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Wednesday, December 31, 2003
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Recent Claims by USDA and Beef Industry on Mad Cow Safety Standards are BULLSHIT
Anyone who is interested in this issue should look at John Stauber's book Mad Cow USA, which is available online for free. Another place to make sure to browse over is the archive hosted by the Organic Consumers Association.
These really will be the two places to get serious, critical and informed coverage of this issue -- excellent places to start and get informed about the dangers involved with eating American beef (and other meat)...Mad Cow, while only now being found in the US, has after all already been found as a variant disease in US deer, elk, and related game species. As Stauber has argued, it seems clear that the main reason for all this disease is the highly unethical practice of breeders to render sick or downed animals and sell their bodies to feed producers, which often leads to animals of the same kind eating the diseased meat of their own kind.
Of course, it is also highly questionable that animals of any kind can be healthy when eating diseased rendered animals -- hence, last year's case of hunters who contacted the variant Mad Deer disease by eating diseased animals. In a non-Mad example, there is also the problem of domestic dogs and cats being fed diseased rendered animals as name-brand pet food. Some of these foods even contain rendered dogs and cats which have been euthanized with phenylbarbitol and studies have shown significant amounts of this deadly drug in a shocking number of examples.
Within the last few days, government and industry agencies have been on the propaganda offensive -- attempting to assuage any fears created in transnational publics by the media reports. Their message is the contradictory answer that US beef has always been safe, but regardless, those in charge are moving to implement new stringent protection measures. The reason for damage control is clear: take the examples of British or Australian Mad Cow scares -- each devastated the markets for such product, with key international buyers like Japan placing embargos on all importation. Needless to say, the costs to the beef industries and national economies in these countries was tremendous.
Dr. Michael Gregor has been one of the chief experts in following the lies being expounded by the USDA and American beef industry -- here is an excellent recent article of his to this effect.
One thing I hope people will take from the recent breaking of this story is the same message that American's have known since Upton Sinclar -- the choice to eat meat as a dietary choice needs to be critically re-examined in an industrial age of mass production. Regardless of whether one comprehends the problems of animal sentience and moral status, or is swayed by animal suffering, today a diet based on meat can hardly avoid the context of highly unethical and unhealthy rearing, slaughtering, processing, and selling practices. Buying meat from transnational corporate phactory-pharms supports and tacitly underwrites these practices, which ends with the ace in the hole of one's own life being jeopardized to boot.
The reality is the Mad Cow remains a real problem within the United States and will be so for the near future at least. That said, I wouldn't recommend that everyone obsess about Mad Cow with a fear that rivals what happened with other big time media diseases like SARS or AIDS. Rather, people should take the opportunity to think, and then think again, about what it is they are putting into their bodies, why, and what effects their diet has upon themselves and others. If the Mad Cow spectacle results in people doing just a little bit of fact checking into the unsanitary reality of the American meat market and thinking twice about whether they really are "loving it" at McDonalds, then the tragedy of the disease can ironically serve the public good.
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Park fees set to reach new heights
Repug thug Arnold continues to whack away at California public sphere, undermining excellent state park systems just as he cuts away at California university system
Park fees set to reach new heights
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Ashcroft Elects Not to Supervise Inquiry on C.I.A. Leak
The Ashcroft recusal may well point to Rove implication in CIA-gate, as was widely speculated, so this is a potential bombshell; weird how the story disappeared and now roared back
Ashcroft Elects Not to Supervise Inquiry on C.I.A. Leak
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Tuesday, December 30, 2003
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washingtonpost.com: . . . Or a Rational Response?
the rightwing is playing a mantra of Bushhatred, attacking those who criticize Bush as consumed with pathological hate; E.J. Dionne suggests, rightly, that its a rational response
washingtonpost.com: . . . Or a Rational Response?
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Monday, December 29, 2003
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Op-Ed Columnist: Our So-Called Boom
Bushonomics means growing class divisions, the rich getting richer, the poor poorer. In particular, as Paul Krugman points out, corporate America is main beneficiary of Bush's economic politics: "So if jobs are scarce and wages are flat, who's benefiting from the economy's expansion? The direct gains are going largely to corporate profits, which rose at an annual rate of more than 40 percent in the third quarter. Indirectly, that means that gains are going to stockholders, who are the ultimate owners of corporate profits. (That is, if the gains don't go to self-dealing executives, but let's save that topic for another day.)"
