April 2009
1 post
We Can Win the Fight to Prosecute Bush's Torture... →
Remember that a serious attempt at accountability is a tremendous deterrent to future crimes and abuses even if it fails. And remember that they will not tell us we are succeeding until we already have. This is the moment for action. This is the time to pressure your representatives, to work the media, to be the media, to organize your groups and friends and neighbors. This is the moment to punch...
September 2008
3 posts
Brigade homeland tours start Oct. 1 →
Army units returning from Iraq will go on active duty in the United States, preparing to deal with civil unrest, natural disasters and terrorists attacks. They will field the Army’s “first ever nonlethal package” including tasers.
ABC News: Female Soldiers More Likely to Be Raped... →
Sex, drugs and oil: corruption scandal rocks US... →
WASHINGTON (AFP) — US Department of the Interior employees who handled billions of dollars in oil contracts improperly engaged in sex with energy company employees, a report released Wednesday said.
The report drafted by the department’s inspector general Earl Devaney deplored “a culture of ethical failure” in which regulators received gifts including ski junkets and golf...
August 2008
4 posts
Halliburton sued for human trafficking →
Thirteen Nepali men were recruited and held against their will for thirteen months in a human trafficking scheme engineered and perpetrated by Halliburton and its Jordanian contractor, according to a lawsuit filed yesterday in California federal court.
In Iraq, Troops Down, Contractors Up →
The U.S. military continues its long, steady draw down of troops from Iraq — just yesterday, Marine Corps Commandant announced he’s handing over responsibility for Anbar province to Iraqi forces. Meanwhile, “the United States is spending more money than ever on private security contractors in Iraq,” USA Today reports. “This year, spending on contractors, who...
The Houston Plan →
The origin of the Patriot Act can be traced to the Golden Times of the Nixon Era.
From Wikipedia:
“The Huston plan was an American domestic spying program which originated in the Nixon administration. The plan, named for Nixon advisor Tom Huston who drafted it[1], specifically ordered American intelligence agencies to spy on American civilians - in particular, Anti-Vietnam War activities...
To Provoke War, Cheney Considered Proposal To... →
HERSH: There was a dozen ideas proffered about how to trigger a war. The one that interested me the most was why don’t we build — we in our shipyard — build four or five boats that look like Iranian PT boats. Put Navy seals on them with a lot of arms. And next time one of our boats goes to the Straits of Hormuz, start a shoot-up.
Might cost some lives. And it was rejected because you can’t have...
July 2008
12 posts
Lame-Duck Attorney General Wants New Declaration... →
Mukasey has offered a multi-part plan to violate the Constitution. He demanded that Congress declare a new “armed conflict” (which is Bush-speak for a new declaration of war) that would give a president worldwide power to declare anyone a terrorist and hold the person forever - without ever charging anyone with a crime. Mukasey also asked Congress to enact the Bush Administration’s scheme for...
Court Confirms President's Dictatorial Powers →
On July 15, the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled by 5 votes to 4 in the case of Al-Marri v. Pucciarelli that the President can arrest U.S. citizens and legal residents inside the United States and imprison them indefinitely, without charge or trial, based solely on his assertion that they are “enemy combatants.”
Nine Reasons to Investigate War Crimes Now →
“Retired General Antonio Taguba, the officer who led the Army’s investigation into Abu Ghraib, recently wrote in the preface to the new report, Broken laws, Broken Lives:
“There is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes. The only question that remains to be answered is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to...
Cheney wanted testimony cut, ex-EPA official says →
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Dick Cheney’s office pushed for major deletions in congressional testimony on the public health consequences of climate change, fearing the presentation by a leading health official might make it harder to avoid regulating greenhouse gases, a former EPA official maintains.
When six pages were cut from testimony on climate change and public health by...
Ex-congressman finds second career as... →
“Wired’s Sharon Weinberger, also author of last week’s FP web exclusive, recently reported that former Pennsylvania Congressman Curt Weldon has found a new job brokering arms deals between Russian and Ukrainian arms suppliers and the Iraqi and Libyan governments.Though he’s currently under FBI investigation for corruption during his time in office, Weldon hasn’t let...
Telecom Amnesty Opponents Back New Amendment →
With the telecoms all but assured of amnesty for their participation in illegal spying, there’s now one last amendment in their way—the Bingaman amendment.
