Flag design:truth_to_power2006@yahoo.com
"...a scandal that has it all, corruption and cowardice at the highest levels, a festering canker at the very heart of world politics, where the War on Terror meets the slaughter in Iraq."::::::::
IF LINK DOESN'T WORK, THEN PASTE ARTICLE LINK(S) INTO YOUR BROWSER -- OR GO DIRECTLY TO >> http://www.truthout.org Chris Floyd | War Profits Trump the Rule of Law http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/122206A.shtml Chris Floyd writes: "Slush funds, oil sheiks, prostitutes, Swiss banks, kickbacks, blackmail, bagmen, arms deals, war plans, climbdowns, big lies and Dick Cheney - it's a scandal that has it all, corruption and cowardice at the highest levels, a festering canker at the very heart of world politics, where the War on Terror meets the slaughter in Iraq. Yet chances are you've never heard about it - even though it happened just a few days ago." --- A. Alexander | Press Ignores the Generals http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/122206R.shtml "The Joint Chiefs of Staff and practically every actively serving general strongly opposes President Bush's proposed Iraq 'Surge' Plan, but you've probably not heard too much about the generals' discontent ... because the media only barely reported on the generals' mutiny," writes A. Alexander. --- Sherwood Ross | Carter: US "Prime Culprit" in Nuclear Proliferation http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/122206C.shtml Sherwood Ross writes, "Former President Jimmy Carter says by 'rejecting or evading almost all nuclear arms control agreements negotiated during the past 50 years, the United States has now become the prime culprit in global nuclear proliferation.'" --- Scott Ritter and Seymour Hersh | Target Iran http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/122206B.shtml Democracy Now! presents an in-depth discussion between two figures who have been critical of the Bush administration's policy on Iran. Scott Ritter, a former United Nations weapons inspector in Iraq, and Seymour Hersh, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist for The New Yorker magazine. --- Leverett and Mann | Uncensored Op-Ed on Iran http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/122206J.shtml In response to the White House's intervention in the normal prepublication review process and the demand for substantial deletions in their article for the New York Times about Iran, Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann write, "National security must be above politics. In a democracy, transparency in government has to be honored and protected. To classify information for reasons other than the safety and security of the United States and its interests is a violation of these principles. It is for this reason that we will continue to press for the release of the article without the material deleted." --- North Korea Talks End "Without Deal" http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/122206P.shtml The six-party talks on the dismantling of North Korea's nuclear program have ended without any real breakthrough, officials are quoted as saying. Despite five days of negotiations in Beijing, the talks broke up, and no date for a resumption has been announced. The talks involved the US, North Korea, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia. --- Congress Closes With a Pork-Filled Flourish http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/122206L.shtml The dialysis industry, the coal industry and other interests that donated to lawmakers get lavish end-of-session breaks. --- Bob Herbert | America's Open Wound http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/122206O.shtml "Welcome to the Lower Ninth Ward. You won't find much holiday spirit here. In every direction, as far as it is possible to see, is devastation.... Whatever you've heard about New Orleans, the reality is much worse. Think of it as a vast open wound, this once-great American city that is still largely in ruins, with many of its people still writhing in agony more than a year after the catastrophic flood that followed Hurricane Katrina," writes Bob Herbert. --- Leaned On as Never Before, Reservists Weigh Re-enlistment http://snipurl.com/15lyd --- Five More US Troops Killed in Iraq; Casualties Nearing 3,000 http://snipurl.com/15n0r --- Bush Signs Law Blocking Aid to Hamas http://snipurl.com/15n0t --- Proposed Settlement Would Roll Back Benchmark Drug Prices http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/122206HA.shtml A federal class-action lawsuit and proposed settlement involving an obscure San Bruno database service and a San Francisco wholesaling giant have revealed a drug-pricing system, which critics claim has gouged consumers out of billions of dollars. --- David Moberg | Organizing the Outsiders http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/122206LA.shtml Lawyer