t r u t h o u t | 13/11/07

Ann Wright reflects on the original purpose of Veterans Day; DOJ resuscitates investigation into warrantless wiretapping; Congress begins countdown to 2008; Al Gore to channel venture capital into “green” technology; global warming may put millions out of work; group alleges that government officials cut “vital facts” from climate report; retail giant has “Dickensian sweatshop in India”; churches collide over women’s ordination; statistical model for radiation exposure may be changed to reflect gender reality; and more … Browse our continually updating front page at www.truthout.org

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Ann Wright | Veterans Day: A Day for Peace or for War?
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/111307R.shtml
Truthout contributor Ann Wright asks, “Could you ever imagine that Veterans Day was originally enacted as a day for world peace? Not by the way veterans who stand for peace are treated in Veterans Day ceremonies! Yet, according to the Veterans Affairs web site, Veterans Day, formerly known as Armistice Day, was originally a US legal holiday to honor the end of World War I and to honor the need for world peace.”

Domestic Spying Inquiry Restarted at DOJ
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/111307S.shtml
Devlin Barrett, The Associated Press, reports: “The Justice Department has reopened a long-dormant inquiry into the government’s warrantless wiretapping program, a major policy shift only days into the tenure of new Attorney General Michael Mukasey.”

‘08 Clock Ticks for Congress
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/111307T.shtml
The Hill’s Manu Raju writes: “Congressional Democratic leaders enter the year-end push with a host of volatile battles looming and time running out on their ability to control the national agenda.”

Gore Has a New Ally Against Global Warming
www.truthout.org/issues_06/111307EA.shtml
Michelle Quinn and Abigail Goldman of The Los Angeles Times report: “Al Gore is trying to bring more green to green technologies. Venture capital dollars are pouring into the business of fighting climate change, and Gore will get to invest millions as a partner with Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a prominent Silicon Valley venture firm.”

Climate Change Threatens Millions of Jobs
www.truthout.org/issues_06/111307EB.shtml
Laura MacInnis, Reuters, writes: “Millions of jobs worldwide could be casualties of climate change, though efforts to mitigate its effects will also create huge new waves of employment, United Nations officials said on Monday.”

Vital Facts “Deleted” From UN Climate Change Report
www.truthout.org/issues_06/111307EC.shtml
In Australia’s The Age, Charles Clover says that “A major United Nations report on climate change has been watered down as a result of influence from government officials from countries opposed to taking radical action, conservation group WWF claims.”

Joshua Holland | Why on Earth Are Hillary and Obama Supporting Pro-Corporate Trade Deals?
www.truthout.org/issues_06/111307LA.shtml
Writing for AlterNet.org, Joshua Holland says, “With the announcement that Hillary Clinton will join Barack Obama in supporting a new trade deal with Peru that passed in the House last week, the divide between the two Democratic front-runners and the American electorate couldn’t be clearer.”

Robyn Blumner | Third World Blood, Sweat and Tears in US Goods
www.truthout.org/issues_06/111307LB.shtml
In The Columbus Dispatch, Robyn Blumner says, “The headline ‘Indian “slave” children found making low-cost clothes destined for Gap,’ in last week’s The Observer online must have caused massive indigestion for the public-relations pixies who burnish the Gap’s image.”

Two Faiths Divided on Women’s Ordination Ceremony
www.truthout.org/issues_06/111307WA.shtml
The Associated Press reports: “When the Jewish congregation offered its synagogue for an ordination of two women in a ceremony disavowed by the Roman Catholic Church, it drew the ire of archdiocese officials, who vowed never again to work with the congregation.”

“Reference Man” May Lose Radiation Modeling Job
www.truthout.org/issues_06/111307HA.shtml
Julie R. Enszer, Women’s eNews, writes: “A June 2005 report from the Washington-based National Research Council finds women 52 percent more likely to develop some form of cancer than men following uniform whole-body exposure to the same level of radiation.”

