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Each political note has its own anchor in case you want to link to it.
My intention is to make links only to publicly accessible, stable URLs. If you find a link to a page that requires subscription, please report that as you would report any other broken link.
The US government is on the verge of nationalizing General Motors as part of a plan to eliminate its debt.
The US should start nationalizing banks rather than just giving them cash.
The Pakistani army is fighting the Taliban in regions near Swat, but still abiding by the peace deal for Swat itself.
How the Taliban took control in Buner, and maintain it despite a so-called withdrawal.
US special forces were torturing prisoners in Afghanistan in 2002, and planned to transfer the practice to Iraq before the Bush invasion.
Turkey has arrested many members of the unofficial Kurdish party after it had surprising success in local elections.
Climate change protestors glued themselves to a statue in Parliament.
They intentionally mimicked a womens' suffage protest 100 years ago so that any violent response, or unreasonable prosecution, will immediately demonstrate the government's opposition to peaceful protest.
The Tomlinson family have asked the Independent Police Complaints Commission to investigate the media disinformation campaign which sought to cover up police involvement in Tomlinson's death. It seems this commission is not independent at all.
The Sri Lankan government has admitted it has been bombing and shelling the Tamil areas, by saying it will stop. Doctors report that these attacks have killed thousands of civilians.
Why Iraqi oil output is likely to disappoint.
The Economist: the economy will not recover until the banks are cleaned up.
Everyone: use
this page to rebuke the Israeli police for raiding an
Israeli peace organization that gives support to conscientious objectors.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
The US forced an Air France plane to fly outside US airspace because one of its passengers, a respected journalist, was on the "terrorist watch list".
This is yet more proof that US "anti-terror" measures are really "anti-dissident" measures — which makes them "anti-human-rights", "anti-democracy" and "anti-citizen".
Omaha's
head of crime scene investigation is charged with
planting evidence to frame innocent people for murder.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
Harvard alumni:
For the board of overseers, vote for the candidates whose priorities are in areas other than business. In particular, don't vote for the candidate who wants Harvard to make "more intellectual property". He apparently is interested in scientific advances, and in writings, only as something to own.
The Myth of a Free Market sounds like an interesting book.
(I have not seen a copy, however.)
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
Uri Avnery: If Ahmadinejad were working for Israel, he would do exactly what he is doing.
Bush himself was the first to authorize torture, and the motive was to extract falsehoods from prisoners.
Two weeks ago, the UK arrested 12 men (mostly foreign students) for a supposed bomb plot. The Clown regime gave the impression that they were an immediate danger and just about to attack.
Now it turns out there is no evidence of this plot, and they will not be charged — but 11 of them face deportation.
I wonder what grounds there are for deporting them, since they were in the UK lawfully and there is no evidence they were doing anything illegal.
Drought caused by global warming is forcing the Uru Chipaya to flee their land and move to the city.
As global warming advances, the same thing will happen to people who live in many other areas, including the Mediterranean lands and the US Southwest.
A third police attack on a London protestor is
now being investigated.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
One piece of good news is that police that concealed their badge numbers may be fired — if they did so with intent to avoid criminal responsibility.
That condition allows for a lot of interpretation, so this policy may or may not have a practical effect. Perhaps it is only meant to sound strict.
A policeman confessed on Facebook, before the protests, that he was eager to attack some protestors.
I'm sure hundreds or even thousands of other cops felt the same way, but avoided telling anyone except fellow police who would lie for them.
This illustrates the fact that privacy on Facebook is a myth. Don't post anything on Facebook unless you want the whole world to know it.
Also, think twice before posting writing or images on Facebook, since their terms of service say Facebook gets unlimited rights to use them. Post your creative writings and photos on your own web site under an appropriate one of the Creative Commons licenses. Then Facebook will be able to use your works under that license, like everyone else.
The UN says 6500 civilians have been killed in the fighting between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers, and both sides deny the facts of their responsibility2A.
The motive for Bush regime torture was to extract false "intelligence" to excuse the conquest of Iraq.
A thorough investigation that can subpoena anyone in the Bush regime can surely find proof of this.
The Taliban, having persuaded Pakistan's government to give them control of Swat, are now attacking neighboring regions of Pakistan.
Condoleezza Rice authorized torture in 2002.
The
UK plans to promote electric cars to reduce CO2 emissions. It
is a good plan, provided the electricity isn't made by burning coal.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
The UK just announced that any new coal plants will have to sequester a significant fraction of their carbon output from the outset. (Other articles say this will be 1/5 or 1/4 of the output.)
This is a significant step, since it requires "clean coal" rhetoric to be at partly implemented as reality. But coal plants will still contribute much more to global warming than renewable electric generation. The rest of their polluution, including radioactive dust that gets into people's lungs, will also continue to be substantial.
Congress should hold a hearing study policy options in Afghanistan rather than rushing headlong into a bigger war.
The Taliban are a grave problem, not just in Afghanistan but in Pakistan too. However, it is not at all clear how we can deal with the problem.
Several bombings in Iraq demonstrated that arresting one al Qa'ida leader doesn't change much.
The Red Cross reports mounting civilian casualties as Sri Lanka's army closes in the last remaining LTTE-controlled zone.
It is not clear which side is to blame for these casualties, but both sides are discreditable. Sri Lanka's governmemt must be responsible for excluding independent journalists, which renders all its statements suspect. A heroic editor who defended human rights was assassinated last year, and blamed his killing on the government in a posthumously published article.
Meanwhile, the Tamil Tigers are terrorists of the worst sort; they originated the suicide bomber as a tactic. Neither side is likely to care much about hundreds or even thousands of civilian casualties if it can pin the blame on the other side.
The judge in the Pirate Bay case is
directly tied to the copyright industry.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
The Sun has got slightly dimmer than it has been for recent centuries, but the change is too small to overcome human-caused global warming.
The Bush forces report capturing an al Qa'ida leader whom they previously said they had captured, that they hadn't captured, and that he did not exist.
I won't claim the previous statements were lies, since it hard to get reliable information about such things. Perhaps the Bush forces have been guilty of exaggerating the state of their knowledge of the situation.
The main point is that eliminating a leader of an underground movement with sufficient popular support rarely damages the movement much. Few leaders have special abilities; most are the man was willing at the time. There are always plenty of new leaders just as able as the one who was captured or killed. Al Qa'ida can't be defeated this way.
US citizens: sign this petition to impeach Judge Bybee for his part in planning torture.
Fighting is increasing between the Sunni militias, that the Bush forces no longer pay, and the Shi'ites that control the Iraqi government.
Although this fighting means trouble for the Bush forces, I am sad to see trouble of this particular kind. Not only does it mean the death of Iraqi civilians (as well as fighters); it also increases Iraqi disunion, which is the only thing that has enabled the Bush forces to keep control of Iraq. If Iraqis had united in resistance to the conquest of their country, they could have made the occupation untenable.
Five Terrible Truths About the
CIA Torture Memos.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
EU citizens:
Act now to oppose copyright extension for phonorecordings at the EU level.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
Spain's judge Garzón is
keeping up the pressure on the Bush regime
torture planners.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
How AIPAC buys influence at the highest level of the US Government.
A sheih in the United Arab Emirates tortured a man, even driving over him with a vehicle, and had an associate make a video. The tape was smuggled out by the associate's brother.
The US has the ethical obligation not to tolerate torture, and ethical behavior begins at home. The US must prosecute the torturers, and those who organized them to torture, so it can be in a good ethical position to condemn torture by others.
Vice President Biden is still the MPAA's champion and wants to escalate the War on Sharing globally.
The senators that attended the MPAA gala must surely be inclined to attack the freedom American citizens on behalf of Hollywood. According to the article, they included Richard Durban (D-Illinois); Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.); Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), Judd Gregg (R-N.H.); Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota); Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont); Roger Wicker (R-Mississipi); and Ben Nelson (D-Nebraska). If you live in those states, it would be good to organize opposition to them.
I don't intend ever to vote for anyone who was in the US Senate last fall when it unanimously passed the bill to create the office of "intellectual property" enforcement coordinator. The name of that office is enough to warn you that it is up to no good.
Many Americans are being compelled by money lenders to buy cars with remote shutoff devices, which also contain GPS's that can report the car's location. It is not clear from this article whether they can be used to find out where the car is even if it is not being shut off.
I have heard that all recent GM cars contain a cell phone that constantly reports where the car is, whether the customer pays for any features to use it or not. If I bought a GM car, I would make sure to remove it.
An Israeli soldier killed a protestor at the weekly nonviolent Bil'in protest.
Hitting protestors with tear gas cartridges is no accident. It happens when soldiers choose to fire them at people instead of firing at the ground.
Obama has semi-reluctantly accepted the idea of prosecuting the Bush regime officials that set the policy for torture.
Of course, this must be done, but those who obeyed these orders must not be shielded.
How Israel split Gaza from the West Bank by
violating the Oslo agreement.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-13 because the old link was broken.]
How Netanyahu will use delay to prevent any peace agreement.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
UK police gave their secrets to a coal power company so as to sabotage a nonviolent protest.
The police also told lies so as to make the protest seem dangerous.
The ANC's opponents in South Africa say that it is pervasively corrupt and trying to sabotage democracy.
The US is increasingly taking and keeping DNA samples of people who are arrested, whether or not they are convicted of any crime.
Maliki's attempts to suppress the Sunni militias that went over to Bush's side in 2007 may be causing renewed intersectarian violence.
US citizens:
sign this petition urging Obama to regulate CO2 emission
now, and not wait for lobbyists to permit Congress to act.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
Border patrol beat up a man and smashed his car because he insisted on his constitutional rights.
Some comments say the victim professes absurd religious views. If that is true, it is no excuse for the way he was treated.
Does the US border patrol really label its stops as "anti-terrorism checkpoints"? If so, that itself is dishonest. It is as unlikely for an illegal immigrant to be a terrorist as for someone you pass on the sidewalk to be a murderer.
US citizens:
sign this petition to end the intervention in Afghanistan
if it insists on the law that denies women basic human rights.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
More about the heroic protest by Afghan women.
The National Union of Journalists in the UK is planning a photo protest against photographing police.
The condition in the law — "likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism" — is not about the photographer's intentions or plans. Rather, it makes the photographer responsible for what someone else might do with the photo once it is published. It is a question of speculation rather than fact, so it is ideal for punishing the innocent.
A Boston student's computer was seized by police because he uses two different operating systems, on one of which he types commands at a command line.
It seems likely that one of those systems is GNU/Linux. I wonder if this is the first time a person has faced persecution for using it.
A second post-mortem found Tomlinson died from an abdominal hemorrhage, which almost certainly means the policeman's attack killed him.
The operators of the Pirate Bay web site have been convicted of making copyrighted works available without permission. The decision is questionable since their site did not actually do this, but rather linked to sites that did it. They plan to appeal the decision.
This is a victory for the businesses that have launched the War on Sharing, but I think they will find its ultimate effect is to rally people on our side.
Having cited an article that refers to works of authorship as "content", I must point out that the term insults those very works. It presumes their importance is to fill some container — whether filling a DVD with Hollywood crap, or filling a bank account with money.
That may be the attitude of the movie companies which brought this prosecution. We should reject that attitude, and the term "content" with it.
Mainstream columnists are daring to notice that the police have a
systematic practice of covering up their crimes against innocent people
while smearing their victim.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
London police don't kill, they destroy people's photos of famous buildings in London. Their excuse for this interference is "stopping terrorism", which evidently this is irrelevant for.
The police say they are "investigating". I predict they will find an excuse to reach no conclusion and change nothing. We cannot expect these bullies to rein in their own depradations. It will have to be done to them with a force they cannot stand up against.
Obama promised full support to CIA torturers.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
The US government will go all out to defend them from any sort of investigation or punishment. If their victims sue and win compensation, the US government will pay it. According to Obama, under no circumstances should torturers have to suffer.
Aid for Gaza
rots in Egypt, which won't let it into Gaza.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
Australian politicians are whipping up hostility to the people fleeing danger in their home countries and applying for political asylum. What are the facts?
US citizens: sign this petition against forced arbitration in certain kinds of issues (including civil rights, employment and consumer protection).
The US quietly established special prisons for people convicted of crimes of a political nature, such as operating charities or running web sites, especially if people have organized to support them.
Rocket launches could become the main cause of destruction of ozone in the ionosphere.
California proposes to buy electricity from a space solar power satellite by 2016.
Solar power satellites do not totally avoid contributing to global warming, since the energy they transmit to Earth eventually turns into heat. But this is tiny compared with what the CO2 from fossil fuels causes. They also produce no waste once in operation — though someone should compare the pollution from the rocket launch with the pollution of other alternatives.
Why build an Oil Terminal right under Redoubt Volcano?
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
Seizing this oil terminal without compensation, and making Chevron pay all the costs of cleaning it up, would be just the way to teach Chevron and other callous corporations a vital lesson that they had better care about the dangers they impose on others.
But the US government has no inclination to do that, because it does not want to address this problem. Compare the way Exxon got away with never paying for the damage of its great Alaskan oil spill.
A Bush forces soldier has been found guilty of murder for killing helpless Iraqi prisoners.
This is what should happen whenever soldiers wantonly kill for no reason, but it is very hard to do. There are many ways to hide the facts or make excuses, and the military will tend to defend its own except in the most flagrant cases. Thus, predictably, soldiers nearly always get away with murder of civilians during war. Anyone who starts an occupation of a hostile populace is responsible for these predictable consequences.
At a vigil on behalf of Tomlinson, the bystander killed by London police, another London policeman hit a protestor twice with no justification at all. He concealed his badge number in an attempt to evade justice.
It looks like Obama is slowly starting to assert disagreements with Israel's right-wing government.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
There is a long way to go from there to advocacy of peace, but at least it is a positive step.
The London "independent" police investigating agency claimed there were no surveillance cameras in the area where police fatally attacked Tomlinson. Until citizens found cameras there.
It is strange that these cameras failed to show police attacking a civilian. But not really so strage, given that the police are the ones who check the recordings. Police systematically lie to support the crimes of the police, and that naturally includes failing to notice evidence of these crimes.
Scientists say it is still possible to stop global warming at 2 degrees C, but are losing hope that politicians will do it.
Over 2 degrees C of warming means major global disaster.
Obama has confirmed his support for the copyright bullies against the public, by appointing another RIAA lawyer to public office. By doing this shortly after many organizations asked him not to do so, he made his support for the cruel War on Sharing more pointed.
The Thai protestors being attacked and killed by police want a more equitable society, and perhaps a republic.
Fujimori was sentenced to 25 years for organizing murder, but his daughter is running for president and says she will pardon him.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
Obama has liberalized visits to Cuba by Cuban-Americans.
This is a change for the better, but there is no excuse for stopping other Americans from visiting Cuba. Cuba's government is not democratic and supresses dissent, but many others which are worse do not get this treatment.
London police lied to Tomlinson's family, while citing that family as an excuse to prevent press investigation into Tomlinson's death. The organization responsible for investigating police misconduct participated in the cover-up and thus destroyed its credibility.
This is one more in a long series of outrages, which generally are followed by cover-ups.
Citizens' photos and movies of police at work are starting to make the UK wake up to what lying bullies their police are. No wonder Clown has made it possibly illegal (under conditions impossible to predict) to photograph them.
Police in Nottingham arrested over 100 protestors before they could start their planned nonviolent protest. They are accused of "conspiracy" to do things such as chain themselves to fences.
The UK government, along with its police, is an occupying force that primarily serves business, and tolerates democracy only to the extent that it can't abolish it.
A person unknown to me says the government of Moldova is arresting lots of people without warrants.
Bush may be out of office, but Obama is continuing Bush's struggle for long-term control of Iraq's oil industry.
The US owes Iraq 53 billion dollars for the oil it has been unable to sell since the conquest, due to the looting and destruction of the oil facilities. I wonder if anyone has added up the total reparations that the US owes to Iraq for its war of conquest.
Dubai was built and is run by workers who are effectively slaves. Just like trafficked prostitutes, they were forced to give up their passports to their new masters. If they escape and find their consulates, the consulates refuse to help them unless they can get their passports back. Meanwhile, toxic pollution floods the beaches, and the government's response is to censor reports.
I suspect that people in other countries and their governments have been paid or intimidated into supporting this scheme. Why don't agencies and newspapers in Bangladesh explain how dangerous it is to go to Dubai to work?
Why does the Ethiopian consulate refuse to help slaves who escape without their passports? It is not very hard to verify they are Ethiopians. When US citizens lose their passports while traveling, the US consulate gives them new passports. Why not the Ethiopian? Has it been bought or pressured by Dubai to collaborate in keeping the slaves there?
And why does Canada do nothing to help expats such as Karen Andrews? It could send a warship and some marines to rescue Canadian nationals. Has the Canadian government been bought, too?
