peace chicken

peacechicken.blogspot.com Bought Out in Record Merger

2005-11-18T15:41:00.000-05:00

In a record-setting deal, www.peacechicken.com has paid $3 billion to buy out peacechicken.blogspot.com. CEO Laura Cheesepants says there will be no day-to-day operational implications or staffing changes, just that all future blog posts will be on the www.peacechicken.com site instead of here.

"At first I was worried about how the readers would take it. But whatever, get over it." -CEO/CIO/CFO Laura quoted at yesterday's press conference

The company claims it has nothing to do with the money and only with the desire to consolidate content for the sake of its millions of readers. Only time will tell if this new PeaceChicken entity will be as powerful as they were when they were apart. For CNN, this is Blake Chesteringtonfield.

U.S. used white phosphorus in Iraq

2005-11-16T10:13:00.000-05:00

U.S. troops used white phosphorus as a weapon in last year's offensive in the Iraqi city of Falluja, the U.S. has said.

"It was used as an incendiary weapon against enemy combatants," spokesman Lt Col Barry Venable told the BBC - though not against civilians, he said.

The US had earlier said the substance - which can cause burning of the flesh - had been used only for illumination.

BBC defence correspondent Paul Wood says having to retract its denial is a public relations disaster for the US.

Col Venable denied that white phosphorous constituted a banned chemical weapon.

White phosphorus is an incendiary weapon, not a chemical weapon. Col Barry Venable Pentagon spokesman

Washington is not a signatory to an international treaty restricting the use of the substance against civilians.

The US state department had earlier said white phosphorus had been used in Falluja very sparingly, for illumination purposes.

Col Venable said that statement was based on "poor information".

'Incendiary'

The US-led assault on Falluja - a stronghold of the Sunni insurgency west of Baghdad - displaced most of the city's 300,000 population and left many of its buildings destroyed.

Col Venable told the BBC's PM radio programme that the US army used white phosphorus incendiary munitions "primarily as obscurants, for smokescreens or target marking in some cases.

"However it is an incendiary weapon and may be used against enemy combatants."

And he said it had been used in Falluja, but it was a "conventional munition", not a chemical weapon.

It is not "outlawed or illegal", Col Venable said.

He said US forces could use white phosphorus rounds to flush enemy troops out of covered positions.

"The combined effects of the fire and smoke - and in some case the terror brought about by the explosion on the ground - will drive them out of the holes so that you can kill them with high explosives," he said.

San Diego journalist Darrin Mortenson, who was embedded with US marines during the assault on Falluja, told the BBC's Today radio programme he had seen white phosphorous used "as an incendiary weapon" against insurgents.

However, he "never saw anybody intentionally use any weapon against civilians", he said.

'Particularly nasty'

White phosphorus is highly flammable and ignites on contact with oxygen. If the substance hits someone's body, it will burn until deprived of oxygen.

Globalsecurity.org, a defence website, says: "Phosphorus burns on the skin are deep and painful... These weapons are particularly nasty because white phosphorus continues to burn until it disappears... it could burn right down to the bone."

A spokesman at the UK Ministry of Defence said the use of white phosphorus was permitted in battle in cases where there were no civilians near the target area.

But Professor Paul Rodgers, of the University of Bradford's department of peace studies, said white phosphorus could be considered a chemical weapon if deliberately aimed at civilians.

He told PM: "It is not counted under the chemical weapons convention in its normal use but, although it is a matter of legal niceties, it probably does fall into the category of chemical weapons if it is used for this kind of purpose directly against people."

When an Italian TV documentary revealing the use of white phosphorus in Iraq was broadcast on 8 November it sparked fury among Italian anti-war protesters, who demonstrated outside the US embassy in Rome.

Story from BBC NEWS Published: 2005/11/16 11:25:36 GMT © BBC MMV

No-Bid Contract to Replace Schools After Katrina Is Faulted

2005-11-11T20:42:00.000-05:00

From the NY Times November 11, 2005 By ERIC LIPTON

BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss., Nov. 10 - From their new metal-encased classroom, the third graders who returned to school this week can look straight into the carcass of the old North Bay Elementary.

To the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the modular classrooms lined up next to the soon-to-be demolished former school show, as the billboard out front boasts, "Katrina Recovery in Progress."

But to critics, the 450 portable classrooms being installed across Mississippi are prime examples in their case against FEMA and its federal partner, the Army Corps of Engineers, for wasteful spending and favoritism in the $62 billion hurricane relief effort.

Provided by a politically connected Alaskan-owned business under a $40 million no-bid contract, the classrooms cost FEMA nearly $90,000 each, including transportation, according to contracting documents. That is double the wholesale price and nearly 60 percent higher than the price offered by two small Mississippi businesses dropped from the deal.

In addition, the portable buildings were not secured in a concrete foundation, as usually required by state regulations because of safety concerns in a region prone to hurricanes and tornados.

The classroom contract has already prompted a lawsuit from one of the Mississippi companies and a government investigation.

"The fact that natural disasters are not precisely predictable must not be an excuse for careless contracting practices," David E. Cooper from the Government Accountability Office, told Congress recently. In testimony submitted this week, Mr. Cooper said, "We found information in the corps' contract files and from other sources that suggest the negotiated prices were inflated."

Officials at Akima Management Services, the contractor that got the job, say they that while the cost was high, this was not a case of price gouging. The speed demanded in installing the classrooms required charging a premium, said John D. Wood, the company's president.

"What we provided to the government was a fair and reasonable cost given the emergency conditions and the risks," Mr. Wood said. "If it had been done the other way, the kids would not have been in school yet."

Akima's majority owner is the NANA Regional Corporation. It is represented in Washington by Blank Rome Government Relations, a lobbying firm with close ties to the Bush administration and particularly Tom Ridge, the former head of the Department of Homeland Security, FEMA's parent agency. NANA's federal contracts have grown rapidly in recent years, according to the Center for Public Integrity.

Representative Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, argues that the Akima deal made no sense. Instead of paying a middleman like Akima or the Mississippi companies, he told the Department of Homeland Security, the federal government should have purchased the classrooms directly. And he complained that FEMA had ignored a requirement to give preference to local businesses.

The transaction, Mr. Thompson wrote to the department's inspector general, could "result not only in the American taxpayer being exorbitantly overcharged, but will hamper real rebuilding and economic recovery efforts in Mississippi."

The school construction job is just one of several Hurricane Katrina deals under scrutiny by auditors and Congressional investigators. In awarding those contracts - for roof tarps, debris removal and mobile homes - the federal government said it had to move quickly and often turned to proven contractors accustomed to large-scale work.

The classrooms would have been by far the largest project ever undertaken by the Mississippi company seeking the contract, its owners acknowledge. The business, Adams Hardware and Home Center, has been selling modular classrooms statewide for decades and operates a local mobile home park.

Adams is based in Yazoo City, Miss., about 200 miles north of Bay St. Louis, in a hardware store with a hornets' nest hanging, an eight-point buck with a cigarette stuffed in its mouth and a life-size doll whose head is buried in a toilet outside.

After Hurricane Katrina passed, the father and two sons who run the business recognized that the calamity could turn into a windfall for them and a frequent partner, Magnolia State School Products of Columbus, Miss. Hundreds of schools across the state were damaged or destroyed.

"We set out to do this project not only, of course, to make a profit but to create jobs within our own community," said Kent Adams, the son of the owner, Paul Adams Jr., and manager of the business.

Calling their usual suppliers, they identified a Florida dealer and a Georgia manufacturer that could soon deliver more than 400 classrooms, Mr. Adams said. They proposed a deal for about $24 million, including transportation. That included a profit of about $4 million above the $19.7 million it would cost to acquire and transport the units, the contract documents show.

But when Adams and Magnolia approached the state education department with the offer, they were referred to the Corps of Engineers, which then referred them to Akima.

Akima (pronounced AH-kahmah) is a 10-year-old enterprise jointly owned by 14,000 Inupiat and Unangan Native Alaskans. Thanks to a law passed in 1971, it is one of several native-owned businesses eligible for no-bid federal contracts. Senator Ted Stevens, Republican of Alaska, has long pushed for changes in contracting rules that have helped enrich Alaskan companies.

Akima, now based in Charlotte, N.C., has 1,300 full- or part-time employees who work on 22 federal contracts, mostly with the military. It also has an agreement with the Army to supply modular buildings.

Mr. Wood said that neither Akima nor NANA used any ties to elected officials to pursue contracts, despite assertions in a Mississippi newspaper that the classroom deal may have been the result of political connections.

"We have never used or attempted to use political influence for any contract involving Akima," he said. "That is fact."

After Hurricane Katrina, FEMA asked the corps to help Mississippi reopen schools. The corps passed the assignment on to Akima.

The Adams company, as requested, faxed letters to Akima on Sept. 16, outlining its arrangements to acquire the portable classrooms.

But there were a few details the Adamses did not note in their faxes. Paul Adams Jr. had agreed to plead guilty in 1990 to a charge that he conspired with Magnolia to fix prices by divvying up the Mississippi modular classroom business.

Kent Adams said they did not disclose the matter because he and his father did not consider it relevant. The corps asks applicants to disclose such information for only the last three years. The charges were dismissed after his father paid a $1,000 fine and was put on probation.

Akima was not aware of the case until after it dropped Adams Home Center from the deal. But its executives were worried about other issues, Mr. Wood said. Akima concluded that the Mississippi business could not deliver as many classrooms as promised. That meant Akima could not meet deadlines set by the Corps, which wanted 200 classrooms in 14 days and the rest within 45 days, or by the end of October.

"He could not satisfy the schedule," Mr. Wood said.

Contract documents show that the Adamses had miscalculated how many classrooms the Georgia manufacturer had said it could provide. But Kent Adams said that after he and his father learned of the mistake, they identified alternate suppliers to make up the difference.

A day after the shortfall was identified, Akima completed a $39.6 million no-bid deal with the corps that did not include Adams Home Center.

Under the agreement, the corps would pay $87,892 per classroom, far more than the $55,545 Adams intended to charge, contract documents show.

Mr. Wood said the higher price was justified because Akima had to buy more expensive units and hire 187 truck drivers to meet the Corps deadlines. They had to pay twice the normal rate for drivers, he said.

"We did not gouge the government," he said, declining to disclose the company's profit. "If you had until next summer to deliver these trailers, you could get it cheaper."

But so far, government auditors are not convinced.

"We have concerns that the government may be paying more than necessary," Mr. Cooper, of the G.A.O., said in written testimony presented to Congress this week, adding that there was evidence of inflated prices. The auditors are also inquiring about how the classrooms were installed. After Akima delivered them, the structures were placed atop concrete blocks, with a series of straps tied to anchors drilled into the ground. Plywood walkways were then built, linking the classrooms.

A Mississippi State Board of Education code does not permit concrete blocks and piers to anchor modular units. Instead, it requires that they be built on foundations consisting of steel posts secured by poured-in-place concrete.

Regina Ginn, a director in the state office that imposes the standards, said she knew the new classrooms did not fully comply with the state code. But Ms. Ginn added that she considered the corps approach sufficient, an assessment endorsed by Jerry Brosius, a Pennsylvania engineer who has installed modular classrooms for more than 20 years.

"These are temporary buildings," Mr. Brosius said. "They are not going to be there for 20 years."

Michael H. Logue, a spokesman for the Corps of Engineers regional office in Vicksburg, Miss., defended the classroom deal. "We executed the fastest, most reasonable procurement action we genuinely felt was available to us," Mr. Logue said.

Akima met its corps deadlines for the classrooms. The total cost for the corps project to date has been $72 million, because of additional work, installing modular offices for government agencies and building walkways.

The project was not a total loss for Adams Home Center and its partner: They were paid a $200,000 finder's fee by the classroom supplier because Akima bought the units they had identified. But the Adamses have filed a lawsuit seeking some of the profits they had hoped to collect, to which Akima already has said they have no right to claim.

In Bay St. Louis, where homes and stores are still largely ruins, the debate over the classroom costs or contractor seem irrelevant.

"School being back for these children is a break from the reality of destroyed homes," said Johnette Bilbo, a teacher at North Bay. "It is just a start. But this is the first large step back to normalcy and routine in their lives."

Now the Good News: Democrats Sweep Challengers for City Council

2005-11-09T10:16:00.000-05:00

Democratic auditor also keeps position, so party will stay in charge of City Hall

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Mark Ferenchik and Jodi Andes

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Three Columbus City Council Democrats defeated their Republican challengers yesterday.

Democrats Maryellen O’Shaughnessy, Kevin Boyce and Mary Jo Hudson will begin their new four-year terms in January.

Republican challengers Eddie Pauline, Alisia Clark and Phil Harmon wonder what their political futures hold.

Meanwhile, longtime Democratic Auditor Hugh Dorrian swept over Republican challenger Lynn Sautter, maintaining his party’s lock on City Hall.

The victory marks O’Shaughnessy’s third, Boyce’s second and Hudson’s first. Hudson was appointed to the council in September 2004 to replace Richard W. Sensenbrenner.

"It will probably hit me in a couple of days," Hudson said. "This has been a long 14 months."

The three claimed victory well before 10 p.m. to supporters who packed a meeting room Downtown at the Crowne Plaza Hotel.

With his smiling 6-year-old son, Christopher, at his side, Boyce said the three worked hard as a team and that they will continue to do so with a tight city budget ahead.

Though their victories mean a continuation of the status quo — it also marked a first: Hudson is the first openly gay person to be elected to the council, a distinction she did not bring up on the campaign trail.

"I know a lot of you have waited a long time for this and I’m happy we could get here," Hudson said to a small group of supporters and family.

Republicans, hamstrung by a dearth of campaign cash and the TV ads it buys, tried to stir the pot by focusing on one-party rule at City Hall.

It didn’t work.

No Republican has served on the council since Jennette Bradley left to become Gov. Bob Taft’s lieutenant governor in January 2003.

Pauline, 26, the former president of Ohio State University’s Undergraduate Student Government, said it’s hard to compete when Council President Matt Habash’s campaign contributed $18,000 each to Boyce’s and Hudson’s campaigns. Now that the election’s over, Pauline said he’s thinking about pursuing a ballot initiative to create a ward system. Phil Harmon, the community activist and Republican who was not endorsed by party leaders, said he’d have to think hard about another run. "I think the Democratic machine in this city is strong," Harmon said. "I don’t think the Republican base is there."

At Broadleigh Elementary School on the city’s East Side, Michell Brown made it clear who her favorite was.

"Alisia Clark is my girl. She’s honest. She’s Christian," said Brown, 40, who attends the same church as Clark.

But 51-year-old state employee Natalie Childs voted for Boyce, Hudson and O’Shaughnessy.

"I think they’re making a good-faith effort to make changes in the community," Childs said.

Bad News First: Issue 1 is Lone Winner in Ohio

2005-11-09T10:09:00.000-05:00

4 constitutional amendments designed to reform state government suffer resounding defeats

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Joe Hallett and Mark Niquette

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Ohio voters yesterday resoundingly rejected four amendments to the state constitution, rendering a stinging defeat to would-be reformers who said the issues were necessary to end a "culture of corruption" in state government.

Meanwhile, Issue 1, a $2 billion bond package that Gov. Bob Taft and others promised will bring high-tech jobs to an economically struggling state, was headed for passage.

In an off-year election, voters turned thumbs down on a confusing menu of amendments that would have changed Ohio government at its core. Issues 2-5 were losing statewide by a 2-to-1 ratio and as much as 4-to-1 in Republican-dominated rural and exurban counties.

The defeat of the four issues championed by Reform Ohio Now, a coalition of Democratic-leaning groups, was attributed to their complicated and confusing ballot language and unified opposition by powerful Republican forces under the umbrella of Ohio First.

"The proponents always have a greater hurdle to overcome than the opponents," said Herb Asher, an Ohio State University political-science professor and a leader of Reform Ohio Now. "All they had to do was either confuse voters or scare them, and they did that well."

State Rep. Kevin DeWine, R-Fairborn and a leader of Ohio First, said the opposition was helped by what he called "overly complicated and unnecessarily complex" issues, and that when unsure, voters tend to vote "no."

DeWine did not characterize the defeat of Issues 2-5 as absolution by voters of the scandals that have wracked the GOPcontrolled state government.

With 90 percent of the statewide vote tallied:

• Issue 1 was passing 54 percent to 46 percent. The $2 billion bond issue includes $1.35 billion for local road, bridge and water projects; $500 million for the state’s Third Frontier program to develop high-tech jobs; and $150 million to develop business-ready sites, such as industrial parks.

• Issue 2 was failing 64 percent to 36 percent. It would have permitted voters to request an absentee ballot up to 35 days before an election without giving a valid reason as previously required. The legislature pre-empted the issue by enacting the same provisions.

• Issue 3 was failing 67 percent to 33 percent. It would have limited annual individual and political-action-committee contributions to statewide candidates to $2,000, and $1,000 to legislative candidates, down from the current $10,000 limit for both.

• Issue 4 was failing 70 percent to 30 percent. Voters rejected handing responsibility for drawing legislative and congressional districts every 10 years to a five-member appointed commission. The commission would have been required to adopt the plan with the highest "competitiveness had conceded that revamping the redistricting process was the most important of the four issues, but they said the others were added to build a coalition of good-government groups such as Common Cause and attract financial support from Democratic-leaning organizations still stewing about the 2004 presidential race in Ohio.

• Issue 5 was failing 71 percent to 29 percent. Voters said no to stripping all election oversight from the secretary of state and giving the job to an appointed nine-member board.

Edward B. "Ned" Foley, an Ohio State University electionlaw expert, said the reformers tried to do too much. "I think the RON group overreached both in putting too many issues on the ballot and in the particular way that it wrote several of the issues," Foley said.

Interviews with voters indicated widespread confusion about the impact of the four amendments after multimillion-dollar media campaigns in which both sides used images of the unpopular Taft to assert that the issues would or would not clean up corruption at the Statehouse.

"It was hard to cut through the noise coming from both sides," Joe Hamrock, 42, a utility-company employee, said after voting at the Grange Hall in Westerville.

Even though voters rejected Issue 4, Republican Statehouse leaders are left with a responsibility to reform a redistricting process they acknowledged is flawed, Foley said.

"The public discussion that’s occurred on Issue 4 ought to pave the way for a bipartisan consensus on how to do it right that would benefit all citizens," Foley said. "The current system allows for partisan manipulation, and both the Democrats and Republicans have abused it."

DeWine said he expects to offer ideas about other possible approaches to redistricting by the first of the year.

Taft thanked Issue 1 supporters gathered at a Downtown restaurant last night and credited an aggressive, grassroots campaign for success after the Third Frontier component failed on its own at the ballot in 2003.

Critics called the Third Frontier "corporate welfare" and said complained that it was combined with the popular construction-funding program that doesn’t expire until 2007.

Taft said the combination made sense as a comprehensive strategy, calling the issue "the perfect marriage of priorities, all focused on the future economy of Ohio."

Many voters took newspaper clippings and party mailings into polling places to help them interpret the ballot issues. Some said they still didn’t fully understand them.

"I left them blank," said Jodi Dennis, 44, of Upper Arlington. "I just didn’t know enough about them to go either way."

In Westerville, Faith Barker, 46, said she voted against all five issues: "It was too unclear to me how they would go about reforming the system. It’s way too confusing when they put all that stuff on the ballot at one time."

US military accused of using white phosphorus bombs against Iraqi civilians

2005-11-08T13:31:00.000-05:00

Italian state TV, Rai, has broadcast a documentary accusing the US military of using white phosphorus bombs against civilians in the Iraqi city of Falluja.

Rai says this amounts to the illegal use of chemical arms, though the bombs are considered incendiary devices.

Eyewitnesses and ex-US soldiers say the weapon was used in built-up areas in the insurgent-held city.

The US military denies this, but admits using white phosphorus bombs in Iraq to illuminate battlefields.

Washington is not a signatory of an international treaty restricting the use of white phosphorus devices.

Transmission of the documentary comes a day after the arrival of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani on a five-day official visit to Italy.

It also coincides with the first anniversary of the US-led assault on Falluja, which displaced most of the city's 300,000 population and left many of its buildings destroyed.

The documentary was shown on Rai's rolling news channel, with a warning that the some of the footage was disturbing.

The future of the 3,000-strong Italian peacekeeping contingent in Iraq is the subject of a political tug-of-war, says the BBC's David Willey in Rome.

'Destroyed evidence'

The documentary begins with formerly classified footage of the Americans using napalm bombs during the Vietnam war.

It then shows a series of photographs from Falluja of corpses with the flesh burnt off but clothes still intact - which it says is consistent with the effects of white phosphorus on humans.

Jeff Englehart, described as a former US soldier who served in Falluja, tells of how he heard orders for white phosphorus to be deployed over military radio - and saw the results.

"Burned bodies, burned women, burned children; white phosphorus kills indiscriminately... When it makes contact with skin, then it's absolutely irreversible damage, burning flesh to the bone," he says.

Last December, the US state department issued a denial of what it called "widespread myths" about the use of illegal weapons in Falluja.

"Phosphorus shells are not outlawed. US forces have used them very sparingly in Falluja, for illumination purposes. They were fired into the air to illuminate enemy positions at night, not at enemy fighters," the US statement said.

However, the Rai film also alleges that Washington has systematically attempted to destroy filmed evidence of the alleged use of white phosphorus on civilians in Falluja.

Italian public opinion has been consistently against the war and the Rai documentary can only reinforce calls for a pullout of Italian soldiers as soon as possible, our correspondent says.

Both the Italian government and opposition leaders are talking about a phased withdrawal in 2006.

President Talabani and the US say the continued presence of multi-national forces in Iraq is essential.

Story from BBC NEWS Published: 2005/11/08 14:21:45 GMT © BBC MMV ------- Personal Note -------- You want to see what this stuff is going to these innocent Iraqi civilians? See what this Google Images search turned up.

did you?

2005-11-08T11:08:00.000-05:00

Greenhouse gases to rise by 52% by 2030

2005-11-07T12:17:00.000-05:00

Global greenhouse gas emissions will rise by 52% by 2030, unless the world takes action to reduce energy consumption, a study has warned.

The prediction comes from the latest annual World Energy Outlook report from the International Energy Agency (IEA).

It says that under current consumption trends, energy demand will also rise by more than 50% over the next 25 years.

The IEA adds that oil prices will "substantially" rise unless there is extra investment in oil facilities.

It says the world has seen "years of under-investment" in both oil production and the refinery sector.

The organisation estimates that the global oil industry now needs to invest $20.3 trillion (£12 trillion) in fresh facilities by 2030, or else the wider global economy could suffer.

'Unsustainable'

"These projected trends have important implications and lead to a future that is not sustainable," said IEA chief Claude Mandil.

"We must change these outcomes and get the planet onto a sustainable energy path."

The IEA's warning comes at a time when the Kyoto climate change agreement calls on developed nations to cut their greenhouse gas emissions to 5% below 1990 levels by 2008-12.

It also cautions that oil producers need to double annual investments in their oil fields or else see another £13 a barrel on the projected price of oil over the next 25 years.

Economic impact

The IEA says this extra investment is vital to avoid the supply bottlenecks that saw oil prices rise above $70 a barrel in late August.

"If investments do not come in a timely and sufficient manner, there will be higher oil prices, and global economic growth will suffer," said IEA chief economist Fatih Birol.

The IEA says the world has enough oil supplies to last until 2030, and that the core issue is instead the need to improve the supply chain.

Greenpeace said the latest figures from the IEA showed just how important it was for countries to meet their Kyoto targets.

"The Kyoto protocol doesn't amount to much in terms of emissions reductions but at least it breaks the curve [of rising emissions] among countries that have accepted its targets," said Steve Sawyer, climate policy expert at the environmental pressure group.

"We have to work out the trick of how to get the US and the rapidly industrialising developing countries to break the curve as well."

The IEA is made up of the 26 main industrialised nations who are the major oil consumers.

Story from BBC NEWS Published: 2005/11/07 14:04:27 GMT © BBC MMV

Anti-Bush Protests as Americas summit opens

2005-11-04T15:32:00.000-05:00

The Summit of the Americas has begun in Argentina, bringing together the US president and 33 other regional leaders to discuss free trade and poverty. The official opening was preceded by protests during which thousands of demonstrators chanted 'Get out Bush'. George W Bush faces vocal opposition over US plans to revive talks on a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). Venezuela's leader Hugo Chavez told protesters he would bury the FTAA - and defeat US 'imperialism'.

"Only united can we defeat imperialism and bring our people a better life." Hugo Chavez

Poverty

More than 8,000 police have been drafted in to protect the fourth Americas summit, being held in the Argentine beach town of Mar del Plata. The mainly peaceful protest march took place through boarded-up streets a few kilometres away from the summit venue itself. Demonstrators included Argentine former football legend Diego Maradona. They argue US-backed free-market policies have pushed millions into poverty in the region. Addressing their rally in a football stadium, Mr Chavez said: 'Here, in Mar del Plata, FTAA will be buried!' He called for help, saying: 'Only united can we defeat imperialism and bring our people a better life.' The Venezuelan government has said that it will reject any summit declaration which contains references to free trade in the Americas. However, Mexico's President Vicente Fox has said 29 of the 34 summit nations are willing to move forward with free trade negotiations without dissenting countries. Apart from Venezuela, those nations opposed to the creation of a huge free trade zone include Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay.

US interest renewed

The rivalry between Mr Bush and Mr Chavez is expected to dominate the meeting. Asked at a news conference how he would approach Mr Chavez, Mr Bush replied "that he would be "polite".

The BBC's South America correspondent Steve Kingstone says the Mr Chavez' growing influence helps explain Washington's renewed involvement in the region.

Security, democracy and trade are the main areas of interest for the US in Latin America, and on all three counts, Venezuela's leader is causing concern, our correspondent says.

Washington is concerned about military build-up in Venezuela, suspects it of meddling in Bolivia's election campaign and fears Mr Chavez' talk of closer ties between Latin American nations may attract leaders away from US plans for a huge free trade zone, he adds.

