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Each political note has its own anchor in case you want to link to it.
Police in the Minneapolis area are breaking into houses without warrants, and arresting potential protestors, their lawyers, and journalists. They hardly bother to try to make it seem lawful.
Here's testimony from one witness. The police sealed the building after raiding it. They claimed to have a warrant, but refused to show it, which suggests they were lying.
The End of America, by Naomi Wolf, warned that the US had gone nearly all the way towards a police state, and that the full-blown tyranny only becomes unmistakably visible at the last stage. That last stage may be now.
It might not be too late to defeat this monster, if the mass media were to make a scandal. Obama could make this happen if he decides to try. But I expect that they won't. The mass media are certainly part of the monster, and Obama probably is too.
Neo-Nazis and white surpremacists are joining the US Army, which understandably has had trouble meeting recruitment quotas in recent years. Investigations against them get mysteriously cancelled.
Once trained in how to carry out overt state-sponsored terrorism, they may subsequently use their training for covert state-sponsored terrorism — or non-state-sponsored terrorism.
A militia of crazed Christian theocrats might welcome them too.
Three years later, New Orleans remains devastated, its population halved.
Rebuilding New Orleans in the same place would be foolish — inviting a repeat disaster. But Bush has been equally unhelpful to rebuilding in a new site.
Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network is campaigning for Brazil to withdraw its troops from the US-organized occupation of Haiti.
Was Facebook built by the CIA? Links of personnel suggest that it was.
We don't need proof of any specific conspiracy to recognize that peer pressure can lead kids into many sorts of foolish behavior.
It's a mistake to post anything on Facebook unless you want to publish it.
Putin accused Bush and Cheney of having Georgia start a war to manipulate the US election.
I would not put it past them. Saakashvili surely supplied the main enthusiasm for the attack, but it is an interesting question whether he needed to get permission from the US before he could launch it.
Mexico City's policy of offering abortion services at no charge has won a court challenge.
Bush forces soldiers confessed to murdering handcuffed prisoners. No charges have been filed against them.
Philip Morris knew that cigarette smoke contains radioactive polonium 210, but decided not to tell the public.
It is common for the effect of a radioactive or poisonous substance to depend on how it is ingested. For instance, a given dose of polonium 210 might be much more dangerous when breathed in than when swallowed, or vice versa. The article does not say, but I doubt it causes lung cancer when swallowed. If someone sends me the answer I will post it here.
More proof that Bush corrupted the CIA: its Oct 2002 "intelligence briefing summary" for Congress about Iraq was drafted months before the analysis it supposedly reported on.
Israel let humantarian relief ships dock in Gaza, avoiding confrontation for the moment. The ships brought children's hearing aids as well as food.
Israel can avoid this confrontation forever, if it lets relief ships continue sailing in and out of Gaza. But that seems unlikely.
The Bush regime wants to withhold crucial evidence from Binyam Mohamed's defense on the grounds that it would harm the "US-UK intelligence-sharing relationship".
Exposing these crimes might very well interfere with future collaboration on torture. That, of course, is why they should be published — not merely provided in secret to the defense lawyers.
What the Bush regime says is, in effect, "Don't let anyone know about our crimes, because we deserve not to suffer the consequences of them!" Any other criminal saying this would meet with derision. If the US is to claim to have rule of law, courts must give the Bushmen the same derision.
But that is not likely, given that this is a "military tribunal" which does not meet the usual criteria for a fair trial.
Articles in newspapers that appear to talk about a topic may have been written to promote a product or company.
The National Cancer Institute presents evidence that cigarette ads and smoking in movies are important factors in encouraging children to start smoking.
Perhaps movies should be rated "parental discretion advised" if they depict smoking.
US agents picked up hundreds of immigrants, even legal ones, to deport because of minor crimes. They say this roundup is aimed at gang members, but that appears to be a lie.
The Afghan government demanded that the US stop bombing civilian homes. The US response is to deny that this demand was made, just as it denies killing civilians.
Israeli concientious objectors are going to prison rather than serve in the army of occupation.
Israeli settlers try to drive the Abu Kabaita family off its land by killing or stealing their sheep. The Israeli police support this campaign of harassment by refusing to accept complaints from the family.
In Hebron, Israeli settlers attack Arabs and their homes, and also attack the international monitors who were placed there to discourage such attacks.
Thousands of children died in the Siquan earthquake because their schools were not properly built. China has used lies, travel bans, and arrests to prevent them from being seen.
It makes me think of the way the Bush regime treats the 9/11 relatives who want a real investigation of what happened on that day. In the US and in China, the political system is rotten through and through.
The TSA is on guard against the Bra Bomber.
AT&T has effectively bought the Democratic Party by becoming the main "sponsor" of the convention.
I think it is unconscionable for a political party to accept such sponsorship.
US citizens: phone our congesscritter and senators to oppose Bush's plan to negate the Endangered Species Act.
The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641 and 888-355-3588.
AT&T has effectively bought the Democratic Party by becoming the main "sponsor" of the convention.
I think it is unconscionable for a political party to accept such sponsorship.
Mexicans are injecting themselves with RFIDs in a futile attempt to prevent kidnaping.
This is laughable, but the danger of it is real. If a practice becomes widespread even for stupid reasons, that makes it easier for society to make everyone do it.
Birds are shifting north under pressure from global warming, but not as fast as temperatures are shifting north.
Earth can flip very fast from one climate regime to another.
Senator Biden proposed a solution to the Iraq problem somewhat like mine.
In today's Iraq, the three ethnic/religious groups no longer live together; the reason the violence has mosty ended is that each ethnically cleansed certain territory. This resembles to a certain extent the solution that I and later Biden proposed.
But my proposal included another element: to give each group a friendly supporting army committed to reinforcing it in defense but not helping it attack others. Currently the Shi'ites have the "Iraqi" army, and the Sunnis have none. Thus they are afraid of a third stage of the war in which they will be crushed.
Bush and Maliki are still unable to reach an agreement to keep the Bush forces in Iraq past the end of this year. Maliki wants a deadline and won't give them total immunity from prosecution.
