50 QuickLinks
Monday, April 24, 2006
Is U.S. being transformed into a radical republic?
(3 comments)
We Americans came not from a revolution but from an evolution.
That is in large part why our so-called revolution produced success while most throughout history did not. We came as much from the Magna Carta as from our own doings, as much from British common law and parliamentary development as from the Declaration of Independence and Continental Congress.
Monday, April 24, 2006
A Greener Way to Cut the Grass Runs Afoul of a Powerful Lobby
(3 comments)
Gallon for gallon — or, given the size of lawnmower tanks, quart for quart — the 2006 lawn mower engines contribute 93 times more smog-forming emissions than 2006 cars, according to the California Air Resources Board. In California, lawn mowers provided more than 2 percent of the smog-forming pollution from all engines.
Monday, April 24, 2006
Fired CIA Veteran Denies Leak
(3 comments)
A former colleague says the fired Mary McCarthy 'categorically denies' being the source of the leak on agency renditions.
Monday, April 24, 2006
Senators Raise Idea of Taxing 'Obscene' Oil Profits
(3 comments)
Congress should consider a tax on excessive oil company profits, two senators said Sunday, as gasoline prices in some cities have risen above $3 a gallon. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said on CNN's Late Edition that President Bush should call for a windfall profits tax on the oil companies' "extreme, obscene profits."
Monday, April 24, 2006
Democrats Hope to Divide GOP Over Stem Cells
(3 comments)
Democrats are pressing their support for embryonic stem cell research in Congressional races around the country, seeking to move back to center stage an issue they believe resonates with voters and to exploit a division between conservatives who oppose the science and other Republicans more open to it.
Monday, April 24, 2006
Report: Bush Aide Advises Rattling Saber on Iran for Political Gain
(3 comments)
Josh Bolten, the presidentÂ’s new chief of staff, has reportedly counseled Bush that talking tough on Iran will shore up his national security polling numbers.
Monday, April 24, 2006
Republicans urge Bush to probe high gasoline costs
(3 comments)
Republican congressional leaders on Monday urged the Bush administration to investigate whether oil companies are overcharging consumers at the gasoline pump and if speculators are pushing up fuel prices.
Monday, April 24, 2006
Ex-Chairman of Enron Blames Chief Finance Officer
(3 comments)
Liars all. Shame we have to spend a bundle of tax dollars to prosecute the slime.
Monday, April 24, 2006
Seven U.S. soldiers a month committed suicide last year
(3 comments)
The suicide rate in the U.S. Army has grown to its highest level in thirteen years.
Last year 83 soldiers committed suicide, the highest number in any year since 1993. Another four deaths under investigation may increase the number further. The figure only relates to the Army, and does not include Marines, Naval or Air Force servicemembers.
Monday, April 24, 2006
The madness of bombing Iran
(3 comments)
It is as certain as it can be that a strike against Iran would inflame Muslim hatred throughout the Middle East and beyond. It would interrupt oil supplies and disorganise the world economy. It would swell the insurgency in Iraq, multiply the numbers of “terrorists” and strengthen their determination to exact a terrible vengeance, especially on Israel. It would be against every counsel of prudent statesmanship. The danger is that we will drift into war because we lack the will and imagination to create institutions to make peace safe.
Monday, April 24, 2006
New Orleans Run-Off Election
(3 comments)
The third-place finisher in the New Orleans mayoral race endorsed Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu on Monday over Mayor Ray Nagin in next monthÂ’s runoff election.
Monday, April 24, 2006
Chavez plans new taxes on oil companies in Venezuela - report
(3 comments)
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is planning new taxes on overseas oil companies, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The newspaper said the Venezuelan Congress is considering sharply raising taxes and royalties on foreign companies' operations in the Orinoco River basin... Chavez also wants to seize majority control of the four Orinoco projects and force private companies who run them to accept a minority stake, said the report, citing a top executive at state-run oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA
Monday, April 24, 2006
Chávez abandons Andean trade bloc
(3 comments)
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez said Sunday that Venezuela will irrevocably withdraw from the Andean Community trade bloc and will impose protectionist measures to insulate itself from an ''invasion'' of U.S. products through neighboring countries.
Monday, April 24, 2006
Challengers rake in cash
(3 comments)
New campaign-finance records show that key challengers are surpassing or matching the fundraising of incumbents this year in competitive races around the country, a sign of the gathering strength of an anti-incumbent wind that doesnÂ’t necessarily distinguish between Republicans and Democrats.
