Sunday, June 29, 2008

BushCheney Fast Tracking War Crimes On Iran

Seymour Hersh on US-Iranian relations; US raid kills relative of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki; Iran threatens to shut down Persian Gulf oil lanes if attacked; an embedded journalist in Iraq; the last superpower and an opportunity to end war; the "price" of an Iraqi life; and more ... Browse our continually updating front page at http://www.truthout.org  t r u t h o u t | 06.29  Preparing the Battlefield http://www.truthout.org/article/preparing-battlefield Seymour Hersh of The New Yorker: "Late last year, Congress agreed to a request from President Bush to fund a major escalation of covert operations against Iran, according to current and former military, intelligence, and congressional sources. These operations, for which the President sought up to four hundred million dollars, were described in a Presidential Finding signed by Bush, and are designed to destabilize the country's religious leadership."  US Raid Kills Maliki Relative; Crisis Grows Over US-Iraq Agreement http://www.truthout.org/article/us-raid-kills-maliki-relative-crisis-grows-over-us-iraq-agreement Hannah Allam of McClatchy Newspapers, "Senior Iraqi government officials said Saturday that a U.S. Special Forces counterterrorism unit conducted the raid that reportedly killed a relative of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki, touching off a high-stakes diplomatic crisis between the United States and Iraq."  Iran Threatens to Shut Down Persian Gulf Oil Lanes if Attacked http://www.truthout.org/article/iran-threatens-shut-down-persian-gulf-oil-lanes-if-attacked The Los Angeles Times' Borzou Daragahi: "The commander of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard said the government might shut down vital oil lanes through the Persian Gulf if the country were attacked by the United States or Israel, according to a newspaper report Saturday."  Michael Massing | Embedded in Iraq http://www.truthout.org/article/embedded-iraq Michael Massing of New York Review of Books, "The embed had proved surprisingly easy to arrange. No one had objected to the three New York Review articles I had sent in as samples of my work. On the application form, I had written that I wanted to visit a typical Baghdad neighborhood to see how the surge was working and to get a sense of what more had to be done before the US could begin to draw down its forces in any significant number."  David Korten | Smart Security and the End of War http://www.truthout.org/article/smart-security-and-end-war Yes! Magazine's David Korten, "Cheap oil provided an energy subsidy that defined the wars, economies, settlements, values, and lifestyles of the 20th century. The result was a century of wasteful extravagance and inefficiency that encouraged us to squander virtually all Earth's resources - including water, land, forests, fisheries, soils, minerals, and natural waste recycling capacity."  The Price of One Iraqi Life  http://www.truthout.org/article/the-price-one-iraqi-life In These Times' James Foley: "US military tries to pacify grieving Iraqis with condolence payments."

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Saturday, June 28, 2008

The US is not a republic anymore

'The US is not a republic anymore'
Sat, 28 Jun 2008 17:42:15
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=61813&sectionid=3510302

An interview with Gore Vidal by Afshin Rattansi, Press TV, Tehran

Gore Vidal

Press TV:We hear that Michael Mukasey is going to become the latest of the President's Attorney-Generals to be subpoenaed, this time over his conversations with Bush and Cheney - does this show that Congress is serious about calling the executive to account?

Gore Vidal: No, Congress has never been more cowardly, nor more corrupt. All Bush has do is to make sure certain amounts of money go in the direction of certain important congressmen and that's end of any serious investigation. After all, one of the bravest members of Congress is Denis Kucinich who brought the article of impeachment in to the well of the House of Representatives. The House of Representatives must then try the president, and then after that it goes to the Senate for judgment. However, none of these things will happen because there's nobody there except for Mr. Kucinich who has the courage to take on a sitting president who is kind of a Mafioso.

Press TV: How can it just be one person among so many hundreds of Congressmen who wants the impeachment of George W. Bush in these circumstances?

Gore Vidal: Well it's because we no longer have a country. We don't have a republic any more. During the last 7 or 8 years of the Bush regime, they've got rid of the Bill of Rights, they've got rid of habeas corpus. They have got rid of one of the nicest gifts that England ever left us when they went away and we ceased to be colonies - the Magna Carta - from the 12th century. All of our law and due process of law is based on that. And the Bush people got rid of it. The president and little Mr. Gonzales who for a few minutes was his Attorney General. They managed to get rid of all of the constitutional links that made us literally a republic.

Press TV: You have often written about the US's superpower status in terms of the history of previous superpowers. Do you think we're witnessing the end of US power as some suggest. Will the White House be seen like Persepolis?

