MARCH 2006 ~ D
"With every passing day, our last wild places and their wildlife grow more embattled by rampant oil and gas development, and our planet’s fragile web of life unravels even more from the impacts of global warming. The Move America Beyond Oil campaign is going to break Big Oil’s stranglehold on energy policy. Endorse the principles of Move America Beyond Oil by signing your Pledge now. We will use your signed Pledge to advance legislation that would cut America’s dependence on oil by 2.5 million barrels a day within 10 years."
"This administration must be held accountable for its misdeeds. We have considerable work to do and I am going to need your help to make this effort successful. Join me in sending the message to the President, the media, and the American people that we are not going to stand for an imperial presidency any longer." ~ John Conyers, Jr.
"With the Jack Abramoff scandal making headlines across the country, the Republican culture of corruption is unraveling. It's clear that reforms must be made. And if you want real ethics reform then you need leadership from someone who will be part of the solution, not the problem. Republican Majority Leader Bill Frist recently chose Rick Santorum to head up the GOP's attempt to draft ethics reform legislation. This is the equivalent of having the rooster guard the hen house as Santorum now spearheads the Republican's K Street Project. Founded by Tom DeLay, Jack Abramoff, and Grover Norquist, the K Street Project was created to influence the hiring decisions of lobbying firms and ensure that only Republican loyalists were given jobs. Demand that Rick Santorum step down from his leadership position in drafting ethics reform legislation. This is the root of the problems that have led to investigations, indictments, and guilty pleas from elected officials and DC power brokers in a developing pay to play scandal. Rick Santorum has taken the helm from Tom Delay and is leading the charge. Help end this hypocrisy - call on Rick Santorum to step aside."
"On the eve of the Alito hearings, the most extreme of the Republican right wing gathered in Philadelphia for a rally called Justice Sunday III. This meeting launched the next phase of their assault on the federal judiciary, and in the middle of these extremists will be Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA). These religious warriors believe the church should be the state -- THEIR CHURCH AND THEIR STATE! Sign this petition and tell Senator Rick Santorum to stop pandering to right wing extremists, and support the American Principle of separation of church and state."
"A British survey conducted by BUPA insurance indicates that people are worrying more than they did five years ago. Health was at the top of the list of worries, particularly heart disease and cancer. Fears of bird flu and terrorist attacks caused less worry, according to the 1,800-person survey. Stress-related medical problems are also becoming more common, including anxiety-caused insomnia. More than a third of those surveyed reported losing sleep. The survey showed that over two-thirds of the population was chronically worried, and more than one in five people were considering getting medication for it."
How the telephone company listens in on your calls and what they tell the government.
"A federal bankruptcy judge says the new bankruptcy law is good for one thing: allowing creditors to make more money off the backs of debt-ridden consumers."
"As government entities around the world discuss what limits to put on the internet, it's time to call freedom of information what it is: a basic human right."
"People working to eliminate pesticides look forward to the day when the vast majority of food everywhere is produced with sustainable agricultural methods. Unfortunately, there is still a long way to go until this is the case. In the U.S., part of our work is preventing cutbacks in federal funding to the few existing sustainable agriculture programs. In fact, funding for three crucial sustainable ag programs is now under attack, and your help is needed to keep these programs alive and effective.
Take Action Now! Contact Senators Diane Feinstein and Congressman Jerry Lewis! The Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program, Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas (ATTRA) program, and Organic Transitions grants program are all in danger of losing their federal government funding. The Bush administration proposes cutting funding for SARE, which funds farmer education and research in producing foods without poisons, by 25%. ATTRA makes innovative technological information support available to farmers. The Organic Transitions program supports transition to production, distribution and trade of organic foods. The Bush administration proposed eliminating all funding for both these programs. Please join us in insisting that the United States government do its job and put focus, support, and resources into farmers working in sustainable agriculture. Food that is produced without poisons, using methods that do not destroy our environment, must become the norm rather than the exception, and these programs are crucial to making sure this happens."
"You think the Internet will always be the great freewheeling information superhighway you've grown to love? Well, think again. Media giants want to privatize our Internet. Take Action! Network neutrality is the principle that Internet users should be able to access any web content or applications they choose without restrictions or limitations imposed by their Internet service provider. For example, if you are shopping for a new appliance online you should be able to shop on any and all websites, not just the ones with whom your provider has a preferred business relationship. Now, corporate interests want to violate the principle of network neutrality in order to increase their own profit margins. They must not be allowed to destroy the free and open culture of the web! Telecommunications companies like AT&T and Verizon are lobbying Congress for the right to control where you go on the Internet, how fast you get there, and how much you pay for the service. In other words, your favorites websites and blogs might be left in the slow lane of the information superhighway. Our first step is to send a strong message now to the big industry execs. Tell them that the principle of net neutrality needs to be honored, and that Internet service providers (ISPs) should not play gatekeepers!"
"Since 1993, over 370 women have been killed or have "disappeared" in Ciudad Juárez and Chihuahua, Mexico. Many of the victims were raped and mutilated. To date, the Mexican authorities have been slow to act in response to the horrifying pattern of violence that has become commonplace in Juarez and Chihuahua. The International Community is gravely concerned about the safety of the women of Chihuahua. Please join Amnesty International in its efforts to persuade the Mexican authorities to take action now before the lives of any more women are lost. We must all urge the Mexican Authorities to protect its citizens.! Sign this petition to the Mexican Ambassador to the United States. The message must be clear: violence against women must be tackled at its roots. All instances of it must be thoroughly investigated, those responsible brought to justice, and steps must be taken to address the causes of women's vulnerability to violence."
"On March 10th, Tibetans and their supporters commemorate the fateful day in 1959 when Tibetans rose up against China’s illegal invasion and occupation of their country. Chinese troops responded with brutal force and on March 17th the Dalai Lama and members of the Tibetan government were forced to flee to India. In the months that followed the uprising, tens of thousands of Tibetan men, women and children were massacred and imprisoned. Forty-seven years later, the spirit of resistance and freedom that compelled Tibetans to take to the streets on March 10th, remains strong both inside and outside Tibet. Now, with the Beijing Olympics only two years away and the international spotlight on China, we are taking advantage of this unprecedented opportunity to intensify our actions for Tibetan freedom. On this important day, please join thousands of people around the world speaking out for Tibetan freedom. Send the letter below now to Hu Jintao, Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party."
