Swine flu set to spread: WHO
by Agency France Presse
Swine flu will spread further across the world, experts at the World Health Organisation warned Friday, as the number of confirmed cases surged by more than a thousand in 24 hours.In Geneva, acting WHO Assistant Director-General Keiji Fukuda told reporters that studies by experts indicated a "significant number of people" had been infected but remained undetected or unconfirmed by laboratory tests. |
Gore: Cheney ’shouldn’t be talking’
by David Edwards and Muriel Kane
Former Vice President Al Gore appears to believe that Dick Cheney is out of line in his non-stop criticisms of the Obama administration for allegedly putting Americans at risk of another terrorist attack. However, he also insists that he doesn’t “want to get dragged into an argument” over the question. |
Blackwater-affiliated contractors investigated for shooting
by Stephen C. Webster
It seems like we've heard this story before.From The Wall Street Journal: Four U.S. contractors affiliated with the company formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide fired on an approaching civilian vehicle in Kabul earlier this month, wounding at least two Afghan civilians, according to the company and the U.S. military. |
Powell Aide Says Torture Helped Build Iraq War Case
by Matt Smith
Finding a "smoking gun" linking Iraq and al Qaeda became the main purpose of the abusive interrogation program the Bush administration authorized in 2002, a former State Department official told CNN on Thursday.The allegation was included in an online broadside aimed at former Vice President Dick Cheney by Lawrence Wilkerson, chief of staff for then-Secretary of State Colin Powell. In it, Wilkerson wrote that the interrogation program began in April and May of 2002, and then-Vice President Cheney's office kept close tabs on the questioning. |
Excuses You Might Believe In
by Ted Rall
Democrats Are More Powerful Than Ever. How Will They Justify Doing Nothing?NEW YORK - The defection of Pennsylvania's Arlen Specter and the imminent certification of Al Franken as the winner of Minnesota's election recount has handed Democrats what they always said they lacked in order to pass a progressive agenda: a filibuster-proof majority in the U.S. Senate. Now they face the awful problem of coming up with new excuses for not doing anything. |
House Backs Obama's Afghan Surge, Amid Calls for Exit Strategy
by John Nichols
"Sometimes great presidents make mistakes," declared Massachusetts Congressman Jim McGovern as he announced his intention to vote against $97 billion in "emergency" supplemental funding for the continued U.S. occupation of Iraq and President Obama's dangerously misguided plan to surge 21,000 more U.S. troops and trainers into Afghanistan. |
The More Things Change
by Jeff Faux
In the great Italian historical novel The Leopard, the Sicilian prince asks his nephew Tancredi why he is joining Garibaldi's revolt against their king. Tancredi replies, "Unless we...take a hand now they'll foist a Republic on us. If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change." |
Mexican Data Show Migration to U.S. in Decline
by Julia Preston
MEXICALI, Mexico — Census data from the Mexican government indicate an extraordinary decline in the number of Mexican immigrants going to the United States.The recently released data show that about 226,000 fewer people emigrated from Mexico to other countries during the year that ended in August 2008 than during the previous year, a decline of 25 percent. All but a very small fraction of emigration, both legal and illegal, from Mexico is to the United States. |
Leon Panetta's mission to stop Israel bombing Iranian nuclear plant
by James Hider
America’s spy chief was sent on a secret mission to Israel to warn its leaders not to launch a surprise attack on Iran without notifying the US Administration.As Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, prepares to visit Washington, it emerged yesterday that Leon Panetta, the head of the CIA, went to Israel two weeks ago. He sought assurances from Mr Netanyahu and Ehud Barak, the Defence Minister, that their hawkish new Government would not attack Iran without alerting Washington. |
Obama will continue Bush-era military tribunals
by Stephen C. Webster
Breaking a key promise from his campaign, President Barack Obama is expected to announce Friday the return of military commission trials for a small number of terrorism suspects. Obama had previously promised to abolish them.The tribunals, often criticized as overly protective of state secrets and willing to accept evidence obtained while defendants were allegedly tortured, were suspended mere hours after Obama took office. |