Gore Vidal: Well it won't make such good ruins, no. It'll be more like the tomb of Cyrus nearby. They managed to destroy the United States - why? Because they're oil and gas people and they're essentially criminals. I repeat that this is a criminal group that's seized control of the country through what looked like an ordinary election. But there's some very nice films and documentaries about what happened in the year 2000 when Albert Gore won the election for president and they saw to it that he couldn't serve. They got the Supreme Court - which is the Holy of Holies ordinarily in our system - to investigate and then accuse the thieves of being absolutely correct and the winners - Mr. Gore and the Democrats - of being the cheaters. It's the first law of Machiavelli, whatever your opponent's faults are, you pick his virtues and you deny he has them. That's what they did when Senator Kerry ran a few years ago for president. He's a famous hero from the Vietnam War. They said he was a coward and not a hero. That's how it's done. When you have a bunch of liars in charge of your government you can't expect to get much history out of that. But later on we'll dig and dig… and we will dig up Persepolis.

Press TV: Senator Obama talks about change but of course he has courting Wall Street as well as the Israeli lobby - do you see any prospect of change with him as president?

Gore Vidal: Not really. I don't doubt his good faith, just as I do not doubt the bad faith of Cheney and Bush. They are such dreadful people that we've never had in government before. They would never have risen unless they were buying elections as they did in Florida in 2000, as they did in the State of Ohio in 2004. These are two open thefts of the Presidency. When I discovered that this did not interest the New York Times or the Washington Post or any of the press of the country I realized our day was done. We are no longer a country we are a framework for crooks to go in and steal money. Knowing that they'll never be caught and they'll be admired for it. Americans always take everybody on his own evaluation. You say I'm a state and they say "oh, yeah yeah yeah, he's a state, isn't that great." And you accuse the other people of your crimes before you commit them. It's an old trick which was known to Machiavelli who wrote about it in his handbook, the Prince.

Press TV:Finally that issue which is exercising so many minds in the Middle East and beyond. You, yourself have written about so many Imperial wars of the United States. Do you think Bush and Cheney would risk another war in what Mohammad ElBaradei of the IAEA calls a fireball?

Gore Vidal: They are longing to but they have spent all of the money. They have got it in their own private companies like the Vice-President and a company called Halliburton which is stealing more money and should be on trial sooner or later before Congress. But perhaps not, who knows? But it's well known in Washington, these people are leaking away the money of the country. Well there's no more money. They are longing for a war with Iran. Iran is no more a harm to us than was Iraq or Afghanistan. They invented an enemy, they tell lies, lies, lies.
The New York Times goes along with their lies, lies, lies. And they don't stop. When the public that's lied to 30 times a day it's apt to believe the lies, is not it?

Gore Vidal is a renowned American writer and erstwhile political candidate.

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Wednesday, June 25, 2008

The Catastrophe From Launching Current USA - Israel Plans To Attack Iran

The Coming Catastrophe? The finishing touches on several contingency plans for attacking Iran by David DeBatto