What the slaves of Dubai need is a Spartacus to lead them in revolt. Even if they do not win their own freedom, they will put an end to the schemes that lure new slaves to Dubai.
Uri Avnery writes about reconciling the battle for Israeli independence with the disaster this caused for the Palestinians.
The IMF is still imposing crush-the-poor polcies on the countries it pretends to "help".
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
The French assembly narrowly rejected the punishment-on-accusation anti-sharing law.
However, I am told that the president is going to try hard to push the measure through, one way or another.
Iraq reduced Zaidi's sentence to one year in prison.
That is a step in the right direction, but any Iraqi government that stands for its people would free him and give him a medal.
Most Somalis support the pirates, who they see as their sole defense against fishing their oceans empty and replacing the fish with nuclear waste.
Somalis are entitled to defend themselves from these wrongs, but in order to make their defense legitimate, they have to separate the "volunteer coast guard" from the gangsters.
US citizens: sign this petition against Obama's broad new secrecy policies.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
US law requires putting failed banks immediately into receivership. Bush ignored this law and Obama is ignoring it now.
Cargo ships are a major source of toxic air pollution.
If shippers had to pay the costs of preventing these emissions, maybe there would be more room for manufacturing in the US.
The US government admits that Ramirez Peyro will be murdered by drug-dealing police if he is deported to Mexico, but is splitting legal hairs to deport him anyway.
Witness testimony shows that the London police attacked Tomlinson twice, not once; both times as he was walking away.
Eric Hobsbawm: Socialism has failed. Now capitalism is bankrupt. So what comes next?
Unfortunately, he does not suggest an answer to his question.
Police in Phoenix, AZ, seized Jeff Pataky's computer hardware in retaliation for his blog campaign to criticize police misconduct. Pataky has already sued the police for previous harassment.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
I disagree with Pataky on one thing: it is wrong to criticize a police officer (or anyone) for "promiscuity". What police do in their sex lives is no one else's business unless it affects how they treat the public.
US citizens: sign this petition to remove the excutives of the bankrupt banks that caused the financial crisis.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
Replacing the executives is part of the Prompt Corrective Action already required by law.
The president of Georgia is facing massive protests demanding that he resign. He started a war with Russia last year, thinking Russia would not fight back.
Saakashvili was brought into power by similar massive protests, partly funded and organized by the US government, that were a reaction to attempted election fraud. Election fraud must be defeated, but a US-leaning president who wants to reduce government regulation of business can also be dangerous.
London police have suspended the policeman who hit Tomlinson for no reason from behind, but they still have not arrested him, as they certainly would have arrested anyone else who committed an attack with a deadly weapon. A former police commissioner warns that this double standard will erode "public confidence in the force".
These occasional provable instances of police violence are just the tip of the iceberg. Anyone who still has "confidence in the force" must not know what this force tends to do.
Prison corruption in Bolivia goes to a point which is astonishing.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
Ian Tomlinson's death at the G20 protest was caused by a random, crazed attack by rioting police.
Tonlinson's death reflects systematic injustice in the way police deal with protests.
Paper companies are burning diesel fuel just to qualify for a subsidy on mixing renewable fuels with petroleum. It looks like they will get an 8 billion dollar handout.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
The House of Representatives is preparing to limit the interest on "payday loans" and stop certain abuses.
The limit on interest is 391 percent at an annual rate. That exaggerates because it is projected out to a full year, but the loan probably lasts half a week, so the actual maximum interest rate might be 8% or 4% depending on how that interest rate would be extrapolated to a full year. It would be more like 3%, if it is extrapolated to 391 based on compounding of weekly interest. An interest rate of 8% seems excessive to me; an interest rate of 3% seems unobjectionable.
The extrapolated rate is relevant when borrowers "roll over" the loan and carry it for longer periods of time, which this bill would prohibit.
But that is the better alternative bill. The alternative bill shows how Congress is still largely for sale to business. If Americans want self-rule, they must put an end to this.
Meanwhile, the existence of such a big "payday loan" business in the US is a symptom of the precarity of many workers. It is an exploitative band-aid for a deep social wound which needs proper treatment.
A study projects that legalizing now-prohibited drugs would save UK society and government billions, as well as providing a lot of tax revenue.
Whether to legalize drugs is not a question solely of money. If prohibiting drugs important benefits for society, perhaps the cost would be money well spent. In fact, it mainly does harm, both to the drug users and to the rest of society.
Most of the acute medical harm caused by prohibited drugs results from the unpredictable strength and unknown contaminants of underground supplies. If the drugs were legalized and regulated, these problems would almost disappear.
Another major source of harm to drug users is punishment. Legalization would eliminate that.
Non-users suffer from prohibition too, through crime committed by addicts as well as through terrifying (and sometimes deadly) drug raids. The immensely profitable underground drugs traffic also corrupts police and politicians and fuels gangs (and gang wars). Legalization would sweep this away.
Some prohibited drugs are fairly safe — safer than tobacco or alcohol. Others are rather dangrous. Either way, they do some harm to some users, but it's minor compared with the harm caused by prohibition. Still, it would be good to reduce this harm. Paradoxically, legalization can be the way.
Legalization does not necessarily mean complete deregulation. In the Netherlands, heroin addicts can go to clinics to get an injection, but general sale is not allowed. Addicts would rather go to a clinic than steal to buy on the (small) black market, but the prospect surely does not encourage people to start using heroin. This policy has kept herion use to a low level which the warriors on drugs promise but can never deliver.
War is always dangerous. A drug-intoxicated war can attack people indiscriminately, so the war on drugs is dangerous to everyone. Can we help this war get off drugs?
Fujimori, formerly president of Peru, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for authorizing a military death squad.
For America's honor, we must try Bush for his crimes.
Proposed legislation to regulate tobacco is so weak that it will mainly serve the tobacco companies as an excuse.
Smoking in movies is a major factor in enticing teenagers to become tobacco addicts.
Terrorists are now an excuse not to let you know what poisonous chemicals are stored near you and could kill you.
If you knew about them, you might insist they be moved to a less populated place, where they would be less dangerous in the unlikely even of a terrorist attack, or in the far more likely accidental spill.
The TSA threatened a man with arrest for carrying cash onto a domestic US flight. When the TSA agents asked where the money came from, he asked whether he was legally required to answer. The TSA agents persistently ignored the question and tried to bully him.
Some of the comments in the page try to claim that carrying a few thousand dollars in cash is grounds for suspicion of a crime. That claim is absurd, but even if it were true, it would not excuse the TSA for prying into the matter. Its only proper activity is to make sure people do not carry arms onto planes.
Some have pointed out that Faux News is a supporter of right-wing causes. It is, but that doesn't alter these events or their meaning.
Obama is pushing government secrecy even beyond the extremes of Bush.
The Tennessee Valley Authority lied about a big toxic spill, and apparently fudged scientific data to support the lie.
This reminds me of what happened when there was a big toxic spill in a river in China.
The Dalits of Periakaappan Kulam in India are forced to bury their dead next to their houses, because the caste Hindus deny them access to the cemetary. Dalits in many places are also blocked from hospitals, food aid, and land.
Sectarian fighting between Sunnis and Shi'ites is increasing in Baghdad.
Iraqi Christians also face religiously motivated killings. Violence between Iraqi sects is what enabled the Bush forces to subdue Iraq. If Iraqis had remained united, the could have kicked the conquerors out. So I wonder whether there was a plan for the Bush forces to provoke this.
London police apologized for misusing the law to stop press photographers fromcovering the protest and its police repression.
The apology is worthless unless it is accompanied by something to protect photographers from a repetition of the same abuse.
Obama says that the Bush forces will leave Iraq by 2011, but generals are saying they will stay for 20 years. And that decision refers only to the official part of the forces, saying nothing about the 100,00 mercenaries which are the unofficial part of the Bush forces.
EDF, the government-owned electric company of France, apparently tried to break into Greenpeace's computers.
US citizens: phone your senators (or sign this petition) in support of Obama's judicial nominees that are in favor of abortion rights.
The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641 and 888-355-3588.
London police fatally attacked a bystander walking in the vicinity of a protest.
Naturally the police did not admit the attack, but there is now proof.
The Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan sees no hope in the Afghan government which the US has set up, saying it is composed of crime kingpins that have no respect for justice or freedom.
RAWA really stands for human rights. It opposed the Soviet occupation, opposed the criminal warlords who took over that occupation ended, and opposed the Taliban.
Americans, are you afraid of terrorists? Relax, the danger from underground terrorists is tiny compared with other everyday risks.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
US state-sponsored terrorism is a real danger — in Iraq it caused a million deaths. But it has not killed people in the US recently, except possibly on September 11, 2001.
London police besieged protestors and attacked protestors. Then, as police commonly do, they lied about it.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
Medical professionals participated in CIA torture.
Here is a commentary on the Zeitgeist Movement's statement of principles.
Drug companies' gifts to doctors have influenced the American Psychiatric Association's standards for use of drugs for mental illness.
US Citizens: Call on Obama to have the EPA regulate CO2 emissions.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
It looks like Thermite, it burns like Thermite — and it was found in residue from the World Trade Center.
This is the smoking gun which makes it nearly certain that someone not in an airplane helped to carry out the attacks. Who will investigate to find them?
Economist William Black, who helped clean up after the 1980s S&L failures, says that the current crisis represents massive fraud and that Geithner is covering it up.
Pressure on Karzai to reject the unconstitutional law that attacks women's rights.
The Bush forces procured relative calm in Iraq by buying off the nonidealistic parts of the Sunni resistance. But they stopped the payments in October, and now the Shi'ite-controlled Iraqi government is starting fights with those Sunni forces.
Lt. Boudreau resigned his commission in the Marine Corps to dedicate his efforts to veterans and Iraqi refugees, victims of the invasion he participated in.
Lieberman has shown he effectively controls the Israeli government, and Obama has effectively bowed to his agenda of war until conquest.
South Korea is the next target for the guilt-by-accusation Internet law that has been rejected in New Zealand.
A Welsh musician was strip-searched on the street at gunpoint, and his wife and daughter were arrested too, over false accusations of "terrorism".
The armed and dangerous gangsters who are really spreading terror in Wales are easy to identify. Note how they find menace in any innocent object which they do no recognize or understand — as in the persecution of Star Simpson.
Obama is appealing to the public in favor of renewable energy spending.
The legislators that are "skeptical" are responding to corporate pressure. To be "fiscally conservative" at a time like this is to prevent recovery.
Mix international lending, local dictators and foreign greed, and you get explosive poverty.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
There is a proposal in Congress to mostly eliminate the warrantless searches introduced by the U SAP AT RIOT act.
The Taliban have conquered a province in Pakistan, and states the intention to impose its cruelty on the rest.
Here's the cruelty that the Taliban stand for.
I supported the war in Afghanistan as a combat to end such cruelty. However, Afghanistan's US-established government has adopted a law which is almost as bad.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
Iran, which has never been friends with the Taliban, has offered to help stabilize Afghanistan.
It could be a very good offer, if the Afghan government is worth defending. But there is no point continuing to defend this government if it is little better than the Taliban. I would rather arm Afghan and Pakistani women to kill Taliban.
The US and UN, having collaborated in destroying Haiti's democracy, now propose to exploit Haiti for labor paid so little that it barely covers the cost of having lunch at work.
A US court ruled that non-Afghans that the US took to Afghanistan as prisoners have a right to sue to be released.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
To hamper Obama's apparent plans to substitute Bagram for Guantanamo is a victory. However, every time I see that Obama supports Bush's tyrannical policies, I despair for the US. With both major parties enemies of human rights, there is little hope for freedom or justice except in courts, and they are also lukewarm about human rights.
Bruce Schneier: if we don't want technical advances to erase privacy both practically and legally, we need a new criterion.
I don't think the police should be allowed to find out who you have phoned, or sent email to, without a warrant.
The UN has appointed a team to investigate Israeli war crimes in Gaza.
When Israel accuses Hamas of using "human shields", it is stretching the term; what it means is that Hamas fighters were present in towns. By contrast, Israeli troops use human shields in the strict sense of the term: forcing civilians at gunpoint to walk in front of soldiers.
Consumer boycotts of Israeli goods are being noticed by Israli exporters.
London police are making an all-out attack on democracy: attacking protestors with dogs when they wish to remain, and detaining them for hours in improvised prisons when they wish to move, then temporarily arresting each and every person.
The police pretend that that is not what they are doing, but that is what their actions amount to. I refuse to repeat a falsehood just because it comes from the police.
Keeping protestors imprisoned for hours is a form of harassment, designed to discourage most people from exercising their rights, in the hope that the rest will be too few to matter. Forcing protestors to identify themselves to leave the prison is a form of intimidation, intended to scare most people out of protesting at all.
If the motive for imprisoning groups of protestors were to stop them from moving on or from doing something, the police would leave protestors unmolested when they voluntarily stay in one place and do nothing. The night attack on the protest camp shows that the police's only constant intention is to block democracy.
Every one in Britain should take note: the police and the regime they defend are their main enemy of freedom, your democracy, and your safety. Don't let them distract you by making a fuss about other lesser threats.
Obama has surrendered to the insurance company lobbies and now proposes only minor "reforms" for health care.
An Israeli military whitewash investigation concluded that Israel committed no war crimes in Gaza, disregarding the testimony of civilians, the UN, and Israeli soldiers.
I will have more confidence in the conclusions of the International Criminal Court.
UN attempts to force sweatshop production on Haiti.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
Obama has deftly co-opted and silenced the peace movement.
Coal company lobbyists are trying to prevent regulation of their CO2 emissions until the day they can produce "clean coal", meaning we could destroy our civilization first.
Coal-burning power plants also emit large amounts of dangerous radioactive fallout. It would be best not to allow any new ones.
Arundhati Roy: The silent horror of the war in Sri Lanka.
A few months ago, a great Sri Lankan journalist was assassinated, apparently by government agents, for his criticism of government attacks on human rights. The claim that the press there has been silenced is therefore quite credible.
To condemn the government for trampling human rights does not mean support for Tamil independence. The Tamil Tigers are the ones who established suicide bombing as a tactic, and I have nothing good to say about them. But it appears that the government's atrocities dwarf the Tigers' atrocties.
The IMF's former chief economist agrees: the US must destroy the oligarch of banks that have taken control, if it is to have any chance of recovering from the crisis they have imposed.
When mentioning the IMF, we must not fail to note that its recommendations have often been aimed more at the poor than at oligarchies. For instance, the IMF made many countries charge fees for elementary school.
You can see the absurdity of Geithner's bank bailout plan by imagining what it would be like to treat the auto companies the same way.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
Escape from the foolish choice between free trade and protectionism... with the Simultaneous Policy.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
Islamist fanatics attacked a police training academy in Pakistan.
These fanatics, in various forms, have been supported for decades by Pakistan's intelligence agency, which also founded al Qa'ida, and it still supports them. Perhaps this attack will give Pakistan's government the political will to shut it down.
The total melting of Greenland's ice is a bit further away than was previously predicted.
If we are real fools, we will use this as an excuse to let things get closer to the limit.
Spain is on the verge of prosecuting Torture Gonzales and other Bush regime officials for their role in authorizing torture in Guantanamo.
This should wake Obama up to the need to do his duty. For the US to leave it to another country to prosecute Americans in the name of the US would be a shame for the US forever.
20 years later, most of the oil spilled by the Exxon Valdez remains where it was spilled, and remains toxic. It will take decades or centuries to degrade naturally.
Exxon succeeded in getting the right-wing Supreme Court to reduce its fine, which it has never paid anyway. I think it ought to have to pay more.
Climate change is destroying thousands of archeological sites around the world. Our past as well as our future are in danger.
Some propose to extract polar methane hydrate deposits for fuel.
Burning the methane will contribute less to global warming than letting it leak into the atmosphere. If a substantial fraction leaks, the warming could destroy civilization.
However, burning it is not really a solution, because there's no way to get anyone to stop extracting oil and use methane deposits instead. If we use them, we will use them in addition to the oil, and that means an increase in now-expected global warming, and even more likelihood that the bulk of the methane will leak.
The UN Human Rights Council voted to crush freedom of speech, by recommending laws to prohibit criticism of religion.
The UN would like me to be punished for stating that many religions are dangerous mind-viruses.
A drought in Iraq has exposed previously flooded archeological sites, which are now in danger of looting.
Obama, will you protect them?
Uri Avnery: Netanyahu hopes Obama will play along with pretend peace initiatives that are designed to fail, like previous US presidents.
Binyam Mohamed says, don't make the MI5 agent who supported torturing me into scapegoat while letting the ministers off the hook.
With many Americans now homeless and many homes vacant, cities should help squatters.
Of course, some cities would rather just Hoover up homeless people and toss them in the dump.
Swiss citizens: vote against biometric passports.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
Privately, the Pentagon recognizes that burning toxic materials in Iraq is dangerous and makes people sick. Publicly, it continues to deny the problem.
