Truthout Index July 26-31 2005

Truthout Index 26-31 July12005

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t r u t h o u t | 31/7/05

US Forces Recruiting Overseas
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/073105A.shtml
From Pago Pago in American Samoa to Yap in Micronesia, 4,000 miles to the west, Army recruiters are scouring the Pacific, looking for high school graduates to enlist at a time when the Iraq war is turning off many candidates in the States.

Five GIs Killed by Roadside Bombs in Iraq
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/073105B.shtml
Five US soldiers were killed by roadside bombs in two separate incidents in Baghdad, the US military said Sunday.

Feinstein to Figure Into Roberts Hearings
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/073105C.shtml
John Roberts would replace the first woman on the Supreme Court at a time when interest groups are more focused than ever on the court’s position on abortion. Only one female lawmaker will question Roberts publicly and then vote on whether his nomination should advance to the full Senate.

New York Times | The Roots of Prisoner Abuse
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/073105D.shtml
This week, the White House blocked a Senate vote on a measure sponsored by a half-dozen Republicans, including Senator John McCain, that would prohibit cruel, degrading or inhumane treatment of prisoners. Besides being outrageous on its face, that action served as a reminder of how the Bush administration ducks for cover behind the men and women in uniform when challenged on military policy, but ignores their advice when it seems inconvenient.

London Bomber Cites Iraq as Cause
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/073105E.shtml
One of the men accused of taking part in the failed terror attacks in London on 21 July has claimed the bomb plot was directly inspired by Britain’s involvement in the Iraq war.

A White Racist Murder in Liverpool
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/073105F.shtml
A gang of men who murdered a black teenager with an axe in an unprovoked racist attack in a park near his home in Huyton, Liverpool, were being hunted by police last night.

Rep. Jan Schakowsky | Democratic Dos and Don’ts
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/073105G.shtml
The turf is favorable, but we’ve been there before – in 2000 and 2004. What should progressives do as we approach the 2006 elections to capitalize on Americans’ sense of unease and discontent?

Nicholas D. Kristof | Another Face of Terror
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/073105X.shtml
Pakistan’s president, Pervez Musharraf, is supposed to be our valued ally in the war on terrorism. But terror takes many forms, not all of them hijacked airplanes or bombed subways says Kristoff.

Greg Palast | Lawyers Guns and Money
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/073105Y.shtml
There are 200 million guns in civilian hands in the United States. That works out at 200 per lawyer. “Just Put Down That Law Suit, Pardner, and No One Gets Hurt.” -Greg Palast

Jimmy Carter: Guantanamo Detentions Disgraceful
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/073105Z.shtml
Former President Carter said Saturday the detention of terror suspects at the Guantanamo Bay Naval base was an embarrassment and had given extremists an excuse to attack the United States. Carter also criticized the US-led war in Iraq as “unnecessary and unjust.”

t r u t h o u t | 30/7/05

Military Recruiters Teaching High School Classes
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/073005A.shtml
In Seattle, the public schools are hostile territory for the military, as parents shoo away recruiters and are pushing to bar them entirely. In the suburbs, though, the armed forces are welcomed for more than just visits. They’re teaching some of the classes.

Hispanics New Target of Hate Groups
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/073005B.shtml
Organized hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan have historically terrorized blacks and Jews in the Southeast. But the recent influx of Hispanic immigrants to the region has given hate groups a new target, and officials say Hispanics are increasingly targets of hate crimes.

Frist Breaks with Bush on Stem-Cell Bill
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/073005C.shtml
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist endorsed government-funded research on human embryonic stem cells Friday, breaking with President Bush and the religious conservatives he’s been courting for a 2008 presidential bid. He drew praise from former first lady Nancy Reagan.

Energy Bill Weakens Nuclear Non-Proliferation
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/073005D.shtml
A provision tucked into the 1,724-page energy bill that Congress is poised to enact today would ease export restrictions on bomb-grade uranium, a lucrative victory for a Canadian medical manufacturer and its well-wired Washington lobbyists.

Two Shot Crossing Mexican Border
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/073005E.shtml
In statements he made to officials, Estrada had said he was about 200 yards inside the US when he was hit about 1 a.m. A second man who was shot about an hour later said he was assaulted just south of the border fence in Mexico.

Diebold E-Voting Machines Rejected
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/073005F.shtml
After possibly the most extensive testing ever on a voting system, California has rejected Diebold’s flagship electronic voting machine because of printer jams and screen freezes, sending local elections officials scrambling for other means of voting.

No Charges against Alleged Secret Service Imposter
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/073005G.shtml
Federal prosecutors will not file charges against a man who removed three people from a President Bush appearance earlier this year after they arrived in a car with a bumper sticker reading “No More Blood for Oil,” officials said Friday. The Secret Service, which had been investigating to determine whether the man impersonated a Secret Service officer, recently turned over its report to prosecutors.