Global Research, June 23, 2008

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Global Research Editor's note We bring to the attention of our readers David DeBatto's scenario as to what might occur if one of the several contingency plans to attack Iran, with the participation of Israel and NATO, were to be carried out. While one may disagree with certain elements of detail of the author's text, the thrust of this analysis must be taken seriously. "Israel has said a strike on Iran will be "unavoidable"* if the Islamic regime continues to press ahead with alleged plans for building an atom-bomb." (London Daily Telegraph, 6/11/2008) "Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany joined President Bush on Wednesday in calling for further sanctions against Iran if it does not suspend its uranium enrichment program."* Mr. Bush stressed again that "all options are on the table," which would include military force. (New York Times, 6/11/2008) We are fast approaching the final six months of the Bush administration. The quagmire in Iraq is in its sixth painful year with no real end in sight and the forgotten war in Afghanistan is well into its seventh year. The "dead enders" and other armed factions are still alive and well in Iraq and the Taliban in Afghanistan again controls most of that country. Gas prices have now reached an average of $4.00 a gallon nationally and several analysts predict the price will rise to $5.00-$6.00 dollars per gallon at the pump by Labor Day. This, despite assurances by some major supporters of the decision to invade Iraq that the Iraq war "will pay for itself" (Paul Wolfowitz) or that we will see "$20.00 per barrel" oil prices if we invade Iraq (Rupert Murdoch). One thing the Pentagon routinely does (and does very well) is conduct war games. Top brass there are constantly developing strategies for conducting any number of theoretical missions based on real or perceived threats to our national security or vital interests. This was also done prior to the invasion of Iraq, but the Bush administration chose not to listen to the dire warnings about that mission given to him by Pentagon leaders, or for that matter, by his own senior intelligence officials. Nevertheless, war gaming is in full swing again right now with the bullseye just to the right of our current mess – Iran. It’s no secret that the U.S. is currently putting the finishing touches on several contingency plans for attacking Iranian nuclear and military facilities. With our ground forces stretched to the breaking point in Iraq and Afghanistan, none of the most likely scenarios involve a ground invasion. Not that this administration wouldn’t prefer to march into the seat of Shiite Islam behind a solid, moving line of M1 Abrams tanks and proclaim the country for democracy. The fact is that even the President knows we can’t pull that off any more so he and the neo-cons will have to settle for Shock and Awe Lite. If we invade Iran this year it will be done using hundreds of sorties by carrier based aircraft already stationed in the Persian Gulf and from land based aircraft located in Iraq and Qatar. They will strike the known nuclear facilities located in and around Tehran and the rest of the country as well as bases containing major units of the Iranian military, anti-aircraft installations and units of the Revolutionary Guard (a separate and potent Iranian para-military organization). Will this military action stop Iran’s efforts to develop nuclear weapons? Probably not. It will probably not even destroy all of their nuclear research facilities, the most sensitive of which are known to be underground, protected by tons of earth and reinforced concrete and steel designed to survive almost all attacks using conventional munitions. The Iranian military and Revolutionary Guard will most likely survive as well, although they will suffer significant casualties and major bases and command centers will undoubtedly be destroyed. However, since Iran has both a functioning Air Force, Navy (including submarines) and modern anti-aircraft capabilities, U.S. fighter-bombers will suffer casualties as well. This will not be a "Cake Walk" as with the U.S. led invasion of Iraq in 2003 when the Iraqi Army simply melted away and the Iraqi Air Force never even launched a single aircraft. Not even close. If the United States attacks Iran either this summer or this fall, the American people had better be prepared for a shock that may perhaps be even greater to the national psyche (and economy) than 9/11. First of all, there will be significant U.S. casualties in the initial invasion. American jets will be shot down and the American pilots who are not killed will be taken prisoner - including female pilots. Iranian Yakhonts 26, Sunburn 22 and Exocet missiles will seek out and strike U.S. naval battle groups bottled up in the narrow waters of the Persian Gulf with very deadly results. American sailors will be killed and U.S. ships will be badly damaged and perhaps sunk. We may even witness the first attack on an American Aircraft carrier since World War II. That’s just the opening act. Israel (who had thus far stayed out of the fray by letting the U.S. military do the heavy lifting) is attacked by Hezbollah in a coordinated and large scale effort. Widespread and grisly casualties effectively paralyze the nation, a notion once thought impossible. Iran’s newest ally in the region, Syria, then unleashes a barrage of over 200 Scud B, C and D missiles at Israel, each armed with VX gas. Since all of Israel is within range of these Russian built weapons, Haifa, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and virtually all major civilian centers and several military bases are struck, often with a result of massive casualties. The Israeli Air Force orders all three squadrons of their F-16I Sufa fighter/bombers into the air with orders to bomb Tehran and as many military and nuclear bases as they can before they are either shot down or run out of fuel. It is a one way trip for some of these pilots. Their ancient homeland lies in ruins. Many have family that is already dead or dying. They do not wait for permission from Washington, DC or U.S. regional military commanders. The Israeli aircraft are carrying the majority of their country’s nuclear arsenal under their wings. Just after the first waves of U.S. bombers cross into Iranian airspace, the Iranian Navy, using shore based missiles and small, fast attack craft sinks several oil tankers in the Straits of Hormuz, sealing off the Persian Gulf and all its oil from the rest of the world. They then mine the area, making it difficult and even deadly for American minesweepers to clear the straits. Whatever is left of the Iranian Navy and Air Force harasses our Navy as it attempts minesweeping operations. More U.S casualties. The day after the invasion Wall Street (and to a lesser extent, Tokyo, London and Frankfurt) acts as it always does in an international crisis – irrational speculative and spot buying reaches fever pitch and sends the cost of oil skyrocketing. In the immediate aftermath of the U.S. invasion of Iran, the price of oil goes to $200.00 - $300.00 dollars a barrel on the open market. If the war is not resolved in a few weeks, that price could rise even higher. This will send the price of gasoline at the pump in this country to $8.00-$10.00 per gallon immediately and subsequently to even higher unthinkable levels. If that happens, this country shuts down. Most Americans are not be able to afford gas to go to work. Truckers pull their big rigs to the side of the road and simply walk away. Food, medicine and other critical products are not be brought to stores. Gas and electricity (what is left of the short supply) are too expensive for most people to afford. Children, the sick and elderly die from lack of air-conditioned homes and hospitals in the summer. Children, the sick and elderly die in the winter for lack of heat. There are food riots across the country. A barter system takes the place of currency and credit as the economy dissolves and banks close or limit withdrawals. Civil unrest builds. The police are unable to contain the violence and are themselves victims of the same crisis as the rest of the population. Civilian rule dissolves and Martial Law is declared under provisions approved under the Patriot Act. Regular U.S. Army and Marine troops patrol the streets. The federal government apparatus is moved to an unknown but secure location. The United States descends into chaos and becomes a third world country. Its time as the lone superpower is over. It doesn’t get any worse than this. Then the first Israeli bomber drops its nuclear payload on Tehran. David DeBatto is a former U.S. Army Counterintelligence Special Agent, Iraqi war veteran and co-author the "CI" series from Warner Books and the upcoming "Counter to Intelligence" from Praeger Security International.