"Stop the hypocrisy: tell leaders of the religious right to practice what they preach ! For years, the leaders of the Religious Right have attacked the freedom of women to control their own bodies, waged war on gay marriage, and fought to erode one of the central tenets of our Constitution: the separation between church and state. They claimed the moral high ground, asserting the right to tell people how to live and condemning millions of Americans for actions they deemed immoral. Now it turns out that leaders of the Religious Right are knee-deep in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. After years of condemning gambling as a social ill, they’ve been caught in pro-gambling campaigns hatched by the indicted lobbyist. Their high ground has been washed away. Former Christian Coalition Director Ralph Reed made millions from Indian gambling interests, rallying religious conservatives to oppose competing casinos. James Dobson of Focus on the Family recorded anti-gambling ads that a casino-operating Indian tribe paid to air. And Lou Sheldon’s Traditional Values Coalition was paid $25,000 by online gambling outfit eLottery to lobby congress on its behalf. It’s time to stop the hypocrisy. Millions of Americans have taken their moral cues from these men, only to find out now that they are in bed with the very interests they’ve earned their living condemning. Send a letter to Ralph Reed, James Dobson, and Lou Sheldon and tell them to start practicing what they preach."
"On January 4th, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus kicked off its 2006 season in Tampa, Florida, launching yet another year of traveling the country with captive wild and exotic animals. The use of animals in the circus is an unnecessary and inhumane practice that is harmful to both the animals and the public. Wild animals are trained to perform unnatural tricks to entertain crowds through the use of barbaric tools - including bullhooks, chains, and electric prods. These tricks are unnatural, frightening, and even painful; but the industry’s mantra is "the show must go on. Even worse, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has documented that all major circuses have been cited for deficiencies in their animal care ranging from the deprivation of clean water and fresh food to clean living quarters and even the most basic shelter from weather. Even these minimal requirements are noted as not being met. It is no secret that animals in circuses spend most of their days in boxcars, cages, or chains, in conditions very different from those in which they would naturally live. Please join us in telling Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey to put a stop to such cruelty and cease using wild and exotic animals in its circuses!"
More info:
"At the same time that an historic number of women, men and children were marching for women's lives and reproductive freedom in Washington D.C., Karen Hughes, top political advisor to President Bush, equated pro-choice Americans with terrorists on national television. On CNN, when asked about the difference between Bush and John Kerry on the issue of abortion, Hughes said: "I think after September 11th, the American people are valuing life more -- our enemies in the terror network -- don't value any life, not even the innocent, not even their own." Comparing the pro-choice majority in this country to terrorists should be unacceptable, even for the Bush administration. Pro-choice leaders and Members of Congress have objected to this language, but Hughes refuses to retract her words. It is outrageous for the Bush-Cheney campaign to try to use the events of 9/11 to insult pro-choice Americans and promote their own anti-choice policies! Sign below to send a message to George W. Bush, demanding an apology from him and Hughes, his senior campaign advisor."
"Over half of the U.S. discretionary budget goes towards Pentagon funding, and President Bush wants to increase it further. The "Common Sense Budget" bill would redirect money to health care, schools, renewable energy, and more--is your Congressperson on board?"
"Over half of the US discretionary budget goes towards Pentagon funding – nearly half a trillion dollars. For Fiscal Year 2007, President Bush wants to increase the Pentagon's budget by 7%, to $463 billion. (This doesn't include the price of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which have cost over $300 billion since 2001.) Meanwhile, non-military discretionary spending in the FY 2007 budget is reduced by half a percent......The President has proposed cuts to 141 discretionary programs. The number of families living below the poverty level has increased for the fourth year; and these are living in even deeper poverty. Among the most egregious of suggested eliminations are Commodity Supplemental Food Program, Preventive Care Block Grant, Community Services Block Grant, and many education programs. Significant cuts are proposed for programs such as Section 202 Housing for low-income elderly (26%), Child Care and Development Block Grant ($1.03 billion) and Community Oriented Policing Services (79%). These provisions put families and communities at even greater risk than now experienced."
"Official says peaceful demonstrators’ names erased from database. The Department of Defense admitted in a letter obtained by NBC News on Thursday that it had wrongly added peaceful demonstrators to a database of possible domestic terrorist threats. The letter followed an NBC report focusing on the Defense Department’s Threat and Local Observation Notice, or TALON, report."
"Because of the good work of millions of Americans who stood up to oppose Arctic drilling last year, the future of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has been looking bright. That is, until just hours ago, when language threatening the Refuge was included in the Senate budget – again Slipping Arctic drilling into the budget is an irresponsible and destructive abuse of the budget process – and a waste of time for the Senate, which rejected drilling in the Arctic Refuge as recently as last December. Please take action today! Write your senators and urge them to oppose any bill that would despoil the Arctic Refuge. Let them know that using the budget to open the Arctic Refuge is not just an old trick, but also a dead-end strategy that should be thrown out, once and for all.
What's At Stake:
At the end of 2005, Americans won a major victory for the pristine Arctic Refuge, when Arctic drilling was successfully kept out of both the final budget reconciliation and defense spending bills. But now it’s a new year, and a new ball game. Once again, Arctic Refuge drilling is in the budget bill for next year. Allowing drilling in the Arctic Refuge won’t lower anyone’s energy bills, but would permanently mar a pristine public wilderness."
"The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is offering an initial $50 million in grants over the next five years to help preserve biodiversity in the Amazon Basin. But conservationists who participate in the Amazon Basin Conservation Initiative may find themselves staring down the barrel of a gun."
