PRIVATISATION OF WAR
Village Voice: Rumsfeld Aims to Privatize the Military
WASHINGTON, D.C.—If Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has his way, the vaunted U.S. military of the future will be transformed into what amounts to corporate-owned units. The daffy secretary calls his plan "outsourcing." The intention, he claims, is to put the lid on money going into expanding of the army so it can be diverted to new technologies such as Rummy's favorite hobby, fighting wars from space.
MG: Corporations are Now Biggest Ally of the U.S. in Iraq
Private corporations have penetrated western warfare so deeply that
they are now the second biggest contributor to coalition forces in Iraq
after the Pentagon, a Guardian investigation has established. While the
official coalition figures list the British as the second largest contingent
with around 9 900 troops, they are narrowly outnumbered by the 10,000
private military contractors now on the ground. The investigation has also
discovered that the proportion of contracted security personnel in the
firing line is 10 times greater than during the first Gulf war. In
1991, for every private contractor, there were about 100 servicemen and
women; now there are 10. The private sector is so firmly embedded in combat,
occupation and peacekeeping duties that the phenomenon may have reached
the point of no return: the US military would struggle to wage war without
it.
Friday, December 12, 2003
Thursday, December 11, 2003
GM-FOOD
i-sis: GM Crops Increase Pesticide Use
Proponents claim that GM crops substantially reduce pesticide use, but new evidence shows otherwise. Lim Li Ching reports.
A new report from Dr. Charles Benbrook, director of the Northwest Science and Environmental Policy Center, Idaho, concludes that the 550 million acres of GM corn, soybeans and cotton planted in the US since 1996 has increased pesticide use (herbicides and insecticides) by about 50 million pounds. Benbrook is a respected agricultural economist and was Executive Director of the US National Academy of Sciences Board on Agriculture from 1984 to 1990.
i-sis: GM Crops Increase Pesticide Use
Proponents claim that GM crops substantially reduce pesticide use, but new evidence shows otherwise. Lim Li Ching reports.
A new report from Dr. Charles Benbrook, director of the Northwest Science and Environmental Policy Center, Idaho, concludes that the 550 million acres of GM corn, soybeans and cotton planted in the US since 1996 has increased pesticide use (herbicides and insecticides) by about 50 million pounds. Benbrook is a respected agricultural economist and was Executive Director of the US National Academy of Sciences Board on Agriculture from 1984 to 1990.
MIND CONTROL
Commercial Alert: PUSHING THE BRAIN'S "BUY BUTTON"
Commercial Alert and prominent psychology experts sent a letter
today to Emory University President James Wagner, requesting that
Emory stop conducting neuromarketing experiments on human subjects.
Neuromarketing is a controversial new field of marketing that maps
the brain's activation responses in order prod desires for
particular products. It seeks, in the words of Forbes magazine, to
"find a buy button inside the skull." According to the Commercial
Alert letter, this marketing technique "sounds like something that
could have happened in the former Soviet Union, for the purposes of
behavior control. Yet it is happening right here in America."
Commercial Alert: PUSHING THE BRAIN'S "BUY BUTTON"
Commercial Alert and prominent psychology experts sent a letter
today to Emory University President James Wagner, requesting that
Emory stop conducting neuromarketing experiments on human subjects.
Neuromarketing is a controversial new field of marketing that maps
the brain's activation responses in order prod desires for
particular products. It seeks, in the words of Forbes magazine, to
"find a buy button inside the skull." According to the Commercial
Alert letter, this marketing technique "sounds like something that
could have happened in the former Soviet Union, for the purposes of
behavior control. Yet it is happening right here in America."
PR WWATCH
Observer: DRUG INDUSTRY SPINS MEDICAL JOURNALS THROUGH GHOSTWRITERS
"Hundreds of articles in medical journals claiming to be written by
academics or doctors have been penned by ghostwriters in the pay of
drug companies," the Observer reports. "The journals, bibles of the
profession, have huge influence on which drugs doctors prescribe
and the treatment hospitals provide. But The Observer has uncovered
evidence that many articles written by so-called independent
academics may have been penned by writers working for agencies
which receive huge sums from drug companies to plug their products.
Estimates suggest that almost half of all articles published in
journals are by ghostwriters. While doctors who have put their
names to the papers can be paid handsomely for 'lending' their
reputations, the ghostwriters remain hidden. They, and the
involvement of the pharmaceutical firms, are rarely revealed."