Ela Bhatt organizes the unorganized - the very unorganized. Bhatt helps them form an organization, financed with their meager dues, that publicizes their problems and pressures the merchants to treat them fairly. --- J. Sri Raman | India and Three "Emerging Democracies" http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/122206D.shtml J. Sri Raman writes: "In an unbeatable illustration of double irony, President George W. Bush is pushing through the much-discussed US-India nuclear deal not only as a non-proliferation measure but also as a blow for democracy. [snip] --- In Iraq, Journalist Deaths Spike to Record in 2006 http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/122206F.shtml Violence in Iraq claimed the lives of 32 journalists in 2006, the deadliest year for the press in a single country that the Committee to Protect Journalists has ever recorded. [snip] --- Amos Oz | I Fear for Israel http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/122206G.shtml --- Raul Castro Urges Students to Debate "Fearlessly" http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/122206H.shtml Raul Castro has set a surprising new tone for Cuban politics, telling university students in Havana that they should debate "fearlessly" and bring their concerns directly to him. Castro's remarks, published Thursday by the Communist Party newspaper, Granma, are the clearest indication yet of how he might reshape Cuba after the death of his ailing brother, Fidel Castro. Raul Castro told the students that his brother is "irreplaceable." _________________________________ .ron corvuswire@verizon.net Dennis Kucinich: 'We have to bring our troops home' KUCINICH: Well actually, I am not frustrated at all. I think that when the American people learn, as they did on CNN the other night in the debate, that Howard Dean is for the occupation of Iraq, that he's for spending $87 billion in the next installment, that he's for keeping at least 70,000 American troops there, and that I'm not only in favor of ending the occupation, but stopping the waste of our tax dollars and bringing our troops home, the American people will be aware that they do have a choice. And, that as my campaign continues, I think that we will see the debate between myself and Mr. Dean resulting in more and more people supporting my candidacy." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mU__6wr_RU ----- Kucinich: Don't Vote To Fund the War Cong. Kucinich says don't vote to fund the war and then call yourself an anti-war candidate; if you vote for the funding of the war, then you support the war. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6q_FM87S9I 00:16 ----- http://www.rense.com/general29/sdoi.htm ----- Hillary's take on Iraq hardly matters, as it is basically an internecine squabble between kissing cousins, the neocons and the neolibs, team players for the same ideology with a few minor differences. In 2002, Clinton voted for H.J.RES.114, the "Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002," including an assertion that "the current Iraqi regime has demonstrated its continuing hostility toward, and willingness to attack, the United States." >> NEOLIB ICE QUEEN FOR PRESIDENT http://kurtnimmo.com/?p=698 ----- QUID QUO PRO Excerpt: Bush knows that if he can just force Democrats to approve his $160 billion war bill Congress will vote on this April, Bush will be home free, since that funding will keep the troops in Iraq till Bush leaves office. That's why I contend Bush publicly announced he was going to VETO any Democratic earmarks in any bill crossing his desk, to give Bush sufficient bargaining power to force Harry Reid and the Democrats to acquiesce and approve Bush's call for more troops and funding to Iraq, a quid quo pro. Why else would Harry Reid support sending more troops to Iraq, ignoring and despite the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Colin Powell, U.S. commanders on the ground in Iraq, leading Republicans and voting Democrats everywhere, who all oppose sending more troops to Iraq, period. Why? Why? Why? Because Harry Reid, like Bush, will sacrifice more American lives to push through 'their money.' Disgusting. I'm sure Harry Reid thinks he's a fine Democrat as Bush believes he is a fine Republican. They're both crooks and should be removed from Congress and the White House. [snip] http://www.corvuswire.com/quidquopro.htm ----- Hugo Chavez rattles International Jewry The rapidly unfolding Bolivarian Revolution led by President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela is worrying the International Zionist Movement. Of particular concern is Chavez' alliances with Islamic countries and his criticism of Israel's racist policies against the Palestinians. ..........snip.......... SYRIA: "Chavez of Arabia" Greeted as Hero in Damascus http://www.aztlan.net/chavez_in_syria.htm --- Chavez of Arabia