broadcast of Special Report, the show he regularly hosts, Hume said of U.S deaths in Iraq, "by historic standards, these casualties are negligible."
What history is he talking about? Of course, U.S. deaths were substantially higher in World War I and II, Korea and Vietnam--major wars fought either against major world powers or against well-armed states backed by superpowers. But when compared to other conflicts in its category--wars and counterinsurgency operations against comparatively weak, isolated nations and guerrilla movements--the death toll in Iraq is strikingly high.
Fox failed to mention that in the first four years of the Vietnam War (1961-1965) roughly 2250 US servicemen died in Vietnam. And, the Iraq War has only been going on for two and a half years-- and will almost certainly surpass the four year toll in Vietnam in another couple of months. So, even in comparison with a major war, and the most traumatic in American memory, the casualties in Bush's war are hardly negligible. And some US military leaders in Iraq are talking in terms of a ten year war.
If Vietnam War protests started in earnest much sooner, that war might have been halted early on and we wouldn't have that big black wall in Washington. But, of course the corporate war profiteers would be much less richer. It is something worth considering in respects to the Iraq War.
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David Ray Griffin Concluded that His 9/11 Hypothesis Was Correct.
from Kevin Barrett - Coordinator, MUJCA-NET: http://mujca.com
In two speeches to overflow crowds in New York on Oct 15 and 16, Dr. Griffin, a notable theologian, argued that recently revealed evidence seals the case that the Twin Towers and WTC-7 were destroyed by controlled demolition with explosives. Dr. Griffin concluded, "It is already possible to know, beyond a reasonable doubt, one very important thing: the destruction of the World Trade Center was an inside job, orchestrated by terrorists within our own government.
Dr. Griffin included excerpts from the firemen's tapes that were recently released as a result of a prolonged court battle led by victim's families represented by attorney Norman Siegel and reported in the NY Times. These tapes contained first person descriptions of the observed 'controlled explosion demolition' of the WTC. He also included statements by many witnesses. These sources gave ample testimony giving evidence of explosions going off in the buildings. A 12 minute film was shown for the audiences, who saw for themselves the undeniable evidence for controlled demolition.
Dr. Griffin listed ten characteristics of the collapses which all indicate that the buildings did not fall due to being struck by planes or the ensuing fires. He explained (#1) the buildings fell suddenly without any indication of collapse. (#2) They fell straight into their own footprint at (#3) free-fall speed, meeting virtually no resistance as they fell--a physical impossibility unless all vertical support was being progressively removed by explosives severing the core columns. (#4) The towers were built to withstand the impact of a Boeing 707 and 160 mile per hour winds, and (#5) nothing about the plane crashes or ensuing fires gave any indication of causing the kind of damage that would be necessary to trigger even a partial or progressive collapse, much less the shredding of the buildings into dust and fragments that could drop at free- fall speed.
(#6) The massive core columns--the most significant structural feature of the buildings, whose very existence is denied in the official 9/11 Commission Report--were severed into uniform 30 foot sections, just right for the 30-foot trucks used to remove them quickly before a real investigation could transpire. (#7) There was a volcanic-like dust cloud from the concrete being pulverized, and no physical mechanism other than explosives can begin to explain how (#8) so much of the buildings' concrete was rendered into extremely fine dust.
(#9) The debris was ejected horizontally several hundred feet in huge fan shaped plumes stretching in all directions, with (#10) telltale "squibs" following the path of the explosives downward. Again, these are characteristics of the kind of controlled demolitions that news people and firefighters were describing on the morning of 9/11. And, these are all facts that have been avoided by mainstream and even most of the alternative media.
Skepticism for the official 9/11 account appears to be almost universal among intellectuals who have examined the evidence. Furthermore, there has not yet been a single serious attempt to refute the case developed by Dr. Griffin and other free thinkers as Nafeez Ahmed and Mike Ruppert. As for the general public, polls have shown that a strong majority of Canadians (63%, Toronto Star, May '04) and half of New Yorkers (Zogby, August 2004) agree that top US leaders conspired to murder nearly 3,000 Americans on 9/11/01.
According to Griffin, the evidence for this conclusion (that 9/11 was an inside job) has thus far been largely ignored by the mainstream press because "it is far too disturbing to accept that we are subject to a government conspiracy of major proportions". Many believe that revealing it would be so destructive to the American psyche, the American form of government, and global stability that it is better to pretend to believe the official version.
However, Griffin disagreed indicating that the continued rule of those who brought us 9/11 would be far more devastating. As it is, the values of the perpetrators of 9/11 are reflected in the lies to justify the attack on Iraq, the disregard for the environment and the Bill of Rights, the criminal negligence both before and after Katrina, and now the apparent plan not only to weaponize space but also to authorize the use of nuclear weapons in a preemptive strike.
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from Kevin Barrett - Coordinator, MUJCA-NET: http://mujca.com
In two speeches to overflow crowds in New York on Oct 15 and 16, Dr. Griffin, a notable theologian, argued that recently revealed evidence seals the case that the Twin Towers and WTC-7 were destroyed by controlled demolition with explosives. Dr. Griffin concluded, "It is already possible to know, beyond a reasonable doubt, one very important thing: the destruction of the World Trade Center was an inside job, orchestrated by terrorists within our own government.
Dr. Griffin included excerpts from the firemen's tapes that were recently released as a result of a prolonged court battle led by victim's families represented by attorney Norman Siegel and reported in the NY Times. These tapes contained first person descriptions of the observed 'controlled explosion demolition' of the WTC. He also included statements by many witnesses. These sources gave ample testimony giving evidence of explosions going off in the buildings. A 12 minute film was shown for the audiences, who saw for themselves the undeniable evidence for controlled demolition.