CAFTA’s Deciding Votes Were Coerced
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/073005X.shtml
Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic leader, accused Republican leaders of trading anything they had to get the votes they needed. “Once again, the floor of the House of Representatives resembled the set of ‘Let’s Make a Deal,’ “ Ms. Pelosi said Thursday.

Roberts Had Larger 2000 Recount Role
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/073005Y.shtml
The role of US Supreme Court nominee John Roberts in the 2000 election aftermath in Florida was larger than has been reported. Roberts helped prepare the Supreme Court case.

Bush Will Defy Congress on Bolton
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/073005Z.shtml
President Bush plans to bypass the US Senate and install John Bolton as US ambassador to the United Nations, officials said. Bush can go around the Senate and give Bolton a “recess appointment” when the Senate begins its August recess this weekend.

Five GIs Killed by Roadside Bombs in Iraq
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/073105B.shtml
Five US soldiers were killed by roadside bombs in two separate incidents in Baghdad, the US military said Sunday.

t r u t h o u t | 29/7/05

Camilo Mejia | The Case of Sergeant Benderman
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072905A.shtml
What Sgt. Benderman saw in Iraq changed him in a way so profound, that after ten impeccable years in the Army, he decided to apply for conscientious objection. But Sgt. Benderman also spoke truth to the people about what is going on in Iraq, and he spoke about how the war is not destroying Iraq alone, but our own country as well. He spoke of how American soldiers are dehumanized by the war.

New ‘Theft’ Charges in Ohio’s 2004 Election
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072905B.shtml
New charges filed against Ohio Governor Bob Taft’s former top aide have blazed a new trail between “Coingate” and the GOP theft of the 2004 presidential election.

Murdoch’s Son and Expected Successor Quits News Corp.
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072905C.shtml
Rupert Murdoch’s son and heir apparent at the News Corporation, Lachlan K. Murdoch, abruptly resigned from his executive posts at the media company today and said he was moving back to Australia with his family.

Bush Nominee Is Linked to Lobbyist Abramoff Controversy
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072905D.shtml
The Bush administration’s pick for deputy US attorney general supervised a lobbying campaign two years ago by controversial lobbyist Jack Abramoff to block legislation aimed at offshore companies escaping American taxes, records and interviews show.

“We Regard Fallujah As a Large Prison”
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072905E.shtml
I have heard Iraqis make comparisons between their occupation and the Israeli occupation of Palestine, but it wasn’t until I saw families walking through the kilometer-long checkpoint, from a parking lot outside Fallujah to one on the other side, that it seemed apt.

Paul Krugman | French Family Values
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072905F.shtml
Krugman claims Americans are doing a lot of strutting these days, but a head-to-head comparison between the economies of the United States and Europe – France, in particular – shows that the big difference is in priorities, not performance.

Van Jones | The Religious Left Fights Back
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072905G.shtml
Rabbi Michael Lerner has been the spark-plug for many progressive, faith-based undertakings over the years, including Tikkun magazine. But this latest effort is an order of magnitude more challenging than anything he has attempted thus far. And given the stakes for our ailing would-be democracy, the birthing of NSP may prove to be his most important calling.

Sara Daniels | To Survive in Baquba
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072905H.shtml
“Aren’t you going to do anything to stop the civil war, sir?” In the area around Baquba where ambushes and bloody skirmishes are the daily lot of Iraqis, Sara Daniel accompanied American soldiers and witnessed their exchanges with local notables.

Norman Solomon | In Praise of Kevin Benderman
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072905I.shtml
The 40-year-old Army mechanic was sentenced yesterday to 15 months for refusing to return to Iraq with his Army unit, writes TO contributor Norman Solomon. Conscience is not in the chain of command.

Kennedy Challenges Roberts on Restricting Civil Rights
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072905J.shtml
After days of Democratic deference to John Roberts, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy said yesterday that documents made public so far indicate the Supreme Court nominee holds a “rather cramped view of the Voting Rights Act.”

Bush Running from Federalist Society
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072905K.shtml
The growing influence of the Federalist Society has coincided with the rise of a network of conservative research organizations and public interest law firms that together have challenged hot-button issues such as affirmative action and prohibitions against publicly funded school vouchers.

Roger Morris | Condoleezza Rice at the Center of the Plame Scandal
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072905L.shtml
Though her pivotal role has been missed entirely – or deliberately ignored – in both the media feeding frenzy and the rising political clamor, now-Secretary of State Rice was also deeply embroiled in the Niger uranium-Plame scandal, arguably as much as or more so than either Rove or Libby, writes former NSC staffer Roger Morris.

CIA Blocks Book on Tora Bora, Author Says
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072905M.shtml
The CIA is squelching publication of a new book detailing events leading up to Osama bin Laden’s escape from his Tora Bora mountain stronghold during the US-led invasion of Afghanistan, says a former CIA officer who led much of the fighting.

