Everybody knows the dice are loaded
everybody rolls with their finger crossed
Everybody knows the war is over
everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
the poor stay poor the rich get rich
That's how it goes
everybody knows
Everybody knows the boat is leaking
everybody knows the captain lied......
-Leonard Cohen
Powerful Government Accounting Office report confirms key 2004 stolen election findings
by Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman
October 26, 2005
http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2005/1529
As a legal noose appears to be tightening around the Bush/Cheney/Rove inner circle, a shocking government report shows the floor under the legitimacy of their alleged election to the White House is crumbling.
The latest critical confirmation of key indicators that the election of 2004 was stolen comes in an extremely powerful, penetrating report from the General Accounting Office that has gotten virtually no mainstream media coverage.
The government's lead investigative agency is known for its general incorruptibility and its through, in-depth analyses. Its concurrence with assertions widely dismissed as "conspiracy theories" adds crucial new weight to the case that Team Bush has no legitimate business being in the White House.
Nearly a year ago, senior Judiciary Committee Democrat John Conyers (D-MI) asked the GAO to investigate electronic voting machines as they were used during the November 2, 2004 presidential election. The request came amidst widespread complaints in Ohio and elsewhere that often shocking irregularities defined their performance.
According to CNN, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee received "more than 57,000 complaints" following Bush's alleged re-election. Many such concerns were memorialized under oath in a series of sworn statements and affidavits in public hearings and investigations conducted in Ohio by the Free Press and other election protection organizations.
The non-partisan GAO report has now found that, "some of [the] concerns about electronic voting machines have been realized and have caused problems with recent elections, resulting in the loss and miscount of votes."
The United States is the only major democracy that allows private partisan corporations to secretly count and tabulate the votes with proprietary non-transparent software. Rev. Jesse Jackson, among others, has asserted that "public elections must not be conducted on privately-owned machines." The CEO of one of the most crucial suppliers of electronic voting machines, Warren O'Dell of Diebold, pledged before the 2004 campaign to deliver Ohio and thus the presidency to George W. Bush.
Bush's official margin of victory in Ohio was just 118,775 votes out of more than 5.6 million cast. Election protection advocates argue that O'Dell's statement still stands as a clear sign of an effort, apparently successful, to steal the White House. […](full article)
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Supporting the Troops?
Woman Sees Husband Off to Iraq, Gets Fired
10/26/05
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051026/ap_on_re_us/soldier_s_wife_fired
CALEDONIA, Mich. - A woman who took an unpaid leave of absence from work to see her husband off to war with an Indiana National Guard unit has been fired after failing to show up for her part-time receptionist job the day following his departure.
"It was a shock," said Suzette Boler, a 40-year-old mother of three and grandmother of three. "I was hurt. I felt abandoned by people I thought cared for me. I sat down on the floor and cried for probably two hours."
Officials at her former workplace, Benefit Management Administrators Inc., a Caledonia employee-benefits company, confirmed that Boler was dismissed when she didn't report to work the day after she said goodbye to her husband of 22 years.
"We gave her sufficient time to get back to work," Clark Galloway, vice president of operations for Benefit Management, told The Grand Rapids Press for a story Wednesday.
He added that other factors were involved in the decision, but he declined to elaborate.
On Oct. 16, Boler went with her husband, Army Spc. Jerry Boler, 45, to an Indianapolis-area airfield, where he and others in his National Guard unit gathered to be transported to Fort Dix, N.J. The unit will soon be deployed to Iraq, where he will help guard convoys from insurgent attacks.
Although the Bolers moved to western Michigan 14 years ago, Jerry Boler, a diesel mechanic, decided to remain with his Bloomington, Ind.-based Guard unit, the 150th Field Artillery Regiment.
Suzette Boler had received permission to take off work the week leading up to her husband's departure. As a part-time employee at Benefit Management, she did not receive vacation pay and was not compensated for her time off.
She usually worked Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays answering telephones, entering claims information and greeting visitors and clients. Boler, who said she considers herself a reliable employee with good work habits, was employed at the company for 14 months and earned $9 per hour.
Boler recalled being asked, not ordered, to start back at her job Oct. 17, the day after her husband left. She told her bosses that she would try to return that day but if she could not, she would definitely be back Oct. 18, she said.
