Friday, June 13, 2008

friday reads

The VA rejected an Afghanistan veteran's disability claim for PTSD last month, citing his membership in VoteVets.org as a reason for the denial.


Dennis Kucinich, the Ohio Congressman and former 2008 Democratic Presidential candidate, said he would continue to introduce resolutions calling for the removal of President George W. Bush from office if the articles of impeachment against Bush that he presented to the House Monday is not taken up within 30 days or dies in committee.


In a lawsuit filed in federal court in Austin, the American Civil Liberties Union and ACLU of Texas said five incarcerated girls — "all of whom have histories of sexual, physical, or emotional abuse" — were abused in the Brownwood State School with "unwarranted solitary confinement, routine strip searches and brutal physical force."


Scott Horton: A Setback for the State of Exception


Ireland today rejected the EU reform treaty, politicians said based on a wave of returns from the referendum on the issue.


Ray McGovern: Jail Time for Tenet?

Thursday, June 12, 2008

thursday reads

Suspected terrorists and foreign fighters held by the U.S. military at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have the right to challenge their detention in federal court, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday.


The BBC has obtained documents suggesting that Zimbabwe's military is actively involved in running Robert Mugabe's re-election campaign.


FEMA ave Away $85 million in household goods meant for Hurricane Katrina victims.


Shrub in Yurp

Adrian Hamilton in The Indepedent: The strange legacy of President Bush
Not a tear was shed, nor a cheer raised. Not even the protesters have bothered to turn out as President Bush has wound his way around Europe on the final visit of his two-term occupancy of the White House. Instead, he has come almost like an anonymous diplomat to hold talks in private, say a few words to the cameras and –unless the UK has something very unexpected up its sleeve this weekend – to depart almost unrecognised, and certainly unacclaimed.

There's a fanciful version of this event, spun by the commentators in Washington and followed even by some here, which says the very anonymity of Bush's visit is a tribute to the success of the relationship he has now developed with Europe. Where in the aftermath of the Iraq invasion, relations were fraught and loud, now Bush and Europe are pretty comfortable with each other. The EU's three main leaders – Gordon Brown, Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy – are all positively pro-American. Even Iran does not divide them.

Well, this may be the gloss which diplomats wish you to believe. But it's the opposite of reality. The silence that has accompanied Bush's final foreign tours is the silence of failure, not the quiet of accomplishment. He wanted to end his presidency with the outlines of a Middle East peace settlement. As his visit to Israel earlier this year showed, we are actually further from peace there than ever.


Spiegel Online: The Punching Bag's Farewell
"Unfriendly background music," is the phrase used by the respected conservative daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung to describe the raft of highly critical commentaries (more...) and reporting on George W. Bush's final visit to Europe as an American president.

The paper was reacting to comments such as "memory of Bush will darken America's image in the world for years to come," as the country's other leading daily, the Süddeutsche Zeitung put it. There was even Bush-bashing from within the ranks of Chancellor Angela Merkel's own Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, whose foreign policy spokesman, Eckart von Klaeden, remarked: "I won't miss George W. Bush."

Karsten Voigt, a Social Democrat and the government's coordinator for relations between Germany and America, earlier this week accused Bush of triggering a "deep crisis in relations between the two countries" by launching the Iraq war. Noting that Bush was staying at Meseberg Palace in the countryside far from populous Berlin, the head of the market liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP), Guido Westerwelle, said "anyone who is entrenched and barricaded, isn't visiting a country, but rather avoiding any contact with it. Other than a few photo ops, this visit is meaningless." Members of the Left Party and the Greens also sharply criticized the president.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

wednesday reads

Rep. Robert Wexler Co-Sponsors Articles of Impeachment Against Bush Introduced By Dennis Kucinich


Countdown: The Impeachment of George W. Bush


A BBC investigation estimates that around $23bn (£11.75bn) may have been lost, stolen or just not properly accounted for in Iraq.


Senate Republicans killed legislation to eliminate billions of dollars in federal subsidies for the oil and gas industry and invest the money instead in renewable fuels


Tainted tomatoes highlight how Congress forfeited some food-safety opportunities in the new farm bill.


Pakistani military chiefs today accused US-led forces of killing 11 of their troops in "cowardly" air strikes along the Afghan border.


Tom Engelhart: "E" for Expeditionary

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Impeach

Rep. Dennis Kucinich introduces articles of impeachment against bu$h







ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT FOR PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH

Resolved, that President George W. Bush be impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors, and that the following articles of impeachment be exhibited to the United States Senate:

Articles of impeachment exhibited by the House of Representatives of the United States of America in the name of itself and of the people of the United States of America, in maintenance and support of its impeachment against President George W. Bush for high crimes and misdemeanors.

In his conduct while President of the United States, George W. Bush, in violation of his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office of President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, has committed the following abuses of power.


http://www.kucinich.us/


Sunday, June 08, 2008

Bill Moyers

Addresses the National Conference for Media Reform in Minneapolis, June 7, 2008.



http://www.freepress.net/