Al-Libi's story is, of course, disturbing enough as evidence of the utter contempt with which the Bush administration's warmongers treated both the truth and the American public.
Joseph C. Wilson IV, The Daily Beast: "Former Vice President Dick Cheney's reemergence on the political stage after his ignominious departure on Inauguration Day, eschewing the traditional handshake with his successor and the new president, is nothing if not ironic. The most secretive individual in American politics is now calling for the selective release of documents that remain classified in one of his own files marked 'Detainees.' We have also learned that a principal reason for having tortured senior al-Qaeda detainees was not, in fact, to defend the Homeland, but rather to build the case for war with Iraq based on alleged ties between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden."
In advertising terms, Bush was a "brand collapse" whereas Obama, with his toothpaste advertisement smile and righteous clichés, is a godsend. At a stroke, he has seen off serious domestic dissent to war, and he brings tears to the eyes, from Washington to Whitehall.
The first 100 days of Obama’s lies, blunders, gaffes and abuses of liberty
The Humble Libertarian
by W.E. Messamore
04/28/09
“For the first hundred days of President Barack Obama’s administration, here is a complete list of 100 blunders, mistakes, gaffes, and public policies that threaten our freedom...
Bill Moyers and Michael Winship, Truthout: "Your opinion of Obama's first 100 days depends, of course, on your own vantage point. But we'd argue that as part of his bending over backwards to support the banks and avoid the losers, he has blundered mightily in his choice of economic advisers."
Larry Margasak, The Associated Press: "Congressional Democrats turned up the pressure on the Obama administration Tuesday to start a criminal investigation by a special counsel into harsh interrogations of terrorism suspects. It would be a conflict of interest for President Barack Obama's Justice Department to investigate lawyers from the Bush administration, even though they no longer work for the government, Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee said. In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, the Democrats wrote, 'It is impossible to determine at this stage, and before conclusion of the necessary investigation, whether additional conflicts of interest might exist or arise.'"
Carol J. Williams, The Los Angeles Times: "The president cannot avoid trial of a lawsuit brought by five former CIA captives, who allege they were tortured, by proclaiming the entire case a protected state secret, a federal appeals panel ruled today. Both former President George W. Bush and President Obama's Justice Department lawyers had argued before federal courts that a lawsuit brought by former Guantanamo prisoner Binyam Mohamed and four others should be dismissed in the interests of national security."
Lecture at Workshop on Hazards of GMOs, Food and Democracy,
5th European Conference on GMO-Free Regions, 25 April 2009, Cultural and Conference Centre Lucerne (KKL), Switzerland
Thank you for inviting me here. I am Director of the Institute of Science in Society (ISIS). Our mission is to provide accessible and critical scientific information to the public and policy makers on a wide range of topics, genetic engineering, climate change, renewable energies, sustainable agriculture, and so on, in a bid to reclaim science for the public good, which is very important as corporations are increasingly monopolising not just seeds and food but scientific knowledge [1] (Corporate Monopoly of Science SiS 42). The ‘public’ includes also scientists trying to understand work done in other disciplines, which is not easy. We are fortunate to have scientists, Peter Saunders and myself, and Joe Cummins, who are polymaths to varying degrees. The ISIS website www.i-sis.org.uk contains many useful resources, and we publish a colourful, beautifully illustrated quarterly magazine, Science in Society.
I first spoke out against GMOs in 1994, when the Third World Network (TWN) (www.twnside.org.sg) asked me to advice on genetic engineering. It was a desperate situation when almost everyone who knew anything about genetic engineering was involved in exploiting it commercially, and safety was simply not an issue. Worse yet, scientists who spoke up for it were vilified and victimised. I want to pay special tribute to Arpad Pusztai, who is in hospital recovering from a stroke. It was Arpad who really alerted the public to the potential hazards of GMOs by telling them the truth about his experiments.
Very soon after working with TWN, I realised that the lack of independent, reliable, and accessible scientific information was much larger than just genetic engineering. That was why my husband Peter Saunders and I co-founded ISIS in 1999. Reliable and independent scientific information is crucial for democracy, not just for food, but right across the board for health, energy, and decisions on science policies that affect our everyday life and that of our children and grandchildren.
The return of Golden Rice
I want to use Golden Rice as the jump off point to talk about the hazards of GMOs, because Golden Rice is presented as the flagship product of the industry, the beneficent, ethical and acceptable face of GMOs; its hazards, therefore, are all the more insidious and dangerous.
Golden Rice was created 10 years ago as a public relations exercise for the biotech industry that was failing to convince people to accept GMOs. Ingo Potrykus appeared on the cover of Time magazine (7 August 2000), with the headline: “This Rice could save a million kids a year” (from blindness due to vitamin A deficiency). The rice was genetically engineered to produce pro-vitamin A or b- carotene. The ploy was thoroughly exposed in our ISIS report [2] (see The 'Golden Rice', An Exercise in How Not to Do Science, ISIS Report), by Greenpeace, and others. But Golden Rice did not go away.
