"Governor Gang Bang" - BUZZFLASH EDITORIAL
Posted Tuesday, September 2, 2003 by symbolman

Only if you are a Republican can you get away with being known as "Governor Gang Bang."

After all, what if Gray Davis bragged that he had participated in a gang bang?

What if full frontal nude photos of Hillary or Bill Clinton were posted on the Internet?

What if accusations and rumors swirled about Cruz Bustamante being a recent groper and humiliator of women?

We know the answer would be a right wing lynch mob, with unending 24/7 attacks and cries of moral unfitness for office. But we haven't heard a peep of condemnation from the Republican White House Amen-choir-media-shills about Arnold Schwarzenegger's past misdeeds (both distant AND recent), have we?>> More

Bush public support on Iraq waning
Posted Monday, September 1, 2003 by symbolman

Since Bush announced the end of the war on 1 May more than 140 US soldiers have died. Of these, 66 have been killed by Iraqi resistance attacks.

According to one major poll, 52% described the number of US fatalities as “unacceptable” ... an increase of eights points in three weeks.

Support eroding

“Right now, the answer to the question of whether the goal is valid is positive, because a majority think that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction at the beginning of the war and did have connections to al-Qaida,” he said. “But that support is eroding.”

The recent destruction of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad made an already delicate situation worse, Kull said.

“I think it will weaken the idea that the operation is legitimate and can be legitimate in the eyes of the Iraqi people,” he said.

The UN bombing illustrated a scenario the Bush administration has reason to fear. A similar attack on US military facilities, in which dozens of troops are killed in a single instance, could be the spark that ignites a more widespread public backlash at home, Farrar said.

He noted that in the early 1980s, there were several smaller attacks on US forces in Beirut, but it was not until a massive suicide bombing killed 246 marines in a barracks in 1983, that former President Ronald Reagan decided to pull the US military out of Lebanon.>> More

As of today there is a NEW news service in town - the English version of Al Jazeera - the dreaded truth telling branch of the Fourth Estate from the other side of the world. They are such a threat to the Propaganda of the Bush MisAdministration that they get bombed all the time, and that ain't no joke. Always glad to get more information - it's good to cross reference to get at the Truth, and we will demand just as much truth from them as well. But Now we suspect we have something other than a cheerleading branch of the media - the american media that sold us a rollerskating, cigar smoking chimp as some sort of presidential caliber when they knew he was actually a moronic, arrogant corporate fascist puppet - yeah, we know - Don't sugar coat it.

Racist "Transformation" Strategies: The Pirates have already lost in Iraq
Posted Monday, September 1, 2003 by vgdesign

The final nail will be driven into the coffin of the corporate “transformation” of Iraq, and events will unfold along the more familiar paths of national resistance to occupation - The Black Commentator

For the sake of the future of the world, it is actually a good thing to have all of the idiots reading from the same page.

“The outcome is not in doubt,” declared Donald Rumsfeld last Saturday, in San Antonio. The US will prevail in Iraq, no matter what it takes.

“We and our allies must make a generational commitment to helping the people of the Middle East transform their region,” National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice lectured Black journalists, in Dallas, earlier this month. “Like the transformation of Europe, the transformation of the Middle East will require a commitment of many years.” The US will be in Iraq long after her last neuron has died of boredom.

"This is the future for the world we're in at the moment,” said Rumsfeld special assistant Lawrence Di Rita, surveying American prospects in Iraq, last month. “We'll get better as we do it more often." The US will keep invading other nations until it achieves imperial perfection.

As long as the Pirates keep talking like that, their failure will be a certainty. Friends of peace should never wince when warmongers shout their intentions – the alternative is that they attack in stealth and win by surprise. >>More

Bill Berkowitz: Wounded, Weary And Disappeared
Posted Monday, September 1, 2003 by vgdesign

The men and women injured in Iraq and Afghanistan have become the new disappeared

The nation reached a sad milestone in late August. With the death of an American soldier in a roadside bombing on August 29, the number of soldiers killed in Iraq after the official end of the war reached 139, exceeding the "postwar" casualty count. Nightline  aired a feature; the Associated Press posted a story on the war dead -- but most media outlets continue to ignore an equally dreary reality.

In a summer dominated by the Bryant sex case, Arnold's debut in California's recall election and the killing of Saddam Hussein's sons, no hordes of television cameras await the planeloads of wounded soldiers being airlifted back to the states, unloaded at Andrews Air Force Base, and stuffed into wards at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and other facilities. We see few photos of them undergoing painful and protracted physical rehabilitation, few visuals of worried families waiting for news of their sons or daughters.

