contributions

Nowadays, British politicians go around in heavily-guarded, bullet-proof vehicles. They no longer expose themselves to the rough-and-tumble of what used to be politics until about twenty years ago. I’m getting old, I can remember Quintin Hogg electioneering on Chiswick Common in West London, standing on a platform ringing a huge bell both to make his point and to drown out any hecklers. An old Tory rogue who brought a little bit of entertainment to the hustings.
Unlike the present (…)

By Nicola Nasser* No mistake, the Successor of Saint Peter, the Vicar of Christ on Earth, the Sovereign Pontiff, Pope Benedict XVI has erred and the damage is done: His anti-Islam remarks are out and cannot be retracted, like bullets that cannot be retrieved once shot, adding a Catholic stamp to the Evangelist “Islam versus the West” justification for the U.S. neoconservative-led “WWIII on Islam.” (1) Coincidently the Pope and the U.S. President George W. Bush on Wednesday expressed “a (…)

by Remi Kanazi
Pope Benedict XVI is not having a good week and yet doesn’t seem to mind. Upsetting one out of every five people living today may be of no concern for the His Holiness-made evident by his half-hearted, “sorry my infallible words offended you” apology-but one can surely understand why some Muslims took offense to his recent speech. Were his comments his own words-maybe not-but it doesn’t take a scholar to comprehend the inappropriateness in referencing 14th century Byzantine (…)

by Amira Hass
Six Palestinian churches in the West Bank and Gaza Strip suffered damage and arson attempts in reaction to the words of Pope Benedict XVI. Palestinian spokesmen of all stripes condemned these attacks and said that the Palestinian nation - Christians and Muslims alike - is one, and is united in its struggle against the occupation. Reports on the attacks in the Palestinian media described the perpetrators as "unknown." In the Palestinian subtext, "unknown" implies "of (…)

Did Hugo Chavez Speak Truth Or Lies?
PART ONE
By Peter Fredson
September 22, 2006
The President of Venezuela addressed the U.N. Assembly this week. His unkind references to the President of the United States, George W. Bush, made many people uncomfortable, electing a huge variety of boorish, loutish, obscene, and uncomplimentary remarks.
I have examined the Chavez speech in detail, and find that much of what was criticized was actually warranted. If we leave out the jingoistic and (…)

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IDENTIFY THE ENEMIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION IN THE 21ST CENTURY AND ANNIHILATE THEM.
by Tom Heneghan
September 22/06
Yesterday’s story leaked by U.S. Media that Bush threatened to bomb Pakistan after 9-11 is a diversion from the real story. The real story is that Musharraf, Pakistani President, knows that Bin Laden is dead and knows where he is buried. And knows that the bogeyman has gone to his maker aka kidney failure, Jan. 2002.
It can now be reported that Bushfraud (…)

Two Via Campesina activists were detained by the Singapore authorities last night at Changi international airport and were deported this morning to Jakarta. They were interrogated for 14 hours continuously. They were not doing anything criminal and they had come to Singapore without any intention of disturbing the people of Singapore. But the officers kept saying that they were just obeying orders. Irma Yanni and Achmad Ya’kub, both working for the Federation of Indonesian Peasant Unions (…)

Kucinich Calls For Congressional Hearings On Negroponte’s Role In The Release Of A False And Misleading Report On Iran
In Letter Kucinich, Ranking Member of the House Government Reform Subcommittee On National Security, Emerging Threats and International, Calls For Congressional Hearings On The Role Of The Director of National Intelligence (DNI) In The Release Of A False And Misleading Report On Iran
Letter to Chairman Shays
Washington, Sep 15 -
Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH), (…)

The Logical Reconstruction of Reality, Part 3: Transparency Theory
Michael D. Morrissey, Sept. 22, 2006
May be redistributed for non-profit purposes, with proper copyright acknowledgement; orig. place of pub. is . Part 1 is accessible at and Part 2 at .
In Part 2 I discussed two theories of the way things are in world no. 2—the Stupidity theory and the Mysterious Evil Forces theory. That brings me to a third view, which is the diametrical opposite of Stupidity theory: they want (…)

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In 2000 the Taliban had practically eliminated the Afghani poppy plantations that fed the world opium and heroin markets in days gone by. When the U.S. military invaded Afghanistan in late 2001, President George W. Bush missed his golden opportunity to advance his so-called “war on drugs” by ignoring what fields were left.
With millions of dollars in U.S. financial aid falling through slippery and corrupt fingers, and no one keeping account of it, the Afghan people fell (…)