Four years after scores of rescue workers were injured in the smoldering wreckage of the World Trade Center, the federal government plans to rescind $125 million that was allocated to help them, and many of those who requested compensation are finding their claims being disputed at 10 times the rate that typical workers face.
The money, included in a $20 billion aid package the federal government gave to New York in late 2001, was part of $175 million that was earmarked for the state's workers' compensation program. So far, only $50 million of the part set aside for trade center workers has been spent, and a provision in the Bush administration's budget for fiscal 2006 would reclaim the remaining $125 million.
But yesterday, lawmakers called on the White House to withdraw its proposal, saying the money was still badly needed by ground zero workers who are fighting for lost wages and facing the prospect of long-term health problems that doctors are only beginning to understand.

The above is from Anahad O'Connor's "Bush 2006 Budget Would Reclaim $125 Million of 9/11 Aid" in this morning's New York Times. File it under the Bully Boy giveth and the Bully Boy taketh away.


Molly e-mails to note Erik Eckholm's "Case Against a Times Researcher Goes to Chinese Prosecutors:"

After more than eight months of investigation, state secrets and fraud cases against a Chinese researcher for The New York Times have been turned over to prosecutors for indictment, Chinese authorities said yesterday.
This important legal step suggests that the authorities plan to bring the researcher, Zhao Yan, to trial in the coming months despite protests by international rights groups, which say he is being punished for his journalism, and an appeal for his release by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
The formal referral of charges to prosecutors occurred on May 20 but was only revealed yesterday, by a Foreign Ministry spokesman at a regularly scheduled briefing. In China, indictment and conviction generally follow such a referral, though the prosecutors still have discretion over whether to try Mr. Zhao and on what charges.

Eli e-mails to note "2 Sergeants Charged in Iraq Prison Abuse:"

Two American soldiers who said that high-ranking officers authorized them to use dogs to intimidate Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison were charged yesterday with abuse. They are the latest to face courts-martial in the scandal.

Note: The above is from a three paragraph brief is credited as "by The New York Times."

Brad e-mails to note Sharon LaFraniere's "AIDS, Pregnancy and Poverty Trap Ever More African Girls:"

Flora Muchave's cautionary tale is nothing new; Africa claims the world's highest adolescent birthrate and the world's lowest share of girls enrolled in primary school.
But for the last 25 years, the trends had been positive. African girls, like girls elsewhere, were marrying later, and a growing percentage were in school.
The AIDS epidemic now threatens to take away those hard-won gains. Orphaned and impoverished by the deaths of parents, girls here are being propelled into sex at shockingly early ages to support themselves, their siblings and, all too often, their own children.

KeShawn e-mails to note the Associated Press' "A Ruling on W.T.O. Protests:"

A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that during the 1999 World Trade Organization meeting here, the police may have erred by keeping some protesters out of a restricted zone based on their beliefs.
The three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit found, however, that the city had the right to block off part of downtown Seattle after about 50,000 protesters swarmed the area.

Larry picks the quote of the week. It comes from Todd S. Purdum's "Three Decades Later, 'Woodstein' Takes a Victory Lap." In the overview of Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward's careers (which fails to mention a very important piece Bernstein did for Rolling Stone in the seventies -- but then the Times wasn't big on the story in real time), Robert Redford is given the last word. Here's Larry's pick for the quote of the week:

"I'm personally sad, because I feel I stumbled into a high point of journalism and had to watch it slide away when suddenly glamour became the main attraction of getting into journalism. It became a very sad thing for me to watch. I'm glad the real meaning has come back, at least for a day."

The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.

[Note: This entry originally appeared at The Common Ills.]
 

Rachel Rogers, a single mother of four in upstate New York, did not worry about the presence of National Guard recruiters at her son's high school until she learned that they taught students how to throw hand grenades, using baseballs as stand-ins. For the last month she has been insisting that administrators limit recruiters' access to children.
Orlando Terrazas, a former truck driver in Southern California, said he was struck when his son told him that recruiters were promising students jobs as musicians. Mr. Terrazas has been trying since September to hang posters at his son's public school to counter the military's message.
Meanwhile, Amy Hagopian, co-chairwoman of the Parent-Teacher-Student Association at Garfield High School in Seattle, has been fighting against a four-year-old federal law that requires public schools to give military recruiters the same access to students as college recruiters get, or lose federal funding. She also recently took a few hours off work to stand beside recruiters at Garfield High and display pictures of injured American soldiers from Iraq.
"We want to show the military that they are not welcome by the P.T.S.A. in this building," she said. "We hope other P.T.S.A.'s will follow."
Two years into the war in Iraq, as the Army and Marines struggle to refill their ranks, parents have become boulders of opposition that recruiters cannot move.

The above is from Damien Cave's "Growing Problem for Military Recruiters: Parents" in this morning's New York Times.

Krista e-mails to note Scott Shane's "Wreath for Those Killed, Even at Their Own Hands:"

Then Liz Sweet got her turn.
Accompanied by a military honor guard, she helped lay a wreath honoring soldiers killed in Iraq, including her 23-year-old son, T. J. His photograph hung below the wreath on a ribbon Mrs. Sweet had fashioned in red, white and blue, a rare public tribute to a soldier who took his own life.
Although military officials were not asked for approval, Mrs. Sweet and a veterans' advocate wanted to recognize the sacrifice of soldiers who committed suicide.
For their families, the loss can be especially excruciating. "Not only did your child go off to a combat zone," Mrs. Sweet said. "Not only did your child lose his life. But something happened that you will never, ever understand."

