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Bush Sets Up Domestic Spy Service |
Bush has ordered the creation of a domestic intelligence service within the FBI, as part of a package of 70 new security measures. The White House says it is enacting the measures to fight international terrorist groups and prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction. The authorities will also be given the power to seize the property of people deemed to be helping the spread of WMD. full story |
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Trashing the Constitution
in the Name of "Terrorism" |
As Americans we all suffered through the tragedies of September 11, 2001. The official story of 9–11 has pretty much been disproved by many experts, including former members of George Bush's staff. To date, not a one terrorist has been arrested for this heinous act, nor has anyone been fired or reprimanded for "falling asleep on the job" that fateful day when our entire response mechanism failed, or was ordered to "stand down." full story |
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Climate Change 'to Drown Britain' |
Sea-level rise caused by climate change could turn Britain into a string of islands, a study published today suggests. Rises could drown the centre of London and leave many low-lying cities and coastal towns waterlogged. Global sea levels are expected to rise with the temperatures, from the melting of ice sheets at present on land, and the expansion of sea water as it warms. full story |
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Environmental Protection Agency Proposal
Would Allow Human Tests Of Pesticides |
Manufacturers would be allowed to test some pesticides on human volunteers when seeking government approval without applying all the ethical safeguards recommended last year by an expert panel, under proposed rules soon to be issued by the EPA. Under the draft rule, the EPA could still accept some studies involving children, pregnant women and newborns, and it would not establish an independent ethics review board to scrutinize human studies. full story |
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Shocking New Developments in
Supreme Court vs. Homeowners Case |
America has been reacting with overwhelming revulsion over the past 2 days to the Supreme Court's decision that local govts can force property owners to sell out and make way for private economic development when officials decide it would benefit the public, even if the property is not blighted, and the new project's success is not guaranteed. However, shocking details that cast this entire farce in its true light have flown under the radar of mainstream media reports. full story |
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Did George W. Bush Steal America’s 2004 election? |
A post-election headline from the Akron Beacon Journal cites a critical report by 12 prominent social scientists and statisticians, reporting: "Analysis Points to Election ‘Corruption’: Group Says Chance of Exit Polls Being So Wrong in ’04 Vote is 1-in-959,000." Hundreds of Ohio Black voters give sworn testimony that they were harassed, intimidated, deprived of voting machines, given faulty ballots.. full story |
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Homeland Revolt Threatens Bush |
One of the most shocking incidents was the legal fight waged by Vice-President Dick Cheney to keep under wraps details of how White House energy policy was formed. Cheney had appointed an 'Energy Task Force', stacked full of oil and energy industry executives, to draw up energy legislation. He successfully fought off all legal challenges to publish minutes from their meetings full story |
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The Race to Alaska Before It Melts |
Alaska is changing by the hour. From the far north, where higher seas are swamping native villages, to the tundra around Fairbanks, where melting permafrost is forcing some roads and structures to buckle in what looks like a cartoon version of a hangover, to the rivers of ice receding from inlets, warmer temperatures are remaking the Last Frontier State. full story |
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Italy Judge Orders Arrest of 13
CIA Agents for Rendition |
An Italian judge on Friday ordered the arrests of 13 CIA officers for secretly transporting a Muslim preacher from Italy to Egypt as part of U.S. anti-terrorism efforts, a rare public objection to the practice by a close American ally. The Egyptian was spirited away in '03, purportedly as part of the CIA's ''extraordinary rendition'' program in which terror suspects are transferred to third countries without court approval, subjecting them to possible torture. full story |
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Former Asst. Sec. Of Treasury Under Reagan
Doubts Official 9/11 Story |
A former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury under President Reagan stepped back into the political spotlight this week, expressing doubt about the official 9/11 story and claiming "if they lied to us about Ruby Ridge, Waco and weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, why should we believe them now." Paul Craig Roberts has evolved over the years into a major Bush basher as well as neo con critic. full story |
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Japan Loses Bid for Expanded Research Whale Hunt |
