Friday July 11 2008 - 15:20

by Nick Pisa

It involves a former topless model and the Italian prime minister, and has all the makings of a risque joke.

But the story about Silvio Berlusconi and a glamorous female cabinet minister hasn’t left many people laughing.

In fact, model-turned-politician Mara Carfagna is now threatening to sue an Italian comedian who claimed she had performed a lewd act with the 71-year-old PM.

For a fortnight, the country’s newspapers had been buzzing with wild rumours that Mr Berlusconi and an unnamed woman minister took part in the sort of activity not written about in political journals since the days of Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky.
More... If you want to answer... Friday July 11 2008 - 14:12

The Italian premier’s penchant for a pretty face usually arouses nothing more than a snigger. But now it could land him in court. By Peter Popham in Rome and Claire Soares

by Leonard Doyle

For years, Italy’s perma-tanned 71-year-old prime minister has got away with acting like a sultan in his harem, and the Italian media, forgiving to a fault of private peccadilloes, has left him to it. He has laid siege to television eye candy, appointed some of the prettiest and least qualified ministers in Europe, then sent them billets-doux across the parliament chamber, and Italy has merely tittered and shrugged. Now the chickens are coming home to roost.

His efforts to get pretty actresses jobs at RAI, Italy’s state broadcaster, have sparked a corruption case which was taken up by Rome prosecutors yesterday.
More... If you want to answer... Wednesday June 18 2008 - 08:22

On March 11 a new documentary was aired on French television (ARTE – French-German cultural tv channel) by French journalist and film maker Marie-Monique Robin, The World According to Monsanto

A documentary that Americans won’t ever see.

The gigantic biotech corporation Monsanto is threatening to destroy the agricultural biodiversity which has served mankind for thousands of years.
More... If you want to answer...
1 comment Wednesday June 18 2008 - 07:51

by Mike Whitney

Public opinion will be led to adopt, without knowing it, the proposals that we dare not present to them directly . . . All the earlier proposals will be in the new text, but will be hidden and disguised in some way.
V.Giscard D’Estaing, Le Monde, June 14, 2007

Irish voters delivered a knockout punch to European elites and corporatists last Friday by rejecting plans for an EU Superstate. The so-called Lisbon Treaty was nothing more than a dolled-up version of the failed European Constitution that was defeated by French and Dutch voters in 2005. The treaty was loaded with the typical “democratic” gobbledygook to conceal the vicious neoliberal policies at its heart. If it had passed, the treaty would have paved the way for greater privatization of public services, diminished workers rights, less state control over trade policies and civil liberties, and an aggressive plan to militarize Europe.

Ireland’s entire political and corporate class stood solidly behind the treaty, but the Irish people shrugged off the fear-mongering and bogus promises of prosperity and voted No. The referendum results showed 53.4% voted No, while 46.6% voted Yes. Despite the massive public relations campaign; the vote was not even that close.
More... If you want to answer...
2 comments Saturday June 14 2008 - 16:30

By John MITCHELL
Herblay FRANCE

Bonjour ,

at the link below you have some photos taken during the manifestation against G.BUSH last night the 13 june 2008

Yours John
More... If you want to answer... Friday June 13 2008 - 15:55

Early counting in Ireland’s referendum on the Lisbon treaty puts the "no" camp in the lead.

Ireland is expected to reject the Lisbon treaty, the country’s justice minister admitted today.

Justice Minister Dermot Ahern said unofficial indications showed the results of yesterday’s referendum on the EU treaty were going against the "yes" camp.

Ahern said: "Based on the unofficial early figures it’s not looking too good for the "yes" side.
More... If you want to answer...
1 comment Wednesday June 11 2008 - 23:00

Make sure your voice is heard on Thursday and vote No to the Lisbon Treaty.

Send the Irish government back to Europe with a strong mandate for new negotiations.

A better deal is possible.

Watch Sinn Féin’s final No 2 Lisbon press conference here - select "Gerry Adams".

Watch Mary Lou McDonald MEP on Monday’s Questions & Answers debating the Treaty. Watch here.
More... If you want to answer... Friday June 6 2008 - 09:12

by STEPHEN COLLINS, Political Editor

THE LISBON Treaty could face a shock rejection with the No side now in the lead, according to the findings of the latest Irish Times /TNS mrbi poll.

It will take an unprecedented swing in the last week of the campaign for the treaty to be carried.

The poll shows the number of people intending to vote No has almost doubled to 35 per cent (up 17 points) since the last poll three weeks ago, while the number of the Yes side has declined to 30 per cent (down 5 points).

