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Video: Alternative
Views
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Censured Casualties
features rare footage
of war crimes against the Iraqi people suffered during
and after the Gulf War. The footage is from former Attorney
General Ramsey
Clark in his attempt to document the injustice
of United States military actions in the region.
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Video: Alternative
Views
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Another Unknown
War
features a film on the
struggle of the indigenous people of West Papua to remain
sovereign in the face of an Indonesian invasion backed
by world capital. Footage of Noam
Chomsky on Western involvments in the region and
the relation to East Timor.
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Doug's New Books & Related
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TV/Radio
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Saturday, August 31, 2002
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Earth Summit Protest Updates
Richard Kahn reports:
Just saw CNN graphic describing numbers of protesters as "well below expected"...but they didn't commit to any numbers.
It's aggravating that with all the extant technology that we're still left trying to decipher competing reports from various media sources -- all of which serve some interest right?
I tend to believe the reports coming in from the ground over the CNN figures -- which in my opinion are always greatly deflated. For the WTO
protest in Manhattan post-9/11 for instance, CNN reported a few thousand but people on the ground reported the area covered by the protest and correctly surmised that it had to be tens of thousands at least.
Has anyone written on how the major media reports (or fails to report) on protest activity? Re: democracy this is especially suspect I think!
Anyhow, I've put in questions to try and get updates from press people there about what the reality is...they're saying at least 30,000 so
far -- up to 50. I'm trying to confirm...
****
Another Kahn posting:
South African Press Association has the figures at about 30,000, with 10,000 starting from Alexandria and 20,000 more gathering with them
along the way for the 2nd protest that began later in the afternoon.
The initial protest was apparently slow to start and became dispersed when the various groups couldn't decide who should lead the assembly and in-fighting began, but then they coalesced as the march moved along. Large palestinian presence.
******
Today's demonstrations are over -- no violence reported. The long walk and the hot day seemed to tire most of the protesters by the time they
reached the convention center to be met by heavy security.
Apparently, the police also kept many of the various factions separated and so a larger grouping was prevented from forming. This helped
control energies and also kept the look of the total numbers down for press shots.
It looks like a successful peaceful protest of between 20-30k is the reality. The media are reporting privately that they are unhappy b/c they wanted a riot.
Another big protest to add to the list, but nothing apparently special about this one save its location...
*****
A few different on site sources were reporting that in the entourage of media, fans, etc. that is running from place to place at the event -- sort of like a Cannes film festival -- that reporters for both small and large media venues were "disappointed" that no significant riots ensued and that they didn't have a more major story to report, then they went running off to the "next new thing" trying to scoop each other per usual.
Some demonstrators ALSO must have been upset that more violence didn't erupt -- at least some posts to the Indymedia network were earlier encouraging a violent demonstration and radical socialist groups in the area were using language this past week such as "smash the convention," "take the convention" and in one case even "destroy". But the environmentalists on hand, I don't think, would have had much interest in that b/c even though the Bush camp has labeled radical environmentalists "eco-terrorists," they don't advocate violent exchange
with the state as a form of political transformation. Further, as we've seen in Calgary, New York, Washington D.C., etc. etc., most of the
protesters intend peaceful demonstration as a rule anyhow.
Signing off on this story!
Richard
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Earth Summit Update
Richard Kahn reports:
Word is that upwards of 50,000 people are protesting and have marched on to the convention center from the slums. The center is heavily
fortified. The pace is quickening...
RK
JOHANNESBURG Summit disarray as EU officials walk out; revanchist "Rio Minus 10"
(UK) Times. 31 August 2002. Summit disarray as EU officials walk out.
JOHANNESBURG -- The Earth Summit in Johannesburg approached collapse yesterday when European Union officials walked out of talks after failure to agree with the United States on the 14 pivotal issues, and the coalition of charities involved in the negotiations pulled out.
Tempers among delegations were fraying last night, and there was growing speculation that the summit was in peril.
Developing nations said that they would prefer not to sign any accord rather than agree to what was on offer.
Charities said that the agreement being negotiated was a step backwards, and urged European governments not to sign.
