t r u t h o u t | 31/8/07

GOP Senator Warner stepping down; White House won’t name the tech contractor possibly involved in millions of missing emails; Bush administration wants to grant immunity to telecoms that participated in warrantless eavesdropping program; Ray McGovern says Americans must organize against an impending war with Iran; NAACP files a civil rights lawsuit challenging a voter purge in Louisiana; soil erosion has emerged as the silent global crisis; 158 countries seek agreement on post-Kyoto plans; EPA holds air pollution field hearing; Robert B. Reich on how low-priced goods have blinded us to their effect on labor; woman launches a campaign to promote breast-feeding; Cancer Society focuses campaign on the consequences of inadequate health coverage; and more … Browse our continually updating front page at www.truthout.org

Marking the second anniversary of the Katrina disaster, Truthout has established a special page devoted to following the continuing crisis in New Orleans and the Gulf area. Visit Truthout’s special feature, Katrina’s Aftermath: The Continuing Crisis, at www.truthout.org/KatrinaAftermath.shtml

Go directly to our issues page: www.truthout.org/issues.shtml

GOP Senator Warner Stepping Down
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/083107V.shtml
Republican Senator John Warner of Virginia, one of the most authoritative voices in Congress on the military and a key figure in the debate over Iraq, said Friday he will not seek a sixth term in 2008.

Bush Email Mystery Deepens
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/083107S.shtml
Justin Rood for ABC News reports that “the White House will not identify a private company which appears to be involved in the disappearance of millions of White House emails.”

Bush Seeks Legal Immunity for Telecoms
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/083107T.shtml
The Associated Press reports that “the Bush administration wants the power to grant legal immunity to telecommunications companies that are slapped with privacy suits for cooperating with the White House’s controversial warrantless eavesdropping program.”

Ray McGovern | Do We Have the Courage to Stop War With Iran?
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/083107R.shtml
Ray McGovern, writing for Truthout, says that Americans must begin organizing against a war with Iran that Bush and Cheney are already planning: “It is going to happen, folks, unless we put our lawn chairs away on Tuesday, take part in some serious grass-roots organizing, and take action to prevent a wider war – while we still can.”

NAACP Challenges Louisiana Voter Purge
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/083107U.shtml
The Associated Press reports that “the NAACP filed a civil rights lawsuit challenging a purge of Louisiana voters believed to have registered in other states following Hurricane Katrina.”

Dirt Isn’t So Cheap After All
www.truthout.org/issues_06/083107EA.shtml
Stephen Leahy for Inter Press Service reports that “soil erosion is the ‘silent global crisis’ that is undermining food production and water availability, as well as being responsible for 30 percent of the greenhouse gases driving climate change.”

Rich Countries Deadlocked Over 2020 Climate Goals
www.truthout.org/issues_06/083107EB.shtml
Reuters reports on the first UN session about long-term climate targets, which is being held in Vienna August 27 to 31 and attended by 158 countries with the goal of discussing post-Kyoto plans.

Residents Speak of Smog With Passion, Knowledge
www.truthout.org/issues_06/083107EC.shtml
Janet Wilson for The Los Angeles Times reports on an EPA field hearing in downtown Los Angeles where citizens spoke vividly about their asthma attacks and failing health as a result of poor air quality. Federal air pollution regulators are under court order to update ozone public health standards for the first time in a decade.

What Happened to Labor Day?
www.truthout.org/issues_06/083107LA.shtml
Robert B. Reich writes for The American Prospect on why he believes the meaning of Labor Day has been lost: “Our infatuation with low-priced goods has blinded us to their effect on labor.”

Woman to Promote Breast-Feeding
www.truthout.org/issues_06/083107WA.shtml
The Associated Press reports on Brooke Ryan, 34, who says she is launching a campaign to promote breast-feeding after a recent confrontation over nursing her infant at an Applebee’s restaurant.

Cancer Society Focuses Its Ads on the Uninsured
www.truthout.org/issues_06/083107HA.shtml
Kevin Sack for The New York Times reports that the American Cancer Society is devoting its entire $15 million advertising budget this year not to smoking cessation or colorectal screening, but to the consequences of inadequate health coverage.

US-owned company bribed Army officers to secure Iraq contracts; Bush administration cites “state secrets” privilege to stop bank suit; The New York Times on the GAO report on Iraq; emails reveal White House viewed former surgeon general as a public relations tool; HHS toned down breast-feeding campaign at urging from formula industry; inaccurate, incendiary bios of members of Congress visiting Iraq distributed to Iraqi officials, US officials and soldiers; Frederic Lordon on how to protect the productive economy from the destabilizing forces of speculative finance; budget crunch at US attorneys’ offices leads to decline in prosecutions and delay in major investigations; and more … Browse our continually updating front page at www.truthout.org

US Says Company Bribed Officers for Work in Iraq
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/083107A.shtml
Eric Schmitt and James Glanz report for The New York Times, “An American-owned company operating from Kuwait paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to American contracting officers in efforts to win more than $11 million in contracts, the government says in court documents.”

Bush Admin Cites “State Secrets” Privilege for Bank Group
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/083107B.shtml
Eric Lichtblau reports for The New York Times: “The ‘state secrets’ privilege, allowing the government to shut down litigation on national security grounds, was once rarely used. The Bush administration has turned to it more than 30 times in terrorism-related cases, seeking to end public discussion of cases like the claims of an FBI whistle-blower and the abduction of a German terrorism suspect.”

The New York Times | More Realism, Less Spin
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/083107C.shtml
The editors of The New York Times write, “A new report from Congress’s investigative arm provides a powerful fresh dose of nonpartisan realism about Iraq as President Bush tries to spin people into thinking that significant – or at least sufficient – progress is being made.”

Emails Reveal Political Pressure on Ex-Surgeon General
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/083107D.shtml
Christopher Lee reports for The Washington Post, “White House officials viewed former surgeon general Richard H. Carmona as a public relations tool, pushing him to make political appearances and promote the Bush administration’s agenda while he was in office, according to a series of executive branch emails released yesterday by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.”

HHS Toned Down Breast-Feeding Ads at Urging of Formula Industry
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/083107E.shtml
Marc Kaufman and Christopher Lee report for The Washington Post: “In an attempt to raise the nation’s historically low rate of breast-feeding, federal health officials commissioned an attention-grabbing advertising campaign a few years ago to convince mothers that their babies faced real health risks if they did not breast-feed… Plans to run these blunt ads infuriated the politically powerful infant formula industry, which hired a former chairman of the Republican National Committee and a former top regulatory official to lobby the Health and Human Services Department. Not long afterward, department political appointees toned down the campaign.”

Lawmakers Describe “Being Slimed in the Green Zone”
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/083107F.shtml
Jonathan Weisman reports for The Washington Post: “The sheets of paper seemed to be everywhere the lawmakers went in the Green Zone, distributed to Iraqi officials, U.S. officials and uniformed military of no particular rank. So when Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.) asked a soldier last weekend just what he was holding, the congressman was taken aback to find out. In the soldier’s hand was a thumbnail biography, distributed before each of the congressmen’s meetings in Baghdad, which let meeting participants such as that soldier know where each of the lawmakers stands on the war.”

Frederic Lordon | How to Protect the Real Economy
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/083107G.shtml
Frederic Lordon, writing in Le Monde diplomatique, offers temporary and ultimate remedies to protect the real economy from the regular disruptive impact of speculative financial boom and bust. Along the way, he offers a compelling analysis of how speculative finance holds the productive economy hostage.

Justice Delayed: Budget Crunch Hits US Attorneys’ Offices
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/083107H.shtml
Scot J. Paltrow reports for The Wall Street Journal: “Whoever succeeds Alberto Gonzales as attorney general will face a long list of challenges at the Justice Department, from unfilled senior positions to sagging morale. One of the most pressing, according to dozens of current and former federal prosecutors, is a budget squeeze at U.S. attorneys’ offices that has led to declines in crime prosecutions and delays in major investigations.”