The men and women injured in Iraq and Afghanistan have become the new disappeared.

Liz Swasey of the conservative media watchdog Media Research Center (MRC) confirms this perception. "There have been no feature news stories on television focusing on the wounded," she says. "While there have been numerous reports of soldiers getting wounded, there have been no interviews from hospital bedsides." >>More

The Ayatollah: Iraq's archduke?
Posted Monday, September 1, 2003 by vgdesign

The killing of an Iraqi Shia leader could be the event that ignites the country's tensions and causes a regional conflagration, writes Brian Whitaker - The Guardian

The worst act of violence in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein was overshadowed in Britain's broadsheet papers on Saturday by news that Tony Blair's media adviser had resigned.

In the popular tabloids meanwhile, two celebrity stories vied for readers' attention: Madonna's "lesbian" kiss with Britney Spears and the publication of David Beckham's autobiography.

Well, that's journalism.

But a few years from now we may look back on the bombing that killed Ayatollah Mohammed Baqr al-Hakim, along with more than 90 other Shia Muslims, as a pivotal event that tipped the balance towards civil war and the disintegration of Iraq. >>More

Antonia Zerbisias: Let Al-Jazeera broadcast here
Posted Monday, September 1, 2003 by vgdesign

Perhaps the best way to end the cycle of violence is by starting with the cycle of ignorance

Last week, after that terrible suicide bombing of a Jerusalem bus that killed at least 21, including six children, there was media talk about the resumption of "the cycle of violence."

That's now a cliché for the bloodshed in the Middle East, suggesting that the killing is totally tit-for-tat, eye for eye, tooth for tooth.

In between, all is calm, all is bright.

This, of course, is nonsense. >>More

Journalists Find "Calm" When Only Palestinians Die >>FAIR MEDIA ADVISORY

RECLAIM THE FCC AND STOP THE MEDIA MONOPOLY!
Posted Saturday, August 30, 2003 by vgdesign

Protest the Media Monopoly and the New FCC Media Ownership Rules, Thursday, September 4

WHAT: National day of protest/education to stop the media monopoly

WHEN: September 4, the day the new FCC media ownership rules go into effect

WHERE: A corporate media outlet in your community

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was created to protect the airwaves -- a scarce public resource that is vital to democracy. Instead, they're giving it away to huge corporations whose sole interest is profit. Now the FCC is helping big media to get even bigger.

Ignoring the protestations of more than half a million people and hundreds of organizations, FCC Chairman Michael Powell and his two Republican colleagues on the commission voted to allow the media behemoths that already dominate our airwaves—the likes of General Electric, Rupert Murdoch, AOL-Time Warner, and Viacom—to gobble up even more TV stations and local newspapers.

On September 4, the FCC's new media ownership regulations go into effect.

If the FCC's decision isn't reversed, we'll end up having "more sensationalism, commercialism, crassness, violence, homogenization—and noticeably less serious coverage of news and local events." And that's according to one of the FCC's own, Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein.

ORGANIZE A SEPTEMBER 4 PROTEST AT A LOCAL MEDIA OUTLET >>TAKE ACTION

A resignation is worth a thousand smiles
Posted Saturday, August 30, 2003 by vgdesign

By Terry Jones, The Observer

... Or why not resign over the general fact that you misled Parliament and the country into thinking that Iraq was an imminent threat to the UK? That's more to the point than whether Alastair Campbell inserted the 45 minutes line or not.

Or how about resigning on the grounds that you are already no longer actually running this country anyway? It's quite obvious to anyone (who is not in politics) that you simply do whatever it is that George Bush's advisers tell you to do.

I mean do you think we're stupid? How come the only people in the world who thought Iraq was a threat were you and George Bush? And we know he didn't really. His advisors, Cheney, Perle, Wolfovitz etc had been planning to invade Iraq since at least September 2000 when they publicly announced that Iraq was a top target for American aggression should they ever get into power.

In their seminal document Rebuilding America's Defences they wrote: "The United States has for decades sought to play a more permanent role in Gulf regional security. While the unresolved conflict with Iraq provides the immediate justification, the need for a substantial American force presence in the Gulf transcends the issue of the regime of Saddam Hussein."

