Greetings, fellow Freedom Fighters™ and Defenders of Democracy™!
Welcome to the seventh installment of daily posts as we work off our backlog of information.
Please take your time and read through this post. If each and every item hadn’t stricken us as dead-on important, it wouldn’t be here. You won’t want to miss a word.
Keep the faith and keep fighting; together, we WILL win our nation back!
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Found item
Here is an item we found in our travels: a PDF report from a team of veterans who fought in Iraq. First hand, they say that the number of Iraqi civilians being killed is unconscionable. They also give reason after reason why the invasion is being fought at the expense of America’s middle and lower classes: today’s voters and their children are paying the price.
http://www.militaryproject.org/PDF/vol3/GI%20Specia
l%203A55%20We%20Can%20Win.pdf
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From our information clearinghouse
These are items we receive from the countless mailing lists to which The Scallion collectively subscribes. They are worth the effort of at least a good skim.
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From Greg Palast
Why Democrats Don't Count
Lessons from the Un-Gore of Mexico
July 14, 2006
By Greg Palast
[Watch "Florida con Salsa," Palast's 15-minute investigative report from Mexico City for Democracy Now!]
The Exit polls said he won, but the "official" tally took his victory away. His supporters found they were scrubbed off voter rolls. Violence and intimidation kept even more of his voters away from the polls. Hundreds of thousands of ballots supposedly showed no choice for president -- like ballots with hanging chads.
And the officials in charge of this suspect election refused to re-count those votes in public. Everyone knew full well a fair count would certainly change the outcome.
You've heard this story before: Gore 2000. Kerry 2004.
But Lopez Obrador 2006 is made out of very different stuff than the scarecrow candidates who, oddly, call themselves "Democrats."
For six years now, I've had this crazy fantasy in my head. In it, an election is stolen and the guy who's declared the loser stands up in front of the White House and says three magic words: "Count the votes."
This past Saturday, my dream came true. Unfortunately, it was in Spanish -- but I'll take what I can get. There was Andreas Manuel Lopez Obrador, presidential challenger, standing in the "Zocalo" -- the square in front of Mexico's White House, telling the ruling clique inside, "Count the votes!"
Most important, his simple demand was echoed by half a million pissed-off, activated voters chanting with him, "Vota por vota!" -- vote by vote.
And you know what? I think they are going to have to listen. I suspect that the rulers of Mexico, a vicious, puffed-up, arrogant elite, may well have to count those votes. But, for that to happen, someone had to ask them to do it -- in no uncertain terms.
Traveling the USA, I'm asked again and again 'Why don't Democrats stand up when their elections are stolen?'
The answer: for the same reason jellyfish don't stand up... they're invertebrates.
I'm beginning to find that answer a bit too glib (though darn funny). Because it's not about electoral cojones; it's about a devotion to democracy deep in the bone. Yet weirdly, candidates that call themselves "Democrats" seem kind of, well, indifferent to democracy.
Why? Elections are the radical tool of the working class -- the great leveler of the powerless against the too-powerful. But the candidates themselves, both Republican and Democrat, tend to come from the privileged and pampered class. Votes are just the surfboards on which their ambitions ride.
Right now in Mexico's capitol, nearly a million ballots sit in tied bundles uncounted. That's four times the "official" margin of victory of the ruling party over Lopez Obrador. Supposedly, they're "votos nulos" -- null votes, unreadable. But, not surprisingly, when a few packets were opened, the majority of these supposedly unreadable votes were Lopez Obrador's.
If you think that's a Mexican game, think again. Because that's exactly what happened in Florida and Ohio.
In Florida, 179,855 ballots supposedly showed no vote for President. A closer look by the US Civil Rights Commission statisticians showed that 54% of those Florida "votos nulos" were cast by African-Americans. Did Black folk forget to vote for President, couldn't make up their minds or, as one TV network implied, were too dumb to figure out the ballot? Not at all. Machines can't count some ballots. But people can. For example, several voters wrote in, "Al Gore," which the machines rejected as his name was already printed on the ballot. The write-in could fool a machine but a human has no problem figuring out that voter's intent.
