The Rich Get Richer - New York Times
This message is available on the Internet at http://www.WantToKnow.info/
050508richgetricher
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AFTER LOWERING GOAL, ARMY FALLS SHORT ON MAY RECRUITS
By Eric Schmitt
New York Times
Jun 8, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/08/politics/08recruit.html?th&emc=th
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U.S. MILITARY RECRUITMENT CRISIS DEEPENS
By James Cogan
World Socialist Web Site
June 1, 2005
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/jun2005/mili-j01.shtml
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The Value of Workers
by Archie Kennedy Wednesday,
May. 25, 2005 at 8:35 PM
http://la.indymedia.org/news/2005/05/127140.php
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
A RAND Corperation study of relevance...
Recruiting Youth in the College Market:
Current Practices and Future Policy Options
M. Rebecca Kilburn, Beth Asch, Editors
http://www.rand.org/publications/MR/MR1093/
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California Father and Son
Face Charges in Terrorism Case
By DEAN E. MURPHY and DAVID JOHNSTON
Published: June 9, 2005
"A lawyer for the two imams, Saad Ahmad, said the men were innocent
of any wrongdoing, describing them as "law abiding" and "decent
hard-working people." He said Mr. Khan and Mr. Ahmed were
granted entry to the United States to work as imams but said law
enforcement officials accused them of violating their visas because
they "did not perform their duties as an imam."
"I really believe they don't have anything on these guys,"
said Mr. Ahmad, an immigration lawyer."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/09/national/09terror.html?
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Gay Rights Battlefields Spread
to Public Schools
By MICHAEL JANOFSKY
Published: June 9, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/09/education/09clash.html
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Award Limit in Tobacco Case
Sets Off a Strenuous Protest
By MICHAEL JANOFSKY
and DAVID JOHNSTON
Published: June 9, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/09/politics/
09tobacco.html?hp&ex=1118376000&en=e23298ad3118dd4f&ei=5094&partner=ho
mepage
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Los Alamos Whistleblower Assaulted
Los Alamos whistleblower "Tommy Hook is still hospitalized
today after being brutally assaulted over the weekend," the
Project on Government Oversight is saying. "A group of three
to four assailants threatened Hook to keep silent, in apparent
reference to his upcoming Congressional testimony on fraud
at Los Alamos."
Mr. Hook was slated to testify before the House Energy and
Commerce Committee this month. Congressional staff from the
Committee were already scheduled to arrive Tuesday, June 7th
to investigate Tommy Hook's allegations. Also flying out
tomorrow is the Project On Government Oversight's Senior
Investigator Peter Stockton who investigated the 1974 murder
of nuclear whistleblower Karen Silkwood in his previous
position as a Congressional investigator.”
http://www.defensetech.org/archives/001590.html
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
June 11:Founding Convention of San Francisco Peoples'
Organization
From: Chris Daly
Dear Friends,
I want to personally invite you to the founding convention of an exciting
new endeavor, the San Francisco People's Organization (SFPO). This new
organization brings labor, community based organizations, and the diversity
of our progressive communities together to collectively develop a sustained
alliance that can build a progressive vision for San Francisco. Please come
out to support and make sure that YOUR voice is heard!
WHAT: SAN FRANCISCO PEOPLES' ORGANIZATION FOUNDING CONVENTION
WHEN: Saturday, June 11, 2005 - 8:30am - 5:00pm
WHERE: St. Mary's Cathedral Conference Center - 1111 Gough St.
at Geary
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS: Mike Casey, President, HERE, Local 2
Medea Benjamin, Founder, Global Exchange
PERFORMANCE: MICHAEL FRANTI of SPEARHEAD
Please join San Francisco progressive leaders such as Matt Gonzalez,
Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, Public Defender Jeff Adachi and myself in this
momentous occasion to build and consolidate the diverse progressive voices
of our city.