So my advice, Tony, is resign now regardless of whether Andrew Gilligan got it right or not, and simply let Bush, Cheney, Perle and the rest of that gang take over running the UK. >>More

John Gorman: DO THE LOCAL MOTION
Posted Saturday, August 30, 2003 by vgdesign

FCC's Powell dances to a new tune on media monopolies — or does he really?

To be a member of President George W. Bush's administration, you have to be -- among other things -- an exceptional dancer. Take Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham for example. He's been doing the Electric Slide since the massive blackout a couple of weeks back.

This week it's Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell's turn on the dance floor. Powell, a skillful master of the Shuffle, the Twist and the Spin, found himself out of step with the boss last week when he lashed out at critics of media deregulation, accusing them of being motivated by their desire to control content. A few days later, at the Progress & Freedom Foundation Summit in Aspen, his rhythm and timing were way off. He was flailing all over the room.

"The despicable activity engaged in by Enron and MCI and Adelphia, and the list is long, violates the trust of their employees, violates the trust of the market, violates the trust of consumers and people cry out to be protected," Powell said. "The threat of terrorism and the despicable activity of some companies has led to a shift toward more regulation that could harm innovation and the economy."

It must've been an oversight by Powell to omit AOL Time Warner's financial scandal from his list of despicables. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact that Michael's dad, Colin Powell, was on AOL's board. >>More

Important Vote on Travel rights to Cuba Coming in September
Posted Saturday, August 30, 2003 by vgdesign

Center for International Policy

In early September, Congress will vote on whether to give Americans their freedom back: the freedom to travel to Cuba.

Now is the time to contact your Congressional representative with a message that is simple, direct, and clear: Vote for Freedom, lift the ban on legal travel by Americans to Cuba.

The vote on Cuba travel will occur in the House of Representatives in just the next few days. The freedom to travel amendment will be offered by Congressman Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and other members of the House Cuba Working Group. >>Take Action!

Bush Salutes Workers on Labor Day Weekend
Posted Saturday, August 30, 2003 by symbolman

CRAWFORD, Texas - President Bush (news - web sites) says his latest round of tax cuts, increased worker productivity and more orders for manufacturers all point to economic recovery, but that he won't be satisfied until "the economy creates enough new jobs for American workers."

Bush focused on the economy in his weekly Saturday radio address, tailored to look ahead to the Labor Day holiday and several trips next week in which the president will discuss his job-creation agenda.

"This long weekend is a well-deserved reward for the millions of men and women who make this economy go," Bush said.

But although Bush praised the nation's work force, his administration has put forward several proposals that have angered unions.

Organized labor is upset over the administration's decision to allow private companies to bid for up to 850,000 government jobs — nearly half the federal civilian work force.>> More

Complete and utter LYING BS from the same guy that pushed for the Revocation of Time and a Half Pay and got it. Also, while taking a MONTH LONG TAX PAYER FUNDED VACATION he Robbed >> Govt workers and He and his RICH pals are outsourcing as many jobs as possible to places like India - which explains his wanting "Free" Trade. BUSH has a lot of nerve to INSULT the American Workers on this Holiday and should be IMPEACHED to ROBBING this country BLIND. WE WANT OUR THREE MILLION JOBS BACK and HIM on UnEmployment.

Whistle blown on petrol pricing
Posted Friday, August 29, 2003 by symbolman

Three of Australia's biggest oil companies have been raided by a corporate watchdog looking for evidence of price fixing.

The lightning swoop on Caltex, Mobil, and Shell came after a whistle blower came forward with documents indicating collusion on prices.

"We have always suspected there is some system of communication from the wholesalers of petrol to their retailers about about the way and which the price should move and when," Carter says.

"It's a form of theft, it's a form of fraud comparable to other white collar crimes that have criminal penalties attached," says Alan Fells Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman.

On Wednesday, prices were normal, but the watchdog is confident of proving major oil companies are fixing prices.

If found guilty the big three oil giants will face fines of up to $12 million and possible jail terms for executives.>> More

We'd like to demand a full scale investigation as to why US gasoline is the highest it has EVER been. YOU are being ripped off in one of the biggest scams in history - the whistleblowers are out there and they need to come in from the cold. How is it that a couple of Energy (OIL) Biz men are in the White House and gas is at its HIGHEST yet? It's called THIEVERY.

Mindf*cked: Kalle Lasn on toxic culture, mental environmentalism, and running shoes
Posted Friday, August 29, 2003 by symbolman

When it debuted in 1989, Adbusters magazine was a small "Pacific Northwest kind of a rag that had a circulation of 7,000," according to its publisher Kalle Lasn.