Judge Chides Administration’s Anti-Terror Tactics
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072905N.shtml
“We did not need to use a secret military tribunal, detain the defendant indefinitely as an enemy combatant or deny the defendant the right to counsel,” he said. “The message to the world from today’s sentencing is that our courts have not abandoned our commitment to the ideals that set our nation apart.”

Helen Thomas | Bush Won’t Block Abuse of Detainees
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072905O.shtml
Last week, Bush dispatched no less an emissary than Vice President Dick Cheney to warn members of the Senate Armed Services Committee against any congressional intervention on detainee interrogations, writes veteran columnist Helen Thomas.

Paul Rogat Loeb | Speaking Truth to Roberts
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072905P.shtml
How has a seemingly nice man like Roberts supported a politics of contempt for the voice of anyone but the wealthy and powerful? … Roberts is also disturbingly loyal to dubious corporate interests, or at least to principles that allow these interests to run roughshod over ordinary citizens and communities.

Frist Blindsides Bush on Stem Cell Research
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072905Y.shtml
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, in a split from President George W. Bush, said he supports expanding US funding to study embryonic stem cells as potential treatments for disease.

State Department Admits False Bolton Statement to Congress
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072905Z.shtml
John Bolton, President Bush’s nominee for UN ambassador, mistakenly told Congress he had not been interviewed or testified in any investigation over the past five years, the State Department said Thursday.

Tom Engelhardt | A Thief on the Court?
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072905Q.shtml
Engelhardt considers why the widening story of the role of Supreme Court nominee John Roberts in the Republican effort in the Florida 2000 election recount has had next to no impact so far on his prospects, and why the Democrats haven’t taken this up as the issue of issues.

Peacekeepers Accused after Killings in Haiti
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072905R.shtml
Evidence is mounting that United Nations peacekeepers shot and killed unarmed civilians, including children, during a recent raid in Haiti.

Congress Passes National Energy Plan
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072905S.shtml
After years of stalemate, Congress sends President Bush a national energy plan touted by supporters as providing a diverse mix of fuels, new jobs, cleaner burning coal and the next generation of nuclear reactors.

Lawmakers Blast New EPA Environmental Justice Plan
www.truthout.org/issues_05/072905EA.shtml
The Environmental Protection Agency has issued a draft strategic plan on environmental justice that has generated a sharp backlash in both the House and Senate.

Congress Set to Block EPA Use of Human Tests
www.truthout.org/issues_05/072905EB.shtml
In a rebuke to the Environmental Protection Agency, Congress is blocking the agency from relying on tests that expose pregnant women, infants and children to pesticides. The pesticide controversy arose after the EPA in 2003 lifted a moratorium on testing that had been in place since 1998.

Europe on an Energy Diet
www.truthout.org/issues_05/072905EC.shtml
After a tumultuous European summit, Tony Blair assumes the presidency of the Union and the G-8. The news is hardly happy: post-referendum pessimism, an expected heat wave, a disturbed energy future, lay-offs … Yet, bringing together a few of these themes would allow us to sketch a less somber political plan.

New Fair Trade Model Needed
www.truthout.org/issues_05/072905LA.shtml
Sweeping changes in the export of textiles have forced a difficult reappraisal among US sweatshop monitors: How best to help workers in a relentless industry?

Deborah James | Democracy Sold Out – CAFTA Approved by Pork and a Hill of Beans
www.truthout.org/issues_05/072905LB.shtml
It seems that some Representatives have not reviewed the record of the massive failure of NAFTA, the agreement that cost a million US jobs and increased poverty in Mexico. CAFTA was approved, and that will be the bottom line for communities in Central America and the US who will face years of decreasing living standards, falling wages, eroding environmental protection, and losing family farms because of CAFTA.

Josee Boileau | Jesus’s Lesson
www.truthout.org/issues_05/072905WA.shtml
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, then chaired by Joseph Ratzinger, who has since become pope, said it clearly in 1983: Whether “in the name of progress, individual rights, compassion, or for any other reason,” the ordination of women must be rejected. Yet it’s neither in the name of progress nor of an appeal to pity that believers from the whole of the Catholic Church should demand such a change, but rather because Jesus’s message is fundamentally based on the radical equality between all people, men and women.

Pakistani Women Defy Election Ban
www.truthout.org/issues_05/072905WB.shtml
Defying a ban by conservative tribal leaders, more than 170 Pakistani women have applied to stand in local council elections in two remote districts of northwestern Pakistan next month.

t r u t h o u t | 28/7/05

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

EPA Holds Back Report on Car Fuel Efficiency
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072805Q.shtml
With Congress poised for a final vote on the energy bill, the Environmental Protection Agency made an 11th-hour decision Tuesday to delay the planned release of an annual report on fuel economy.

More Troops Developing Latent Mental Disorders
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072805R.shtml
A survey of troops returning from the Iraq war found 30 percent had developed mental health problems three to four months after coming home.