Dr. Griffin listed ten characteristics of the collapses which all indicate that the buildings did not fall due to being struck by planes or the ensuing fires. He explained (#1) the buildings fell suddenly without any indication of collapse. (#2) They fell straight into their own footprint at (#3) free-fall speed, meeting virtually no resistance as they fell--a physical impossibility unless all vertical support was being progressively removed by explosives severing the core columns. (#4) The towers were built to withstand the impact of a Boeing 707 and 160 mile per hour winds, and (#5) nothing about the plane crashes or ensuing fires gave any indication of causing the kind of damage that would be necessary to trigger even a partial or progressive collapse, much less the shredding of the buildings into dust and fragments that could drop at free- fall speed.
(#6) The massive core columns--the most significant structural feature of the buildings, whose very existence is denied in the official 9/11 Commission Report--were severed into uniform 30 foot sections, just right for the 30-foot trucks used to remove them quickly before a real investigation could transpire. (#7) There was a volcanic-like dust cloud from the concrete being pulverized, and no physical mechanism other than explosives can begin to explain how (#8) so much of the buildings' concrete was rendered into extremely fine dust.
(#9) The debris was ejected horizontally several hundred feet in huge fan shaped plumes stretching in all directions, with (#10) telltale "squibs" following the path of the explosives downward. Again, these are characteristics of the kind of controlled demolitions that news people and firefighters were describing on the morning of 9/11. And, these are all facts that have been avoided by mainstream and even most of the alternative media.
Skepticism for the official 9/11 account appears to be almost universal among intellectuals who have examined the evidence. Furthermore, there has not yet been a single serious attempt to refute the case developed by Dr. Griffin and other free thinkers as Nafeez Ahmed and Mike Ruppert. As for the general public, polls have shown that a strong majority of Canadians (63%, Toronto Star, May '04) and half of New Yorkers (Zogby, August 2004) agree that top US leaders conspired to murder nearly 3,000 Americans on 9/11/01.
According to Griffin, the evidence for this conclusion (that 9/11 was an inside job) has thus far been largely ignored by the mainstream press because "it is far too disturbing to accept that we are subject to a government conspiracy of major proportions". Many believe that revealing it would be so destructive to the American psyche, the American form of government, and global stability that it is better to pretend to believe the official version.
However, Griffin disagreed indicating that the continued rule of those who brought us 9/11 would be far more devastating. As it is, the values of the perpetrators of 9/11 are reflected in the lies to justify the attack on Iraq, the disregard for the environment and the Bill of Rights, the criminal negligence both before and after Katrina, and now the apparent plan not only to weaponize space but also to authorize the use of nuclear weapons in a preemptive strike.
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Monday, October 10, 2005
More Evidence that the WTC Collapse Was a Pre-Planned Controlled Demolition.
by Greg Szymanski
Transit Authority conversations between motormen and dispatchers reveal a “heavy smoke situation” on transit line’s 1 and 9 adjacent to and in the sublevel basement area near the North Tower just minutes before the jetliner strike.
Obscure tapes, unknown until recently discovered in official transit authority transcripts and released in the Transit Authority News, adds further credibility to the numerous eye-witness claiming to have heard explosions rock the North Tower prior to the jetliner strike.
The conversations between subway worker’s came to light after avid 9/11 researcher and former auxiliary fireman, Paul Isaac, perused through transit authority records after listening to the same conversations he had taped himself on the morning of 9/11.
“I'm an emergency communications buff and have kept many tapes of what what was going on the morning of 9/11,” said Isaac. "I have on tape the motormen talking to the dispatchers about a heavy smoke condition between building 5 and 6 right next to the North Tower."
“This occurred a minute before the plane hit the tower on the 1 and 9 lines that were running below the mezzanine levels between sub level one and two.”
Isaac, who has compiled an enormous amount of research contradicting the official story, said his tapes were verified by the official transit authority transcripts he recently uncovered.
“This adds more credibility to William Rodriguez’s statements that he had heard explosions in the basement,” said Isaac about the WTC head maintenance man who has tried for years to get people to listen to his eye-witness accounts, corroborated by at least 20 other people in the North Tower who also heard the same massive explosions.
Rodriguez, the last man out of the WTC and declared a national hero for saving hundreds of lives, has had his damaging testimony censored by both the cowardly American press as well as the 9/11 Commission.
Besides Rodriguez, the commission and the press have never reported on at least 20 other eye-witnesses who verify the head maintenance man’s statements. And now comes the “heavy smoke’ reports on the transit authority tapes, also ignored by the lapdogs in media and the 9/11 Commission.
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by Greg Szymanski
Transit Authority conversations between motormen and dispatchers reveal a “heavy smoke situation” on transit line’s 1 and 9 adjacent to and in the sublevel basement area near the North Tower just minutes before the jetliner strike.
Obscure tapes, unknown until recently discovered in official transit authority transcripts and released in the Transit Authority News, adds further credibility to the numerous eye-witness claiming to have heard explosions rock the North Tower prior to the jetliner strike.
The conversations between subway worker’s came to light after avid 9/11 researcher and former auxiliary fireman, Paul Isaac, perused through transit authority records after listening to the same conversations he had taped himself on the morning of 9/11.
“I'm an emergency communications buff and have kept many tapes of what what was going on the morning of 9/11,” said Isaac. "I have on tape the motormen talking to the dispatchers about a heavy smoke condition between building 5 and 6 right next to the North Tower."
