Watch the Air America Radio Documentary "Left of the Dial" Tonight on HBO

Air America Radio Celebrates One Year on the Air

"Thanks for shifting to the left side of the dial!" the announcer says on station KPOJ in Portland Oregon.

The network features comedic actress Janeane Garofalo and rapper Chuck D.
Anchoring the network is Al Franken, who has transformed himself from a TV comedy writer to a liberal satirist with two best-selling books roasting conservative media figures like Mr Limbaugh.

Mr Franken rose to prominence as liberal gadfly and media critic with his book "Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot" and continued his attack with a follow-up book last year "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right."
(BBC News)

2004 Election Maps Show That Where the Most People Live, Dems Rule

Using County-by-County election return data from USA Today together with County boundary data from the US Census' Tiger database we produced the following graphic depicting the results. Of course, blue is for the democrats, red is for the republicans, and green is for all other. Each county's color is a mix of these three color components in proportion to the results for that county.

American kidnapped with Romanian journalists in Iraq

An American citizen was kidnapped along with the three Romanian journalists abducted Monday in Iraq, the U.S. State Department said Wednesday.

Citing privacy laws, a State Department spokeswoman in Washington said she could not release more information, but called for the "immediate and safe recovery of all hostages in Iraq."
(CNN)

Report: Iraq intelligence 'dead wrong'

"We conclude that the intelligence community was dead wrong in almost all of its prewar judgments about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction," said a letter from the commission to President Bush. "This was a major intelligence failure."
(CNN)

Robert Kuttner: Exposing prolife zealotry

Representative Barney Frank famously declared, ''The right-to-lifers believe that the right to life begins with conception and ends at birth," meaning that if antiabortion militants truly cared about life, they might expend more effort on what happens to children once born. We should now extend Frank's insight to end-of-life care: The religious right should also devote more energy to how society treats its frail and elderly while they are conscious and begging for decent services. (When did you see the religious right lobbying for, say, better nursing care?)

But isn't the religious right winning? The press has been filled with stories of earnest communities where biblical literalism is central to most people's lives. These communities, apparently, are growing, while those that reflect the spirit of the Enlightenment -- rational inquiry, religious tolerance, plural identities, strong civic life -- are shrinking. Many liberals conclude that they must live in a bubble not representative of the country.
(Boston Globe)

Stopbolton.org Launches Ad Campaign in Rhode Island

On Thursday, March 31st Stopbolton.org will air television advertisements on three major Rhode Island TV stations in opposition to the nomination of John Bolton for U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.
(US Newswire)

Patrick Kennedy Says He Won't Run for U.S. Senate

"I am grateful for the support and encouragement I have received to run for the Senate," Kennedy, 37, a six-term member of the House of Representatives, said in a brief statement.

"But over the past few days, I have determined that I can make the greatest difference in the lives of Rhode Island families by remaining on the Appropriations Committee in the House of Representatives and fighting for their priorities," Kennedy said.
(Reuters)

Bush critics blocked from presidential events

In Denver, three people say they were booted out of a presidential event last week even though they never uttered a peep, apparently because their car bore a bumper sticker denouncing the war in Iraq.

In Fargo, N.D., last month, local Republicans developed a blacklist of more than three dozen residents, including a city commissioner, who were to be banned from Bush's visit.
(Knight Ridder)

Click Here To Join WELLSTONE ACTION!

Wellstone Action is a non-profit organization dedicated to continuing Paul and Sheila Wellstone's fight for economic justice and progressive social change.

Paul and Sheila Wellstone left us with valuable assets:

Substantial experience in building and training people to build winning campaigns around progressive candidates and issues;

A large national network of committed individuals united by progressive values;
Special relationships with unions, community, advocacy and service organizations around the country;

Their hope and encouragement to carry on despite all odds.

Wellstone Action will capitalize on these huge assets and continue the fight for a better, more just and sustainable future.

Froma Harrop: Social Security mythologies

"Unsustainable" is the favored word. It makes people think that Social Security is in crisis. It conjures up the image of a stagecoach barreling toward a cliff. Snow was all over the airwaves last week saying "unsustainable" and promising heroic efforts to pull Social Security from the abyss.

These theatrics are totally unnecessary. The Social Security program is not only sustainable, it is easily sustainable. And given the economy's past performance, the odds are better than even that we won't have to lift a finger to keep it going.
(The Providence Journal)

GAO to Investigate Bush Administration Propaganda

The Government Accountability Office plans to investigate payments from the Bush administration to syndicated columnist Maggie Gallagher, a GAO spokeswoman confirmed Monday. The congressional investigative agency will try to determine whether the Department of Heath and Human Services broke any laws when it paid Gallagher to help promote a marriage initiative, the spokeswoman said.
The GAO is already investigating a $240,000 contract with syndicated columnist/radio host Armstrong Williams from the Department of Education. Williams was being paid to promote the No Child Left Behind law.
(CNN)

Bush Puppet Maggie Gallagher

Bush Leaves Economic Unit With Weak Bench

President Bush has beefed up his national security team with big-name advisers but has left his economic agenda in the hands of lesser known officials whom some consider weak, unproven or inexperienced.
(AP)

59 American Ex-Diplomats Oppose Bolton

"He is the wrong man for this position," they said in a letter to Sen. Richard Lugar, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The Indiana Republican has scheduled hearings on Bolton's nomination for April 7."
(AP)

Slate: The Lesson of Tom DeLay's Mortal Hypocrisy

God may have taken Charles, but his family held the door open. They inferred, without written evidence, that Charles wouldn't have wanted to go on living in this condition. "Daddy did not want to be a vegetable," said Vi Skogen, who at the time was Charles' daughter-in-law. Tom DeLay's mother told the Times, "There was no point to even really talking about it. There was no way [Charles] wanted to live like that. Tom knew—we all knew—his father wouldn't have wanted to live that way."