VIDEO | Valerie Plame Wilson Still Wants to Know …
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/111307J.shtml
In an interview with Truthout, former covert CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson said she would still like to know the identity of the CIA official who passed her name to Vice President Dick Cheney’s office in 2003, and “under what circumstances.” Plame Wilson has been trying to figure several things out since senior Bush officials leaked her name to columnist Robert Novak and other journalists. That leak ended her two-decade CIA career.

Truthout’s Michael Winship offers perspective on the reality of war; the reliance on military command in preventing invasion of Iran; total economic costs of US involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan estimated at $1.5 trillion; income disparities still exist along racial lines; Mukasey test may lie in his handling of criticisms against US Attorney’s Office in Minneapolis; Stephen Zunes writes on the danger of continuing US support for Musharraf; and more … Browse our continually updating front page at www.truthout.org

Michael Winship | A Firsthand Look at War
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/111307A.shtml
Michael Winship, reporting for Truthout, writes, “Like Alice in Wonderland’s wacky Queen of Hearts, who believed six impossible things before breakfast, the current inhabitant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue believes the preposterous on a regular basis and then talks about it,” while Nancy A. Youssef, reporting for McClatchy Newspapers, gives a glimpse into the role US money plays in the politics of one southern Iraqi town.

Chris Hedges | At the Mercy of the Military
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/111307B.shtml
Chris Hedges, from Truthdig, writes: “The last, best hope for averting a war with Iran lies with the United States military. The Democratic Congress, cowed by the Israel lobby and terrified of appearing weak on defense before the presidential elections, will do nothing to halt an attack. The media, especially the electronic press, is working overtime to whip up fear of a nuclear Iran and tar Tehran with abetting attacks against American troops in Iraq. The American public is complacent, unsure of what to believe, knocked off balance by fear and passive. We will be saved or doomed by our generals.”

“Hidden Costs” Double Price of Two Wars, Democrats Say
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/111307C.shtml
Josh White, reporting for The Washington Post, writes, “The economic costs to the United States of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan so far total approximately $1.5 trillion, according to a new study by congressional Democrats that estimates the conflicts’ “hidden costs”— including higher oil prices, the expense of treating wounded veterans and interest payments on the money borrowed to pay for the wars.”

Income Gap Among Black, White Families Up
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/111307D.shtml
The Associated Press reports, “Decades after the civil rights movement, the income gap between black and white families has grown, says a new study that tracked the incomes of some 2,300 families for more than 30 years.”

Justice Department Chief Faces a Test in Minnesota
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/111307E.shtml
Philip Shenon, reporting for The New York Times, writes, “If Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey wants to know what he is up against in restoring stability to the Justice Department, he is being urged by the department’s employees in Minnesota, as well as by prominent lawyers and law professors here, to consider an early visit to the United States Attorney’s Office in Minneapolis.”

Stephen Zunes | Pakistan’s Dictatorships and the United States
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/111307F.shtml
Stephen Zunes, from Foreign Policy In Focus, writes: “In his 2005 inaugural address, President George W. Bush declared that the United States would support democratic movements around the world and work to end tyranny. Furthermore, he pledged to those struggling for freedom that the United States would ‘not ignore your oppression, or excuse your oppressors.’ Despite these promises, the Bush administration – with the apparent acquiescence of the Democratic-controlled Congress – has instead decided to continue U.S. support for the dictatorship of General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s president.”

UN Struggles to Understand Raid on the Euphrates
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/111307G.shtml
Maurin Picard reports from Vienna for Le Figaro on how the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency has been shut out of UN Member States’ intelligence relating to Israel’s clandestine September raid on Syria.

Chalabi Returns to Prominence and Power
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/111307H.shtml
Christian Berthelsen, writing for The Los Angeles Times, reports, “After spurning him, the U.S. is working with the Iraqi politician now overseeing the restoration of vital services to Baghdad.”

