Socialist senator makes US history

"Anybody read your website?" he asks the BBC brusquely at the beginning of an interview ahead of taking his seat in the Senate. Assured that millions do, he says: "OK, let's talk to them.".......more

Howard Dean in December 2003: The US is No Safer with Saddam in Captivity than Before. And Now?

Dean's candidacy catapulted to near coronation by an otherwise disdainful media corps precisely because he alone of any major candidate opposed the war from the outset. He gained unflinching grassroots support that translated into historic amounts of money, nearly all from small donors, because he literally spoke truth to power. Most regrettably, this weekend's confluence of Saddam's execution with passing the 3,000 mark in the number of American soldiers dead in Iraq proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Dean was right three years ago. At the time Dean made his much-criticized remark, about 500 American's had died in Iraq. Five times that many have died since.......more

Darfur, Uganda and the U.S. campaign to destabilize Sudan

In a little publicized speech earlier this year to the conservative think tank Freedom House, President George Bush had this to say when asked about U.S. efforts to end the unfolding tragedy in Darfur: “We [himself and Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo] talked about the need for a parallel track [a parallel track to the fighting in Darfur], a peace process that needs to go forward, that there needs to be unity amongst the rebel groups,” he said. This seems a strange means by which to achieve peace in Darfur, creating unity between the rebel organizations and isolating the national government. A more fair and realistic approach would be to engage both the government and rebels to negotiate solutions to common grievances......more

Help stop the genocide in Darfur!

Wal-Mart hosts Communist Party

US retail giant Wal-Mart has set up a new branch of the Communist Party at its China headquarters after allowing unions to operate in its stores earlier this year......more

Kucinich for president 2008
kucinich.us
YouTube

2006: A Deadly Year For Journalists

A new report from the Committee to Protect Journalists found that at least 55 journalists were killed this year in direct connection to their work. The most violent country was Iraq where 32 journalists lost their lives......more

3,000 US servicemen and women have been killed by a war that was declared "accomplished" in May 2003.

North Koreans Hail Rise of 'Dear Leader' Kim Jong-il

Why does the Kim Jong-il regime starve its population in order to build nuclear weapons and feed its military? According to this tribute to Kim Jong-il published by the country's state-controlled newspaper, the threat of a 'U.S. imperialist attack' means nuclear weapons and a strong military are absolutely essential......more

The Juche Idea

A BARBARIAN'S BARBARIC END

The fate of Saddam, as a person, is trivial. We wish he had been tried in an Iraq where democracy and the rule of law prevail. We wish his trial had been a signal of the victory of justice and the end of injustice, tyranny and totalitarianism......more

A bitter family saga is at an end

“I don’t think the public would stand for it.”

It was ill-advised for Ford to utter these nine words. To even intimate a commitment not to pardon at that early date was inappropriate if there was even a possibility that he would later feel compelled to do so......more

Most Outrageous Right Wing Comments of 2006

The offensive, the senseless, the bigoted, the inaccurate: a year in right-wing nuttery.....more

2,996, Do I Hear 3,000

Armed Forces Relief Trust

"It's a success that hasn't occurred yet."

Homeland Security Advisor Frances Fragos Townsend, on why Osama bin Laden hasn't been captured

Say it loud, I'm black and I'm proud

Thousands Mourn James Brown At Apollo

Thousands of people danced and sang in the streets outside the Apollo Theater on Thursday in raucous celebration of the music legend's life as his body was displayed to the public on the stage where he made his 1956 debut. Music thumped from storefronts and portable stereos. Brown's wails and growls even blasted inside the auditorium as fans marched quietly, single-file past his open gold coffin.....more

President John Edwards

Join the Campaign

Ethiopia invades Somalia

On December 26, US State Department spokeswoman Janelle Hironimus described Ethiopia’s illegal attack as a response to “aggression” by Islamists and an attempt to stem the flow of outside arms shipments to them. Washington was also concerned about reports that the Islamists were using child soldiers and abusing Ethiopian prisoners of war, she added......more

Best cover of the year goes to Esquire Magazine
click here

Sean Penn blasts George W Bush

Sean Penn astonished audience members when he called for the accusation of Us President George W Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney and used the words "blow job" and "c*m stain" during a controversial acceptance speech on Dec 18 this year, as Femalefirst reports......more

Howard Dean made it pay — and then some

As candidates prepare for the 2008 presidential campaign, the Internet is the new Main Street. An estimated 70 percent of adults in the United States travel the digital highway, still a cheap and largely unregulated medium......more

Needed In Storrs: A College Town
UConn launches a plan to build one from scratch

The project exemplifies the growing interest of colleges and universities in their surrounding communities. Many have realized that a building boom of dormitories, student centers and libraries isn't enough. Students don't want an “ivory tower” experience; they want to be part of broader communities that offer commerce, culture and cuisine.......more

Are The Blinders Finally Coming Off?