No agreement has been reached on any of the central issues, including access to sanitation, boosting renewable energy, protecting wildlife,
reducing farm subsidies in the developed world, climate change, ensuring that trade and globalisation do not put poor countries at a
disadvantage, and improving human rights.
Increases in aid and debt relief have been ruled out.
****Even principles agreed at the Rio Earth summit ten years ago -- such as that rich countries have more responsibility to tackle global
environment problems than poor ones -- may be dropped in the face of bitter American opposition.****
The only firm agreements reached are to stop over-fishing and the banning of toxic chemicals, but the wordings used are so qualified with
phrases such as "if possible" that the agreements are increasingly seen as meaningless.
The Eco-Equity Coalition, a group of charities including Oxfam and the World Wide Fund for Nature that are involved directly in the negotiations, wrote a letter to ministers explaining their withdrawal: "Although designed and billed as a conference that would serve to put
sustainable development at the heart of international governance, we must squarely face the fact that, overall, no significant progress has
been made -- especially when it is held up to the urgent needs of poverty reduction and environmental protection."
Tony Juniper, director-designate of Friends of the Earth said: "Most of these talks are simply going backwards. Key pledges have been made
meaningless by weasel words. ***Governments can't even agree to reaffirm the principles of the Rio Summit*** ten years ago. This summit could easily be remembered as Rio minus ten rather than Rio plus ten."
Barry Coates, of the World Development Movement, said that if the agreement was not improved, it should not be signed.
"There has been an abject failure of vision. As things stand, not one person's life or the environment will be improved. A bad agreement is as
much a step backwards as no agreement at all."
Victor Menotti, of the International Forum on Globalisation, a US pressure group, said:
"Americans wonder why the world hates us, but the US is arrogant, bullying, selfish, not accepting we're part of the problem. George Bush is unravelling things that even his father agreed ten years ago."
DK responds: I saw Bill Moyers PBS show Now! last night that had a panel of some of the best anti-corporate globalization voices with a vast array of rightwing ideologues who were truly disgusting, raising the question why should Moyers allow completely discredited pro-market ideologues to spout their views. Look at the economy and what deregulation has brought and its the same or worst with the environment--go to Richard Kahn's site for documentation. One of the participants in the Moyers show indicated that the conference center was highly fortified with a vast array of military forces so it is unlikely that demonstrators will get too close but we'll see what happens as the day unfolds.
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Los Angeles Times Iraq Debate
Submitted by Ray McInnis
Review by Doyle McManus and Robin Wright (la times) of the ongoing
public debate among Republicans of whether invading Iraq is the right
thing to do. Robin Wright, respected specialist in Middle Eastern
affairs, is not in byline, but is credited in sources.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/la-fg-usiraq28aug28005046.story?coll=la%2Dnews%2Dpolitics%2Dnational
DK responds: The Los Angeles Times is surprisingly good at having a wide array of opinion and debate on key issues and also has a lot of coverage of Middle East and Terror War issues. Yet it is highly curious that a ferocious debate over Iraq is going on when there is no rational pretense for war except that the rightwing of the Bush administration says they want war! The debate is healthy, however, rapidly eroding support for the Bush Iraq hawks with almost everyone in the world coming out strongly against an US attack on Iraq. If Bush does it, the US is a rogue nation and will pay big-time, demonstrating the costs of Bush administration unilateralism. On the other hand, the obsessive focus on Iraq is deflecting attention from Bush-Cheney corporate scandals, the sorry state of the economy, the erosion of civil liberties and the other rotten fruits of Bush-Cheney politics.
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Friday, August 30, 2002
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MadKane Song
Madeleine Kane, a great political satirist, check out her site and her ongoing Dubya's Diary, sends BlogLeft a song=
I enjoy your blog and thought you might like my latest song parody. (Dubya's so enthused about attacking Iraq, he's even written a song about it.)
Iraq, Iraq (To be sung to "New York, New York" from "On The Town")
Iraq, Iraq, I refuse to back down.
Most hawks say yup, but some others just frown.
Hussein belongs in a hole in the ground.
Iraq, Iraq, I refuse to back down
The evil places to target are so many,
Or so my staffers say.