VIDEO | Janis Karpinski: They Knew What They Were Doing
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/083007R.shtml
In June 2003, during the US-led occupation of Iraq, Gen. Janis Karpinski was given command of the 800th Military Police Brigade, putting her in charge of the fifteen detention facilities in southern and central Iraq run by Coalition forces, including Abu Ghraib. Truthout’s Geoffrey Millard recently sat down with Karpinski to get her side of the story of how the torture scandal at Abu Ghraib was allowed to happen.

Representative Waxman sets September 10 deadline for White House to turn over information about “missing” email; court hears testimony of US Marine ordered to execute Haditha women and children; US nuclear weapons components misplaced; Paul Krugman writes on Bush’s neglect of the Gulf Coast and how conservative governance promotes its agenda by failing; Merkel says US must support climate deal; Brown and Sarkozy unite for peace in Darfur; Iowa judge rules against gay marriage ban; and more … Browse our continually updating front page at www.truthout.org

Waxman Wants White House Email Report
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/083107J.shtml
The Associated Press reports that Representative Henry Waxman, a Democratic House leader, has asked presidential counsel Fred Fielding to turn over a report first requested three months ago about the White House’s “lost” email.

Marine in Haditha Ordered to Execute Women, Children
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/083107K.shtml
Rob Woollard reports for Agence France-Presse, “A US Marine was ordered to execute a room full of Iraqi women and children during an alleged massacre in Haditha that left 24 people dead, a military court heard Thursday.”

Audit Finds US Nuclear Weapons Parts Misplaced
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/083107L.shtml
Tom Doggett reports for Reuters, “Some facilities that handle the US nuclear weapons stockpile misplaced classified bomb components under their care, according to an Energy Department audit.”

Paul Krugman | Katrina All the Time
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/083107M.shtml
Paul Krugman writes for The New York Times: “Future historians will, without doubt, see Katrina as a turning point. The question is whether it will be seen as the moment when America remembered the importance of good government, or the moment when neglect and obliviousness to the needs of others became the new American way.”

Germany’s Merkel Urges US to Support Climate Deal
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/083107N.shtml
Sophie Hardach reports for Reuters, “The United States must support a global deal to cut carbon dioxide emissions and combat climate change as time is running out in the fight against global warming, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday.” And Elizabeth Sawin writes for CommonDreams about climate change and “the protective layers of denial and distraction we wrap around ourselves.”

Brown and Sarkozy Unite in Push for Peace in Darfur
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/083107O.shtml
Agence France-Presse reports, “Ramping up the pressure on Sudan, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have united to boost peace efforts in Darfur, warning Khartoum of sanctions if it got in the way.”

Iowa Judge Rules Against Gay Marriage Ban
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/083107P.shtml
The Associated Press reports: “A Polk County judge on Thursday struck down Iowa’s law banning gay marriage. The ruling by Judge Robert Hanson concluded that the state’s prohibition on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional and he ordered the Polk County recorder to issue marriage licenses to six gay couples.”

VIDEO | Janis Karpinski: They Knew What They Were Doing
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/083007R.shtml
In June 2003, during the US-led occupation of Iraq, Gen. Janis Karpinski was given command of the 800th Military Police Brigade, putting her in charge of the fifteen detention facilities in southern and central Iraq run by Coalition forces, including Abu Ghraib. Truthout’s Geoffrey Millard recently sat down with Karpinski to get her side of the story of how the torture scandal at Abu Ghraib was allowed to happen.

Go directly to our issues page: www.truthout.org/issues.shtml

t r u t h o u t | 30/8/07

Truthout’s Geoffrey Millard interviews Gen. Janis Karpinski; Justice Department to investigate whether Gonzales lied to Congress; evidence allowed in Texas oil tycoon’s trial; the Mangrove Man of Senegal turns to a plant to curb flooding; Pentagon cuts funding for cleanup of environmental damage in Alaska; China says population control is a way to curb global warming; Teamsters Union to ask federal appeals court to block Mexican truckers; US Chamber of Commerce and AFL-CIO denounce “crackdown” on illegal immigrants; judge blocks new Missouri abortion law; fastest-growing part of consumer credit is focused on health care; and more … Browse our continually updating front page at www.truthout.org

Go directly to our issues page: www.truthout.org/issues.shtml

Janis Karpinski: They Knew What They Were Doing
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/083007R.shtml
In June 2003, during the US-led occupation of Iraq, Gen. Janis Karpinski was given command of the 800th Military Police Brigade, putting her in charge of the fifteen detention facilities in southern and central Iraq run by Coalition forces, including Abu Ghraib. Truthout’s Geoffrey Millard recently sat down with Karpinski to get her side of the story of how the torture scandal at Abu Ghraib was allowed to happen.

Justice Examining Gonzales’s Honesty
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/083007S.shtml
The Associated Press reports that “the Justice Department said Thursday it is investigating whether resigning Attorney General Alberto Gonzales lied or otherwise misled Congress last month in sworn testimony about the Bush administration’s domestic terrorist spying program.”

Evidence Allowed in Texas Oil Tycoon’s Trial
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/083007T.shtml
David Ivanovich writes for The Houston Chronicle that “the jury in the criminal trial of Houston oilman Oscar Wyatt, scheduled to start next week, can be told about an Iraqi document that suggests he discussed American troop levels and possible dates for an attack with a member of Saddam Hussein’s regime before the US-led invasion in 2003, a federal judge ruled today.”

Bill Moyers Journal | Poet Robert Bly
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/083007U.shtml
Bill Moyers interviews American poet Robert Bly and 92-year-old activist Grace Lee Boggs, who have spent their lives seeking change – Bly through poetry that speaks truth to power and Boggs through grass-roots activism.

The Mangrove Man
www.truthout.org/issues_06/083007EA.shtml
Matthew Shaer for The Christian Science Monitor reports on “Mangrove Man” Abdoulaye Diame, who is on a crusade in his native Senegal to save the plant that is crucial to curbing floods.

Alaska Sees Cutbacks in Pentagon Funding for Cleanups
www.truthout.org/issues_06/083007EB.shtml
The Associated Press reports that an old Northeast Cape Air Force base, 140 miles from the Russian mainland, is one of at least 640 contaminated military installations across Alaska dating from World War II and the Cold War. Cleanups of the contamination, which residents say they suffer from to this day, are subject to large cutbacks in funding from the Pentagon.

China Says One-Child Policy Helps Protect Climate
www.truthout.org/issues_06/083007EC.shtml
Alister Doyle for Reuters writes that “China says its one-child policy has helped the fight against global warming by avoiding 300 million births, the equivalent of the population of the United States.”

Teamsters Will Ask Court to Block Mexican Truckers
www.truthout.org/issues_06/083007LA.shtml
The Associated Press reports that “the Teamsters Union said today it will ask a federal appeals court to block the Bush administration’s plan to begin allowing Mexican trucks to carry cargo anywhere in the United States.”

Planned Crackdown on Immigrants Denounced
www.truthout.org/issues_06/083007LB.shtml
Spencer S. Hsu for The Washington Post reports that “the US Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO this week separately assailed a new White House-backed crackdown on illegal immigration, warning of massive disruptions to the economy and headaches for US citizens if the proposal goes ahead as planned in the coming days.”

Judge Blocks New Missouri Abortion Law
www.truthout.org/issues_06/083007WA.shtml
David Twiddy for The Associated Press reports that “a federal judge temporarily blocked a new Missouri abortion law Monday after Planned Parenthood said the law would harm women by dramatically reducing the clinics available to provide the procedure.”

Patients Turn to No-Interest Loans for Health Care
www.truthout.org/issues_06/083007HA.shtml
Milt Freudenheim for The New York Times reports that “zero-interest financing, a familiar come-on at car dealerships and furniture stores, has found its way to another big-ticket consumer market: doctors’ and dentists’ offices.”