http://www.aztlan.net/chavez_of_arabia.htm --- Hugo Chavez and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran http://www.aztlan.net/chavez_and_ahmadinejad.htm --- Hugo Chavez offers inexpensive gasoline to USA's poor http://www.aztlan.net/chavez_gas_for_poor.htm --- Hugo Chavez: "Oil prices will soar to $200 a barrel if the US attacks Venezuela" http://www.aztlan.net/chavez_oil_$200_barrel.htm --- Venezuela strengthens country's defenses against possible USA attack http://www.aztlan.net/chavez_strengthens_defenses.htm --- Aztlan.Net Links Up with TELASUR ... http://www.aztlan.net/telesur.htm ----- WORLD AFFAIRS: http://www.iosworld.org/caffairs.htm _________________________________ Excerpted from: http://onlinejournal.com The U.S. government hates democracy (lessons from Italy) By Mickey Z. | Online Journal Contributing Writer As far as I'm concerned, we can't put forward enough reminders of how the U.S. government and the corporations that own it do business. http://snipurl.com/15lnv --- The neoconservatives strike back By Abbas J. Ali, Ph.D | Online Journal Contributing Writer Just before the release of the Iraqi Study Group (ISG) report, the Washington political scene witnessed its own "Shock and Awe" act. The act was a deliberate and purposeful attempt to silence critics of the Iraqi invasion, prevent a genuine overhaul of the Middle East policy, hamper any move to withdraw the military forces from Iraq, and emotionally and psychologically drain Iraqi politicians who show the slightest concern for the future of their country and the welfare of the Iraqis. http://snipurl.com/15lnx --- Bush's mad dash to history's dustbin By Mike Whitney | Online Journal Contributing Writer Sometimes I'm struck by the sheer enormity of Bush's stupidity. It is truly breathtaking. After nearly four years of steadily intensifying guerilla warfare with no end in sight, Bush has decided to expand the war. http://snipurl.com/15lo2 _________________________________ http://jablankfort@earthlink.net Nation: Get Carter by Chris Hedges Other than Hedges being too kind to the memory of Rabin, this piece represents another public exposure of the Zionist Fifth Column in America that is ready and willing to support the suppression of the 1st Amendment and whatever else is necessary to preserve support for Israel no matter how many lives, Palestinian, Lebanese, Iraqi and American, that support requires. Until and unless the anti-war movement and those who claim solidarity with the peoples of Palestine, Lebanon and Iraq are willing to take a public stand against this noxious cancer within the US body politic, they will continue to be part of the problem rather than part of the solution.-JB >> Nation: Get Carter by Chris Hedges http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070108/hedges ----- Nation: People's Revolt in Lebanon ... by Mohamad Bazzi Excerpt: Locked in a state of perpetual conflict, Lebanon today faces the same choice it had in 1990, when the civil war ended. It can replicate the political system that it had before--based on corrupt sectarian warlords dividing up the spoils of the war they perpetuated--or it can try to produce a stronger and more egalitarian system, one that isn't based on religious divisions and that won't consign its largest sect, the Shiites, to the care of an Iranian-funded religious party. http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070108/bazzi _________________________________ Excerpted from: http://mediamatters.org NBC's Kelly O'Donnell: "Congress has not passed a specific law" on Bush wiretap program In reporting on President Bush's "argu[ment]" that "he had legal authority" to order warrantless domestic wiretapping, NBC News White House correspondent Kelly O'Donnell in a December 20 online article uncritically repeated the Bush administration's false claim that "Congress had not passed a specific law" on the subject. Read more >> http://mediamatters.org/items/200612210012?src=other --- CNN "surpris[ed]" at Dem reaction to Bush's "conciliatory" tone, effort to "press the reset button" On CNN's The Situation Room, Wolf Blitzer noted that Harry Reid took "a new jab at President Bush on Iraq, despite [Bush's] talk of bipartisanship," while Suzanne Malveaux uncritically reported that Bush "vow[ed] several times not only to work with Republicans, but Democrats as well" and John King asserted that the Democratic reaction to Bush' press conference was "surprising." These statements ignored reports -- including those by King and Jeff Greenfield on the same edition of The Situation Room -- that undermine the credibility of Bush's pledge of bipartisanship. Read more >> http://mediamatters.org/items/200612220001?src=other [VIDEO] --- Despite Bush's rejection of Democrats' call for Iraq timeline, Blitzer said Bush welcomes them to "weigh in" Read more >> http://mediamatters.org/items/200612210010?src=other [VIDEO] --- Still