Citizens For Legitimate Government™
is a multi-partisan activist group established to expose and resist US imperialism, corpora-terrorism, and the New World Order.

March 2002 Archives

Mar 31, 2002

• Killings Raise Questions About Israeli Tactics Something nasty happened on the fourth floor of the British Council building on a hilltop in downtown Ramallah...
• Prosecution: No proof that Walker Lindh pulled trigger on Americans Prosecuting attorneys admitted Monday in U.S. District Court that they have no evidence that an American accused of fighting with theTaliban took part in any activities directly against Americans.
• US prosecution brief defends brutal treatment of American Taliban POW In opposition papers filed March 29 for an April 1 hearing on defense motions to compel the production of evidence, prosecutors admitted that US officials stripped John Walker Lindh nude, tied him to a stretcher, and kept him in a metal shipping container for two days before an FBI agent allegedly obtained a written Miranda waiver of Lindh’s Fifth Amendment right to remain silent and consult an attorney.
• Despite court requirement for permits, EPA to allow use of herbicides in irrigation canals without permits .
• Court to Review Three Strikes Sentencing Laws The Less-than-Supreme Court said Monday it will use the cases of two petty thieves sentenced to at least 25 years in prison for shoplifting videotapes and stealing golf clubs to decide how far states can go in applying tough three-strikes-and-you're-out sentencing laws.
• Rising Drug Costs a Powerful Issue for National and State Politicians The soaring cost of prescription drugs has emerged as a potent domestic political issue, not only nationally, but also at the state level.
• Britain: Veteran Labour MP challenges destruction of Lockerbie evidence Tam Dalyell, the Labour MP for the Scottish constituency of Linlithgow, used his parliamentary privileges to effectively accuse the British government of destroying evidence relating to the criminal investigation of the 1988 attack on PanAm flight 103, which killed 270 people.
• Tenants can be evicted for others' drug use Public housing authorities can evict an entire family when someone in the household is caught with drugs, even if the others knew nothing about the wrongdoing, the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday. [Finally, the entire Bu$h family can be evicted from Al Gore's house...]
• Paranoid California -- Can civil liberties survive a public health emergency? ...Besides supplanting existing statutes, AB 1763 [Assembly Bill 1763, the Emergency Health Powers Act] would also authorize any public health authority to perform unlimited medical examinations and testing, relax the privacy of health information, and allow the Public Health Emergency Planning Commission to select and train "emergency judges" to hear appeals of forced quarantine and isolation.
• TV Drama, Pentagon-Style: A Fictional Terror Tribunal The "JAG" tribunal episode is to be broadcast on April 30... "JAG" has enjoyed a close relationship with the Pentagon for years... With the terrorist attacks, its popularity has soared, to the 10th most popular prime-time show this year from the 28th last year. As such, it has become a tool of wartime public policy.
• Security plan will monitor all fliers Agencies to collect, share traveler data Federal security officials are preparing to test a new screening system for airline passengers this fall that will link government databases for the first time, permitting detailed scrutiny of every traveler.
• Bu$h Courts Unions to Split Off Votes Hoffa's Teamsters, Other 'Hard Hats' Are Being Wooed
• Mail-Watching Is Alive and Well Sharp rise in use of low-tech law enforcement tool worries privacy experts, defense attorneys -- The mail cover, an investigative tool that once received wide publicity, has been largely forgotten but is thriving. Its use has risen by more than half since the mid-1980s.
•   US Army Seeks Presence in Every Country of the World (Pravda) "Presence of US troops on the territories of former Soviet republics is no more a surprise for anyone..."
• Is Protest Music Dead? -- By Jeff Chang [a must-read] ...He [Public Enemy's Chuck D] says, "You got five corporations that control retail. You got four who are the record labels. Then you got three radio outlets who own all the stations. You got two television networks that will actually let us get some of this across. And you got one video outlet. I call it 5-4-3-2-1. Boom!"
• Critical Habitats -- Critical State Instead of Protecting the Environment, Feds Throw In the Towel -- by Phil Busse "Last week, two federal agencies threw in the towel and conceded to open up protected habitats for development..."
• U.N. Calls for Israeli Pullout From Palestinian Cities The United States joined other U.N. Security Council members Saturday in adopting a resolution that calls on Israel to withdraw its troops from Palestinian cities, including Ramallah, where Yasser Arafat's headquarters is under siege.
• Arafat Remains Confined in Office as Israel Arrests Hundreds Israeli soldiers rounded up hundreds of Palestinians on Saturday in a sweep for militants, while Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was effectively penned in a few rooms of his office building with water cut off and food dwindling, surrounded by Israeli tanks and troops.
• Bu$h Tapped Solar Energy Funds to Print Energy Plan While environmentalists have slammed the White House national energy plan for not doing enough to promote renewable energy, the Bu$h mis-ministration found those government research programs useful in paying the bill for printing copies of the 170-page plan.
• Pentagon Seeks Exemption From Environmental Laws Concerned that several environmental laws are interfering with the military's ability to train soldiers and develop weapons, the Pentagon is seeking a Congressional exemption from an array of measures that have protected endangered species and their habitats for years.
• Financial adviser was fired after Enron complained, records show -- Bloomberg News -- UBS PaineWebber Inc. fired a financial adviser last August after Enron Corp. complained that he had advised his clients to sell the energy trader's stock, PaineWebber records show.
• Grand Juries in New York and Washington Expose Major Ashcroft Conflicts of Interest Cheney’s Task Force Met with Targets of Grand Jury Probes -- Cheney Connected to Investigations -- Served on Kazakh State Oil Board When Reported Bribes Took Place -- by Michael C. Ruppert
• Bu$h Names Affirmative Action Critic to Civil Rights Post pResident and all-around Fascist G.W. Bu$h used his power to make appointments during Congressional recesses today to name a young black lawyer who is a vocal critic of preferences for minorities to be head of the Office of Civil Rights in the Department of Education.
• Drilling Could Hurt Wildlife, Federal Study of Arctic Says Undercutting the Bu$h mis-ministration's case for oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, a federal study released today said that such drilling could harm caribou, snow geese, musk oxen and other wildlife.
• Israel Raids Arafat's Headquarters Palestinian Speaks of Martyrdom as Army Closes In; Sharon Says Aim Is Not to Kill -- Backed by tanks and armored personnel carriers, Israeli soldiers knocked down the walls of Yasser Arafat's West Bank compound here today and moved room by room through parts of the two-building office complex where he lives and works.
• Ontario Tories open door to 60-hour workweek [Ontario Tories and Disney management must be working together!] Recent changes to Ontario’s labour standards have emboldened employers to press for a lengthening of the workweek, giving rising to a series of strike struggles.
• Peace And Nuclear Disarmament: A Call To Action -- by Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) "If you believe that humanity has a higher destiny, if you believe we can evolve, and become better than we are; if you believe we can overcome the scourge of war and someday fulfill the dream of harmony and peace earth, let us begin the conversation today. Let us exchange our ideas..."
• Senator Lieberman Seeks Enron Contacts from White House, Energy Task Force Also Seeks Contacts Between Agencies and White House
• 'It Shouldn't Be Happening Here' Jews Rise Against Ashcroft War -- by Nat Hentoff "As Eli Kintisch reported... in an article the paper supported with a resounding editorial: 'Delegates representing America's largest Jewish organizations and the national network of Jewish community relations councils [have] passed a resolution criticizing the administration's plans for closed-door military tribunals, detention of immigrants, and monitoring of conversations between attorneys and clients.'"
• Some Detainees May Be Held Even if Acquitted Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said yesterday that some al Qaeda and Taliban fighters could continue to be imprisoned even after being tried and acquitted by U.S. military tribunals, if U.S. officials still believed they were dangerous terrorists.
• Political Snooping by GOP Alleged in Virginia Police Investigate A Top GOP Official In Eavesdropping -- State and local police are conducting a criminal investigation into whether the Virginia Republican Party's executive director violated state law when he listened in on a telephone conference of Democratic leaders discussing legal strategy for a politically sensitive redistricting case, officials said today.
• Pharmaceutical Spending Continues Steady Increase For the fourth straight year, prescription drug spending rose more than 17 percent in 2001, driven in large measure by a few heavily advertised, high-priced medications, a nonpartisan study released yesterday found.
