Wednesday, November 30, 2005
The Brits Trying to Hide Bush's Crazy Plan
AmericanProgressAction.org
The British tabloid the Daily Mirror reported that President Bush revealed a plan "to bomb the Arab TV station al-Jazeera in friendly Qatar...at a White House face-to-face with Prime Minister Tony Blair on April 16 last year." (At the time, the Bush administration was infuriated with the al-Jazeera coverage of the battle in Fallujah.) According to the Mirror , Blair talked him out of it. The details of the conversation are allegedly contained in "a 'Top Secret' No 10 Downing St. memo." One source cited by the Mirror said Bush's threat to bomb the al-Jazeera TV station as "humorous, not serious." Another claimed, "Bush was deadly serious, as was Blair. That much is absolutely clear from the language used by both men."
The report remains largely not corroborated and unconfirmed. But, surprisingly, the British attorney general Lord Goldsmith threatened to prosecute, under the Official Secrets Act, newspapers that publish the exact contents of the memo. The Guardian reports that it is "the first time the Blair government has threatened newspapers in this way." Previously, the British government had "never prosecuted editors for publishing the contents of leaked documents, including highly sensitive ones about the run-up to the invasion of Iraq." Furthermore, Leo O'Conner, a former researcher for a British MP, and David Keogh, a former Cabinet Office official, have already been charged under the act for receiving and passing the document.
Boris Johnson, a Tory MP, said that he was "quite prepared to believe that the Daily Mirror is wrong." But, "if there is one thing that would seem to confirm the essential accuracy of the story is the Attorney General's threat."
Both the Bush administration and the British government have reacted to the news as if they have something to hide. Could it be that what they are hiding is Bush's inaptitude, inability to make sound judgments and possibly poor state of mental health?
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AmericanProgressAction.org
The British tabloid the Daily Mirror reported that President Bush revealed a plan "to bomb the Arab TV station al-Jazeera in friendly Qatar...at a White House face-to-face with Prime Minister Tony Blair on April 16 last year." (At the time, the Bush administration was infuriated with the al-Jazeera coverage of the battle in Fallujah.) According to the Mirror , Blair talked him out of it. The details of the conversation are allegedly contained in "a 'Top Secret' No 10 Downing St. memo." One source cited by the Mirror said Bush's threat to bomb the al-Jazeera TV station as "humorous, not serious." Another claimed, "Bush was deadly serious, as was Blair. That much is absolutely clear from the language used by both men."
The report remains largely not corroborated and unconfirmed. But, surprisingly, the British attorney general Lord Goldsmith threatened to prosecute, under the Official Secrets Act, newspapers that publish the exact contents of the memo. The Guardian reports that it is "the first time the Blair government has threatened newspapers in this way." Previously, the British government had "never prosecuted editors for publishing the contents of leaked documents, including highly sensitive ones about the run-up to the invasion of Iraq." Furthermore, Leo O'Conner, a former researcher for a British MP, and David Keogh, a former Cabinet Office official, have already been charged under the act for receiving and passing the document.
Boris Johnson, a Tory MP, said that he was "quite prepared to believe that the Daily Mirror is wrong." But, "if there is one thing that would seem to confirm the essential accuracy of the story is the Attorney General's threat."
Both the Bush administration and the British government have reacted to the news as if they have something to hide. Could it be that what they are hiding is Bush's inaptitude, inability to make sound judgments and possibly poor state of mental health?
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Bush's Latest Supreme Court Nominee Brags about His Bigotry. - Dawn Sanders, Care2
Much worry has arisen over Judge Samuel Alito's bragging about his membership in the Concerned Alumni of Princeton, a group known for its fervent hostility to the admission of women and minorities to the university.
New revelations show that Alito did exactly that in a job application he submitted to President Reagan's Justice Department in 1985, a full 13 years after he'd graduated from Princeton. Indeed, this group was considered so overtly racist and sexist by many fellow alumni that it collapsed and disbanded in 1986.
With Alito boasting such extreme views, how can Americans have any confidence that he would act to uphold equal protection under the law if confirmed to serve on the Supreme Court?
