Sunday

AP Wire | 08/27/2005 | SEC lawyer critiques Petro's handling of investment warnings: "'Why wouldn't they care when constituents' money is at stake?'"

Saturday

Independent Online Edition > Middle East : app3: "She was the Iraqi activist who became a symbol of the possibility of a brighter future for Iraq...'But look what has happened: we have lost all the gains we made over the past 30 years.'"
US Pentagon to hold Caspian Sea energy security confab in Germany - Irna: "Participants and observers are expected from Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Kazakhastan, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia, Turkey, the United Kingdom, NATO, the US Departments of State, Defense and Energy, academia, private industry and consulting. "

But no war opponents, even host country Germany.
village voice > news > Mondo Washington by James Ridgeway, with Natalie Wittlin: "The Republican right wing is raising the Atta issue at a time when Bush is sinking in the polls, people are fed up with Iraq, and there are continuing questions about the administration's handling of 9-11 and the war on terror. One way to take some of the heat off is to shift the blame to Bill Clinton."
1010 WINS - ALL NEWS. ALL THE TIME.: Rangel Questions Dick Cheney's Health "A White House spokesman did not immediately comment."
Daily Egyptian Sp03 : American refugee Have you any idea why they're lying to you?

Friday

Local News - The Advocate - www.newarkadvocate.com: "Military recruiters can still talk to students at school, even if their parents filled out the opt-out form. According to Cameron Carr, recruiters are at his school, Licking Valley High School, every day.

Opting-out, as an increasing number of parents at Licking Valley have, creates a problem when students apply for colleges, said Dave Hile, principal at Licking Valley High School....'If (parents) tell us that we can't have that information for recruiters, then we cannot give out that information to colleges.' The reverse is true as well, also according to the No Child Left Behind Act. 'If one of our kids asks us to send their transcript to a university, as soon as we do that, recruiters must be treated in the same manner and we must give them access to that information,' Hile said."
- toledoblade.com -: "a kickback scheme that was institutionalized by this administration to reward their campaign contributors"
Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: August 21, 2005 - August 27, 2005 Archives Recess-appointed U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton is doing exactly what his critics expected of him. He is sticking it to the world. . .hard and nasty.

Thursday

Wednesday

Profiling Report Leads to a Demotion - New York Times: "The Bush administration is replacing the director of a small but critical branch of the Justice Department, months after he complained that senior political officials at the department were seeking to play down newly compiled data on the aggressive police treatment of black and Hispanic drivers."
Troop graves bear operation names - The Boston Globe: "It seems like it might be connected to politics."

Tuesday

Craving the cookie - OrlandoSentinel.com: Health & Medicine: "Kraft scientists continued to take part in meetings with Philip Morris researchers, leading to a 1998 memo that suggested applying their combined expertise in brain science and flavor perception to develop products.

The 'possible business implications' of such work included ways to shape people's perception of hunger and fullness, known as satiety. The memo stated that applications could include 'food/drinks whose aroma/flavor are engineered to influence satiety, drinkability, perceived freshness, mood, behavior, purchase intent, etc.'"
Inside Bay Area - Local News: "So why is a ranking Democratic operative who was convinced Republicans ``stole'' the 2000 election working for Diebold and O'Dell, a battlestate fund-raiser for Bush-Cheney 2004?"

Monday

Toxic waste sparks violent protest at China factory - Yahoo! News:Trigger for the demonstration omitted from the more widely circulated AP story.

"'Some children died of lead pollution and the demonstration might have been initiated by the parents.'...Residents said children were falling ill from high levels of lead that had poisoned water and vegetables in several villages in the area."

Sunday

Three Texas surgeons were playing golf together and discussing surgeries they had performed. One of them said, "I'm the best surgeon in Texas. A concert pianist lost 7 fingers in an accident. I reattached them, and 8 months later he perfomed a private concert for the Queen of England." One of the others said, "That's nothing. A young man lost both arms and legs in an accident. I reattached them, and 2 years later he won a gold medal in field events at the olympics."