To register and/or for more information, please visit
www.sfpeople.org
Registration: $10 (Breakfast and Lunch Included)
SFPO members include:
Local 2, United Health Care Workers (formerly SEIU Local 250), Bernal
Heights Democratic Club, CLAER Project, Coalition for Transit Justice, Code
Pink, Community Tenants Association, Gray Panthers, Health Care for All, La
Raza Centro Legal, Living Wage Coalition, Mission Anti-Displacement
Coalition, Pride at Work, Progressive Voter Project, San Francisco
Childcare Provider Association, San Francisco Day Laborers Program, San
Francisco Tenants Union, Senior Action Network, Sex Workers Outreach
Project, SOMCAN (South of Market Community Action Network), Tenants Network
and hundreds of individual activists.
SFPO Mission Statement:
San Francisco Peoples' Organization is a coalition of community-based
organizations, labor, advocacy groups, and individuals committed to
building a progressive vision for San Francisco. We are creating a
long-term strategic alliance of people of color, women, LGBT, labor,
working poor, seniors, persons with disabilities, faith-based communities,
youth, and any group or individual that fights for economic and social
justice. We believe that through grassroots, constituency-based,
multi-issue organizing efforts we can transform San Francisco into a city
that places human needs and the common good above everything else.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Gays and lesbians under siege
as violence and harassment soar
in Northern Ireland
Campaigners say homophobia still seen as 'respectable
prejudice' in province
Angelique Chrisafis, Ireland correspondent
Monday June 6, 2005
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Northern_Ireland/Story/0,2763,1499845,00.html
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Please circulate widely....and let us know how you can help out...
You are invited to a Community Dialogue
The Criminalization of Survival - Poverty, Violence & Prostitution
Come hear about the growing movement, spearheaded by sex workers,
demanding protection and an end to criminalization and imprisonment
for "crimes of poverty".
Thursday, June 9 at 7pm
St Boniface Church, 133 Golden Gate, San Francisco
(between Jones & Leavenworth, near Civic Center BART)
Donation $5, no one turned away. Call ahead if you need
childcare or Spanish translation
Speakers: _ Margaret Prescod, Host Pacifica Radio/KPFK "Sojourner
Truth", Women of Color in the Global Women's Strike _ Sister
Bernie Galvin, Religious Witness With Homeless People _ Anna Bolton,
California Prison Focus _ Rachel West, US PROStitutes
Collective _ Attorneys from the Public Defender's Office
and more....
Cuts in welfare, housing & other resources increased the numbers
of women, especially single mothers, working as prostitutes to
support their families. Laws like SOAP (Stay Out of Areas of
Prostitution) orders, which fine or jail women and make it
illegal to go to certain areas are fuelling hostility & dividing
communities. Women face sexism & racism by police & courts when
charged under the prostitution laws or reporting violence.
Punitive, judgmental "rehabilitation" schemes compel women to
attend under threat of imprisonment.
The SF Task Force on Prostitution (TF) recommended decriminalization,
protection from violence and for resources to help women get out
of prostitution - recommendations that have the support of most
San Franciscans. The SF Board of Supervisors then passed a resolution
supporting the TF recommendations which calls for the $7.6 million
currently spent on enforcing anti-prostitution laws be used instead
for resources and services, and for the vigorous prosecution of
rape and other violent crimes against sex workers.
The Community Dialogue aims to bring together sex workers; church
workers; residents; legal reps; organized labor; ex-cons; youth;
LGBT; communities of color & immigrants; homeless people; anti-war,
anti-poverty & anti-racist activists; prisoner rights groups and
others working for justice and to protect the rights of anyone
criminalized by poverty to discuss: _ How the criminalization
of prostitution makes sex workers and all women more vulnerable
to violence; _ Extending to sex workers, the amnesty granted to
homeless people arrested for "nuisance crimes."
While $billions are spent on war, occupation and prisons,
why is there "no money" for women, the carers in every community?
Coordinated by: In Defense of Prostitute Women's Safety,
a project of US PROStitutes Collective & Legal Action for Women.
Co sponsored by: Wages Due Lesbians; Women of Color in the
Global Women's Strike, California Prison Focus, Ella Baker
Center, Justice in Palestine Coalition. Endorsed by: Mission
Neighborhood Resource Center. Call for more info (415) 626-4114
or email sf@crossroadswomen.net
Funded in part by the Commission on the Status of Women
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
BAUAW NEWSLETTER WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 2005
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) After Lowering Goal, Army
Falls Short on May Recruits
By ERIC SCHMITT
"WASHINGTON, June 7 - Even after reducing its recruiting
target for May, the Army missed it by about 25 percent,
Army officials said on Tuesday. The shortfall would have
been even bigger had the Army stuck to its original goal
for the month.