Alito's example is shedding some much needed light on what it means to be an "extreme conservative" in America.
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Much worry has arisen over Judge Samuel Alito's bragging about his membership in the Concerned Alumni of Princeton, a group known for its fervent hostility to the admission of women and minorities to the university.
New revelations show that Alito did exactly that in a job application he submitted to President Reagan's Justice Department in 1985, a full 13 years after he'd graduated from Princeton. Indeed, this group was considered so overtly racist and sexist by many fellow alumni that it collapsed and disbanded in 1986.
With Alito boasting such extreme views, how can Americans have any confidence that he would act to uphold equal protection under the law if confirmed to serve on the Supreme Court?
Alito's example is shedding some much needed light on what it means to be an "extreme conservative" in America.
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Budget Bill Contains Gifts for Big Business.
Deb Callahan - President, League of Conservation Voters
Depending on how Congressional negotiators hammer out a final budget bill, it could be big corporations that rush to a federal land give-away at the expense of taxpayers.
Tucked into the recently-passed House budget bill, California Republican Rep. Richard Pombo's provision would raid public lands by offering deep discounts to mining companies, who can then develop the land as they see fit -- for mining operations, housing developments, or whatever is on their wish-list. The New York Times calls Rep. Pombo's scheme "legislative robbery" and "a blatant fraud on the American people."
Big Oil's wish-list includes drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge -- but thanks to a bipartisan effort, the House refused to gift this pristine habitat in their bill. The Senate version, however, does include reckless language to open the Arctic Refuge to oil extraction.
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Deb Callahan - President, League of Conservation Voters
Depending on how Congressional negotiators hammer out a final budget bill, it could be big corporations that rush to a federal land give-away at the expense of taxpayers.
Tucked into the recently-passed House budget bill, California Republican Rep. Richard Pombo's provision would raid public lands by offering deep discounts to mining companies, who can then develop the land as they see fit -- for mining operations, housing developments, or whatever is on their wish-list. The New York Times calls Rep. Pombo's scheme "legislative robbery" and "a blatant fraud on the American people."
Big Oil's wish-list includes drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge -- but thanks to a bipartisan effort, the House refused to gift this pristine habitat in their bill. The Senate version, however, does include reckless language to open the Arctic Refuge to oil extraction.
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For Workers in America, Speaking Up Has Real Consequences.
Working Families e-Activist Network, AFL-CIO
John Summerour, 59, was fired in June 2005 from his job as a baggage screener at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport after speaking out about inadequate training that was putting travelers’ lives at risk. “We weren’t properly trained to do the job we were hired to do,” he says.
Summerour was terminated after he and others wrote a letter to their congressional representative about lack of training and poor working conditions at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). The firing came in retaliation for union activity and exercising his freedom of speech, according to an appeal filed by AFGE with the TSA Disciplinary Review Board, an internal TSA board that reviews terminations.
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Working Families e-Activist Network, AFL-CIO
John Summerour, 59, was fired in June 2005 from his job as a baggage screener at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport after speaking out about inadequate training that was putting travelers’ lives at risk. “We weren’t properly trained to do the job we were hired to do,” he says.
Summerour was terminated after he and others wrote a letter to their congressional representative about lack of training and poor working conditions at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). The firing came in retaliation for union activity and exercising his freedom of speech, according to an appeal filed by AFGE with the TSA Disciplinary Review Board, an internal TSA board that reviews terminations.
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Monday, November 28, 2005
Anti-War Leader Launches Campaign to Impeach Bush
By Michael L. Betsch - CNSNews.com Staff Writer
(CNSNews.com) - A former U.S. attorney general has drafted articles of impeachment against President Bush and three other top administration officials as a means of preventing the U.S. from advancing a "first strike, potentially nuclear preemptive war" against Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
"Impeachment is the means by which We the People of the United States and our elected representatives in Congress can prevent further crimes by the President and the human catastrophe they threaten and for accountability for crimes committed," former Attorney General Ramsey Clark states on his website, VotetoImpeach.com.