Op-Ed Columnist: Our So-Called Boom
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Op-Ed Columnist: The White-Collar Blues
Another good column by Bob Herbert on loss of white collar jobs in Middle Classes under Bush regime and difficulty in finding good new jobs
Op-Ed Columnist: The White-Collar Blues
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Sunday, December 28, 2003
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Revealed: how MI6 sold the Iraq war
12/28/03: (The Times of London)
Only a fragment is pasted below. Check the rest of the details by clicking on the link.
THE Secret Intelligence Service has run an operation to gain public support for sanctions and the use of military force in Iraq. The government yesterday confirmed that MI6 had organised Operation Mass Appeal, a campaign to plant stories in the media about Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction.
The revelation will create embarrassing questions for Tony Blair in the run-up to the publication of the report by Lord Hutton into the circumstances surrounding the death of Dr David Kelly, the government weapons expert.
A senior official admitted that MI6 had been at the heart of a campaign launched in the late 1990s to spread information about Saddam’s development of nerve agents and other weapons, but denied that it had planted misinformation. “There were things about Saddam’s regime and his weapons that the public needed to know,” said the official.
The admission followed claims by Scott Ritter, who led 14 inspection missions in Iraq, that MI6 had recruited him in 1997 to help with the propaganda effort. He described meetings where the senior officer and at least two other MI6 staff had discussed ways to manipulate intelligence material. ...
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Saturday, December 27, 2003
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San Antonio Current WITH A WHISPER, NOT A BANG
Bush covertly signs some of Patriot II into law when no one is paying attention, so cometh creeping fascism to the land....
San Antonio Current
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Friday, December 26, 2003
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Bracing for the Blow
IBM plans big job cuts through "outshoring" and "outsourcing"
Bracing for the Blow
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Bush Advisers, With Eye on Dean, Formulate '04 Plans
Bush thugs plan Dean-smear campaign
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/26/politics/campaigns/26REPU.html?hp
And Nathan Newman comments:
"Atrios predicts that the new media meme (pumped by the GOP) will be that Dean is "pessimistic." Since Dean thinks he can get rid of Bush and solve our economic problems, I'd say that makes him optimistic.
So I'd say this calls for a positive google bomb promoting the idea that Dean is optimistic. "
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Rules for Reporting
Paul Krugman discerns the immense importance of the coming election and sets down some rules for reporting that constitute a strong critique of how the mainstream media whores have been reporting on political candidates; actually, the rightwing press coverage of the Dems has been much more scandalous than Krugman notes....
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Yahoo! News - France Says No Proof of Hijack Plot Found
What was the Air France hoopla all about? According to this story, it was false info: are terrorists playing the Bush bunglers with disinformation or are the Bush bandits messing with France, trying to associate them with lax airport security and their airlines with terrorism?
Yahoo! News - France Says No Proof of Hijack Plot Found
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TIME.com: Nation -- Condi and the 9/11 Commission
The Worst National Security Advisor in recent history, Condi Rice, is reluctant to go before the 9/11 Committee; for good reason, her policy failure to focus on terrorism contributed mightily to the 9/11 disaster; it appears that committee Chairman Kean and others are gunning for her. Happy Hunting!
TIME.com: Nation -- Condi and the 9/11 Commission
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Thursday, December 25, 2003
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Pakistani President Escapes New Death Plot
Second assassination attempt on Pakistan President in two weeks: It is not safe to be a Bush ally
My Way News
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6 Flights Canceled as Signs of Terror Plot Point to L.A.
tense Xmas in LA. Howard Dean is right: We are NOT safer because of Bush's unilateralist militarist policies and it is impossible to have a Merry Xmas or be merry while Bush is president
6 Flights Canceled as Signs of Terror Plot Point to L.A.
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Wednesday, December 24, 2003
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"Prosecutors May Examine Limbaugh Records"
Law goes after Limbaugh's medical records and he blames the Left!, the guy is unravelling....
