contributions

The Sibel Edmonds v. Department of Justice saga continues as the year 2005 draws to a close. The only breaking news to come from the ongoing drama is the implication, published in Vanity Fair, that Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the House of US Representatives, was the recipient of campaign contributions and assorted bribes from the Turkish-American community. That another US politician is on the take comes as no surprise. But more on that later. Sibel’s story may have quietly died from the (…)

by Chris Floyd
The only defense for the indefensible is to be offensive, it seems. The Bush Faction has obviously decided to stop refuting allegations about torture and just openly embrace the heinous practice instead. You’ve got Bush vowing to veto torture restrictions, you’ve got Cheney twisting arms on Capitol Hill to preserve the Faction’s inalienable right to beat people to death — and now you’ve got Condi Rice traipsing off to Europe to tell America’s allies to stop all their whining (…)

BY CARLTON WILKINSON
The two-week musicians’ strike at Radio City Music Hall in November ended in a deal hammered out with the help of a mediator named by New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg. A job action staged by musicians union Local 802 halted a dress rehearsal, and the resulting dispute left the Rockettes dancing to prerecorded music for shows in the first two weeks of November.
On Nov. 18, the live musicians returned to the "Christmas Spectacular," playing to packed audiences as (…)

by Mark Engler
In normal times, suggesting that the leaders of our country might have committed war crimes would violate a firm taboo in American political discussion. Yet in the post-Abu-Ghraib era-and especially as President Bush has quarreled with Congress over the McCain amendment prohibiting abuse of all detainees in U.S. custody-observers can no longer profess shock at the idea that criminal breaches of humanitarian law have occurred. According to a recent editorial in the Washington (…)

by JONATHAN KOZOL
Apartheid education, rarely mentioned in the press or openly confronted even among once-progressive educators, is alive and well and rapidly increasing now in the United States. Hypersegregated inner-city schools—in which one finds no more than five or ten white children, at the very most, within a student population of as many as 3,000—are the norm, not the exception, in most northern urban areas today.
"At the beginning of the twenty-first century," according to Gary (…)

By John Robinson
Hampton University students faced disciplinary hearings on Dec 2, 2005 at 9:00 am in the Student Center cyber lounge. As I arrived I immediately noticed bands of protesters already picketing right outside the University. By the time the six other students and I met with the parents and lawyers in front of the room that the hearing was to be held, there were already over 20 student supporters standing right outside the door. As we made last minute preparations to our (…)

by Jenni Evans | Johannesburg, South Africa
The government has noted a ruling by the Constitutional Court on Thursday that same-sex marriages be allowed and will respect the judgement, spokesperson Joel Netshitenze said.
"The Department of Home Affairs will assess what practical steps will be needed to give effect to the change in the law and make appropriate recommendations to the minister," he said.
He also noted that the court gave Parliament 12 months to effect the necessary change (…)

by Kirk Caraway Nevada Appeal Internet Editor, kcaraway@nevadaappeal.com
"We do not torture."
That’s what President George W. Bush said, and we can believe him, right? After all, that whole water boarding thing is just a walk in the park. Here is how CIA sources described this technique to ABC News:
"The prisoner is bound to an inclined board, feet raised and head slightly below the feet. Cellophane is wrapped over the prisoner’s face and water is poured over him.
Unavoidably, the (…)

The Gaza withdrawal has been a veil for continued persecution and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians
by Gerald Kaufman
I know the attractive Israeli seaside resort of Netanya well, having stayed several times at my niece’s flat there. Not long ago I heard on BBC radio a series of interviews with residents of Netanya, which has in the past suffered a number of terrorist attacks. They rejoiced at how much easier the situation had become following the building of the Israeli separation wall, (…)

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has signed a deal allowing the US to use military bases in Romania.
It is the first such deal to be signed with a former communist country in eastern Europe.
Ms Rice arrived in Romania from Germany, on the second leg of a European tour overshadowed by a controversy about CIA operations.
She stressed that the US does not carry out or condone torture, but did not comment on alleged secret CIA prisons.
She has defended the CIA practice of (…)