Venezuela's oil wealth funds gusher of anti-poverty projects

Hugo Chavez's revolution came to the hillside slum of San Juan one recent night in the glare of a solitary lightbulb and with puddles from a recent thunderstorm still underfoot......more

And The Rocket’s Red Glare

The news that Judge Anna Diggs Taylor (re ACLU v. NSA ) who had recently ruled that the President's warrantless eavesdropping violated both criminal law and the U.S. Constitution, refused the administration's request for a stay and instead gave them only seven days to comply with her Order......more

Bush says Iraq War critics embrace enemy's propaganda

President Bush said Friday critics who claim the Iraq War has made America less safe embrace "the enemy's propaganda.".......more

Brian Moore:

An Alternative to Bill Nelson and Katherine Harris

Severely criticized U.S. Senator Bill Nelson of Florida for his "vote for torture" today, for seriously limiting the rights of war prisoners and for protecting the Bush Administration and CIA operatives "from being held accountable for their abuse and torturing of prisoners" not to speak of the war itself...Read More

Florida's Shame: Bill Nelson
US Senate passes Bush's controversial detainee bill

Twelve Democrats voted in favor:
Carper (Del.), Johnson (S.D.), Landrieu (La.), Lautenberg (N.J.), Lieberman (Conn.), Menendez (N.J), Nelson (Fla.), Nelson (Neb.), Pryor (Ark.), Rockefeller (W. Va.), Salazar (Co.), Stabenow (Mich.).
click here

For more choices in Nov....here

Informed Dissent
Pacifica's National Election Special
Pacifica Radio's new program hosted by Mitch Jeserich, that looks at the issues effecting this year's mid-term elections and beyond......here

The Broadways

For James Broadway making antiwar signs is an art. A few pieces of colored poster board, permanent markers, a handful of nails, wooden stakes and some curt phrases are all the Kyle resident needs to fashion his signs. They bear phrases like “Will Work 4 Peace” in chunky lettering......more

UNH Students Petition to Have 9/11 Conspiracist Removed

A small group of students has started a petition to remove a University of New Hampshire professor who believes that Bush administration officials planned the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks or knew about them and allowed them to happen.......more

Democrats Backing Bush on Terror Bill

Robert Andrews, John Barrow, Melissa Bean, Sanford Bishop, Dan Boren, Leonard Boswell, Allen Boyd, Sherrod Brown, Ben Chandler, Bud Cramer, Henry Cuellar, Lincoln Davis, Artur Davis, Chet Edwards, Bob Etheridge, Harold Ford, Bart Gordon, Stephanie Herseth, Brian Higgins, Tim Holden, Jim Marshall, Jim Matheson, Mike McIntyre, Charles Melancon, Michael Michaud, Dennis Moore, Collin Peterson, Earl Pomeroy, Mike Ross, John Salazar, David Scott, John Spratt, John Tanner, Gene Taylor.......here

Bush Job Approval Climbs to 42%
New Reuters/Zogby poll shows Republicans, weekly WalMart shoppers, Catholics, and men help buoy the President, but Democrats retain edge in battle for Congress......more

President Bush is trying to pardon himself.

Here’s the deal: Under the War Crimes Act, violations of the Geneva Conventions are felonies, in some cases punishable by death. When the Supreme Court ruled that the Geneva Convention applied to al Qaeda and Taliban detainees, President Bush and his boys were suddenly in big trouble. They’ve been working these prisoners over pretty good. In an effort to avoid possible prosecution they’re trying to cram this bill through Congress before the end of the week before Congress adjourns....more

Habeas Corpus, R.I.P. (1215 - 2006)

MEET: Max Linn
here

Gearing Up for Rove's Pre-Election "Surprises"

What those surprises might be range from announcing the capture or death of Osama bin Laden to a surgical strike on Iran's fledgling nuclear program to ignoring a possible major terrorist attack against the U.S. -- or, conversely, announcing that they've foiled a frightening urban bomb plot. Or all of the above, and more......more

How Can Any Christian Support the GOP?

Should any Christian support the current version of the GOP? This might seem like an odd question considering how so many have come to think GOP stands for God’s Own Party. The evidence refuting this notion has become overwhelming. The time has come for Christians of every stripe to re-consider whom they endorse and vote for......more

How Progressives Can Win in the Long Run

Right-wing groups spend ten times more on youth leadership development than progressives do. If we want to win, we need to start investing in the next generation of leaders......more

Olbermann’s Special Comment:
Re-writing History

After five years of skirting even the most inarguable of facts — that he was President on 9/11 and he must bear some responsibility for his, and our, unreadiness, Mr. Bush has now moved, unmistakably and without conscience or shame, towards re-writing history, and attempting to make the responsibility, entirely Mr. Clinton’s......more

STOP VOTER DISENFRANCHISEMENT!
Call both of your senators NOW and urge them to:

Vote NO on H.R. 4844.2. Do not allow H.R. 4844 to be attached to any appropriations conference report.