The third surgeon said, "You guys are amateurs. Several years ago, a cowboy, who was high on cocaine and alcohol, rode a horse head-on into a train traveling 80 miles an hour. All I had left to work with was the horse's ass and a cowboy hat. Now, he's president of the United States."

Saturday

OpEdNews.Com Progressive, Tough Liberal News and Opinion: "The 'findings' about Democrat wrongdoing are not surprising considering that the three public faces of the nonpartisan group are very partisan Republican operatives -- including one who claims to be a sounding board for senior White House adviser Karl Rove. "
The Onion | Evangelical Scientists Refute Gravity With New 'Intelligent Falling' Theory

Friday

Al-Ahram Weekly | Region | Exception to the rule: "Israeli actions in occupied East Jerusalem indicate that its unilaterally imposed disengagement was never meant to start a peace process but rather to end one....'By giving up Gaza, the Israelis are winning 15 years advance in materialising their project,' Jarbawi explains. 'The formula for Sharon now is not land for peace, but land for time,' he added."

Thursday

U.S. Diplomat Is Named in Secrets Case - New York Times: "The second-highest diplomat at the United States Embassy in Baghdad is one of the anonymous government officials cited in an Aug. 4 indictment as having provided classified information to an employee of a pro-Israel lobbying group"

Tuesday

Library Missing Roberts File A file folder containing papers from Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts Jr.'s work on affirmative action more than 20 years ago disappeared from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library after its review by two lawyers from the White House and the Justice Department in July

Monday

Religious Right Discovers Investment Activism
whatever already!
FindLaw's Writ - Klarevas: Will the Precedent Set by the Indictment in a Pentagon Leak Case Spell Trouble for Those Who Leaked Valerie Plame's Identity to the Press?

Rove's indictment: Perjury or Espionage?
Standing on the Shoulders of Perjury Law - Los Angeles Times: "Fitzgerald's 20-month-long investigation initially focused on whether administration officials had broken a federal law that made it a felony to knowingly disclose the identity of covert agents. But more recently, the inquiry is believed to have shifted to the question of whether officials -- including White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove -- who discussed Plame with journalists may have misled Fitzgerald and his investigators."
Talk show hosts accuse Ney of intimidation: "A trio of West Virginia radio talk show hosts claim St. Clairsville GOP Rep. Bob Ney tried to intimidate them after they read newspaper stories on the air that raised ethical questions about Ney's relationship with a controversial Washington lobbyist. "

Sunday

'Wash Post' Hit For Sponsorship Of 'Freedom' March: "'It is dismaying, to say the least, that I can be fired for participating in a peace march while my employer feels free to co-sponsor an event that so blatantly beats the drum of war,' [science reporter Rick] Weiss stated."

No comment from the political reporters or war correspondents, apparently.
U.S. Lowers Sights On What Can Be Achieved in Iraq: "What we expected to achieve was never realistic "

But we did it anyway.

Friday

- toledoblade.com -: "Mrs. Noe was one of several coin-fund wives who benefited financially from their husbands' jobs."
THE NEWSROOM: Cheney + Pakistan = Iran: VP Helped Cover-Up Pakistani Nuclear Proliferation So US Could Sell Country Fighter Jets
The Free Press -- Independent News Media - International Issues: "Scandal-plagued Halliburton -- the oil services company once headed by Vice President Cheney -- sold an Iranian oil development company key components for a nuclear reactor, say Halliburton sources with intimate knowledge into both companies' business dealings"
U.S. Newswire : Releases : "Culture of Corruption Grows: Sixth Bush Fundraiser..." UNDER INVESTIGATION: MORE THAN ENOUGH FOR A BASKETBALL TEAM
Bloomberg.com: U.S.: "U.S. House Republicans, Beset by Scandal, Want Higher Donations"
:: Jack in the House :: How Jack Abramoff bought Congress ::