Monday, June 23, 2008

Putting Corporations On Trial For High Crimes Against Humanity And Nature

Put Oil Firm Chiefs On Trial, Says Leading Climate Change Scientist

by Ed Pilkington in New York
Published on Monday, June 23, 2008 by The Guardian/UK
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/06/22/9816/

James Hansen, one of the world’s leading climate scientists, will today call for the chief executives of large fossil fuel companies to be put on trial for high crimes against humanity and nature, accusing them of actively spreading doubt about global warming in the same way that tobacco companies blurred the links between smoking and cancer.

Hansen will use the symbolically charged 20th anniversary of his groundbreaking speech (pdf) to the US Congress - in which he was among the first to sound the alarm over the reality of global warming - to argue that radical steps need to be taken immediately if the “perfect storm” of irreversible climate change is not to become inevitable.

Speaking before Congress again, he will accuse the chief executive officers of companies such as ExxonMobil and Peabody Energy of being fully aware of the disinformation about climate change they are spreading.

In an interview with the Guardian he said: “When you are in that kind of position, as the CEO of one the primary players who have been putting out misinformation even via organisations that affect what gets into school textbooks, then I think that’s a crime.”

He is also considering personally targeting members of Congress who have a poor track record on climate change in the coming November elections. He will campaign to have several of them unseated. Hansen’s speech to Congress on June 23 1988 is seen as a seminal moment in bringing the threat of global warming to the public’s attention. At a time when most scientists were still hesitant to speak out, he said the evidence of the greenhouse gas effect was 99% certain, adding “it is time to stop waffling”.

He will tell the House select committee on energy independence and global warming this afternoon that he is now 99% certain that the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere has already risen beyond the safe level.

The current concentration is 385 parts per million and is rising by 2ppm a year. Hansen, who heads Nasa’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, says 2009 will be a crucial year, with a new US president and talks on how to follow the Kyoto agreement.

He wants to see a moratorium on new coal-fired power plants, coupled with the creation of a huge grid of low-loss electric power lines buried under ground and spread across America, in order to

give wind and solar power a chance of competing.

“The new US president would have to take the initiative analogous to Kennedy’s decision to go to the moon.”

His sharpest words are reserved for the special interests he blames for public confusion about the nature of the global warming threat. “The problem is not political will, it’s the alligator shoes - the lobbyists. It’s the fact that money talks in Washington, and that democracy is not working the way it’s intended to work.”

A group seeking to increase pressure on international leaders is launching a campaign today called 350.org. It is taking out full-page adverts in papers such as the New York Times and the Swedish Falukuriren calling for the target level of CO2 to be lowered to 350ppm. The advert has been backed by 150 signatories, including Hansen

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Friday, June 20, 2008

Positive Lifestyles Improve Gene Expression ('Deathstyles' Harm Gene Expression)

Lifestyle changes alter gene expression in men with prostate cancer

link

A study conducted by Dean Ornish, MD, of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute in Sausalito, California, along with researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, found that lifestyle improvements have a beneficial effect on gene expression in men with prostate cancer. The finding was reported in the June 17, 2008 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The investigation involved 30 participants in the Gene Expression Modulation by Intervention with Nutrition and Lifestyle (GEMINAL) study of men with low-risk prostate cancer. For reasons not related to the study, the men had opted for active surveillance of their disease in lieu of surgery or radiation treatment. For a three month period, participants were ask to limit dietary fat to 10 percent of daily calorie intake, adopt a whole food, plant-based diet, engage in 30 minutes per day of walking for six days per week, and practice stress management in the form of stretching, breathing, meditation, imagery and relaxation for 60 minutes per day in addition to a one hour per week group session.

Diets were supplemented daily with tofu (from soy), soy protein, 3 grams fish oil, 200 micrograms selenium, 2 grams vitamin C and 100 international units vitamin E. Cardiovascular disease risk factors, including weight, body mass index, waist circumference, blood pressure, lipids, and C-reactive protein, were measured before and after the intervention.