EU Pushes Binding Climate Deal
www.truthout.org/issues_05/072805EA.shtml
The European Union says it will push for legally-binding global restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions. The EU’s intention to pursue further legally-binding reductions could lead to political disputes later this year.

Alex Roslin | Germs Gone Wild
www.truthout.org/issues_05/072805EB.shtml
Geneskool, sponsored by UBC and Genome B.C., is just one of dozens of places where Canadian teenagers are being encouraged to try their hand at genetic engineering. “It’s the perfect marriage between recreation and science,” Anderson says on the phone from the UBC lab hosting the camp. Twenty students entering Grades 10 and 11 got a chance to sequence DNA and do a family gene pedigree.

More US Children Being Sickened by Pesticides in Schools
www.truthout.org/issues_05/072805HA.shtml
Pesticide use in or near US schools sickened more than 2,500 children and school employees over a five-year period, and though most illnesses were mild, their numbers have increased, a nationwide report found.

Stem Cells Heal Spinal Cords in Study on Rats
www.truthout.org/issues_05/072805HB.shtml
Genetically engineered stem cells can help rats’ severed spinal cords grow back together, according to a study published Tuesday. The scientists hope the approach, which generated a new fatty cover for the spinal cord cells called the myelin sheath, also could be shown to work in people.

Labor Schism Could Ignite Union Renewal
www.truthout.org/issues_05/072805LA.shtml
While the long-term significance of the split remains to be seen, some experts speculated that the traditional union credo that cites strength in numbers may be twinned with the equally compelling notion that competition for new members could breed fresh ideas.

Iraq: Fears Grow for Women’s Right as Deadline Looms for Constitution Draft
www.truthout.org/issues_05/072805WA.shtml
As the August deadline for completion of the Iraqi constitution nears, there are continuing calls for delegates to include provisions protecting women’s rights in the family and society more generally. “Members of the drafting committee will have to decide whether to protect women’s rights or erode them for political gain,” Janet Walsh, acting Women’s Rights director at Human Rights Watch (HRW) said.

Supreme Court Nominee Is Highly Questionable on Women’s Rights
www.truthout.org/issues_05/072805WB.shtml
Roberts’s record is thin, but highly questionable on issues of women’s health, safety and privacy. However, his opposition to Roe v. Wade is clear. President Bush missed three important opportunities in his nomination of John G. Roberts Jr. to the Supreme Court.

VIDEO SPECIAL | Reverend James Lawson: Slaying the Monster
www.truthout.org/multimedia.htm
Part V of our Downing Street Memo teach-in series features the teaching of one of the leading practitioners of non-violence. Reverend Lawson advised Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the use of non-violence to bring about social change. He advises us today on how to use an economic boycott to reform the media. Tomorrow we will conclude the series with Congresswoman Maxine Waters calling on us to Stand Up for Justice.

Kelpie Wilson | Kill the Bill
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072805A.shtml
If anything merits drawing the filibuster sword out of its sheath, Kelpie Wilson believes, it is the energy bill that came out of a House/Senate conference this week.

Jonathan Schell | The Bomb and Karl Rove
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072805B.shtml
Schell asks if perhaps the most important political question is whether the Bush administration is to be held accountable for any of its actions, or whether it now enjoys complete impunity and a free field of action to do whatever it likes — from waging war to designing and presiding over systems of torture to breaking domestic law.

Bush Policy Backfiring in Asia
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072805C.shtml
Now that North Korea has returned to six-party talks, the question remains, will the Bush administration continue to watch Pyongyang arm without trying to do what South Korea and Japan think just might get it to stop: sustained diplomatic give and take?

Scowcroft and Berger: Bush Was Unprepared for Iraq
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072805D.shtml
An independent panel headed by two former U.S. national security advisers said Wednesday that chaos in Iraq was due in part to inadequate postwar planning.

The Victim and the Killer
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072805E.shtml
Yasser Salihee was an Iraqi journalist. Joe was an American sniper. On June 24, 2005, fate brought them together on a Baghdad street.

Sidney Blumenthal |Selling the War
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072805F.shtml
When your mission is failing, Blumenthal asks, is it enough simply to rename it? Not if you care about credibility.

W. Christopher Epler | Evangelical Interference in Stem Cell Research
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072805G.shtml
It’s now clear that the stem cell issue isn’t between Republicans and Democrats. Epler says it’s between George W. Bush’s Evangelical presidency and the religious and scientific convictions of most Americans – as many as 72 percent, according to a recent Harris poll.

Patrick Sabatier | The Job
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072805H.shtml
American forces will not leave Iraq “until their job is done,” swears Bush. The question then is to know what their “job” is and when he will consider it “done.”