The National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago reviewed all 179,855 "uncountable" votes and found the majority attempted to choose Gore. And they would have been counted -- but Florida's Secretary of State, Katherine Harris, ordered a halt.
So Bush was elected not by counting the votes but by preventing their count. And he was reelected the same way in 2004 when a quarter million votes were nullified in Ohio.
But why fixate on Florida and Ohio? Here's a nasty little fact about voting in the Land of the Free not reported in your newspapers: 3,600,380 ballots were cast in the November 2004 presidential election that were never counted. In 2000, the uncounted ballots totaled just under two million.
And where were the Democrats? In 2004, behind the huge jump in uncounted votes was a mass challenge campaign aimed at poor, Black and Hispanic voters by the Republican Party -- pushing these voters, mostly Democrats, to "provisional ballots." They could have been counted, if someone had fought for it. Hundreds of lawyers were on stand-by but the head of the biggest legal team told me in confidence -- and in frustration -- that the Kerry campaign told them to stand down.
Recently, Al Gore was asked if the election of 2000 was stolen. "There may come a time when I speak on that, but it's not now," said the beta dog. (I suspect that if Al Gore were found bleeding in an alley, he'd answer the question, Who shot you? with "There may come a time when I speak on that...").
Lopez Obrador is of a different breed. At the rally last Saturday in Mexico City, he played video and audio tapes of the evidence of fraud on a screen eighty feet tall. Imagine if Gore had projected the "scrub sheets" of purged Black voters on a ten-story-high screen in front of the White House.
Lopez Obrador put political force behind his legal demands by calling on voters from every state in Mexico to march to the capital. Two million are expected to arrive this Sunday. The result: the word among the political classes is that the election may be annulled. Even the conservative Financial Times has warned Mexico's elite not to "fool itself" by ignoring the demand for a full vote count.
North-of-the-Border Democrats just don't get it. The Republican Party is pushing "provisional" ballots, pushing voter ID requirements, compiling secret challenge lists, scrubbing voter registries and selling us vote-nullifying ballot boxes: they get it completely. The GOP knows the key to their electoral domination is not in winning over their opponents' votes, but in not counting them.
The un-Gore of Mexico City has a lesson for the Blue-party gringos. Either the Democrats demand that all votes count, or the Democrats will count for nothing.
**********
Greg Palast is the author of the New York Times bestseller, "ARMED MADHOUSE: Who's Afraid of Osama Wolf?, China Floats Bush Sinks, the Scheme to Steal '08, No Child's Behind Left and other Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Class War." Go to www.GregPalast.com.
Palast's report, "Florida con Salsa? Vote Fraud in Mexico" was filmed and produced by Rick Rowley and Jacquie Soohen (Big Noise Films). Matt Pascarella, in Mexico, contributed to this investigation.
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From AlterNet
Top Stories from AlterNet for July 14, 2006
http://www.alternet.org/
______________________________
A WAVE OF SEXUAL TERRORISM IN IRAQ
Ruth Rosen, Tomdispatch.com
Behind the rape and murder of an Iraqi girl and her family
lies a far larger story of what's happened to women in Iraq
since they were 'liberated' by the Bush administration.
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/38932/
FEMALE SOLDIERS TREATED 'LOWER THAN DIRT'
Rose Aguilar, AlterNet
The case of Suzanne Swift reveals that women deployed in the
Middle East are facing rape, abuse and sexual harassment --
from their own comrades-in-arms.
http://www.alternet.org/story/38942/
______________________________
ISRAEL'S STATE-SPONSORED TERRORISM
Marwan Bishara, The Nation
Israel's offensive against the besieged territories -- and
now Lebanon -- will only leave the region with more
destruction, and the Israeli government with more
deadlock.
http://www.alternet.org/story/38937/
VIDEO: Are Israel and Lebanon Heading for War?
Maybe -- it's the worst violence in 24 years.