Gene expression in initial prostate biopsies was compared with prostate tissue samples obtained after three months of the lifestyle changes. Forty-eight genes, including those that have disease-preventive effects, were found to be up-regulated, and 453 genes, including oncogenes involved in breast and prostate cancer and other disease-promoting genes, were down-regulated following the intervention.

Body mass index, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, lipids and waist circumference significantly improved. Benefits of the regimen were also observable in the participants’ mental health-related quality of life and levels of cancer-associated mental distress.

“Intensive nutrition and lifestyle changes may modulate gene expression in the prostate,” the authors conclude. “Understanding the prostate molecular response to comprehensive lifestyle changes may strengthen efforts to develop effective prevention and treatment. Larger clinical trials are warranted to confirm the results of this pilot study.”

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Wednesday, June 18, 2008

USA General - Bush Administration Committed War Crimes

“This report tells the largely untold human story of what happened to detainees in our custody when the commander in chief and those under him authorized a systematic regime of torture,” retired Army Major General Antonio Taguba, who oversaw the official investigation of the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal in Iraq in 2004, wrote in the preface.

General Taguba’s judgment ... “There is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes,”
+++

Human Rights Group Says It Has Proof of Detainee Abuse

by Bryan Bender
Published on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 by The Boston Globe
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/06/18/9703/

WASHINGTON - A Cambridge-based human rights organization said it has found medical evidence supporting the claims of 11 former detainees who were allegedly tortured while in American custody between 2001 and 2004, in what a former top US military investigator said amounts to evidence of war crimes.

Medical evaluations of the former inmates found injuries consistent with the alleged abuse, including the psychological effects of sensory deprivation and forced nudity as well as signs of “severe physical and sexual assault,” Physicians for Human Rights said in a report scheduled for release today.

The report also alleges that in four of the cases, American health professionals appeared to have been complicit by denying the detainees medical care and observing the abuse but making no effort to stop it - charges that, if true, represent gross violations of medical ethics.

Four of the men were captured in Afghanistan and imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and seven were held in Iraq. All were released in recent years, and none was charged with a crime.

Physicians for Human Rights, a liberal-leaning nongovernmental organization established in 1988, relies on health professionals to investigate human rights abuses around the world. It has been credited for chronicling the AIDS epidemic in Africa and investigating conditions in US prisons and juvenile detention centers.

A Physicians for Human Rights official was questioned earlier this month by Israeli authorities after organizing mobile health clinics in Palestinian areas.

The subjects of the group’s latest study were identified with the help of two law firms that represent the former detainees, along with the Center for Constitutional Rights, a nonprofit legal advocacy group. The group also established a five-person internal ethics board to review the investigative procedures.

The 130-page report, a copy of which was provided to the Globe, is being released as Congress convenes hearings on the Bush administration’s use of controversial interrogation techniques on terrorism suspects. The hearings have examined allegations that some techniques amounted to torture and violated international law, and the Physicians for Human Rights study offers medical evidence to support those allegations.

One detainee who said he was repeatedly stabbed in the cheek with a screwdriver had wounds consistent with such treatment, the doctors reported. Another who said his captors sodomized him also had physical signs that supported the allegation, while several others had burns and psychological problems the doctors concluded were consistent with electrical shocks.

All of them are suffering physical or mental trauma as a result of the abuse, the team of physicians, psychiatrists, and psychologists reported.

Neither the Bush administration nor the Pentagon commented on the unpublished report yesterday. President Bush has repeatedly said he does not condone torture and allows interrogation techniques that are aggressive but legal.

The report challenges that contention with a detailed physical and psychological profile of each of the former detainees. In two of the cases, the medical investigators had access to the subjects’ recent medical records. All 11 men were given pseudonyms for their protection, according to the report.

The doctors found that “Kamal,” an Iraqi in his late 40s held from September 2003 until June 2004 at Abu Ghraib, has a lesion near his right ear that is “consistent with a healed cut from a sharp-edged instrument,” according to the report. He also had another wound by his left ear, described as “a healed puncture injury” that matches “Kamal’s description of being stabbed with a screwdriver in his cheek by a soldier,” the report states.

Psychologically, “Kamal’s clinical presentation, reported history of abuse, and the result of psychological testing support the presence of several psychiatric diagnoses,” including depression, a panic disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the report.

A subject named “Amir,” an Iraqi in his late 20s held in Abu Ghraib prison from August 2003 to January 2005, “showed signs of rectal tearing that are highly consistent with his report of having been sodomized with a broomstick,” the report found.

“Yasser,” another Abu Ghraib detainee in his mid-40s, had scars on his thumbs and irregularities in the contours of his tongue, according to the report. The medical team concluded that the damage supports his contention that his American captors subjected him to electric shocks.

