Bush is abusing financial audits to punish an HIV prevention organization for oppositing Bush policies.

A Russian TV magnate who is an enemy of President Putin has been arrested in Greece.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

It would not surprise me if he is guilty of some corrupt practices. At the same time, it is dangerous that Putin has essentially eliminated all independent TV in Russia.

A Palestinian suicide bombing and an Israeli missile attack torpedoed the cease-fire.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Uri Avneri explains how Sharon arranged for something like this to happen.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Bush plans to appoint a strong supporter of increased pollution to head the EPA.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Bush plans to let electric generators increase pollution.

The New York Times published a prominent story saying that more deregulation is the way to prevent the power blackouts caused by past deregulation.

They did not say that the many of experts cited in the story work for, represent or own the electric companies that caused the problem.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Shiites in the Baghdad suburb of Sadr City demanded that Bush forces leave the area. This follows a gunfight that broke out between a large number of protesters and the Bush forces there.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

If you know what happened there subsequently, please send me mail.

The Burma Campaign UK has published a " dirty list" of companies that have invested in Burma. Aung San Suu Kyi, who was elected president in Burma but prevented by the generals from taking office, asks all countries to impose trade sanctions, and asks people to penalize companies that do business there. (All businesses operating in Burma must provide money to the dictators.)
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

They have also published a " clean list" of companies that stopped doing business in Burma.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Other reports say that some of the companies in the dirty list are already cutting their ties with Burma.

The Blair administration changed its statements about Iraq at the last minute, distorting them to support the goal of war against Iraq.
[Reference updated on 2018-09-06 because the old link was broken.]

An intelligence officer in the UK was complaining about this distortion as early as September 2002.

How the US twists and disregards international treaties: rogues, as defined arbitrarily by the US, have no right to self-defense.

25 civilians per day are being shot in Baghdad. Some are being killed by the Bush forces, and others in battles with robbers.

It is almost 3 months since Dubya declared victory. If this rate of killing keeps up for a year, it will add up to 9000 murders per year.

New York Times journalist Judith Miller appears to have beeen systematically planting falsehoods to help Dubya's policies.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Amina Lawal, who was sentenced to death by stoning for having sex while not married, is having an appeal.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The appeal may save Amina from execution, but will not cure the root cause of the problem: sharia law. This barbaric cruelty should not be tolerated anywhere.

Bush has targeted African oil now.

We can expect Bush to arrange for his friends in the oil business to make most of the money off the oil extracted from Africa, while the people of the countries the oil comes from remain poor (and get flooded by global warming).

Increased local generating capacity is a way to reduce the danger of catastrophic failures of the power grid.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

One of the causes of the blackout was that many nuclear power plants shut down. Reportedly they shut down automatically after losing power.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Since these plants generate electricity, I am not sure how they can "lose power" while still operating. Does anyone understand what's going on here? Also, if they need for some reason to have an external source of power available, why don't they have backup generators to do that job?

Dennis Kucinich, who is now running for president, started his political career by opposing privatization of electric power in Cleveland. If you were blacked out last week, vote for Kucinich!
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Sabotage of oil pipelines is preventing the Bush forces from exporting Iraqi oil to pay for the occupation.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Iraqis bombed the UN compound in Baghdad, perhaps in an attempt to make the UN refuse to participate in the occupation.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Iraqis who support Saddam Hussein, if there are any, would not have done this, and neither would Iraqis who just want Bush out of their country. The UN refused to authorize Bush's war, and the UN could possibly offer Bush an easier way withdraw from Iraq; those Iraqis would want to invite the UN in, not scare it away. So I can only suppose it was done by religious fanatics, whose goal is to defeat the whole West rather than to kick Bush out.

So I think that Bush's dishonest and unnecessary war will turn out to be a disaster in terms of encouraging terrorism. A disaster for Americans, that is. Bush, on the other hand, may find it useful, since he could point to the danger of terrorism to excuse further attacks on freedom in the US.

Mergers, deregulation, and blackouts: the causes of the Northeast power failure fall on Bush administration policies.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

US companies are using foreign visa programs to bring foreign workers to the US at a time when many in the US, in high tech fields, are unemployed. It's a convenient way to move jobs permanently so they can pay their workers less.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

EFF founder (and free software contributor) John Gilmore was kicked off a plane for wearing a button saying "Suspected Terrorist".

His point is that in the US today everyone is treated as a suspected terrorist, and no particular justification is needed.

Gilmore is also suing the government and airlines to abolish the requirement for airline passengers to show identification. I think he's doing this also for trains and buses. (I don't ride Amtrak because they demand ID before selling a ticket.)

If you do e-commerce (which I don't, because I don't like the fact that it isn't anonymous), you can get your own "Suspected Terrorist" button from here.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

I partly disagree with Gilmore--I think that searching air travelers for weapons is legitimate, and that even if the searches are just 80% reliable (say), that would be enough to put a crimp in plans to hijack a plane that way.

Cheney is being paid a million dollars a year by Halliburton, and is aiding his former company in various corrupt ways.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Thorough scientific studies show astrology is completely false.

The study of the lives of people who born at the same time and place is noteworthy because changing the details of the astrological system cannot rescue it. Any system that claims people's lives or personalities depend on the time and place of birth, regardless of the details, must be false.

The study which asked astrologers to match people with their charts is noteworthy because it shows that whatever inchoate knowledge astrologers possess does not help.

How the USA PATRIOT act and the Homeland Security Act have laid unprecedented groundwork for a police state in the US.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Argentina has overturned a law that shielded the military government's torturers and murderers.

The US senate is considering a plan to bail out companies that owe damages to asbestos victims--at taxpayer expense. Halliburton, which is Vice President Cheney's former company, would receive a $3.5 billion handout.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

An interview with Sherman Austin, who has been imprisoned for the contents of his web site.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

"The Anarchist's Cookbook" used to be easily available in print. I wonder if it still is.

Many Bush appointees are the subjects of ethics probes for their links with industry.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

In Afghanistan, the Taliban are getting stronger again.

The Zapatistas in Chiapas have formalized an end to armed conflict with the Mexican government, and unilaterally implemented the unratified accords which gave them local autonomy.

For years, Voices in the Wilderness delivered food and medicine to Iraq, violating US sanctions. Bush is trying to fine them for that.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

You can sign the petition against this prosecution.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Voices in the Wilderness plans to continue delivering food and medicine to Iraq, despite the state of emergency which Bush recently renewed.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

I guess Bush-style "freedom and democracy" does not include eating.

Bush planned to express his support for his troops in Iraq by cutting their pay.

Over the last 30 years, controls on carbon monoxide emissions have saved 11,000 lives in the US. That equals almost 4 September 11 attacks.