I promised Poppy I wouldn't miss on any,
Cause Saddam's got to pay.
Gonna bomb the whole town.
I'll vanquish that clown, I do pray.
Without delay!
Iraq, Iraq, it's an oil lovers place,
I'll give high-fives when I've conquered that space.
Big bucks are there to be taken posthaste.
Iraq, Iraq, it's an oil lovers place.
The rest is here:
http://www.madkane.com/notable08_02b.html
Have a great Labor Day weekend!
Mad Kane
Madeleine Begun Kane, Humor Columnist
http://www.madkane.com
http://www.madkane.com/notable.html (Weblog)
http://www.madkane.com/bush.html (Dubya's Dayly Diary)
Subscribe to MadKane Humor Newsletter (weekly) here:
http://www.madkane.com/email.html
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U.S. Backs Increase in Peacekeepers for Afghanistan
This is about ten months too late, but better late than never. Since November when the Taliban collapsed the British, Europeans, Afghans, and others begged the US to support UN and other global security forces throughout Afghanistan. The US refused on the grounds it was fighting Al Qaeda and didn't want any interference or hindrance to its efforts, finally relenting early in the year to allow global security forces to patrol and stabilize Kabul. For months, the Afghan government and almost everyone in the world begged the Bush administration to support security forces throughout the country but they resisted until today-- although this story indicates it may not happen for months....
U.S. Backs Increase in Peacekeepers for Afghanistan
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Bush Seeks to Repeal Crucial Environmental Law, Says It Needs "Modernization"
Washington D.C. -- The Bush administration is reviewing a landmark environmental law both reviled and praised because it requires lengthy studies before foresters cut a tree or developers start to dig.
White House officials say they want to modernize the 32-year-old law they blame for bureaucratic gridlock, but environmentalists fear it's a move to roll back crucial protections.
"Given this administration's past record on the environment, it's hard to imagine they are up to any good," said Maria Weidner of Earthjustice, an environmental law firm and advocacy group.
At issue is the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA. Signed by President Nixon in 1970, the law requires developers, loggers, and others to describe in detail the impact a proposed project will have on the environment and come up with measures to minimize them.
A typical environmental impact statement includes detailed analysis by several federal agencies and extensive public comment.
Environmentalists consider it a fundamental law and rely on it to limit development on public land and block projects that threaten endangered species, including the spotted owl and steelhead trout.
Critics say the law has burgeoned into a swamp of regulations and logistical hoops that stall federal action for years at a time.
"The simple fact is, [NEPA] has been used and abused by those who want to obstruct activities" such as logging in national forests, said Chris West, vice president of the American Forest Resource Council, a timber industry group.
"As more and more agencies can weigh in and make stipulations and requirements, the process in many cases has become much more costly and has proved to be an obstacle to development," said Darren McKinney, spokesman for the National Association of Manufacturers.
The review was launched last month by the White House Council on Environmental Quality, which says the law needs to be updated after three decades of being essentially unchanged. A nine-member task force is accepting public comment through Sept. 23 and expects to issue a report by early next year.
"We're not out to gut" the law, task force director Horst Greczmiel said. "We're out there to try to make it better. In common parlance, we want to cut the fat if there's fat out there and we want to beef up the beef."
 Environmentalists are not convinced. They point to the president's Aug. 22 proposal to step up logging in national forests to prevent wildfires as an example of the kind of changes the administration wants to pursue under a watered-down NEPA. A key element of the plan would make it more difficult for environmentalists to appeal federal decisions that allow logging.
Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, a Democrat, pushed a similar measure in July to exempt some logging in his home state of South Dakota from the law to prevent wildfires. Republicans are seizing on Daschle's maneuver to underscore the need for change.
Environmentalists also worry about a recent Justice Department decision that NEPA and other U.S. environmental laws do not apply in waters more than three miles (five kilometers) off U.S. shores. The policy would give less protection to whales, dolphins, and other marine life, environmentalists say. It also could bar lawsuits such as one recently filed over the Navy's use of ocean sonar, which environmentalists say can harm some marine mammals.