Those are two important stories so we'll close this entry there.

The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.

[Note: This entry originally appeared at The Common Ills.]
 

For the first time in a decade, the Army and Marine Corps are missing their monthly recruiting goals as the number of flag-draped coffins shamefully shipped back in secret from Iraq approaches 1,700.
The good news is that more young people are starting to question America's foreign policy by refusing to enlist. But the bad news is that fewer volunteers increase the chances of a draft. This is the first protracted war in modern times where the United States hasn't employed selective service.
As I sat down at the computer to look up Anti-Flag, the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young anti-war anthem "Four Dead in Ohio" (memorializing the May 4, 1970, massacre at Kent State University) streamed through my mind.
Are we heading down this horrible road again, where tin soldiers gun down American students protesting an endless war?
In the middle of Anti-Flag's home page was another link to www.militaryfreezone.org. I kept on clicking, and soon confirmed my son's disturbing information that the nation's high schools have become ground zero in the armed forces' determined effort to make sure no child is left untouched by the long arm of Uncle Sam.
The more I learned, the more I wondered why I hadn't heard about this before. Why hasn't the militarization of public schools been prominently reported in the media? How can the military be allowed to use high-pressure telemarketing campaigns on the youth of our nation without parental permission?

Lloyd e-mails the above, John Dougherty's "Uncle Sam Wants Them: Military recruiters are grabbing student info from local schools without parents' permission" from the Phoenix New Times.

Durham Gal e-mails Bob Geary's "Five N.C. congressmen want out of Iraq They supported an amendment to the defense spending bill that calls on the president to submit a plan for withdrawal" from North Carolina's The Independent Weekly:

If you're keeping score, the number of North Carolina's members of Congress who've supported any of the various "get out of Iraq" initiatives floating around in Washington is now up to five. And two of the five are Republicans!
It's true. When Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.) offered an amendment to the defense spending bill last week that would have called on President Bush to submit a plan to Congress for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, it lost by 300-128.
That sounds bad, but 128 is up from the previous number of 32, which is how many co-sponsors Woolsey had for an identically worded resolution she introduced in January.
And whereas only Rep. Mel Watt of Charlotte, who heads the Congressional Black Caucus, was with her from the N.C. delegation before, now Reps. David Price of Chapel Hill and Brad Miller of Raleigh, both Democrats, have joined up on the pro-withdrawal-plan side.
This is news: When the Independent canvassed them at the time of the anti-war rally in Fayetteville two months ago, neither Price nor Miller thought it appropriate to demand a plan for getting out of Iraq. Now, both do.

Durham Gal notes "This is news. Ever since I read the article on Ruth in The Third Estate Sunday Review, I've been watching and I think she's right about the shift that's going on. Tell Ruth, I'm seeing what she was talking about all around me in my day to day life."

From Colorado Indymedia, we'll note "Peace and War at Bolder Boulder: Protests and Police:"

Peace activists protest militarism on Memorial Day at the Bolder Boulder run. Counter-protesters, police, and more.
"Free speech" at the event was restricted to corporate sponsors and applause for the flag. Citizens from the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center attempted to hold a banner declaring their opposition to the war in Iraq at Folsom Stadium during the Bolder Boulder.
They were in no way interfering or blocking anyone's view, as they stood at the very back of the stadium. The citizens believe that they have a constitutionally guaranteed right of free speech onpublic university property.
The citizens first put up a banner which read "End the Occupation of Iraq Now".
Bolder Boulder security and police from the Sheriff's department twisted the banner so that it couldn't be read and proceeded to confiscate it, using pain holds on one 58-year old Boulder citizen, Ellen Stark. When the citizens put up a second banner which said "Protect Free Speech", security again twisted the banner and confiscated it.
The three women, Ellen Stark, 58, Carolyn Bninski, 55, and Joanne Cowan, 55, were then escorted out of the stadium and issued a summons to appear in Court on August 3. They were charged with illegal conduct on public property.
Another group of citizens stood in a line withT-Shirts that read "Troops Home Now". They were allowed to stand and were not bothered by the security. [see photos].
The contract between the University and the Bolder Boulder that was provided to the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center did not appear to include any rental fee to the Bolder Boulder for the use of the stadium.
The citizens chose to stand in the stadium as a counterpoint to the Bolder Boulder's celebration of Memorial Day which, rather than a mourning and remembrance of those who have died in war, highlighted current young members of the military as they did pushups after finishing the race. Bolder Boulder's celebration also includes a 21-gun salute and Air Force jet fly overs, all of which appears to glorify the current administration's policies of pre-emptive war.
Joanne Cowan said of her participation: "The ongoing conflict in Iraq will be cut short by the willingness of people to speak out against the policies of our government. I am hoping that more people will act in such a way as to acknowledge the war and the killing of innocent people. U.S. soldiers are being attacked because Iraqis want to run their own country. The United States is an occupier in Iraq."
Ellen Stark said: "In these extremely conservative times, when rights of speech are being curtailed, it is extremely important for the university to stand firm in protection of free speech rights to dissent from the government."
Carolyn Bninski said: "The Bolder Boulder is open to the public, it is on public property, and, as a public institution, the university should allow banners which express divergent views on the war on Iraq. Thomas Jefferson once said "dissent is the highest form of patriotism." I believe that by openly expressing dissent to the war, we are doing a service to our country and to the families who are losing their relatives in this illegal and immoral war and occupation."