“This occurred a minute before the plane hit the tower on the 1 and 9 lines that were running below the mezzanine levels between sub level one and two.”
Isaac, who has compiled an enormous amount of research contradicting the official story, said his tapes were verified by the official transit authority transcripts he recently uncovered.
“This adds more credibility to William Rodriguez’s statements that he had heard explosions in the basement,” said Isaac about the WTC head maintenance man who has tried for years to get people to listen to his eye-witness accounts, corroborated by at least 20 other people in the North Tower who also heard the same massive explosions.
Rodriguez, the last man out of the WTC and declared a national hero for saving hundreds of lives, has had his damaging testimony censored by both the cowardly American press as well as the 9/11 Commission.
Besides Rodriguez, the commission and the press have never reported on at least 20 other eye-witnesses who verify the head maintenance man’s statements. And now comes the “heavy smoke’ reports on the transit authority tapes, also ignored by the lapdogs in media and the 9/11 Commission.
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Friday, October 07, 2005
A Message from the League of Conservation Voters
At a time when Congress should be working to solve our long term energy issues, Bush allies on Capitol Hill are trying to push legislation to dismantle environmental and public health standards -- and exploit national tragedy to provide hand-outs to polluting industries.
Rather than lowering energy costs, this harmful legislation in the House weakens the Clean Air Act, limits the use of cleaner fuels, and delays clean-up deadlines for harmful smog -- promising higher industry profits and more air pollution.
After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Americans responded with an outpouring of support. Yet some in Congress would rather support big oil and energy companies with proposals that were rejected in the last energy bill.
This harmful legislation would:
Allow 20,000 aging industrial facilities to increase pollution without installing modern pollution controls.
Delay existing smog cleanup deadlines for many years.
Undermine diesel engine cleanup requirements that would ultimately eliminate 20,000 premature deaths and $140 billion in health costs annually.
Do nothing to provide lower gas and energy prices.
For years now, the Bush Administration and Congress have worked to roll back environmental laws while failing to address our dependence on fossil fuels -- and now they are using an energy crisis to pad industry's pockets.
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At a time when Congress should be working to solve our long term energy issues, Bush allies on Capitol Hill are trying to push legislation to dismantle environmental and public health standards -- and exploit national tragedy to provide hand-outs to polluting industries.
Rather than lowering energy costs, this harmful legislation in the House weakens the Clean Air Act, limits the use of cleaner fuels, and delays clean-up deadlines for harmful smog -- promising higher industry profits and more air pollution.
After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Americans responded with an outpouring of support. Yet some in Congress would rather support big oil and energy companies with proposals that were rejected in the last energy bill.
This harmful legislation would:
Allow 20,000 aging industrial facilities to increase pollution without installing modern pollution controls.
Delay existing smog cleanup deadlines for many years.
Undermine diesel engine cleanup requirements that would ultimately eliminate 20,000 premature deaths and $140 billion in health costs annually.
Do nothing to provide lower gas and energy prices.
For years now, the Bush Administration and Congress have worked to roll back environmental laws while failing to address our dependence on fossil fuels -- and now they are using an energy crisis to pad industry's pockets.
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Thursday, October 06, 2005
High Schoolers Learning First Hand that They Are Living in a Police State. - from DemocracyNow.org
The Progressive Magazine is reporting that the Secret Service recently entered a North Carolina high school to remove a student's project that was made for an assignment on the Bill of Rights. Students in a senior civics and economics class at Currituck County High School were told to take photographs to illustrate their rights in the Bill of Rights. One student photographed a picture of President Bush with a red thumb tack through his head. He then took the photo to Wal-Mart to be developed. An employee at Wal-Mart called the Kitty Hawk police and then the matter was passed onto the Secret Service. Late last month the Secret Service sent officers to the school to question the principal and teacher. They also entered the classroom to remove the photograph.
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The Progressive Magazine is reporting that the Secret Service recently entered a North Carolina high school to remove a student's project that was made for an assignment on the Bill of Rights. Students in a senior civics and economics class at Currituck County High School were told to take photographs to illustrate their rights in the Bill of Rights. One student photographed a picture of President Bush with a red thumb tack through his head. He then took the photo to Wal-Mart to be developed. An employee at Wal-Mart called the Kitty Hawk police and then the matter was passed onto the Secret Service. Late last month the Secret Service sent officers to the school to question the principal and teacher. They also entered the classroom to remove the photograph.
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Senate GOP Moves to Cut Food Stamps to 300,000.
from DemocracyNow.org
Senate Republicans are proposing to slash food stamp programs by nearly $600 million. The Associated Press estimates 300,000 people would become ineligible to receive food stamps. The Senators are also considering slashing subsidies to farmers by over $1.1 billion dollars over five years.
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from DemocracyNow.org
Senate Republicans are proposing to slash food stamp programs by nearly $600 million. The Associated Press estimates 300,000 people would become ineligible to receive food stamps. The Senators are also considering slashing subsidies to farmers by over $1.1 billion dollars over five years.
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Harriet Miers Nomination Is Inappropriate
Confirming President Bush's Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers with her lack of actual bench experience is akin to putting a crop dusting pilot into the cockpit of a computerized 747-jet liner. And, the attempt to keep her views mum indicates that she has something undesirable to hide from the American public. Considering her long-time close relationship with President Bush, Miers ascension to the highest court would be the same as putting Bush himself on the court, which would break the Constitutional separation of powers which is vital to our democracy.