The number of undecided voters is still a significant 28 per cent (down 12 points) while 7 per cent won’t vote.

The massive increase by the No vote since the last poll has mainly come through gains among undecided voters but, even more ominously for the Yes side, it has lost some support to the No camp.
More... If you want to answer... Tuesday June 3 2008 - 12:54

“It is the responsibility of the intellectual to speak the truth and to expose lies.” - Noam Chomsky>

On May 19, 2008, David McCullough, acclaimed author and gifted historian, gave the commencement address at Boston College, a Jesuit institution. His message to the graduating class centered on the “Love of Learning.” He sharply criticized the misuse of the English language and urged the students to “cure the verbal virus that seems increasingly rampant among your generation.”

Mr. McCullough was referring to the “wearisome use of the words, ‘like,’ and ‘you know,’ and ‘awesome,’ and ‘actually.” His comments seemed to please the graduating students, school honchos, newspaper editors and many of the pundits. It also had to please President George W. Bush and V.P. Dick Cheney, who rightfully belong in the dock facing impeachment proceedings.
More... If you want to answer... Monday June 2 2008 - 22:33

By John PILGER

In this season of 1968 nostalgia, one anniversary illuminates today. It is the rise and fall of Robert Kennedy, who would have been elected president of the United States had he not been assassinated in June 1968.

Having traveled with Kennedy up to the moment of his shooting at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on June 5, I heard The Speech many times. He would "return government to the people" and bestow "dignity and justice" on the oppressed. "As Bernard Shaw once said," he would say, "’most men look at things as they are and wonder why. I dream of things that never were and ask: Why not?’" That was the signal to run back to the bus. It was fun until a hail of bullets passed over our shoulders.
More... If you want to answer...
1 comment Wednesday May 14 2008 - 11:52

On 13 December 2007, the heads of EU States and governments signed the "Lisbon Treaty" which they expect to take effect on 1 January 2009.

This Treaty will govern the future workings of the European Union and, like the European Constitution refused by French and Dutch voters in 2005, it will set the course of a neo-liberal, free-market Europe in exactly the same way. The social needs of European citizens are not taken into account. Instead of respecting the wishes of Europeans for a democratic, social, peaceful and ecological Europe, this treaty sets the neoliberal EU agenda in stone.

To succeed in this coup d’état, all demands for referendums have been ignored and governments are misleading their peoples about the content.

We ask the Irish to vote against this EU Treaty!
More... If you want to answer...
3 comments Saturday May 10 2008 - 17:05

The task force members come from prestigious universities, medical groups, the military and government agencies. They include the Department of Homeland Security, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Health and Human Services.

The proposed guidelines are designed to be a blueprint for hospitals "so that everybody will be thinking in the same way" when pandemic flu or another widespread health care disaster hits, said Dr. Asha Devereaux. She is a critical care specialist in San Diego and lead writer of the task force report.

Care-rationing rules offered:
Who gets left out if resources are scarce in a flu pandemic? Task force lays out a blueprint
More... If you want to answer...
1 comment Wednesday May 7 2008 - 20:31

By Tariq Ali

New Labour has suffered a crushing defeat. The Blair project of promoting and implementing right-wing policies in the knowledge that traditional working class voters would remain solid died on 1 May 2008. Labour’s vote in the local elections in dropped to 24 percent, a point below the Liberal Democrats and twenty points less than the Conservatives (44 percent). Gioven the scale of the catstrophe, It seems unlikely that Gordon Brown can win the next general election

Awestruck by Margaret Thatcher, Blair and Brown aped her achievements within their own party, squeezing old social-democratic ideas out of themselves, drop by drop. They were all market fundamentalists now. Deregulation and privatisation became a mantra and over the last ten years the social divide in the country between rich and poor increased more than even under Thatcher. Redistribution of wealth was no longer on Labour’s agenda.

As the market suffered a series of shocks---the collapse of a debt-ridden British bank, Northern Rock, led to state intervention in the form of nationalisation. No lessons were learnt. Helping the rich by further tax-cuts, abandoning (under pressure from the Financial Times) plans to tax non-domiciled billionaires symbolised the regime.
More... If you want to answer... Sunday May 4 2008 - 07:45

By Chycho

In the last eight years implementing the plans for the Project for the New American Century (PNAC) designed "to promote American global leadership" has backfired.