Story from BBC NEWS Published: 2005/11/04 20:27:08 GMT © BBC MMV

Expulsion Hearing early Friday for 9th Grader in L.A. Who Participated in Nov. 2nd Walk-Out

2005-11-04T12:22:00.000-05:00

From a World Can't Wait email update: Sarah, a 9th grade student organizer in Los Angeles, faces an expulsion hearing Friday morning. Sarah organized students to express themselves on November 2 as part of World Can't Wait Drive Out the Bush Regime. If she is expelled, she will be unable to attend public school in Los Angeles again. Defend Sarah and all Students being threatened, fined, or punished for demonstrating on November 2nd:

You can call now and make a difference for Sarah:

Reseda High School Principal: Alfredo Tarin 818-342-6186 Los Angeles School Dist Superintendent Phone: 213-241-7000 Fax: 213-241-8442

Actions to Drive Out Bush were marked by the participation of high school students across the country. We heard about Sarah's expulsion hearing late last night, and are asking everyone who supports this movement to stand with the students. Please call her principal, and call or fax the School Board NOW to demand that Sarah be allowed to return to class without consequences and that there should be no punishment for students who participated in demonstrations on November 2nd.

"We're supposed to teach our kids to think and when they think we crush them. It's not right," said an LA doctor who is outraged by the repression of Sarah and other students.

Bush Public Support at Lowest Level Yet

2005-11-04T11:39:00.000-05:00

Nov 4, 7:29 AM (ET) By Will Lester

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush's public support has eroded to its lowest level yet, with the Iraq war dragging on, a top White House aide facing felony charges and the White House rushing to replace a failed Supreme Court nominee.

Concerned that the president has lost his footing, some Republicans have suggested Bush should shake up his staff.

A new AP-Ipsos poll found the president's approval rating was at 37 percent, compared with 39 percent a month ago. About 59 percent of those surveyed said they disapproved.

The intensity of disapproval is the strongest to date, with 42 percent now saying they "strongly disapprove" of how Bush is handling his job - twice as many as the 20 percent who said they "strongly approve."

"This is the poorest excuse for a president this country has ever had," said Max Hollinberger, a businessman from Stanwood, Wash., who leans Democratic. He cited "the economy, going to war in Iraq for no reason, the way we can get to the tsunami victims before Katrina victims - the whole business."

A year after his re-election, Bush's second term has been marred by rising U.S. casualties in Iraq, a failed attempt to restructure Social Security, Hurricane Katrina missteps, rising fuel costs and his forced withdrawal of the Supreme Court nomination of Harriet Miers.

In a case involving the public naming of a covert CIA operative married to an Iraq war critic, Vice President Dick Cheney's former aide, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, pleaded not guilty on Thursday in federal court to charges of obstruction of justice, perjury and lying to investigators. The case casts a continuing cloud over Cheney and keeps Bush's closest adviser, Karl Rove, in legal jeopardy.

Republicans are starting to worry about the 2006 elections and hope Bush can reverse his slide.

Several senior Republicans who are close to the White House and Rove say there has been a lot of talk inside and outside the White House about the need for him to leave, but they're picking up no indication from him or his associates that it's going to happen - at least anytime soon.

Neither Bush nor Rove has seemed to get the message, the Republicans say.

Democrats have kept up the attack. "The 2006 midterm elections will be our next opportunity to change the environment of corruption and incompetence in Washington," Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Thursday in a fundraising letter to Democrats. Reid has called for Rove's resignation and a "thorough house cleaning" at the White House.

In the AP-Ipsos poll, nearly one in five Republicans disapproved of Bush's handling of his job, compared with nearly nine in 10 Democrats. Nearly seven in 10 independents disapproved.

Four in five Republicans still back the president.

"I think he's done a wonderful job," said Gloria Bloecher, a Republican from Sherman, Texas. "He's done wonderful things for the economy. He rescued people who needed help in Iraq - it was the Christian thing to do. I still trust his people and the people he picks for the Supreme Court."

The president has lost support from some key groups of constituents over the past year. He's dropped 16 points in his approval rating with men in that time, 18 points with people who have a high school education or less, 16 points among Southerners and 13 points among Republicans.

The poll was conducted by telephone Oct. 31-Nov. 2 among 1,006 adults nationwide. The margin on sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Congress isn't faring much better. In early October, 35 percent of poll respondents approved of the job being done on Capitol Hill, down from 44 percent in February.

In December 2004, soon after Bush's re-election, 51 percent approved of his handling of his job, while 47 disapproved, and 28 disapproved strongly.

"I'm surprised it's not even worse," GOP consultant Rich Galen said of Bush's latest poll numbers. He cited three months of unrelenting bad news that have Republicans "beginning to scratch their heads."

Away from Washington, Republican leaders seemed concerned about Bush's drift downward in the polls and about Iraq, where the 2,000th U.S. military death was recently recorded, and less troubled about the CIA-leak case and the controversy surrounding Rove and Libby.

"I think the war in Iraq being on the front page every day has taken its toll," said Van Poole, former Florida GOP chairman and now a Tallahassee lobbyist, who expects Bush to bounce back. "Americans are impatient. Whatever our job is, Americans want us to get it done."

Associated Press writer Tom Raum and AP polling director Mike Mokrzycki contributed to this report.

Welcome to 1984 by Anti-Flag

2005-11-03T14:44:00.000-05:00

The song, "Welcome to 1984," from Anti-Flag is an acoustic track written and recorded directly after finishing the Rock Against Bush Tour across the USA in Oct 2004. It focuses on the insanity and double speak of the Bush Regime that is taking the USA down a path that is eerily similar to the police state depicted in George Orwell's novel.

Download the MP3: http://www.anti-flag.com/wcw/1984.mp3

Who would Jesus bomb? Yeah, who would Jesus kill? The double talk is past surreal The word of god is now the word of hate War is peace, and freedom is the police state Can't you see the writing on the wall? Democracy lays trampled on the floor... You better believe that... Hell yeah I'm confused for sure what I thought was the New Millennium is 1984! Mr. Orwell from the grave, adding fresh ink to the page As the unpresident declares an endless war... Welcome to 1984! Feels like Nazi Germany, and Hitler on TV, As the unpresident spews homophobic speech You say the Allies fought a war to end extremist fascist law So tell me NOW what the fuck are we fighting for? I just can not take it anymore Democracy lays trampled on the floor... Man, isn't freedom great?!?! Hell yeah I'm confused for sure what I thought was the New Millennium is 1984! Mr. Orwell from the grave, adding fresh ink to the page As the unpresident declares an endless war... Welcome to 1984! Now we've got... Armies of peace, armed to the teeth, delivering death to make the world a better place So celebrate the weapons spending, say a toast to Armageddon, raise some hell! We're headed straight to hell!!! Hell yeah I'm confused for sure what I thought was the New Millennium is 1984! Mr. Orwell from the grave, adding fresh ink to the page As the unpresident declares an endless war... Welcome to 1984!

'In the Life' Investigates Anti-Gay Bias

2005-11-03T13:49:00.000-05:00

Los Angeles, CA - This November, In the Life is "Setting the Record Straight." This hour long special explores the intersection of LGBT representation, cultural prejudice, censorship, media sensationalism vs. actual news and the big picture implications of it all. Hosted by actor, comedian, and Air America Radio talk show host Janeane Garofalo with PSAs from actor, comedian Rosie O'Donnell and young adult author Alex Sanchez (Rainbow High, Rainbow Boys). In the Life begins with a visit to PBS's Postcards From Buster: "Sugartime" Vermont couple Gillian Pieper and Karen Pike to discuss the rippling effects of U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings' disapproval of the episode in which their family was profiled. Spellings urged PBS to pull the episode, slamming the door on the 'ivory tower' and the open dialogue she pledged to uphold in her inaugural address.

The traditional role of a journalist has been to act as an objective observer of our culture using a standard set of ethical guidelines in their effort to report the most factual information possible. Recent controversies have highlighted journalists with right-leaning agendas and the current U.S. government's packaging of Video News Releases as actual news, calling into question the ethical practices of journalists today. In this segment, In the Life explores the effects of government propaganda and its influence on headline news, which exploits LGBT people and distracts mainstream media from reporting on official policies that impact the entire culture.

Finally, In the Life explores the newsmagazine format, in a for-profit media model. In November 2004, ABC News 20/20 ran its own hour long special, "Matthew Shepard: Secrets of a Murder", claiming revelations about the crime using interviews with the convicted killers. The major focus was on dismantling the widely accepted position that Matthew's murder was a hate crime. ITL looks at the sources and the methodology to discover what was missing from 20/20's report.

Interviews this month include: Veteran journalist Helen Thomas and former Talon News White House correspondent Jeff Gannon, Court TV and CNN anchor Nancy Grace, Judy Shepard, attorney Sean Maloney, The Laramie Project Director Moises Kaufman, Sirius Q Radio Host Romaine Patterson, Media Expert Douglas Rushkoff, the infamous Vermont couple from PBS's Postcards from Buster: "Sugartime" episode Karen Pike & Gillian Pieper, PBS Senior V.P. John F. Wilson, and GLAAD's Glennda Testone.

For more information, visit www.itl.tv

[Happy] November 2nd

2005-11-02T13:18:00.000-05:00

Congratulations!

You've survived the first full year of the second stolen presidential term of George W. Bush!

Wow, it's been a whole year already? Yeah, depressing huh. Surprisingly, the world hasn't blown up yet, but it's darn close. Why don't you do something about it? Wouldn't you know, today's the day. Today starts the beginning of the end for the Bush regime. The World Can't Wait and all its supporters are mobilizing across the country as we speak. Walking out of work, out of classes, and into the streets (if your situation allows.) Me, I'm stuck at work. But I'm doing my part by letting you all know what's going on right now.

November 2, no work, no school. We gonna march. Join us. Come on, you seen the pictures. Bush made torture into a sport and justifies it. You saw Iraq destroyed by a war based on lies. We all watched Bush leave people to die in New Orleans and treat people like criminals. This regime is what's criminal. The Bush Regime is out to remake the world. Unending war, a devastated environment, forced religion, no right to abortion, no dissent, no critical thought. We have to stop this now. If we don't we will be forced to accept it. The future we get is up to us. The beginning of the end of the Bush Regime starts Wednesday November 2.

Click here for the most up-to-date reports on Nov. 2nd actions across the country.

Emmis Communications Bans "World Can't Wait Protest" Radio Ad

2005-11-01T15:54:00.000-05:00

New York's HOT 97 Radio Stopped from Playing Ad Poised to Reach Millions of Youth about November 2 Protest PLAY THE BANNED AD EVERYWHERE!

Minutes before its scheduled airing, Emmis Communications, owners of Hot 97 in New York City, pulled the plug on the World Can't Wait, Drive Out the Bush Regime Ad. Hot 97 is "the" number one rap station in this city. The station itself had consciously approved the content of the ad knowing that this was both controversial and important. For some working inside the station, the idea of this spot reaching millions of urban youth in New York at this critical time was inspiring. Emmis Corporation's legal department called Hot 97 just as the spots were to begin to play. The ad itself was a collaboration of artists Boots Riley from the Coup and Miles Solay from Outernational. It can break down walls. Download the spot. Youth today have come of age under the gruesome shadow of the Bush Regime. An entire generation has been betrayed, brutalized, criminalized, enlisted, denied reproductive rights. The US Military saturates the youth market with slick high-tech ads aimed at turning young people into cannon fodder and the Christian Right spends millions to indoctrinate youth with politics of intolerance and punishment. We stand at this unprecedented time in history. The energy and creativity of young people around the country will take this movement to the level where it will be unstoppable. This cannot go down this way. Here is what you can do: PLAY THE BANNED WORLD CAN'T WAIT AD TODAY before November 2nd. Send this story to everyone you know in the media. Call in to local radio stations, send to place you think you can get this on the air. Forward this to press contacts and get it posted prominently on websites. Get d-jays to talk about this on the air and announce it at gigs. But most importantly PLAY THE SPOT which says it all. Contact Ennis Communications: IR@emmis.com or call (317) 266.0100 and let them know that their actions have only given us one more reason to NOT WAIT on November 2nd. Demand that they lift the ban immediately. Contact Hot 97: (212) 229.9797 or hot97@hot97.com. Tell them to take off the muzzle. Tell them they were right to approve the ad and they should play it now. Then download the ad into your cell phones and i-pods and play them everywhere! Here are the words to the ad. You get the picture.

The world can't wait to drive out the Bush Regime! November 2, no work, no school. We gonna march. Join us. 12 noon at Union Square. Come on, you seen the pictures. Bush made torture into a sport and justifies it. You saw Iraq destroyed by a war based on lies. We all watched Bush leave people to die in New Orleans and treat people like criminals. This regime is what's criminal. The Bush Regime is out to remake the world. Unending war, a devastated environment, forced religion, no right to abortion, no dissent, no critical thought. We have to stop this now. If we don't we will be forced to accept it. The future we get is up to us. The beginning of the end of the Bush Regime starts Wednesday November 2. Join us at 12 noon at Union Square. Widespread support for actions TOMORROW grows! Check it out www.worldcantwait.org or 866-973-4463

P.S. I wrote emails to both Emmis Communications and Hot97:

To Whom in May Concern, I hope everyone involved in this latest act of censorship is aware of the media storm that is going to follow the decision to not air the World Can't Wait radio ad. The story is in the process of flying around the Internet, email inboxes, and blogosphere and will undoubtedly reach more people than the original radio ad would have. This act of censorship only gives us more proof of the need to march tomorrow. Thanks for proving our point.

October 2005 sees 4th highest U.S. death toll in Iraq

2005-10-31T20:28:00.000-05:00

October 2005: 96 Lives Lost... for what exactly?

October 2005 has been the 4th bloodiest month of the Iraq war, in terms of U.S. casualties. The 3 higher-death months were April 2004 (Battle of Fallujah #1), November 2004 (Battle of Fallujah #2), and January 2005 (which included 31 US dead from a single helicopter shootdown). October 2005's toll far exceeds either March or April 2003, the first two months of the war.

Source: Iraq Coalition Casualty Count

State Issues 1-5 for November 8th Ohio Elections

2005-10-31T10:19:00.000-05:00

To help make sure all Ohio voters can make an informed decision (instead of no decision at all), here's a good site to check out for info. on all 5 of the state issues on the ballot Nov. 8th. This site has the official wording you'll see in the voting booth, a "normal" explanation, plus arguments for and against each issue:

http://www.sos.state.oh.us/sos/electionsvoter/currentelection.aspx

And for your convenience, here's a summary of each issue (from the Secretary of State website, my attempt to stay non-biased): State Issue 1 (Jobs)

The purpose of this amendment is to create jobs and stimulate economic growth in Ohio.

This amendment creates and preserves jobs, enhances educational opportunities, and improves the quality of life and general well-being of people and businesses in all areas of Ohio by improving local government public infrastructure, expanding Ohio’s research capabilities to promote product innovation, development and commercialization, and preparing economic development sites and facilities in Ohio. It declares that local government public infrastructure, and financial assistance for research and preparation of economic development sites and facilities in Ohio for and in support of industry, commerce and distribution (all referred to together as “development purposes”) are public purposes.

State Issue 2 (Voting)

The purpose of this amendment is to expand to all Ohio registered voters the option to vote up to 35 days prior to Election Day by mail or in person at the appropriate local board of elections.

Long lines at voting booths in recent years, inclement weather and work demands of Ohioans have discouraged some citizens from voting on Election Day. Issue 2 will make voting more convenient and easier for all Ohioans. Currently, only a few categories of persons are permitted to vote early by absentee ballot.

Issue 2 will allow all Ohioans to vote by mail. Issue 2 will allow all Ohioans to vote in person at their local board of elections. Issue 2 will allow Ohioans to vote up to 35 days prior to Election Day Issue 2 will make voting more convenient and increase the opportunity to vote. Issue 2 will increase voter participation by Ohioans in elections.

Increased participation in elections will make government more accountable to the people of Ohio and combat undue influence by a few and the corruption that currently pervades state government.

State Issue 3 (Political Contributions)

The purpose of this amendment is to restore confidence, level the playing field and reduce the influence of big money contributors in politics by significantly limiting campaign contributions to statewide and state legislative candidates and political parties.

Ohio’s state government has become mired in scandal. A “pay-to-play” culture - reflected in “Coingate,” undisclosed golf outings, and ongoing federal and state investigations – permeates state government. The endless drive to raise campaign money has tempted too many to cross ethical lines.

Rather than limiting the influence of big money, the General Assembly made the problem worse last year by raising individual contribution limits from $2,500 to $10,000! The legislature also lifted a ban on corporate contributions to political parties.

Issue 3 will restore reasonable contribution limits and reduce the influence of big money in government. Under this amendment, individual contributions will be limited to $2,000 per election for statewide candidates and $1,000 per election for state legislative candidates. The ban on corporate contributions to political parties will be restored.

The current influence of big money contributors in state government has corrupted government. Ohio’s sky high contribution limits only widen the gap between the “haves” and the “have nots” making it increasingly difficult for average citizens to compete in the public arena. Government stops listening to the average citizen and only hears the big money contributor.

Big money allows special interests to shape policy and exercise greater influence over legislators than the voters who elect them. One need only look to the scandals that now plague Ohio.

State Issue 4 (Independent Redistricting)

The purpose of this amendment is to restore competitiveness to Congressional and State legislative races in Ohio.

Issue 4 will help make politicians more accountable and responsive to constituents. Issue 4 will combat corruption in state government by making politicians listen more to constituents and less to big donors and special interests. Issue 4 designates an independent, non-partisan commission to draw legislative districts with a goal of making the districts competitive, while preserving communities and minority rights.

The independent commission will replace the current system, which allows politicians to draw the districts to serve their own partisan interests. Currently, using sophisticated computer models, the political party in power manipulates the districts to maximize the number of seats it is likely to win and minimize the number likely to be won by the opposing party. The result is "safe seats" where incumbents almost never lose.

Consider these shocking statistics, which reflect the problem nationally and in Ohio:

In 435 U.S. House races last year, only 13 seats changed party;
In Ohio, every Congressman and State Senator up for election was re-elected and only a handful of State House incumbents lost;
In Ohio, the average margins of victory were 44 points in Congressional races, 35 points in State Senate races, and 38 points in State House races.

As one commentator states, "Competitive elections for the state legislature and Congress, with a handful of exceptions, no longer exist in Ohio."

Issue 4 will restore accountability by making elections meaningful again and in so doing make corruption less likely. Applying strict criteria in the amendment and considering proposals from the public the independent commission will maximize the number of competitive districts in Ohio and enhance the influence of all voters in the electoral process.

State Issue 5 (Board of Elections)

The purpose of this amendment is to create a bi-partisan and independent state board of elections supervisors to administer elections similar to the county boards of elections.

In recent elections, public confidence in the fairness of the election process has been undermined by actions of the Secretary of State. Citizens need to have trust and confidence restored in their electoral system.

Issue 5 will restore public confidence by replacing the Secretary of State as the state’s chief elections officer with a bi-partisan board of elections supervisors similar to the local county boards of elections. If a bi-partisan system is good enough for all 88 counties, it should be good enough for Ohio as a whole. Issue 5 will lessen partisanship in the administration of elections in Ohio at the state level. Issue 5 will prevent those who are involved in administering elections at the state level from mixing personal political agendas with their public duties. Issue 5 will create a bi-partisan board with 9 appointed members—4 appointed by the Governor, 4 appointed by Members of the General Assembly of the opposite party and one member appointed by the Ohio Supreme Court. Issue 5 will not create another layer of bureaucracy in State government. Money now used for this service could be transferred to the state board of elections. Issue 5 will not replace the bi-partisan county boards of elections that currently administer and will continue to administer elections at the local level.

2-0-0-0 T w o T h o u s a n d 2-0-0-0

2005-10-25T16:52:00.000-04:00

"The 2,000 Americans killed in combat in Iraq since 2003 are more than were lost in Vietnam in the first four years of U.S. combat (1961-1965, when just over 1,800 died). This total is more than were lost in the last two years of combat (1971-1972, when just over 1600 died)." Maurice Isserman co-author of America Divided: The Civil War of the 1960s

Attend a Vigil for the 2,000 Killed in Iraq

Bruised but intact, the UN is 60

2005-10-24T10:32:00.000-04:00

By Paul Reynolds World Affairs correspondent, BBC News The United Nations has reached the age of 60 with its first blush of youth and idealism long gone, but hoping that experience and a mid-life rethink will give it new purpose.

Last year it embarked on reform, having been told by its Secretary General Kofi Annan that it was at a "fork in the road".

It was generally felt that whatever its past problems, it had to be put in better shape for the future.

"Indispensable" is the word used to describe the UN by a former British ambassador there, Lord David Hannay.

"When the mountains fall in Pakistan or a tsunami sweeps the world, everyone asks: 'Where is the UN?'" he told the BBC News website.

"The 2003 invasion of Iraq demonstrated the bankruptcy of any alternative," he claimed.

The veto was a recipe for UN paralysis for the duration of the Cold War

"The unilateral way has not been shown to have been a brilliant policy to put it mildly. If the alternative to the UN is not viable then we must make this organisation work better.

"They are getting very close to the Vietnam position in the US in that Iraq is becoming a problem. Candidates in the 2008 elections won't want thousands of troops there.

"They might declare a fudged semi-success, but they are sure going to conclude you can't do that again."

'UN resolutions'

That, of course, is not the view of US President George Bush. In a speech to the General Assembly in September last year, he stated that the United States and its allies had in effect been supporting the UN when they invaded Iraq:

"The dictator agreed in 1991, as a condition of a ceasefire, to fully comply with all Security Council resolutions - then ignored more than a decade of those resolutions. Finally, the Security Council promised serious consequences for his defiance.

"And the commitments we make must have meaning. When we say 'serious consequences', for the sake of peace there must be serious consequences. And so a coalition of nations enforced the just demands of the world," he declared.

Whatever the judgment of history on the Iraq war, it was, according to David Hannay, the end of the Cold War which gave the UN the chance of a "second life".

"After the Cold War ended, the inconceivable became the conceivable," he said.

"Before then the UN could think only of its own survival. It could not stop a war between the superpowers or wars between their proxies. It did useful work popping up here and there. But that was not what it was set up to do."

Peacekeeper

What it was set up to do was basically to stop all further wars.

The original idealism was expressed by Lord Halifax, the British ambassador to the United States, who as chairman put the final draft of the UN Charter to the delegates in the Opera House in San Francisco with the words:

"This issue upon which we are about to vote is as important as any we shall ever vote in our lifetime."

The charter was passed unanimously and even the press got up and cheered.

But whether the idealism was really that strong or universal is doubtful. Right from the start, the victors from World War II - the US, the Soviet Union, Britain, France and China - insisted that they be given veto powers.

They were determined not to allow any action or intervention with which they seriously disagreed and, for the duration of the Cold War, this was a recipe for UN paralysis.

The notable exception was the Korean War, which the Security Council launched to stop the North from conquering the South. The Council was able to act only because of the self-defeating absence of the Soviet Union. It was boycotting the Council at the time in a row over who should represent China. It soon returned and did not make the same mistake again.

Sidelined

Blocked from a real interventionist role, the UN fell back on useful humanitarian and monitoring missions but also took refuge in passing resolutions which had little bearing on actual world politics.

The Middle East is an example of its impotence. It failed to stop wars in 1956, 1967, 1973 and 1982. Its key Security Council resolution 242, outlining a solution for the Israelis and Palestinians along the lines of land for peace, has been only partially fulfilled, and in the Middle East partially has meant not nearly enough.

It did send troops to the Congo in the 1960s when the country began to fall apart after the precipitate departure of the Belgians. The breakaway province of Katanga was brought back under central control, but the experience was not a happy one for the UN, and was symbolised by the death in an air accident in the jungle of its Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold.

In more recent years, it has perhaps been more successful.

Its sanctions helped persuade white South Africans to hand over to majority rule. Its quiet diplomacy helped bring an end to the Iran-Iraq War, and it played useful roles in winding up conflicts and developing democracy in Namibia, Mozambique, Cambodia, El Salvador and East Timor.

However it failed in Bosnia (where intervention was led by the US and its Nato allies) and Kosovo (it was Nato which acted against Serbia, not the UN) and above all in Rwanda where it failed to prevent genocide. It became immersed in scandal over its programme to send food and medicines to Iraq.

'Two cheers'

And in the background, it was developing international obligations - against torture, against the proliferation of nuclear weapons, on the Law of the Sea among many others - which helped to bind the member states together in a worldwide rule of law.

It also drew up plans and goals to alleviative poverty in an effort to show the poorer countries that it was interested in more than war.

It did lose the confidence of the US under President Bush and, partly to try to regain that confidence, the UN decided to reform itself last year.

The results have been worth "two cheers", said David Hannay.

The two cheers would acknowledge the decision to set up a Peacebuilding Commission to try to avoid future conflicts, the Council on Human Rights to take over from the discredited Commission on Human Rights, a commitment to a convention against terrorism by July and the new duty on member states to fulfil a "responsibility to protect" their citizens, which if not honoured could open the way for UN intervention.

The absent cheer would mark a failure to take tougher action on the spread of nuclear weapons, to define terrorism and to lay our clear guidelines for the use of force.

And there has been no agreement on enlarging the Security Council.

The five permanent members remain the same as those who first took their seats as veto-holders in 1945.

