Virginia Metze Reading List -- Thursday and Friday, 19 and 20 May 2005

[Guest guest]

" Virginia Metze " <vmetze

Sun, 22 May 2005 17:16:31 -0500

Reading List -- Thursday and Friday, 19 and 20 May 2005

 

 

 

First, add another to your " must miss " list of internet services:

Earthlink. They seem to have gone from marvelous support (when they

used people in this country) to absolutely abysmal support outsourced

to India or somewhere.

 

How is it that so many good articles and Bush-unfriendly headlines hit

the news stands on Friday, when everyone is winding down for the

weekend? Apparently this is a well known trick known as " taking out

the trash. "

 

Someone posted a link to some great music! You old-timers, you try

it, too. I bet you will like it as much as this Depression Baby did.

Click on the pictures to get the words of the songs and then on the

title to play it. It came through great. I bet you won't hear them

on the radio ... Link is http://www.yikesmcgee.com/

 

Galloway Senate testimony PDF goes AWOL

Evidence 'missing' from Committee website

Iain Thomson, vnunet.com 20 May 2005

 

The website for the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and

Government Affairs has removed testimony from UK MP George Galloway

from its website.

 

All other witness testimonies for the hearings on the Oil for Food

scandal are available on the Committee's website in PDF form. But

Galloway's testimony is the only document not on the site. [...] Read

it all at the vnunet web site: http://tinyurl.com/a9rga

 

I actually received this in an email on the 20th...

Mrs. Bush differs with White House message

Gives speech Saturday in Jordan

Saturday, May 21, 2005 Posted: 6:36 AM EDT (1036 GMT)

 

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) -- Laura Bush is showing her independent side and

contradicting the White House.

 

Newsweek magazine should not be solely blamed for deadly protests in

the Middle East, the first lady said Friday. And her husband should

have been interrupted to be told about an airplane scare that sent her

hurrying for cover in an underground bunker.

 

Her candid remarks -- at the outset of a trip to the Middle East --

showed anew Mrs. Bush's willingness to step out more boldly in her

husband's second term. Usually deferential to her husband and rarely

controversial, she has veered off the White House message only rarely

in the past.

 

But there was no mistaking that her views were at odds with White

House officials, as she chatted with reporters on her plane across the

Atlantic. [...] Read it at the CNN web site: http://tinyurl.com/7m5hl

 

Saudi Arabia, Off The Hook

The 9/11 terrorists were mostly Saudi. Suicide bombers in Iraq are

Saudi. And we're allies?

By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist

Friday, May 20, 2005

 

I am no foreign-policy expert. I am no virtuoso of nuanced and wicked

international relations. I know not of intricate deal making and smarm

sucking and backstabbing and glad handing and the Bushes raking in

millions from clandestine oil deals with the Saudi kingdom. Ahem.

 

But this much I do know. This much is sickeningly, painfully obvious.

We are, apparently, bombing the wrong country. Or rather, countries.

 

Iraq, as anyone paying even the scantest attention now knows, had zero

to do with 9/11. Saddam and Osama? Hated each other. Iraq hiding

massive Costco-size warehouses of WMDs, big nasty biotoxins and

nuclear warheads and giant boxes of bitchin' Red Devil firecrackers? A

nasty joke, told by Bush, at Americans' expense. [...] Read it all

at the SanFrancisco Gate web site: http://tinyurl.com/8838d

 

Senate rules change would help Bush's effort to consolidate power

By Ron Hutcheson

Knight Ridder Newspapers

Posted on Fri, May. 20, 2005

 

WASHINGTON - All presidents seek power, but President Bush is setting

a new standard with his efforts to consolidate and expand presidential

authority.

 

He may be on the verge of his biggest victory yet as the Senate

debates whether to change its rules for dealing with judicial

nominations. A decision to bar Senate filibusters - unlimited debate -

against judicial nominees effectively would give Bush a free hand in

picking judges. It also would reduce the inherent power of every

senator, and the Senate itself, to exert leverage against any

president. [...] Read all about how he has extended his power to

control our lives.

