Wednesday, January 30, 2008

www.truthout.org - a forward from Barbara MacArthur

Tom Engelhardt | Bombs Away Over Iraq
Tom Engelhardt explores the implications of normalizing air war from Guernica to Arab Jabour, Iraq; White House reconsidering troop reductions in Iraq; Congress extends eavesdropping law for two weeks; Democrats warn no judicial nominees until Mukasey gives opinion on torture; 14 companies under investigation for fraud related to subprime mortgages; new study looks at connection between campaign contributions to judges and judicial decisions; and more ... Browse our continually updating front page at http://www.truthout.org

Tom Engelhardt | Bombs Away Over Iraq
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/013008A.shtml
Tom Engelhardt writes on TomDispatch.com: "A January 21st Los Angeles Times Iraq piece by Ned Parker and Saif Rasheed led with an inter-tribal suicide bombing at a gathering in Fallujah in which members of the pro-American Anbar Awakening Council were killed.... Twenty-six paragraphs later, the story ended this way: 'The U.S. military also said in a statement that it had dropped 19,000 pounds of explosives on the farmland of Arab Jabour south of Baghdad. The strikes targeted buried bombs and weapons caches. In the last 10 days, the military has dropped nearly 100,000 pounds of explosives on the area, which has been a gateway for Sunni militants into Baghdad.'"

White House Shows Signs of Rethinking Cut in Troops
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/013008B.shtml
Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Thom Shanker, writing for The New York Times, report, "Four months after announcing troop reductions in Iraq, President Bush is now sending signals that the cuts may not continue past this summer, a development likely to infuriate Democrats and renew concerns among military planners about strains on the force." While Julian E. Barnes and Kimi Yoshino report for The Los Angeles Times, "U.S. Army officials are investigating allegations that American soldiers killed several detainees after they were captured on a battlefield in southwest Baghdad last year, officials said Tuesday."

Congress Extends Eavesdropping Law
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/013008C.shtml
Pamela Hess reports for The Associated Press, "Congress on Tuesday gave two more weeks of life to a law that allows the government more freedom to eavesdrop on suspected terrorists inside the United States, buying the Senate time to pass a bill to replace it."

Justice Nominees Hindered by Mukasey Silence on Torture
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/013008D.shtml
Keith Perine reports for Congressional Quarterly, "Two Democrats warned Tuesday they will consider blocking Justice Department nominees unless Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey is more forthcoming about harsh interrogation techniques."

FBI in Subprime Crackdown
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/013008E.shtml
Jeremy Grant, of the Financial Times of London, reports, "The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating 14 companies for possible accounting fraud and insider trading offences related to subprime mortgages."

Looking Anew at Campaign Cash and Elected Judges
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/013008F.shtml
In two separate articles for The New York Times, Adam Liptak reports on the US judicial system. In the first, he covers a new study that links campaign contributions to judicial decisions; and in the second, he uncovers the role for-profit bail bondsmen play in the US judicial system.

Serge Halimi | Jacques Attali, Magician
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/013008G.shtml
Le Monde Diplomatique's Serge Halimi's critique of France's Attali Commission Report on Growth focuses on the dangers of co-optation in supposedly "diverse" or "pluralistic" government bodies. The commission made 316 highly controversial recommendations that would largely do away with France's protections for professions, small businesses, workers and the environment.

Bush Ignores Afghan School Violence
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/013008H.shtml
Jason Straziuso, reporting for The Associated Press, writes: "In his State of the Union address, President Bush called Afghanistan a young democracy where children go to school and Afghans are hopeful. But he didn't mention the violence that has killed 147 students and teachers, and closed 590 schools in the last year - almost as many as the 680 the U.S. has built."

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Remember "Sorry Everybody"?

Some of you may not have been Internet-savvy four years ago. If you missed "Sorry Everybody," take a look at the "gallery" on this website. Let's hope that all of those people meant what they said and will work harder this time to make sure we elect the right person.

http://www.sorryeverybody.com/