Police in Dublin aided an illegal eviction of squatters carried out by men with no identification or legal grounds for an eviction.

Dublin, like many other cities, has a shortage of housing.

The General Agreement on Trade in Services is a treaty designed by corporations to pressure governments into privatization of water, schools, etc., and prohibit them from undoing it when the people object.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

"We now know that the EU, with the agreement of the UK Government, has chosen to target working state and not-for profit service provision, for submission to the ultra free-market rules of this agreement. This is most notably in water but they have also made extensive demands for access to energy, transport and telecommunications markets in poor countries. In some cases they are targeting countries where European companies have actually already been booted out by the government or by public protest."

The lawyer for British citizens held by Bush in Guantanamo threatens to boycott their military kangaroo court to protest its unfairness. She has not been allowed to speak with the defendants she is supposed to represent.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

A psychological study identifies neuroses that can lead to conservative political views.
[Reference updated on 2018-09-06 because the old link was broken.]

A thorough analysis of what is known or reported about what Bush and Norad were doing on September 11 shows many contradictions among the reports.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-10 because the old link was broken.]

In February, Colin Powell made a speech at the UN with a long list of accusations against Saddam Hussein, meant to justify the war. Comparing them now against the facts, most can be seen to have been false.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The Bush forces in Iraq were attacked, and then shot randomly at civilians.

An article argues that the Israeli security wall is a non-issue, a distraction from the fact that the leaders on both sides do not try to achieve peace, and that the US doesn't really care.

I think he is right that there are deeper issues than the wall. But when the wall cuts people off from their farmland or from other towns, that is a real issue.

There is evidence that CIA director Tenet knew before 9-11 that attacks with airliners were likely, and told Bush before 9-11 also.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

A new web site tracks Dubya's special-interest campaign contributions.

German police attacked protesters near Cologne, who were planning to protest against a neo-Nazi march.

An article from 2001 reported that the US deployed tactical nuclear weapons near Afghanistan and was prepared to be the first to use them.

A racist Israeli law prohibits Israel-Palestinian married couples from living together--either in Israel or in Palestine.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Meanwhile, Israeli settlements in the West Bank have taken most of the available water. Now Palestinians find it hard to get water to drink or wash.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The number of homeless and hungry people in the US is increasing, as 30% of the population is close to poverty. At the same time, cities that find homeless people to be ugly and inconvenient for the wealthy are adopting laws to punish the homeless people and drive them away. (Where will they go? To the cemetary?)

I've been expecting this result from the Reagan/Clinton economic policies, including treaties such as GATT and NAFTA that were designed to drive wages down. Instead of making things worse with the FTAA, the US should repudiate GATT and NAFTA.

Depleted uranium munitions are causing severe illness and death for thousands--including US veterans, civilians in the US, and civilians in countries where US forces have fought, such as Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Americans: the primary purpose of the US army is to defend our country from attack. Do you want it to pollute the US permanently by doing so? Wouldn't you rather it get rid of these DU munitions, so it won't have to destroy the country in order to "save" it?

Niger-Iraq whistleblower accuses Bush of "dirty tricks" campaign.

A thorough sonar survey of Loch Ness shows there isn't any monster in the lake.

When the US overthrew the democratic government of Mossadegh in Iran, it laid the groundwork for the 9/11 attacks.

As a result, when the US government talks about promoting democracy in the Middle East, it is hard for anyone there to take this seriously.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

90% of the loggerhead turtles population in Queensland, Australia disappeared between 1976 and 1997, largely due to pollution. Only 300 remain.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Australia has started a program to protect them. These programs sometimes work but are far from certain.

An FBI agent framed several NASA employees for corruption charges in 1992, says another agent who wants to clear his conscience. He also says that the FBI's leadership knew about it.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Al Gore, from whom one might not have expected it, made a hart-hitting speech accusing Bush of thoroughgoing dishonesty and hostility to democracy.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

An Iraqi weapons scientist who tried to cooperate with the US is being held under arrest in Kuwait because his information was not what Bush wanted to hear.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The Bush forces are subjecting prisoners in Iraq to torture and inhuman cruelty. Some were found looting, some are political prisoners, and some were arrested just for being in the wrong place.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The Transportation Security Agency admits having a list of non-criminals to search and harrass at airports--a list that is known to include American political activists with no connection to terrorism.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

A Bush executive order gives oil companies operating in Iraq legal immunity from a wide variety of lawsuits, including for violating the human rights of civilians.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Farmed salmon has high levels of toxic PCBs, which they get from the fish they eat.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

With California's peculiar recall law, if the voters vote the same way as they did in the last election, Governor Davis will be replaced by another candidate who gets fewer votes.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The victory preventing a home in Qalquliya from being made into a "security area", so that its residents are forbidden to go out the door, was short-lived. Here's more information from Gush Shalom.

The cost of "rebuilding" (and occupying) Iraq is increasing, and the idea of using oil to pay for it is not working out.

Israeli peace activists blocked the building of the separation wall through the Amer family's front yard. If the wall is built, they will be forbidden to leave their house without an army permit.

I just listened to a radio discussion about the Pentagon's canceled plan to establish a futures market for predictions about political developments in the Middle East. The person who set up this research project said it would be a way the US might add a little to its intelligence about the region.

The absurd thing is that this is just a side issue. The best way the US can improve its intelligence about the Middle East is to stop Bush from distorting it by "cherry-picking" the reports that supports the conclusions he prefers.

Attacks against the Bush forces in Iraq are running at 10 to 20 per day. On July 27 they once again fired at protesting Iraqis.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The Economist condemns the Bush plan for military trials instead of real courts.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Bush is pushing a plan for a pipeline in Peru that would enrich his cronies while endangering the ecosystem.
[Reference updated on 2018-09-06 because the old link was broken.]

Here's a joke I received in the mail:

Attorney General John Ashcroft visited an elementary school to give a civics presentation. After he finished, he asked the young boys and girls, "Are there any questions?"

Bobby raised his hand and said, "I have three questions. How did Bush win the election with fewer votes than Gore? Are you using the Patriot Act to limit civil liberties? And why haven't you caught Osama bin Laden yet?"

Just then, the bell rang and the teacher announced it was recess. Half an hour later, the children returned. Ashcroft said, "Let's start where we left off. Are there any more questions?"

A girl raised her hand and asked, "Is it really legal to hold suspected terrorists without letting them talk to attorneys? Why did the recess bell go off 10 minutes early? And where did Bobby go?"