Thursday

KR Washington Bureau | 08/11/2005 | Audit: Fraud drained $1 billion from Iraq's defense efforts: "a pattern of deception and sloppiness that squandered more than half the Defense Ministry's annual budget.....with about 20 American civilian advisers working alongside Iraqi defense chiefs..... [Defense minister] al-Dulaimi said, 'I blame those who posted them (the officials under investigation). And, by the way, the CPA posted them.'"
Iraqis thirst for water and power | csmonitor.com: "This summer, the third since the fall of Baghdad, has been the worst yet when it comes to basic services. Interruptions to electricity and water supplies - caused by both decay and sabotage - are driving up the frustrations of millions of Iraqis. "

Wednesday

LaTourette attributes flip-flop on CAFTA to tariff no one pays: "He's either been duped or is not being honest"
- toledoblade.com -: "Tom Noe used his American Express credit card from Thomas Noe, Inc.--the same entity he's accused of using as a vehicle to steal millions of dollars from Ohio's rare-coin funds--to contribute $10,000 to California's governor."
Criminal No. 1:05CR225: USA V.a Lawrence Anthony Franklin, Steven J. Rose, Keith Weissman
ZNet |Foreign Policy | Bigger Than AIPAC

Tuesday

Sirotablog: The D.C. Democratic Establishment's disconnect on Iraq: "in a memo sent to all Democratic House Members about what Democrats should learn from the Hackett race, the DCCC makes not one mention of the Iraq War and its effect on the election. Not one. It is as if the party is going out of its way to deny the importance of Democrats taking a strong position against the war"
CounterPunch: America's Best Political Newsletter: "In the 21st century job growth in the US economy has consistently reflected that of a Third World country--low productivity domestic services jobs. This goes on month after month and no one catches on--least of all the economists and the policymakers"

Sunday

Country Joe McDonald, My First Protest Song And here, for comparison, is my latest protest song: Support the Troops
American Prospect Online - ViewWeb: "The new disclosure that Miller and Libby met on July 8, 2003, raises questions regarding claims by President Bush that he and everyone in his administration have done everything possible to assist Fitzgerald's grand-jury probe."

Saturday

Thursday

U.S. Military Presence in Paraguay Stirs Speculation - Yahoo! News Paraguay reverses itself on exempting US troops from local and international law; speculation that the troop buildup is intended to establish control over a major aquifer in anticipation of a global water shortage.

Wednesday

Writers Group Won't Give Judith Miller 'Conscience in Media' Award After All: "The First Amendment is designed to prevent government interference with a free press. Miller, by shielding a government official or officials who attempted to use the press to retaliate against a whistleblower, and scare off other would-be whistleblowers, has allied herself with government interference with, and censorship of, whistleblowers. When your source IS the government, and the government is attempting to use you to target a whistleblower, the notion of shielding a source must be reconsidered. To apply standard practices regarding sources to hiding wrongdoing at the highest levels of government perverts the intent of the First Amendment."

Monday

Top military QC condemns Guantanamo trials. 02/08/2005. ABC News Online: "There has been condemnation from one of Australia's top military lawyers of the process set up by the United States to try detainees at Guantanamo Bay, including South Australian David Hicks.
Yesterday, the ABC obtained emails from two prosecutors with the US military commissions, saying the procedures are rigged and describing the cases being pursued as marginal."
- toledoblade.com -: "Currently being investigated for possibly laundering campaign donations to President Bush's 2004 re-election campaign and under civil and criminal investigation for his role with a failed rare-coin investment with state money, Mr. Noe's friendship has become a liability for many people."
- toledoblade.com -: "Special counsel sought in Noe case"

Saturday

What Went Wrong in Ohio? (Harpers.org)
The Free Press -- Independent News Media - Election 2004: "New charges filed against Ohio Governor Bob Taft's former top aide have blazed a new trail between 'Coingate' and the GOP theft of the 2004 presidential election."

Friday

E.P.A. Holds Back Report on Car Fuel Efficiency - New York Times: "loopholes in American fuel economy regulations have allowed automakers to produce cars and trucks that are significantly less fuel-efficient, on average, than they were in the late 1980's"

Wednesday

- toledoblade.com -: "Tom Noe used state money to try to pump up an online gambling company in which he and other prominent Republicans were investors, records show."

