contributions

Defense Lawyers in Terror Cases Plan Challenges Over Spy Efforts
By ERIC LICHTBLAU and JAMES RISEN Published: December 28, 2005
WASHINGTON, Dec. 27 - Defense lawyers in some of the country’s biggest terrorism cases say they plan to bring legal challenges to determine whether the National Security Agency used illegal wiretaps against several dozen Muslim men tied to Al Qaeda.
The lawyers said in interviews that they wanted to learn whether the men were monitored by the agency and, if (…)

REASONABLE EXPECTATIONS
By Peter Fredson
December 28, 2005
The great majority of Americans reasonably expect that their leaders should uphold American traditions, virtues, ethics and morals. As we look back on the G.W.Bush record in the Presidency, over the past five years, we compare it against the reasonable expectations most Americans have of their Presidents.
One of the great virtues is openness, candor, and transparency, clear exposition of facts, frankness, honesty, (…)

by Kevin and Monica Benderman
“”George W. Bush
When are you going to tell the truth to the people of the United States? Why don’t you tell them why you want to be in Iraq so bad? I was there for six months and I did not see the first weapon of mass destruction. I did receive orders from the company commander to shoot children if they threw small rocks at us and that was when I figured out that the entire thing was way over the line.
Over 1200 soldiers have died in Iraq so that you can (…)

By Safa Haeri
PARIS, 24 Dec. (IPS) In its first major social challenge and in continuation of the crackdown of all freedoms in Iran, the new Government under the Islamo-populist President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has arrested at least 14 members of the Single Bus Company of Tehran and Suburbs (SBCTS), informed sources reported on Saturday.
The order for the arrest, detention and seizure of all documents of the arrested men was issued by Judge Sa’id Mortazavi, the Prosecutor for Tehran and (…)

By RON FOURNIER
FORT MYERS, Fla. - Frustrated by government and empowered by technology, Americans are filling needs and fighting causes through grass-roots organizations they built themselves - some sophisticated, others quaintly ad hoc. This is the era of people-driven politics.
From a homemaker-turned-kingmaker in Pittsburgh to dog owners in New York to a "gym rat" here in southwest Florida, people are using the Internet to do what politicians can’t - or won’t - do.
This is their (…)

There is nothing very exciting about the sliver of silicon in a computer chip, the slab of coated aluminium in a hard disc or the strands of glass used in optical fibre. These basic components have become so commonplace that most of us long since learnt to take them for granted.
But something has been happening to the fundamental building blocks of the computing and networking age, along with the systems into which they are assembled. In short, the foundations upon which our (…)

By David Swanson
House Judiciary Committee Democratic staff members report that the White House and the Departments of State and Defense have for six months refused to comply with a request filed under the Freedom of Information Act by 52 Congress Members - a request seeking information on the Bush Administration’s reasons for going to war.
On June 30th of this year, Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers Jr. (Dem., Mich.) and 51 other Congress Members submitted a FOIA request (…)

By Remi Kanazi
Merry Christmas and a happy new year I got coal in my sack and a half shaven beard I’m going down my list And I have a few bones to pick With some of the bad kids running today’s politics
You see Santa’s a humanitarian And brings cheer through the night Even to the third world, so you better be nice War is not is not fun and killing is not merry The architects of Iraq better be wary
Thousands of children Were left dead in Iraq Because little boy Bush Was on the wrong (…)

“im-peach . . . 2. to call in question” —Oxford American Dictionary
Rules matter. Only Congress has authority to impeach a sitting president in the political sense; but the private citizen has the ability to impeach a president by calling into question the president’s words and deeds. What follows is one American’s “impeachment” of President George W. Bush. You, dear reader, may be the jury - or you may join the growing popularity of this game and make your own “impeachment” list.
In (…)

By William Fisher
The U.S. Government, foreign policy experts, newspaper editorial writers and human rights advocates were virtually unanimous in condemning the sentencing last week of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s chief political opponent to a five-year prison term, but divided on what can be done about it.
The White House and the State Department issued statements saying they were “deeply troubled” by the conviction and sentencing of Ayman Nour, the runner-up in Egypt’s 2005 (…)