"On every level in every area they are taking steps backward instead of forward," said Weidner, citing administration proposals to roll back protections for some endangered species, increase use of public lands and change clean air and water standards.
While the forest plan has attracted more media attention, the NEPA review is potentially even farther reaching, environmentalists say.
"Efforts to waive laws like NEPA are particularly egregious," said Amy Mall, a forest policy specialist for the Natural Resources Defense Council. "NEPA was intended to ... balance competing public needs by increasing public input."
But some Western lawmakers call the review long overdue.
Idaho Republican Sen. Larry Craig said he hopes the task force "will bring some sanity and common sense back to the process." Environmental review has "come to represent nothing but gridlock in the West," he added.
Environmentalists are gearing up for a fight.
"More people than ever before care about the environment, and people want to get involved in governmental actions that are going to affect environmental quality," said Chris Wood, director of public lands and watershed programs for Trout Unlimited.
By Matthew Daly, Associated Press
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Richard Kahn prophesizes a Big one in Jo'burg at the Earth Summit
RK takes out his crystal ball and writes:It's hard to know for sure being so many thousands of miles away, but all the sources I've been monitoring and people I've been speaking with who are involved are pointing to what could be another Seattle or Genoa in Jo'burg tomorrow. The feeling is that the Summit was given a chance to set a tone that was anything more than bureaucratic and statist but that it has failed to do this and the city of Johannesburg and South Africa as a whole have already proven to be repressive of protesters and desirous of a "clean" big-business event.
People are estimating that tomorrow's protest, which will begin in the slums of Alexandria a few miles down the road from the WSSD, will be
picking up locals along the way and that it could have 20,000-30,000 people by the time it is all said and done. The black brigade is on hand, apparently, and ready to defend protestors if the police show up in riot gear and start violently dispersing people as they did in the days pre-summit.
If the police lay off it could be a startling spectacle in which activists from all around the world join with South Africa's poorest peoples to protest peacefully and loudly outside the halls of the globalized state, whilst the power-brokers sit inside in air conditioned board rooms drinking champagne and eating caviar.
If the police attack, which they very well might, a tragedy could ensue...it will be interesting to watch. Tomorrow is certainly a day for all globalization theorists to be focused on South Africa. Signs are that this is going to be a big one.
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Rushdie, Double Standards and the Bush administration
submitted by Ray McInnis
In 1989, after a "fatwa" issued by the late Ayatollah Khomeini, constitutting a threat
by the Iranian government to assassinate him because of a the
"blasphemous" novel, _Satanic Verses_ , the Indian-born British citizen,
Salman Rushdie, became a cause celebre. Check out his op ed in the
Washington Post on the double standard of 'moral clarity' in US foreign
policy.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4544-2002Aug27.html
DK comments: there have been a series of articles the past days on Bush administration double standards where Iraq is taken as the embodiment of evil and the Saudis are our allies; likewise, the US stands for democracy and human rights and allies itself with Pakistan, rapidly dismantling its democratic apparatus (as is the US under the Bush administration). Of course, this has been going on for some time; last night I saw a docudrama on Bobby Kennedy who in a mid-1960s trip to Latin America criticized Lyndon Johnson's support of a military take-over in Brazil (in part to defend US interests) while sanctioning and holding back aid from democratic Peru who dared to challenge US oil interests in the area. The hyprocrisy and double standards of a US administration, however, have arguably never been more glaring than with the Bush administration.
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Thursday, August 29, 2002
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The Consortiumnews.com
Bush shattering all records as worst president in modern history! beats out hoover!
The Consortiumnews.com
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US Already Bombing Iraq
Between the lines of various media reports, one can read that heavy bombing of Iraq has already begun; Richard Kahn posts=
International Action Center
39 W. 14th Street #206 New York, NY 10011 (212) 633-6646 http://www.iacenter.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 28, 2002
U.S. ANTI-WAR DELEGATION AT AREAS BOMBED BY U.S. WARPLANES IN IRAQ
*More Bombings in Iraq as U.S.-British Warplanes Hit Mosul and Suburb of Baghdad on Tuesday*
A U.S. anti-war delegation traveling through Iraq has visited areas that have been targeted by this week's U.S. bombing campaign. The delegation -- stationed at Baghdad's Al-Rasheed hotel until the end of the week -- was in Basra on Tuesday. Basra is Iraq's second largest city and suffered a major bomb attack on Sunday morning August 25th. Eight people died and many civilians were injured, some seriously.
