contributions

How did Golan Cipel become New Jersey’s ’anti-terrorism’ czar?
by Justin Raimondo
The self-"outing" of New Jersey Governor James McGreevey and his involvement with Golan Cipel, described as a 30-something Israeli "poet," soon degenerated into one of those the-personal-is-the-political soap operas Americans seem to revel in. After hearing McGreevey’s now famous "I am a gay American" speech, some gushed that this put him right up there with rising Democratic star Obama Barack. Gay rights (…)

By Peter Symonds
The current battle for Iraqi city of Najaf has exposed just how isolated and dependent on Washington the interim government of Prime Minister Ayad Allawi is. While popular support for rebel Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has been visibly growing over the weekend, Allawi confronted angry protests at the UN-sponsored three-day national conference which began on Sunday. Delegates demanded an end to US attacks on the Old City of Najaf and the Imam Ali Shrine where al-Sadr’s (…)

BY JAMIE TARABAY
BAGHDAD, Iraq - An Iraqi delegation delivered a peace proposal to aides of militant cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in Najaf on Tuesday as explosions, gunfire and a U.S. air strike on the sprawling cemetery echoed across the holy city.
The delegation was kept waiting for three hours at the Imam Ali shrine, where some of al-Sadr’s fighters have holed up, but were not allowed to meet with the cleric and left Najaf after talking with his aides.
Al-Sadr did not show up because of (…)

BY LARRY MARGASAK
WASHINGTON — Increasing numbers of National Guard and Reserve troops who have returned from war in Iraq and Afghanistan are encountering new battles with their civilian employers at home. Jobs were eliminated, benefits reduced and promotions forgotten.
Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the Labor Department reports receiving greater numbers of complaints under a 1994 law designed to give Guard and Reserve troops their old jobs back, or provide them with equivalent positions. (…)

Assailants ambushed U.S. troops with rocket-propelled grenades and bombs in a series of attacks in the Iraqi capital, killing one U.S. soldier and wounded several others, the U.S. Army said Tuesday.
The attacks took place Monday in the east of the city, and three armored vehicles were disabled in the assaults, the Army said in a statement.
The wounded were evacuated to a medical treatment facility and the damaged vehicles were recovered. The name of the soldier killed in that attack was (…)

By Todd Smyth
One commercial distorts John Kerry’s vote on the second appropriations bill for the war in Iraq, accusing Kerry of voting against the troops. When the bill included an amendment to pay for the cost, Senator Kerry voted for it. When the Republicans blocked the first vote, removed the amendment and charged the $87 billion dollar cost to our children, John Kerry voted against the bill. The ad also implies the bill had a line item vote, which it did not. Next time you see the (…)

by Bob Herbert
The big story out of Florida over the weekend was the tragic devastation caused by Hurricane Charley. But there’s another story from Florida that deserves our attention.
State police officers have been going into the homes of elderly black voters in Orlando and interrogating them as part of an odd "investigation" that has frightened many voters, intimidated elderly volunteers and thrown a chill over efforts to get out the black vote in November.
The officers, from the (…)

By Bill Van Auken
The Venezuelan people on Sunday delivered a stunning defeat to a right-wing coalition backed by Washington, rejecting its demand for the ouster of the country’s elected president, Hugo Chavéz.
The former military officer has employed left-nationalist rhetoric directed against the United States and the native financial oligarchy, together with minimal social reforms, to appeal to the mass of impoverished workers and peasants in the oil-rich country.
With 95 percent of (…)

Fewer US soldiers in Germany mean fewer euros for the economy
The impact of US plans to pull some 70,000 troops out of Europe and Asia is likely to be felt most acutely in Germany — especially in smaller towns whose economies depend on the US presence.
When members of the US military in Germany want help organizing a little R&R off base, one place they often go is RTT Destinations Unlimited, a travel agency headquartered at the Ramstein Air Force base in southwestern Germany. (…)

East German protestors give Gerhard Schröder a blast of their whistles Tens of thousands of people hit the streets of several German cities Monday to protest looming cuts in unemployment benefits, continuing a series of weekly protests against government reforms.
Police said 15,000 protestors marched to the headquarters of Chancellor Gerhard Schröder’s Social Democrats (SPD) in central Berlin in a noisy but peaceful protest against the biggest overhaul of Germany’s generous welfare (…)