Steve Weissman | Run, Johnny, Run: Exploring the Mind of a Racist Killer
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072805I.shtml
Gaining on the car, he pulled alongside. With one hand steering, he picked up the gun, reached out his window, and squeezed the trigger. The glass shattered: the passenger slumped in his seat.

Denial of Records Could Hurt Roberts
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072805J.shtml
Democratic senators continued pressing the administration for records related to Roberts’s time in the solicitor general’s office, saying they feared there would not be enough time to review them unless the White House moves promptly.

Molly Ivins | John Roberts and the Federalist Society
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072805K.shtml
The Federalist Society is the ur-alpha-primo ultraconservative legal group in the whole country, writes columnist Molly Ivins. Since we have only two years worth of Roberts’ decisions on the bench (in itself unheard of for nominations to the Supremes), the information about how this society plans to steer the country can be very revealing of his positions.

Military Lawyers Opposed ‘Harsh Interrogation’ – New Memos
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072805L.shtml
The documents include one written by the deputy judge advocate general of the Air Force, Maj. Gen. Jack L. Rives, advising the task force that several of the “more extreme interrogation techniques, on their face, amount to violations of domestic criminal law” as well as military law.

Bob Herbert | Oil and Blood
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072805M.shtml
Dreams of empire die hard, writes New York Times columnist Bob Herbert. American GI’s are dug into Iraq, and the bases have been built for a long stay.

IRA Orders End to Armed Campaign
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072805N.shtml
The IRA today announced its 36-year armed campaign was over, and that the paramilitary group will resume disarmament.

Clinton Angers Grassroots with DLC Appearance
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072805O.shtml
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s call for an ideological cease-fire in the Democratic Party drew an angry reaction yesterday from liberal bloggers and others on the left, who accused her of siding with the centrist Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) in a long-running dispute over the future of the party.

Memos Expose Roberts as Further Right than Reaganites
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072805Y.shtml
Roberts favored less government enforcement of civil rights laws … criticized court decisions that required a thick wall between church and state, and … maintained that the role of the courts should be limited and the powers of the president enhanced.

15 Democrats Break Ranks, Allow CAFTA Passage
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072805Z.shtml
To supporters and opponents alike, the pact became a political symbol over how best to respond to globalization, competition from low-wage countries and the loss of manufacturing jobs in the United States.

t r u t h o u t | 27/7/05

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

$1.5 Billion Giveaway Secretly Slipped into Energy Bill, Waxman Says
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072705T.shtml
In a letter to Speaker Hastert, Rep. Waxman writes that after the energy legislation was closed to further amendment in the recently concluded conference, a $1.5 billion provision benefiting oil and gas companies, Halliburton, and Sugar Land, Texas, was mysteriously inserted in the text.

US Aims to Sharply Cut Iraq Force within a Year
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072705Q.shtml
The United States hopes to sharply reduce its forces in Iraq by the middle of next year if all goes according to plan, its top commander on the ground said on Wednesday.

Pataki Tells Backers He Won’t Run in 2006
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072705R.shtml
Republican George Pataki, who brought down Democratic icon Mario Cuomo in 1994 to become governor of New York, said Wednesday he would not seek a fourth term next year and “come 2007, I will follow a new path, find new challenges.”

Harold Meyerson | Labor’s Big Split: Pain before Gain
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072705S.shtml
In the annals of labor leave-taking, it was neither as contentious as Mineworkers President John L. Lewis’s departure from the 1935 AFL convention, when he decked the president of the Carpenters Union on his way out, nor as arrogantly dismissive as one of Lewis’s later farewells, when he penned a note to AFL President William Green that read, simply: “Green – We disaffiliate – Lewis.”

Energy Compromise Has Billions in Tax Breaks for Energy Companies, Cuts Conservation Support
www.truthout.org/issues_05/072705EA.shtml
Lawmakers scaled back support for energy conservation and efficiency programs as part of a $11.5 billion tax package expected to be added Wednesday to a sweeping energy bill that Congress hopes to complete this week. The agreement, worked out in closed meetings of House and Senate negotiators, funnels about 60 percent of the tax breaks, about $8.5 billion, to traditional energy industries including coal, natural gas and electric companies.

John Seager: Straight Talk about Population
www.truthout.org/issues_05/072705EB.shtml
E Magazine talks with John Seager, the recently appointed president and CEO of Population Connection (formerly Zero Population Growth) a week after World Population Day July 11. Seager is a veteran population activist, having served at Population Connection for nearly a decade.

David Bacon | AFL-CIO Convention Calls for Troop Withdrawal
www.truthout.org/issues_05/072705LA.shtml
On the second day of its convention in Chicago, the AFL-CIO took a historic step, calling for the rapid withdrawal of US troops from Iraq and an end to the country’s occupation. Public attention has focused largely on the split in US labor and the decision by two of the federation’s largest unions to leave. Yet the impact of this call will reverberate for years, with a profound effect on the future of US workers and their unions.