British troops occupying Basra are not facing guerrilla war--not much, at least--but the city is still in violent chaos with no sort of civil authority.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

A tetanus vaccine used in the Philippines also contained substances that might make women infertile, according to the Philippine Medical Association.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

I see a couple of loose ends in the suggestion that this was a deliberate plan to test a vaccine against pregnancy. For one thing, if only 20% of the samples include the contaminant that might prevent pregnancy, the experiment would not be very effective. Why did they not put it in 100%? Second, if someone has a vaccine that really works to prevent pregnancy, why not test it openly and honestly? There are plenty of women who get sterilized because they don't want more children, and many might be glad to try a non-surgical method.

Human Rights Watch reports that the warlords who rule most of Afghanistan are behaving cruelly, and in particular stopping girls from going to school, destroying one of the gains that resulted from the US invasion.

Violent chaos is spreading in Iraq, as Bush claims of restoring a functioning society turn out to be window dressing.

40 Bush lies listed and debunked.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

US corporations are still overestimating their earnings despite insufficient post-Enron reforms.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Dick Cheney's believe it or not.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Iraqis say (Bush) troops are too eager to shoot, and kill harmless civilians.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

A raid meant to kill Saddam Hussein killed many civilians instead.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The start of the deportation hearing for Amer Jubran, a Palestinian human rights activist in the US, was marked by unfair conduct by the judge.

Previously the government tried intimidating witnesses for the defense.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Bush forces turn a raid to capture Saddam into a massacre of civilians.

Project Censored lists the 25 most important buried news stories of 2001-2002.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Bush has denied and obstructed access by the 9/11 inquiry to many different kinds of crucial information.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The inquiry's delayed report shows that either the Bush White House knew about the potential of terrorists flying airplanes into skyscrapers, or the CIA (which did know) failed to tell the White House. But which? Some of the documents Bush refused to show to the inquiry would have shown which.

There is a strange correlation between falls in Bush's poll ratings and terror alerts--suggesting that the real purpose of these terror alerts is only to manipulate public opinion.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The Israeli Army has a tradition of applying the highest standards to itself, but due to the prolonged occupation these standards have turned into hypocrasy. Palestinial children are frequently shot even when there is no fighting going on, and then the army denies the facts.

US colonel takes family of Iraqi general hostage. This is a war crime, according to treaties the US has signed.

Greek lawyers have taken a case against Tony Blair to the International Criminal Court for war crimes against Iraqi civilians.

Dubya is accused of delaying a congressional report on 9/11 because it mentioned the fact that there was no link to Iraq.

White House vs CIA: who is telling the truth?
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Mugabe's supporters are wiping out wildlife in preserves in Zimbabwe.

Scientists in the UK report that there is no knowledge about how use of genetically modified crops might affect wildlife. The danger is that the use of high-power weed killers with crops engineered to be immune to them could wipe out wild plants and the animals that depend on them.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Scott Ritter (former UN weapons inspector) says that the UK has had a special group to produce distorted intelligence reports about Iraq ever since 1991.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Condoleezza Rice has been proved to be either incompetent or dishonest in handling the fraudulent Iraq-Niger uranium evidence. She was also telling people in the government back in July 2002 that the decision to attack Iraq had already been made. This confirms the impression we had that all the "evidence" and "reasons" were just for show.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Dick Cheney is also facing accusations of deceiving the public and distorting the intelligence system, from Melvin Goodman, a former CIA agent.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

As Japan presses for an increase in hunting of whales, it turns out there is so little demand for whale meat in Japan that it's being used for dogfood.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

24 deceptions in 704 words: analyzing Dubya's 2003 State of the Union address.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

A Coke plant in India sucks so much water out of the ground that local people's wells have run dry. They can't afford to buy the bottled drinking water that coke sells.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The Coca Cola plant has tried to help local farmers by providing some of its wastes for them to use as fertilizer. Unfortunately it contains toxic metals including lead.

Russia is trying to extradite a Chechen exile from the UK, claiming that he is a "terrorist". Now it turns out that a main Russian witness was tortured by the Russians and forced to lie.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Officials in the US are trying to prevent a meeting of the Palestinian Solidarity Movement.

The UK human rights group Liberty says that UK police in 2003 repeatedly used "anti-terrorism" laws to crush protests.

See this [pdf]. Note that each "page" of that file contains two side-by-side pages of the report.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The Bush administration is offering corporate criminals plea bargains so that they can escape real punishment for their crimes.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

"Designer clothes" made by the inmates of a Berlin prison are being bought by many Europeans who consider them chic.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The article reveals that the inmates make only 12.5 euros per day, around 15 dollars. Do the purchasers of these clothes really want to buy from sweatshops?

I believe there are treaties against exporting goods made by prison labor; it could be useful for people in Germany to study whether the export of these clothes violates them.

How schools in New York pressure pregnant students to drop out.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The Bush forces in Iraq are arresting people, even people who opposed Saddam, without paying much attention to guilt or innocence, without notifying their relatives or their nations' consulates. And some of the prisoners are being tortured in various ways.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

This isn't as bad as what Saddam did, but it's getting there. Just give them time to establish some military "courts" and we may see executions as well.

Meanwhile, it seems that Saddam's sons were killed by the Bush forces. I have no sympathy for them, since from all reports they were nasty tyrants, but I don't think their death is going to alter Iraqi resentment towards the occupying forces.

Sharon knows he must publicly give the appearance of cooperating with Bush's roadmap for peace, but his real actions give the Palestinians next to nothing in exchange for their cease fire. It's only a matter of time before they decide that the cease fire is a failure.

Israel used to say that it needed true peace with Arab countries, not just peace in name. Now the Palestinians need real peace with Israel, not just peace in name.

Bush made a public statement that Saddam Hussein had refused to admit UN weapons inspectors.

"The larger point is, and the fundamental question is, did Saddam Hussein have a weapons program? And the answer is, absolutely. And we gave him a chance to allow the inspectors in, and he wouldn't let them in."

As we all know, that's not true. Either Bush is an extremely audacious liar, or he is good at creating a fantasy world which he then believes.

More evidence that his administration has a high capacity for self delusion is the fact that the Bush forces made no real plans for what to do in Iraq after the war. They expected to be welcomed as liberators and to install Challabi to rule for them. When it became clear that wouldn't work, they were at a loss.

The Association of Civil Rights in Israel accused the Israeli government of an effort to " undermine the foundations of democracy" in Isreal.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

A New Deck of Cards: Operation Hidden Agenda.
[Reference updated on 2018-09-06 because the old link was broken.]

Israel is about to deport eight international peace activists, in an attempt to crush nonviolent resistance to the occupation.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Coral reefs in the Carribean are 80% dead, due to human activity.

As the US tramples human rights in its little piece of Cuba, and proposes to impose severe punishmemts without real trials, the Castro regime is doing likewise in the rest of Cuba.

And the Castro regime cites the US to say "We're not so bad".
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Isn't it a shame that Bush has lowered the US to a level where Castro can point to it for this purpose?