When Boler returned home from Indiana on the night of Oct. 16, a few hours after leaving her husband at the airfield, she said she felt drained by the emotional ordeal and decided to return to work Oct. 18.
But on the afternoon of Oct. 17, she received a call from work telling her to come in the following day and get her things because she was being fired. Her pink slip said the reason was she failed to show up for work Oct. 17, a Monday.
"If I had even an inkling that I would be fired for not coming in Monday, I would have been there," she said.
10/26/05
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051026/ap_on_re_us/soldier_s_wife_fired
CALEDONIA, Mich. - A woman who took an unpaid leave of absence from work to see her husband off to war with an Indiana National Guard unit has been fired after failing to show up for her part-time receptionist job the day following his departure.
"It was a shock," said Suzette Boler, a 40-year-old mother of three and grandmother of three. "I was hurt. I felt abandoned by people I thought cared for me. I sat down on the floor and cried for probably two hours."
Officials at her former workplace, Benefit Management Administrators Inc., a Caledonia employee-benefits company, confirmed that Boler was dismissed when she didn't report to work the day after she said goodbye to her husband of 22 years.
"We gave her sufficient time to get back to work," Clark Galloway, vice president of operations for Benefit Management, told The Grand Rapids Press for a story Wednesday.
He added that other factors were involved in the decision, but he declined to elaborate.
On Oct. 16, Boler went with her husband, Army Spc. Jerry Boler, 45, to an Indianapolis-area airfield, where he and others in his National Guard unit gathered to be transported to Fort Dix, N.J. The unit will soon be deployed to Iraq, where he will help guard convoys from insurgent attacks.
Although the Bolers moved to western Michigan 14 years ago, Jerry Boler, a diesel mechanic, decided to remain with his Bloomington, Ind.-based Guard unit, the 150th Field Artillery Regiment.
Suzette Boler had received permission to take off work the week leading up to her husband's departure. As a part-time employee at Benefit Management, she did not receive vacation pay and was not compensated for her time off.
She usually worked Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays answering telephones, entering claims information and greeting visitors and clients. Boler, who said she considers herself a reliable employee with good work habits, was employed at the company for 14 months and earned $9 per hour.
Boler recalled being asked, not ordered, to start back at her job Oct. 17, the day after her husband left. She told her bosses that she would try to return that day but if she could not, she would definitely be back Oct. 18, she said.
When Boler returned home from Indiana on the night of Oct. 16, a few hours after leaving her husband at the airfield, she said she felt drained by the emotional ordeal and decided to return to work Oct. 18.
But on the afternoon of Oct. 17, she received a call from work telling her to come in the following day and get her things because she was being fired. Her pink slip said the reason was she failed to show up for work Oct. 17, a Monday.
"If I had even an inkling that I would be fired for not coming in Monday, I would have been there," she said.
Saturday, October 22, 2005
End Pentagon’s Youth Database
the following news release describes a new effort by a national grassroots coalition to stop yet ANOTHER nefarious grab of our kids by the pentagon. the release was sent to toledo press and has an ohio quote, but also explains the national issue. if you want more information from the national group organizing this, their contact information is included below.
from Mike Ferner
10/18/05
****************************
For more information: www.epic.org/privacy/student/doddatabase.html
Coalition Of 75 Groups Demand End To Pentagon’s Youth Database
Toledo -- More than seventy-five local, state, and national organizations sent a letter today to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and the Congressional oversight and appropriations committees for the Department of Defense (DOD), seeking an end to a data collecting project called the Joint Advertising and Market Research Studies (JAMRS) Recruiting Database.
Toledo's Student and Family Rights and Privacy Committee, the group now pressuring Toledo Public Schools to restrict military recruiters, is in full support of this effort to end the JAMRS recruitment database because it violates the Privacy Act while collecting data on 30 million people ages 16 to 25 from a vast array of sources such as drivers license or selective service registrations. Other organizations from the Toledo area that have joined this nationwide effort include the Northwest Ohio Peace Coalition, Sylvania Franciscan Sisters, the Interfaith Justice and Peace Center, and the Toledo League of Pissed Off Voters.