If Iraqi democracy succeeds in checking Bush, that will mean it is real to some extent after all.
The Secret Deal For Iraq's Oil.
Here are EPIC's comments on TSA's "Secure Flight" program, which aims to make airlines report all air travel to a central site which will check the list of a million terrorist suspects, rather than checking it themselves.
Bruce Schneier points out that the system will be error-prone and ineffective, as well as nasty and unjust.
Even though identifying all travellers has limited value for preventing non-state-sponsored terrorism, it is really handy for general control of the populace and suppression of dissent.
The Bush forces bought the support of many Sunni resistance groups. Now the Shi'ite Iraqi government wants to arrest them.
Now that these two religious groups have come to hate and kill each other, they will either have separate governments or one will conquer and repress the other. In the past, the Sunnis under Saddam Hussein repressed the Shi'ites, but did not need to kill tremendous numbers of Shi'ites to do this. It won't be so easy now, I think.
How Lucy Fairbrother planned and organized her protest in China.
There is still no certain word on whether her blog was maliciously altered.
The Afghan government says that a US bombing killed 76 civilians. The US denies this occurred.
Bush wants to eliminate many limits on FBI investigations, so the FBI could investigate people without evidence of crime.
Diebold admitted its software was to blame for lost votes.
The work-arounds might avoid accidental loss, but the only reliable way to avoid intentional loss of votes is to count them on paper.
The NIST proposed a bizarre theory to explain the collapse of building 7 in the World Trade Center, after unjustifiably dismissing the straightforward theory that explosives were used.
Binyam Mohamed is in Guantanamo and facing possible execution based on evidence obtained by torture. In the UK, a court has exposed UK participation in this torture.
The nominally Communist government of West Bengal forced thousands of peasants to give up their land for a capitalist car factory, but the dispossessed farmers have not given up protesting.
McCain owns so many houses he couldn't remember how many.
Aging makes it harder to recall facts like these. Perhaps 10 years ago he would have come up with the number right away.
Israel announces it will not
allow food boats to reach Gaza.
This means it will instead lead to an international confrontation that
will highlight the cruelty of the siege.
Russian troops withdrew from the town of Gori, which could be the
start of the promised withdrawal back to South Ossetia, but it
is not going fast.
Disney bought a US law to extend the copyright on the drawing of
Mickey Mouse, but it may have lost
that copyright in 1929 through an error.
While that would be the beginning of fitting punishment for Disney, it
would not undo the harm done by copyright extension.
Iran blocked
actress Golshifteh Farahani from travelling outside Iran.
To stop people from leaving a country is inexcusable injustice. The
Soviet Union and its puppet governments used to do this; today Israel
does this in Gaza, and Iran has put itself in the same category.
Was Georgia's foolish provocation of with Russia encouraged by US
perception that it has a nuclear
first strike capability against Russia?
The Russian government is more overtly tyrannical than the Bush
regime, but less powerful and not so broadly aggressive. Thus,
overall the Bush regime is a bigger threat to freedom around the
world.
Both the US and Russia need regime change, but neither one is likely
to get it. In the mean time, there is no reason to wish for either
one to gain over the other.
McCain's top foreign policy advisor was, until recently, a
lobbyist for the government of Georgia. And previously lobbied
other governments to support the conquest of Iraq.
The Clown regime has misplaced/leaked
the personal information of up to four million citizens in one
year alone.
Perhaps the reason the UK leaks so much personal data is that it
collects such data more aggressively.
US citizens: Bush has possibly withdrawn his attempt to define birth
control as "abortion", or perhaps just disguised it. Sign this
petition to make sure it really gets withdrawn.
30 years after Franco's death, the tens of thousands of Spaniards that
his supporters murdered are being
exhumed and identified.
The Popular Party opposes this because it is the party of Franco's
supporters.
The deputy director of Arlington National Cemetary is accused of
talking families out of press coverage of their relatives' burial,
then claiming
it was their wishes all along.
Israelis have petitioned for more serious charges against the colonel
who effectively ordered a
soldier to shoot a handcuffed palestinian.
Israel's tight siege of Gaza continues to keep the
inhabitants in poverty.
Israel continues killing Gazans by stopping them from travelling
for medical treatment.
For Hedy Epstein, whose parents were killed by the Nazis, bringing food
to Gaza by ship is carrying out the principles of Judaism.
Bush's October surprise -- a
blockade of Iran?
In the US, freedom of speech includes
general advocacy of illegal actions, as well as publishing
information that someone might use to do something illegal.
In accord with this principle, the gag order against the MIT students
has been lifted.
The UK, however, unabashedly imprisons
people for general opinions that might lead someone to commit a
crime at an indefinite future time.
Airline pilot James Robinson has
trouble getting to his flights because he's on the terrorist watch
list.
Another pilot has sued for being listed, since it cut
him off from his livelihood.
A TSA inspector got a clever
idea for "inspecting" planes. Nine planes he damaged were
grounded for repairs.
Russia's borders are full
of potential flash points comparable to South Ossetia.
Russian troops burned,
killed and kidnapped in Georgia.
The Bush forces take Iraqis prisoner, torture
them, and keep them for years without charges.
Artist James Powderly was arrested
in Beijing before he could present a new art work which is also a
protest for Tibet.
When the DEA destroys medical marijuana dispensaries, it takes
the houses and the children of the people who run them.
Civil forfeiture, the practice of seizing the property of people
accused of selling or even buying drugs, is a system of punishment
without trial. It causes multiple injustices.
Russia is starting to withdraw a few troops from Georgia,
and international truce monitors are coming in.
US citizens: support the Employee
Free Choice Act.
Ohio is suing Diebold for making
voting machines that lost votes.
For US immigration agents at JFK airport, bullying is
standard practice. They detain people for hours, forbidding them
to urinate, and proudly say they will hold people longer as an act of
repression.
Microsoft consummated
its corruption of the International Standards Organization, which
dismissed an appeal by several countries against the approval of
OOXML.
However, I think the EU's criminal investigation of this corruption is
still live. (Is it?)