On Friday, the Army is expected to announce that it met
only 75 percent of its recruiting goal for May, the fourth
consecutive monthly shortfall in the number of new recruits
sent to basic training. Just over 5,000 new recruits
entered boot camp in May.
But the news could have appeared worse. Early last month,
the Army, with no public notice, lowered its long-stated
May goal to 6,700 recruits from 8,050. Compared with the
original target, the Army achieved only 62.6 percent of
its goal for the month."
June 8, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/08/politics/08recruit.html?
2) When Marine recruiters go way beyond the call
Wednesday, June 8, 2005
By SUSAN PAYNTER
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER COLUMNIST
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/paynter/227497_paynter08.html
3) "BRAC could force some to drive further to drill"
by Laura Bailey"
From: Marti Hiken mlhiken@pacbell.net
4) Sept. 24-26, 2005: End the War on Iraq!
Massive Mobilization in Washington, D.C.
Hold Bush & Congress Accountable for the Deaths, the Destruction,
the Lies, and the Toll on Our Communities
Three Days of Action for Peace and Justice in Washington, D.C.
END THE WAR ON IRAQ
BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW!
Leave no bases behind - End the corporate occupation of Iraq
Stop bankrupting our communities –
No military recruitment in our schools
Sat., Sept. 24 - Massive March, Rally & Festival
Sun., Sept. 25 - Interfaith Service, Grassroots Training
Mon., Sept. 26 - Lobby Day and Mass Nonviolent Direct Action
and Civil Disobedience
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?list=type&type=91
5) Drug's Users Say Ruling Won't End Their Efforts
By DEAN E. MURPHY
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/07/national/07react.html?
6) Justices Say U.S. May Prohibit the Use of Medical Marijuana
By LINDA GREENHOUSE
Published: June 7, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/07/politics/07marijuana.html
7) The Court and Marijuana
June 8, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/08/opinion/08wed2.html?pagewanted=print
8) Prosecutions Unlikely of Medical Pot Users
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 1:53 p.m. ET
June 7, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Scotus-Medical-Marijuana.html
9) Good to Grow
By SALLY SATEL
Washington
June 8, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/08/opinion/08Satel.html
10) Medical Marijuana ProCon .org
http://www.medicalmarijuanaprocon.org/
11) Federal Prosecutors Slash
Amount Sought in Tobacco Trial
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: June 8, 2005
Filed at 11:48 a.m. ET
"WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal prosecutors, wrapping up
a drawn-out lawsuit against the tobacco industry, are demanding
only a fraction of the $130 billion that a government witness
initially envisioned cigarette makers would have to spend on
smoking cessation programs."
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-Tobacco-
Trial.html?hp&ex=1118289600&en=c0de4589ff4bd483&ei=5094&partner=homepag
e
12) Bush Aide Softened Greenhouse
Gas Links to Global Warming
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
Published: June 8, 2005
"A White House official who once led the oil industry's fight
against limits on greenhouse gases has repeatedly edited government
climate reports in ways that play down links between such emissions
and global warming, according to internal documents."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/08/politics/
08climate.html?hp&ex=1118289600&en=54e7b911a5d025aa&ei=5094&partner=ho
mepage
13) Artist: Dead Prez
Album: Turn Off the Radio
Song: Know Your Enemy
http://lyrics.duble.com/lyrics/D/dead-prez-lyrics/dead-prez-know-your-enemy-
lyrics.htm
14) Desperate for Work, Blind to Dangers
Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches
http://dahrjamailiraq.com
15) Who Cares?
Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches
June 07, 2005
http://dahrjamailiraq.com
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) After Lowering Goal, Army
Falls Short on May Recruits
By ERIC SCHMITT
"WASHINGTON, June 7 - Even after reducing its recruiting
target for May, the Army missed it by about 25 percent, Army
officials said on Tuesday. The shortfall would have been
even bigger had the Army stuck to its original goal for
the month.