The police in London are asking citizens to go through each other's garbage, and report anyone looking at the CCTV cameras.
If you are in London, make a practice of regularly looking at CCTV cameras. Occasionally discussing them with your companions or passersby would be a good habit too. If everyone gets accustomed to seeing people look at them, and photograph them, no one will find it unusual.
The US Congress is considering a bill to require every WiFi network (and every ISP) to keep records of all users, for the police.
I suspect opposition will fasten on the absurdity of imposing this requirement even on people's home networks. That would be a mistake: if the bill is changed to exempt home networks, it will still be an attack on our freedom. We must oppose the bill head-on, not get sidetracked into quibbles about details.
US Citizens: call your congresscritter and call on Congress to officialy end the "state of emergency" that Bush has perpetuated since 2001.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641 and 888-355-3588.
US citizens: sign this petition to pass a strong climate change control law.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
The idea of burying charcoal has been twisted by some into an absurd plan to chop down rainforests for charcoal plantations.
Police raided Wikileaks.de domain owner's home over leaked 'censorship lists'.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
Iraqis still condemn the occupation of their country and want the Bush forces removed.
Food companies are taking the path followed by the cigarette companies, which asked the public to trust them to make sure cigarettes were safe.
The Bush regime offered to release Binyam Mohamed from Guantanamo if he would plead guilty to false accusations and keep silent about how he was tortured. He refused the deal.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
Shell has dumped renewable energy for biofuels.
This despite the fact that biofuels use the scare resources for agriculture, leading to food shortages and destruction of rainforests in Brazil and Indonesia.
The CIA has 3000 documents related to the torture videotapes it destroyed. This seems to show that the torturers were in close communication with headquarters.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
The US congress proposes total surveillance of internet usage.
The US and other countries plan to spend billions on an arms race for space weapons. The way to avoid this would be a disarmament treaty. Russia and China called for such a treaty, but the US blocked it.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
Obama's Department of "Justice", full of former RIAA lawyers, has come to the support of the RIAA.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
Democrats have long had a tendency to be nastier on copyright issues than Republicans. Many of them get paid by the media companies.
Israeli soldiers in Gaza used Palestinian children as human shields.
There is overwhelming evidence of Israeli war crimes in Gaza. Will the perpetrators face justice?
Every international institution that has a responsibility to prosecute war crimes will lose its moral authority if it shields those responsible for these crimes.
New Zealand has canceled the plan to punish internet users with disconnection based on (unproved) accusations of forbidden sharing.
This is only a temporary partial victory. The New Zealand government has not given up its War on Sharing, and threatens to try again. Meanwhile, other unjust provisions of the new copyright law, such as prohibition of free software to play a DVD, remain in force.
Organized networks of looters, who find antiquities in the ground and sell them, cause irreparable loss of information about our past.
The victims of Bush torture polcies included children.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
Even adult prisoners must not be tortured, because torture can easily force an innocent suspect into a false confession. (That's what torture is best for.)
In large areas of London, all gatherings of 3 or more people on the street have been banned, including protests.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
Kentucky election officials have been charged with rigging several elections by changing the vote counts in computerized voting machines.
After protestors fighting massive evictions for the sake of large companies occupied a building in Seoul, the police attacked them and set fire to the building, killing five of the protestors.
The root cause of this is too much regard for big business and too little regard for everyone else.
Mainstream media are outraged that Obama's press secretary dared to speak with levity about Cheney. That was in response to grave false accusations made by Cheney against Obama.
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
There are many things wrong with Obama's policies, but naturally what Cheney criticizes is the good side of them.
Although Cheney acted as vice president, he was never legitimately elected to the office. It is established how Bush and Cheney stole the election in 2000, and there is good evidence of dishonesty in Ohio in 2004.
Israeli troops report they witnessed wanton killings of civilians in Gaza, sometimes explicitly ordered by commanders.
Here is more information.
I do not have high hopes that the Israeli army's investigation, carried out under the current Israeli government, will see much abuse. And I am not the only one.
An American activist at a Palestinian non-violent protest was shot in the head with a tear gas canister and critically injured.
Soldiers are trained to fire accurately. When they shoot someone in the head, it is most likely intentional. Tear gas is supposedly "non-lethal", but a shot in the head with a canister can kill.
Australia's web censorship list has been leaked. The censorship agency acts arbitrarily, censors political discussions, and lies about its actions.
Censorship is tyranny and must not be tolerated.
In the battle to reverse global warming, surrender is not an option: our backs are to the rising ocean.
Freedom of speech faces a new global threat from attempts to prohibit so-called defamation of religion.
Former UK diplomats and intelligence officials demand full publication of how the UK decided to invade Iraq, saying it will reveal dishonesty.
US timidity in any criticism of Israeli government policy threatens to make it a patsy for Lieberman's ethnic cleansing policies.
Everyone: sign this petition to Ban Ki-Moon for the release of Burmese political prisoners.
Climatologist Hansen says that coporate lobbying has paralyzed democracy on the issue of climate change. Governments give only lip service and propose ineffective measures.
Evidence now connects the B'liar regime with torture in Egypt (as well as in Pakistan and the US).
Clown will publish new guidelines to stop intelligence agents and soldiers from colluding in torture, but continutes to pretend they have never done anything wrong.
This means that an investigation into past crimes is still required. The criminals responsible must be punished, or the new rules will be ignored.
Mexico plans to retaliate for a US decision not to allow Mexican trucks to travel in the US.
I think the US should allow Mexican trucks and drivers, provided the trucks meet US safety standards and the drivers are paid on US pay standards.
By 2030, shortages in food, water, and energy are likely to cause major conflicts around the world.
Beyond stopping the bonuses: proposals for real reform in the financial industry.
Sean Hodgson has been released based on DNA evidence after 27 years in prison, for a rape and murder he confessed to — but did not commit.
Although DNA testing was not possible when he was tried, the trial should have considered his tendency to make false confessions as casting doubt on his confession to this crime. The other evidence was no proof of anything.
Australian government will impose big fines for linking to censored web pages, including pages that talk about censorship of the net. Australians should set up their web sites in other countries.
Who says sex workers want to be saved?
US citizens: sign this petition for a 100% tax on bonus payments from companies that received a bailout.
1/3 of DMCA takedown notices are invalid harassment, says Google.
Bailing out AIG so it can pay its creditors in full is just a way of handing more taxpayer's money to those creditors: banks equally responsible for the problem.
Diebold admits its voting machines are susceptible to indetectable wholesale deletion of ballots.
The only way to do voting that we know is more or less trustworthy is on paper. Society must be very cautious about adopting any new technology for voting.
The UK government, which is becoming increasingly Orwellian, has said that it is considering snooping on all social networking traffic including Facebook, MySpace, and bebo.
Rally to nationalize, reorganize, and decentralize the failing banks, instead of bailing out their owners.
US citizens: tell Obama to keep his promise and extend federal benefits to spouses in same-sex marriages.
Bush's lies about Saddam's nonexistent weapons have been carried forward into the Obama administration by his secretary of defense.
The UK foreign office admits it did nothing to support the UK citizens being tortured in Pakistan and Egypt.
When officials refuse to explain how they treated someone who has accused them, and pretend this is to protect his privacy, that in itself is proof that they are evil. They should be sacked for this, then investigated.
Israeli peace activists say that Tristan Anderson was hit intentionally with an illegal kind of tear-gas weapon, as he participated in a nonviolent protest.
Desmond Tutu and prestigious war crime investigators have called on the UN to investigate Israeli war crimes in Gaza.
Israel continues seizing Palestinian homes, along with land and water.
The right-wing extremists about to govern Israel will provide Obama with an opportunity to establish a clear US policy for peace and two states, if he will take it.
Have you noticed the similarity between China's slow takeover of Tibet and Israel's slow takeover of the West Bank? To be sure, there are some differences between these two cases: for one thing, Arab culture exists in a large territory whereas Tibetan culture exists only in Tibet and small neighboring areas. There are differences in other details. But the two situations are broadly similar.
Charles Freeman denounces the Israeli hawks' lobby.
Later he told Robert Dreyfuss
"The only thing I regret is that in my statement I embraced the term 'Israel lobby.' This isn't really a lobby by, for, or about Israel. It's really, well, I've decided I'm going to call it from now on the [Avigdor] Lieberman lobby. It's the very right-wing Likud in Israel and its fanatic supporters here. And Avigdor Lieberman is really the guy that they really agree with."
I call it the "Israeli hawks' lobby", for basically the same reason, but I think it represents a larger group of politicians than just Avigdor Lieberman.
Dean Baker: it is now safe to let big banks go bankrupt in a controlled way.
Sudan's president Bashir has ordered all aid groups to leave Sudan. In effect, he is holding the people of Darfur (and perhaps other areas) hostage against the ICC.
The only way I see to defeat this move is to make Darfur effectively independent, with its own army, which could then provide security to aid workers.
Police in the UK have systematically attacked climate change protestors while lying about them.
This shows why laws giving governments additional flexible powers are dangerous. They will be used against democracy.
One cause of the economic crisis: right wing policies that boosted the productivity of US workers but kept their wages down.
Obama is continuing some of the nastiest of Bush policies, including imprisonment without trial, "signing statements", and secrecy from the public.
Worse, he is starting to do these things in ways that contradict what he says.
Pakistan's president conceded to protestors and reinstated the chief justice that Musharraf had unconstitutionally fired.
In a narrow political sense, this weakens President Zardari. But in a deeper sense, it strengthens Pakistan's democracy.
The Texas governor rejected federal unemployment benefits, because he would rather offer business lower taxes.
Republican voter-suppression efforts now aim at future elections in Texas.
Perhaps they believe the only way the governor can get re-elected, after showing contempt for poor citizens, is to disenfranchise them.
Uri Avnery: the dismissal of Charles Freeman means that the Israel hawks' lobby went up against Obama and he caved to them immediately.
This in effect tells the Israeli hawks they can do whatever they like to the Palestinians.
The Dalai Lama warned that Tibetan culture is close to extinction under the Chinese boot.
Turning wood into charcoal in giant microwave ovens might be a way to remove CO2 from the atmosphere.
Obama continues using Bush's bullshit excuse to keep ACTA away from all chance of democracy.
Chinese use amusing subterfuges to criticize their government.
Lesbians in South Africa are often raped and murdered by men who are oppose to women's freedom.
Secret B'liar regime emails prove conclusively that they distorted intelligence reports to justify invading Iraq.
Practically speaking, we knew already this was the case. But now it is proof enough to convict someone of crimes against the peace.
US citizens: phone your senators in support of helping homeowners threatened with bankruptcy. Also sign this petition.
The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641 and 888-355-3588.
Zaidi, the shoe-thrower of Baghdad, has been sentenced to 3 years in prison.
His supporters should keep up the pressure.
If emissions are not stopped, global warming will make parts of the US physiologically uninhabitable for humans.
Israel is demolishing Palestinian houses in order to confiscate Palestinian land to build colonies ("settlements").
Other land is confiscated to build roads that only Israelis are allowed to use.
Protestors in the UK destroyed equipment in a factory making arms for Israel, saying this is legal since they acted to prevent a worse crime.
Aid workers in Suda have been kidnapped and held hostage, apparently at the initiative of the government.
EU citizens: write to your MEPs to oppose a directive to extend copyright on sound recordings.
US doctors are trying to gag patients by making them sign contracts agreeing not to publish anything about their treatment.
Progressives predicted that Clinton's "welfare reform" would lead states to use cruel measures to cut costs, condemning poor families to starvation. This did not imeediately happen, but it is happening now.
Wall Street and Congress ignored lots of warnings about the danger of deregulation.
The UK Conservative leader calls for a full investigation of B'liar's complicity in US torture.
The Israeli hawks' lobby demonstrated its power by forcing one of Obama's intelligence officials to resign.
Global warming by 4 degrees C will kill 85% of the Amazon forest's trees. Even 2 degrees will destroy large parts of the forest.
Pakistan's president, who has not restored the judges that Musharraf sacked, has arrested opposition leaders before a protest in support of those judges.
Seymour Hersh says that Bush set up assassination teams that reported directly to Cheney.
Some Guantanamo prisoners are reported to have signed a statement saying they participated in planning the 9/11 attacks.
I suppose it is too much to hope that nay of them will inculpate Cheney. To find out whether he was involved, we need a real investigation.
Zaidi's family called on the Iraqi government to release him.
The UN accused various countries of condoning torture by cooperating with the US in rendition and Guantanamo.
Exxon aims for a big role in Iraq's oil sector.
If it gets one, Bush will have won his war to extend the empire of the megacorporations.
Companies are stealing land in Borneo to cut down the rainforests to build palm oil plantations to sell as biodiesel fuel.
Aside from the theft, it's even more damaging than burning petroleum.
Italian law, as interpreted recentlt, effectively
prohibits blogs unless they register as "newspapers". In particular this
means they cannot be anonymous.
There is a campaign
to change the law.
The UN's chief climate negotiator has given up on asking the US to cut CO2 emissions — and therefore on any deal to convince India, China, and Brazil to make cuts.
In effect, his statement is that US opposition to CO2 cuts has doomed civilization. Perhaps he hopes this will spur Americans to change the political picture.
Extremists in Northern Ireland who killed a few British soldiers (and some pizza delivery workers at the same time) are meeting condemnation from Catholics as well as Protestants.
A suicide bomber attacked a reconciliation meeting at Abu Ghraib.
Philip Morris is again pushing a bill ostensibly to regulate tobacco, but actually designed to protect that company's market.
The Clown regime is supporting a campaign to abolish net neutrality in all Europe.
In a few more decades, atmospheric CO2 will make the oceans acidic enough to dissolve coral reefs.
This could eliminate most reefs, and thousands of marine species with them. As a byproduct, it could devastate fish that we eat. But those might mostly be wiped out by then anyway.
The shame of Iraq's parish widows.
The monster at work here comes from Arab culture and Islam, but it was Bush's invasion that let the monster loose: Saddam Hussein's regime kept it in check.
A drought in Amazonia in 2005 caused large emissions of CO2 by killing a percentage of the trees.
Global warming is expected to reduce rain there over the long term. Large parts of the forest may then burn up.
55% of Iraqi women say they have been victims of violence. 55% have been displaced since the Bush occupation. And most of them are now poor.
Everyone: sign the petition calling for release of Zaidi, the shoe-thrower of Baghdad.
The observations of bird watchers across Europe show that global warming is affecting populations and ranges of birds.
Obama is provoking a constitutional conflict with the federal judiciary, in the name of secrecy, all to trample the legal rights of a charity which is trying to challenge in court its arbitrary closure.
Obama plans to raise taxes on the rich and cut taxes for other Americans. The mainstream media's slanted depiction demonstrates its right-wing bias.
Studies forecast that the Mediterranean sea could rise by up to 2 feet in this century — and that is without counting the effect of melting ice in Greenland and Antarctica.
Meanwhile, floating ice in the Arctic is melting so fast that it looks like there will be no summer ice in just 4 years. The melting of floating ice has no effect on sea levels, but the iceless sea will absorb more sunlight. This is sure to speed up the melting of non-floating Greenland ice.
A few years ago, scientists predicted the glaciers would disappear from Glacier National Park by 2030. Now they say it looks like this will happen by 2020.
US citizens: fax your medical bills to congress in support of a single-payer health care system.
You can find more information on your representative here.
Fringe groups in Gaza launched rockets against Ashkelon.
Although these cannot be compared with the Israeli bombardment that killed hundreds of civilians, nor with the siege that has killed hundreds more, it would still be good to stop them. A well-organized Palestinian government could police the territory and prevent such attacks — if Israel makes peace.
GlaxoSmithKline has announced it will cut the price of medicines by 75% in 50 of the poorest countries.
The description of India as a "middle income country", when 86% of Indians live on under two dollars per day suggests that this is a plan to deflect public criticism. By exempting a fraction of the world's poor, they hope to continue making medicine too expensive for most of them.
The article confusingly uses the term "intellectual property", treating it as a synonym for "patents". This term spreads confusion every time it is used. It doesn't matter whether you use it on your own initiative, or quote or follow someone else — just treating the term as if it made sense is enough to encourage people to formulate their thinking on a confused foundation.
Thousands of Iraqi mothers have sold their teenage daughters into sex slavery.
Perhaps that was the lead bad option available under the circumstances in Iraq. If so, the blame falls on those who created these circumstances: Bush and Bush forces.
Karl Rove has agreed to testify before Congress, but the agreement lets him maintain executive privilege about what he discussed with Bush.
This is a step forward, but still insufficient to achieve justice, since it lets Rove shield Bush from responsibility for his actions. Past presidents should not be allowed special power to conceal their wrongdoing, and when the current president protects a previous one, that is a deriliction of duty.