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/38944/
_____________________
L.A.'S INVISIBLE RIDERS
Dan Koeppel, Bicycling
For the hard-pedaling day laborers of Los Angeles, bicycling
isn't exercise, a hobby, or a statement. It's a way to get
to work -- if there's work to be found.
http://www.alternet.org/story/38776/
REAL CHRISTIANS FIGHT INTOLERANCE
Rev. Jim Rigby, AlterNet
A reverend declares that gay bashing is an attack on the
gospel -- and that real Christians don't participate in any
form of discrimination.
http://www.alternet.org/story/38904/
_____________________
New in VIDEO:
Daily Show Exposes Stevens' Net Neutrality Expertise
Jon Stewart exposes Sen. Ted Stevens' thorough knowledge
of internet freedom.
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/38934/
Letterman: Top Ten Chapter Titles in George W. Bush's Memoirs
Letterman suggests some chapter titles for President Bush's
memoirs, including 'The War in Iraq, a 6-foot sandwich, and other
things I started but couldn't finish.'
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/38878/
New in PEEK:
Valerie Plame filing 'conspiracy' suit against Cheney,
Rove, and Libby.
http://alternet.org/blogs/peek/38952/
Fresh in THE MIX:
Jan Frel on how the Cold Warriors almost managed to stomp
Russia into the ground -- but now the country looms mightily
over Asia and Europe once again.
http://alternet.org/blogs/themix/38946/
_____________________
These stories and more are available on AlterNet.
http://www.alternet.org/
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From the Center for American Progress
Progress Report: A 'Crisis-Ridden Summit'
GOOD NEWS
In a 390-33 vote, Congress yesterday approved the renewal of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the landmark civil rights legislation "that helped thousands of African Americans gain access to the ballot box."
STATE WATCH
TEXAS: "Doctors who perform illegal abortions in Texas could be subject to the death penalty because of the way the Legislature has strung together recent statutes."
NORTH CAROLINA: Governor Easley (D) has signed a bill that raises the state's minimum wage -- to $6.15 per hour -- for the first time in ten years.
MASSACHUSETTS: The state legislature voted to raise the minimum wage to $7.50 per hour by Jan. 1, 2007, and $8.00 per hour by Jan. 1, 2008.
HOMELAND SECURITY: The Senate refused to cut security funding for rural states, at the expense of more populated areas in New York and California.
BLOG WATCH
THINK PROGRESS: Video: On House floor, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) discusses a fence that he "designed" for the southern boarder: "We do this with livestock all the time."
CARPETBAGGER REPORT: Valerie Plame files civil suit against Karl Rove, Scooter Libby, and Vice President Cheney.
TAPPED: Racial and gender diversity are scarce in the White House.
BLOGGING FAITH: The first Progressive Faith Blogger Con happens today.
DAILY GRILL
"I know that the Murray Waas piece in the National Journal, which interestingly was not picked up by anybody, was totally wrong and a total lie."
-- Robert Novak, 7/12/06, on a report that he and Karl Rove may have coordinated their grand jury testimony
VERSUS
"Syndicated columnist Robert Novak assured presidential adviser Karl Rove that he wouldn't identify him to prosecutors investigating the disclosure of a CIA agent's name, a person familiar with the matter said."
-- Bloomberg News, 5/25/06, confirming the National Journal report (MSNBC also confirmed the report)
ARCHIVES
Progress Report
STUDENTS
Politics with an Attitude: Everyone from Barack Obama to Stephen Colbert talks to Campus Progress. Right-wingers seem scared of us. Find out why here.
by Judd Legum, Faiz Shakir, Nico Pitney
Amanda Terkel and Payson Schwin
July 14, 2006
A 'Crisis-Ridden Summit'
Go Beyond The Headlines
Coffee and Donuts Not Included
For news and updates throughout the day, check out our blog at ThinkProgress.org.
Sign up | Contact us | Permalinks/Archive | Mobile | RSS | Print
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
A 'Crisis-Ridden Summit'
Today, President Bush arrives in Russia for this weekend's G-8 summit, an informal group of the world's leading industrial nations. It will be the first time the annual meeting, which began in 1975, will be held in a country without a free press. Unlike recent summits, this year's will put aside long-term issues of global warming and poverty to focus on crises and hot-spots in Iraq, Iran, North Korea, and the broader Middle East. "It's a crisis-ridden summit," said John Kirton, director of the University of Toronto's G-8 research group, one that's shaping up to be big on promises and short on results.