On Friday, the Army is expected to announce that it met
only 75 percent of its recruiting goal for May, the fourth
consecutive monthly shortfall in the number of new recruits
sent to basic training. Just over 5,000 new recruits entered
boot camp in May.
But the news could have appeared worse. Early last month,
the Army, with no public notice, lowered its long-stated
May goal to 6,700 recruits from 8,050. Compared with the
original target, the Army achieved only 62.6 percent of
its goal for the month."
June 8, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/08/politics/08recruit.html?
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
2) When Marine recruiters go way beyond the call
Wednesday, June 8, 2005
By SUSAN PAYNTER
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER COLUMNIST
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/paynter/227497_paynter08.html
For mom Marcia Cobb and her teenage son Axel, the white
letters USMC on their caller ID soon spelled, "Don't answer
the phone!"
Marine recruiters began a relentless barrage of calls to
Axel as soon as the mellow, compliant Sedro-Woolley High
School grad had cut his 17th birthday cake. And soon it
was nearly impossible to get the seekers of a few good
men off the line.
With early and late calls ringing in their ears, Marcia
tried using call blocking. And that's when she learned her
first hard lesson. You can't block calls from the government,
her server said. So, after pleas to "Please stop calling"
went unanswered, the family's "do not answer" order ensued.
But warnings and liquid crystal lettering can fade. So,
two weeks ago when Marcia was cooking dinner Axel goofed
and answered the call. And, faster than you can say "semper fi,"
an odyssey kicked into action that illustrates just how
desperate some of the recruiters we've read about really
are to fill severely sagging quotas.
Let what we learned serve as a warning to other moms,
dads and teens, the Cobbs now say. Even if your kids
actually may want to join the military, if they hope to
do it on their own terms, after a deep breath and due
consideration, repeat these words after them: "No," "Not
now" and "Back off!"
"I've been trained to be pretty friendly. I guess you might
even say I'm kind of passive," Axel told me last week, just
after his mother and older sister had tracked him to
a Seattle testing center and sprung him on a ruse.
The next step of Axel's misadventure came when he heard
about a cool "chin-ups" contest in Bellingham, where the
prize was a free Xbox. The now 18-year-old Skagit Valley
Community College student dragged his tail feathers home
uncharacteristically late that night. And, in the morning,
Marcia learned the Marines had hosted the event and "then
had him out all night, drilling him to join."
A single mom with a meager income, Marcia raised her kids
on the farm where, until recently, she grew salad greens
for restaurants.
Axel's father, a Marine Corps vet who served in Vietnam,
died when Axel was 4.
Clearly the recruiters knew all that and more.
"You don't want to be a burden to your mom," they told him.
"Be a man." "Make your father proud." Never mind that,
because of his own experience in the service, Marcia says
enlistment for his son is the last thing Axel's dad would
have wanted.
The next weekend, when Marcia went to Seattle for the
Folklife Festival and Axel was home alone, two recruiters
showed up at the door.
Axel repeated the family mantra, but he was feeling frazzled
and worn down by then. The sergeant was friendly but, at the
same time, aggressively insistent. This time, when Axel said,
"Not interested," the sarge turned surly, snapping, "You're
making a big (bleeping) mistake!"
Next thing Axel knew, the same sergeant and another recruiter
showed up at the LaConner Brewing Co., the restaurant where
Axel works. And before Axel, an older cousin and other
co-workers knew or understood what was happening, Axel was
whisked away in a car.
"They said we were going somewhere but I didn't know we were
going all the way to Seattle," Axel said.
Just a few tests. And so many free opportunities, the
recruiters told him.
He could pursue his love of chemistry. He could serve
anywhere he chose and leave any time he wanted on an
"apathy discharge" if he didn't like it. And he
wouldn't have to go to Iraq if he didn't want to.
At about 3:30 in the morning, Alex was awakened in the
motel and fed a little something. Twelve hours later,
without further sleep or food, he had taken a battery
of tests and signed a lot of papers he hadn't gotten
a chance to read. "Just formalities," he was told. "Sign
here. And here. Nothing to worry about."