Russia defeated Georgia's attempt to conquer territory with an
unwilling population of Ossetians. Now it appears Russia
is trying to conquer territory with an unwilling population of
Georgians.
The US would be in a better position to oppose this if it had not
conquered an unwilling population of Iraqis.
South Ossetia is holding
Georgian civilians hostage for the return of supposedly kidnaped
Ossetians.
Since Georgia denies holding those Ossetians, they cannot be being
held as hostages. But are they prisoners of Georgia? If not, what
happened to them (if they were real people)?
Musharraf resigned
to avoid impeachment.
No one can predict what will happen to Pakistan in the future; every
political event there creates imponderable good and bad possibilities.
However, in ethical terms, his attempt to sack the independent
judiciary was an attack on democracy; if this means that the court's
legimate judges will return, it is a victory for democracy.
Although Georgia started the war and lost it, it is now winning
the PR battle to present itself as right.
But I don't think we can credit this solely to a PR agency.
Saakashvili is more or less a poodle of Bush, so he gets the US
government's PR assistance, and that probably includes secret inside
media help as well.
Burma's military rulers imprisoned
protestors after a Bush-style fake trial.
Using the names "Myanmar" for Burma and "Yangon" for Rangoon grant
legitimacy to the military government; Aung San Suu Kyi asks people
not to use those names.
Uri Avnery: for peace between Israel and Palestine, the peoples
must read each others' poets.
The FARC has suffered reverses, but the government-sheltered
paramilitaries in Colombia are still a big threat.
Hiu Ng was arrested by the Department of Homeland Security due to
its own confusion, then denied the chance to see a doctor to diagnose
what turned out to be cancer. When he became unable to walk, guards
dragged him on the ground. When he could not stand on line to receive
painkillers, he was denied them. He was forbidden to see his
US-citizen wife and children until a couple of days before he died.
Even if the plan to deport him had not been a mistake, it could not
justify this callous cruelty. And the government officials whose job
is to parrot claims that this sort of thing never happens are just as
guilty for covering this up as the people who did it.
Fully half of the Bush forces are "civilian" contractors, making official
"troop" figures meaningless.
British protestors for Tibetan independence climbed
a building in Beijing to drop a banner. The were arrested, of
course.
A UN human rights report criticized the UK government for disrespecting
freedom of speech in several ways.
What a shame that the UK falls into the same category as China.
In a rare act of thoughtfulnes, the TSA has decided not
to add to its "terrorist suspect" list everyone that forgets to
bring ID.
John Gilmore was once kicked off a plane for
wearing a sticker saying "terrorist suspect". The morons on the
flight crew thought that meant he was dangerous, but it only referred
to the fact that everyone who flies in a plane is treated by the TSA
as a terrorist suspect.
Polls about coastal oil drilling manipulate
the answers through their choice of how to ask the question.
The UK government plans to record all
phone calls, all emails, and all web browsing.
This is to "fight crime", but crime is a minor danger compared with that
of an all-powerful all-seeing state. When the government declares suspicion
grounds to imprison someone, everyone has a valid reason to conceal his
activities from the state.
Pakistan's president Musharraf faces
imminent impeachment. Of course Bush begs them not to do so.
The Russian army continues
moving through Georgia, unimpeded by the completely smashed
Georgian army, and is accused of massive atrocities against civilians.
However, those claims are unconfirmed and could be exaggerated. Human
Rights Watch says that Russia is exaggerating
the casualty figures for Georgia's attack on South Ossetia, and is
concealing real data.
The critics of Russia point out that Georgia's attempt to reestablish
control over South Ossetia was quite analogous to Russia's two
reconquests of Chechnya. That is right: Russia's positions conflict
hypocritically.
Russia responds to this by pointing out that the US defense of
Georgia's "territorial integrity" conficts hypocritically with its
removal of Kosovo from Serbian control. That is right too, but
criticism of the US doesn't invalidate the criticism of Russia. Both
the US government and the Russian government are hypocrites, and
neither one can make itself honest just by criticizing the other.
So what about the substance of the issue? Since the South Ossetians
mostly would rather be part of Russia, I see no reason to force them
to be part of Georgia.
Bush contractors, often cronies, have
made 85 billion dollars from the conquest and occupation of Iraq.
Movie companies are not interested in making a movie about
Toussaint-Louverture, who led the Haitian revolution against slavery,
because it has "no
white heroes".
US citizens: sign
this petition denouncing Bush's plan to call contraception
abortion.
If you want to trick someone with a photograph... you don't need a
computer. All you need to do is change the caption.
Supporters of Tibet, and their web sites, are
the targets of persistent malware attacks.
The Iraqi government is making an oil deal with China. Perhaps it will
really turn out to be Iraqi rather than Bushi.
Talks in Zimbabwe broke down because
Mugabe insisted on keeping the real power.
Foreign journalists visited South Ossetia and reported on
the destruction caused by the Georgian attack, which included shelling the
capital's main hospital.
Sherri Davidoff reports on flying in the US without her wallet, concluding
that the TSA's attempts to identify people have nothing to do with protecting
passengers and are solely about control.
The truce in Gaza is working fine
for Israel.
It is not working very well for the inhabitants of Gaza, who remain
under siege. Sick people who want to leave for medical treatment are
forced to
become informers.
Activists from many countries plan to bring food and
supplies to Gaza by boat.
If the Israeli navy blocks them, it will highlight the siege.
US citizens: phone your congresscritters in support of HR 1258
(impeachment of Bush) and HR 33 (impeachment of Cheney).
The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641 and
888-355-3588.
Also sign Kucinich's petition.
Bush is trying again to render
the Endangered Species Act meaningless by allowing any federal
agency to ignore it.
Imprisonment without trial is standard Israeli practice for
Palestinians — even for
journalists.
The Palestinian Authority refused an Israeli peace proposal that would
involve giving Israel
all the land behind the annexation wall and getting desert in
return.
Georgia's invasion of South Ossetia has turned into a major victory
for Russia, perhaps giving it permanent
control over Georgia.