"In other news from Iraq, the top U.S. general in Iraq has publicly said the U.S. military will continue to plant stories in the Iraqi press. Late last year it was revealed the U.S. had paid a little-known private contractor called The Lincoln Group millions to plant hundreds of pro-U.S. articles in the Iraqi press. When the secret propaganda program was first revealed even the White House admitted it was "very concerned" about the practice. But the top Pentagon brass is now insisting it will go on. General George Casey said an internal review of the program had "found that we were operating within our authorities and responsibilities," The Los Angeles Times reports the internal report could pave the way for the Pentagon to replicate the practice in other parts of the world."
"The leaders of the religious right have long preached against the moral evils of gambling. But now James Dobson, Lou Sheldon and Ralph Reed have been exposed as base hypocrites, knee-deep in the muck of the Jack Abramoff scandal -- they took millions of dollars of Abramoff's gambling money to lobby against his clients' competitors. Tell these so-called "leaders" that you're sick of their hypocrisy.
For years, they've stood at the pinnacle of power in this country, spouting pieties while delivering to the Bush-Cheney White House the votes of millions of their followers. Countless Americans have taken their moral cues from these men -- only to find out now that they are in bed with the very interests they've earned their living condemning.
Tell Reed, Dobson and Sheldon they should do the right thing and donate all Abramoff's dirty money to Gamblers Anonymous. They led the fight to involve government in the Terry Schiavo case. They're among the leading opponents of stem cell research. All the time, they must have been betting they wouldn't get caught taking their thirty pieces of silver and selling out the millions who believed in them. They were wrong."
"Tired of hearing about the lobbyist scandals in Washington? We all are. Since when did a democracy mean powerful private interests have more say in politics than the people? It's time to turn the table on lobbyists in Washington. How? By cutting lobbyists off at the bank and enacting laws that mandate political canidates can only accept public money for their campaigns. It's called voluntary public campaign conributions, and it's a novel solution to our current pay-to-play dilemma in Washinton. Lend your support now!
With voluntary public contributions to federal elections:
More of our most able leaders will run for office when the most important criterion is no longer the ability to finance a campaign.
Our leaders will spend all of their time and energy serving their country rather than wasting much of it raising money for their next campaign.
More citizens will participate in the political process when confidence in our government is restored.
Instead of wasting Congress' time with legislation that hopes to band-aid a bi-partisan problem, tell your state representatives that we a need new system to secure constituents' issues.
"The heart-breaking story of how hepatitis B vaccine crippled a formerly healthy child....this health-harming "protection" the hepatitis B vaccine allegedly provides has been found to vanish in half of the children treated within seven years."
"Over the past five years, glaciers in Greenland have been breaking off into the Atlantic nearly twice as fast as previously thought, contributing one-sixth to a sea level rise, US researchers said."
"Handout image from NASA shows an artist's redition of the Swift spacecraft observing a gamma burst. Astronomers have recorded the death throes of a massive star that exploded nearly 13 billion years ago, an unprecedented sighting that suggests the Universe became a prodigious star-making machine in its early childhood Astronomers have recorded the death throes of a massive star that exploded nearly 13 billion years ago, an unprecedented sighting that suggests the Universe became a prodigious star-making machine in its early childhood."
"The government declined to alert the public about suspect ground beef or request a recall after a 2004 salmonella outbreak that sickened at least 31 people nationwide, according to a report by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The report, made public Wednesday by food safety advocates, said the Agriculture Department traced illnesses in nine states -- Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Tennessee and Wisconsin -- and Washington, D.C., to a national supermarket chain and a single meat processing plant. The department decided no action was needed because the plant was following federal guidelines. The CDC did not name the plant or supermarket chain. A separate report from the Minnesota Department of Health referred to the chain as a member-only warehouse. Unlike E. coli and listeria, salmonella in raw meat is not an "adulterant" under federal guidelines. That is because people are expected to cook raw meat before they eat it, and cooking kills salmonella."
Got Milk? Then You May Get Acne
"Woman who reported drinking more than three servings of any type of milk a day were 22% more likely to report having had severe acne than those whoo drank only one or fewer servings daily, the researchers report in the 'Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology'.......Women who drank two or more daily servings of skim milk were 44% more likely to report having had severe acne. The results taken from analysis of survey responses from 47,335 women involved in an ongoing national nurses health study."
"Mild weather may force the cancellation of Canada's seal hunt this year, officials said, a week after former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney visited pups on an ice floe to protest the controversial slaughter."
"At least tens of thousands of veterans with non-critical medical issues could suffer delayed or even denied care in coming years to enable President Bush to meet his promise of cutting the deficit in half - if the White House is serious about its proposed budget.......The veterans' medical care cuts would come even though more and more people are trying to enter the system and as the number of people wounded in Iraq keeps rising. Even though Iraq war veterans represent only about 2 percent of the Veterans Administration's patient caseload, many are returning from battle with grievous injuries requiring costly care." ~ V.A. Watchdog 2/28/2006
"The Associated Press reported Monday that under a White House budget proposal, tens of thousands of veterans with non-critical medical issues could see delays or even denial of care." ~ V.A. Watchdog 3/1/2006
"Remind them that large majorities of Americans think that bribes by lobbyists are common practice in Washington, and that they – and you – want to see an end to this corruption. Let them know you will hold them and their counterparts in the House, who will follow the lead in the Senate, accountable in November." SOURCE ~ http://www.CleanupWashington.org
"International research shows one in five people believe giving up time for a good cause has boosted their love lives! "Volunteering is what speed-dating promises but never actually fulfils a way of seeing a lot of truth about someone you have just met in as short a time as possible." Mukta Bas Community Service Volunteers (UK)."
"The president of United States of America, George W. Bush may consider himself the most powerful and the best statesman of the world but in reality he stands at the top of the list of controversial leaders. He is constantly under the controversy just for the steps taken to encounter the terrorist attack on 11September. Today the reason of his being more controversial is the vague and policies lacking result, to fight terrorism being adopted by him. Because of the controversial nature of George Bush, he has to face great opposition and hatred in most of the countries. Why do the common people hate his figure at the time when the presidents of the host countries are giving, a red carpet reception to the most powerful ruler of the world? Why do people burn his effigies, insult him and call his name with abuse at every place?.........George W. Bush 2 is the only leader in the world, who because of his double policies, is not only at the top of controversial leaders of the world. But his understanding, strategy & statesmanship is seen with doubt by the experts of international politics. Now it is the need of the that the other countries of the world should same themselves from the manoeuvring policies of George Bush instead of thinking themselves obliged by the kindness shown by ‘The Great Bush."