There seems to be a fear setting in amongst Republicans and pundits that what those of us on the left have been saying for years, just might be true. Namely that this President is crazy! He is an End Times believer and an ideologue and he is in charge of our foreign policy! It’s about time they started questioning his fitness to lead this country......more

Death Count 2,972 This Christmas Day 2006

6 U.S. Troops Die in Bloody Iraq Weekend

Some 12,000 Iraqi policemen have been killed since the ouster of Saddam Hussein, the country's interior minister said Sunday, as clashes, a suicide bomber and weekend explosions killed more than a dozen Iraqi officers and six American soldiers......more

RIP: James Brown

Surging into the Abyss

It now looks like the administration has adopted the surge strategy as its mantra. Simply put it means no new political road map for Iraq in place of the “national unity government” formula that has so far failed has not delivered on the insurgency but has managed to alienated the Shias, and has actually caused more rather than less sectarian violence since the U.S. adopted it.......more

New Poll: Hillary Over McCain

A new poll from Newsweek has some interesting data on Hillary Clinton's electability. According to the poll, Hillary beats John McCain 50 to 43 percent, squeaks by Rudy Giuliani 48 to 47 percent and trounces Mitt Romney, 58 to 32 percent. Her presumptive rival, Barack Obama, narrowly loses to McCain and Giuliani but thumps Romney as well, 55 to 25 percent.....more

Noam Chomsky on Creating Another World in a Time of War, Empire and Devastation

World-renowned scholar and linguist Noam Chomsky spoke this weekend at an event sponsored by Massachusetts Global Action. The event titled, "What's Next? Creating Another World in a Time of War, Empire and Devastation" was held at the Emmanuel Church in Boston. Chomsky, who is a professor of Linguistics at MIT, returned from Latin America in October. He talked about the recent elections in the region, which have brought leftist, governments to power that are challenging U.S foreign policy. Chomsky also spoke about Iraq and Iran in the context of Latin America.....more

The U.S. Has a History of Using Torture

In April 2004, Americans were stunned when CBS broadcast those now-notorious photographs from Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, showing hooded Iraqis stripped naked while U.S. soldiers stood by smiling. As this scandal grabbed headlines around the globe, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld insisted that the abuses were "perpetrated by a small number of U.S. military......more

They Wash the Homeless people's feet

A Witness To What Faith Can Be

Something radical is happening every Friday night where homeless people congregate downtown under the Burnside Bridge. Car and vanloads of Christian volunteers swoop in with sleeping bags and coats to protect their dispossessed friends against the raw, wet weather that has moved in. They dispense hot meals and set up stations for shaves and haircuts. While a few pull out guitars and strike up their Jesus-themed songs, a small number of the volunteers commit one of the more audacious acts of compassion and humility I have ever witnessed......more

Bridgetown Ministries

Screen every child in school for mental illnesses

Pres. Bush has commissioned the mental health field to screen every child in school AND PRE-SCHOOL for mental illnesses. Once in the mental health system, they are given drugs that are NOT FDA approved for kids, mainly anti-depressants. I'm a nurse and I can tell you that these new drugs they are NOW giving these kids CAUSE suicidal and homicidal behaviors. I have a study in my hand that says they are targeting the MEDICAID children. From the year 2000 to 2005, there was an increase of 528% in these drugs given to Medicaid children. Almost 60,000 just in Florida alone. So, this cause will affect your future if it's continued. The way they get into schools is through TeenScreen mental health screening. We can stop the government from doing this by signing the petition below.

Go to this website and sign this on-line petition:
http://www.petitiononline.com/TScreen/petition.html

Also visit: www.nurses4humanrights.org

Bill defies Bush, visits Syria

In a direct affront to the Bush administration, a Democratic senator spent an hour Wednesday with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus, emerging from the meeting to say Assad was willing to help control the Iraq-Syrian border.....more

Meet: Maj. Megan McClung

A roadside bomb killed her a month before coming home

She was known for sprinting along the Tigris River in Iraq, competing in a triathlon in Brazil and doing a back flip in North Carolina to prove to police she was sober.With her copper-red hair, athletic ability and sense of humor, Maj. Megan McClung was a memorable figure to the troops and journalists she worked with as a Marine Corps public affairs officer......more

America Loses Another War
Iraq: a shameful ass-whupping, or just a pathetic trouncing? Ugly disgrace? Choices, choices

The good news is, we're all back in harmony. All back on the same page. No more divisiveness and no more silly bickering and no more nasty and indignant red state/blue state rock throwing because we're finally all back in cozy let's-hug-it-out agreement: The "war" in Iraq is over. And what's more, we lost. Very, very badly......more

Clueless

Pinochet's grandson kicked out of army

The grandson of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet was booted out of the army today for criticising the judiciary in a highly politicised speech at his grandfather's funeral. In his funeral speech, the younger Pinochet described his grandfather as "a man who, at the height of the Cold War, defeated the Marxist government which tried to impose its totalitarian model, not through the ballot box, but through direct use of force."......more

The Fall of the Mighty Dollar

Is an end of an era looming in the foreign exchange markets? The dollar has been depreciating against the euro for weeks. Currency experts and the German government don't yet see this as cause for alarm. The US currency's role as a lead currency isn't as important as it used to be, they say......more

