contributions

Four generations of the dynasty have chased profits through cozy ties with Mideast leaders, spinning webs of conflicts of interest
By Kevin Phillips, Kevin Phillips’ new book, "American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush," has just been published by Viking Penguin.
WASHINGTON - Dynasties in American politics are dangerous. We saw it with the Kennedys, we may well see it with the Clintons and we’re certainly seeing it with the Bushes. (…)

Confessions of a White House Insider A book about Treasury’s Paul O’Neill paints a presidency where ideology and politics rule the day By JOHN F. DICKERSON
If anyone would listen to him, Paul O’Neill thought, Dick Cheney would. The two had served together during the Ford Administration, and now as the Treasury Secretary fought a losing battle against another round of tax cuts, he figured that his longtime colleague would give him a hearing.
O’Neill had been preaching that a fiscal crisis (…)

By Steve Connor, Science Editor
Tony Blair’s chief scientist has launched a withering attack on President George Bush for failing to tackle climate change, which he says is more serious than terrorism.
Sir David King, the Government’s chief scientific adviser, says in an article today in the journal Science that America, the world’s greatest polluter, must take the threat of global warming more seriously.
"In my view, climate change is the most severe problem that we are facing today, (…)

Homelessness on the Rise Throughout the U.S.
By HazelTrice Edney NNPA Washington Correspondent
BlackPressUSA — Viewed January, 6, 2004 http://www.blackpressusa.com/News/Article.asp?SID=3&Title=Hot+Stories&NewsID=3154
WASHINGTON (NNPA) - Despite recent reports of an improved economy, hunger and homelessness are on the rise, according to a study of 25 major cities by the U. S. Conference of Mayors.
’This survey underscores the impact the economy has had on everyday (…)

The Buying of the President, 2004
Who Bankrolls Bush and his Democratic Rivals?
A look at the presidential race
WASHINGTON, January 8, 2004 - Enron Corp., the Houston- based energy firm that touched off a financial, legal and political scandal when it declared bankruptcy in December 2001, remains the top career patron of President George W. Bush, whose prolific fundraising in 2003 shattered all previous records for candidates. Enron’s employees and political action committee have given (…)

Enron and the System By PAUL KRUGMAN
Two years after Enron, then one of America’s most admired companies, was revealed as a fraud, prosecutors finally seem to be getting somewhere. Andrew Fastow, the company’s former chief financial officer, and his wife, Lea, are reported to be engaged in plea-bargaining. Mr. Fastow’s testimony will probably lead to charges against other former Enron executives.
But it would be a big mistake to conclude that the system is working. It isn’t.
For one (…)

How the War Machine is Driving the US Economy
Military Keynesianism Might get Bush Re-elected, But it is Starting to Worry Economists
by Andrew Gumbel, lndependent/UK, January 6, 2004
What do the war in Iraq and the economic recovery in the United States have in common? More than one might expect, to judge from the last couple of rounds of US growth figures.
The war has been a large part of the justification for the Bush administration to run ever-widening budget deficits, and those (…)

Geov Parrish, WorkingForChange.com
http://www.alternet.org/print.html?StoryID=17475
The year 2004 will be a particularly critical one in the modern history of our nation and our world. The chain of events set in motion by the U.S. invasion of Iraq is likely to take a definitive turn; beyond that, the American public will be asked to pass judgment on four years’ performance of one of the most radical regimes in our country’s history. Understanding what’s actually happening has never been (…)

By David Pratt
January 04, 2004, sundayherald online
http://www.sundayherald.com/39096
When it emerged that the Kurds had captured the Iraqi dictator, the US celebrations evaporated.
David Pratt asks whether a secret political trade-off has been engineered For a story that three weeks ago gripped the world’s imagination, it has now all but dropped off the radar. Peculiar really, for if one thing might have been expected in the aftermath of Saddam Hussein’s capture, it was the (…)

By Eisha Mason
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0102-11.htm
We have arrived at the end of a tumultuous year in our world, in which our country and our own lives have changed dramatically. Last winter, in bitter cold, I was in Washington, D.C. marching to prevent the war in Iraq with 100,000 other dedicated Americans. We were a part of demonstrations all over the world, united in a desire for peace. We were cold, but our hearts were warm; and we dared to believe that we might really (…)