A Canadian journalist in Iran, who was arrested just for taking pictures of a prison, died while in custody from a blow to the head.
[Reference updated on 2018-09-06 because the old link was broken.]

David Kelly, the inside source who told the BBC that Blair's administration had exaggerated its claims about Saddam Hussein's supposed weapons of mass destruction, appears to have killed himself. Before he died he blamed the government, not the BBC, for making his role public.

Some people are speculating that Kelly was murdered, because of the absence of any suicide note. However, his family seem to believe it was suicide.

Although the cease-fire has brought an end to suicide bombings in Israel, Israeli troops continue acts of terror against Palestinians.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The so-called "worst of the worst", imprisoned without trial by Bush in Guantanamo Bay, include three children of ages 13 to 15.

The US government is developing systems for tracking your movements everywhere, by car or by foot.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Award-winning journalists report on the extent of corporate censorship in US news media.

An article argues that Americans have realized all along that Bush & co are deceiving them, but they want to be deceived.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

A major newspaper in Belarus has been shut for three months for criticizing the government.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Censorship is not limited to Belarus. Simon Shaw was arrested in Edinburgh for displaying "Fuck Bush" and a swastika on an upside-down American flag.

Shaw is not a Nazi; rather he was comparing Bush to a Nazi. But he was perversely accused of "inciting racial hatred". There is a campaign to support him by sending "Fuck Bush" postcards to the police who arrested him, and to display signs at his trial.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

I must confess I feel somewhat uncomfortable with that slogan. I'd rather not describe what I feel about Dubya using a word that refers to making love.

Zacharias Moussaoui is accused of planning to participate in the September 11 attacks. The judge in his trial ruled he has a right to call witnesses, including a prisoner in US custody, Binalshibh. But the US government refuses to let Binalshibh testify.

Of course, they say this is for "national security", which is the standard excuse, but here it is absurd. Security from whom? Al Qa'ida already knows whatever Binalshibh was planning. The only thing they don't know is how much he has told the US, but they must know what he could tell, and they are smart enough to have planned for the worst case. So this has to be just an excuse for undermining the trial.

A proposed US law would make it a felony to distribute even one song through a peer-to-peer music sharing network.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The record companies, and the legislators who serve them, will stop at nothing to keep the public divided and helpless. US citizens, please call or write to your congressional representatives and say that music sharing should be legal.

Bush created a "shadow intelligence network" to provide reports skewed to suit Bush policies. The reports from the professionals in the CIA were too objective for him.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The military non-trials that Bush plans for prisoners in Guantanamo supposedly offer them the possibility to use a civilian lawyer. But any lawyer who agrees to do this would become almost a prisoner himself. The possibility is simply a fraud.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Metallica defends its legal action claiming exclusive rights to use the E and F chords together.
[Reference updated on 2018-09-06 because the old link was broken.]

It's a hoax; there's no real legal action. But some real copyright and patent claims are just as ridiculous as this--and all software patents are just as outrageous. (See http://softwarepatents.co.uk.)

UK minister Jack Straw misleadingly cited 12-year-old Iraq nuclear activities (before the first gulf war) to give the impression they were recent.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The 9/11 investigation accuses the Bush administration of stonewalling and trying to intimidate witnesses.

The CIA knew of the Iraq-Niger forgeries a long time ago and told various people in the Bush administration. Now they are trying to blame CIA director Tenet for not telling Bush before Bush referred to this as truth.

However, another article says that Tenet in fact informed the White House about this in October.

The Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity talk about what Condoleeza Rice and Dick Cheney knew and when.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Bethlehem sees little change after Israeli "pullout".

The Observer, in London, suggests that the "war on drugs" has failed and should be abandoned.

Europe is not bowing down to US pressure to market genetically organisms under the table.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

It is noteworthy that the US government wants the World Trade Organization to rule that Europeans are not allowed to know whether their food is genetically modified. This illustrates why the World Trade Organization must be abolished.

Former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson investigated the Iraq-Niger uranium documents and told the CIA, state department and Cheney's office they were forged--before Dubya referred to them in the State of the Union Address.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Korean activists are on hunger strike to protest against a large government database collecting information about students.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

While South Korea's government is nowhere near as bad as North Korea's, we must not let the contrast make us assume that South Korea's government fully respects freedom and human rights.

An Israeli helicopter pilot trainee was cashiered and the army won't say why, but he believes it is because he expressed qualms of conscience about killing civilians. The commander who cashiered him said he feels nothing at all when he drops a bomb that will kill people.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Why bother with Faux News or Commercial-Nationalist News? Get your patriotic news about Iraq straight from the people who make it up, in the Ministry of Truth.

Three conservative foundations have paid to produce and air a show on PBS which is designed to disguise the conservative party line as careful academic thought. It brings on dissenters but carefully arranges for them to lose. It also violates the PBS funding rules.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The show's name is "Think Tank", but "Septic Tank" might be more appropriate.

Amnesty International reports that US agents have used various forms of torture against suspected Al Qa'ida members: beating them, throwing them against walls, depriving them of sleep, and tying them in painful positions. In Guantanamo Bay, 25 prisoners have tried to commit suicide. (Amnesty Now, Summer 2003 issue.)

Is this the behavior of a civilized country?

A Guantanamo Bay prisoner who was released is demanding compensation from the US government for the way he was treated there.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Elections in the US can easily and tracelessly be rigged by the Republican-controlled companies that make the voting machines. Journalist Bev Harris has nailed down the possibility.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Greg Palast investigated the favoritism that got Dubya into the Air National Guard, so he could avoid going to Vietnam.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The UK is increasing its military support for Colombian government despite that government's support for death squads.

Colin Powell was pressured into endorsing bogus claims about Iraq. He called the speech he was asked to read " bullshit".

The US is once again trying to impose deadly patent restrictions on poor African countries.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Clinton had Gore doing the same thing, until he realized it would look bad for the 2000 election.

A group of Iraqi leaders met and called for self-rule, and criticized US plans to continue dominating Iraq.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

A Briton facing a military court in Guantanamo Bay is expected to face a stark choice: plead guilty or die.

The choice of citizens of various allies as the first batch to be threatened with execution seems to be a calculated gesture of contempt towards those countries, a demonstration to them that they have to take a kick in the teeth from the US. I hope that the pressure in the UK builds up to the point that Blair will be unable to keep supporting Bush.

Another Briton plans to sue the city of New York after police chained him and dragged him along the ground. He was arrested for not paying the fare on the bus-- they were not interested in looking at his receipt.

I find this report entirely believable, because my personal experience is that many police are ready to make false accusations without the slightest qualm. Their power has corrupted them.

Arms control experts now accuse the Bush regime of distorting intelligence information to justify attacking Iraq.