Paul.Reynolds-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk Story from BBC NEWS Published: 2005/10/23 12:59:31 GMT © BBC MMV

From Columbus Dispatch: Kilroy to take on Pryce for House

2005-10-19T14:52:00.000-04:00

Kilroy to take on Pryce for House

Some see race as referendum on GOP direction

Wednesday, October 19, 2005 Jonathan Riskind and Robert Vitale THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Saying central Ohio voters are ready to send a message of change to President Bush and congressional Republicans, Franklin County Commissioner Mary Jo Kilroy yesterday said she will run next year against GOP Rep. Deborah Pryce, of Upper Arlington. The race will pit a proven Democratic vote-winner in Franklin County, home to most of the 15th congressional district’s constituents, against a veteran lawmaker who is the fourth-ranking House GOP leader. Several national political analysts said a serious challenge to Pryce, in a district that essentially was split between Bush and Democrat John Kerry last year, could be seen as a national barometer of overall Republican fortunes in the 2006 midterm elections. Democrats are hoping to make gains in the House and Senate by targeting GOP ethics scandals, the still struggling economy and Bush’s Iraq policy. Kilroy, who will formally declare her candidacy today, made it clear in an interview with The Dispatch that she intends to use Pryce’s place in GOP leadership ranks to tie her to Bush, an increasingly unpopular war, and indicted former House GOP Leader Tom DeLay, of Texas. "The people of this country think the country is going in the wrong direction, and in the wrong direction under the leadership of Bush, DeLay and Deborah Pryce," Kilroy said. "A lot of voters understand that the way to send a message to Bush is to change Congress in the midterms." Pryce, 54, has not faced a serious challenge since winning the seat in 1992. Her political director, Kathy Kerr, said the congresswoman would not comment until a potential opponent files papers to run in 2006. Franklin County GOP Chairman Doug Preisse acknowledged that the district is becoming more competitive because of Franklin County’s decadelong swing toward the Democrats. But he said Pryce’s standing in the congressional leadership makes her constituents "darn lucky" to have her. "I don’t know that (Kilroy) brings a heck of a lot to the table in terms of national policy," he said. Kilroy said she will run as a "fiscally responsible, socially progressive" Democrat who’d push for better jobs at home and an exit strategy in Iraq. She said she will readily defend a vote this summer to raise Franklin County’s sales tax, which she said was made necessary in part because of federal policies shifting the burden of programs to local government. Pryce has supported Bush’s policy in Iraq and says the economy is getting stronger because of GOP-sponsored tax cuts. Pryce has risen in the House to Republican Conference chairwoman, the fourth-ranking leadership post. She has a more moderate record on social issues such as abortion, favoring a woman’s right to choose. Kilroy, 56, served eight years on the Columbus school board before winning four-year terms as a county commissioner in 2000 and 2004. Opponents have tried unsuccessfully to paint her in both races as a far-out liberal, and although she doesn’t shy away from stands such as her support for same-sex marriage rights, she said the 2006 elections won’t be fought over "wedge issues." The district is not a GOP lock, judging by the past two presidential elections. It stretches from Columbus through western Franklin County, and into Madison and Union counties. Bush won the district with 52 percent of the vote in 2000, but the race ended in a virtual dead heat last year. About 87 percent of eligible voters in the 15th district are Franklin County residents, meaning they also are constituents of Kilroy’s, who was reelected with 53 percent of the vote last year against Republican state Sen. David Goodman, of Bexley. Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Rahm Emanuel, of Illinois, touted Kilroy yesterday as a proven vote-getter who can deliver on a theme that it’s time for a change in Congress, but who also will serve as an independent voice in the House. Still, "Pryce will be a substantial favorite," said Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. "If somebody asked me today and I had $10 to bet, I would put the $10 on Pryce." But Sabato has predicted that the Statehouse scandals besieging Ohio Republicans might make a tough year nationally for the GOP an even rougher ride in Ohio in 2006. So while a wellfunded incumbent will be hard to defeat, "next year I couldn’t imagine that any Republican seriously opposed would believe he or she is a shoo-in in Ohio," Sabato said. Amy Walter, House editor of the independent Cook Political Report in Washington, agreed, saying that while there won’t be the same presidential passion among Democrats in 2006, the atmosphere right now is "toxic" for Republicans in Ohio. There are three or four other marginally Republican districts in Ohio — including the seats held by GOP Reps. Pat Tiberi, of Columbus, and Steven C. LaTourette, of Madison, in northeastern Ohio — in which national Democrats will try to field serious candidates, Walter said. "These are the sorts of districts, like Deborah Pryce’s, that I am keeping a very close eye on and absolutely could fall into the category of competitive races," Walter said. Pryce had nearly $579,000 in her campaign coffers as of Sept. 30, according to a report filed last week with the Federal Election Commission. Kilroy said she will raise enough money to be competitive. She won her two county commissioner races after being greatly out-spent by GOP opponents. One Democrat already has declared a candidacy in the 15th district. Mark Losey, a Columbus lawyer and former assistant prosecutor in Logan County, said yesterday that he will stay in the race.

2005 Columbus Voter Guide from League of Pissed Off Voters

2005-10-19T14:39:00.000-04:00

The League of Pissed Off Voters along with Columbus Indy Voter has released their 2005 Voter Guide for the Nov. 8th elections. You can read it online here or if you're interested in printing out some copies and distributing them, comment to this post and send me your email address, I'll send it to you. It's just one page so print out as many as you can and let's get them out there! If you do decide to help distribute them, there are some format requests from Columbus Indy Voter: "It should be double sided & cut in half. Any color paper as long as it's clear. If you get a chance, let us know how many you copied, because we are trying to have a total by the end of how many voter guides got circulated and were they from our network of rogue photocopying bandits or were they from our own official print run." Last but certainly not least:

the official voter guide release party

with Menya Thykeo, Tanikka Henriquez and Billy 'Upski' Wimsatt! + our endorsed candidates

Friday, October 21, 2005 Little Brother's, 1100 N. High St. Columbus, OH 43201 6-9 PM release party 9-? voter guide distribution/street canvassing in the short north

Mary Jo Kilroy announces 2006 run for 15th congressional district against Deborah Pryce

2005-10-19T14:34:00.000-04:00

I just got this news from Lorraine E. Bieber, Deputy Field Director for Reform Ohio Now, "Mary Jo Kilroy has just announced this morning that she will be running in 2006 for 15th congressional district against Deborah Pryce!" I'm so excited to hear this!! I couldn't find anything official to post (not even on Google News) cause it's such brand spankin' new news. So you heard it here first!

www.maryjokilroy.com

Anti-Gay group starts move to get voters

2005-10-17T11:37:00.000-04:00

by John McCarthy, The Associated Press COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - A new coalition dedicated to converting thousands to Christianity and getting thousands more on voter registration lists got its start Friday with a tightly scripted rally that resembled a revival meeting. More than 1,000 people gathered outside the Statehouse for the launch of Reformation Ohio. The group, founded by the Rev. Rod Parsley, a television evangelist and pastor of the World Harvest Church in suburban Columbus, vehemently opposes gay rights, and Parsley has written that the teachings of Islam were inspired by demons. The group's formation comes after last November's election in which Christian conservatives helped pass a gay-marriage ban in Ohio and give President Bush the electoral votes he needed to claim victory. Speakers included U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback, a Republican from Kansas who is considering a White House run in 2008; Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., and Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, who is seeking the Republican nomination for governor next year. Blackwell, who also won Brownback's endorsement Friday, praised the efforts of Parsley and others to sign up new voters. Parsley's goal is to add 400,000 people to voter rolls. "Reformation Ohio is about history-making times, reforming the culture," Blackwell said. "We are a government that governs only with the consent of the governed." Brownback, who has emerged as a leading skeptic of President Bush's nomination of Harriet Miers to the U.S. Supreme Court, said the nation is engaged in a cultural struggle. "We need a culture that buttresses our families, not attacks them. We need a society that honors good and condemns what is bad," Brownback said. Parsley said voter registration is secondary to Reformation Ohio's two main objectives: converting 100,000 people to Christianity within four years and providing food, clothing and other necessities to the needy. He sent his followers from the Statehouse on an evangelical note.

"Sound an alarm. A Holy Ghost invasion is taking place. Man your battle stations, ready your weapons, lock and load." Parsley said to enthusiastic applause.

Participants were mostly members of Parsley's church, with many entire families in attendance. A production staff choreographed the event, much like Parsley's broadcasts from his church, with directors huddled inside a tent and cameras throughout the grounds, including one mounted on a small crane that hovered over the crowd. Tying evangelical gospel to voter registration is a new phenomenon, said Mark Rozell, a public policy professor at George Mason University who studies political mobilization by religious groups. "Most of these types of groups don't tend to mix these activities in the same venue, at least not so overtly," Rozell said.

For more information [at your own risk] check the following sites: Reformation Ohio Christian Coalition

Columbus Metro. Library #1 in the Nation

2005-10-14T15:46:00.000-04:00

"We are extremely proud to be ranked as the number one library in the country,” said CML’s Executive Director Patrick Losinski. "We are truly honored to be placed in this position of leadership when there are so many wonderful urban libraries in the United States." Hennen's American Public Library Rating (HAPLR) Index was based on 15 factors, including expenditures per capita, circulation and visits per hour, and the number of volumes owned by the library per capita. Each factor was weighted and scored. The scores for each library within a population category were added to develop a weighted score. Losinski credited the library's loyal customers for their support and use of the library system and praised CML's dedicated staff for their commitment and expertise in serving customers. "This ranking validates the quality of the work we’re doing," Losinski said. CML has consistently ranked among the top four libraries in its class since the Hennen ranking was established in 1998. In 1999, when CML ranked number one, circulation was just more than 11 million. This year, circulation will reach 17 million. "The most incredible part of this accomplishment is that we have maintained excellent service and value despite a freeze in funding since 1999. This demonstrates to our taxpayers that we are good stewards of their tax dollars,” said Losinski. “And while our ever-increasing circulation was taken into account for this rating, it’s important to note that circulation is about more than just books. It’s about enriching lives." For more information on the Hennen rankings, please log on to haplr-index.com/HAPLR100.htm. The Columbus Metropolitan Library, which consists of a Main Library, 20 branches, an Outreach Services division and a virtual branch at columbuslibrary.org, is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting reading and guiding learning in the pursuit of information, knowledge and wisdom with a vision focused on enriching lives in the community. Published on October 13, 2005

Ten year anniversary of Million Man March in Washington, D.C.

2005-10-14T15:27:00.000-04:00

By James Coomarasamy BBC News, Washington

Ten years ago the Million Man March took place in Washington, DC. Yet there is still controversy over what America's largest demonstration actually achieved.

At the foot of the Capitol Building in Washington, a stage is being constructed for the events marking the 10th anniversary of the Million Man March.

Political scientist Michael Fauntroy surveys the view and recalls the scene a decade ago.

"When we started marching down Seventh Street," he says, "The reaction we got from people was incredible.

"People we'd never seen before were honking their horns and offering encouragement. It was great. It was absolutely fabulous."

The numbers may be disputed, but it was without doubt the largest gathering of African American men in Washington, outnumbering even the famous civil rights marches of the 1960s.

It was a moment of unity, led, ironically, by a figure who was seen as divisive.

'Malice and division'

Rev Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation Of Islam, has been accused of homophobia, anti-Semitism, sexism, and criticised, not least by the then President Bill Clinton.

"One million men are right to be standing up for personal responsibility, but one million men do not make right one man's message of malice and division," Mr Clinton famously remarked.

Although the military disciplines of the Nation of Islam played a prominent role, the vast majority of marchers were not disciples of Minister Farrakhan, but were sympathetic to his message of atonement and personal responsibility.

It was a message that resulted in a pledge made by thousands: "I pledge that from this day forward, I will never raise my hand with a knife or a gun."

These days Fred Wardlaw is teaching his own son personal responsibility.

He was a soldier serving in Texas at the time - one of those who made a long physical and spiritual journey to the nation's capital.

'Wasted opportunity'

He told the BBC: "That day means everything to me. It's monumental.

"I've got it recorded in my heart and recorded for my archives. In my heart and spirit it'll be there forever."

Fred says it changed his life. He left the army and ditched his plans to aim for sporting success. Instead, he came to Washington to study. Now he's a systems analyst at a big legal publishing company.

We have more people in America living in poverty in 2005 than we had in 1995, so - in one sense - we have more reasons to march today than we did 10 years ago Benjamin Chavis 1995 march organiser

"Black men continuing their education - I took it to heart. Black men taking care of their kids - which you shouldn't have a march to do - I took it to heart.

"It focused me on economics and being an entrepreneur. 1995 and the Million Man March were the seed for that. "

But Michael Fauntroy is one of the marchers who believe that the seed should have been better cultivated.

Black adoption and black voter participation both briefly rose in the wake of the march. He says the organisers should have done more to make those changes permanent.

"They took the march as an event when actually that event should have spurred some organisational activity to take place indefinitely and I never saw that happen."

Asked if he sees it as a wasted opportunity, Mr Fauntroy replies: "To a large extent, yes."

Even one of those who organised the march - Dr Benjamin Chavis - tacitly agrees that the tangible results were less than impressive.

"We have more people in America living in poverty in 2005 than we had in 1995, so - in one sense - we have more reasons to march today than we did 10 years ago."

Now Dr Chavis is one of the organisers of the Millions More Movement. It's more overtly political than last time round - calling for economic justice.

It's also more diverse - including women and other ethnic minorities.

With Hurricane Katrina there is now a rallying point for those talking about the racial divide in America.

Dr Chavis hopes the numbers will be similar, but the momentum will be different.

"Ten years ago it wasn't envisioned that we would stay today. This time, this movement that's been built must stay together. That will be the litmus test.

"Not just how many come, what will happen a day after, a month after a year after. Will we be together? That will measure our effectiveness."

Story from BBC NEWS Published: 2005/10/13 21:18:52 GMT © BBC MMV

Politics of Dancing 2 - Paul Van Dyk

2005-10-13T13:34:00.000-04:00

The Politics of Dancing From Out in Columbus, by Jay Rickard Thursday, October 13, 2005

Acquired tastes exist in the music world just as they do at the dinner table. Some are never turned on by brussels sprouts and some never reach the Big “O” with trance music. Regardless of one’s personal preferences, Paul Van Dyk evidently knows what he’s doing. His global following is clearly rabid, even if some of us just can’t figure out why. Politics of Dancing 2 is a 2-disc follow up to Van Dyk’s 2001 release Politics of Dancing. The first disc is a slower, slightly more melodic if not more introspective collection. Disc two is a continuation of what Van Dyk’s fans have come to love about his work: its fast and dance-worthy sound. Nearly as much humanitarian as he is a member of the music industry, Paul Van Dyk seems to remember his humble beginnings in communist East Berlin and makes every effort to give to the world what he lacked as a child. Influenced in his formative years by the works of New Order and The Smiths, his first mixes were played publicly at a Berlin club called Tresor. Since then he has won many awards for his music and been very politically active. His work has historically been driven by his political and social views. For the 2004 Rock The Vote campaign he joined the likes of Bono, Mary J. Blige, Lenny Kravitz and The Black Eyed Peas in an effort to encourage the youth of our country to vote. He was the first electronic artist to have done so. So, with international acclaim and the awards to back it up, Van Dyk seems to have made his mark in the history of recorded sound. Regardless of what your tastes might be, some beats march on without consent and enjoy an immense following in the process. With regular global gigs in the likes of Tel Aviv, Singapore, Mexico and New York, his own label Vandit, and his weekly radio show Soundgarden on Fritz radio, Paul Van Dyk has gathered his momentum and will continue pumping his music through the speakers of the world. And evidently a lot of people are listening.

Today is the last day to register to vote for Nov. elections

2005-10-11T13:27:00.000-04:00

Ohio Residents: Today (Oct. 11th) is the last day you can register and be eligible to vote in next month's elections.

Here's where you can go to register today:

Any county board of elections or the Secretary of State's office
Branch registration offices or locations established by a board of elections
Any public high school or vocational school
Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles
Offices of designated agencies that provide public assistance or disability programs
You may request a registration form from a board of elections or the Secretary of State's office by mail, e-mail, telephone, in person or by having another person obtain it for you. After completing the form, return it to your local board of elections or the Secretary of State's office. Mailed registration forms must be sent to a county board of elections or the Secretary of State's office and must be postmarked 30 days before an election to be valid for that election. **Must be post-marked for today though!!
Public libraries
County treasurers' offices

Here's all the information on the candidates running

Here's info for the issues on the ballot (Issues 1-5 are Ohio Constitutional Amendments)

Other Resources: Franklin County Board of Elections website Ohio Secretary of State website (buy rare coins online! j/k)

Whole generation lost in quake

2005-10-10T11:30:00.000-04:00

Pakistan's military spokesman has said an entire generation of young people has been wiped out in the areas worst hit by a massive earthquake.

Maj Gen Shaukat Sultan, quoted by the AFP news agency, said children had been the biggest casualties. Many were killed when schools collapsed.

At least 20,000 people are thought to have been killed in Pakistan, with some reports suggesting the toll may double.

Many areas hit by the quake are only just being reached by aid workers.

A road has been re-opened into Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir where 11,000 are thought to have died, allowing trucks to deliver food and medical supplies.

The BBC's Aamer Ahmed Khan in Muzaffarabad says two international rescue teams pulled out a 12-year-old boy alive on Monday morning, two days after he was buried by rubble.

But people are becoming more and more desperate in the city, he says, with supply trucks mobbed and reports of looting at damaged shops and homes.

The rescue effort has been slowed by landslides which have wiped out roads and bridges, and a lack of helicopters to ferry in vital heavy lifting equipment.

Correspondents say anger is mounting in communities where significant outside help has yet to arrive, amid fears time is running out to find survivors.

Many of the victims were schoolchildren, who had just begun classes when school buildings collapsed on top of them.

Children made up half the population of the affected area and were particularly vulnerable, the UN children's agency Unicef has said.

WORST-HIT AREAS

Pakistani-run Kashmir: At least 17,000 dead

Pakistan's North-West Frontier province: At least 1,600 dead

Islamabad: At least 25 dead

Indian-run Kashmir: At least 600 dead

The BBC's Andrew North in Balakot, where two schools collapsed, says relatives have been frantically digging with bare hands for the several hundred children trapped inside but hopes are fading.

The long-awaited arrival of Pakistani soldiers with heavy lifting equipment on Monday means the search can finally be stepped up, our correspondent says.

Military spokesman Maj Gen Shaukat told AFP: "It is a whole generation that has been lost in the worst affected areas. The maximum number affected was schoolchildren.

"Rescuers are pulling out dead children in Muzaffarabad but there is no-one to claim the bodies which shows their parents are dead."

With some towns and villages completely flattened, President Pervez Musharraf told the BBC that Pakistan needed "massive cargo helicopter support" and aid supplies from the international community.

The US immediately came forward to offer eight military helicopters from its force in Afghanistan.

Many other countries across the world have offered financial help and practical support.

Gen Musharraf said the military had been mobilised but because roads in remote mountainous regions had been blocked or swept away in landslides, there was severe pressure on Pakistan's "limited" transport and helicopter resources.

"Other than that, we of course need relief goods in the form of tents and blankets and medicines," he said.

Officials in Indian-administered Kashmir said the death toll had risen to at least 750, with the bodies of 300 people found in one town alone.

HOW TO DONATE

Unicef

World Food Programme

Kashmir International Relief Fund

Red Cross/ Red Crescent

Thousands in the region fled their homes on Sunday night after warnings of a further earthquake were broadcast from mosques.

Indian ruling Congress Party chief Sonia Gandhi toured the town of Uri, near the Line of Control dividing Pakistani and Indian-controlled Kashmir, and promised government help.

But angry residents in towns nearby said they had received no assistance.

UN emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland echoed the appeal for swift help. "We know that every hour counts in an earthquake of this magnitude," he said.

He spoke as tens of thousands of survivors spent a second night in the cold without shelter.

The earthquake, which hit at 0350GMT on Saturday, is thought to have been the strongest the region has seen in a century.

Story from BBC NEWS Published: 2005/10/10 10:23:25 GMT © BBC MMV

Bush God comments 'not literal'

2005-10-07T14:54:00.000-04:00

A Palestinian official who said the US president had claimed God told him to invade Iraq and Afghanistan says he did not take George Bush's words literally.

Nabil Shaath said he and other world leaders at a Jordan summit two years ago did not believe Mr Bush thought God had given him a personal message.

Mr Bush's spokesman said the original allegation, which will appear in a BBC documentary next week, was absurd.

Scott McClellan said the comments had never been made.

The comments were attributed to Mr Bush by Mr Shaath, a Palestinian negotiator, in the upcoming TV series Elusive Peace: Israel and the Arabs.

Mr Shaath said that in a 2003 meeting with Mr Bush, the US president said he was "driven with a mission from God".

"God would tell me, George, go and fight those terrorists in Afghanistan. And I did, and then God would tell me, George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq... And I did." "And now, again, I feel God's words coming to me, Go get the Palestinians their state and get the Israelis their security, and get peace in the Middle East. And by God I'm gonna do it."

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, who attended the meeting in June 2003 too, also appears on the documentary series to recount how Mr Bush told him: "I have a moral and religious obligation. So I will get you a Palestinian state."

'Strong faith'

But in an interview for the BBC Arabic service on Friday, he said the president - who had just announced an end to hostilities in Iraq, was merely expressing his heartfelt commitment to peace in the Middle East.

"President Bush said that God guided him in what he should do, and this guidance led him to go to Afghanistan to rid it of terrorism after 9/11 and led him to Iraq to fight tyranny," he said.

"We understood that he was illustrating [in his comments] his strong faith and his belief that this is what God wanted."

The TV series charts recent attempts to bring peace to the Middle East, from former US President Bill Clinton's peace talks in 1999-2000 to Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip this year.

It seeks to uncover what happened behind closed doors by speaking to presidents and prime ministers, along with their generals and ministers.

The BBC Two series, Israel and the Arabs: Elusive Peace will be broadcast on Mondays from 10 October at 2100 BST.

Story from BBC NEWS Published: 2005/10/07 18:09:54 GMT © BBC MMV

Blackout shows Net's fragility

2005-10-07T14:43:00.000-04:00

By John Borland - CNET Story last modified Thu Oct 06 14:15:00 PDT 2005

Since early Wednesday, Phil Bradham, the network engineer at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, has been cut off from the parts of the Internet he needs the most.

He can't reach his Web hosting company to update his site. Critical e-mails aren't going through, and some aren't reaching him. He can't get to some important sites on the Net, such as the popular Wikipedia encyclopedia.

The source of Bradham's difficulties is a feud between two big backbone Internet companies--the long-haul networks that most consumers and even most businesses ordinarily have little to do with. One of these companies, Level 3 Communications, has cut off direct communications with rival Cogent Communications, causing many of each company's customers to lose access to potentially significant swatches of the Net.

"We've been working with both (companies), but neither one will do anything until the other one budges," said Bradham. "It's very frustrating that two top companies would try to resolve this with a standoff like this."

In theory, this kind of blackout is precisely the kind of problem the Internet was designed to withstand. The complicated, interlocking nature of networks means that data traffic is supposed to be able to find an alternate route to its destination, even if a critical link is broken.

In practice, obscure contract disputes between the big network companies can make all these redundancies moot.

At issue is a type of network connection called "peering." Most of the biggest network companies, such as AT&T, Sprint and MCI, as well as companies including Cogent and Level 3, strike "peering agreements" in which they agree to establish direct connections between their networks.

That means that when a Cogent customer wants to visit a Web site hosted by Level 3, the data can take a short, fast path, instead of winding its way around the broader Internet.

Typically, peering agreements are made without any money changing hands, since each company expects to hand off a roughly comparable amount of traffic. Smaller network companies buy what are called "transit" agreements with larger companies, in order to hand off their customers' traffic to the big networks.

Peering gone wrong

These collegial peering relationships among big companies allow traffic to flow efficiently across the Net without most customers knowing anything about the under-the-hood relationships. But when these relationships go sour, the feuding parties' lack of flexibility can result in blackouts like the one that occurred this week.

In this case, Level 3 says that it believes it is substantially larger than its rival, and told Cogent as long as 90 days ago that it was planning to sever the direct connection between the two networks. The connection could be re-established if Cogent were to pay Level 3 access fees for use of its network, the company says.

For its part, Cogent contends that it is similar in size to Level 3, and that it makes no sense to pay for the kind of peering relationship that it maintains with many other companies. Cogent is offering any Level 3 user who can't get to Cogent sites free Internet service for a year, in an attempt to attract its rival's customers.

"Our goal is to have this problem go away, whether through Level 3 reconsidering, or their customers coming to us," said Dave Schaeffer, chief executive officer of Cogent.

As of mid-Tuesday, both sides said they were committed to their position, showing no willingness to budge, despite complaints from customers on both sides around the Net that they can't reach Web sites or can't send e-mail to some addresses or receive it from others. This means that there is no immediate fix ahead, unless customers (or their ISPs) find an alternative or auxiliary network provider.

The scale of the problem

It's impossible to say precisely how many people are affected. Many customers of the two companies, and customers of the ISPs

that use one of the networks, buy connections from several providers simultaneously to avoid outages of this kind.

However, many businesses, individuals and even some ISPs have so-called single-homed network connections, which means they depend on a single provider to reach the Internet. (Think of this as a town with a single road leading in and out, instead of several different highways.)

These single-connection customers are the ones hardest hit by Level 3's decision. Because Level 3 and Cogent each uses direct connections to other networks to exchange traffic--rather than paying a third party to provide redundant or backup transmission service--there is no alternate route for data from one network to reach the other.

The result: blackouts such as those Bradham and other customers are seeing.

According to Cogent, between 5 percent and 10 percent of its customers were affected. Level 3 did not provide an estimate. Because some of those customers could be ISPs with thousands or hundreds of thousands of their own customers, the number of people affected could range into the millions.

CNET News.com readers have reported problems with businesses and home connections, however.

William Steele, a senior network engineer for Syncro Services, said his company noticed one such problem Wednesday morning.

"There are some people I can't send an e-mail to," Steele said. "At home I have Road Runner as an ISP, and wasn't even able to remotely connect in order to manage our servers."

A spokesman for Time Warner Cable confirmed that many of the company's Road Runner cable modem customers would be affected.

"That means some sites they might normally visit are not available to them right now," the company said in a statement. "We are working to find alternate pathways so our customers can be reconnected with these Web sites as soon as possible."

In the past, network outages stemming from this kind of private contract dispute have prompted some to call for regulatory oversight, or at least legal action.

In 2001, a similar contract dispute led Cable & Wireless to cut off its connection to PSINet, one of the oldest Net backbone companies. After outcries by customers, the connection was restored several days later, however.

Even Cogent says it prefers to handle this kind of problem without government getting involved.

"We don't think there should be any involvement in terms of regulatory oversight," Cogent spokesman Jeff Henriksen said. "These are individual contracts based on specific needs of individual providers."

As the outage stretches on, however, it highlights fragility in what seems like a deeply interconnected Net. Many people remain unaware of the problem, and it can be expensive for users to address it.

"I have been pushing for years to have a redundant ISP for our traffic," Bradham said. "But we're a nonprofit. We don't have the money available to do that."

Ohh, there it is...

2005-10-05T12:30:00.000-04:00

A new track to follow: Katrina/Rita money

From Palm Beach Post - Sept. 30th, 2005

Hurricane victims keeled over in the Houston heat Wednesday while FEMA, once again caught off-guard, kept them waiting in line. It's so much cooler to be a Bush administration insider who can shove to the front of the line for the $200 billion Congress may provide in disaster aid.