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Confirming President Bush's Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers with her lack of actual bench experience is akin to putting a crop dusting pilot into the cockpit of a computerized 747-jet liner. And, the attempt to keep her views mum indicates that she has something undesirable to hide from the American public. Considering her long-time close relationship with President Bush, Miers ascension to the highest court would be the same as putting Bush himself on the court, which would break the Constitutional separation of powers which is vital to our democracy.
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Tuesday, October 04, 2005
CAMPAIGN FOR READER PRIVACY - by Jim Hightower
Time for another Gooberhead Award [Beanie Cap Breakdown] – presented periodically to those in the news who have their tongues running 100 miles an hour... but forgot to put their brains in gear.
Today's Goober is from that giant storehouse of Gooberheads: congress. He's F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., a Wisconsin Republican who chairs the house judiciary committee. F. James is the sort of fellow who claims to see a terrorist in every shadow, and he's been padding his right-wing political credentials by trying to outlaw shadows.
His latest product is a nasty piece of legislation that extends Section 215 of the liberty-busting USA Patriot Act for 10 more years. This infamous section allows FBI gumshoes to ransack your and my library and bookstore records without bothering to get a judge's permission and without even informing us that we've been searched.
Known as "Fahrenheit 215" by some librarians and booksellers, this section burns a hole in our Fourth Amendment privacy rights. Oh well, you might think, this is only about terrorists. Uh-uh, Pollyanna – the Patriot Act is so broad that federal agents can define almost anyone as a "terrorist" and use section 215 to search your private records in investigations that have nothing to do with terrorism.
Despite having the word "sense" in his name, Sensenbrenner doesn't seem to have a lick of common sense in his head, for he insists that terrorists are using our libraries as safe havens and, therefore, the FBI must be allowed to probe secretly into all of our reading materials. "We put Americans' lives at risk," says F. James, "if we foolishly provide sanctuaries – even in our public libraries – for terrorists to operate."
This is Jim Hightower saying... What a Goober! The good news is that the senate wants to reject this Gooberheadedness and put some real restrictions on Section 215. For more information, click on the Campaign for Reader Privacy: www.readerprivacy.org.
Section 215 Patriot Act "House Extends Section 215 for Another Decade," www.ala.org, July 22, 2005.
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Time for another Gooberhead Award [Beanie Cap Breakdown] – presented periodically to those in the news who have their tongues running 100 miles an hour... but forgot to put their brains in gear.
Today's Goober is from that giant storehouse of Gooberheads: congress. He's F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., a Wisconsin Republican who chairs the house judiciary committee. F. James is the sort of fellow who claims to see a terrorist in every shadow, and he's been padding his right-wing political credentials by trying to outlaw shadows.
His latest product is a nasty piece of legislation that extends Section 215 of the liberty-busting USA Patriot Act for 10 more years. This infamous section allows FBI gumshoes to ransack your and my library and bookstore records without bothering to get a judge's permission and without even informing us that we've been searched.
Known as "Fahrenheit 215" by some librarians and booksellers, this section burns a hole in our Fourth Amendment privacy rights. Oh well, you might think, this is only about terrorists. Uh-uh, Pollyanna – the Patriot Act is so broad that federal agents can define almost anyone as a "terrorist" and use section 215 to search your private records in investigations that have nothing to do with terrorism.
Despite having the word "sense" in his name, Sensenbrenner doesn't seem to have a lick of common sense in his head, for he insists that terrorists are using our libraries as safe havens and, therefore, the FBI must be allowed to probe secretly into all of our reading materials. "We put Americans' lives at risk," says F. James, "if we foolishly provide sanctuaries – even in our public libraries – for terrorists to operate."
This is Jim Hightower saying... What a Goober! The good news is that the senate wants to reject this Gooberheadedness and put some real restrictions on Section 215. For more information, click on the Campaign for Reader Privacy: www.readerprivacy.org.
Section 215 Patriot Act "House Extends Section 215 for Another Decade," www.ala.org, July 22, 2005.
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THE ONGOING MADNESS OF MAD COW DISEASE
by Jim Hightower
You've probably never heard of Mike Johanns – but he could make you deathly sick.
Johanns was a Nebraska politico who was plucked from obscurity by corporate agribusiness early this year to be George W's secretary of agriculture. His chief duty there is to serve the corporate interests – and he's proven to be slavishly devoted to that duty.
Take mad cow disease. Anyone who gets the human form of this plague by unwittingly eating diseased beef gets a gruesome death sentence. Yet, the big beef processors and their political puppets keep pretending it's no problem – first they denied that the cow disease existed, then denied that humans could get it, then denied the disease could ever exist in America, then – when all of the above miraculously turned out to be wrong – insisted that our ag officials were protecting us.
Some protection.
Mad cow disease exists because, in order to fatten cattle quickly, industry turns these natural vegetarians into cannibals, feeding them the tissue, bones, brains, blood, spinal cords, and whatnot from other cows. It messes them up something awful. OK, sighed our so-called protectors, we'll stop allowing certain cow parts to be fed to cows. But they still allow cattle blood to be fed to calves as a milk substitute, and industrial cattle still are fed chicken-coop waste which includes cow materials.
In addition to these "legal" loopholes, USDA inspects only about one percent of the cattle slaughtered all across America, leaving plenty of room for profiteers to violate the agency's loose ban on feeding beef to beef. Yet, rather than plugging the loopholes, Johanns mindlessly plugs beef. When a mad cow case was found in June, he announced at a press conference that he'd just had beef for lunch, so... see... all okay.
