Big News!! Sharon's Coalition Gov't Falls Apart!! Israeli Labor Party Members Resign!! Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's broad-based coalition collapsed Wednesday when Cabinet ministers from the moderate Labor Party resigned in a dispute over funding for Jewish settlements, threatening to push Israel into a bitter election. 10/31

Bush Knew: Harken Board was told of risks before Bush stock sale. Harken memo went to SEC after probe. e week before George W. Bush's now-famous sale of stock in Harken Energy Corp. in 1990, Harken was warned by its lawyers that Bush and other members of the troubled oil company's board faced possible insider trading risks if they unloaded their shares. 10/31

Not the Un-Clinton After All: The notion of George W. Bush as bipartisan is a myth. He is guilty of crass duplicity. Yet the myth of Bush as a bipartisan president who operates above the fray is relentlessly promoted by Bush and his minions. Just this week on the campaign trail, Bush took credit for a huge increase in education funding. Yet he has cut funding below what it was last year, making a mockery of the “Leave No Child Behind” education bill he signed last year with Sen. Ted Kennedy’s blessing. Bush uses words and rhetoric to create an image quite different from reality, a tactic that would normally invite condemnation from both the media and political foes. 10/31

"Speak Up, Keep Fighting," The Wellstone Memorial Event in Minnesota. Paul's best friend, Rick Kahn, exhorted the crowd to do what Paul would have done, fight like Hell to win on November 5th. Tom Harkin urged Wellstone supporters to board the famous rickety green bus and drive on to victory. The two surviving sons of the Wellstones, after personal reminiscing, urged the "extended Wellstone family" of 20,000 people in the gym to fight on and win on November 5th. 10/31

Mondale Will Run if Called, Awaits Nomination. Former Vice President Walter Mondale said Wednesday he will run for Senate in place of the late Sen. Paul Wellstone if Minnesota Democrats nominate him. Mondale was expected to be ratified as the Democratic candidate in a vote Wednesday evening. 10/31

Update, Thursday Morning: Walter Mondale was nominated to replace Wellstone on Wednesday. NPR audio records the vote for Mr. Mondale as enthusiastic and unanimous. No "nay" votes were offered. Early polls show Mondale gaining solid lead in Senate race.

U.S. and France Near Deal on Iraq Issue of 2nd Resolution. The United States and France are moving toward a compromise on Iraq that would oblige the Bush administration to consult the United Nations Security Council before embarking on military action against Saddam Hussein but still leave it the freedom to act alone. 10/31

Real Reasons For The War: Cheney's Halliburton and other Western firms eye reconstruction in old Iraqi oil fields. Energy companies have started to position themselves for a role in the revival of Iraq's huge but dilapidated oil industry, according to a new report by Deutsche Bank. Oil field services companies like Schlumberger Ltd and the Halliburton Corp could be the early winners, it says, but the prospects for oil companies themselves are less clear. 10/31

Qatar denies coupe attempt. Qatari officials yesterday denied rumors in the stock markets about a coupe attempt in the country which is viewed a likely base for launching an American attack against Iraq. 10/31

Yemen: It is not an honor for any country to take part in American military maneuvers. The Speaker of the Yemeni parliament Sheikh Abdullah al-Ahmar has criticized the participation of any Arab state in maneuvers with the American forces. He said "It is not an honor to any Arab country to take part with the US in the military maneuvers which recently took place in Jordan." 10/31

Take Action! Call Your Federal Candidates Today This year, drug policy advocates are facing one of the most critical election seasons ever. That's why the Drug Policy Alliance has initiated the first-ever voters guide devoted to drug policy. In order to get a majority of candidates to answer, they need to hear from you, their constituents! That's why we are asking our members and supporters to contact every candidate in the country who has not answered the questionnaire to date. 10/31

US Weapons Secrets Exposed! Respected scientists on both sides of the Atlantic warned yesterday that the US is developing a new generation of weapons that undermine and possibly violate international treaties on biological and chemical warfare. The scientists, specialists in bio-warfare and chemical weapons, say the Pentagon, with the help of the British military, is also working on "non-lethal" weapons similar to the narcotic gas used by Russian forces to end last week's siege in Moscow. 10/31

IAO: Big Brother's all-seeing eye. John Poindexter (convicted felon, Iran-Contra) is in charge of a new department at DARPA, the "Information Awareness Office". Anti-Masons and students of occultism will have a lot to say about the agency's initials! But for now let's focus on their new infowar toys. The IAO organic information warfare system will include... 10/31

In Democracy's Wake - The Anti-War Protest in Washington DC by William Rivers Pitt October 26, 2002, will be noted in history as a day when 250,000 Americans streamed into the nation's capitol to protest a war that has not truly begun. This is a remarkable thing; the Vietnam war had been underway for years before any massed public opposition of the size seen in Washington this week was mustered. This was a protest mirrored across the country and the world; tens of thousands turned out for a simultaneous rally in San Francisco, as well as several other American cities. Europe experienced yet another outpouring of anti-war sentiment in its streets. October 26th was a day of global action, with global consequence, that may prove to spare us from a global catastrophe. 10/31

The "Times" Are Certainly Shifting: NY Times, NPR Change Their Take on DC Protests! On October 30, the Times reported that the October 26 protests "drew 100,000 by police estimates and 200,000 by organizers', forming a two-mile wall of marchers around the White House. The turnout startled even organizers, who had taken out permits for 20,000 marchers." This directly contradicted the Times' October 27 report, which noted that the "thousands" of demonstrators were "fewer people... than organizers had said they hoped for." The October 30 Times report also included much more information about similar protests around the country, and featured quotes from various antiwar activists. 10/31

Elderly "Terrorists" at Guantanamo Bay. "They interrogated us for hours at a time. They wanted to know, 'Where are you from? Are you a member of the Taliban? Did you support the Taliban? Were your relatives Taliban? Did the Taliban give you weapons?"' Said one of the men, Mohammed Hagi Fiz, who appeared to be in his 70s. "I don't know why the Americans arrested me. I told them I was innocent. I'm just an old man," he said. 10/31

CIA Sides with Rights-Activists on War on Terror! The US Central Intelligence Agency has warned that US counterterrorist operations around the world may not eliminate the threat of future attacks because they fail to address the root causes of terrorism, according to new documents. (What are we paying these guys for? Why don't we just listen to the human rights activists who have been saying these things for years. Its a good thing that the CIA has finaly come to the conclusion that we have to address the causes of terrorism, but couldn't they have done this years ago?) 10/31

New Palestinian government; Arafat: we will try to halt operations against civilians. The Palestinian President Yasser Arafat has announced that his new government in which the old cadres could maintain its posts and won the confidence of the Palestinian council will work for completing reforms and halting operations against the Israeli civilians as well as maintaining national unity and founding a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as a capital. 10/31

Take Action! Sign These Petitions: The Drive for Freedom Has Begun. In early November, as the focal point of Freedom Drive 2002, the People will formally submit to our government these petitions for redress of grievances concerning several of the most appalling abuses of government power that our nation currently confronts. Four petitions have been drafted by the We The People Foundation and now await the signatures of the People of this nation. The petitions cover the War Powers Clauses of the Constitution, the "USA Patriot Act", the Federal Reserve and the federal income tax system. 10/30

Thousands Of Protestors March On Rumsfeld's House!! About two-thousand anti-war protesters, chanting, pounding drums and tooting horns, marched on the residence of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld north of Taos [on Oct 28] to demonstrate opposition to war with Iraq. 10/30

The Biggest Little Protest Of The War. Do You Have To Be A Sniper To Get Noticed? I went down to the Vietnam Memorial last Saturday and for the first hour or so ... there were only about 10,000 people gathered there, which is what NPR went on to report as the size of the protest. That’s also when The New York Times reporter must have split. How else could you explain her claim in last Sunday’s paper (in a small story on page 8) that the protest drew fewer than organizers had hoped for? They said they hoped for 100,000 and by three in the afternoon, when people began marching, that seemed about right. 10/30

Purchase Your Own Little Piece of Orwellian Control! VeriChip, the world’s first subdermal personal verification technology, announces a special, introductory pre-registration program. Sign up today to be among the first in the world to “Get Chipped.” This pre-registration program is designed to assist VeriChip Corporation in determining where and when to open Authorized VeriChip Centers in the United States. Pending further regulatory clarification, the Company will make announcements regarding the timing of future chipping procedures and Authorized VeriChip Centers. 10/30

Update on the New World Order: Americas-Wide Free Trade Faces Hurdle Trade chiefs from the United States, Canada and Latin America face a decisive hurdle this week in Quito, where they must strike technical accords to salvage a planned Americas-wide free trade zone by 2005. Washington says the ministerial meeting on Friday will usher in the "final phase" of negotiations, in which the United States and Brazil -- the two largest economies in the Americas -- will co-chair the talks through their final three years. 10/30

Yet More GOP Strong-Arm Democracy: Daschle Accuses Republicans of Voter Harassment. As people take a second look at the furor over voting fraud in South Dakota, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle accused Republicans of attempting to suppress voting by American Indians. 10/30

The Enemy Within by Gore Vidal. (Yesterday, 13th-Star posted a story about Gore Vidal's essay, published in the Observer on Oct. 27. Here, then, is the essay itself:) One year after 9/11, we still don't know by whom we were struck that infamous Tuesday, or for what true purpose. But it is fairly plain to many civil-libertarians that 9/11 put paid not only to much of our fragile Bill of Rights but also to our once-envied system of government which had taken a mortal blow the previous year when the Supreme Court did a little dance in 5/4 time and replaced a popularly elected president with the oil and gas Cheney/Bush junta. 10/30

If Only I Were A Dictator, by George W. Bush Yes, George W. Bush has stated he'd prefer to be a dictator at least three times, according to BuzzFlash.com. 10/30

Bush to Strike Back Against UN Opposition. Bush plans to force a vote in the Security Council over the future of Iraq if substantial progress toward a stringent weapons inspection plan is not made by next week. White House officials said the administration had decided to set what amounts to a deadline for action as a tactic to reach a compromise with U.N. Security Council members over a resolution demanding that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein abandon his weapons programs or face possible military action. 10/30

No One Elected Bush [to Attack Iraq] George W. Bush's government from the start was deliberately and provocatively hostile to treaties constraining American freedom of action, arms limitation and environmental agreements, and the rest of the apparatus of international constraint, cooperation and international law that previous American administrations had helped to construct since 1945. That certainly is not what the electorate voted for two years ago. It is why Bush will almost certainly be a one-term president. 10/30

Dear Saddam, How Can I Help? (E-mail Messages Sent to Saddam.) A chilling electronic missive was among hundreds evidently sent to Iraq's president last summer from people around the world. Numerous e-mails -- including some from Americans -- offered advice and assistance to Saddam. As America veers toward confrontation with Iraq, these e-mail messages provide a raw, uncensored view of global opinion -- and of the potential challenges awaiting U.S. efforts to disarm or overthrow Saddam, Iraq's leader since 1979. 10/30

Washington officially asks for use of Saudi bases. Saudi Arabia's defense minister prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz yesterday in Riyadh received chief of staff of the American joint forces Gen. Richard Mayors in the second day of his visit to Saudi Arabia for asking the Saudi authorities to use its military bases in launching a war against Iraq. 10/30

The secret of world-wide drug prohibition. Drug prohibition is a world-wide system of state power. Drug prohibition has given all kinds of governments additional police and military powers that they have been freer to deploy than other kinds of police powers. Police and military narcotics units can legitimately go undercover anywhere and investigate anyone. The DEA is free to independently stage covert operations domestically and in other counties. In the United States, police anti-drug units are sometimes allowed to keep money, cars, houses and other property they seize. 10/30

For the People. Sometimes it seems as if Americans have forgotten what courage means. Here's a hint: talking tough doesn't make you a hero; you have to take personal risks. And I'm not just talking about physical risks -- though it's striking how few of our biggest flag wavers have ever put themselves in harm's way. What we should demand of our representatives in Washington is the willingness to take political risks -- to make a stand on principle, even if it means taking on powerful interest groups. 10/30

The anti-war protestors came -- largest gathering since the Vietnam War -- yet the news media hardly noticed. And so, while George Bush continues, without much success, to attempt to strong arm other nations into going along with his intention to make war on Iraq, Americans by the hundreds of thousands from Washington to San Francisco are saying no. Bush isn’t paying any attention to them. Even worse, the news media that can speak the truth because of the same Constitutional guarantees that demonstrators attempted to exercise, chose to say little, if anything at all. What is going on here? 10/29

Oct 26th Protest in San Francisco numbered Tens of Thousands! Tens of thousands of protesters marched down Market Street in San Francisco on Saturday afternoon in a major demonstration against President Bush's policy on Iraq -- the largest peace rally police and protesters could remember since the Vietnam War. 10/29

NPR, New York Times Count Out Anti-War Activists National Public Radio and the New York Times arrived at the same conclusion about the anti-war rally in Washington, DC this weekend: The turnout was disappointing. But neither report matched reality. 10/29

Heavily Thickening To Empire: Why I Marched On October 26 Despite the Founding Fathers' hatred of the British empire and their warnings about foreign entanglements, the United States has often suffered from the disease of Empire. From Custer to Chile to the Congo, the elites in charge of U.S. foreign policy have always reserved the right to act unilaterally, ignore the U.N. Charter, and act as an imperial power to protect our prestige or extend and protect our economic interests. 10/29

Gore Vidal claims 'Bush junta' complicit in 9/11 Vidal's highly controversial 7000 word polemic titled 'The Enemy Within' - published in the print edition of The Observer today - argues that what he calls a 'Bush junta' used the terrorist attacks as a pretext to enact a pre-existing agenda to invade Afghanistan and crack down on civil liberties at home. 10/29

FBI "Offical Story" About Anthrax Attacks Is Doubted. A significant number of scientists and biological warfare experts are expressing skepticism about the FBI’s view that a single disgruntled American scientist prepared the spores and mailed the deadly anthrax letters that killed five people last year. 10/29

Democrat Surge in Iowa Could Tip Election Balance! In a year when fewer than one in 10 congressional races are worth paying attention to, three Republican House members are fighting for their political lives amid the crisp, golden cornfields of Hawkeye Land. Their fate could very well decide control of Congress on Nov. 5. Early absentee votes show Democrats surging. 10/29