John Nichols | Labor Gets Tough on CAFTA
www.truthout.org/issues_05/072705LB.shtml
As a House vote on CAFTA approaches this week, at least six Democrats have announced their support for the deal and as many as a dozen others could still end up supporting it. With broad opposition from textile-state Republicans to the trade deal, Democratic unity against CAFTA can kill the deal. But if just a handful of Democrats side with the Bush agenda on trade, the deal could win approval by a narrow margin.

Kari Lydersen | Women’s Work
www.truthout.org/issues_05/072705WA.shtml
Female union members are gaining clout, but are still shut out of top labor positions. The lingering stereotype of a union member may still be the burly Teamster or Longshoreman. But increasingly the face of organized labor today is female. However, union leadership has changed very little to reflect this.

US Stands Apart from Other Nations on Maternity Leave
www.truthout.org/issues_05/072705WB.shtml
With little public debate, the United States has chosen a radically different approach to maternity leave than the rest of the developed world. The United States and Australia are the only industrialized countries that don’t provide paid leave for new mothers nationally, though there are exceptions in some US states.

VIDEO SPECIAL | Fernando Suarez del Solar: Bush Lied and Who Died?
www.truthout.org/multimedia.htm
Part IV of our Downing Street Memo teach-in series features Fernando Suarez del Solar. Fernando’s son Jesus was one of the first Marines to die in Iraq. Jesus was killed by a US cluster bomb. Tomorrow, the Reverend Jim Lawson, a close confidant of Martin Luther King, will advise us on how to slay the monsters of war, sexism, racism and greed.

William Rivers Pitt | Vacation’s All I Ever Wanted
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072705A.shtml
Imagine you’re the CEO of a company. The last several major decisions you’ve made have gotten a large number of your employees killed. The company you’re working with overseas is taking a beating in its infrastructure. The customers you tried to entice with your product are arriving in morgues by the busload.

Iraqi Transitional PM Calls for Quick Withdrawal of US Troops
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072705B.shtml
Iraq’s transitional prime minister called Wednesday for a speedy withdrawal of US troops and the top US commander here said he believed a “fairly substantial” pullout could begin next spring and summer.

Labor Debates the Future of a Fractured Movement
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072705C.shtml
In announcing the rupture on Sunday, Anna Burger, the service employees’ secretary-treasurer, said, “Today will be remembered as the rebirth of union strength in America.”

GOP Senators Move to Shield Gun Industry
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072705D.shtml
Senate Republicans on Tuesday moved the National Rifle Association’s top priority ahead of a $491 billion defense bill, setting up a vote on legislation to shield firearms manufacturers and dealers from lawsuits over gun crimes.

Documents Show Roberts Influence in Reagan Era
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072705E.shtml
Newly released documents show that John G. Roberts Jr. … presented a defense of bills in Congress that would have stripped the Supreme Court of jurisdiction over abortion, busing and school prayer cases; argued for a narrow interpretation of Title IX, barring sex discrimination in intercollegiate athletic programs; and he even counseled his boss on how to tell the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s widow that the administration was cutting off federal funding for the Atlanta center that bears his name.

Judge: Posada Must Stay in Jail
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072705F.shtml
Luis Posada Carriles must remain in detention at the Texas border city of El Paso after an immigration judge denied his request for release on bond.

Norman Solomon | Thomas Friedman, Liberal Sadist?
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072705G.shtml
Solomon proposes that if words truly matter, then maybe it’s consequential that some of Thomas Friedman’s words – including his flippant and zealous endorsements of mass killing – have the odor of sadistic cruelty.

Ghislain Devroede | Whose Fault Is Terrorism?
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072705H.shtml
Revenge only fuels the escalation of vengeance, and we can see clearly the degree to which the terrorists outsmart counter-terrorism experts. For the moment … the favorite targets remain linked to Iraq.

Prosecutor in CIA Leak Case Casting a Wide Net
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072705I.shtml
The special prosecutor in the CIA leak probe has interviewed a wider range of administration officials than was previously known, part of an effort to determine whether anyone broke laws during a White House effort two years ago to discredit allegations that President Bush used faulty intelligence to justify the Iraq war.

White House to Withhold Nominee’s Tax Returns
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072705J.shtml
Senate Democrats and liberal interest groups immediately assailed the decision to withhold the more recent files, sharpening a dispute over the nominee’s record.

John Roberts and the Federalist Society – Democracy Now
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072705K.shtml
There is growing focus on an organization that Supreme Court justice nominee John Roberts claims he cannot remember if he joined or not: the Federalist Society. Amy Goodman speaks with Alfred Ross of the Institute for Democracy Studies, who uncovered John Roberts’ membership in the right-wing organization.

Civil War Specter Spurs New Iraq Exit Plans
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072705L.shtml
Growing pessimism about averting civil war in Iraq, as well as mounting concerns that the US military presence there may itself be fueling the insurgency and Islamist extremism worldwide, has spurred a spate of new calls for the United States to withdraw its 140,000 troops sooner rather than later.