VIDEO | Janis Karpinski: They Knew What They Were Doing
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/083007R.shtml
In June 2003, during the US-led occupation of Iraq, Gen. Janis Karpinski was given command of the 800th Military Police Brigade, putting her in charge of the fifteen detention facilities in southern and central Iraq run by Coalition forces, including Abu Ghraib. Truthout’s Geoffrey Millard recently sat down with Karpinski to get her side of the story of how the torture scandal at Abu Ghraib was allowed to happen.

Jason Leopold reports the Pentagon’s top chaplain aided proselytizing evangelical group; Rebecca Solnit on the lower ninth ward battling back; Matt Taibbi on the great Iraq swindle; families of 9/11 victims and emergency responders fearful that Giuliani will politicize memorial; accomplice faces execution in Texas; Iraq war veteran channels anger and frustration of vets into political action; George Monbiot on neoliberalism’s hegemony; and more … Browse our continually updating front page at www.truthout.org

Jason Leopold | Pentagon Chaplain Accused of Aiding Proselytizing
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/083007A.shtml
Truthout’s Jason Leopold reports, “On the heels of a scathing report issued by the Defense Department’s inspector general that took high-level Pentagon officials to task for allowing an evangelical Christian organization unfettered access to the Department of Defense (DOD) to promote its fundamentalist agenda, comes word the Pentagon’s top chaplain opened its doors yet again to another evangelical group whose leader recently spent two days at the facility proselytizing, passing out Christian literature, and ‘saving souls.’”

Rebecca Solnit | The Lower Ninth Battles Back
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/083007B.shtml
Rebecca Solnit writes for The Nation: “If you measured the Lower Ninth Ward by will, solidarity and dedication, from both residents and far-flung volunteers and nonprofits, it would be among the best neighborhoods in the United States. If you measured it by infrastructure and probabilities, it looks pretty grim.”

Matt Taibbi | The Great Iraq Swindle
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/083007C.shtml
Matt Taibbi, writing for Rolling Stone, explains “how Bush allowed an army of for-profit contractors to invade the US Treasury.”

Some 9/11 Groups Want Giuliani Silent at Ceremony
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/083007D.shtml
Reuters reports, “Families of September 11 victims and emergency responders raised alarms on Wednesday that former New York mayor and presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani might politicize the sixth anniversary memorial of the attacks.”

Not the Killer, but Still Facing a Date With the Executioner
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/083007E.shtml
Ralph Blumenthal reports for The New York Times: “Kenneth Foster has a date on Thursday with the executioner’s needle. Not for killing anyone himself, but for what he was doing – and might have been thinking – the night in 1996 when he was 19 and a sidekick gunned down a San Antonio law student.”

Soldier Answers a New Call to Battle
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/083007F.shtml
Noam N. Levey reports for the Los Angeles Times, “in a little more than a year since he launched VoteVets.org, [former Army captain and Iraq war veteran John] Soltz has helped transform the war debate in Washington by channeling the raw anger and frustration of many Iraq vets into a political campaign both sophisticated and visceral.”

Nat Hentoff | History Will Not Absolve Us
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/083007G.shtml
Nat Hentoff writes for The Village Voice: “If we, the people, are ultimately condemned by a world court for our complicity and silence in these war crimes, we can always try to echo those Germans who claimed not to know what Hitler and his enforcers were doing. But in Nazi Germany, people had no way of insisting on finding out what happened to their disappeared neighbors.”

George Monbiot | How the Neoliberals Stitched Up the Wealth of Nations for Themselves
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/083007H.shtml
George Monbiot writes for The Guardian UK: “The first great advantage the neoliberals possessed was an unceasing fountain of money. US oligarchs and their foundations – Coors, Olin, Scaife, Pew and others – have poured hundreds of millions into setting up thinktanks, founding business schools and transforming university economics departments into bastions of almost totalitarian neoliberal thinking.”

Government Accountability Office report finds little progress in Iraq and is at odds with White House; Pentagon to make individual presentations rather than a unified recommendation on Iraq strategy; The New York Times on the US government’s denial of reality and avoidance of accountability for Abu Ghraib; active duty soldiers’ public critiques represent a shift in military culture; families are torn apart in raids on immigrant workers; Republicans call for Senator Larry Craig’s resignation and push him from senior committee posts; US weapons given to Iraqi security forces end up used in violent crimes in Turkey; and more … Browse our continually updating front page at www.truthout.org

Report Finds Little Progress on Iraq Goals
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/083007J.shtml
Karen DeYoung and Thomas E. Ricks report for The Washington Post, “Iraq has failed to meet all but three of 18 congressionally mandated benchmarks for political and military progress, according to a draft of a Government Accountability Office report.”

Pentagon Won’t Make Surge Recommendation to Bush
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/083007K.shtml
Nancy A. Youssef reports for McClatchy Newspapers, “In a sign that top commanders are divided over what course to pursue in Iraq, the Pentagon said Wednesday that it won’t make a single, unified recommendation to President Bush during next month’s strategy assessment, but instead will allow top commanders to make individual presentations.”

The New York Times | Abu Ghraib Swept Under the Carpet
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/083007L.shtml
The New York Times writes, “We would have been hard pressed to think of a more sadly suitable coda to the Bush administration’s mishandling of the Abu Ghraib nightmare than Tuesday’s verdict in the court-martial of the only officer to be tried for the abuse, sexual assault and torture of prisoners that occurred there in 2003.”

Active-Duty US Troops Become Outspoken Critics of Iraq War
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/083007M.shtml
Brad Knickerbocker reports for The Christian Science Monitor: “A recent op-ed about the war in Iraq charged that upbeat official reports amount to ‘misleading rhetoric.’ It said the ‘most important front in the counterinsurgency [had] failed most miserably.’ And it warned against pursuing ‘incompatible policies to absurd ends.’ Five years into a controversial war, that harsh judgment in a New York Times opinion piece might not seem surprising, except for this: The authors were seven US soldiers, writing from Iraq at the end of a tough 15-month combat tour.”

US Immigrants Worry as Families Face Deportation
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/083007N.shtml
Andrea Hopkins reports for Reuters, “A day after one of the largest workplace immigration raids in Ohio, the Hispanic community in Cincinnati’s suburbs was scrambling to track down missing family members and arrange care for children whose parents were caught up in the raid.”

Senator Craig Gives Up Four Senate Committee Seats; Colleagues Call for Resignation
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/083007O.shtml
David Espo reports for The Associated Press, “Senator Larry Craig’s political support eroded by the hour today as fellow Republicans in Congress called for him to resign and party leaders pushed him unceremoniously from senior committee posts.”

US Weapons, Given to Iraqis, Move to Turkey
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/083007P.shtml
David S. Cloud and Eric Schmitt report for The New York Times, “Weapons that were originally given to Iraqi security forces by the American military have been recovered over the past year by the authorities in Turkey after being used in violent crimes in that country, Pentagon officials said Wednesday.”

Go directly to our issues page: www.truthout.org/issues.shtml

t r u t h o u t | 29/8/07

Truthout writer Michael Winship analyzes the GOP’s pattern of distorting history; Bush expected to ask for $50 billion more for Iraq; federal judge names son of Senator Stevens in corruption case; NOW shows a billionaire fighting meth in Montana; age of agrofuels could mean climate catastrophe; Sierra Club pushing Domenici to switch position on renewable energy; Indonesian peatlands fueling global warming; the gargantuan CEO-to-worker pay gap; Stephen Lendman’s two-part series on “The War on Working Americans”; the next critical constituency: military moms are “the 2008 swing voters”; Derrick Z. Jackson says Kucinich is correct on health care; and more … Browse our continually updating front page at www.truthout.org

Go directly to our issues page: www.truthout.org/issues.shtml

Michael Winship | History Will Tell Lies, Sir, As Usual
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082907R.shtml
Writing for Truthout, Michael Winship says, “Monday, Monday. Can’t trust that day. The GOP always seems to purge its leadership ranks on Mondays – just when I’m sweating the deadline for this column, so I have to start all over. I swear, it’s the work of that vast right-wing conspiracy. Go pick on somebody your own size, dammit.”