• Thoughts On Our War Against Terrorism -- Statement by Congresswoman Cynthia A. McKinney "...Whose war is this really? In November 2000, Republicans stole from America our most precious right of all: the right to free and fair elections..."
• Europe's anger at U.S. reaches boiling point -- by David S. Broder "...The immediate irritant is steel. The looming and larger point of conflict is Iraq. And the underlying complaint is that the Bush administration, whose leader had gained significantly in standing [?!?] since my last trans-Atlantic trip 11 months ago, has reverted to an earlier and unsettling pattern of behavior."
• Bu$h expands "voluntary interviews" of Middle Eastern immigrants On March 20, US Attorney General John Ashcroft announced that the inJustice Department is expanding its “voluntary interview” program, with plans to question 3,000 more mainly Muslim and Arab immigrants.
• Extended Operation Set in West Bank After Terror Bombing The Israeli government declared Yasir Arafat an "enemy" today and sent tanks and armored personnel carriers to fully isolate him in his Ramallah headquarters and to launch an "extended operation" in the Palestinian territories.
• Gas Masks Provided to Ala. Residents The federal government will pay for gas mask-like safety gear for thousands of people who live near an incinerator where the Army will burn deadly nerve agents, the governor's office said Wednesday.
• Arab Delegates Endorse Saudi's Mideast Peace Plan Arab leaders endorsed a Saudi peace plan for the Middle East today and called on Israel to give the initiative its backing.
• US seeks death penalty in terror case US prosecutors say they will seek the death penalty for Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person charged over the 11 September attacks.
• France Warns It Opposes Death Penalty in Terror Trial The French government has warned the United States that it might end its cooperation in the investigation of Zacarias Moussaoui, a French citizen who is the only person charged so far in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, if the United States seeks the death penalty in the case, American officials said today.
• School suspends teen on dog's say-so Parents upset student was sent home -- even though he didn't have marijuana -- An Ottawa police dog's interest in a 15-year-old boy's ski jacket during an impromptu drug search at an Orléans high school yesterday moved school officials to immediately suspend the student -- even though he had no drugs on him. [?!?]
• Former NZ PM: Dan Quayle wanted me 'liquidated' Former New Zealand Prime Minister David Lange has claimed that ex-U.S. Vice President Dan Quayle threatened to have him "liquidated" over his country's anti-nuclear policy in the 1980s. "There were veiled threats and there were specific threats," he said. "It was announced at one stage to the Australian cabinet that I would have to be liquidated...I enquired of our security sources and was told I shouldn't regard it as a credible threat because the vice president wasn't regarded as credible." [ROFL!]
• Feds Order Underground N-Weapons The Pentagon and the Energy Department have directed the nation's nuclear weapons laboratories in Livermore, Calif., and Los Alamos, N.M., to compete for the chance to design a hydrogen bomb that could destroy targets underground.
• Bu$h Wants Navajo Ruling Reversed The Bu$h mis-ministration has asked the Supreme Court to overturn a landmark $600 million trust fund claim won by the Navajo Nation for fear other tribes will file similar challenges.
• Energy Industry's Recommendations to Bu$h Became National Policy A review of documents released this week by the Department of Energy showed that several recommendations from energy industry representatives were written into the White House's national energy report and into an executive order signed by pResident Bu$h.
• Bu$h Diplomacy Yields Few Promising Signs After months of caution, the Bu$h mis-ministration suffered a string of setbacks to its newly active Middle East peace efforts this week, raising unsettling questions about its influence in the region and what steps it can — and will — take next.
• Momentum growing for inquiry into "oddities" of September 11 -- by Joyce Lynn (Online Journal) "... the on-line petition asks the U.S. Senate to investigate issues that include George W. Bu$h's possible knowledge of the terrorist attacks; the role of Unocal and the Carlyle Group in the oil pipeline across Afghanistan..."
• Crony Capitalism Goes Global -- by Tim Shorrock "William Conway, managing director and co-founder of the Carlyle Group, was talking recently about the media coverage of his bank and the cast of ex-Presidents and former officials, including George H.W. Bush, James Baker III and Frank Carlucci, on its payroll..."
• Fleet, 2 other firms sued over slavery The first federal lawsuits of the modern era seeking reparations for slavery were filed yesterday in New York against FleetBoston Financial Group and two other major corporations accused of profiting from the American system of human bondage and committing ''crimes against humanity.''
• Bu$h’s recipe for Latin America: austerity, repression and more US militarism -- byBill Vann and Tomas Rodriguez "...In the wake of September 11, Washington ...has replaced the old invocations of an alliance against 'communist subversion' used to justify the military interventions, CIA-organized coups and US-backed dictatorships that characterized the region for most of the twentieth century with a new slogan—the 'war on terrorism.'"
• Court Clears Way for Va. Execution A divided Supreme Court cleared the way yesterday for Virginia to execute a man who says his 1993 murder conviction was tainted by the fact that his court-appointed lawyer had previously represented the murder victim.
• U.S. Court Upholds Pollution Standards Whitman says EPA will Support New Air Quality Rules -- A federal appeals court yesterday upheld the most stringent air pollution control standards in the nation's history, providing a victory for environmentalists and public health advocates and perhaps clearing the way for the five-year-old rules to finally be implemented.
• Iraq and September 11 -- by Dan Bednarz, Ph.D. "As best we know, none of those responsible for September 11 has been apprehended, and most of the Al Qaeda who were in Afghanistan remain at large as that country is at risk of reprising the nineteen eighties trauma of government controlled cities with the countryside the domain of drug-running warlords..."
• 11th-hour release of energy task force files Documents show industry had big hand in shaping Bu$h policy [...The quintessential "Duh!"]
• The outrages of secret evidence by our government continue -- by Robyn E. Blumner "The use of secret evidence is anathema to American justice... the outrages of secret evidence, the way it requires an accused person to box shadows, are no different now than before the terrorist attack. The only change is a newfound deference to the government's claims of national security."
• Church accuses Blair of 'cruel thirst for vengeance' The Church of England is on a collision course with the Government over Iraq by producing a report for bishops which argues that an attack on Saddam Hussein would be immoral and seen as the "cruel thirst for vengeance".
• One in Seven Americans Say They Can't Get Needed Healthcare More than 41 million Americans -- one in seven -- had trouble getting medical care or had to delay care in 2001, mostly because of cost, according to study results released on March 21.
• Bush Aide Denies Berenson Report The White House said today that pResident Bu$h had not asked for clemency for Lori Berenson, the American serving a 20-year jail sentence in Peru after being convicted of helping rebels plan a 1995 attempt to capture the country's Congress.
• Report Cites Unaccounted Plutonium Amounts Sufficient to Create 'Dirty Bomb,' Official Says -- The Energy Department cannot fully account for small amounts of potentially dangerous plutonium provided under a 1954 Atoms for Peace program to 33 countries including Iran, Pakistan and India, according to an inspector general report released yesterday.
• Scientist: More Ice Shelves Face Trouble The Antarctic's huge ice shelves may break up as ice flows across the frozen continent slow or even stop and the global climate warms, a New Zealand climate researcher warned.
• UN official says world body targeted by IDF in territories A senior United Nations relief official accused Israel on Sunday of targeting U.N. facilities during recent military incursions into Palestinian refugee camps.
• Anthrax Victim's Family Sues HMO Attorneys for the family of Thomas L. Morris Jr., the D.C. postal worker who died last year of inhalation anthrax, filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit yesterday accusing a Maryland medical center of misdiagnosing his symptoms three days before his death.
• U.S. to Send Special Forces to Train Army for Kabul Offense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld assigned the American military a complex new mission in Afghanistan today as he announced that Special Forces troops would begin training the new Afghan national army within the next six weeks.
• Imperial State Power in America Now even US postage stamps will project the supremacy of American Imperial Power into the world. The new 57-cent stamp shows an eagle, which is an exact copy of the symbol of the Waffen SS, which in turn was taken from the Imperial Praetorian eagle of Ancient Rome. This is one of the first in a new series of postage stamps being released by the US Post Office to commemorate the New Age of State Power.
• Backlash grows against White House secrecy In Congress and the courts, challenges to Bu$h's tight control of information rise. Energy papers due out today.