SOURCE: Observer (UK), December 7, 2003
Observer: DRUG INDUSTRY SPINS MEDICAL JOURNALS THROUGH GHOSTWRITERS
"Hundreds of articles in medical journals claiming to be written by
academics or doctors have been penned by ghostwriters in the pay of
drug companies," the Observer reports. "The journals, bibles of the
profession, have huge influence on which drugs doctors prescribe
and the treatment hospitals provide. But The Observer has uncovered
evidence that many articles written by so-called independent
academics may have been penned by writers working for agencies
which receive huge sums from drug companies to plug their products.
Estimates suggest that almost half of all articles published in
journals are by ghostwriters. While doctors who have put their
names to the papers can be paid handsomely for 'lending' their
reputations, the ghostwriters remain hidden. They, and the
involvement of the pharmaceutical firms, are rarely revealed."
SOURCE: Observer (UK), December 7, 2003
Tuesday, December 09, 2003
IRAQI RESISTANCE
Spiegel: Blutiger Dienstag im Irak
Ein schwarzer Tag für die amerikanische Besatzungsmacht: Bei einem Selbstmordanschlag wurden 40 amerikanische Soldaten verletzt, drei US-Soldaten starben bei einem Unfall und drei Zivilisten bei einem Raketenangriff auf eine Moschee in Bagdad. Und dann stürzte bei Falludscha auch noch ein Hubschrauber ab.
Spiegel: Blutiger Dienstag im Irak
Ein schwarzer Tag für die amerikanische Besatzungsmacht: Bei einem Selbstmordanschlag wurden 40 amerikanische Soldaten verletzt, drei US-Soldaten starben bei einem Unfall und drei Zivilisten bei einem Raketenangriff auf eine Moschee in Bagdad. Und dann stürzte bei Falludscha auch noch ein Hubschrauber ab.
JIHAD
Guardian: Jihad Has Worked - The World Is Now Split In Two
Osama bin Laden, two years and three months after the New York and Washington attacks that were part of his jihad against America, appears to be winning. He has lost his base in Afghanistan, as well as many colleagues and fighters, and his communications and finances have been disrupted. He may be buried under rubble in Afghanistan or, as Washington and London assume, be hiding in Pakistan's tribal areas. But from Kandahar to Baghdad, from Istanbul to Riyadh, blood is being shed in the name of Bin Laden's jihad.
On Saturday, a Taliban bomb went off in the bazaar in Kandahar, aimed at US soldiers but wounding 20 Afghan civilians. On the same day, US planes targeted a "known terrorist" in Ghazni, also in Afghanistan, killing nine children. The deaths of the children will not help the US win hearts and minds in Afghanistan, or elsewhere; indeed, they will alienate Muslim opinion worldwide.
There is a tendency in the west to play down - or ignore - the extent of Bin Laden's success. The US and UK governments regard mentioning it as disloyal or heretical. But look back on interviews by Bin Laden in the 1990s to see what he has achieved. He can tick off one of the four objectives he set himself, and, arguably, a second.
"CHECK IT"
Guardian: Jihad Has Worked - The World Is Now Split In Two
Osama bin Laden, two years and three months after the New York and Washington attacks that were part of his jihad against America, appears to be winning. He has lost his base in Afghanistan, as well as many colleagues and fighters, and his communications and finances have been disrupted. He may be buried under rubble in Afghanistan or, as Washington and London assume, be hiding in Pakistan's tribal areas. But from Kandahar to Baghdad, from Istanbul to Riyadh, blood is being shed in the name of Bin Laden's jihad.
On Saturday, a Taliban bomb went off in the bazaar in Kandahar, aimed at US soldiers but wounding 20 Afghan civilians. On the same day, US planes targeted a "known terrorist" in Ghazni, also in Afghanistan, killing nine children. The deaths of the children will not help the US win hearts and minds in Afghanistan, or elsewhere; indeed, they will alienate Muslim opinion worldwide.
There is a tendency in the west to play down - or ignore - the extent of Bin Laden's success. The US and UK governments regard mentioning it as disloyal or heretical. But look back on interviews by Bin Laden in the 1990s to see what he has achieved. He can tick off one of the four objectives he set himself, and, arguably, a second.