Bush to Request $50 Billion More for Iraq War
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082907S.shtml
Reuters says that “President Bush is preparing to ask Congress for as much as $50 billion in additional funding for the war in Iraq, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday.”

Son of GOP Senator Named in Alaska Corruption Probe
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082907T.shtml
Pat Forgey of The Juneau Empire reports: “A federal judge has for the first time publicly linked former Alaska Senate President Ben Stevens, son of US Senator Ted Stevens, to the corruption investigation that has been underway since 2004.”

NOW | A Billionaire Fights Meth Addiction in Montana
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082907U.shtml
NOW reports on “Tom Siebel, a billionaire software developer and part-time Montana resident, [who] decided to use his successful marketing techniques – and $20 million from his own wallet – to ‘un-sell’ the deadly and highly addictive drug. It’s called the Montana Meth Project.”

The Looming Food Crisis
www.truthout.org/issues_06/082907EA.shtml
John Vidal, The Guardian UK, writes: “The era of ‘agrofuels’ has arrived, and the scale of the changes it is already forcing on farming and markets around the world is immense. But the surge in demand for agrofuels such as ethanol is hitting the poor and the environment the hardest.”

Sierra Club Pressures Domenici to Support Renewable Energy Standards
www.truthout.org/issues_06/082907EB.shtml
Susan Montoya Bryan of The Associated Press reports on the Sierra Club’s hopes that Senator Domenici “will have a change of heart” during negotiations on a renewable fuels proposal.

Indonesian Peatlands Seen Playing Key Climate Role
www.truthout.org/issues_06/082907EC.shtml
Sugita Katyal, Reuters, writes: “In recent years, experts say peat bogs have been stoking global warming through increasing greenhouse gas emissions because of massive deforestation and conversion into agricultural land and palm oil plantations, especially in Southeast Asia, which accounts for a huge chunk of the world’s marshes.”

CEO Pay Is 364 Times More Than Workers’
www.truthout.org/issues_06/082907LA.shtml
Jeanne Sahadi, CNNMoney.com, says: “The average CEO of a large US company made roughly $10.8 million last year, or 364 times that of US full-time and part-time workers, who made an average of $29,544, according to a joint analysis released Wednesday by the liberal Institute for Policy Studies and United for a Fair Economy.”

Stephen Lendman | The War on Working Americans: Parts I and II
www.truthout.org/issues_06/082907LB.shtml
Writing for OpEdNews, Stephen Lendman says, “As Labor Day approaches, what better time to assess the state of working America. It’s under assault and weakened by decades of eroding rights in the richest country in the world, once regarded as a model democratic state. It’s pure nonsense in a nation always dedicated to wealth and power, but don’t try finding that discussed in the mainstream. Today it’s truer than ever, making the struggle for equity and justice all the harder. That’s what ordinary working people now face, making beating those odds formidable at the least.”

Military Moms May Be a Force at the Polls
www.truthout.org/issues_06/082907WA.shtml
The Washington Post’s Anne E. Kornblut and Michael D. Shear report: “One of the foremost experts on politics in the Granite State thinks she has found the next critical constituency: military moms.”

Derrick Z. Jackson | Kucinich Is Right on Health Care
www.truthout.org/issues_06/082907HA.shtml
In The Boston Globe, Derrick Z. Jackson says, “Dennis Kucinich rarely gets much airtime in Democratic presidential debates. That was underscored recently when ABC’s George Stephanopoulos called on him in an Iowa forum to talk about God. Kucinich said, ‘George, I’ve been standing here for the last 45 minutes praying to God you were going to call on me.’”

Musharraf may step down as army chief; The New York Times on Americans’ meager income gains; US troops can safely withdraw from Iraq within one year, according to a report by the Center for American Progress; anger and sadness mark Katrina anniversary; Bush as a lame duck president; Robert Parry and Robert Scheer on Gonzales’s legacy; Frederic Lemaitre on countries buying up the planet; J. Sri Raman on protests in Burma and Bangladesh; and more … Browse our continually updating front page at www.truthout.org

Musharraf May Step Down as Pakistan Army Chief
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082907A.shtml
Salman Masood reports for The New York Times, “President Pervez Musharraf has apparently agreed to resign as army chief during negotiations with former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on a deal that would allow him to serve another term as president and for her to return to Pakistan to contest elections, Pakistani officials said Wednesday.”

The New York Times | A Sobering Census Report: Americans’ Meager Income Gains
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082907B.shtml
The editors of The New York Times write: “The median household income last year was still about $1,000 less than in 2000, before the onset of the last recession. In 2006, 36.5 million Americans were living in poverty – 5 million more than six years before, when the poverty rate fell to 11.3 percent.”

Study: Withdrawal Possible Over a Year
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082907C.shtml
The Associated Press reports, “Most US troops can be withdrawn safely from Iraq in roughly one year and the Bush administration should begin planning the pullout immediately, according to a study released Wednesday.”

Anger, Sadness Mark Katrina Anniversary
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082907F.shtml
The Associated Press reports, “On the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, anger over the stalled rebuilding was palpable Wednesday throughout the city where the mourning for the dead and feeling of loss doesn’t seem to subside.”

A Man Alone: The Twilight of the Bush Presidency
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082907D.shtml
Rupert Cornwell reports for The Independent UK on “the White House exodus that turned the world’s most powerful man into a lame duck.”

Robert Parry | Favorite Memory: Gonzo on Habeas
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082907E.shtml
Robert Parry writes for Consortium News about his favorite memory of departing Attorney General Alberto Gonzales: “his insistence that the US Constitution doesn’t expressly recognize habeas corpus, the great fair-trial principle of English law that dates back to the Magna Carta in 1215.” Robert Scheer writes for Truthdig about Gonzales’s legacy of legitimizing torture.

Frederic Lemaitre | Countries Buying Up the Planet
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082907G.shtml
For Le Monde, Frederic Lemaitre observes: “For two decades, globalization has rhymed with liberalization and privatization. That’s over, or very nearly so. Tomorrow, by a strange reversal of the situation, globalization will rhyme more and more with nationalizations. With one important new detail: companies will no longer be the property of the State in which they were created, but will belong to the planet’s new bankers: notably China, Russia, Norway and the Gulf States.”

J. Sri Raman | Where Protests Can Prolong Army Rule
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082907H.shtml
J. Sri Raman writes for Truthout: “Last week saw sudden eruptions of popular protests, breaking a graveyard peace preserved for long at gunpoint in two neighboring South Asian countries. The people of Burma and Bangladesh, however, are showing no readiness to rejoice too soon.”

Bush elevates tensions with Iran; Bernard Weiner on Cheney and Bush’s creation of a mercenary force; Senate Judiciary Committee will hear testimony about NSA Surveillance Program from former head of Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel; international financial specialists seek oversight of American markets to monitor products and alert investors of risks; Idaho Senator Larry Craig says he’s not gay; Senator Tim Johnson will return to the Senate as early as next week; the US has 90 guns for every 100 citizens, making it the most heavily armed society in the world; and more … Browse our continually updating front page at www.truthout.org

Bush Threatens to Confront Iran
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Ed Pilkington reports for The Guardian UK, “George Bush yesterday ramped up the war of words between the US and Iran, accusing Tehran of threatening to place the Middle East under the shadow of a nuclear holocaust and revealing that he had authorized US military commanders in Iraq to ‘confront Tehran’s murderous activities.’”

Bernard Weiner | CheneyBush’s “Mercenary” Legions
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082907K.shtml
Bernard Weiner writes for The Crisis Papers: “’Outsourcing’ jobs overseas is only the tip of the iceberg. How about the CheneyBush administration ‘outsourcing’ our military, our intelligence-gathering, our nation’s soul? Taking private enterprise way beyond what is reasonable, or desirable, or safe, the CheneyBush administration has turned over a huge raft of national-security functions to those not adequately trained, not accountable to the public or the law, not showing up on the political radar.”