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/11699142.htm or

http://tinyurl.com/94j44

 

Bush: Worst President Ever?

Herbert Hoover may have triggered the Great Depression, but he didn't

invade another nation on false pretenses, authorize torture of

prisoners, or try to stack the courts.

By Stephen Pizzo, News for Real. Posted May 20, 2005

 

For the record, I don't like George Bush. And I don't like most of the

people who work for George Bush. So, diehard Republicans can just

brush aside my remarks as so much partisan blather.

 

But by now I suppose very few diehard Republicans ever read what I

write. So do me a favor -- e-mail this to the diehards in your family

and circle of friends. Ask them to tell me why I am wrong about this:

 

George Bush is the worst president of the United States of America,

ever. Hands down.

 

And here are just a few reasons why I believe that statement is true.

[...] There follows a number of reasons, starting with " America the

Disgraced " and ending with " Christian Jihadists. " [...] Read it all

at Alternet, http://www.alternet.org/story/22057/

 

Sweet Victory: Congressional Progressive Caucus Gets in Gear

Katrina vanden Heuvel

The Nation Blog

Posted 05/19/2005 @ 4:00pm

 

If you don't know much about the Congressional Progressive Caucus

(CPC), you should. With 50-plus members, it's the single largest

caucus in the House, and according to a study by Chris Bowers of MyDD,

by far the most loyal to core Democratic values.

 

At a time in which too many Dems have lost their way (read: spine),

CPC members--from co-chairs Barbara Lee (CA) and Lynn Woolsey (CA) to

outspoken figures like founder (and Senate hopeful) Bernie Sanders

(VT), Dennis Kucinich (OH), Jan Schakowsky (IL), John Conyers (MI),

Maurice Hinchey (NY) and Barney Frank (MA)--continue to fight for

working Americans, stand against the war, and discuss honorable ways

out of Iraq. This week, Lee and Woolsey took a significant step

towards strengthening the CPC, hiring grassroots organizer, former

AFL-CIO staffer, and Capitol Hill veteran Bill Goold as its first

full-time staffer. " There are a growing number of people who are

getting involved with politics because they are drawn to the basic

principles of fairness and justice that the Progressive Caucus has

long represented in Congress, " said Lee. " Adding a staff member of

Bill's experience will allow the Progressive Caucus to more

effectively continue our commitment to these principles. " [...]

Read it at the Nation blog

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/edcut?bid=7 & pid=2621 or at Common

Dreams News Center http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0520-29.htm or

http://tinyurl.com/chqe3

 

The News Hounds web page is worth a look. " We watch FOX so you don't

have to " is their motto. They were particularly happy when FOX news

ratings were in free fall: http://tinyurl.com/d4j5v

 

Let them eat bombs

The doubling of child malnutrition in Iraq is baffling

Terry Jones

Tuesday April 12, 2005

The Guardian

 

A report to the UN human rights commission in Geneva has concluded

that Iraqi children were actually better off under Saddam Hussein than

they are now.

 

This, of course, comes as a bitter blow for all those of us who, like

George Bush and Tony Blair, honestly believe that children thrive best

when we drop bombs on them from a great height, destroy their cities

and blow up hospitals, schools and power stations.

It now appears that, far from improving the quality of life for Iraqi

youngsters, the US-led military assault on Iraq has inexplicably

doubled the number of children under five suffering from malnutrition.

Under Saddam, about 4% of children under five were going hungry,

whereas by the end of last year almost 8% were suffering. [...] Read

the rest at the Guardian web site: http://tinyurl.com/bgpb9

Fortas who?

If the GOP applied the same ethical tests to Priscilla Owen that its

predecessors used to disqualify a liberal judge in 1968, she'd have to

withdraw her nomination.