"CHECK IT"
IRAQI RESISTANCE
Google.News: 31 US Soldiers Wounded In Iraq Car-Bombing
BAGHDAD -- Thirty-one U.S. soldiers were wounded when a car bomb exploded at the entrance to their base in a northern Iraq town Tuesday, the U.S. Army said.
Major Trey Cate of the 101st Airborne said soldiers at the base in Tal Afar, west of the city of Mosul, fired on the vehicle when it failed to stop at an entry point. The vehicle then detonated, he said, adding that it appeared to be a suicide bombing.
Google.News: 31 US Soldiers Wounded In Iraq Car-Bombing
BAGHDAD -- Thirty-one U.S. soldiers were wounded when a car bomb exploded at the entrance to their base in a northern Iraq town Tuesday, the U.S. Army said.
Major Trey Cate of the 101st Airborne said soldiers at the base in Tal Afar, west of the city of Mosul, fired on the vehicle when it failed to stop at an entry point. The vehicle then detonated, he said, adding that it appeared to be a suicide bombing.
IRAQ
Washington Post: South Korean engineers quit Iraq
BAGHDAD, Dec. 7 — A week after two of their colleagues were killed in
an ambush, the remaining contingent of 60 South Korean contract engineers
and technicians working for the U.S. government on a project north of the
capital has decided to leave the country.
IT IS THE largest known withdrawal of contractors over security
issues and follows a week of confrontations between the workers and
their managers that culminated with yelling and punches Sunday afternoon.
The decision by the men, who were working to fix electrical power lines, is
likely to delay one of Iraq’s most critical reconstruction projects.
The workers are subcontractors for the Washington Group International Inc.,
a construction firm based in Boise, Idaho, that has a $110 million
contract with the Army Corps of Engineers to repair sections of Iraq’s power
grid.
Washington Post: South Korean engineers quit Iraq
BAGHDAD, Dec. 7 — A week after two of their colleagues were killed in
an ambush, the remaining contingent of 60 South Korean contract engineers
and technicians working for the U.S. government on a project north of the
capital has decided to leave the country.
IT IS THE largest known withdrawal of contractors over security
issues and follows a week of confrontations between the workers and
their managers that culminated with yelling and punches Sunday afternoon.
The decision by the men, who were working to fix electrical power lines, is
likely to delay one of Iraq’s most critical reconstruction projects.
The workers are subcontractors for the Washington Group International Inc.,
a construction firm based in Boise, Idaho, that has a $110 million
contract with the Army Corps of Engineers to repair sections of Iraq’s power
grid.
RUSSIA
Stuff.nz: Putin party heads for triumph
MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin's allies are heading for overwhelming
electoral victory, crushing communist and liberal opponents in a parliamentary poll that could change the political landscape of Russia. The Communist Party called the polls a farce and accused the Kremlin of
fraud. Liberal party leaders, facing political oblivion, said the vote
concentrated too much power in the hands of the pro-Kremlin United
Russia and of nationalists. "We will have an entirely different political
picture in Russia," said Boris Nemtsov, whose pro-business Union of Right-Wing
Forces (SPS) may scrape only a few seats in the Duma lower house.
Stuff.nz: Putin party heads for triumph
MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin's allies are heading for overwhelming
electoral victory, crushing communist and liberal opponents in a parliamentary poll that could change the political landscape of Russia. The Communist Party called the polls a farce and accused the Kremlin of
fraud. Liberal party leaders, facing political oblivion, said the vote
concentrated too much power in the hands of the pro-Kremlin United
Russia and of nationalists. "We will have an entirely different political
picture in Russia," said Boris Nemtsov, whose pro-business Union of Right-Wing
Forces (SPS) may scrape only a few seats in the Duma lower house.
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
Alternet: UN Assembly asks for court ruling on Israeli wall
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 8 (Reuters) - The U.N. General Assembly on Monday voted in favor of a Palestinian-initiated resolution asking the International Court of Justice whether Israel is legally obligated to tear down its separation barrier.
The vote was 90 to 8 with 74 abstentions, with the United States and Israel among those voting "no." The European Union and associated states abstained.
Arab nations asked for the emergency session after U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan reported on Nov. 28 that building the barrier into the West Bank was causing serious harm to Palestinians. He said Israel had a right to defend its citizens but that duty should not contradict international law.
Alternet: UN Assembly asks for court ruling on Israeli wall
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 8 (Reuters) - The U.N. General Assembly on Monday voted in favor of a Palestinian-initiated resolution asking the International Court of Justice whether Israel is legally obligated to tear down its separation barrier.