The International Whaling Commission passed a resolution Wednesday condemning Japan’s so-called scientific whaling program in Antarctica, calling on the Japanese to stop. The resolution was proposed by Australia & co-sponsored by 25 other whale conservation countries. Japan took a proposal to the IWC to more than double its take of minke whales and to start taking humpback and fin whales. full story |
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Iraqi Justice Minister Accuses U.S. of
Delaying Saddam Questioning |
Iraq’s Justice Minister, Shandal, accused US officials of slowing down the questioning of Saddam Hussein in order to hide embarrassing info about previous US financial and military support for Hussein. US supported the dictator during the '80s, a decade during which he is accused of committing numerous crimes, including the gassing of Kurdish cities and using chemical weapons against Iran. full story |
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Europe Fails to Cut Greenhouse Gas Emissions |
Europe is failing to tackle climate change, putting further pressure on Tony Blair to come up with a fresh initiative at the G8 summit and embarrassing the Eur. commission, which is floundering over budget cuts and the constitution treaty. The latest figures for Europe's CO2 emissions show that the 15 countries who were EU members in 2003 increased their overall emissions by 1.1% in the year up to 2004. full story |
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Indonesian Laws Against Trade in
Endangered Orangutans Ignored |
Orangutans and gibbons are still traded and kept as pets on the Indonesian islands of Java and Bali in violation of national and international law, finds a new report from the Southeast Asia branch of the wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC. The study concludes that one of the main reasons why people still trade these species is that the chances of having the protected animals confiscated, or of facing legal charges, are "extremely remote." full story |
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Blair 'Hypocritical' on Green Priorities |
Tony Blair has been accused of "hypocrisy" over plans to back an EU move to downgrade the environment as a priority. Leaked documents show a cabinet split over plans to put growth and jobs ahead of the environment when the priorities for sustainable development are reviewed by the EU. MPs and environmentalists said the papers undermined Blair's public statements of support for the environ. full story |
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Document: US Wants
Climate Statement 'Watered Down' |
A leaked document shows that the Bush administration is engaged in an "extraordinary effort" to "undermine completely the science of climate change and show that the US position has hardened during the G-8 negotiations. They [the leaked documents] also reveal that the White House has withdrawn from a crucial United Nations commitment to stabilize greenhouse gas emissions." full story |
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More Child Labor Exploitation Found at Wal-Mart |
Investigators with the Ct. State Attorney’s General’s office uncovered a series of labor law violations at 3 Wal-Mart stores and expect more complaints to be confirmed in the coming weeks. In total, 11 $300 fines have been assessed against the co. for breaking child labor laws. Employees under 18 working late at night and with machinery, both prohibited by federal and state law. full story |
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Bush Ambassador Nominee Under Fire for Suspected Involvment with Smugglers & Warlords |
An Afghan-born intellectual with ties to leading neoconservatives and the oil industry is sailing through the Senate confirmation process on his way to becoming the new US Ambassador to Iraq. This despite drawing criticism in Afghanistan for what appears to have been backdoor political maneuvering during that country’s presidential election last fall, and for the recent rise in the opium trade and resurgence of the Taliban. full story |
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Senate Makes Environment the Focus of Energy Bill |
Heading toward a collision with the House and White House, the Senate sought Thursday to put an environmentally friendly stamp on its energy legislation as lawmakers and Bush struggle to agree on an elusive national power policy. Senators voted 52 to 48 to require power companies to use more renewable fuels to generate electricity and the Finance Committee approved a $14 billion tax incentive package that rewards alternative fuels and energy efficiency. full story |
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Former Bush Administration Economist Says
Official Story of WTC Collapse 'Bogus' |
A former Bush team member during his 1st administration is now voicing serious doubts about the collapse of the World Trade Center on 9-11. Former chief economist for the Dept. of Labor during Bush's 1st term Morgan Reynolds comments that the official story about the collapse of the WTC is "bogus" and that it is more likely that a controlled demolition destroyed the Twin Towers and Building 7. full story |
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Outsourcing Torture and the Stop-Loss Program:
Duplicity and Responsibility Clearly Point to the Top |