Sen. Bill NelsonPhone: (202) 224-5274
Sen. Mel MartinezPhone: (202) 224-3041

H.R. 4844 comes as a response to the right-wing fairy tale that undocumented immigrants are voting in mass numbers. But the only thing it would do is ensure that poor, minority and elderly voters, as well as students and voters with disabilities, would be disenfranchised.

Bill Clinton's "Fury"

Chomsky Book Still Tops Sales after Plug by Chavez at UN

The popular online company showed the 2003 book still as its biggest seller, after having claimed the top spot Friday following Chavez recommendation of it as "an excellent book to help us understand what has been happening in the world throughout the 20th century ... and the greatest threat looming over our planet."......more

YouTube Making Politicians Sweat
Gaffes Caught On Tape, Posted On Popular Web Site Impacting Races

A posting there of a picture of Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut kissing President Bush helped fuel Lieberman's loss to anti-war candidate Ned Lamont in the recent primary in the Nutmeg State.....more

Be A Saint!
Crescent City rockin' with return of Saints for home opener

The 2-0 Saints will play the 2-0 Atlanta Falcons on Monday Night Football in the Saints' first home game since a 21-6 preseason loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Aug. 26, 2005 - three nights before Katrina nearly ended the Saintly days of yore.......more

Go .....Saint's
Go .....New Orlean's

Tom DeLay Gets Standing Ovation From Fox Audience

“No, no, no, under Bill Clinton and the Republican Congress.” DeLay said airily. He wagged his finger. “Bill Clinton didn’t do anything.” The crowd erupted into cheers......more

Bush's church urges pull-out of US troops from Iraq

US President George W. Bush’s own church has called for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq and is urging direct action to end the war......more

The Top 10 Conservative Idiots, No. 261.....click here

Spy Agencies Say Iraq War Worsens Terrorism Threat

A stark assessment of terrorism trends by American intelligence agencies has found that the American invasion and occupation of Iraq has helped spawn a new generation of Islamic radicalism and that the overall terrorist threat has grown since the Sept. 11 attacks.....more

FOX NEWS: “Clinton Gets Crazed”
Fox news is already coining the interview as "Clinton gets Crazed"

Something very interesting Clinton brings up is the fact that when he did launch operations against bin Laden, Republicans quickly questioned his motives. Arlen Specter and Dan Coats (R-IN), were two very outspoken Senators who tried to associate Clinton going after bin Laden in 1998 with the movie "Wag the Dog" and that his bombing of an al Qaeda meeting was to divert attention from the Lewisky scandal......more

Seeds in the Arctic

The world's largest seed collection is being developed under the permafrost on the Arctic Sea island of Spitzbergen. The tens of thousands of varieties of wheat, corn and beans stored there could even survive a nuclear war. The survival of many crop plant could depend on it.....more

CITY OF DEATH
The Battle for Baghdad

Once the most progressive city in the Arab world, Baghdad has been ravaged by war and bombings. Everyone wants out, but not everyone can afford to leave -- and car bomb explosions are a daily fact of life.......more

Chavez to discount oil for U.S. poor

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez visited a Harlem church Thursday and promised to more than double the amount of discounted heating oil his country ships to needy Americans.....more

Buy Your Gas at Citgo

O'Reilly's Sneak Attack on Bloggers!

Unbeknownst to me, however, the show turned out to be a total set-up job in which host Bill O'Reilly and guest Jed Babbin spent the entire time attacking the web site Media Matters for having posted commentary in the past critical of them both......more

Phyllis Busansky

"Phyllis Busansky is an outstanding leader who I have supported since her very first race for public office. Phyllis cares deeply about the people she represents......Senator Bob Graham

Demonstrators March Against Bush And War
While the lighted sign at Hillsborough Community College flashed a welcome to President Bush, dozens of demonstrators flashed signs of their own.