By Joe Conason

Salon.com

 

May 20, 2005 | When Senate Republicans led the 1968 filibuster that

blocked the nomination of Abe Fortas as chief justice of the Supreme

Court, his opponents focused on an alleged ethical lapse that they

said disqualified him.

 

The real reasons for obstructing Fortas ranged from his liberal

ideology and his Democratic partisanship to his Jewish heritage, but

his troubles intensified after Sen. Robert Griffin, the Michigan

Republican leading the campaign against him, discovered that Fortas

had accepted $15,000 to deliver a series of summer school lectures at

the American University law school -- and that his lecture fee had

been subsidized by his former partners and clients.

 

This lapse in ethical judgment outraged Griffin and his colleagues,

although they could point to no decision or pending case before the

Supreme Court that involved any of the donors. That issue probably

killed the Fortas nomination.

 

Ethical standards seem to have declined considerably over the past

four decades -- at least among Republican senators and their preferred

nominees for the federal bench. What compromised the late Fortas to an

unacceptable degree now looks quaintly innocent compared with the

record of Priscilla Owen, who has taken hundreds of thousands of

dollars from companies and lawyers with cases in her court -- and

issued rulings favorable to them on many, many occasions. [...] Read

it all at Salon.com: http://tinyurl.com/aq2x2

 

U.S. Faces Questions Over 'kidnappings' In Europe

By REUTERS

Published: May 20, 2005

New York Times

 

BERLIN (Reuters) - Pressure is growing on the United States to respond

to allegations that its agents were involved in spiriting terrorist

suspects out of three European countries and sending them to nations

where they may have been tortured.

 

In Italy, a judge said this week that foreign intelligence officials

``kidnapped'' an Egyptian suspect in Milan two years ago and took him

to a U.S. base from where he was flown home.

 

In Germany, a Munich prosecutor is preparing a batch of questions to

U.S. authorities on the case of a Lebanese-born German who says he was

arrested in Macedonia on New Year's Eve 2003 and flown by U.S. agents

to a jail in Afghanistan. [...] Read about it on the New York Times

web site: http://tinyurl.com/apgz3

 

An Important Victory: Blackwell Loses in Court

By Barb Burt

Common Cause blog, Commonblog.com

Posted on Thu May 19, 2005 at 01:34:18 PM EST

 

You may remember that attorney Cliff Arnebeck, a board member of

Common Cause Ohio, was threatened with sanctions for his activism

concerning the recount effort and other suits related to the November

2nd, 2004, election in Ohio.

 

 

We believe that such an action (sanctioning activists for questioning

the outcome of an election) would have a chilling effect on others'

efforts to raise reasonable doubts about election administration and

election validity -- and indeed we believe that was the intent behind

the motions for sanctions, which were entered by Attorney General

Petro at the official request of Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell.

 

Therefore, we're glad to know that Blackwell's effort failed. In an

email today, Cliff sent us the good news that, " Decisions [were]

issued today denying the motions for sanctions in the elections

contests we filed. "

 

Sometimes the good guys win, even in Ohio! Read this on the

Commonblog: http://tinyurl.com/akkou

 

A Reputation in Tatters

 

by Paul Craig Roberts

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

The Latest from Paul Craig Roberts

Chronicles Magazine

 

George W. Bush and his gang of neocon warmongers have destroyed

America's reputation. It is likely to stay destroyed, because at this

point the only way to restore America's reputation would be to impeach

and convict President Bush for intentionally deceiving Congress and

the American people in order to start a war of aggression against a

country that posed no threat to the United States.

 

America can redeem itself only by holding Bush accountable.