Clark first announced his campaign to impeach Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Attorney General John Ashcroft and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in a speech to thousands of anti-war protestors who rallied in the nation's capital on Jan. 18.
According to Clark, the U.S. Constitution provides the legal means for removing both elected officials and appointed officials from office when they have "acted or threatened acts" that are serious constitutional offenses or threaten to "injure the Presidency."
Signatures in support of impeachment will be collected online and "hand delivered to the Chair of the House Judiciary Committee and to the ranking Democrat on the Committee" at an undisclosed time and date.
The International Action Center, the activist group that Clark founded, did not respond to CNSNews.com's inquiries.
'Manufactured Evidence'
"Far from being a threat to the United States, or any other people, Iraq has been a victim of U.S. aggression for 12 years," Clark wrote in his Feb. 7 letter to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
"Twelve years of sanctions have inflicted death on over 1,500,000 people in Iraq, the majority children under 5 years old. You must remember the enormity of this genocide as you consider whether to agree to another major U.S. military assault on Iraq."
Clark also accuses the Bush Administration of manufacturing evidence against Iraq.
"Secretary Powell's charts, photos and electronic intercepts of conversations require authentication," he said, referring to Secretary of State Colin Powell's Feb. 5th presentation to the United Nations.
"They are repetitious of old tactics like the U.S. claim North Vietnamese torpedo boats attacked U.S. Navy ships in the Tonkin Gulf in 1964," Clark stated. "Only later the U.S. admitted there were 'no boats' there.
"The only rational explanation for a war on Iraq is an intention by the U.S. to control and exploit its oil, use oil sales to pay for the cost of the war and occupation, benefit U.S. oil companies and petroleum engineering firms with awards of contracts, control the price of oil to enrich the U.S. and enlarge U.S. geo-political power in the region," Clark said.
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By Michael L. Betsch - CNSNews.com Staff Writer
(CNSNews.com) - A former U.S. attorney general has drafted articles of impeachment against President Bush and three other top administration officials as a means of preventing the U.S. from advancing a "first strike, potentially nuclear preemptive war" against Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
"Impeachment is the means by which We the People of the United States and our elected representatives in Congress can prevent further crimes by the President and the human catastrophe they threaten and for accountability for crimes committed," former Attorney General Ramsey Clark states on his website, VotetoImpeach.com.
Clark first announced his campaign to impeach Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Attorney General John Ashcroft and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in a speech to thousands of anti-war protestors who rallied in the nation's capital on Jan. 18.
According to Clark, the U.S. Constitution provides the legal means for removing both elected officials and appointed officials from office when they have "acted or threatened acts" that are serious constitutional offenses or threaten to "injure the Presidency."
Signatures in support of impeachment will be collected online and "hand delivered to the Chair of the House Judiciary Committee and to the ranking Democrat on the Committee" at an undisclosed time and date.
The International Action Center, the activist group that Clark founded, did not respond to CNSNews.com's inquiries.
'Manufactured Evidence'
"Far from being a threat to the United States, or any other people, Iraq has been a victim of U.S. aggression for 12 years," Clark wrote in his Feb. 7 letter to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
"Twelve years of sanctions have inflicted death on over 1,500,000 people in Iraq, the majority children under 5 years old. You must remember the enormity of this genocide as you consider whether to agree to another major U.S. military assault on Iraq."
Clark also accuses the Bush Administration of manufacturing evidence against Iraq.
"Secretary Powell's charts, photos and electronic intercepts of conversations require authentication," he said, referring to Secretary of State Colin Powell's Feb. 5th presentation to the United Nations.
"They are repetitious of old tactics like the U.S. claim North Vietnamese torpedo boats attacked U.S. Navy ships in the Tonkin Gulf in 1964," Clark stated. "Only later the U.S. admitted there were 'no boats' there.
"The only rational explanation for a war on Iraq is an intention by the U.S. to control and exploit its oil, use oil sales to pay for the cost of the war and occupation, benefit U.S. oil companies and petroleum engineering firms with awards of contracts, control the price of oil to enrich the U.S. and enlarge U.S. geo-political power in the region," Clark said.