Education is Key to Florida Race. Residents of Volusia and Flagler counties rate education as the top issue in the upcoming election, and most candidates for the state House of Representatives seem to concur. According to a poll, improving schools is far and away the chief concern. 10/29

The Loyal Opposition: A Meaningless Election? That's What Some People Think. The campaign has barely registered on the national radar screen. First, for weeks war talk pushed aside political coverage in newspapers and in cable-news-land. Then, when the Democratic leadership in Congress went along with the resolution granting Bush the power to launch war against Iraq, in the (false and silly) hope that finally the discourse could be switched (like a television channel) to economic topics, the Washington sniper became a GOP ally. Each day that the sniping dominated the news was yet another 24 hours in which the Democrats could not get TV time to grouse about the economy. 10/29

Walter Mondale Likely to Replace Sen. Wellstone on November Ballot. Sen. Paul Wellstone's oldest son has urged former Vice President Walter Mondale to step in as his late father's replacement on the Nov. 5 ballot, Democratic leaders said Sunday. One source who has spoken to Mondale said he is likely to accept. "Based on the family's request to him, it is highly likely he will run," the source said on condition of anonymity. "It would be surprising if the vice president did not run." 10/29

Freedom Calling: As I write this there is not a single shred of physical evidence -- that the public is aware of -- to suggest foul play in his death. But I must say, this does not look right. Wellstone survived one potential assassination attempt in November of 2000. Here in the US Wellstone was hated by the White House and by the power brokers he challenged. This was "the guy" they wanted out of the way. The Minnesota Senate race was a top priority for Bush, Rove and the industry lobbyists. They wanted control of the Senate, and they wanted Paul Wellstone defeated. 10/29

Some folks believe the Bush regime had Wellstone killed: With the death of one of the last and best hopes for the Democratic Party, can there by any doubt of what Americans are up against? Is Paul Wellstone dead because his seat was critical to Democratic control of the Senate? 10/29

The Full Text of the Sniper Letter. As Planet PDF reports, the Washington Post published October 26, 2002, the DC-area sniper's letter to police with redactions which can be easily lifted with an Adobe Acrobat's TouchUp Object Tool. Restored redactions shown in red. 10/29

The Heat Is Still On Russia After Theator Massacre! (This is a chilling reminder of what can go wrong when there is an over zealous presence by domestic security forces.) The stunning conclusion that nearly all the slain hostages died from the gas and not from their captors' bullets shed new light on an operation that has begun to draw more criticism as the death roll rises. The overall civilian fatalities attributed to the assault on the theater rose from 90 reported on Saturday to 117 today and may climb even higher. Another 646 hostages rescued from the building remained hospitalized because of after-effects of the gas, including 46 deemed in critical condition. 10/29

Where's the Honor and Dignity? George Bush promised to bring honor and dignity "back" to the Oval Office. Since taking office, George Bush has far outpaced his predecessor, the last elected President Bill Clinton, at fundraising for his party. So much so that he has come to have been nicknamed the fundraiser-in-chief. And let’s not forget the scorn heaped on Bill Clinton for fundraising for his party during peacetime by Congressional Republicans. Now that Bush is outpacing Clinton in fundraising during wartime when he has much bigger fish to fry in Washington, Congressional Republicans are hypocritically silent. Where is their outrage? Where is their scorn? 10/29

Harry Browne Declares National Holiday In the 1880s, people all over the world looked to America for inspiration. Its very existence was proof that it was possible to have a relatively free and peaceful country. No income tax, no foreign wars, no welfare state, no intrusions on civil liberties. Of course, that's no longer the case. We now have all those things -- and more. And, worse yet, most Americans have come to accept them as necessary evils. Government schools make no attempt to show children that it wasn't always this way -- that it doesn't have to _be_ this way. 10/29

The Real Reasons Behind Gun Control. "Patriots, and nationalists opposed to the globalization of their country, not gun-toting criminals, are the real target of civilian disarmament." Nobody is to be in a position to challenge the authority of the world government or its subsidiary branch office in Canberra as the reality of the global gulag starts to dawn on the world’s population. It is well to keep in mind that during the twentieth century over 56-million people (some estimates put the figure at around 100 million) were murdered by governments. In all cases the victims were first disarmed. 10/29

Here are photos taken Oct 26 in Austin's anti-war protests! 10/28

Don't Get Left Behind!- Check out the buzz on the latest protests, rallies, and demonstrations! If you know of an upcoming event, let the world know by sending the information to the GlobalMind Network.

Bush's Plans Coming Up Zero. Pres-Appointee Cracking Under Pressure. Bush is getting "testy"- and throwing all diplomacy out the window- as his attempts to bully the world into his way of thinking fail again and again. 10/28

Military draft imminent!! University of Florida: "We just got a notice this past week that we can't hire any men, ages 18-24, unless they are registered with the Selective Service. If they are already hired, they can't get a promotion or accept a job in another department until they register." Congress is ready to start up the draft on short notice: The bill is sitting in committee right now, and if we don't stop the well oiled Bush/Cheney war machine, it will most likely be activated within a week of the invasion kickoff. 10/28

Big Business Wants to Buy a House; Oh, And a Senate To Go With It. If you don't think the stakes on November 5 are high, maybe you should take a look at who does. ExxonMobil thinks the vote a week from next Tuesday is so important that it has its own well-financed get-out-the-vote effort rolling. And it is not the only large corporation showing a sudden interest in the democratic process. Many of America's large industry groups see this midterm election as the best chance they've had since pro-industry Gingrichistas swept the House in 1994. 10/28

Wellstone's Plane Gave No Indication Of Trouble. Ulman said there was no distress call or any indication of trouble before the plane went down about 10:20 a.m. The pilot had notified the airport that he was going to land and had clicked his microphone to turn on the landing lights. 10/28

Russia meets the Information Age: Anger grows over Moscow gas mystery. (Police have not been letting relatives into hospitals.) The Russian authorities are under renewed pressure to provide details of the gas used by troops who stormed a Moscow theatre on Saturday in which hundreds of people were being held hostage by Chechen rebels. It is now admitted that almost all the hostages who died in the operation by special forces were killed by the poisonous substance. (What was that about Saddam gassing his own people??) 10/28

Alert!: Bush Administration Removes Health Info from Federal Websites. Webpages on condoms, HIV, safe-sex programs, etc. rescued from the memory hole. US Rep. Henry Waxman and several of his colleagues have written a letter, dated 21 Oct 2002, to Tommy Thompson, Secretary of Health and Human Services, to complain about info-cleansing on federal Websites. Specifically, they charge that controversial health information is being erased because it conflicts with the Bush Administration's moral stances. To date, they have recieved no reply. 10/28

The Death Of The Internet: How Industry Intends To Kill The 'Net As We Know It The Internet’s promise as a new medium -- where text, audio, video and data can be freely exchanged -- is under attack by the corporations that control the public’s access to the 'Net, as they see opportunities to monitor and charge for the content people seek and send. The industry’s vision is the online equivalent of seizing the taxpayer-owned airways, as radio and television conglomerates did over the course of the 20th century. 10/28

Another US Diplomat Killed! Shot Dead Outside Jordan Home. A senior U.S. diplomat was shot dead by an unknown assailant in front of his Amman home while heading for work on Monday, diplomats and officials said. The senior official, named by diplomats as Lawrence Foley who worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development, USAID, was killed at 7:30 am (00:30 a.m. EST), and the assailant fled, a security official said. 10/28

What do we know about John Allen "Sniper" Muhammad? He said they were talking about guns because Muhammad told him he was in the U.S. Army and had worked with the FBI and CIA. 10/28

Robyn Blumner asks: How can U.S. force others to follow rules when it doesn't? Bush has stomped on more international agreements than any president in recent history, and you can't create a universal norm for respecting treaty terms when the richest, most powerful country in the world asserts its unilateralism any time an accord or convention becomes inconvenient. Our "humble" foreign policy, as candidate Bush promised, has come down to little more than "might makes right." 10/28

Comes a Time by William Rivers Pitt. There are also times when history finds a fifth gear and puts the go pedal to the mat. It is our common fate to live within such a chapter, and it serves to remember all that we have experienced in the last 700 days. 10/28

Jesse Jackson and other speakers denounced the Bush administration's Iraq policies and demanded a revolt at the ballot box to promote peace! The protest coincided with anti-war demonstrations from Augusta, Maine, to San Francisco and abroad from Rome and Berlin to Tokyo to San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Mexico City. In Washington and many of the other demonstrations, protesters added complaints about U.S. policy toward the Palestinians. ``We must not be diverted. In two years we've lost 2 million jobs, unemployment is up, stock market down, poverty up,'' Jackson told a spirited crowd in Washington. ``It's time for a change. It's time to vote on Nov. 5 for hope. We need a regime change in this country.'' 10/27

Meanwhile, More than 2,000 Anti-war protesters rally in downtown Seattle! Rep. McDermott: "We must stop George Bush!" Calling for an end to growing tensions between the United States and Iraq. Chanting "No War!" and "Peace Now!" the crowd converged on Denny Park, north of downtown Seattle, where Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., denounced the Bush administration's policies against Iraq. "We must stop George Bush," McDermott shouted, prompting cheers and applause. 10/27

France and Russia Continue Battle Against US At United Nations. Both Countries Introduce Counter-Proposals That Remove Talk Of Baghdad Attack. The decision by France and Russia to introduce their own proposals Friday and challenge the new U.S. draft resolution suddenly put three documents into the hands of the 15 Security Council nations, setting the stage for tense negotiations. The rival documents reflect the division among the five veto-wielding permanent council members, who could not resolve their differences over a new approach to Iraq during six weeks of negotiations. 10/27

Worldwide Stand Against Bush Regime Continues: Bush Frustrated Over Tepid Response at Summit. Can't Marshal Support on Iraq or N. Korea U.S. efforts to lead multilateral coalitions against Iraq and North Korea flagged today, as administration officials seemed increasingly resigned to the possibility of abandoning United Nations negotiations over Iraq and Asian leaders meeting here with President Bush declined an offer to take a harsh stand against Pyongyang. 10/27

Wellstone's death rocks Minnesota. The state came to a stop for a time as thousands of mourners left flowers and candles at the Wellstones' Cathedral Hill condominium and Wellstone's campaign headquarters, both in St. Paul. About 2,000 people attended a candlelight vigil at the state Capitol. 10/27

A Death in Minnesota Stirs A Campaign in New Jersey. A day after United States Senator Paul Wellstone died in a plane crash, Frank R. Lautenberg, New Jersey's Democratic candidate, said that the best way for Mr. Wellstone's political admirers to honor his memory was to ensure that the Democrats retain control of the Senate. 10/27

A Nice Tidy Wrap-Up In The Sniper Case. Like a Duck Caught In A Noose. A man sought as a material witness in the Washington-area sniper shootings was arrested Saturday, and prosecutors announced plans to charge the two suspects in Virginia, the second state where 17-year-old John Lee Malvo could face the death penalty. 10/27

Empire Strikes Back: U.S. May Ask Court to Dismiss a $1 Trillion Suit Linking Saudis to Al Qaeda and 9/11. The Bush administration is closely monitoring a private lawsuit accusing members of the Saudi royal family of ties to Al Qaeda, and may move in a federal court here to dismiss or delay the suit, which was brought by relatives of Sept. 11 victims, according to administration officials. Government laywers, the officials said, are trying to determine whether the case threatens to damage Saudi-American relations, which would give them reason to block the suit. The suit seeks $1 trillion in damages and is being pursued here by nearly 3,000 of the relatives. 10/27

Good News on the Failing War on (Some) Drugs!: National drug czar John Walters' vocal opposition to a Nevada referendum that would legalize possession of modest amounts of marijuana attracted criticism from the Las Vegas Review Journal Monday. The ballot measure- "Question 9"- would allow adults in the Silver State to possess up to three ounces of marijuana. A Washington, D.C.-based group working to ease marijuana laws is criticizing The New York Times for creating and distributing a handbook with the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy that the group claims is full of distortions and misrepresentations about the drug. Meanwhile, The Pentagon is scaling back its role in the "war on drugs" in what amounts to a tacit admission of failure in countering the narcotics trade. On drug policy, the voting public has proven ready to lead spaniel-like politicians by the nose, voting for one liberalization measure after another. But government, state and local officials have begun a crusade to scuttle reform initiatives around the nation. 10/27

50 Militants, 90 Hostages Dead After Moscow Siege: Gas Used to Subdue Chechens; Fate of Americans Unknown More than 90 hostages and 50 Chechen guerrillas died early yesterday morning when Russian special forces pumped gas into a Moscow theater and stormed the building in a dramatic pre-dawn raid that freed about 700 captives but left most of them hospitalized. Among the dead were 18 female suicide bombers, with explosives strapped to their bellies, some of whom were shot after they had already been rendered unconscious by gas blown through the ventilation system. Russian authorities defended their decision to gas the hostages as part of the gambit to subdue the guerrillas, but they refused to identify the substance -- even to doctors treating those exposed to it. 10/27

Israel Conducts Brutal Midnight Raids of Palestinian Homes. n an army operation in Jenin that began Friday, soldiers imposed a curfew on the 50,000 residents of the town and its refugee camp and began searching house to house after dark Saturday. Dozens of Palestinians were arrested in the searches, including residents with no connections to militant groups, witnesses said. The army said soldiers arrested 30 suspects. A 13-year-old Palestinian boy was killed in the Rafah refugee camp in the Gaza Strip when soldiers shot at Palestinians throwing stones and firebombs, local residents said. 10/27

Democratic Sen. Paul Wellstone "Taken Out" of Senate Race By Plane Crash!!! Wellstone held a key Democratic seat in the U.S. Senate and had been criss-crossing the state in a tough re-election campaign against former St. Paul Mayor Norm Coleman. Wellstone had one of the most liberal voting records in Congress. The two-term Democrat was known for taking stands that defied the prevailing political winds, such as his recent vote against a resolution authorizing the use of force in Iraq or his vote against the 1996 Welfare Reform Act. 10/25