The US-supported Afghan government has banned a newspaper and arrested its editor for "blasphemy".
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Americans, that is your tax dollars at work.

Hong Kong's government delayed an anti-democracy bill after half a million people protested.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

A New York school principal forced students to get tested for pregnancy after they went to a party.

The specter of Vietnam hangs over Iraq today, and not just because of the gradually increasing guerilla resistance.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

A town in Michigan erupted in flames in June, after police callously murdered a local man and then crowed about what they had done.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Both the Republican and Democratic parties accept money from corporate criminals.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Police in Montreal removed and arrested activists who were protesting for affordable housing.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

It gets very cold in Montreal in the winter. I would hate to have to sleep on the streets there.

An important former UK judge calls for marijuana to be treated like tobacco and alcohol.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Actually, tobacco and alcohol seem to be more dangerous than marijuana, because they are addictive with physical withdrawal symptoms (not the case for marijuana), and many people use them very heavily.

Senator Byrd demands Bush account for the deception over Iraq.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

Israel is continuing non-stop expansion of its settlements on Palestinian territory despite the "withdrawal" of troops from parts of the Gaza Strip.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

When MEP Martin Schulz criticized Berlusconi, Berlusconi responded by saying Schmidt would be great for the movie part of a concentration camp commander.

This was interpreted as a terrible insult, and many officials pressed Berlusconi to apologize. He refused, then said something people took to be an apology. But now he says it was not an apology.

I think I understand why Berlusconi feels he does not need to apologize. It is because he did not mean the comparison with fascism as a criticism. In his mind, it was a compliment.

A controversial study finds that "passive smoking" does not cause heart disease or cancer.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

I have not studied the details and I cannot form a scientific opinion of the validity of this or other studies; I hope the question will be studied carefully and objectively.

Regardless of the issue of passive smoking, I support prohibition of smoking in most public indoor spaces, for two reasons. One is that dense smoke can be quite painful for nonsmokers. The other is that bars and music venues, where many young people go and nearly everyone smokes, probably pressure many into taking up smoking, or smoking more often. It is wrong to prohibit recreational drugs, even dangerous ones like tobacco, but discouraging people from taking up dangerous drugs should have very high priority.

Will the palestinian cease-fire last? Uri Avnery's commentary.

Just as Bush is preventing the EPA from talking about global warming, the World Meteorological Organisation has announced that "extreme weather events" such as tornadoes are increasing, a consequence of global warming, and that record high temperatures are being observed in many places around the world.

A man in Oklahoma has been sentenced to life in prison for spitting at a polceman.

If a policeman hits you and your blood gets on him, would you be sentenced to life in prison?

The US State of Maine has adopted a law to reduce CO2 emissions.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

An article argues that the real movers and shakers in the US have decided to dump Bush.

The Bush government proposed to solve the problems of the Middle East with a new "free" trade zone.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

These "free trade" agreements, like GATT and NAFTA, typically subordinate democracy, the environment, public health, and labor standards to the dictates of megacorporations. Putting aside the issues mentioned in that article, I expect that such a treaty would impose unjust laws on the countries that sign it.

A French judge who has fought corruption wrote a book about her experiences. The book has been banned in French.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The UK government decided not to prosecute a woman with multiple sclerosis who provided marijuana to others with the same condition. Only marijuana relieves the pain. She is disappointed with the decision, because she wanted to use the trial to publicize the issue.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

I can understand her intention to commit suicide. Multiple sclerosis can leave a person permanently helpless, and she can remain so for years since it is not directly fatal. It's not unusual for people in this situation to ask for help in killing themselves.

Several Palestinian militant groups have announced a temporary end to attacks on Israelis, even against settlers stealing their land.
[Reference updated on 2018-09-06 because the old link was broken.]

The question now is whether Sharon will take steps that allow Palestinians who are not involved in violence a decent life.

The Bush forces canceled an election in the Iraqi town of Najaf because they were unhappy with who they thought would get elected.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

There you have it--Bush league democracy, Florida style.

To join Bush's "most wanted" deck of cards, now there's a "most wanted" deck of cards for war profiteers.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

A peaceful British protester in Greece was beaten by police, then framed with a planted bag of explosives [pdf].
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

California's Supreme Court exonerated an ex-Intel employee who sent critical emails to other Intel employees. Intel claimed he had committed "trespass" on Intel's computers.

The real reason for Dubya's attack on Iraq has been revealed: he thinks God told him to do it. All the reasons he gave us were actually irrelevant.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-12 because the old link was broken.]

The Indian government developed its plans to send troops for the occupation of Iraq secretly, without informing the Indian people.

Violence against women in Pakistan is at terrible levels.

Students in the Chinese University of Hong Kong are asking for support for their campaign for democracy in Hong Kong.

Just as reports were circulating that Hamas might agree to a truce, Israeli forces used rockets to attack a Hamas activist, killing several bystanders.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-10 because the old link was broken.]

Dubya's nominee to run the DEA flees from woman in wheelchair.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-10 because the old link was broken.]

Police in the UK have been criticized by a judge for bugging conversations between suspects and their lawyers.

In the US, on the other hand, Bush gave orders to do this.

Dubya has nominated another caveman for a federal appeals court. Refreshingly, the Democratic Party is organizing opposition.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-10 because the old link was broken.]

The nominee is quoted as saying that if the choice of a sexual partner were protected by the Constitution, "prostitution, adultery, necrophilia, bestiality, possession of child pornography, and even incest and pedophilia" also would be. He is probably mistaken, legally--but that is unfortunate. All of these acts should be legal as long as no one is coerced. They are illegal only because of prejudice and narrow mindedness.

Some rules might be called for when these acts directly affect other people's interests. For incest, contraception could be mandatory to avoid risk of inbreeding. For prostitution, a license should be required to ensure prostitutes get regular medical check-ups, and they should have training and support in insisting on use of condoms. This will be an advance in public health, compared with the situation today.

For necrophilia, it might be necessary to ask the next of kin for permission if the decedent's will did not authorize it. Necrophilia would be my second choice for what should be done with my corpse, the first being scientific or medical use. Once my dead body is no longer of any use to me, it may as well be of some use to someone. Besides, I often enjoy rhinophytonecrophilia (nasal sex with dead plants).

A large study reports that Marijuana has no major long-term effects on the brain.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-10 because the old link was broken.]

The UK government is accused of building a DNA database by stealth.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-10 because the old link was broken.]

Meanwhile, they recently proposed to enter all newborn babies in their DNA database as a matter of course. I guess babies are not terribly concerned about government surveillance.

Bush dominates a nation of victims using the same sort of verbal abuse that other bullies use.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-10 because the old link was broken.]