Monday, April 24, 2006
Mick beats George to suite
(3 comments)
George Bush can’t get no satisfaction — after Mick Jagger grabbed his hotel room.
The Rolling Stone splashed out £3,600 a night for the suite days before the US leader tried to book it.
Now Mick, 62, who has been a fierce critic of the Bush-led war in Iraq, is refusing to give it up.
Monday, April 24, 2006
Inspectors Find More Torture at Iraqi Jails
(3 comments)
The U.S. official involved in the inspections, who would not be identified by name, described in an e-mail the abuse found during some of the visits since the Nov. 13 raid: "Numerous bruises on the arms, legs and feet. A lot of the Iraqis had separated shoulders and problems with their hands and fingers too. You could also see strap marks on some of their backs."
"I was not in charge of the team who went to the sites. If so, I would have taken them out," the U.S. official wrote, referring to the detainees. "We set a precedent and we were given guidance" from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, "but for some reason it is not being followed."
Monday, April 24, 2006
Nepal's King Orders Parliament Reinstated
(3 comments)
Nepal's embattled King Gyanendra on Monday reinstated the lower house of Parliament and expressed his sympathies for those killed in weeks of pro-democracy protests, trying to avoid a bloody showdown between demonstrators and his security forces.
Monday, April 24, 2006
8th General wants Rummy to go
(3 comments)
On Shepard Smith's Studio B, an 8th general has called for RumsfeldÂ’s resignation. Ret. Marine General Paul Van Ripper was interviewed by FOX News reporter Bret Baier. Watch Video.
Monday, April 24, 2006
Six NY teens sue Rumsfeld over Pentagon's recruiting database
(3 comments)
Six New York teen-agers sued
Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld on Monday, alleging the U.S.
Department of Defense broke the law by keeping an extensive database on potential recruits.
Monday, April 24, 2006
Judge Joins Chorus - Retired chief justice for third circuit says Rumsfeld shows 'disregard' for military law
(3 comments)
John J. Gibbons, a former Chief Judge of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals appointed by President Richard Nixon and a former officer in the U.S. Navy, joined the chorus of critics attacking Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld Monday
Monday, April 24, 2006
Democrats gain on Republicans in congressional fundraising
(3 comments)
House Democrats evenly matched their Republican counterparts in fundraising last month, and at the end of the first quarter showed they had essentially erased the traditional cash-on-hand disparity between the two parties
Monday, April 24, 2006
Bush's approval ratings hit new low
(3 comments)
Idiot-In-Chief - 'the war prez' - approval rating fell to 32 percent, a new low for his presidency, a CNN poll showed on Monday. The survey showed that 60 percent of Americans disapprove of the way Bush is handling his job.
Monday, April 24, 2006
Bush Admits He Practices Religion-Based Foreign Policy of the 'Almighty'
(3 comments)
Bush also explained, in unusually stark terms, how his belief in God influences his foreign policy. "I base a lot of my foreign policy decisions on some things that I think are true," he said. "One, I believe there's an Almighty.
Monday, April 24, 2006
GOP Party Unity: Should President Bush Become President Moe?
(3 comments)
The LA Times has a great piece about how skyrocketing gas prices are making GOPers gloomier than ever. And it includes this tantalizing suggestion:
In the interest of maintaining party unity, President George Bush should become President Moe. [Shocker...he already is.]
Monday, April 24, 2006
Pentagon implements Global Military Policing
(3 comments)
The following report raises some very serious concerns. It points to the involvement of US special forces in countries which do not represent a threat to the US and with which the US is not at war. The SOCOM program essentially carries out the mandate of the 2000 Project for a New American Century, which contemplated the sending in of Special Forces in "non theater war" situations. These operations were described in the PNAC as part of the so-called "constabulary functions".
Monday, April 24, 2006
Three xplosions rock Egyptian resort town of Dahab: witness
(3 comments)
A witness said he heard three explosions and saw smoke in the tourist bazaar area of the Egyptian Sinai resort town of Dahab on Monday, part of a five-day spring holiday in Egypt.
Monday, April 24, 2006
Abbas reminds Hamas he can dissolve government
(3 comments)
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas sent a sharp reminder to Hamas on Monday he had the power to dissolve the new government, but said he did not want to do so and would give the group more time to embrace peacemaking.