FREEDOM ON THE RETREAT: "Five years ago, President Bush looked into Vladimir Putin's eyes and thought he got 'a sense of his soul.' But Putin turned out to be less a soul mate than a traditional autocratic Russian leader." In his second inaugural address, Bush outlined his vision of global democracy: "We do not accept the existence of permanent tyranny because we do not accept the possibility of permanent slavery. ... Democratic reformers facing repression, prison, or exile can know: America sees you for who you are -- the future leaders of your free country." But for the past five years, Bush has largely turned a blind eye to Russia's increasing anti-democratic trends and now has limited means to advance the "freedom agenda" that was to mark his second term. The 2006 annual report of the watchdog group Reporters Without Borders notes that conditions for journalists in Russia "continued to worsen alarmingly in 2005, with violence the most serious threat to press freedom. ... The government tightly controls distribution of state advertising, which amounts to blackmailing independent papers that dare to discuss the war in Chechnya." Most recently, the Kremlin forced radio stations to stop broadcasting news from the U.S.-funded Voice of America and Radio Free Europe. Putin has also "eliminated the independence of Russia's governors and weakened the lower house of parliament, the Duma, by enacting laws that discourage true opposition parties and favor the Kremlin-controlled United Russia faction." The Kremlin has already started to crack down on protesters in advance of the weekend's summit, and according to participants at the "Other Russia" conference -- a meeting of prominent opposition figures -- "more than 60 activists were prevented from attending the conference and some were beaten or detained."
BUSH ADMINISTRATION RELYING ON RUSSIA: With defiant uranium enrichment by Iran, recent missile tests by North Korea, increased tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, and surging sectarian violence in Iraq, this year's G-8 summit will likely focus on current foreign policy crises. The need for Russia's support on these fronts has already forced the Bush administration to accede to numerous Kremlin demands, including clearing the way "for Russia to get into the lucrative business of storing spent nuclear fuel, in spite of long-standing U.S. concerns about the safety of facilities in Russia." These U.S. concessions are a quiet acknowledgment that the "U.S. needs Russia more than Russia needs the U.S.," leverage that Putin "appears determined to exploit." Putin is now counting on Bush to finally lift his objections to Russia's entry to the World Trade Organization, which the Bush administration has opposed because of Russia's restrictions on foreign investment and banking. "The U.S.-Russia relationship today is as bad as it's been at any point in the last 15 years," says Steven Pifer, who in 2004 stepped down as the State Department's top diplomat on Russia. A June poll by the Moscow-based Levada Center found that the United States had dropped from 8th to 16th in a list of countries that Russians considered to be their closest friends. While National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley said Bush is serious about privately pressing Putin on tough issues -- like human rights -- in return for U.S. concessions, the Bush administration's actions to date have been more about inflammatory rhetoric than real discussions. In May, Vice President Dick Cheney publicly criticized Putin for backtracking on democracy. In response, Putin said on NBC's Today Show, "These kinds of comments from your vice president amount to the same thing as an unsuccessful hunting shot."
BROKEN PROMISES: Leaders at the 2005 G-8 summit "agreed to cancel the debt owed by 35 of the world's poorest countries to the World Bank, IMF and African Development Fund. They also promised to increase aid to poor countries by $50 billion annually by 2010, with half of this going to Africa." But "[h]igh crude oil prices will more than offset the benefits of debt relief the Group of Eight rich nations gave to poor countries last year," according to findings in a new report by the Jubilee USA Network. A draft action plan of the summit "calls for finding new oil and natural gas reserves at a faster rate, increasing drilling and expanding global oil refining capacity." (American Progress has compiled data comparing debt savings to the cost of oil here.) Additionally, climate change -- one of the top issues at the 2005 G-8 summit -- will be largely off this year's agenda. The summit's draft plan focuses "mostly on the challenges of developing supplies of energy in a volatile market rather than tackling the threat of global warming posed by an increasing use of fossil fuels." Energy security may be at the top of the G-8 agenda, but rather than focusing on climate change or oil prices for the global community, Russia will be looking to "ensure the continued demand for its oil and gas" and "use its position in the world energy markets as a way to be a major power."