It was filled with subverted ads that presented an alternate truth to the slick appeals of McDonald’s and Nike, activist news, and how-to guides for "billboard liberation" and other culture-jamming tactics.

Today, the Vancouver-based "journal of the mental environment" has a circulation of over 120,000 worldwide and a "culture jammers network" of some 80,000 people who submit content for the magazine, participate in its various campaigns, and send in photos of anti-consumerist pranks carried out around the world.

I interviewed Lasn recently on the evolution of the mental environmental movement, the recent activism surrounding the Federal Communications Commission’s June 2 vote on media ownership rules, and Adbusters’ controversial new plan to go head-to-head with brand giant Nike.>> More

How FOXNews Tries to Trivialize The Deaths of Our American Soldiers
Posted Friday, August 29, 2003 by symbolman

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS - From Brit Hume's War Time "Grapevine" on FOXNews:

California Roughly Same Size As Iraq

Two hundred and seventy seven U.S. soldiers have now died in Iraq, which means that, statistically speaking, U.S. soldiers have less of a chance of dying from all causes in Iraq than citizens have of being murdered in California...which is roughly the same geographical size. The most recent statistics indicate California has more than 2,300 homicides each year, which means about 6.6 murders each day. Meanwhile, U.S. troops have been in Iraq for 160 days, which means they are incurring about 1.7, including illness and accidents, each day.

This, by the way, is straight from the Pentagon and proves that FOXNews is just a megaphone for the administration. A few weeks back, Rumsfeld used a similarly thoughtless comparison, but just not with California.Indeed Hume, following the script of the Pentagon, recycled Rumsfeld's June 19 , 2003, remarks, replacing Washington, D.C., with California. Here are Rumsfeld's callous remarks from June, according to an Associated Press story:

"You've got to remember that if Washington, D.C., were the size of Baghdad, we would be having something like 215 murders a month," Rumsfeld said. "There's going to be violence in a big city." About a dozen U.S. servicemen have been killed by hostile fire in Iraq since President Bush declared major combat over on May 1. American military commanders in Iraq say attacks on their forces happen daily, though one commander on Tuesday dismissed the fighting as "militarily insignificant."

Rumsfeld's comments were quickly dismissed as not only disgracefully insensitive, but also full of logical pitfalls.>> More

Halliburton Scored BIG OFF IRAQ - "War Profiteering" Charged
Posted Thursday, August 28, 2003 by symbolman

According to Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) and other critics, the Iraq war and occupation have provided a handful of companies with good political connections, particularly Halliburton, with unprecedented money-making opportunities.

“The amount of money [earned by Halliburton] is quite staggering, far more than we were originally led to believe,” Waxman said. “This is clearly a trend under this administration, and it concerns me because often the privatization of government services ends up costing the taxpayers more money rather than less.”

Wendy Hall, a Halliburton spokeswoman ...In an e-mail message, she said that suggestions of war profiteering were “an affront to all hard-working, honorable Halliburton employees.”

Waxman’s interest in Halliburton was ignited by a routine Army Corps of Engineers announcement in March reporting that the company had been awarded a no-bid contract, with a $7 billion limit, for putting out fires at Iraqi oil wells. Corps spokesmen justified the lack of competition on the grounds that the operation was part of a classified war plan and the Army did not have time to secure competitive bids for the work.>> More

This is CRIMINAL and TREASONOUS. Our troops are being starved and dehydrated while Cheney and Pals rake in the BUCKS, YOUR BUCKS - TAX Dollars that the RICH DON'T PAY Thanks to BUSH and his BUDDIES. Impeach them all, they are stealing AMERICA BLIND and Killing OUR COUNTRYMEN FOR PROFIT.

Get to the truth
Posted Thursday, August 28, 2003 by symbolman

WAS IRAQ an "imminent threat" to the United States? Did President Bush or other senior administration officials knowingly exaggerate evidence about weapons of mass destruction or deceive the American public?

These are just some of the questions about the Iraq war that threaten the credibility of the president and his inner circle.

But public confidence in President Bush's handling of the postwar situation is declining rapidly; nearly 70 percent of those surveyed by Newsweek last week think the war has bogged down and will harm the domestic economy.