Monday

State: Is a loud concert a state service?: "The Texas-based company says its lease with the Florida State Fair Authority means Clear Channel, a private company, and the Fair Authority, a state agency, have the same rights.
Because of that link to the state, Clear Channel says it should have immunity from local noise laws.
And more. Clear Channel also says it should not be required to pay county property taxes."
t r u t h o u t - Roberts Listed in Federalist Society Leadership Directory: "The questions about Roberts's involvement with the society may come down to the meaning of the word 'membership.'"
Shots to the Heart of Iraq: "Innocent civilians, including people who are considered vital to building democracy, are increasingly being killed by U.S. troops."
- toledoblade.com -: "That particular passage, I think, was not well written"

Sunday

Independent Online Edition > Middle East : app4 Iraq: This is now an unwinnable conflict

Thursday

Justices won't sit out case against Taft: "Authorities are trying to determine whether Noe illegally disguised donations to President Bush."
- toledoblade.com -: "The documents also show Mr. Noe authorized millions of dollars in loans from the state's Capital Coin funds - including $285,000 to himself - while using state money to foot the bill for legal work to fight public records requests to release coin-fund documents."
nbc4i.com - News - Consultant: BWC Investments Showed 'Inadequate Oversight'
nbc4i.com - News - AG: Noe Took Nearly $4 Million Improperly
Memo Gets Attention in Probe of CIA Leak - Yahoo! News: "the memo focused on Wilson's trip and the State Department intelligence bureau's disagreement with the White House's claim about Iraq trying to get nuclear material. He said the fact that the CIA officer and Wilson were husband and wife was largely an incidental reference."
Report Shows Karl Rove May Have Lied to Federal Agents, a Federal Crime, During Oct 2003 Testimony Into CIA Agent Leak: "During questioning by the FBI about his role in the Plame affair, Rove told federal agents that he only started sharing information about Plame with reporters and White House officials for the first time after conservative columnist Robert Novak identified her covert CIA status in his column on July 14, 2003."
New York's Premier Alternative Newspaper. Arts, Music, Food, Movies and Opinion: "The crime is that hundreds, if not thousands, of journalists and politicians in this country have over the years cheerily honored this vile, scum-sucking pig of a human being by calling him names like 'genius' and 'boy wonder' and 'wizard'--as though the business of Rove's life was somehow cute, quirky and lovably mischievous."

Tuesday

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Two-thirds believe London bombings are linked to Iraq war: "Two-thirds of Britons believe there is a link between Tony Blair's decision to invade Iraq and the London bombings"

Monday

The New Yorker: Fact: "Did we have eleven hundred Americans die--the number of U.S. combat deaths as of last September--so they could have a rigged election?"
Study cites seeds of terror in Iraq - The Boston Globe - Boston.com - Middle East - News: "New investigations by the Saudi Arabian government and an Israeli think tank -- both of which painstakingly analyzed the backgrounds and motivations of hundreds of foreigners entering Iraq to fight the United States -- have found that the vast majority of these foreign fighters are not former terrorists and became radicalized by the war itself."
CASUALTY OF WAR: THE U.S. ECONOMY: "It's not worth the price of what we're paying."

Saturday

In Plame Leaks, Long Shadows: "It is now clear: There has been an element of pretense to the White House strategy of dealing with the Plame case since the earliest days of the saga."

You don't say.
ColdType - Writing Worth Reading From Around The World "… THIS WAR WILL NOT END IN ANY OF OUR LIFETIMES … "
Norman Solomon talks to Adrian Zupp . . .
JOHN PILGER … LONDON BOMBS BELONG TO BLAIR AND BUSH
TOM ENGELHARDT… MAKING THE WORLD UNSAFE FOR DEMOCRACY

Wednesday

TPMCafe || Politics, Ideas & Lots Of Caffeine: "The Big Lie About Valerie Plame"
Paul Craig Roberts: The No-Think Nation Not only has our government demonstrated an inability to think before rushing to war, it cannot think about the economy either.
Guardian Unlimited | World Latest | CIA Leak Quotes

Tuesday

Bush Adviser Helped Law Firm Land Job Lobbying for CNOOC: "Members of the intelligence board, known as PFIAB, are granted the highest security clearance and develop top-secret advisories and reports for the president, most of which are not even available to members of Congress....The House Armed Services Committee will hold a hearing tomorrow on the national security implications of the CNOOC bid."