 

As intent as Republicans were to impeach President Bill Clinton for

lying about a sexual affair, they have a blind eye for President

Bush's far more serious lies. Bush's lies have caused the deaths of

tens of thousands of people, injured and maimed tens of thousands

more, devastated a country, destroyed America's reputation, caused 1

billion Muslims to hate America, ruined our alliances with Europe,

created a police state at home, and squandered $300 billion dollars

and counting. [...] Read the rest at the Chronicles Magazine web

site: http://tinyurl.com/9ylkl

 

West's religious bigotry of Islam is a matter of policy

 

by Abid Mustafa

(Friday 20 May 2005)

Media Monitors Network

 

" The West claims that individuals are free to worship whatever deity

they choose. But in practice this leads to perpetual conflicts amongst

people, as religious beliefs and practices professed by some can be

interpreted as offensive and insulting to others. Hence, western

governments are constantly intervening in the disputes and resort to

legislation to protect the religious rights of some people by

depriving others. Often, the real benefactors of freedom of religion

are those individuals or groups whose beliefs coincide with the

interests of the government or those who possess the ability to exert

influence over the government. "

 

Irrespective of whether Newsweek's story on the discretion of the

Quran is true or false, America cannot escape the undeniable reality

that her religious bigotry towards the Muslim world is inseparable

from her foreign policy.

 

In Muslims eyes, the Bush administration is notorious for the

humiliation and torture of Muslims in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo,

responsible for the destruction and defilement of Iraq's mosques, the

debaser of Muslim women and the slayer of tens of thousands of

innocent Muslims. [...] Read the rest at the MediaMonitors web

site: http://tinyurl.com/8koos

 

The right winks at its own judicial activist

John Farmer

John Farmer is The Star-Ledger's national political correspondent

The Star-Ledger

Friday, May 20, 2005

 

 

Priscilla Owen, the Texas judge at the heart of the Senate's

filibuster fight, personifies the truism that judicial activism, like

beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.

 

To hear her conservative Republican defenders, Owen's jurisprudence is

a model of strict constructionism, never wavering from the explicit

language and intent of statutory or constitutional law. She'd never

legislate from the bench, as religious conservatives and their Senate

GOP mouthpiece, Bill Frist, contend that liberal judges do with

regularity. [...] Read this at the nj.com web site:

http://tinyurl.com/bg427

 

Red Cross warned U.S. over Quran

Allegations of mishandling preceded Pentagon guidelines

From Elise Labott

CNN Washington Bureau

Thursday, May 19, 2005 Posted: 11:29 PM EDT (0329 GMT)

var clickExpire = " -1 " ;

 

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The International Committee of the Red Cross

gathered " credible " reports about U.S. personnel at the Guantanamo Bay

naval base disrespecting the Quran and raised the issue with the

Pentagon several times, a group spokesman said Thursday.

 

Simon Schorno said the allegations were made by detainees to Red Cross

representatives who visited the detention facility throughout 2002 and

2003. [...] Read it on the CNN web page: http://tinyurl.com/c8c26

 

LOU DOBBS TONIGHT

 

Head-to-Head; Tougher Power?; Majority Power; Meeting with Vicente

Fox; A Divided Republican Party

 

Aired May 19, 2005 - 18:00 ET

Transcript (Pat Buchanan guest)

 

LOU DOBBS, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, everybody. Tonight, out of

control court. Congress defies President Bush with a massive highway

spending bill. Will the president use his veto power for the first

time in his presidency?

And has American conservatism passed into history? My guest is a

former presidential candidate, Patrick Buchanan, who says conservatism

in this country is at war with itself. [...] Read the transcript at

CNN: http://tinyurl.com/c9tvn

7 Members of Louisiana Church Charged With Abuse of Children

By ARIEL HART

Published: May 20, 2005

The New York Times

 

The pastor of a Louisiana church and six of its members, including the

pastor's wife and a sheriff's deputy, have been arrested in what the

police described as a cult-like sex ring that abused children and animals.