That was then. This is now. At a press conference on March 18, Tom DeLay denied that quality of life could be valid grounds for withdrawing Schiavo's feeding tube. "It's not for any one of us to decide what her quality of life should be," he said. "It's not any one of us to decide whether she should live or die."

The Village Voice: The Bush Beat

The Iraqi kids are members of families whose homes were pulverized by the U.S. invasion and whose still-homeless clans were squatting in government buildings in Baghdad's Green Zone. Now, those families have been kicked out of the humorously named "Freedom Complex" buildings.

Meanwhile, U.S. soldiers and officials are still living in the Iraqi people's government buildings, including Saddam Hussein's former palaces, where Americans dine under chandeliers and splash around in the ex-dictator's swimming pools.

Richard Reeves: No One is Against Big Government

Was the great conservative, Ronald Reagan, the President who said he would get government off our backs? Yes, he did, as he ran up more deficit spending than all the thirty-nine men who proceeded him in that most powerful of offices. He borrowed that money to finance bigger government, particularly a bigger military. Yes, he did hate government bureaucrats, or at least the idea of them, but he never seemed to understand that a bureaucrat by any other name was still a bureaucrat, even in uniform.
(richardreeves.com)

John Nichols: Now Bush is Picking on Kids

Think of Ann Veneman as the Paul Wolfowitz of food policy.

Just as Wolfowitz used his position as the Bush administration's deputy secretary of defense to spin whacked-out neoconservative theories into the justification for an illegal and unnecessary war, so Veneman used her position as the administration's secretary of agriculture to spin equally whacked-out theories about the genetic modification of food and free trade into disastrous policies for farmers and consumers.
(The Nation)

Arm teachers, NRA official suggests

All options should be considered to prevent rampages like the Minnesota school shooting that took 10 lives — including making guns available to teachers, a top National Rifle Association leader said Friday.
(MSNBC)

Army’s Own Documents Acknowledge Evidence That Soldiers Used Torture

NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union today charged that the government is attempting to bury the torture scandal involving the U.S. military by failing to comply with a court order requiring release of documents to the ACLU. The documents the government does release are being issued in advance to the media in ways calculated to minimize coverage and public access, the ACLU said.

Sidney Blumenthal: A confederacy of shamans

The politics of piety were transparently masked by Republicans attempting to make capital over the fate of Terri Schiavo, the brain-damaged woman who has been locked in a persistent vegetative state for 15 years and whose feeding tube was ordered to be removed by a Florida state judge at the request of her husband.
(The Guardian)

Joe Conason: Shameless Right-Wingers Exploiting Terri Schiavo

By intervening in the sad dispute over Terri Schiavo between her husband and parents, the President and his Congressional allies have again revealed how little respect they have for any conservative or constitutional principle that doesn’t enhance their partisan power. In the name of defending human life, they have swept aside their own party’s traditional commitment to federalist respect for state law and to the separation of powers between the legislature and the judiciary. In the name of equal protection under the law, they have departed from all traditional notions of legality.
(New York Observer)

Molly Ivins on the Environment

This is one of those stories that I'd really like to start with a loud scream to give people some idea of how terrible it is. As a newspaper story, it has no soundtrack and comes without pictures. It appears to involve some technical aspects of an environmental regulation, and that can be counted on to bore the shoes and socks off people.
(Creators of Syndicate Inc.)

Sen. Reed Visits Iraq

Sen. Jack Reed describes the progress as substantial but indicates that the United States may have to sustain "a huge commitment of resources for years."
(The Providence Journal)

PATRICK KENNEDY EYES A SENATE SEAT IN RI

"It would be a great race. The two are very evenly matched," said Brown University professor Darrell West, who has written a biography of Kennedy, 37. "Chafee is a sitting senator and people like him, but he has an 'R' next to his name in a 'D' state."
(AP)

Surprise, Surprise: A Corrupt Wal-Mart Executive!!!

A high-profile Wal-Mart Stores Inc. board member resigned Friday after an internal probe turned up evidence of financial improprieties of up to half-a-million dollars. Three Wal-Mart employees, including a company officer, also lost their jobs.
(AP)

BU$H FOR SALE

Bush and national Republicans have taken more than $100 million from the pharmaceutical, health services, and insurance industries in the past few years, an investment that has been repaid many times over. Bush has consistently worked to keep the interests of industry ahead of patients' interests, meaning higher costs and fewer protections for American families.

BUSH'S APPROVAL RATINGS CONTINUE TO PLUMMET

Despite President Bush's continued efforts to sell his scheme to privatize Social Security, a new CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll shows that the American people just aren't buying it. In fact, Bush's approval ratings have slipped considerably from last week and now stand at 45%, the lowest point in his Presidency.

FOX NEWS: LYING YET AGAIN!
Doctor never nominated for Nobel Prize

Martha MacCallum identified Dr. William Hammesfahr, a Florida neurologist who claims he can help Terri Schiavo, as a "Nobel Prize-nominated neurologist," despite the fact that Hammesfahr was never actually nominated for a Nobel Prize.
(Media Matters)

Bush Administration Rolls Back Title IX

The Bush Administration's Department of Education has quietly changed the rules for compliance with Title IX, the statute that bars sex discrimination in athletics at federally funded institutions. President Bush has repeatedly praised the role of women in athletics. Yet these new changes by the Bush Administration undermine the prospects for women's athletics.

