Reading LIst for week ending 7/16/05
Remember...........GET INVOLVED..........THE WORLD IS RUN BY THOSE WHO SHOW UP...............................WE'LL SEE YOU THERE............PEACE........................Scott
Another 32 Billion for Homeland Security
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/071605B.shtml
Editor's Comment: The rationale for this expenditure like so many before it appears to be that, 'massive spending equals public safety.' Both the WhiteHouse and their allies in congress follow up every high profile attack against a western civilian target with a demand for another multi-billion dollar expenditure. The money often goes to contractors most supportive of the lawmakers allocating it. -- ma/TO
Social Security Bill Would Hike US Debt
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/071605C.shtml
The leading House bill to overhaul Social Security would marginally extend the program's solvency, but it would add $851 billion to the national debt over 11 years, according to an analysis released Friday by the system's chief actuary.The bill calls for establishing personal retirement accounts for workers under age 55 and stocking them with Treasury bonds equal to the surplus Social Security taxes the government will collect each year through 2016.
Governor Vilsack Will Head DLC
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/071605F.shtml
Gov. Tom Vilsack was named Friday as the head of the Democratic Leadership Council, the centrist-leaning group that helped propel former President Clinton to the White House in 1992. The post significantly increases Vilsack's national profile and gives the potential 2008 presidential candidate an opportunity to travel the country to organize fellow Democrats and craft a message for the party.
Should Roe Go?
by Katha Pollitt, TomPaine.com
Overturning Roe v. Wade will not take abortion off the table. But it will put women's lives back into the hands of politicians. http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050715/should_roe_go.php
The Supreme Boardroom
by Lee Drutman, TomPaine.com
Big business is spending a lot of money to influence the president's nomination for the Supreme Court. http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050715/the_supreme_boardroom.php
Chinese General Threatens Nuclear Retaliation if US Helps Taiwan
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/071505A.shtml
China should use nuclear weapons against the United States if the American military intervenes in any conflict over Taiwan, said a senior Chinese military official.
John W. Dean It Appears That Karl Rove Is in Serious Trouble
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/071505E.shtml
A complex law, the Intelligence Identities And Protection Act requires that a number of requirements be met. The Rove case seems to fit the bill.
Norman Solomon War and Venture Capitalism
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/071505F.shtml
During the Vietnam War, one of the peace movement's more sardonic slogans was:"War is good business. Invest your son." Eminent pundits and top government officials in recent years have become more brazen about praising war as a good investment.
Paul Krugman: Karl Rove's America
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/071505Y.shtml
Mr. Rove should receive a medal from the American Political Science Association for his pioneering discoveries about modern American politics. The medal can, if necessary, be delivered to his prison cell.
Greg Palast It Didn't Take Long, Did It?
In the USA, the curtain opened on new anti-terror follies Wednesday when three Senate committees, in blustery response to the London bombings, voted to extend the power of the FBI under the Patriot Act to obtain library records without a subpoena. Exactly what suicide bomber or sleeper cell has so far been exposed by this powerful new intelligence weapon, we are not told.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/071505R.shtml
Review Finds Scientists with Ties to Companies
Forty-four government scientists have violated ethics rules on collaborating with pharmaceutical companies, a preliminary review by the National Institutesof Health shows. Nine of the scientists may have violated criminal laws, the report said. http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/071505HA.shtml
Gene 'Maps' Show Way to Beat Killer Diseases
Three of the most devastating diseases of the developing world could soon be eradicated after a breakthrough in understanding how they are programmed to be human parasites. Scientists have decoded the genetic blueprints of the parasitic microbes responsible for African sleeping sickness, Chagas disease and Leishmaniasis, which collectively affect up to 30 million people and endanger the lives of a further 500 million.
http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/071505HB.shtml
CAFTA: Opening Borders to Inequality
More than a year after its signing, President Bush finally sent the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) to the US Congress for vote. Due to serious opposition, CAFTA rattles already shaky structures of governance. The administration's intensive special-interest lobbying still hasn't clinchedCAFTA's passage in a House floor vote.
http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/071505LA.shtml
The New York Times The Women of Gitmo
There is one abuse surrounding Gitmo which there can surely be no debate, even among the die-hard supporters of President Bush: the exploitation and debasement of women serving in the United States military. This practice must come to an immediate end, and the Pentagon must make it clear that such things as turning an American soldier into a pseudo-lap-dancer, will never be tolerated again.
http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/071505WA.shtml
Americans Want a Woman to Replace O'Connor
A new CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released today found that three out of fourAmericans want President Bush to name a woman to replace Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court. The poll also found that 68 percent of Americans don't wantRoe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 case legalizing abortion, overturned.
http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/071505WB.shtml
Daniel Schorr Rove Leak Is Just Part of Larger Scandal
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/071505J.shtml
The underlying issue in the Karl Rove controversy is not a leak, but a war, and how the Bush Administration misled America into that war.
Joe Conason An Honorable Withdrawal
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/071505M.shtml
The London bombings remove any doubt about the damage the Iraq war has done toWestern interests. Now, we must figure out the wisest way to extricate ourselves.