This is Jim Hightower saying... Apparently, not all of the madness is in the cows. To fight the madness, contact the Organic Consumers Association at www.organicconsumers.org.
"Safer Beef," The New York Times, August 14, 2005.
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by Jim Hightower
You've probably never heard of Mike Johanns – but he could make you deathly sick.
Johanns was a Nebraska politico who was plucked from obscurity by corporate agribusiness early this year to be George W's secretary of agriculture. His chief duty there is to serve the corporate interests – and he's proven to be slavishly devoted to that duty.
Take mad cow disease. Anyone who gets the human form of this plague by unwittingly eating diseased beef gets a gruesome death sentence. Yet, the big beef processors and their political puppets keep pretending it's no problem – first they denied that the cow disease existed, then denied that humans could get it, then denied the disease could ever exist in America, then – when all of the above miraculously turned out to be wrong – insisted that our ag officials were protecting us.
Some protection.
Mad cow disease exists because, in order to fatten cattle quickly, industry turns these natural vegetarians into cannibals, feeding them the tissue, bones, brains, blood, spinal cords, and whatnot from other cows. It messes them up something awful. OK, sighed our so-called protectors, we'll stop allowing certain cow parts to be fed to cows. But they still allow cattle blood to be fed to calves as a milk substitute, and industrial cattle still are fed chicken-coop waste which includes cow materials.
In addition to these "legal" loopholes, USDA inspects only about one percent of the cattle slaughtered all across America, leaving plenty of room for profiteers to violate the agency's loose ban on feeding beef to beef. Yet, rather than plugging the loopholes, Johanns mindlessly plugs beef. When a mad cow case was found in June, he announced at a press conference that he'd just had beef for lunch, so... see... all okay.
This is Jim Hightower saying... Apparently, not all of the madness is in the cows. To fight the madness, contact the Organic Consumers Association at www.organicconsumers.org.
"Safer Beef," The New York Times, August 14, 2005.
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STEAKHOUSE ETHICS - by Jim Hightower
If you want to see the difference between the ethics of a family-owned company that's grounded in a community... and the ethics of a corporate-owned chain grounded in nothing more solid that maximizing its own profits – look at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse.
Ruth Fertel is the namesake of this business. In 1965, she mortgaged her house in New Orleans for an $18,000 loan to buy the original Steak House. Just three months later, Hurricane Betsy ripped through the area, cutting off power all across the city. Ruth began cooking up steaks over a gas stove and giving them away to victims of the storm and to relief workers.
New Orleans is a tight community and people gratefully remembered her commitment. Besides, she cooked great steaks, so her business flourished and expanded into other cities. But Ruth Fertel died in 2002, and outside shareholders took control of the steakhouses, which are now run by bottom-line corporate executives.
In recent weeks, the Corporate Ruth's was hit by Hurricane Katrina. Did the new execs man gas stoves and give away steaks? Ha! The two top honchos bolted from their chain's founding city, jetting away with their spouses to Orlando, where they each own second homes. In this dry and safe haven, they decided to desert New Orleans for good. As the city's poor people were trapped in the unbelievable horror of the flood, the steakhouse moguls were negotiating in Orlando to get tax subsidies for relocating Ruth's headquarters there.
This is Jim Hightower saying... While loyalty is not a virtue in CorporateWorld, it still counts for something in such family owned business as New Orleans' Brennan's Restaurant. It took a hit from Katrina, too, but Brad Brennan says they'll soon re-open in the Big Easy: "When they give you your start," he says "you kind of owe it to the city. Payback is staying your ground and employing the people that want to remain there." Ruth Fertel would've known exactly what Brad meant.
"Ruth Built the Steakhouse. Katrina Intervened." New York Times, September 9, 2005.
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If you want to see the difference between the ethics of a family-owned company that's grounded in a community... and the ethics of a corporate-owned chain grounded in nothing more solid that maximizing its own profits – look at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse.
Ruth Fertel is the namesake of this business. In 1965, she mortgaged her house in New Orleans for an $18,000 loan to buy the original Steak House. Just three months later, Hurricane Betsy ripped through the area, cutting off power all across the city. Ruth began cooking up steaks over a gas stove and giving them away to victims of the storm and to relief workers.
New Orleans is a tight community and people gratefully remembered her commitment. Besides, she cooked great steaks, so her business flourished and expanded into other cities. But Ruth Fertel died in 2002, and outside shareholders took control of the steakhouses, which are now run by bottom-line corporate executives.
In recent weeks, the Corporate Ruth's was hit by Hurricane Katrina. Did the new execs man gas stoves and give away steaks? Ha! The two top honchos bolted from their chain's founding city, jetting away with their spouses to Orlando, where they each own second homes. In this dry and safe haven, they decided to desert New Orleans for good. As the city's poor people were trapped in the unbelievable horror of the flood, the steakhouse moguls were negotiating in Orlando to get tax subsidies for relocating Ruth's headquarters there.
This is Jim Hightower saying... While loyalty is not a virtue in CorporateWorld, it still counts for something in such family owned business as New Orleans' Brennan's Restaurant. It took a hit from Katrina, too, but Brad Brennan says they'll soon re-open in the Big Easy: "When they give you your start," he says "you kind of owe it to the city. Payback is staying your ground and employing the people that want to remain there." Ruth Fertel would've known exactly what Brad meant.
"Ruth Built the Steakhouse. Katrina Intervened." New York Times, September 9, 2005.
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DELIBERATE DISASTERS - by Jim Hightower
We now know that the disastrous collapse of the Lake Pontchartrain levee in New Orleans was no accident.