Bush, dishonest as always, accuses Russia of planning
this invasion for a long time.
That may be so, but it was Georgia that started this war.
Russian dominion over Georgia would be a bad thing. It may be worse
than the partial US domination that has existed for several years,
because Russia may have more complete control.
The operators of remote-control bomber drones see the Iraqis they
killed, and even though they mentally label all their victims as "bad
guys", it causes
them remorse.
Was Georgia's attack against Russia a diversion
for attacking Iran?
I have never before seen these claims about Iranian biological
weapons, and this article isn't enough to convince me of them. But
the claims about maneuvers and ship movements should be easy to check,
so I expect they are true.
After Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian child and a teenage
bystander during nonviolent protests in Ni'ilin, Israelis protested the
commander of the regiment, who has the responsibility to make sure his troops
do not commit atrocities. 23
protestors were arrested and badly beaten.
Tens of thousands of poor
Iraqi squatters face eviction.
The UK's Climate Camp goes on despite police
confiscation of everything from soap to buses.
When a government displays this propensity towards dirty tricks,
it is clear that surveillance done by that government is a threat
to the human rights of its citizens.
The protestors say they may
make a permanent protest camp.
A glossary
of Iraq Euphemisms.
Some Chinese activists have disappeared
recently.
Italy's major ISPs have blocked
access to the Pirate Bay, a major bittorrent site.
While I appreciate the sassy attitude of calling this activity
"Pirate", it is better
to reject and denounce the practice of using that smear term to
refer to sharing.
China presented a computer
simulation of Olympic fireworks as the real thing.
If filming from a helicopter was dangerous, it was right and proper
not to do it. There would be nothing wrong with broadcasting a
computer simulation instead, if it were labeled as such. The wrong
committed here was that of lying, and lying is characteristic of the
Chinese government.
After Georgian troops in South Ossetia were totally defeated by
Russian forces, Georgia says it withdrew them as a "humanitarian"
gesture. Will anyone believe that? But Russia rejected the
opportunity to declare victory, and is attacking
Georgia elsewhere.
This seems to be part
of a game of rivalry between Russia and the US.
Russia seems to have won this move, but the important point is that
neither Russia nor the US deserves anyone's support. Neither
government respects human rights. Both of them rig elections. Both
deserve defeat in their ambitions.
Chavez' government has banned
hundreds of opposition candidates from running for office.
Arbitrarily excluding people from running for office is no better in
Venezuela than in Iran. If there is evidence to accuse these
candidates of corruption, they should be given fair trials and thus a
chance to clear their names.
US citizens: support
the ACLU's campaign to end the nasty practices of the "Department
of Homeland Security".
Notice the similarity between "Department of Homeland Security" and
"Committee for Public Safety"? The latter, headed by Robespierre,
carried out "the terror".
CIA agent Rob Richer told Ron Susskind that he (Richer) circulated
a faked letter connecting Saddam Hussein with Al Qa'ida. After
Susskind's book appeared, Richer first said it was true, then denied
it. So Susskind published the text of Richer's interview where he
admitted this. The original text of the letter arrived on White House
letterhead.
Obaidullah Rahimi faces
deportation to Afghanistan although he does not even speak the
language.
It is absurd to punish anyone for having sex with someone of age 15
— it is normal for Americans of age 15 to have sex. But even if
he had committed a real crime, such as robbery, for which punishment
is appropriate, deporting someone who arrived in the US so young is
absurd.
Here's what happens when people are deported to countries which
they hardly know.
The evil aspect of the EU is revealed by
a plan to merge surveillance with the US.
This is supposedly to serve the goals as "freedom, security and justice", but
it can hardly respect freedom and justice if the US is involved.
The Bush forces keep
prisoners in wooden boxes in the heat of Iraqi summer.
More information about the war in Georgia
reveals duplicity on both sides.
It seems clear that Russia gave Russian citizenship to most South Ossetians as
a prelude to annexation. Citing that now as an excuse for intervention is
bogus.
It seems virtually certain that Georgia started the war. The attack it made
takes preparation, and the preparations must have started several days before
the start of the Olympics, timed for an attack on that day. If Georgia had
responded to a surprise attack by the South Ossetians on that day, it might
have counterattacked, but the counterattack would not have been so big.
I wonder whether Georgia asked Bush's permission before attacking. A
government so dependent on the US that it would send troops to the Bush forces
is compelled also to obey.
Bailouts for failing US banks, which reward the abuses permitted by past
deregulation,
create worse distortions for the future. Proposed "reforms" could make
things even worse.
Russia and Georgia are at
war over South Ossetia.
South Ossetian is obviously acting as a pawn of Russia, and I think it
likely that Georgia is acting as a pawn of the US, but I don't
understand the situation enough to have any further opinions about it.
The president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference sees
nothing wrong in letting banks write statements for him to sign. But
he takes great offense when
those statements criticize Wal-Mart.
His various purchasers failed to keep track of what parts of him they
had bought.
Bush is negotiating an agreement to remove all
troops from Iraq. It will take several years, but not a century.
The Israeli officer who ordered a soldier to shoot a handcuffed
prisoner will
get off with a slap on the wrist.
The leader of Malaysia's opposition party faces
possible imprisonment for "sodomy".
Whether Anwar is "guilty" is unimportant; what matters is that
Malaysia is guilty of having an unjust law against homosexuality, and
its government is guilty of trying to sabotage the opposition.
Malaysia also denies religious freedom. People of Malay ancestry are
legally required to be Muslims.
US citizens: support the campaign for digital publication of Senate campaign contribution reports.
Salim Hamdan was
convicted in a phony trial for the crime of being
Osama bin Laden's driver — under an ex-post-facto law,
which is explicitly unconstitutional. We cannot tell whether some
of the "evidence" was obtained by torture.
Here is what
makes there trials totally unjust.
An arrested pro-Tibet protestor's web site has had pro-Chinese
propaganda mysteriously added.
The Chinese spokesman pompously hopes people will "obey the laws of
China", but why should anyone do that? The tyrannical laws of China
deserve obedience just as much as the tyrannical laws of the US
— which is to say, not at all.