Under the Radar
INTELLIGENCE -- SPECTER 'COMPROMISE' ON WARRANTLESS WIRETAPPING EXCUSES BUSH FOR ILLEGAL CONDUCT: Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) announced yesterday that he had reached an agreement with the White House that would result in President Bush submitting the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping program to the secretive FISA court for a judgment on its constitutionality. But the "compromise" heralded by Specter merely gives Bush "the option of submitting the program to the intelligence court, rather than making the review a requirement." There is also no assurance that any determination by the FISA court on the program will ever be made public. Specter appears to have received assurances from the White House that, if his bill is passed without changes, Bush would agree to exercise the option and submit the warrantless wiretapping program to the court. This compromise is a sham because it makes optional what Bush is already required to do. Under the FISA law, the administration can wiretap persons inside the U.S. But it is required to demonstrate that the targets are agents of a foreign power, like al Qaeda or their affiliates. "The Specter bill is an end run around the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and provides the president a blank check to conduct warrantless surveillance of Americans," said Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA), ranking member on the House intelligence committee.
HOMELAND SECURITY -- RAIL SECURITY FUNDING BLOCKED IN SENATE: One day after the Mumbai mass transit bombings left 190 people dead, the Senate voted against an increase in funding for rail security. The rejected proposal, sponsored by Sen. Joseph Biden (D-DE), would have provided an extra $1.1 billion to secure America 's rail network, including $250 million for general security upgrades for freight rail operators and $25 million to hire 200 new security officers. (Also rejected "on votes that split largely along party lines" were a $790 million amendment for homeland security grant programs by Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and a $300 million amendment for mass transit security by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY).) Although "every serious intelligence report on terror has identified mass transit and rail systems as now the prime target for Al Qaeda and others," the Bush administration spends "most of its homeland security money into aviation, $9 per passenger in the air, as opposed to one penny per passenger on trains." Meanwhile, more than one year after a federal judge found that the administration has no "consistent and comprehensive federal policy addressing the risks of terrorism on our interstate rail system," the 11.3 million people who use rail transit every weekday remain woefully unprotected. The government's first version of its National Strategy for Transportation Security lacked "the necessary detail to make it an effective management tool" and has not yet been properly updated, three months past the legislated deadline. A recent poll found that 60 percent of surveyed rail employees remained "untrained in emergency preparedness and response," and a government investigation, which had previously found that proposed security precautions "may do more harm than good," concluded that current practices "warrant further examination." (American Progress has a plan to put rail security on the right track.)
FOREIGN POLICY -- BUSH ENLISTS HELP OF KNOWN FABRICATORS FOR IRAN POLICY: The Bush administration has enlisted the counsel of at least two discredited Iranian exiles who are known to have fabricated information about their home country. Manucher Ghorbanifar was blacklisted by the CIA in 1984 "for providing allegedly bogus information on threats against President Reagan," and is described by some former U.S. officials "as an Iranian version of Ahmed Chalabi." Recently, however, Ghorbanifar has been consulting American envoys around the world on Iran "with the blessing of the White House." The Wall Street Journal reports, "CIA operatives have spent hundreds of hours since 2003 trying to corroborate information passed on by" Ghorbanifar, and concluded "the tips are no better than they were during the Reagan era." "None of the information bore any ties to reality," says William D. Murray, the CIA's station chief in Paris until his retirement last year. Murray believes Ghorbanifar "wants to stoke a hard-line U.S. policy" by suggesting that Iran is ripe for regime change. In May, another exile named Amir Taheri -- notorious for concocting a report that Iran passed legislation requiring Jews to wear yellow insignia (a la World War II) -- was invited to the White House to consult President Bush as an "Iraq expert."
Think Fast
Oil surged to record highs above $78 a barrel on Friday as intensifying violence in the Middle East raised concerns of possible supply disruptions.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates the Iraq war could cost anywhere between $202 billion and $406 billion more over the next decade, depending on how quickly U.S. force levels are reduced.