[Note: The above article is by "anonymous poster."]

Gareth e-mails Brendan Young's "This NON is a setback for neo-liberal politics throughout the EU" from Ireland's i.e. Indymedia:


The decisive NON to the EU Constitution in the French referendum is the first step towards a new direction for Europe. The ordinary people of France have voted NON to the privatisation of public services, to the profit motive of the market dominating all aspects of life, and to further centralisation of decision-making in the hands of the EU elite. They have rejected a European Constitution that enshrines competition above solidarity - a Constitution that makes people in work compete for their jobs and wages against the unemployed and makes the poor compete against the very poor for scarce resources.
The French NON is a demand for a different Europe to the free-market politics of the EU Constitution -which would set in stone the same neo-liberal policies being imposed by the French government, and supported by many other European governments and the European Commission. This NON is a setback for neo-liberal politics throughout the EU. It is the first step towards an alternative direction for Europe, where the needs of ordinary people come first.
The leaders of other European countries and the European Commission must accept the French vote. There must be no campaign for a re-run of the French referendum and no anti-democratic back-room deals. The EU Constitution cannot now come into force and must be abandoned.

The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.

[Note: This entry originally appeared at The Common Ills.]
 

An e-mail from Rebecca led to adding the mirror site for Folding Star's A Winding Road. It's near the bottom of the links on the left. I would've grouped it right to next to the mirror site for The Common Ills but Kat's there and had requested to be there when I told her we'd be linking.
Rebecca's point is that if one site goes down, the resources should be there for another site when it exists. Good point.

The other three links are radio: Pacifica and NPR.

A number of members (most vocally Marcia) have been requesting a Pacifica Radio link so it's up. So we've added two links. There's the Pacifica home page that has information and highlights on Pacifica programming as well as links to Pacifica radio stations. "The Peace Resource Page" also provides links to five Pacifica radio stations and has some great resources.

The fourth link is for NPR. Lloyd asked for that and with Ruth covering aspects of it in her Ruth's Morning Edition Report, with NPR under attack yet again, and with about half of the community's membership e-mailing about at least one NPR program they listen to, it made sense to add them.

There's not a link proper to Air America. There's a link to Air America Place where you can listen to any show from the Air America Radio network you'd like to. We also link to BuzzFlash which provideds a link to Air America. I think that covers Air America Radio. (We also note the weekend programing as well as week day shows members enjoy.)

Adding NPR is not an attempt to persuade members who've stated that they've washed their hands of it to rethink their position on it. I understand your sentiments and respect them. As with any permalink or link within an entry, if it speaks to you, utilize it. If it doesn't ignore it.
Also note that linking to NPR is not an endorsement of them. I think they're able to provide perspective that you don't hear (or, sadly, read) elsewhere. That potential isn't always realized.
Lloyd made a sound argument for linking to them and I ran the link by thirty long time members (sixteen of which have no interest in NPR's current fate and have washed their hands of it). I did that because we're a resource/review for the left and NPR is mainstream. All thirty (including the sixteen who feel NPR's on its own in the current battle) approved of the linking due to the potential to provide perspective that NPR has. And, as Kara pointed out, while mainstream, "it's supposed to be in the news business as opposed to the synergy business."

It's also supposed to be "public" broadcasting. So with all that it's supposed to be and can be, Lloyd's strong argument and the fact that I always root for the underdog, we'll go ahead and make it our exception to the rule.

The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.

[Note: This entry originally appeared at The Common Ills.]

AMY GOODMAN: Just before we go to investigative journalist, David Wise, with Jennifer Dohrn still in our studio, I think there was one last story we wanted to hear from you, and that was a trophy that the burglars got when they broke into your apartment.
JENNIFER DOHRN: Right. Apparently on one of the break ins, they took a pair of my underwear and put it in a glass case and gave it as a trophy gift to Mark Felt.
JUAN GONZALEZ: And this was discovered how?
JENNIFER DOHRN: This was discovered -- it was actually leaked to me by someone in the press years later who had gone over my F.O.I.A. files.

What's that from? In case you missed it today, Democracy Now! has a story (listen, watch and read -- transcript is up) entitled "EXCLUSIVE... Jennifer Dohrn: I Was The Target Of Illegal FBI Break-Ins Ordered by Mark Felt aka 'Deep Throat.'" As Charlie notes in his e-mail, "Democracy Now! doesn't take part in any shine-ons." No, it doesn't. If you missed the report, please check it out today, tomorrow, this weekend . . . Here's one more excerpt:

AMY GOODMAN: Well, it's good to have you with us. When you heard that Deep Throat had been revealed, and it was Mark Felt, your response?
JENNIFER DOHRN: My response was that history needed to be reviewed, re-looked at, re-examined, and this was a great time to look at the comparisons between what happened in the early 1970s to me and many others and what in fact is happening now around Iraq and the building of a counterintelligence system.
AMY GOODMAN: Tell us about what happened to you. Where did you live?
JENNIFER DOHRN: I lived in New York primarily. I was based in New York. I was very, very active in the anti-war movement and in support of the Black Freedom Movement and the Puerto Rican liberation struggle, and I was followed night and day by the F.B.I. I had my apartments, several apartments, wiretapped. Apartments next to me were rented by F.B.I. agents who kept continuous 24-hour surveillance of every sound made in my apartment. I was followed up and down the streets. I would get a job, the F.B.I. would go in after me, and I would then be fired from the job. It was around-the-clock harassment.