The U.S. delegation, which is led by Ramsey Clark, former U.S. attorney general will be inspecting Mosul airport in Northern Iraq tomorrow August 29. The airport and its radar tower that guides civilian air traffic were hit by U.S. missiles on August 27.
On behalf of the delegation, Ramsey Clark issued the following statement:
"We came to Basra to visit the hospitals and interview doctors and patients about the state of health care in Basra. We had planned to come to Basra because the region is suffering stunning cancer rates. This area in Iraq was the site of the greatest use of depleted uranium weapons by U.S. air force in the Gulf War eleven years ago."
"Two days before we arrived in Basra U.S. war planes struck again killing and wounding more than twenty people. We visited one of the wounded at the Basra Training Hospital and we interviewed workers in the area who saw and heard the gigantic explosion at approximately 11:00 am Sunday morning August 25. While we were in Basra, U.S. war planes carried out two more major bombing attacks against the airport in Mosul and against civil and service installations in Al-Nukhayb, located south of Baghdad. We will inspect the airport at Mosul tomorrow.
"People in the United States must recognize that the war against Iraq goes on every day as the Bush administration prepares for a major land and ground war. The economic sanctions are a central part of the decade-long war waged against Iraq by the United States. Bombing and sanctions constitute an integrated strategy designed to overthrow the government in Iraq and replace it with a proxy regime similar to what exists in Afghanistan. The U.S. government falsely declares that its campaign against Iraq is motivated by a concern over Iraq's potential possession of non-conventional weapons. The real goal is to dominate this strategic and oil-rich region and to destroy any government and people that desire to maintain their independence."
"We witnessed in Basra the care provided to the large number of adults and children who are suffering high rates of cancer. Certain childhood cancers, for instance, have increased by a huge factor in the last few years. While they can be treated by combination drug therapy protocols, Iraqi hospitals are unable to effectively import all of the medicines needed for the protocol. As a consequence, almost all the children with these cancers perish. It is the U.S. imposed sanctions that makes access to the full protocol impossible. Deliberately obstructing sick people's access to medicines that would keep them alive otherwise must be understood as murder."
"It is urgent that this country be allowed to trade, buy and sell all the products necessary to sustain and improve life. U.S. imposed sanctions have killed more than a million Iraqis. The near-daily bombing since 1998 has killed hundreds if not thousands of people. The U.S. government is guilty of violating the basic tenets of international law as a wages aggression against Iraq. We are urging all progressive people in the United States and elsewhere to take immediate action to end the criminal campaign against Iraq."
The delegation also includes Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, an attorney and co-founder of the Partnership for Civil Justice-LDEF and member of the A.N.S.W.E.R. coalition steering committee; Johnnie Stevens, co-director of the People's Video Network; Kadouri al-Kaysi, coordinator of the Committee in Solidarity with the Iraqi People; and Brian Becker, co-director of the International Action Center and member of the A.N.S.W.E.R. coalition steering committee.
Telephone interviews with Ramsey Clark and other members of the delegation can be arranged through Tony Murphy at 212-633-6646.
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Wednesday, August 28, 2002
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More Halliburton Facts
Halliburton's recent financial disclosure has some interesting info about this global giant.
Its subsidiaries alone take up pages -- the co. is in over 140 nations...almost as many as at the Earth Summit II! The report states that its finances have been hurt by the prolonged US "recession," the 9/11 attacks which hurt its airline gas/oil business, the numerous legal suits against the company for its abstestos-related building and contracting (which it says is unfair and is lobbying congress to prevent), and its long-term investments in deep-water drilling (especially in West Africa and South America). Plusses have come from the military contracts in Kosovo and now war-on-terror business. Also, domestic oil/gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and Texas have been delivering unexpected volume.