Democrat Bill McBride Now Leads Florida Race 49 to 45%! While the cumulative InsiderAdvantage tracking poll -- which has surveyed Florida voters every day since Oct. 2 -- has shown an ever-dwindling lead for Bush, the survey's latest weekly ''horse race'' numbers show an unexpected development: Democrat Bill McBride now leads. The weekly survey, which was conducted Oct. 14-19 and has a margin of error of 6 percent, shows McBride with 49 percent, Bush with 45 percent, with 6 percent undecided. Clearly, something has caused the bottom to drop out of the Bush campaign. The two prior weekly totals had mirrored each other, and the cumulative poll showed Bush ahead. The most recent poll shows that while many voters say they still don't know much about McBride, most of them are apparently deciding to vote for Bush's ''unknown'' opposition, rather than for the incumbent governor. 10/25

Drug Industry Flooding GOP Campaigns With Cash: Spending Swamps Donations for Liberal Ads by 3-1 Margin. With strong backing from the pharmaceutical industry and other businesses, pro-Republican "independent" television advertising is overwhelming such traditional big-spending liberal interest groups as the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League (NARAL), Planned Parenthood and the Sierra Club in key House and Senate races. 10/25

Mysterious Group Spends $1 Million On Anti-Democrat Campaign Americans for Job Security, a Virginia-based interest group that opposes the reelection of Democratic U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone, has made an unprecedented $1 million ad buy that will fill the airwaves in the last two weeks before the election, according to Wellstone campaign officials. Campaign manager Jeff Blodgett said the buy is so large that it may equal what Wellstone and Republican rival Norm Coleman and the two state parties each are expected to spend on media in the closing weeks. Blodgett said his biggest concern is that no one knows who funds the mysterious group, which has found a legal loophole that apparently allows it to keep its donors secret. 10/25

Pres-appointee Bush Sees GOP Defeat On The Horizon. Invokes Broad Government Involvment In Campaigns. Bush has harnessed the broad resources of the federal government to promote Republicans in next month's elections. From housing grants in South Dakota and research contracts in Florida to Air Force One rides and photos in the White House driveway, Bush has made Republican success on Nov. 5 a government-wide project. 10/25

Take Action!: Save Florida from Katherine Harris!! Remember Katherine Harris? She was the secretary of state for Florida who decided that a recount wasn't necessary, although that's the standard practice in any other close election. She was the secretary of state that purged over 50,000 qualified black voters from the rolls before the election. The Bush family is trying to pay back Harris' "favor" by giving her a Congressional seat in Florida. However, it's not working. Jan Schneider is running a great race against Harris and the vote is going to be incredibly close. Support Jan Schneider against Katherine Harris at the above link. 10/25

From the GlobalMind: Keep Up With Current Protest Alerts. You can post your own protest information and alerts to the GlobalMind Network. No membership required.

The Election Results: Which News Story Would You Prefer to Read on Nov. 6th? The upcoming midterm election is, at the time of this writing, too close to call. One day, it looks good for the Democrats to retake the House and keep the Senate; the next day, there seems to be a surge for the GOP, with the Republicans set to hang onto the House and retake the Senate. What's an editor to plan for on Election Night? See how you react to the following alternative stories about the election results. And act accordingly. Your actions, donations, and volunteer efforts during the next week or so will help determine which version of the post-election stories below you'll be reading on November 6. 10/25

US Boxed In By Bush's Strike-First Doctrine: Key Clinton adviser assesses the dangers of America's new national security strategy. The problem with the Bush document is that it appears to make first strikes the rule rather than the exception. Another problem is the context in which the strategy has been promulgated. The document is the latest in a series of actions by the administration that have been extremely controversial internationally and have raised troubling questions about our commitment to traditional norms of international politics. These steps include the withdrawal from the 1972 ABM treaty prohibiting missile defences, the rejection of the Kyoto protocol on the environment, aggressive steps aimed at undermining the international criminal court, and the initial decision not to apply the Geneva conventions to the prisoners being held at Guantanamo Bay. 10/25

More Republican Strong-Arm Democracy: Democratic Party Accuses G.O.P. of Intimidating Arkansas Voters. National Democratic officials said today that Republicans had tried to intimidate black voters during early balloting in Arkansas. According to accounts by Democrats in Washington and Arkansas, five Republican poll watchers at the courthouse in heavily Democratic Pine Bluff were pressing people who showed up for the first day of early voting for identification and took pictures of some. The Democrats that said the poll watchers seemed to question only blacks and that two of the Republicans were on the staff of Senator Tim Hutchinson, the Republican incumbent in a close race with Attorney General Mark Pryor, a Democrat. Monday's incident was like a scene from the 1960's and that such activities humiliated potential voters and were meant to suppress turnout. 10/25

Amid signs of dissent within military circles, Bush employs lies and maneuvers to pave way for war against Iraq. Among those who have spoken out most directly is Marine Corps General Anthony C. Zinni (ret.), who preceded Army General Tommy Franks as head of the Central Command, the unit that would oversee an invasion. “War and violence are a very last resort and we have to be very careful how we apply it, especially now, in our position in the world. I’m not convinced we need to do this now.” Another telling indication of dissension at the top was the appearance this week of several articles in the major US dailies exposing the Bush administration’s stated pretexts for war against Iraq as boldfaced lies. 10/25

Qatar Coup Plot May Thwart U.S. War Plans. A foiled coup plot in Qatar raises questions about the ability of the government in Doha to survive, and with that, about U.S. access to the massive al-Udeid air base. If Qatar is forced to rethink and limit its cooperation with the U.S. military, then it could remove a key component of Washington's war plan for Iraq. 10/25

Iraqis ask for prisoners who did not appear after the Presidential Pardon. Iraqis have been gathered since two days in front of a headquarters of the Iraqi police in one on Baghdad's quarters to find out about the fate of relatives presumed to be governed by the Amnesty issued by the Iraqi President, but so far they have not appeared. 10/25

Saudi Arabia rules out US war against Iraq: Israel poisons the Arab public opinion against the US. The Saudi foreign minister prince Saud al-Faisal has ruled out yesterday that the US will launch a war against Iraq. He, on the other hand, stressed that Washington's silence towards the Israeli military campaign against the Palestinians poisons the Arab position towards the USA. 10/25

Israel Discovers Arab Spy Network Hizbullah Has Penetrated Into High Israeli Army Ranks: Israel was bewildered yesterday with the news of arresting a high ranking army officer in the Israeli army together with another ten under the charges of spying for the Hizbullah party and trading drugs. Not all those are Jews but "Israeli Arabs." Discovering the network was a strong blow for the harmony believed to be existed between the Arabs who serve in the Israeli army. It is known that the compulsory military service on the Arabs in the Israeli army is selective. 10/25

Putting and end to all this nonsense about corporate reform. The mood among business lobbyists, according to a jubilant official at the Heritage Foundation, is one of "optimism, bordering on giddiness." They expect the elections on Nov. 5 to put Republicans in control of all three branches of government, and have their wish lists ready. "It's the domestic equivalent of planning for postwar Iraq," says the official. The White House also apparently expects Christmas in November. In fact, it is so confident that it has already given business lobbyists the gift they want most: an end to all this nonsense about corporate reform. 10/24

Judge berates hesitancy in Cheney case. (The Bush gang is going to court, asserting that "irreversable harm" will be done to them, if truth is learned by the public. But this Judge may not roll over, seems he does not like stalling tactics.) The Bush administration was thwarted on two fronts yesterday as it battled lawsuits seeking to pry secrets out of Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan said "I assume the government is stalling." 10/24

Bush Served on Harken Board During Enron Trades. While President Bush served on Harken Energy Corp.'s board more than 10 years ago, it engaged in complex trades with Enron Corp., a watchdog group said on Tuesday. Enron's relationship with Bush has become a political issue since its collapse in December amid a widening financial scandal. The company was one of Bush's biggest campaign contributors. 10/24

Attack On Internet Called Largest Ever The heart of the Internet sustained its largest and most sophisticated attack ever, starting late Monday, according to officials at key online backbone organizations. Around 5:00 p.m. EDT on Monday, a "distributed denial of service" (DDOS) attack struck the 13 "root servers" that provide the primary roadmap for almost all Internet communications. Despite the scale of the attack, which lasted about an hour, Internet users worldwide were largely unaffected, experts said. Ordinary Internet users experienced no slowdowns or outages because of safeguards built into the Internet's architecture. 10/24

Lots of New Info in the Sniper Case. Second letter found at scene of bus driver shooting. Sniper orders cops to speak code-phrase "a duck in a noose" on TV. Also makes a reference to another shooting with a known suspect- making the cops think they've got a real lead. (Investigators yesterday were seeking a man in connection with the deadly sniper shootings that have terrorized the Washington area.) Bush claims he's "worried about it." 10/24

UPDATE!: Two Arrests Made in Sniper Case. Two men have been arrested in connection with the serial sniper attacks, authorities said. Members of the sniper task force arrested two men inside a car at a rest stop in Frederick County, Maryland, at 3:19 am , said Larry Scott, an agent for the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Arms. (Raise your hand if you think the Sniper is leading them on a wild goose chase...) 10/24

For Bush, Facts Are Malleable. Presidential Tradition Of Embroidering Key Assertions Continues. As Bush leads the nation toward a confrontation with Iraq and his party into battle in midterm elections, his rhetoric has taken some flights of fancy in recent weeks. Statements on subjects ranging from the economy to Iraq suggest that a president who won (sic) an election underscoring Al Gore's knack for distortions and exaggerations has been guilty of a few himself. 10/24

Some Good News: Russia Rejects U.S. Resolution on Iraq! Russia rejected the new U.S. draft resolution on Iraq Tuesday, dealing a sharp blow to American efforts to gain U.N. backing for the automatic use of force if weapons inspectors are thwarted by Baghdad. Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov's statement said the U.S. document failed to meet Russian criteria. 10/24

California Libertarian officeholder faces recall for tax-cutting initiative. Mark Dierolf is the architect of Measure O, an initiative that would phase out the city's 6% tax on gas, electricity, cable, and water over a three-year period. The initiative, which would save taxpayers about $8 million, will appear on the ballot on November 5. "The largest government employees' union in the county is targeting me because I support low taxes and responsible spending," said Dierolf. "It's classic political hardball." 10/24

We have a major national security problem on our hands! There's a man -- a deceitful man -- who has consistently lied to the world, jeopardizing the safety of Americans. As long as he stays in power, we are at a greater risk of terrorist attack. As long as he continues to disregard the truth, spouting lies into the air, this international bully will threaten our safety. This man must be stopped: George Bush. 10/24

White House Spins Out on an Axis of Evil. What a nuisance! Just as the Bush administration had Saddam Hussein back in the cross hairs as the top target of the president's global evil-eradication program comes the news of more urgent threats. And once again, the bad news about Al Qaeda and North Korea could not be logically connected in any way with Iraq. 10/24

Dictatorships and double standards. Will the Journal hawks explain to us why Saddam, with no nukes and a few decrepit rockets, is a mortal peril, but the sex-and-movies maniac Kim Jong Il, with a matched pair of plutonium bombs, is the kind of fellow we can do business with? This crisis has exposed the hollowness of the Bush Doctrine. Kim Jong Il and Saddam have observed that if you have nuclear weapons, the Bush folks will negotiate with you and bribe you. If you do not, they will threaten you. 10/24

It's Enron on the Potomac (The Bush Cartel, That Is) The smug spirit of Enron pervades the Bush administration. When it learned that North Korea had a secret nuclear arms program, it moved the disclosure off the books lest it complicate the confrontation with Iraq. The information that Congress needed as it held another one of its self-proclaimed "historic" debates was withheld -- a footnote known to only a few key members who, as with Enron's board, passively kept their mouths shut. 10/23

Starhawk: What We Did When They Voted For War. We woke up early, around five thirty, and began assembling the blockade. As more and more people arrived, it became clear that we actually had enough affinity groups to effectively blockade all the entrances. Around the back, the police began arresting protestors who were sitting in front of the barricades. Some workers were angry, accosting the lines and attempting to bash protestors with briefcases. More were supportive, or at least philosophical about not getting to work on time. As Federal Workers attempted to climb over the barricades, protestors moved in to block them, and some of the workers tried to climb over the protestors. We kept the building effectively closed for around three hours. 10/23

Sniper Claims Another Life in Maryland (After Cops Fumbled Stupid "Trap"). "Your children are not safe anywhere, at any time." Authorities have not yet said whether the fatal shooting Tuesday morning of a bus driver in Montgomery County, Maryland, was connected to the sniper attacks that have left nine dead and three wounded in the Washington area. Police said the driver was standing on the top step platform of a commuter bus when he was shot in the chest. The bus was sitting in a staging area where buses begin or end their routes. The driver was taken to a trauma center in Bethesda, where he died. Meanwhile, more information has been revealed about the mysterious letter left by the Sniper at the Ponderosa shooting: Part of the message revealed "Your children are not safe anywhere, at any time." Some have called for more FBI involvement, but John Ashcroft declines. 10/23

Not to be outdone by Saddam, Bush plans to release some token prisoners from Guantanamo. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said today that a small number of the nearly 600 prisoners being held in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, would be released to their home countries because they were no longer of interest to the United States. He did not say how many there were, what countries they were from or when they would be released. Mr. Rumsfeld, who earlier this year called the prisoners "the worst of the worst," seemed to play down the significance of the release, which he disclosed in response to a question. 10/23

Democrats plan to shadow Bush's travel with critical ads on economy. The Democrats plan to run TV ads in states where Bush is campaigning for congressional candidates between now and Nov. 5, hoping to switch the subject to the stumbling economy and on their terms rather than his. 10/23

American diplomat killed in Yemen. The paper quoted well informed sources in Sanaa as saying that the US diplomat was found killed inside his car near Bajel city on the road between Sanaa and al-Hudida city. The paper added that news were prevented from highlighting the incident, especially as it took place just hours after the visit of the commander of the American central forces Tommy Francs to Sanaa on Thursday, where he held talks with Yemeni officials on means of fighting terrorism. The deceased is not a member of the permanent American staff in the embassy, rather among who carry out special missions. 10/23

9/11 Relatives Want Probe, White House Does Not. Tearful relatives of Sept. 11 victims urged White House officials Wednesday not to block Congress' plans to create an independent commission to investigate the attacks. (For months the Bush Administration has worked in the background to thwart the formation of an independent panel to investigate the events leading up to the attacks on September 11th. Now as election day approaches they have 'modified' their public position -- end result, same thing -- they are still blocking the probe. Why?) 10/23