Nationally, coalition members include the American Civil Liberties Union, Mothers Against the Draft, Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors, Republican Liberty Caucus, Rock the Vote, and the Student Peace Action Network. Sue Carter, President of the Ohio ACLU and a member of the Student and Family Rights and Privacy Committee, said “The U.S. has become a surveillance society. The government, according to privacy laws, should be protecting our citizens especially children. Instead, the Department of Defense has been collecting data on 16 to 25 year-olds and turning it over to the military and private companies that target students. The JAMRS Recruiting Database must be dismantled to protect the privacy rights and civil liberties of this generation of young people.”
The Coalition claims the DoD violated the Privacy Act because it failed to provide notice 30 days before beginning its work on the JAMRS Recruiting Database in 2002. The Pentagon did not give public notice of the project until May 23, 2005 in the Federal Register.
The sources of information for JAMRS include the High School Master File and the College Students Files, which are compiled for purposes that are unrelated to an interest in military service or recruitment. The High School Master File is created from information provided by state motor vehicle departments, and two private companies that target students, American Student List, L.L.C., and Student Marketing Group Corp.
American Student List Company sells databases of children's names in grades K-12 overlaid with data on sex, age, whether they own a telephone, income, religion, and their race or ethnicity. This information is often obtained from surveys that are administered while children are at school under the pretense of college admissions and other education-related purposes.
Friday, October 21, 2005
And so...
Rice calls war part of post-9/11 plan
By Nicholas Kralev
The Washington Times
October 20, 2005
http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20051019-095906-4805r.htm
[…]
The testimony, during which Miss Rice was interrupted several times by senators on both sides because they did not feel she was answering their questions, culminated in objections by three Democrats to the administration's mission to rebuild the Middle East.
"Unless we commit to changing the nature of the Middle East, and if we tire and decide that we are going to withdraw and leave the people of the Middle East to despair, I can assure you that the people of the United States are going to live in insecurity and fear for many, many decades to come," Miss Rice said.
Democratic Sens. Barbara Boxer of California, Barack Obama of Illinois and Bill Nelson of Florida said that was not the reason the administration had given Congress for the Iraq war; rather, it was the threat dictator Saddam Hussein was said to have posed with his weapons of mass destruction, which were never found.
"Now, in an unbelievable rewriting of history, you talk about this bolder mission we undertook in response to 9/11 to transform the Middle East with Iraq as an anchor," Mrs. Boxer said, adding that the administration "didn't tell the American people that at the time."
"This broadening of the mission is disturbing and difficult for us in the Senate to deal with as it requires a leap of faith on our part that a mission of that breadth can be accomplished in a reasonable time frame," Mr. Obama said.
Miss Rice, while conceding that the Senate's war resolutions regarding Afghanistan and Iraq were limited to action against the Taliban, al Qaeda and Saddam, argued that killing Osama bin Laden and other terrorists will not secure a victory over extremism.
"We had to make a decision that we were going to go after the root cause of what caused September 11," she said. "So what I'm describing to you, Senator, is not what you voted for in the war resolution, but the broader strategy of the administration."
[…]
****
And so.
There we have it. From the conservative Washington Times owned by the Rev Moon, the rice cake told the Senate that bush lied, and that the administration has gone far beyond what the Congress authorized.
So how much more do we need?
By Nicholas Kralev
The Washington Times
October 20, 2005
http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20051019-095906-4805r.htm
[…]
The testimony, during which Miss Rice was interrupted several times by senators on both sides because they did not feel she was answering their questions, culminated in objections by three Democrats to the administration's mission to rebuild the Middle East.
"Unless we commit to changing the nature of the Middle East, and if we tire and decide that we are going to withdraw and leave the people of the Middle East to despair, I can assure you that the people of the United States are going to live in insecurity and fear for many, many decades to come," Miss Rice said.
Democratic Sens. Barbara Boxer of California, Barack Obama of Illinois and Bill Nelson of Florida said that was not the reason the administration had given Congress for the Iraq war; rather, it was the threat dictator Saddam Hussein was said to have posed with his weapons of mass destruction, which were never found.
"Now, in an unbelievable rewriting of history, you talk about this bolder mission we undertook in response to 9/11 to transform the Middle East with Iraq as an anchor," Mrs. Boxer said, adding that the administration "didn't tell the American people that at the time."
"This broadening of the mission is disturbing and difficult for us in the Senate to deal with as it requires a leap of faith on our part that a mission of that breadth can be accomplished in a reasonable time frame," Mr. Obama said.