Ally of James Comey to Testify on NSA Surveillance Program
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082907L.shtml
Spencer Ackerman reports for TPMMuckraker: “Get ready for more revelations about the extent of the National Security Agency’s post-9/11 warrantless surveillance program…the Senate Judiciary Committee is going to hear testimony from Jack Goldsmith, the former head of Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, a key ally in James Comey’s efforts as acting attorney general to scale back what they considered an illegal program.”

Calls Grow Louder for International Oversights of US Markets
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082907M.shtml
Heather Timmons and Katrin Bennhold report for The International Herald Tribune: “Politicians, regulators and financial specialists outside the United States are seeking a role in oversight of American markets, banks and rating agencies in the wake of recent problems related to subprime mortgages. Their argument is simple: The United States is exporting financial products, but losses to investors in other countries suggest that American regulators are not properly monitoring the products or alerting investors to the risks.”

Larry Craig: I Am Not Gay
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082907N.shtml
David Stout and Carl Hulse report for The New York Times: “’I am not gay, I never have been gay,’ Mr. Craig, an Idaho Republican, declared at a brief appearance in Boise with his wife, Suzanne Craig, at his side…According to a police report obtained by Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper that disclosed the episode and the guilty plea on Monday, a plainclothes police officer who was investigating complaints of sexual activity in the airport bathroom arrested the senator on June 11 after what the officer described as sexual advances made by Mr. Craig from an adjoining stall.”

Ailing South Dakota Senator Johnson: I Am Back
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082907O.shtml
The Associated Press reports, “Senator Tim Johnson, speaking slowly and slurring some words more than eight months after experiencing a life-threatening brain hemorrhage, announced Tuesday to state residents: ‘I am back.’”

US Most Armed Country With 90 Guns Per 100 People
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082907P.shtml
Laura MacInnis reports for Reuters: “The United States has 90 guns for every 100 citizens, making it the most heavily armed society in the world, a report released on Tuesday said. US citizens own 270 million of the world’s 875 million known firearms, according to the Small Arms Survey 2007 by the Geneva-based Graduate Institute of International Studies.”

Go directly to our issues page: www.truthout.org/issues.shtml

t r u t h o u t | 28/8/07

Hearings for new attorney general could bring skeletons out of closet; presidential hopefuls rally around New Orleans; one million told to flee Iraqi city; Antarctic ozone hole seen sooner than expected; energy efficiency best way to address global warming; polluted Chinese rivers endanger millions; Jeff Goodell writes about the price we pay for coal; a first for Duke Medical School – woman put in charge; 9/11 workers’ asthma rate twelve times the norm; Americans keep getting fatter; and more … Browse our continually updating front page at www.truthout.org

Go directly to our issues page: www.truthout.org/issues.shtml

AG Confirmation Hearings Could Reveal Secrets
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082807R.shtml
Peter S. Canellos of The Boston Globe reports: “The departure of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales could unlock the Bush administration’s legal closet, bringing new details tumbling into the open about issues including the treatment of terrorism suspects, warrantless surveillance of Americans, and the administration’s definition of official secrets.”

Candidates Call Anew for Rebuilding of New Orleans
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082807S.shtml
The New York Times’s Leslie Wayne and Susan Saulny write: “The presidential candidates returned to New Orleans yesterday to press for the rebuilding of the city, using the coming second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina to attack the Bush administration while highlighting their own initiatives to aid the people there.”

One Million Told to Leave Iraqi City As Gunfights Rage
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082807T.shtml
The Associated Press says: “More than one million pilgrims were ordered to leave the Shiite holy city of Karbala on Tuesday as the police imposed a curfew after two days of violence that included raging gun battles between what appeared to be rival Shiite militias.”

Antarctic Ozone Hole Appears Early, Growing
www.truthout.org/issues_06/082807EA.shtml
Reuters reports that “a hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica has appeared earlier than usual in 2007, the United Nations weather agency said on Tuesday.”

Energy Efficiency Easiest Path to Aid Climate
www.truthout.org/issues_06/082807EB.shtml
Alister Doyle, Reuters, writes: “Energy efficiency for power plants, cars or homes is the easiest way to slow global warming in a long-term investment shift that will cost hundreds of billions of dollars.”

Chinese Rivers Threaten Sixth of Population
www.truthout.org/issues_06/082807EC.shtml
According to Reuters, “Polluters along two of China’s main rivers have defied a decade-old clean-up effort, leaving much of the water unfit to touch, let alone drink, and a risk to a sixth of the population.”

Jeff Goodell | King Coal: What It Costs Us
www.truthout.org/issues_06/082807LA.shtml
In The Washington Post, Jeff Goodell says: “If history is any guide, straightforward answers to what happened in Utah will be as rare as oxygen in the collapsed mine. We can expect a hue and cry about mine safety on Capitol Hill, a lot of blame-shifting and finger-pointing and, most likely, some modest mine safety improvements. But you can bet that you won’t hear much about the real issue, which is the high cost of the United States’ dependence on coal, and whether it’s worth the price we pay.”

A First: Woman to Lead Top Med School
www.truthout.org/issues_06/082807WA.shtml
The Associated Press reports: “Duke University on Monday named a Harvard researcher as the first woman to lead its medical school, making her the only woman permanently at the helm of one of the nation’s top ten medical schools.”

High Rate of Asthma at Ground Zero
www.truthout.org/issues_06/082807HA.shtml
Anthony DePalma of The New York Times writes: “Rescue and recovery workers at ground zero have developed asthma at a rate that is 12 times what would be expected for adults, according to findings released yesterday by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.”

Obesity Rates Rise in 31 States
www.truthout.org/issues_06/082807HB.shtml
Kevin Freking, The Associated Press, says: “Loosen the belt buckle another notch: Obesity rates continued their climb in 31 states last year. No state showed a decline.”

National guard troops asked to make unprecedented sacrifices; John Nichols argues that the inquiry into Gonzales’s lawlessness must continue after his departure; temporary Attorney General Paul Clement expected to follow principles of Gonzales and Ashcroft; peace in Fallujah imposed by harsh rules curtailing freedom of press and movement; Johann Hari on a plan for withdrawal from Iraq; Philippe Gelie on Dick Cheney’s controversial reign; Richard Kim on the GOP’s bathroom problem; and more … Browse our continually updating front page at www.truthout.org

Top General Fears War Strain on National Guard
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082807A.shtml
Andrew O. Selsky reports for The Associated Press, “The Pentagon is asking National Guard troops and their families to make sacrifices like never before in Iraq and other hot spots, the Army’s chief of staff told a conference bringing together citizen-soldiers from across the country.”

John Nichols | Gonzales Goes, but Investigation Must Continue
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082807B.shtml
John Nichols writes for The Nation, “Only a continued inquiry into the lawlessness of the soon-to-be-former Attorney General will achieve what is the essential purpose of this Congress: the restoring of the rule of law to a country deeply damaged by petty little men who chose personal loyalties and political expediency over their duty to the Republic.”

Clement Is Expected to Follow Policies of Gonzales, Ashcroft
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082807C.shtml
Richard A. Serrano reports for the Los Angeles Times: “Named Monday as the acting US attorney general to temporarily succeed Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales, Clement is likely to closely follow the principles of his predecessors – Gonzales and former Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft. Like them, he has embraced the White House’s mandate of waging war on terrorists in this country, even if it means diverging from longtime legal precepts of due process. He strongly believes in supporting case statutes and administration policy, whatever the consequences.”

Fallujah Finds a False Peace
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082807D.shtml
Ali al-Fadhily reports for Inter Press Service: “Fallujah is quiet these days. After all the fighting and destruction of 2004, US and Iraqi forces call this success. Many residents are not so sure.”