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Republican Policies and Evangelical Right Wing Extremists Are Closing 9 GM Plants
Rob Kall - editor of OpEdNews.com - mailto:Rob@OpEd.com
It's well known that GM has had to add over $1500 to the sticker price of every car in order to deal with the high cost of employee health insurance.
We know that the Bush administration has been offering tax incentives to encourage production and sales of gas guzzling SUVs. Unfortunately, the Bush administration’s failure to institute long term plans to free the US from dependence upon oil have made SUVs less and less attractive. So, GM has built itself into a pickle-- with too many factories designed for making unwanted SUVs, manned by workers receiving prohibitively costly health insurance.
If the right wing Republican leadership in Congress and the White House had seen the writing on the wall, which was very visible, they might have bit the bullet and taken the approach every other major industrialized nation has already taken, and moved the U.S. to nationalize health care. That would have eased the burden on our country's strongest industries. Currently, they are at a huge competitive pricing disadvantage, since all those other nations subsidize the cost of health coverage for workers. Furthermore, this is one form of subsidy that the World Trade Organization does allow. One reason the right wing Republicans failed to take this absolutely necessary and inevitable step because they owe too much to the pharmaceutical and health insurance industries for major political payola. Just look at dirty corrupt investment dealings and conflicts of interest of GOP Senate leader, Bill Frist.
If the right wing Republicans had taken a different approach to SUV’s, encouraging the discontinuation of their use, such as giving tax breaks for energy efficient cars and hybrids, gas prices might not have hit GM so hard. Also, if they had taken steps starting in 2000 to free the US from dependence upon oil, particularly foreign oil, the Bush administration’s bungling in the gulf in response to Katrina, might not have further impacted gas prices so severely.
As a result, GM will cut its US manufacturing ability by one million vehicles as part of their seven billion dollar budget cut. Furthermore, 30,000 American workers will lose their jobs, and those jobs will go to workers in other countries. GM is doing this "to deal with global competitors."
Not surprisingly, GM stock hit a fourteen-year low. However, one segment of the Republican Party is rejoicing at this news. The wealthy can buy GM stock at basement level prices now and later make big profits selling it after a rise in value over time. But, it’s the displaced thirty thousand working people and their families that will pay the price for these profits. They will have to go out and find lower paying jobs, probably without health insurance. And the U.S. moves a little closer to third world status.
Let's face it. Bush's poll numbers are down to 28% approval now. For over ten years, I've observed that that number-- 26-28% is generally the statistic that represents the evangelical fundamentalist base of the Republican Party. Therefore, the right wing fundamentalist Christians are now only what is left of the GOP political base, and are responsible for enabling the Republican extremists running Congress and the White House to impose their hurtful agenda upon the country. With fundamentalist Christian support, the Republican extremists are gutting the USA of its most valued industries. They are hobbling our energy policy and continue working an archaic model that is now punishing all of us, with higher gasoline and home heating costs. They are taking away money from the poor. And, the Christian fundamentalist supported Republican extremists, led by the Vice President for Torture, Cheney, are making the use of torture an official policy of the USA.
Along with homophobia and the "rapture", abortion is the chief issue that galvanizes the extremist evangelicals. But, be assured, these people are selling out America. With total hypocrisy, they allow the poor to go hungry and to die from lack of medical care. They allow the extremists controlling congress to pass laws that allow increasing pollution of the environment, which is causing increased deaths among children (already born) and adults. And, of course, they allow the continuation of a war that was started based on distortions and lies of omission-- a war that has killed tens of thousands of innocent civilians, a war in which the US has used chemical weapons of mass destruction.
This is not about religion. There are still millions of Christians of all faiths who have not drunk the Kool-Aid and who see that the right wing has rejected the principles and teachings of Christianity.
It is time to stop treating these evangelical extremist groups as just another normal religious persuasion. Their leaders aren’t interested in advancing the well being of Americans. Instead, they and their misled congregations are perusing more power and wealth for themselves, with the ultimate goal of turning America into a theocracy. They shouldn’t be tolerated anymore because they are endangering the stability and economic future of the United States.