George Bush's own federal emergency experts had been shouting for years that The Big One was coming to the Big Easy, and that the flood-protection system of this fabled American city was criminally inadequate. But the Bushites were blasé, saying: Hey, we're pushing a new "ownership society" in which everyone is responsible for their own well-being instead of counting on nasty ol' government to help them. They cut the money for shoring up the levees.
So... people died. Welcome to the Bush's ownership society. Step this way if you want to own a casket.
Lest you think that the New Orleans levee failure doesn't affect you, it was but a forewarning to every place in America – because loud-mouthed, budget-slashing politicians of both parties have failed miserably to keep our nation's house in even minimal repair. The American Society of Civil Engineers has determined that more than 3,500 dams maintained by state and local governments are "unsafe." Unsafe! The engineering experts also calculate that America must spend $11 billion a year just to bring our existing drinking-water facilities up to a safe standard – yet, the short-sighted budget-slashers are not even allocating 10-percent of this necessary funding. And spending for our highways and bridges is more than $6 billion short of the minimum needed each year just to maintain what we have – much less building the new ones we need.
This is Jim Hightower saying... Even tight-fisted fiscal conservatives know that routine maintenance of our essential infrastructure is cheaper than disaster. The ongoing deterioration of our nation's vital public works is the direct result of totally irresponsible political hacks posturing as small-government budget whackers. They are creating disasters – and one can only hope that an especially-horrific level of hell awaits them.
"Disasters Waiting to Happen," New York Times, September 11, 2005.
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George Bush's own federal emergency experts had been shouting for years that The Big One was coming to the Big Easy, and that the flood-protection system of this fabled American city was criminally inadequate. But the Bushites were blasé, saying: Hey, we're pushing a new "ownership society" in which everyone is responsible for their own well-being instead of counting on nasty ol' government to help them. They cut the money for shoring up the levees.
So... people died. Welcome to the Bush's ownership society. Step this way if you want to own a casket.
Lest you think that the New Orleans levee failure doesn't affect you, it was but a forewarning to every place in America – because loud-mouthed, budget-slashing politicians of both parties have failed miserably to keep our nation's house in even minimal repair. The American Society of Civil Engineers has determined that more than 3,500 dams maintained by state and local governments are "unsafe." Unsafe! The engineering experts also calculate that America must spend $11 billion a year just to bring our existing drinking-water facilities up to a safe standard – yet, the short-sighted budget-slashers are not even allocating 10-percent of this necessary funding. And spending for our highways and bridges is more than $6 billion short of the minimum needed each year just to maintain what we have – much less building the new ones we need.
This is Jim Hightower saying... Even tight-fisted fiscal conservatives know that routine maintenance of our essential infrastructure is cheaper than disaster. The ongoing deterioration of our nation's vital public works is the direct result of totally irresponsible political hacks posturing as small-government budget whackers. They are creating disasters – and one can only hope that an especially-horrific level of hell awaits them.
"Disasters Waiting to Happen," New York Times, September 11, 2005.
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THE NEW POLL TAX - by Jim Hightower
Anyone younger than 40 will not remember that many Americans – mostly in the South – used to have to pay to vote. It was called the "poll tax," and the unvarnished purpose of this $1.50 assessment was to price poor people (especially poor African-Americans) out of the voting booth.
But the Supreme Court struck down this ugly economic barrier to the ballot box in 1966, so that was that, right? Wrong! Never underestimate the creativity of the right-wingers and selfish money powers who're determined to keep poor folks down in order to keep themselves on top.
Georgia know has taken the lead in this modern-day race to the political bottom. Led by a know-nothing piece of nastiness, Gov. Sonny Perdue, the Republican Majority in the legislature has pushed through a new law taxing poor people who want to vote. Their law requires that anyone without a drivers license must pay $20 for a state ID card in order to get into a voting booth. Guess which groups in Georgia are least likely to have drivers licenses? The poor, the Black, and the elderly – or all of the above.
Well, says Governor Sonny, this is all about the sanctity of the vote – stopping ineligible people from getting into the booth. Yet, Georgia's top election official says she can find not even one case of such fraud in recent years. Instead, most voter fraud involves absentee ballots, which tend to be cast by Republicans. Guess what? Absentee voters are not covered by the new ID requirement.
Even uglier, the state is not selling its voter ID cards in areas where poor, Black, and elderly folks mostly live – so they would have to travel out-of-county to buy one. The city of Atlanta, for example, has no location selling the cards!
This Jim Hightower saying... Georgia's ID law is a disgraceful, un-American act of voter exclusion. If it stands, you can expect this revived poll tax to come to your state. To fight it, call the ACLU: 1-888-567-ACLU.
"Georgia's New Poll Tax," The New York Times, September 12, 2005
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Anyone younger than 40 will not remember that many Americans – mostly in the South – used to have to pay to vote. It was called the "poll tax," and the unvarnished purpose of this $1.50 assessment was to price poor people (especially poor African-Americans) out of the voting booth.
But the Supreme Court struck down this ugly economic barrier to the ballot box in 1966, so that was that, right? Wrong! Never underestimate the creativity of the right-wingers and selfish money powers who're determined to keep poor folks down in order to keep themselves on top.
Georgia know has taken the lead in this modern-day race to the political bottom. Led by a know-nothing piece of nastiness, Gov. Sonny Perdue, the Republican Majority in the legislature has pushed through a new law taxing poor people who want to vote. Their law requires that anyone without a drivers license must pay $20 for a state ID card in order to get into a voting booth. Guess which groups in Georgia are least likely to have drivers licenses? The poor, the Black, and the elderly – or all of the above.