Last year, it staged a come back with a special feature in Science journal [3], “Tough lessons from Golden Rice”. And it transpired that Tufts University in Boston, United States, has been carrying out ‘clinical trials’ of Golden Rice on children. More than 30 senior scientists and academics signed an open letter condemning the work [4] (Scientists Protest Unethical Clinical Trials of GM Golden Rice). The trials were in breach of the Nuremberg Code of Ethics brought in at the end of the Second World War to prevent repetition of experiments conducted by Nazi scientists including many on children.
WEDNESDAY 3PM: Campaigners won another battle in the fight to stop Vodafone building a mobile phone mast in Melton.
The telecomms giant turned up on the corner of Grange Drive and Sapcote Drive early on Thursday morning with the police on hand to keep public order.
Lyn Summerland said: "It was a brilliant result. We are really pleased with the number of people who turn out on these occasions, the more people we have the more people there are to chase them off."
Nach einem Einbruch der Konjunktur erwartet die Bundesregierung für das nächste Jahr wieder ein leichtes Wirtschaftswachstum. Dazu erklärt der Bundesgeschäftsführer Dietmar Bartsch:
Jede Woche hört man von der Bundesregierung neue Prognosen. Das ist unseriös, zumal die Koalition damit optimistischer in die Zukunft blickt als führende Wirtschaftsinstitute. Statt Zweckoptimismus ist Regierungshandeln gefragt. Die Bundesregierung muss endlich die Zuschauertribüne verlassen und rein in die Manege der Auseinandersetzung. In Zeiten der Konjunktur haben Union und SPD das Wirtschaftswachstum als ihren Erfolg reklamiert. Jetzt in der Wirtschafts- und Finanzkrise legen sie die Hände in den Schoß und richten ihre Politik auf den Wahltag und nicht an den Erfordernissen des Landes aus. Die Koalition soll nicht nur Konjunkturpakete benennen, die den Namen nicht verdient haben, sozial unausgewogen sind, zu spät wirksam werden und im Umfang nicht ausreichen, sondern für die Sicherung und Schaffung von Arbeitsplätzen und die Konjunkturbelebung aktiv werden. Mit der Botschaft „Nach der Wahl wird alles besser“ können die Folgen der Krise nicht beseitigt werden. Auch 2005 wurden die Wählerinnen und Wähler mit der Mehrwertsteuerlüge betrogen.
A GROUP of angry Willingdon residents have criticised a phone mast built near their homes as an 'eyesore'.
Mobile phone firm Orange was given the go-ahead to put up the mast on Willingdon Road by a government planning inspector – despite two local councils refusing to give it permission.
Both Wealden District Council and Eastbourne Borough Council turned down the mast but Orange won an appeal last October.
Residents of nearby Shortlands Close, who can see the telegraph pole-style mast from their homes, said they were stunned when it appeared over the Easter weekend.
Sharon Smith-Taylor said, "I just feel they should have informed us it was going up. It's an eyesore. We had a lovely view of the Downs but now we look out of our windows and we've got this mast.
"We're disappointed that after all the effort we put in to get it stopped has not really been listened to."
Remember when Barack Obama made that big announcement at Camp Lejeune about how all US combat troops were going to be withdrawn from Iraqi cities by June 30? Liberals jumped around with joy, praising Obama for ending the war so that they could focus on their ‘good war’ in Afghanistan. Of course, the celebrations were and remain unwarranted. Obama’s Iraq plan is virtually identical to the one on Bush’s table on January 19, 2009. Obama has just rebranded the occupation, sold it to liberals and dropped the term ‘Global War on Terror’ while, for all practical purposes, continuing the Bush era policy (that’s why leading Republicans praised Obama’s plan)...
In the space of a week, the torture debate in America has been suddenly transformed. The Bush administration left office resting its case on the claim it did not torture. The gruesome photographs from Abu Ghraib, it had said, were the product of ‘a few bad apples’ and not of government policy. But the release of a series of grim documents has laid waste to this defense. The Senate Armed Services Committee’s report — adopted with the support of leading Republicans senators John McCain, John Warner, and Lindsey Graham — has demonstrated step by step how abuses on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan had their genesis in policy choices made at the pinnacle of the Bush administration. A set of four Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel memoranda from the Bush era has provided a stomach-turning legal justification of the application of specific torture techniques, including waterboarding...
Unless you’ve been smart enough to avoid the news entirely for the last few weeks, you know that tomorrow marks President Obama’s first 100 days in office. But you may not know that the ‘100 days’ phrase didn’t start with FDR, but with Napoleon. William Safire’s Political Dictionary tells us that it originally marked the period between the little dictator’s escape from Elba and rampage across Europe before his final defeat at Waterloo. So perhaps the question to ask about presidents’ first 100 days is, how much damage has our new Emperor done?