Senators from the "Gang of 14" expressed concern yesterday over President Bush's nomination of William J. Haynes II to the 4th Circuit, heightening the likelihood that the nomination will be filibustered or outright defeated.
"Less than two months after voting overwhelmingly to build 370 miles of new fencing along the border with Mexico, the Senate yesterday voted against providing funds to build it."
Thirty-three House conservatives voted against the renewal of the Voting Rights Act yesterday, and a majority of House conservatives voted for several "potentially killer amendments" that were nonetheless defeated.
"Pro-immigrant marches this spring and the nation's ongoing immigration policy debate have unified and politically energized Latinos," and "signal the beginning of an enduring new social movement," according to a new survey by the Pew Hispanic Center.
The U.S. Army private accused of raping and murdering a 14-year-old Iraq girl "was a high school dropout with three misdemeanors and was accepted into the Army just as the military, desperate for recruits, began issuing more 'moral waivers.'"
"Beer magnate and former Republican U.S. Senate candidate Pete Coors was arrested on a drunken-driving charge and is due to appear in court next week."
And finally: Mr. T answers a question for a TV Land viewer: "Mr. T, why do you pity the fool?" Mr. T: "That is a good question and a legitimate question. And I'm the man to answer it. You pity the fool because you don't want to beat up a fool."
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From "Democracy Now!"
DEMOCRACY NOW! DAILY EMAIL DIGEST
July 14, 2006
= = = = = = = = =
TODAY'S DEMOCRACY NOW!:
* Noam Chomsky: U.S.-Backed Israeli Policies Pursuing "End of Palestine";
Hezbollah Capture of Israeli Soldiers "Very Irresponsible Act" That Could
Lead To "Extreme Disaster" *
Israel has intensified its attacks on Lebanon as warplanes launched fresh
strikes on Beirut airport, communication networks, Lebanese roads and a
power plant. Meanwhile, the US has vetoed a UN Security Council Resolution
condemning Israel's attack on the Gaza Strip. MIT professor Noam Chomsky
says the US and Israel are punishing Palestinians for electing Hamas, and
says Hezbollah's capture of Israeli soldiers subjects Lebanese "to terror
and possible extreme disaster" from Israeli strikes. We also get comments
from Middle East analyst Mouin Rabbani in Jerusalem.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/14/146258
* The One Percent Doctrine: Journalist Ron Suskind on the Deliberate U.S.
Bombing of Al Jazeera, Losing Bin Laden and More *
Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Ron Suskind joins us to discuss his new
book, "The One Percent Doctrine: Deep Inside America's Pursuit of Its
Enemies Since 9/11." In it, Suskind writes that that the U.S deliberately
bombed the Kabul, Afghanistan offices of Al Jazeera in 2001.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/14/147205
* Headlines for July 14, 2006 *
- Beirut Airport, Main Highway Targets of Widening Israeli Strikes
- Hezbollah Rockets Hit Israel, Killing 2, Injuring 92
- US Vetoes UN Security Council Resolution on Gaza Attack
- Outed CIA Officer Sues Cheney, Aides
- Bush Admin Agrees To Conditional NSA Judicial Review
- House Votes To Renew Voting Rights Act
- Study Points to Wildfire, Global Warming Link
- 500,000 Expected for Mexico Rally
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/14/146251
-----
From AlterNet
Top Stories from AlterNet for July 17, 2006
http://www.alternet.org/
______________________________
IRAQ'S RECONSTRUCTION A BOONDOOGLE BY DESIGN
Joshua Holland, AlterNet
Iraq's reconstruction has been a crude taxpayer rip-off --
and while $30 billion has been spent, only 30 percent of
Iraqis are even aware of the rebuilding effort.
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/38986/
MIDDLE EAST VIOLENCE: NEOCONS' FANTASY
Michael Lerner, AlterNet
Though the neocons' dream of American global empire is a
clear failure, they're still pushing for an expansion of
the current conflict in the Middle East.