By then Marcia had "freaked out."
She went to the Burlington recruiting center where the
door was open but no one was home. So she grabbed all
the cards and numbers she could find, including the
address of the Seattle-area testing center.
Then, with her grown daughter in tow, she high-tailed
it south, frantically phoning Axel whose cell phone
had been confiscated "so he wouldn't be distracted
during tests."
Axel's grandfather was in the hospital dying, she told
the people at the desk. He needed to come home right
away. She would have said just about anything.
But, even after being told her son would be brought
right out, her daughter spied him being taken down
a separate hall and into another room. So she dashed
down the hall and grabbed him by the arm.
"They were telling me I needed to 'be a man' and stand
up to my family," Axel said.
What he needed, it turned out, was a lawyer.
Five minutes and $250 after an attorney called the
recruiters, Axel's signed papers and his cell phone
were in the mail.
My request to speak with the sergeant who recruited
Axel and with the Burlington office about recruitment
procedures went unanswered.
And so should your phone, Marcia Cobb advised. Take
your own sweet time. Keep your own counsel. And, if
you see USMC on caller ID, remember what answering
the call could mean.
Susan Paynter's column appears Mondays, Wednesdays
and Fridays. Call her at 206-448-8392 or send e-mail
to susanpaynter@seattlepi.com.
(c) 1998-2005 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Marxism mailing list
Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
3) "BRAC could force some to drive further to drill"
by Laura Bailey"
From: Marti Hiken mlhiken@pacbell.net
Hi,
Let's see if I can get this email out without the compu
crashing. It will probably be a few days before I have all
the computer problems worked out.
This is important info: (These excerpts are from the Marine
Times, p. 28, 7-6-05, "BRAC could force some to drive further
to drill" by Laura Bailey)
This information needs to be spread. It certainly will not
help the military in terms of recruitment efforts.
Marti
Due to BRAC (Base Closings here in the U.S., the report
was released on May 13th), almost 20 Reserve installations
will be closed or realigned. This means that in coming years,
soldiers will have to travel to new locations for drill
weekends, creating longer or shorter commutes for thousands.
For several hundred reservists, the proposed realignments
could mean having to affiliate with different units altogether.
While many of the consolidations would send reservists to
nearby stations, others would move units hundreds of miles
away across state lines, leaving the question of how affected
reservists would get to drill stations every month.
Reservists who would have to travel an unreasonable amount
to drill would have the option of seeking transfers to units
within reasonable commuting distances.
IF YOU CAN BELIEVE THIS:
If there is no unit available in the area, reservists will
be able to request an interservice transfer or a return to
active duty. For reservists not satisfied with the latter
option, there is a possibility some would be allowed to go
to the IRR. Such commuting problems should affect only
a minority of reservists. "...Our analysis determined that
the number of reservists driving over 100 miles, if all
candidate recommendations closing Reserve centers were
executed, would total roughtly 700, or less than
2 percent of the total Reserve population."
One squadron at Naval Air Station Atlanta... would move
822 miles west to Ft. Worth, TX, affecting 131 Reservists
and 78 active duty.
"Reservists are not obligated to continue their Reserve
service if they find that traveling to a drill site will
place an excessive burden on them...Severance or relocation
benefits will NOT be be offered to reservists who separate
due to the closure of Reserve center.
Reservists who must travel more than 50 miles to get to
new drill sites are entitled to reimbursement for berthing
costs associated with reaching the drill site.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
4) Sept. 24-26, 2005: End the War on Iraq!
Massive Mobilization in Washington, D.C.
Hold Bush & Congress Accountable for the Deaths, the Destruction,
the Lies, and the Toll on Our Communities
Three Days of Action for Peace and Justice in Washington, D.C.
END THE WAR ON IRAQ
BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW!
Leave no bases behind - End the corporate occupation of Iraq
Stop bankrupting our communities - No military recruitment in our schools
Sat., Sept. 24 - Massive March, Rally & Festival
Sun., Sept. 25 - Interfaith Service, Grassroots Training
Mon., Sept. 26 - Lobby Day and Mass Nonviolent Direct Action
and Civil Disobedience
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?list=type&type=91
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
5) Drug's Users Say Ruling Won't End Their Efforts
By DEAN E. MURPHY
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/07/national/07react.html?