The report quotes directly from Yasser’s interview with the study team: “When they shock you with electricity it feels like your eyes will explode.”

Three of the Iraqi detainees and one former Guantanamo inmate reported that they were examined by a medical professional during an episode of torture or physical abuse, but that the abuse continued, the report states. And in another apparent violation of medical ethics, two of the former Guantanamo detainees said they suspected that the psychologist that interviewed them while in custody shared information about them with their interrogators.

Some of the subjects’ injuries, however, the doctors found, could not be conclusively linked to abuse while in US custody.

While a bone scan of a middle-aged Iraqi identified as “Laith” showed significant damage to his jaw, the investigators could not determine whether it resulted from blunt force trauma by his captors or a prior dental infection.

Still, Physicians for Human Rights concluded that all of the interrogation techniques the 11 men allegedly endured - including officially sanctioned exposure to extreme temperatures and placement in “stress positions,” as well as unauthorized treatment such as sexual abuse - violated both domestic criminal law and international human rights treaties.

The physicians urged the Bush administration to “repudiate all forms of torture” and called on Congress to immediately ban at least 17 of the interrogation techniques they chronicled in their review. It also said the US government should provide reparations to the abuse victims.

General Taguba’s judgment was far more severe. “There is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes,” he wrote.

Bender can be reached at bender@globe.com.

Better Than Lesser Of ... VotePact - A Way To Vote Nader Without Helping Other Cadidates

http://www.votepact.org/index2.shtml

The Problem

Many people want to vote for a third party candidate, but feel like they have to vote for either Bush or the Democratic nominee because they so dislike the other.

The Solution — www.VotePact.org — Just Duet

By dissatisfied voters from either side of the two party divide to make a pact in pairs and both cast their ballot for Nader (or any third party candidate).

This way voters don't affect the balance between Democratic and Republican candidates, but give 2 additional votes to the third party candidate.

We all know someone on the other side of the party divide -- a relative, friend, coworker, neighbor.

Let's talk to them about this.

Instead of beating up on each other, and canceling out each other's votes, you can make a tag team allowing all to vote their hearts without hesitation.

The important thing is trust.

more here: http://www.votepact.org/index2.shtml
===

Nader speaking on VotePact:
www.votenader.org

Nader for President 2008 -- June 18, 2008

June 18, 2008
www.votenader.org
www.officialnaderstore.com

Ralph was on Democracy Now this morning with Amy Goodman.

In the interview, Ralph says that Obama is "a corporate candidate from A to Z."

Ralph condemns Obama's speech to AIPAC and calls Obama the "panderer in chief."

Please forward this Democracy Now interview to five of your friends and family now.

During the interview, Ralph promotes the idea of VotePact.

Here's how it works.

Let's say you live in a swing state.

Like Michigan.

Where it's a virtual dead heat between McCain and Obama.

This week it's McCain 42, Obama 41.

Doing the math, that leaves 17 percent of the population of Michigan who don't like either of the corporate candidates.

(Last we heard, Ralph Nader was at ten percent in Michigan - and that's with approaching zero mainstream media publicity.)

Okay, so let's say you are a Michigan Democrat who doesn't exactly care for Obama's pro-right-wing AIPAC stance on the Middle East.

You'd prefer to vote for the peace candidacy Nader/Gonzalez, but you are concerned about throwing Michigan to the war hawk McCain.

What to do?

Pick up the phone and call a friend, or a relative, who is a moderate anti-Iraq war Republican.

That Republican would like to vote for the anti-war Nader/Gonzalez ticket, but he is concerned that if he does, he will tilt the election to Obama.

You get together with that Republican and both of you decide to vote for Nader/Gonzalez.

That way, Nader/Gonzalez get two votes, McCain and Obama get zero.

Nothing "spoiled."

This idea is called VotePact.

We like it.

Why?

It gives Nader/Gonzalez a chance to win in swing states.

(In non-swing states, you can vote for Nader/Gonzalez straight up without fear of "spoiling" anything.)

If VotePact catches on in Michigan, Nader/Gonzalez could move from 10 percent to 20 percent.

And with Nader/Gonzalez at 20 percent, people will sense a three way race.

Get Nader and Gonzalez on the debates, and 30 percent becomes possible.

And 30 percent is striking range in a three-way race.

So, anytime you run into someone who is concerned about "spoiling" it for Obama or McCain, tell them about VotePact.

Together, we are making a difference.

Onward

The Nader Team

PS: If you are in the New York City area tonight, please join with us at a rally for Nader/Gonzalez at Symphony Space.

Hope to see you there.

PS: We invite your comments to the blog.