Cartoonist Trudeau Defends ‘Turd Blossom’ Reference
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072705M.shtml
“I felt that [President] Bush’s nickname for Rove was illuminating. ‘Turd blossom’ has so many connotations, none of them flattering. It’s a small masterpiece of nastiness.”

More Ex-Lawmakers Becoming Lobbyists
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072705N.shtml
Election to Congress used to be an end in itself. Now, for nearly half of federal lawmakers, it is a steppingstone to a second career: lobbying.

Ivins and vanden Huevel | Split in the AFL-CIO
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072705O.shtml
The split is not a case of good guys versus bad guys — it’s good guys versus (we hope) some better guys, says columnist Molly Ivins. I don’t think this split was necessary, and still think it would have been best for the state of progressive politics if both sides could have worked out a deal on federation reform and leadership transition, counters Nation editor Katrina vanden Huevel.

NOW | Abortion Rights Under Attack in America
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072705P.shtml
NOW examines Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline’s policies which have made Kansas ground-zero for the reproductive rights debate in America.

New Evidence Links Gitmo, Abu Ghraib Torture Tactics
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072705Y.shtml
Military interrogators at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq learned about the use of military working dogs to intimidate detainees from a team of interrogators dispatched from the US detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, according to court testimony yesterday.

Gonzales Sets Stage for Roberts to Vote against Roe
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072705Z.shtml
Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts Jr. will be free to vote to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade abortion decision if he is appointed to the high court, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales said yesterday.

t r u t h o u t | 26/7/05

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Opponents Still See Chance to Block Bush on CAFTA
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072605Q.shtml
Opponents of a controversial free trade agreement with Central America said on Monday they still see a chance of defeating the pact, despite Bush administration claims it is nearing final victory with a vote this week in the House of Representatives.

Some Papers Pull, Edit ‘Doonesbury’ Strip
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072605R.shtml
About a dozen newspapers have objected to use of toilet humor in Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s “Doonesbury” comic strip, and some either pulled or edited the strip.

With Bush’s Help, General Electric Courts India
www.truthout.org/issues_05/072605EA.shtml
Just over an hour after the White House’s surprise pledge to help India develop its civilian nuclear power sector, the head of General Electric, the American company that could benefit most from the policy change, sat down for a celebratory dinner with President Bush and India’s prime minister, Manmohan Singh.

In Search of a New Energy Source, China Rides the Wind
www.truthout.org/issues_05/072605EB.shtml
Blessed with vast, empty countryside and a seemingly permanent stiff breeze blowing across its northern steppes, China is building giant wind farms. In February, the Chinese government passed a nationwide renewable energy law that mandates clear targets for increased power generation from alternative energy sources.

Melting Greenland Glacier May Hasten Rise in Sea Level
www.truthout.org/issues_05/072605EC.shtml
Scientists monitoring a glacier in Greenland have found it is moving into the sea three times faster than a decade ago. A sea-level rise of a metre would have a catastrophic impact on coastal plains where more than two-thirds of the world’s population live.

Transplants Aided by Bone Tissue Grown inside Body
www.truthout.org/issues_05/072605HA.shtml
Researchers have grown fresh layers of bone on existing healthy leg bones and then transplanted the new tissue to mend bones in other parts of the body.

Ambitions Are Fueling a Division of Labor
www.truthout.org/issues_05/072605LA.shtml
The huge split in organized labor has been fueled by stagnant living standards for many workers, by the ascendancy of the service sector and by labor’s lack of success in politics and unionizing workers. The split was sealed on Monday when Mr. Stern and James P. Hoffa, president of the Teamsters, announced that they were pulling their two unions out of the AFL-CIO, just as the federation was beginning its 50th anniversary convention here.

Massachusetts Veto Seeks to Curb Morning-After Pill
www.truthout.org/issues_05/072605WA.shtml
Confronting one of the most controversial issues to cross his desk, Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts vetoed a bill on Monday that would expand access to the morning-after pill.

Nine Defy Vatican’s Ban on Ordination of Women
www.truthout.org/issues_05/072605WB.shtml
Nine women in white robes knelt on the deck of a cruise boat Monday in religious ceremonies they say will make them the first female Catholic priests and deacons ordained in North America.

VIDEO SPECIAL | Tim Goodrich: ‘The Air War Began before Bush Went to Congress’
www.truthout.org/multimedia.htm
Part III of our Downing Street Memo Teach-In series focuses on the incresed bombing campaign that started before Bush went to Congress or the UN for authority. Air Force Veteran Tim Goodrich, co-founder of Iraq Veterans Against the War, was deployed in Saudi Arabia in the fall of 2002 to participate in the patrolling of the “no fly zone.” Tim describes how and why the rules of engangement changed. Tommorow, Part IV will feature Fernando Suarez del Solar, whose son was killed in Iraq by a United States weapon of mass destruction … a cluster bomb.