Monday, April 24, 2006
Iran says it may quit nuclear treaty
(3 comments)
Iran's president has hinted that his nation was considering withdrawing from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and predicted the UN Security Council would not impose sanctions on Tehran.
Monday, April 24, 2006
China looks to pump up oil supply
(3 comments)
China's president arrived in Morocco on Monday at the start of a short African tour, the last leg of a worldwide swing to smooth trade ties and secure oil supplies for his country's economic transformation. "China has to get that oil - and if there is nowhere else to go, it will go to Sudan, Zimbabwe, Angola where the Western powers are not engaged," they said.
Monday, April 24, 2006
Bomb blasts 'kill 100' in Egypt tourist resort
(3 comments)
At least 100 people have been killed or wounded after three massive bombs ripped through a hotel and restaurant in the tourist district of Dahab, a resort on Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, according to early witness reports.
Dr Said Essa, who runs the region's medical emergency team, said that one of the bombs had targeted the el-Mashrabiyah Hotel in the el-Masbat backpacker district.
Monday, April 24, 2006
Pope reviews guidance on use of condoms
(3 comments)
The Roman Catholic church could be about to relax its ban on the use of condoms in fighting Aids.
Monday, April 24, 2006
Philip Bowring: East Asia's islands of contention
(3 comments)
The formulaic visit to the United States by China's president, Hu Jintao, made the headlines last week, but more significant for Asian geopolitics was the near-clash between Japanese and South Korean vessels in the Sea of Japan (the East Sea, in South Korean and Chinese parlance).
Monday, April 24, 2006
Anointed, Not Appointed
(3 comments)
George W. Bush's high-handed attitude toward his own majority in Congress keeps getting worse, and we keep waiting for the Republicans to notice they are being insulted.
The latest case in point is President Bush's appointment last week of the next two public trustees for Social Security and Medicare. Normally, those positions require confirmation by the Senate. But leaders from both parties had made it clear they objected to the president's choices. Then the president did an end run, installing his candidates while Congress was in recess. [Imagine Bush making a recess appointment that is not an 'emergency'? Do these people live in a vacuum?]
Monday, April 24, 2006
Emergency spending bill spotlights GOP division
(3 comments)
The White House and Senate Republican leaders are gearing up to oppose a $106.5 billion spending bill for the war in Iraq and Hurricane Katrina this week because some lawmakers have added unrelated aid for farmers and fisheries, highways and ports...The fight comes in an election year when members of Congress are under pressure to show they're getting federal spending under control, especially members' hometown and home-state spending.
Monday, April 24, 2006
BUDGET: The Never-Ending Emergency
(3 comments)
More than three years after the invasion of Iraq, the Bush administration refuses to budget for ongoing costs, instead insisting on funding the war through "emergency" supplemental spending bills. The tactic, which is under attack by members of Congress on both sides of the aisle, makes fiscal responsibility all but impossible. None of the "emergency" money for Iraq expected to be requested is "counted in the budget deficit estimates that the administration routinely releases." Also, the funding is not "counted against any budget caps that Congress has set for itself to abide by throughout the year."
Monday, April 24, 2006
Nail-biter continues in Peru
(3 comments)
PeruÂ’s former President Alan GarcÃa (1985-1990) of the social-democratic Aprista Party — the countryÂ’s oldest political party — and Lourdes Flores Nano, a former congresswoman and pro-business conservative with the National Unity coalition, are waiting out a vote count that will give one of them a ticket to a second-round presidential runoff against Ollanta Humala.
Monday, April 24, 2006
FAA capitulates in face of Venezuelan move ban flights by US airlines
(3 comments)
The United States' Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) upgraded Venezuela's air security ranking to category one on Friday, avoiding a ban that would have blocked most US airlines from flying to the country, the US embassy in Venezuela said.
Monday, April 24, 2006
American tax dollars and the wartime needs of the U.S. military fuel an illicit pipeline of cheap foreign labor in Iraq
(3 comments)
American tax dollars and the wartime needs of the U.S. military are fueling an illicit pipeline of cheap foreign labor, mainly impoverished Asians who often are deceived, exploited and put in harm's way in Iraq with little protection.