The ACLU has obtained proof that the CIA destroyed videotapes that were evidence of torture.
The people responsible must be punished or the government will do this again.
Christian fanatics, now in opposition, have resumed the sort of dishonest accusations that they made against Clinton.
I must note that I don't greatly admire what Obama's justice department is doing — in regard to defending Bush's policies of secrecy and arbitrary rule. But that's not what the fanatics criticize them for.
The Economist calls for legalization of drugs.
Wall Street's Best Investment II: 12 Deregulatory Steps to Financial Meltdown.
Inspired by Zaidi, another protester has reportedly thrown a shoe at Iran's president.
Every president that tramples human rights and supports religious tyranny is a fitting object for such protests.
Another protester threw green custard at UK minister Mandelson for supporting expansion of Heathrow airport while pretending to support protecting the environment.
Unlike Zaidi, Ms Doon has not been arrested — yet. It looks like that may yet occur.
With the new Israeli government determined to oppress Palestinians, and the great powers unwilling to criticize, Uri Avnery sees no hope that Israel will make peace.
Tell the governor of North Dakota that the world is watching if it tries a subterfuge to ban abortion.
The ACLU is fighting to overturn a law that allows the US to shut down organizations by fiat without putting them on trial.
When organizations are shut down by decree, they are told they can sue to reverse the decision. Then when they try to do so, the government finds an excuse to dismiss the case. In effect, the US government has contrived to abolish freedom of association.
This is the sort of dishonest policy we learned to expect from Bush. Now we must learn to associate it with Obama as well.
TheInternational Criminal Court has indicted Omar Bashir, president of the Sudan, for war crimes in Darfur.
Bashir responded by ordering humanitarian aid agencies including Oxfam and Medecins Sans Frontiers to leave Darfur.
To rescue the hostages, the aid must continue. One way or another, the West must prevent these orders from being carried out.
Hillary Clinton made a tiny step forward in US policy by criticizing Israeli plans to demolish Arab homes in Jerusalem.
I have a hunch that her strong statement of support for a two-state solution is meant to put Netanyahu in a difficult position if he tries to officially reject that goal. However, the Israeli government is expert at blocking peace by blaming the Palestinians.
9/11 widows tell Senator Leahy: hold a real investigation and prosecute anyone in the US government who conspired in the attacks.
UK citizens: talk to your MP to oppose clause 152, which would let the government reuse all personal information it holds for any purpose whatsoever.
US financial companies spent 5 billion dollars on lobbying and political campaigns to procure the deregulation that allowed them to create the financial crisis.
I don't see any sign that Obama wants to change the system which lets businesses control our so-called democracy.
Russia has blocked the publication of a book on Stalin and seized archives documenting his murderous rule. It seems to be part of a concerted plan to improve the image of Stalin and of dictatorship in general.
Every state has pages of evil in its history, and every state needs to talk about them and why they were wrong, or it is likely to have more of them.
US citizens: sign this general petition in favor of fixing the US health care system without undue delay.
Australia's attempt to censor the Internet seems to have been blocked.
Nuclear power companies want to make the public pay in advance the tremendous costs of new fission power plants.
Computerized voting machines have been ruled unconstitutional in Germany because they gave the voter no way to verify their votes were not altered.
The article presumes they should be replaced with other machines that would meet the constitutional requirement, but it is not clear to me what sort of machine might be acceptable.
A prestigious international panel has recommended decriminalizing marijuana worldwide.
The mortgage derivatives bubble was made possible by a formula that gave bankers the impression they had a shortcut for measuring risks.
However, none of this would have happened with proper regulation.
Protesting Haitians called for President Aristide to be allowed to return.
Paul Krugman says Obama's budget is progessive, and feasible for the next 10 years, but does not deal with the long term problem of paying for health care.
The only way to make health care substantially cheaper is to remove the private insurance companies from the system.
Human skin can be converted into stem cells.
The real medical importance of this discovery results from the possibilty of making stem cells compatible with any patient. It also provides an opportunity to sidestep the dispute with irrational opposition, but this is really no opportunity, since we would be fools to use it. We must not concede validity to the absurd religious claim that a small ball of cells deserves the rights of a human being.
The US has pledged a lot of aid to rebuild Gaza, but this is all meaningless as long as Israel does not allow Gaza to be rebuilt.
Meanwhile, it continues its double standard, harping on the ineffectual missiles occasionally launched from Gaza, while shutting its eye to Israel's much bigger war crimes.
In the US and the UK, privatization of prisons leads to imprisoning a lot more people.
The International Criminal Court is looking at how to justify jurisdiction over Gaza so as to prosecute Israelis responsible for various war crimes.
Obama's speech about Iraq whitewashed Bush's crimes there and pandered to the pressure to praise the soldiers who killed so many Iraqis while ruining their country.
I disagree with some of the article's points. Since Obama said he would withdraw all the Bush forces by the end of 2011, I will not accuse him of breaking a promise just because he extended the period of the first part of the withdrawal by a few months.
But that's a separate issue.
French president Sarkozy is one of the nastiest exponents of the War of Sharing. He has also been sued for large-scale copyright infringement.
The French usually call him "Sarko". I call him "Sarcome", i.e., cancer.
US citizens: sign this petition to bring the ex-officials of the Bush regime to justice.
US citizens: sign this petition in favor of HR 1106, which lets judges order banks to re-evaluate failed mortgages so people won't lose their houses.
After a Tibetan monk set himself on fire as a protest, Chinese police shot him and took him away.
After three years of drought, California is very short of water. Some farms have been shut down, and cities are having trouble too.
While we cannot say this drought was caused by global warming and only global warming — there's an element of chance fluctuation too — global warming is expected to make drought increasingly frequent in parts of the US, as in parts of other continents.
The US Army cooperated in running secret prisons, and tortured prisoners — occasionally to death.
Despite Obama's commitment to transparency, US lawyers continue to oppose a lawsuit that calls for compliance with Federal law in finding and preserving emails which Bush did his best to lose.
Uri Avnery: over and over, Israeli actions have strengthened Hamas. Is this a cunning plan, stupid folly — or the expression of an unconscious unwillingness to make peace?
China expects Tibet to celebrate, or else.
The US right-wing is attacking some of Obama's nominees, calling them "extremists" for defending mainstream positions.
This is how the right-wing media has operated since the 1980s: labeling any opposition as "extremist" and "Liberal". (They had first given the public a misguided idea of what "Liberal" means, by falsely associating it with extreme positions that real Liberals generally did not support.)
However, it is perfectly rational for right-wing extremists to treat that anyone Obama appoints to the Supreme Court as suspect. Democrats should have assumed that anyone Bush I or II appointed was suspect.
Obama's budget focuses heavily on protecting the envrionment.
US citizens: sign this petition to require Karl Rove to testify.
A new system asks the public to monitor and report internet censorship.
Britain's "Convention on Modern Liberty" opposes the B'liar/Clown system of surveillance and disrespect for human rights.
The TSA says that park workers who lead mules pulling a canal boat around the park must get "transportation worker identification credentials".
While this is absurd, the real outrage is that they impose this demand on truck drivers. What next, clerks at McDonalds?
The Pentagon says that Guantanamo complies with the requirements of the Geneva Conventions.
...but does not assert this was true in the past. The commission also calls for treating the prisoners better.
That is not enough to recognize their rights: they deserve to be given fair trials or released.
A UK government report acknowledges that the surveillance society threatens people's rights, but then suggests it will be ok provided uses are "authorised at sufficiently senior level".
Even the Prime Minister is not senior enough to deserve trust, after all that the B'liar/Clown regime has done to misuse the powers given to it in the name of stopping terrorism.
A California state representative has proposed a bill to legalize marijuana and tax it.
I do not use marijuana, but I am very much in favor of this. Marijuana is not perfectly safe, but it is less dangerous than tobacco or alcohol. Prohibiting it is simply unjust.
Even for more dangerous drugs, such as heroin, cocaine, tobacco and alcohol, outright prohibition does more harm than the drug itself. I support measures to discourage the use of these drugs, but only intelligent measures will work. The War on Drugs approach tends to backfire, while corrupting police and making other police a threat to our lives.
Meanwhile, the pope is pushing for a cruel policy towards the drugs which are prohibited, even though it will kill people.
Berlusconi plans to ban strikes for many workers in Italy. Following the dishonest tendancy of modern tyranny, the law pretends to offer them a useless alternative.
Amnesty International calls for an arms embargo against Israel and Palestinian groups, accusing both of war crimes.
The Clown regime plans to dishonestly evade a court ruling against keeping DNA samples of people not suspected of crimes.
Hampshire college has divested from companies that support the occupation of Palestine, as it divested in the 80s from companies that supported the apartheid regime in South Africa.
Obama says he will remove the Bush forces completely from Iraq by 2011.
If he keeps that commitment, the question of whether some of the troops that remain for the last 17 months are combat troops mislabeled as non-combat becomes less important.
However, we have to ask what will happen to unjust laws that Bush has already imposed on Iraq, and whether the perpetrators of the crime of the invasion will be brough to justice.
Armenians plan to protest, despite a ban, against previous killing of protestors and a rigged election.
The editors of an Oxford student newspaper were forced to resign over the contents of a spoof, which was meant to make fun of them privately and was not intentionally published.
I find this act of censorship offensive.
US Citizens: phone Senator John Kerry and Representative Howard Berman to support holding oversight hearings about the war in Afghanistan.
The Capital Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641 and 888-355-3588.
In Europe: support a green economic recovery plan.
Cambridge Massachusetts has rejected surveillance cameras.
A UK review of primary schools says: cut out the standardized tests.
Obama says that he will withdraw combat troops from Iraq. The Pentagon says that this will be a lie — that some of the remaining "non-combat" troops will be there for combat.
Obama's administration is defending Bush's policy of discarding emails that under law ought to be kept.
A US judge has ordered a defendant to incriminate himself by decrypting files.
The ACLU will appeal. If you are not an ACLU member, how about joining?
House bill 331 would establish a commission to investigate how Bush ordered Aristide overthrown in Haiti.
Binyam Mohamed's accusations have increased the pressure to get the truth about UK involvement in Bush regime torture.
The New Zealand government has postponed the guilt-by-accusation part of its unjust copyright law, and may cancel it.
However, the press has ignored the other unjust provision in that law, which would (like the US DMCA) censor software that helps people break digital handcuffs (see DefectiveByDesign.org). The law remains a setback for freedom in New Zealand even if the people prevail on the S92A part of it.
UK stores are pressuring Iceland not to increase whaling.
The Palestinian towns that regularly hold nonviolent protests are harassed several times a week by the Israeli Army. It invades the towns at night to prevent people from sleeping and cause trouble.
Massachusetts' health care reform, that required everyone to get health insurance, has increased costs; now poor people have to do without needed care.
When Bush started a war based on lies, he committed fraud. Here's a book explaining how to prosecute Bush for this fraud.
When Atlanta police invaded Kathryn Johnston's home without warning, she defended herself and they killed her. Then they lied about what had happened, and tried to plant drugs.
That much is so commonplace that it almost isn't news. What's news is that these police are going to jail for it.
Conservatives in the media and army are trying to force Obama to continue unethical and damaging Bush policies.
The US has forbidden the sale and even donation of children's books printed before 1985, so they are being discarded en masse by used book stores. It is not clear whether libraries are forbidden to lend them.
Jack Straw, who surely played a major role in B'liar's decision to join the invasion of Iraq, has used his current powers to conceal how that decision was made.
This is known as "obstruction of justice" when anyone else does it.
The Iraqi national museum has reopened, as a shadow of its former self, with many pieces still missing and others replaced by photos.
Countrywide Financial has changed its name, like Blackwater, to evade the odium of its recent acts.
The Clown regime is proposing "welfare reform" designed to force poor women to accept whatever child care and jobs they are assigned, even if it is bad for their children.
The effect may be reduced if there are no jobs available, but that may not be true forever.
The US mainstream media's right wing bias is bad enough, but things can get worse. As the somewhat-biased traditional newspapers fail, the US will be left with only the extreme right-wing media.
US progressives need to invest in building media as the right wing has done.
A Bush forces soldier has been convicted of murdering an Iraqi.
It is rare to have the basis to prosecute a soldier for wanton killings. Hundreds, or perhaps thousands of the soldiers in the Bush forces have done it, and most were never prosecuted. If soldiers randomly shoot the people in a car, they only have to say "We thought they were attacking us," and they will get away with it.
This is why starting a war of conquest and aggression is such a serious crime, and why Bush and other leaders must be prosecuted for it.
Kyrgyzstan has told the US to close an air base which is used for bringing troops and arms to Afghanistan. This reduces the US to imploring the tyrannical regime of Uzbekistan for help.
Nina Paley is going to release her animated film, Sita Sings the Blues, with freedom to share. She is looking for contributions to pay the ransom from the music.
I am going to donate cash to her next time I am in NYC.
Binyam Mohamed, released from Guantanamo, arrived in the UK. Police immediately questioned him for hours under "anti-terror" legislation.
After orchestrating his torture for years, don't they know all there is to know about him?
UK police warn that lots of people unemployed might join in protests against the privileged few who are not sharing their hardship, or trashing the envrionment.
The report takes for granted that the state should try to suppress these grievances rather than act on them.
Haiti's US installed government has finally banned Aristide's party from running for the Senate, on the pretext that Aristide did not explicitly allow the list.
Aristide refuses to legitimize the coup by signing documents for the coup-installed government.
Chicago wants to put a surveillance camera on every street corner.
The article ludicrously assures Americans that we have nothing to fear because the system only sees only where we go outside of buildings. If only we could trust police to pursue only criminals and not dissidents also. How the police of previous Mayor Daley would have loved this system during their police riot at the Democratic Convention in 1968.
It is normal police practice to arrest the leaders of protests pre-emptively, fabricating charges as it suits them, just to sabotage political opposition. It's Watergate, only with burglary replaced by false arrest. The only thing protecting democracy from the police is what they do not know. If we allow the police to watch everything we do, there will be no room left for democracy.
Conservatives want the government to fail to serve and protect the public — so they can claim it is impossible.
An interview with Sahar Vardi, who has been imprisoned repeatedly for refusing to participate in the occupation of Palestine.
Obama has sensibly rejected a scheme to replace the gas tax with a miles-traveled tax independent of gasoline usage.
Even aside from the privacy issue, it is absurd to transfer the tax burden from inefficient cars to efficient cars.
States such as Massachusetts and Oregon are considering such schemes too. The public should write and phone their state legislators now to oppose them.
Israel is the main threat to the human rights of Palestinians, but Hamas threatens them too.
It was Israel's refusal to make peace with Fatah that gave Hamas its strength. The best way to weaken Hamas among Palestinians is for Israel to make peace.
Binyam Mohamed, after torture, admitted reading an article about how to build an H-bomb. The article was a satire, but this was used as an excuse for imprisoning him further.
Even if the article had real instructions for making a bomb, that by itself would not justify imprisoning anyone. Only tyrannical governments, such as the Clown regime, imprison people for what they have read.
The Clown regime decided on secret evidence to deport Abu Qatada to Jordan, where he is likely to be imprisoned and tortured.
He is said to face trial in Jordan — a military trial, which probably means it is fundamentally unjust. He deserves an extradition hearing which would consider whether he will get a fair trial.
Uri Avnery: What does the Netanyahu/Lieberman coalition imply for Israel's future? If Obama objects to their policies, this might teach Israel a lesson; but he will find it easier not to fight back.
Israel plans a big expansion of West Bank settlements.
The Chinese government has closed Tibet and sent in troops.
In the UK: stand up for liberty in Britain, by participating in the Convention on Modern Liberty in London on February 28.
Those accused of arranging the assassination of journalist Anna Politkovskaya were acquitted, and perhaps were innocent, since the investigation made little serious effort to find the killers.
The UN accused Syria of secretly building a nuclear reactor.
The Bush regime's conduct gave every target of US hostility good reason to believe that only possession of nuclear weapons can protect it from US invasion. Meanwhile, the Western disregard for Israel's nuclear weapons leads countries such as Syria to regard the nonproliferation treaty as simply unfair.
Using Alberta's tar sands for oil could make short-term sense, if we don't care about destroying our habitat.
Keep track of whether Obama keeps his promises.
So far he seems to be honest for the most part. What worries me is not whether he will keep his promises, but what he didn't promise: to restore human rights and end pervasive surveillance.
New Zealanders have attacked unjust copyright laws with the Copywrong Song.
After an Italian judge ruled that a woman who has been in a vegetative coma for 17 years could be disconnected from her feeding tube, Berlusconi is accusing the judge, the president, and her father of "killing" her.
As is typical of dogmatic champions of the "right to life", Berlusconi only applies this principle when it is a stretch to say that there is a human being. He is quite willing to disregard it in cases where there is no doubt of that, such as for people in Gaza and illegal immigrants.