It is time to end the tax exemption for these big right wing religious organizations. They have been built with taxpayer funds even though their ministers illegally invoke their flocks to support right wing politicians. Furthermore, they have little in common with the churches most Americans are familiar with. They do not add strength and integrity to a community. They are insular institutions which sow division and separation from the community. They are a threat to the American way.
As we watch GM begin to dissolve as a major US company due to right wing Republican policies supported by their evangelical extremist base, we should keep in mind that it will not disappear. We can expect to see GM be acquired by some international conglomerate, just as Chrysler was, and shift its manufacturing to outsourcing nations where cheap labor is readily available. In conclusion, the GM plant closings are frightening harbingers of what the right wing will do to us in the years to come, with Bush in the white house for three more years.
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Rob Kall - editor of OpEdNews.com - mailto:Rob@OpEd.com
It's well known that GM has had to add over $1500 to the sticker price of every car in order to deal with the high cost of employee health insurance.
We know that the Bush administration has been offering tax incentives to encourage production and sales of gas guzzling SUVs. Unfortunately, the Bush administration’s failure to institute long term plans to free the US from dependence upon oil have made SUVs less and less attractive. So, GM has built itself into a pickle-- with too many factories designed for making unwanted SUVs, manned by workers receiving prohibitively costly health insurance.
If the right wing Republican leadership in Congress and the White House had seen the writing on the wall, which was very visible, they might have bit the bullet and taken the approach every other major industrialized nation has already taken, and moved the U.S. to nationalize health care. That would have eased the burden on our country's strongest industries. Currently, they are at a huge competitive pricing disadvantage, since all those other nations subsidize the cost of health coverage for workers. Furthermore, this is one form of subsidy that the World Trade Organization does allow. One reason the right wing Republicans failed to take this absolutely necessary and inevitable step because they owe too much to the pharmaceutical and health insurance industries for major political payola. Just look at dirty corrupt investment dealings and conflicts of interest of GOP Senate leader, Bill Frist.
If the right wing Republicans had taken a different approach to SUV’s, encouraging the discontinuation of their use, such as giving tax breaks for energy efficient cars and hybrids, gas prices might not have hit GM so hard. Also, if they had taken steps starting in 2000 to free the US from dependence upon oil, particularly foreign oil, the Bush administration’s bungling in the gulf in response to Katrina, might not have further impacted gas prices so severely.
As a result, GM will cut its US manufacturing ability by one million vehicles as part of their seven billion dollar budget cut. Furthermore, 30,000 American workers will lose their jobs, and those jobs will go to workers in other countries. GM is doing this "to deal with global competitors."
Not surprisingly, GM stock hit a fourteen-year low. However, one segment of the Republican Party is rejoicing at this news. The wealthy can buy GM stock at basement level prices now and later make big profits selling it after a rise in value over time. But, it’s the displaced thirty thousand working people and their families that will pay the price for these profits. They will have to go out and find lower paying jobs, probably without health insurance. And the U.S. moves a little closer to third world status.
Let's face it. Bush's poll numbers are down to 28% approval now. For over ten years, I've observed that that number-- 26-28% is generally the statistic that represents the evangelical fundamentalist base of the Republican Party. Therefore, the right wing fundamentalist Christians are now only what is left of the GOP political base, and are responsible for enabling the Republican extremists running Congress and the White House to impose their hurtful agenda upon the country. With fundamentalist Christian support, the Republican extremists are gutting the USA of its most valued industries. They are hobbling our energy policy and continue working an archaic model that is now punishing all of us, with higher gasoline and home heating costs. They are taking away money from the poor. And, the Christian fundamentalist supported Republican extremists, led by the Vice President for Torture, Cheney, are making the use of torture an official policy of the USA.
Along with homophobia and the "rapture", abortion is the chief issue that galvanizes the extremist evangelicals. But, be assured, these people are selling out America. With total hypocrisy, they allow the poor to go hungry and to die from lack of medical care. They allow the extremists controlling congress to pass laws that allow increasing pollution of the environment, which is causing increased deaths among children (already born) and adults. And, of course, they allow the continuation of a war that was started based on distortions and lies of omission-- a war that has killed tens of thousands of innocent civilians, a war in which the US has used chemical weapons of mass destruction.