Also, L. Eagleburger is one of the Directors of the Board -- something, concerning the military-mindedness of this transnational, that doesn't shock me but did come as a surprise...more gov't implosions into big-time corporate power.
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Cheney, Iraq and Halliburton
Forwarded by: r antonio (anto@ku.edu)
Halliburton Iraq ties more than Cheney said
UNITED NATIONS, June 23 (UPI) -- Halliburton Co., the oil company that was headed by Vice President Dick Cheney, signed contracts with Iraq worth $73 million through two subsidiaries while he was at its helm, the Washington Post reported.
During last year's presidential campaign, Cheney said Halliburton did business with Libya and Iran through foreign subsidiaries, but maintained he had imposed a "firm policy" against trading with Iraq....
To read the rest of this article, go to http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/6/24/80648.shtml
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Black men in jail vs school
submitted by Ray McInnis:
Acccording to a report in the New York Times, 8/28/02, "The number of
black men in jail or prison has grown fivefold in the past 20 years, to
the point where more black men are behind bars than are enrolled in
colleges or universities, according to a study released yesterday."
The report was prepared by the Justice Policy Institute, a
Washington-based research and advocacy group that supports alternatives
to incarceration.
Todd Clear, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in
Manhattan, argues that the study's findings are "significant." For
Clear, "These statistics 'tell us there has been a public policy far
overemphasizing investment in criminal justice instead of in education
for this population. .... It tells you that the life chances of a black
male going to prison is greater today than the chances of a black male
going to college, and it wasn't always this way'."
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/28/national/28PRIS.html?todaysheadlines
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Tuesday, August 27, 2002
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Kahn on Krugman on Bush on Logging
Richard said: I would say Krugman "mostly" gets it right [on Bush's logging plan]...some failures include:
1) He unapologetically condones clearing small trees and brush because they're just "fuel." However, whether they help produce large wildfires or not, the brush on the forest floor is not just fuel. To call it so is to reproduce the rhetoric used by government and logging companies and so maintaining such language constitutes a minor ideological victory for them.
2) In all the talk about "fuel causes" he never points to the larger cause that is fuel for the quantity and quality of recent fires -- drought and climate change. Again, to not point the finger there let's the Bush administration and other industries they favor off the hook.
3) Finally, to be fair, the Bush plan is generally supported by both parties across the board and is not a uniquely administrative or partisan position. In fact, the Bush plan pretty much is only a re-invoking of the language of the Daschle compromise instituted only weeks prior and top Dems like Dianne Feinstein came out with hard core energy rightwingers to celebrate logging the forests -- in strict defiance of attempts by groups like the Sierra Club to ask her not to do so.
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Krugman on Bush on Logging
Submitted by Ray McInnis
The New York Times' op ed writer, Paul Krugman, gets it right on
exposing the fallacies of President Bush's proposal on logging the
nation's forests:
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/27/opinion/27KRUG.html?todaysheadlines
DK responds: Bush uses a serious environmental issue, controlling fires, to open the way for big-time logging, that had been restricted in national forests; another example where Bush uses (pseudo)environmentalism to attack real environmentalism and to turn back the clock on previous regulations and advances.
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Monday, August 26, 2002
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Bush and Language
Ray McInnis said: This is a url that follows Bush\'s infelicities with the English language: http://www.dubyaspeak.com/
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Recent Bushisms
Before September 11, there was a veritable cottage industry in the collecting of Bushisms, mispeaking and double-speaking by the Orwellian president. For a while, the daily collection of Bush's linguistic infelicities was suspended, but collections are returning; see, for instance, see the Slate collection at http://slate.msn.com/?id=2070180
Bushism of the Day
By Bryan Curtis
Posted Tuesday, August 27, 2002, at 8:13 AM PT
"I'm thrilled to be here in the bread basket of America because it gives me a chance to remind our fellow citizens that we have an advantage here in America—we can feed ourselves."—Stockton, Calif., Aug. 23, 2002 (Thanks to Christopher Baird.)
For more, see "The Complete Bushisms."
Here's a recent list=
"There's no bigger task than protecting the homeland of our country."