"It is rare for the Supreme Court to resolve a major First Amendment issue without one justice or another dissenting or writing a separate concurrence. How, then, did the Court achieve caveat-free unanimity yesterday in 'Rumsfeld v. Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights'? After all, the decision touched several First Amendment bases on its way toward upholding the federal law that requires universities receiving government money to give equal access to military recruiters. Law schools had challenged the law as a form of compelled speech or association that required them to lend aid and comfort to the military’s policy against openly gay service members."
"Legendary Swedish pop group, Abba, have come together for the first time in ten years to sign souvenirs in support of gay
rights in Poland."
"Tell Governor Rounds and your governor that Americans do not support any bans on the right to choose."
My first priority as governor will be to submit to Biblical law given to us by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ. My job, according to 1st Peter 2:14, will be to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. 2006 GOP Primary Gubernatorial Voter's Guide: Kilgore supports ~ Execution for crime of homosexual acts. (Leviticus 20:13)
"Right wing political groups (the side of the rich and powerful) have no ideals other than their ambition to pursue wealth and power. They oppose left wing political ideals because they loathe any kind of humanist value that tries to prevent them from fully exploiting the profit potential of every available resource." ~ Shattering the Sacred Myths examines the conflict between science and religion, and helps to dispel the myths and superstitions that have long been used as an excuse for political and religious extremism.
People are turning to vegetarianism because, they believe, it is healthier, or kinder to animals, or the planet. The fact is that vegetarianism is less healthy; and if we all became vegetarians, we would starve. This section discusses the argument for and against vegetarianism to show that most of its claims are invalid. By comparing the digestive tracts of a herbivore, a carnivore and Man, it demonstrates that we must be a carnivorous species. It also provides evidence of the very great harm extreme vegetarianism can do to children.
Ever wonder why the packaged meat you see at the grocery store almost always looks red? It's been treated with a secret gas.
Carbon monoxide is being used as a "pigment fixative" to treat meat in order to help it retain its redness. The meat industry has defended this relatively new practice by claiming that money is wasted when sellers throw away good meat that has become slightly brown and less attractive. Still Looks Fresh Even When Spoiled However, some have alleged that carbon-monoxide-treated meat will also still look bright red and fresh after it goes bad, and that carbon monoxide similarly suppresses bad odors, slime, and other indicators that the meat is spoiled. Consumer groups are concerned that meat buyers will ignore expiration dates because the meat still looks fresh. Unapproved and Prohibited A petition has been filed with the FDA to prevent the practice. Along with the reasons already stated, it argues that carbon monoxide is an unapproved and prohibited color additive. Go-Ahead from the FDA The FDA has allowed three meat-producing or packaging firms to use carbon monoxide, deeming the process "generally recognized as safe." That designation means the FDA conducted no research of its own, instead of relying on the companies to confirm product safety.
This is the first administration that I can remember, including Nixon's, that said we need to think about a law that would put journalists who print national security things up in front of grand juries and put them in jail if they don't reveal their sources," says David Gergen, who served as President Regan's director of communication and also worked in the Nixon and Ford White Houses.
Don't let Bush and his polluting allies weaken the Clean Air Act. The so-called “Clear Skies” Initiative will be disastrous to the public's health -- it would roll back protection from dangerous soot and smog, eliminate safeguards for our national parks, allow increased emissions of toxic mercury, and completely ignore the threat of global warming. Air pollution from power plants alone contributes to an estimated 30,000 premature deaths, hundreds of thousands of asthma attacks, and tens of thousands of hospitalizations for respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses each year. Everyone deserves air that is safe to breathe.
As global warming continues to pose mounting health and economic risks, investors have successfully persuaded a handful of corporations to reduce their heat-trapping emissions. Unfortunately, major mutual fund companies such as Vanguard, Fidelity, and American Funds, have not pressed the companies in their portfolios to address global warming. Please send a letter urging these mutual funds to protect the health and economic well being of current and future generations by supporting meaningful action on global warming today. You don’t have to be a current investor to take action.
Americans, including gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people, deserve the rights, responsibilities, and privileges that come with marriage. And right now, we have an unprecedented opportunity to make that dream a reality. Please add your voice to a million voices raised in support of marriage for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender couples.
The next two article are old, but I would like to remind everyone, what kind of people run the country of America. We must keep a close eye on them, and not forget what they have done. Just as I believe we should never forget the Holocost or Hitler, because once we do, another person, or persons like him, will rise again, and try to destroy part of, if not all of mankind.
The Guardian (London)
Wednesday Nov 7, 2001
by Greg Palast and David Pallister
FBI and military intelligence officials in Washington say they were prevented for political reasons from carrying out full investigations into members of the Bin Laden family in the US before the terrorist attacks of September 11.
US intelligence agencies have come under criticism for their wholesale failure to predict the catastrophe at the World Trade Centre. But some are complaining that their hands were tied.
FBI documents shown on BBC Newsnight last night and obtained by the Guardian show that they had earlier sought to investigate two of Osama bin Laden's relatives in Washington and a Muslim organisation, the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY), with which they were linked.
The FBI file, marked Secret and coded 199, which means a case involving national security, records that Abdullah bin Laden, who lived in Washington, had originally had a file opened on him "because of his relationship with the World Assembly of Muslim Youth - a suspected terrorist organisation".
WAMY members deny they have been involved with terrorist activities, and WAMY has not been placed on the latest list of terrorist organisations whose assets are being frozen.
Abdullah, who lived with his brother Omar at the time in Falls Church, a town just outside Washington, was the US director of WAMY, whose offices were in a basement nearby.