This is not about religion. There are still millions of Christians of all faiths who have not drunk the Kool-Aid and who see that the right wing has rejected the principles and teachings of Christianity.
It is time to stop treating these evangelical extremist groups as just another normal religious persuasion. Their leaders aren’t interested in advancing the well being of Americans. Instead, they and their misled congregations are perusing more power and wealth for themselves, with the ultimate goal of turning America into a theocracy. They shouldn’t be tolerated anymore because they are endangering the stability and economic future of the United States.
It is time to end the tax exemption for these big right wing religious organizations. They have been built with taxpayer funds even though their ministers illegally invoke their flocks to support right wing politicians. Furthermore, they have little in common with the churches most Americans are familiar with. They do not add strength and integrity to a community. They are insular institutions which sow division and separation from the community. They are a threat to the American way.
As we watch GM begin to dissolve as a major US company due to right wing Republican policies supported by their evangelical extremist base, we should keep in mind that it will not disappear. We can expect to see GM be acquired by some international conglomerate, just as Chrysler was, and shift its manufacturing to outsourcing nations where cheap labor is readily available. In conclusion, the GM plant closings are frightening harbingers of what the right wing will do to us in the years to come, with Bush in the white house for three more years.
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Thursday, November 10, 2005
Bush Borrowed More Than All Previous Presidents Combined
by Melanie Hunter - CNSNews.com Senior Editor
President Bush and the current administration have borrowed more money from foreign governments and banks than the previous 42 presidents combined, a group of conservative to moderate Democrats said Friday.
Blue Dog Coalition, which describes itself as a group "focused on fiscal responsibility," called the administration's borrowing practices "astounding".
According to the Treasury Department, from 1776-2000, the first 224 years of U.S. history, 42 U.S. presidents borrowed a combined $1.01 trillion from foreign governments and financial institutions, but in the past four years alone, the Bush administration borrowed $1.05 trillion.
"The seriousness of this rapid and increasing financial vulnerability of our country can hardly be overstated," said Rep. John Tanner (D-Tenn.), a leader of the Blue Dog Coalition and member of the House Ways and Means Committee.
"The financial mismanagement of our country by the Bush Administration should be of concern to all Americans, regardless of political persuasion," said Tanner in a press release.
Earlier this year, the Blue Dog Coalition unveiled a 12-step plan to "cure" the nation's "addiction to deficit spending." It included requiring all federal agencies to pass clean audits, a balanced budget, and the establishment of a rainy day fund for use in emergencies specifically a natural disaster.
"No American political leadership has ever willfully and deliberately mortgaged our country to foreign interests in the manner we have witnessed over the past four years," said Tanner. "If this recklessness is not stopped, I truly believe our economic freedom as American citizens is in great jeopardy."
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by Melanie Hunter - CNSNews.com Senior Editor
President Bush and the current administration have borrowed more money from foreign governments and banks than the previous 42 presidents combined, a group of conservative to moderate Democrats said Friday.
Blue Dog Coalition, which describes itself as a group "focused on fiscal responsibility," called the administration's borrowing practices "astounding".
According to the Treasury Department, from 1776-2000, the first 224 years of U.S. history, 42 U.S. presidents borrowed a combined $1.01 trillion from foreign governments and financial institutions, but in the past four years alone, the Bush administration borrowed $1.05 trillion.
"The seriousness of this rapid and increasing financial vulnerability of our country can hardly be overstated," said Rep. John Tanner (D-Tenn.), a leader of the Blue Dog Coalition and member of the House Ways and Means Committee.
"The financial mismanagement of our country by the Bush Administration should be of concern to all Americans, regardless of political persuasion," said Tanner in a press release.
Earlier this year, the Blue Dog Coalition unveiled a 12-step plan to "cure" the nation's "addiction to deficit spending." It included requiring all federal agencies to pass clean audits, a balanced budget, and the establishment of a rainy day fund for use in emergencies specifically a natural disaster.