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/39048/
CLINTON ECONOMISTS: A STORM IS COMING
William Greider, The Nation
Economists from the Clinton era were once the biggest
cheerleaders for free trade and pro-business policies --
but now economic uncertainties have them singing a
different cheer.
http://www.alternet.org/workplace/38981/
THE MEDIA IS HELPING BUSH SCARE THE POPULACE
Will Bunch, Attytood
A plea to newsmakers: Stop falling for the Bush
administration's attempts at fear-mongering rather
than governing.
http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/38980/
'FEMALE ADVANTAGE' AT COLLEGE: JUST ANOTHER FAKE
GENDER CRISIS
Kathleen Reardon, HuffingtonPost.com
Young women's drive to do well in college should be
considered a healthy move for girls -- not a so-called
'boy crisis.'
http://www.alternet.org/story/38930/
______________________
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OUR PLANET'S FUTURE ISN'T DEAD
Karen Hurley, Grist Magazine
The environmental crisis is real -- but we must hold on to
hopeful visions of an ecologically flourishing future to
give us something to strive for.
http://www.alternet.org/envirohealth/38884/
These stories and more are available on AlterNet.
http://www.alternet.org/
===========================================================
Donate: Visit https://www.alternet.org/donate/ to support
AlterNet and independent journalism.
-----
From "Democracy Now!"
DEMOCRACY NOW! DAILY EMAIL DIGEST
July 17, 2006
= = = = = = = = =
TODAY'S DEMOCRACY NOW!:
* Israel Bombardment of Lebanon Enters Sixth Day, Hezbollah Strikes Haifa *
Israel's bombardment of Lebanon has entered its sixth day and the Lebanese
death toll has now topped 150: almost all of them civilians. Meanwhile,
Hezbollah is continuing to fire rockets at northern Israel. On Sunday, a
missile hit Haifa, Israel's third largest city. The Israeli death toll since
now stands at around 24. We go to Lebanon to get a report.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/17/1423250
* Hezbollah, the United States and the Context Behind Israel's Offensive on
Lebanon *
As Israeli warplanes continue to bomb Lebanon and Hezbollah fires rockets
into northern Israel we get context on the crisis with two analysts: As'ad
AbuKhalil, a Lebanese professor of political science at California State
University and Chris Hedges, a senior fellow at The Nation Institute and the
former Middle East bureau chief for The New York Times.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/17/1423257
* Lopez Obrador Leads Over 1.1 Million Supporters in Mexico City to Call for
Presidential Vote Recount *
In Mexico, over 1.1 million people rallied on Sunday in Mexico City to
demand a full recount in the country's contested presidential election.
Presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador called on the crowd to
commit acts of peaceful civil resistance to force a recount.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/17/1424201
* Putin Dismisses Bush's Call For Russia to Follow Iraqi Model of
"Democracy" *
Leaders of the world's industrialized nations gathered for the annual G8
meeting in Moscow this weekend. On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir
Putin and U.S. President Bush gave a joint news conference that highlighted
their differences over Israel's actions in Lebanon, the state of Russian
democracy and Iraq.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/17/1424209
* Headlines for July 17, 2006 *
- Israeli Attack on Lebanon Enters Sixth Day; Death Toll over 150
- Hezbollah Rocket Attack on Haifa Kills 8 Israelis
- Israel Warplanes Destroy Palestinian Foreign Ministry Office
- Eight Canadians Killed in Israeli Airstrike in Lebanon
- Lebanon's Infrastructure Dismantled; Tens of Thousands Flee Country
- U.S. Blocks UN From Calling for Ceasefire
- Vatican: Israel Must Follow International Law & Protect Civilians
- 40 Die in Attack on Open-Air Market in Iraq
- Gunmen Seize Head of Iraq Olympic Committee & 30 Others
- Gen. Schoomaker: Iraq War Is Just Beginning
- Over 1.1 Million Protest in Mexico Calling For Election Recount
- U.S. General Overseeing Guantanamo Promoted to Head NATO
- 3,000 Rally in Haiti for Return Of Aristide
- Valerie Plame Speaks Out For the First Time
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/17/1423239
posted by The Scallion @ 6:08 AM