The Revolution Will Be Localized
Sundance getaway turns mayors into climate activists
Robert Redford helped to convert a few dozen U.S. mayors to the cause of climate activism this week at his Sundance resort in Utah. The green-leaning star cohosted a three-day summit that brought together municipal leaders from small towns and big cities across the country -- some more skeptical about climate change than others -- to chat about global warming and local actions they can take to fight it. Muckraker was there to take the conference's temperature.
new in Muckraker: The Revolution Will Be Localized
Team Bush Paid $8 Million for Dirty Tricks to Suppress Votes
In the months before the 2004 presidential election, a firm called Sproul &Associates launched voter registration drives in at least eight states, most of them swing states. Sproul got into a bit of trouble last fall when, in certain states, it came out that the firm was playing dirty tricks in order to suppress the Democratic vote.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/071405B.shtml
Michael J. Fox: Repeal Bush's Stem Cell Ban
Actor Michael J. Fox is pushing Congress hard to lift President Bush's restrictions on embryonic stem cell research.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/071405F.shtml
Stirling Newberry Peak Olives
There is a bottomless appetite for information, and confirmation, about the future of energy, but sadly, explaining it has often been difficult. People grab on to bits and pieces, and they don't step back and look at the big picture.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/071405I.shtml
House GOP Retreats 'A Little' on Patriot Act
The Republican-led House Intelligence Committee approved Democratic provisions yesterday that would place modest controls over the ways the FBI can monitor terrorism suspects under the Patriot Act. Senators and civil libertarians are demanding greater restraints on government power.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/071405L.shtml
The American Conservative 'It's the Occupation, Stupid'
Since suicide terrorism is mainly a response to foreign occupation and not Islamic fundamentalism, the use of heavy military force is only likely to increase the number of suicide terrorists coming at us.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/071405O.shtml
Michael J. Kavanah The Terror of Our Ways
Conflating environmentalists and terrorists is all the rage. By his constantanti-environmental rhetoric Stokes, a conservative talk show host, has placed environmentalism squarely in the middle of the most charged discourse inpost-9/11 America -- the one revolving around the word "terrorism." And while Stokes seems extreme, these days, he's not the only one warning of an alleged link between environmentalists and terrorists. Joe Friday is too. Meanwhile, few seem to be paying attention to another kind of eco-terror. For many environmentalists and politicians, eco-terrorism used to mean blowing up a nuclear plant or poisoning a water system.
http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/071405EA.shtml
Study Finds Organic Farming More Efficent Than Conventional Farming
Organic farming produces the same yields of corn and soybeans as doesconventional farming, but uses 30 percent less energy, less water and no pesticides, a review of a 22-year farming trial study concludes.
http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/071405EB.shtml
EC Incumbents Are All in Hiding, but Still Expect to Get Re-Elected
Only 11 days are left before the start of the AFL-CIO convention, and we still haven't heard a word from the 51 incumbents on the Executive Council. In fact,they haven't announced they're running for re-election. They just assume that if they remain silent, convention delegates will give them all another four years in office, just as they did in four previous elections. To prevent that from happening, Harry Kelber sought a seat on the Executive Council, forcing theAFL-CIO to conduct an election with a printed ballot and secret voting.
http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/071405LA.shtml
The End of Cheap Oil
Three decisive factors are pushing the price of crude up permanently: the geological depletion of conventional oil (inexpensive to extract), the entry into a world of terrorism and of permanent wars for the control of oil, the strong increase in demand due to Asian growth and the maintenance of Western consumption.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/071405Q.shtml
Saving Karl Rove
by Paul Waldman, TomPaine.com
Conservative hacks and pundits have begun their cynical defense of Bush's brain. Here's what they're planning.
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050714/saving_karl_rove.php
The Productivity Problem
by Jonathan Tasini, TomPaine.com
We're working harder than ever, but wages are far from keeping up. And that makes for an unsteady, unstable economy. http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050714/the_productivity_problem.php
FOCUS Bush Rating on Honesty Hits New Low http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/071405Z.shtml
David Bacon Talking Points on Guest Workers
http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/071305LA.shtml
Among Janitors, Labor Violations Go with the Job
http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/071305LB.shtml
Bush Changes to Forest Roadless Rule Upheld
http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/071305EA.shtml
The West's Defender of Wild Places
http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/071305EB.shtml
GOOGLE'S BIAS FOR BIGNESS
Kelly Hearn, AlterNet
Could the popular search engine's quest for news quality leave alternative sources in the dust?
http://www.alternet.org/story/23397/
EXPOSING EXXON'S BAD BEHAVIOR
Sunny Lewis, Environment News Service
A coalition of conservation groups have launched a nationwide boycott to protest the oil giant's many misdeeds; chiefly, its plan to drill for oil in the Arctic Refuge.
http://www.alternet.org/envirohealth/23528/
WHY UNIONS ARE LIKE TYPEWRITERS
Frank Joyce, AlterNet
In the 21st century, unions have become outdated, weak andself-serving. But we have an opportunity to build a newlabor movement, in which unions can again become a voice for workers.