"No American political leadership has ever willfully and deliberately mortgaged our country to foreign interests in the manner we have witnessed over the past four years," said Tanner. "If this recklessness is not stopped, I truly believe our economic freedom as American citizens is in great jeopardy."
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Wednesday, November 09, 2005
Bush's WMD'S
from - Peter Popham - Independent/UK
On November 10 last year, the Islam Online website wrote: "US troops are reportedly using chemical weapons and poisonous gas in its large-scale offensive on the Iraqi resistance bastion of Fallujah, a grim reminder of Saddam Hussein's alleged gassing of the Kurds in 1988."
In December the US government formally denied the reports. The USinfo website said. "Phosphorus shells are not outlawed. US forces have used them very sparingly in Fallujah, for illumination purposes. They were fired into the air to illuminate enemy positions at night, not at enemy fighters."
But now new information has surfaced, including hideous photographs and videos and interviews with American soldiers who took part in the Fallujah attack, which provides graphic proof that phosphorus shells were widely deployed in the city as a weapon.
In a documentary to be broadcast by RAI, the Italian state broadcaster, this morning, a former American soldier who fought at Fallujah says: "I heard the order to pay attention because they were going to use white phosphorus on Fallujah. In military jargon it's known as Willy Pete.
"Phosphorus burns bodies, in fact it melts the flesh all the way down to the bone ... I saw the burned bodies of women and children. Phosphorus explodes and forms a cloud. Anyone within a radius of 150 meters is done for."
Photographs on the website of RaiTG24, the broadcaster's 24-hours news channel, www.rainews24.it, show exactly what the former soldier means. Provided by the Studies Centre of Human Rights in Fallujah, dozens of high-quality, color close-ups show bodies of Fallujah residents, some still in their beds, whose clothes remain largely intact but whose skin has been dissolved or caramelised or turned the consistency of leather by the shells.
A biologist in Fallujah, Mohamad Tareq, interviewed for the film, says: "A rain of fire fell on the city, the people struck by this multi-colored substance started to burn, we found people dead with strange wounds, the bodies burned but the clothes intact."
The documentary, entitled Fallujah: the Hidden Massacre, also provides what it claims is clinching evidence that incendiary bombs known as Mark 77, a new, improved form of napalm, was used in the attack on Fallujah, in breach of the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons of 1980, which only allows its use against military targets.
These kinds of operations pursued by Bush and the 'Neo Cons' have only fostered contempt for the U.S. in the Middle East as well as throughout the rest of the world. Under their corrupt leadership, the U.S. is no longer seen as the moral standard of the world and the source of peace and Democracy. Developing nations are looking elsewhere for a valued ally and mentor. Maintaining the Bush/'Neo Con' course will only result in the U.S. standing alone in the world and increasingly targeted by terrorists and rogue nations while China and others wizz past us in dominance and influence.
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from - Peter Popham - Independent/UK
On November 10 last year, the Islam Online website wrote: "US troops are reportedly using chemical weapons and poisonous gas in its large-scale offensive on the Iraqi resistance bastion of Fallujah, a grim reminder of Saddam Hussein's alleged gassing of the Kurds in 1988."
In December the US government formally denied the reports. The USinfo website said. "Phosphorus shells are not outlawed. US forces have used them very sparingly in Fallujah, for illumination purposes. They were fired into the air to illuminate enemy positions at night, not at enemy fighters."
But now new information has surfaced, including hideous photographs and videos and interviews with American soldiers who took part in the Fallujah attack, which provides graphic proof that phosphorus shells were widely deployed in the city as a weapon.
In a documentary to be broadcast by RAI, the Italian state broadcaster, this morning, a former American soldier who fought at Fallujah says: "I heard the order to pay attention because they were going to use white phosphorus on Fallujah. In military jargon it's known as Willy Pete.
"Phosphorus burns bodies, in fact it melts the flesh all the way down to the bone ... I saw the burned bodies of women and children. Phosphorus explodes and forms a cloud. Anyone within a radius of 150 meters is done for."