Bush Changes Social Security Plan

He warns audiences they will not be able to just cash in their accounts when they retire. He says that the accounts may enhance retirement income for younger workers, but he admits they will not fix the ailing Social Security system over all.
(New York Times)

Romney Moves to the Right at the Expense of Choice

Governor Mitt Romney removed a reference to Roe v. Wade in a proclamation he signed this week, raising eyebrows among abortion rights advocates who say the move corresponds with a rightward shift by Romney as he mulls a presidential bid.
(Boston Globe)

Froma Harrop: One person, or 45 millions? -- Questions for 'pro-life' folks

I HAVE A QUESTION for all those "culture of life" people praying in front of Terri Schiavo's hospital: Where were you last week when President Bush and the Republican Congress were pushing to cut Medicaid? Medicaid is the medical lifeline for the poor. And, by the way, it is picking up some of Schiavo's hospital bills.

Are you aware of your inconsistency? Or are you just pawns of the Republican Party?

You fixate over a woman who has hung in a vegetative state for 15 years, but stand mute as 45 million of your fellow Americans go without any health coverage. Over 18,000 adult Americans die every year for lack of health insurance, according to the Institute of Medicine, in Washington.

Perhaps you'd like to hear the story of another woman, Annette Arrico. A divorced mother, Arrico ran a tiny beauty parlor in Rhode Island, serving mostly elderly ladies. After expenses, she took home only $150 a week and could not afford health insurance.

Some years ago, Arrico found a lump in her breast. She knew that the lump meant trouble, but she tried to ignore it.

"I had all I could do to bring up our daughter," she said at the time.

Pushed by her daughter, Arrico finally saw a doctor, but by then it was too late to help her. She subsequently died.

There are thousands of Annette Arricos among us today. Lacking health insurance, they do not seek preventive care and avoid getting a diagnosis. That's why the mortality rate from cancer is up to two times higher for uninsured people than for those with coverage, says a Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation study.

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has spent the past year plumping up his "pro-life" credentials with grand displays of hypocrisy. He made a big show of inserting himself into the Schiavo case -- basically denying a husband's rights as his wife's legal guardian. While doing that, Bush presided over the unspeakable act of throwing 105,000 poor children off the state's health-insurance program.

Where were the religious leaders then, and where were their followers?

"I see many religious groups stepping forward and saying it's wrong to take a feeding tube from Terri," says Arthur Caplan, director of the Center for Bioethics, at the University of Pennsylvania. "I don't hear anything about it being wrong not to vaccinate tens of thousands of children. The Congress still accepts the reality of uninsured children in America, which is beyond the moral pale."

But the "pro-life" advocates have nonetheless rallied to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and Wisconsin Rep. James Sensenbrenner as they make political hay off the Schiavo tragedy.

That "leaders" of disability groups would add their praise is beyond comprehension. After all, Americans with disabilities get most of their funding from Medicaid. Frist, DeLay and Sensenbrenner were directing the attack on the program. The disabled might ask why their alleged spokesmen did not stop them.

Here is another question for the "pro-life" folks: Where were you two weeks ago, when the Senate voted to toughen America's bankruptcy laws? The bill made no distinction between debt run up in a casino and debt run up in a hospital. A recent Harvard study found that nearly half of the personal bankruptcies were caused by unexpected medical bills. Funny, but I don't recall any spiritual leaders rushing to protect families in a medical crisis from losing all in a bankruptcy.

Of course, the Schiavo case is ripe for political exploitation. The following memo was sent to Republican senators: "The pro-life base will be excited that the Senate is debating this important issue."

To the pliant members of the "pro-life" base: Follow your orders and get excited over a poor woman who can neither think nor emote and for whom doctors can do nothing. Interfere with a husband's decision to end medical treatment for a wife who has floated between life and death for 15 years.

Then sit back as your political masters try to cut the programs that help the sick, the frail and the dying. Let credit-card companies harass families overwhelmed by medical expenses.

You have every right to call yourselves "defenders of life." Just as long as no one else has to.
(The Providence Journal)

American Official Shot in Sudan

An American foreign assistance official was shot and wounded Tuesday while riding in a four-vehicle convoy in the lawless Darfur region of western Sudan, the State Department said.

The woman, who suffered facial wounds, was treated at a facility in Sudan before being evacuated to another country for additional treatment, said State Department spokesman Adam Ereli.
(AP)


Relatives mourning over the body of 1-year-old Ali, who died of malnutrition in a refugee camp in El-Geneina in Darfur, Sudan, 2004. More than 180,000 people have been killed in the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region in the past 18 months, UN humanitarian affairs chief Jan Egeland told AFP.(AFP/File/Marco Longari)

Bush Administration Acts As Roadblock to Prosecution of Sudanese War Criminals

Most council nationssupport referring war crimes proceedings to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, the world's first permanent tribunal for crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes.

Yet the administration of US President George W. Bush staunchly opposes the ICC over fears that US citizens could be the target of lawsuits politically motivated by opposition to US policies.