Miss Rice, while conceding that the Senate's war resolutions regarding Afghanistan and Iraq were limited to action against the Taliban, al Qaeda and Saddam, argued that killing Osama bin Laden and other terrorists will not secure a victory over extremism.
"We had to make a decision that we were going to go after the root cause of what caused September 11," she said. "So what I'm describing to you, Senator, is not what you voted for in the war resolution, but the broader strategy of the administration."
[…]
****
And so.
There we have it. From the conservative Washington Times owned by the Rev Moon, the rice cake told the Senate that bush lied, and that the administration has gone far beyond what the Congress authorized.
So how much more do we need?
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Friday, October 14, 2005
Torture and Misery in the Name of Freedom
posted at http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1014-27.htm
Published on Friday, October 14, 2005 by the Independent/UK
by Harold Pinter
The following remarks were adapted during Mr. Pinter's acceptance speech on winning the Wilfred Owen Award earlier this year.
The great poet Wilfred Owen articulated the tragedy, the horror - and indeed the pity - of war in a way no other poet has. Yet we have learnt nothing. Nearly 100 years after his death the world has become more savage, more brutal, more pitiless.
But the "free world" we are told, as embodied in the United States and Great Britain, is different to the rest of the world since our actions are dictated and sanctioned by a moral authority and a moral passion condoned by someone called God. Some people may find this difficult to comprehend but Osama Bin Laden finds it easy.
What would Wilfred Owen make of the invasion of Iraq? A bandit act, an act of blatant state terrorism, demonstrating absolute contempt for the concept of International Law. An arbitrary military action inspired by a series of lies upon lies and gross manipulation of the media and therefore of the public. An act intended to consolidate American military and economic control of the Middle East masquerading - as a last resort (all other justifications having failed to justify themselves) - as liberation. A formidable assertion of military force responsible for the death and mutilation of thousands upon thousands of innocent people.
An independent and totally objective account of the Iraqi civilian dead in the medical magazine The Lancet estimates that the figure approaches 100,000. But neither the US or the UK bother to count the Iraqi dead. As General Tommy Franks of US Central Command memorably said: "We don't do body counts".
We have brought torture, cluster bombs, depleted uranium, innumerable acts of random murder, misery and degradation to the Iraqi people and call it " bringing freedom and democracy to the Middle East". But, as we all know, we have not been welcomed with the predicted flowers. What we have unleashed is a ferocious and unremitting resistance, mayhem and chaos.
You may say at this point: what about the Iraqi elections? Well, President Bush himself answered this question when he said: "We cannot accept that there can be free democratic elections in a country under foreign military occupation". I had to read that statement twice before I realised that he was talking about Lebanon and Syria.
What do Bush and Blair actually see when they look at themselves in the mirror?
I believe Wilfred Owen would share our contempt, our revulsion, our nausea and our shame at both the language and the actions of the American and British governments.
Harold Pinter recently won the 2005 Nobel Prize for Literature.
Published on Friday, October 14, 2005 by the Independent/UK
by Harold Pinter
The following remarks were adapted during Mr. Pinter's acceptance speech on winning the Wilfred Owen Award earlier this year.
The great poet Wilfred Owen articulated the tragedy, the horror - and indeed the pity - of war in a way no other poet has. Yet we have learnt nothing. Nearly 100 years after his death the world has become more savage, more brutal, more pitiless.
But the "free world" we are told, as embodied in the United States and Great Britain, is different to the rest of the world since our actions are dictated and sanctioned by a moral authority and a moral passion condoned by someone called God. Some people may find this difficult to comprehend but Osama Bin Laden finds it easy.
What would Wilfred Owen make of the invasion of Iraq? A bandit act, an act of blatant state terrorism, demonstrating absolute contempt for the concept of International Law. An arbitrary military action inspired by a series of lies upon lies and gross manipulation of the media and therefore of the public. An act intended to consolidate American military and economic control of the Middle East masquerading - as a last resort (all other justifications having failed to justify themselves) - as liberation. A formidable assertion of military force responsible for the death and mutilation of thousands upon thousands of innocent people.
An independent and totally objective account of the Iraqi civilian dead in the medical magazine The Lancet estimates that the figure approaches 100,000. But neither the US or the UK bother to count the Iraqi dead. As General Tommy Franks of US Central Command memorably said: "We don't do body counts".