Zaidi, the shoe-thrower of Baghdad, is on trial and facing the threat of 15 years in prison. Iraqis still lionize him.
I wonder if Maliki has the power to pardon Zaidi. If he does, Iraqis should demand he do so. Americans, too. The shoes he threw, he threw for all of us.
The US has treaty obligations to prosecute Bush regime torturers, and Americans support doing so, but it looks like Obama won't do it.
Although the rate of killing in Iraq is less than a year ago, Baghdad still sees bombings every day.
Will Obama protect social security and medicare?
Pakistan caved in to extremists by imposing sharia law on a part of the country. This is an injustice for everyone affected, but especially women.
Although Zardari says he hopes this will prevent extremists from taking over Pakistan, I think it brings them a step closer to doing so.
The US army is expanding the prison at Bagram air base in Afghanistan.
There is nothing wrong with taking enemy fighters prisoner if they are treated properly as prisoners of war. What worries me is the claim that they are "unlawful" because that was the Bush excuse for disregarding treaties and laws about treatment of prisoners.
Afghanistan, the next US Quagmire?
I must acknowledge that I supported the intervention in Afghanistan, not because of 9/11, but rather to eliminate the tyranny of the Taliban. Whether this intervention might have succeeded if Bush had not diverted attention to Iraq, I cannot tell.
Israel is facing legal proceedings for various banned weapons in civilian areas, and for torturing Palestinian prisoners.
New York police who arrested Robert Taylor for photographing a subway train had to drop that charge, since there's no law against it. But they did not drop the other bogus charges.
The other bogus charges show the real danger of the police: they do not hesitate to lie, even in court, to punish whomever they wish to hurt.
If it really is a crime to shout at a policeman who is falsely arresting you, the injustice is in the law. Otherwise, it is in the policeman. Either way, it is part of a system that gives the police power to tyrannize with impunity.
The attempt to justify bullying in the name of 9/11 is typical for the US. Authorities attacking our freedom like to claim that "9/1 changed everything", but it did not change right and wrong. All it changed was the set of excuses available to the enemies of freedom.
New Zealand's unjust copyright law has become a big political issue.
Berlusconi's co-conspiritor was convicted of corruption charges. Berlusconi passed a special law so he could escape the charges.
A large aid convoy is going to drive from London to Gaza via Egypt. Will Egypt and Israel let it enter Gaza?
After the CIA kidnapped Binyam Mohamed from Pakistan and handed him over to Morocco for torture, MI5 could no longer find him, so it passed questions to the CIA to give him.
Blackwater is not the only mercenary company with a bloody record in Iraq.
James Hansen: coal power plants are death factories.
The Iranian mullahs have made a slightly veiled death threat against Khatami if he runs for president there.
In the last elections, the mullahs banned most of the pro-reform candidates,
making the election a sham.
The silent toleration of Israel's nuclear weapons has undermined
the nuclear nonproliferation treaty.
Pakistan's government accepted Indian claims that the Mumbai terror attack
was plotted in Pakistan, and has begun prosecuting suspects.
Obama has encouraged investigation into the frauds that ate up 50 billion
dollars in US funds for Iraqi reconstruction that never happened.
I proposed, at the time, that Bush and Cheney wanted to funnel money
to their cronies (for instance, Halliburton), and this required creating
a climate in which fraud was encouraged.
Republicans are grasping at straws to prevent the closure
of the Guantanamo prison.
Jordan and the Palestinian Authority have asked the International
Criminal Court to charge certain Israeli officials with masterminding
crimes in Gaza.
The Israeli responses are weak: "you killed Palestinians too" (is that
an excuse?) and attempts to evade jurisdiction imply recognition of
the wrong.
Various human rights organizations will press the EU to support
an investigation of these crimes.
In New Zealand: black out your avatars as a protest against the guilt-by-accusation internet law.
New Zealand citizens: sign the petition against the guilt-by-accusation Internet law.
Blackwater has changed its name, hoping to duck the hostility it has earned.
A law could block these subterfuges. Imagine a law requiring all publicity and statements by a company that changed its name within the last 5 years to mention the previous names.
Stella Rimington, former head of MI5, accuses governments (including the US) of exploiting people's fear of terrorism to restrict civil liberties.
We have long known that this is what they were doing. But it helps that this is acknowledged by someone who was in charge of an intelligence agency.
Arguing that the US should nationalize the insolvent banks, which will then enable the government to stop the foreclosures of homes.
Hamas censors the reporting of journalists that live in Gaza. Israel has done its best to exclude all other journalists from Gaza, and attacked media organizations along with other civilian targets during the recent bombardment.
Terror suspects were tortured in Pakistan under UK policy.
A British missile submarine collided with a French one in the middle of the Atlantic. They were both running silently to avoid detection and had no idea another sub was nearby.
To some extent people are exaggerating the issue, since such a collision cannot launch the subs' missiles. If the collision had been harder, it might have sunk one or both of the submarines and killed the crew. That would have been a sea disaster, but not a global calamity.
Perhaps magnetic detectors would enable a sub to notice the existence of a large approaching piece of metal without advertising its own presence for a long distance.
The Italian government plans to require ISPs to censor web pages that express admiration of mafia figures. Perhaps any and all criminals.
I disagree with the people who admire mafia leaders, but they have a right to express their views. Censoring such views is extremely dangerous.
History taboo in Iraq schools.
Almost 200,000 Indian farmers are known to have committed suicide due to the debts that resulted from imposed economic globalization.
Imagine how much better it would have been if they had mobilized politcally instead.
Human rights campaigners accuse Hamas of attacking and killing all critics and opposition (not just collaborators).
Israel has allowed a small, temporary exception in the siege of Gaza.
After the UK government decided not to prosecute the killers of de Menezes, despite their contradictory testimony, the family has decided to sue the police.
Uri Avnery: The Israeli left has neutralized itself by supporting wars. A new party is needed to reinvigorate the left and make peace possible.
Nokia ordered the government of Finland to pass a law, and Finland is obeying.
I do not trust the denials. However, the most important point here is not that this has happened, but that everyone regards it as possible.
If a company is so big that the state dare not disobey it, the company's existence is incompatible with democracy. To maintain the people's sovereignty, the people must break up these companies, chase them out, or nationalize them.
British photographers will protest the new law that would imprison those who take photos of policemen.
The condition "likely to be useful..." is one that can almost never be disproved, so the police will be able to use this law against any photographer they want to stop.
What worries me most is not that they will apply it to the mainstream press, but that they will apply it to people taking photos and videos of protests. These recordings are the only defense protestors have against the tendency of police to attack them and then falsely accuse them.
The Haitian candidates rejected by the government have been given a chance to appeal.
Lieberman, now possibly in a position to enforce his demands in Israel, wants to take citizenship away from Israeli Arabs unless they take a loyalty oath to Israel as a "Jewish state".
According to Jewish Voice for Peace, Liberman's party says that collecting money for Gaza relief is "disloyal". They cited a statement in Hebrew by the party, which I cannot verify.
Wise people have said for years that occupying Palestine is toxic for
Israeli society; now the effects have reached the structure of Israeli
democracy. I hope that the Arab citizens of Israel will launch a
massive campaign of protest and civil disobedience to block this.
The proposal to transfer some Israeli territory (where mainly Arabs live) to Palestine might be a good thing for everyone, if it is done as part of a peace agreement that establishes a sovereign Palestinian state. However, without such an agreement, it could instead be the excuse to turn parts of Israel into occupied territory.
Tunnels from Egypt provide the only source of goods for people in Gaza, aside from the UN aid that Israel limits and sometimes blocks.
US citizens: sign this petition urging to talk with all sides in order to bring about peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
Americans need to understand how the "financial experts" screwed them, so they can demand the deeper reforms that will stop it from happening again.
Right-wing Dutch MP Geert Wilders was barred from entering the UK where he had been invited to make a presentation to the House of Lords.
If Wilders calls for the Qur'an to be banned, he commits the same kind of wrong that the UK committed against him. That is grounds to condemn his views, but not grounds to ban them.
The US has also banned visiting speakers because of what they proposed to say to Americans. Famous speakers barred in this way have included Farley Mowat and Bertrand Russell. I have no reason to believe this practice has changed, but there may be less occasion to apply it nowadays, as such speakers may now far they would be imprisoned without trial.
I am disappointed in the LibDems for endorsing this ban.
Plainclothes police in the US went on a mission to grab a 12-year-old girl. They beat her up, let her go, then came back later and arrested her for resisting arrest.
It is almost irrelevant that it was the wrong girl. It would have been just as wrong to do this to the intended victim.
Why aren't Americans rioting like the rest of the world?
Obama's economic measures are too conservative to address the structural problems of the market.
In Wake of Crisis, New Economic Thinking Emerges.
US citizens: sign this petition to hold accountable the perpetrators and planners of the Bush regime's crimes.
Some comments on the House of Lords report condemning the British surveillance state.
I do not mind CCTV if it will only be examined when there is a crime and the police get a warrant. I may even appreciate it. However, when police demand to be able to access the recordings even when there was no crime, as they apparently want to do in the pub in Islington, that is dangerous. We know they will use this against protestors and dissidents.
Gavin Smith's letter rightly suggests paying attention to issues of potential future surveillance. However, by declaring the report a "historical document", it implies people should give up on opposition to all existing surveillance systems. That would be a grave mistake.
Obama has endorsed the Bush ploy which has stopped courts from giving justice to the victims of US government torture and kidnapping.
The ACLU gives the details on these cases, and what Obama's policy implies in terms of injustice.
In effect, he says: "You're not supposed to torture — but if you do, I'll make sure you are not punished."
Everyone: Boycott Kellogg's (or at least call and object) for demonizing the use of marijuana.
UK Citizens: help write a response to the Clown regime's plans to restrict the internet for megacorporations.
Obama's generals are covering up how they tortured Binyam Mohamed.
Supposedly this is to save him embarassment, but really it is a scheme to conceal these crimes and protect them.
Tsvangirai has become the prime minister of Zimbabwe in a power sharing deal, but Mugabe is already cheating on the deal.
US citizens: call your congresscritter to support single-payer health care.
The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641 and 888-355-3588.
Here is COSATU's statement about blocking the unloading of Israeli goods in South Africa. COSATU sees the occupation of Palestine as similar to apartheid.
Meanwhile, Israelis opposed to the occupation document the companies that profit from it.
The net is closing on UK ministers who presided over UK participation in foreign torture. They are trying to cover it up and pretend nothing wrong was done, but the contradictions are showing through.
Here's a denunciation of Myspace.
The first comment makes a valid point, but it doesn't imply that everyone ought to post extensively on Myspace. Someone maintains a Myspace account about me, with my approval, and I don't think I should take it down — but that isn't the same as using Myspace extensively.
Israeli troops shot a Palestinian farmer for walking on his land.
Kadima got more votes than expected in the Israeli election. Perhaps killing hundreds of civilians really works. But the end reseult is that the fascist Lieberman, whose party was third, is in control.
With Israel and Palestine hostage to their extremists, will the US cut their chains?
Meanwhile, there are rumers that a longer truce between Israel and Hamas is being worked out.
Tremendous fires have killed hundreds in Australia.
As regards to the people who set some of the fires, they did indeed commit multiple murder, but calling them "terrorists" is a dangerous exaggeration. "Arsonist" and "murderer" are bad enough names for them.
Meanwhile, we shouldn't forget that only a small fraction of the fires were intentionally set. If we could stamp out arson completely, that would not make the danger go away.
Part of the cause is that modern people don't let the forest burn.
This has totally transformed the Australian forests. I read that when Sydney was settled, today's forests did not exist; trees were sparse due to the fires the aborginials frequently set. The low brush makes lower, cooler fires that pass under mature trees without burning them, but they do burn saplings. This is what still happens in the Kakadu forest: I saw one of those fires, and it was not dangerous.
The other cause of these fires is record temperatures and a long drought, both partly due to global warming. Global warming is also causing droughts in other places, and fires like this will become more frequent.
Iran's president Ahmadinejad is in favor of Obama's overtures toward better relations.
Here's what it is like to work in a sweatshop in China.
One of the comments points out that sweatshops in the US were similarly nasty, 150 years ago. That changed because the US passed laws to make working conditions better and less nasty, and to allow independent labor unions.
Then treaties such as the World Trade Organization allowed companies to make working conditions worse again, by moving the jobs to China and similar countries where there are no such laws (or they are not enforced). These treaties were designed for that effect, which is what makes them evil.
I do not condemn these treaties because they enabled Chinese to get jobs formerly heald by Americans. That as such is not wrong. I condemn these treaties because they enabled the megacorporations to cut pay and mistreat their workers.
The Iraqi government, in an act of political censorship, ordered the removal of the statue honoring shoe-thrower al-Zaidi.
Police in South Africa attacked a bus full of students headed for a demonstration in support of Palestinians, threatening to shoot them.
Meanwhile, dock workers in South AFrica are protesting by refusing to unload goods from Israel.
Warming of the ocean near Antarctica threatens extinction for many species that live nowhere else.
The US military spends almost 5 billion dollars a year on spreading a one-sided picture of what it does.
The UK government is concealing evidence that the US tortured Binyam Mohamed, catering to demands from the US government. The foreign minister openly states his intention to continue this subservice.
The Bush regime wanted that evidence concealed so it could give Mohamed an unfair trial and railroad him to execution.
Here is information about his torture.
Clown and Miliband continue repeating the claim that they do not "condone torture". More precisely what they are doing is called "Abetting torture". By concealing evidence of torture on behalf of the perpetrator, they become accessories after the fact.
It will be interesting to see whether Obama withdraws the US threat to which Clown has rolled over. That is his duty. But that would not be enough to save the UK. It must replace those toadies with men of principle that have the courage to break off a "special relationship" rather than condone and abet war crimes.
Internet users in Ireland: boycott EIRCOM.
Obama still intends to withdraw most of the Bush forces from Iraq — but not all.
This article does not say whether Obama plans to leave troops that are really advisors, or leave combat troops while labeling them as "advisor". The Pentagon began relabeling combat troops as "advisors" in 2008, and I don't know whether Obama will undo that.
What we have learned about global warming in 2008.
Tel the Boy Scouts: stop selling land to loggers!
US citizens: phone your congresscritter to support the bill to investigate the Bush regime's involvement in the coup in Haiti.
Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641, and 888-355-3588.
Javed Iqbal was sentenced to prison, in the US, for helping clients of his satellite TV company receive Hizbollah's TV station.
Thus the unjust practice of declaring organizations "terrorist" without a trial leads to the further injustice of censorship.
The US "no-fly" list has cost $500 million, along with frustration for thousands of innocent people, but it would be easy for any organized terrorists to bypass.
We can only conclude that the lack of airline terrorism is because no organized terrorists are trying to do it, or because other measures are enough to stop them.
It follows that the harassment of the no-fly list is not justified. It should be eliminated, and Americans should once again have the right to travel anonymously.
The Associated Press is trying (yet again) to twist copyright law and increase its power.
US citizens: phone your congress critter to cut funds for the ludicrous anti-marijuana movies put out by the "Drug Czar"'s office.
Also communicate your message through the MPP's web site.
Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641, and 888-355-3588.
US citizens: sign this petition for House Resolution 104 to investigate crimes of the Bush regime, and phone your congresscritter to support it.
Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641, and 888-355-3588.
House of Lords: rise of CCTV is threat to freedom in the UK.
The pseudo-democratic Haitian government established by the US-run coup has forbidden Aristide's former supporters to run for office.
An anti-vaccination radio show is trying to use copyright to suppress condemnation by the public and by medicine. Lives are at stake.
What Bush did to Iraq: around a million killed, 4.5 million displaced, 1-2 million widows, 5 million orphans.
The US military suicide rate has reached a record high. Military veterans age 20-24 are four times as likely to commit suicide as non-veterans.
When soldiers feel they have betrayed their values — for instance, when they have brutalized civilians or been buddies with soldiers that did so — or when they think their commanders lied to them or betrayed them, that makes it harder for them to live with themselves aftward. So we should expect high suicide rates for those who participated in the conquest and occupation of Iraq.
It also contributes to PTSD, as the book Achilles in Vietnam shows.
A Dutch study concludes that P2P file sharing makes a positive contribution to society.
Of course, we know this is true, but it is good to see it confirmed carefully.
Heroic intelligence officer Frank Grevil went to prison for telling the public that Bush was lying about Saddam Hussein.
The mass media spread sensationalist fear about the effects of crack cocaine on babies, while minimizing the danger of lead poisoning because that was uncomfortable for aboveground businesses. Turns out that lead is a big danger to babies and crack is a small one.
The Israeli navy boarded an aid ship heading for Gaza, physically attacked the crew, and destroyed the reporters' broadcasting equpiment so there would be no proof.
When the navy denies beating the crew, I am sure it is a lie.