The vote was 90 to 8 with 74 abstentions, with the United States and Israel among those voting "no." The European Union and associated states abstained.
Arab nations asked for the emergency session after U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan reported on Nov. 28 that building the barrier into the West Bank was causing serious harm to Palestinians. He said Israel had a right to defend its citizens but that duty should not contradict international law.
USA ARMY
LA TIMES: Four Returning Army Divisions to Reduce Readiness
Pentagon says it's taking 'a manageable risk' by giving battle-worn troops and equipment up to six months to be combat-ready again
WASHINGTON — Its equipment and troops battered from fighting in Iraq, the Army will allow four of its divisions returning from overseas to fall to readiness levels that would make them not fully combat-ready for as long as six months, a senior Army official said Friday.
The divisions — which together make up more than 100,000 soldiers, 40% of the Army's combat troops — are reeling from yearlong deployments fighting first a war, then a counterinsurgency, that have wreaked havoc with everything from tank treads to helicopter rotors to nerves.
By permitting the divisions to, in effect, drop their guard and recharge, the Pentagon is taking a calculated risk that it won't be forced to fight a war with a major adversary like North Korea on short notice. Not since the all-volunteer military was established in 1973 has the Army allowed so many of its units to fall to such low readiness levels.
"We have a nonnegotiable contract with the U.S. people that our Army will always be ready to fight and win its wars," said the senior Army official who briefed a small group of reporters on the plans Friday on condition of anonymity, after the Army's plan was disclosed in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday. "But this is a fact of life. What we are seeing now is the operational tempo of our Army is going to require time to reset our equipment, reset our training, reset our soldiers so we can build this Army back up."
LA TIMES: Four Returning Army Divisions to Reduce Readiness
Pentagon says it's taking 'a manageable risk' by giving battle-worn troops and equipment up to six months to be combat-ready again
WASHINGTON — Its equipment and troops battered from fighting in Iraq, the Army will allow four of its divisions returning from overseas to fall to readiness levels that would make them not fully combat-ready for as long as six months, a senior Army official said Friday.
The divisions — which together make up more than 100,000 soldiers, 40% of the Army's combat troops — are reeling from yearlong deployments fighting first a war, then a counterinsurgency, that have wreaked havoc with everything from tank treads to helicopter rotors to nerves.
By permitting the divisions to, in effect, drop their guard and recharge, the Pentagon is taking a calculated risk that it won't be forced to fight a war with a major adversary like North Korea on short notice. Not since the all-volunteer military was established in 1973 has the Army allowed so many of its units to fall to such low readiness levels.
"We have a nonnegotiable contract with the U.S. people that our Army will always be ready to fight and win its wars," said the senior Army official who briefed a small group of reporters on the plans Friday on condition of anonymity, after the Army's plan was disclosed in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday. "But this is a fact of life. What we are seeing now is the operational tempo of our Army is going to require time to reset our equipment, reset our training, reset our soldiers so we can build this Army back up."
BUSINESS
NY TIMES: Is Wal-Mart good for America?
The annual celebration of the American consumer economy - the holiday
shopping season - is just underway, and Wal-Mart, the juggernaut of
retailing, already seems to have claimed its first victim. The corporate
owner of F.A.O. Schwarz stores said last week that it would file for
bankruptcy. Bemoaning the news, analysts explained that the F.A.O.
Schwarz formula of selling premium-priced toys in sumptuous surroundings could
not withstand the steady advance of Wal-Mart into the toy business. "Will
Wal-Mart Steal Christmas?" asked a Time magazine headline
NY TIMES: Is Wal-Mart good for America?
The annual celebration of the American consumer economy - the holiday
shopping season - is just underway, and Wal-Mart, the juggernaut of
retailing, already seems to have claimed its first victim. The corporate
owner of F.A.O. Schwarz stores said last week that it would file for
bankruptcy. Bemoaning the news, analysts explained that the F.A.O.
Schwarz formula of selling premium-priced toys in sumptuous surroundings could
not withstand the steady advance of Wal-Mart into the toy business. "Will
Wal-Mart Steal Christmas?" asked a Time magazine headline
USA: BUSH GANG
Reuter: Perle Failed To Disclose Financial Ties To Boeing
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pentagon adviser Richard Perle came under fire on Friday for failing to disclose financial ties to Boeing Co., even while championing its bid for a controversial $20 billion-plus defense contract.