Arlen Specter, The New York Review of Books: "In the seven and a half years since September 11, the United States has witnessed one of the greatest expansions of executive authority in its history, at the expense of the constitutionally mandated separation of powers. President Obama, as only the third sitting senator to be elected president in American history, and the first since John F. Kennedy, may be more likely to respect the separation of powers than President Bush was. But rather than put my faith in any president to restrain the executive branch, I intend to take several concrete steps, which I hope the new president will support."
The Obama administration and congressional leaders assure us that the government can protect us from the ’systemic risk’ posed by big banks, insurance companies, and hedge funds. But who will protect us from the government? In light of all we’ve learned about the national government’s conduct in both domestic and foreign affairs over recent years, there is clearly no greater risk to American society than the government itself...
Five men who claim to have been kidnapped and tortured at the direction of CIA agents are entitled to their day in court to expose alleged U.S. government abuse of war-on-terror captives, a federal appeals panel ruled Tuesday. Both former President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama had invoked their state secrets privilege in urging courts to dismiss a lawsuit in which the prisoners detailed interrogations involving beatings, electric shocks and laceration by scalpel.
Attac kritisiert einen "Privatisierungswahn" trotz der Finanzkrise
Das globalisierungskritische Netzwerk Attac kritisierte die 8. Jahrestagung zu Public Private Partnership (PPP), die am Dienstag (28. April) in Frankfurt am Main stattfand. "Es handelt sich um eine reine Lobbyveranstaltung der deutschen Bau-Industrie und der Beraterfirmen. Kritiker müssen draußen bleiben", kritisierte Mike Nagler von Attac. Mitveranstalter der Tagung sind Price Waterhouse Coopers, Bilfinger Berger, Linklaters und Clifford Chance. "Die Finanz- und Weltwirtschaftskrise ist die Folge dramatisch aufgeblähter Finanzmärkte und eines globalen Privatisierungs-Wahnsinns", meint Attac-Ratsmitglied Carl Waßmuth. "Public Private Partnership als die kommende Variante von Privatisierung gehört nicht gefördert, sondern gesetzlich gestoppt." Schattenhaushalte und außer der Bilanz geführte Risiken hätten einen wesentlichen Anteil am Ausbruch der Krise. Public Private Partnership sei dasselbe in grün, bezogen auf Kommunen.
No Biomass/No Burning! Truly renewable energy must be defined as including no energy production or climate mitigation claims from food based agrofuels, live plants and ecosystems, or burning biomass of any type.
BRIEF BACKGROUND: As the urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is belatedly gaining recognition within the United States, a suite of policy initiatives, including the Markey-Waxman "American Climate and Energy Security Act 2009" (ACESA), are being considered to promote biomass such as tree plantations, and forest and agricultural 'waste', as renewable energy. Given well known issues of sustainability regarding industrial agriculture and land mismanagement, the need to more clearly define just what "renewable" means is clearly shown. It is vitally important that renewable energy be defined, within the context of federal energy and climate policy, in strictly ecological sustainability terms, including renewable energy and low carbon fuel standards.
In an alarming trend, burning and refining of plant biomass and also toxic municipal waste (or for that matter anything that burns) is being falsely promoted as renewable and of benefit to reducing emissions that cause climate change. Humans already consume a large amount of the energy represented in annual biological growth. To try to consume more of Earth's primary productivity is clearly unsustainable land use. Even partial replacement of fossil fuels with fresh plant biomass energy is absolutely impossible for more than a few years. Trying will denude Earth and make a very different planet, that is hostile and uninhabitable to human life.
More than two-thirds of British companies plan to cut or freeze their workers' salaries this year, the British Chambers of Commerce said yesterday, as it warned that private sector employers face a desperate battle to survive the recession.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned credit crunch losses could reach $4 trillion (£2.75tn), damaging the financial system for years to come.
The IMF says this represents "by far the deepest post-World War II recession" with an actual decline in output in countries making up 75% of the world economy.
I don't know about you, but from my reading of this story, a number of the highest-ranking officials in the Bush administration need hauling up before the courts as soon as possible
It has long been clear that the CIA used the Szymany military airbase in Poland for extraordinary renditions. Now there is evidence of a secret prison nearby.
Truth commission to proceed despite Obama's wishes
Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) plans to proceed with a special commission to investigate alleged Bush administration abuses of power, despite lacking President Barack Obama's support, according to a report Tuesday.
Francois Brousseau, Le Devoir: "In this torture scandal the American government inflicted on its real or presumed enemies after September 11, 2001 - a scandal that has been shaking Washington the last two weeks - it's necessary to see clearly how bare-faced lying and the practice of extreme tortures were two facets of one and the same policy."