Johann Hari | Need Iraq Suffer More If We Pull Out?
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082807E.shtml
Johann Hari writes for The Independent UK: “Former presidential candidate George McGovern, who fought heroically against the Vietnam War, has worked on a detailed way to leave Iraq that doesn’t also leave behind a holocaust. It is mapped out in his book ‘Out of Iraq.’”

French President Cautions Against Attack on Iran
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082807F.shtml
Angela Doland reports for The Associated Press, “French President Nicolas Sarkozy warned Monday that it would be ‘catastrophic’ to resort to military force in confronting Iran over its suspect nuclear program.”

Philippe Gelie | Dick Cheney: Controversial Vice President
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082807G.shtml
Philippe Gelie writes for Le Figaro: “Dick Cheney has become a ball and chain for George W. Bush. At a nadir in the polls, he is often designated as ‘the worst Vice-President in US history’… After the resignation of the president’s main adviser, Karl Rove, pressure is growing in Washington against the Executive branch’s powerful Number Two. A year before the presidential election, the sulfurous record of 66-year-old Richard Cheney embarrasses the Republicans and stimulates the Democrats. Will the 46th Vice-President of the United States complete his term by George W. Bush’s side?”

Richard Kim | The GOP’s Bathroom Problem
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082807H.shtml
Richard Kim writes for The Nation: “I wonder if the GOP’s burgeoning ‘bathroom problem’ isn’t reflective of something larger than just a bunch of conservative dudes who couldn’t come out of the closet… the link between public power and domestic heterosexuality – with all the fetishistic displays of family life that entails – has yet to be completely severed. Just ask Rudy Guiliani, or Hillary Clinton! Moreover, that knot, perhaps best described as sexual propriety, is what fuels the moral campaigns against homosexuality that have become one of the Republican Party’s identifying causes – loyally supported by the likes of Craig, Haggard, Foley, et. al.”

Massive criminal probe of kickbacks in arm sales to Iraq; William Fisher on the effects of the “war on terror”; Senator Reid says investigation of Gonzales will continue; senator pled guilty for “lewd” behavior; The New York Times on Gonzales’s departure; Bush’s Texas cronies depart; poll says young people disenchanted with Republicans; and more … Browse our continually updating front page at www.truthout.org

Massive Criminal Probe of Illegal Iraq Arms Sales Underway
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082807J.shtml
James Glanz and Eric Schmitt, of The New York Times, report: “Several federal agencies are investigating a widening network of criminal cases involving the purchase and delivery of billions of dollars of weapons, supplies and other material to Iraqi and American forces, according to American officials. The officials said it amounted to the largest ring of fraud and kickbacks uncovered in the conflict here, the officials said. The inquiry has already led to several indictments of Americans, with more expected, the officials said. One of the investigations involves a senior American officer who worked closely with Gen. David H. Petraeus in setting up the logistics operation to supply the Iraqi forces when General Petraeus was in charge of training and equipping those forces in 2004 and 2005, American officials said Monday.”

William Fisher | Bush’s “War on Terror” Tactics Make America Less Safe, Less Free
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082807K.shtml
Truthout’s William Fisher writes: “The constitutional scholars who represented extraordinary-rendition victim Maher Arar charge that America is losing the ‘war on terror’ and the civil rights of its citizens because of Bush administration policies. In a new book, ‘Less Safe, Less Free: Why America Is Losing the War on Terror,’ law professors David Cole and Jules Lobel argue that the problem lies in the aggressive ‘preventive paradigm’ the Bush administration adopted in the wake of 9/11.”

Reid: “Gonzales Investigations Will Continue”
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082807L.shtml
Tom Hamburger and Josh Meyer, of the Los Angeles Times, report: “Most former attorneys general retire into relative obscurity, but as Alberto Gonzales closes the door on his Washington career, he leaves a legacy that will endure well into the future: a Justice Department mired in congressional inquiries about the firing of US attorneys and legal challenges to his policies on presidential power, torture and domestic spying. ‘This resignation is not the end of the story,’ Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said in a statement today forecasting congressional intent to probe deep into what Gonzales will leave behind. ‘Congress must get to the bottom of this mess and follow the facts where they lead, into the White House.’”

GOP Senator Arrested for Lewdness in Airport Restroom
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082807M.shtml
Paul Kane and Shailagh Murray, of The Washington Post, report: “Sen. Larry Craig pleaded guilty earlier this month to misdemeanor disorderly conduct charges stemming from his June arrest by an undercover police officer in a men’s restroom at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, a court spokeswoman and the senator’s office said yesterday. Craig issued a statement confirming his arrest and guilty plea, which was first reported in the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call.”

The New York Times | The House Lawyer Departs
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082807N.shtml
A New York Times editorial says: “Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has finally done something important to advance the cause of justice. He has resigned. But his departure alone cannot remove the dark cloud that hangs over the Justice Department. President Bush needs to choose a new attorney general of unquestioned integrity who would work to make the department worthy of its name again – and provide the mandate to do it. Congress needs to continue to investigate the many scandals Mr. Gonzales leaves behind. When Mr. Gonzales was appointed, it seemed doubtful that he would be able to put aside his years as Mr. Bush’s personal lawyer, which stretched back to the Texas governor’s office, and represent the interests of the American people. He never did.”

Bush’s Herd of Loyal Texas Advisers Continues to Thin
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082807O.shtml
Dave Montgomery, of the McClatchy Newspapers writes: “They were fiercely loyal, unfailingly disciplined and, as a unit, offered the president a comforting touchstone from his home state. Now, Team Texas is moving ever closer to extinction. The already thinning cadre of advisers who followed George W. Bush from Austin to Washington is unraveling even further, with Alberto Gonzales and Karl Rove heading toward the door.”

Poll: Young Voters Disenchanted With Republican Party
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082807P.shtml
Carla Marinucci, of the San Francisco Chronicle, reports that a “Democracy Corps poll from the Washington firm of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner suggests voters ages 18 to 29 have undergone a striking political evolution in recent years. Young Americans have become so profoundly alienated from Republican ideals on issues including the war in Iraq, global warming, same-sex marriage and illegal immigration that their defections suggest a political setback that could haunt Republicans ‘for many generations to come,’ the poll said.”

Go directly to our issues page: www.truthout.org/issues.shtml

t r u t h o u t | 27/8/07

William Rivers Pitt writes about Alberto Gonzalez and other traitors; GOP Senator Warner may support Democratic bill for troop withdrawals; A. Alexander on the Republican demonization of the few rich who dare to help the many who are poor; Greek fires may be “turning point toward a greater green consciousness”; China’s industrial revolution is public health disaster; Dean Baker writes about the right to organize; women’s new roles in combat mean more female casualties; activists continue campaign against Novartis; HIV/AIDS victims being buried alive by family; and more … Browse our continually updating front page at www.truthout.org

Go directly to our issues page: www.truthout.org/issues.shtml

William Rivers Pitt | Burning the Law in a Riot of Treason
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082707R.shtml
Truthout columnist William Rivers Pitt writes: “The departure of Alberto Gonzales from the Attorney General’s Office brings America to a place of definitions, and hanging in the balance is the very idea of the nation itself. The basic concepts and fundamental principles of our republic now stand as the only legitimate considerations going forward, for they have been tested almost to annihilation already, and will not endure much longer if we continue on this path.”

Senator Warner May Join Dems’ Iraq Withdrawal Bill
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082707S.shtml
Hope Yen, The Associated Press, reports: “GOP Senator John Warner, who wants US troops to start coming home from Iraq by Christmas, said Sunday he may support Democratic legislation ordering withdrawals if President Bush refuses to set a return timetable soon.”

A. Alexander | The Crime? Helping the Poor While Being Wealthy
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082707T.shtml
Writing for The Progressive Daily Beacon, A. Alexander says, “It is interesting to observe Republicans and the corporate-owned media as they attack the rare wealthy person who dares attempt to help America’s poor and impoverished.”