The council has been deadlocked over the issue for two months, since a commission of enquiry found crimes against humanity had likely been committed in Darfur.
(Mideast-AFP)

John Edwards Takes Job As Head of UNC's Poverty Center

"I have a campaign and a cause right now and this is it. This is where I'm going to spend my passion and my energy."
(AP)

AP Photo

Jeb Still Seeking to Gain Political Glory Via Schiavo

Terri Schiavo's parents saw their options vanish one by one Wednesday as a federal appeals court refused to reinsert her feeding tube and the Florida Legislature decided not to intervene in the epic struggle. Refusing to give up, Gov. Jeb Bush sought court permission to take custody of Schiavo.
(AP)

WORLD CRISIS

SHAME: ONE BILLION LACK ACCESS TO CLEAN WATER

"People who can turn on a tap and have safe and clean
water to drink, to cook with and to bathe in often take it for granted, and yet
more than 1 billion of our fellow human beings have little choice but to use
potentially harmful sources of water," said Dr. Lee Jong-Wook, head of the World
Health Organization.

(CNN)

Not-So-Coincidentally, Santorum Re-Thinks Death Penalty Stance

Could it be motivated by polls showing Catholics' opposition to capital punishment is growing dramatically???

Overall, the poll showed that Catholic opposition to the death penalty has grown from 27 percent in 2001 to 48 percent. Opposition jumps to 63 percent among daily Mass-goers -- making it 1 percent above the percentage of daily communicants who voted for Bush in 2004. Of those who say they only attend Mass on holidays, 62 percent support use of the death penalty.

A Letter from the Executive Director of Amnesty International USA

Women Human Rights Defenders

This month on our website, we spotlight the all-important work of four extraordinary women who have made a difference. Two of them are among the twelve women who have received the Nobel Peace Prize. One woman, Mexico’s Digna Ochoa gave her life for her cause. And another will receive Amnesty International USA’s highest award next month. All have sacrificed much for the rights and well-being of others.
Read about these women. »

On every continent, women are rising up to end the abuse, torture and neglect that has long plagued their communities. Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi aroused an entire nation against decades of corruption and abuse. “It is not power that corrupts,” she has said, “but fear.”

Women are often uniquely able to appeal to everyday people and to engage them in collective struggle. Aung San Suu Kyi has written, “It is the cumulative effect of [ordinary people’s] sustained effort and steady endurance which will change a nation where reason and conscience are warped by fear into one where legal rules exist to promote humanity's desire for harmony and justice while restraining less desirable, destructive traits in human nature.”

Wangari Maathai has converted the seemingly mundane and domestic act of planting trees into a continent-wide movement aimed at empowering women and reshaping society’s relationship with the natural environment. Says Maathai: “When you start working with the environment seriously, the whole arena comes: human rights, women's rights, environmental rights, children's rights, you know, everybody's rights. Once you start making these linkages, you can no longer do just tree-planting.”

Please join me in celebrating the heroism of these remarkable women – and the contributions of countless women everywhere who stand up for our rights every day -- by donating in their honor to AIUSA’s Stop Violence Against Women Campaign.

Make a donation now. »
Your donation will help us carry out important life-saving work – to champion needed reforms in international law, to document and report widespread abuses of women’s rights, and engage an ever-wider circle of supporters like yourself.

Thank you for all that you do.

Sincerely,

Bill Schulz
Amnesty International USA

A Letter from John Edwards

Dear Friend,

Today, at the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, I am going to join a group of prominent experts from across the country who have dedicated their careers to fighting poverty. We are going to talk about one of the most important things we can do to help lift people out of poverty and into the middle class - helping people save so that they can start getting ahead instead of just getting by. While poverty is all around us, the first step in eradicating it is to shine a bright light on it.

Here's what we know: 36 million Americans live in poverty today, which is 13 million more than 30 years ago. About one in four working families is earning so little they struggle to make ends meet. And nearly 30 percent of families have less than $10,000 in assets - which means that the value of their savings, their home, and their car altogether is less than $10,000. What we can do as a country is help families build a foundation and a safety net so that if they have a medical emergency, lose a job, or go through a traumatic event like a divorce it doesn't push them off the cliff and into bankruptcy. So today we are going to talk about how we can help families save and put money in the bank.

We will explore ideas like establishing savings accounts for children at birth, like baby bonds, to help them prepare for the future. We'll also look at different types of savings accounts for adults with matching funds to encourage people to save. And we will take a close look at ways to help more families become homeowners while also making sure that predatory lenders don't take away homes families already own. These are some of the many ideas that we will discuss. We will report back on our blog but please let me know what you think we can do to help people save.

Please visit the One America Committee Blog where we have started a new thread entitled: Poverty, Work, and Opportunity and give us your thoughts and ideas about this important issue. Some of our best ideas will come from you! Your input is invaluable, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Your friend,

John

Republicans Hold Mock Town Hall Meeting, Can't Sell the Plan In Real Ones

As members of Congress head back to their districts for recess this week, the GOP leadership has urged Congressional Republicans not to hold town hall meetings or public events and instead to opt for lower profile events. After the disastrous reaction members received during the last recess, Washington republicans are shifting to events they hope will be less likely to highlight growing opposition to Bush's privatization plan. Even Senator Rick Santorum admitted recently in USA Today, that with these lower profile events 'there isn't an opportunity for it to disintegrate into something that's less desirable.'

Randall Terry: Schindler Family Spokesman and Founder of Anti-Abortion Group

In case you were wondering if there was a nexus between the Schiavo case and the anti-abortion movement...