Well, says Governor Sonny, this is all about the sanctity of the vote – stopping ineligible people from getting into the booth. Yet, Georgia's top election official says she can find not even one case of such fraud in recent years. Instead, most voter fraud involves absentee ballots, which tend to be cast by Republicans. Guess what? Absentee voters are not covered by the new ID requirement.
Even uglier, the state is not selling its voter ID cards in areas where poor, Black, and elderly folks mostly live – so they would have to travel out-of-county to buy one. The city of Atlanta, for example, has no location selling the cards!
This Jim Hightower saying... Georgia's ID law is a disgraceful, un-American act of voter exclusion. If it stands, you can expect this revived poll tax to come to your state. To fight it, call the ACLU: 1-888-567-ACLU.
"Georgia's New Poll Tax," The New York Times, September 12, 2005
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Monday, October 03, 2005
Source to Stephanopoulos: President Bush Directly Involved In Leak Scandal
from American Progress Action Fund
Near the end of a round table discussion on ABC’s This Week, George Stephanopoulos dropped this bomb:
"Definitely a political problem but I wonder, George Will, do you think it’s a manageable one for the White House especially if we don’t know whether Fitzgerald is going to write a report or have indictments but if he is able to show as a source close to this told me this week, that President Bush and Vice President Cheney were actually involved in some of these discussions."
This would explain why Bush spent more than an hour answering questions from special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald. It would also fundamentally change the dynamics of the scandal. President Bush could no longer claim he was merely a bystander who wants to “get to the bottom of it.” As Stephanopoulos notes, if Bush played a direct role it could make this scandal completely unmanageable.
(Editor's Note - Could this be the smoking gun that will eventually bring Bush and Cheney down?)
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from American Progress Action Fund
Near the end of a round table discussion on ABC’s This Week, George Stephanopoulos dropped this bomb:
"Definitely a political problem but I wonder, George Will, do you think it’s a manageable one for the White House especially if we don’t know whether Fitzgerald is going to write a report or have indictments but if he is able to show as a source close to this told me this week, that President Bush and Vice President Cheney were actually involved in some of these discussions."
This would explain why Bush spent more than an hour answering questions from special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald. It would also fundamentally change the dynamics of the scandal. President Bush could no longer claim he was merely a bystander who wants to “get to the bottom of it.” As Stephanopoulos notes, if Bush played a direct role it could make this scandal completely unmanageable.
(Editor's Note - Could this be the smoking gun that will eventually bring Bush and Cheney down?)
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Leaving 19.5 Million Children Behind
from American Progress Action Fund
As President Bush reaffirms his commitment to confront poverty in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan group in Washington, is today releasing a report concluding that the administration has left behind 19.5 million low-income children. These children are too poor to receive the full $1,000 child tax credit Bush signed into law in 2001. Then, Bush declared that his "tax relief is compassionate," but today's study demonstrates that the administration's policies benefit Americans in the top of the income scale and leave out the people who most need the government's help.
FAMILIES ARE TOO POOR TO RECEIVE HELP: The $47 billion child tax credit leaves out families that earn less than $11,000 -- the families who most need the extra $1,000. Families receive $150 for every $1,000 they earn in excess of $11,000, capping out at a maximum tax credit of $1,000. Families earning up to $110,000 can receive the full tax credit. The New York Times notes that "a family with one full-time worker at the minimum wage of $5.15 an hour receives nothing." Len Burman, author of the study, also suggested that more families than the 19.5 million probably receive partial or no credit since "poor and minority families claim tax credits at lower rates [than middle- and upper-income families]." Even more families will likely be ineligible to receive the credit next year as the minimum qualifying income will rise with inflation, leaving out families whose income fails to keep pace.
BLACK, HISPANIC, AND MILITARY FAMILIES LEFT BEHIND AT STAGGERING RATES: Today's study finds that while "18 percent of white children are in families too poor to claim the full credit, the figure is 50 percent among black children and 47 percent among Hispanics. The credit pays an average of $721 a year to white children, $564 a year to black children and $638 a year to Hispanic children." While Bush has called this tax credit "principled," many lawmakers and policy experts, including former Republican House speaker Newt Gingrich, see it as anything but principled: "That's a stunning number....I'd find a way to make sure those kids get the money [as part of a broader post-Hurricane Katrina plan]." Additionally, nearly one in five children of active-duty U.S. military families (250,000 of 1.4 million in 2003) were too poor to qualify, and another 750,000 children of military veterans denied the benefit.
ADMINISTRATION BELIEVES LOW-INCOME FAMILIES SHOULD BE APPRECIATIVE: Bush has touted the child tax credit as proof of the "fairness" of his tax cuts. In 2003, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer stated that the child tax credit policy is fair because low-income people may not receive a credit, but they also don't have to pay taxes, whereas "people up the income scale -- even if they get a larger credit, still pay income taxes." Additionally, Fleischer argued that low-income people (who pay no taxes because their incomes are too low) are "very appreciative of the fact that they pay no income taxes in America." If these low-income families are so lucky to be making so little money that they don't qualify to pay income taxes, let's ask members of the Bush administration to trade salaries so that they, too, can receive the benefits of the minimum wage.