We have brought torture, cluster bombs, depleted uranium, innumerable acts of random murder, misery and degradation to the Iraqi people and call it " bringing freedom and democracy to the Middle East". But, as we all know, we have not been welcomed with the predicted flowers. What we have unleashed is a ferocious and unremitting resistance, mayhem and chaos.
You may say at this point: what about the Iraqi elections? Well, President Bush himself answered this question when he said: "We cannot accept that there can be free democratic elections in a country under foreign military occupation". I had to read that statement twice before I realised that he was talking about Lebanon and Syria.
What do Bush and Blair actually see when they look at themselves in the mirror?
I believe Wilfred Owen would share our contempt, our revulsion, our nausea and our shame at both the language and the actions of the American and British governments.
Harold Pinter recently won the 2005 Nobel Prize for Literature.
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Showdown at Chuck E Cheese
By Mitchel Cohen
October 11, 2005
http://www.counterpunch.org/cohen10112005.html
For about 1 hour beginning at 5 pm Monday afternoon, members of the Brooklyn Greens leafletted at the front entrance of the Atlantic Terminal against Chuck E. Cheese's showing of military videos to their 4-11 year-old clientele.
We were joined by activists from Times Up! (one of whom had ridden his bike all the way from Queens to be there), Bay Ridge Greens, and an IndyKids photographer -- with a special guest appearance by the legendary Yippie Pieman Aron Kay. Three of the young kids had earlier leafletted inside the inner sanctum of Chuck E. Cheese itself.
All of the 13 leafletters (including 4 children) reported they received an excellent response by everyone visiting the mall, including several relatives of soldiers who are currently stationed in Iraq. No negative incidents occurred, despite the presence of 4 U.S. soldiers with machineguns at the entrance to the Long Island Railroad 100 feet up the block.
As we were running out of flyers, a mall security guard came outside and instructed us to move out of the area, claiming that the City sidewalk on which we were standing was actually private property owned by billionaire Bruce Ratner's Atlanic Terminal. We of course refused to move and the security guard called for the police -- 20 minutes later the police hadn't shown up, and we packed up our signs and said our goodbyes.
We will check with Chuck E Cheese management during the week to find out if they will remove the military videos. If not, we may return on a weekly basis, so stay tuned for further announcements.
Anyone who would like to have emailed to them a copy of the flyer we distributed, please drop me a line and I'll send it to you as a WORD attachment.
Send letters of protest to: investor@cecentertainment.com and media@cecentertainment.com or go online to http://chuckecheese.com/investors and fill in the form.
Also, call (972) 258-8507 and (972) 257-3056, and voice your opposition to the showing of prowar military videos to children at Chuck E Cheese establishments.
Chuck E. Cheese is owned and run by CEC Entertainment, 4441 W. Airport Freeway, Irving, TX 75062; Fax (972) 258-5524.
Mitchel Cohen is co-editor of "G", the newspaper of the NY State Greens. He can be reached at: mitchelcohen@mindspring.com
October 11, 2005
http://www.counterpunch.org/cohen10112005.html
For about 1 hour beginning at 5 pm Monday afternoon, members of the Brooklyn Greens leafletted at the front entrance of the Atlantic Terminal against Chuck E. Cheese's showing of military videos to their 4-11 year-old clientele.
We were joined by activists from Times Up! (one of whom had ridden his bike all the way from Queens to be there), Bay Ridge Greens, and an IndyKids photographer -- with a special guest appearance by the legendary Yippie Pieman Aron Kay. Three of the young kids had earlier leafletted inside the inner sanctum of Chuck E. Cheese itself.
All of the 13 leafletters (including 4 children) reported they received an excellent response by everyone visiting the mall, including several relatives of soldiers who are currently stationed in Iraq. No negative incidents occurred, despite the presence of 4 U.S. soldiers with machineguns at the entrance to the Long Island Railroad 100 feet up the block.
As we were running out of flyers, a mall security guard came outside and instructed us to move out of the area, claiming that the City sidewalk on which we were standing was actually private property owned by billionaire Bruce Ratner's Atlanic Terminal. We of course refused to move and the security guard called for the police -- 20 minutes later the police hadn't shown up, and we packed up our signs and said our goodbyes.