• Senate Still In Standoff Over Lost Nominee Rightwing loser Trent Lott Plans to Continue Reprisals on Democrats.
• Environmentalists Lose on Energy Bill The Senate was where environmentalists hoped to make their stand on energy policy. But after two weeks of votes and horse-trading, an emerging Democratic energy bill appears to be anything but green.
• Enron sends California garbage California prosecutors say that when they pried open 940 boxes of documents subpoenaed from bankrupt energy giant Enron Corp., they made a surprising discovery. "What we found were discarded Kleenexes, old pizza boxes, garbage," California Attorney General Bill Lockyer told reporters.
• Amnesty International report condemns US treatment of immigrant detainees
• Smokers of Light Cigarettes Sue Tobacco Industry in Courts Nationwide The latest battle in the tobacco wars is over claims that cigarette companies have used words such as "light" and "low tar" to deceive smokers into believing they are safer than regular brands.
• News from the front: "Welcoming" Bu$h in El Salvador
• FBI raids pro-Republicans The target of an anti-terrorist raid in the United States last week provided funds for an Islamic group with close ties to the Republican party and the White House.
• Afghans Say U.S. Troops Abused Them More than 30 Afghans seized by American troops in a 3 a.m. raid on a village security post said they were kicked and abused at a U.S. Army detention center before being freed four days later.
• Md. Moves Toward Broader Police Power Maryland's House of Delegates is preparing to pass anti-terrorism legislation today that would dramatically expand the ability of police to tap phones and eavesdrop on the e-mail and Internet activity of suspected criminals -- part of a deluge of terror-busting measures under consideration in nearly every state capital.
• Rome Swamped by 2 Million Protesters At least two million trade unionists descended on Rome on Saturday, filling the city center with a sea of red flags in a massive show of force against plans by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to re-write labor laws.
• Labour dissent grows over Iraq Tony Blair was yesterday confronted with mounting public dissent among Labour MPs over his combative policy on Iraq as cabinet members rallied to reject attacks on his leadership.
• Iraqi Vet Says Depleted Uranium Killing Fish An Iraqi vet said on Saturday thousands of fish that have died at fish farms near Baghdad were poisoned by munitions used by British and U.S. forces.
• The Big Guys Work For the Carlyle Group What exactly does it do? To find out, we peeked down the rabbit hole. (Fortune)
• Bush’s right to pick justices at issue Having defeated pResident Bu$h’s appeals court nominee Charles Pickering, Senate Democrats are moving to block Bu$h from appointing other conservatives to the federal bench. But some are going further, saying that because Bu$h lacks a popular mandate, the Senate should take no action on any Bu$h nominee to a Supreme Court vacancy until after the 2004 presidential election.
• Quick action!!! Be sure to vote in this MSNBC poll: If there's a vacancy on the Supreme Court, should the Senate hold off on confirming a Bu$h nominee until after the 2004 election?
• US Representative Henry A. Waxman to Stephen Cooper, CEO of Enron Rep. Waxman is requesting from current Enron CEO Stephen Cooper, all records of Enron's political financial dealings. This includes but is not limited to cash, use of aircraft and direct financial interaction with the White House.
• Security at U.S. Reactors Criticized by Congressman The Nuclear Regulatory Commission does not keep track of the number of foreign citizens working at nuclear power plants, or how many guards are employed at the plants or what the owners spend on security, the agency told Representative Edward J. Markey in response to his questions about security after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
• Britain accused on terror lab claim Story of find in Afghan cave 'was made up' to justify sending marines -- Britain was accused last night of falsely claiming that al-Qaeda terrorists had built a 'biological and chemical weapons' laboratory in Afghanistan to justify the deployment of 1,700 Royal Marines to fight there.
• Uncle Sam's lucky finds "On Sunday night the United States prepared for fresh strikes against new pockets of al-Qaida and Taliban fighters in Afghanistan. At almost exactly the same time, American intelligence revealed that they had uncovered an increase in money being transferred between groups of al-Qaida fighters. According to my reckoning, this is the 14th handy thing that American intelligence has discovered since September 11..."
• A Company's Gain From Energy Report's Recommendation ...the Exelon Corporation of Chicago, which provided hundreds of thousands of dollars to Republican campaigns in recent years, has an interest in promoting the so-called pebble-bed reactor.
• Finances Prompted Raids on Muslims ...Showing up with warrants and drawn guns, the agents seized computers, financial records and boxes of other documents from some of the nation's most reputable Islamic organizations and leaders -- a coordinated series of raids that outraged many Muslims.
• 'Killian Nine' student in Fla. loses appeal challenging strip search School had nine students arrested in 1998 for distributing underground publication -- A federal appellate court has affirmed a district court's ruling that a student at Killian High School in suburban Miami did not have her constitutional rights violated when she was arrested and strip-searched for helping to distribute an obscene pamphlet at the school in 1998.
• Senate Panel Says Enron Must Detail Policy Role Subpoenas Shift Probe To White House Contacts -- Congressional probes into Enron Corp. turned for the first time to the White House yesterday. A Senate committee issued subpoenas to the collapsed energy company and its accountant to see what role Enron had in creating the Bu$h mis-ministration's energy policy.
• Michael Rectenwald replies to a rightwinger who laments: "...al gore is a scumbag communist. this a fact certain..."
• GAO Takes White House to Court Investigative Arm of Congress Sues for Cheney Energy Papers -- The investigative arm of Congress today filed suit against the Bu$h mis-ministration, an unprecedented legal action growing out of a 10-month standoff between the executive and legislative branches of government.
• Radioactive Bombs Rain Down on Asia pResident Bu$h may have frightened most of America with big talk about nuclear war, but people in Afghanistan and Pakistan think they've already been nuked by depleted-uranium (DU) bombs.
• 'Power Rangers' creator donates $7 million to Democratic party "I hope that my contribution will inspire Democrats that are much richer than me to step up to the plate higher than me," said "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers" creator Haim Saban, the $7 million donor. "I will be very happy to be fifth in line."
• 'Intended' U.S. Target Mystifies Villagers Dec. 1 Bombing Of Tractor Killed 8 -- It was an agonizing, seven-hour walk to the cemetery. Noor Mohammed, 57, had not slept all night, and he was distraught and exhausted. The U.S. planes that had dropped bombs on his village all night were keeping up the attack during the day, forcing him to stop and seek shelter and making the usual three-hour walk last all day. By the time he got there, it was too late. His wife, two sons and two daughters had already been buried...
• Taliban bargaining on 18 US soldiers While the American Special Forces are continuing their efforts to locate the 18 US soldiers taken hostage by the Taliban and AlQaida fighters, bargaining efforts are going on at highest level between the Americans and the Taliban who now are demanding the save release of more than 350 Taliban and non Afghan prisoners languishing in X-Ray Cells in Cuba.
• U.S. Arms Illegally Go to 'Axis of Evil' Smugglers based in the USA are illegally exporting millions of dollars' worth of weapons and high-tech equipment to the countries p-Resident Bu$h dubbed the ''axis of evil'' in his State of the Union address.
• Secret Government Report on Israel’s Spy Operation in the US: Since late November, 2001, a story in the Washington Post reported "the arrest of some 60 Israelis immediately after 9/11. As government officials explained to the immigration judges, they were being held because they were 'of special interest' to the feds – putting them in the same category as hundreds of mostly Arab men rounded up since the attacks."
• Suspicious Activities Involving Israeli Art Students at DEA Facilities (leaked DEA report link)
• Dershowitz proposal for curbing Israel terrorism sparks Harvard protest Harvard University Law Professor Alan Dershowitz's proposal that Israel publish a warning list of Palestinian homes to be razed in reprisal for terror attacks has sparked protest at Harvard.
• Bu$h Acts to Drop Core Privacy Rule on Medical Data The Bu$h mis-ministration today proposed dropping a requirement at the heart of federal rules that protect the privacy of medical records. It said doctors and hospitals should not have to obtain consent from patients before using or disclosing medical information for the purpose of treatment or reimbursement.
• Video Surveillance Planned on Mall Cameras to Be Installed by October in and Around All Major Monuments -- Civil libertarian groups expressed concern that video monitoring might discourage demonstrators, who for decades have gathered at the Reflecting Pool and elsewhere on the Mall to protest government policy on issues ranging from veterans benefits to abortion, civil rights and the Vietnam War.