Forward to a friend | Comment on our blog

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

BWN v2

a new economic model — address that most fundamental resource problem.
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Scarcity in an Age of Plenty

As food and fuel prices continue to increase the world must look to new patterns of consumption and production

by Joseph Stiglitz
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/06/16/9661/
Published on Monday, June 16, 2008 by The Guardian/UK

Around the world, protests against soaring food and fuel prices are mounting. The poor — and even the middle classes — are seeing their incomes squeezed as the global economy enters a slowdown. Politicians want to respond to their constituents’ legitimate concerns, but do not know what to do.

In the United States, both Hillary Clinton and John McCain took the easy way out, and supported a suspension of the gasoline tax, at least for the summer. Only Barack Obama stood his ground and rejected the proposal, which would have merely increased demand for gasoline — and thereby offset the effect of the tax cut.

But if Clinton and McCain were wrong, what should be done? One cannot simply ignore the pleas of those who are suffering. In the US, real middle-class incomes have not yet recovered to the levels attained before the last recession in 1991.

When George Bush was elected, he claimed that tax cuts for the rich would cure all the economy’s ailments. The benefits of tax-cut-fuelled growth would trickle down to all — policies that have become fashionable in Europe and elsewhere, but that have failed. Tax cuts were supposed to stimulate savings, but household savings in the US have plummeted to zero. They were supposed to stimulate employment, but labour force participation is lower than in the 1990s. What growth did occur benefited only the few at the top.

Productivity grew, for a while, but it wasn’t because of Wall Street financial innovations. The financial products being created didn’t manage risk; they enhanced risk. They were so non-transparent and complex that neither Wall Street nor the ratings agencies could properly assess them. Meanwhile, the financial sector failed to create products that would help ordinary people manage the risks they faced, including the risks of home ownership. Millions of Americans will likely lose their homes and, with them, their life savings.

At the core of America’s success is technology, symbolised by Silicon Valley. The irony is that the scientists making the advances that enable technology-based growth, and the venture capital firms that finance it were not the ones reaping the biggest rewards in the heyday of the real estate bubble. These real investments are overshadowed by the games that have been absorbing most participants in financial markets.

The world needs to rethink the sources of growth. If the foundations of economic growth lie in advances in science and technology, not in speculation in real estate or financial markets, then tax systems must be realigned. Why should those who make their income by gambling in Wall Street’s casinos be taxed at a lower rate than those who earn their money in other ways? Capital gains should be taxed at least at as high a rate as ordinary income. (Such returns will, in any case, get a substantial benefit because the tax is not imposed until the gain is realised.) In addition, there should be a windfall profits tax on oil and gas companies.

Given the huge increase in inequality in most countries, higher taxes for those who have done well — to help those who have lost ground from globalisation and technological change — are in order, and could also ameliorate the strains imposed by soaring food and energy prices. Countries, like the US, with food stamp programmes, clearly need to increase the value of these subsidies in order to ensure that nutrition standards do not deteriorate. Those countries without such programmes might think about instituting them.

Two factors set off today’s crisis: the Iraq war contributed to the run-up in oil prices, including through increased instability in the Middle East, the low-cost provider of oil, while biofuels have meant that food and energy markets are increasingly integrated.

Although the focus on renewable energy sources is welcome, policies that distort food supply are not. America’s subsidies for corn-based ethanol contribute more to the coffers of ethanol producers than they do to curtailing global warming. Huge agriculture subsidies in the US and the European Union have weakened agriculture in the developing world, where too little international assistance was directed at improving agriculture productivity. Development aid for agriculture has fallen from a high of 17% of total aid to just 3% today, with some international donors demanding that fertiliser subsidies be eliminated, making it even more difficult for cash-strapped farmers to compete.

Rich countries must reduce, if not eliminate, distortional agriculture and energy policies, and help those in the poorest countries improve their capacity to produce food.

But this is just a start: we have treated our most precious resources — clean water and air — as if they were free.

Only new patterns of consumption and production — a new economic model — can address that most fundamental resource problem.

Joseph Stiglitz is university professor at Columbia University. In 2001, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics. His latest book is Making Globalization Work.

Friday, June 13, 2008

Bush Impeachment By Kucinich On First Page Of LeMonde

Gore Vidal’s Article of Impeachment

by Gore Vidal

Published on Thursday, June 12, 2008 by TruthDig.com
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/06/12/9579/

On June 9, 2008, a counterrevolution began on the floor of the House of Representatives against the gas and oil crooks who had seized control of the federal government. This counterrevolution began in the exact place which had slumbered during the all-out assault on our liberties and the Constitution itself.