Monday, April 24, 2006
Tax sought on windfall oil profits in CA
(3 comments)
The resulting revenue would help low-income people pay for prescription drugs
Monday, April 24, 2006
Senate Vote Inquiry Widens NH GOP Phone-jamming as Democrats Probe White House Link
(3 comments)
To Republicans, the New Hampshire phone-jamming incident is an isolated case of political dirty tricks that took place more than three years ago.
To Democrats, it's a scandal with echoes of Watergate that may reach all the way to the White House.
Republican leaders are facing questions stemming from a criminal case involving efforts to suppress voter turnout in a U.S. Senate election in the state in 2002. Republican John Sununu won that race over Democrat Jeanne Shaheen, helping Republicans retake control of the Senate.
The facts, on the surface at least, are suspicious: dozens of phone calls to the White House by a man later convicted in the case; the national Republican Party agreeing to pay more than $2.5 million in legal bills; phones jammed on Election Day, not only of Democrats but of a firefighters' group, in the first U.S. congressional elections since the Sept. 11 attacks. Democrats say that disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff may even be involved.
Monday, April 24, 2006
Five Maoist rebels killed in rural Nepal
(3 comments)
The deaths took place after Maoist guerrillas attacked a security base and government buildings overnight in the northern town of Chautara, a defence ministry spokesman said in a statement.
Monday, April 24, 2006
Protesters block Bush at Stanford
(3 comments)
Throngs of protesters at Stanford University blocked the road to Hoover Institution, thwarting President George W. Bush's visit to Hoover late Friday afternoon.
The president was instead taken to the campus home of former Secretary of State George Shultz, according to reports.
Monday, April 24, 2006
Sudan and Hamas Rebuke Bin Laden
(3 comments)
A call attributed to Osama Bin Laden for Islamic holy war in Sudan and other Muslim states has been disowned by the Sudanese government and Hamas.
Monday, April 24, 2006
IRAQ: Commander Says Contractors Violating U.S. Labor Trafficking Laws
(3 comments)
Gen. George Casey ordered that contractors be required by May 1 to return passports that have been illegally confiscated from laborers on U.S. bases after determining that such practices violated U.S. laws against trafficking for forced or coerced labor
Monday, April 24, 2006
US 'approves war on terror plans'
(3 comments)
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has approved plans to give the Pentagon greater leeway to deploy special forces around the world, a US report says. [BLACKWATER MERCENARIES???]
Monday, April 24, 2006
Neocons plan to use troops outside war zones "War Plan" reveals
(3 comments)
The revelations came as the UK's defence secretary John Reid met British troops in Afghanistan.
The secret plans envision a significantly expanded role for the military to fight Osama Bin Laden and other terror leaders and groups outside existing war zones.
The proposals will alarm British politicians over the possibility that the UK's own armed forces could be drawn into Mr Rumsfeld's plans. v
Monday, April 24, 2006
CIVIL WAR: 15 killed in Iraq attacks
(3 comments)
Car bombings and shootings have killed 15 people and wounded 100 in Baghdad.
Monday, April 24, 2006
When GI Joe Says No
(3 comments)
The question for peace activists thus becomes: How is it that antiwar soldiers continue to fight? And what does it really take for an antiwar soldier to resist? The answers lie largely in the sociology of "unit cohesion" and the ways the military uses solidarity among soldiers as a form of social control. Similarly, the peace activism of IVAW requires the spread of an oppositional form of loyalty and camaraderie.
Monday, April 24, 2006
Shifting Footprints and Messianic Missions: Staying In Iraq 'Till Kingdom Come
(3 comments)
Former Pentagon insider Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski also explained that the Pentagon has long been interested in "shifting and reshaping our global military footprint" into strategically advantageous Iraq. "We've built very massive mega-bases. . . These are permanent military bases in Iraq. We've done that in other places, as well, in the Middle East. . . I think that's a big part of it, shifting our footprint. . . we've built the bases, and we're not leaving Iraq," she said on C-SPAN's Q&A.
Monday, April 24, 2006
Blood Is Thicker Than Blackwater
(3 comments)
It was one of the most infamous incidents of the Iraq war: On March 31, 2004 four private American security contractors in Iraq were shot, dragged through the streets, burned and hung from a bridge. The four men were working for the Blackwater USA security firm. Two years after the incident, an investigation by Nation contributor Jeremy Scahill finds that the company may have been responsible for their deaths by deliberately sending the men on a mission without their contractually guaranteed weapons, armor or personnel, or without maps of Falluja.
