contributions

Report Says 195,000 Deaths Due to Hospital Error
As many as 195,000 people a year could be dying in U.S. hospitals because of easily prevented errors, a company said on Tuesday in an estimate that doubles previous figures.
Lakewood, Colorado-based HealthGrades Inc. said its data covers all 50 states and is more up-to-date than a 1999 study from the Institute of Medicine that said 98,000 people a year die from medical errors.
"The HealthGrades study shows that the IOM report may have (…)

By T. Christian Miller Times Staff Writer
WASHINGTON - A comprehensive examination of the U.S.-led agency that oversaw the rebuilding of Iraq (news - web sites) has triggered at least 27 criminal investigations and produced evidence of millions of dollars’ worth of fraud, waste and abuse, according to a report by the Coalition Provisional Authority’s inspector general.
The report is the most sweeping indication yet that some U.S. officials and private contractors repeatedly violated the (…)

By ERIC LICHTBLAU
WASHINGTON, July 28 - A classified Justice Department investigation has concluded that a former F.B.I. translator at the center of a growing controversy was dismissed in part because she accused the bureau of ineptitude, and it found that the F.B.I. did not aggressively investigate her claims of espionage against a co-worker.
The Justice Department’s inspector general concluded that the allegations by the translator, Sibel Edmonds, "were at least a contributing factor (…)

by Christopher Getzan
As the 2004 presidential race heats up, Wall Street is behind the scenes quietly sending huge amounts of money to both the incumbent president, Republican George W. Bush, and his Democratic Party challenger, John Kerry.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP), investment banks, global accounting firms, and "one-stop-shopping" financial services corporations rank among the top contributors to both campaigns.
According to CRP, a foundation- and (…)

by Steven Morris
Amazon.co.uk was last night criticised for refusing to stock a controversial book which examines the links between George Bush’s circle and rich Saudis.
Major bookstores including Waterstone’s and WH Smith are carrying House of Bush, House of Saud, which was published in Britain yesterday after becoming a bestseller in the US.
But the book’s publisher, Martin Rynja, expressed concern and bemusement that the work by Craig Unger, which inspired some of the more (…)

Speech delivered by Fidel Castro Ruz, President of the Republic of Cuba, at the ceremony for the 51st anniversary of the attack on the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Cespedes garrisons, Central University of Las Villas, July 26, 2004.
Dear fellow Cubans;
Distinguished guests:
On this 51st anniversary of the attack on the Moncada fortress on July 26, 1953 I shall address a sinister character that keeps threatening, insulting and slandering us. This is not a whim or an agreeable option; it (…)

By E. J. Dionne Jr.
BOSTON — If John Kerry is elected president, his speech accepting the Democratic nomination will be only part of the story. At least as important will be the antidote that Democrats brought to market at their convention this week to combat three decades of Republican attacks around social issues, "values" questions and patriotism.
Since the late 1960s, the Republicans have often cast Democrats as living outside the American "mainstream," supporting exotic values (…)

By Tom Griffin
LONDON - In the aftermath of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, the role of private security contractors in Iraq has come under increasing scrutiny.
There was widespread surprise, therefore, when the US Army announced in June that it was to award a major security contract to Aegis Defense Services, the company run by British mercenary Lieutenant-Colonel Tim Spicer. Under the US$293 million deal, Aegis will coordinate the work of up to 50 other private security companies in (…)

By TERESA HAMPTON & WILLIAM D. McTAVISH
The widow of former President, and Republican icon, Ronald Reagan has told the GOP she wants nothing to do with their upcoming national convention or the re-election campaign of President George W. Bush.
Nancy Reagan turned down numerous invitations to appear at the Republican National Convention and has warned the Bush campaign she will not tolerate any use of her or her late husbands words or images in the President’s re-election effort. (…)

By Stephen Gowans
The United States and Britain are playing the ethnic cleansing and genocide cards. Again. This time in Sudan.
And while there may indeed be a genocide going on, it’s very unlikely either country cares overly much about ethnic cleansing and the destruction of a people.
After all, they have always been quite willing to live with, even perpetrate, atrocities every bit as vile, if, somewhere down the line, there’s a buck in it.
And in Kosovo, where they said there was (…)