Photographs on the website of RaiTG24, the broadcaster's 24-hours news channel, www.rainews24.it, show exactly what the former soldier means. Provided by the Studies Centre of Human Rights in Fallujah, dozens of high-quality, color close-ups show bodies of Fallujah residents, some still in their beds, whose clothes remain largely intact but whose skin has been dissolved or caramelised or turned the consistency of leather by the shells.
A biologist in Fallujah, Mohamad Tareq, interviewed for the film, says: "A rain of fire fell on the city, the people struck by this multi-colored substance started to burn, we found people dead with strange wounds, the bodies burned but the clothes intact."
The documentary, entitled Fallujah: the Hidden Massacre, also provides what it claims is clinching evidence that incendiary bombs known as Mark 77, a new, improved form of napalm, was used in the attack on Fallujah, in breach of the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons of 1980, which only allows its use against military targets.
These kinds of operations pursued by Bush and the 'Neo Cons' have only fostered contempt for the U.S. in the Middle East as well as throughout the rest of the world. Under their corrupt leadership, the U.S. is no longer seen as the moral standard of the world and the source of peace and Democracy. Developing nations are looking elsewhere for a valued ally and mentor. Maintaining the Bush/'Neo Con' course will only result in the U.S. standing alone in the world and increasingly targeted by terrorists and rogue nations while China and others wizz past us in dominance and influence.
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Bush Treats Our Soldiers as Cannon Fodder.
from - Gene C. Gerard
Recruitment shortages have resulted in the Pentagon calling up reservists who are ill or medically unfit. According to the GAO report, this includes reservists who have suffered from heart attacks, those with severe asthma (weather conditions in the desert exacerbates this condition), hernias, severe hypertension, and a woman who was four months into chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer. It also includes reservists suffering from sleep apnea who need medical equipment to help them breath, yet large portions of Iraq and Afghanistan lack the electricity necessary to run the equipment.
Reserve forces that are diabetic and require insulin pumps have been called to active duty. A soldier was called up only two weeks after receiving a kidney transplant. Other reservists have required kidney dialysis. The GAO report also found that reserve soldiers have been called to active duty that suffer from psychiatric problems, including bipolar disorder. By one estimate as much as ten percent of the reservists who have been medically evacuated out of the Middle East was attributable to pre-existing medical conditions that could not be treated properly.
The GAO report ominously concluded, “The impact of those who are not medically and physically fit for duty could be significant for future deployments as the pool of reserve members from which to fill requirements is dwindling and those who have deployed are not in as good health as they were before deployment.” The findings of this report are particularly ironic, considering that one year ago President Bush won re-election in large part because he convinced military families that he would protect the armed forces better than Senator Kerry. Consequently, veterans voted for President Bush by a 16-point margin. Many of them are likely having second thoughts today.
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from - Gene C. Gerard
Recruitment shortages have resulted in the Pentagon calling up reservists who are ill or medically unfit. According to the GAO report, this includes reservists who have suffered from heart attacks, those with severe asthma (weather conditions in the desert exacerbates this condition), hernias, severe hypertension, and a woman who was four months into chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer. It also includes reservists suffering from sleep apnea who need medical equipment to help them breath, yet large portions of Iraq and Afghanistan lack the electricity necessary to run the equipment.
Reserve forces that are diabetic and require insulin pumps have been called to active duty. A soldier was called up only two weeks after receiving a kidney transplant. Other reservists have required kidney dialysis. The GAO report also found that reserve soldiers have been called to active duty that suffer from psychiatric problems, including bipolar disorder. By one estimate as much as ten percent of the reservists who have been medically evacuated out of the Middle East was attributable to pre-existing medical conditions that could not be treated properly.
The GAO report ominously concluded, “The impact of those who are not medically and physically fit for duty could be significant for future deployments as the pool of reserve members from which to fill requirements is dwindling and those who have deployed are not in as good health as they were before deployment.” The findings of this report are particularly ironic, considering that one year ago President Bush won re-election in large part because he convinced military families that he would protect the armed forces better than Senator Kerry. Consequently, veterans voted for President Bush by a 16-point margin. Many of them are likely having second thoughts today.
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