Christian activist Randall Terry has reappeared in the news in recent days as the spokesman for the parents of Terri Schiavo. Terry, founder of the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue and the Society for Truth and Justice, appeared on Fox News at least four times in the past four days -- on the March 18 edition of Hannity & Colmes, and during live coverage of the Schiavo case on March 20 and March 21. But Terry has a controversial past that was not fully disclosed in any of his Fox News appearances or on the March 19 edition of National Public Radio's Weekend Edition, which aired a brief clip from Terry. In all but one of those instances, Terry was identified only as the Schindler family spokesman.
(Media Matters)

Vast Majority of Americans Feel Republican Congress Acted Inappropriately in the Schiavo Matter

Seventy percent deemed the congressional intervention inappropriate, while 67 percent said they believe lawmakers became involved in the Schiavo case for political advantage rather than the principles involved.
(Reuters)

Meanwhile, a child was taken off of life support in a Houston hospital under a law signed by then-Governor George W. Bush that allows hospitals to remove life-sustaining apparatus if the family is unable to pay its bills--even if the family objects to such removal.

White House spokesman Scott McClelland said that the issue was a "gray area" in the law. However, once again, this was not true. The law reads as follows:

If the patient or the person responsible for the health care decisions of the patient is requesting life-sustaining treatment that the attending physician has decided and the review process has affirmed is inappropriate treatment, the patient shall be given available life-sustaining treatment pending transfer under Subsection (d). The patient is responsible for any costs incurred in transferring the patient to another facility. The physician and the health care facility are not obligated to provide life-sustaining treatment after the 10th day after the written decision required under Subsection (b) is provided to the patient or the person responsible for the health care decisions of the patient …

ACLU Challenges Anti-Gay Ruling in Michigan

A lawsuit challenging a recent attorney general's opinion that bans public employers from offering benefits to same-sex couples in future contracts was filed Monday by the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan.
(Detroit Free Press)

Brit Hume Lies About Social Security...Again

Fox News Washington managing editor Brit Hume used a misleading poll on Social Security conducted by a pro-Republican public relations firm to claim falsely that "nearly 60 percent of seniors who know the facts support personal accounts" and accuse Democrats of waging a "disinformation campaign." In fact, far from presenting "the facts" to respondents, the poll Hume cited left out key information about President Bush's likely plan for Social Security, and Hume failed to note the poll itself was sponsored by two pro-privatization advocacy groups.
(Media Matters)

Click here to sign the petition to save the Filibuster (and the Federal Courts).

BOSOX COMPLICIT IN US TORTURE SCHEME?

BREAKING NEWS--JET USED FOR TORTURE RENDITIONS BELONGS TO PART-OWNER OF THE BOSTON RED SOX!

Last June, the Boston Red Sox chartered an executive jet to help their manager make a quick visit home in the midst of the team's championship season. But what was the very same Gulfstream--owned by one of the Red Sox's partners, but presumably without the team's logo on its fuselage--doing in Cairo on Feb. 18, 2003? Perhaps by coincidence, Feb. 18, 2003, was the day an Islamic preacher known as Abu Omar, who had been abducted in Italy the previous day and forced aboard a small plane, also arrived at the Cairo airport.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

THOUSANDS PROTEST THE US WAR IN IRAQ AROUND THE WORLD

Police guard the U.S. Embassy as demonstrators walk past during an anti-war demonstration in central London to mark the second anniversary of the start of war in Iraq (news - web sites), March 19, 2005. REUTERS/Stephen Hird

First Amendment Rights Protected by the ACLU

A VICTORY FOR FREE SPEECH...AT CHENEY'S EXPENSE!
In a victory for free speech rights and the Indiana Civil Liberties Union, a federal judge ruled today that Evansville police violated a protester's constitutional rights by restricting his movement and arresting him for disorderly conduct before a 2002 appearance by Vice President Dick Cheney.

Hudson River Faces Sewage Crisis

Crumbling sewage systems and raw sewage discharges increasingly threaten the health of the Hudson River.

America's Teachers Examine New Ways to Oppose the War in Iraq

"We must be creative in our attempts to counter the action the government has taken," Nancy Romer, a teacher and leader of the American Federation of Teachers, said to open the conference's morning plenary. In practice, during the daylong series of workshops this meant analyzing how Bush's education initiatives have served to advance his military aims. The fact that the majority of soldiers fighting in Iraq are in their mid-20s or younger, and a little less than a year ago there were 2,500 soldiers under the age of 18 serving, hints at a connection between today's education system and military interest among youth.
(The Nation)

New Anti-Labor Rules Threaten National Security

New workforce rules that gut civil service and collective bargaining rights for some 750,000 Department of Defense civilian employees will destroy civilian defense worker morale and threaten national security, AFGE President John Gage told a Senate subcommittee March 15.

Death of a Sales Pitch

Even though President George W. Bush is refusing to detail his plan to privatize Social Security, Washington Republicans are already distancing themselves from the plan. Republican leaders in Congress this week directed Republican members to cancel any open town-hall meetings with constituents out of fear of the increasing public opposition against privatization.

TWO YEARS LATER: TROUBLE IN IRAQ

(Center for American Progress)

NEWSWEEK POLL: BUSH APPROVAL RATINGS AT A TEN MONTH LOW

Newsweek Poll conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International. March 17-18, 2005. N=1,010 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3.

"Do you approve or disapprove of the way George W. Bush is handling his job as president?"