VIDEO: Valerie Plame Wilson Still Wants to Know …
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/111307J.shtml
Former covert CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson would still like to know the identity of the official at the CIA who passed her name to the office of Vice President Dick Cheney in the spring of 2003, and “under what circumstances.” That’s just one of several unanswered questions Plame Wilson told Truthout in an hour-long interview she has been trying to figure out in the years since several senior officials in the Bush administration leaked her name to the syndicated columnist Robert Novak, and a handful of other journalists, ending her highly covert and highly productive two-decade career as an undercover spy for the CIA.

Truthout’s Jason Leopold interviews Valerie Plame; federal judge orders White House to preserve all its emails; European human rights panel strongly criticizes process of blacklisting terrorism suspects; Democratic candidates declare opposition to nuclear waste dump, but have mixed records on nuclear power issues; Bhutto, placed under house arrest, calls for Musharraf’s resignation; Roger Cohen on why Americans should have access to Al Jazeera’s English news channel; generic drug legislation that would save consumers billions stalled by lobbying; and more … Browse our continually updating front page at www.truthout.org

Valerie Plame Wilson Still Wants to Know …
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/111307J.shtml
Former covert CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson would still like to know the identity of the official at the CIA who passed her name to the office of Vice President Dick Cheney in the spring of 2003, and “under what circumstances.” That’s just one of several unanswered questions Plame Wilson told Truthout in an hour-long interview she has been trying to figure out in the years since several senior officials in the Bush administration leaked her name to the syndicated columnist Robert Novak, and a handful of other journalists, ending her highly covert and highly productive two-decade career as an undercover spy for the CIA.

Judge Orders White House to Hold Emails
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/111307K.shtml
The Associated Press reports, “A federal judge ordered the White House to preserve copies of all its e-mails, a move that Bush administration lawyers had argued strongly against.”

European Panel Decries Terrorism Blacklist Process
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/111307L.shtml
Molly Moore reports for The Washington Post, “The methods used by the United Nations and the European Union for blacklisting terrorism suspects are ‘totally arbitrary’ and ‘violate the fundamental principles of human rights and rule of law,’ a European human rights panel said Monday.”

Democrats Oppose Nuclear Waste Dump
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/111307M.shtml
The Associated Press reports: “The leading Democratic presidential candidates are united on the government’s Yucca Mountain nuclear waste storage plan: They’d scrap it. Their vigorous opposition to the project reflects Nevada’s importance as one of a handful of states that will lead off voting in January for the Democratic and Republican nominations. Few local issues are as unpopular with Nevadans as the waste dump.”

Pakistani Officials Order Detention of Bhutto and Block a March
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/111307N.shtml
David Rohde and Jane Perlez report for The New York Times: “Hundreds of riot police early today blocked the opposition leader Benazir Bhutto and her supporters from making a planned long march from this eastern city 160 miles through Punjab Province to the capital, Islamabad. Ms. Bhutto, barricaded in her home here, called for the resignation of Pakistan’s president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, in a phone interview with CNN this morning.”

Roger Cohen | Bring the Real World Home
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/111307O.shtml
Roger Cohen writes for The New York Times: “America can say to heck with an ungrateful world. It can mutter about third, even fourth, world wars. Therein lies a downward spiral. Or it can try to grasp the new, multinetworked world as it is. To this world Al Jazeera English offers a useful primer. The network can be tendentious – bin Laden’s face up there for several minutes – in stomach-turning ways. But, over all, it’s striving for balanced reporting from a distinct perspective seems genuine.”

Lobbying Stalls Generic Drug Legislation
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/111307P.shtml
The Associated Press reports, “Legislation aimed at speeding the availability of cheaper generic drugs has stalled in Congress in the face of major lobbying by the drug industry.”

VIDEO: Valerie Plame Wilson Still Wants to Know …
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/111307J.shtml
Former covert CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson would still like to know the identity of the official at the CIA who passed her name to the office of Vice President Dick Cheney in the spring of 2003, and “under what circumstances.” That’s just one of several unanswered questions Plame Wilson told Truthout in an hour-long interview she has been trying to figure out in the years since several senior officials in the Bush administration leaked her name to the syndicated columnist Robert Novak, and a handful of other journalists, ending her highly covert and highly productive two-decade career as an undercover spy for the CIA.