Charlie writes, "Throw in some calico cats, some drapes over statues and it's John Ashcroft. Is there a reason that the Democracy Now! addresses what the mainstream shies away from? Yes, I think there is a reason and it's that Democracy Now! is about journalism and the mainstream news is about lifestyle features."

Lucy e-mails this column by Greg Mitchell (Editor & Publisher) entitled "My Secret Life with W. Mark Felt:"

I'll never know for sure, but it's possible that I was once on, ahem, fairly intimate terms with W. Mark Felt, the leak artist formerly known as Deep Throat.
Journalists and many others lionizing the former FBI official -- rightly -- for his contribution in helping to bring down Richard Nixon, should not overlook the fact that Felt was one of the architects of the bureau's notorious COINTELPRO domestic spying-and-burglary campaign.
He was convicted in 1980 of authorizing nine illegal entries in New Jersey in 1972 and 1973 -- the very period during which he was famously meeting Bob Woodward in a parking garage.
Only a pardon, courtesy of Ronald Reagan, kept him out of jail for a long term. So the man knew a thing or two about illegal break-ins. COINTELPRO was the Patriot Act on steroids. And that's where I come in.
Back in the bad old/good old days of the early 1970s, a fellow I'll call "Stew" used to write, off and on, for a rather legendary magazine that I helped edit in New York City, before I went straight, called Crawdaddy. (We had plenty of other contributors, including Joseph Heller, P.J. O'Rourke, Tom Waits, Richard Price, William Burroughs, and Tony Kornheiser, to name a few.) Stew was a proudly left-wing guy, but from the fun-loving ex-Yippie side of the antiwar spectrum, as opposed to the violent Weatherman sector. By 1973, he had a bad ticker, and was pretty much retired from any organized political activity.

Continue reading to find out what happened to Stew as well as more background on COINTELPRO.

The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.

[Note: This entry originally appeared at The Common Ills.]
 

Gareth e-mails to note "Leeds Zapatista Solidarity events" from Leeds Bradford IMC:


Following the John Ross talk, the following weekend will also see a number of Zapatista solidarity events happening in Leeds.
Saturday 4/6: benefit gig, 8pm till late
Sunday 5/6: infoday, 1-5pm
Sunday 5/6: Chiapas Information afternoon. Videos and talk on the Zapatista struggle, plus how to get involved in solidarity work in Chiapas.

The John Ross talk? That event's already passed. (See the Leeds Bradford IMC, "John Ross at the Common place" for information about Ross' talk last weekend.)

The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.

[Note: This entry originally appeared at The Common Ills.]

Polly e-mails to note two things from Bristol IMC.

First imcvol tom's "Bristol Indymedia Radio! 87.7 FM on 3rd, 4th & 5th June:"

As part of the Venn festival, Bristol Indymedia will be broadcasting three half-hour radio shows over the weekend from the Cube – on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Each show will have 5 minutes of news and announcements and then special guests to talk about current and important issues!
87.7 FM in the Bristol area Webcast at www.cubecinema.com and www.wheresthatnoise.co.uk Tune in to hear Indymedia live!
6pm Friday 3 - Julia Guest
Local filmmaker Julia Guest will be in the studio to talk about filmmaking, politics and her new film 'A Letter to the Prime Minister, Jo Wilding's diary from Iraq'
This film follows another local activist, as she undertakes a remarkable journey from Bristol Magistrates court to the siege in Fallujah, in her efforts to seek justice for Iraq.
http://www.alettertotheprimeminister.co.uk
6pm Saturday – South America
With commentators looking to recent events in Argentina as inspiration for people power and 80 to 90% of the cocaine in the UK originating from Colombia – it is clear that for good or ill, South America is linked to the South West.
We will be welcoming into the studio an Argentinean activist and a local Bristol activist from the Colombia Solidarity Campaign to talk about South America, whats going on there and the links with Bristol and the South West.
http://www.colombiasolidarity.org.uk/http://www.thrall.orcon.net.nz/22argentinainrevolt.htmlhttp://www.narconews.com/12 Noon Sunday – G8
There have been several well attended events in Bristol recently focused on the upcoming protests in Scotland in-and-around the G8 summit in July. In the studio will be some people from Bristol Dissent! To talk about the issues and why they are going to Scotland to confront Bush and the G8.
http://www.dissent.org.uk

The second item is "UPDATE! Bristol Indymedia Film Night : 'H8 G8'" [note: link takes you to Bristol Indymedia's main page, so scroll down]:

Hot on the heels of our last film night, Bristol Indymedia brings you the 'H8 G8' film night on Mon 6th June. Our Indymedia networks are currently feverishly raising funds for a fully fledged independent media infrastructure to report on events surrounding the return of the G8 to Scotland in July. Please give generously if you can.
Donate to IMC UKDonate to Bristol IMC Venue: Cube Cinema, Dove St. South (off Kings Square). Cube Directions.
Doors open 7.30pm, show starts 8:00pm. £3/2 (nobody turned away due to lack of funds.)
Main Feature: Screening of the Glasgow based Camcorder Guerillas Collective new film 'Why Close the G8, Gleneagles 2005':
"In case you haven't heard - the G8 is coming to Scotland. 'Who are the G8? What do they do? What do they talk about? And why does it matter?' This short gives a brief history of the G8, and explores the issues that they will be discussing at Gleneagles. It goes on to give voice to people who are protesting and finishes off with how people can get involved and what they can do in their everyday life to resist the G8. The film is a short, sharp and concise call to action. It is part talking head and part animation."
Alongside this will be the usual shorts to accompany the main course, plus lots of info about the G8 and the upcoming protests.
G8 Background: The G8 countries are the UK, USA, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Japan and Russia. They are the group at the heart of corporate globalisation and the key exponents of a neoliberal economic agenda.
This is an agenda which essentially promotes and protects free trade in all its forms. All aspects of life, from the production and exchange of essential goods and services, through to our health care and education, are to be determined by the forces of the "free market", maximising profit for the few at any human or environmental cost.
More Info: Dissent NetworkBristol Dissent Email ListG8 AlternativesMake Poverty History

The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.

[Note: This entry originally appeared at The Common Ills.]
 

Where, in the week after the Great Newsweek Error, is the comparable outrage in the press, in the blogosphere, and at the White House over the military's outright lying in the cover-up of the death of former NFL star Pat Tillman? Where are the calls for apologies to the public and the firing of those responsible? Who is demanding that the Pentagon's word should never be trusted unless backed up by numerous named and credible sources?
Where is a Scott McClellan lecture on ethics and credibility?
The Tillman scandal is back in the news thanks not to the military coming clean but because of a newspaper account. Ironically, the newspaper in question, The Washington Post -- which has taken the lead on this story since last December -- is corporate big brother to Newsweek .
The Post's Josh White reported last week that Tillman's parents are now ripping the Army, saying that the military's investigations into their son's 2004 "friendly fire" death in Afghanistan was a sham based on "lies" and that the Army cover-up made it harder for them to deal with their loss. They are speaking out now because they have finally had a chance to look at the full records of the military probe.
"Tillman's mother and father said in interviews that they believe the military and the government created a heroic tale about how their son died to foster a patriotic response across the country," White reported.
While military officials' lying to the parents have gained wide publicity in recent days, hardly anyone has mentioned that they also lied to the public and to the press, which dutifully carried one report after another based on the Pentagon's spin. It had happened many times before, as in the Jessica Lynch incident.
Tillman was killed in a barrage of gunfire from his own men, mistaken for the enemy on a hillside near the Pakistan border. "Immediately," the Post reported, "the Army kept the soldiers on the ground quiet and told Tillman's family and the public that he was killed by enemy fire while storming a hill, barking orders to his fellow Rangers." Tillman posthumously received the Silver Star for his "actions."

The above is from "The Tillman Scandal" by Greg Mitchell (of Editor & Publisher) and appears in the Hartford Advocate this week. Thanks to Carl for e-mailing that in.

Yazz e-mails to note Paul Craig Roberts' "The Slave Traders of the Gitmo Gulag" from IMC:

The US government gave the slave trade a boost by offering money for Al Qaida and Talaban fighters. Afghan and Pakistani war lords simply rounded up people who looked Arab or foreign and sold them to the Americans as captured fighters. The "fighters" apparently included relief workers, refugees, and Arab businessmen. The tribunals looking into the classification of Guantanamo prisoners as "enemy combatants" have uncovered numerous examples of hapless victims of a naive US government too flush with money. The Bush administration, of course, denies that it bought its detainees, as it denies everything. However, on May 31, 2005, Michelle Faul of the Associated Press reported that in March, 2002, leaflets and broadcasts from helicopters in Afghanistan enticed Afghans to "Hand over the Arabs and feed your families for a lifetime." One leaflet said: "You can receive millions of dollars. This is enough to take care of your family, your village, your tribe for the rest of your life, pay for livestock and doctors and school books and housing for all your people." Najeeb al-Nauimi, a former Qatar justice minister leads a group of lawyers representing 100 detainees who were sold to the naive Americans. He says a consortium of wealthy Arabs are buying back fellow citizens kidnapped by Pakistani gangs before they can be sold to the Americans.

Beth e-mails Rick Anderson's "A Bug in Windows GOPMicrosoft is ending its relationship with choirboy-lobbyist Ralph Reed, but the company's ties to others in the seemingly infinite loop of the Republican lobbying scandal are deep--in D.C. and Seattle" from the Seattle Weekly:

And as for Reed, if he ever had anything to do with Microsoft's role, or lack thereof, in this state's gay-rights debate, he won't next time. He's being deleted from the Redmond software giant's payroll, and he likely gets his last $20,000 check this month. (Seattle Weekly first reported this fact Thursday, May 26, on the Web, citing two unnamed Microsoft sources. The company initially would not confirm Reed's termination, but after inquiries by other media, company spokesperson Ginny Terzano conceded his firm was "no longer on retainer.")
One company source notes that Reed was on retainer while helping run the George W. Bush presidential campaigns of 2000 and 2004, raising ethical questions. But Reed now has gone a step further and filed to run for public office himself--lieutenant governor of Georgia, thought to be a step toward an eventual White House run. Having a political candidate on the payroll would be a clear ethical conflict for Microsoft. Reed, who did not respond to repeated requests for comment, was on retainer with Microsoft for seven years after quitting his leadership position at the Christian Coalition and launching a private consulting firm in Atlanta.
But there's another potential cause of his deletion from Outlook address books at Microsoft: Reed is now caught up in the influence-peddling scandal in D.C., which includes accusations he worked in concert with two other top Republicans also once engaged by Microsoft. One of them, Jack Abramoff, lobbied for Microsoft in the late 1990s while a member of the Seattle law and lobbying firm Preston Gates Ellis--the firm of Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates' father, William H. Gates II. Abramoff is under investigation for possibly bilking millions of dollars from former Indian tribal clients and improperly using his friendship with House Speaker Tom DeLay, who is facing ethics charges and is the subject of federal investigations. (See "Following the Money," April 6.) Abramoff's questioned activities include a suspected money-laundering scheme that involves both Reed and fellow Microsoft adviser and lobbying superstar Grover Norquist, head of Americans for Tax Reform.
Microsoft has played no known role in the scandal. But the GOP trio, all major fund-raisers and supporters of President Bush, have been some of the company's biggest hired D.C. guns, instrumental in helping Microsoft reach out to the political right the past seven years.
As widely reported, the three operatives go way back. They met during the 1980s as leaders of the College Republicans. Norquist was Abramoff's campaign manager in a successful election as chair of the national campus organization. Later, Reed led the group. Abramoff, a self-described ultraconservative Orthodox Jew, and Norquist began ascending with the 1994 Republican revolution in Congress. They launched what was called the K Street Project to persuade lobbying firms to increase their Republican connections; Abramoff lived across the street from a Preston Gates partner, who quickly hired him. Norquist, a close ally of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia, that year helped draw up the GOP's (ultimately voided) "Contract With America." Reed, meanwhile, became a Bush campaign official and private consultant after leaving the Christian Coalition in 1996, which had risen from the ashes of evangelical Pat Robertson's failed 1988 presidential bid.

Maggie e-mails to note this two paragraph item entitled "Political Terrorism" by Alan Pittman which appears in the Euguene Weekly's "News" (a weekly round up of news items):

What is terrorism? The FBI's official definition broadly includes any politically motivated crime. But the Bush administration appears to define it only as any politically motivated crime from the political left, not right.
Congressional Quarterly reported recently that a Department of Homeland Security domestic anti-terrorism planning document focuses on environmental and animal rights activist property destruction to the exclusion of right-wing terrorist groups who have killed or maimed hundreds of Americans. In 1995, 168 people died in the Oklahoma City bombing. In 2003, a Texan white supremacist and anti-government radical was caught with a weapon of mass destruction, enough cyanide bombs to kill hundreds of people, CQ reported. William Krar was also caught with machine guns, 60 pipe bombs and remote-controlled brief case bombs and was sentenced to 11 years in prison. Five years ago, local environmental activist Jeff Luers got double that sentence after burning up a few SUVs.

Lynda notes "my aunt e-mailed this to me and I wanted to pass it on." It's worth passing on.
Bob Burnett's "The Dangers of Messing with Mother Nature" from the Berkeley Daily Planet:

In a recent series of articles in the New Yorker, Elizabeth Kolbert brings the problem of global climate change into sharp focus. Over the last million years the temperature of the world has been remarkably stable. However, since 1769, and the invention of the steam engine by James Watt, the planet has b een getting warmer--the 15 hottest years have occurred since 1980. Pollution is a side effect of the industrialization launched by Watt's invention; transportation and business daily generate "greenhouse gases," notably carbon dioxide and methane, whose in creasing levels drive the rise in temperature. Scientists predict that by 2050, carbon dioxide levels will double, pushing the average global temperature up by 4.9 to 7.7 degrees Fahrenheit. As a consequence, sea levels will rise as much as two feet, glac iers will melt, ocean currents will change, and weather systems will become more savage and unpredictable.
Despite the fact that each year produces more evidence of unstable climactic conditions, the Bush administration pooh-poohs concerns about global climate change. The president's official position is that there is no scientific "consensus" that supports a presumption of global warming. As a result, his administration has refused to sign the Kyoto Accords and to participate, meaningfully, in global ac tion to halt these alarming trends. Bush believes that reducing the level of our carbon-emissions would be "bad for business."
But an overwhelming majority of earth scientists believe that we are steaming towards disaster. Recently, UC San Diego professo r Naomi Oreskes reviewed almost 1,000 scientific papers on the subject of global climate change--roughly 10 percent of the total. She found 75 percent of her sample provided evidence of anthropogenic forcing, i.e. a relationship between human-created green house gas emissions and temperature rise. Amazingly, she found no articles that argued to the contrary.

This is the first entry of our Indymedia roundup. The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.

[Note: This entry originally appeared at The Common Ills.]

 

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[Note: This post originally appeared at The Common Ills.]

 

We're trying again. (Sorry, there have been Blogger -- program -- problems this evening.)

Visitor T.F. e-mails to ask if this morning's editorial in the New York Times on Deep Throat is why the editorial (from me) appeared in this morning's first post?