 

All seven are being held on charges of aggravated rape, including rape

of a child younger than 13, which can be prosecuted as a capital crime

in the state, the authorities said. [...] Well, I hope this wasn't a

" Christian " church ... http://tinyurl.com/bqy9p

 

What the NYC Police Department Learned Me

Dennis Kyne

Truth Seekers

May 19, 2005

 

On April 25th, 2005, Representative John Conyers (D-MI), the ranking

minority member of the House Judiciary Committee signed onto a letter

to The Honorable Alberto Gonzalez, the Attorney General for the United

States of America. Also signed by Jerrold Nadler (NY), Robert C. Scott

(VA), Melvin Watt (NC), Sheila Jackson Lee (TX), and Linda Sanchez

(CA), the letter asks our Attorney General for immediate federal

scrutiny into criminal deprivations of rights under color of law (18

U.S.C. 242) and civil violations of the police pattern and practice

laws (42 U.S.C. 14141).

 

This letter does not mention me by name, but it is based on my

experience with the 7th largest military in the world, the New York

City Police Department. I was arrested in New York during the massive

sweeps of the RNC in August of 2004 and maliciously prosecuted until

December of 2004. The day of my arrest, I had watched police shove

young women, imprison 16-year-old boys with adults, and arrest Chinese

food delivery people when the only qualification for detention was

being on a bike while the critical mass protestors rode by. It was

Martial Law, absolutely not what I almost died in combat for. If Red

Lynx Productions hadn't been documenting the event I might be in jail.

If my attorney, Lewis B. Oliver, Jr., hadn't handed officer Matthew

Wohl his lunch on the stand I might not feel redeemed. For two and a

half hours Mr. Oliver asked Mr. Wohl repeatedly where he was standing,

what he was looking at and how I behaved before he supposedly arrested

me. [...] Read this whole sordid story of life in the New World

Order in " Christian " America at http://mytown.ca/denniskyne/

 

Brand Hillary

Greg Sargent

The Nation

posted May 19, 2005 (June 6, 2005 issue)

 

Not long ago, Senator Hillary Clinton went on a 2006 re-election

campaign swing through the North Country, that vast expanse of upstate

New York that stretches from Albany to the Canadian border. With its

mix of family farms and grubby towns struggling with disappearing

manufacturing jobs, the region feels less like the Northeast than like

the industrial and agricultural Midwest. In other words, it's not a

bad place to gauge how Clinton might play in swing-state America.

[...] Read the whole article at the Nation: http://tinyurl.com/d5tcd

" Should any political party attempt to abolish social security,

unemployment insurance and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you

would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is

a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes that you can do these

things. Among them are a few Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional

politician or businessman from other areas. Their number is negligible

and they are stupid. "

President Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1952 (Republican)

 

Wal-Mart Shows Who Owns Our Government

Sirotablog

Friday, May 20, 2005

 

Maryland Gov. Bob Ehrlich ® yesterday vetoed legislation aimed at

forcing Wal-Mart to provide its workers with more adequate benefits.

That wasn't a surprise - Ehrlich is the standard " corporate whore in

politicians clothing " that now occupies many of our nation's highest

public offices.

 

What is shocking, however, is how open he was about acknowledging that

Big Business pulls all of the strings when it comes to public policy.

As the Los Angeles Times notes, " Eduardo Castro-Wright, chief

operating officer of Wal-Mart stores USA division, stood at the

Republican governor's side as he signed the official veto. " The photo

at right captures it on film - Ehrlich, who has pocketed campaign cash

from Wal-Mart, is waving after the veto, as the Wal-Mart executive

prowls behind him. [...] I was under the impression that America

belongs to ALL of the people... Read the whole article at the Sirota

Blog: http://tinyurl.com/86ttx

 

GOP senator compares Democrats to Hitler

By John Byrne | RAW STORY

Article originally published May 19, 2005.