Not only do Congressional Democrats have blood on their hands - but so do we, the American people. And CIA agents may be about to be sacrificed to assuage their - and our - actual and associative guilt.
NEW TAMPA - Sase Persaud has always had a passion for fiction and poetry writing, but his newest fight to stop Hillsborough County School District support for school cell towers comes in a close second.
Since the beginning of the year, Persaud has directed much of his ink toward elected officials, school administrators and cell phone executives.
He has written letters and sent e-mails urging them to write off Hillsborough school campuses as ideal locations for cell towers. He asked a local T-Mobile executive to reconsider leasing space on a new tower at Pride Elementary.
So far, his pleas have gone unanswered, but Persaud is determined to fight on, with the power of the pen.
"If you send a letter, there is a record," Persaud said. "There is a paper trail, in effect. Emissions from cell towers are harmful. That's a fact."
With all the sensationalized news about the so-called swine flu flying around, I figured we'd better set all the facts straight.
1. So far, only 82 cases of so-called swine flu have been definitively identified worldwide, mostly in Mexico (26 confirmed, 7 deaths) and the U.S.(with 40 confirmed, no deaths). (Though about 1600 suspected cases, including 159 deaths, are reported in Mexico.) That does not add up to a pandemic swine flu outbreak.
2. This virus has nothing to do with swine. In fact, it hasn't been seen in a single animal. And you can't possibly get it from eating pork.
3. No existing vaccines can prevent this new flu strain. So no matter what you hear – even if it comes from your doctor – don't get a regular flu shot. They rarely work against seasonal flu…and certainly can't offer protection from a never-before- seen strain.
4. Speaking of this strain, it doesn't seem to have come on naturally. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), this particular strain has never before been seen in pigs or people. And according to Reuters, the strain is a 'genetic mix' of swine, avian and human flu. Was it created in a lab? We don't know yet.
5. The drug companies are getting excited…and that's never a good thing. According to the Associated Press at least one financial analyst estimates up to $388 million worth of Tamiflu sales in the near future – and that's without a pandemic outbreak.
6. Let's not forget that Tamiflu comes with its own problems, including side effects like nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, headache, dizziness, fatigue, cough…the very symptoms you're trying to avoid. And let's not forget that Japan banned this drug for children back in 2007, after links to suicidal behavior.
7. Vaccines for this flu strain probably won't have to jump through all those annoying hurdles like clinical trials for safety and effectiveness. That won't, however, stop the government from mandating the vaccine for all of us – a very likely scenario. And if the vaccines are actually harmful…killing people, for example…the vaccine makers will be immune from lawsuits.
Homeland Security Issues Alert On Mandatory Quarantine Procedures
BATF and FBI to forcibly detain Americans despite only 7 confirmed swine flu deaths in Mexico and none in U.S.
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
The Department of Homeland Security has sent out an alert to health care providers outlining how BATF, FBI, and U.S. Marshals will be called upon to impose mandatory quarantines in the event of a widespread swine flu outbreak in the U.S., despite the fact that the virus has only caused seven confirmed deaths in Mexico and none whatsoever in the U.S.
First death in U.S. is Mexican toddler, prompting questions about why only hispanics have died despite outbreak spreading to at least ten countries
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
The first swine flu death in the United States has been confirmed, but the victim is a Mexican toddler. Serious questions must now be asked about why a virus that has spread across at least 10 countries and is suspected in many others has only killed hispanics, and whether a race-specific bio-weapon is being beta-tested.
Andrew J. Bacevich, TomDispatch.com: "In a recent column, The Washington Post's Richard Cohen wrote, 'What Henry Luce called "the American Century" is over.' Cohen is right. All that remains is to drive a stake through the heart of Luce's pernicious creation, lest it come back to life. This promises to take some doing."
Steve Weissman, Truthout: "Asked what he thought of Western civilization, the nonviolent Mahatma Gandhi famously replied, 'I think it would be a good idea.' Unless millions of Americans now demand better, we can say the same of the rule of law. What a good idea it would have been, but - like the tooth fairy - it will not exist, not when competing priorities get in the way. The balancing - and trimming - is well on its way."
Trump and His Allies...
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2022/06/21/trump-and-his-allies-are-clear-and-present-danger-american-democracy?utm_source=daily_newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=daily_newsletter_op
rudkla - 22. Jun, 05:09
The Republican Party...
https://truthout.org/articles/the-republican-party-is-still-doing-donald-trumps-bidding/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=804d4873-50dd-4c1b-82a5-f465ac3742ce
rudkla - 26. Apr, 05:36
January 6 Committee Says...
https://truthout.org/articles/jan-6-committee-says-trump-engaged-in-criminal-conspiracy-to-undo-election/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=552e5725-9297-4a7c-a214-53c8c51615a3