The article mentions that Israel will not allow steel into Gaza. Without steel it is impossible to rebuild the buildings that Israel destroyed. Once again, Israel intends to inflict lasting suffering on tens of thousands of noncombattants.
The article mentions the aid boat which was forced to go to Lebanon. That boat was rammed several times and nearly sunk.
The UK government is trying to conceal how man civilians it has killed in Afghanistan. An officer faces criminal charges for giving that information to a human rights campaign.
The people of Afghanistan are fully aware of how many of them are being killed. The secrecy is aimed at the people of the UK, and the US.
People in the UK should hold demonstrations to cheer him.
A UK parliamentary committee will question a minister about allegations that MI5 agents encouraged Pakistani jailers to use torture.
The Israeli governing parties attacked Gaza and killed hudreds of civilians to win votes. It looks like they failed in their aim.
A clever hacker (though the reason he is a hacker is not what they think) demonstrated the danger of using RFIDs in US passport cards.
In Nineva province, many Sunnis were blocked from voting, and many votes were bought.
Obama's policy in Afghanistan is following the path of LBJ in Vietnam.
Heathrow security defused a deadly rice-milk threat by insisting that it be decanted into baby-bottles.
The Governments negotiating ACTA seem to be planning to make file sharing sites a crime. And they refuse to tell citizens what they are doing.
This is the standard procedure by which governments use trade treaties to attack their citizens. First they draw up a treaty by which they all promise to do so. Then they say, "We have to agree to every provision of we won't get the business benefit of the treaty." Then people surrender their freedom.
The whole scheme is evil from the first step to the last. It is a sign of a government that is a toady for business, and the enemy of its own citizens.
The B'liar/Clown regime has made nearly all protest a crime through a law against "harassment".
Obama has imposed a pay cap on executives of banks that accept bailouts in the future.
Congress is proposing to make it apply to all companies receiving bailout funds.
Obama's plan for a US infrastructure reconstruction bank risks squandering money just like the "reconstruction" of Iraq, if it doesn't do more to impose accountability than currently proposed.
The Chinese government is covering up both the recession and the
protests of the unemployed.
It is refreshing that the article at least mentions the need to increase
Chinese worker's wages.
Burning ethanol made from corn is much more damaging to human health
than burning petroleum.
(It also makes more CO2 and causes lots of other environmental damage.)
Loggers are invading and taking over Indian lands in the Amazon in order to cut down the trees.
When Russian dissidents are not killed, they can be committed to mental hospitals and drugged.
Low turnout in Iraq's election reflects a disillusioned nation.
Debunking the Reagan myth: his so-called achievements.
Uri Avnery: it's good that Spain plans to prosecute Israeli war criminals, but for Israel's honor, it should prosecute them first.
US citizens: phone or write your congresscritter to oppose the "Fair Copyright in Research Works" act, proposed by the journal publishers to sabotage open access to scientific works. See http://taxpayeraccess.org/fcrwa.html.
For more information.
Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641, and 888-355-3588.
Israel is seriously concerned that its leaders and officers will be prosecuted for war crimes in Gaza, up to the point of trying to conceal which officers were involved in the attacks on Gaza.
A project aims to build a million new ponds in Britain, restoring the damage done in the past couple of centuries.
Dozens of people in Gaza have been killed as collaborators or in acts of revenge.
I can't blame them for killing traitors. If Gaza were at peace, with a government in full control, it would owe alleged traitors fair trials before punishing them. But we cannot hold a besieged enclave to such standards.
Obama says that George Mitchell will start his Middle East mission by "listening to all the major parties" — except Hamas and Hezbollah. Perhaps he should at least listen to some Palestinians and Lebanese.
Dumping agricultural plant waste in the ocean could cut human CO2 emissions by 15%.
This might make it possible to solve the problem, but only in combination with other measures.
Israel intends to continue the collective punishment of Gaza until all its demands are met, including the release of a captured soldier.
This means it is official Israeli policy to commit a war crime even if Hamas never does so again.
Turkish president Erdogan at Davos vociferously condemned Israel's attacks against Gaza, and walked out.
Recognizing the genocide of the Armenians is the right thing to do, but using it to pressure for acceptance of modern war crimes is absurd.
The Iraqi provincial elections have been marred by death threats and assassinations. However, they seem to be engaging people's political interest nonetheless.
More about vote buying.
Since Bush's proclaimed desire for democracy in Iraq was a shame all along, it would be quite ironic if his war leads to democracy there. However, it won't be real democracy until it can abolish the laws, imposed by Bush, that give foreign companies control over Iraq's economy.
The Iraqi government, showing a little independence, has ordered Blackwater out of the country.
However, if it wants to show real independence, it should free the shoe-thrower of Baghdad, and drop teh case against him.
I wonder if people could organize a campaign to elect him to public office.
Afghanistan's presidential election has been postponed due to fighting with the Taliban.
I wonder whether Taliban-aligned candidates will be allowed to run.
The publishers of scientific journals, parasites who obstruct the dissemination of scholarly works, are lobbying for laws to cement their power.
ITER, the international project to develop a fusion reactor, now has a target of 2018 and could cost over 20 billion dollars.
That a research project costs a lot of money, or runs into snags, is normal and does not mean the result will not be useful. However, if raw materials costs are responsible for a cost increase of billions of dollars, can we really expect fusion to be economically feasible?
Although fusion reactions do not produce dangerous waste, the reactor tends to become highly radioactive under the high flux of neutrons. This equipment waste can be as dangerous as the waste from a fusion reaction. (If you know whether the ITER design avoids this, please tell me.)
It seems to me that renewable energy generation has a better chance of saving civilization.
70% of the population of France is in favor of the general strike against Sarkozy's pro-business economic policies.
It is too bad that the next election is far away.
A Spanish court is investigating former Israeli officials for a war crime, a targeted assassination with a large bomb that predictably killed and injured many of the target's neighbors.
The Israeli response clearly shows the attitude which gives rise to war crimes: the claim that, against "terrorists", anything is permissible and no scruples need apply.
Due to lack of funds, food aid for Zimbabweans will be cut to below the amount needed for survival. People are expected to begin starving
to death. Mugabe will make sure those who opposed him starve first.
The only real solution to the problem of Zimbabwe is to remove Mugabe
from power. A military intervention to do this should be easy, since
his supporters are motivated by privilege and exploitation (and now,
food) rather than by any higher loyalty.
The two crucial ethical criteria are whether Zimbabweans in general
want such an intervention, and whether we could count on the
intervening forces to solve the problem. I see no doubt about the
latter, since even a typical, corrupt African government would be a
big improvement over the current situation. I do not know what
Zimbabweans think about the idea, but I would expect they dismiss the
question, knowing there is no chance it will happen: the great powers
are not willing to intervene. Perhaps the starvation of millions will
change their mind.
Republicans are trying to sabotage the stimulus plan so that Democrats won't get credit for saving the economy.
Rep. Conyers has subpoena'd Karl Rove once again to testify about the firing of federal prosecutors who refused to launch politically-motivated false persecutions.
Predation by humans is making many species evolve rapidly towards smaller size and earlier maturity.
Banks are using their bailout funds to lobby against unionization and to threaten the politicians that support it.
The main Irish ISP, EIRCOM, has imposied on its customers a policy of termination after three complaints from publishers.
And the Clown regime is talking about legislating a similar policy.
Merely by using the term "piracy" to describe the sharing, these governments pledge allegiance to the publishers, against their own citizens.
Australian booze companies are offering money to try to reduce
binge drinking, but their aim is to steer efforts away from the effective
approaches that might reduce their profits.
David Attenborough is receiving hate mail from Christians for refusing
to giver any credence to creationism in his scientific programs.
Shrinking Glaciers Have Put Tibetans in the Path of Climate Chaos.
Many of the Haitians who overthrew Aristide's government
(in a coup organized by the Bush regime) now are accused of
drug trafficking by the US.
I suspect that other parts of the US government, those which worked
with these people in the coup, are protecting them now.
Two courts in the UK have now agreed that the minute of B'liar's
cabinet meeting, which discussed invading Iraq, must be published
so people can judge whether the invasion was illegal.
The ministers still have ways they can try to cover it up, but vetoing
it outright will cost them in the coming elections. Since Labour will
probably lose, the next government may publish them.
That means we have a chance of seeing B'liar behind bars.
But that will not automatically restore the Rights of Englishmen
which he has mostly abolished.
A furnace in a military base provides evidence of the murder of
hundreds of prisoners by the Peruvian army.
Khaled El Masri has sued the government of Macedonia for handing him
over to the CIA for torture.
The US Supreme Court and the German government have obstructed Masri's
attempts to get justice against his kidnapers. Will Obama prosecute them?
Following the U SAP AT RIOT act, over 200 people have been placed on
the government's "no fly" list for acts such as arguing or kissing in
planes. Some have been convicted of "terrorism" for this.
Any juror who votes to convict a person of "terrorism" because she
argued in a plane and the US government has defined this as
"terrorism" has, in effect, agreed to take a lie as truth because the
lie was incorporated into a law. The purpose of the jury is to
protect people from unjust prosecution, and that includes any
prosecution based on a lie.
Obama has taken positive steps to raise the new car milage standards.
Due to the recession these will not have as much effect as they would have had
a few years ago.
UK police seized an Indymedia server, without a warrant, looking for
information which Indymedia does not collect and which would have been
on a different machine if it existed.
James Lovelock suggests we could stop global warming by converting
agricultural plant waste into charcoal and burying it, on a massive
scale. Otherwise, he predicts, billions of people will starve as
global warming destroys agriculture.
The "Justice" Department is trying to protect Bush's illegal spying
from a lawsuit by concealing the evidence that the plaintiffs were
specifically spied on.
Obama has never stated the intention to restore meaningful treatment
to the fourth amendment.
Contrary to widespread worries, Bush did not pardon war criminals.
This means they can be prosecuted in US courts. Will Obama have the
guts and the conscience to do so?
Are We Civilized Enough to Hold Our Leaders Accountable for War Crimes?
Contribute to a campaign to change the one-sided US media
approach to the occupation of Palestine.
NSA warrantless wiretapping targeted non-terrorists, including
journalists.
Even before computers, thoroughgoing systems of registering information
about citizens could easily serve genocidal purposes. The Netherlands
adopted such a system in the 1930s, and it was used with deadly effect
by the Nazi conquerors.
See page 13 and following pages.
A family hastening to the US to visit their dying father/grandfather
was locked up
by US immigration agents without food and water —
including the children — and then deported. He will most surely
die without seeing them.
Note the callousness of the response of the US consulate "spokesman",
which in effect said only "this wasn't illegal" and disregarded the
question of whether it was nasty and shameful. This spokesman reflects
the same spirit of cruelty that actuated the policemen who arrested them.
But even if refusing people entry to the US is not illegal, denying
them food and water may be illegal.
Calvin & Hobbs explain the US auto industry's problems.
US citizens: call on Obama to keep his pledge to end federal drug raids
on state-legalized medical marijuana operations.
Obama has ended
the Reagan/Bush policy of refusing aid to organizations that
go so far as to tell women about the possibility of an abortion.
Population growth exacerbates all the main problems that humanity faces,
so the world needs to make abortions and contraception available as
conveniently as possible.
Sign this petition to Obama about peace in the Middle East,
which urges him to support the Saudi peace plan, and to treat
Israeli and Palestinian rearmament in the same light.
Defense Secretary Gates says he expects to keep the Bush forces in
Iraq for many years.
Americans who hoped Obama would withdraw them are going to be
disappointed — but since the US media don't cover Iraq any more,
maybe most of them won't notice.
Congolese rebel leader Nkunda has been captured.
Here's what his troops do to civilians.
Gaza: 'I watched an Israeli soldier shoot dead my two little girls'
The NSA's illegal wiretapping covered all communications in the US,
and journalists were a prime target.
The Clown regime is trying to sneak through a law to allow the
government to collect, and centrally store, any information
about anyone.
UK citizens: phone your MP, and/or send mail using
http://www.WriteToThem.com, and ask him to read Part 8 (clauses 151 -
154) of the Coroners and Justice Bill, and to oppose the massive
surveillance powers in the "Information sharing" clause.
Obama's statement on Gaza was a shade less one-sided than Bush used to be.
At least according to this article, he said nothing about the siege of
Gaza or the need to end it. I don't think this change is enough to shift to
a better path.
In regard to the broarder goal of piece between Israel and Palestine,
if he picks up where Clinton left off he hasn't got a chance of success.
The Thai coast guard captured boats of illegal immigrants and
imprisoned them secretly. The captors shot some, tortured others,
then towed the rest out to sea in leaky boats with no engines and
little food and water. Most of them died.
Global warming has doubled the death rates for trees in the Western US.
This could make forests start releasing CO2 instead of absorbing it,
exacerbating global warming.
The Marijuana Policy Project asks victims of marijuana prohibition to share their stories.
British broadcasters refused to play appeals for relief funds for
Gaza.
The BBC says the appeal was vetoed by some of the 13 broadcasters.
Which one? People in the US should demand each of these broadcasters
say whether it supports or opposes this appeal, so that the
broadcasters cannot hide behind each other.
Obama has ordered the closure of the CIA's secret prisons. This is
starting to look like real progress, on the imprisonment issue.
However, imprisonment without trial is just one aspect of the
injustice Bush has inflicted on Americans and others. We also need to
restore the right to travel within the US without showing ID, and to
communicate free of government surveillance except as authorized by
specific court orders.
A Russian human rights lawyer and a journalist were
assassinated in daylight right in the center of Moscow.
Paul Krugman calls on Obama to investigate the Bush regime's
crimes — amd also explains how to avoid another great depression.
Obama has appointed an economic team
intimately tied to hedge funds and the deregulation that led us to depression. His choices also
suggest he will do nothing to tax the rich heavily on their main
source of income, capital gains.
Obama wants direct talks with Iran,
and will pursue reductions in US and other countries' nuclear weapons.
I am glad he is taking steps to avoid someday becoming Barack
A-bomber.
COPA, the US internet censorship law signed by Clinton,
has been conclusively ruled unconstitutional.
This should remind us that the threat to our freedom does not come
only from Republicans.
Journalists are entring Gaza through Egypt since Israel still
refuses to let them in. Here's an interview with a family in devastated Rafah.
Obama says he wants to
close Guantanamo prison within one year.
He also suspended the military tribunals to review the process they use.
Closing the one prison in Guantanamo will make my song
Guantanamero
dated, but will not necessarily render its point obsolete. We have
yet to see whether Obama will end the practice of perpetual
imprisonment without trial, or only
move the prisoners elsewhere. We
have yet to see whether he will put an end to these bush kangaroo
courts, or just tinker with them.
The fact that Obama has never said he would correct these problems
leaves me worried.
Israeli troops have left Gaza after causing 2 billion dollars of damage,
and continue blocking the frontier so that no reconstruction is possible.
I begin to suspect that Israel's aim is to neutralize Hamas from
attacking Israel, while making the siege of Gaza effectively
permanent. If this occurs, Israel will be the only side regularly
carrying out war crimes.
International human rights organizations, UN agencies, and Israelis
are pushing to investigate Israeli war crimes
in Gaza and have the individuals responsible prosecuted by the International Criminal
Court.
Such prosecution is essential to show Israel that it has no license to
kill civilians.
The Israeli Army has admitted that its previous denials were false
and is investigating the use of white phosphorus in Gaza.
Once it is clear that prosecution of Israeli officials really will go
forward, it might be a good idea to demand the surrender and
prosecution also of Palestinians responsible for war crimes. It is just
to hold both sides to the same standard.
For precisely that reason, Palestinians must not be prosecuted until
all can see that Israelis will really face prosecution. Palestinians
will only accept the court's jurisdiction over them if they see it
protects them too. To use human rights laws and courts as a basis to
attack the weak, while giving immunity to the strong for their
violations, is a travesty of human rights.
The Clown regime is trying to weaken an EU directive designed to
reduce CO2 emissions, so it can build more coal plants that will
increase emissions.
Cheap energy encourages people to use more. To advocate cheap energy,
when not all of it will come from renewable sources, is to advocate
global warming. We must learn to recognize this, and recognize that
anyone who makes low energy price the main goal is working against
solving the problem.
Scientists were puzzled that East Antartica's coast was getting cooler
despite global warming. Now more observations show that Antartica as
a whole is warming fast. This means there is danger that the West
Antartica ice sheet will shrink and flood our coastlines.
A writer faces three years in prison for insulting the king of Thailand.
CNN does not dare tell us what Nicolaides was convicted of saying, but
this article gives that information.
It seems quite tame.
The same credit rating companies whose dishonesty was key to
creating the financial crisis are now trying to bully governments not to take
action to stop it.
Perhaps these companies should be declared "terrorist organizations"
so that nobody can do business with them. No, I don't mean that.
It is an injustice to declare any organization "terrorist" without
a fair trial.