Can humanity adapt
to a temperature rise of 4 degrees C?
US citizens: call your senators to tell them to end government subsidy
for the oil companies (and tax them instead). You can also sign
this petition.
The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641 and
888-355-3588.
The Bush regime is accused of faking a letter purporting
to establish a link between Saddam and al-Qaida.
Pro-Tibet protestors were
arrested in Beijing for displaying banners.
Barack Obama's political
background.
Obama, like McCain, gets lots of big campaign contributions.
They reflect the fact he will not challenge the dominion of big business
and the organization of society primarily for the rich.
MoveOn is not a
movement for progressive change.
The Beijing Olympic games take commercialization to
a new height.
Activists are about to sail boats to Gaza to break the siege, daring
Israel to stop them. One activist explains
why.
Scott Ritter: The US
is funding and supporting the Mujahadeen-e Khalk in a campaign of
sabotage and terrorism in Iran.
It is a strange reversal for an organization that once patriotically
fought the US-imposed Shah to work with the regimes of Saddam Hussein
and Bush that are clearly enemies of their country. It could be the
result of carrying a grudge too far, or it could be simple corruption.
The governor of Texas is in a
hurry to execute a Mexican before his violated right to consult
Mexican consular officials can be protected.
US citizens: call your representatives and ask them to cosponsor
these two bills:
The Medical
Marijuana Patient Protection Act of 2008 (H.R. 5842) would give
states greater authority to determine their own medical marijuana
policies.
The Personal
Use of Marijuana By Responsible Adults Act of 2008 (H.R. 5843)
would remove federal penalties for possessing up to 3.5 ounces of
marijuana.
The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641 and
888-355-3588.
The Bush forces reduced violence in Iraq by informally supporting tame
Sunni as well as Shi'ite militias. However, the Shi'ite militias are
called the "army" and "police", while the Sunni militias are not. And
the Shi'ite
militias are prepared to use that to reignite the massacres.
What Bush did is partially similar to what I called for two years ago,
but not entirely similar. My plan was to give both Shi'ites and
Sunnis non-Bush foreign military support to defend themselves. With
Bush's way, the Shi'ites have foreign military support and the Sunnis
do not.
McCain wants literal
armies of occupation in the US.
How appropriate this would be in a state that acts, in effect, as a government
of occupation by the empire of the megacorporations.
Meanwhile,
Obama made a rather enigmatic vague statement that points in a similar
direction.
I cannot tell whether it was a real proposal for something new, or a too-witty
reference to something prosaic.
Iraq refugees in Jordan need not fear being shot, but they can barely survive
since
they are forbidden to work.
The WTO and China are campaigning against state laws designed to protect
the public from dangerous products.
Over 1% of US adults are in prison, so
the prison business is booming.
The University of Nottingham has given servile support to arresting
students in the "international security and terrorism" course for downloading
an Al Qa'ida manual from a US government web site.
Note how the police cite the "university authorities" as having decided that
Sabir is not allowed to study these materials, while these supposed
"authorities" duck their responsibility to defend academic freedom by saying
nothing and only citing the police.
Evidently the "university authorities'" decision has nothing to do with truth,
justice, or academic freedom, and merely represents obedience to the Sheriff
of Nottingham. This law, which prohibits possession of documents that "might
be useful" for terrorism, is nothing but a veiled way of imprisoning people on
suspicion.
The UK government is a bigger threat to Britons' lives than any
non-state-sponsored terrorist group, and what's worse, it attacks their
freedom as well.
The Clown regime wants to fingerprint everyone boarding a plane in the UK.
Supposedly for security, of course, but maybe the real motive is commercial.
So don't board a plane in the UK. Take the train to Paris or Brussels.
The Bush regime has secretly held Aafia Siddiqui prisoner for five years
in Afghanistan, lying about her all the while. She was a student in the US
and disappeared while visiting Pakisan.
But the regime still won't say what happened to her children, who disappeared
with her.
Israel has agreed to shift the annexation wall back in some areas so as to
restore some of the confiscated Palestinian land.
"Security" is the standard excuse for a broad range of crimes.
As Mohammed Omer returned to Gaza after receiving an international
prize for journalism, Israeli border guards wanted to steal the prize
money. But he didn't have it on him, so they tortured
him instead.
Ex-prosecutor Bugliosi says that any
D.A. could prosecute Bush for murder.
False information about anthrax samples, promulgated by the same lab
where the anthrax came from, was used
to put the blame on Saddam Hussein.
The anthrax attacks of 2001 have reputedly been traced
to a US government researcher, who reputedly killed himself.
I have no way of judging whether to believe either claim, but what is
most interesting is that the anthrax letters were very effective at
convincing Congress to pass the U SAP AT RIOT act which attacked human
rights in the US. If Ivins carried out the attacks, we will probably
never know whether someone such as Cheney planned them.
The designer of Beijing's olympic stadium has condemned the Chinese
government for making
the Olympic Games an excuse for worse tyranny.
Protestors against coal power in the UK defy
police threats to imprison them for nonviolent protests.
Binyam Mohamed's lawyers say the UK
government knew that Bush was having him tortured, and lied about
it.
Bush's latest Attorney General asked Congress to formally give Bush
the power to
imprison anyone without trial.
It's just a tiny step beyond what Congress has already given him.
Here are some congressional elections that can affect abortion
rights.
Now if only they let everyone vote and count the votes accurately...
The pentagon's audit agency has actively covered up bad
news about cost and performance of weapons.
Bush regime torture practices follow those used by China against UN
troops captured in the Korean war. Over 100
prisoners have died in US custody, many of them killed by their
captors.
The war in Afghanistan involves ever more bombing, killing ever
more civilians.
I supported the war against the Taliban in 2001. After the quick
victory, I thought there was a chance to make Afghanistan a much
better and fairly peaceful place. Was that a delusion, or was it
ruined by Bush's invasion of the country he had always wanted to
invade?
After a teen fell off a bridge and broke his back, cops shot him 19 times
with a tazer. The effects on his blood forced doctors to delay
the surgery he needed.