http://www.alternet.org/story/23533/
DON'T BOGART THAT LOLLIPOT
Jordan Smith, Austin Chronicle
Nobody in their right mind would want to eat cannabis-flavored candy. Or would they? Lawmakers and confectioners hash out the hemp candy craze.
http://www.alternet.org/drugreporter/23503/
Courting Gonzales
by Paul Rogat Loeb, TomPaine.com
The enemy of our enemy could still be the enemy of democracy. http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050713/courting_gonzales.php
An Army of (No) One
by Nick Turse, TomPaine.com
The military may not be effective against the insurgency, but its Internet recruiting campaign is a precision-guided weapon. http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050713/an_army_of_no_one.php
The Issue That Won't Go Away
by Jonathan Pershing and Rob Bradley, TomPaine.com
Bush finally may have gotten the point at Gleneagles: The only way to get climate change off the agenda is to solve it. http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050713/the_issue_that_wont_go_away.php
Taking Our Values Public
by Bernie Horn, TomPaine.com
The difference between the values conservatives trumpet and progressive values are as simple as private and public. http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050713/taking_our_values_public.php
Rachel Neumann on what Bush can learn from Eminem:
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/themix/23491/
JAILED FOR JUSTICE
Yu-Yee Wu, AsianWeek
As an attorney, Manlin Chee spent three decades helpingimmigrants. Now, after publicly criticizing the PatriotAct, she finds herself in jail.
http://www.alternet.org/rights/23472/
THERE GOES THE ELECTRICAL GRID
Molly Ivins, AlterNet
We're about to repeat a huge mistake that will let the big oil companies jack up our electric rates.
http://www.alternet.org/columnists/story/23493/
ENVIRONMENTALISTS ON THE FRINGE
Michael J. Kavanagh, Grist Magazine
Equating eco-activists with terrorism is now commonplace among conservative mouthpieces and the FBI alike.
http://www.alternet.org/envirohealth/23477/
Tomlinson's Cleansing Campaign
by Elizabeth Spiro Clark, TomPaine.com
In defending himself against bias to a Senate committee yesterday, the CPB chairman missed the point about public broadcasting's mission. http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050712/tomlinsons_cleansing_campaign.php
Ignoring The Coming Collapse
by J. Bradford DeLong, TomPaine.com
London, Iraq, O'Connor and Rove are distracting Washington from a looming financial crisis not seen since 1933.
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050712/ignoring_the_coming_collapse.php
The Responsibility Ruse
by Maya Rockeymoore, Ph.D., TomPaine.com
How conservatives deploy the psychology of personal responsibility to obscure racism and inequality.
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050712/the_responsibility_ruse.php
Kerry, Clinton: Fire Rove
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/071205A.shtml
Permanent Patriot Act Proposed
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/071205C.shtml
Juan Cole Rove Unfit for Public Office
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/071205D.shtml
The Media Go After Rove
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/071205J.shtml
Lawmakers Criticize Efforts to Monitor Public Television
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/071205O.shtml
White House Stonewalls in Plame Case
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/071205Z.shtml
Bush Fiddles While The World Warms
by Heather Hamilton and Sam Stein, TomPaine.com
Last week at the G8 Summit, President Bush once again used terrorism to change the subject. http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050711/bush_fiddles_while_the_world_warms.php
The United States Of Broadband
by Ben Scott and Craig Aaron, TomPaine.com
The FCC's decisions about broadband put competition before access -- and effectively close off the Internet for millions. http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050711/the_united_states_of_broadband.php
Experts Fear 'Endless' Terror War
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/071105G.shtml
Tom Engelhardt Boy President in a Failed World?http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/071105M.shtml
James J. Zogby The Dangers of Incitement
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/071105N.shtml
Paul Krugman Un-Spin the Budget
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/071105O.shtml
William Rivers Pitt: The Best of Us
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/071105Y.shtml
Americans Paying a "Fearful Price for Bush's Adventure"
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/071105Z.shtml
The President's chief adviser acted in a reckless and cavalier fashion, ignoring national security interests to score a political point against a policy foe.Rove may end up not guilty of a crime, but he is guilty of significant misconduct. This ought to get him sent back to Texas.
For more, read David Corn's Capital Games.
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/capitalgames?bid=3&pid=5295
And don't miss other new Nation online pieces.
John Nichols asks why conservative commentators are unsettled by mature reactions of Londoners to terrorist attacks.
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat?bid=1&pid=5323
Frank Rich We're Not in Watergate Anymore
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/071005F.shtml
What Karl Rove Told Matt Cooper
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/071005Z.shtml
BUSH'S CULTURE OF UNACCOUNTABILITY
A BuzzFlash Interview
Ambassador Joseph Wilson discusses Judith Miller, the'outing' of his wife as a CIA operative, and his opinion that the Bush Administration committed treason.
http://www.alternet.org/story/23450/
EASTER ISLAND, C'EST MOI
Terrence McNally, AlterNet
What caused some of the great civilizations of the past to collapse into ruin, and what can we learn from their fates?Jared Diamond explains how we can avert catastrophe.
http://www.alternet.org/envirohealth/23413/
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