Perle co-wrote a guest column in The Wall Street Journal newspaper this summer praising the plan to lease then buy 100 modified refueling planes, a year after Boeing committed to invest up to $20 million in Trireme Partners, a New York venture capital fund in which Perle is a principal.
"If ever there were an argument that traditional business practices are ill-suited for defense 'transformation', the saga of the tanker-leasing proposal would count as People's Exhibit A," Perle and a colleague wrote in the Journal on Aug. 14.
"It stinks to high heaven," said Keith Ashdown of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a Washington-based federal budget watchdog group, of Perle's failure to disclose his ties to Boeing in the Wall Street Journal piece.
Boeing acknowledged in a recently released internal e-mail that it ghost-wrote several opinion pieces by prominent figures in favor of leasing tankers rather than buying them outright, as has been standard weapons-procurement policy. "Manche Journalisten und Kommentatoren sind nicht als Konzern-Nutten"
Reuter: Perle Failed To Disclose Financial Ties To Boeing
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pentagon adviser Richard Perle came under fire on Friday for failing to disclose financial ties to Boeing Co.
Perle co-wrote a guest column in The Wall Street Journal newspaper this summer praising the plan to lease then buy 100 modified refueling planes, a year after Boeing committed to invest up to $20 million in Trireme Partners, a New York venture capital fund in which Perle is a principal.
"If ever there were an argument that traditional business practices are ill-suited for defense 'transformation', the saga of the tanker-leasing proposal would count as People's Exhibit A," Perle and a colleague wrote in the Journal on Aug. 14.
"It stinks to high heaven," said Keith Ashdown of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a Washington-based federal budget watchdog group, of Perle's failure to disclose his ties to Boeing in the Wall Street Journal piece.
Boeing acknowledged in a recently released internal e-mail that it ghost-wrote several opinion pieces by prominent figures in favor of leasing tankers rather than buying them outright, as has been standard weapons-procurement policy. "Manche Journalisten und Kommentatoren sind nicht als Konzern-Nutten"
IRAQI RESISTANCE: SAMARRA
Independent: A bloody victory or dangerous fantasy? The true story of the battle of Samarra
Nearly a week has elapsed since the American military issued the
startling claim - puzzling even some within its own ranks - that its troops
killed 54 guerrillas during running gunfights in the Sunni town of Samarra.
Official versions described how dozens of Fedayeen guerrillas wearing
red or black chequered headscarves and dark shirts and trousers attacked
troops in the bloodiest engagement since the US-led occupation of Iraq last
April - and lost.
Repeated visits to the scene, interviews with Iraqi civilians and US
soldiers, and close inspection of the battle damage by scores of
correspondents have failed to eliminate several troubling and crucial
questions. Where are the bodies? Did they exist? Or was this death toll
- as some suspect - a fabrication which was intended to generate positive
headlines for the US, after a disastrous weekend in which guerrilla
attacks killed 14 foreigners, including seven Spanish intelligence officers?
Independent: A bloody victory or dangerous fantasy? The true story of the battle of Samarra
Nearly a week has elapsed since the American military issued the
startling claim - puzzling even some within its own ranks - that its troops
killed 54 guerrillas during running gunfights in the Sunni town of Samarra.
Official versions described how dozens of Fedayeen guerrillas wearing
red or black chequered headscarves and dark shirts and trousers attacked
troops in the bloodiest engagement since the US-led occupation of Iraq last
April - and lost.
Repeated visits to the scene, interviews with Iraqi civilians and US
soldiers, and close inspection of the battle damage by scores of
correspondents have failed to eliminate several troubling and crucial
questions. Where are the bodies? Did they exist? Or was this death toll
- as some suspect - a fabrication which was intended to generate positive
headlines for the US, after a disastrous weekend in which guerrilla
attacks killed 14 foreigners, including seven Spanish intelligence officers?
MEDICAL SCIENCE
Independent: Glaxo chief: Our drugs do not work on most patients
A senior executive with Britain's biggest drugs company has admitted that most prescription medicines do not work on most people who take them.
Allen Roses, worldwide vice-president of genetics at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), said fewer than half of the patients prescribed some of the most expensive drugs actually derived any benefit from them.