The police are obviously lying. The reason their lie is so lame is
that it's hard even to fabricate a good excuse for attacking a person
lying motionless on the ground with a broken back.
China has imprisoned people for talking
about the structural flaws of schools that collapsed in the
earthquake. And the International Olympic Committee made a deal
agreeing to censorship of foreign reporters' internet access.
The IOC strikes me as disgustingly hypocritical, pretending that it
will uplift humanity through an event which is really just
entertainment, and then making the event go by conniving at
suppression of human rights.
Sami el Haj, an Al Jazeera journalist held captive in Guantanamo for
six years, now campaigns for the release of other prisoners and the
end of torture. Here he describes
how he and others were tortured in Guantanamo.
EPA tells its staff: don't answer to the EPA's inspector general
(or to Congress).
US citizens: call your senators to oppose S.3212, which pretends
to address the danger of computerized voting machines but actually
protects them.
The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641 and
888-355-3588.
More information, plus a petition
you can sign.
The Bush forces banned US
journalist Zoriah Miller for publishing bad news.
Being embedded in a military unit tends to bias a
journalist, who comes to think of the troops as his buddies.
This article argues that it is unfeasible for journalists to work if
not "embedded" in a Bush forces unit. Maybe it is true for most of
them, but some, such as Dahr
Jamail do this.
A RAND report says that the "war
on terror" is self-defeating.
Not to mention that it is the excuse to hurt Americans much worse that
Al Qa'ida might have done.
In the latest Ni'ilin protest, Israeli
troops killed a 10-year-old boy by shooting him in the head.
The CIA openly accused its Pakistani counterpart, the ISI,
of supporting the Taliban.
I've always heard that the ISI set up the Taliban, and Al
Qa'ida too. The fact that the CIA talks about this in public suggests
that things are pretty strained between Bush and Pakistan.
The "Justice" Department illegally
applied political criteria for hiring.
Bush's new method to oppose birth control is to redefine it as
"abortion".
He has already redefined "torture", so why not "abortion"?
What will he redefine next?
Richard Perle, one of the not-yet-cons who planned to conquer Iraq, is
trying to cash
in on Iraqi oil.
McCain got big money from oil company executives after he changed
his position on offshore oil drilling.
If a person does this even once, it means he has no integrity.
The US and UK, by rejecting
nuclear disarmament and applying a double standard to Israel and
India, encourage Iran to develop nuclear weapons and undermine the
Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The UK proposed to give battered women a defense if they kill
their oppressors.
The same principle should apply to Iraqis that kill some of the Bush
forces.
Three questions for Barack Obama.
A Canadian band put up their own CDs as posters to oppose
the unjust C-61 copyright law.
Illegal wiretapping in Sweden has created an even bigger scandal after
the police tried
to arrest the person who exposed it.
The WTO negotiations have broken down because China and India (leading
many of the poor countries) would not accept
some US demands about power for the agribusiness megacorporations.
We should cheer this failure, because any agreement made now has to be
a change for the worse. Whatever the US and EU agreed to on 18
"resolved" issues surely gives more power to megacorporations, else
the US and EU would not accept it.
Here's a report about why the deal is bad for the poor.
Amnesty International: China obtained the Olympic Games by promising
to respect human rights more, but it
has done the opposite.
Republicans have disenfranched
hundreds of thousands of Democratic voters in several swing
states.
I don't hold any enthusiasm for Obama; at best he will be like Clinton
but even less liberal. However, systematic destruction of democracy
is dangerous even if there is no good candidate is likely to win this
year.
And you can be sure that if Obama loses because of this
disenfranchement, Democrat activists will blame it on the Green
candidate.
The Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul is illegally trying to
destroy the Landless Workers Movement.
Kenya's government has been torturing
thousands to make them identify rebels.
I wonder if the US military aid included torture training.
Remember the video of the Israeli soldier shooting a handcuffed
Palestinian prisoner? The girl who made it feared retaliation, and
now Israelis
have arrested her father.
For once the
Bush forces admit that the Iraqis they shot in a car were
noncombattants.
What's crucial here is that it demonstrates the way the Bush forces
always claim their victims were enemy fighters, regardless of the
truth. The story about a "misunderstanding" caused by the gun in the
car (surely a normal thing in Iraq) is not believable: the dead
driver's son was at the scene while the car was still burning, so the
Bush forces knew who they had killed before they had a chance to look
at what was in the car.
I suspect that the Bush forces admitted the "mistake" this one time
only because they feared alienating the other people that work at
Baghdad airport, and that this does not represent a change in policy.
A Canadian human rights worker faces deportation from Israel for
photographing soldiers brutalizing a nonviolent protest at Ni'ilin.
Poor farmers in South Africa are being pressured
to plant genetically modified crops.
Refugees from Fallujah say people starved in their homes because the Bush
forces' curfiew did not let them get food. And the (Shi'ite) Iraqi Bush
forces are just as bad in different ways.
Obama glowingly praised the right-wing President Sarkozy, who is Bush's
French poodle.
This demonstrates once again that Obama himself is right-wing, but it could be
worse. Sarkozy is known for his draconian law which has made even the
possession of a copy of DeCSS a crime. I hope this doesn't indicate that
Obama will attack the freedom of computer users even further.
After a uranium spill in Tricastin, France,
EDF tried to hold back informing the public. The amount of uranium
contamination seems to prove there were other spills in the past.
Sarkozy wants to build more nuclear plants, even in other countries. Is this
what Obama admires?
People who flee to the UK after being tortured in other countries are
subject to torture and permanent injury when they are deported back for
more torture.
The EFF and ACLU have sued to declare the new unjust wiretap law as
unconstitutional.
The Bush forces systematically
arrest large numbers of Iraqis, just fishing at random.
Obama's lack of concern for how Israel treats Palestinians is second
only to McCain's.
Major ISPs are planning to limit their
subscribers' access to all but a few preferred commercial internet
sites.
Charlie Lynch faces 100 years imprisonment because he filled
a 17-year-old cancer patient's prescription for marijuana.