• More Sites Raided in Probe of Terrorism Federal agents yesterday raided two more Northern Virginia locations in an ongoing investigation of possible money laundering and tax evasion ...The raids came a day after similar sweeps of 14 other homes, businesses, schools and organizations in Falls Church, Leesburg, Herndon and other sites in Fairfax County.
• Enron Succeeded in Aid Pursuit Enron Corp.'s vast overseas energy investments were aided by promises of more than $7 billion in loans and insurance from the European, Asian and worldwide development banks, as well as key U.S. export-support agencies, according to a report to be released today.
• Rightwing nutcase Kenneth Starr to lead legal team challenging campaign finance legislation Kenneth Starr, the former Whitewater "independent" [?!?]counsel, will lead the court challenge seeking to overturn large parts of the campaign finance bill passed by Congress.
• McCain Lauds Senate Passage of Landmark Campaign Finance Reform Bill (remarks by key Congressional leaders)
• Conyers Criticizes Mis-ministration's Approach to Military Tribunal Regulations Comments by Congressman John Conyers, Jr., Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, in regards to the Bu$h mis-ministration's proposed military tribunal regulations and the introduction of the fascist "Military Tribunal Authorization Act of 2002"
• Poll: Reno Likely Democratic Nominee Janet Reno appears to have all but locked up the Democratic nomination for governor, according to a new Channel 10 poll.
• Pollen Count Rising Due To Global Warming, More CO2 Rising carbon dioxide levels associated with global warming could lead to an increase in the incidence of allergies to ragweed and other plants by mid-century, according to a report appearing in the March Annals of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology by Harvard University researchers.
• Antarctic ice shelf disintegrating A gigantic floating ice shelf has shattered explosively off the coast of Antarctica, casting a plume of thousands of icebergs adrift across the continent's Weddell Sea, polar scientists announced March 19. Big enough to blanket all of San Francisco Bay plus most of the Delta, the shelf's breakup was caused by unusually high temperatures during the Antarctic summer, scientists said. The 12,000-year-old mass -- more than 650 feet thick and covering at least 1,250 square miles -- broke apart in just 35 days.
• 60,000 German soldiers engaged in military interventions world-wide The [German] government has persistently refused to inform the public on the world-wide interventions being undertaken by the German army, while parliamentarians are making virtually no use of their right to control or even be informed of such developments.
• Tipper Gore Says She Won't Run for Vacant Senate Seat Tipper Gore announced tonight that she would not run for the United States Senate from Tennessee.
• We are Governed by Fear: An Interview with Congressman Dennis Kucinich [truthout]
• Justice Lawyers Get New Warning Discussing 'Internal Deliberations' With Outsiders Discouraged The inJustice Department's Civil Rights Division has reissued a warning that career lawyers must watch what they say about their work. The warning was e-mailed Friday to division section chiefs, according to several sources, reprising a Sept. 28 memo stating that career lawyers who talked to "outside entities" about "internal legal deliberations" would face discipline to include possible disbarment.
• Leahy Letter to Ashcroft - Civil Rights at Justice
• The Conservative Myth -- by Larry Martin "It wasn’t that the Bush Administration wasted the budget surplus, went deep into the red, and still tried to give huge tax-cuts to the rich - I have grown to expect that from Republicans, most of whom seem to have studied economics at the Arthur Andersen School of Accounting..."
• November 2001 - January 2002: Warmest on Record in U.S.; Global Temperatures Warmest on Record in January
• As ice melts, climate-study funds dry up Just as signs of climate change are becoming clearer throughout the Arctic, scientists are losing some of their ability to keep track of them. Monitoring stations are closing across northern Canada, Russia, and the United States as governments cut budgets and shift spending priorities.
• Rightwing William Bennett Hopes to "Shape" Public Opinion of War on Terrorism In the war against terrorism, public opinion counts -- so conservative author and former Ray-gun mis-ministration Education Secretary William Bennett Tuesday introduced a new plan to try to shape that public opinion and counter what he calls the "professional and amateur critics of America."
• U.S. supported al-Qaeda cells during Balkan Wars Fought Serbian Troops Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist network has been active in the Balkans for years, most recently helping Kosovo rebels battle for independence from Serbia with the financial and military backing of the United States and NATO.
• Military to Target Enemy Stragglers U.S. General Tells of Need to Strike First -- The U.S. military and its allies are planning new attacks on several pockets of al Qaeda and Taliban fighters believed to be hiding in southern and eastern Afghanistan, the U.S. commander of ground operations in the war said today.
• Anti-brutality protesters arrested in droves (Montreal) Police said Saturday they made 371 arrests at a demonstration against police brutality the previous night. The department said there were between 400 and 450 people at the demonstration, and that there were no injuries reported.
• Anthrax attacks: CIA test that went awry? A Newsnight investigation raised the possibility that there was a secret CIA project to investigate methods of sending anthrax through the mail which went madly out of control. The shocking assertion is that a key member of the covert operation may have removed, refined and eventually posted weapons-grade anthrax which killed five people.
• Pentagon finishes rules for military tribunals After four months of work, the Pentagon has finished writing the rules for military tribunals that will try prisoners from the war in Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Friday.
• Many Doctors Say They Are Refusing Medicare Patients For the first time, significant numbers of doctors are refusing to take new Medicare patients, saying the government now pays them too little to cover the costs of caring for the elderly.
• Al-Qaeda dead have vanished US military officials have repeatedly said they killed at least 500 fighters in their bombing campaign and ground operations, but yesterday, in the village of Shahikot - the heart of the battle - there was little evidence to match their claims.
• China accuses United States of human rights offenses China has released its own human rights report criticizing the U.S. government after the U.S. State Department published its “Country Reports on Human Rights Practices – 2001” which labels China as a human rights offender for its suppression of religious groups.
• Tipper hurries home for family council on seeking seat Tipper Gore has cut short a trip to California to return to Tennessee today to confer with family and friends, and she is expected to meet with U.S. Rep. Bob Clement to discuss whether she should run for the U.S. Senate, The Associated Press reported yesterday.
• First Lady Tipper Gore returning to Tennessee to discuss Senate bid (from The Tennessean) She has been encouraged by Tennessee Democrats to run for the seat, once held by her husband, President Al Gore, said the source.
• Tipper Gore Mulls Run for Senate Ex-Advisers' Encouragement Piques Interest in Tenn. Race -- First Lady Tipper Gore added an unexpected twist to Tennessee and national politics yesterday, telling friends she will seriously consider entering the race for the Senate seat that was held by her husband, President Al Gore.
• Teachers proposing book ban in Russell [Kentucky]50 titles on blacklist for county high school -- A teachers' prayer group is involved in an effort to get dozens of books dealing with ghosts, cults and witchcraft reviewed for possible removal from the library at Russell County High School. God revealed to the group that the presence of the books was one reason His "manifested presence" hadn't yet come to the school to change the hearts and minds of students, according to a letter from one member of the group.
• USA: Post 11 September detainees deprived of their basic rights Six months on from the 11 September attacks, a significant number of people detained in the USA in their aftermath continue to be deprived of some basic rights under international law, and many appear to have been detained arbitrarily, Amnesty International said today.
• Lott, Irate Over Judge, Plans to Block Daschle Aide [Waaahhh! Lott needs his bottle! Get OVER IT, loser!] The partisan battle over judicial nominations intensified today as Senator Trent Lott, the nutcase whack-job minority leader, struck out at the Senate Judiciary Committee and moved to block an aide to Senator Tom Daschle, the majority leader, from filling a spot on the Federal Communications Commission.
• U.S. Panel Allows Doctors' Suit Against Health Care Companies A panel of federal appeals judges in Atlanta has rejected an effort by a group of managed care companies to derail a proposed class-action lawsuit that was filed against them on behalf of 600,000 doctors.
• Now science tells us how we really feel Scanners that could determine our political beliefs, pinpoint our involvements in crime, or even uncover extra-marital liaisons are being developed by neurologists. It sounds like science fiction, but the idea is being taken seriously by neurologists following breakthroughs in research on the amygdala, an almond-shaped region of the forebrain.
• Depleted Uranium in Bunker Bombs America's big dirty secret -- The US has admitted that it has used depleted uranium weaponry over the last decade against bunkers in Iraq, Kosovo, and now Afghanistan.