I had not noticed these specifics myself, but I had noticed that the tone of what Bush says is often hectoring and cruel. Other nations need to start defying Bush's bullying--not just quietly, but publicly, so that they can stir up defiance elsewhere. Quiet resistance may win a specific battle but does not tend to stiffen others' resistance.

A former WTO negotiator says, "Free market trade policies hurt the poor. The IMF and World Bank orthodoxy is increasing global poverty."

Superweeds evolve resistance to Roundup, casting doubt on whether the expensive Roundup-resistant GM seeds will really do what they are supposed to do.

Bush made the EPA censor a report to omit discussion of global warming.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-10 because the old link was broken.]

Another American has been secretly arrested as part of Dubya's war on human rights. This time he supposedly had a trial-- a secret trial.

A secret trial is a sham trial. Even in trials that meet all the usual standards of fairness, dishonest authorities can often railroad innocent people--they suppress evidence, they buy testimony from convicts, etc. But the defense lawyer and public scrutiny can act as a check on injustice. The government's story of what happened in this secret trial cannot be verified. Did he really plead guilty, or did they just decide to pretend he did?

Global fishing has reduced the number of large predatory fish by 90% in a few decades--and the few that remain are small. The world's fish populations are in great danger.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-10 because the old link was broken.]

Burma has put its elected president, Aung San Suu Kyi, in prison again. They used a mob attack on her followers as the excuse.
[Reference updated on 2018-09-06 because the old link was broken.]

An Israeli writer explains the distorted language that is used to disguise the realities of the occupation of Palestine.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-10 because the old link was broken.]

Israel has been steadily taking away the Palestinians' water resources. The checkpoints and walls that block travel make it hard for many Palestinians to obtain the little water available to them.

The Israeli water minister says it's all the fault of Palestinians who tap Israeli pipes and drill illegal wells. This is transparently absurd--what else should they do, when their water has been stolen?

UK MP Galloway, who strongly opposed war with Iraq, was accused by two newspapers of being on Saddam's payroll. One of them has now apologized, after determining that the documentary evidence against him was forged.

Sharon made a show of fake toughness in dismantling a one-house illegal settler outpost. The army made the job look difficult on TV by not trying its usual effective methods.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-10 because the old link was broken.]

The only way to end the violence is to end the occupation that crushes all Palestinians.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-10 because the old link was broken.]

UNOCAL is being sued in the US for its use of the Burmese military government to impose brutal security for UNOCAL's pipeline in Burma.

A BBC camera team was ejected from the Guantanamo Bay prison camp and some of its recordings were erased.

To prove how cruel it is, the Blair regime plans to imprison people for 14 years for having a party where someone smokes pot.

The tyrannical nature of this law lies in its attempt to conscript people as enforcers and punish them for failing to restrict others.

The new head of the Republican National Committee is a corporate lobbyist who worked for Enron. Later, after the collapse of Enron, he lobbied against regulation of accountants to make similar fraud less likely.

A British official warns of chaos in Iraq; troops may have to stay for 4 years, and reconstruction efforts are inadequate.

A part of Pakistan has adopted the injustice of Islamic law.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-10 because the old link was broken.]

Senator Levin accused the CIA of sandbagging UN weapons inspectors with bad intelligence.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-10 because the old link was broken.]

Bush is now citing the looting of Iraqi ministries as the excuse for why the Bush forces have not found any of the supposed WMDs.

One has to wonder why Bush didn't order his forces to prevent the looting, which continued systematically for some days.

The UK proposes to offer gay couples a legal relationship equivalent to marriage.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-10 because the old link was broken.]

It is not formally considered "marriage", so these relationships may not be recognized by other countries.

UK ministers accuse Blair of lying about Iraqi weapons.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-10 because the old link was broken.]

One of these ministers called it an "honorable deception", apparently meaning to say that it is honorable to lie to the public to stir up a war if it is the way to suck up to a great power. A strange idea of honor, that.

Senator Hatch advocates "destroying the computers" of people who share music on the internet.
[Reference updated on 2018-09-06 because the old link was broken.]

It is no accident that harsh and tyrannical measures are proposed for this, because the goal is completely wrong to begin with. Sharing music on the internet is not wrong and it should be legal. It does not even hurt musicians (except for a few rich ones who will do fine anyway, because most musicians get zero money when you buy their CDs.

Music sharing perhaps hurts the record companies, the companies that mistreat both the musicians and the listeners. If so, that is another argument in its favor.

The US took a step away from being a free society, as a US appeals court approved Dubya's secret arrests which were carried out en masse after September 11.

Protests in Iran against the religious government continue.

46 people are being freed from prison in Texas because it was determined that charges brought against them were fabricated by a dishonest cop.

The point that struck me most is that so many people pled guilty to false charges that had no evidence to support them. They must have believed that defending themselves in court was not a real option. They may figure that the system is biased against them. Their court-appointed lawyers may have told them not even to think about it, and may have assumed their clients were guilty.

A UK citizen is in jail in Japan and faces a long sentence for drug smuggling. He was pressured to sign a statement he could not even read, which turned out to be a confession. The court refused to listen to evidence that could have proved he was duped by a traveling companion.

Another article said he was pressured to sign the confession through being kept in solitary confinement for months.

Sentences like this for people who really smuggle drugs are part of the harm done by prohibition of drugs. Conviction through an unfair trial is icing on the cake.

The parents of Tom Hurndall, who was shot and turned into a vegetable by Israeli troops while he was protecting unarmed Palestinians, met with the British foreign secretary, putting him under pressure to reject the phony Israeli description of how they shot Hurndall.

Iranians are protesting because the French government raided an Iranian opposition group and confiscated its funds. One protester in London set himself on fire.

Aren't the People's Mujaheddin freedom fighters? When did they become "terrorists"? Just goes to show, one man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist.

A Bush forces helicopter was shot down by opposition in Iraq.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-10 because the old link was broken.]

One Bush commander reports having "made significant progress" in restoring security. In Vietnam they typically said that too, whether it was true or not.

The invasion of Iraq provided the occasion for some nuclear waste materials to disappear. Some were taken by people who lived in the area and who now may be getting sick from it. Some may be in the hands of careful thieves who might now pass it on to terrorists.

An Israeli newspaper reports Bush put a certain amount of pressure on Sharon to cooperate with the Palestinians.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-10 because the old link was broken.]

But it came to nothing, as we all know. Sharon's attacks started a renewed cycle of violence.

Chomsky discusses the implications of the Iraq war.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-10 because the old link was broken.]

The Colombian government, along with its widespread paramilitary terrorism (in which US-trained officers play a big role), is now trying to crush the unions of state employees.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-10 because the old link was broken.]

A detailed report on the failure of Bush's search for the fabled Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-10 because the old link was broken.]