Wednesday

TheStar.com - Pliant American press behaving like Pravda in coverage of the U.S. president: "The Senate committee promised last summer to probe what role the White House may have played in concocting the faulty intelligence -- but only after the presidential election.
Once the president was re-elected last fall, the Senate committee chairman, Republican Pat Roberts, simply cancelled the promised investigation of the White House's role, insisting it would be 'a monumental waste of time to replow this ground any further.'
Replow it further? How about plowing it once?"

Tuesday

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | A fiction as powerful as WMD: "The occupation's sectarian discourse has acquired a hold as powerful as the WMD fiction that prepared the public for war. Iraqis are portrayed as a people who can't wait to kill each other once left to their own devices. In fact, the occupation is the main architect of institutionalised sectarian and ethnic divisions; its removal would act as a catalyst for Iraqis to resolve some of their differences politically."

Thursday

In Iraq, giving birth is complicated by war - Yahoo! News: "After the 2003 war that toppled
Saddam Hussein, the number of women who gave birth at home shot up to about two-thirds. Of those, 80 percent had nobody with any formal training present at the birth....Violence has prevented medical experts from measuring the maternal mortality rate since late 2003, when the number of Iraqi women who died from childbirth climbed to 370 per 100,000 - triple its 1990 rates and 31 times the US rate of 12."
Many Kids Still Don't Think Tobacco Is Addictive - Yahoo! News: "'Over the 20-month [child smoking prevention] program, about half the children increased their positive attitudes about smoking.'"

Neither of the news stories, nor the study abstract, identifies the source of the smoking "prevention" materials used by the two large HMOs.

Monday

baltimoresun.com - Firm of EPA nominee linked to Grace: "President Bush has nominated as chief of enforcement for the Environmental Protection Agency a partner in a law firm defending W.R. Grace & Co. against criminal charges in a major environmental case."

Thursday

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | G8 countries defying arms embargoes, says report: "Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the UK and the US - account for 84% of all worldwide arms supplies"

Wednesday

Kevin Zeese: an Interview with Col. Sam Gardiner: "The terrorism argument was what propaganda literature would refer to as the big lie. The Administration's objective was to make enough arguments connecting Iraq to terrorism and Bin Laden that the American people would believe Iraq was behind the 9/11 attacks. They used a technique called the excluded middle. Iraq supports terrorists. The attacks were by terrorists. Iraq must been behind the 9/11 attacks.
We know the WMD story fairly well. We know the story of the uranium from Niger. We know about the aluminum tubes that were not for uranium enrichment. We know the biological labs Powell showed to the UN did not exist.
Beyond these there are many exaggerations that have gotten very little notice. Let me mention just a few.
A New York Times reporter was told by the Administration that Iraq was buying excess quantities of atropine to get ready for chemical warfare. It turns out the quantities were consistent with the Iraq use of the substance for routine medical purposes.
The President told us in a speech in Ohio that Iraq had drone aircraft that could possible deliver chemical weapons into the United States. When that facility was found, the officers reported that it looked more like a school project than a serious military program.
The Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz told the Council on Foreign Relations that Iraq had the capability to attack US computers. They did not.
We were lead to believe a Navy pilot shot down during the first Gulf War was alive and being held in Baghdad. He was not.
We were told on the State Department web sit that Iraq was forming units of children to fight the United States. Iraq did not do that.
We were told the French were supplying air defense missiles to Iraq. That was not ture
There were many more."
Los Angeles Times: Worries Raised on Handling of Funds in Iraq: From $12 billion shipped to Iraq "more than $8.8 billion in such funds could not be properly accounted for."