14 Die as Bomb-Filled S.U.V. Rams Israeli Bus: A sport utility vehicle primed with a powerful bomb slammed into an Israeli bus at rush hour, igniting the fuel tank of the bus and killing at least 14 passengers. Flames rendered the vehicle a blackened, contorted skeleton. Survivors described leaping through shattered windows as the fire spread. Seven other vehicles were destroyed or damaged by the explosion, evidently the work of two Palestinian suicide bombers. Debris and body parts were blasted over an area larger than a football field; the engine and transmission of the vehicle carrying the explosives lay some 50 yards from the bus, by a left leg severed below the knee. 10/23

Got Oil? by Arianna Huffington. Turning the letter of the Federal Clean Air act against its clear intent, Department of Justice lawyers lined up on behalf of the administration's friends in the hydrocarbon-loving auto-manufacturing industry and argued that as long as California's cars are in compliance with the lax Federal standard, the state cannot impose a tougher one. For those keeping score, the Bush administration is in favor of states' rights when the states want to weaken federal safety standards of any kind, and against states' rights when the states want stronger measures. 10/23

'Unprecedented' Controversy Election Video Opens Old Wounds. "We need political reform. The government in this country is for sale," Joan Karatzas said after watching "Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election." Other viewers said the 50-minute video reinforced their opinion that George W. Bush is not the legitimate president of the United States, having won the office by questionable means. 10/23

Jesse Jackson Stresses the 'Struggle is Not Over' - Civil Rights Leader Takes on Bush! In two years under Bush, a $3.5 billion federal budget surplus has turned into a $20 billion deficit; poverty rates have climbed and family income has gone down; people have lost trillions of dollars in value from their pension and 401-K plans; funding for Medicare, public education and Bush has yet to meet even once with the NAACP, Jackson said. When Bush was of military service age, he ''was dodging war,'' but now ''he's waging war -- with your children,'' Jackson said. 10/23

Bush drops another 5% in the Gallup Poll- now at 62% and Falling! Americans have become more pessimistic about the war on terrorism than at any point since military action began in Afghanistan in October 2001. President Bush's job approval rating has slipped to 62%, the lowest since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. Support for potential military action against Iraq has remained steady since early October. 10/22

The Florida Battle Against Bush Rages On! McBride and Bush in 47/47% Dead Heat!!: Democratic Party officials have decided to rush additional staff and resources to Florida to bolster the campaign of gubernatorial candidate Bill McBride after an on-the-ground assessment found the challenger's get-out-the-vote operation badly in need of assistance. 10/22

Internet Activism Works! So Keep At It! Democrats battling for political survival in races that may decide the balance of power in Congress are getting a big boost from the anti-war effort. MoveOnPAC.org, an Internet site, has raised more than $1 million in 48 hours for what it calls four "heroes" of Congress who opposed the Iraq resolution. 10/22

Burgulary at Office of Democratic Govertorial Candidate Sensitive campaign material was stolen from the headquarters of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Bredesen during a break-in over the weekend, campaign officials said. 10/22

Energy Industry's Dirty Little Details About to See Light. Sources close to the matter say Timothy Belden, who previously ran Enron's trading office in Portland, Ore., is prepared to implicate a number of other industry players in what could shape up to be one of the biggest conspiracies in U.S. corporate history. 10/22

Springtime for Hitler. Put all this together and it becomes clear that, sure enough, something like 40 percent of the tax cut -- it could be a bit less, but probably it's considerably more -- will go to 1 percent of the population. And the administration's systematic evasiveness on the question of who benefits from the tax cut amounts to a plea of nolo contendere. 10/22

Bush Continues to Destroy Our Environment For His Industrialist Buddies: A former top Environmental Protection Agency official said yesterday that the Bush administration's plans to ease enforcement of industrial air pollution regulations have brought efforts to crack down on polluters to a standstill. 10/22

At Least 16 Die in Israel Bus Blast. A car packed with explosives pulled up to a bus in northern Israel during rush hour Monday, igniting a massive fireball that trapped passengers in the blazing bus and killed at least 16 people, including two suicide attackers. 10/22

Democratic Senator Fighting to Make 9-11 Bombshell Public. U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Bob Graham said on Sunday he is seeking to declassify "the most important information" obtained in a congressional probe of the Sept. 11 attacks. The Florida Democrat described the material as a key toward better protecting the United States. 10/22

Senate Republicans block homeland vote until after elections Senate Republicans Thursday again blocked a vote on a key homeland security amendment, scuttling any chance Congress would create a Homeland Security Department before the elections. The bill's demise came when Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, objected to a unanimous consent request from Majority Leader Tom Daschle that would have given the GOP an up-or-down vote on the key personnel issues that have held up the bill for months. 10/22

Handwritten letter found at scene of Sniper's latest shooting: Sources said the letter was at least three pages long, contained veiled threats and mentioned a demand for money. The sources said police believe they have also spoken to the letter writer by phone at least twice. The sources expressed confidence that they are communicating with the sniper -- who has killed nine people and wounded three since Oct. 2 -- because information either in the phone calls or the letter indicates intimate knowledge of the tarot card left Oct. 7 at a shooting scene in Bowie, Md. Since then, the man police believe to be the sniper has called at least twice, sources said, and at least once, the male voice said, "I am God." 10/22

The DC Sniper So Far: Two innocent men arrested, interrogated, and finally handed to the INS. (Will their families ever see them again?) Sniper leaves a number at the site of shooting number 12, and calls the police with a message- but the cops want him to call back. Schools will remain shut down and the DC / Virginia area still held captive by terror. 10/22

Guess What?: Bush Knew. White House Hid North Korean News From Congress Before Vote The White House withheld North Korea's admission about a nuclear weapons program from key Democrats until after Congress had passed its resolution authorizing war with Iraq, prompting complaints on Capitol Hill that the administration has let politics influence its conduct of foreign affairs. Several senators said that Defense Secretary Rumsfeld did not mention North Korea's covert nuclear weapons program during a classified briefing less than three hours before administration officials revealed the news in a conference call with four reporters. 10/22

The "Free State Project" Moves Ahead: Just how fed up are some folks with the way the country is going? The plan is this: Locate the easiest state in the union to "free," and then relocate 20,000 members to "implement the liberation" [of the state]. The 20,000 activists/members would then work to vote allied candidates into office, effectively "taking over" a state's governing apparatus, both on the local and federal level. A win in a single vulnerable state means the "cause" gains two U.S. senators, one or two members of Congress, a state governor and hundreds of local political positions. 10/22

Doesn't anyone notice the erosion of our freedoms? Over the past year, the administration's transgressions have piled up: from refusing to disclose information to Congress on the Sept. 11 detainees, to dismissing the Geneva Conventions as inapplicable to the hundreds of Guantanamo Bay prisoners, to telling the federal courts to butt out of a decision to hold Americans as enemy combatants, without charge or access to lawyers. Our arrogant, cowboy executive and his minions see themselves as not answerable to any countervailing power, be it Congress, the courts or international law. Their credo is: We know what we're doing and we don't have to explain it to you. (Even the vote on whether to approve a pre-emptive attack on Iraq came grudgingly and with repeated claims that Congress wasn't needed to act.) 10/22

Congressional Probe Finds: 9/11 Attacks Were Preventable. The monthlong series of congressional intelligence hearings that ended this week produced a detailed and disheartening portrait of the U.S. spy community as it groped its way toward Sept. 11. It also reshaped thinking about the most basic lingering question: Could the attacks have been prevented? For months after Sept. 11, the answer, high-level government officials insisted, was no. The new answer is that preventing or disrupting them certainly seems to have been possible. 10/22

We'll Say It Again: America Does NOT Want War With Iraq! (Not Even The Military!): Now even the corp. media have to admit it: In Washington, Bush, having been empowered by both houses of Congress to use force, seems to face very little opposition on Iraq. On the streets of America, nothing could be further from the truth. Across the nation, in city after city, ABCNEWS found voices of opposition, and many of them were from military towns. 10/22

Oops! Russia Has Already Made Deals with Saddam For His Oil. Now, America's Threat To Take It By Force Causes US / Russian Diplomatic Snafu. Or: "Why We Can Count On Russia To Veto War Effort." Moscow is seeking assurances from Washington that if Hussein is ousted, Western companies won't take away the lucrative oil-field development rights that Russian oil firms negotiated with the Iraqi president's government. Industry experts and insiders say the issue has become a potential sticking point in negotiations between the Bush and Putin administrations over Washington's efforts to obtain United Nations backing for its Iraq policy. 10/22

Judge Orders White House Papers' Release. Cheney Fights to Keep Energy Task Force Records Secret. U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan gave lawyers representing Vice President Cheney until Nov. 5 to produce documents that detail the membership rolls and meeting schedules of the National Energy Policy Development Group, which Cheney chaired. Sullivan had ordered the same documents turned over in August. If the government does not produce the documents by the November date, Sullivan said, the administration must submit a claim of executive privilege and the reasons for it. 10/22

Add Me To Your Lists, Mr. Bush: You have guns, bombs, but we have the power of non-violent resistance. Those who read know that firepower is laughable in the face of such force. Be afraid, Mr. Bush, and all who serve yourselves in backing this fragile regime, for you have germinated the seeds of your downfall. We do not threaten your person or your pathetic toys, but we will cast you on the trash-heap of history. You can lead only by our consent...that, you have squandered. Add me to your lists, Mr. Bush. I may be insignificant, but wait. I have time, history, and numbers on my side, and I am not the tiniest bit afraid of you. 10/22

Startling Revelation! Government lawyers admitted to a Federal Judge that they haven't reviewed all of Cheney's energy documents, despite their claim that every one is sensitive and should be kept secret. U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan ordered task force documents to be made public by Nov. 5 and said he was shocked the Justice Department attorneys had not examined all the documents after asserting for more than a year that each of them involved confidential information. "That is a startling revelation," Sullivan said, after rejecting the Bush administration's claim that he lacks authority to order the release of the task force papers. 10/21

McCarthyism Watch: More Anti-War Activists Snagged by "No Fly" List. The No Fly list is still up and running. The FBI and the Transportation Security Administration have a list of suspicious people they distribute to the airlines, and the airlines check the names of their passengers against this list. On August 7, two more peace activists found themselves on the list. Rebecca Gordon and Jan Adams were detained by San Francisco police at the airport there. 10/21

Internment Camps and Authoritarian US Fast Becoming Reality. Today's Bush administration is moving towards America's military pursuing law enforcement, internment camps are on the horizon, and a member of the US Civil Rights Commission previously broached Arab-American internment. As the FBI pursues an unprecedented investigation of Senators for leaking the truth, Bureau monitoring of domestic dissent and internet traffic has intimidated many into comparative silence. Concurrently, the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) poses an unseen threat to the America we know, recalling a darkly obscure side of recent US history. 10/21

The Emperor Within the Empire. Who died and left Donald Rumsfeld Secretary of State? Rumsfeld, a master bureaucratic operator whom former secretary of state Henry Kissinger once called "the most ruthless" man he ever confronted, appears to enjoy the unconditional backing of Dick Cheney, who is himself widely considered to be the most powerful vice president in US history. Their mutual admiration dates almost 40 years, when they worked for presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. 10/21

Gore Toughens Talk! "Do you think we're better off now than we were two years ago?" President-Elect Al Gore asked Monday afternoon in Mount Vernon. "I know I'm not better off." 10/21

Homeland Security Bill Is Nearly Dead. Negotiations over the homeland security bill have ground to a halt and finger-pointing took on an unforgiving quality Wednesday that left scorched any common ground between Republicans and Democrats. The Republican plan would give the president whatever authority he wants, and they accuse Democrats of denying them a fair vote. 10/21

For Richer: How the permissive capitalism of the boom destroyed American equality. My sense is that few people are aware of just how much the gap between the very rich and the rest has widened over a relatively short period of time. In fact, even bringing up the subject exposes you to charges of ''class warfare,'' the ''politics of envy'' and so on. And very few people indeed are willing to talk about the profound effects -- economic, social and political -- of that widening gap. 10/21

DC sniper widens range with first weekend shooting. The danger zone around America's capital expanded yesterday - in terms of both distance and timing - with a man on life support after being shot in the stomach in the 12th suspected attack by the sniper of the suburbs. This shooting took place about 90 miles south of Washington DC, the farthest afield by the deadly marksman who has prowled the city and its neighbouring counties of Maryland and Virginia for the past 19 days. The timing also marked a departure from routine for the killer, who had never struck at a weekend in his string of nine murders and two grievous woundings. 10/21

Did the Sniper leave a second message for police at the latest shooting? Authorities sought contact late Sunday with someone who left a secret message at the scene of the latest sniper-style attack amid suggestions it could have come from the person responsible for the shootings that have plagued the Washington area. 10/21

Jewish Settlers Force Palestinians to Flee Their Town. The evacuation of Khirbat Yanun is the first case in memory in which harassment by Jewish settlers has emptied an entire Palestinian community. It was also an example of how militant young settlers are shaping the conflict in the West Bank after more than two years of violence between Israelis and Palestinians. 10/21

US and N Korea agree that earlier deal is "nullified." Part of that deal stated that, while N Korea had to disarm, the US would not engage in a first-strike attack. Now that deal is off, and the US is free to engage in its second-ever "preemptive" (unprovoked) invasion of a foreign country. "Whether through force or diplomacy, the U.S. goal is to eliminate both countries' weapons programs." 10/21

Were the Iraqi prison releases just for show? Saddam Hussein has announced a general amnesty for Iraqi prisoners to say thank-you, officials say, for the 100% vote he received at the recent presidential election. (You might say he released the hostages...) 10/21

You Bet It's All About Oil! Oil – a commodity synonymous with wealth and power for a century – could be the great prize of a new US war with Iraq. There's no denying that access to oil has long been the chief US strategic interest in the Gulf region. And Iraq, seen in this context, is immensely interesting. "If we go to war it's not about oil.... But after Saddam, it becomes all about oil," says Lawrence Goldstein, president of the Petroleum Industry Research Foundation. 10/21