more ideological diversity at Time: Kristol and Kinsley signed up Time magazine has reportedly hired William Kristol, who has advanced misleading attacks on Democrats and opponents of the Bush administration's policies, as a "part-time columnist" and Michael Kinsley, who has used his columns to dismiss evidence that the administration manipulated intelligence to support its case for war, as a biweekly columnist. Read more >> http://mediamatters.org/items/200612210007?src=other --- In two articles, in two days, LA Times failed to report Bush reversal on success in Iraq Read more >> http://mediamatters.org/items/200612210005?src=other --- Wash. Post headline falsely claimed Bush "[s]upports Democrats' " minimum wage proposal Read more >> http://mediamatters.org/items/200612210004?src=other --- New CPB board member Warren Bell on hugging Pelosi: "[T]hat sort of thing leaves a stain" Warren Bell, a TV producer and National Review Online contributor named to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting board of directors via recess appointment, is an avowed conservative and Bush contributor with a record of inflammatory remarks regarding Democrats, women, minorities, and underprivileged people. Read more >> http://mediamatters.org/items/200612210008?src=other --- Carlson likes "a tiny bit of BS" from the president On the December 20 edition of MSNBC's Tucker, host Tucker Carlson said "I like a tiny bit of BS" from the president on the Iraq war even though "I know nobody agrees with me." Carlson also claimed that President Bush has a "kind of Teddy Rooseveltian way" because Bush claims that he is "the guy who knows the deep truth, and the deep truth is victory" and suggests that people should not "believe what your eyes tell you." Read more >> http://mediamatters.org/items/200612210002?src=other _________________________________ [NEWSDISSECTOR] God Gave Noah The Rainbow Sign.... http://www.newsdissector.com/blog/2006/12/22/god-gave-noah-the-rainbow-sign/ _________________________________ .ron corvuswire@verizon.net George W. Bush - Terrorist in the White House Israel is in the midst of its plan to use the United States military, which it controls, to conquer Iraq and divert Iraqi oil to the Haifa refinery via the Mosul Haifa pipeline. The U.S. has built airbases at H1, H2 and H3 (which stand for Haifa 1, 2 and 3) to protect this strategic pipeline. The pipeline is used to send oil to Israel. Paid for with the blood of American soldiers that die in Iraq. See The Reason Bush Is Pushing For Syria's Invasion - PDF file Iraq is being turned into another Palestine state for Israel. This war was fought in order to secure Israel's future. Israel, being a parasite nation, needed to create an income stream that would continue if funding from the United States should dry up. They have been working on the plan to steal Iraqi oil for years. Read Israel's Blitzkrieg on Middle East Oil PDF by Joe Vialls for more on this. http://www.ziopedia.org/content/view/2775/58/ _________________________________ People who use plenty of olive oil in their diets may be helping to prevent damage to body cells that can eventually lead to cancer, according to a study by researchers at Copenhagen University Hospital in Denmark. Full Story >> http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061219/hl_nm/olive_oil_dc _________________________________ http://www.csmonitor.com | http://www.guerrillanews.com | http://rackjite.com _________________________________ THIS WEEK'S FOCUS: Use instant messaging anywhere Instant messaging is handy for long-distance conversations or workplace collaboration. But on a friend's PC or public computer, you may not have this luxury. I'll tell you about a way to use your favorite instant messenger without downloading or installing anything. http://www.komando.com/downloads/ _________________________________ eHEALTHY NEWS Change the Way You Feel Instantly With This Simple Technique - Learn to instantly change the way you feel with highly effective and easy-to-learn tools. http://snipurl.com/15k0l ----- Most Americans are Delusional When it Comes to Exercise - Please brace yourself when you read this as you might laugh so hard you will fall out of your chair at how many Americans are living in fantasyland when it comes to objectively viewing their health habits. http://snipurl.com/15k0n _________________________________ VIDEO: Celebs without make-up | 1:15 http://grouper.com/video/MediaDetails.aspx?id=1603885 _________________________________ NationalGeographic.com http://lava.nationalgeographic.com/pod/ _________________________________ NASA Astronomy picture of the day http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html _________________________________ Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree. In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall. ~ Larry Wilde, The Merry Book of Christmas