Why Is Greece on Fire?
www.truthout.org/issues_06/082707EA.shtml
Nicole Itano, The Christian Science Monitor, writes: “On Sunday, at least 51 people were confirmed dead in the worst series of fires to hit Greece in decades. And still fires, many of them blamed on arsonists, continued to spread across the country, fanned by gale-force winds and fed by vegetation dried out from long months of drought.”

As China Roars, Pollution Reaches Deadly Extremes
www.truthout.org/issues_06/082707EB.shtml
The New York Times’s Joseph Kahn and Jim Yardley report: “No country in history has emerged as a major industrial power without creating a legacy of environmental damage that can take decades and big dollops of public wealth to undo.”

UN Says Momentum Building for New Climate Deal
www.truthout.org/issues_06/082707EC.shtml
Alister Doyle of Reuters reports: “The United Nations says momentum is building for broader long-term action to fight global warming beyond the UN’s Kyoto Protocol, and a climate meeting starting in Vienna on Monday will be a crucial test.”

Dean Baker | The Right to Unionize: Key to Democracy
www.truthout.org/issues_06/082707LA.shtml
Writing for Truthout, Dean Baker says, “For the last quarter century, corporate America has been at war against the labor movement. After a long period in which unions were an accepted part of the economic and political landscape, most corporations adopted a much more hostile attitude toward unions. Where unions already were present, employers sought to weaken or break them. In workplaces without unions, employers were prepared to do whatever was necessary to prevent workers from organizing.”

Army Policies Don’t Keep Women off Front Lines
www.truthout.org/issues_06/082707WA.shtml
On National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered,” Jack Zahora says, “Sixty-one women in the US military have been killed by hostile fire in Iraq – more than twice as many female casualties suffered since women were allowed to join the military after World War II. The number indicates that women are playing new roles in combat zones.”

Activists Will Continue to Push Boycott of Novartis
www.truthout.org/issues_06/082707HA.shtml
Keya Acharya, Inter Press Service, writes: “Activist groups campaigning for affordable drugs will continue their boycott campaign against Swiss pharma major Novartis AG, whose controversial petition arguing that Indian patent laws violated World Trade Organization (WTO) provisions was rejected by the Madras High Court in southern Chennai city.”

Papua New Guinea AIDS Victims “Buried Alive”
www.truthout.org/issues_06/082707HB.shtml
BBC News reports that “Some people with HIV/AIDS in Papua New Guinea are being buried alive by their relatives because they could no longer look after sufferers or feared catching the disease themselves.”

Insurgent groups in Iraq take cut of US rebuilding funds; Larry Beinhart on Bush’s lies about the killing fields of Cambodia; former interim Iraqi prime minister Ayad Allawi hires Republican lobbying firm to press Maliki; hunt for Osama bin Laden frustrated by resources diverted to Iraq war and bureaucratic turf battles; Dean Baker on the right to unionize; Joshua Holland on John Edwards’s attack on the corporate class; Belgians’ unable to put together a governing coalition since their elections in June; former employers say countrywide pushes high-cost loans to subprime borrowers; and more … Browse our continually updating front page at www.truthout.org

Iraqi Insurgents Taking Cut of US Rebuilding Money
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Hannah Allam reports for McClatchy Newspapers, “Iraq’s deadly insurgent groups have financed their war against US troops in part with hundreds of thousands of dollars in US rebuilding funds that they’ve extorted from Iraqi contractors in Anbar province.”

Larry Beinhart | Bush Gets Away With Lies
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082707B.shtml
Larry Beinhart writes for Alternet, “George Bush and other Iraq War supporters have argued that if we withdraw from Iraq the result will be like the killing fields of Cambodia – an odd comparison considering that the US has direct responsibility for that holocaust.”

Lobbyists Hired to Press Maliki, Former Premier Says
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082707C.shtml
Walter Pincus reports for The Washington Post, “Former interim Iraqi prime minister Ayad Allawi, who is trying to put together a new coalition to replace the current Baghdad government headed by Nouri al-Maliki, said yesterday that a powerful Washington lobbying firm is working on his behalf, funded by an Iraqi whom he cannot identify.”

The Ongoing Hunt for Osama bin Laden
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082707D.shtml
Evan Thomas reports for Newsweek: “The story of the search for the men known to American spies and soldiers as high-value targets one and two (HVT 1 and HVT 2) – Osama bin Laden and his possibly more dangerous No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri – is a frustrating, at times agonizing, tale of missed opportunities, damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t choices, and outright blunders.”

Dean Baker | The Right to Unionize: Key to Democracy
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082707E.shtml
Dean Baker writes for Truthout, “For the last quarter century, corporate America has been at war against the labor movement.”

Joshua Holland | Edwards Goes After the “Corporate Democrats”
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082707F.shtml
Joshua Holland writes for Alternet, “Last week, John Edwards fired a broadside against corporate America and, more significantly, ‘corporate Democrats,’ the likes of which hasn’t been heard from a viable candidate with national appeal in decades.”

Belgium Juggles With Its Survival
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082707G.shtml
Le Temps’s Richard Werly reports on the Belgians’ inability to put together a governing coalition since their elections in June, the implications of that impasse for a country that shares a capital with the European Union and the character of the Flemish politician who leads the Party that “won” the elections.

Countrywide Pushes High-Cost Loans
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082707H.shtml
Gretchen Morgenson, of The New York Times, reports, “Countrywide’s entire operation, from its computer system to its incentive pay structure and financing arrangements, is intended to wring maximum profits out of the mortgage lending boom no matter what it costs borrowers, according to interviews with former employees and brokers who worked in different units of the company and internal documents they provided.”

Many Iraq War Vets are coming home with cancer; AP data show increased violence in Iraq since the beginning of the surge; undersecretary of defense under investigation; James Carroll on the outsourcing of intelligence; Paul Krugman on health care for children; terror database leads to few arrests; Obama’s plan for rebuilding New Orleans; and more … Browse our continually updating front page at www.truthout.org

Cancer in Iraq Vets Points to Toxic Exposure
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082707J.shtml
The Arizona Daily Star is reporting there are many soldiers returning from Iraq with cancer. Carla McClain writes: “The prime suspect in all this, in the minds of many victims – and some scientists – is what’s known as depleted uranium – the radioactive chemical prized by the military for its ability to penetrate armored vehicles. When munitions explode, the substance hits the air as fine dust, easily inhaled.”

Data Show No Surge in Safety in Iraq So Far in 2007
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082707K.shtml
The Associated Press reports the “US troop buildup has brought violence in Baghdad down from peak levels, but the death toll from sectarian attacks nationwide is running nearly double the year-ago pace. Some of the recent bloodshed appears to be the result of militants drifting into northern Iraq, where they have fled after US-led offensives. Baghdad, however, still accounts for slightly more than half of all war-related killings – the same percentage as a year ago, according to figures compiled by The Associated Press.”

Pentagon Official Is Under Investigation
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082707L.shtml
Molly Hennessy-Fiske, of the Los Angeles Times, reports “a Bush political appointee and former Silicon Valley executive who has faced opposition in his bid to bail out Iraq’s struggling factories is under investigation by the Defense Department on mismanagement allegations. Deputy Undersecretary of Defense Paul A. Brinkley, who heads an economic task force in Baghdad, is accused of mismanaging government money and engaging in public drunkenness and sexual harassment, a Defense Department spokesman said last week.”

James Carroll | Outsourcing Intelligence
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082707M.shtml
James Carroll, of the Boston Globe, writes: “The Ways in which the Bush war has degraded the structures and culture of Iraq are obvious. Less so are its insidious effects on the United States, but President Bush is similarly destroying something essential to our own democracy. A signal of that was sounded last week when The Washington Post reported that the Defense Intelligence Agency is transferring ‘core intelligence tasks of analysis and collection’ to private contractors.”

Paul Krugman | A Socialist Plot
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082707N.shtml
The New York Times’s Paul Krugman writes: “The truth is that there’s no difference in principle between saying that every American child is entitled to an education and saying that every American child is entitled to adequate health care. It’s just a matter of historical accident that we think of access to free K-12 education as a basic right, but consider having the government pay children’s medical bills ‘welfare,’ with all the negative connotations that go with that term. And conservative opposition to giving every child in this country access to health care is, in a fundamental sense, un-American.”