BUSH'S TAX CUTS ARE FAIR AND COMPASSIONATE TO MILLIONAIRES: The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has found that households with annual incomes of more than $1 million -- the richest 0.2 percent of the population -- are already receiving tax cuts averaging $103,000. Fifty-four percent of the 2001 tax cuts, which will not go into effect until January 1, 2006, will also go to this top 0.2 percent, and 97 percent of the cuts will go to the 3.7 percent of households that have incomes of over $200,000 a year. The rest of the population -- 96 percent of households with incomes below $200,000 -- will receive only 3 percent of the tax cuts. The Bush administration needs to drastically change course if it hopes to repair the social and economic damage caused by Hurricane Katrina, but so far, the $6.1 billion tax relief plan passed last month "will probably benefit investors and businesses long before it benefits victims."
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from American Progress Action Fund
As President Bush reaffirms his commitment to confront poverty in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan group in Washington, is today releasing a report concluding that the administration has left behind 19.5 million low-income children. These children are too poor to receive the full $1,000 child tax credit Bush signed into law in 2001. Then, Bush declared that his "tax relief is compassionate," but today's study demonstrates that the administration's policies benefit Americans in the top of the income scale and leave out the people who most need the government's help.
FAMILIES ARE TOO POOR TO RECEIVE HELP: The $47 billion child tax credit leaves out families that earn less than $11,000 -- the families who most need the extra $1,000. Families receive $150 for every $1,000 they earn in excess of $11,000, capping out at a maximum tax credit of $1,000. Families earning up to $110,000 can receive the full tax credit. The New York Times notes that "a family with one full-time worker at the minimum wage of $5.15 an hour receives nothing." Len Burman, author of the study, also suggested that more families than the 19.5 million probably receive partial or no credit since "poor and minority families claim tax credits at lower rates [than middle- and upper-income families]." Even more families will likely be ineligible to receive the credit next year as the minimum qualifying income will rise with inflation, leaving out families whose income fails to keep pace.
BLACK, HISPANIC, AND MILITARY FAMILIES LEFT BEHIND AT STAGGERING RATES: Today's study finds that while "18 percent of white children are in families too poor to claim the full credit, the figure is 50 percent among black children and 47 percent among Hispanics. The credit pays an average of $721 a year to white children, $564 a year to black children and $638 a year to Hispanic children." While Bush has called this tax credit "principled," many lawmakers and policy experts, including former Republican House speaker Newt Gingrich, see it as anything but principled: "That's a stunning number....I'd find a way to make sure those kids get the money [as part of a broader post-Hurricane Katrina plan]." Additionally, nearly one in five children of active-duty U.S. military families (250,000 of 1.4 million in 2003) were too poor to qualify, and another 750,000 children of military veterans denied the benefit.
ADMINISTRATION BELIEVES LOW-INCOME FAMILIES SHOULD BE APPRECIATIVE: Bush has touted the child tax credit as proof of the "fairness" of his tax cuts. In 2003, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer stated that the child tax credit policy is fair because low-income people may not receive a credit, but they also don't have to pay taxes, whereas "people up the income scale -- even if they get a larger credit, still pay income taxes." Additionally, Fleischer argued that low-income people (who pay no taxes because their incomes are too low) are "very appreciative of the fact that they pay no income taxes in America." If these low-income families are so lucky to be making so little money that they don't qualify to pay income taxes, let's ask members of the Bush administration to trade salaries so that they, too, can receive the benefits of the minimum wage.
BUSH'S TAX CUTS ARE FAIR AND COMPASSIONATE TO MILLIONAIRES: The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has found that households with annual incomes of more than $1 million -- the richest 0.2 percent of the population -- are already receiving tax cuts averaging $103,000. Fifty-four percent of the 2001 tax cuts, which will not go into effect until January 1, 2006, will also go to this top 0.2 percent, and 97 percent of the cuts will go to the 3.7 percent of households that have incomes of over $200,000 a year. The rest of the population -- 96 percent of households with incomes below $200,000 -- will receive only 3 percent of the tax cuts. The Bush administration needs to drastically change course if it hopes to repair the social and economic damage caused by Hurricane Katrina, but so far, the $6.1 billion tax relief plan passed last month "will probably benefit investors and businesses long before it benefits victims."
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Saturday, October 01, 2005
Vultures After Katrina - from opednews.com
Have you noticed that the Bush/Republican axis of evil have swarmed upon the carcasses of Katrina's victims-- people, cities, communities-- and are going into high gear inflicting their worst policies, taking advantage of the disaster. They've eliminated the protections for minimum wages for trades workers. They've STOLEN a half a billion bucks to money launder to churches, by calling the money funding for school vouchers for private schools. This is the biggest voucher scam ever. Opportunists are coming in to devastated communities, buying properties at deep discounts, because the homeowners are uninsured. Of course Haliburton and ALbaugh's clients are getting billions in contracts. Let's not forget Mississippi's governor Barbour, the former RNC chief, doing a great job covering the tracks of the Bush/Republican axis of evil. Everything's wonderful, and they did a great job. Barf!!
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Have you noticed that the Bush/Republican axis of evil have swarmed upon the carcasses of Katrina's victims-- people, cities, communities-- and are going into high gear inflicting their worst policies, taking advantage of the disaster. They've eliminated the protections for minimum wages for trades workers. They've STOLEN a half a billion bucks to money launder to churches, by calling the money funding for school vouchers for private schools. This is the biggest voucher scam ever. Opportunists are coming in to devastated communities, buying properties at deep discounts, because the homeowners are uninsured. Of course Haliburton and ALbaugh's clients are getting billions in contracts. Let's not forget Mississippi's governor Barbour, the former RNC chief, doing a great job covering the tracks of the Bush/Republican axis of evil. Everything's wonderful, and they did a great job. Barf!!
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