Bali Bombing Fuels Debate on Iraq War: Bush Aides Worry That Attacks Will Erode Public Support for Confronting Hussein. Bush admin has become concerned that the rash of attacks in Indonesia, Yemen and Kuwait in the past week could undermine public support for a confrontation with Iraq. "The odds of another strike against the people of the United States by al Qaeda or another international terrorist group goes up when we attack Baghdad." 10/21

White House Prattle About Iraq is Just Bait and Switch: It seems that the risks of democracy in Iraq are smaller than the risks of military rule. But that may be academic, because odds are that the neighboring governments would do their best to block popular rule from ever emerging in Iraq. "Democracy is just not in the cards there," one Kuwaiti official said. I'm afraid that the prattle about creating a democratic model on the Tigris is just a shrewd White House marketing attempt to bait and switch. 10/21

Take Action!Sign this Petition: Appeal to UN Security Council to Halt Naked Aggression: The undersigned petition the members of the United Nations Security Council to block the US-UK resolution for an unprovoked war on Iraq. In spite of the media barrage of war drums, the majority of the British and American people still oppose Bush's plan of naked aggression - but we are disenfranchised by our politicians, just as were Germany's voters in the thirties. Distinguished Members of the Security Council - please help us! 10/18

Witness Gave Fake Sniper Description!! A witness who says he saw the Washington-area sniper fire with an assault rifle and flee in a cream-colored van gave a phony story, investigators said Thursday in a setback that casts doubt on much of what the public thought it knew about the roving killer. 10/18

Yet More Fundamentalist Info Warefare: (Yet another Zionist e-mail campaign, a 'false flag' operation using a forged mass mailing to discredit its apparent sender.) "Unidentified computer hackers "spoofed" the e-mail address belonging to Students Allied for Freedom & Equality (SAFE). This email address, studentsallied@umich.edu, was used to send an email to over 1000 University faculty and staff members... The email spews much anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic rhetoric that SAFE has never endorsed." 10/18

Here is the next step in setting up N. Korea as 2003's "McSatan"- complete with satellite photo! The startling revelation that North Korea has an active nuclear weapons program may complicate life for the White House but is unlikely to alter its plans to go after Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. In fact, several security experts said, Bush may find greater public support for U.S. military action to crush threats to American and global security. 10/18

Some Good News: World Community Standing Against Bush Imperialism, Forcing Compromise at UN: The reported compromise comes a day after more than two dozen nations, including Iraq's closest neighbors and key U.S. allies, refused to endorse the Bush administration's demand for a new U.N. resolution that would authorize military force if Baghdad fails to cooperate with U.N. weapons inspections. They said Iraq must be given a chance to completely disarm without the imminent threat of military action. The first open Security Council debate on the Iraq crisis clearly showed that the wider U.N. membership favors a two-resolution approach proposed by France and backed by Russia and China. 10/18

Check out the Internet Buzz!- On Iraq, the DC Sniper, ongoing Protests, The Libertarian Party - or any other keyword on The Globalmind Network.

Dick Cheney Opposes War in Iraq!: "If you're going to go in and try to topple Saddam Hussein, you have to go to Baghdad. Once you've got Baghdad, it's not clear what you do with it. It's not clear what kind of government you would put in place of the one that's currently there now. ... How much credibility is that government going to have if it's set up by the United States military when it's there? How long does the United States military have to stay to protect the people that sign on for that government, and what happens to it once we leave?" 10/18

Saddam's Election Dismissed by Most. (Hell, it was a one-man race.) Well of course it was fixed, folks. This will be used as political firepower later. Says Iraq: ""If there is aggression, the Americans will face these people who said 'yes' to Saddam Hussein." 10/18

Harry Brown on the Futility of Gun Laws. "Not one of these laws deters crime in any way. No criminal is going to buy his weapon in a way that involves a background check, waiting period, a gun lock, or any other restriction. He'll buy his gun in the underworld, or simply steal it." 10/18

And from the other side of the gun-law fence- Michael Moore: Bowling for Columbine Breaks Records at Box Office! "Bowling for Columbine" has set the new all-time opening weekend box office record ($27,000 per screen avg.) for a documentary in the United States! Thank you SO MUCH -- all of you who stood in those enormous lines in Los Angeles and New York trying to get in but couldn't. The unprecedented outpouring of support for this film sent a shock wave through Hollywood. 10/18

US judge delivers Andersen coup de grace! A US federal judge imposed the maximum punishment on Arthur Andersen LLP for its part in obstructing an inquiry into the collapse of former client Enron Corp, saddling the onetime accounting giant with a $500,000 fine and five years of probation. 10/17

North Korea and the Nuke: the Bush Admin Points the Finger. Remember that "Axis of Evil" speech? Remember critics saying Bush would find one enemy after another, and then another, and then another? So never fear; there are plenty more Osama/Saddams to keep us at war for a long time to come. 10/17

US Army Spy Planes Will Be Used To Search For Sniper. How convenient that the Sniper-scare will set another precedent to use military equipment and personnel for domestic law-enforcement. They intend to "look for flashes of gunfire" in the murder capitol of America. 10/17

Sniper Witnesses Coming Up Zero. Several people have told authorities they saw a man take aim and fire at a woman loading her car outside a Home Depot store Monday in Virginia. But authorities say the witnesses were not able to give investigators enough consistent details to create a sketch of the suspect. 10/17

100% of the Iraqis voted; 100% supported Saddam!! 10/17

"I'm not sure which planet they live on." Hawks in the Bush administration may be making deadly miscalculations on Iraq, says Gen. Anthony Zinni, Bush's Middle East envoy. 10/17

Anti-War Protests Get Louder In California. Life has become one big anti-war rally. Last Wednesday, Grubler, a volunteer with the American Friends Service Committee, agreed to lead a rally of 200 students at the University of California, Berkeley. On Thursday, he joined 200 people on a march to the Federal Building here to protest the congressional resolution authorizing President Bush to attack Iraq. On Saturday, Grubler spent a good part of the day sifting through a mountain of e-mails about upcoming anti-war events. Today, he led a teach-in at Stanford University. 10/17

I See Four Lights, By William Rivers Pitt. The business reporters on CNBC and CNN still speak of "recovery from recession," despite the fact that the Dow Jones has lost some 3,000 points in the last two years, despite the fact that the federal government has dived into deficit spending, despite the fact that there are millions and millions of newly unemployed workers from sea to shining sea. According to the reporters, everything is sunshine and roses. The people on the street, the ones with no jobs and worthless stock options, know better. This reality is not reported. Stories describing the very real links between the Bush administration and the worst of the corporate robber barons have, simply, ceased to exist. 10/17

Opposition Over Iraq Takes Rise Via the Net. When tens of thousands of people came out on Oct. 6 to protest US policy on Iraq, the seeds of action had been sown not on college campuses, which had their own, much smaller protests last Monday, but on the computer desktops of people like Hendrickson, 58. From her living room, she helped organize simultaneous protests in 14 countries, including Japan, Bangladesh, Germany, Austria, Australia, India, and Nepal. This year, for the first time since the advent of the Internet, Americans are engaging in public debate about whether to go to war, and a great deal of the opposition has coalesced online. The ease of electronic communication allows like-minded people to sign petitions and coordinate protests far more easily than they could in the 1960s, or even a decade ago during the Gulf War. 10/17

Total Eclipse When Did Iraq Become More Important Than America? With mid-term elections just weeks away, the lack of substantive debate and coverage of domestic issues poses more of a threat to the nation’s security than Saddam. But anyone who says so has trouble getting a microphone. 10/17

Wall Street/Washington insider spills the dirty secret of Iraq war. Removing the Iraqi government and installing a US military regime that would control the country’s oil fields is “at least as important as eliminating weapons of mass destruction. Getting control of that oil will make a vast difference in all sorts of things, but particularly the price of oil.” 10/17

Indonesian anger at FBI investigation. In the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, where reaction to the intervention of foreigners, particularly the FBI, was angrily received, few believed the foreign agents were there in a purely advisory capacity. In fact, as the FBI arrived to "advise" the Balinese police, the Indonesian authorities were already coming under intense international pressure to concentrate their energies on bringing the perpetrators of the atrocity to justice. 10/17

White House Accused Of Halting 911 Commission In breaking news over the last two days George Bush has been accused of double speak over the creation of an Independent Commission to investigate the events surrounding the attacks of September 11th 1991. The following reports are from the Washington Post and New York Times where more coverage of these issues can be found. 10/17

Jeb Bush is on the way to losing Florida Race! McBride is currently in Dead Heat and Gaining! Jeb's Big Brother is obsessed over outcome! A growing concern that Florida Governor Jeb Bush may be vulnerable in next month's election has become a near-obsession inside of the White House. "Democrats and the media will show no mercy if the president's brother is defeated," a top Bush insider said from Washington. "While no one wants to lose a state house, a win by McBride would be viewed as symbolic." Say Democrats: "We'll take one Bush at a time." 10/16

Miami-Dade approves outside monitors for Nov. 5 election. Still divided over the issue of election monitors, the Miami-Dade County Commission on Tuesday narrowly voted to hire the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Democracy to oversee the Nov. 5 general elections. 10/16

With Few Jobs Being Created, Pain Is Felt Far and Wide Almost a year after the economy began "growing" again, the nation continues to suffer through a broad jobs slump that has spread the pain more evenly than almost any downturn on record. 10/15

Cheney: 'Investigators, Keep Out'- Vice presidential-appointee blocks an independent commission to investigate 9-11. Dick Cheney played a behind-the-scenes role last week in derailing an agreement to create an independent commission to investigate the 9-11 attacks. Last month the White House endorsed the formation of the panel. But on Thursday, hours after congressional negotiators hailed a final deal over the scope and powers of a 9-11 panel, Cheney called House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Porter Goss. Later that day Goss told a closed-door conference committee he couldn't accept the deal, citing instructions from "above my pay grade,'' sources say. 10/15

Sniper may have killed 9th victim!! Police in this Washington-area suburb are investigating what appears to be the ninth fatal sniper attack this month, a woman slain by a single gunshot Monday night in the parking area of a Home Depot store. 10/15

Sniper Profiling There's been a lot of talk across the GlobalMind lately about profiling the D.C. Sniper. Forget what the police aren't telling us- you might be suprised at what the clues reveal. (Compare this to the last high profile terrorist attack against America, in which the U.S. military was also directly implicated: U.S. made anthrax that was mailed to Washington right on time to guarantee the swift undebated passage of the USA PATRIOT Act. There is no doubt that both the anthrax and sniper episodes were political psyops actions.) 10/15

Osama Doesn't Seem To Be As Dead As We Make Him Out: A signed statement attributed to Osama bin Laden was sent to an Arab satellite station yesterday, praising an attack on U.S. Marines in Kuwait and what appears to have been a terrorist attack on a French tanker off Yemen early this month. 10/15

The closet imperialists come out. A war on Iraq would be "an imperialist war. We intend to use armed force against Iraq ... to acquire the power to decide who shall rule Iraq, what kind of government it will have, what kind of weapons it will develop for its own security, what kind of foreign policy it will have." The War Party is out of the closet. 10/15

In the 2002 Election, The Issue is Unchecked Power. Is this the most important election in US history? With his TV talk of war, George W. Bush has blown smoke over what's really at stake today: the future of democracy. Not in Iraq; here in the United States. Never in US history have we ever been closer to an unchecked one man one party rule than right now. And as the world's sole military super-power, we have made the crisis truly global. 10/15

Harry Browne reviews George W's big speech: Evidence? No, just take his word for it. He spoke of "surveillance photos," but didn't offer to show us any. He mentioned "intelligence" discoveries, but provided no details or proof. 10/15

Jerry Falwell to Oversee Law School that Will Groom Future Republican Administration Supreme Court Appointments. Not long ago, in an underreported speech, Justice Antonin "The Fixer" Scalia spoke about how the Constitution was derived from God, and, therefore, in essence, God was sometimes to be factored into Supreme court decisions. Scalia, a member of a powerful conservative Catholic sect called Opus Dei (Work of God), was merely reconfirming the Bush Cartel commitment to governing America ... through a theocratic prism. Just ask John Ashcroft, who regularly anoints himself, and has repeatedly declared that God is the King of America. 10/15

Mistaken Identity in Search for Taliban Omar- the CIA proves again there is no such thing as "military intelligence." Thousands of United States troops scouring Afghanistan for Mullah Mohammad Omar have been looking for the wrong man, according to an Afghan villager who says that it is his face on the CIA's wanted poster and not that of the fugitive Taliban leader. 10/15

Must Read!: Texas on the Tigris, by Maureen Dowd. This has always been a place where people say the opposite of what they mean. But last week, the capitol soared to ominous new Orwellian heights. 10/14

More Must Reads (from BuzzFlash.com)!:Safe-haven Duplicity, For Some and Crunch Time -- Southern Style Does the fact that Osama bin Laden, once the target, still eludes our forces have any bearing on Bush's war push? Of course it does. Instead of finishing the task at hand, he merely shifted the focus to Iraq, even though there is still much to be done in Afghanistan. Watch for the same pattern in Iraq, if efforts to get Saddam are as difficult as some believe they could be. Watch for another enemy to focus on. Watch for enemy after enemy to be named. Watch for war after war to be declared. Where and when will the politics of war end? 10/14

No tidal wave of recruits to fight Saddam. (But, don't worry, we know the Draft is on its way back...) At posts across the five boroughs, people trickle into the recruiting offices, which often go hours without a visitor. But recruiters stay busy combing the schools and setting up booths on sidewalks and near subways in search of young men and women to enlist. 10/14

Headlines from the Jakarta Post (Indonesia) on the Terrorist Bombing in Bali: Senator Graham Warned that if the Bush Cartel Stays Obsessed With Iraq, We May Lose the War with Al-Qaeda. 10/14

From the BBC: Many Dead in Bali Blasts. A bomb on the Indonesian holiday island of Bali has killed at least 58 people in a crowded nightclub in the resort of Kuta. Police said at least 15 of the dead are foreigners, and more than 120 people were injured - among them Americans, Australians, Britons and Canadians. "There are charred and mangled bodies everywhere, it is unbelievable." 10/14

Update, 5am: Body count from explosion in Bali club might exceed 200! Non-essential foriegn nationals are called to leave Indonesia. 10/14

Take Action! Pour the Pressure Onto the Media! This link contains hundreds of e-mail addresses for major media outlets! Just write an e-mail about your favorite issue, and then start cutting and pasting these addresses. YOU can help force the media to re-think its coverage of the issues! It works! 10/14

Iraq: Damned If They Don't, Damned If They Do... In a new letter sent to the Vienna headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Saddam adviser Gen. Amir al-Sadi said Baghdad sees no obstacles to a resumption of the hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. America's response: "Iraq responds to pressure but will revert to noncompliance the moment it thinks it can." 10/14

Byrdsong, by William Rivers Pitt The Congress of the United States of America ceded control of that most-important and Constitutionally-mandated responsibility to George W. Bush and his administration. This resolution, as drafted, gives authorization to Bush to "...use all means that he determines to be appropriate, including force...to defend the national security interests of the United States against the threat posed by Iraq, and restore international peace and security in the region." The breadth of this language, with its nebulous reference to "the region," offered Bush the legal ability to make war on any number of nations in the Middle East without further consulting Congress. 10/14

Check out the Internet Buzz!- On Congress and their War Resolution, Iraq, and Terrorism- or any other keyword on The Globalmind Network.

