News (Page 2) -- February 27, 2006

'There is no Iranian 'crisis'' - "The leaders of the former Soviet Union would have been envious of how the U.S. mainstream media fall into line on international issues. In their coverage of the current concocted "crisis" with Iran, the U.S. corporate media have committed two major sins: 1) failure to put events into a historical and political context, and 2) unquestioning parroting of the U.S. government line. The second is particularly egregious given the media's shameful record in the run-up to the attack on Iraq."

Needing to wake up, West just closes its eyes - "Something very remarkable is happening around the globe and, if you want the short version, a Muslim demonstrator in Toronto the other day put it very well: ''We won't stop the protests until the world obeys Islamic law.'' Stated that baldly it sounds ridiculous. But, simply as a matter of fact, every year more and more of the world lives under Islamic law:"

It's the Corporation, Stupid - "The people running this country -- and that includes most of the leaders of both parties -- have proven again and again they are perfectly willing to outsource American jobs, American wage standards, and American health and safety standards all for the sacred, holy grail of free trade. Why would it surprise us that national security is ditto?"

American Government: Heading Toward Disintegration and Collapse - "Many are increasingly beginning to convince themselves that the present United States government could be viewed as the worst in the history of the American nation. Democracy has ceased to exist for all practical purposes and we have a situation today where the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing."

GOP Governors Say Bush Missteps Hurting - "Republican governors are openly worrying that the Bush administration's latest stumbles _ from the natural disaster of Hurricane Katrina to those of its own making on prescription drugs and ports security _ are taking an election-year toll on the party back home."

Denial is not a reason for arrest - "Words do not kill. So there is no statement for which it is permissible to send a person to prison. Freedom of speech is absolute, even when that which is spoken is as despicable and ridiculous as Holocaust denial. Those who start to doubt that principle will not know where to stop. Is denial of the Jewish Holocaust deserving of punishment while denial of the Armenian Holocaust, perpetrated by the Turks, is not? And why not? Because "only" a million and a half people were destroyed there? And what about the world's racist indifference to the destruction of a million Tutsi in Rwanda or the mass murder of 4 million people in the Congo? After all, the world ignores those holocausts even if it does not deny their existence explicitly, and nobody thinks about punishing someone for that outrageous apathy and indifference."

In Defense of Free Thought - "Sentencing a Holocaust denier to prison -- and the lack of protests in response -- should raise alarms among everyone who values free speech."

When Americans No Longer Own America - "Then came the flat-worlders, led by misguided true believers and promoted by multinational corporations. Do away with those tariffs, they said, because they "restrain trade." Let everything in, and tax nothing. The result has been an explosion of cheap goods coming into our nation, and the loss of millions of good manufacturing jobs and thousands of manufacturing companies. Entire industry sectors have been wiped out. These policies have kneecapped the American middle class. Our nation's largest employer has gone from being the unionized General Motors to the poverty-wages Wal-Mart. Americans have gone from having a net savings rate around 10 percent in the 1970s to a minus .5 percent in 2005 - meaning that they're going into debt or selling off their assets just to maintain their lifestyle."

Diebold Whistleblower charged with 3 Felonies - "Stephen Heller is alleged to have exposed documents in Jan. & Feb. 2004 which provided smoking gun evidence that Diebold was using illegal, uncertified software in California voting machines. The docs also showed that Diebold's California attorneys (the powerful international law firm Jones Day) had told them they were in breach of the law for using uncertified software, but Diebold continued to use the uncertified software anyway."

Diana Death Investigation Confirms Evidence Of Cover-up - "The investigation into the death of Princess Diana, led by former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Lord Stevens, continues to confirm previously known facts and unearth new evidence proving that the August 31st 1997 crash was no accident. As previously exhaustively documented by this website, the evidence pointing to murder is conclusive."

Atheists get noticed - "There has always been a social stigma attached to being an atheist greater than that of belonging to even the wackiest of religions. Consider George Bush Sr.'s statement: "I don't know that atheists should be considered citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God." How are such statements possible?"

Number of Unsold Homes Hits Record High - "Analysts viewed the new data as further evidence that the nation's red-hot housing market, which hit record sales levels for five straight years, has definitely started to cool."

Man registers .345 blood-alcohol level - "His blood-alcohol level was so high that it had the effects that experts say is near surgical anesthesia."

Chocolate Linked to Lower Blood Pressure - "Leave it to the Dutch to help demonstrate the health benefits of chocolate. A study of older men in The Netherlands, known for its luscious chocolate, indicated those who ate the equivalent of one-third of a chocolate bar every day had lower blood pressure and a reduced risk of death. The researchers say, however, it's too early to conclude it was chocolate that led to better health."