The exaggeration of the Iraqi threat follows a pattern of US exaggeration of the military capabilities of adversaries. For instance, Paul Wolfowitz (an important Bush advisor) exaggerated Soviet military capabilities too.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-10 because the old link was broken.]

If catching Osama bin Laden doesn't really matter, if catching Saddam Hussein doesn't really matter, if the supposed Iraqi weapons of mass destruction don't really matter, is there anything left that matters?

The principal characteristics of fascism--so you can rate the government of your country.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-10 because the old link was broken.]

The UN extended a special exception for the US, that US troops are immune from prosecution for war crimes.

Given the belligerence of the US, US troops are particularly likely to engage in war crimes--for instance, dropping cluster bombs on inhabited areas in Iraq.

Barbershop wisdom says that Bush is in trouble on Iraq. Perhaps he will never be elected president.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-10 because the old link was broken.]

The Democratic Party is accusing Republicans of blocking an investigation of the basis for the statements that Bush made to justify the attack.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-10 because the old link was broken.]

The UK government claims that satellite surveillance of all cars will be the only way to prevent road congestion. There is another way: build trains instead of highways, leading to subsequent development that encourages train travel instead of car travel. But instead of doing this, the UK government is planning expensive new highways that go through areas that don't want them.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-10 because the old link was broken.]

A Palestinian argues that Palestinians should abandon the idea of a separate state, and instead use nonviolent resistance to demand equal rights. I'm not entirely convinced, but it is worth thinking about.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-10 because the old link was broken.]

Part of his argument is that the Israel will never allow a Palestinian state to control its own resources. It seems valid that Palestinian state would indeed be doomed to poverty if Israel keeps control of all the water, for instance. However, one possible conclusion is simply that establishing a Palestinian state must involve giving it control over the water resources of the occupied territories.

Also, in order for nonviolent protest to do any good, there needs to be a government that isn't prepared to crush it with brutality. Israel has not hesitated to use violence against unarmed civilians and has closed off Palestinian areas to both foreign and Israeli witnesses and reporters.

An EPA report says that violation of the Clean Water Act are common and fines for violations are tiny.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-10 because the old link was broken.]

A large fraction of humanity, in both rich and poor countries, gets its water supplies from underground aquifers. A UN report says that these aquifers are being depleted rapidly.

Wolfowitz admits that the evanescent Iraqi weapons of mass destruction were just a convenient excuse for war.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-10 because the old link was broken.]

As explained in previous notes, Wolfowitz and other Bush advisors belong to a clique that has been pushing for years for a US attack on Iraq.

The AAA lobbies for road building, and against pollution control and car safety requirements.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-10 because the old link was broken.]

There is an alternative called www.betterworldclub.com which doesn't do this.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-10 because the old link was broken.]

The Blair government has effectively admitted distorting intelligence reports to deceive the public.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-10 because the old link was broken.]

I find a fallacy in the article's argument that, because people urged continuing arms inspections rather than war, we cannot attach any significance to the failure of the Bush forces to find any Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. The arms inspectors were limited in the number of sites they could visit per day, and had to deal with Saddam; Bush can send as many inspectors as he wants to, and Saddam is no longer in control. And whereas Bush did not give the UN inspectors useful information, his own forces presumably have the advantage of the great US intelligence.

Sharon plans to dismantle a number settler "outposts"--typically uninhabited trailers placed on a site to indicate the intent to establish a settlement later. This seems to be the full extent of his "concessions" to the Palestinians for peace: a retraction of some, but not all, future possible seizure of their land.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-10 because the old link was broken.]

The settlers have announced they will just make more outposts to replace those that are removed.

Prison guards are on trial in the US for attacking prisoners.
[Reference updated on 2018-09-06 because the old link was broken.]

Dozens of nonviolent protesters at the School of the Americas (officially renamed WHISC) have been sentenced to months in prison.

The School of the Americas is the US training institution for torture and terrorism.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-10 because the old link was broken.]

Nowadays murderers trained there are very active in Colombia.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-10 because the old link was broken.]

Monbiot compares Afghanistan's support for Al Qa'ida with US support for the School of the Americas. We who supported the war against the Taliban could hardly criticize a South American power for attacking the School of the Americas now. This hypothetical South American power would not even need to adopt a bellicose foreign policy like Bush's, which calls for attacking any country that might perhaps be a threat. The US has already sponsored terrorism in their region and is continuing to do so.

Iraqis are protesting Bush rule every day.

Another article about related events shows that Bush has given up on having Iraqis select a provisional government. Now Bush's temporary administration is going to do that.

Ed Rosenthal, the medical marijuana grower convicted under federal law by a jury that was kept in the dark about the facts, was sentenced to just one day in prison.
[Reference updated on 2018-09-06 because the old link was broken.]

While this will relieve the guilt of the jury members, most of whom publicly apologized for what they were tricked into doing, it does not remove the danger that other juries will be tricked the same way.

If you are on the jury in the trial of someone who grows pot, remember: the purpose of the jury is to stop the government from imprisoning people when the public is against it. No matter what the law says, you can vote to acquit the person. And if his "crime" is growing pot, that's exactly what you ought to do.

Religious fanatics in the US are opposing Palestinian statehood on grounds of biblical prophecy. It would be amusing if not for the fact that Dubya is closely tied to these fanatics.

Anglo American, the mining company, is being sued for involvement with paramilitary killings in Colombia.

The record companies, acting through their instrument the RIAA, threatened a bogus lawsuit against a student for developing a program that might, among other things, be used to copy music. They stole his entire life savings.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-10 because the old link was broken.]

Some people are taking up a collection for the student, but I don't think that is the right way to help. I agree with comments some have made that we should contribute to legal battle against the record companies, not towards paying tribute to them.

The record companies treat musicians like dirt: when you buy the typical commercial CD, the amount of money that goes to the musicians is zero. The record companies poison music by stuffing it with hype. So don't believe them when they claim to be acting for the benefit of musicians or music--sharing music is not wrong. (See www.digitalspeech.org and www.publicknowledge.org.)

Remember that the record companies are everyone's enemies. Don't buy corrupt CDs!
[Reference updated on 2018-05-10 because the old link was broken.]

Abas Amini, an Iranian asylum-seeker in the UK, a dissident who faced torture if he went home, sewed his eyes, lips and ears shut to call attention to his case. He was ultimately granted asylum--but he remains on hunger strike on behalf of other refugees.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-10 because the old link was broken.]

Note especially how the government spokesman denies that Amini's protest had any influence on the decision. For government bureaucrats, imposing their rules (whether just or not) is the highest value. To be influenced by anything else--whether it be public opinion, justice, or human decency--is the ultimate defeat.

There were large protests against the meeting of the G8 in Geneva.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-10 because the old link was broken.]

Australian protesters against marijuana prohibition have been sentenced to long prison terms.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-10 because the old link was broken.]