It is an open secret within the drugs industry that most of its products are ineffective in most patients but this is the first time that such a senior drugs boss has gone public. His comments come days after it emerged that the NHS drugs bill has soared by nearly 50 per cent in three years, rising by £2.3bn a year to an annual cost to the taxpayer of £7.2bn. GSK announced last week that it had 20 or more new drugs under development that could each earn the company up to $1bn (£600m) a year.
Independent: Glaxo chief: Our drugs do not work on most patients
A senior executive with Britain's biggest drugs company has admitted that most prescription medicines do not work on most people who take them.
Allen Roses, worldwide vice-president of genetics at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), said fewer than half of the patients prescribed some of the most expensive drugs actually derived any benefit from them.
It is an open secret within the drugs industry that most of its products are ineffective in most patients but this is the first time that such a senior drugs boss has gone public. His comments come days after it emerged that the NHS drugs bill has soared by nearly 50 per cent in three years, rising by £2.3bn a year to an annual cost to the taxpayer of £7.2bn. GSK announced last week that it had 20 or more new drugs under development that could each earn the company up to $1bn (£600m) a year.
Monday, December 08, 2003
GRAFFITI
BBC: French 'love' artist discovered
France has solved the mystery of the graffiti artist who has been covering the walls of its capital city with the word Amour, or Love, for months.
The word has been appearing up to 100 times a night only to be removed by Paris street cleaners the next evening.
Liberation newspaper finally located its author, unemployed artist Jean-Luc Duez, 54, through the internet
BBC: French 'love' artist discovered
France has solved the mystery of the graffiti artist who has been covering the walls of its capital city with the word Amour, or Love, for months.
The word has been appearing up to 100 times a night only to be removed by Paris street cleaners the next evening.
Liberation newspaper finally located its author, unemployed artist Jean-Luc Duez, 54, through the internet
SCIENCE
Guardian: 'We Can Implant Entirely False Memories'
You were abducted by aliens, you saw Bugs Bunny at Disneyland,
and then you went up in a balloon. Didn't you?
Alan Alda had nothing against hard-boiled eggs until last spring. Then the actor, better known as Hawkeye from M*A*S*H, paid a visit to the University of California, Irvine. In his new guise as host of a science series on American TV, he was exploring the subject of memory. The researchers showed him round, and afterwards took him for a picnic in the park. By the time he came to leave, he had developed a dislike of hard-boiled eggs based on a memory of having made himself sick on them as a child - something that never happened.
Alda was the unwitting guinea pig of Elizabeth Loftus, a UCI psychologist who has been obsessed with the subject of memory and its unreliability since Richard Nixon was sworn in as president. Early on in her research, she would invite people into her lab, show them simulated traffic accidents, feed them false information and leading questions, and find that they subsequently recalled details of the scene differently - a finding that has since been replicated hundreds of times.
Guardian: 'We Can Implant Entirely False Memories'
You were abducted by aliens, you saw Bugs Bunny at Disneyland,
and then you went up in a balloon. Didn't you?
Alan Alda had nothing against hard-boiled eggs until last spring. Then the actor, better known as Hawkeye from M*A*S*H, paid a visit to the University of California, Irvine. In his new guise as host of a science series on American TV, he was exploring the subject of memory. The researchers showed him round, and afterwards took him for a picnic in the park. By the time he came to leave, he had developed a dislike of hard-boiled eggs based on a memory of having made himself sick on them as a child - something that never happened.
Alda was the unwitting guinea pig of Elizabeth Loftus, a UCI psychologist who has been obsessed with the subject of memory and its unreliability since Richard Nixon was sworn in as president. Early on in her research, she would invite people into her lab, show them simulated traffic accidents, feed them false information and leading questions, and find that they subsequently recalled details of the scene differently - a finding that has since been replicated hundreds of times.
MEDIA WATCH USA
The Memory Hole: The US Terrorism Plot That the Media Ignores
In May 2003, white supremacists in Texas were caught with a sodium cyanide bomb, other bombs, illegal weapons, hate literature, fake I.D., and chemicals, including hydrochloric acid and nitric acid. In mid-November, three people pleaded guilty to related charges, while seized documents indicate that there are other co-conspirators at large. The feds have served "hundreds of subpoenas across the country," and the plot has been included in the President's daily intelligence briefings.