The Sun Can't Set on This Empire Too Soon. The U.S. Has No Right To Indulge In Imperialism. It sure smells like imperialism. That's the word historians use when powerful nations grab control of desired resources, be it the gold of the New World or the oil of the Middle East. Imperialist greed is what "regime change" in Iraq and "anticipatory self-defense" are all about, and all of the rest of the Bush administration's talk about security and democracy is a bunch of malarkey. 10/14

Chinese Visit Libertarian Party to Learn About Multi-Party Democracy. "They seemed to have a genuine curiosity about third parties and what role they might play in a democratized China, and I think we satisfied that curiosity." 10/14

You Wanted War America? You Got It! Welcome Back the Draft!! On Feb 6, 2002, Reps Nick Smith and Roscoe Bartlett sponsored H.R. 3598- "To require the induction into the Armed Forces of young men registered under the Military Selective Service Act 10/13

Here is the War Resolution as passed by the House and received by the Senate. 10/13

Check This Out! What happens when we put: "special forces" sniper "death card" into a search engine? We find out that the Death Card is, in fact, a favored symbol of marine special forces snipers- especially during the Vietnam era! "One Shot, One Kill." 10/13

Revolution Is In The Air! "Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up and shake off the existing government and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most valuable and sacred right - a right we hope and believe to liberate the world."- Abraham Lincoln. (If you're easily upset, do NOT read this.) 10/13

Moles At Work: So here's my theory: Michael Oxley, Harvey Pitt and George W. Bush are all Communist moles who have worked their way into the center of the capitalist system in order to destroy it. How else can you make sense of their actions? 10/13

Perhaps this is another way to explain it: Enronomics and the USA: We are currently being led by a bunch of CEOs. What do CEOs do? They get ahold of a company, loot it for everything it's worth, drive the company deep into the ground, and then head for the hills before the headlines break. And now, we're seeing Bush/Cheney (etc) applying the same strategy to our entire Nation. 10/13

Blair Fails to Win Putin Backing for Iraq Move Russia turned down a bid by British Prime Minister Tony Blair Friday to secure backing for a tough U.N. resolution on Iraq and dismissed his charges that Baghdad held weapons of mass destruction. But President Vladimir Putin, speaking after talks with Blair at a country hunting lodge, left open the possibility of supporting an "acceptable" measure to ensure that weapons inspectors could work properly in Iraq. 10/13

Carter Wins Nobel Peace Prize, Bush Rebuked Carter, a Democrat who was president from 1977 to 1981, was awarded the $1 million prize from a record field of 156 candidates for decades of work to resolve conflicts from the Middle East to North Korea, and from Haiti to Eritrea. The chairman of the committee, Gunnar Berge, used the prize to make a scathing attack on President Bush's campaign to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. 10/13

And You Thought Only The Bush Family Worked With the Nazis in WWII?: The IBM Link to Auschwitz. Researchers Uncover Records of the Company's Work at Death-Camp Complex. The infamous Auschwitz tattoo began as an IBM number. And now it's been revealed that IBM machines were actually based at the infamous concentration-camp complex. 10/13

Vote United States Traitors Out of Office! Here are Roll-Call lists of every member of the House of Representatives and the United States Senate who voted YES on granting Bush full Imperial Power over America and the rest of the world. In each and every case, this vote was placed in Direct Opposition to the people they claim to represent. These people are traitors to America, have ignored our system of representative government, and must Never Recieve Another Vote From The People Of This Country. 10/12

It's Crank-It-Up Time! -- An Urgent Nov. 5th Call to Action. If the GOP is able to regain control of the Senate, and holds on to the House, there will be nothing to stop Bush&Co. from taking control of all levers of power in this country. The House, the Senate, the White House, the Supreme Court, and most of the conglomerate-owned media will be in the hands of those whose policies would spell disaster for our land. [ As one Senate Republican leadership aide put it, "When we take over the majority, we intend to move so fast to pass bills and confirm judges that have been held up by the Senate Democratic leadership that it will make their heads spin" (Roll Call, 10/7). ] 10/12

Bush Moves to Block Independant 9/11 Investigation. Doesn't Want America To Discover His Complicity in Attacks. Hours after Congress announced that they had agreed on the terms of an independent commission to investigate the Sept. 11 attacks, the White House raised fresh objections late today and held off on a final agreement. If the disagreement is not resolved in the few days before the Congressional session ends, the commission, which some people said would be the government's most comprehensive look at the lessons of the attacks, could be postponed until next year. It is possible that the panel would not be created at all. 10/12

Now, a high-tech witch hunt for 'dangerous' students. A government agency and a private security expert have teamed up to launch a shocking experiment in technology, sociology and education: the use of sophisticated computer software named Mosaic-2000 to compile profiles of students who might be deemed dangerous. 10/12

The US Must Follow Europe's Lead And Turn Its Back on Oil. The Rise of Hydrogen Power Makes Energy Regime Change Inevitable This week, the world got a glimpse into the future when General Motors unveiled its revolutionary new Hy-wire car at the Paris motor show. GM's automobile is run on hydrogen, the most basic and lightest element in the universe. When burned, it only emits pure water and heat. While the EU is beginning to mobilise its industrial sector, research institutes and the public to the task of making an historic transition out of carbon-based fossil fuels and into renewable resources and a hydrogen future, the US is pursuing an increasingly desperate search to secure access to oil. 10/12

Liar Bush Now Admits He Has Planned To Install Military Occupation of Iraq All Along. White House has developed a detailed plan, modeled on the postwar occupation of Japan, to install an American-led military government in Iraq if the United States topples Saddam Hussein. The plan also calls for war-crime trials of Iraqi leaders and a transition to an elected civilian government that will take years. For as long as America administered Iraq, they would essentially control the second largest proven reserves of oil in the world, nearly 11 percent of the total. (Moms and Dads- kiss your children goodbye.) 10/11

Shooting Number 10 From the 'Tarot Card' Sniper! A man was shot to death at a Virginia gas station on Friday in circumstances police said resembled those of nine other sniper shootings that have spread fear in the Washington area for over a week. Police said the killing at 9:30 a.m. occurred at an Exxon station off the busy I-95 highway south of Washington as a Virginia state trooper was dealing with a traffic accident across the street. 10/11

Bad News: Congress Passes Bush's Iraq War Resolution without changing a word!! Congress voted solidly to give Bush the broad authority he sought to use U.S. military force to confront Hussein, handing him a crucial national-security policy victory. The Democratic-led Senate approved the war resolution 77-23 early Friday. The House voted for the resolution on Thursday, 296-133. 10/11

Army Secretary Thomas White Accused of Lying to Senate! Thomas White, Secretary of the Army and former vice-chairman of Enron Energy Services, always denied his division played any part in the rigging of California's electricity market which gained tens of millions of dollars profit for the firm. Under oath, he declared his side of Enron was selling electricity to businesses and universities - not dealing in it wholesale among the traders. But, after combing through Enron memos, consumer interest group Public Citizen told BBC Radio that it has sent documents to Senate that, it claims, prove Mr White's defence is untrue. 10/11

Evidence Suggests Terror Attack on French Tanker Near Yemen A team of French, U.S. and Yemeni experts searched the vessel Thursday, and officials report finding fiberglass debris and fragments of a small boat engine on the deck consistent with an explosives-laden boat. According to experts, the huge hole in the tanker was likely made by an external blast at the water-line. 10/11

France Sees Compromise on Iraq, Remains Strongly Opposed to War. Signs have emerged of a possible compromise on how to deal with Iraq between the United States and other permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. The French Foreign Ministry said a constructive dialogue was under way on a new Security Council resolution. The French comments came as Iraq dismissed as "misleading" a speech by President Bush in which he warned Baghdad to disarm or be disarmed. 10/11

Police Link Virginia Shooting to the Sniper- for a total of 9 shootings! Seven people have died. Two other victims, one a 13-year-old boy, were seriously wounded but survived. Only one shot was fired during each attack. The targets, people of varying ages and ethnic backgrounds, seem to have been selected at random. There are no confirmed sightings of the sniper, who is believed to have fired from a long distance. 10/11

Congressman Ron Paul's Statement Opposing the use of Military Force against Iraq. "This is not a resolution to declare war. We know that. This is a resolution that does something much different. This resolution transfers the responsibility, the authority, and the power of the Congress to the President so he can declare war when and if he wants to. He has not even indicated that he wants to go to war or has to go to war; but he will make the full decision, not the Congress, not the people through the Congress of this country in that manner." 10/11

Patrick Leahy Chairman Senate Judiciary Committee: On The Iraq War Resolution. "Today we are considering a resolution offered by Senator Lieberman to authorize the use of force. Article I of the Constitution gives the Congress the sole power to declare war. Yet instead of exercising this responsibility and voting up or down on a declaration of war, we have chosen to delegate this authority to the Executive Branch. This resolution, like others before it, does not declare anything. It tells the President "you decide." This resolution, when you get through the pages of whereas clauses, is nothing more than a blank check. The President can decide when to use military force, how to use it, and for how long." 10/11

Congressman Jesse L. Jackson: The Iraq Resolution. "And while our attention is focused on a military threat overseas, we are drowning at home economically. I believe we can creatively insist on a peaceful resolution to eliminate Saddam's WMD without an invasion and the actual use of force. Our military might is unquestioned. Our wisdom, compassion, and commitment to a non-violent means of resolving conflict is not. But that, and that alone, will move us toward genuine peace, justice, and security for all." 10/11

Stock Market falls 215 Points, to Close at 7,286! The broad stock market fell to its lowest close in more than five years on Wednesday after bleak comments and forecasts from Wall Street analysts on household names such as General Electric Co. and Ford Motor Co. fanned fears about corporate profits. 10/10

Democratic leaders ask Bush to fire SEC chairman Pitt. Democratic leaders on Wednesday asked Bush to remove Harvey Pitt, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, whom they accuse of opposing a tough candidate to head a new oversight board at the accounting industry's behest. The White House called the accusations politically motivated. 10/10

U.S. ports are forced to reopen. Temporary deal expires on October 16. Judge William Alsup ruled the government had proven use of the Taft-Hartley Act was necessary to stop the lockout's impact on the economy. Ends a caustic 10-day labor lockout that has cost the fragile U.S. economy $1 billion to $2 billion a day, and hurt exporters across Asia. 10/10

Another Charity Falls Victim to War on (Some) Terror? Enaam M. Arnaout, 40, a father of four from suburban Chicago, faces up to 90 years in prison if he is convicted on the seven counts in a federal indictment alleging that his charity, the Benevolence International Foundation, was a financial front for Osama bin Laden's terrorist activities. Several groups staged a demonstration against the jailing of the Muslim leader, calling it an attack on civil liberties. 10/10

Suicide Bomber Strikes Central Israel, and Two Palestinian Teens Killed by Israeli Troops. A suicide bomber blew himself up by a bus near Tel Aviv on Thursday after Israeli passengers stopped him boarding, killing a woman and wounding five people. And: Palestinian witnesses and hospital officials said Israeli forces shot dead two Palestinians, an 18-year-old and a 12-year-old boy.