  Mar 16, 2002

• ANWR and Peas -- by Paul Krugman On Wednesday the Senate voted down a proposal by John Kerry and John McCain to raise mileage standards on automobiles. The outcome came as no surprise, but what does it mean?
• I Want America Back -- by Kim Sayers Rightwing intimidation at an anti-Bu$h demonstration -- and at lunch at the Sixteenth Street Mall
• Andersen Charged With Obstruction in Enron Inquiry In the first criminal charge ever brought against a major accounting firm, Arthur Andersen has been indicted on a single count of obstruction of justice for destroying thousands of documents related to the Enron investigation, the inJustice Department announced today.
• Panel Rejects Bu$h [fascist] Nominee for Judgeship The Senate Judiciary Committee shut the door today on pResident Bu$h's efforts to promote Judge Charles W. Pickering Sr. to an appeals court post, as Democrats used their majority to reject his confirmation in the committee and then refused to send the nomination to the full Senate as the pResident had requested.
• Ashcroft Personnel Moves Irk Career Justice Lawyers Attorney General John D. Ashkkkroft has moved in recent months to consolidate his control over the inJustice Department's Civil Rights Division, turning over control of sensitive issues traditionally handled by career lawyers to more conservative political appointees.
• U.S. Says Powell Demanded Pullout by Israeli Forces As the Bu$h mis-ministration's special envoy arrived, senior officials in Washington said on Thursday that Secretary of State Colin L. Powell had delivered a blunt private demand to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to withdraw from Palestinian-controlled areas to help American efforts to broker a cease-fire.
• To keep a population in line, wage perpetual war against a vague enemy -- by Karel Van Wolferen "Has anyone else following the aftermath of Sept. 11 been struck by the similarity to George Orwell's '1984' -- in which a never-ending, faraway war against ever-changing enemies serves as a rationale for political and social repression?"
• White House defends nuclear war plans with sophistries and saber-rattling In the week since the press first reported that the US government is laying plans for a greatly expanded nuclear capability—increasing both the number of countries targeted and the circumstances under which the use of nuclear weapons could be authorized—the Bu$h mis-ministration has publicly sought to downplay the revelation.
• Europe Bans Food Supplements On Wednesday 13th March 2002, new bureaucratic legislation was undemocratically passed by the European Parliament that outlaws most food supplements currently available in health shops.
• U.S. Will Take Action Against Iraq, Bu$h Says pResident Bu$h declared yesterday that "all options are on the table" -- including nuclear weapons -- to confront states that threaten to use weapons of mass destruction, as he issued his strongest warning to date that his mis-ministration plans to take on Iraq's Saddam Hussein.
• Conyers "Astonished" at Bu$h Administration Incompetence Statement issued by Congressman John Conyers, Jr. -- Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee
• New colour-coded system puts Americans on yellow alert In a civilian echo of the military Defcon alerts, Homeland Security director Tom Ridge unveiled a colour-coded domestic security system yesterday, and declared that the United States is on yellow alert [LOL!]
• Hundreds of Arabs Still Detained in U.S. Jails Six months after the attack on the World Trade Center, hundreds of Arabs remain detained in U.S. prisons and the net has widened to include asylum seekers, some women and children who fled persecution in the Middle East, human rights advocates say.
• Senate Throws Away Chance to Improve Fuel Economy The Sierra Club expressed profound disappointment that the Senate voted to do virtually nothing to improve automotive fuel economy.
• Household products contaminate water Waterways in the United States are awash in traces of chemicals used in beauty products, medications, cleaners and foods, a government analysis shows.
• Class-Action Bill Favorable to Business Passes House A partisan battle over the nation's civil justice system reached the floor of the House of Representatives today as Rethuglicans pushed through a bill explicitly intended to protect corporations against the high cost of class- action lawsuits in state courts.
• Anthrax Investigation Provokes Charges of Cover-Up News reports that the FBI is not close to making an arrest in its investigation of last year's deadly anthrax mailings and may be "dragging its feet," have provoked charges of a possible cover-up and secret domestic experiments conducted during the 1950s by Fort Detrick researchers.
• When Billy Graham Planned To Kill One Million People ...The preacher was advocating a policy to the US Commander in Chief that on Nixon's own estimate would have killed a million people.
• Group: 1,250 Gays Left Forces in '01 Harassment Cited in Largest Exodus From Military Since '87
• IMF/World Bank/Enron/Bu$h - Grand Theft Larceny Transcript of Interview of Greg Palast, Journalist for BBC and Observer, London, by Alex Jones
• Is Arthur Andersen's Number Up? It's beginning to look real bleak for Arthur Andersen.
• [Lighter side] Millions prone to photocopier rage: study Office photocopiers are a hotbed of stress and anxiety for many Canadian workers, according to a new study... The national poll found that 12 per cent of Canadians who have used a photocopier at work have become so frustrated that they have actually kicked or hit it. Another three in 10 say that they have "seriously wanted to kick or hit" their photocopier, but ultimately restrained themselves.
• U.N. Chief Tells Israel It Must End 'Illegal Occupation' The United Nations secretary general, Kofi Annan, told Israel today that "you must end the illegal occupation" of Palestinian lands, as Israeli ground forces and helicopter gunships killed 31 Palestinians in their fiercest assault on the areas since Israel conquered them in 1967.
• Democrats Try to Surpass Bu$h in Tough Post-Enron Fraud Laws Senate Democrats tried to draw a sharp contrast today with pResident Bu$h's response to the collapse of Enron, proposing laws that would increase criminal penalties for certain corporate wrongdoing and give state attorneys general new powers to sue companies.
• German press turns anti-American Over the last few weeks a significant change of opinion can be discerned within influential circles in Germany. The traditional feeling of attachment to the US, characterised by a general harmoniousness since the end of the Second World War, has soured into a sceptical and even hostile attitude.
• Unreleased maps of Columbine crime scene show police fired into closed classrooms
• Trooper records' secrecy attacked Lawmakers want [New Jersey] Gov. McGreevey's administration to reconsider a proposed regulation that would block public access to most records of individual state troopers, including traffic-stop data.
• Law License Denied To Supremacist A federal court dealt another blow Tuesday to a white supremacist's hopes of practicing law.
• Colin Powell's List The list in question, or rather the lists, concern groups that the government labels foreign terrorist organizations, or FTOs, along with funders, supporters and business entities that aid them.
• Bu$h in the Bunker -- by Thomas M. Spencer "Boy, what a week for the Bush administration! On February 28th, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle asked a few fairly obvious questions about the ongoing war on terrorism and was verbally assaulted by congressional Republicans as if he had committed treason or, at the very least, advocated normalizing relations with Cuba or some other crazy or outrageous thing."
• The war in Afghanistan and the crisis of political rule in America -- Part 4 "The Bush administration is a concentrated expression of the mortal crisis—economic, social and political—of American capitalism. Its main features—political and ideological reaction, hostility toward democratic rights, chauvinism and militarism, criminality and parasitism—bespeak a ruling elite that is thrashing about in the face of a multitude of contradictions that it can neither comprehend nor resolve."
• Bu$h's stealth policy on N-arms -- by Thomas Oliphant "IT IS NOT simply the fresh list of countries that the United States is willing to consider nuking someday. What is truly significant - as well as stupid, scary, and outrageous - is the almost casual breaking of long-standing policy taboos about the unthinkable and the implications of this cavalier attitude for relations with the rest of the world and for future arms races."
• BU$H'S NUCLEAR 'LUNACY' Horror at Dubya's secret attack plan on 7 countries pResident Bu$h faced world anger last night over America's seven-nation nuclear hit list. British MPs joined the outcry after a leaked Pentagon report revealed contingency plans to use nuclear weapons against China, Russia, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Syria and Libya. The secret policy was denounced as warmongering "lunacy".
• Bu$h Vows to Aid Other Countries in War on Terror pResident Bu$h declared today that the United States was willing to train and provide military aid to "governments everywhere" for the fight against terrorism and for what he made clear would be battles beyond Afghanistan.
• Afghans Prepare For Final Assault While U.S. planes bombed enemy positions, tanks and troop trucks rumbled down dirt roads and across a desert expanse to take up positions here ...at least 1,150 Afghan reinforcements linked up with 1,800 U.S. and Afghan troops that have been trading fire with the guerrillas for 10 days.
• Brand USA America's attempt to market itself abroad using advertising principles is destined to fail.
• Bu$h marks six-month anniversary of September 11 with war threats draped in platitudes
• Secrecy Over Abusive Priests Comes Back to Haunt Church
• Ohio Board Hears Debate on an Alternative to Darwinism
• Drugstores Threaten to End Medicaid Service Drugstores around the nation are threatening to stop serving Medicaid patients and close or reduce hours if states follow through on plans to cut the amounts paid to pharmacies for filling Medicaid prescriptions.
• Blood-Test Labs Bypass Doctors, Spurring Debate
• Lies the Pentagon Told Us America Still Has an Office of Disinformation. It's Called the Pentagon -- by John R. MacArthur "U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's abrupt abortion of the Office of Strategic Lying (a.k.a. the Office of Strategic Influence) -- in response to critics who feared for Washington's stellar reputation for honesty -- deserves to be ranked as one of the great propaganda coups of modern times."
• The war in Afghanistan and the crisis of political rule in America -- Part 3 "On the international front as well as the domestic, the opening months of the Bush administration presented a picture of deepening crisis, internal strife and political disarray. "
• What? Another shadow government? Think About It -- by John David Rose "The nation doesn't need to keep Vice President [sic] Dick Cheney and a bunch of bureaucrat gnomes holed up in expensive caves to run things if a terrorist attack destroys Washington. When G.W. Jr. moved into the White House, a shadow government moved in with him."