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
6) Justices Say U.S. May Prohibit the Use of Medical Marijuana
By LINDA GREENHOUSE
Published: June 7, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/07/politics/07marijuana.html
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
7) The Court and Marijuana
June 8, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/08/opinion/08wed2.html?pagewanted=print
We read the Supreme Court's decision on the medicinal use
of marijuana with mixed emotions. We certainly wish that
the Justice Department could be weaned from the gross misuse
of the federal Controlled Substances Act that led to its
campaign against the use of marijuana by terminally ill
people in the 11 states where it is legal for doctors to
prescribe it. But we take very seriously the court's
concern about protecting the Commerce Clause, the vital
constitutional principle that has allowed the federal
government to thwart evils like child labor and segregation.
The dissenters in the 6-to-3 decision, Justices Sandra
Day O'Connor and Clarence Thomas and Chief Justice William
Rehnquist, opened the door for conservatives who want to
sharply reduce Congress's use of its power to regulate and
protect interstate commerce. These conservatives want
to turn the clock back to before the New Deal, when
workers were exploited, factories polluted at will and
the elderly faced insecure retirements.
The law the Bush administration used in attempting to
crack down on medical marijuana in states where it is
legal was intended to stop interstate trafficking in
dangerous drugs. Most Americans would agree that using
small amounts of marijuana in private under a doctor's
supervision has nothing to do with narcotics trafficking.
To stop the Justice Department from pursuing this
ideological obsession, Congress should amend the law
to specifically exempt prescribed marijuana. It should
not be a partisan issue; both red and blue states have
laws allowing the medicinal use of marijuana.
We hope good sense prevails. And we hope that Justice
Antonin Scalia, who seems to be campaigning for chief
justice, remembers that he concurred with the majority
this week the next time the court hears a federal-powers
case on, say, air pollution.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
8) Prosecutions Unlikely of Medical Pot Users
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 1:53 p.m. ET
June 7, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Scotus-Medical-Marijuana.html
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
9) Good to Grow
By SALLY SATEL
Washington
June 8, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/08/opinion/08Satel.html
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
10) Medical Marijuana ProCon .org
http://www.medicalmarijuanaprocon.org/
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
11) Federal Prosecutors Slash
Amount Sought in Tobacco Trial
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: June 8, 2005
Filed at 11:48 a.m. ET
"WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal prosecutors, wrapping up
a drawn-out lawsuit against the tobacco industry, are demanding
only a fraction of the $130 billion that a government witness
initially envisioned cigarette makers would have to spend on
smoking cessation programs."
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-Tobacco-
Trial.html?hp&ex=1118289600&en=c0de4589ff4bd483&ei=5094&partner=homepag
e
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
12) Bush Aide Softened Greenhouse
Gas Links to Global Warming
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
Published: June 8, 2005
"A White House official who once led the oil industry's fight
against limits on greenhouse gases has repeatedly edited government
climate reports in ways that play down links between such emissions
and global warming, according to internal documents."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/08/politics/
08climate.html?hp&ex=1118289600&en=54e7b911a5d025aa&ei=5094&partner=ho
mepage
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
13) Artist: Dead Prez
Album: Turn Off the Radio
Song: Know Your Enemy
http://lyrics.duble.com/lyrics/D/dead-prez-lyrics/dead-prez-know-your-enemy-
lyrics.htm
chorus:
[stic.man & m1]
know your enemy, know yourself
that's the politic
george bush is way worse than bin laden is
know your enemy, know yourself
that's the politic
f.b.i., c.i.a., the real terrorists
know your enemy, know yourself
that's the politic
george bush is way worse than bin laden is
know your enemy, know yourself
that's the politic
c.i.a., f.b.i. the real terrorists
[stic.man]
you got to watch what you say in these days and times
It's a touchy situation, lotta fear and emotion
september 11th
televised world-wide
suicide planes fallin like bombs from out the sky
they wasn't aimin at us
not at my house
they hit the world trade, the pentagon, and almost got the white house
now everybody walkin round patriotic
how we gon' fight to keep freedom when we ain't got it?
