contributions

The United States of No-More-ica
Largely, my opinions in the great political debates of America don’t matter. And equally largely, I don’t care. I’ve voted once in the last twenty years, and I can’t even remember when it was or for whom I voted. I make more than my fair share of political noise, but that’s simply my free choice. There are things I like about the United States, things I don’t particularly care for, and some things that I absolutely abhor. I still, to some degree, have the (…)

”That money could have been used to take care of soldiers”
The Halliburton corporation, already the Iraq war’s poster child for ”waste, fraud and abuse”, has been hit with a new double-whammy.
A report from the U.S. State Department accuses the company of ”poor performance” in its 1.2-billion-dollar contract to repair Iraq’s vital southern oil fields.
And a powerful California congressman is charging that Defence Department audits showing additional overcharges totaling 212 million (…)

Hungry Strike to amnesty Italy. Call for the life!
* PETITION (EN/ US): translation of the contextualized French version
APPEAL FOR ORESTE! Initiative of support to the battle of Oreste Scalzone for the amnesty and explicit demand why it suspends the hunger strike and does not put ulteriorly in danger its already difficult state of health. This appeal upon request leaves of friends and companions, preoccupied from the determination of Oreste to continue to oltranza the hunger strike: (…)

An American patrol roared past us with the soldiers gesturing furiously with their guns for traffic to keep back on an overpass in central Baghdad. A black car with three young men in it did not stop in time and a soldier fired several shots from his machine gun into its engine.
The driver and his friends were not hit, but many Iraqis do not survive casual encounters with US soldiers. It is very easy to be accidentally killed in Iraq. US soldiers treat everybody as a potential suicide (…)

Editor’s Note>: We agree with Feinberg’s analysis below. In addition to the successful operations by the Iraq resistance cited by him in this article, the Iraqi resistance army: brought down a U.S. military helicopter with a surface to air missile, in broad daylight in Salah ad-Din Province on Thursday (Mecca time), killing 11; killed 5 U.S. soldiers in morning car bombing in ar-Ramadi on Thursday (local time); killed 4 U.S. troops with a bomb attack in as-Saqlawiyah at noon Thursday; (…)

Lt. Governor Announces Chicago School Transit to Implement Soy-Based Biodiesel Fuel
Starting today on Earth Day, many Chicago area school children will be breathing easier as they get on and off their school buses, thanks to a blended fuel that contains soybean oil.
Chicago School Transit is the first school bus service in the Chicago Metropolitan Area to use the soy-based biodiesel fuel, which reduces the hazardous exhaust emissions by 15-20 percent. Illinois Lt. Governor Pat Quinn will (…)

Spurred by rising energy prices, groups and individuals across the country are considering diving into used frying oil and local seed crops as diesel fuel.
Among them is the Montana-based Alternative Energy Resource Organization, which is considering establishing a new cooperative to process fuel from those sources to make what’s known as biodiesel.
AERO member Doug Crabtree said the discussions are in an early phase but similar efforts have been successful elsewhere.
"It takes the (…)

The United States should name a special prosecutor to investigate the culpability of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and ex-CIA Director George Tenet in cases of detainee torture and abuse, Human Rights Watch said in releasing a new report today. The report, Getting Away with Torture? Command Responsibility for the U.S. Abuse of Detainees, is issued on the eve of the first anniversary of the publication of the Abu Ghraib photos (April 28). It presents substantial evidence warranting (…)

Dean on Iraq: “We’re There and We Can’t Get Out”
April 21, 2005 - It didn’t take long, the former anti-war presidential candidate has now become the pro-occupation leader of the Democratic Party. Just when a majority of the public is saying the Iraq War is not worth it, Howard Dean the new leader of the Democratic Party is saying: “Now that we’re there, we’re there and we can’t get out.”
Like the good partisan he is Dean blames Bush for a war most in his party voted for and an occupation (…)

How is global warming affecting the Alaskan climate?
Global warming in Alaska?
By Dr. Heidi Cullen, Climate Expert at: The Weather Channel
Editor’s Note: In May 2004, Dr. Heidi Cullen, climate expert at The Weather Channel, took off for Alaska to investigate the issue of global warming first hand. The following report is a portion of what she discovered.
It’s tempting to ask: "What does Alaska have to do with global warming?" The answer is simple. When you live in a place where there (…)