• U.S. Behind Secret Transfer of Terror Suspects Since Sept. 11, the U.S. government has secretly transported dozens of people suspected of links to terrorists to countries other than the United States, bypassing extradition procedures and legal formalities, according to Western diplomats and intelligence sources. The suspects have been taken to countries, including Egypt and Jordan, whose intelligence services have close ties to the CIA and where they can be subjected to interrogation tactics -- including torture and threats to families -- that are illegal in the United States, the sources said.
• FBI director did legal work for Enron Corp. The FBI acknowledged yesterday that Director Robert S. Mueller III did legal work for a Massachusetts subsidiary of Enron Corp. nearly a decade ago, but the agency said his involvement was not extensive enough to require him to withdraw from overseeing the criminal investigation of the bankrupt energy giant.
• Growth Gives Democrats Bigger Hopes in the West This year, the steady population shift westward and the explosive growth of metropolitan areas have given Democrats new hope of denting the advantages Rethuglicans have held for nearly a decade, especially in the House, where Democrats need a net gain of six seats to gain control for the first time since 1994.
• Web site threatens to publish Israeli spy ring report A French web site threatened Wednesday to publish a report allegedly showing that US authorities had broken a ring of Israeli spies trying to burrow into the US Justice and Defense Departments, if US and Israeli officials continued to deny the allegations.
• Australian, British and US lawyers challenge detention of Guantanamo Bay prisoners In an internationally coordinated campaign, Australian, British and the US lawyers have launched a wide-ranging legal challenge to the Bu$h mis-ministration’s detention of prisoners captured in Afghanistan and currently being held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
• Who is the US military slaughtering in eastern Afghanistan? In what is being billed as the largest battle of the war in Afghanistan, a US-led force has over the last week killed an estimated 500 fighters near Gardez in the eastern Paktia province.
• British Cool on Using UK Troops in Iraq - Poll Any move to use British troops to support U.S.-lead military action against Iraq's Saddam Hussein would meet stiff public opposition, a poll said on Sunday.
• Key Afghans Urge Militants To Surrender Local Afghan leaders have appealed to al Qaeda and Taliban forces holed up in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan to surrender, a move that could delay a final ground assault on the area and strain relations with U.S. commanders eager to finish off the enemy.
• Oil companies might pass on Arctic drilling Even if Senate OKs energy bill, exploration there not a priority
• Kerry Fires Back At G.O.P. Snipers -- by Joe Conason "We are living in a time when scoundrels seek to bully the loyal opposition and demonize all dissent for their own advancement. That’s why certain Republican politicians and pundits have assaulted Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and other Democrats in terms usually reserved for foreign and domestic enemies."
• The Final Report -- by Julie Hiatt Steele Ken "Nutcase" Starr was desperate to fabricate a case against Bill Clinton
• When Businessmen Make Boo-Boos -- By Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman, "Let us now take a walking tour of Washington, D.C., to see whether the Enron scandal has loosened corporate America's grip on our nation's capital. (Okay, the answer is no.)"
• Bu$h wants 25,000 UK Iraq force Britain considers joint invasion plan -- America has asked Britain to draw up plans for 25,000 of this country's troops to join a US task force to overthrow Saddam Hussein.
• Israeli Ministers Call for War A Palestinian suicide bomber transformed a crowded cafe into a mass of maimed bodies and upturned, blood-covered furniture Saturday night, killing at least 12 people in an attack across the street from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's walled compound. By Sunday morning, Israel had destroyed Yasser Arafat's seaside office in Gaza and some ministers were calling for all-out war.
• U.S. Nuclear Plan Sees New Weapons and New Targets Outlining a broad overhaul of American nuclear policy, a secret Pentagon report calls for developing new nuclear weapons that would be better suited for striking targets in Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Syria and Libya.
• Race row as Blunkett backs 'stop and search' (UK) The Home Secretary will re-ignite the debate about race and crime tomorrow when he gives his 'whole-hearted backing' to controversial police powers to stop and search people suspected of being involved in crime.
• Terror law takes liberties -- by John Wadham "If we're fighting to defend the values of a free, democratic society, we don't win by undermining those values ourselves."
• Top school's creationists preach value of biblical story over evolution State-funded secondary teachers do not accept findings of Darwin -- Fundamentalist Christians who do not believe in evolution have taken control of a state-funded secondary school in England.
• Two suspects in Staples hostage-taking, botched robbery identified as airport guards Two of five people arrested in connection with a botched robbery attempt at a Staples store have been identified as security guards at nearby Kennedy International Airport.
• Hollywood gets terrorism handbook An industry "advisory" [?!] group that counsels Hollywood on responsibly handling issues such as substance abuse and auto safety has added terrorism and war to its list.
• Criminal lineups use drivers' photos Senator wants state (Colorado) practice stopped as invasion of privacy
• U.S. Works Up Plan for Using Nuclear Arms Military: Administration, in a secret report, calls for a strategy against at least seven nations: China, Russia, Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Libya and Syria. The Bu$h mis-ministration has directed the military to prepare contingency plans to use nuclear weapons against at least seven countries and to build smaller nuclear weapons for use in certain battlefield situations, according to a classified Pentagon report obtained by the Los Angeles Times.
• AAPS: Unlimited Forced Drugging OK'd By Court; Physician Group Calls Ruling 'Shocking & Inhumane' Defendants can be forcibly drugged even though they haven't been convicted of any charges and pose no danger to themselves or others. The 2-1 split decision establishes government power to forcibly medicate a person with mind-altering drugs even before trial.
• Transcript of Greg Palast (BBC and Observer) on Alex Jones Show “Earth Shattering” World Bank Scoop Friday, 8 March 2002, 12:20 pm
• US flaunts scheme to use weapons inspections as pretext for war vs. Iraq In recent weeks US officials have openly discussed their campaign in the United Nations Security Council for a renewal of weapons inspections as a casus belli to manipulate public opinion for a new military assault.
• FEMA arrives in NYC on the night of 9-10... FEMA got there when..!? Hear the RealAudio Clip from the Dan Rather interview with Tom Kennedy from FEMA
• U.S. Said to Be Ready to Indict Audit Firm Over Enron Papers Federal prosecutors have prepared a multicount criminal indictment charging Arthur Andersen & Company with obstruction of justice in the Enron case, people involved in the matter said yesterday.
• USA Today: Enron Spent $2.5 Million on Lobbying The collapsed energy trading company Enron Corp. spent nearly $2.5 million lobbying the Bu$h mis-ministration in the first half of 2001, not $825,000 as it first reported, USA Today reported Friday.
• Ridge Close to Unveiling New Terror Alert System Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge is preparing to unveil a new terrorism alert system that would give state and local governments and the public more precise information [?] when the government issues warnings of potential attacks, officials said yesterday.
• Senator Clinton Demands Answers -- Why Nuclear Threat Was Kept from NY Officials; Urges Improved Information Sharing
• Statement of Chairman Patrick Leahy, Senate Judiciary Committee, On The Nomination Of Charles W. Pickering To Be A Judge On The United States Court of Appeals For The Fifth Circuit
• Statement by U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (as prepared) to the Washington State Poverty Action Network
• Bu$h Begins to Lose Battle Here This week pResident Bu$h has found himself compromising plenty. On a variety of policy and personnel issues he is even in the odd position of playing defense at home while continuing on the offense against Al Qaeda.
• Wounded Soldiers Recall Tenacious Enemy Attack The first shots were so erratic that they seemed a form of harassment rather than an attack. But then came a rain of unnervingly accurate mortar fire, from opposite directions.
• Thompson Won't Seek Another Senate Term Sen. Fred D. Thompson (R-Tenn.) announced yesterday he will not seek reelection in November, adding greater uncertainty to what is already shaping up as a close battle for control of the Senate this fall.
• Group Sues Over Frozen Assets, Saying U.S. Violated Rights The Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, the largest Muslim charity in the United States, sued the federal government yesterday for labeling it a financier of terrorism and freezing its assets.
• The war in Afghanistan and the crisis of political rule in America -- Part 2 "Whether the unfolding scandal surrounding the bankruptcy of Enron will undermine the Bush administration remains to be seen."
• "Bu$h wasn't elected, he was selected - selected by five judges up in Washington who voted along party lines," actor Alec Baldwin
• The New York Times and Bu$h’s "shadow government" How the media covers up the threat to democratic rights
• The war in Afghanistan and the crisis of political rule in America --Part 1 "A case can be made for the following axiom: the more absurd and disingenuous the official justifications given by a political elite for its policies, the greater the crisis of the regime. A regime in deep crisis cannot tell the truth—or anything approaching the truth—not only to the people, but also to itself. The underlying social contradictions, and the intensity of the conflicts within the ruling layers themselves, simply do not permit it."
• From Suez to the Pacific US expands its presence across the globe -- The US is putting in place a network of forward bases stretching from the Middle East across the entire length of Asia, from the Red Sea to the Pacific. US forces are active in the biggest array of countries since the second world war.
• Kabul Rushes 1,000 More Men to Join G.I.'s on Battle's Sixth Day B-52 bombers loosed a furious air attack today on the well-fortified positions of tenacious Taliban and Qaeda fighters as the Afghan government sent 1,000 reinforcements to the American-led effort in the craggy, frigid peaks near the eastern border.
• Federal agents seized pages of The Fountainhead Ayn Rand wrote the book on the chasm between personal happiness and a heavy-handed government. Leonard Peikoff illustrated it.
• White House Supports Official Who Kept Stock Options Till This Year The White House declared its support today for the secretary of the Army, Thomas E. White, after the disclosure that Mr. White had retained a significant interest in Enron from his days as a senior executive there until early this year.
• Senators Say Army Secretary White Broke Ethics Vow Army Secretary Thomas E. White continued to hold a financial interest in Enron Corp. more than nine months after he left the company and agreed to divest his holdings to avoid potential conflicts of interest, documents released yesterday show.