I wish to draw the attention of the blog world to Rep. Dennis Kucinich’s articles of impeachment presented to the House in order that two faithless public servants be removed from office for crimes against the American people. As I listened to Rep. Kucinich invoke the great engine of impeachment — he listed some 35 crimes by these two faithless officials — we heard, like great bells tolling, the voice of the Constitution itself speak out ringingly against those who had tried to destroy it.

Although this is the most important motion made in Congress in the 21st century, it was also the most significant plea for a restoration of the republic, which had been swept to one side by the mad antics of a president bent on great crime.

And as I listened with awe to Kucinich, I realized that no newspaper in the U.S., no broadcast or cable network, would pay much notice to the fact that a highly respected member of Congress was asking for the president and vice president to be tried for crimes which were carefully listed by Kucinich in his articles requesting impeachment.

But then I have known for a long time that the media of the U.S. and too many of its elected officials give not a flying fuck for the welfare of this republic, and so I turned, as I often do, to the foreign press for a clear report of what has been going on in Congress. We all know how the self-described “war hero,” Mr. John McCain, likes to snigger at France, while the notion that he is a hero of any kind is what we should be sniggering at. It is Le Monde, a French newspaper, that told a story the next day hardly touched by The New York Times or The Washington Post or The Wall Street Journal or, in fact, any other major American media outlet.

As for TV? Well, there wasn’t much — you see, we dare not be divisive because it upsets our masters who know that this is a perfect country, and the fact that so many in it don’t like it means that they have been terribly spoiled by the greatest health service on Earth, the greatest justice system, the greatest number of occupied prisons — two and a half million Americans are prisoners — what a great tribute to our penal passions!

Naturally, I do not want to sound hard, but let me point out that even a banana Republican would be distressed to discover how much of our nation’s treasury has been siphoned off by our vice president in the interest of his Cosa Nostra company, Halliburton, the lawless gang of mercenaries set loose by his administration in the Middle East.

But there it was on the first page of Le Monde. The House of Representatives, which was intended to be the democratic chamber, at last was alert to its function, and the bravest of its members set in motion the articles of impeachment of the most dangerous president in our history. Rep Kucinich listed some 30-odd articles describing impeachable offenses committed by the president and vice president, neither of whom had ever been the clear choice of our sleeping polity for any office.

Some months ago, Kucinich had made the case against Dick Cheney. Now he had the principal malefactor in his view under the title “Articles of Impeachment for President George W. Bush”! “Resolved, that President George W. Bush be impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors, and that the following articles of impeachment be exhibited to the United States Senate.” The purpose of the resolve is that he be duly tried by the Senate, and if found guilty, be removed from office. At this point, Rep. Kucinich presented his 35 articles detailing various high crimes and misdemeanors for which removal from office was demanded by the framers of the Constitution.

Update: On Wednesday, the House voted by 251 to 166 to send Rep. Kucinich’s articles of impeachment to a committee which probably won’t get to the matter before Bush leaves office, a strategy that is “often used to kill legislation,” as the Associated Press noted later that day.

National Book Award winner Gore Vidal has written twenty-three novels, five plays, many screenplays, short stories, well over two hundred essays, and a memoir.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Japan Post Office To Convert To Electric Vehicles

Japan Post announces plans to convert entire mail delivery fleet to EVs.

by greenz.jp, Tokyo, Japan on 06.10.08

Cars & Transportation

Creative Commons. Some Rights Reserved. Photo by naitokz

Japan Post announced on June 2nd that they intend to replace their entire fleet of 21,000 mail collection and delivery trucks with Electric Vehicles (EVs) over the next eight years. Despite the high price of EVs, this will apparently translate into savings of several billion yen when compared to the projected cost of continuing to use increasingly expensive gasoline. It doesn’t stop there.

A huge fleet of EVs obviously needs recharging, so Japan Post intends plans to install fast chargers in the parking lots of about 1000 post offices throughout the country, and here comes the clincher: they’re considering making those available to the public. Imagine, if you will, the effect this would have on the adoption of EV technology in Japan, a country that already leads in hybrid technology, possesses very limited fossil fuel reserves, and is the leading auto manufacturing nation.

While there are currently plenty of EVs on the market and major manufacturers such as Nissan, Mitsubishi and Fuji Heavy Industries have already announced plans to mass-produce full electric vehicles in the near future, no manufacturer is likely to be able to fill Japan Post’s order anytime soon, so needless to say they are still deliberating on whom to sign the contract with.

Brought to you by Chris Harrington of greenz.jp

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

God Of Creativity - Beyond Reductionistic Science & Literalist Religion

Physicists cannot deduce, simulate or confirm the detailed evolution

We must use reason, emotion, intuition, all that our evolution has brought us. But that means understanding our full humanity: we need Einstein and Shakespeare in the same room.
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