All the more reason to support legislation introduced by Reps. Henry Waxman,

D-Los Angeles, and Ellen Tauscher, D-Walnut Creek, that would investigate the intelligence used to convince Congress to authorize the use of force against Iraq. Waxman's HR2625 would create an independent commission. Tauscher's HR307 would launch a new select committee and require the results to be publicized before the 2004 presidential election. In addition to supporting each other's legislation, they have gained 180 co-sponsors.

Nothing is more serious than waging war. We need to know the truth, whatever it turns out to be.>> More

Halliburton's Deals Greater than Thought
Posted Thursday, August 28, 2003 by symbolman

Halliburton, the company formerly headed by Vice President Cheney, has won contracts worth more than $1.7 billion out of Operation Iraqi Freedom and stands to make hundreds of millions more dollars under a no-bid contract awarded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, according to newly available documents.

The size and scope of the government contracts awarded to Halliburton in connection with the war in Iraq are significantly greater than previously disclosed and demonstrate the U.S. military's increasing reliance on for-profit corporations to run its logistical operations. Independent experts estimate that as much as one-third of the monthly $3.9 billion cost of keeping U.S. troops in Iraq is going to independent contractors.

Services performed by Halliburton, through its Brown and Root subsidiary, include building and managing military bases, logistical support for the 1,200 intelligence officers hunting Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, delivering mail and producing millions of hot meals.

But according to Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) and other critics, the Iraq war and occupation have provided a handful of companies with good political connections, particularly Halliburton, with unprecedented money-making opportunities. "The amount of money is quite staggering, far more than we were originally led to believe," Waxman said. "This is clearly a trend under this administration, and it concerns me because often the privatization of government services ends up costing the taxpayers more money rather than less."

"The practice of delegating a vast array of logistics operations to a single contractor dates to the aftermath of the 1991 Persian Gulf War and a study commissioned by Cheney, then defense secretary, on military outsourcing. The Pentagon chose Brown and Root to carry out the study and subsequently selected the company to implement its own plan. Cheney served as chief executive of Brown and Root's parent company, Halliburton, from 1995 to 2000, when he resigned to run for the vice presidency.">> More

This is SHEER NEPOTISM and we've been screaming about it for months now. REINSTATE the WAR PROFITTEERING ACT and ARREST CHENEY for Treason. HE STILL RECEIVES A PAYCHECK FROM HALLIBURTON. BUSH Points - screams "Terraist", Troops are deployed, get killed and CHENEY and BUSH SENIOR [Carlyle] Get filthy RICH. Don't call Liberals Al Queda Sympathizers while these monsters ROB you of your TAXES. Wake up America, you are being scammed and your brothers, sisters, fathers and mothers are being slaughtered for PROFIT in Iraq.

BUSH TAKES MONEY OUT OF WORKERS' POCKETS TO FINANCE WAR
Posted Wednesday, August 27, 2003 by stranger

A national emergency has existed since September 11, 2001, that now includes Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Full statutory civilian pay increases costing 13 percent of payroll in 2004 would interfere with our Nation's ability to pursue the war on terrorism. Such increases would cost about $13 billion in fiscal year 2004 alone -- $11 billion more than the 2 percent overall Federal civilian pay increase I proposed in my 2004 Budget -- and would build in later years.

Such cost increases would threaten our efforts against terrorism or force deep cuts in discretionary spending or Federal employment to stay within budget. Neither outcome is acceptable. Therefore, I have determined that a total pay increase of 2 percent would be appropriate for GS and certain other employees in January 2004...

...I will allocate 1.5 percent of the 2 percent total increase to an across-the-board increase under section 5303 of title 5, United States Code, and use the remaining 0.5 percent of payroll to continue the implementation of the locality pay program under section 5304. Our national situation precludes granting larger pay increases to GS employees at this time. >> More

So, it's come to the point where Bush is denying government employees' pay raises in order to finance his illegal war in Iraq. Nothing is beneath these scum. Nothing.

Aren't we supposed to have a free press in this country?
Posted Wednesday, August 27, 2003 by stranger

A federal judge held two more closed hearings in the criminal case against Andrew Fastow and two other former Enron executives on Tuesday and refused to unseal the transcript of a July 28 hearing he also held in secret.

U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt said he might continue to close hearings if he thinks it necessary.

"There are matters that do not need to be discussed in public in ways that embarrasses or humiliates the government or the defense and particularly the court," he said. >> More

Since when is potential embarrassment of a defendant grounds to close a courtroom? If a person is on trial, doesn't it figure that they should suffer the embarrassment of being charged of a crime?