contributions

As Hurricane Rita threatens devastation, scientist blames climate change
By Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor
Super-powerful hurricanes now hitting the United States are the "smoking gun" of global warming, one of Britain’s leading scientists believes.
The growing violence of storms such as Katrina, which wrecked New Orleans, and Rita, now threatening Texas, is very probably caused by climate change, said Sir John Lawton, chairman of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution. (…)

by Jeremy Scahill
The men from Blackwater USA arrived in New Orleans right after Katrina hit. The company known for its private security work guarding senior US diplomats in Iraq beat the federal government and most aid organizations to the scene in another devastated Gulf. About 150 heavily armed Blackwater troops dressed in full battle gear spread out into the chaos of New Orleans. Officially, the company boasted of its forces "join[ing] the hurricane relief effort." But its men on the (…)

by Beth Gorham WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush says he can wage war in Iraq and still pay most of the huge bill for rebuilding the hurricane-lashed Gulf Coast. Most Americans don’t agree with him. And for the first time, Bush is facing a serious revolt in his own party over how to pay for hurricane relief.
Republicans already edgy about the estimated $200-billion US price tag to clean up after Katrina were bracing for more damage by week’s end as hurricane Rita hurtled toward Texas (…)

By Derrick Z. Jackson
ONE OF THE most sordid stories to come out of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina was the discovery of 154 bodies in hospitals and nursing homes. They account for 21 percent of the currently counted fatalities in Louisiana. Despite the heroism of doctors and nurses, The New York Times wrote, ’’the collapse of one of society’s most basic covenants — to care for the helpless — suggests that the elderly and critically ill plummeted to the bottom of priority lists as (…)

The 600 union members gathered Friday for a national convention in downtown Detroit were buzzing about the nomination of John Roberts to be the chief justice of the Supreme Court - because of his positions on issues such as reproductive rights and pay equity for women.
At the plenary session at the Marriott Renaissance Center, speakers talked about cervical cancer and contraceptive equity. And among the topics for that afternoon’s workshops : A Man is not a Financial Plan, Personal Safety (…)

By FERNANDA SANTOS
The first rumors started swirling last spring, in hushed talks in the classroom, amid hallway banter, in lunchtime chats at pizza parlors along Jerome Avenue. Metal detectors were coming to DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx.
By the time the summer school term began, students were noticing the newly installed surveillance cameras along DeWitt Clinton’s stairwells and the shell of a metal detector perched beyond a side door. "The school is on lockdown," one student (…)

A decorated Army officer reveals new allegations of detainee mistreatment in Iraq and Afghanistan. Did the military ignore his charges?
By ADAM ZAGORIN
he U.S. Army has launched a criminal investigation into new allegations of serious prisoner abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan made by a decorated former Captain in the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, an Army spokesman has confirmed to TIME. The claims of the Captain, who has not been named, are in part corroborated by statements of two (…)

by Rob Kall
On September 22, I did an almost 90 minute interview with Dr. Ben Marble, the 35 year old ER physician, rock musician, father, husband, and the guy who told Dick Cheney to Go Fuck Himself. This is an edited transcript of the first 50 minutes of the interview.
If you haven’t read it yet, here’s a great article telling you the story of Ben’s “dialogue with Vice President Cheney.
Rob Kall: What went through your head before you spoke to Cheney.
Rage, I guess rage, somewhat. (…)

Why We Must Resolve that a Better Faith is Possible
by Greg Moses
The movement for peace and justice in the USA has been transformed during the past two months. But what is the nature of the change, and how will it help to move us forward? The short answer, I think, is that we have been enriched by sorrow; we gather upon a sorrow plateau. Because of this place we have come to, we have new opportunities to broaden the scope of our power to sustain lasting change for freedom.
Sorrow is (…)

by Mary MacElveen
Dear Folks,
So, Jim Pinkerton thinks that Katrina victims are whiners? If you wish to send him an email, here are his email addresses, jim@jamesPPinkerton.com or pinkerto@ix.netcom You may also wish to remind him that aid from other countries such as Venezuela and Cuba were offered at no expense to tax payers, but this federal government said, “Thanks but no thanks”
My letter to Jim Pinkerton:
Dear Jim,
We have corresponded on a cordial level in the past, but I (…)