Lawmakers Reach a Deal on Energy Bill
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072605A.shtml
House and Senate negotiators came to agreement on broad energy legislation early today, hoping they have put together an overhaul of national energy policy that can clear Congress after years of stalemate.

North Korea Nuke Talks Begin on Hopeful Note
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072605B.shtml
Six-party nuclear disarmament talks opened Tuesday after a 13-month boycott by North Korea, and the communist nation’s envoy said his country was ready to work on eliminating atomic weapons from the Korean Peninsula. The United States, in turn, reassured the North that it has no intention of invading to end the standoff.

Afghan Protesters Take Aim at US Base
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072605C.shtml
More than 1,000 stone-throwing Afghans tried to break down an outer gate at the main US base here Tuesday while demanding the release of eight detained villagers, and Afghan troops fired warning shots and used clubs to beat the mob back. US troops also fired into the air.

Keep Nuclear Waste off Native Lands
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072605D.shtml
The case against hauling 44 thousand metric tons of nuclear waste through 45 states and storing it above ground on Native American land, against the tribe’s sovereign will and next to an Air Force bombing ground, without a single hearing or safety investigation.

US Officials Retool Slogan for Terror War
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072605E.shtml
The Bush administration is retooling its slogan for the fight against Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups, pushing the idea that the long-term struggle is as much an ideological battle as a military mission, senior administration and military officials said Monday.

Lawmaker’s Ties to NY Developer Investigated
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072605F.shtml
Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham wrote to a prosecutor in Queens in 2000 on behalf of a New York developer who was then under investigation for bribing a school superintendent to get a computer contract. The businessman, Thomas T. Kontogiannis, later bought the California Republican’s boat and helped finance his new home.

San Diego Readying for Second Mayoral Vote
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072605G.shtml
Voters faced a mayoral ballot for the second time in less than nine months Tuesday in an election aimed at replacing a chief executive who resigned amid a wave of scandal and an interim replacement who was convicted of corruption charges. The leading candidate was maverick City Councilwoman Donna Frye, who narrowly lost a write-in bid to replace Mayor Dick Murphy last year when a judge tossed out thousands of ballots because voters who wrote her name down failed to darken the adjoining bubble.

Patrick Sabatier | Big Brother
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072605H.shtml
In a recent issue, Business Week imagined a world where, upon meeting someone, you would only have to consult Google via your cell phone to instantly know his name, address, telephone number, hobbies, etc. Had not Google’s CEO himself once announced that “we’re moving towards a Google that will know more and more about you?”

Steve Weissman | Kill Them There, or They’ll Kill Us Here
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072605I.shtml
Forget every inconvenient fact, writes TO columnist Steve Weissman. Just suck in your gut and repeat after your president: Kill them there, or they’ll kill us here.

Italy Seeks Arrest of 19 US CIA Agents
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072605J.shtml
In a further strain on Italian-US relations, an appeals court in Milan issued arrest warrants Monday for six more purported CIA operatives accused of helping plan the 2003 kidnapping of a radical Egyptian Muslim cleric.

Roberts’s Ties to Federalists Defended
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072605K.shtml
Conservative groups yesterday saw the unflattering focus on The Federalist Society as a self-inflicted wound after what had been a nearly flawless first week for Roberts’s nomination.

Jonathan Turley | The Faith of John Roberts
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072605L.shtml
Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) asked Judge Roberts last week what he would do if the law required a ruling that his church considers immoral. According to law professor Jonathan Turley, the nominee’s answer could raise a question of his fitness to serve as the 109th Supreme Court justice.

Democrats Call for Probe of CIA Leak
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072605M.shtml
“Americans deserve a Congress that holds Washington accountable for the truth about our national security,” said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. “Can anyone argue with a straight face that Congress has time to look at steroid use in baseball but doesn’t have the will to provide congressional oversight of the leak of a CIA agent’s name?”

Hillary Clinton Calls for Democratic Unity
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072605N.shtml
The marquee attraction among a procession of prospective 2008 Democratic presidential candidates, Clinton announced yesterday that she had taken a new position with the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) aimed at winning back heartland voters.

As Recruiting Suffers, Military Reins in Abuses at Boot Camp
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072605O.shtml
“Sometimes you have to get in their faces, but it’s not about making them cry,” said one trainer, Sgt. First Class John Jennings.

Witness: Dogs Bit Abu Ghraib Detainees
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072605Y.shtml
Two Iraqis at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison were bitten by dogs as they were being handled by sergeants who were competing to see who could scare more detainees, a witness testified Tuesday.

Women on Losing End of Iraq Constitution
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072605Z.shtml
A chapter of Iraq’s draft constitution obtained by The Associated Press gives Islam a major role in Iraqi civil law, raising concerns that women could lose rights in marriage, divorce and inheritance.

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