We will check with Chuck E Cheese management during the week to find out if they will remove the military videos. If not, we may return on a weekly basis, so stay tuned for further announcements.
Anyone who would like to have emailed to them a copy of the flyer we distributed, please drop me a line and I'll send it to you as a WORD attachment.
Send letters of protest to: investor@cecentertainment.com and media@cecentertainment.com or go online to http://chuckecheese.com/investors and fill in the form.
Also, call (972) 258-8507 and (972) 257-3056, and voice your opposition to the showing of prowar military videos to children at Chuck E Cheese establishments.
Chuck E. Cheese is owned and run by CEC Entertainment, 4441 W. Airport Freeway, Irving, TX 75062; Fax (972) 258-5524.
Mitchel Cohen is co-editor of "G", the newspaper of the NY State Greens. He can be reached at: mitchelcohen@mindspring.com
Saturday, October 08, 2005
Friday, October 07, 2005
'God told me to end the tyranny in Iraq'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1586978,00.html
Mr Bush revealed the extent of his religious fervour when he met a Palestinian delegation during the Israeli-Palestinian summit at the Egpytian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, four months after the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
One of the delegates, Nabil Shaath, who was Palestinian foreign minister at the time, said: "President Bush said to all of us: 'I am driven with a mission from God'. God would tell me, 'George go and fight these terrorists in Afghanistan'. And I did. And then God would tell me 'George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq'. And I did."
Whoo hoo! the bush is gone. somewhere in the ozone. the boy really needs some professional help. Unfortunately for us, his veep, the cheney ain't any closer to reality. Reading bush's speech from the other day, it's obvious he's drifting somewhere between today and fantasy land. Which would be ok if he wasn't president.
Mr Bush revealed the extent of his religious fervour when he met a Palestinian delegation during the Israeli-Palestinian summit at the Egpytian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, four months after the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
One of the delegates, Nabil Shaath, who was Palestinian foreign minister at the time, said: "President Bush said to all of us: 'I am driven with a mission from God'. God would tell me, 'George go and fight these terrorists in Afghanistan'. And I did. And then God would tell me 'George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq'. And I did."
Whoo hoo! the bush is gone. somewhere in the ozone. the boy really needs some professional help. Unfortunately for us, his veep, the cheney ain't any closer to reality. Reading bush's speech from the other day, it's obvious he's drifting somewhere between today and fantasy land. Which would be ok if he wasn't president.
ElBaradei and IAEA win Nobel Prize
By Alister Doyle
10/7/05
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051007/ts_nm/nobel_peace_dc
OSLO (Reuters) - The U.N. nuclear watchdog and its head Mohamed ElBaradei, who clashed with Washington over Iraq, won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for fighting the spread of nuclear weapons.
The Nobel Committee praised the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and ElBaradei, a 63-year-old Egyptian, for their battle to stop states and terrorists acquiring the atom bomb, and to ensure safe civilian use of nuclear energy.
In Vienna, ElBaradei said the $1.3 million Nobel award, widely viewed as the world's top accolade, would give him and his agency a much needed "shot in the arm" as they tackle nuclear crises in Iran and North Korea.
ElBaradei said he had been sure he would not win because he had not received a traditional advance telephone call from the Committee, worried by media leaks. He learned of his win at home while watching television with his wife, Aida.
He said he jumped to his feet and hugged and kissed her in celebration. The Vienna-based IAEA had been a favorite from a list of 199 Nobel candidates in a year marking 60 years since the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
The Nobel Committee expressed hope that the award would spur work to outlaw atomic weapons.
"At a time when disarmament efforts appear deadlocked, when there is a danger that nuclear arms will spread both to states and to terrorist groups, and when nuclear power again appears to be playing an increasingly significant role, IAEA's work is of incalculable importance," it said in a statement.
Despite past differences, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice phoned to congratulate ElBaradei and plaudits came from world leaders like Britain's Tony Blair and France's Jacques Chirac, who said he was "delighted."
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the 2001 peace laureate, said it should be a wake-up call to the perils of nuclear war.
At last month's U.N. summit "We couldn't even agree on a paragraph on non-proliferation or disarmament. It was a disgrace. I hope that this award will wake us all up," he said.
The IAEA has had little success in standoffs with Iran and North Korea and ElBaradei has faced criticism from many quarters, most recently from both the United States and Iran in his efforts to investigate Tehran's nuclear program.