 

Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) compared Democrats' attempts to keep the

filibuster to Hitler's moves in 1942 in a floor speech in the Senate

Thursday afternoon, RAW STORY has learned. Go to the Raw Story site

for a handy copy of his offensive words. http://tinyurl.com/bek3o

 

FAIR's current Action Alert:

Network Viewers Still in the Dark on " Smoking Gun Memo " : Print media

continue to downplay story

5/20/05

 

Following FAIR's call for more mainstream coverage of the " smoking gun

memo " —the secret British document containing new evidence that the

Bush administration manipulated intelligence to justify its plan to

invade Iraq—a steady trickle of news reports have appeared. But that

coverage has been downplayed in general and is still completely absent

from the nightly news. [...] Go to: http://www.fair.org/index.php

Senate's 'Gang of 12' Steps In Where Party Leaders Couldn't Go

 

By Charles Babington

Washington Post Staff Writer

Friday, May 20, 2005; Page A05

In a last-ditch effort to avert a collision over judicial nominees, a

bipartisan group of senators distanced themselves from Democratic and

Republican leaders yesterday to try to strike a compromise certain to

anger many colleagues.

 

As the negotiators talked privately into the night for a fourth

consecutive day, their colleagues filled the chamber with speeches

praising or denouncing the GOP leadership's proposal to ban

filibusters of judicial nominees. Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.)

said he would file a motion today to end debate, anticipating a

showdown vote Tuesday. [...] Read the rest at the Washington Post

web site: http://tinyurl.com/9ajp9

 

And in this country, President Bush has said he would veto any bill

allowing stem cell research. Sigh... What are we now in math and

science in the world? 13th? 17th?

Koreans Report Ease in Cloning for Stem Cells

By GINA KOLATA

Published: May 20, 2005

New York times

 

South Korean researchers are reporting today that they have developed

a highly efficient recipe for producing human embryos through cloning,

and then extracting their stem cells.

 

Writing in the journal Science, the researchers, led by Dr. Woo Suk

Hwang and Dr. Shin Yong Moon of Seoul National University, said they

used their method to produce 11 human stem cell lines that were

genetic matches of patients who ranged in age from 2 to 56. [...]

Read more at: http://tinyurl.com/89r4o or at the Truthout web site,

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/052005Z.shtml

 

These are the guys that lost much of the Ohio Bureau of Worker's

Compensation fund by investing in collectable coins. Doesn't take a

genius to figure out what a bad idea that is. Not only was it a bad

investment; they " lost " several of the coins.

5 Ohio justices step down from rare-coin case

Article published Wednesday, May 18, 2005 Toledo Blade

Five Ohio Supreme Court justices announced today that they have

recused themselves from hearing two open records lawsuits that call

for disclosure of the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation complete

rare coin inventory.

 

The justices were not required to say why they recused themselves from

presiding over the suits filed by The Blade and State Sen. Marc Dann,

a Youngstown Democrat, asking for details of the coin fund operated by

prominent Toledo-area Republican Tom Noe.

Mr. Noe and his wife, Bernadette, have contributed more than $23,000

to the campaigns of the recused justices, Thomas J. Moyer, Evelyn

Stratton, Maureen O'Connor, Terrence O'Donnell, and Judith Ann

Lanzinger. [...] Read more at The Toledo Blade:

http://tinyurl.com/afs8b

 

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Catherine Crier

05.20.2005

The Huffington Post

 

The Senate filibuster fight between Republicans and Democrats is not

over the majority's attempt to put more conservative judges on the

bench. Contrary to their mantra--that liberal `activist' judges have

taken over the courts--the nation has had a majority of Republican

appointees on the federal bench and Supreme Court for generations. No,

this is a fight over a very specific judicial ideology that the far

right wing of the Republican Party wants ensconced in our courts.

[...] Read the exchange between Crier and Buchanan at

http://tinyurl.com/8y39j

 

When I read of US troops going into homes in Afghanistan in the middle

of the night, I thought, " Well, we are only one step away from that

here. They can now go into our homes when there is no one there to

'sneak a peek.' How soon before we have the notorious practice of

tyrannies of hauling citizens from their homes to concentration

camps...? " Or do we have it now? The kind of law enforcement that

would haul high school girls away from their homes apparently mainly

because of their ethnic background makes my bones shiver. I hope they

are not being treated abusively; however, I have heard nothing more

about them. Was there more to this than met the eye? Why the silence

now? Anyone know?