Senator James M. Jeffords on the Senate Resolution Authorizing the Use of Force Against Iraq: "I am very disturbed by [Bush's] determination that the threat from Iraq is so severe and so immediate that we must rush to a military solution. I do not see it that way. I have been briefed several times by Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, CIA Director Tenet and other top Administration officials. I have discussed this issue with [Bush]. I have heard nothing that convinces me that an immediate preemptive military strike is necessary or that it would further our interests in the long term." 10/10

The War Debate By Sen. Robert C. Byrd We are voting on this new Bush doctrine of... preemptive strikes. There is nothing in this Constitution about preemptive strikes. Yet in this rag here, this resolution, we are about to vote to put the imprimatur of the Congress on that doctrine. That is what the Bush administration wants us to do. They want Congress to put its stamp of approval on that Bush doctrine of preemptive strikes. 10/10

Not Exactly News: White House 'exaggerating Iraqi threat'. Bush's case against Saddam Hussein, outlined in a televised address to the nation on Monday night, relied on a slanted and sometimes entirely false reading of the available US intelligence, government officials and analysts claimed yesterday. 10/10

CIA blows Bush's attack plans. President George Bush's attempt to maintain public support for military action against Iraq has taken a fresh blow from an unexpected quarter, with the publication of a letter from the CIA stating that while Saddam Hussein poses little threat to America now, a US invasion could push him into retaliating with chemical or biological weapons. 10/10

Man Draws Gun on U.S. Troops. U.S. troops in a Humvee utility vehicle were overtaken by a civilian vehicle and as the civilian vehicle went by a person inside drew a gun and pointed it at the Americans. One of the Americans opened fire, and they reported having seen the civilian vehicle veer off the roadway. 10/10

Guess What? Republicans Make the Voting Machines! The McCarthy Group has been a primary owner of Election Systems & Software, including its predecessor, American Information Systems for more than a decade. Michael R. McCarthy is the current campaign Treasurer for Republican senator Chuck Hagel. Prior to his election, Republican Senator Hagel was president of McCarthy & Company. In fact, he was first elected while his own company was making the vote-counting machines! 10/10

Washington sniper may be taunting police. The marksman stalking Washington's suburbs appears to have issued his first communication since embarking on his killing spree, taunting the authorities with a line on a tarot card, reading: "Dear Policeman: I am God". 10/10

Another Sniper Killing? Man Shot Dead at Va. Gas Station Wed Night. A man was shot and killed Wednesday night after filling his tank at a Virginia gas station, and police were trying to determine whether he was the latest victim of the sniper who has terrorized the Washington area for a week. 10/10

Some Bad News: Courts in Conflict Over Secret Hearings. A federal appeals court today upheld the legality of the Bush administration's policy of holding secret immigration hearings for hundreds of detainees. Because it conflicts with another appellate court ruling on the same issue, the decision appears to set up a future confrontation at the U.S. Supreme Court between the Justice Department and civil liberties advocates who have argued that the policy violates constitutional freedoms. 10/10

A Letter from Michael Moore: "Bowling for Columbine," Opens This Friday. "It is, I promise, the last thing the Bushies want projected on the movie screens across America this week. The film is, first and foremost, a devastating indictment of the violence that is done in our name for profit and power -- and no one, in all the advance screenings I have attended, has left the theatre with anything short of rage. I truly believe this film has the potential to rock the nation and get people energized to do something." 10/10

Curses! Bush's "Devious Plan" Backfires! Jeb Bush didn't know a reporter was in the room- running a tape recorder- when he bragged about his "devious plan" to cripple a Florida Constitutional Amendment to limit class sizes. Gov. Bush doesn't understand the Information Age. But the Dems are reacting fast. 10/09

A broke McBride has "plenty of money." Floridians already voting Not-Bush. As of Sept. 27, the campaign had spent nearly all of its $3,377,000 raised. But the Aquarium event and other pitches occurred after that report. "We've got plenty of money," McBride said. He said the campaign will have enough to buy its own television advertising, in addition to ads that will be bought for the campaign by the state Democratic Party. 10/09

Stocks Higher on Bush's Ports Move: President Bush said he will ask a court to force the reopening of West Coast ports after a 10-day-old lockout that has cost billions of dollars and stunted international trade. 10/09

Scathing Report on SEC Over Enron, Senate Panel Also Faults Credit-Rating Agencies. A Senate panel criticizes the Securities and Exchange Commission for its passive approach to rooting out financial fraud and rebukes credit-rating agencies for failing to act as watchdogs, lapses it says magnified the effect of Enron Corp.'s collapse last year. 10/09

Photos: Military Filming Protesters at D.C. Demonstrations. Besides being a probable violation of the Posse Comitatus Act, any governmental filming of people who are engaged in peaceful protest is a sign of a police state, pure and simple. 10/09

Action Alert!!: Maintain an Independent Judiciary! The Bush Admin is continuing its aggressive efforts to remake the Federal appeals courts. While much of the public's attention is distracted by the drumbeat of war, Mr. Bush and his conservative allies are trying to push through candidates who will tilt critical appeals courts into remaking the laws. If approved, these nominees receive lifetime appointments and are often considered for the Supreme Court. 10/09

Kuwaitis kill U.S. marine. Two Kuwaiti gunmen in a pickup truck attacked U.S. forces during war exercises yesterday on an island in the Persian Gulf, killing one marine and wounding another before they were shot dead by U.S. troops. Kuwait called it a "terrorist act." 10/09

Some administration officials expressing misgivings on Iraq. These officials charge that administration hawks have exaggerated evidence of the threat that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein poses -- including distorting his links to the al-Qaida terrorist network -- have overstated the amount of international support for attacking Iraq and have downplayed the potential repercussions of a new war in the Middle East. 10/09

CIA Director George Tenet says Iraq is no Threat unless Bush Invades: George Tenet described told lawmakers that Saddam might turn to his biological and chemical weapons for terrorist purposes if provoked by an imminent U.S.-led attack. Saddam might take the extreme step of assisting terrorists with weapons of mass destruction as "his last chance to exact vengeance by taking a large number of victims with him," Tenet wrote in a letter. 10/09

The Bush Doctrine of Pre-Emption. Statement Senator Edward M. Kennedy Delivered on the Floor of the US Senate: "Might does not make right. America cannot write its own rules for the modern world. To attempt to do so would be unilateralism run amok. It would antagonize our closest allies... And it would give other nations -- from Russia to India to Pakistan -- an excuse to violate fundamental principles of civilized international behavior. 10/09

Bush Talks, Networks Speechless: "The speech was 'blunt, hardline, a prelude to war.' ... 'The logic of the speech says that Iraq is our first stop, not our last stop, in the Middle East.'" (The Institute for Public Accuracy has prepared a line-by-line critique of the misrepresentations in Bush's speech.) 10/09

Lib Party Release: Bush's Speech on Iraq. As Americans consider the merits of the case against Iraq as laid out by Bush last night, they should keep these five words in mind: Babies being pulled from incubators. The explosive allegation that Iraqi troops had invaded a Kuwaiti hospital in 1990, pulled babies from incubators and left them on the floor to die later turned out to be patently false government propaganda. 10/09

America's Great Misleader: Bush's arguments strain the limits of plausibility to justify war on Iraq, and this means regime change is imperative - in Washington 10/09

And the Body-Count Grows: More Palestinians Killed in Gaza Raid! Israeli tanks backed by helicopters raided a neighborhood in the Gaza Strip town of Khan Yunis early Monday, killing 13 Palestinians, including 10 who died when a missile blasted into a crowd gathered in the street. Hospital officials said the dead, aged from 14 to 52, were all civilians, and that up to another 100 were wounded, 25 of them critically. 10/09

Bush Threatens Veto of Defense Bill: Wants Disabled Benefits Eliminated. Perhaps the soldiers being deployed to fight in Iraq should reconsider. [Bush] doesn't believe they should be compensated for disabilities. George w. Bush can find billions for new weapons programs but cant find money to compensate disabled veterans. Yet another case of misguided priorities. 10/09

Sniper Wounds Boy in Latest Attack! The Washington-area sniper struck again Monday, shooting and critically wounding a 13-year-old boy as his aunt dropped him off at school. (The shooter is a professional.) 10/08

As usual, anticipation of Bush's speech sends the Stock Market tumbling down. (Falls 106 points, closes at 7,423.) 10/08

Of course, there was nothing new in his speech. Just more dog-wagging about war, and not a single word about our failing economy. Not billed as a major policy speech, ABC, CBS and NBC decided to go ahead with their usual Monday night programming. 10/08

Not Exactly News: New York Times/CBS News survey shows Americans are more concerned about the economy: "Bush is spending way too much time focusing on Iraq instead of the economy, and he's doing it as a political move," said Gladys Steele, a 42-year-old housewife from Seattle. "He thinks keeping us fearful about going to war will distract us from how bad the economy is." 10/08

A Real Surprise! U.S. Supreme Court Won't Touch That NJ Ballot Case With a 10-Mile Pole! The U.S. Supreme Court refused to get involved in the New Jersey Senate fight Monday, clearing the way for the Democrats to put former Sen. Frank Lautenberg on the November ballot in place of scandal-plagued Sen. Robert Torricelli. 10/08

What's the difference between Adolf Hitler and George W. Bush?
Answer: Hitler was elected. (-Paul Krassner)

Dead or Alive, Mr. Bush?? Bin Laden still alive, reveals spy satellite . Osama bin Laden is alive and regularly meeting Mullah Omar, the fugitive leader of the Taliban, according to a telephone call intercepted by American spy satellites. 10/08

Not Exactly News: Portland "Terrorism" Arrests Probably For Show. Indictment of six in Portland is more suggestive of bumbling, would-be holy warriors than of soldiers training for deadly missions. 10/08

Bush Creates 'Panel' To Review Port-Shutdown Crisis. And this is going to have them open by this weekend? 10/08

The Decline and Fall of the American Empire. (Has it already happened?) America gave up the ghost in 1974, when it admitted defeat in Vietnam and discovered that the conflict had more or less exhausted the gold reserves, crippling its ability to remain a major economic power. It has remained the focus of the world's attention partly for lack of any serious challenger to the greenback for the world's savings, and because it has kept attracting foreign investments at a rate of $1.2-billion (U.S.) per day. 10/08

From the Syria Times: Three More Palestinians killed by Israeli gunfire Palestinian medical sources clarified that the Israeli occupation forces opened fire at the 51 year old man Issa Hanarshi and the 22 year old man Sameh Nawras and a Palestinian farmer of 24 years old. The Israeli settlers tried to expel the Palestinians from their land, claiming that the Palestinian farm is part of the Israeli settlement, Itmar. 10/08

Here is what the Syria Times has to say about the "Not In Our Name" Protests around the United States. "...the campaign of US intellectuals and artists against the US intentions to attack Iraq." 10/08

The Palestinian Intifata is Two Years Old- and no signs of slowing yet. 10/08

Bush Knew: Bush Gets Tangled in his 9-11 Lies, Part 2: White House Cover-up Creates More Problems than it Solves. 10/08

Oil Tanker Explosion Near Yemen! Near the port where the USS Cole was attacked, a French supertanker explodes into flame. Captain saw a small fishing boat pulling up to the tanker before the blast at 9:15 a.m. local time. Company director: "We believe it was a deliberate act. It was not an accident." (Accident? Terrorist attack? Or is France being sent a message?) 10/07

Thousands of anti-war protesters took to the streets throughout California Sunday. Protesters jammed Union Square in San Francisco and a lively demonstration also took place at the Federal Building in west Los Angeles. The demonstrations were one of dozens of anti-war rallies across the country organized by the Not in Our Name Project. Demonstrations also were held in New York, Chicago, Portland., and many smaller communities. 10/07

Thousands Flock to Anti-War Rallies Across Italy. But other sources say the number was 1.5 million! 10/07

No Retreat, No Surrender : A number of groups had been sounding the alarm for weeks - George W. Bush is coming to Boston on October 4th. Bring signs, bring flyers, bring your best shouting shoes, and meet on the bridge. We march on the hotel before noon. The purpose of the protest: To try and stop this coming war in Iraq. Before 10:00 a.m., hundreds of people had come pouring out of the city and over the bridge, bearing banners and signs and very worried faces. This was no lark. 10/07

Two of the largest corporate collapses have at least one thing in common: company chairmen who took their creations to great heights, reaped millions from stock sales - and said they knew nothing of problems until it was too late. 10/07

Life under the Bush just gets worse and worse... In the 75-year existence of the S&P 500, no president has seen the stock market index fall as much as one-quarter, before Bush’s decline of more than one-third. 10/07

Libertarians oppose allowing another Democrat on the NJ ballot: If the people are truly fed up with Republicans, then what are the chances that NJ (without a Democratic candidate) could produce the first Libertarian or other third-party Senator? If the Libertarians would jump on this, it could be historic! 10/07

The New Jersey Libertarian Party's Response to President Bush's Draft Resolution on Iraq: Before the House and the Senate decide to place US soldiers in harms way, it is important to state why we believe such a resolution is illegitimate and without constitutional basis. Keep in mind that the last such unconstitutional "resolution" resulted in the deaths of more than 50,000 servicemen in Vietnam. 10/07

In a leaked proposal for a UN resolution drafted by the US with help from British officials, the Bush administration is seeking to transform the inspections process into a coercive operation. The resolution would place a full-scale invasion of Iraq on a hair trigger, authorising UN member states "to use all necessary means to restore international peace and security" if Iraq does so much as make an omission in the weapons inventories it presents to the security council. 10/07

Explained at last!: Why we MUST go to war! (Flash Cartoon) 10/07

More Suicide Attempts at Guantanamo: The attempts occurred since August, but officials declined to say how many more there had been, when they occurred, or whether any detainee has tried to kill himself more than once. None of the 598 detainees from 43 countries held on the remote outpost in eastern Cuba have been charged but they are accused of links to the fallen Taliban regime of Afghanistan or al-Qaida terror network. They have not been allowed access to lawyers. 10/07

Wall Street Seals Sixth Weekly Loss In a Row. This week's losses were a painful disappointment for investors who hoped that the big market rally on Tuesday was a signal that the market has hit bottom. No such luck. Stocks are continuing to fall because there has been no fundamental change in the factors pulling the market down. 10/06

New Claims for Jobless Benefits on the Rise More Americans filed new claims for jobless benefits last week, a fresh sign of the difficulties workers and companies are confronting as the nation's wobbly economy struggles to keep its balance. 10/06

Senator Byrd: Rush to War Ignores U.S. Constitution. "For as sure as the sun rises in the east, we are embarking on a course of action with regard to Iraq that, in its haste, is both blind and improvident. We are rushing into war without fully discussing why, without thoroughly considering the consequences, or without making any attempt to explore what steps we might take to avert conflict." 10/06

US Role In Creation Of Iraqi Bioweapons Becomes Issue. Iraq's bioweapons program was started with help from Uncle Sam two decades ago, according to government records that are being reexamined in light of the discussion of war against Iraq. 10/06

Unlike in '90, Fear of U.S. Defines U.N. Iraq Debate. In 1990, there was great excitement that the most powerful country was gathering together the world community to meet this challenge. That excitement and support have been replaced by apprehension and fear. The Security Council is operating under great pressure to accommodate the United States, but the trouble is, this administration is seen as the ugly American. They don't make their case. They just bully when they can. 10/06

Manifest Destiny: George W. Bush has resurrected the scourge of Manifest Destiny, a depraved philosophy that states we are morally compelled by God Almighty to kill weaker people and steal their land. The stated desire for world domination has some observers comparing Bush to Adolf Hitler. 10/06

D.C. Chief Denies Role in Alleged Beating. "I didn't beat down anybody," Ramsey said. "I wasn't there. I didn't touch anybody. . . . If he wants to file a complaint let him file it. . . . I don't care. It's just not true. You're following a [line of questioning] that is total bullshit-and air that please." (Perhaps Mr. Ramsey should remember the police chief of Seattle in 1999.) 10/06

Noelle Bush Gets the Royal Treatment. A judge ruled today that staff members at a drug rehabilitation center in Orlando, where Gov. Jeb Bush's daughter, Noelle, is receiving treatment, cannot be forced to cooperate with an investigation into an accusation that she had possessed crack cocaine. 10/06

Ok, you've heard all about it. So take a look at the Dem cartoon of Bush pushing an old lady off the steep cliff of the Market Drop. 10/06

Sixth death linked to sniper. Police linked the shooting of a 72-year-old man in Washington to the sniper killings of five Maryland residents and said that the same high-powered rifle was used to kill at least four of the victims. 10/05

This is the joint that Jack bought... 10/04

Check out the Internet Buzz!: On Iraq, Congress, The Libertarians, The Democrats, The Republicans, and Recent Protests. You could even learn something about Islam, or any other keyword from the GlobalMind Archives. 10/04

Republicans went to the Bush-loyal Supreme Court on Thursday to try to stop New Jersey Democrats from replacing Sen. Robert Torricelli on the Nov. 5 ballot for a re-election race he seemed likely to lose. Control of the Senate could hang on the court's reply!! 10/4

New Jersey Republicans are stepping up their legal efforts to keep former U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg off the statewide ballot for the Senate this November, but some fine print in the Garden State's election laws regarding faxes may sideline their argument. 10/04

You've probably asked yourself: "If this is the Information Age, where are all the pictures of the realities of the Mid-East conflict? Shouldn't they be on the Web somewhere? Indeed, they are. This site is NOT for the faint of heart- but everyone needs to see it.