As in Iraq, Halliburton -- which Vice President Cheney once ran -- is one of the most aggressive. The Washington Post reports that Halliburton, which already is benefiting from a $500 million contract to remove debris, sponsored a Katrina Reconstruction Summit hosted by Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., to explore "opportunities for private-sector involvement."

Iraq is a model -- but of what not to do. There, Halliburton is accused of rampant overbilling and of poor work on such crucial projects as restoring Iraq's oil industry, for which the company has received more than $10 billion as part of a five-year, no-bid contract. Oversight of U.S. spending in Iraq has been dismal to nonexistent. Billions of dollars are unaccounted for.

The Bush administration might be incapable of doing things any other way. The New York Times reported that 80 percent of the first $1.5 billion in aid after Hurricane Katrina was awarded with little or no competition. AshBritt, a Pompano Beach company, got a $568 million debris removal contract. AshBritt is a client of the lobbying firm for which Haley Barbour, Mississippi's governor and a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, used to work.

The Bush administration swears that it will carefully audit spending. But it's as well prepared to do that as FEMA was to provide timely hurricane relief. In the emergency bill to provide the first $60 billion in hurricane aid, Congress expanded the administration's ability to award no-bid contracts. That came at the request of the administration's chief procurement official, David Safavian. Mr. Safavian since has resigned after being indicted for lying to investigators about his ties to also-indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, a great friend of also-indicted Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas.

Mr. Safavian got his job overseeing $300 billion in annual government spending because of his ties to Mr. Abramoff and anti-tax Bush ally Grover Norquist. According to Time magazine, experts consider Mr. Safavian one of the least qualified procurement officials ever appointed. That makes him at least as qualified as former FEMA Director Michael Brown.

While profit motivates many pursuing easy Katrina and Rita money, ideology motivates others. As The Post reported Wednesday, the administration is pushing a plan to spend $488 million for private-school vouchers. The plan should alarm anyone familiar with Florida's voucher programs, which dole out $140 million a year with little academic or financial accountability.

After 9/11, the Bush administration and Homeland Security Department rushed to spend money on equipment and programs that boosted contractors' bottom lines more than they boosted national security. Those profiting in Iraq have faced even less scrutiny. Until Congress starts watching the money, hurricane victims will keep feeling the heat while well-connected profiteers have it made in the shade.

New Orleans Sacks 3,000 Workers (where's all that "federal aid" $ going?)

2005-10-05T12:24:00.000-04:00

The US city of New Orleans is sacking 3,000 workers, about half of its workforce, after the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina.

Mayor Ray Nagin said he wished he could keep the employees on the payroll, but added that the city was not earning enough revenue.

The sacked employees would be laid off in the next two weeks, Mr Nagin said.

Meanwhile, officials have ended the door-to-door search for victims of the hurricane in the state of Louisiana.

The death toll in the state stood at 972 - substantially smaller than the 10,000 victims some feared.

The number of dead in Mississippi remained at 221, according to the authorities in the state.

Louisiana officials said more searches would be conducted by a private company hired by the state, if someone reported seeing a body.

'Pretty permanent'

Mr Nagin said it was "with great sadness" that New Orleans was "unable to hold on to some of our dedicated city workers".

The city had "searched high and low" for the funds and had asked for help from the state and federal governments, he said.

"We've talked to local banks and other financial institutions, and we are just not able to put together the financing necessary to continue to maintain our city hall staffing at its current levels," he said.

The mayor described the dismissals as "pretty permanent".

Those workers not contacted to return to work should consider themselves part of the layoff, an official statement said.

Only non-essential employees would leave and no firefighters or police would be among those let go, Mr Nagin added.

Thousands of people have returned to the city in recent days, after the parts least affected by flooding from Katrina re-opened.

Schoolchildren went back to classes on Monday.

Some businesses have also re-opened and power supplies are partially working - but only a few parts of the city have drinking water.

The mayor has established a commission to draft a rebuilding plan for New Orleans and has asked for tax breaks to help to revive the city.

Story from BBC NEWS Published: 2005/10/05 07:34:17 GMT

Did Bush administration attack peace movement with military grade biological bacteria?

2005-10-04T16:15:00.000-04:00

By Bob Fitrakis - Columbus Free Press October 4, 2005 What do we make of the Saturday, October 1 Washington Post headline “Poison Found in Air During Anti-War Protest”? Washington D.C. Public Health Director Greg A. Pane posed the right question in the Post article, “Why that day? That’s what is not explained.” Pane pointed that it was “just this 24-hour period and none since.” The Post noted that Pane found “. . . it was puzzling that the finding was from a day when the mall was packed with people.” Puzzling? Indeed. Biohazard sensors detected tularemia bacteria at the mall on Saturday, September 24. Equally puzzling was an earlier Post report: “Weekend protesters hit travel snags.” The article reported that Amtrak trains from New York City were turned back, cancelled or delayed from heading to the nation’s capitol for the biggest peace demonstration since the Vietnam War era. Also, Metro subway cars coming into the capitol were disrupted by repairs. Federal officials are still pondering the death of five people on U.S. soil and scores of others who were infected with U.S. military-grade anthrax in the fall of 2001. The wholly implausible “working hypothesis” put forward by Pane is that the bacteria found in rodents, rabbits and other small animals just happened to occur on the same day the trains failed to run on time and more than quarter of a million people assembled to directly challenge the Bush regime’s illegal war in Iraq. Coincidence theorists. You gotta love ‘em and their great faith in believing in the statistically improbable occurrence of events, rather than an alternative hypothesis: that friends of Bush (FOBs) planted the tularemia bacteria, just as they most likely sent anthrax to Democratic senators and the media. Tularemia is one of six major bacterial bioterrorism agents, according to the Sherlock Bioterrorism Library serving the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Ft. Detrick, Maryland. The BBC notes that tularemia is “one of the most infectious germs known to science,” and that it “takes just 10 microbes to bring on disease in humans.” Tularemia emerged as a “plague-like disease” during a 1911 outbreak of “rabbit fever” in Tulare Lake in California. The disease progresses rapidly in humans with patients suffering from headache, fatigue, dizziness, muscle pains, loss of appetite and nausea. The disease progresses to inflamed and reddened face and eyes. The disease next attacks lymph nodes and glands, often with life-threatening complications. Fortunately, tularemia is relatively rare in nature. According to the Illinois Department of Public Health there are generally five or fewer cases that occur each year naturally. The Kansas City Missouri Health Department tells us that most cases that occur naturally are found in “south, central and western states,” not Washington D.C. Unfortunately, tularemia has been long used as a military biological weapon. We should consider the presence of tularemia a shot across the bow to the peace movement from an administration willing to cheat, steal, torture, lie and kill to further its political agenda. Karl Rove, the president’s brain, brags of his worship of Machiavelli and will do anything to keep his Texas prince in power. This history of tularemia suggests it is a long-standing weapon used by fascists, militarists and authoritarians. Japanese germ warfare research units operating in Manchuria between 1932-45 admit to possessing the tularemia bacteria. The Sunshine Project reported in May 2003 that the German Ministry of Defense “remains engaged in a controversial biodefense research project involving tularemia bacteria that has been genetically engineered to withstand antibiotic treatment.” Both the United States and the Soviet Union possessed the military strain Francisella tularensis during the Cold War. Dr. Kenneth Alibek (formerly known as Kanatjan Alibekov) the number two man in the former Soviet Union’s biochemical operations describes in great detail in his book “Biohazard” how the Soviets deployed Francisella tularensis against the Nazis in the Battle of Stalingrad. In another one of those bizarre coincidences, Ken Alibek was also involved in the U.S. anthrax project run by the nonprofit Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, Ohio. Considered the DIA’s and the CIA’s favorite nonprofit contractor, Battelle has been involved, according to the New York Times and the Columbus Dispatch, with manufacturing the infamous trillion spores per gram Ames (as in Iowa) silica-impregnated anthrax. Officially, the work is done for “defensive” purposes in order to produce a vaccine. Battelle was in partnership with BioPort of Lansing, Michigan in officially producing the anthrax vaccine for the United States. The New York Times reported in 1998 that BioPort’s owners included Admiral William Crowe, Jr., a former chair of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff and Ambassador to Britain during the Clinton years. One of Crowe’s partners is the mysterious Fuad El-Hibri, a German citizen of Lebanese descent and a reported business associate of the bin Laden family. BioPort is partly owned by a top-secret British biowarfare consortium Porton International. Laura Rozen pointed out in a salon.com article that El-Hibri, then BioPort’s CEO, “made a fortune” for Porton International from its monopoly on the anthrax vaccine during the first Gulf War. The New York Times reported that the CIA ran a top secret anthrax project through Battelle code-named “Clear Vision.” There was also another anthrax project at Battelle’s central Ohio West Jefferson labs called “Project Jefferson.” Alibek has been listed as both a classified consultant with the CIA and Battelle. A 1998 New Yorker article outlines the joint work of Alibek and William C. Patrick, III. Patrick wrote a report on the potential of sending anthrax through the mail. Unless federal officials are willing to think the unthinkable, but obvious, and have the tularemia samples independently tested, we’ll never know whether a deliberate attack occurred against peaceful U.S. citizens exercising their First Amendment rights, or some freakish and bizarre coincidence occurred. In another coincidence, it was the Battelle Memorial Institute that “botched” the exit polls in the 2002 election that would have served as protection against the unexplainable defeat of Senator Max Cleland of Georgia who was up 9-12 points in the tracking polls just prior to Election Day. The Free Press calls for an independent investigation of the tularemia bacteria found on the mall on September 24, not to be conducted by any federal officials in the Bush administration or Battelle. With Minister Louis Farrakhan calling for a Million More March on Washington for October 14-16, it is more important now than ever.

Bush Nominates Loyal Advisor (who's never been a judge) for Supreme Court

2005-10-03T13:15:00.000-04:00

There has been a collective scratching of heads on Capitol Hill at President George Bush's decision to nominate a member of his inner circle with no experience of being a judge to fill the vacancy on the US Supreme Court.

Harriet Miers, 60, is a long-time confidante of the president who is described as a trailblazer for women and who has held a variety of impressive posts.

But politicians from both sides of the political divide are concerned about a candidate with no public profile whose views are unknown on the contentious issues that the court deals with, like abortion and gay rights.

Ms Miers would replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor - the holder of a key swing vote on the bench - and her nomination augurs for a fierce confirmation hearing.

Even less is known about her opinions than those of John Roberts, the new chief justice who skilfully dodged questions over how he would rule on contentious cases when he testified before the Senate earlier this month.

Leading Democrats say they will put pressure on the new nominee to answer questions about her judicial philosophy and legal background before any vote.

But Ms Miers is also something of an unknown quantity to Republican lawmakers.

Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas - a conservative - has said he would vote against a nominee who was not "solid and known" on cultural issues like abortion, same-sex marriage and religion in public life.

'Think outside'

Yet in some ways the president's decision should not be a surprise at all as he has a track record of rewarding the loyalty of his inner circle.

Ms Miers was the president's lawyer in Texas, and he has given her a string of jobs since - from the head of Texas Lottery Commission, to his Deputy Chief of Staff and now White House counsel.

She is a trusted adviser with a reputation for discretion, essential in someone who vets all the papers that come across the president's White House desk.

Mr Bush could have picked a hardcore conservative in an attempt to reach out to core supporters at a time when his national approval ratings are at record lows, and the Republican Party itself is reeling from scandals surrounding two of its leading members.

Yet he appears to have reached out to the middle ground - by picking a woman to replace a woman - and by consulting with Democrats, some of whom suggested her as a potential candidate.

Ms Miers is an unusual Supreme Court nominee in that she is the first for more than 30 years not to have been a judge.

One administration official said some senators from both parties thought it was important for Bush to "think outside the Appeals Court" by picking someone who could offer a different perspective on the job.

Another unusual aspect of Ms Miers nomination is that her office has led the vetting and recommendation of candidates for the Supreme Court vacancy.

Mr Bush reportedly organised a private consultation on Ms Miers suitability for the position and offered her the opportunity over dinner at the White House on Sunday evening.

The president seemed to try to answer any critics by emphasizing Ms Miers' legal successes in what some commentators saw as a defensive announcement of her nomination.

Story By Matthew Davis BBC NEWS Published: 2005/10/03 16:29:39 GMT © BBC MMV

PF 310 Assignment: Virtual Communication Tools by Laura Robeson

2005-10-02T16:57:00.000-04:00

Virtual Communication Tool: Blogging

When starting this assignment, I balked for a moment at the first requirement, “find at least two articles or book chapters...” Before I even realized it I was typing www.technorati.com into my web browser. Then I stopped and asked myself, “wait, is a blog entry considered an article?” Right there is the first example of the ambiguity blogging has. What makes blogging so distinctive and remarkable is the obscure line it has drawn between traditional journalism and its new definition which takes out the middleman. For those unfamiliar with the concept of blogging, the name is derived from the name “weblog” which is essentially just an online journal. Imagine instead of writing in a diary and putting it in your nightstand drawer, you instead type it on your computer and click “Publish” when you're done. Now what you've written has gone out onto the Internet for anyone to find and read. How is this journalism? Let's start by first defining the term. Dictionary.com's sixth definition of journalism is “written material of current interest or wide popular appeal” (Dictionary.com, n.d.). While four of the six definitions include references to specific media, the last one does not. It does not say anything about needing to be published in a newspaper or read on the radio or television to be considered journalism. For those in agreement with this definition, this is where the power of blogging comes in. Perhaps you don't see why anyone would want to read your diary, so here's another example: have you ever written an editorial to the local newspaper? Have you ever been so outraged or so supportive of a cause or issue that you wanted to do anything you could to get the word out? Imagine now you take these thoughts and opinions and write them in your blog. People around the world, using various tools and search engines, one way or another find your blog and read what you've posted. Suddenly, instead of your editorial being thrown out by a newspaper editor and never seen by anyone but yourself, it is now being read by somebody across the country. Maybe they even go so far as to email you about it and express their agreement or disagreement with what you've written. Regardless of the response, the fact is that there is now a connection formed between two people from this blog entry you've created. Another avenue of communication has been opened. In terms of financial implications, with free hosting sites such as Blogger and Live Journal, the cost is very minimal, if there is any at all. All that is required of the person who wants to start blogging is that they create/register an account with the service of their choice. There can be costs incurred if they choose to upgrade their account and add some customization or bells-and-whistles, but this is definitely not mandatory. There is also little technical know-how required to produce a professional-looking blog. With copy-and-paste skills and advanced editors it's all WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) so if you can use Microsoft Word, you can produce a blog entry. Andrew Sullivan, a writer for Wired Magazine, says blogging is “poised between media, blogs can be as nuanced and well-sourced as traditional journalism, but they have the immediacy of talk radio” (Sullivan, 2002). Basically, a blog means instant publication with no middleman. For virtual communication this is as powerful as the bulletin board we've all come to know and use for projects, both academically and professionally. For academic value, a blog could be used by a professor to post resources for students, or to post important announcements. Or it could be used by students in a group project as a place to collectively post research they've done and information they've gathered. Both professionally and relating to this course, a virtual meeting has a few key phases such as planning, discussing, sharing ideas, and addressing questions. A blog could primarily help with sharing ideas/resources and addressing issues and concerns. Though these functions could also be done using other tools, and in some ways a blog is very similar to a bulletin board, it is always good to have a choice in communication tools. One aspect that sets a blog apart from a traditional bulletin board is its more dynamic environment. It's considered dynamic in that its attributes parallel those of a traditional web site. A blog can have your content along with a sidebar of related sites and blogs. It is these hyperlinks that make it dynamic, which is the driving force behind the power of the Internet. Another big advantage comes in the research phase of a project. With the advanced searching technology now available, a person doing research could just as easily find blog entries through Technorati as they could find websites through searching Google. Dave Winer is a computer programmer who creates weblogging tools (Farhad, 2002). He thinks that employees who work together on projects “would benefit from a log instead of e-mail, because it's searchable and collaborative, allowing people to narrate (their) work" (Farhad, 2002). Another real-life example: if, after a conference call, somebody in the group was unclear about a certain aspect of the project, a fellow group member could post a helpful article to the blog and direct them to read it. Or the transcript from the conference call could be posted. Any material desired can be collectively housed on a blog whether it is text, links, pictures, or comments. This is what makes a blog so powerful and sure to be adapted as a virtual communication tool as common as e-mail.

References

Dictionary.com. (n.d.). Retrieved October 1, 2005, from http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=journalism Manjoo, Farhad. (2002). Blah, blah, blah and blog [electronic version]. Wired. Retrieved October 1, 2005, from http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,50443,00.html Sullivan, A., (2002). The blogging revolution [electronic version]. Wired. Retrieved October 1, 2005, from http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.05/mustread.html?pg=2

Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards of 2005

2005-10-02T14:16:00.000-04:00

Time to act on the lessons learned. Urge your U.S. representative to support House Resolution 3858, the "Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards of 2005." The bill—which would require local and state emergency preparedness authorities to include in their evacuation plans details on how they will accommodate companion animals—has been assigned to the Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure.

You can register your support of H.R. 3858 with this committee's members by calling 202-225-9446.

[Text, Status, and CoSponsors for HR 3858] [CNN article on this legislation]

Prominent Republican says nation's crime rate could potentially be reduced through aborting blacks

2005-09-30T19:50:00.000-04:00

William J. Bennett, the former Republican secretary of education, said that the nation's crime rate could potentially be reduced through aborting blacks. WASHINGTON, Sept. 29 - The White House distanced itself today from the comments of a prominent Republican who said on a recent radio program that the nation's crime rate could potentially be reduced through aborting blacks.

The White House called the comments, made by William J. Bennett, the former Republican secretary of education, off base. The White House spokesman, Scott McClellan, said that President George W. Bush "believes the comments were not appropriate."

Mr. Bennett has said the remarks were taken out of context, noting that he immediately said such abortions would be "reprehensible."

Mr. Bennett, who served as drug czar for the president's father, came under fire from Democratic Congressional leaders on Thursday for the comments, which were made on a his radio show, "Bill Bennett's Morning in America," earlier this week.

"I do know that it's true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could, if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down," Mr. Bennettsaid in the broadcast. "That would be an impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down. So these far-out, these far-reaching, extensive extrapolations are, I think, tricky."

In a radio broadcast on Thursday, Mr. Bennett called the criticism of him "ridiculous, stupid, totally without merit."

"I was pointing out that abortion should not be opposed for economic reasons, any more than racism or for that matter slavery or segregation should be supported or opposed for economic reasons," he said. "Immoral policies are wrong because they are wrong, not because of an economic calculation. One could just as easily have said you could abort all children and prevent all crime, to show the absurdity of the proposition."

Mr. Bennett, who was the secretary of education in the Reagan administration and is the author of a best-selling book on morality, said he was referring to a debate in the online magazine Slate that had discussed race in the context of an argument about whether abortions contributed to lowering the crime rate. That debate, involving Steven D. Levitt, an author of the best-seller "Freakonomics," apparently appeared in Slate six years ago.

In an interview with Fox News, Mr. Bennett said critics had distorted his comments by omitting his statement that aborting all black babies would be "morally reprehensible."

"When that is included in the quote, it makes it perfectly clear what my position is," Mr. Bennett said, "They make it seem as if I am supporting such a monstrous idea, which I don't."

The Democratic Congressional leaders, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada and Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, both sought to put the remarks in the context of a Republican effort to court African-American voters. Mr. Reid said Mr. Bennett's comments would "feed the fires of racism," and Ms. Pelosi called them "shameful words."

David D. Kirkpatrick reported from Washington for this article and Marek Fuchs from New York.

By David D. Kirkpatrick and Marek Fuchs Published: September 30, 2005

ColorOfChange.org has created a petition calling on his distributor, Salem Radio Network, to stand against racism and pull his show if he keeps refusing to apologize. http://colorofchange.org/bennett As the folks at ColorOfChange.org say, Bill Bennett has a First Amendment right to think and say whatever he wants. The government should not interfere. But no radio distributor or radio station is legally obligated to broadcast his views, especially when they demean an entire race. In fact, they should feel a moral obligation to stop broadcasting them. Black folks have suffered and died because of racist assumptions like the ones underlying Bennett's comments. And it's race-based generalizations like Bennett's that have laid the groundwork for the Holocaust in Nazi Germany, the genocide in Rwanda, and the genocide currently unfolding in the Sudan. In the United States, free speech is a right. But a national radio show is a privilege. And until he apologizes, Bill Bennett has no place on our public airwaves.

Indian police shoot 12 protesters

2005-09-30T18:01:00.000-04:00

By Subir Bhaumik BBC News, Calcutta

Indian police say they have shot dead 12 protesters during student demonstrations in the north-eastern state of Meghalaya.

Police say they opened fire when students attacked them with stones, injuring some officers.

Protest leaders say the police opened fire without provocation.

Students from the Garo tribe have been staging protests against planned educational reforms that have created divisions with the Khasi tribe.

The protests took place in the towns of Tura, in West Garo Hills, and Williamnagar, in East Garo Hills.

An indefinite curfew has been imposed in both places, Meghalaya's Home Minister, Mukul Sangma, told the BBC.

He said the army had now been called in to the two Garo Hills districts to try to control the violence.

Police had earlier said only six people had died.

The deputy inspector general of the Garo Hills range, Vijay Kumar, told the BBC from Tura that the Garo Students Union (GSU) was not given permission to hold a rally.

Despite that, he said hundreds of people gathered in Tura for the rally.

When the police arrived, the crowd threw stones injuring some policemen, he said.

The police and paramilitary soldiers then opened fire in retaliation, Mr Kumar said. He said seven people had died in Williamnagar and five in Tura.

Overstone Marak, convenor of the Garo Citizens' Committee, the organisation jointly leading the protest campaign in Meghalaya, said: "Police opened fire on the agitators without any provocation and without resorting to baton charging first - which is the normal practice."

The GSU began a campaign of protests earlier this month against the state government's proposed educational reforms.

The government has asked the student body to end its protest actions before it negotiates over the reforms.

Story from BBC NEWS Published: 2005/09/30 17:03:25 GMT © BBC MMV

Call Him Out.

2005-09-30T12:38:00.000-04:00

George W. Bush —true to form— is already backing away from the promises he made to the poorest victims of Katrina. Two weeks ago, he swore to do more to protect the most vulnerable. He pledged to "confront this poverty with bold action."

Great words. But now he and his Republican friends in Congress want to pay for rebuilding the Gulf Coast by cutting a trillion dollars from vital programs, half of which benefit those who have the least. A handful of Republican extremists even blocked a bi-partisan effort to provide emergency health insurance for folks displaced by the hurricane.

Where is Bush in the face of these attacks? Standing by silently.

Bush can't have it both ways. It's time to call him out.

Please join me in signing this letter to Bush demanding that he refuse to cut the safety net for the needy to pay for the Katrina rebuilding.

http://colorofchange.org/callhimout/

If they get enough signatures, ColorOfChange.org will start raising money for some hard-hitting, creative ads that will really put the heat on Bush.

Don't let the GOP hijack Katrina to hurt the poor even more. The government could pay for the entire $200 billion reconstruction effort—and have more than $100 billion to spare—if we just rolledback Bush's tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy.

Sign the letter and let's stand together to make sure those who were left behind are never left behind again.

Pet detective hits New Orleans

2005-09-30T12:17:00.000-04:00

By Verity Murphy - BBC News, New Orleans

On an ordinary day Susan Klages is a police officer in the state of Oregon, but these are far from ordinary days and right now Susan is a pet detective.

Along with other volunteers from America's Humane Society, she is searching the streets of some of New Orleans' most damaged neighbourhoods looking for the many pets and animals abandoned in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

"For the people who have lost everything getting back the pet they thought was lost is such a joy, you can't even imagine how happy those people are when their animals are returned," Susan said.

The Humane Society has more than 300 people out on the roads and floodwaters of Louisiana and Mississippi joining in the hunt.

Packed into their vehicles are water, pet food and feeding bowls, along with cages for both cats and dogs.

"These animals are often very frightened and very hard to catch, so we try to use the food to lure them in," Susan explained. "That works pretty often as they haven't been fed for weeks now."

Pet assessment

In fact, although it is early morning in St Bernard's Parish, Susan and her partner Beryl Bard, from Minnesota, have already managed to bag the first animal of the day.

Sitting in a cat box on the back seat is a pale blonde cat, with blue eyes.

Susan speaks reassuringly to him as he meows in fear, reminding him that he will hopefully soon be back with his owner.

At the end of each day in the field the volunteers transfer all of the animals they have caught to a central facility in Gonzales, just outside New Orleans, where they are assessed and, if necessary, treated by veterinarians.

Then another phalanx of volunteers bathes and feeds them, and gives them a little bit of the TLC that has been absent from their lives since their owners were made to leave them almost a month ago.

Finally the Humane Society then sets about the difficult task of reuniting the animals with their owners.

"We have a telephone hotline and a website where people can report their pets missing," Susan explained. "We get details from them on what kind of animal they have, where they lived, what it looks like and what its name is."

Volunteer effort

Each morning before setting out to their designated search area the teams are given a list detailing what pets they might see where they are heading.

Those details are later used to try to match up any animals they have retrieved with the owners.

The volunteers also try to provide help for the animals they do not manage to catch, leaving food and water dotted around the streets.

But for some pets it is other Katrina victims that make the difference.

Rosemary Phillips stayed in the city throughout the storm and is now part of the clean-up effort.

She recalls how as the other residents fled her neighbourhood of Algiers she met the new love in her life, a little puppy she calls Blondie.

"I was watching the crowds heading down to the ferry to be evacuated and there was this lady being followed by a little dog," Rosemary explained.

"Now this woman didn't like the dog and she kept trying to drive it off and shoo it away, and I thought to myself 'How mean can you be, don't you have a heart at all?'"

"So I told her that she didn't have to worry about that dog anymore, that I would take her with me," Rosemary says.

The Humane Society did offer to take Blondie off Rosemary's hands, but she is adamant that her new friend is staying.

"We sit on the porch together and eat ice and I just love her," she said.

"She is my treasure now."

Story from BBC NEWS Published: 2005/09/30 01:48:32 GMT © BBC MMV

Anti-War Idealism

2005-09-30T12:10:00.000-04:00

Almost 35 years ago, in the fall of 1970 when the United States was stuck in another "quagmire" war, The Capital Times published the following editorial under the headline, "Debra Sweet's act of courage":

"President Nixon heard the real voice of young America Thursday. It came from Debra Sweet,a 19-year-old Madison girl who was in the White House to accept a medal from the president for public service.