Approve: 45%
Disapprove: 48%
Don't Know: 7%

DEMS SLAM BUSH ON VETERANS' BENEFITS CUTS

"During this time of war, it is absolutely the wrong time for our federal government to step back from any of its commitments to our veterans. To do so would be penny wise but pound foolish," said Gov. Ed Rendell in the weekly Democratic radio address.
(CNN)

Halliburton Abuses Continue

Authors of the report on Iraq say that most of the anticipated spending on building and procurement has not yet occurred. "If urgent steps are not taken Iraq will become the biggest corruption scandal in history," the authors say.
(Asia Times)

More Idiocy from the President

"In this job you've got a lot on your plate on a regular basis; you don't have much time to sit around and wander, lonely, in the Oval Office, kind of asking different portraits, 'How do you think my standing will be?' "—Washington, D.C., March 16, 2005

BUSH: AN EMBARRASSMENT THE WORLD OVER

(AP) Tourists look at waxed figures of U.S. President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair with a missile during the annual Fallas festival in Valencia, eastern Spain, Friday March 18, 2005. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

CUBAN WOMEN DEMAND AMNESTY FOR POLITICAL PRISONERS


(AP) Laura Pollan (left), leader of the 'Ladies in White,' leads the rest of the group of wives of political prisoners during a march in Havana, Cuba, Friday, March 18, 2005. Nearly 30 wives of political prisoners marched to the headquarters of the government's journalists' union Friday to demand their plight be publicized in Cuba's state-run media, marking the second anniversary of the crackdown that put their spouses behind bars. Sashes say 'amnesty.' (AP Photo/Jorge Rey)

Even Chile is Ahead of the US in Equality at the Polls

In this socially conservative country where domestic violence is common and women earn much less than men, the two top parties have selected female nominees, virtually ensuring that Chile will get its first female head of state.
(AP)



Soledad Alvear, left, and Michelle Bachelet

South Dakota Governor Attacks the Right To Choose

One of the four new laws requires doctors to inform pregnant women, in writing and in person no later than two hours before an abortion, that the procedure ends the lives of humans and terminates the constitutional relationship women have with their fetuses.
(Los Angeles Times)

CIA Chief Defends Outsourcing Torture

Goss steadfastly asserted that this interrogation strategy is an important intelligence tool and is vital for the protection of U.S. civilians and fighting forces.
(AP)

Counting of Provisional Ballots Inconsistent Across the Nation

Two-thirds of the more than 1.6 million provisional ballots cast in last year's presidential election were counted, but there were wide differences from state to state. Alaska counted 97 percent of its provisional votes, Delaware just 6 percent.
(AP)

World Looks At Wolfowitz With A Weary Eye

Following the nomination of the outspoken hawk John Bolton as the next American ambassador to the United Nations, the outlines of a new Bush doctrine are becoming clear: whereas in the first term he used military power to topple Saddam Hussein, in the second term he will use "soft power" to advance American - and western - goals. The targets of this soft campaign are the "multilateral institutions" - the global bodies whose legitimacy in the eyes of the world stands as the sole opposition to the American superpower.(News.Telegraph.UK)

SIGN THE PETITION URGING DELAY TO RESIGN

Click here to sign the petition.

See the "Wage Peace" Movie

Click on the link to view movie.

Sen. Jack Reed Rails Against Bush's Social Security Scheme

For obvious reasons, the President has not mentioned this or other facts that are so critical to the Social Security trust fund. His privatization scheme requires cutting benefits by more than 40 percent, even for those who choose not to invest in privatized accounts.
Those choosing a private account could be hit with an additional ``privatization tax'' of 70 percent or more of the value of their account, which would be deducted from their Social Security benefits upon retirement.

Rahm Emanuel To Lead DCCC's Attack Against Republican Ethics Problems

Bill Burton, a DCCC spokesman, insisted that Ney’s seat is winnable for the Democrats. “We’re not trying to send a message; we’re trying to win every seat. We have a strong Democrat bench out there, including the former Senate minority leader from New Philadelphia, Greg Didinato, and State Rep. John Boccieri from New Middletown.”
(The Hill)

Sign Hillary's Petition to Count Every Vote

Click here to sign the petition.

A Letter from John Kerry: Thanks for Signing the Petition

Dear Friend,

Yesterday, we saw a relentless Republican attack on one of our most treasured natural wonders sneak through the Senate on a 51 to 49 vote. But, we also saw more than 260,000 Americans act in less than 24 hours to add their names to our Citizens' Roll Call in favor of protecting the Arctic Refuge.

It was the first time ever that I or anyone else could stand on the Senate floor and announce that, in a day's time, a quarter of a million Americans had gone online to express their passionate support for a given course of action.

That awesome display of grassroots power rattled our opponents. They even railed against my e-mail message on the Senate floor and entered its text into the Senate record. So, think of it this way. The Republican leaders of the Senate have 51 reasons to celebrate today, but you and I have 260,000 reasons to do the same.
If we keep working together - committed pro-environment Senators and a powerful grassroots movement all pulling in the same direction - we can still stop the plan for drilling in the Arctic from making it the rest of the way through Congress. And we can win the larger battle over two very different visions of America's energy future.

George W. Bush and the Washington Republicans have a plan to sell off our public lands to powerful special interests. As a result of their ruthless drive to undermine America's most beautiful natural treasures, the oil rigs are closer to the Arctic Refuge than they have ever been. But, the Bush administration's own scientists and economists admit that the Republicans' plan will not make us less dependent on foreign oil and will not lower prices at the pump. We have to put America's energy future in the hands of Americans - by inventing our way to real energy independence and having energy sources that create jobs and lower prices.
With your help, we will continue to wholeheartedly resist their special interest-funded partisan agenda. And, if we act with the same energy and determination as we have on this critical Arctic Refuge vote, sooner than later, our power and commitment will carry the day. I know you will be with me every step of the way and I thank you for the passion and energy that you bring to our work together.