But the FBI files were closed in 1996 apparently before any conclusions could be reached on either the Bin Laden brothers or the organisation itself. High-placed intelligence sources in Washington told the Guardian this week: "There were always constraints on investigating the Saudis".
They said the restrictions became worse after the Bush administration took over this year. The intelligence agencies had been told to "back off" from investigations involving other members of the Bin Laden family, the Saudi royals, and possible Saudi links to the acquisition of nuclear weapons by Pakistan.
"There were particular investigations that were effectively killed."
Only after the September 11 attacks was the stance of political and commercial closeness reversed towards the other members of the large Bin Laden clan, who have classed Osama bin Laden as their "black sheep".
Yesterday, the head of the Saudi-based WAMY's London office, Nouredine Miladi, said the charity was totally against Bin Laden's violent methods. "We seek social change through education and cooperation, not force."
He said Abdullah bin Laden had ceased to run WAMY's US operation a year ago.
Neither Abdullah nor Omar bin Laden could be contacted in Saudi Arabia for comment.
WAMY was founded in 1972 in a Saudi effort to prevent the "corrupting" ideas of the west ern world influencing young Muslims. With official backing it grew to embrace 450 youth and student organisations with 34 offices worldwide.
Its aim was to encourage "concerned Muslims to take up the challenge by arming the youth with sound understanding of Islam, guarding them against destructive ideologies, and instilling in them level-headed wisdom".
In Britain it has 20 associated organisations, many highly respectable.
But as long as 10 years ago it was named as a discreet channel for public and private Saudi donations to hardline Islamic organisations. One of the recipients of its largesse has been the militant Students Islamic Movement of India, which has lent support to Pakistani-backed terrorists in Kashmir and seeks to set up an Islamic state in India.
Since September 11 WAMY has been investigated in the US along with a number of other Muslim charities. There have been several grand jury investigations but no findings have been made against any of them.
Current FBI interest in WAMY is shown in their agents' interrogation of a radiologist from San Antonio, Texas, Dr Al Badr al-Hazmi, who was arrested on September 12 and released without charge two weeks later. He had the same surname as two of the plane hijackers.
He was also questioned about his contacts with Abdullah bin Laden at the US WAMY office.
Mr Al-Hazmi said that he had made phone calls to Abdullah bin Laden in 1999 trying to obtain books and videotapes about Islamic teachings for the Islamic Centre of San Antonio.
BBC Newsnight
Tuesday Nov 6, 2001
GREG PALAST: The CIA and Saudi Arabia, the Bushes and the Bin Ladens. Did their connections cause America to turn a blind eye to terrorism?
UNNAMED MAN: There is a hidden agenda at the very highest levels of our government.
JOE TRENTO, (AUTHOR, "SECRET HISTORY OF THE CIA"): The sad thing is that thousands of Americans had to die needlessly.
PETER ELSNER: How can it be that the former President of the US and the current President of the US have business dealings with characters that need to be investigated?
PALAST: In the eight weeks since the attacks, over 1,000 suspects and potential witnesses have been detained. Yet, just days after the hijackers took off from Boston aiming for the Twin Towers, a special charter flight out of the same airport whisked 11 members of Osama Bin Laden's family off to Saudi Arabia. That did not concern the White House. Their official line is that the Bin Ladens are above suspicion - apart from Osama, the black sheep, who they say hijacked the family name. That's fortunate for the Bush family and the Saudi royal household, whose links with the Bin Ladens could otherwise prove embarrassing. But Newsnight has obtained evidence that the FBI was on the trail of other members of the] Bin Laden family for links to terrorist organisations before and after September 11th. This document is marked "Secret". Case ID - 199-Eye WF 213 589. 199 is FBI code for case type. 9 would be murder. 65 would be espionage. 199 means national security. WF indicates Washington field office special agents were investigating ABL - because of it's relationship with the World Assembly of Muslim Youth, WAMY - a suspected terrorist organisation. ABL is Abdullah Bin Laden, president and treasurer of WAMY. This is the sleepy Washington suburb of Falls Church, Virginia where almost every home displays the Stars and Stripes. On this unremarkable street, at 3411 Silver Maple Place, we located the former home of Abdullah and another brother, Omar, also an FBI suspect. It's conveniently close to WAMY. The World Assembly of Muslim Youth is in this building, in a little room in the basement at 5613 Leesburg Pike. And here, just a couple blocks down the road at 5913 Leesburg, is where four of the hijackers that attacked New York and Washington are listed as having lived. The US Treasury has not frozen WAMY's assets, and when we talked to them, they insisted they are a charity. Yet, just weeks ago, Pakistan expelled WAMY operatives. And India claimed that WAMY was funding an organisation linked to bombings in Kashmir. And the Philippines military has accused WAMY of funding Muslim insurgency. The FBI did look into WAMY, but, for some reason, agents were pulled off the trail.
TRENTO: The FBI wanted to investigate these guys. This is not something that they didn't want to do - they wanted to, they weren't permitted to.
PALAST: The secret file fell into the hands of national security expert, Joe Trento. The Washington spook-tracker has been looking into the FBI's allegations about WAMY.
TRENTO: They've had connections to Osama Bin Laden's people. They've had connections to Muslim cultural and financial aid groups that have terrorist connections. They fit the pattern of groups that the Saudi royal family and Saudi community of princes - the 20,000 princes - have funded who've engaged in terrorist activity. Now, do I know that WAMY has done anything that's illegal? No, I don't know that. Do I know that as far back as 1996 the FBI was very concerned about this organisation? I do.
PALAST: Newsnight has uncovered a long history of shadowy connections between the State Department, the CIA and the Saudis. The former head of the American visa bureau in Jeddah is Michael Springman.
MICHAEL SPRINGMAN: In Saudi Arabia I was repeatedly ordered by high level State Dept officials to issue visas to unqualified applicants. These were, essentially, people who had no ties either to Saudi Arabia or to their own country. I complained bitterly at the time there. I returned to the US, I complained to the State Dept here, to the General Accounting Office, to the Bureau of Diplomatic Security and to the Inspector General's office. I was met with silence.