There was the case of a Canadian businessman who was detained for questioning at Kennedy Airport under suspicion of association with possible terrorists, held for several weeks in the US., then flown to Syria, locked in a rat-infested cell and interrogated and tortured for a year. All this transpired without due process of law, and without knowledge by the victim's family-all because of unsubstantiated suspicions by security officials
full story |
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Pentagon Telegram Discussed
Iraq to Israel Oil Pipeline |
In a telegram sent by a senior Pentagon official to a top Israeli Foreign Ministry official, the United States asked Israel to check the possibility of pumping oil from Iraq to the oil refineries in Haifa. The Prime Minister's Office views the pipeline to Haifa as a "bonus" the U.S. could give to Israel in return for its unequivocal support for the American-led campaign in Iraq and had asked the Americans for the official telegram. full story |
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Barrier Reef 'in Dirty Water' |
Marine Pollution Bulletin says an increase in sedimentation, pollutants and pesticides are killing off corals and harming marine mammals. Dugongs are being poisoned and corals and mangroves are disappearing because of a serious decline in water quality on the Great Barrier Reef, a scientist says. "In the skin and blubber tissues we've got nasty levels of organochlorines and heavy metal concentrations, and we know that numbers of dugongs are declining along the coast." full story |
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Homegrown Fuel Supply Helps Brazil Breathe Easy |
Today about 40% of all the fuel that Brazilians pump into their vehicles is ethanol, known here as alcohol, compared with about 3% in the United States. No other nation is using ethanol on such a vast scale. The change wasn't easy or cheap. But 30 years later, Brazil is reaping the return on its investment in energy security while the U.S. writes checks for $50-a-barrel foreign oil. full story |
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New Bill Could Make Bush President for Life |
A House bill has been introduced that would change the 22nd amendment and enable George Bush to remain President for the rest of his political life. The bill would repeal limitations on a President holding office for a maximum of two terms. An even darker scenario, Arnold Schwarzenegger is elected as President in 2008 and shorty after the 22nd amendment is abolished, making the Hitler admirer our permanent Fuhrer. full story |
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The Deadly Price of Dirty Air |
More than 5,800 Ontario residents are expected to die prematurely this year because they are breathing dirty air, warns a new report from the Ontario Medical Assoc. "The impact polluted air is having on the health of Ontarians is dramatically worse than we had initially estimated," said Dr. Greg Flynn, pres. of the OMA. "We are paying the price for poor air quality with our lives and if we don't take action immediately, the cost will continue to rise significantly." full story |
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Disruptive Toddlers To Be Treated as Potential Criminals, Says Report |
Children as young as three are to be singled out by nursery staff if they display aggressive behaviour or have a family background of criminality, according to a government report. The Home Office refused to discuss the report, but its conclusion was said to be that the Government’s efforts to tackle crime should be concentrated on children most at risk of offending, with an emphasis on bullies. full story |
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Judge Orders More Water Spilled for
Columbia, Snake River Salmon |
Federal dam operators must spill more water over 5 Snake and Columbia River dams in order to help Pacific salmon migrate to the ocean, a federal judge ruled on Friday. U.S. District Court Judge James Redden said the increased summer spill "is needed to avoid irreparable harm" to the region’s endangered and threatened salmon. Spilling water over the dams also cools river water temps. full story |
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The Debate's Over: Globe is Warming |
"All the time we should have been moving forward has been wasted by arguing if the problem even exists,". The IPCC estimates that rainfall will increase up to 20% in wet regions, causing floods, while decreasing 20% in arid areas, causing droughts. The EPA says melting glaciers and warmer ocean waters will likely cause an average 2-foot rise in sea level on all U.S. coasts by 2100. full story |
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Ministers Were Told of Need for Gulf War ‘Excuse’ |
Ministers were warned in July 2002 that Britain was committed to taking part in an American-led invasion of Iraq and they had no choice but to find a way of making it legal. The warning, in a leaked Cabinet Office briefing paper, said Tony Blair had already agreed to back military action to get rid of Saddam Hussein at a summit at the Texas ranch of President George W Bush 3 months earlier. full story |
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The Facebook.com: Big Brother with a Smile |