Keating Five →
The Keating Five were five United States Senators accused of corruption in 1989, igniting a major political scandal as part of the larger Savings and Loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The five senators, Alan Cranston (D-CA), Dennis DeConcini (D-AZ), John Glenn (D-OH), John McCainR-AZ) (, Donald W. Riegle (D-MI), were accused of improperly aiding Charles H. Keating, Jr., chairman of...
3 tags
Bill Moyers Journal: It Was Oil, All Along →
“Here’s a recent headline in the NEW YORK TIMES: “Deals with Iraq Are Set to Bring Oil Giants Back.” Read on: “Four western companies are in the final stages of negotiations this month on contracts that will return them to Iraq, 36 years after losing their oil concession to nationalization as Saddam Hussein rose to power.”
There you have it. After a long exile, Exxon...
Want to know if waterboarding is torture? Ask... →
“In August’s edition of Vanity Fair, you can read all about it, and see more photographs of the “wheezing, paunchy, 59-year-old scribbler”, his head hooded, being subjected to this most terrifying of ordeals by veterans of the US Special Forces. A video is due to be posted soon at vf.com, though that may be a bit too much to bear…”
Half of Americans Open to Internet FCC →
“Half of adults in the United States believe the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) should regulate the Internet like it does radio and television, according to a poll by Rasmussen Reports. 49 per cent of respondents agree with the idea, while 35 per cent disagree.”
“In June 2006, U.S. president George W. Bush signed the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2005, saying,...
A Backlog Of Cases Alleging Fraud →
More than 900 cases alleging that government contractors and drugmakers have defrauded taxpayers out of billions of dollars are languishing in a backlog that has built up over the past decade because the Justice Department cannot keep pace with the surge in charges brought by whistle-blowers, according to lawyers involved in the disputes.
June 2008
5 posts
Retired General: "The Current Administration Has... →
Last Tuesday, the Senate Armed Services Committee held an eight-hour hearing that exposed the role of top Bush administration officials in authorizing the use of harsh interrogation techniques. Meanwhile, Retired Major General Antonio Taguba, the Army general who first investigated the abuse at Abu Ghraib, has accused the Bush administration of committing war crimes. “The commander in chief...
Exotic illnesses afflict American poor →
Skip impeachment and proceed directly to... →
Via Lesbiatopia:
“Well, some lawyers have decided to, um, yeah, like, kind of, maybe talk about how criminal prosecution over the accumulation of messed-up things the Bush administration has done might—just might—wind up in, um, you know, like, a hangin’ or two.”
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2 tags
Revealed: Secret plan to keep Iraq under US... →
“A secret deal being negotiated in Baghdad would perpetuate the American military occupation of Iraq indefinitely, regardless of the outcome of the US presidential election in November.
The terms of the impending deal, details of which have been leaked to The Independent, are likely to have an explosive political effect in Iraq. Iraqi officials fear that the accord, under which US troops...
May 2008
2 posts
How Bush's grandfather helped Hitler's rise to... →
azspot: And according to General Smedley Butler, Prescott Bush was one of a cadre of high profile conspirators who tried to enlist him in a planned coup against FDR in 1933
The Pentagon's Toxic Legacy →
The nation’s biggest polluter isn’t a corporation. It’s the Pentagon. Every year the Department of Defense churns out more than 750,000 tons of hazardous waste — more than the top three chemical companies combined. Yet the military remains largely exempt from compliance with most federal and state environmental laws, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Pentagon’s partner...
April 2008
8 posts
Common glitch at pump adds to gas costs, also... →
Even if your gas pump works, it can still be off as much as $5 for every fill up. Tests by local regulators allow a pump to charge as much as 6 cents more than the gas delivered in a five-gallon test. Read More
NBC Universal, ad agency to create... →
‘The collaboration between NBC and Omnicom offers “a unique way of giving brands a seat at the table with writers and producers in developing episodic programming that ties directly to brand needs,” Omnicom Media Group Digital chief executive Matt Spiegel said.’ Read More
EU Politicians Strikes Back Against Three Strikes →
Brussels rejects content filtering, site blocking and cutting off alleged copyright offenders in favor of due process.