PALAST: By now, Bush Sr, once CIA director, was in the White House. Springman was shocked to find this wasn't visa fraud. Rather, State and CIA were playing "the Great Game".
SPRINGMAN: What I was protesting was, in reality, an effort to bring recruits, rounded up by Osama Bin Laden, to the US for terrorist training by the CIA. They would then be returned to Afghanistan to fight against the then-Soviets. The attack on the World Trade Center in 1993 did not shake the State Department's faith in the Saudis, nor did the attack on American barracks at Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia three years later, in which 19 Americans died. FBI agents began to feel their investigation was being obstructed. Would you be surprised to find out that FBI agents are a bit frustrated that they can't be looking into some Saudi connections?
MICHAEL WILDES, ( LAWYER) I would never be surprised with that. They're cut off at the hip sometimes by supervisors or given shots that are being called from Washington at the highest levels.
PALAST: I showed lawyer Michael Wildes our FBI documents. One of the Khobar Towers bombers was represented by Wildes, who thought he had useful intelligence for the US. He also represents a Saudi diplomat who defected to the USA with 14,000 documents which Wildes claims implicates Saudi citizens in financing terrorism and more. Wildes met with FBI men who told him they were not permitted to read all the documents. Nevertheless, he tried to give them to the agents.
WILDES: "Take these with you. We're not going to charge for the copies. Keep them. Do something with them. Get some bad guys with them." They refused.
PALAST: In the hall of mirrors that is the US intelligence community, Wildes, a former US federal attorney, said the FBI field agents wanted the documents, but they were told to "see no evil."
WILDES: You see a difference between the rank-and-file counter-intelligence agents, who are regarded by some as the motor pool of the FBI, who drive following diplomats, and the people who are getting the shots called at the highest level of our government, who have a different agenda - it's unconscionable.
PALAST: State wanted to keep the pro-American Saudi royal family in control of the world's biggest oil spigot, even at the price of turning a blind eye to any terrorist connection so long as America was safe. In recent years, CIA operatives had other reasons for not exposing Saudi-backed suspects.
TRENTO: If you recruited somebody who is a member of a terrorist organisation, who happens to make his way here to the US, and even though you're not in touch with that person anymore but you have used him in the past, it would be unseemly if he were arrested by the FBI and word got back that he'd once been on the payroll of the CIA. What we're talking about is blow-back. What we're talking about is embarrassing, career-destroying blow-back for intelligence officials.
PALAST: Does the Bush family also have to worry about political blow-back? The younger Bush made his first million 20 years ago with an oil company partly funded by Salem Bin Laden's chief US representative. Young George also received fees as director of a subsidiary of Carlyle Corporation, a little known private company which has, in just a few years of its founding, become one of Americas biggest defence contractors. His father, Bush Senior, is also a paid advisor. And what became embarrassing was the revelation that the Bin Ladens held a stake in Carlyle, sold just after September 11.
ELSNER: You have a key relationship between the Saudis and the former President of the US who happens to be the father of the current President of the US. And you have all sorts of questions about where does policy begin and where does good business and good profits for the company, Carlyle, end?
PALAST: I received a phone call from a high-placed member of a US intelligence agency. He tells me that while there's always been constraints on investigating Saudis, under George Bush it's gotten much worse. After the elections, the agencies were told to "back off" investigating the Bin Ladens and Saudi royals, and that angered agents. I'm told that since September 11th the policy has been reversed. FBI headquarters told us they could not comment on our findings. A spokesman said: "There are lots of things that only the intelligence community knows and that no-one else ought to know.
Located in the midst of residential communities, many dry cleaners use highly toxic chemicals and release them into the neighborhood air. Although clean, safe and cost-effective alternatives exist, the EPA has proposed to allow dry cleaners to keep using — and releasing — toxic chemicals. The agency acknowledges that up to 56 million Americans may be at risk. We need your help: EPA is accepting comments on a rule that sets exposure levels for a chemical known as perc used by dry cleaners. Tell EPA that cleaning up the dry cleaners is important and necessary to protect the health of all Americans!
Here we go again; the administration’s budget includes a number of proposals that would cause great harm to our natural resources, wildlife, and public health. One of the worst would put nearly 800,000 acres of our nation’s public lands up for sale, allowing them to fall into the hands of logging companies, mining interests, and other developers. Sacrificing public resources held in trust for future generations is not how our country should finance its spending. Once sold, these natural treasures are lost forever. Once again we must show the administration that our public lands are for the public good. Please tell your members of Congress not to include this disastrous and shortsighted proposal in next year’s final budget.
For more than 30 years, the Clean Water Act has provided critical protections for our streams, lakes, wetlands, beaches, and other waters we depend on for safe drinking water, habitat for fish and wildlife, and recreational opportunities. But long-standing federal protections for these waters are now in jeopardy. Developers, the oil industry, and other polluters are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to radically restrict the types of waters subject to the Clean Water Act. While we await the court’s decision, there is already a bill in Congress that could restore protections for any waters placed at risk of pollution or destruction. Please ask your Senators and Representative to protect our waters for future generations by co-sponsoring the “Clean Water Authority Restoration Act” today!
By Libby Post - Lesbian Notions
Supreme Court’s decision in Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier set the stage for high school, college papers to censor content on GLBT issues
Freedom of the press. It’s something most of us take for granted.
Sure, there are always some right-wingers complaining about the “liberal press.” But their complaints are counter-balanced by those on the left who see today’s mainstream media as dictated by political and corporate interests
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But unless you view the media with a critical eye, which most of us really don’t, you probably consider freedom of the press as a given in our democracy. It is, after all, guaranteed in the First Amendment of our country’s Constitution.
I’ve come to expect my local daily paper to provide balanced reporting about the LGBT community — believe me, they hear from me and other members of my community if they don’t.
I’ve also come to expect a free flow of information about the community from the myriad LGBT media sources available, from print publications to the Web to radio and TV.
In fact, if your cable operator is sophisticated enough to understand the power of the LGBT market, you may even get Logo, the gay cable network that has a news-gathering operation powered by CBS News.