"As the president handed her the Young American medal, one of four handed out Thursday by Mr. Nixon, she said softly and unsmilingly, 'I find it hard to believe in your sincerity in giving out the awards until you get us out of Vietnam.'

"She spoke so softly that reporters could barely hear her remarks. The president, according to reports, was taken aback. To those Madisonians who know Miss Sweet, her courage in using her brief moment of glory with the chief executive is in keeping with her character.

"Miss Sweet spoke for all of America: the sore at heart; those overwhelmed with the frustrations of Vietnam, by the endless killing, by the power of the Pentagon, by the violence and futility of the Indochina conflict.

"But that soft, Midwestern accent spoke especially from the heart of young America. More than the adults, the young appear to have a clearer vision of the inexplicable harm the war is wreaking on this nation.

"What a courageous act. What dignity. She has earned the respect of millions of her peers and her elders. Miss Sweet has earned the right to another medal for bravery.

"A devoted member of the Midvale Community Lutheran Church, Miss Sweet is now working on special assignment with the youth action group of the church's Missouri Synod.

" 'She has the idealism of youth,' says her pastor, the Rev. Stanley Klyve. We salute her for this selfless idealism and her dedication to humanity."

Debra Sweet is older now. But she has not lost the idealism of youth.

Several years ago, as the Bush administration was banging the drums of war in Iraq, Sweet helped organize the national "Not in Our Name" movement. With advertisements and rallies - including one in Madison that drew 2,000 people - that movement proclaimed: "President Bush has declared: 'You're either with us or against us.' Here is our answer: We refuse to allow you to speak for all the American people. We will not give up our right to question. We will not hand over our consciences in return for a hollow promise of safety. We say NOT IN OUR NAME. We refuse to be party to these wars and we repudiate any inference that they are being waged in our name or for our welfare."

The Not in Our Name movement helped signal to the world that the Bush administration did not speak for all Americans when the president ordered the invasion of Iraq, just as today's mass demonstrations in Washington, D.C., San Francisco and other cities will signal that tens of millions of Americans oppose the continued occupation of Iraq. There is no question that it is time to begin the process of withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq - both to save American lives and to allow Iraqis to begin the process of setting their own course in a manner that is free of foreign interference.

Unfortunately, one day of demonstrations will not be enough to end this war. So Debra Sweet is working to put more pressure on the president. She's the national coordinator of a new movement to challenge the Bush administration's policies not just on the war but on a broad range of international and domestic issues. The premise of the movement, which is described more fully at its Web site, www.worldcantwait.org, is that Americans need to organize to challenge not just the administration's policies but its legitimacy. It's a bold mission, to be sure. But, of course, Debra Sweet has always been bold when it comes to challenging the wrongdoing of presidents.

Published on Sunday, September 25, 2005 by The Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin)

Triple Iraq bombs 'kill dozens'

2005-09-29T16:29:00.000-04:00

At least 60 people have been killed in three co-ordinated car bombs in a city near Baghdad, Iraqi police say.

Many more have been injured by the near-simultaneous blasts in Balad, 50 miles (80km) north of the capital.

The suicide bombs went off in a busy vegetable market, by a bank and by a police station in the mainly Shia city, Iraqi police said.

The attack came as the commander of US forces in Iraq said the next 75 days were crucial to Iraq's future.

'Enemy of peace'

Testifying before a congressional committee in Washington, General George Casey said if the new Iraqi constitution was rejected in a referendum in two weeks' time, the situation could deteriorate.

Genl Casey said he would not speculate on any withdrawal of US troops from Iraq until after that period.

His colleague, General John Abizaid, told a congressional hearing that al-Qaeda was the main enemy of peace and stability in the Middle East and the threat it posed should not be underestimated.

US soldiers killed

In Iraq, the US military said five US soldiers had died in a roadside bombing in the western town of Ramadi.

The bomb exploded as they conducted combat operations on Wednesday, a statement by the Marines said.

The Sunni town of Ramadi is a stronghold of Iraq's anti-US insurgents, who launch regular attacks against Iraqi and American troops.

Reports say 13 US service personnel have been killed in violence in Iraq in the past five days.

Almost 2,000 American military personnel have died in Iraq since the US-led invasion two-and-a-half years ago.

Story from BBC NEWS Published: 2005/09/29 18:33:10 GMT © BBC MMV

World Bank & IMF have agreed on debt relief for the world's poorest nations

2005-09-29T10:59:00.000-04:00

By Lesley Wroughton Additional reporting by Mike Dolan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - All 184 member countries of the World Bank and IMF have now agreed on debt relief for the world's poorest nations, but need to push for a free-trade pact at a Hong Kong meeting in December to accelerate the fight against poverty, development leaders said on Sunday.

International Monetary Fund and World Bank chiefs said they would move quickly to finalize the agreement to wipe out the debts of 18 countries, most of them African, following a breakthrough in talks at the weekend.

"The path to complete debt relief has now been cleared," said World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz. "We will move swiftly to give the bank's board of directors a paper outlining a compensation schedule and a monitoring system -- a process that can be completed within weeks."

The debt agreement, sealed by the Group of Eight industrial powers in July, was given the nod on Saturday by the rest of the international community after they bridged differences over the financing of the deal.

Faced with the possible collapse of the agreement, the world's industrial powers promised additional money to cover the costs.

Wolfowitz urged global trade ministers to follow this example and complete the Doha trade round in Hong Kong, which has been stalled mainly over differences on farm and services issues.

"The momentum we now have must be maintained heading into the WTO negotiations in Hong Kong," Wolfowitz told a news conference at the end of the semi-annual World Bank and IMF meetings.

"We have agreement on more aid, we have consensus on debt relief -- now let's complete the picture and deliver a true development round on trade."

TRADE BOOST

He said the debt deal and a World Bank action plan for Africa were important steps to reducing poverty on the continent, but that a trade agreement would help.

"A trade agreement in Hong Kong would provide the spur for investment and economic growth that promises a lasting exit from poverty for millions, even billions, of people in developing countries," Wolfowitz said.

South African finance minister Trevor Manuel, who chairs the World Bank's policy-setting development committee, said a briefing by WTO chairman Pascal Lamy on Sunday was "a confirmation of the imperatives of the moment."

"Without going into detail, I think he was asking us to return to our capitals and ensure that we can convince our trade minsters that failure to deliver a deal is simply not acceptable," said Manuel.

There was no place for failure now, he added.

"There is no room for error ... we have to ensure the next few weeks are in fact about the intensification of (the trade) agenda," Manuel said.

Debt campaigners hailed the agreement on debt forgiveness, but said it should be extended to cover more than just the initial 18 countries.

"It's been a long road and it doesn't end here, but it's worth stopping to acknowledge what this means," said Irish rock star and U2 lead singer Bono, who campaigned for the deal.

"This means that the greatest protest movement since anti-apartheid in the 80s and civil rights in the 60s has prevailed with a combination of common sense and relentlessness."

Bernice Romero, director for development group Oxfam, said Wolfowitz must pressure wealthy nations to deliver on their promises to fund the debt deal.

[more info from One.org]

Every Bush Flight is Costly

2005-09-27T14:50:00.000-04:00

President Bush is on his seventh trip to the Gulf Coast since Hurricane Katrina hit a month ago. The visit comes even as he encourages Americans to save gas, and to cut out unnecessary travel. He says federal employees will do the same.

The president's spokesman says this trip is, in fact, essential -- so the president can get a look at recovery efforts.Spokesman Scott McClellan says the president's motorcade of gas-guzzling vans and SUVs is being shortened. But it's hard to make similar savings on Air Force One. The Air Force recently estimated that fuel costs on the presidential aircraft have risen past six-thousand-dollars an hour, up from just under four-thousand in the last budget year. Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Why I Was Smiling by Cindy Sheehan

2005-09-27T13:46:00.000-04:00

From Cindy's Diary Tue Sep 27th, 2005 at 10:42:28 PDT

I had a huge grin on my face when I was getting arrested yesterday. I have received a lot of flak for smiling. Apparently I am not supposed to smile, but I had some really good reasons for doing so.

First of all, I was having fun. I was with a group of good-humored, cheerful, happy people. We were singing old protest songs and old Sunday school songs and clapping. I felt I had to be cheerful to set the tone. We didn't want any trouble or to do anything non-peaceful. Secondly, when I got arrested and the officers lifted me out I was afraid that America would see my underwear and that tickled me.

There is another and more important reason that I was smiling. I had not genuinely smiled since Casey was killed in Iraq. I thought my hope was buried along with my son and I was in a pit of hopeless despair. Camp Casey gave me back my hope because America came out in huge numbers to support us and they raised their voices with ours in unison to take our country back and to hold this administration accountable for the lies and mistakes that are killing tens of thousands of innocent people. There were hundreds of thousands of regular Americans who came out to protest the war and Bush's policies this past Saturday. Hundreds of faithful Americans turned out for our interfaith religious service Sunday night next to the Washington Monument. The so-called religious right doesn't have a monopoly on God. I am so pleased that the people of America are becoming active participants in Democracy and America is ready to put their money where their collective mouths are: to bring our troops home and hold BushCo accountable. It is a wonderful thing to be doing something that makes a difference and it is a wonderful and miraculous thing to have my hope back. That is why I am smiling.

Now about Hurricane Rita: I woke up on Saturday morning filled with excitement. I knew that the rally and march were going to be amazing events and I was thrilled to be a part of them. I switched on the TV and turned on CNN and for 2 hours, I watched one of their reporters in front of the same downed tree and it wasn't even raining. I knew that there was a hurricane and it was damaging. At the point of the news cycle though, I thought CNN could be covering other news. 40 soldiers have been killed this month so far in Iraq and countless Iraqis have been killed. The war is still going on and the news has been dominated by hurricanes and the terrible aftermaths. I actually think the mainstream media has been doing a good job of pointing out the dropped balls in the Gulf States. However, CNN and other mainstream news outlets ALWAYS report other news besides the illegal occupation of Iraq.

When we had hundreds of thousands of people turn out for protests all over the nation on March 19th, the 2 nd anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, the Terry Schiavo fiasco was occurring. The Schiavo tragedy was bad for one family and I was in agony for them, but I found it hypocritical that Congress would rush into a special session to save one person's lives when so many were being needlessly killed in Iraq partly because Congress abrogated their Constitutional responsibilities to declare war. I was also disappointed that that tragedy superseded the protest coverage. Wolf Blitzer called our protests: Insignificant.

Saturday was the most important event in peace history in decades. The numbers were underreported and the wonderful energy was unreported by the mainstream media. With the MSM there will always be something more important than covering the atrocity of Iraq: Michael Jackson, Scott Peterson, Terry Schiavo, The Runaway Bride, etc. It is time we hold our media accountable, too. Balanced coverage of all issues and some investigative reporting would be extremely refreshing.

I am sorry for what seemed to be an insensitive remark about the people who were affected by Rita, but that was not my intention. I am very aware that the failed policies of the Bush administration have all put us in the same boat, so to speak, and we need to take responsibility for righting the wrongs here in our country and in Iraq.

I don't think I can be challenged for my analysis of the war and for what I say because it is all the truth and comes from my heart, so I have to be attacked for smiling. I won't apologize for smiling, though, we are making a difference and that is definitely something to smile about!

Ohio to Rally at Statehouse for Gay Community this Saturday, Oct. 1st

2005-09-27T13:31:00.000-04:00

OIA Newswire COLUMBUS, Ohio - From Toledo to Athens, from Cincinnati to Cleveland, and from many other cities and towns across Ohio, people will be traveling to Columbus for Equality Ohio's "Homecoming Rally for Equality," Saturday, Oct. 1, 2005. By joining together on the Statehouse lawn at 3:30 p.m., Ohio's LGBT residents, as well as supportive straight allies, will make a strong statement to elected officials -- and to the entire state -- about the need for equal protections for all people in Ohio. At the rally, local and national leaders will speak about the challenges facing LGBT Ohioans; students will share their experiences in Ohio's high schools and colleges; religious leaders will talk about how the belief in equal rights is a religious value; and families will give their insights into today's debates about marriage and children. "Homecoming is a time when people return to a place where they spent their days in safety and full of hope," said Lynne Bowman, who was recently named executive director of Equality Ohio. "Ohio's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents have had many occasions to lose that hope in recent years, but we stay in Ohio because this is our home." Bowman said the rally is a chance for the community and its friends to let lawmakers as well as the state know that equal rights are a value Ohio should hold high. "Ohio's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents and our friends know that once Ohioans hear our stories they will agree," she said.

For more information on Equality Ohio and the Homecoming Rally for Equality, go to http://www.equalityohio.org

King George!

2005-09-26T18:20:00.000-04:00

here is my awesome dad striking an abu-ghraibesque pose in one of the t-shirts i designed:

Front Text: "King George: Protector of the Saudi Royal Family, Brother of Osama, Killer of Americans" Back Text: 25 Similarities Between Bush and Hitler now here's my shameless plug: you can get a King George shirt for your very own @ www.cafepress.com/saucylady!

Cindy Sheehan and at Least a Dozen Others Arrested in Washington, D.C.

2005-09-26T15:34:00.000-04:00

By Ryan G. Murphy and Emma Vaughn

L.A. Times

WASHINGTON -- Cindy Sheehan, whose protest camp outside President Bush's vacation home in Texas became a focal point of the antiwar movement this summer, was arrested today outside the White House at the head of a civil disobedience campaign intended to dramatize the opposition to the war in Iraq. On the third day of demonstrations that brought tens of thousands of opponents to the war to Washington on Saturday, a much smaller group sat down in front of the executive mansion, after being refused an opportunity to meet with a White House staff member. They sought to present a petition calling for the withdrawal of the U.S. troops in Iraq. At least a dozen were arrested. Before Sheehan, 48, was arrested, she took a picture of her son, Casey, who was killed in an ambush last year in the Sadr City section of Baghdad, from around her neck and tied it with a pink ribbon to the tall, wrought iron fence that surrounds the White House. Earlier in the day, 41 people protesting the war in Iraq were arrested at the Pentagon. Outside the White House, Bill Mitchell, 54, of Atascadero, Calif., said, "We are here to bring an end to this war. No more blood for oil. No more Iraqi and American blood in our children's names. We are here to bring them home." As police moved in on the protesters, the demonstrators sang Amazing Grace, This Little Light of Mine, and other songs. U.S. Park Police spokesman Sgt. Scott R. Fear said, "it's a peaceful demonstration. We are going to take our time arresting them." The demonstrators were given three warnings, after which they were arrested for demonstrating without a permit. "Call my office-tell them I'll be late," said Cheryl Norris, from the back of a police van. She had traveled from Houston, ahead of Hurricane Rita. David Barrow, 58, from Washington, wore an orange jumpsuit and a black hood, evocative of the detainees mistreated at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. "I want this image in the minds of the American people. What our country is doing is practicing torture. We cannot be a part of this torture. It's a disgrace," he said. One man climbed over the fence. Police grabbed him almost as soon as he set foot on he north lawn. On Capitol Hill, meanwhile, other opponents of the war sought to lobby members of Congress to withhold funding for the military operations. "There are two fronts to this antiwar movement-the street action which shows the court of public opinion and the will of the people, and the lobbyists, who are saying 'we recognize that this is the power Congress has, that they hold the purse strings for war,' " said Frances Anderson, a Los Angeles actress and an organizer of Code Pink and Progressive Democrats of America. Mimi Kennedy, an actress who is chairing Progressive Democrats of America, and several others under the banner of Code Pink and United for Peace and Justice, spent the day seeking to argue their case before Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and other Democrats. Feinstein left her office moments before the Kennedy and her group arrived; they met instead with Richard Harper, the senator's legislative aide. "Feinstein wasn't there to hear our concerns, and she could have been. She chose not to because she does not want to hear our concerns," Kennedy said. Howard Gantman, a spokesman for the senator, said the group had not sought a scheduled meeting with Feinstein, who was spending much of the day at a meeting of the Aspen Institute's Middle East Strategy Group, of which she is a co-chair. Tim Goodrich, a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War, and a former senior airman in the Air Force, said, "We want Feinstein to take a stance, instead of staying in the middle or voting with the Republicans." He compared her with Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), whom he praised for "representing her California constituents."

Make levees, not war: September 24th Peace Rally in D.C.

2005-09-26T12:14:00.000-04:00

From Salon.com By Jeff Horwitz

Sept. 25, 2005 | WASHINGTON -- Though Saturday was the first day a permit had been granted for an antiwar march past the White House since the Iraq war began, one could be forgiven for having low expectations for the event.

To begin with, the joint organizers, International ANSWER and United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ), feud so regularly that they had to sign a pact promising not to attack each other until the event was over.

Then there was ANSWER's rejection of message control -- its leadership demanded that each of its component organizations be allowed to protest issues besides the war. Starting at 9 a.m., therefore, the Palestinian boosters took over Farragut Square with their own signs and chants, while bands of anarchists, affordable housing advocates, and Hugo Chavez supporters staked out intersections around D.C.'s downtown.

Finally, rain was in the forecast, and Hurricane Rita was already sure to dominate the next morning's lead news slot.

But yesterday's protesters beat the odds and pulled off what was certainly D.C.'s biggest antiwar demonstration since the Iraq occupation began. Organizers claimed as many as 250,000 demonstrators attended; though D.C. police estimates were more conservative, none pegged the crowd at below 100,000. By the time the rally convened at 11:30 a.m., scores of demonstrators filled the Ellipse, spilling onto the Mall, the streets around the White House, and the Washington Monument -- a hopeful sign that the effectiveness of the peace movement may have reached a turning point.

While the half-dozen UFPJ and ANSWER speakers held forth on incongruous topics ranging from discrimination against American Muslims to the illegitimacy of Bush's 2000 Florida victory, their two principal demands were an immediate withdrawal of American troops from Iraq and a new federal focus on the devastated Gulf Coast. "National security begins in New Orleans, homeland security begins at home," Jesse Jackson told the crowd. "Bring the troops home now."

Other speakers made the same Baghdad-New Orleans link, reminding the crowd that many Louisiana National Guardsmen were fighting abroad when the hurricane struck. Demonstrators waved signs bearing the phrase "Make levees, not war" in response. "I think that it's broadening the focus," Baptist Peace Fellowship demonstrator Tom Burkett said of the combined antiwar and disaster relief message. "Are we going to be a better country by spending another 200 billion [in Iraq] or spending it on the Gulf Coast?"

It would have been a stretch to call the speech given by bereaved military mother turned peace activist Cindy Sheehan memorable, but those gathered loved it anyway. In a strained voice, she copiously congratulated the audience for coming and condemned the moral abominations of torture and preemptive war before demanding that American troops be immediately brought home. "We're going to say not one person should have died, not one more should die," she said with the White House lawn at her back. "Can you scream that to the White House?" The audience could.

For Sheehan, it was the final stop on the Bring Them Home Now Tour. Operating out of a tent dubbed "Camp Casey" in honor of her dead son, the military family organizations that have traveled with Sheehan were neither the protest's largest nor its most vocal contingent. As the afternoon march began, several such families opted to sit it out. "Can't march," said Phil Waste, a sturdy 65-year-old who sat on a bench with his wife, Linda, watching demonstrators carrying dozens of flag-draped cardboard coffins stream by. "My knees are shot." With three sons and two grandchildren currently serving in the military, the Shellman Bluff, Ga., couple had been traveling with Sheehan for the last six weeks as members of Military Families Speak Out. Seeing her in Crawford, Texas, they said, had convinced them they owed it to their children to protest.

"They're being misused," Phil said. "They're forward observers, and now they're being used as policemen, driving up and down the streets of Baghdad like ducks in a shooting gallery. They're not trained for that." The couple believes stress is taking a great toll on their family: One of their sons brought a backpack full of disposable cameras with him on his first deployment, Linda said, and "when he got home, he threw them all away. He said he never wanted to see the pictures."

Demonstrators like the Wastes and Cindy Sheehan added gravitas to an event in search of it. As folk musician Steve Earle would bluntly state later in the afternoon, "Cindy simply has credentials that a lot of us do not have. We needed her."

The press coverage in the run-up to the protest -- which has hardly been favorable to the antiwar movement in the past -- this time characterized the protesters as a more mainstream force to be reckoned with. "Antiwar rally will be a first for many," a front-page Washington Post's Friday headline announced. "Focused message draws protesters of all types." Associated Press reporter Jennifer Kerr somehow found Paul Rutherford, a 60-year-old lifelong Republican-cum-peace-activist from Vandalia, Mich. "President Bush needs to admit he made a mistake in the war and bring the troops home, and let's move on," Rutherford declared.

Although there must have been a few other Rutherfords scattered throughout the crowd, the overwhelming majority of attendees were committed activists whose politics ranged from progressive to leftist -- the sort of people who always go to war protests, or at least stay home and feel guilty about it.

That's not to say Sheehan and crew didn't have a profound impact on the protest -- they did -- but it was largely an internal one. Lauren Sullivan, a Lawrence, Kan., graduate student who took a hiatus to staff Sheehan's now-mobile Camp Casey, believed Sheehan cleared much of the static out of the antiwar movement's message. "Cindy got it down to 'What noble cause?' and 'Bring them home now,'" Sullivan said. Everywhere Sheehan went on Saturday, she was mobbed by well-wishers, seeming to escape the often-fractious ideologies of protest politics: Even bandanna-masked anarchists said she's cool.

Whether due to Sheehan's media juggernaut or the fallout over the Bush administration's continuing stumbles at home and abroad, some of the organizers of Saturday's protest spoke for the first time like politicians with something to lose. "We are at a tipping point whereby the antiwar sentiment has now become the majority sentiment," ANSWER coordinator Brian Becker proudly proclaimed. Nowhere does he touch upon his former statements to Workers World regarding Iraq's "long, proud tradition of anti-colonial resistance." Good polling data can do strange things to people.

That's not to suggest that the antiwar movement has come down with anything resembling military discipline. In the frequently carnivalesque march that looped around the White House and downtown, one could spot just about any slogan imaginable, from the 9/11 conspiracy theorists to the simply unintelligible: Riding a green ladies' bicycle, a white-bearded hippie sanctimoniously coasted past a line of stationary D.C. cops, holding aloft a poorly lettered sign reading "WHY? Motherfucker$." Four of D.C.'s finest double over laughing in his wake. "The city prefers the officers to keep a straight face," their sergeant said. "Sometimes that's hard."

Earlier that afternoon, a group of anarchists splintered off the parade route onto K Street NW, overturned newspaper boxes and, according to Jeremy Hammond, a self-described "anti-capitalist traveler," controlled the street for two hours. The police arrested one or two, and chased the rest out on motorcycles. Later, Hammond says, the anarchists regrouped in front of a military recruiting office, and succeeded in being shot at with rubber bullets. (The skirmish has not appeared in any other published accounts.)

In front of the J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building, a few hundred counter-protesters drew notice far out of proportion with their numbers. Organized by Karl Singer, a New Jersey I.T. technician from a military family, the "Support the Troops" rally lined a block heavily fortified by barriers and police, baiting the less pacifistic protesters through a bullhorn on everything from abortion to personal grooming. "Even people in the military don't want to fight wars," Singer admitted in a reflective moment. "But sometimes wars are necessary." Behind the counter-protesters' lines, a solidly built young man with two prosthetic legs rode a Segway up and down the block like a general patrolling his ranks.

These are all minor ripples, though, not much more of a crisis than the light drizzle that fell for a few minutes at the march's beginning.

In the late afternoon, the protesters, tired after the slow-moving march, begin to put down their signs and disperse. A Salvation Army employee named Kevin Lindsey, who says he is "embarrassed he didn't get involved in war protests earlier," has gotten stuck with the front end of one of the flag-draped coffins. He isn't sure which of the dozens of organizations the prop belongs to -- he just took over, he says, because "somebody was getting really tired." As he nears the Washington Monument, Lindsey, not sure what to do with it, says, "I know I can't just put it down."

Police Mistreatment and Abuse Widespread in LGBT Communities Nationwide

2005-09-23T14:00:00.000-04:00

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PRESS RELEASE Thursday, September 22, 2005

New Amnesty International Study Finds LGBT People of Color and Youth Most Likely to Suffer; Calls on Police to Improve Training and Accountability

“The police are not here to serve; they are here to get served…every night I’m taken into an alley and given the choice between having sex or going to jail.”

-- Amnesty International interview with a Native American transgender woman, Los Angeles

(New York) – In the most comprehensive report of its kind to date, Amnesty International (AI) reveals that police mistreatment and abuse of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people are widespread nationwide and go largely unchecked due to underreporting and unclear, under-enforced or non-existent policies and procedures.

“Across the country, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people endure the injustices of discrimination, entrapment and verbal abuse as well as brutal beatings and sexual assault at the hands of those responsible for protecting them – the police,” said Dr. William F. Schulz, Executive Director of Amnesty International USA (AIUSA). “Some, including transgender individuals, people of color and the young suffer disproportionately, especially when poverty leaves them vulnerable to homelessness and exploitation and less likely to draw public outcry or official scrutiny. It is a sorry state of affairs when the police misuse their power to inflict suffering rather than prevent it.”

In its 150-plus page report, Stonewalled: police abuse and misconduct against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the United States, AI focuses on four cities – Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and San Antonio – surveys the 50 largest police departments in the country, as well as Washington, D.C., about LGBT policies and practices, and includes information from several hundred interviews and testimonies. AI’s findings strongly indicate that there is a heightened pattern of misconduct and abuse of transgender individuals and all LGBT people of color, young people, immigrants, the homeless and sex workers by police. At times, the mere perception that someone is gay or lesbian provokes physical or verbal attacks.