Saddam's Weapons
He came to prominence before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 by challenging Washington's argument that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. No such weapons were found after the overthrow of Saddam and a program discovered in the early 1990s appeared to have been abandoned as Iraq had said.
The United States had opposed his reappointment for a third term in a post he has held since 1997.
Some experts say the IAEA has achieved too little to merit the prize. But ElBaradei was unbowed.
"The award sends a very strong message: 'Keep doing what you are doing -- be impartial, act with integrity', and that is what we intend to do," ElBaradei said after applause from U.N. staff.
North Korea expelled IAEA inspectors on December 31, 2002 and pulled out of the global benchmark arms-control pact, the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) before announcing it had nuclear weapons.
And the IAEA has been probing Iran's nuclear program for 2-1/2 years to determine whether its aims are peaceful as Tehran says or aimed at producing atomic weapons as Washington charges.
The Nobel Committee said ElBaradei was an "unafraid advocate" of measures to strengthen non-proliferation. Other contenders for the prize had ranged from presidents to Irish rock stars Bono and Bob Geldof.
The prize, named after Sweden's Alfred Nobel, a philanthropist and inventor of dynamite, was first awarded in 1901 and is due to be handed out in Oslo on December 10.
The 2004 prize went to Kenyan environmentalist Wangari Maathai. ElBaradei was the first Egyptian winner since President Anwar Sadat in 1978.
Criticism Of U.S.?
Stein Toennesson, head of the Peace Research Institute, Oslo, described the award to ElBaradei in person as well as the IAEA as "an implicit criticism of the United States." But Nobel Committee chairman Ole Danbolt Mjoes rejected that idea.
"This is not a kick in the legs to any country," he told a news conference. A former chairman described the 2002 prize to ex-U.S. president Jimmy Carter as a "kick in the legs" to U.S. President George W. Bush's policies in Iraq.
The 2005 award seemed to confirm an anti-nuclear trend on major anniversaries of Hiroshima. In 1995 the prize went to British ban-the-bomb scientist Joseph Rotblat and his Pugwash group and in 1985 to International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War.
"The Norwegian Nobel Committee has concentrated on the struggle to diminish the significance of nuclear arms in international politics, with a view to their abolition," its statement said.
"That the world has achieved little in this respect makes active opposition to nuclear arms all the more important today."
(Additional reporting by John Acher, James Kilner and Terje Solsvik in Oslo, Francois Murphy in Vienna, Richard Waddington in Geneva)
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Compassionate Conservatism Is Over
American Progress Action Fund
The Progress Report
On September 16, President Bush made a vague promise to "cut unnecessary spending" to pay for reconstruction in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Yesterday, he specified what spending he considers "unnecessary." At a press conference on the White House law, Bush said he will ask Congress to "make even deeper reductions in the mandatory spending programs than are already planned." The major mandatory spending programs are Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security. (The category also includes a few smaller program related to income security such as unemployment insurance and school lunches.) In other words, President Bush want the the poor, the sick and the elderly to pay for Katrina reconstruction by giving up their health care and retirement security. Meanwhile, the President is pressing forward with billions in new tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.
The Progress Report
On September 16, President Bush made a vague promise to "cut unnecessary spending" to pay for reconstruction in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Yesterday, he specified what spending he considers "unnecessary." At a press conference on the White House law, Bush said he will ask Congress to "make even deeper reductions in the mandatory spending programs than are already planned." The major mandatory spending programs are Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security. (The category also includes a few smaller program related to income security such as unemployment insurance and school lunches.) In other words, President Bush want the the poor, the sick and the elderly to pay for Katrina reconstruction by giving up their health care and retirement security. Meanwhile, the President is pressing forward with billions in new tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
little georgie's court
The corruption and cronyism of the bush administration couldn't be more open if they put a sign over the White House saying 'crooks-r-us'. And now we have a new appointment to the Supreme Court where the chief and only qualification seems to be friendship. I have my own doubts about the morality and conscience of anyone who would remain a years-long friend with a crook and a mass-murderer such as our little georgie. I guess toadies don't care who they hang with, as long as things go their way, and they get to play power broker.
I'd like to remind the 'opposition' that this appointment is not for village justice of the peace. There are real-world consequences that result from the decisions the Court makes.