"The federal government and the state government must not fear programs who change lives, but must welcome those faith-based programs for the embetterment of mankind."—Stockton, Calif., Aug. 23, 2002 (Thanks to George Dupper.)
"I love the idea of a school in which people come to get educated and stay in the state in which they're educated."
"There may be some tough times here in America. But this country has gone through tough times before, and we're going to do it again."
"I promise you I will listen to what has been said here, even though I wasn't here."
"I can assure you that, even though I won't be sitting through every single moment of the seminars, nor will the vice president, we will look at the summaries."
"Tommy [Thompson, Health and Human Services secretary,] is a good listener, and he's a pretty good actor, too."
"The trial lawyers are very politically powerful. … But here in Texas we took them on and got some good medical—medical malpractice.""I firmly believe the death tax is good for people from all walks of life all throughout our society."
—Waco, Texas, Aug. 13, 2002
"There was no malfeance involved. This was an honest disagreement about accounting procedures. ... There was no malfeance, no attempt to hide anything."—White House press conference, Washington, D.C., July 8, 2002
"I also understand how tender the free enterprise system can be."—White House press conference, Washington, D.C., July 9, 2002
"Over 75 percent of white Americans own their home, and less than 50 percent of Hispanos and African Americans don't own their home. And that's a gap, that's a homeownership gap. And we've got to do something about it."—Cleveland, Ohio, July 1, 2002
"Whether you're here by birth, or whether you're in America by choice, you contribute to the vitality of our life. And for that, we are grateful."—Washington, D.C., May 17, 2002
"I'd rather have them sacrificing on behalf of our nation than, you know, endless hours of testimony on congressional hill."—National Security Agency, Fort Meade, Maryland, June 4, 2002
"We're working with Chancellor Schröder on what's called 10-plus-10-over-10: $10 billion from the U.S.,$10 billion from other members of the G7 over a 10-year period, to help Russia securitize the dismantling—the dismantled nuclear warheads."—Berlin, Germany, May 23, 2002
"Do you have blacks, too?"—To Brazilian President Fernando Cardoso, Washington, D.C., Nov. 8, 2001
"This is a nation that loves our freedom, loves our country."—Washington, D.C, May 17, 2002
"The public education system in America is one of the most important foundations of our democracy. After all, it is where children from all over America learn to be responsible citizens, and learn to have the skills necessary to take advantage of our fantastic opportunistic society."—Santa Clara, Calif., May 1, 2002
"After all, a week ago, there were—Yasser Arafat was boarded up in his building in Ramallah, a building full of, evidently, German peace protestors and all kinds of people. They're now out. He's now free to show leadership, to lead the world."—Washington, D.C., May 2, 2002 (Thanks to M. Bateman.)
"This foreign policy stuff is a little frustrating."—as quoted by the New York Daily News, April 23, 2002
"I want to thank the dozens of welfare to work stories, the actual examples of people who made the firm and solemn commitment to work hard to embetter themselves."—Washington, D.C., April 18, 2002 (Thanks to George Dupper.)
"And so, in my State of the—my State of the Union—or state—my speech to the nation, whatever you want to call it, speech to the nation—I asked Americans to give 4,000 years—4,000 hours over the next—the rest of your life—of service to America. That's what I asked—4,000 hours." —Bridgeport, Conn., April 9, 2002
"It would be a mistake for the United States Senate to allow any kind of human cloning to come out of that chamber."—Washington, D.C., April 10, 2002
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Prisoners in the US
Submitted by Ray McInnis
The figures on prison population in America continue to be alarming.
Over 6,000,000, when parolees are included in the count. In comparison
with most other nations, the stats are off the charts. Moreover, the
disproportionate numbers of African Americans in that population, and
the disproportionate numbers clustered in Southern states makes one
wonder about whether something else is afoot.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/3937961.htm
''The overall figures suggest that we've come to rely on the criminal
justice system as a way of responding to social problems in a way that's
unprecedented,'' said Marc Mauer, assistant director of the Sentencing
Project.
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Earth Summit
European papers full of articles on Earth Summit, and how US is rogue nation on environment, opposing reasonal policies
Independent News
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