Owen Beck is probably suffering horrible pain now. That's the sort of
thing that delights a DEA agent's heart.
US citizens: sign
this petition urging Congress to refrain from menacing Iran with
war.
Air travellers now face strip
searches in public.
Remember the Shoe Bomber? Wait till they catch the Bra Bomber and
start requiring all women passengers to remove their bras.
Israel has flagrantly disregarded promises to stop
extending its colonies in the West bank.
Israeli "peace" negotiations consist of demanding that the
Palestinians concede everything, while offering them nothing.
A Maryland State Police document shows massive
government surveillance of political actvists — who are
falsely called terrorists or drug traffickers — by all levels of
government.
The press director of Arlington National Cemetery was fired for
letting the families of deceased veterans decide whether they wanted
press at the funeral.
It's a minor issue in itself, but shows how far the Bush regime
goes to control the press.
A reporter for CNN reported on the million-strong "terrorist" watch
list. The TSA denies punishing him by putting him on the list, but
they refuse
to explain why he gets hassled every time he flies.
The major ISPs in the UK have agreed
to help the music factories against their own customers. People
should move, if at all possible, to other ISPs.
Clown talks very green, but meanwhile he's trying to undermine
EU plans to promote renewable electric generation.
Nuclear reactor companies want government subsidies to build more
nuclear power plants, because they are far more expensive than safe
renewable electric generation or more efficient use of electricity.
They make no economic sense except as handout to the rich.
IMF meddling has been scientifically identified as causing
an increase in tuberculosis. It does this by forcing countries to
cut health care expenditures.
Chavez' activities have freed a number of countries in Latin America
from the IMF's power, and now it is weak. Perhaps we can kill it off.
Oil prices will probably
get even higher because demand will exceed supply.
Bush is using oil and food prices as an opportunity to gain more
power for his cronies. And Obama supports most of it.
China announced it would open a few
locations for protests during the Olympics, but Human Rights Watch
says that restrictions and surveillance would make this an
insignificant opening.
We have seen similar schemes to limit protests in the US, where the
locations are hypocritically called "free speech zones".
The reason Mugabe agreed to a deal is that his supply of
paper for printing money was cut off.
That makes sense, but I find it fishy to claim that Mugabe, who does
not shrink from murder and torture, would shrink from the wrong of
using a proprietary program without a license. He has already
committed the more grave wrong of using it with a license.
And if he doesn't fear that torture victims might sue him, how could
he fear that the developer might sue him?
Cigarette companies adjust
levels of menthol to help people start smoking and then cater to
hard-core addicts.
This year's Netroots Nation event, formerly the Yearly Kos, has been
totally tamed by the
center-right Democratic Party.
CORE, which in the 60s campaigned strongly for civil rights, has been
corrupted by the coal
industry.
A racist UK cop used the "terrorism act" powers to meddle
with a mixed-race family. There was absolutely no basis to
suspect the family of terrorism.
The crucial issue, which this exemplifies, is that the UK's
"anti-terror laws" relate to terrorism only in their name. What they
really do is give police too much power over everyone.
The makers of electronic voting machines distort the facts so
that states will not protect their elections from being stolen.
Pakistan's government has imprisoned
hundreds of Pakistanis in secret prisons, Bush-style, and held
them for years. Their families cannot find out what happened to them.
Europe is considering building
massive solar power plants in the Sahara desert.
Wetlands contain so much carbon that, if they were destroyed, it would
cause disastrous
global warming. And many of them are threatened with destruction.
A committee of MPs concluded that the UK
cannot trust the Bush regime's statements that it does not torture
people, because its definition is suspect.
Israeli settlers often shoot at Palestinian homes with rifles. Now
they are also firing home-made
artillery shells.
In Nil'in, scene of many nonviolent protests, a soldier fired
on a handcuffed protestor at close range while an officer stood
by.
But the only thing which makes that
incident unusual is that it was caught on video, much as the video
of the Rodney King beating offered proof of what cops habitually get
away with.
The Bush forces seem to be planning to
destroy Falluja again.
Last time, they even killed
patients in the hospital.
The House Judiciary Committee has finally agreed to examine some of
Bush's injustices, but still refuses
to consider impeachment.
I think that representatives that do not support impeachment do not
deserve support.
Everyone: sign the
petition calling on McCain to oppose all forms of torture.
The government of Pakistan forbade
Dr Khan from saying anything about Pakistan's proliferation of
nuclear weapons information.
It is the general practice of the Bush regime and its allies to issue
orders to silence people who can testify to the evil they have done.
Consider for instance the gagging of Mordecai
Vanunu in Israel (even though he has no nuclear secrets as such
left to tell) and the translator Sibel
Edmonds in the US.
The judge in a military trial rejected evidence obtained by blatant
torture, but allowed
confessions obtained by the less brutal forms of torture used in
Guantanamo.
Further information about the deal between Mugabe and Tsvangirai
explains that the deal means his giving up real power. Apparently
economic desperation is the reason he agreed.
Radavan Karadzic, who led the Bosnian Serbs as they attacked
multi-ethnic Sarajevo, has been
arrested and will probably soon be sent to the Hague for trial.
Karadzic is estimated to be responsible for 300,000 deaths. Bush is
in the same way responsible for probably 4 times as many; when will he
be tried?
US citizens: sign the
petition in support of Al Gore's renewable electricity challenge.
Due to global warming, the only way to protect many species from
extinction is to move
them to new habitats. But this is only possible for a fraction of
them.
Al-Maliki endorsed
Obama's not-really-timetable for removing some parts of the Bush
forces.
However, if large numbers of "non-combat troops" and mercenary
"non-troops" remain in Iraq, I'm not convinced that means the end of
the occupation.
Prejudice against Gypsies in Italy has led to scandal
about bathers who did not react when two Roma girls drowned.
It isn't explicitly clear whether the other bathers knew that the
girls were Roma, or even noticed that they were dead. But even if
they did, I think the scandal's focus is in the wrong place.