Imagine a computer database which catalogued your entire social network: email, home address, sensitive details of all your friends, and all of their friends in a massive interlinked web. What if this service also archived all of your personal preferences on everything from books to movies to music? And also categorized your political views, club associations, jobs, edu. background, and who you're dating? full story |
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Former DEA Agent: Mexican Commandos Killing in South West US To Protect Bush Drug Cartel |
Retired DEA Agent Celerino Castillo III served for 12 years in the Drug Enforcement Admin. Cele appeared on the Alex Jones show and dropped the bombshell that los Zetas, Mexican drug commandos trained in the U.S. at the School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Georgia to be the elite "special forces" of the Mexican military are now murdering police and conducting hits all over the SW US. full story |
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Air Over the Great Lakes Heavy with Pollutants |
Canadian facilities in the Great Lakes basin emitted more than one billion k of pollutants to the air in '02 that are linked to smog, acid rain, respiratory illnesses and damage to child development, says a new report by Environmental Defence and the Canadian Environmental Law Association. The report reveals that the Great Lakes basin experienced 45% of all toxic air pollution reported in Canada in '02. full story |
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Man with Bloodied Chain Saw
Let into the U.S.; Held for Extradition |
On April 25, Gregory Despres arrived at the U.S.-Canadian border crossing at Calais, Maine, carrying a homemade sword, a hatchet, a knife, brass knuckles and a chain saw stained with what appeared to be blood. U.S. customs agents confiscated the weapons and fingerprinted Despres. Then they let him into the United States. full story |
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G8 Scientists Tell Bush: Act Now - Or Else... |
An unprecedented joint statement issued by the leading scientific academies of the world has called on the G8 govts to take urgent action to avert a global catastrophe caused by climate change. The national academies of science for all the G8 countries, along with those of Brazil, India and China, have warned that govts must no longer stall on what is often seen as the greatest danger facing humanity. full story |
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Bush Aide Softened Greenhouse Gas
Links to Global Warming |
A White House official who once led the oil industry's fight against limits on greenhouse gases has repeatedly edited govt. climate reports in ways that play down links between such emissions and global warming, according to internal documents. Philip A. Cooney, removed or adjusted descriptions of climate research that govt.scientists and their supervisors, including some senior Bush officials, had already approved. full story |
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Revealed: How Oil Giant Influenced Bush |
Bush's decision not to sign the US up to the Kyoto global warming treaty was partly a result of pressure from ExxonMobil, the world's most powerful oil company, and other industries, according to US State Department papers. The documents, which emerged as Tony Blair visited the White House for discussions on climate change before next month's G8 meeting, reinforce widely-held suspicions of how close the company is to Bush and its role in helping to formulate US policy. full story |
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Wake up America and Smell the Dictatorship | |
You don't hear much about it. Even in the progressive circles it's not a subject that comes up a lot. We are teetering on the edge of a full-blown gestapo-style fascist state. Patriot Act II: have you read it? Anyone ever convicted of any crime (down to a parking ticket), can be called an 'enemy combatant' and can be whisked away in the middle of the night to some secret holding place never to be seen again. full story |
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Most Costs of Iraq War Remain Immeasurable |
As extensive as the military costs are, the full human, economic, cultural and ecological costs of the Iraq war – including the damage to the country’s civilian infrastructure and health care system, the destruction of antiquities and looting of cultural landmarks, and widespread environmental degradation – remain largely unknown but appear to be mounting. full story |
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Brazil Fells Massive Amazon Timber Fraud Ring |
The Brazilian Federal Police have cracked a rainforest timber fraud ring involving dozens of people in four states. At least 45 employees of the National Environment Protection Agency, or IBAMA, have been arrested, the ministries of Justice and Environment said today. Police have so far arrested 78 people suspected of involvement in timber extraction fraud and the arrests are still ongoing. full story |
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U.S. Ambassador Makes
Chimpanzee Protection a Priority |
The Marquardts visited the Sanaga-Yong Chimpanzee Rescue Center, where they learned about the impact the illegal commercial bushmeat trade is having on Cameroon’s remaining wild chimpanzee population. The commercial bushmeat trade is an international multibillion dollar black market that buys and sells meat from the forests, much of which derives from endangered species. full story |