The Australian government is pushing a law to let the government arbitrarily declare any organization "terrorist" and then imprison its members. People who simply repeat what the organization said could be imprisoned as well.

How the neoconservatives planned for the opportunity that Bush and 9/11 gave them--and how to criticize their work in a way that can persuade conservatives to oppose Bush.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-10 because the old link was broken.]

15 years ago, millions of Americans in manufacturing jobs discovered those jobs were gone forever. Now the same thing is happening in software and many other technology fields. These jobs are moving to poor countries where people are paid much less.

I am not quick to make predictions about the future, but I think this marks the end of the days when most Americans were middle-class. Henceforth most Americans will be working-class and struggling.

I'd like to repeat that I do not see this issue from a nationalist point of view. I have no objection to people in India or Russia's having programming jobs, any more than I object to buying things made by people in Mexico or China. However, when moving jobs to another country is just an excuse to cut pay, then I object.

Keep in mind that these changes are not natural phenomena; they are no accident. The US governments has been pushing for this sort of change for many years.

UN weapons inspector Hans Blix questions whether we can depend on the report of weapons inspectors working for Bush; he also says that US intelligence help, which the US gave him only after a few months had gone by, was worthless.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-10 because the old link was broken.]

The most amazing thing in this article is the statement by commentator Max Boot that the apparent worthlessness of US intelligence about Iraq "actually makes the case for preventive war that much stronger." He's saying that merely not knowing what a country is doing is reason to attack it.

Bush only proposed to attack countries for developing armed forces that might someday challenge US power. Boot proposes to attack countries whenever it isn't certain they aren't doing that.

A close aide to Berlusconi gave the mafia a protection deal.

This could be why his party won all the seats in Sicily.

Mugabe's forces continue to use violence to suppress protests in Zimbabwe, but the opposition stands firm.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-10 because the old link was broken.]

Troops went so far as to force workers to get on the train to go to work. But even the police are abandoning Mugabe.

An ABC News story reports that "officials" admit that the talk about Saddam's weapons was just an excuse for a war they sought for other reasons. Supposedly the purpose was to discourage terrorists.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-10 because the old link was broken.]

If that was truly the purpose, it is likely to backfire, as the war itself created hatred for the US around the world and especially in Arab countries. Resistance against US occupation in Iraq continues.

Veteran US intelligence agents are now accusing Bush of "cooking the intelligence".
[Reference updated on 2018-05-10 because the old link was broken.]

An article on CNN suggests that Bush lied to the public about Iraqi weapons and distorted intelligence reports about Iraq when talking to Congress; and asserts that this would be grounds for impeachment.

I take issue with a few points in the article. One is the statement that Enron was not Bush's doing. There is reason to suspect that the administration aided Enron in various ways, whether or not it knew specifically about the fraudulent accounting. Another, more important, is the idea that people should give the President the benefit of the doubt in what he says. Various presidents, of both parties, show a pattern of lying to the public, and this president also stole the election.

I doubt that the Republican-controlled House of Representatives would vote for impeachment even if Bush were to admit that he lied. Impeachment nowadays is reserved for Democrats who lie about their private lives.

Meanwhile, there are reports that Cheney pressured the CIA to distort its findings. He too should be impeached.

Meanwhile, Tony Blair is trying to blame "rogue spies" in the UK intelligence service for the accusation that he manipulated their findings. I guess anyone who admits this would be a "rogue" from Blair's point of view.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-10 because the old link was broken.]

Blair's spokesman argues, in effect, that Blair has so much ex officio credibility that accusations from lesser men are never reason to doubt his word. This resembles the argument I criticized above. In any case, it is not just people but also facts that weigh in on the issue.

And a UK official accused Blair and Bush of going for the oil.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-10 because the old link was broken.]

There is increasing demand for a public inquiry into Blair's conduct. Perhaps both of these liars will fall from power due to their lies.

There is pressure on Australian Prime Minister Howard as well.

And an Australian intelligence analyst resigned in protest because of the distortion he saw was going on.

The AFL-CIO accuses Comcast of trying to intimidate workers who are planning to form a union.

An Anarchist prisoner in Oregon is being treated cruelly after he convinced the state government it had to overturn a prohibition on his receiving anarchist publications. It appears the prison system is punishing him for winning a legal battle with them.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-10 because the old link was broken.]

The cruelty includes "losing" his property and denying him medical care.

Interesting Bush quotes:

"I don't want to be the world's policeman"

-George W. Bush (2000 election debates)

"We cannot be all things to all people"

-George W. Bush (2000 election debates)

"I think the United States must be humble, and must be proud and confident of our values, but humble in how we treat nations that are figuring out how to chart their own course"

-George W. Bush (2000 election debates)

"Too much use of American power overseas causes the nation to look like 'the ugly American'."

-George W. Bush (2000 election campaign)

Blair continues to insist that falsified Iraqi evidence was real.

Apparently he thinks that he can get away with any lie as long as he never admits it was a lie.

The House of Representatives votes to exempt the DOD from some environmental laws--something that the DOD does not really need, but Bush wants. The Senate voted against. The decision rests with a conference committee.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-10 because the old link was broken.]

Charles Kennedy, leader of the Liberal Democrats in the UK, has denounced Tony Blair for lying about the supposed Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-10 because the old link was broken.]

The government of Zimbabwe is arresting opposition leaders for holding protests. All protests have been banned.
[Reference updated on 2018-09-06 because the old link was broken.]

In other articles I've read that the Zimbabwe opposition called for a national strike and closure of businesses, that it was very effective, and that the government is forcing shop owners to open their shops.

Note that "draconian security laws allowing the government to ban any gathering" also exist, practically speaking, in the US. Protests are often banned.

The reports of a former soldier who escaped from North Korea.

The roadmap for peace seems to have induced both Sharon and Abu Mazen to make substantial concessions.

Blair is under pressure for lying about supposed Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. People in the UK are realizing that they went to war because they were lied to.
[Reference updated on 2018-09-06 because the old link was broken.]

Record companies are suing Streamcast for making internal preparations to launch an internet broadcasting service. The motive appears to be that they lost another lawsuit against Streamcast over its peer to peer software.

Record companies treat most musicians like dirt, then, in the name of those same musicians, demand power to impose copy restriction on the public. Making and selling records is not wrong, but today's record companies deserve to be eliminated.

A leading Scottish lawyer calls for legalization of all drugs.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-10 because the old link was broken.]

I don't advocate full legalization of addictive drugs. Perhaps it is better for doctors to prescribe them to anyone who is addicted--that would wipe out the profits of the sellers, and take the crushing burden of the law off of users, without letting businesses sell and advertise them.

Bush puts the duh in double-you. -- Mindy Richlen