We really don't do a reply to the Times editorial each morning. That's because I'm not interested in doing it. (Members can comment and reply to the editorials and have). If we mention an editorial (the one entitled "Bullies of Belfast" or some such nonsense) it's because we're tying it into the coverage in the Times. In addition to that, I've also repeatedly noted the Times editorial slamming NOW for endorsing a candidate in the Democratic primaries. Since no other organization was trashed for an endorsement and since I support NOW and am weary of the trashing of it (the Times wasn't the only one to editorialize -- apparently's it's a free country for everyone but NOW, for NOW it's just a semi-free one). That editorial ran in the Times before this community started.

It's also true that I don't always read the editorials. I hadn't read the editorial until T.F. pointed it out. I have no comment on it. (To repeat, I generally agree with the Times editorial but whether it prompts a head nod or an eye roll, I have no interest in providing daily commentary on them. Members are allowed to comment on whatever they want.)

We focused on Carl Bernstein in our comments this morning. There are several reasons for that. Carl Bernstein has continued to be a brave voice and we applaud that here. Bob Woodward's good at putting out the official version but not at getting to the truth.

One example will suffice here. George Tenent said it would be a "slam dunk." Did he? Where's our proof of that now accepted fact? It's in a book by Woodward? One written with the administration's knowledge?

I don't doubt that Woodward was told that. But as the official court gossip, he's good at repeating what he's told. Conventional wisdom passing for investigative journalism. Maybe Tenent said it. Maybe he didn't. But just because several administration sources (were any named?) put that forward and just because, as always, Woodward duly noted it doesn't make it true.

It does serve to create the larger impression that the Bully Boy was misled. The "we were all mistaken" defense where everyone's guilty so no one's guilty (see Hannah Arendt). It's certainly a nice opportunity to not wonder where the buck stops.

Some might argue that wasn't Woodward's intention. That's fine. I have no idea what his intent is other than to record what he's told/fed. When he ventured out of the social circles of D.C., using similar practices, he embarrassed himself. See Wired (his book, not the magazine) and note his very public defense of the book and his methods.

Tomorrow's article by Woodward in the Washington Post will probably be "misty, water-colored memories"* of the way he was. If Bernstein were co-writing the piece, we'd certainly get the revelations applied to today's realities. Instead, we'll get a snapshot of a time past. No doubt the frame will emphasize Woodward. (But will anyone commenting -- and some may have already -- comment on Woodward's pre-Washington Post career?)

The comparison was made this morning between Lennon & McCartney. I think it's apt. Woody continues to churn out the sort of "silly love songs" that rarely offend. Bernstein speaks truth to power.

If you're interested in it, read it.

As for Felt, T.F. wondered why we weren't praising him here. If he somehow inspires someone else to come forward (and the press actually prints the article, the mainstream press), great.
But whether he's "Deep Throat" or not (that can be answered by Woodward & Bernstein allowing full access to their papers that are currently housed in a university), I'm not going to bend over backward to call him a "hero."

Whether he was "Deep Throat" or just one aspect of Deep Throat, I don't rush to praise people like that. I'm not referring to his purported comments re: Watergate. I'm referring to -- and why the mainstream press doesn't want to talk about this, I have no idea -- his presidential pardon. I don't believe most "heroes" need presidential pardons. (I could be wrong.)

Possibly if their crimes or "crimes" result from attempting to help others they do. I don't know.
I know Reagan pardoned him and, unlike the amensia ridden press (or possibly the cat-got-its-tongue press), I remember why.

If others are "strongly applauding this great American" as T.F. notes, good for them. They're welcome to do so. Maybe they know Felt's history, maybe they don't. That's their business. But here, we don't applaud Felt.

Molly e-mails to note that NOW wasn't mentioned in the heading of the third post. No, it wasn't. And we'll do an entry tonight highlighting it. That was my error brought on by rushing this morning. Thanks for catching that, Molly.

Visitor Monica in Michigan e-mails and wonders if Ruth's post this morning should have been called Ruth's All Things Considered Report or if her "vast praise for Diane Rehm" shouldn't also be titled something else. The general rule that Ruth operates under is if she hears something worth noting on Morning Edition (and has time for an entry), she writes on that. If she doesn't hear anything on that show but hears something on another NPR program, she notes that. So in the instances of Rehm, that was a critique of Morning Edition. Translation, nothing worth noting on Morning Edition that morning. As for All Things Considered, Ruth noted she'd just returned from her family vacation. It's called Ruth's Morning Edition Report and unless she decides to change it, that's what it will continue to be called.

Visitor D.K. e-mails to say that there is nothing he can find on Bill Clinton in Ireland and that the link provided doesn't work so he doubts that Bill Clinton was in Ireland and that "these kinds of lies which can be so easily checked out don't help the cause. If Bill Clinton visited Ireland, you can be damn sure that The New York Times would report it."

Thanks for sharing, D.K. I'm not sure where you went to check your information (you report you were all over the net looking) but let's keep it simple and go to Yahoo News. Typing in Bill Clinton and Ireland (in quotes: "Bill Clinton Ireland") returns a number of news items from last week.