For an example, read this article by Vincent Bugliosi from January, 2001. None Dare Call It Treason
I'd like to remind the 'opposition' that this appointment is not for village justice of the peace. There are real-world consequences that result from the decisions the Court makes.
For an example, read this article by Vincent Bugliosi from January, 2001. None Dare Call It Treason
Sunday, October 02, 2005
timeless truth
The timeless truth of creation
By Jeff Jacoby, Globe Columnist
October 2, 2005
Boston Globe
http://tmars.iwarp.com/guerrilla_campaign/document/051002-timeless-truth.html
Jeff,
I doubt that Mr. Henderson meant his FSM as a comedic chuckle producer, but rather as a way to point out the ridiculousness of teaching 'intelligent design' in science classes. The whole concept is built around one religious concept (monotheism), and ignores all other alternate stories of creation. The operative word here is 'stories'.
In truth, intelligent design isn't a scientific theory but a restatement of a timeless argument: that the regularity and laws of the natural world imply a higher intelligence -- God, most people would say -- responsible for its design...
In truth, nobody is arguing against the teaching of creationism. What they are arguing about is its inclusion in a science class. As you state, it's not science.
Teach it as philosophy, religion, whatever, but not science. Other Darwinists, many steeped in ideological antipathy to religion, resort to insult and invective. Turn your sentence around, and the description also fits the creationists (or intelligent designers, if you must. They are the same, you know.).
2+0=2. That's a fact. Predictable by mathematical theory. You will remember that the concept of zero did not exist at the time the Bible was written. Some controversy exists. Some linguists have disagreed on the definition of zero, and there are still some cultures that don't use the concept of zero. Would you want a different interpretation taught in your child's math classes? I didn't think so.
If the creationists want their children to learn their science and math from the Bible, leaving them about 3 steps behind reality, that's fine. I don't care, although I do feel sorry for their children. When they wish to force their biblical myths on all children, I take exception. Umbrage, you could say. Those believers have already called me far worse than ignorant or backwards, so I feel absolutely no need to be polite to them, or their apologists.
So, how about we keep our myths to ourselves, so we can continue to discuss 2+2=4 in our public schools' math and science classes. Remember, that's the future we're talking about. And even more important, it's our children's future we're talking about.
Tom Marshall
N Fort Myers, FL
http://tmars.iwarp.com/guerrilla_campaign
By Jeff Jacoby, Globe Columnist
October 2, 2005
Boston Globe
http://tmars.iwarp.com/guerrilla_campaign/document/051002-timeless-truth.html
Jeff,
I doubt that Mr. Henderson meant his FSM as a comedic chuckle producer, but rather as a way to point out the ridiculousness of teaching 'intelligent design' in science classes. The whole concept is built around one religious concept (monotheism), and ignores all other alternate stories of creation. The operative word here is 'stories'.
In truth, intelligent design isn't a scientific theory but a restatement of a timeless argument: that the regularity and laws of the natural world imply a higher intelligence -- God, most people would say -- responsible for its design...
In truth, nobody is arguing against the teaching of creationism. What they are arguing about is its inclusion in a science class. As you state, it's not science.
Teach it as philosophy, religion, whatever, but not science. Other Darwinists, many steeped in ideological antipathy to religion, resort to insult and invective. Turn your sentence around, and the description also fits the creationists (or intelligent designers, if you must. They are the same, you know.).
2+0=2. That's a fact. Predictable by mathematical theory. You will remember that the concept of zero did not exist at the time the Bible was written. Some controversy exists. Some linguists have disagreed on the definition of zero, and there are still some cultures that don't use the concept of zero. Would you want a different interpretation taught in your child's math classes? I didn't think so.
If the creationists want their children to learn their science and math from the Bible, leaving them about 3 steps behind reality, that's fine. I don't care, although I do feel sorry for their children. When they wish to force their biblical myths on all children, I take exception. Umbrage, you could say. Those believers have already called me far worse than ignorant or backwards, so I feel absolutely no need to be polite to them, or their apologists.
So, how about we keep our myths to ourselves, so we can continue to discuss 2+2=4 in our public schools' math and science classes. Remember, that's the future we're talking about. And even more important, it's our children's future we're talking about.
Tom Marshall
N Fort Myers, FL
http://tmars.iwarp.com/guerrilla_campaign
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