My Way News: "
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washingtonpost.com: White House Faulted on Uranium Claim
Why do Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board and the media focus on one false claim of Bush's concerning Iraq whereas, as the film UNCOVERED shows, they lied systematically day after day, lie after lie
washingtonpost.com: White House Faulted on Uranium Claim
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Tuesday, December 23, 2003
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Monday, December 22, 2003
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Paul Wolfowitz, the Godfather of the Iraq War
Rumors that Wolfie may have to go: "The Rummy and Wolfie show may soon go off the air. It is widely believed in national-security circles that Wolfowitz may leave the Administration sometime in 2004. He has become too controversial for Bush to promote to Defense Secretary; Wolfowitz believed that U.S. troops in Iraq would be greeted with rose petals." TIME Person of the Year: Paul Wolfowitz, the Godfather of the Iraq War
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washingtonpost.com: U.S. Threat Level Rises to Orange
The Bush gang raises terror leve threats to US to higher level as worldwide threats multiply in response to their aggressive policies; ordinary people will fall victim to their militarist macho
washingtonpost.com: U.S. Threat Level Rises to Orange
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The Saddam Hussein Sourcebook
here's a good archive of documents and analysis of US relationships with Saddam over the years; note longtime Bush, Rumsfeld, Cheney, Bechtel, etc relations
The Saddam Hussein Sourcebook
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Sunday, December 21, 2003
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washingtonpost.com: The 'Bush Doctrine' Experiences Shining Moments
The Bush neocons gloat, not aware that their humuliations of Saddam and Libya are angering allies and helping to create new enemies; preemptive strikes continues to be a dangerous and disstabling policy
washingtonpost.com: The 'Bush Doctrine' Experiences Shining Moments
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Saturday, December 20, 2003
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TOMPAINE.com - Under The Cover Of Darkness
here's a good account of how Bush administration uses secrecy and scullduggery to push through legislation that is ruining US system of government and democracy
TOMPAINE.com - Under The Cover Of Darkness
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Friday, December 19, 2003
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During trial, Hussein may try to implicate Western leaders
Hearing Saddam spill the beans about his connections with Bush Sr, Rumsfeld, Cheney et al would be most illuminating; does this mean that he faces a possible Oswald/Jack Ruby moment in his future?
During trial, Hussein may try to implicate Western leaders
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"Is the search for weapons over?"
Bush declares search for Iraqi weapons a non-issue and US is bringing home chief weapons hunter: either Bush administration lied in the first place about Iraqi weapons or they are taking a dangerous risk of dismissing what could be a big threat
Independent News:
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U.S. Administrator Escaped Ambush in Iraq Two Weeks Ago
US Iraq Occupation officials aren't saying how bad it is: Wolfy almost got it one night in the hotel and now they are admitting Bremer almost got ambushed; its come out in the last couple of days that US occupation forces are infilitrated on the highest levels, its still a mess postSaddam
U.S. Administrator Escaped Ambush in Iraq Two Weeks Ago
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Thursday, December 18, 2003
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Op-Ed Columnist: Telling It Right
good commentary by Paul Krugman on need to continue to delve into Bush administration history, particularly their failure to prevent 9/11 attacks and then foolish war on Iraq, that separated us from our allies, helped produce terrorist enemies and produced a big mess in Iraq that is hardly resolved with Saddam's capture
Op-Ed Columnist: Telling It Right
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News Analysis: In Debate on Antiterrorism, the Courts Assert Themselves
There was a second court decision today against the Bush Reich; its fortunate that we still have sectors of a free and independent judiciary (which is why the Bush administration is fighting tooth and nail to get rightwing extremists on the courts), though the decisions today will probably be appealed and go up to the Bush Family Supreme Court
News Analysis: In Debate on Antiterrorism, the Courts Assert Themselves
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Remember 'Weapons of Mass Destruction'? For Bush, They Are a Nonissue
For the arrogant Bush, the issue of WMD is a non-issue; this will be the Bush administration strategy: we got Saddam, we won and we rule, so shut up; of course, a lot can and probably will happen to complicate the situation, but the fact of a systematic campaign of lying and corruption of intelligence by the Bush administration to drive US and UK into a dubious war and occupation of Iraq IS a big issue!
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Appeals Court Orders Release of American Held as Combatant
This is a major blow against the Bush Reich, as an Appeals court in effect says that the Bush fascists cannot just arrest anyone and hold them forever because they are suspected of being a terrorist
Appeals Court Orders Release of American Held as Combatant
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9/11 Chair: Attack Was Preventable
the 9/11 Commission Chair Thomas Keen says that 9/11 attack was preventable, that those responsible should have been fired, and goes after Condi Rice in a CBS News report. She is definitely the worst National Security Advisor in recent history and its good to see some of the media finally go after her
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