July 27, 2004 | Bloomberg News
Halliburton Co. has lost $18.6 million of government property in Iraq, about a third of the items it was given to manage, including trucks, computers and office furniture, government auditors claim.
The auditors couldn’t account for 6,975 of 20,531 items on the ledgers of Halliburton’s KBR unit, according to a report [...]
29 July 2004 | DemocracyNow!
keywords: Haiti, Aristide
In Haiti, thousands of supporters of ousted President Jean Bertrand Aristide marched yesterday calling for Aristide’s return to power. The democratically elected president was ousted in Februrary in a U.S-backed coup. Protesters marched by the US embassy carrying coffins reading USA and Gerard Latortue, the name of the unelected [...]
from the Oxfam newsletter (29 July 2004):
keyword: CAFTA
Thanks to all of you who took action on the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). Nearly 8,000 eCommunity members emailed their representatives and let them know that this agreement will worsen poverty and inequality in Central America.
Unable to galvanize support for CAFTA in Congress, the Bush [...]
28 July 2004 | DemocracyNow!
Keywords: electronic, voting, machines
In election news, The New York Times is reporting that almost all of the electronic voting records from the first widespread use of touch-screen voting in Miami-Dade County have been lost. The touch screen voting machines were used for the 2002 gubernatorial race. All of the data disappeared [...]
28 July 2004 | World Socialist Web Site
by Patrick Martin
The Democratic National Convention underway in Boston will
be the most expensive political spectacle ever staged in the history
of the United States—at least until next month, when an even
more lavish commercial advertisement will be staged in New York
City for the Republican Party. Both events are being bankrolled
by [...]
Bystanders to Mass Murder
21 April 2002 | Washington Post
by Samantha Power
Last week, for the first time in history, a Western government resigned because it was a bystander to genocide.
On Tuesday the popular Dutch prime minister, Wim Kok, and his cabinet stepped down in response to a 7,600-page report that faulted the Dutch government and army [...]
Iraq sets up committee to impose restrictions on news reporting
July 27 2004 | Financial Times
by Nicolas Pelham in Baghdad
Iyad Allawi, Iraq’s prime minister, has established a media committee to impose restrictions on print and broadcast media, a government official announced yesterday. The step underlines an aggressive new attitude towards press freedoms, in spite of US [...]
[ The real security needs of the American people are not being properly funded. Then again, Bush never intended to do "everything we can to protect the homeland," as David Corn documented in his "Homeland Insecurity" piece for The Nation (4 Sept 2003). --BL ]
At Ports, Cargo Backlog Raises Security Questions
excerpted from 27 July 2004 | [...]
U.S. ‘Correctional Population’ Hits New High
26 July 2004 | New York Times
by FOX BUTTERFIELD
The number of Americans under the control of the criminal justice system grew by 130,700 last year to reach a new high of nearly 6.9 million, according to a Justice Department report released today.
[ Petersen's piece below contains a piecing-together of bin Laden's argument against the U.S., and justification for violence against U.S. civilians. On the one hand, post-9/11 blind rage, or overgeneralized hatred, may still prevent many Americans from considering such arguments. On the other hand, in light of the increasing popularity of bin Ladenesque arguments among [...]