To accomplish PNAC’s goals, all threats needed to be eliminated. From the onset, the United Sates earmarked two countries as mortal enemies: Venezuela and Iran. With Venezuela, it is well documented that the CIA attempted to overthrow the democratically elected government of Chavez. And with Iran, the United States continues to use it as a scapegoat for its failures in Iraq. These cold war tactics however are proving to be US’s undoing.

The United States is hemorrhaging from every orifice, and oil prices can be used to measure the rapidity of its demise.
More... If you want to answer...
2 comments Saturday May 3 2008 - 12:45

by Steve Watson

President Bush last week signed into law a bill which will see the federal government begin to screen the DNA of all newborn babies in the U.S. within six months, a move critics have described as the first step towards the establishment of a national DNA database.

Described as a "national contingency plan" the justification for the new law S. 1858, known as The Newborn Screening Saves Lives Act of 2007, is that it represents preparation for any sort of "public health emergency."

The bill states that the federal government should "continue to carry out, coordinate, and expand research in newborn screening" and "maintain a central clearinghouse of current information on newborn screening… ensuring that the clearinghouse is available on the Internet and is updated at least quarterly".
More... If you want to answer...
1 comment Thursday May 1 2008 - 08:43

by David Swanson

May 1st is shaping up to be quite a day of resistance, with strikes by the ILWU and other unions, plus immigrant rights rallies, and peace and impeachment activities. It’s Mission Accomplished Day (5 Years!) It’s Downing Street Minutes Day (3 Years!) It’s Impeachment Off the Table Day (2 Years!) It’s May Day, the original Labor Day (122 Years!)

If you care about the future of our republic, we encourage you to visit your congress member’s nearest office at high noon, local time, on May 1st, and ask for impeachment hearings for the Vice President for Torture, Dick Cheney. Let us know you plan to do it, and find others to do it with you at http://democrats.com/mayday

Watch this video. Clarence Thomas, National Co-Chair of the Million Worker March Movement and Executive Board member of International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 10, spoke on April 24th, 2008, at the Iraq Town Hall meeting, in the Grand Lake Theater, Oakland, CA. The ILWU has committed to blocking ports on May 1st in opposition to the occupation of Iraq.
More... If you want to answer... Tuesday April 29 2008 - 10:51

Police in southern China have discovered a factory manufacturing Free Tibet flags, media reports say.

The factory in Guangdong had been completing overseas orders for the flag of the Tibetan government-in-exile.

Workers said they thought they were just making colourful flags and did not realise their meaning.

But then some of them saw TV images of protesters holding the emblem and they alerted the authorities, according to Hong Kong’s Ming Pao newspaper.
More... If you want to answer... Monday April 28 2008 - 18:23

Solidarity is proud to offer our 100% support to the oil refinery workers at Grangemouth.

For the “crime” of refusing to accept the tearing up of their pension scheme they have been vilified by the Ineos management and sections of the press in Scotland. In a disgusting campaign the oil workers have been accused of “holding the country to ransom” and of being “hell bent on strike action.”

In reality it is the Ineos Company led by billionaire James Ratcliffe who are responsible for this situation. After buying Grangemouth from BP in 2005 Ratcliffe – who has a personal fortune of almost £2 billion - has embarked on a brutal assault on jobs and working conditions at Grangemouth. This has culminated in their decision to close a pension scheme that was negotiated and has been in existence for years under BP.
More... If you want to answer... Sunday April 27 2008 - 19:38

By DAVE LINDORFF

Time for a discussion on … not race, but racism.

One of the clear observations that can be made about the ugly Democratic presidential primary just held in Pennsylvania is that it was marred by racism.

The winning candidate, Hillary Clinton, who bested Barack Obama by just over 9 percent of the vote after a six-week campaign, made a determined effort to court the white, working class voters in Pennsylvania’s midsection and in the heavily ethnic northeastern part of the state, and she succeeded. According to exit polls, for example, white men voted 57 percent for Clinton and 43 percent for Obama. White women went 68 percent for Clinton and 32 percent for Obama. White Catholics, a particular target of the Clinton campaign, went 70 percent for Clinton and 30 percent for Obama—her biggest margin of any grouping.
More... If you want to answer...
3 comments Sunday April 27 2008 - 01:29

By Michael P. Wright

According to Webster, a political revolution does not have to be violent:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dict...

It says (2b) that a revolution is "a fundamental change in political organization; especially : the overthrow or renunciation of one government or ruler and the substitution of another by the governed."

According to this Oklahoma law (paragraph B), it is a felony crime for anyone over the age of 18 to advocate revolution on a college or public school campus. This is punishable by 10 years to life imprisonment.
More... If you want to answer...
1 comment