CQ Politics | Evidence Grows of Drug Use on... →
“There can be little doubt now that the government has used drugs on terrorist suspects that are designed to weaken their resistance to interrogation. All that’s missing is the syringes and videotapes.” Read More
Toxic Trailers Redux: When Did FEMA Know? →
Newly found documents show OSHA detected dangerous levels of formaldehyde in trailers used to house Katrina evacuees as early as 2005—but FEMA mass distributed them anyway. Read More
Rep. McHenry calls U.S. soldier in Iraq a ‘two-bit... →
March 2008
15 posts
CQ Politics | Bear Stearns Deal Draws Senate... →
“Americans are being asked to back a brand-new kind of transaction, to the tune of tens of billions of dollars. With jurisdiction over federal debt, it’s the Finance Committee’s responsibility to pin down just how the government decided to front $30 billion in taxpayer dollars for the Bear Stearns deal, and to monitor the changing terms of the sale,” Baucus said in a statement. Read More
The Hidden Half: A Photo Essay on Women in... →
The plight of women under the Taliban regime provided the United States with a tidy moral justification for its invasion of Afghanistan—a talking point that Laura Bush took the lead in driving home. “The fight against terrorism is also a fight for the rights and dignity of women,” Bush said after the 2001 invasion, adding that thanks to America, women were “no longer imprisoned...
Bush Appoints Gen. Peter Pace To Intelligence... →
“On Feb. 29, President Bush issued an executive order revamping the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board (PIAB), ‘a nonpartisan body offering the President objective, expert advice on the conduct of U.S. foreign intelligence.’ Historically, the PIAB has provided checks on administration’s intelligence gathering. Nevertheless, Bush has been determined to stack the board with...
Suicide Blast in Iraq Eclipses Cheney’s Visit -... →
BAGHDAD — A female suicide bomber penetrated one of the most secure perimeters in Iraq Monday evening and killed at least 42 people near the Imam Hussein shrine in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, according to the Iraqi authorities. The explosion, the deadliest attack in Karbala in nearly a year, overshadowed a Baghdad visit by Vice President Dick Cheney, who met with Iraqi and American leaders...
Rule by fear or rule by law? - HR 1955 →
“U.S. Rep. Jane Harman, D-Venice (Los Angeles County) has come up with a new way to expand the domestic “war on terror.” Her Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007 (HR1955), which passed the House by the lopsided vote of 404-6, would set up a commission to “examine and report upon the facts and causes” of so-called violent radicalism and...
Tell the FCC not to let telcos censor your... →
This past September, Verizon blocked its customers from receiving NARAL Pro-Choice America action alert text messages—messages that Verizon’s customers asked to receive…
Dollar drops to fresh lows: FT.com / MARKETS /... →
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NPR: Study Finds No Link Between Saddam, bin Laden →
US Soldiers Kill 10 year old Iraqi Girl →
BAGHDAD (AP) — U.S. soldiers shot and killed a young Iraqi girl after firing a warning shot at a woman who “appeared to be signaling to someone” along a road where several bombs had recently been found, a military official said early Thursday.
A deadly clash of emotions before Oxnard shooting... →
According to the few students who befriended him, Larry, 15 years old and openly gay, found no refuge from his tormentors at E.O. Green Junior High School. Not in the classroom, the quad, the cafeteria. Not from the day he enrolled at the Oxnard school until the moment he was shot to death in a computer lab, just after Larry’s usual morning van ride from the shelter a town away. The...
Probe Finds Drugs in Drinking Water of 41 million... →
A vast array of pharmaceuticals — including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones — have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated Press investigation shows. Read More
Congress Questions Executives on Pay - New York... →
“The hearing shed some light on how Wall Street’s compensation philosophy may have contributed to the mortgage boom. Corporate boards and compensation committees agreed to lucrative bonus plans that gave their leaders strong incentives to take big risks. Executives aggressively pushed their companies into lucrative businesses, like underwriting subprime mortgages and packaging the loans...
Seeking Tighter Censorship, Repressive States... →
Increasingly dissidents in the Middle East, China and places like Belarus are turning to server-based tools like Facebook, Twitter and LiveJournal — the communication tools at hand — to get their messages out, according to Zuckerman, who works for Global Voices, a group dedicated to spreading online conversation. “If you build tools specifically for activists they won’t...
GAO Oversight Office at NSA Lies Dormant →
The Government Accountability Office maintains an office at the National Security Agency but it remains unused since no one in Congress has asked GAO to perform any oversight of the Agency, the head of GAO disclosed last week. Despite multi-billion dollar acquisition failures at NSA and the Agency’s controversial, possibly illegal surveillance practices, Congress has declined to summon all of its...