Bush Family Feud! George W Bush Wants You To Die For His Personal Vendetta?? "After all, this is a guy that tried to kill my dad at one time," he told an audience in Houston last week. Bush also referred to the Iraqi assassination attempt during his Sept. 12 address to the United Nations General Assembly. And the elder Bush declared in a recent CNN interview: "I hate Saddam Hussein." 10/04

An Iraqi vice president offered an unusual suggestion Thursday for solving the U.S.-Iraq standoff: Saddam Hussein and George W. Bush should fight a duel to settle their differences and spare their people the ravages of war. 10/04

With Or Without Congress or the UN- the War in Iraq is Underway! US and British jets attacked targets in southern Iraq on Thursday killing five civilians. The US Central Command said that the warplanes attacked a military air defense center southeast of Baghdad. It said the US and British aircraft were responding to anti-aircraft missiles and artillery fired at them. The Iraqi military spokesman said civilian installations were targeted. 10/04

The California Port Lockout is having ripple effects across the globe. Here are just two stories: Auto plant shuts down in wake of port strike. And Japanese Manufacturers Begin to Feel Pinch from U.S. Port Shutdown 10/04

Five Killed in 16 Hours near D.C.: Five people were gunned down one by one in the Washington suburbs in less than 16 hours, and authorities said Thursday they were looking for a "skilled shooter" suspected of felling each victim with a single bullet. 10/04

A Korean-American protesting against the North Korean government emptied a seven-shot pistol in front of U.N. headquarters Thursday. He walked up to the building, shot seven times in the air and then dropped the pistol on the ground. He then tossed out a stack of leaflets before he put his hands up against a wall and awaited capture. The leaflets were addressed to "all people who love freedom and justice." 10/04

Finally!!: Former Enron CFO Charged With Fraud. Andrew Fastow, 40, surrendered this morning to FBI agents and had a court date Wednesday. The former chief financial officer of Enron Corp. was charged with securities, wire and mail fraud, money laundering and conspiring to inflate Enron's profits and enrich himself at the company's expense. 10/03

An Open Letter To Congress: In the House, twenty of your number, led by Dennis Kucinich, have announced their opposition to the war. In the Senate, Robert Byrd has mounted a campaign against the version of the resolution already proposed by the Bush Administration. He has said that the resolution's unconstitutionality will prevent him from voting for it. "But I am finding," he adds, "that the Constitution is irrelevant to people of this Administration." The Joint Chiefs of Staff, according to the Washington Post, oppose the war. Telephone calls and the mail to your offices run strongly against it. Polls and news stories reveal a divided and uncertain public. Yet debate in your chambers is restricted to peripheral questions, such as the timing of the vote, or the resolution's precise scope. You are a deliberative body, but you do not deliberate. You are representatives, but you do not represent. 10/03

The Anti-War Movement caused the DOW To rocket upward on Tuesday. But, by Wednesday, the warmongers were back on top- and sent the market plunging back down 183 points. Stood at 7,755.61 at Wednesday close. 10/03

N.J. Supreme Court unanimously rules Democrats can put replacement on Senate ballot. But the Republicans vow to take the case to the Bush-loyal Supreme Court (and we all remember what happened the last time this happened- in 2000!). 10/03

President-Elect Al Gore continues his assault on usrper Bush!: Said Wednesday that Bush is lost in an economic wilderness, "racing in the wrong direction" while critical domestic issues are drowned out by international affairs in the final weeks of the midterm campaign. In his second speech in about a week harshly criticizing the Bush administration, the former vice president called for a short-term stimulus program that would include extended unemployment benefits and help for small businesses "to jolt the U.S. economy out of stagnation." He also suggested the replacement of some on the Bush economic team. 10/03

From the GlobalMind Archives: To Make War, Presidents Lie. (An historical overview of America warfare and the lies that make it happen.); Will Al Gore be the latest addition to his list of un-Americans?; ("Americans for Victory Over Terrorism" - Bill Bennett knows if you've been bad or good.); and War with Saudi Arabia, has anyone noticed? (On September 11th, 2001 the United States of America was attacked by Saudi Arabia. More than a year later the US Government and the major media in America still won't admit that happened.) 10/03

Bad News for America and Her Children: Democrats and Republicans in Congress began closing ranks Wednesday behind a resolution giving President Bush broad authority to use military force against Iraq. 10/03

Reps. Jim McDermott of Washington, David Bonior of Michigan, both Vietnam War-era veterans, and Mike Thompson of California visit Iraq, and said that they felt obligated to inform Americans of the risks they faced by going to war. McDermott, in Baghdad, charged Bush would "mislead the American public" to earn support for military action. 10/03

D.C. Police Went Too Far!! Legal Experts Debate Legality of Mass Arrests. "People are being arrested for pre-crime, being arrested for their thoughts," said an attorney for some of the protesters, who compared the situation to the film "Minority Report," in which "Precrime" police arrested people for crimes they would have committed in the future. 10/03

A Daily Dose of Doonesbury: So much for Compassionate Conservatism! Now get out there and kick some terminally ill ass! 10/03

The Nation Has Gone Quite Insane: Judith McCloskey faces 15 years in prison because of a deadly auto accident caused by a 19 year-old who was drunk when he left her daughters' party at her house. Not only was the driver an adult, but the adult who bought the beer for the kids was merely fined $1000 and let go. 10/03

Repost: Bush regime takes another page from 1984! Two Justice Department research agencies are under assault by John Ashcroft. The Bureau of Justice Statistics, and the National Institute of Justice: Whether crime is increasing or declining has significant political implications. Yet if those numbers are subject to manipulation by the party in power, citizens may have no way to know the truth about national trends. Similarly, research into identifying the causes of criminality and the success of various schemes for controlling it could lack validity if grants are directed toward those with a political agenda. 10/02

Sickening!:
JC Penney, eToys, and KB Toys are pushing a truly disgusting new war-toy called "Forward Command Post." IT IS A BOMBED-OUT CIVILLIAN HOME!!- complete with soldier, weapons, and American Flag. See for yourself, contact these companies, and BOYCOTT BOYCOTT BOYCOTT! 10/02

It's official: UN inspection teams will return to Iraq within two weeks. Of course, the Bush administration of liars vow to block the deal. 10/02

See what happens when we thwart the warmongers? Stocks soared in a late comeback on Tuesday (gaining 347 points for a 7,038.79 close!)- kicking off a fresh quarter on a bright note as a deal between Iraq and the United Nations took the edge off nagging war fears and helped lure bargain-hungry investors back into the ravaged market. 10/02

Take Action Against War in Iraq! Read this letter from Michael Moore, and then sign the petition. He provides a form right on the web page, and it only takes a few seconds. Moore: "Informing the Democrats that whoever amongst them votes for this war, we pledge NEVER to vote for them again. I will personally see that your on-line signatures are delivered to every member of Congress. I guarantee your voice will be heard loud and clear." 10/02

MUST READ! AMERICA CAN BE DEFEATED! Wake-up call!! Did you know the U.S. Army recently ran a detailed simulation exercise (war game) to test its strategies and tactics for taking out Saddam Hussein? In order to avoid having to change the 'perfect' stragegies cooked up by the top brass, it was necessarily to boldly and repeatedly cheat to force a U.S. win. Earth to Bush: How many body bags does it take to cost your family and your party the next election cycle? 10/02

The Defense Budget And Wartime Profiteering: Wealthy Amerians have always made fortunes in war. 10/02

Sherrif Taylor of Mayberry Morphs into Robocop: Militarization Of Police Forces Begets Policy Of 'Vaporize' Not 'Mirandize.' A glut of military grade weapons and the threat of terrorism are turning your local police force into a military detachment. 10/02

A chilling overview of the past two years of American history. Sometimes it's good to stand back and look at the big picture of what has happened (and is happening) to your home. 10/02

Not Exactly News: UK Study Finds Cannabis Products Ease Severe Pain. The study by GW Pharmaceuticals Plc examined 34 patients with severe pain resulting from multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury and other conditions, who could not be fully treated with currently available medications. 10/02

GET YOUR WAR ON! 10/02

The Shifting Balance of Power! The high-stakes battle for control of the Senate took a jolt of added intrigue Monday when embattled Democratic Sen. Robert Torricelli halted his re-election bid in New Jersey rather than risk a defeat that could give Republicans the majority. 10/01

The Market still not looking good: DOW falls 110 points to land at 7591.93 on Monday. (But, remember, Bush is perfectly confident! Aren't you?) 10/01

Asian markets struggled to recover Tuesday after investors gave stocks around the world a beating and the U.S. market finished its worst quarter since the crash of 1987. Crude oil for November delivery rose 19 cents to $30.64 a barrel from New York, ahead of the release of key weekly data which is expected to show a hefty decline in oil stocks. 10/01

Executives at troubled El Paso Corp. have good reason to wonder if once-bought politicians will stay bought. Company executives and employees gave over $2 million to the Republican Party and President Bush over the past 2 1/2 years. Now, along with most other large Texas energy companies, El Paso finds itself under federal and state scrutiny as auditors, lawyers and shareholders try to figure out not if, but how crooked they have been. 10/01

As [we] finally left the protest march against war on Iraq last Saturday, they were still coming in towards Hyde Park as far as the eye could see. Hundreds of thousands - more than any of us had hoped for - turned up. Cars hooted in support, Muslim women in hijab cheerfully yet purposefully marched beside young socialists, trade union activists and pacifist Quakers. The rich were there with the modest [...] Muslims, Jews, Christians, blacks, whites, Asians, the young and the wearily old in wheelchairs kept up the slow, reassuring walk through London. 10/01

9/11 inquiry's success surprises skeptics. Despite an array of obstacles, the joint House-Senate inquiry into pre-Sept. 11 intelligence failures is having significantly more effect than anticipated. The hearings provided vivid testimony that led to White House support for an independent commission. 10/01

Congressional Investigation Angers FBI, CIA Officials An aggressive congressional investigation that has yielded new evidence about lapses in counterterrorism before the Sept. 11 attacks has surprised and enraged senior officials at both agencies. The findings of a joint committee, especially revelations that the CIA and FBI had for years collected information that showed Islamic militants hoped to strike in the United States, have been far more damaging than most officials at either agency expected when the panel's inquiry began early this year. 10/01

Iraq said on Sunday U.S. jets had raided Basra's civilian airport for the second time inside a week, targeting its radar systems and the passenger terminals. 10/01

The Israeli army killed nine more Palestinians on 23 September in the latest bloody incursion into the Gaza Strip. This brought to 14 the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli troops in less than 48 hours. Israeli troops, backed by tanks, armed personnel carriers and Apache helicopter gunships raided three densely populated neighbourhoods in eastern and northern Gaza shortly after midnight. The forces dynamited and demolished several homes belonging to the families of suspected Palestinian guerrillas. 10/01

Israelis attack defenceless Palestinians, nine wounded. In Nablus area, three Palestinian children were wounded as a result of the bombardment of Balata refugee camp in the West Bank. Medical sources reported that the children nine, twelve and fourteen years old were hit by the shrapnels of a shell fired by one of the Israeli tanks at the said camp. Eye-witnesses reported that Israeli Apatche gunships also opened fire at the district. 10/01

Hundreds of Italians took to the streets of Rome yesterday demanding the prevention of a military strike against Iraq, and putting an end to the Arab-Israeli conflict according to the relevant resolutions of the international community 242, 338 for the achievement of a just and comprehensive peace. 10/01

Spin Unspun: U.S. Radio Broadcasts Vie for the Hearts and Minds of Arab Youth. The remarkably popular Radio Sawa, which replaced Voice of America’s Arabic service, comes courtesy of the U.S. International Broadcasting Bureau, operated and funded by the U.S. government’s Broadcasting Board of Governors. The broadcasts are the latest U.S. strategy to counter anti-American sentiment in the Arab world by communicating directly in Arabic with Arab youth-targeting listeners under 30, who comprise more than 60 percent of the region’s population. 10/01

Apparently, the US plans to stop the Iraqi army from using its bio-weapons by really really sincerely asking that they don't do it. The effort would include massive leafleting of Iraqi military positions -- a tactic used by U.S. forces during the Gulf War in 1991 -- but also might employ covert techniques that would enable the U.S. message to reach Iraqi commanders. (God help our men in uniform!) 10/01

The Bush Regime's real goal in Iraq: This war, should it come, is intended to mark the official emergence of the United States as a full-fledged global empire, seizing sole responsibility and authority as planetary policeman. It would be the culmination of a plan 10 years or more in the making, carried out by those who believe the United States must seize the opportunity for global domination, even if it means becoming the "American imperialists" that our enemies always claimed we were. 10/01

The View From the Other Side: Two washingtonpost.com Reporters Describe Their Time in Police Custody "Despite having identified ourselves as news reporters several times, we were grabbed forcefully by police officers in riot gear, handcuffed and led to Metrobus No. 8771 with 34 protesters and an indignant United Press International reporter." 10/01