contributions

Dear Prime Minister: Not since the Christie Affair * (1862-1865) have relations between our two countries been this bad; I mean Brazil and England. Quite apart from the lies of the war which, in our cups, I’m sure we all agree, were fantastic fibs (great with the rabble, though, I must admit: they sold like hot cakes here in the US where I live), I think you would better do right by the De Menezes dossier and not try to "fix the facts around the policy" on this matter. Brazil did not (…)

By DAVID S. CLOUD
LIMA, Peru, - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld’s visit this week to South America had the throwback feel of a mission during the cold war, when American officials saw their main job as bolstering the hemisphere’s governments against leftist insurgencies and Communist infiltration.
During stops in Paraguay and Peru, Mr. Rumsfeld and his aides warned of what they consider to be troublemaking by President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela and Washington’s old cold war foe, (…)

Crawford Vigil Is Not Over
Listen to Segment || Download Show mp3 || Watch 128k stream || Watch 256k stream
Cindy Sheehan had to leave Crawford temporarily after her mother suffered a stroke. She spoke with Democracy Now! in the airport on her way to Los Angeles. She said that also she left her vigil without meeting with President Bush, she said, "This Camp Casey movement is bigger than me. It’s growing, it’s bigger than any of us."
Cindy Sheehan went on, "I believe that it is (…)

COLOGNE, Germany (AP) — The unofficial beer of World Youth Day is drawing more than just small sips from thirsty pilgrims.
The beer, bearing a photo of Benedict XVI and brewed in his home of Bavaria, is among the scores of items being sold or traded among the more than 415,000 pilgrims that have journeyed to Cologne for the 20th World Youth Day.
Officially sanctioned T-shirts and mugs with the event’s logo, finger rosaries and pictures of Benedict are also selling quickly as retailers (…)

by Monica Benderman
From Sgt. Kevin Benderman - Prisoner of Conscience for objecting to war:
“I have come to the conclusion that the Creator does not want us to fight wars or to leave our brothers to die in hunger or disease. We have been given the things we need to provide all men on the planet with what they need to get by in this world. Why should I not help another human being that needs what I can help them with? I have ignored that for far too long. I have turned my head when the (…)

by Steven LaTulippe
Scanning the news these past few weeks has been somewhat of a surreal experience. Our cowboy president has been holed up in his Texas ranch trying to put a positive spin on his seemingly endless military conflict in the East. Jane Fonda has been taking flak for her planned antiwar bus excursion, and the Rolling Stones are kicking off a huge summer concert tour.
It’s like we’re all living inside an episode of a new tragic sitcom called That 60s Show. One could even (…)

Thousands support woman at Bush ranch
By Ralph Ranalli, Printer Friendly Version E-Mail This Article
2005-08-18 - With twilight and candlelight playing across solemn faces, thousands of antiwar protesters gathered at more than 50 vigils at sites from Northampton to Quincy last night, in solidarity with a mother of four from California who has camped outside President Bush’s ranch in Texas for 10 days and who vows to remain until he explains why her soldier son had to die.
Nazima Samir (…)

Marcia Ball: Report from Camp Casey
Dear friends,
This is a note which I hope you will pass along about Cindy Sheehan’s vigil in Crawford. As most of you know, Cindy had to leave yesterday because her mother had a stroke. Still, most of the people who had gathered around her there are continuing the demonstration.
There are Gold Star Mothers, Military Families Speak Out, Code Pink and many individuals who have lost family members in the war in Iraq or who have people serving there now. (…)

VATICAN CITY — Lawyers for Pope Benedict XVI have asked President Bush to declare the pontiff immune from liability in a lawsuit that accuses him of conspiring to cover up the molestation of three boys by a seminarian in Texas, court records show.
The Vatican’s embassy in Washington sent a diplomatic memo to the State Department on May 20 requesting the U.S. government grant the pope immunity because he is a head of state, according to a May 26 motion submitted by the pope’s lawyers in (…)

by Kurt Nimmo
The blogger Aangirfan draws a parallel between the execution of the seemingly hapless Jean Charles de Menezes on 22 July in the London subway and Operation Gladio. As Aangirfan points out, de Menezes “behaved normally” when he entered Stockwell Tube station, did not run from police (or rather a “Special Reconnaissance Regiment, modeled on an undercover unit that operated in Northern Ireland,” according to the Guardian), did not jump a tollgate and used his Oyster card (a (…)