The mistreatment and abuse documented in the report includes targeted and discriminatory enforcement of statutes against LGBT people, including so-called “quality of life” and morals regulations; profiling, particularly of transgender women as sex workers; verbal abuse; inappropriate pat-down and strip searches; failure to protect LGBT people in holding cells; inappropriate response or failure to respond to hate crimes or domestic abuse calls; sexual harassment and abuse, including rape; and physical abuse that at times amounts to torture and ill-treatment. Several examples include:

Young gay men and advocates in Chicago told AIUSA of a police officer who, according to one man, will “remove his badge, gun and belt and then beat you unless you give him a blowjob, after which he’ll just leave you there.”
Police officers accused a Latina transgender woman in San Antonio of stealing. One officer reportedly said, “People like you make the world a bad place.” Three police officers and two detectives allegedly surrounded her while one officer searched her, exposing her pubic hair, buttocks and one of her breasts. She said, “I didn’t ask to be searched by a female officer. I’ve tried that before – they don’t care, to them we’re all men.” She was not charged with any crime. Officers refused to give her their badge numbers. She said, “I know to be respectful to police officers but I’m tired of the way they are treating us.”
Police officers allegedly beat, hog-tied and dragged Kelly McAllister, a white transgender woman, across hot pavement upon her arrest in Sacramento, CA. She was placed in a Sacramento County Main Jail cell with a male inmate who struck, choked, bit and raped her. That inmate received a mere three-month sentence. No officer has been disciplined for the incidents surrounding Kelly’s incarceration.
Two lesbians of color reported that two men in Brooklyn, NY, followed, harassed and threatened them, saying, “I’m going to kill you, bitch. You’re not a man….I’m gonna put you in your place.” The verbal abuse escalated to physical abuse; the two women called 911. When police were told this was a homophobic crime, the officers reportedly left without further investigating the incident or taking a complaint, telling the ambulance attendants responding to the women's call to leave. One woman reportedly was bleeding from the head due to a blow from one of the men. Her companion stated, “It was ridiculous. There she was running down the street bleeding and chasing after the ambulance.”
A Native American transgender woman reported that two Los Angeles police officers handcuffed her and took her to an alleyway. One officer reportedly hit her across the face, saying "you f---ing whore, you f---ing faggot," then threw her down on the back of the patrol car, ripped off her miniskirt and her underwear and raped her, holding her down and grabbing her hair. The second officer is also alleged to have raped her. According to the woman, they threw her on the ground and said, "That's what you deserve," and left her there.

While it is impossible to obtain accurate statistics, the AI study showed that transgender people, particularly women and the young, suffer disproportionately. A large percentage of transgender people reportedly are unemployed or underemployed, leaving the population more vulnerable to homelessness or situations that leave them exposed to police scrutiny and abuse. Meanwhile, 72 percent of police departments responding to AI’s survey said they had no specific policy regarding interaction with transgender people.

AI welcomed the initiative taken by several police departments to improve their practices. The West Hollywood Station of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department has a Gay and Lesbian Conference Committee that is open to the public and allows police to stay in touch with community concerns. The City of West Hollywood also established a Transgender Task Force that addresses policing issues. In Washington, D.C., the Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit (GLLU) is staffed by four full-time officers and ten volunteers, and the head of the unit, Sgt. Brett Parson, reports directly to the police chief. GLLU is also involved with training efforts within the police department.

However, the AI report demonstrates that despite initiatives such as these, police departments nationwide need to do more to protect LGBT people – something that was reflected in responses to the AI survey of police policies and practices with regard to LGBT people. Of the 29 departments that responded to the survey, only 31 percent instruct their officers on how to strip search a transgender individual; two thirds (66%) of police departments reported providing training on hate crimes against LGBT individuals; and while most departments provide training regarding sexual assault (86%), about half (52%) do not include LGBT-specific issues.

“Police officers are hired to protect and serve all of their communities, not only the ones they deem worthy,” said Michael Heflin, Director of Amnesty International USA’s OUTfront program, which focuses on LGBT human rights. “Every human being, without exception, has the right to live free from discrimination and abuse, yet LGBT people nationwide are afraid to report hate crimes or other abuses to the police, who at times prove themselves to be the criminals. If we can’t count on law enforcement to set an example, hate crimes and discrimination will continue to flourish in a land that otherwise has made relative headway in the fight for LGBT rights.”

Under international law, everyone, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity or expression, is guaranteed the fullest enjoyment of his or her civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. The United States is party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the principal international treaty that lays out fundamental rights such as freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention and torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, as well as the Convention Against Torture and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

At Least the British Get It: American dream eludes the poorest

2005-09-21T14:43:00.000-04:00

All around the world the lasting images of Hurricane Katrina were not of the storm, but of the poor.

In the superpower where President George Bush promised "no child left behind" - tens of thousands of children, and their parents, were indeed left behind. Literally. Because the United States is the richest country on earth, there was something particularly shocking about the images of America's poor, stranded, helpless and hopeless, begging for aid from the US federal government. What we saw was poverty with a black face. All around the world - and in the United States itself - people asked why the American Dream was not able to touch every American.

Poverty and race

Newsnight wanted to explore the twin issues of poverty and race in George Bush's America. The simple fact is that most Americans in poverty are not black - whites make up most of the population, and most of the poor. And, whatever the pictures from New Orleans seem to suggest, most black Americans do not live in poverty. There is a healthy black middle class, and of course many outstandingly successful African American citizens, from Colin Powell and Condi Rice to black business-people all over the US. But where poverty and race do come together they produce America's most explosive political cocktail: the idea that 140 years after the end of slavery and 40 years after the South was de-segregated, black Americans still do not get a fair deal. Why - for example is a black American child five times more likely to live in poverty than a white child? Why is a black American baby more likely to die in the months after birth than a Cuban baby, or one born in Beijing? We chose to film in Savannah, Georgia for a number of reasons. In many ways it is like New Orleans - a grand city of the Old South, a port where African slaves were once brought in for sale, a town in America's hurricane belt much loved by tourists.

Food handouts

It is also a city which has begun a very encouraging anti-poverty programme. Behind the rich colonial facade of Savannah there is the same kind of hidden chronic poverty, especially among African Americans, that you find in New Orleans.

We crossed over to the wrong side of the tracks - up Martin Luther King Boulevard to the largely African American area known as Cuyler Brownville. What we found there was utterly shocking. At seven o'clock on Thursday mornings about 50 African Americans gather on the breadline at a Cuyler Brownville community centre. They are waiting for day old bread and vegetables donated by a local supermarket to a Catholic charity run by Sister Pat Baber. Many of the volunteers are white, and there were absolutely no signs of racial tension. Just desperation. We met Bernice Beatty who works in childcare for $150 a week, and also receives a modest veteran's pension because her dead husband was in the US military. But she cannot make ends meet and comes here for free food. In the centre of town in one of the grand Savannah squares I met black men desperate for a job as day labourers. When a van arrived offering a day's work they swarmed around. The going rate is about £3 an hour, £120 a week, £6,000 a year. In America, it is difficult to see how you can live on that.

Healthcare

Then we visited Savannah Health Mission where doctors and nurses give their time and expertise for free to treat the poor. Around 50 million Americans - the same as the population of all of England - have no health insurance. One patient, Cindi, was grateful for her treatment but could not afford any of the drugs prescribed by the free doctors. One prescription costs $266 a month. Another $150. Cindi requires seven different medications. Cindi happened to be white. The big question for George Bush as he ponders the aftershocks of Hurricane Katrina, is how far the US federal government can and should help the poor. Ever since President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society programmes of the 1960s Democrats and Republicans have concluded that simply throwing tax dollars at the problem does not work. Churches, charities, valiant individuals like Sister Pat, local governments like the enterprising folk who run the city of Savannah are trying their best. But it is not enough. And what is the responsibility of the poor to help themselves? On Newsnight, we will also hear from a black community worker who says the fast-track to poverty is dropping out of high school, taking drugs, and getting pregnant as a teenager. Avoid all that, and at least you have a chance of the American Dream. Gavin Esler's report on poverty in the United States will be shown by Newsnight on Thursday, 22 September on BBC Two at 2230 BST. (so if you're in the U.S. like me, you're S.O.L.)

We've surpassed 1,900: bombings kill 5 U.S. soldiers in Iraq

2005-09-21T14:39:00.000-04:00

Five US troops have died in three separate bomb attacks in Iraq, US military officials say.

One soldier died in a roadside bombing north of Baghdad on Tuesday, and four Marines died on Monday in two attacks near Ramadi, west of the capital.

The deaths were announced hours after the US confirmed the death of three military and one diplomatic security agents near Mosul on Monday.

More than 1,900 US servicemen have died since the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Tuesday's attack happened about 75 miles (120km) north of Baghdad, the US military said, killing a US military policeman.

Regular attacks

The attacks in Ramadi were the latest in a string of strikes against US troops in the western town.

Ramadi, with a population of about 400,000, has long been a focal point for Sunni Muslim insurgents.

US troops and Iraqi military and police forces have regularly come under attack in and around the city.

The attacks near Mosul on Monday came as Arabic media reports said the US consul in Mosul had been holding talks with residents of nearby Talafar.

The city has recently been the target of a big American and Iraqi military operation.

An Antiwar Speech in Union Square Is Stopped by Police

2005-09-20T13:31:00.000-04:00

BY SHADI RAHIMI NY Times An antiwar speech by Cindy Sheehan, the mother of an American soldier killed in Iraq, was cut short yesterday after the organizer of the event was arrested and police officers confiscated his audio equipment. The claps and cheers that had greeted Ms. Sheehan's arrival at the rally in Union Square quickly turned to furious chants of "Let her speak!" as officers ushered away the organizer, Paul Zulkowitz, who the police said lacked audio permits for the event. Angry activists followed officers as they led Mr. Zulkowitz away, waving their fists and shouting, "Shame, shame, shame." Ms. Sheehan, who was visiting New York on the last leg of a bus tour across the country, was nearing the end of her speech when the police officers arrested Mr. Zulkowitz. She was whisked to a car by two supporters just before the police officers seized the microphone. Mr. Zulkowitz was arrested because he did not have a permit, said the commanding officer of the 13th Precinct, Inspector Michael J. McEnroy. Detective Kevin Czartoryski said Mr. Zulkowitz was charged with unauthorized use of a sound device and disorderly conduct, and was released after being given a court summons. Detective Czartoryski said the police had taken the "appropriate action" in response to a lawbreaker. But many people attending the event, dozens of whom yelled accusations into the faces of the more than 20 police officers who blocked them from following Mr. Zulkowitz, interpreted the arrest as a demonstration of citywide disdain for free speech, referring to last year's arrests of protesters at the Republican National Convention. "This is what's been happening for the last couple of years," said Daniel Starling, the co-chairman of the Green Party chapter in Manhattan, who attended the event yesterday. "Every time we try to hold a demonstration, they arrest us." The crowd of New Yorkers had waited more than an hour to catch a glimpse of Ms. Sheehan, who was thrust into the national spotlight in August when she sought a meeting with President Bush by camping out for days near his ranch in Crawford, Tex. Though soft-spoken, Ms. Sheehan has not shied away from controversy, opening her New York visit on Sunday night in Brooklyn by accusing Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of failing to challenge the Bush administration's policies in Iraq. Ms. Sheehan, who did not mention Ms. Clinton yesterday, urged her supporters in Union Square to continue pushing to end the war in Iraq. One supporter, Lien Corey, a 51-year-old Manhattan resident who was living in Vietnam during the war there, said that Ms. Sheehan had become a larger-than-life figure who represents the sentiments of many people across the country. "She's beyond herself now, she's a symbol," Ms. Corey said. "She's a catalyst, and we all unite behind her." Ms. Sheehan, who has been credited by many activists with reinvigorating the antiwar movement in the United States, began speaking out against the war in Iraq soon after her 24-year-old son, Casey, was killed in Baghdad on April 2, 2004. She attributes her sudden fame to the news media's need to find a "focal point" on certain high-profile issues like the Iraq war. At a news conference in Chelsea earlier in the day, she said she regretted not speaking out sooner. "I didn't think that one person could make a difference," Ms. Sheehan said. "After Casey was killed, I thought, well if I can't make a difference, at least I'm going to my grave knowing I tried." Although many opponents of the war said they were thrilled by the attention Ms. Sheehan has attracted to the cause, some are frustrated by her celebrity status, which they said can deflect the focus away from other issues. After the news conference, George Weber, 57, a Vietnam War veteran from Warwick, N.Y., said little attention was being paid to issues of concern to veterans, like the possible closing of the Manhattan Veterans Affairs hospital. Ms. Sheehan's message has been heard across the nation on television ads sponsored by antiwar groups and at well-publicized stops on her bus tour, which was launched from Crawford on Aug. 31 and has visited 51 cities in 28 states. She has been joined on her journey by families of soldiers and veterans, many of whom have been working for years to rally people against war. Many New Yorkers said yesterday that Ms. Sheehan gave them back hope that was lost when war was declared on Iraq. Laurie Arbeiter, 46, of Brooklyn, said she flew to Crawford in August and spent two weeks camped out with Ms. Sheehan and others. Ms. Arbeiter said that the arrest of the event organizer, Mr. Zulkowitz, was another example of the "country's suppression of dissent." "We are being railroaded toward a state in which we can't speak up," she said.

Save Darfur: National Day of Action This Wed. Sept. 21st

2005-09-19T14:40:00.000-04:00

On September 21st, 2005, leaders of major American organizations – from religious groups to humanitarian aid agencies – will convene in Washington, DC for a National Leadership Assembly for Darfur. At the assembly, leaders will meet with elected officials to express America’s concern for Darfur.

Simultaneously, communities across the nation will reinforce their leaders’ demands that the United States take action to save the people of Darfur.

At each event, nation-wide, participants will write postcards or letters to President Bush urging the United States to lead the world in protecting the civilians of Darfur. As Americans we must voice our conviction that we cannot allow genocide to occur on our watch.

Locally in Columbus, Ohio

Description: Awarenesss raising and community discussion in conjunction with National Day of Action Time: 6-6:30 pm Directions: Radisson Hotel (look for signs for specific room) 7007 N. High St. Worthington, OH 43085. Just south of 270 on US 23 (High St.) Contact name: Gloria Philpott Contact Info: 614-478-1030

Try Googling "miserable failure"

2005-09-19T10:58:00.000-04:00

...and tell me what your first listed result is. i don't care if it is just a result of "Googlebombing" it's still hilarious and relevent. Go pranksters, preach it!

Message: I Care About the Black Folks - NY Times Op-Ed

2005-09-18T18:51:00.000-04:00

By FRANK RICH ONCE Toto parts the curtain, the Wizard of Oz can never be the wizard again. He is forever Professor Marvel, blowhard and snake-oil salesman. Hurricane Katrina, which is likely to endure in the American psyche as long as L. Frank Baum's mythic tornado, has similarly unmasked George W. Bush. The worst storm in our history proved perfect for exposing this president because in one big blast it illuminated all his failings: the rampant cronyism, the empty sloganeering of "compassionate conservatism," the lack of concern for the "underprivileged" his mother condescended to at the Astrodome, the reckless lack of planning for all government operations except tax cuts, the use of spin and photo-ops to camouflage failure and to substitute for action. In the chaos unleashed by Katrina, these plot strands coalesced into a single tragic epic played out in real time on television. The narrative is just too powerful to be undone now by the administration's desperate recycling of its greatest hits: a return Sunshine Boys tour by the surrogate empathizers Clinton and Bush I, another round of prayers at the Washington National Cathedral, another ludicrously overhyped prime-time address flecked with speechwriters' "poetry" and framed by a picturesque backdrop. Reruns never eclipse a riveting new show. Nor can the president's acceptance of "responsibility" for the disaster dislodge what came before. Mr. Bush didn't cough up his modified-limited mea culpa until he'd seen his whole administration flash before his eyes. His admission that some of the buck may stop with him (about a dime's worth, in Truman dollars) came two weeks after the levees burst and five years after he promised to usher in a new post-Clinton "culture of responsibility." It came only after the plan to heap all the blame on the indeed blameworthy local Democrats failed to lift Mr. Bush's own record-low poll numbers. It came only after America's highest-rated TV news anchor, Brian Williams, started talking about Katrina the way Walter Cronkite once did about Vietnam. Taking responsibility, as opposed to paying lip service to doing so, is not in this administration's gene pool. It was particularly shameful that Laura Bush was sent among the storm's dispossessed to try to scapegoat the news media for her husband's ineptitude. When she complained of seeing "a lot of the same footage over and over that isn't necessarily representative of what really happened," the first lady sounded just like Donald Rumsfeld shirking responsibility for the looting of Baghdad. The defense secretary, too, griped about seeing the same picture "over and over" on television (a looter with a vase) to hide the reality that the Pentagon had no plan to secure Iraq, a catastrophic failure being paid for in Iraqi and American blood to this day. This White House doesn't hate all pictures, of course. It loves those by Karl Rove's Imagineers, from the spectacularly lighted Statue of Liberty backdrop of Mr. Bush's first 9/11 anniversary speech to his "Top Gun" stunt to Thursday's laughably stagy stride across the lawn to his lectern in Jackson Square. (Message: I am a leader, not that vacationing slacker who first surveyed the hurricane damage from my presidential jet.) The most odious image-mongering, however, has been Mr. Bush's repeated deployment of African-Americans as dress extras to advertise his "compassion." In 2000, the Republican convention filled the stage with break dancers and gospel singers, trying to dispel the memory of Mr. Bush's craven appearance at Bob Jones University when it forbade interracial dating. (The few blacks in the convention hall itself were positioned near celebrities so they'd show up in TV shots.) In 2004, the Bush-Cheney campaign Web site had a page titled "Compassion" devoted mainly to photos of the president with black people, Colin Powell included. Some of these poses are re-enacted in the "Hurricane Relief" photo gallery currently on display on the White House Web site. But this time the old magic isn't working. The "compassion" photos are outweighed by the cinéma vérité of poor people screaming for their lives. The government effort to keep body recovery efforts in New Orleans as invisible as the coffins from Iraq was abandoned when challenged in court by CNN. But even now the administration's priority of image over substance is embedded like a cancer in the Katrina relief process. Brazenly enough, Mr. Rove has been officially put in charge of the reconstruction effort. The two top deputies at FEMA remaining after Michael Brown's departure, one of them a former local TV newsman, are not disaster relief specialists but experts in P.R., which they'd practiced as advance men for various Bush campaigns. Thus The Salt Lake Tribune discovered a week after the hurricane that some 1,000 firefighters from Utah and elsewhere were sent not to the Gulf Coast but to Atlanta, to be trained as "community relations officers for FEMA" rather than used as emergency workers to rescue the dying in New Orleans. When 50 of them were finally dispatched to Louisiana, the paper reported, their first assignment was "to stand beside President Bush" as he toured devastated areas. The cashiering of "Brownie," whom Mr. Bush now purports to know as little as he did "Kenny Boy," changes nothing. The Knight Ridder newspapers found last week that it was the homeland security secretary, Michael Chertoff, not Mr. Brown, who had the greater authority to order federal agencies into service without any request from state or local officials. Mr. Chertoff waited a crucial, unexplained 36 hours before declaring Katrina an "incident of national significance," the trigger needed for federal action. Like Mr. Brown, he was oblivious to the humanitarian disaster unfolding in the convention center, confessing his ignorance of conditions there to NPR on the same day that the FEMA chief famously did so to Ted Koppel. Yet Mr. Bush's "culture of responsibility" does not hold Mr. Chertoff accountable. Quite the contrary: on Thursday the president charged Homeland Security with reviewing "emergency plans in every major city in America." Mr. Chertoff will surely do a heck of a job. WHEN there's money on the line, cronies always come first in this White House, no matter how great the human suffering. After Katrina, the FEMA Web site directing charitable contributions prominently listed Operation Blessing, a Pat Robertson kitty that, according to I.R.S. documents obtained by ABC News, has given more than half of its yearly cash donations to Mr. Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network. If FEMA is that cavalier about charitable donations, imagine what it's doing with the $62 billion (so far) of taxpayers' money sent its way for Katrina relief. Actually, you don't have to imagine: we already know some of it was immediately siphoned into no-bid contracts with a major Republican donor, the Fluor Corporation, as well as with a client of the consultant Joe Allbaugh, the Bush 2000 campaign manager who ran FEMA for this White House until Brownie, Mr. Allbaugh's college roommate, was installed in his place. It was back in 2000 that Mr. Bush, in a debate with Al Gore, bragged about his gubernatorial prowess "on the front line of catastrophic situations," specifically citing a Texas flood, and paid the Clinton administration a rare compliment for putting a professional as effective as James Lee Witt in charge of FEMA. Exactly why Mr. Bush would staff that same agency months later with political hacks is one of many questions that must be answered by the independent investigation he and the Congressional majority are trying every which way to avoid. With or without a 9/11-style commission, the answers will come out. There are too many Americans who are angry and too many reporters who are on the case. (NBC and CNN are both opening full-time bureaus in New Orleans.) You know the world has changed when the widely despised news media have a far higher approval rating (77 percent) than the president (46 percent), as measured last week in a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll. Like his father before him, Mr. Bush has squandered the huge store of political capital he won in a war. His Thursday-night invocation of "armies of compassion" will prove as worthless as the "thousand points of light" that the first President Bush bestowed upon the poor from on high in New Orleans (at the Superdome, during the 1988 G.O.P. convention). It will be up to other Republicans in Washington to cut through the empty words and image-mongering to demand effective action from Mr. Bush on the Gulf Coast and in Iraq, if only because their own political lives are at stake. It's up to Democrats, though they show scant signs of realizing it, to step into the vacuum and propose an alternative to a fiscally disastrous conservatism that prizes pork over compassion. If the era of Great Society big government is over, the era of big government for special interests is proving a fiasco. Especially when it's presided over by a self-styled C.E.O. with a consistent three-decade record of running private and public enterprises alike into a ditch. What comes next? Having turned the page on Mr. Bush, the country hungers for a vision that is something other than either liberal boilerplate or Rovian stagecraft. At this point, merely plain old competence, integrity and heart might do.

Impeachment Movement Responds to Bush's Speech

2005-09-16T10:40:00.000-04:00

George Bush went to New Orleans last night. In the devastated city, he brought generators to provide electricity solely for his elaborate photo-opportunity.

Those guilty of criminal negligence rarely have an opportunity to go on national TV for nearly a half an hour to camouflage and conceal their criminal conduct. This is precisely what George Bush did tonight on prime time national television. Two weeks after the fact, Bush and the spin doctors at Fox News and other corporate media are now attempting to do damage control - that is, political damage control, not human damage control. Bush's handling of the Katrina catastrophe, and the actions of the administration prior to the hurricane, constitute a clear pattern of criminal negligence and gross misconduct. Here are just a few of the facts that highlight the criminal negligence and Presidential misconduct:

The Bush administration is spending $200 million each day or $1.4 billion each week for its criminal war of aggression in Iraq
Despite the fact that scientific experts had widely publicized predictions of the coming catastrophe in New Orleans, the Bush administration was hell bent on diverting resources to the Iraq war, while it slashed funds for flood control operations in New Orleans.
Bush's war on Iraq left the Corps of Engineers only 20% of the needed funding to protect New Orleans from flooding from Lake Pontchartrain. Before the Iraq war, FEMA officials warned of a looming disaster in New Orleans. The Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project (SELA) is authorized by Congress to protect the people of New Orleans and the port facilities as well as oil refineries. After the start of the shock and awe invasion of Iraq however, SELA's monies were diverted. The Times-Picayune, the daily newspaper of New Orleans, published numerous articles during the last two years citing the danger caused by the loss of hurricane protection funds to the war in Iraq.

Bush has taken the money needed to protect and serve the needs of society and spent it on his war of aggression against the people of Iraq, on multi-billion dollar contracts for his corporate friends, and on tax cuts for the super-rich. Although he turned away as hundreds of people - including babies and the elderly - drowned and starved, now he is compelled to at least pretend to take action. This is not out of concern for the well-being of the suffering people, but concern for his popularity - the people of the United States have turned against his criminal administration. The impeachment movement has responded powerfully to the criminal neglect and subsequent charade of the administration. Thousands of organizers around the country are preparing to make the trip to Washington DC on September 24. Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark will be speaking at the White House on the Ellipse calling for Impeachment. You can help mobilize a massive contingent for the September 24 National March on Washington DC. This is a demonstration initiated by the peace movement and is shaping up to be the largest demonstration since the beginning of the Iraq war. We will make the demand "Impeach Bush" highly visible throughout the day. The ImpeachBush movement will be assembling at the south side of the White House (an area called the Ellipse at 11:00 am). You can pick up ImpeachBush banners, placards, signs, literature, hats, and petitions. We need volunteers to help us dispatch people and materials starting in the early morning of September 24. If you can help out, please send an email letting us know your availability to be an ImpeachBush.org volunteer. We have one week left - we need your help today to make impeachment resound at the White House and throughout the streets of Washington on September 24. In the last few weeks, 30,000 new people have voted to impeach in our grass-roots referendum. Every day people are taking petitions and literature and spreading the word.

-> www.votetoimpeach.org <-

letting some thoughts escape...

2005-09-15T14:15:00.000-04:00

I'm sorry we couldn't help you Frances. I can't get you out of my head today. I hope some day really soon our government grows out of the "kill someone who [maybe not really sure] killed someone to show killing is wrong" mentality. I have Sigur Ros "Untitled" playing right now, I hope the peace in this song is the peace you are in now.

Frances Newton: 1965-2005

2005-09-15T13:53:00.000-04:00

The US state of Texas has carried out its first execution of a black woman since the Civil War. Frances Newton was convicted of killing her husband, seven-year-old son and baby daughter in 1987. She blamed the murders on an unknown drug dealer. Prosecutors said she had shot them to claim a $100,000 life insurance payout. The American Bar Association had asked for a stay of execution, saying new evidence had not yet been evaluated by the Texas courts. In a letter to the Texas governor and Pardon Board, former Attorney General Ramsey Clark wrote: "A person of financial means would never have been convicted and probably never even tried in such a case." But prosecutors said evidence directly linked Newton to the murders and the Supreme Court rejected two late appeals on Wednesday. Newton, 40, declined to make a final statement or make a last meal request. Her death by lethal injection was witnessed by her parents and sister, and also by relatives of her husband. Newton is the third woman to have been executed in Texas since the state re-introduced the death penalty in 1982. BBC News

Frances Newton to be executed TODAY after 6pm

2005-09-14T13:55:00.000-04:00

Call the Governor of Texas IMMEDIATELY and ask him not to execute Frances Newton *and* give her the fair trial she deserves.

--> (512)463-1782 <--

I'm kicking myself for getting this post out so late, I didn't even realize today was the 14th until just now. Please call. I just called and had to wait on hold a couple minutes but then I got through and talked to someone. Don't be too nervous to call, this is someone's life. Just say something like I did: "Hi I'm calling from Columbus, Ohio regarding Frances Newton's scheduled execution today. I would like to request that the Governor not have her executed and also give her a fair trial like she deserves." and they'll ask for your name, which I willingly provided, along with my phone number. The death penalty is shit, this is 2005. Frances will be the first African American woman to be executed in Texas since the Civil War. Here's my previous post on Frances Newton and her case.