Sincerely,
John Kerry

P.S. I told you that more than a quarter of a million people signed our Citizens' Roll Call in the first 24 hours after we launched it. Actually the news is even more impressive. As of this moment, there are over 400,000 signers to our Roll Call, including tens of thousands who signed after the vote to express their determination to keep fighting. Let's keep working.

BUSH CHOSES WOLFOWITZ TO HEAD WORLD BANK

The selection threatened to set off a bitter fight on the World Bank board, which must sign off on Washington's choice, at a time when Bush has said improving trans-Atlantic relations and America's image in the Arab world will be top priorities.
(Reuters)

OUTRAGE: SENATE VOTES TO DRILL IN ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE

Amid the backdrop of soaring oil and gasoline prices, a sharply divided Senate on Wednesday voted to open the ecologically rich Alaska wildlife refuge to oil drilling, delivering a major energy policy win for President Bush.
(CNN)

Bush Adds Yet More Mercury to Our Already Tainted Water

Western states could see a spike in toxic mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants in coming years under a rule finalized by the Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday, national environmental groups charged.
(Denver Post)

No Ethical Compass: Republican Congressman Contracted Active Journalist During Campaign

"Clearly, clearly, there are reporters that go back and forth, and there is the potential for conflicts," Engleman said.
(Las Vegas Review-Journal)

The Ethically-Challenged Congressman

Despite GAO Recommendation, Bush Administration Refuses to Pull Fake News Stories

"This is more than a legal issue. It's also an ethical issue and involves important good government principles, namely the need for openness in connection with government activities and expenditures," Walker said. "We should not just be seeking to do what's arguably legal. We should be doing what's right."
(Washington Post)

Biased Sinclair News Strikes Again

Don Hammond, the new Washington bureau chief of Sinclair Broadcast Group's News Central news operation, provoked boos at a March 15 press conference held announcing legislation to prevent oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) when he revived disproved allegations about Sen. John Kerry's (D-MA) military record.
(Media Matters)

The Coalition of the Willing is Crumbling

Italy said Tuesday it will start drawing down its 3,000-strong contingent in Iraq in September, putting a fresh crack in President Bush’s crumbling coalition. Bulgaria also called for a partial withdrawal, and Ukraine welcomed home its first wave of returning troops.
(MSNBC)

HALLIBURTON PROFITS AS US SOLDIERS DIE

Click here to see a chart that shows the parallel between US military casualties in Iraq and Halliburton profits.

Pentagon: Halliburton Overcharged US $108 Million

A Pentagon spokeswoman said an audit released by Democratic congressmen on Monday that questioned $108 million in costs by Halliburton unit Kellogg Brown and Root was conducted to determine whether "fair and reasonable" prices were charged.

"The majority of costs questioned in this audit report are because DCAA (Defense Contract Audit Agency) auditors believe that KBR paid an unreasonable price for the fuel," the spokeswoman said.
(Reuters)

Click here to read about Halliburton's history of ripping off the American people.

SAVE THE ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE

Click here to sign John Kerry's petition to save the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

A Letter from Howard Dean

Dear Friend,

Sometimes partisan politics gets overheated -- I know that as well as anyone. But when one party controls all three branches of government, and then seeks to change the fundamental principles and rules of our democracy, we need to talk about it soberly and seriously.

The Republican Senate leaders have decided to fundamentally alter the role of Congress -- they want to give George Bush unprecedented power to manipulate the legislative branch and the courts.

Today Harry Reid and the Democratic Senators asked us, the American people, to help them preserve the right of our elected representatives to speak their mind on the floor of the U.S. Senate.

We have to act. Sign this petition, which we will deliver to every U.S. Senator, asking them to protect the right to free speech in the Senate. If they don't, it is not only their voice that will be silenced -- it will be ours:

http://www.democrats.org/freespeech

Here are the facts: George Bush has appointed judges to lifetime positions at a better rate than any president in nearly three decades. More than 95% of his nominees have been approved. Only ten nominees have been refused -- all because they are unqualified and out of the mainstream.

But that's not enough. And on this issue, as on Social Security, it is becoming more and more obvious to everyone that the Republican leadership is out of touch with reality.

More Americans voted against George Bush than any sitting president in history. And that same day, across the country, the Democratic candidates for Senate received over 4 million more votes than Republicans.

Americans did not endorse the fringe agenda to dismantle Social Security. And they did not endorse dismantling the system of checks and balances that have served our country for over 200 years.

Please tell your Senator to stand up for free speech:
http://www.democrats.org/freespeech

This is not a partisan issue -- it is an American issue. And we all must act together in order to protect our democracy.

Thank you.



Governor Howard Dean, M.D.