However, for many queer youth, freedom of the press stops at the entrance to their high school. More and more, we’re seeing high school principals and school boards clamping down on what student newspapers can publish.
In September 2005, Illinois student Stephen Delaney wrote a column entitled “The Importance of Coming Out” for his Wheaton-Warrenville South High School newspaper, The Pride. The piece was Delaney’s personal coming-out story. He wrote about how surprised he was by his conservative town’s acceptance of his sexual orientation.
When the school’s principal, Dawn Snyder, caught wind of its imminent publication, she required that certain changes be made. She wanted the lead paragraph changed to “soften the blow” of Delaney’s announcement, and wanted mention of the upcoming 2005 National Coming Out Day deleted.
Even after the changes were made, Snyder still wasn’t happy and said the article couldn’t run. She wanted a neutral article about homosexuality instead.
Delaney told the Student Press Legal Center, “That wasn’t something I wanted to do. I didn’t want to make it a historical article or give the cons of [being gay].”
Fortunately, the local newspaper, The Daily Herald, heard about the controversy. On Nov. 23, they ran a story entitled “A Call to Come Out Quashed,” and published Delaney’s column as well. He said he’s heard nothing but positive feedback.
Snyder’s censorship isn’t uncommon. Ever since the United States Supreme Court handed high school principals and schools boards the ability to stop the presses in the 1988 Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier decision, similar situations have arisen at high schools in Florida, California, Pennsylvania, Texas and Arkansas.
In the ruling, the court said school administrators at Hazelwood High in suburban St. Louis had the right to censor stories concerning teen pregnancy and the effects of divorce on children. Now, high school administrators and school boards use the Hazelwood decision to censor stories on LGBT issues in school newspapers.
This February, the Supreme Court handed down yet another blow to freedom of the press. But this time it was on college campuses.
The court refused to hear a case questioning the authority of an Illinois public university administration to censor a student newspaper. The paper in question was critical of the administration not publishing stories on LGBT issues.
By rejecting the case, the Supreme Court upheld the previous decision by the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit that conferred the restrictions of Hazelwood to college administrators at public colleges and universities, allowing them to censor their student newspapers.
Thankfully, the Seventh Circuit’s decision is only binding in three states — Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. However, it does open the door for other college administrators to test the waters.
While the circuit court’s decision only applies to three states, it also only applies to public schools. Believe it or not, private school administrators already had the privilege to censor. Because private colleges and universities are not government agencies, they are not limited by the First Amendment in their ability to censor.
It wouldn’t surprise me if we began to see more censorship at colleges that consider themselves to be conservative or Christian. After all, the LGBT community is still a hot-button issue, and censoring the written word about us plays into the radical evangelical agenda of denying us our rights and keeping us as second-class citizens. Remember, it was the Roberts Supreme Court, with Sam Alito on board, that decided not to hear the case.
These are the folks who believe that freedom — of the press, of religion, of any right we hold dear — is just another word for nothing left to lose.
Libby Post is a political commentator on public radio, on the Web and in print.
Just when gray wolves are roaming free again in America, some want to strip federal protections from many of these magnificent animals. Once all but wiped out in the lower 48 states by extermination campaigns, wolves are just now struggling for survival again in the wild. But they need protection for their fragile recovery to continue. Please sign the petition below to urge Interior Secretary Gale Norton to support strong federal protections for wolves.
Alaska's wolves won a temporary reprieve when a state court recently ruled against aerial gunning. But the Alaska's Board of Game has already taken action to reverse the court's decision and is determined to reinstate the aerial gunning program as soon as possible.
Aerial gunning is a brutal practice. Marksmen can gun down wolves from the air that are easy targets against the fallen snow. Or they can run the wolves to exhaustion, then land and shoot them at point blank range.
Help us put an end to Alaska's aerial gunning programs once and for all. Tell Interior Secretary Gale Norton to do her job and finally enforce the Federal Airborne Hunting Act.
What do people feel about this situation involving Forrest County Sheriff Billy McGee, who is being charged with a misdemeanor charge, of interfering with, intimidating and impeding a federal officer, because during the Katrina aftermath "he seized a pair of 18-wheelers full of ice from Camp Shelby without Federal Emergency Management Agency authorization on Sept. 4"? The reason? "We had diabetic people who hadn't been able to put their insulin on ice for three days," said Lee Behrens, 53, chief of the McLaurin Volunteer Fire Department. Does this seems fair, can we do something to change this or is this just what we have to expect from our government?
The $500 million marriage protection project
After the bill was signed, Horn "said that the money was not intended to specifically oppose same-sex marriage," 365gay.com reported. But, Horn pointed out "that none of the money could be used to promote or support same-sex marriage in Massachusetts where gay marriage is legal. The money also could not be used to support gay families where civil unions or domestic partnerships are allowed," the news service reported.
The marriage money can only be used for:
1. Public advertising campaigns on the value of marriage and the skills needed to increase marital stability and health.
2. Education in high schools on the value of marriage, relationship skills, and budgeting.
3. Marriage education, marriage skills, and relationship skills programs, that may include parenting skills, financial management, conflict resolution, and job and career advancement, for non-married pregnant women and non-married expectant fathers.
4. Pre-marital education and marriage skills training for engaged couples and for couples or individuals interested in marriage.
5. Marriage enhancement and marriage skills training programs for married couples.
6. Divorce reduction programs that teach relationship skills.
7. Marriage mentoring programs which use married couples as role models and mentors in at-risk communities.
8. Programs to reduce the disincentives to marriage in means-tested aid programs, if offered in conjunction with any activity described in this subparagraph.
"Berlin - Hundreds of German cat-owners have dumped their pets at shelters since the country recorded the first case of a cat dying of bird flu in the European Union, the German animal welfare society said on Thursday."
While life goes on during the Bush2 nightmare, so does the research on what really happened here in 2004 to give George W. Bush a second term.
Pundits throughout the state and nation---many of them alleged Democrats---continue to tell those of us who question Bush's second coming that we should "get over it," that the election is old news.