A US court rejected the RIAA's claim that every copy shared P2P means
a lost sale.
The outcome is nonetheless an injustice. Noncommercial sharing, and
noncommercially helping people to share, must be legal.
The Israeli holocaust memorial now has an Arabic web site so as to
rebut holocaust denial in Arab countries. It also has a Farsi site.
The confidence of Yad Vashem that these pages cannot be censored is
misplaced. Censoring the Internet is no longer technically difficult
for countries willing to spend some money and irritate their citizens
(something which most Arab regimes do constantly). The main obstacle
is that it makes them look bad to have censorship.
Every time a western "free" country censors the Internet, as the UK
does, as Germany has decided to do, as the Australian government says
it will do, it makes censorship respectable, and thus undermines the
main obstacle to potential future censorship of the Yad Vashem site in
countries such as Iran or Egypt.
One of the likely targets of European Internet censorship
is holocaust denial. How ironic it would be if censorship backfires by encouraging
censorship in other countries of truthful holocaust information.
UN Secretary General Moon harshly condemned Israel's attack
on the UN relief compound in Gaza. Israel is sticking to the story
that Hamas fighters were in the compound, which the UN staff say is
a lie.
The Hamas victory rally was predicted by Uri Avnery.
Israeli troops shot at civilians waving white flags.
Civilians in Gaza are dying from small burn wounds that keep
on burning. These appear to come from white phosphorus munitions.
Stimulus Is for Suckers: We Need a Recovery Plan that Will Last
for Years.
The FDA tobacco control regulation bill looks designed to curb
smoking, but actually was carefully designed to protect the profits of
the large tobacco companies.
In Rafah, Israeli bombing has destroyed entire neighborhoods.
Mitsubishi says it has a practical electric car ready for sale.
Jim Hansen says Obama has "four years to save the world".
Alternative currencies could be the way to escape from a depression.
48 members of one Palestinian family were killed in an Israeli attack.
They say they are not resistance fighters, but it would be most natural
for them to become resistance fighters now.
We can't be sure from the information in this article that the
genocidal slogans were written by the Israeli troops. Most Israelis
speak pretty good English, so the bad English in these slogans leads
me to wonder if they were written by Palestinians. This is not to say
I can't believe Israelis would write such things, but I would like to
be sure of this before condemning them for it.
The bank bailout continues to help bankers more than it helps homeowners,
by paying top dollar for mortgages rather than paying what they are worth.
A branch of Reynolds tobacco company sells cigaretts made from organic
tobacco, thus preying on Americans who believe that "natural" means
"healthful".
I invite these people to experience a rub-down with natural,
pesticide-free poison ivy.
Obama's choice for Attorney General supports Bush's formerly-illegal
surveillance.
Obama has never said he would try to restore the rights that Bush took
away from us. Unless he does this, or tries his best, I will not
support him.
Obama must choose between centrism and progress.
Israel is organizing an "army of bloggers" to spread propaganda in
English, French, Spanish and German.
The International Energy Agency has systematically underestimated the
potential of wind and solar energy, apparently pandering to the oil
and nuclear imdustries.
A study commissioned by 49 states into how the Internet affects sex
between adults and teenagers
concluded its effect is small. Most
teenagers are not interested in sexual contact with adults. Those
teenagers who find such relationships on the net are intentionally
looking for them, typically because their lives are already troubled,
and the Internet at most gives them an additional place to look.
In other words, one of the major excuses for trying to restrict the Internet
is fear of a phenomenon that does not really exist.
The problem that the study found to really exist is bullying. We are
fortunate that this problem, though very painful for its victims, is
not such as to inspire a crusade for censorship or massive incarceration.
The US and the EU have taken very different approaches to poor neighbors.
The EU's approach has led to good results; the US's approach has made
the problems worse.
It would be difficult for the US to follow Europe's policies directly.
The EU's acceptance of additional nations such as Spain was
facilitated because it was conceived as a multinational community
(less than a federation) rather than as a single state or a single
nation. It already did its official business in several languages.
Adding more nations was conceptually easy. No such structure is
available in North America which Mexico could become part of. Also,
where Spain was a small increase in the EU's population, that of
Mexico is not so small compared with the US. The job of lifting it up
would be bigger — though perhaps cheaper than conquering and
destroying Iraq.
Nonetheless, there may be useful lessons to be learned here.
Corporations did not create the fungus that is wiping out the banana,
but corporate short-sighted greed created a vulnerable system of
agriculture and refused to take precautions.
By the way, I don't mind eating fish proteins in fish, so I have no
objection to them in a banana. Some of the usual objections to
genetic engineering do not apply when the unengineered crop is all
dying. However, my worry is that the new breed would be patented,
putting it off limits for poor people to grow for themselves, as is
common in many tropical countries.
20 January 2009 (Release)
A US judge ordered the release of a Guantanamo prisoner. But the government can appeal this decision.
Paul Kaye's mother in law was one of the few Israelis killed by a
Palestinian rocket. He rejects the idea that this can justify
the horror that Israel is now inflicting on Gaza.
Afghanistan could be Obama's quagmire if he doesn't take the
opportunity to make peace.
The callousness of the Bush regime has left 200,000 war veterans homeless.
The same callousness of the Bush regime is what made many of them into
veterans of an unjust war of conquest.
Thus, I am disgusted by the pious tone that many Americans take when
describing soldiers in the Bush forces as "serving their country".
I'm sure many of them thought, when they joined the army, that they
would serve their country, but in conquering and subduing Iraq all
they really served was Bush's clique of cronies. They were blinded
and manipulated using the mystique of patriotism, and if we don't
reject that mystique when we talk about what happened to them, we help
a future president do this again.
Many UK ISPs have censored part or all of the Internet Archive.
The idea that the public should be "protected" from certain ideas is
more dangerous than anything they try to "protect" us from.
Previous articles suggest that not all ISPs in the UK practice
censorship. People in the UK should take their business to the ones
that do not.
Uri Avnery: Israel has become desensitized to the suffering of
Palestinians by inflicting so much of it. This leads to tactics
guaranteed to kill civilians in large numbers.
Obama's choice for Secretary of Transportation is a flunky for
the industry he will be supposed to regulate.
The EU has decided to require fingerprints for passports.
Thus Big Brother marches on.
UN officials say
Israel shelled the UN's Gaza relief program headquarters with white phosphorus.
Some Israeli bombs burn people to death. Others
suffocate people.
Another aid boat has headed for Gaza.
It was supposed to arrive a few days ago.
Does anyone have reports of what happened to it?
The previous one was rammed by an Israeli naval ship and almost sank. (Note that Israel pretends that this
did not occur, though we know it did.)
Germany has adopted censorship of the Internet.
The Clown regime has decided to extend Heathrow airport.
Note the absurdity of using long-term targets, such as canceling the
increase of aviation's emissions by 2050, as solutions. They may be
met because London is under water and not many people in the UK can
afford to fly — or because humanity is no longer in condition to
support an aviation industry. Otherwise in 2048 they will announce
that these targets are impossible to meet.
By doing this, New Labour has betrayed its supposed stand for controlling global warming.
The
Lib Dems also oppose airport extension and support new trains.
Rejecting the Clown regime does not mean you have to vote Tory.
Israeli intelligence acknowledged that Hamas kept the truce
and Israel broke it. Who will save Israel from itself?
An Israeli Call for Urgent Humanitarian Action in Gaza.
Israeli white phosphorous shells set fire to UN relief supplies.
These fires are hard to extinguish, so the fire is likely to
destroy all the supplies.
When Israeli officials say that Palestinians fired from the UN
compound, they were folliwing the typical Bush practice: use any lie
whatsoever that can't be conclusively disproved. And by excluding
foreign journalists, they reduce the possibilities of disproving any
lie.
An analysis of Wall Street since the 1980s claims that the main banks
acted as a cartel, creating a series of bubbles in order to profit
from them.
If banks systematically orchestrated a climate for borrowing, we
cannot blame the borrowers for their own bankruptcy. They deserve
to be given the title to their homes.
UK police want the power to search people randomly in buses and trains.
US police gained this power using "terrorism" as the excuse. It is no
deterrent to terrorism, since any would-be bus bomber in the US faces
almost zero chance of being questioned. The fact that there have been
no such bombings in the US does not mean these measures have prevented
them; rather it shows these infringements on our freedom are
superfluous.
In the UK, the danger of violence is real but small compared with
other risks in daily life. This proposal illustrates the Clown regime's
desire to abolish all legal checks on the power of the state.
Clown's foreign minister has publicly rejected the idea of a "war on terror".
This raises the question of whether the Clown regime will restore
the human rights that it has taken away in the name of the "war on terror".
When Miliband speaks of "rule of law", does he mean the kind of law
that makes it a crime to read certain texts, and can convict people
of the crime of being "suspected"?
Human Rights Watch says the US can only reverse the harm Bush has done
if Obama puts human rights at the center of his agenda.
This seems rather unlikely, given that he has avoided the issue
completely on change.gov.
Sharing nude photos of themselves has become standard practice for US
teenagers, and cruel prosecutors try to imprison them for years for
this.
This demonstrates the basic absurdity and injustice of laws against
"child" pornography.
If there is any truth to the idea that older men can "prey on"
teenagers, it is only because the teenagers are inexperienced. The
cure for that is not imprisonment. The cure is to help teenagers to
be more sexual empowered, to understand sooner what they do and do not
want in sex.
Citizens of Massachusetts: phone your state legislator and
call on him to respect the voters' decision to decriminalize
possession of marijuana.
1/5 or more of the prisoners in Guantanamo are on hunger strike
to win the attention of Obama.
The official admission that prisoner al Qahtani was tortured is, in
effect, the final proof of the evil thing that the US government has
become.
As the article concludes, Obama has made no commitment to clean up
the mess that Bush has made.
Meanwhile, the lawyers defending Bush's torture victims expect
Bush to issue pardons for his officials who conspired to torture.
Israel used to capture former German officials and bring them to
Israel for trial for war crimes. Some high-minded country might do
the same thing with former US officials.
In the US, contempt of court can be a life sentence.
US citizens:
Phone your two senators and tell them, "Shame on you for endorsing
Israel's war crimes and opposing any reasonable cease-fire."
Not one senator opposed this resolution.
The Capitol Switchboard
numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641 and 888-355-3588.
Also please phone your representative.
If your representative did not vote for the resolution please say thanks. Otherwise, say "Shame on you!"
The US congress passed almost unanimously an extremist resolution
that ignores all of Israel's war crimes while accusing Hamas of some
it has not committed. Its conditions for a cease fire are impossible,
so Congress effectively voted to oppose any cease fire.
One of the few to oppose this motion was Congressman Kucinich,
who is the president the US needs.
With this resolution, Congress has in effect endorsed all past and
future Israeli war crimes in Gaza, where Palestinian casualties number
1,000, and the Red Cross says the situation is "shocking".
Bolivia (joining Venezuela and Ecuador) has shown the proper reaction.
But it will be hard to stop Israel's campaign of atrocities as
long as the US shields it.
All the EU countries have given aid and comfort to these Israeli
atrocities by disregarding the World Court's 2004 ruling about the
Israeli annexation wall.
The EU has started to put pressure on Israel, freezing discussion of improved trade relations.
However, just to delay planned measures to give Israel additional
support is not enough to comply with other countries' responsibility
in a matter like this.
Some of the rumors of foul play in Michael Connell's death turned out to
be spurious.
Remembering Patrich McGoohan and The Prisoner.
Susan Crawford, in charge of prosecuting Guantanamo prisoners,
concluded that Mohammed al-Qahtani was tortured while in US custody.
For this reason she decided not to prosecute him.
These Bush-league kangaroo courts are fundamentally unjust, regardless
of the circumstances of the accused individual. Nobody should be
prosecuted that way.
Will Obama put a stop to them?
The arrest of a well-known community artist is part of a persistent
police attack on photographers in the UK.
The UN may set up a special court to consider Israel's bombing of Gaza.
Al Jazeera has released videos from Gaza under a free license.
The House Judiciary Committee report on the "Imperial Presidency" calls
for investigation into Bush's abuses of power.
What worries me most is that Obama has not shown he will end these
abuses.
Israel's government has conflicting explanations for why it is
attacking Gaza — thus giving the lie to the claim that this is
"self defense" — but even without a clear strategy, the army is
sure it wants to escalate.
CO2 in the atmosphere has made corals in the Great Barrier Reef stop
growing.
Cynthia McKinney's remarks at the DC "Let Gaza Live" march
and rally.
Chris Arendt, former guard at Guantanamo, is touring the UK along with former prisoners to explain the torture that was practiced there.
The idea that informing the public about US government crimes could be
"treason" shows the evil of the Bush regime. It's typical of tyrants
that they condemn those who expose their crimes, rather than considering
that they might be the guilty ones.
What Obama Can Learn from Europe (about energy, health care, and the
economy). But not about human rights!
A Hamas leader says Hamas advocates "resistance, not revenge".
I note that the statement does not say Hamas is against all attacks on
civilians. Thus, the Hamas policy stated here is not a policy to
fully avoid war crimes. However, it behooves us to attend first to
the larger war crimes committed by Israel.
Some Democratic senators criticized Obama's plan for stimulus
by tax cut incentives, saying it would fail to stimulate anything,
it would only reduce some taxpayers' bills.
Israeli and international organizations are denouncing Israel's war
crimes, but Israel expects the US to give it immunity regardless of
what it does.
If Cheney is saying Obama sounds less worrysome now to him,
does that leave any hope for the rest of us?
Thousands have asked to be co-owners of land that block the expansion
of Heathrow airport.
CORE, once a sincere civil rights activist organization,
has been turned into a front for oil company lobbying.
Banning smoking in public places reduced heart attacks by 41% in
Pueblo, Colorado — and that counts everyone, not just smokers.
The tobacco companies knew about this effect of cigarette smoke, but
kept it secret for years, while organizing a compaign to mislead the public.
Lasantha Wickramatunga, assassinated editor of Sri Lanka's Sunday
Leader, expected to be assassinated by the government, and wrote this
editorial to be published afterwards.
Alien species are wiping out the animals and plants of Macquarie
Island. When people eradicated the cats that were threatening to
destroy many animal species, the rabbit population exploded and
threatened many species of plants. Now the only solution is to
eradicate the rabbits, mice and rats.
It is no suprise that myxomatosis did not wipe out the rabbits. The
experience in Australia shows that a certain fraction are immune to it
and eventually will rebuild the population. I wonder how people plan
to get rid of them now.
This sort of problem is most notable in an island, but it is happening
all around the world.
The Clown regime's claim, that B'liar didn't pressure his Attorney
General to change his mind about the legality of the conquest of Iraq,
is unraveling, leading to demands for an investigation.
Even 4 years ago, the danger in Israel from of terrorist attacks was
small compared with that of traffic accidents. Since then, the
disparity has only increased: the danger from terrorism has gone down
but that of traffic accidents remains the same.
The same is true in the US. Perhaps Israel should stop trying to
"help" us fight the "war on terror" and help us with the more important
"war on cars".
Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democrats in the UK, calls
for ending arms exports to Israel.
I disagree with him on one point: if one is going to speak of the
right of self defense, I think that the inhabitants of Gaza have a
better clain to it than Israelis do.
Bush still defends torture, saying it is "necessary".
For the goal of getting correct information, torture is not necessary,
nor even very effective. But it's great for extracting confessions,
if you don't care whether they are true.
iTunes music files may contain no DRM, but they are poisonous.
Israel used white phosphorus smoke shells over civilian areas,
and some civilians were horribly burned. Israel claims this
did not occur and pretends those people do not exist.
Explaining the monetary system and why it has become unstable
(OpenOffice presentation).
Prisoners in the US who complain, file lawsuits, or try to organize
other prisoners, are
sent to Supermax prisons where they face
various kinds of torture.
When Supermax prisons are used by offials as an excuse to evade the
legal requirements associated with disciplinary measures against
prisoners, their use also constitutes a form of government dishonesty.
The UN resumed aid work in Gaza after receiving assurances that its
staff will not be targeted.
US citizens: phone your congresscritter and say,
demand a truce in Gaza that includes ending the siege
as well as ending violence by both sides.
The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641 and 888-355-3588.
Also call the Obama-Biden transition office at 1-202-540-3000; press 2
to reach a person.
Everyone: sign this petition for a cease fire in Gaza.
China is using an increasing number of paid "internet commentators" in a
sophisticated attempt to control public opinion.
Usually Bush has copied China, but this time maybe China
is copying Bush.
Bush's "War on Terror" has quintupled global terrorism.
Nonetheless, he calls it a success.
Israel rejected the UN cease fire resolution with one word.
As Gazans flee into the centers of cities, Israel is planning to
invade them next. That is likely to kill thousands of civilians. I
am sure the Israeli government knows this; it must be part of the
plan. "Destroying Hamas" means destroying the people who support and
join it, which means most of the people of Gaza.