you wanna stop terrorists?
start with the u.s. imperalists
ain't no track record like america's, see
bin laden was trained by the c.i.a
but I guess if you a terrorist for the u.s
then it's okay
uh huh
[m1]
they try to make us think we crazy
but I know what they doin, they tryna put us back in slavery
check it, to get on welfare you gotta get your fingerprints
soon ya gotta do eyescans to get your benefits
now they got them cards to swipe, ain't no more foodstamps
shoulda seen it comin, now it's too late to get amped
and everything got a barcode
so they know what you got, when you got it, and what you still owe
you seen them projects, lately you better watch it
why they got us surrounded if money is the object?
why they use satellites to keep track of the criminals?
why they puttin jails in schools, is it subliminal?
cameras everywhere to protect us from one another
or is it the undercover, disguised as big brother
and even freedom of speech is limited
mad leaders done spoke up, and look at what these crackas did
(chorus)
[m1]
and you ain't got to believe me
go 'head and listen to bush
the dope pusher on the t.v
what you think the war is for?
cause the greedy wantin more and more
we be hustlin the corridor
I would never join the military
one soldier to another, nigga holla if ya hear me
goin out to the best sons and daughters
don't be a lamb gettin led to the slaughter
I'ma keep ridin when my momma released
cause ain't no stoppin us now, dawg
freedom before peace
ugh
they got a plan for us?
we got a plan for them
and this time we gon' win
who in? you out? you in?
no doubt, we men
ain't no ridin the fence
It's called self-defense
It makes sense
when they tell us we gotta shackles on our brains (say what?)
I'll be damned if I sit here and let them put us back in chains
(singing)
at the bonfires of the city
I've seen blood (stic.man - a'what?...)
blood (stic.man - a'what?...)
blood (stic.man - a'what?...)
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14) Desperate for Work, Blind to Dangers
Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches
http://dahrjamailiraq.com
Inter Press Service
Dahr Jamail
AMMAN, Jun 7 (IPS) - Ahlam Najam just needed a job. At 25, she had a
university degree in education but could not find work as teacher.
When Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR), subsidiary of the U.S. firm
Halliburton offered her a job as a security guard at a U.S. base in
Iraq, she took it.
On May 18 last year she was shot twice in the head as she waited for a
taxi to take her to work. Her injuries left her blind, and she lost her
sense of smell.
"Many people were working with the Americans, so I felt it would be
okay," Najam, now at a Saudi-funded organisation in Amman that assists
blind Arab women told IPS.
"My two bosses at KBR, Mr. Jeff and Mr. Mark used to be very good and
gentle with me," she said. "They told me it wasn't dangerous to work for
them."
Najam worked for KBR three months before she was shot. She was taken to
hospital in Hilla, about 100 km south of Baghdad, and kept there several
days. But her good bosses never contacted her, she says.
She was later moved to a hospital in Baghdad. Here she was told there
had been a call from "Mr Jeff" (she was never given the last names of
her bosses). She was too much in pain to be able to take the call. Her
employers never called again. Attempts to find their last names, email
addresses or phone numbers have been fruitless.
"I sent two emails to the KBR public relations person last June. But
they never replied. I don't know what to do now, I can't go back to Iraq
because it is too dangerous."
Najam feels hurt in many ways. "I was very good with them. Always on
time, never left early, and they were happy with me. But when I needed
them most, they were not there."
KBR has an email address where questions about employees in Iraq are
said to be answered within 12 hours. Emails to that address were not
returned.
Ahlam Najam went to work as a security guard in a country where
unemployment is more than 50 percent and prices are rising. Like Najam,
many have no choice but to work in situations of grave danger. And the
security situation is getting no better.
Car bombings and other attacks have killed at least 80 U.S. soldiers and
more than 800 Iraqis in the last month alone.
It does not help that U.S. President George W. Bush sees it differently.
"I am pleased that in less than a year's time there's a democratically
elected government in Iraq, there are thousands of Iraq soldiers trained
and better equipped to fight for their own country (and) that our
strategy is very clear," Bush told reporters in Washington.