But things get curiouser and curiouser.
In our 2005 compendium HOW THE GOP STOLE OHIO'S 2004 ELECTION & IS RIGGING 2008 (www.freepress.org), we list more than a hundred different ways the Republican Party denied the democratic process in the Buckeye State. For a book of documents to be published September 11 by the New Press entitled WHAT HAPPENED IN OHIO?, we are continuing to dig.
It turns out, we missed more than a few of the dirty tricks Karl Rove, Ken Blackwell and their GOP used to get themselves four more years. In an election won with death by a thousand cuts, some that are still hidden go very deep. Over the next few weeks we will list them as they are verified.
One of them has just surfaced to the staggering tune of 175,000 purged voters in Cuyahoga County (Cleveland), the traditional stronghold of the Ohio Democratic Party. An additional 10,000 that registered to vote there for the 2004 election were lost due to "clerical error."
As we reported more than a year ago, some 133,000 voters were purged from the registration rolls in Hamilton County (Cincinnati) and Lucas County (Toledo) between 2000 and 2004. The 105,000 from Cincinnati and 28,000 from Toledo exceeded Bush's official alleged margin of victory---just under 119,000 votes out of some 5.6 million the Republican Secretary of State. J. Kenneth Blackwell, deemed worth counting.
Exit polls flashed worldwide on CNN at 12:20 am Wednesday morning, November 3, showed John Kerry winning Ohio by 4.2% of the popular vote, probably about 250,000 votes. We believe this is an accurate reflection of what really happened here.
But by morning Bush was being handed the presidency, claiming a 2.5% Buckeye victory, as certified by Blackwell. In conjunction with other exit polling, the lead switch from Kerry to Bush is a virtual statistical impossibility. Yet John Kerry conceded with more than 250,000 ballots still uncounted, though Bush at the time was allegedly ahead only by 138,000, a margin that later slipped to less than 119,000 in the official vote count.
At the time, very few people knew about those first 133,000 voters that had been eliminated from the registration rolls in Cincinnati and Toledo. County election boards purged the voting registration lists. Though all Ohio election boards are allegedly bi-partisan, in fact they are all controlled by the Republican Party. Each has four seats, filled by law with two Democrats and two Republicans.
But all tie votes are decided by the Secretary of State, in this case Blackwell, the extreme right-wing Republican now running for Governor. Blackwell served in 2004 not only as the man in charge of the state's vote count, but also a co-chair of the Ohio Bush-Cheney campaign. Many independent observers have deemed this to be a conflict of interest. On election day, Blackwell met personally with Bush, Karl Rove and Matt Damschroder, chair of the Franklin County (Columbus) Board of Elections, formerly the chair of the county's Republican Party.
The Board of Elections in Toledo was chaired by Bernadette Noe, wife of Tom Noe, northwestern Ohio's "Mr. Republican." A close personal confidante of the Bush family, Noe raised more than $100,000 for the GOP presidential campaign in 2004. He is currently under indictment for three felony violations of federal election law, and 53 counts of fraud, theft and other felonies in the "disappearance" of more than $13 million in state funds. Noe was entrusted with investing those funds by Republican Gov. Robert Taft, who recently pled guilty to four misdemeanor charges, making him the only convicted criminal ever to serve as governor of Ohio.
The rationale given by Noe and by the Republican-controlled BOE in Lucas and Hamilton Counties was that the voters should be eliminated from the rolls because they had allegedly not voted in the previous two federal elections.
There is no law that requires such voters be eliminated. And there is no public verification that has been offered to confirm that these people had not, in fact, voted in those elections.
Nonetheless, tens of thousands of voters turned up in mostly Democratic wards in Cincinnati and Toledo, only to find they had been mysteriously removed from the voter rolls. In many cases, sworn testimony and affidavits given at hearings after the election confirmed that many of these citizens had in fact voted in the previous two federal elections and had not moved from where they were registered. In some cases, their stability at those addresses stretched back for decades.
The problem was partially confirmed by a doubling of provisional ballots cast during the 2004 election, as opposed to the number cast in 2000. Provisional ballots have been traditionally used in Ohio as a stopgap for people whose voting procedures are somehow compromised at the polls, but who are nonetheless valid registrants.
Prior to the 2004 election, Blackwell made a range of unilateral pronouncements that threw the provisional balloting process into chaos. Among other things, he demanded voters casting provisional ballots provide their birth dates, a requirement that was often not mentioned by poll workers. Eyewitnesses testify that many provisional ballots were merely tossed in the trash at Ohio polling stations.
To this day, more than 16,000 provisional ballots (along with more than 90,000 machine-spoiled ballots) cast in Ohio remain uncounted. The Secretary of State refuses to explain why. A third attempt by the Green and Libertarian Parties to obtain a meaningful recount of the Ohio presidential vote has again been denied by the courts, though the parties are appealing.
Soon after the 2004 election, Damschroder announced that Franklin County would eliminate another 170,000 citizens from the voter rolls in Columbus. Furthermore, House Bill 3, recently passed by the GOP-dominated legislature, has imposed a series of restrictions that will make it much harder for citizens to restore themselves to the voter rolls, or to register in the first place.
All this, however, pales before a new revelation just released by the Board of Elections in Cuyahoga County, the heavily Democratic county surrounding Cleveland.
Robert J. Bennett, the Republican chair of the Cuyahoga Board of Elections, and the Chair of the Ohio Republican Party, has confirmed that prior to the 2004 election, his BOE eliminated---with no public notice---a staggering 175,414 voters from the Cleveland-area registration rolls. He has not explained why the revelation of this massive registration purge has been kept secret for so long. Virtually no Ohio or national media has bothered to report on this story.
Many of the affected precincts in Cuyahoga County went 90% and more for John Kerry. The county overall went more than 60% for Kerry.
The eliminations have been given credence by repeated sworn testimony and affidavits from long-time Cleveland voters that they came to their usual polling stations only to be told that they were not registered. When they could get them, many were forced to cast provisional ballots which were highly likely to be pitch