 

Tomgram: Mike Davis on the Return of the Vigilante

TomDispatch.com, a project of the Nation Institute

compiled and edited by Tom Engelhardt

 

Vigilante Man

By Mike Davis

posted May 6, 2005 at 9:11 am

 

[...] The most publicized of today's vigilantes, of course, are the

so-called Minutemen who began their armed patrol of the Arizona-Mexico

border -- appropriately enough -- on April Fool's Day. The Tombstone,

Arizona-based group is the latest incarnation of the anti-immigrant

patrols that have plagued the borderlands for more than a decade.

Vowing to defend national sovereignty against the Brown Peril, a

series of shadowy paramilitary groups, ordinarily led by racist

ranchers and self-declared " Aryan warriors " -- and egged on by

rightwing radio jocks -- have harassed, illegally detained, beaten,

and possibly murdered immigrants crossing through the desert cauldrons

of Arizona and California. [...] Read the whole article at

tomdispatch.com: http://tinyurl.com/ahq6d

_________

U.S. Defends Disarmament Stance

U.S. Defends Disarmament Stance As Nuclear Conference Nears Final Week

By CHARLES J. HANLEY AP Special Correspondent

Published: May 20, 2005

 

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The United States defended itself Friday

against charges that it is moving too slowly toward nuclear

disarmament, saying it must balance such steps against ''our

obligations to maintain our own security.''

 

At a monthlong conference reviewing the Nuclear Nonproliferation

Treaty, states without nuclear weapons dismissed the Americans'

recitation of a long history of warhead and missile reductions, and

asked instead what Washington has done lately.

 

''Most of these measures date from before 2000,'' Mexico's Luis

Alfonso de Alba complained to delegates, referring to the 2000 treaty

conference, when the United States and other nuclear powers committed

to ''13 practical steps'' to meet the treaty's goal of eliminating

atomic arms.

 

Those steps included, for example, activation of the 1996 treaty

banning all nuclear tests, a pact since rejected by the Bush

administration. Nonweapons states want the current conference,

entering its final week next week, to reaffirm that program. [...]

Read the rest at the ABC News web site:

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=776056 or http://tinyurl.com/d8alk

 

John Dean is my very favorite person from the Nixon administration...

He is a brilliant lawyer, and an old-time Republican whose ethics do

not depend on whether he is in office or not!

A New Chapter In The Valerie Plame Case:

Insights Gained From The New Edition of The Book by Former Ambassador

Joseph Wilson

By JOHN W. DEAN

Friday, May. 20, 2005

 

The grand jury investigation into the illegal leak of Valerie Plame's

covert CIA identity still has not led to the public revelation of any

suspect who might be responsible for the leak. Yet according to

columnist Robert Novak, who published the leaked information, the

suspects are two " senior " Bush Administration sources - who may be

high-profile.

 

A number of reporters have already voluntarily testified before the

grand jury. But New York Times reporter Judith Miller and Time

magazine reporter Mathew Cooper are not among them. In a recent

column, I explained why the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of

Columbia did not protect Miller and Cooper's ability to hide their

sources - and why I believe the U.S. Supreme Court is very unlikely to

step in. Someday soon, then, the grand jury is very likely to hear

from Miller and Cooper - or else Miller and Cooper will opt for jail.

[...] Read this well-reasoned and insightful analysis of what is

happening in the Plame case at Findlaw:

http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20050520.html or

http://tinyurl.com/83t2u

 

There will never be a charge for this reading list and I won't ask for

contributions.

 

It may be freely distributed as long as it is sent out in its entirety

with this statement attached and no charge is made. Of course you are

free to use the URLs in your own posts, etc.

 

© Virginia Metze

 

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