From May 24, 2005, Cybergolf International's "Bill Clinton First Member of PGA National Ireland:"


The PGA National Ireland at Palmerstown House, Ireland’s newest golf course, has opened with the former U.S. President Bill Clinton as its first official member. President Clinton, a 16 handicap, was handed the keys to his locker and given the membership number “001” at a ceremony attended by 1,100 people in Dublin on May 23. Strong winds and heavy rain prevented Clinton from playing the County Kildare course earlier in the day, but he may return later in the year for his inaugural round.
Located just 30 miles from Dublin, the 7,419-yard parkland golf course is already being touted as a possible host site for a major championship. Sandy Jones, chief executive of the PGA, believes the new course is one of the best.

From May 26, 2005, Irish Abroad's "Clinton Aids Suicide Charity" by Mairead Carey:

Political leaders north and south were among the 1,000 people gathered at the Citywest Hotel in Dublin on Monday for a charity dinner in aid of RehabCare's suicide prevention program, where former President Bill Clinton gave the keynote address.
Clinton told guests that he had a very personal interest in suicide prevention as his roommate at Oxford had taken his own life.
Describing his friend as "a person I admired beyond my ability to say," he told the crowd that he had always wondered if there was anything he could have done to stop it, as the loved ones of all suicide victims wonder.

From May 24, 2005, BBC's "Clinton 'still backing' Agreement :"

There is no viable alternative to the Good Friday Agreement for peace in Northern Ireland, former US President Bill Clinton has said.
Speaking in Dublin, he said he did not agree with DUP leader Ian Paisley's view that "the deal was dead".
However, he said he thought that it was up to the IRA to make the next move.
"If they were to give up their arms and criminality, I think it would put a lot of pressure on Mr Paisley and others," he said.
Mr Clinton described the Good Friday Agreement as "fair, with majority rule, minority rights and self government".
"I hope it can still be revived," he said.

From May 23, 2005, The DeHavviland's "Clinton: No alternative to Good Friday accord:"

There is no viable alternative to the Good Friday agreement, former US president Bill Clinton told Irish politicians yesterday. This view appears to be at odds with the one articulated by Dr Ian Paisley of the Democratic Unionist party, who believes parties in the province can no longer wait for Sinn Fein to commit itself fully to the peace process.Mr Clinton told guests at the RehabCare event in Dublin he hoped Dr Paisley was wrong in believing the accord to be ruined.The former president is in Ireland to raise monies for an anti-suicide programme. Irish taioseach Bertie Ahern, opposition leader Enda Kenny, and Nobel prize winner John Hume were among the guests at the gala dinner.

From May 24, 2005, BreakingNews i.e.'s "Adams and Clinton hold hour-long talks in Dublin:"

The former US President said last night that he believed the Good Friday Agreement was the only way forward for the North.
His comments are in line with the views of Sinn Féin, the SDLP and the Irish and British Governments, but fly in the face of DUP claims that the 1998 peace deal is dead.

Because this was the topic of Friday's editorial, I've included these citations. You can find others, D.K., but probably a good idea to go beyond the New York Times. (Which -- sorry Yazz -- in fairness only has so much space. But I'd argue that if they have time to note a report -- and get the report wrong -- during a former president's visit, they had time to note that Bill Clinton was in Ireland for several days and what he was doing while he was over there.)

We'll also note that most members have e-mailed in to request their ballots. If you haven't already done so, please do. This weekend, e-mail time was given to responding to members. That will continue to be the case for the next fourteen days. If a visitor has a question, we'll note it here if it needs noting. And to a blogger who e-mailed this weekend, there will be a piece in The Third Estate Sunday Review (barring any problems getting it completed) replying to your questions. But we won't be linking here. You're site didn't sound as though it would be of interest to members and I had two long term members check it out (honestly, I farmed out the work and thank you to Shirley and Dallas for taking the resposibility on that). We're a community for the left. We provide links to the mainstream with regard to news. However, we do not highlight the right here. They have their own sites and they can do that there.

For the most part, that's been obvious to all from the start. However, a few months back, someone e-mailed in wanting to highlight Andrew Sullivan. Since it may not have been obvious but merely understood by most, I made the point, after we noted the Sullivan thing that had been e-mailed in, that we were a site for the left and if something important was being noted, we could find someone on the left to site. (I also broke this guideline myself -- hence my awarding myself Bonehead of the Year in our year-in-review. To underscore how badly the Times was reporting on the anti-war sentiment, I linked to a Fox "News" story which gave actual figures. As members pointed out, this did underscore the Times' failure but certainly there were other sources to cite and if I had to cite Fox, there was no need for a link. The members who objected were right and I was wrong.)

I wish you luck with your site and hope you're correct about providing insight into a certain group/idealogues ways of thinking, but it's not a site that membership would enjoy and I'm not comfortable linking to you in a post -- you stated you were a visitor but you missed that blogs -- unless by reporters, artists or someone established in a field other than blogging -- are decided upon by a panel. The blogs we provide permalinks for on the left are decided by a panel and have been for a few months now. (Working on the proposal has delayed the current panel from announcing their selections. When Jill was moving from Third Wave Agenda to Feministe, the panel was contacted to make sure they were okay with providing the link. Based on Jill's prvious work, the panel was.) (Jill continues to blog at Third Wave Agenda but Feminste is now the place she regularly blogs -- as does Lauren who invited Jill to join her at Feministe. Rebecca has a very nice post on the move and on Jill graduating.)

The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.

Note: This post has been corrected to add "*" "The Way We Were" music by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman.

[Note: This entry originally appeared at The Common Ills.  Yes, Wednesday night.  I'm carrying over the posts now.  My apologies.]