Cheney's Role Deepens
by Robert Windrem
At the end of April 2003, not long after the fall of Baghdad, U.S. forces captured an Iraqi who Bush White House officials suspected might provide information of a relationship between al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein's regime. Muhammed Khudayr al-Dulaymi was the head of the M-14 section of Mukhabarat, one of Saddam's secret police organizations. His responsibilities included chemical weapons and contacts with terrorist groups. |
Judge Condemns 'Mosaic' of Guantánamo Intelligence and Unreliable Witnesses
by Andy Worthington
David Remes, an attorney for 16 Yemeni prisoners in Guantánamo, claimed today that the government’s detention policy was “in tatters,” after District Court Judge Gladys Kessler (photo, below) comprehensively demolished the Justice Department’s case against a Yemeni prisoner held in Guantánamo without charge or trial for seven years |
Afghanistan without tears: Good news should be accompanied with a grain of goat cheese
by Alan Bisbort
Gen. David Petraeus, chief of U.S. Central Command, was on CNN Sunday, putting a happy face on events in Afghanistan. The confident and, by all appearances, competent Petraeus is good at this, frighteningly good; even as he spoke, two suicide bombs went off in Afghanistan, killing seven people, wounding 20. And the next day, Defense Secretary Robert Gates fired the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, saying "new military leadership is needed." Nonetheless, Petraeus asserted that "al Qaeda is no longer operating in Afghanistan." |
When PTSD Comes Marching Home
by William Rivers Pitt
"There is disconnection between everything human and what has to be done in combat. Imagine being in an unimaginable situation and having to do the unthinkable. How can this be done? A detachment between everything human and having to do the inconceivable resounds in combat." |
Obama Makes a Terrible Mistake by Not Releasing Torture Photos
by Cenk Uygur
This is an unbelievable moment. Dick Cheney's PR offensive over the last month actually worked. Barack Obama just crumbled and will follow Cheney's command to not release the new set of detainee abuse pictures.By the way, if you hadn't figured it out by now, that's why you saw every Cheney in the world on television arguing that torture works and that releasing more information would gravely harm the troops. They weren't worried about what was already released; they were worried about what was going to get released. They were trying to pre-empt the most damaging thing of all - the pictures that show the torture. |
Putting Lipstick On Our Strung-Out Pig
by Allison Kilkenny
Great news, patriots! The Obama administration's new drugs czar says he wants to banish the War on Drugs! Pack your bong! Hug a crackhead! Tell Central America to come out of hiding!Well, maybe not just yet. The War on Drugs is still with us, but it's probably going to have a fancy new name, sort of like how the War on Terror is now the Overseas Contingency Operation. Maybe we can call it the Columbia Reconfiguration Hug Squad, or US-Central American Care Package. |
Excuses You Might Believe In: Democrats Are More Powerful Than Ever. How Will They Justify Doing Nothing?
by Ted Rall
NEW YORK--The defection of Pennsylvania's Arlen Specter and the imminent certification of Al Franken as the winner of Minnesota's election recount has handed Democrats what they always said they lacked in order to pass a progressive agenda: a filibuster-proof majority in the U.S. Senate. Now they face the awful problem of coming up with new excuses for not doing anything. |
Ask TJ: Neil Rogers Show rumors come true
by Tom Jicha
Q. I listened to a smattering of Neil Rogers and heard the ax fell on poor Jorge Rodriguez. I hope he can land on his feet somewhere decent. It looks like WQAM is trying to hasten Neil's exit/retirement. So, once the summer starts, will they be programming Best of shows or will they elevate one of the kids in the studio to be the next Jorge? R.A., e-mail |
Empire of Carbon
by Paul Krugman
TAIPEI, TaiwanI have seen the future, and it won’t work.These should be hopeful times for environmentalists. Junk science no longer rules in Washington. President Obama has spoken forcefully about the need to take action on climate change; the people I talk to are increasingly optimistic that Congress will soon establish a cap-and-trade system that limits emissions of greenhouse gases, with the limits growing steadily tighter over time. And once America acts, we can expect much of the world to follow our lead. |
