contributions

Statement by Ralph Nader before the Skull and Bones Headquarters
High Street, New Haven, CT-October 6, 2004 New Haven, CT: George W. Bush and John Kerry have been members of the Yale secret society - Skull and Bones - since the late 60s. Hundreds of Bonesmen are in powerful positions at the top echelons of government and business. They are sworn to secrecy throughout their lives, bound together for life, says Yale’s William Sloane Coffin. Skull and Bones alumni have a common drive to get (…)

originally posted on democrats.com [Editor’s Note: I received a copy of the e-mail below on Friday, and requested (and received) permission to publish it. I found independent confirmation that Fred Burks worked as an interpreter for George W. Bush comes in an article in the Los Angeles Times in January 2004.]
From: Fred Burks
As a deep insider myself, I have independent confirmation of President Bush using an earpiece to assist him in communicating intelligently with others. I’ve worked (…)

By T. CHRISTIAN MILLER
Afghanistan’s opium crop this year is set to break all previous records, surging past even the highest levels cultivated during the Taliban regime, top American and international counternarcotics officials said.
At the same time, U.N. and U.S. officials are increasingly worried by signs of a nascent drug trade developing in Iraq, where smugglers are taking advantage of the continuing chaos and unguarded borders.
Instability in the wake of the U.S.-led invasions (…)

Moqtada al-Sadr is a dangerous theocrat - but his appeal for Iraqis is that he calls for free elections
By Naomi Klein
My first run-in with Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi army came on March 31 in Baghdad. The US occupation chief Paul Bremer had just sent armed men to shut down the young cleric’s newspaper, al-Hawza, on the grounds that articles comparing Bremer to Saddam Hussein incited violence against Americans. Sadr responded by calling for his supporters to protest outside the gates of the (…)

By Jane Stillwater When you think of chain gangs, Parchman Farm comes to mind — not your local medical center. But let’s look at this from a typical American doctor’s point of view. "I spent over half a million dollars going to med school," stated Dr. 831590. "I wanted to help people. Now I’m chained to an assembly line that produces a new patient every 15 minutes. Workers at Ford plants in Mexico have an easier job. Have you ever tried to cure anybody in 15 minutes?" (…)

A Texas Internet company this week surrendered hard drives from a pair of its Web servers in England to U.S. government officials, but the company says it’s not allowed to say why.
San Antonio-based Rackspace Managed Hosting said it gave up the equipment after receiving a court order under an international treaty governing multi-nation investigations of crimes such as terrorism, kidnapping and money laundering.
But officials from the Independent Media Center, whose London office leased (…)

By PAUL de ROOIJ
Most news media will only cover a few issues in any meaningful depth, and a new "crisis" will soon crowd out what was until recently considered a grave situation. Darfur will crowd out Iraq, Iraq overshadowed Palestine, and so on. News editors will justify this by stating that the public suffers from an attention deficit; they suggest that the public can at most focus on two issues at a time, and only where a "crisis" has erupted. However, conflicts don’t follow a media (…)

By JUDITH MILLER and ERIC LIPTON
Major American oil companies and a Texas oil investor were among those who received lucrative vouchers that enabled them to buy Iraqi oil under the United Nations oil-for-food program, according to a report prepared by the chief arms inspector for the Central Intelligence Agency.
The 918-page report says that four American oil companies - Chevron, Mobil, Texaco and Bay Oil - and three individuals including Oscar S. Wyatt Jr. of Houston were given vouchers (…)

Was the president wired during the first debate?
By Dave Lindorff
Was President Bush literally channeling Karl Rove in his first debate with John Kerry? That’s the latest rumor flooding the Internet, unleashed last week in the wake of an image caught by a television camera during the Miami debate. The image shows a large solid object between Bush’s shoulder blades as he leans over the lectern and faces moderator Jim Lehrer.
The president is not known to wear a back brace, and it’s safe (…)

By: Della T. Austin, Harrisburg, NC
I am writing this in hope that it will open some eyes, enrage, and disgust everyone that reads it. I am a PROUD mother of a U.S. Marine. My eyes have been opened and I am now enraged and disgusted with “OUR GOVERNMENT! My son is now in Iraq. Before he left Camp LeJuene, my side of the family and his wife had to get money together because my son had to spend over $300 to buy things he was “REQUIRED” to have in his gear. If he were missing one thing, he (…)