I don't see why it is obligatory to make a fuss about a stranger's
corpse. That won't help anyone, least of all the person who died.
The time that we have an obligation to pay attention is while the
person in danger is still alive. Someone did call for help, but did
others neglect that duty out of prejudice? If so, that should be the
real scandal.
Tsvangirai and Mugabe have made a deal, under the influence of
Mbeki.
It is astounding good news, but it is likely to be fragile. What I
wonder is, what led Mugabe to change his tune?
Global warming appears
to be making invertebrates more common and fish less common in
parts of the ocean.
The long drought that is devastating agriculture in Australia is likely to get worse in
coming decades, due to global warming.
DDT being used in Africa is damaging
coral reefs in the Caribbean.
A major bird sanctuary in the Gulf or Mexico, off the Louisiana coast,
is being washed
away. With the rising sea levels, it is probably doomed.
The Palestinian town of Ni'lin has launched a
persistant campaign of nonviolent protest against the Israeli
confiscation of its land, in cooperation with Israeli and
international supporters, and continues it even though Israeli troops
respond with cruelty.
Obama calls the
conquest of Iraq "a strategic error". It was one, of course, but
saying only that whitewashes a terrible crime.
Torture and murder at Iraqi juvenile prison.
The article understates the general situation which led to this. The
department of the "Iraqi" government which runs the prisons was (and probably
still is) in the hands of Shi'ites linked to the Badr brigades, and murdering
Sunnis was their aim.
When the killer cops were aquitted,
New Yorkers rioted -- against the police, not against their neighborhoods.
Archeologists voted to reject the idea of making a list of Iranian
archeological sites for Bush not to attack, saying that making the list would
legitimize the attack.
China and Russia blocked an embargo on selling arms to Mugabe.
So it looks like Mugabe wins. The world's powers give lip service to concern
about his tyranny, but nothing more, since freedom is not particularly
important to them anyway.
There are reports that
Israeli fighters are landing in Iraq near Haditha as practice for attacking
Iran. The "Iraqi" government denies this, but you could hardly expect them to
be more honest than their master.
Iraqi refugees, now in desperate circumstances in Syria and Turkey,
are trying to
sneak into Europe. The countries that turned Iraq into a disaster
do nothing for them.
30% of all reef-building
coral species now face imminent extinction due to the effects of
human CO2 production. 10 years ago it was just 3%.
Tenants in Boston organized to
block the eviction of one of the victims of the mortgage crisis.
Three cheers!
Increased US corn production, aimed at making ethanol for cars, is
making the dead
zone in the Gulf of Mexico the biggest ever.
Burmeses activists talk
about an armed uprising — if they can get any arms.
I see nothing wrong in foreign support for resistance against
the military rulers, even if its motive is amoral international
rivalry. But it looks like just enough to stir the pot, and
nothing that could actually help.
Israeli troops demolished Palestinian homes in Hebron.
They did not say why they did this, but whatever the reason may be, it is
collective punishment, and thus a crime.
Meanwhile, in Nablus,
the Israeli army has attacked and destroyed many institutions — a
school, a clinic, and a large shopping mall — and stolen even the school
buses.
For the long term,
Israel is stealing the West Bank's water supplies.
When the Israeli Supreme Court ruled to move the annexation wall away from the
lands of the farmers of Bil'in, that was the main victory for non-violent
Palestinian activism. Now
the government is making a mockery of the court decision, disregarding it
while building new colonies that it will later claim it has to "protect".
China is arresting, killing and deporting people, using
dubious accusations of terrorism as an excuse.
All in all it sounds a lot like the Bush regime.
China also searches people's baggage for entering trains, which makes no sense
at all except to boost employment.
A multitude of US agencies regularly
spy on the activities of the public.
The people quoted in the article hesitate to denounce this as strongly as it
deserves. But since the Bush regime is already guilty of torture,
imprisonment without trial, and wars of aggression, we need not suppose that
things have to get any worse before regarding its power as a threat to
liberty. The US government is already Americans' worst enemy.
If Bush attacks Iran, the price of oil will skyrocket.
This article argues that ultimately this will discourage any attack.
I am not convinced: Bush's cronies profit from the high price of oil.
Segolene Royal accused Sarkozy's men of being behind a strange burglary of
her home in which nothing was stolen.
Such accusations are not at all absurd. Remember Nixon and Watergate? Perhaps
Sarko's men were behind this; but the question is why.
There was a clear motive for Nixon to send people to burglarize the Democratic
Party headquarters: knowing the opposition's campaign plans. Sarco defeated
Royal a year ago, so that motive would not apply. Is there another possible
motive?
Karl Rove disobeyed a summons to testify to a congressional committee, and
could face imprisonment for contempt of Congress, if Congress has the guts to
insist.
Rove's central role in the dirty tricks of a dishonest administration is
plenty of reason to insist that he testify under oath.
The US Senate gave
final approval to almost unlimited government spying on Americans.
The British Army has formally apologized for torturing Baha Mousa to
death, and will pay compensation to his family.
I think that the UK made a serious attempt to convict Mousa's killers of
murder, and the failure reflects the fact that the system and the situation
make this very difficult to do.
The military occupation of a hostile civilian population will inevitably lead
to such events, and it will inevitably be hard to prosecute them. Therefore,
anyone considering ordering the military occupation of a hostile civilian
population ought to realize in advance that this is part of what will result.
A crusading judge has convicted some of the Italian fascist police
that attacked, injured and tortured sleeping protestors in Genoa. Now
the fascist government of Italy intends to make sure
they never go to prison.
Israeli settlers have taken over part of the al-Kurd family home in
Hebron, and now the government
says it will demolish the home.
Evidence that Diebold
stole an election in 2002 by trickery with voting machines.
The Bush regime is pushing a new cold war by installing ABM systems in
Europe. One price of this may be the survival of Mugabe's brutality
in Zimbabwe.
It is callous and absurd for Russia to strike back at Bush by
punishing innocent millions in Zimbabwe that have never helped Bush.
However, Bush is also to blame for the provocation. Between these two
tyrannical regimes, there is little reason to pref