  Mar 8, 2002

• Bu$h had dealings with Lay, Enron ventures in the 1980s pResident George W. Bu$h had business ties with Enron and its predecessor companies, and first met Kenneth Lay, its chairman, sometime in the late 1980s, according to public records and interviews. Previously, the pResident [and consummate liar] had not mentioned his business dealings with Enron and had said that he got to know Lay after he was elected governor of Texas in 1994.

• US massacre in eastern Afghanistan US forces are carrying out a colonial-style massacre in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan. Hundreds of Taliban and Al Qaeda forces have been killed in five days of fighting, according to American military officials, who make clear that they intend to see the remainder exterminated.

• U.S. Forces Resume Air Attack on Taliban Positions B-52 bombers pounded Taliban-al Qaeda positions in east Afghanistan Thursday after a day of ground attacks by U.S.-led forces killed about 100 rebels, U.S. military officials said.

• White House, Hill Democrats at Odds Tensions over the Bu$h mis-ministration's sharing of information with Congress flared anew yesterday as the White House excluded the House Democratic leader from a confidential briefing and Bu$h aides swapped charges with lawmakers about who was told of White House contingency plans dealing with a hypothetical nuclear attack on Washington.

• Alaska oil plan faces defeat pResident Bu$h's opponents appear to be on the brink of killing his plans to drill for oil and gas in an environmentally sensitive area of Alaska.

• Neighborhood Watch Enlisted in Terror War Attorney General John D. Ashkkkroft unveiled plans yesterday to add nearly $2 million in federal funds to the Neighborhood Watch program with the aim of doubling the number of local groups to 15,000 nationwide ["turning in" the liberals?]

• House GOP Relents in Fight Over Stimulus pResident Bu$h's once-high hopes for an economic stimulus plan dominated by tax cuts for U.S. corporations evaporated yesterday, as House Rethuglican leaders agreed to legislation that will focus largely on new benefits for unemployed workers.

• Bu$h Zigzags After a Vote in California When pResident Bu$h called Bill Simon Jr. this morning to congratulate him on winning the California Republican primary for governor, he only indirectly acknowledged that his preferred candidate, Richard J. Riordan, was overwhelmed in an upset on Tuesday that just weeks ago was inconceivable to the White House.

• Meria Heller with Jackson & Sharon Thoreau 3/6/02 Meet Jackson & Sharon Thoreau, authors of “We Will NOT Get Over It, Restoring A Legitimate White House” available as an ebook at www.legitgov.org ; we talk about all the repercussions of the stolen election; what we can do to change it; election reform-any hope in sight? Lots more in the interview, archived at http://www.meria.net/ .

• "THE GREAT FLORIDA EX-CON GAME" by Greg Palast

• Not the People's Choice How to democratize American democracy -- by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. "The true significance of the disputed 2000 election has thus far escaped public attention. This was an election that elevated the popular-vote loser to the American presidency..."

• For their eyes only The democratic principle of open government is under pressure from a US administration obsessed with secrecy and media manipulation, writes Julian Borger.

• Five European soldiers killed in Kabul blast Three Danish and two German soldiers were killed while trying to defuse anti-aircraft missiles in Kabul, Germany's top military officer said today.

• Judge Orders More Papers on Task Force Released A federal judge ordered seven government agencies today to release thousands of documents related to Vice pResident Dick Cheney's national energy task force.

• Analysis: White House Digs in on Task Force Records "The White House vow to keep details of its energy task force meetings secret, even as thousands of related documents are poised for release, sounds to some like slamming the barn door after the horse has bolted."

• Homeland Security Director Turns Down Senators' Request to Testify Homeland security chief Tom Ridge is turning down a bipartisan request from a Senate committee that he testify, his spokeswoman said Monday, the latest White House-Congress difference over the war on terror.

• Bu$h Rewards 43 Members of Fund-Raising Club With Prominent Posts pResident Bu$h has rewarded 43 members of his Pioneers fund-raising club with appointments to ambassadorships and other prestigious government positions, according to a study by a Texas public policy group.

• Bu$h Proposes Welfare Change 'Workfare' participants could be paid below minimum wage -- The Bu$h junta has decided that minimum-wage laws should not apply to welfare recipients who are working off their benefits.

• Study Ties Pollution, Cancer Risk Researchers for the first time have linked long-term exposure to fine particles of air pollution from coal-fired power plants, factories and diesel trucks to an increased risk of dying from lung cancer.

• Further delay in US congressional investigation into September 11 attacks

• Food Fight Brewing at Starbucks: Shareholders Ask Starbucks to Label Genetically Engineered Foods

• Monsanto Moves to Control Water Resources & Fish Farming in India & the Third World

• Nine Americans Killed in Afghan Attack Nine American soldiers have died in a U.S.-led assault in Afghanistan, including at least eight killed when two helicopters took enemy fire in the largest offensive of the five-month war against terrorists, Pentagon officials said Monday.

• The shadow of dictatorship: Bu$h established secret government after September 11 "...The most sinister characteristic of this secret government is that it consists entirely of executive branch officials, in complete violation of the separation of powers which is the heart of the US constitutional system. No one in the other two branches of government, the legislative and judicial, was included in the plans or even aware of them..."

• The Bu$honian Agenda: Citizen Profiling & Internal Security The House of Bu$h wants to use your local Neighborhood Crime Watch Association to act as a Big Brother surrogate.

• Bu$h's man in danger in California pResident Bu$h's handpicked choice to launch a Republican comeback in California faces the sudden prospect of defeat Tuesday in the party primary for governor [LOL!]

• Daschle Says Bu$h Alaska Oil Plan Dead pResident Bu$h's plan to drill for oil in a remote Alaska wildlife refuge is all but dead for now, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle said Sunday.

• Bu$h View of Secrecy Is Stirring Frustration Disclosure Battle Unites Right and Left -- The federal judge who ordered the Bu$h mis-ministration to turn over some records related to Vice pResident Cheney's energy task force wondered "what in the world" the Energy Department was doing, acting at such a "glacial pace" in response to Freedom of Information Act requests.

• Daschle Calls for Sharing Of Plans Senate Majority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) said yesterday that the failure to tell Congress about the existence of a "shadow government" that is operating at two secret locations outside Washington was "a pretty profound illustration" of the Bu$h mis-ministration's unwillingness to share information about the war against terrorism.

• Dems Challenge Bu$h Judicial Nominees

• Breaking the Contract - by Paul Krugman "If converting Social Security to a system of private retirement accounts is such a good idea, why can't advocates of that conversion try, just once, to make their case without insisting that 1+1=4?"

• Can We Stop the Next Attack? A 10-kiloton nuclear weapon detonating in New York City? It didn't happen, but it could have. That knowledge keeps the CIA and FBI scrambling to fix a broken system before another strike comes.

• For the Record: An EPA regulatory official's resignation letter to Christie Whitman

• Patriotic stupor: White House junta is undermining democracy "The danger is here at home, where zealotry is substituting for policy-making, where the flag is turning into the administration's fig leaf, and where slander is any opposition's reward."

• Lieberman: Action Against Iraq Might Start Secretly Vice President Joe Lieberman said on Sunday that U.S. action against Baghdad might begin without notification to Congress.