"If we gave peace a chance in World War II, Hitler would have won!" shouted one driver on Dale Mabry Highway......more

"Keep George Out Of Jail"
Senate Vote Advances President's Effort to Kill War Crimes Act

The 109th Congress, led by Republican Senators McCain, Warner, and Graham and with the acquiescence of many Democrats, is poised to legalize torture, trials with secret evidence, and annulment of the right of habeas corpus. The measure also protects administration officials from prosecution for war crimes. If this measure becomes law, its name will live in infamy......more

Hugo Chavez: An Exclusive Interview

You’d think George Bush would get down on his knees and kiss Hugo Chavez’s behind. Not only has Chavez delivered cheap oil to the Bronx and other poor communities in the United States. And not only did he offer to bring aid to the victims of Katrina.......more

Peace On Earth: Love The Irish

It may be just me, but surely most now are aware that the people of the world are sleep-walking into World War III.....more

Civilian summer death toll in Iraq reaches record high of 6600

THE number of civilians killed in Iraq has reached a record high as a sectarian crisis continues to grip the war-torn country. In July and August, almost 6600 people were killed in violent attacks, which is far greater than initial estimates the United Nations said......more

Toxic shock: How Western rubbish is destroying Africa

Western corporations are exploiting legal loopholes to dump their waste in Africa. And in Ivory Coast, the price has been death and disease for thousands......more

Driving While Muslim

Ali Houssaiky and Osama Abulhassan left their homes in this historic Muslim-American enclave as college students and came home as terrorists. On August 8 Houssaiky and Abulhassan drove to an Ohio Wal-Mart to buy hundreds of cheap cellphones, intending to sell them back to a distributor they knew to earn some extra cash for tuition. The Wal-Mart employee, fearing two young men of Arab heritage were terrorists, called police, who promptly apprehended them......more

Black Men, Asian Women

The hype about interracial television couples is that Americans have moved so far past race they don’t even notice. “Honestly, we really don’t even talk about it or consider that it’s an interracial couple,”said ER’s David Zabel. He claims that a quick look at MTV proves that younger people don’t draw those lines.....more

And it smells of sulfur still today
Chavez Address to the United Nations

Noam Chomsky, one of the most prestigious American and world intellectuals, Noam Chomsky, and this is one of his most recent books,
Hegemony or Survival: The Imperialist Strategy of the United States
It's an excellent book to help us understand what has been happening in the world throughout the 20th century, and what's happening now, and the greatest threat looming over our planet......more

Memo details tensions in election office
Former assistant Hillsborough County Attorney Ken Tinkler describes his rift with Elections Supervisor Buddy Johnson.
The eight-page memo, obtained by the St. Petersburg Times through a public records request, paints a picture of a paranoid elections chief: temperamental in his dealings with subordinates, secretive and sometimes deceitful about his office strategy, distrustful of his highest advisers......more

Profits for Europe, Sludge for Africa

Europe wouldn't take the ship's stinking, poisonous cargo. So it sailed to Africa and dumped the toxic mess into an Ivory Coast lagoon. Just the most recent example of western nations using Africa as a toxic waste dump......more

Thousands demonstrate against Iraq war and against Iran

Thousands of Iraq war protesters marched Tuesday to the United Nations, where President George W. Bush was presenting his vision for the Middle East to skeptical world leaders......more

China: Behind the Great Firewall

Like most people these days, I am looking for the answers to these or other questions on Wikipedia, undoubtedly one of the most frequented Web sites of our time. But unlike most of its users, I first have to activate my browser's proxy server before the world's accumulated knowledge will appear on my computer screen. That is because I currently live in China......more

Bush approval rating rebounds in new poll

Bush's approval rating edged up largely on the strength of Republicans coming back to the fold with 86 percent saying they support him now, compared to 70 percent in May, USA Today said. For the first time since December 2005, a majority of people polled did not say the war in Iraq was a mistake. The respondents were evenly split at 49 percent to 49 percent.......more

Same Poop Different Year

Jack Cafferty discussed the new Time article "What Would War With Iran Look Like" yesterday and questioned the intel reports we are hearing on the nuclear capabilities of Bush’s next target......more

Spin

Out to breakfast with friends this morning, my friend Pat points out the difference in the two headlines here. Same story, different papers. The Times-Union is from Jacksonville and has a reputation of being a conservative paper. The Gainesville Sun... well, I wouldn't say it's conservative generally but it's conservative for the town it comes out of a college town with a long history of progressive politics........more

Drums of War
Are we gearing up to attack Iran?

Noting that recent orders have put U.S. ships on standby in the Persian Gulf, the cover piece weighs the likelihood of war against Iran......more

Texan works to impeach president

Since he arrived in Lawrence a week ago to collect signatures from people who would like to see President Bush impeached, Jim Goodnow has received a mostly positive or at least tolerant response.....more

Democrats gain as November vote nears

Polls show, and politicians from both parties agree, that a steady drip of bad news from Iraq, anger over high fuel prices and a spate of corruption scandals have soured the public's feelings toward the ruling Republicans. President Bush, with his approval rating hovering near 40 percent, does not have the political clout he had in past campaigns......more

Ron Klein 2006

The Top 10 Conservative Idiots, No. 260
click here