Meet the Candidates Night: Columbus City Council

2005-09-13T13:54:00.000-04:00

Meet The Candidates for Columbus City Council This Thursday at 7 pm Whetstone Park Shelter House

Who says 2005 is an "off" year? Break time is over, and the Columbus League of Pissed Off Voters is busy deciding which candidates and issues are going to make it onto our voter guide this fall. *NPR's Andrle and two local journalists will ask the candidates questions starting at 7 PM. *The Columbus League of Pissed Off Voters will be hanging out in the rose garden from 6 to 7 to catch up, socialize, and strategize. The first 10 to arrive get a League of Pissed Off Voters T-shirt. Supplies permitting, everyone gets League stickers (we now have both Spanish & English versions) and a copy of the lovely, colorful and informative “Turning Lemons Into Lemonade,” the League’s annual report about what went down in 2004 and where we’re headed now (also available for .pdf download at www.indyvoter.org) *MEET THE CANDIDATES 101. Here's how these things usually work. The panel of journalists will take turns firing away questions. Some of them will be easy, and some of them will make the candidates squirm. Some questions may be aimed at just one candidate, others will target all six. Sometimes the candidates will give a real answer, other times they may recite a barely-related list of talking point BS. At times it may be kind of like a debate. A few selected questions from the public will be asked. There may be closing speeches, and then the whole thing will be over at 8:45. We’ll all get up and head down to the Opium Lounge to drink & discuss (see below). *Write up your own question and submit it at the event when you arrive, or email it by thursday to ernie@... *This event is sponsored by the Clintonville Chamber of Commerce. *LOCATION: to get to the rose garden and shelter house at Whetstone Park: go like you're going to the Whetstone library, which is at 3909 N. High St. at the corner of High & Hollenback in Clintonville. Go along Hollenback, past the library, tennis courts, baseball fields, etc. The road curves to the right and becomes a parking lot. On the hill to your right is the shelter house. Beyond that is the rose garden. That's where you'll find the League. Map is at www.clintonville.org/CJFCI/parkmap.htm *AFTERWARDS… Leaguers & friends will head to the Opium Lounge at 346 South High St. for the Curve Ultimate Power Girl Networking event. Free for women, $5 cover for guys. *The six city council candidates for this fall's elections are: Mary Jo Hudson, Maryellen O'Shaughnessy, Kevin Boyce, Alicia Clark, Eddie Pauline, and Phil Harmon. Which three will earn League endorsements for our fall voter guide? BE A PART OF THE DIALOGUE.

In France, Push Comes to SUV

2005-09-13T10:30:00.000-04:00

Wired News by Bruce Gain - Sep. 13 PARIS -- A band of eco-vigilantes is taking a firm but gentle stand against fast-growing SUV sales in France and Europe, deflating the tires on gas guzzlers in a protest against conspicuous waste. Members of a group called Les Dégonflés say they recently let the air out of tires on about half a dozen SUVs parked in the upscale VI arrondissement using bicycle pumps -- a technique that they say causes no lasting damage -- and plastered windshields with leaflets proclaiming that "nearly everyone needs an oxygen mask." A spokesman for the group said they hope to recruit new foot soldiers to the cause by demonstrating their technique in an internet broadcast next month. "We have to stigmatize SUVs by initiating a debate that will allow scientists and experts to publicly (declare) their hazards," said the spokesman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "We don't want SUVs to be seen as a sign of wealth, but something that is associated with an imbecile." The spokesman told Wired News that deflating SUV tires does not constitute a criminal act under the French penal code, according to legal advice the group obtained from eco-friendly attorneys who back Greenpeace and other environmental activist groups. The only legal risk they face are civil lawsuits by the SUV owners, who would have to prove property damage in a French civil court, the spokesman said. The attacks come as SUV sales are rising in Europe. According to the Association des Constructeurs Européens d'Automobiles, Europe's leading car and truck trade association, the share of SUV registrations in European Union countries has more than doubled, from 3.2 percent in 1998 to 6.5 percent at the end of last year. Sales are flourishing amid gas prices that would shock most Americans. In France, for example, before prices began to go up last week in the wake of the Hurricane Katrina disaster, you could easily pay $6.60 per gallon of gas. At that rate, it would cost more than $210 to fill up a Hummer H2 SUV and drive it 310 miles, based on the manufacturer's published range at 30 to 40 miles per hour on a hard surface and rolling terrain. Les Dégonflés organize events by traditional mail, sending out letters to "friends of friends" with instructions to consult an online forum in which the next rendezvous is communicated, the spokesman said. The group's manifesto and communications are also listed on different Francophone forums, including those of La Brigade Antipub (The Anti-Commercial Brigade) and Antibagnole.com (Anti-car.com). The group's message has not been universally endorsed by environmental activists. A lawyer who represents Greenpeace and other environmental groups said he was "appalled" by the popularity of SUVs in France and Europe. But he criticized Les Dégonflés for its narrow target. "I don't like the destruction of property, and I don't find this movement positive," Alexandre Faro said. "SUVs are not the only vehicles that pollute."

Bill Maher to President Bush:

2005-09-12T16:29:00.000-04:00

"Now I kid, but seriously Mr. President, this job can't be fun for you anymore. There's no more money to spend, you used up all of that. You can't start another war because you also used up the army, and now, darn the luck, the rest of your term has become the Bush family nightmare - helping poor people. Yeah, listen to your mom. The cupboard's bare, the credit card's maxed out, and no one is speaking to you. Mission accomplished! Now it's time for you to do what you've always done best, lose interest and walk away, like you did with your military service... and the oil company... and the baseball team. It's time. Time to move on and try the next fantasy job. How about cowboy? Or spaceman? Now I know what you're saying. You're saying that there are so many other things that you as the president could involve yourself in. PLEASE DON'T. I know there's a lot left to do. There's a war with Venezuela and eliminating the sales tax on yachts, turning the space program over to the church and social security to Fannie Mae, giving embryos the vote, but sir, none of that is going to happen now. Why? Because you govern like Billy Joel drives. You perform so poorly I am surprised you haven't given yourself a medal. You're a catastrophe that walks like a man. Herbert Hoover was a shitty president, but even he never conceded an entire metropolis to rising water and snakes. On your watch, we've lost almost all of our allies, the surplus, four airliners, two trade centers, a piece of the Pentagon, and the city of New Orleans. Maybe you're just not... lucky? I'm not saying you don't love this country, I'm just wondering how much worse it could be if you were on the other side. So yes, God does speak to you and what He is saying is "Take a hint".

[ download clip here ]

FEMA Director Resigns -- about f@#king time!!!

2005-09-12T16:00:00.000-04:00

Federal Emergency Management Agency director Mike Brown said Monday he has resigned "in the best interest of the agency and best interest of the president," three days after losing his onsite command of the Hurricane Katrina relief effort.

"The focus has got to be on FEMA, what the people are trying to do down there," Brown told The Associated Press.

His decision was not a surprise. Brown was abruptly recalled to Washington on Friday, a clear vote of no confidence from his superiors at the White House and the Department of Homeland Security. Brown had been roundly criticized for FEMA's bearish response to the hurricane, which has caused political problem for Bush and fellow Republicans.

"I'm turning in my resignation today," Brown said. "I think it's in the best interest of the agency and the best interest of the president to do that and get the media focused on the good things that are going on, instead of me."

Brown, who said he last talked to Bush five or six days ago, said the resignation was his idea. He spoke on Saturday to White House chief of staff Andy Card, who did not request his departure, according to Brown.

He said he feared he was becoming a distraction to FEMA's relief effort.

"I came to the conclusion that this was in the best interest of not just the administration and not just me, but FEMA," he said. "They need to be focused on the continuing efforts in the Gulf."

Shortly after Brown was recalled to Washington last week, officials close to the FEMA director said he would likely resign. They said that even before Katrina, Brown had been planning on leaving the administration late this fall to go into the private sector.

On Refuge and Language

2005-09-12T10:00:00.000-04:00

"I do not wish
To place words in living mouths
Or bury the dead dishonorably

I am not deaf to cries escaping shelters
That citizens are not refugees
Refugees are not Americans

I will not use language
One way or another
To accommodate my comfort

I will not look away

All I know is this

No peoples ever choose to claim status of dispossessed
No peoples want pity above compassion
No enslaved peoples ever called themselves slaves

What do we pledge allegiance to?

A government that leaves its old
To die of thirst surrounded by water
Is a foreign government

People who are streaming
Illiterate into paperwork
Have long ago been abandoned

I think of coded language
And all that words carry on their backs

I think of how it is always the poor
Who are tagged and boxed with labels
Not of their own choosing

I think of my grandparents
And how some called them refugees
Others called them non-existent
They called themselves landless
Which means homeless

Before the hurricane
No tents were prepared for the fleeing
Because Americans do not live in tents
Tents are for Haiti for Bosnia for Rwanda

Refugees are the rest of the world

Those left to defend their human decency
Against conditions the rich keep their animals from
Those who have too many children
Those who always have open hands and empty bellies
Those whose numbers are massive
Those who seek refuge
From nature’s currents and man's resources

Those who are forgotten in the mean times

Those who remember

Ahmad from Guinea makes my falafel sandwich and says
So this is your country

Yes Amadou this my country
And these my people

Evacuated as if criminal
Rescued by neighbors
Shot by soldiers

Adamant they belong

The rest of the world can now see
What I have seen

Do not look away

The rest of the world lives here too
In America."

-Suheir Hammad
Palestinian poet

New Orleans Police Shooting "Stray" Dogs

2005-09-11T13:13:00.000-04:00

I really wish I was joking about this. But it really is another piece of the madness. They see it as doing them a favor because there's no food. So they just shoot them. Without for once thinking that animal welfare organizations are coming to rescue them. Or that the dog might be the beloved pet of a family ordered to leave it behind. It gives me the worst kind of chills and makes me want to throw up at the same time. Here's a link to the video, but it's not the best thing to watch if you're at all sensitive... you won't actually see a dog being shot, but you'll hear the gun and see the thoughtless guys doing it and trying to justify it on camera.

who says Bush doesn't care?

2005-09-11T11:27:00.000-04:00

One-Year Anniversary of Pres. Bush’s Declaration That the Atrocities in Darfur are Genocide

2005-09-09T10:59:00.000-04:00

September 9, 2005, marks the one-year anniversary of President Bush’s declaration that the atrocities in Darfur are genocide, yet the international response has been woefully inadequate.

On this tragic anniversary, I’d like to ask you to take an extra step to confront genocide; remind your friends and family that genocide is still occurring in Darfur. Send them an e-mail, telling them that for an entire year our government has done little to stop what it has called genocide. As we see the horrible images of destruction and human suffering resulting from Hurricane Katrina, it opens our hearts to the suffering intentionally imposed on 3,000,000 innocent people in Darfur. In the e-mail you send your friends and family, be sure to include two points. First, ask them to call President Bush at (202) 456-1111 and encourage him to take action to protect the civilians of Darfur. Second, ask them to visit our website, www.SaveDarfur.org, to learn more about the crisis and to sign up for weekly news and action updates.

President's Statement on Violence in Darfur, Sudan September 9, 2004

The United States is appalled by the violence in Darfur, Sudan. Our government has led the international effort to end the suffering there by speaking clearly about the crisis and sending assistance to the suffering. We have provided more than $211 million in aid and humanitarian relief, and we will provide an additional $250 million. To end the conflict, we helped broker a cease-fire and worked closely with the African Union to deploy monitors and soldiers to investigate violations. I sent Secretary of State Powell to Darfur and Khartoum to demand that the Sudanese Government act to end the violence. We sponsored a strong Security Council Resolution, which passed on July 30. This resolution called on the Government to disarm the Jinjaweed militias which have terrorized the people of Darfur, and bring their leaders to justice. Secretary Powell later sent a team of investigators into the refugee camps to interview the victims of atrocities. As a result of these investigations and other information, we have concluded that genocide has taken place in Darfur. We urge the international community to work with us to prevent and suppress acts of genocide. We call on the United Nations to undertake a full investigation of the genocide and other crimes in Darfur. The Government of Sudan has not complied with UN Security Council resolutions, and has not respected the cease-fire which it signed. The rebels are also guilty of cease-fire violations and failing to carry out past commitments. It is clear that only outside action can stop the killing. My government is seeking a new Security Council Resolution to authorize an expanded African Union security force to prevent further bloodshed. We will also seek to ban flights by Sudanese military aircraft in Darfur. The world cannot ignore the suffering of more than one million people. The U.S. will continue to help relieve suffering, as we demand that the Jinjaweed disarm, and that the Government, Jinjaweed, and Darfur rebels end the violence.

it makes perfect sense

2005-09-08T16:01:00.000-04:00

some people who know me well may know my tendancy to blame random things on solar flares. "traffic was really bad this morning" -- there were probably solar flares. "my computer sucks" -- i'm telling you, solar flares. but look, this time it's real! ---- CNN.com Thursday, September 8, 2005; Posted: 7:36 a.m. EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A large solar flare was reported Wednesday and forecasters warned of potential electrical and communications disruptions.

The flare was reported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Environment Center in Boulder, Colorado.

Significant solar eruptions are possible in the coming days and there could be disruptions in spacecraft operations, electric power systems, high frequency communications and low-frequency navigation systems, the agency said.

"This flare, the fourth largest in the last 15 years, erupted just as the ... sunspot cluster was rotating onto the visible disk of the sun," said Larry Combs, solar forecaster at the center.

The flare has affected some high-frequency communications on the sunlit side of Earth, NOAA reported.

tech trade : Netflix for XM

2005-09-08T12:45:00.000-04:00

i kind of feel like a technology/entertainment whore right now. i've decided to trade in my Netflix subscription and Yahoo Online Radio +Plus account for XM Satellite Radio. i definitely have nothing but love for Netflix, i'm impressed by their website technology, it parallels Amazon as far as customized content. but i barely have time to sit down for an hour to watch tv (thank god for DVR), let alone commit to a whole movie. i figured it would make more sense to spend $12/month getting XM radio in my car instead, since i now drive an hour everyday commuting to work. and since XM has their radio streaming online (included with regular subscription), i can still get my music while i'm at work (even though my Yahoo station will still exist, it just won't be commercial free anymore.) today is only my first day with the subscription, so i have no great insight just yet. already i'm easily amused by the customizable screen color and face plates, what can i say, i love little shiny pretty electronics. i know my favorite station so far is #81 BPM. i also love the #82 The System, #131 BBC News station, and of course #167 Air America. installation was relatively easy, i got the Delphi Roadie2 from Staples for $50 and activated it online (my only trouble: their activation site wasn't compatible with Firefox.) i [stupidly] didn't realize it needed an antenna wire to be attached to the roof of the car, but i got it worked out. not like i'm worried about making my 89 Civic look crappy with an extra wire sitting around. if anything it will detract attention from the sheets of rust begging to be kicked off beneath the doors. so today begins the test. goodbye netflix, hello xm.

Bring Them Home Now Tour in Columbus Today

2005-09-08T09:59:00.000-04:00

Thursday, September 8th 1:30 PM - Tour arrives at the Ohio Statehouse 2:00 PM - Press Conference on Statehouse Grounds, Veterans Plaza, with tour members and Ohio military families 3:00 PM - Delegations to Sen. DeWine and Sen. Voinovich's offices to deliver families' letters 4:30 PM - Senate Reaction/Debriefing: Trinity Episcopal Church “A Place to Be” 125 E. Broad St. @ 3rd St. 6:00 PM - Tour leaves Statehouse grounds *6:30 PM - Potluck Dinner with BTHN Tour Participants - Columbus Mennonite Church 35 Oakland Park Avenue (please park in Church lots) 7:30 PM - Program of Speakers @ Goodale Park 9:00 PM - Outdoor Candlelight Vigil (please bring your own candles) Goodale Park Friday, September 9th *8:00am - Breakfast Meeting with Local Activists and Press First Unitarian Universalist Church 93 W. Weisheimer Rd.

Appearing in Columbus:

Gold Star Families for Peace members: Bill Mitchell of Atascadero, CA, whose son Sgt. Michael Mitchell was killed in action in Sadr City, Iraq on April 4, 2004, along with Cindy Sheehan's son Spc. Casey Sheehan. Bill is a co-founder of Gold Star Families for Peace. Beatriz Saldivar of Fort Worth, TX, whose nephew Daniel Torres was killed in action on February 4th, 2005 in Baygii, 155 miles north of Baghdad, on his 2nd tour of Iraq when an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) exploded and hit his unarmored Humvee. She is available for interviews in English and Spanish. Celeste Zappala of Philadelphia, PA, whose son Sgt. Sherwood Baker was the first Pennsylvania National Guardsman to die in combat since World War II He was killed in Baghdad on April 26, 2004. Military Families Speak Out members: Mia Lorraine of Sebastopol, CA, whose son is a Captain in the Army and served in Iraq from February, 2004 to February, 2005. Lietta Ruger of Bay Center, WA, whose son-in-law and nephew serve in the 1st Armored Division of the U.S. Army and are currently in Germany. They have both served extended 15-month tours of duty in Iraq; they are both under stop-loss orders and due to re-deploy to Iraq this fall. Kallisa Stanley of Killeen, TX, whose husband is in the Army and currently stationed at Ft. Hood. He served one year-long tour of duty in Iraq and is scheduled to be redeployed to Iraq next year. Iraq Veterans Against the War members: Hart Viges of Austin, TX, who served in the 82nd Airborne Division and was deployed to Iraq from February, 2003 to January, 2004. After returning home, Hart applied for and was awarded Conscientious Objector status. Veterans for Peace members: Michael T. McPhearson of Fayetteville, NC was afield artillery officer in the 24th Mechanized Infantry Division during Desert Shield/Desert Storm. His military career includes 6 years of reserve service and 5 years active duty service. Now living in Saint Louis Missouri, Michael is currently the Executive Director of Veterans For Peace. Chris Snively, of Port Clinton, OH, currently lives in St. Louis, Missouri, where he works at the national office of Veterans For Peace. He was a Signal Corps soldier in the U.S. Army from 1992-1996.

Barbara Bush sums it up as only a Bush could

2005-09-07T14:24:00.000-04:00

"Almost everyone I’ve talked to [New Orleans refugees] wants to move to Houston. What I’m hearing is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed with the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway so this (she chuckled) -- this is working very well for them." ~ Barbara Bush on NPR, Sept. 5th

Post-Katrina images of New Orleans on Google Maps

2005-09-07T13:18:00.000-04:00

Satellite imagery of New Orleans taken on Wednesday, August 31st is now available on Google Maps. This is extremely interesting to look at... especially the hybrid view.

National Service Programs Respond to Hurricane Katrina

2005-09-07T13:02:00.000-04:00

(Washington D.C.) -- In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, national service programs are joining with local, state, and national relief and recovery efforts to provide emergency assistance and long-term relief to those in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and other areas whose lives were affected by the storm.

“In times of crisis, citizens and volunteers make up the backbone of support for people and communities in need,” said David Eisner, CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service, which administers the AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, and Learn and Serve America programs. “We have dispatched rapid response crews and are working with local, state, and federal officials to help coordinate citizen service and philanthropic activity over the long term. It will take many months to recover from such a devastating disaster, and we will ensure that service and volunteering goes where it’s needed, both now and in the future.”

The Corporation and its network of state commissions and grantees have a long history of involvement public safety, public health, and emergency preparedness and response, including longstanding partnerships with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the American Red Cross, and other agencies. The Corporation became a signatory to the National Response Plan in 2005, making it part of the official Federal plan to protect our nation from natural and manmade hazards and attacks with specific responsibilities in two sections of the plan: Mass Care and Housing, and in the Donations and Volunteer Management.

In addition, the fifty-three governor-appointed state service commissions funded by the Corporation have a key role in managing donations and volunteers in disaster situations. Last year, Volunteer Florida helped coordinate all volunteers and donations for the hurricane – more than 140,000 volunteers who contributed a total of 6 million hours of service.

National service volunteers dispatched to the Gulf Coast region, or otherwise assisting with the relief and recovery effort, include, in part:

* The first 50 members of the AmeriCorps*National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) from the Northeast campus in Perry Point, Md., flew into Montgomery, Ala., on Monday. Four members are in Montgomery to support a response technology center; 19 members are supporting shelters in Biloxi, Miss.; 15 members are supporting shelters in Pascagoula, Miss.; and 12 members are supporting shelters in Mobile, Ala. An additional 23 members are being deployed today to the stricken region today, and 24 will fly out on Thursday, bringing the total to 96 NCCC members from the Northeast region.

* 22 AmeriCorps*NCCC members from the Central Region campus in Denver, Colo., are currently assisting the American Red Cross at their call centers in Denver.

* At least 39 AmeriCorps members from the National Preparedness and Response Corps, a program of the American Red Cross, are supporting efforts either on-site in Mass Care activitiesor at their "host" chapters, where they are manning call centers.

* AmeriCorps*VISTA Leaders from Red Cross projects in Iowa, Ohio, and elsewhere have been deployed to the affected region by the American Red Cross.

* A number of AmeriCorps*VISTA members are assisting relief efforts in Alabama and Louisiana.

* Members of an RSVP Homeland Security project in northern Alabama who have CERT training have been deployed to hard-hit areas of the state.

The Corporation and its programs gained valuable experience in dealing with issues arising from hurricane response and relief during the series of hurricanes that ravaged Florida last year. At the time, several thousand participants with the Corporation’s AmeriCorps, NCCC, VISTA, and Senior Corps programs, as well as student volunteers connected with Learn and Serve America, distributed food, set up shelters, put tarps on buildings and supplied the infrastructure and expertise needed to manage the historic number of volunteers that they had in the state.

The Corporation for National and Community Service provides opportunities for Americans of all ages and backgrounds to serve their communities and country through three programs: Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America. Together with USA Freedom Corps, the Corporation is working to foster a culture of citizenship, service, and responsibility in America. For more information, visit http://www.nationalservice.gov.

6.8GHz 1TB RAM and 2TB HDD Laptop?

2005-09-07T12:50:00.000-04:00

From Slashdot: "Research & development company AtomChip have announced a new 6.8GHz 1TB RAM and 2TB HDD laptop, which is "coming soon". Apparently it does not use a hard disc, instead it is based on "solid state AtomChip® optoelectronics". A new "non-volatile Quantum-Optical" type of RAM is used. Other features include voice commands, "Num Lock mode, Caps Lock mode, Scroll Lock mode". They're spoiling us."

Calif. Lawmakers Pass Gay Marriage Bill

2005-09-07T12:11:00.000-04:00

The Associated Press Steve Lawrence SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - Gay rights supporters cheered loudly from the gallery as California lawmakers became the first in the country to approve a bill allowing same-sex marriages. But their celebration may be short-lived. The legislation could be vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has expressed an acceptance of gay marriages but said it's an issue that should be decided by voters or the courts. "He will uphold whatever the court decides," spokeswoman Margita Thompson said Tuesday after the state Assembly approved the same-sex marriage measure, 41-35. The Senate had approved it last week. A state appellate court is considering appeals of a lower court ruling that overturned California laws banning recognition of gay marriages. And opponents of same-sex marriage are trying to qualify initiatives for the 2006 ballot that would amend the state Constitution to ban gay marriages. The bill's supporters compared the legislation to earlier civil rights campaigns, including efforts to eradicate slavery and give women the right to vote. "Do what we know is in our hearts," said the bill's sponsor, San Francisco Democrat Mark Leno. "Make sure all California families will have the same protection under the law." But opponents repeatedly cited the public's vote five years ago to approve Proposition 22, which prohibits California from recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other states or countries. "History will record that you betrayed your constituents and their moral and ethical values," Republican Assemblyman Jay La Suer said. Leno had sponsored an earlier bill that fell four votes short of passing the Assembly in June. He kept the issue alive by adding the language of the defeated measure to another bill that had already passed the Assembly and was awaiting action in the Senate. The Senate approved that bill and sent it back to the Assembly for another vote. Four Democrats who didn't vote the last time tipped the scales. One of them, Assemblyman Tom Umberg, said Tuesday he was concerned about what his three children would think of him if he didn't join those "who sought to take a leadership role in terms of tolerance, equality and fairness." California already gives same-sex couples many of the rights and duties of marriage if they register with the state as domestic partners. Massachusetts' highest court ruled in November 2003 that the state constitution guarantees same-sex couples the right to marry. The nation's first state-sanctioned, same-sex weddings began taking place in May 2004. Vermont began offering civil unions in 2000, after a ruling by the state's Supreme Court. Earlier this year, Connecticut became the first state to approve civil unions without being forced by the courts. Tuesday's vote showed that gay rights advocates have "turned the corner on the issue of marriage equality for lesbian and gay couples," said Geoff Kors, executive director of Equality California, a backer of the bill. "As the debate today shows, love conquers fear, principle conquers politics and equality conquers injustice, and the governor can now secure his legacy as a true leader by signing this bill," he said. But Randy Thomasson, president of the Campaign for Children and Families, a conservative group opposed to the bill, said Schwarzenegger should veto it. "Schwarzenegger can't afford to sign the gay marriage license bill," he said. "He'll actually become a hero to the majority of Californians when he vetoes it."

U.S. the new Saddam

2005-09-07T11:00:00.000-04:00

By ERIC MARGOLIS

The most important news from Iraq last week was not the much ballyhooed constitutional pact by Shias and Kurds, nor the tragic stampede deaths of nearly 1,000 pilgrims in Baghdad.

The U.S. Air Force's senior officer, Gen. John Jumper, stated U.S. warplanes would remain in Iraq to fight resistance forces and protect the American-installed regime "more or less indefinitely." Jumper's bombshell went largely unnoticed due to Hurricane Katrina.

Gen. Jumper let the cat out of the bag. While President George Bush hints at eventual troop withdrawals, the Pentagon is busy building four major, permanent air bases in Iraq that will require heavy infantry protection.

Jumper's revelation confirms what this column has long said: The Pentagon plans to copy Imperial Britain's method of ruling oil-rich Iraq. In the 1920s, the British cobbled together Iraq from three disparate Ottoman provinces to control newly-found oil fields in Kurdistan and along the Iranian border.