Greenspan: Bush Budget Deficit "Unsustainable"

"The federal budget is on an unsustainable path in which large deficits result in rising interest rates, and ever-growing interest payments that augment deficits in future years," he said.
(ABC)

PHOTO OFFERS DRAMATIC PROOF OF GLOBAL WARMING

A photo of Mount Kilimanjaro stripped of its snowcap for the first time in 11,000 years will be used as dramatic testimony for action against global warming as ministers from the world's biggest polluters meet on Tuesday.
(Reuters)

David Corn: Bush Rewards Loyalist Without Concern for Country

"What are her Hughes' qualifications for this post? Well, she has been Bush's chief spin doctor since he entered politics. Once a local television reporter, she turned to the dark side. During the 2000 campaign, she actively misled the press about key aspects of Bush's past--most notably, his military service and his drunk-driving conviction. As a White House aide, she used PR tactics, not the truth, to push Bush's reckless policies. Now she'll do the same concerning the United States' image abroad. (If she could sell Bush to the American voters, maybe she can sell dirt as food.)"
(David Corn)

Bush Appoints Hughes to State Dept. Post Despite Lack of Diplomatic Experience

"Declaring the United States “must do better job of engaging the Muslim world,” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice introduced former presidential adviser Karen Hughes on Monday as the Bush administration’s choice for a State Department post designed to change Islamic perceptions about America."
(MSNBC)

Karen Hughes? To change Islamic perceptions about America? There was no better choice?

Hughes has NO diplomatic experience and is not an expert in Middle East or Islamic affairs.

CASINOS BOUGHT TOM DELAY WITH JUNKET

"House Majority Leader Tom DeLay traveled to Britain with his wife, several aides and lobbyists on a $70,000 junket mostly paid for with money from an Indian tribe and a gambling services company, The Washington Post reported Saturday. Not long after the outing, Rep. DeLay, the second most powerful Republican in the House of Representatives, played a key role in killing gaming-related legislation opposed by the company and tribe."
(AP/Washington Post)

President Clinton Leaves Hospital Feeling Well

"'I'm glad to be home and look forward to getting back to work within the next month or so,' Clinton said in a statement issued by his spokesman, Jim Kennedy."
(AP)

ABC: Afraid of Fox News?

"Fox News may be safe from ABC, but it's taken hits on a network closer to home. "The Simpsons," which airs on corporate sibling Fox TV, has repeatedly poked fun at the news channel. "It's such an easy target the jokes write themselves," "Simpsons" creator Matt Groening once told The Associated Press."
(AP)

RIDGE TRIED TO STRONG-ARM FORMER DHS INSPECTOR GENERAL

"Ridge 'was trying to get me not to give things to Congress and also to try to spin reports in a way most favorable to the department, and I resisted both of those,' former Inspector General Clark Kent Ervin said in an interview."
(AP)

IRAN: US IS "HALLUCINATING"

US officials are either unaware of the substance of the talks or (they are) hallucinating," Sirus Naseri, a senior member of Iran's nuclear negotiating team, told the official IRNA news agency. Iran says it needs atomic technology to generate electricity and will never use it to make bombs, as the United States fears."
(Reuters)

Arnie Taking a Page From Bush's Book of Scams

'I think there's a role for video news releases when they have legitimate purposes of education, but this goes from being an educational tool to a complete scam,'" said Democratic Assemblyman Paul Koretz."
(AP)

PELOSI: BUSH RECORD "DUBIOUS"

"The Bush Administration continues to set records of dubious distinction. With the highest one-month budget deficit and the second highest trade deficit ever, President Bush's place among the most fiscally irresponsible leaders in our history is secure."

(Office of Rep. Nancy Pelosi)

A STATEMENT OF CONSCIENCE AGAINST WAR AND REPRESSION

Zinn: Changing Minds, One at a Time

"Yes, thinking of the young people holding up the pro-Bush signs at the inauguration, there are those who will not be budged by new information. They will be shown the bloodied little girl whose parents have been killed by an American weapon, and find all sorts of reasons to dismiss it: "Accidents happen. . . . This was an aberration. . . . It is an unfortunate price of liberating a nation," and so on.

There is a hard core of people in the United States who will not be moved, whatever facts you present, from their conviction that this nation means only to do good, and almost always does good, in the world, that it is the beacon of liberty and freedom (words used forty-two times in Bush's inauguration speech). But that core is a minority, as is that core of people who carried signs of protest at the inauguration."
(The Progressive)

CIA INFILTRATING COLLEGE CLASSROOMS

"A new test program that is secretly placing CIA agents in American university classrooms for now operates without detection or protest,. With time these students who cannot admit to their true intentions will inevitably pollute and discredit the universities in which they are now enrolled."
(CounterPunch)

Chomsky: Kerry Was Too Far To The Right in 2004

"Presidential candidate John Kerry's platform and program were way to the right of popular opinion on just about every issue in the 2004 U.S. elections. To the extent that anybody could even understand the program, people didn't favor it. People who voted for Kerry are people who were concerned about the economy and about health issues. Do you think those people could tell you what Kerry's health program was or what he was going to do for the economy? I mean, I couldn't tell you. You have to do a research project to figure out what the program was. And it's not that people failed to know it because they're stupid. It's because it was not presented as something comprehensible."
(Infoshop News)

Sen. Obama: Bush's Use of African Americans to Push Social Security Scam "Offensive"

"Obama said he would prefer the president not frame his Social Security argument "in racial terms.'' Obama's strong words may have special significance since he is the only African-American senator."
(Chicago Sun-Times)

Human Rights Observer: Prisoner Abuse Dates Back to 2002

"Unreleased U.S. Army reports detailing the deaths of two Afghan men who were beaten to death by American soldiers show that military prison abuses began in Afghanistan in 2002, and were part of a systematic pattern of mistreatment, a human rights representative said Saturday.

More than two dozen American soldiers face possible criminal prosecution - and one already is charged with manslaughter - in the deaths at the main U.S. detention facility in Bagram, just north of the Afghan capital of Kabul."
(Seattle Post-Intelligencer)