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Changing Planet Revealed in Atlas |
An atlas of environmental change compiled by the United Nations reveals some of the dramatic transformations that are occurring to our planet. It compares and contrasts satellite images taken over the past few decades with contemporary ones. These highlight in vivid detail the striking make-over wrought in some corners of the Earth by deforestation, urbanisation and climate change full story |
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Government Withholds Info
on How Sonar Affects Whales |
According to a lawsuit filed in NY Tuesday, govt. agencies failed to fulfill requests for study data on whale deaths that might be related to the Navy’s use of Sonar equipment. The lawsuit, filed in the Southern New York US District Court by the Natural Resources Defense Council charges that two govt. agencies repeatedly failed to turn over information requested under the Freedom of Information Act. full story |
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Refugees in Limbo: Ordered Out of U.S.,
But with Nowhere to Go |
In '99, Keyse Jama, a Somali refugee engaged in a drunken knife fight that led to a 1-year jail sentence. Nearly 6 years later, he is still behind bars. Ordered deported in May '01 because of his crime, Mr. Jama was flown back to Somalia where he was met by local officials who rejected his papers and turned him away. Mr. Jama is back in the county jail where he began, a man without a country. full story |
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As Temperatures Rise, a Frozen Arctic World
Finds Itself on Shakier Ground |
Winter is the bears' big chance to fatten up on seals, which breed on the ice. But in the western bay, sea ice has been melting 3 weeks earlier, on average, than it did in the '70s, said a Canadian Wildlife Service biologist. "As a result the bears in the Churchill area are 12-15% smaller than in the early '80s, as measured by a weight and length formula. Smaller bears do not produce as many offspring." full story |
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Study: Humans to Blame for Warming of Oceans |
Human activities are the prime reason the world's oceans have slowly warmed over the past 40 years, a trend that will continue and will affect Western snowpack, California rainfall and other weather patterns, a new study concludes. "50 years from now, it's going to be several degrees warmer. We're going to have major shifts in the precipitation zones," said climatologist Warren Washington. full story |
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Food Crisis in Zimbabwe Threatens Millions of Lives |
Signs of despair and looming starvation are evident almost everywhere in Zimbabwe’s countryside, which is suffering from the government’s destruction of commercial agriculture and a third successive year of drought. “Who do I turn to now?” Matizamusha asked. “All my children are lying there in their graves. “Those are the only people who would have helped me. At my age, where do I go? full story |
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Extinction on the Horizon
for One-Fifth of All Bird Species |
More than one in every five bird species on Earth is now considered to be in trouble, according to an annual assessment issued today by BirdLife International, a global alliance of conservation organizations working in more than 100 countries. By contrast, last year's report showed that one in eight species were facing extinction. 179 species are now categorized as Critically Endangered. full story |
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Bush, Cheney Attack Amnesty International |
Stung by Amnesty's condemnation of U.S. detention facilities in Iraq and elsewhere overseas, the Bush administration is reacting with indignation and even suggestions that terrorists are using the world's largest human rights org.. At issue is an Amnesty report released that assailed U.S. detention practices. Admin. officials and their right-wing backers in the media have denounced Amnesty in what appears like an orchestrated effort to discredit independent human rights critics. full story |
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Gitmo Detainees Say They Were Sold Like Fish |
The Pakistani tribesmen fed them well but had ulterior motives: to sell them to the Americans, said the men who are now prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. Bounties ranged from $3,000 to $25,000, the detainees testified during military tribunals, according to transcripts the U.S. government gave The Associated Press to comply with a Freedom of Information lawsuit. full story |
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Worldwide Register of
Genetic Contamination Introduced |
Greenpeace and GeneWatch today opened the world's 1st online register that lists incidents of genetic contamination with engineered organisms. The searchable website details all the known cases of genetic contamination of food, animal feed, seeds and wild plants that have taken place worldwide. 27 countries have experienced genetic contamination of food, animal feed, seeds or wild plants. full story |
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