Blame the Iraqis and run

As George W. Bush agonises over which bits of last week’s Baker-Hamilton re­port to adopt for his forthcoming “new way forward in Iraq” announcement, an­other consensus is emerging in Washington on how to handle the situation: blame the Iraqis.....more

December 10, 2006: Human Rights and Impeachment (Prison) Day
here

European Left see better ties with US after Democrat win

The chairman of the national committee of the US Democratic Party, Howard Dean, told the gathering his party now "has a say" in US policy and wants to restore close political ties with Europe. "It is time for the US to renew its ties with the rest of the world. It is time for us to treat our allies with respect and honesty," he said to applause from participants.......more

A New Game

If you’re like me, you’ve got a wingnut friend or two that persists in trying to “convert you” by sending you foolish spam emails and chain letters. Sometimes the emails aren’t so bad - I got one from a devout Christain friend the other day that spoke of respect for the troops during the holidays. Jingoistic? Sure… But it was touching, nonetheless......more

The Dixie Chicks Earn Five Grammy Nominations

Album Of The Year, Song Of The Year, Best Country Album........more

The idea that anyone should be penalized for criticizing the president is sad and profoundly un-American.”.........Harvey Weinstein

Changes Are Expected in Voting by 2008 Election

By the 2008 presidential election, voters around the country are likely to see sweeping changes in how they cast their ballots and how those ballots are counted, including an end to the use of most electronic voting machines without a paper trail, federal voting officials and legislators say......more

Dean calls for another election in District 13

"You cannot seat someone if you don't have an election that's valid," Dean said in a taped interview scheduled to air Sunday on Bay News 9, Tampa Bay's cable news channel......more

George Bush "in denial"

"Make no mistake about it, sir, I understand how bad it is, I talk to the families who die," Mr Bush went on, leaning forward past his podium to hammer home his point with a string of trademark malapropisms......more

Are Saudis funding Iraq terror?

Report says millions sent to Sunni insurgents for weapons

Private Saudi citizens are giving millions of dollars to Sunni insurgents in Iraq and much of the money is used to buy weapons, according to Iraqi officials and The U.S. Iraq Study Group report said Saudis are a source of funding for Sunni Arab insurgents. Several truck drivers interviewed by reporters described carrying boxes of cash from Saudi Arabia into Iraq, money they said was headed for insurgents.......more

Al Gore:

"The worst strategic mistake in the history of the United States.”

I would urge the president not to — to try to separate out the personal issues of being blamed in history for this mistake and instead recognize it’s not about him. It’s about our country and we all have to find a way to get our troops home and to prevent a regional conflagration there.....more

All the President's men are down to one

They were all this President's men - Cheney and Rummy and Wolfie and Bolton - neoconservatives, hard-line conservatives, iron-fisted conservatives, unyielding conservatives. Once they were not only The Untouchables but also The Unbudgeables. Now there is only one.....more

Wealth distribution disparity growing

The richest 2 percent of adults still owns more than half of the world's household wealth, perpetuating a yawning global gap between rich and poor, according to research published Tuesday by the Helsinki-based World Institute for Development Economics Research.....more

Why Are Folks So Afraid of John McCain?

With John McCain sporting a fairly robust level of popularity, scoring a 57.7 out of 100 in Quinnipiac's national thermometer (third highest overall) and maintaining a favorable/unfavorable ratio of between 2-to-1 and 2.5-to-1, there are more than a few people -- even on this side of the aisle -- who believe that it is all but a foregone conclusion that the senior Senator from Arizona will become the 44th President of the United States.....more

Delaware underdogs find strength
America's tradition of dissent unites disparate voices into powerful force for change

In Delaware, a woman raised by a Methodist minister and who runs an organization working for peace stands alongside an intellectual raised by a blacklisted union organizer who argues for inclusion and neighborhood revitalization for Wilmington's African-American community......more

Video is a window into a terror suspect's isolation

One spring day during his three and a half years as an enemy combatant, Jose Padilla experienced a break from the monotony of his solitary confinement in a bare cell in the brig at the Naval Weapons Station in Charleston, South Carolina.....more

Cuba To Celebrate Failed Revolution

Communist Cuba's military is rolling out its olive green Soviet-era hardware this weekend, summoning 300,000 troops and citizen soldiers for a show of strength in times made uncertain by Fidel Castro's illness. "These Arms Will Never Bow Down Before the Empire!" the red letters of an eight-story-high banner proclaimed Friday from the side of the National Library facing the plaza.....more

WMNF: Holiday Bazaar Music & Book Sale
December 2, 2006 10am - 5pm
Cuban Club, Ybor City

Irish Ban ‘Guantanamo Express’

THE plane sometimes referred to as the ‘Guantanamo Express’, used by the CIA to transport kidnapped suspects to secret jails, has been banned from landing at Irish airports in future, Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern told a European Parliament committee......more

29 November 2006 McDowell rejects claim on 'rendition' flights

Menu for this year's White House holiday receptions

As the president flies back from his summit on the war -- the one that will have claimed the lives of more than 3,000 Americans by Christmas -- the Office of the First Lady is distributing the menu for this year's White House holiday receptions....here

"The time of war is a time of sacrifice."