London installed a puppet king and built an army of sepoy (native) troops to keep order and put down minor uprisings. Government minister Winston Churchill authorized use of poisonous mustard gas against Kurdish tribesmen in Iraq and Pushtuns in Afghanistan (today's Taliban). The RAF crushed all revolts.

It seems this is what Jumper has in mind. Mobile U.S. ground intervention forces will remain at the four major "Fort Apache" bases guarding Iraq's major oil fields. These bases will be "ceded" to the U.S. by a compliant Iraqi regime. The U.S. Air Force will police the Pax Americana with its precision-guided munitions and armed drones.

The USAF has developed an extremely effective new technique of wide area control. Small numbers of strike aircraft are kept in the air around the clock. When U.S. ground forces come under attack or foes are sighted, these aircraft deliver precision-guided bombs. This tactic has led Iraqi resistance fighters to favour roadside bombs over ambushes against U.S. convoys.

The USAF uses the same combat air patrol tactic in Afghanistan, with even more success. The U.S. is also developing three major air bases in Pakistan, and others across Central Asia, to support its plans to dominate the region's oil and gas reserves.

While the USAF is settling into West Asia, the mess in Iraq continues to worsen. Last week's so-called "constitutional deal" was the long-predicted, U.S.-crafted pact between Shias and Kurds, essentially giving them Iraq's oil and virtual independence. The proposed constitution assures American big business access to Iraq's oil riches and markets.

The furious but powerless Sunnis were left in the lurch. Sunnis will at least have the chance to vote on it in a Oct. 15 referendum, but many fear it will be rigged.

The U.S. reportedly offered the 15 Sunni delegates $5 million each to vote for the constitution -- but was turned down. No mention was made that a U.S.-guided constitution for Iraq would violate the Geneva Conventions.

Chinese Taoists say you become what you hate. In a zesty irony, the U.S. now finds itself in a similar position as demonized Saddam Hussein. Saddam had to use his Sunni-dominated army to hold Iraq together by fighting Kurdish and Shia rebels. His brutal police jailed tens of thousands and routinely used torture.

Today, Iraq's new ruler, the U.S., is battling Sunni insurgents, ("al-Qaida terrorists," in the latest Pentagon doublespeak), rebuilding Saddam's dreaded secret police, holding 15,000 prisoners and torturing captives, as the Abu Ghraib outrage showed.

Much of the Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama National Guard were in Iraq last week week instead of at home. Meanwhile, the Kurds are de facto independent, the Shia are playing footsie with Iran, and large parts of Iraq resemble the storm-ravaged U.S. Gulf Coast -- or vice versa.

Allegations President Bush staged photo-ops in aftermath of Hurricane Katrina tragedy

2005-09-06T19:37:00.000-04:00

In a press release issued Saturday, September 3rd, 2005, Democratic Senator Mary L. Landrieu of Louisiana claims that President Bush staged a photo opportunity, at the breached 17th Street levee, by having equipment quickly moved into the background during the event. Senator Landrieu says the equipment was dispersed elsewhere the next day, but did not provide details.

Landrieu says in her press release, " ... we witnessed a hastily prepared stage set for a Presidential photo opportunity; and the desperately needed resources we saw were this morning reduced to a single, lonely piece of equipment. The good and decent people of southeast Louisiana and the Gulf Coast -- black and white, rich and poor, young and old -- deserve far better from their national government ..."

The President and Senator Landrieu toured the 17th Street levee on Friday, and held the photo-op. Senator Landrieu said she believed the repair effort was legitimate, at that time. Less than 24 hours later, she discovered only "one lonely crane" working on the site, while giving an aerial tour for ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos. A video of her tearful comments, during that tour, has been circulating around the internet (WMV).

Senator Landrieu made no specific accusations about the photo-op during the ABC tour. However, neither does her press release describe any measures taken to verify that equipment was in-fact pulled from other projects for the purpose of the photo-op, nor where the equipment is now. The canal wall breach, near Hammond Highway, was later shown Sunday on CBS' 60 Minutes with dump trucks and a power shovel building a single-lane pathway across the gap. The breach was closed Monday.

Notably, Senator Landrieu was herself criticized by Anderson Cooper (CNN) on Thursday, after she responded to a question by rattling off a list of "thank yous" to other politicians (WMV, transcript). Democratic pundits have excused such detachment as an attempt to gain more federal assistance during the tragedy. Senator Landrieu's press release partially confirms this interpretation by attempting to simultaniously ask the president for more aid, while accusing him of misusing existing resources.

In related news, Germany's ZDF News reported that the president's visit to Biloxi was largely a staged event (video). Their onsite crew claimed that an "open air food distribution point Bush visited in front of the cameras was torn down immediately after the president and the herd of news people had left", and alleges that others were being set up were abandoned at the same time. Christine Adelhardt of Germany's ARD Tagesschule said "the extent of the staging is shocking me [as much as the disaster.]" She also claimed that, for the purpose of such photo-ops, heavy equipment was being moved to areas which would not require it (video). Senator Landrieu has not complained about any other staged photo-ops, nor has the American press accused the president's press team off any impropriety.

Mayor Nagin has apologized to the president for his earlier accusations of poor federal support for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Foster homes and donations needed for Katrina's animal victims

2005-09-06T15:46:00.000-04:00

Click Here for Ways to Help Katrina's Animal Victims

It's really hard for me to think about this, I think part of me has been denying its existence. I have a different emotional response when it comes to animals. Partly because of their dependance on humans which often makes them extremely and unfairly vulnerable. And because of their admired innocence. I almost can't let myself build any sort of mental image of what this situation must look like now. When everybody evacuated, what about the animals left behind? If there's no food or water for people, how are they expected to live? If they were lucky, they are somehow still alive today. If they're even luckier they will be rescued by the amazing people going out there to save them, like the volunteers of the Emergency Animal Rescue Service and the United Animal Nations organization. But now foster homes are desperately needed, and volunteers are willing and waiting to drive dogs and cats anywhere they need to go. Please check out the link at the top of this post to see how you can help, whether it's fostering or donating money. I recommend both. It's a shame that so many living creatures must needlessly suffer now because of the thoughtless and greedy actions (or rather: inactions) of others.

Halliburton Subsidiary Gets Katrina Deal

2005-09-06T11:15:00.000-04:00

A Halliburton Co. subsidiary that has come under fire for its reconstruction work in Iraq has begun tapping a $500 million Navy contract to do emergency repairs at Gulf Coast naval and Marine facilities that were battered by Hurricane Katrina.

The subsidiary, Kellogg, Brown & Root Services Inc. of Arlington, Va., was awarded the competitive bid contract last July to provide debris removal and other emergency work associated with natural disasters.

Jan Davis, a spokeswoman for the Naval Facilities Engineering Command, said Sunday that KBR will receive $12 million for work at Naval Air Station Pascagoula, Naval Station Gulfport and Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. It will receive $4.6 million for work at two smaller Navy facilities in New Orleans and others in the South.

The company has provided similar work after major disasters in the United States and abroad for more than 15 years, including in Florida after Hurricane Andrew.

But KBR has been at the center of scrutiny for receiving a five-year, no-bid contract to restore Iraqi oil fields shortly before the war began in 2003.

Halliburton has reported being paid $10.7 billion for Iraq-related government work during 2003 and 2004. The company reported its pretax profits from that work as $163 million. Pentagon auditors have questioned tens of millions of dollars of Halliburton charges for its operations there.

Late last month three congressional Democrats asked Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to investigate the demotion of a senior civilian Army official who publicly criticized the awarding of that contract.

Bunnatine H. Greenhouse, who had been the Army Corps of Engineers' top procurement official since 1997, was removed from her position last month for what the Corps called a poor job performance. The lawmakers said the demotion "appears to be retaliation" for her June 27 testimony before Congress in which she detailed her objections to the award of contracts for Iraq projects.

Vice President Dick Cheney headed Halliburton from 1995 to 2000, and Democrats have questioned whether the company has gotten favorable treatment because of his connection.

Eyewitness Report from New Orleans

2005-09-06T10:45:00.000-04:00

September 6, 2005

On Saturday September 3, award-winning filmmaker Gloria La Riva, internationally-acclaimed photographer Bill Hackwell and A.N.S.W.E.R. Youth & Student Coordinator Caneisha Mills, a senior at Howard University, arrived in New Orleans. The following is an eyewitness report of the crisis in the area written on Sunday, September 4.

Algiers

While 80 percent of New Orleans was submerged in water, Algiers is one of the few districts that have been spared the worst of the flooding as it sits higher than most of the city. An historic district established in 1719, Algiers is on the west bank of the Mississippi river, across from the French Quarter. Probably 15% of the residents still remain behind, most of them determined to stay in their homes. The majority of homes are still intact, although many have suffered damage. While their houses survived, the peoples’ chance of survival seemed very bleak since there was no electricity or disbursement of food, water or other supplies.

We arrived in the Algiers district of New Orleans after getting through seven checkpoints. We quickly learned that the current media reports that relief and aid have finally arrived to New Orleans are as false as all earlier reports that also had as their origin government sources. The people in the Algiers area have received nothing or next to nothing since the Hurricane struck. Left without any way to escape, people are now struggling to survive in the aftermath. Now they are being told they have to abandon their homes, even though they want to stay. They are not being given what they need to stay and survive, and are being told they must leave.

“Imagine being in a city, poor, without any money and all of a sudden you are told to leave and you don’t even have a bicycle,” stated Malik Rahim, a community activist in the Algiers section of New Orleans. “90% of the people don’t even have cars.”

One woman told us it was not possible for her to evacuate. She said, “I can’t leave. I don’t have a car and I have nine children.” She and her husband are getting by with the help of several men in the community who are joining resources to provide for their neighbors.

The government claims that people can get water, but residents have to travel at least 17 miles to the nearest water and ice distribution center. Only one case of water is available per family. Countless people have no way to drive.

While the government is touting the deployment of personnel to the area, there is a huge military and police presence but none of it to provide services. All of them, north and south of the river, are stationed in front of private buildings and abandoned stores, protecting private property.

The goods that the government personnel are bringing in are for their own forces. They are not distributing provisions to people who desperately need them.

Not one of them has delivered water to Algiers or gone to the houses to see if sick or elderly people need help. There is no door-to-door survey to see who was injured.

The overwhelming majority of people who have stayed in Algiers are Black but some are white. One man in his late 50s in Algiers pointed across the street to a 10-acre grassy lot. It looks like a beautiful park. He said, “I had my daughter call FEMA. I told them I want to donate this land to the people in need. They could set up 100 tractor trailers with aid, they could set up tents. No one has ever called me back.” He is clearly angry.

Although some of the residents do express fear of burglaries into houses, acts of heroism, sacrifice and solidarity are evident everywhere.

Steve, a white man in his 40s, knocks on Malik’s front door. He tells us, “Malik has kept this neighborhood together. We don’t know what we’d do without his help.” He has come in because he needs to use the phone. Malik’s street is the only one with phones still working.

Malik and three of his friends have been delivering food, water and ice to those in need three times a day, searching everywhere for goods.

There is a strong suspicion among the residents that the government has another agenda in the deliberately forced removal of people from Algiers, even though this particular neighborhood is not under water and is intact.

Algiers is full of quaint, historic French-style houses, with a high real estate value, and the residents know that the government and real estate forces would like to lay their hands on their neighborhood to push forward gentrification which is already evident.

Downtown New Orleans

Although entry is prohibited into downtown New Orleans north and east of the Mississippi, we were able to get in on Sunday.

The Superdome is still surrounded by water and all types of military helicopters, army trucks, etc are coming in and out of the area; however, most of the people who survived have already left. On US-90, the only road out of New Orleans, convoys of National Guard troops are pouring into the city, too late for many. According to an emergency issue of The Times-Picayune, 16,000 National Guard troops now occupy the city.

Thousands of troops are in New Orleans but water is premium and still not available. One African American couple we met looking for water told us, “We have four kids. When they told us to leave before the hurricane we couldn’t. We have no car and no money.”

Undoubtedly it is similar in the other states that got the direct hit of Katrina, Mississippi and Alabama. On the radio we hear reports of completely demolished towns. What differentiates the rest of the Gulf coast from New Orleans is that the many thousands of deaths in New Orleans were absolutely preventable and occurred after the hurricane.

On everyone’s lips is the cutting in federal funds to strengthen the levees of Lake Pontchartrain. Two reporters from New York tell us they just came from the New Orleans airport emergency hospital that was set up. We made our way to the airport.

New Orleans International Airport

The New Orleans International Airport was converted into an emergency hospital center. Thousands of people were evacuated there to get supplies and food, and for transportation that would take them out of the city. Many people arrived with only one or two bags, their entire lives reduced to a few belongings.

Some people did not want to leave their homes, but say they were forced to do so. For example, one white woman and her husband were forced to evacuate. She said, “The military told us that we had one minute to evacuate. We said that we weren’t ready and he said they can’t force us to leave but if we don’t leave anybody left would be arrested … but it was the end of the month. The two of us have been living for a couple of months on $600 a month and rent is $550. At the end of the month, we only had $20 and 1/8 of a tank of gas. There was no way we could leave.”

When it became apparent that nobody was coming back to pick them up, the couple walked five miles to the airport to see if they could get help.

Disaster Medical Assistance Teams, doctors, nurses and community organizations came from as far as San Diego, California and Kentucky to provide support during the crisis. None of them were dispersed into the community. When we arrived at the airport on Sunday, September 4, there were approximately 20 medical people for every one patient while people in regions such as Algiers and the 9th ward were left to fend for themselves.

The majority of people in New Orleans blame the local and national government for the catastrophe. One young Black man said, “The government abandoned us … [it’s] pre-meditated murder.”

Another said, “Why would you [the government] protect a building … instead of rescuing people that have been without food or water for three or four days? It seems like that was the plan. … We couldn’t starve them out, the hurricane didn’t kill them, it seems planned.”

Baton Rouge

As we drive to Baton Rouge tonight to visit evacuated people, we hear on local radio that possibly 10,000 people have died in the flooded areas of New Orleans. Tonight in one announcement, we hear the names of some of the missing people still being searched for, a 90-year-old woman named Lisa, a man 102 years old, two women 82 and 85 years old. The elderly, the most vulnerable, left to their own devices.

Bodies are lying everywhere, and hidden in attics and apartments. The announcer describes how one body, rotting after days in the sun, was surrounded by a wall fashioned from fallen bricks by survivors, and given a provisional burial to give her some dignity. Written on the sheet covering her is, “Here lies Vera, God Help Us.”

At a Red Cross shelter outside of Baton Rouge, we meet Emmanuel, who can’t find his wife and three sons after the floods. His story is shocking but not unusual. His home is near the 17th Street Canal, where the Pontchartrain levee broke through.

“I stayed behind to rescue my neighbors while I sent my wife and kids to dry land,” he says. It is difficult for him to relate what happened. He had a small boat so he went from house to house picking up neighbors. While doing so, he encountered many bodies in the water.

“My best friend’s body was floating by in the water. One mother whose baby drowned tied her baby to a fence so she could bury him after she returned.” Because troops kept driving by him and others without helping them, he had to walk 30 miles north until he was picked up.

The people of New Orleans did not have to die; their lives did not have to be destroyed. This conduct of the government is a crime of the highest magnitude. There is not a single adjective that is adequate.

Negligence, incompetence, callous disregard while all are true, none are sufficient.

Those who manage a system that always and everywhere puts the needs of business and private property ahead of the people, that always find money to fund wars that benefit the rich of this country rather than meeting people’s needs should be held responsible and accountable. The real problem however, is not with the managers of the system, but with the system itself. They call it the free market. It is the economic and social system of plutocracy, the system of modern capitalism, of, by, and for the rich that in words declares itself to be of, by and for the people. The reality, however, can now been seen in the streets of New Orleans.

While we were all watching New Orleans...

2005-09-04T23:02:00.000-04:00

The Pentagon launched the largest urban assault since Fallujah.

5,000 US and Iraqi Troops Sweep Into City of Tall Afar By Jonathan Finer - The Washington Post

Saturday, September 3rd 2005

Tall Afar, Iraq - It was a clear and quiet dusk, with only the call to prayer echoing from minarets across this city, when a roadside bomb blasted an M1-A1 Abrams tank, shaking nearby buildings and filling the indigo sky with a plume of black smoke.

Crackling small-arms fire clanged off the damaged vehicle from an adjacent house. US soldiers answered with increasingly violent volleys - .50-caliber machine gun bursts, tank rounds and a TOW missile - but the shots from inside the house kept coming. Finally, an ear-splitting succession of five rounds from the tank's big gun reduced the building to flaming rubble and lit the empty streets with white sparks from exploding power transformers.

In the largest urban assault since the siege of Fallujah last November, more than 5,000 US and Iraqi troops entered this northern city before dawn Friday. But the 45-minute firefight at day's end suggested that the insurgents who have controlled much of Tall Afar for almost a year would not relinquish it easily.

"We knew they were going to fight," said Pfc. Johnny Lara, a machine gunner from Blue Platoon, Eagle Troop, 2nd Squadron of the Army's 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, who watched the clash with a reporter from a rooftop about 100 yards away. "Now it's a fight."

During the course of the day, at least 30 insurgents were killed as US troops conducted house-to-house searches in the baking sun. Apache attack helicopters that circled the city of 250,000 all day killed 27 people, including eight who were attempting to conceal roadside bombs in old tires, commanders said. No American or Iraqi army casualties were reported.

Set on an old smuggling trail that winds though pastoral plains about 40 miles from the Syrian border, Tall Afar is a key logistics hub for insurgents operating across northern Iraq, military officials say. Like the string of towns a few hundred miles to the south in Anbar province, where Marines have launched a half-dozen offensives since early May, Tall Afar is considered a staging point for operations essential to sustaining an insurgency, such as trafficking of men and arms and providing safe accommodations for fighters.

One year ago this month, US and Iraqi forces stormed into the city after a series of roadside bomb attacks on their supply convoys. But soon after that offensive - in a pattern repeated elsewhere in Iraq - the bulk of the troops withdrew from the region, leaving about 500 behind to police a vast swath of northwestern Iraq, including Tall Afar and a more than 100-mile stretch of Syrian border.

By the end of October, the insurgents had returned, stronger than ever and with more foreign fighters backing them. They quickly reasserted control over the city through intimidation - kidnappings and beheadings - and a highly effective campaign aimed at persuading Tall Afar's majority Sunni Turkmen that the US operation was directed at them.

"The September operation basically made people angry, which the insurgents were able to take advantage of," said Maj. Bob Molinari, 35, of Fort Carson, Colo., the planning officer for the 3rd Armored Cavalry, which was shifted from Baghdad in late April as the situation here deteriorated. The offensive "had the opposite effect that was intended. We created a power vacuum and they filled it."

All but a few dozen local police officers quit, many going over to side with the insurgents. The city's imams and schoolteachers were replaced with newly arrived adherents to radical Islamic sects, US military commanders and local residents said. After a year of violence, as many as half of Tall Afar's residents have fled to outlying areas, leaving behind a ghost town of shuttered shops and charred hulls of vehicles.

"This place is not a town, it's a cemetery. It is the lowest of the low in Iraq," Najim Abdullah Jabouri, a former general in Saddam Hussein's army, said in an interview the day before the operation began. "It needs to be cleaned out." Jabouri was brought here from Baghdad by US and Iraqi forces four months ago to serve as Tall Afar's police chief. Col. H.R. McMaster, commander of the 3rd Armored Cavalry, said Tall Afar's complex demographics would make it difficult to pacify. As many as 75 percent of residents are Sunni Turkmen, many of whom held prominent political and military positions when Iraq was ruled by Hussein. Increasingly threatened by the rise of the country's Shiite-led government, they have clashed with local Shiite Turkmen tribes and with the mostly Shiite and Kurdish security forces deployed to Tall Afar.

The Turkmen's ethnic ties to neighboring Turkey have also complicated matters for US forces. During last year's invasion of Tall Afar, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul threatened to suspend cooperation with the United States on matters related to Iraq.

"The city is basically a microcosm of all the problems, all the divisions that exist in Iraq, in one place," McMaster said.

Soon after arriving four months ago, the 3rd Armored Cavalry reached out to local tribes of Sunni and Shiite Turkmen, encouraging them to bridge their differences and focus their energies against insurgents. The Americans also launched raids in a string of towns ringing Tall Afar, including Afgani to the north, where insurgents were thought to have fled during last year's offensive.

Fighting in the city grew more intense throughout the summer. In May, a car bomb detonated near a Shiite funeral procession, killing at least 15. Insurgents developed more sophisticated defenses against attacks from the air, using a network of cell phone calls to alert gunmen to incoming helicopters. They also used flashlights on the main supply route into the city to signal roadside bombers as convoys approached. At least 13 US soldiers have died here since, including three in the past week.

In recent meetings , McMaster said, tribal leaders implored the Americans to invade Tall Afar again, but this time not to leave so quickly.

"We are trying to learn from the mistakes that have been made here in the past," said McMaster, who takes great pains not to criticize commanders who preceded him here, saying they were handicapped by limited resources and manpower.

McMaster bristled at any comparison between Friday's operation and November's assault in Fallujah, a city roughly the size of Tall Afar but which likely had many more insurgents present when US forces invaded. Despite the fact that many of them were killed, Fallujah became a rallying point for guerrillas, he said, as they blamed the Americans for the destruction of the city.

"I don't want to kill this city, I want to bring it back to life," McMaster said. "We are taking steps to minimize destruction. I want to do it right."

That effort began in full on Friday, as soldiers piled into the back of their Bradley Fighting Vehicles just after 6 a.m. and rumbled onto Tall Afar's eerily quiet streets. Working in squads of 10 to 15, they burst into homes, many of which were abandoned, and interrogated residents they did find about insurgent activity. They often leapt from roof to roof to avoid streets they feared were rigged with bombs.

Capt. Noah Hanners, Blue Platoon's commander, interviewed at least two dozen military-aged men and checked their names against a blacklist maintained by the regiment. Each man said he was aware that insurgents operated in the neighborhood but did not know who or where they were.

"All we want is to be safe here," said a middle-aged man in a dark gray robe, as his wife and 11 children sat on nearby mats, his wife weeping, his daughter's hands trembling.

"That's what I want too," Hanners said. "That's why I need your help."

Public Voicemail for Katrina Victims

2005-09-02T15:52:00.000-04:00

Air America Radio's Public Voicemail 1-866-217-6255

Air America Radio's Public Voicemail is a way for disconnected people to communicate in the wake of Katrina.

Here's how it works:

Call the toll-free number above, enter your everyday phone number, and then record a message. Other people who know your everyday phone number (even if it doesn't work anymore) can call Emergency Voicemail, enter the phone number they associate with you, and hear your message.

You can also search for messages left by people whose phone numbers you know.

Air America Radio will leave Public Voicemail in service for as long as this crisis continues. You can call it whenever you are trying to locate someone, or if you are trying to be found.

Air America Radio brings you Emergency VoiceMail in conjunction with the Red Cross and VoodooVox.

Bush to New Orleans: Drop Dead

2005-09-02T13:22:00.000-04:00

By Harvey Wasserman The Free Press - Columbus, OH September 2, 2005 George W. Bush is in New Orleans today to deliver a clear and unmistakable message: Drop Dead. Little in our history can match his administration's astounding non-response to this excruciating human catastrophe. Before Katrina, even Bush's harshest critics might have found non-credible his leaving tens of thousands of American citizens to suffer and die in utterly gratuitous squalor, disease, hunger and thirst. Taxpaying American citizens are dying in the heart of a great city because their government can't be bothered to get them clean water. Or a bed. Or to a hospital. The weather has been clear since Katrina passed. Bush commands the world's most advanced armada of land, sea and airborne vehicles. The resources to save our brothers and sisters are readily available. But we see our elders, black and white, sitting confused and in pain, dying of heat and thirst and utter neglect in clear, sunny weather while the President of the United States babbles aimlessly and the Secretary of State shops for shoes. We see babies by the dozen dying of dehydration and hunger where there is no war and no storm, only incompetence and contempt. Global warming caused this storm. And there are no secrets about the corruption and stupidity that weakened New Orleans's earthen defenses and opened the floodgates. The Bush junta slashed funds for levees, let the wetlands be drained, let the developers rape and pillage. It assaulted those who warned the city would be laid bare to the storms everyone knew would come. But even from this unelected gang of thugs and thieves, the horrifying abandonment of New Orleans has taken things to a new level. Amidst a dire crisis, American citizens put their trust in the government. They walked into the Superdome. And they were utterly, cynically abandoned. No food. No water. No emergency electricity. No organized evacuation. No cleaning of the bathrooms. No disinfectants for the hot, damp, stinking stadium. No provisions for fresh clothing. No medical care for the elderly. No formula for the babies. No sanitary facilities for pregnant women. No insulin for diabetics. No injections for the sick. No policing. No leadership. No airlift of doctors, nurses, EMTs, psychologists, medicines….nothing! Only a big, empty vacuum, the ultimate symbol of an administration with absolutely nothing in its head or heart. That the federal government has utterly failed in these lethal days is universally obvious. Is it because so many of these people are black and poor? Is it because Bush has successfully stolen a second term and just doesn't care? Is it because this gouged and battered organization that was once our government has been so thoroughly exhausted by war and corruption that it cannot or will not manage so basic a task as bringing the necessities of life to its needlessly dying citizens? Fox News and macho fools like Haley Barbour, the corrupt and inept Republican governor of Mississippi, will rant endlessly about a few looters and the shot that may or may not have been fired at rescue helicopters. We will see endless footage of the African-American family arrested for "stealing" a car so they could escape and live. But to hear of dead bodies being stacked outside a professional football stadium to avoid further stench where ten thousand Americans can't get water, food or sanitary facilities….To see dazed elders who've just lost their homes or hospital rooms being laid on sidewalks to die…To watch crying children stretched out on the ground, separated from their parents, dehydrated, overheated, starving….this is too much to bear. How utterly can our nation have failed? How totally bankrupt can we be? As we mourn our most colorful city, the home of our truest American music, and of so much gorgeous history and culture….we are heartsick and disgraced. These global-warmed hurricanes will be coming again and again. And with this ghastly Bush crew, soul-killing scenes like these will define our nation. -- Harvey Wasserman is co-author, with Bob Fitrakis, of How the GOP Stole America's 2004 Election & Is Rigging 2008 (http://www.freepress.org/), and author of Harvey Wasserman's History of the U.S. (http://www.harveywasserman.com/).