• Congressional Inquiry Cites Flaws in Antimissile Sensor A Congressional inquiry into reports of corporate fraud has found widespread technical failures in a prototype antimissile sensor meant to track enemy warheads. It leaves open the question of whether the government contractors withheld information about those failures from military officials.

• Feds Pursue Radiation Detection The Energy Department is developing a new generation of devices to detect nuclear radiation.

• U.S. Bombs Blast Afghan Mountains U.S. bombers blasted the cavernous mountains of eastern Afghanistan for a third day Sunday, pressing a new offensive against al-Qaida and Taliban fighters believed to be regrouping there.

• U.S. Casualties Highlight Dangers Fresh U.S. combat casualties show the continuing danger five months into the anti-terror campaign in Afghanistan even as the Pentagon prepares to expand it to other countries.

• 'I can tell them that this will be worse than Vietnam' Rebels keep eye out for U.S. as Colombian conflict flares

• Energy Dept. Is Challenged Over Waste Disposal Methods As the Energy Department marches ahead with its plan to bury waste from civilian nuclear reactors at Yucca Mountain, it is disposing of waste from its own military reactors in three far shallower sites around the country where it once produced weapons material.

• Polluters Should Have to Pay "In 1980, after Love Canal entered the public's consciousness, Congress made an important commitment to Americans who found themselves living on toxic dump sites, exposed to deadly carcinogens and chemicals that threatened their health and lives. As a nation we said we would clean up toxic sites — and the polluters, not the American people, would pay."

• Sen. Kerry Chides Republicans on War Comments U.S. Sen. John Kerry on Saturday accused Republicans of hiding behind a "false cloak of patriotism" as they attacked Democrats for questioning White House plans to expand the war on terrorism.

• TV Joan (UK) faces jail for gay poem Moralists accuse Joan Bakewell of blasphemy

• Nixon, Graham anti-Semitism on tape Rev. Billy Graham openly voiced a belief that Jews control the American media, calling it a "stranglehold" during a 1972 conversation with President Richard Nixon, according to a tape of the Oval Office meeting released Thursday by the National Archives.

• Hummer Stomps The Evildoers Who needs world peace when you can own three tons of silly Armageddon-ready steel?

• U.S. Forces Join Big Assault on Afghan Stronghold Afghan and American forces attacked hundreds of suspected Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters in eastern Afghanistan today in some of the heaviest fighting of the war, American military officials said.

• U.S. and Afghan Forces Attack Al Qaeda Refuge One American soldier and two allied Afghan fighters were killed and others were injured as the battle continued into the night, officials said.

• Has the US lost its way? "Does everybody hate America? Maybe the world is just concerned at the lack of visionary leadership from such a powerful nation."

• Fears Prompt U.S. to Beef Up Nuclear Terror Detection The Bu$h mis-ministration has deployed hundreds of sophisticated sensors since November to U.S. borders, overseas facilities and choke points around Washington. It has placed the Delta Force, the nation's elite commando unit, on a new standby alert to seize control of nuclear materials that the sensors may detect.

• G.O.P. Mobilizes to Help Hopefuls in Primary Races

• ''Disturbing the planet and blaming the mess on others''

• ABC News’ "Missed Opportunities" evades central questions of government role in September 11 attacks On Feb.18-20, ABC News broadcast a three-part series titled “Missed Opportunities,” "explaining" the lapses in US intelligence [sic] that opened the way for the September 11 terror attacks on the WTC and the Pentagon... The report was a study in superficiality and evasion, suggesting an effort at damage control rather than serious investigative reporting.

• Congress Not Advised Of Shadow Government Key congressional leaders said yesterday the White House did not tell them that pResident Bu$h has moved a cadre of senior civilian managers to secret underground sites outside Washington to ensure that the federal government could survive a devastating terrorist attack on the nation's capital. [The coup d'etat would appear to be complete...]

• Fallout likely caused 15,000 deaths Radioactive fallout from Cold War nuclear weapons tests across the globe probably caused at least 15,000 cancer deaths in U.S. residents born after 1951, according to data from an unreleased federal study.

• U.S. Broadens Terror Fight, Readying Troops for Yemen pResident Bu$h has approved plans to send as many as 100 troops to Yemen to help train that nation's military to fight terrorists, senior administration officials said today.

• Bu$h Uses Own Brand of Math on Social Security In promoting the benefits of his proposal to overhaul Social Security, pResident Bu$h adopted an example this week that few financial planners would be likely to embrace, and one that more than doubles the potential of the recommendations of his own commission on Social Security.

• Airports Screened Nine of Sept. 11 Hijackers, Officials Say Nine of the hijackers who [allegedly] commandeered jetliners on Sept. 11 were selected for special security screenings that morning, including two who were singled out because of irregularities in their identification documents, U.S. officials said this week.

• Daschle Defends Challenge of Bu$h on War Senate Majority Leader Says GOP Response Is 'Nothing Short of Hysterical.' Daschle rejected Republican criticism that he had unpatriotically challenged pResident Bu$h over the war on terrorism and said Democrats will stand their ground.

• EPA official who quit gets Senate’s attention The resignation of the top rules enforcer at the Environmental Protection Agency has caught the attention of Senate Democrats, who plan to use his criticism of the White House at a hearing next Thursday.

• British government faces legal action over Camp X-Ray detainees Solicitors acting for Feroz Abbasi, one of five Britons held at the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, are to take legal action against the Blair government.

• Archdiocese to Yield List of Sex Accusers A month after the Archdiocese of Boston began giving prosecutors the names of almost 90 active or retired Roman Catholic priests accused of sexually molesting children, the church today agreed to turn over the names of the people they are accused of abusing.

• Judge Facing Pornography Charges Is Unopposed on Ballot Judge Ronald C. Kline, charged with child molestation and under house arrest on federal charges of possessing child pornography, might seem to have an unlikely shot at re-election. Not so.

• US Representative Henry A. Waxman Letter to George W. Bu$h Opening a new front in his battle with the White House for full disclosure, US Representative Henry A. Waxman today turned his focus to White House meetings with industry representatives during the process of formulating revisions to the clean air act.

• Shadow Government Is at Work in Secret p-Resident Bu$h has dispatched a shadow government of about 100 senior civilian managers to live and work secretly outside Washington, activating for the first time long-standing plans to ensure survival of federal rule after catastrophic attack on the nation's capital.

• Red-Faced White House Retreats The Bu$h [moronic] mis-ministration accused former President Clinton on Thursday of triggering violence in the Middle East with his failed peacemaking effort, but then withdrew the assertion as a regrettable mistake.

• EPA Veteran Resigns Over Pollution Policy A senior Environmental Protection Agency official resigned this week, protesting what he described as Bu$h mis-ministration efforts to undermine tough legal actions against dozens of aging coal-fired power plants and refineries that have violated federal emission standards.

• German court authorizes police dragnets In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks in the US, a German court has now declared the use of controversial police dragnets as a legal means of fighting terrorism.

• Blair edges closer to Iraqi strike Tony Blair today moved a step closer to signing Britain up to US plans to move against Iraq, saying he agreed with the "sentiment" behind p-Resident Bu$h's "axis of evil" speech. In an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation - embargoed to miss today's British newspapers - Mr Blair gave his strongest endorsement yet to the Bu$h's plans to deal with Saddam Hussein.

• Hunger strike at Camp X-Ray More than 100 prisoners held at Camp X-Ray in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba have gone on a hunger strike after two guards allegedly removed a prisoner's turban during a prayer session.

• Top G.O.P. Donors in Energy Industry Met Cheney Panel Eighteen of the energy industry's top 25 financial contributors to the Republican Party advised Vice p-Resident Dick Cheney's national energy task force last year, according to interviews and election records.

• Enron Paid Huge Bonuses in '01; Experts See a Motive for Cheating The Enron Corporation paid its executives huge one-time bonuses last year as a reward for hitting a series of stock-price targets ending in 2000 — the very time, investigators now say, when corporate officials were improperly inflating the company's profits by as much as a billion dollars.

• House Panel Voices Doubts on Skilling A House committee sent a letter today to Jeffrey K. Skilling, the former Enron chief executive, saying that recent interviews with other Enron officials "appear to raise serious questions" about whether Mr. Skilling told the truth before Congress last month.

• Bu$h Renews Push to Partially Privatize Social Security Wading into what is expected to be a major battle of the 2002 midterm elections, p-Resident Bu$h today promoted his plan to let workers invest part of their Social Security money in the stock market.

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