US Terror Database Leads to Few Arrests
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082707O.shtml
Agence France-Presse reports the “US government’s terrorist screening database flagged Americans and foreigners as suspected terrorists almost 20,000 times last year, but only a small fraction of those questioned were arrested or denied entry into the United States, it was reported Saturday. The Washington Post said these numbers were raising concerns among critics about privacy and the list’s effectiveness.”

Obama Outlines Plan to Help New Orleans
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082707P.shtml
The Associated Press reports: “Democrat Barack Obama said Sunday the country cannot fail New Orleans again and that as president, he would keep the city in mind every day. ‘The words never again cannot be another empty phrase,’ he said in front of one of the few rebuilt houses he saw on a brief tour of the city’s Gentilly Woods section. ‘It cannot become another broken promise.’”

BREAKING | Gonzales Resigns as Attorney General
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082707Z.shtml
Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, whose tenure has been marred by controversy and accusations of perjury before Congress, has resigned. A senior administration official said he would announce the decision later this morning in Washington.

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t r u t h o u t | 26/8/07

National Intelligence Estimate indicates likelihood of success in Iraq is slim; David Bacon writes about the “catastrophic” impact of Chertoff’s immigration regulation; 4,000 National Guard soldiers cheer call for Iraq withdrawal; Florida could be “frozen out” of Democrat’s nominating convention; victims of US “friendly fire” bomb in Afghanistan were teens; in an essay collaboration, three writers ask if this has really been a do-nothing Congress; record-breaking Afghan opium crop; and more … Browse our continually updating front page at www.truthout.org

Bush Has Few Options in Iraq, Fewer Chances of Success
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082607A.shtml
Warren P. Strobel, McClatchy Newspapers, reports: “One way to look at the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq released this week is to review what it describes as the best-case scenario. In Iraq, best-case scenarios rarely, if ever, have come to pass.”

David Bacon | The New Plan for Immigration Raids
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082607B.shtml
Writing for Truthout, David Bacon says, “A year ago, in the middle of the nation’s most bitterly fought union organizing drive, management at the Smithfield Foods pork slaughterhouse in Tar Heel, North Carolina, sent a letter to 300 workers. The company, Smithfield claimed, had been notified by the Social Security Administration that the workers’ numbers didn’t match the SSA database. Come up with new numbers, the company ordered, that could pass the ‘no-match check,’ or they’d be fired within two weeks.”

Call for Iraq Exit Gets Ovation at National Guard Conference
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082607C.shtml
David McFadden of The Associated Press reports: “A call by Puerto Rico’s governor for a US withdrawal from Iraq earned a standing ovation Saturday from a conference of more than 4,000 National Guardsmen.”

Florida Primary Found in Violation
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082607D.shtml
The Boston Globe’s Susan Milligan writes: “Democratic National Committee officials yesterday ruled that Florida’s January 29 presidential primary is in violation of party rules and gave Florida Democrats 30 days to find a solution or be frozen out of the nominating convention next year.”

UK Troops Killed by US Bomb Were Teenagers on First Tour
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082607E.shtml
Ned Temko, The Observer UK, writes: “Two of the British soldiers killed by an apparent ‘friendly fire’ air attack in Afghanistan on Thursday were 19-year-olds on their first tour of combat duty, it emerged yesterday.”

Thomas E. Mann, Molly Reynolds, and Peter Hoey | A New, Improved Congress?
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082607F.shtml
Writing for The New York Times, Thomas E. Mann, Molly Reynolds, and Peter Hoey say, “Just before Congress adjourned for its August recess, Democrats engaged in a flurry of legislative activity, while Republicans complained about a ‘do-nothing’ Congress’s meager policy accomplishments. Deep partisan differences, narrow majorities and a Republican in the White House have frustrated Democratic ambitions and fueled a toxic atmosphere in both chambers of Congress. The public’s low approval ratings reflect broad discontent with the direction of the country but also displeasure with Congress for failing to reverse course on Iraq and for continuing the bitter partisan warfare.”

Afghan Opium Crop Hits Record
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082607G.shtml
The New York Times’ David Rohde reports: “Afghanistan produced record levels of opium in 2007 for the second straight year, led by a staggering 45 percent increase in the Taliban stronghold of Helmand Province, according to a UN survey to be released tomorrow.”

FOCUS | Douglas Brinkley: Reckless Abandonment
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082607Y.shtml
Two articles from the Washington Post report how the city of New Orleans remains shattered and unrepaired two years after Katrina. Columnist Douglas Brinkley highlights the ways in which New Orleans has been victimized by misplaced government priorities, and journalist Peter Whoriskey follows several New Orleans residents as they try to put their lives back together again.

FOCUS | Iraq Body Count Running at Double Pace
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082607Z.shtml
The Associated Press reports that Iraq is suffering about double the number of war-related deaths throughout the country compared with last year, with the average daily toll this year at 62 compared to 33 in 2006, and the number of displaced Iraqis has more than doubled since the start of the year.

t r u t h o u t | 25/8/07

Bush’s new rules for CIA interrogations may permit violations of Geneva Conventions; State Department officials frustrated by Hughes diplomatic doctrine; as September nears US takes more prisoners; Robert Parry writes about former CIA director’s “career decision of a lifetime”; terrorist screening database seemingly ineffective; Representative Renzi is fifth GOP member in recent weeks to announce retirement; Federal Reserve bends the rules for big banks’ benefit; and more … Browse our continually updating front page at www.truthout.org

Military Warns of Potential CIA Abuses
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082507A.shtml
Charlie Savage of The Boston Globe reports: “Top military lawyers have told senators that President Bush’s new rules for CIA interrogations of suspected terrorists could allow abuses that violate the Geneva Conventions, according to Senate and military officials.”

William Fisher | Hughes Diplomatic Doctrine Still Rankles
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082507B.shtml
Writing for Truthout, William Fisher says, “A senior State Department official who resigned in 2003 to protest the American invasion of Iraq is charging that the public diplomacy efforts of Bush confidante Karen Hughes have been in place for many years, are failing to win hearts and minds overseas, and are causing US diplomats to ‘feel like second-class citizens at the State Department.’”

With Troop Rise, Iraqi Detainees Soar In Number
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082507C.shtml
The New York Times’ Thom Shanker reports: “The number of detainees held by the American-led military forces in Iraq has swelled by 50 percent under the troop increase ordered by President Bush, with the inmate population growing to 24,500 today from 16,000 in February, according to American military officers in Iraq.”

Robert Parry | Bob Gates on the Iraq War Hot Seat
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082507D.shtml
In Consortium News, Robert Parry writes: “Defense Secretary Robert Gates may be confronting the career decision of a lifetime: Should the former CIA director lash himself to the mast with George W. Bush and risk going down with the foundering Iraq War ship or should he look to a post-Bush period and position himself as a Washington wise man?”

Terror Suspect List Yields Few Arrests
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082507E.shtml
Ellen Nakashima, The Washington Post, says: “The government’s terrorist screening database flagged Americans and foreigners as suspected terrorists almost 20,000 times last year. But only a small fraction of those questioned were arrested or denied entry into the United States, raising concerns among critics about privacy and the list’s effectiveness.”

Arizona Republican to Retire Amid Probe
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082507F.shtml
The Associated Press reports: “Three-term Representative Rick Renzi, an Arizona Republican facing a federal inquiry into his family’s insurance business, said Thursday he will not seek re-election next year.”

Fed Bends Rules to Help Two Big Banks
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082507G.shtml
Fortune’s Peter Eavis writes: “In a clear sign that the credit crunch is still affecting the nation’s largest financial institutions, the Federal Reserve agreed this week to bend key banking regulations to help out Citigroup and Bank of America, according to documents posted Friday on the Fed’s website.”