Hamas rejected the resolution because it does not include an end to
the siege of Gaza.
The siege is deadly, and an act of war, so a real truce must include
ending it. However, it might make sense to accept an incomplete truce for
a limited period of time during which a proper truce could be negotiated.
Naomi Klein calls for a boycott of Israel.
The article refutes the often-encountered counterarguments.
Barack Obama: The Empire's New Clothes.
Greenland's loss of ice tripled from 2007 to 2008.
It's inevitable that Greenland's ice cap will decrease substantially
even if we stop the emission of greenhouse gases. Greenland's ice
will decrease even more if we continue emissions. What we
don't know is how fast and how much sea level will rise as a result.
One foot? Ten feet? Twenty feet?
The Israeli army ordered Palestinians to take shelter in a certain
house, then shelled the house, killing 30 of them. The UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights
says this seems to be a war crime.
To justify atrocities, Israel lies about the circumstances. (For
instance, "Palestinians were firing from that school" — but they
weren't.) But these little lies don't operate alone: they fit into
and perpetuate a basic big lie. Uri Avnery exposes both kinds of
lies.
An award-winning independent film, "Sita Sings the Blues", has been
blocked from release by the impossible demands of the copyright
industry for old song recordings it uses. The producer aims decided
to release it under copyleft in order to get it out.
There are rumors that Obama is planning to start private low-level
discussions with Hamas.
This could facilitate a future initiative for peace between Israel
and Palestine, but only in the distant future. It would be a step
forward, at snail's pace.
The Washington Post actively boosted the housing bubble. Its choices
of which economic problems to mention, and which do disregard, reflect
the agendas of the businesses that it supports.
Obama is replaying the role of Robert Kennedy: distracting the public
with vague promises of "change" so as to avoid changing much.
The steady decrease of Arctic ice appears to have crossed a tipping point, making disappearance of summer ice inevitable, 20 years earlier
than was predicted. The loss of the ice causes increased warming
and can disrupt weather patterns.
Robert Fisk writes about the lies we can expect Israel to use
to justify its attacks, lies that it has used before.
True to form, Alan Dershowitz used some of those lies, and other absurd arguments as well.
Consider the absurdity of condemning Hamas for not building bunkers
for the civilians in Gaza. How could they build bunkers for a million
people while under siege? I cannot blame Palestinians for killing
collaborators (i.e., traitors); that is normal for resistance
movements during occupation. (In more settled times, accused traitors
should be given fair trials and sentenced to prison if convicted.)
The one valid criticism of Hamas, based on facts I trust, is that
Hamas launches rockets at civilians. Once in a while, those hurt or
even kill someone. But this is not why Israel attacked Gaza. Hamas
kept the truce while Israel partly kept it. But then Israel broke the
truce in order to attack and destroy Hamas.
Police in the US use tasers and pepper spray as torture against people who are no threat.
Israel is following the self-defeating and discredited policies of the
US "war on terror".
Despite Israel's carefully orchestrated PR campaign, only half of Americans support the attack on Gaza.
As Israel talks about the "need" to stop Hamas from rearming,
the US plans to rearm Israel.
Professor Avi Shlaim tears apart the lies that Israel wants peace
and is acting to defend itself.
When the Israeli army paused for 3 hours in its attack,
medics found a carnage of civilians.
Meanwhile, those Gazans still alive have no water or electricity, and
sewage is flooding.
UK Muslim leaders warn: tolerating Israel's attack on Gaza sends the
message that "the mass murder of civilians can be justified if the
right grievances are cited." This message can radicalize young
Muslims.
Protestors who shut down Stanstead airport face the threat of a
lawsuit for millions of dollars from Ryanair.
If they are subjected to such a judgment, one natural and appropriate
response would be a vow of poverty, dedicating themselves to activism.
That way, Ryanair would never collect its judgment.
A newspaper editor in Sri Lanka who made accusations of official corruption
has been assassinated.
Even though the US has urged Israel to agree to a truce, it continues
blocking any firm UN action to end the fighting in Gaza.
The reason these talks are going nowhere is that they are based on a
faulty premise: namely, that Israel "needs" to prevent Hamas from
rearming. To have a cease fire does not require stopping one of the
sides from rearming. All Israelis need, to be safe, is an absence of
fighting; to achieve that, Israel only needs to comply with the truce
next time and not break it again.
Israel shelled a UN school full of refugees and killed 40 of them.
Israel had previously told civilians to flee their homes and go
to that school.
The UN has suspended aid operations in Gaza after an Israeli tank shot a clearly marked UN truck and killed its driver.
Red Cross slams Israel over blocking access to rescue wounded civilians.
Israel has reneged on a deal to allow foreign journalists to enter Gaza, giving the absurd excuse that they should have gone there two months
ago.
The real reason is the same reason any country bars foreign
journalists: to hide the truth.
The result, however, is not entirely what Israel desires. Rather, all
reporting comes from Palestinians, and it presents Israel in a very
bad light.
But Israel has a response to that. Israeli spokesmen claim that each
report of dead civilians is a lie, and there are no foreign
journalists to check. So it is just Israel's word against Palestinians.
Who do you believe? I generally believe the Palestinians, even though
I recognize that occasionally they may be lying.
Obama has chosen supporters of repressive copyright policies
for important jobs in law enforcement. It looks like
he wants to give priority to enforcing unjust laws.
Nearly all Obama's choices for important government positions are
known for pro-business, repressive or corrupt policies in their
fields. Either he means to disregard them and not let them influence
his policy, or he is planning to treat the public very badly.
Bush susprisingly has established a substantial conservation zone
in the Pacific Ocean — though smaller than was recommended.
After Israeli shelling wounded 5 civilians in their homw, the army has
blocked medics from reaching them for over 3 days. Their wounds have
become infected. Their relatives could not get water for them because
they were fired on whenever they tried.
Obama's Perilous Compromise with Wall Street Looters.
Big banks are using their bailout money to buy their competitors, rather than to make loans.
French president Sarcoma plans to eliminate French investigating
magistrates, who in the past have been crucial to prosecuting official
corruption.
This reminds me of Berlusconi, il ducino, who passed a law in Italy
to prevent his own prosecution for corruption.
Republicans oppose a stimulus because they fear it will work.
Perhaps their fear is unnecessary. A US stimulus, in the globalized
business world that rule by business has created, may stimulate the
Chinese economy but not that of the US.
Only a world-wide stimulus could bring back the sort of production
that existed a year ago. But if that is possible, could the Earth
stand it? What we really need to stimulate is the move to reduce
CO2 pollution.
The Israeli government now all but admits that its attack on Gaza
is meant to destroy Hamas.
Their reasoning is absurd, however. They may be able to destroy the
infrastructure with which Hamas rules Gaza, but that will only produce
anarchy, not different rule.
The comparison with the attack on the PLO seems apt, but it was not
taken far enough. When Israel made Arafat seem weak, did that make
Palestinians compliant? No, they voted for the more radical Hamas.
If Gaza is impossible to rule, because Israel destroys the police,
every radical group will have a field day.
But perhaps that is the real intention: so Israel will be able to cite
these radical groups forever as an excuse for rejecting peace. Just
as Bush and al Qa'ida used each other to maintain support, each citing
the threat of the other, so Israel and the most radical Palestinian
groups will do so.
Americans report on what they saw in Iran: despite condemning their
government's policies on some human rights issues (which Iran's
limited democracy does not allow them to change), Iranians do not want the US to give them "freedom and democracy".
The government of Iran has a sort of democracy which is very limited
it its powers. It has some oppressive policies, which the elected
leaders cannot control. However, it is not a dictatorship like Saddam
Hussein's regime. Iranians would be justified in rebelling to win
real democracy, but mostly they don't seem inclined to go that far.
I said in 2002 that I would support an invasion of Iraq to overthrow
Saddam Hussein if (1) that's what Iraqis wanted and (2) we could be
confident that the new government would respect freedom and democracy.
Of course, neither of these two was the case.
It's the same for Iran.
One of the reasons newspapers hesitated to write about the complex
financial derivatives and their dangers was that they feared libel
suits for the slightest mistake.
Israel's ground attack in Gaza has brought the civilian death toll to
200.
Sometimes Israeli leaders claim this attack will wipe out Hamas, which
would require killing everyone in Gaza. (Is that their intention?)
Sometimes they say the idea is to punish everyone in Gaza until they
stop supporting Hamas.
This has been tried before and it never worked. The only thing that
makes Palestinians drop their support for an organization is if it
ceases to defend them.
The main effect of abstinence-only "sex education" is to discourage
use of condoms.
This must be why Christian fanatics like them so much.
They don't want abstinence, they want reproduction.
Israel's video proudly showed an attack on a Hamas truck with rockets,
but the victims were really civilians.
Jet Blue and the TSA have paid $240,000 to settle a discrimination
lawsuit by a man who was ordered to cover up a shirt with Arabic
writing. A TSA agent said that wearing Arabic writing was in itself
making a threat.
Who Can Forgive the Crime of using the depleted uranium against
Iraqis?
Wall Street's Collapse -- and the "Ownership Society".
Gaza's population is in terror as Israeli bombs and shells fall in.
Many civilians have been killed. Those still alive cannot get
electricity, food, or water.
Obama's silence about Gaza is already damaging his credibility in the
Muslim world. They are recognizing that he is not very serious about "change".
Except when shoes get thrown at Dubya, the US media has essentially
forgotten about Iraq.
Obama's choice for Secy of Education is not qualified to manage public
schools, only to turn them into a business.
France is leading European pressure on Israel for a cease-fire in Gaza.
I detest Sarkozy, and refer to him as "Sarcoma", because of his attacks
on human rights in France. However, his efforts now seem to go
in the right direction. I am afraid, though, that the US will veto
any UN security council attempt to restrain Israel.
The market crash was caused by institutions that betrayed the
public trust. Should we trust them again?
Activists are helping people squat in foreclosed homes.
The UK police can't search your house without a search warrant,
but no warrant is needed to crack into your computer and search it.
Of course, police should be able to search computers, just as they
should be able to search houses. With a warrant issued by a judge
In the mean time, using GNU/Linux will make it more difficult for Big
Brother to search your computer.
10,000 Israelis protested the attack on Gaza.
The governments which overthrew President Aristide and now occupy
Haiti present this as a "humanitarian intervention",
saying they had the "responsibility to protect" Haitians. In fact, the only Haitians they protect are thugs.
These general concepts are valid, but they did not apply to Haiti and
Aristide. As usual, the US is acting like the world's corrupt
policeman. An honest world policeman would instead have applied them
to countries such as Zimbabwe and Burma.
An Israeli naval ship rammed a yacht carrying relief supplies
for Gaza. The damaged yacht returned to Lebanon.
By abandoning the attempt to reach Gaza, the crew of the yacht
accepted defeat. Given the louder news of Israel's attacks in Gaza,
they failed to even get much publicity.
Perhaps they should have continued heading for Gaza until the yacht
sank. Landing in lifeboats, they would have made news for sure.
Uri Avnery: Israel's election-manipulating attack on Gaza, following
on a truce which Israel never fully carried out, will promote Islamic
extremists across the Arab world.
Avnery also confirmed my suspicion that the "tunnel" excuse, for the
Israel attack that provoked Hamas retaliation, was bogus. The real
motivation for that attack was to get Hamas to start firing rockets
again.
The Islamic extremists will shake the rule of US-supported dictators
whose deeds support Israel against Palestine.
As one who opposes dictatorship and also opposes religious extremists,
I see little to choose from, between those two sides. But I note that
US policy has created the choice between them.
The campaign to prosecute Israeli leaders in the International
Criminal Court has added US-supported Egyptian president Mubarak to the list of defendents.
A history lesson for Obama, if he wants any chance to contribute to peace
between Israel and Palestine.
An Israeli "surgical strike" on a "missile truck" killed 8
family members salvaging scrap metal, says the truck's owner.
If Israel follows the Bush pattern, it will never admit the mistake,
and will go on pretending that every Palestinian it kills is a
fighter.
It's cold in Gaza, but people must keep their windows open lest bombs
blow them in. Everyone is afraid to go outside, since any place at
all may be bombed.
When you point out that Palestinian rockets rarely hit anyone, Israeli
hawks respond that they do terrify civilians. That's true -- but
Israeli bombing does so far more. Shouldn't Israel therefore
agree to a truce, and this time really keep it?
Obama continues Bush's attack on public schooling.
I cannot wholeheartedly defend public schools: compulsary schools
inevitably share some characteristics of a prison, and many students
feel imprisoned in them. However, that is no justification for the
corporatization of public schools, which (if anything) makes the other
problem worse.
Avrum Burg, former speaker of the Knesset, says that Israel is mired
in Holocaust remembrance. It magnifies minor enemies while minimizing its
strength, all to excuse disregard for its ethical responsibilities.
A group of Israelis from Sderot has made contact with Palestinians in Gaza to make videos about the hardships that they face.
As regards the Middle East, Obama is copying Bush's bias.
If he does not change this, he will have no chance of making
progress towards peace.
James Hansen warns Obama that the current responses to the problem of CO2 pollution are inadequate.
Hansen talks of developing "third generation" nuclear reactors that
would convert nuclear waste into something harmless. I am skeptical
of this possibility, but I cannot say it is impossible. If it someday
is achieved, it will eliminate the problem of dangerous nuclear waste.
But that is only one of the dangers of nuclear power. There is also
the danger of release radioactive materials in the event of an
accident, or an attack on the reactor.
Amory Lovins argues that nuclear power is so expensive that no private
investors will invest in it, and that renewable energy and increases
in efficiency can achieve the same CO2 reductions much more cheaply if
only society decides to invest in them.
The "Iraqi" government, showing a little independence,
plans to shut down a camp run by the Iranian exile group,
the Mojahedin-e-Khalq.
This instance illustrates how the distinction between "terrorist" and
"freedom fighter" is often a matter of what side you're on.
Bush says he wants an "immediate" cease fire in Gaza, but as usual
his actions show this is not true.
Human Rights Watch is right that firing rockets at a civilian area,
such as the town of Sderot, is a war crime. It cannot be excused. To
condemn this is proper. What is not proper is to condemn this while
disregarding much larger Israeli war crimes, such as the siege of
Gaza.
Israel is preparing a ground attack in Gaza and rejects any idea of a
cease-fire.
By contrast, Hamas remains open to a truce if it includes ending the
siege. Israel agreed to do this as part of the previous truce, but
never complied.
Open letter to Obama from Sidney Gluck
, calling on him not to play the Israeli right-wing's game.
Israel bombed a school, full of students, because a Palestinian policeman was seen nearby.
Starting a war of aggression is "the supreme international crime" that
"contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole." Bush
must be brought to the Hague and prosecuted.
Activists are helping homeless Americans squat in foreclosed houses.
Iraqi government leaders condemned Israel for bombing Gaza.
They have to accept continued occupation, since it's what keeps them
in power, but Bush hasn't got enough control to make them hew to the
party line, as the US does in Egypt and most other Arab countries.
Lewis Casey is facing trial for having a home chemistry lab. There's
no law against "doing chemistry without a license", but the paranoia
of the Witch-hunt on Terror effectively adds up to one.
Chemistry includes a lot of things besides explosives. But it would
not surprise me if Casey occasionally made some explosives just to see
them go bang. Just about every kid who is interested in chemistry
wants to do this, because explosions are dramatic. That doesn't imply
any intention to hurt anything with them. But a jury of
non-chemistry-fans, caught up in the what-if heat of a witch hunt, see
no long gap from "he could have" to "he will."
Clown plans to build a centralized Big Brother data base for all
communication patterns in the UK, and give it to a private company.
Abuses are almost inevitable. Individuals will misuse the data and governments will misuse it.
Israel's Supreme Court ordered that Israel allow journalists to enter Gaza, when the Erez crossing is open.
However, the frequent closure of the crossing means that Israel can still
effectively keep journalists out.
Israeli attacks have put Gaza's medical system under stress;
meanwhile, due to the Israeli siege, the hospitalcannot get enough
medicine, or spare parts to repair its generators.
A new kind of cement can remove CO2 from the atmosphere.
As with any such innovation, how much good it does to reduce global
warming will depend on government policies. Once tests have verified
it works properly, governments ought to act to rapidly make it
universal. However, the danger is that the patent owners will act to
maximize their profits rather than maximize usage.
Unmasking the "clean coal" bait-and-switch act.
Israel's PR campaign designed to blame Hamas for Israel's massive
attacks on Gaza has been very effective with governments and others
who don't know, or don't want to know, that it was Israel that broke
the truce.
For years, the pattern has been that when fighting dies down, Israel
reignites it.
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[Reference updated on 2018-05-13 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-05-13 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-05-13 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-05-13 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-04-07 because the old link was broken.]
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