But most of us have never heard about it. The only media that saw fit to report about this terrorist plot within the US were a few newspapers and TV stations in Texas. The Web-based news outlet WorldNetDaily ran a story about it, but Google News shows that there hasn't been a word in the New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, or any other big media outlet. Why have the media decided that this is a non-story? It's hard to say, but we can say with certainty that if Muslims had been caught with these weapons of mass destruction, fake I.D., gas masks, and books on making explosives, it would've been front-page news for days.
Below, we've collected every article about this ignored plot that we could find. All images come from CBS 11 in Dallas/Fort Worth.
The Memory Hole: The US Terrorism Plot That the Media Ignores
In May 2003, white supremacists in Texas were caught with a sodium cyanide bomb, other bombs, illegal weapons, hate literature, fake I.D., and chemicals, including hydrochloric acid and nitric acid. In mid-November, three people pleaded guilty to related charges, while seized documents indicate that there are other co-conspirators at large. The feds have served "hundreds of subpoenas across the country," and the plot has been included in the President's daily intelligence briefings.
But most of us have never heard about it. The only media that saw fit to report about this terrorist plot within the US were a few newspapers and TV stations in Texas. The Web-based news outlet WorldNetDaily ran a story about it, but Google News shows that there hasn't been a word in the New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, or any other big media outlet. Why have the media decided that this is a non-story? It's hard to say, but we can say with certainty that if Muslims had been caught with these weapons of mass destruction, fake I.D., gas masks, and books on making explosives, it would've been front-page news for days.
Below, we've collected every article about this ignored plot that we could find. All images come from CBS 11 in Dallas/Fort Worth.
IRAQ
Progressiv: Rigging Iraq's Elections
Ever since Bush was unable to unearth a single weapon of mass destruction in Iraq, he has shifted propaganda gears and talked more about how U.S. troops are installing democracy in Iraq.
But the truth of the matter is, Bush doesn't want any old democracy in Iraq.
He only wants a so-called democracy if he can pick the head of the new government .
That's why he's resisting the call from Iraq's leading Shiite cleric to hold popular elections in June.
The Bush Administration fears that a direct election would bring a Shiite to power whom Washington might not be able to push around. That leader could align with Iran, or renationalize industries, or order the U.S. troops out. And Bush wants none of that.
Progressiv: Rigging Iraq's Elections
Ever since Bush was unable to unearth a single weapon of mass destruction in Iraq, he has shifted propaganda gears and talked more about how U.S. troops are installing democracy in Iraq.
But the truth of the matter is, Bush doesn't want any old democracy in Iraq.
He only wants a so-called democracy if he can pick the head of the new government .
That's why he's resisting the call from Iraq's leading Shiite cleric to hold popular elections in June.
The Bush Administration fears that a direct election would bring a Shiite to power whom Washington might not be able to push around. That leader could align with Iran, or renationalize industries, or order the U.S. troops out. And Bush wants none of that.
RUSSIA
London Telegraph: Putin Takes Control Of
Parliament - Rules Like Czar
President Vladimir Putin took control of the Russian parliament last night, removing the last effective bastion of opposition to his rule and paving the way for him to assume Tsar-like power.
Exit polls last night gave United Russia, the president's party, 37 per cent of the vote, the Communists 15 per cent and Vladimir Zhirinovsky's Liberal Democrats 12 per cent. Rodina, a new nationalist party, was predicted to have won nine per cent.
This would give Mr Putin's party and its allies about 58 per cent of the vote and return Russia to an era of single-party dominance after 12 years of vibrant, if corrupt, democracy.
"Schlimmer als Amerika ist Russland noch nicht. Mr. Bush und seine Republikanischen Freunde haben auch soviel Macht wie Putin"
London Telegraph: Putin Takes Control Of
Parliament - Rules Like Czar
President Vladimir Putin took control of the Russian parliament last night, removing the last effective bastion of opposition to his rule and paving the way for him to assume Tsar-like power.
Exit polls last night gave United Russia, the president's party, 37 per cent of the vote, the Communists 15 per cent and Vladimir Zhirinovsky's Liberal Democrats 12 per cent. Rodina, a new nationalist party, was predicted to have won nine per cent.
This would give Mr Putin's party and its allies about 58 per cent of the vote and return Russia to an era of single-party dominance after 12 years of vibrant, if corrupt, democracy.
"Schlimmer als Amerika ist Russland noch nicht. Mr. Bush und seine Republikanischen Freunde haben auch soviel Macht wie Putin"
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