In the last two weeks at least 35 U.S. soldiers have been killed in
Iraq, with 1,670 killed since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003.
Vice-President Dick Cheney, who used to head Halliburton which has been
awarded massive contracts in Iraq, has also offered an upbeat
assessment. He said during an interview on CNN that insurgency in Iraq
was in its "last throes".
But after a meeting with U.S. military commanders in Iraq, Senator
Joseph Biden from Delaware said, "The idea that the insurgents are on
the run and we are about to turn the corner, I did not hear that from
anybody."
More writing, photos and commentary at http://dahrjamailiraq.com
You can visit http://dahrjamailiraq.com/email_list/ to subscribe or unsubscribe to the
email list.
(c)2004, 2005 Dahr Jamail.
http://lists.dahrjamailiraq.com/mailman/listinfo/iraq_dispatches
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15) Who Cares?
Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches
June 07, 2005
http://dahrjamailiraq.com
Suicide bombers unleashed another day of hell across Iraq today, killing
at least 18 and wounding over 67.
Four of them struck Iraqi Security forces, along with US military
convoys around Baghdad. Despite the huge US-backed Iraqi security
operation throughout the capital city, attacks there continue unabated.
The small city of Rawa near Al-Qa'im was bombed again by the US military
Sunday night. The military admitted to the bombing, but claimed that
there were no civilian casualties. Today on Al-Jazeera the satellite
channel flashed footage of flattened civilian homes, as well as people
in the city claiming that seven civilians were killed in the bombings.
In Hawija (near Kirkuk), three suicide car bombers struck Iraqi security
checkpoints today, killing several Iraqis. Meanwhile in Tal-Afar (near
Mosul), fierce clashes erupted between the Iraqi resistance and American
soldiers. These are ongoing as I type this.
It continues to be clear that the plans of the Bush Administration in
Iraq either do not include the protection of Iraqis, they don't care, or
both.
I received an email from someone today along these lines which I found
interesting:
"I operated out of Camp Anaconda, near Balad. What almost everyone, both
in uniform and those as contractors, agreed on (was) the objective of
the Bush Administration's long term (plan) is focused primarily on oil.
Hearts and minds are secondary, far behind the issue of petroleum
products, as the US continues to compete for resources around the world.
I hope more media conversation is forthcoming on this issue."
Also along these lines, an Iraqi friend of mine who is a doctor in
Baghdad told me that when he was in Ramadi yesterday, US soldiers
attacked the Anbar Medical School while students were taking their
exams. As he said, "They (US soldiers) smashed the front gates of the
school in a barbaric way using Humvees...and terrorized the female
students while arresting two students while they were working on their
exams. They then lay siege to the homes of the dean of the university,
along with homes of lecturers, even though their families were inside."
My friend also reported that after he recently visited Haditha (remember
"Operation Open Market") he found that a large number of civilians had
been detained.
"They even detained a friend of mine and his father because they found
papers in their home about an upcoming demonstration," he told me.
Recently, the US-backed Iraqi "government" announced it had detained
nearly 900 "suspected militants." A "suspected militant" in Iraq looks
more and more like anyone in the wrong place at the wrong time when
Iraqi or US forces conduct an operation.
Of course the looting of homes during raids continues along with the
detentions of innocent Iraqis. So much so that as a result of the huge
"security" operation in Baghdad, Laith Kuba, a spokesman for Iraqi Prime
Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari found it necessary to make the following
statement:
"Some people complained there are cases where soldiers took advantage
and helped themselves to cash and other items. One doesn't rule it out.
The complaints I heard from people were the aggressiveness of some of
these forces as they do things. Some people have half-hinted that they
have copied some of the mannerisms of other foreign troops. I think that
is a valid criticism in some cases."
More writing, photos and commentary at http://dahrjamailiraq.com
You can visit http://dahrjamailiraq.com/email_list/
to subscribe or unsubscribe to the email list.
(c)2004, 2005 Dahr Jamail.
Iraq_Dispatches mailing list
http://lists.dahrjamailiraq.com/mailman/listinfo/iraq_dispatches
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