READINGS
June 4, 2003
A Trillion Missing
The Defense Department recent acknowledged that it is missing over $1.3 trillion and that the Army lost track of 56 airplanes, 32 tanks, and 36 Javelin missile command launch-units. Counterpunch Blair, sweating profusely as pressure mounts on him over his false claims of weapons of mass destruction, tried to reverse burden of proof. He told his accusers they should prove their allegations that he lied about the weapons, which have never been found. See The Independent The Defense Department recent acknowledged that it is missing over $1.3 trillion and that the Army lost track of 56 airplanes, 32 tanks, and 36 Javelin missile command launch-units. Counterpunch It was the lying, right? Not the sex itself. That's what the impeachers said. Why then, does Bush get away with so many lies? See Counterpunch Who said what about WMD? See Counterpunch Cynicism is growing over the failure to find WMD. See csmonitor.com Check out the US most wanted cards. See The Empire Cards Why empires overreach, see History News Network Arundhati Roy: Day of the Jackals. See Alternet Michael Savage is suing takebackthemedia.com. See Buzzflash Media giants prepare for a big gulp. See Washington Post Krugman's plain truth: "The public was told that Saddam posed an imminent threat. If that claim was fraudulent, the selling of the war is arguably the worst scandal in American political history - worse than Watergate, worse than Iran-contra. Indeed, the idea that we were deceived into war makes many commentators so uncomfortable that they refuse to admit the possibility." See New York Times. Graham ramps up his charges about the administration's suppression of the hearings on 911 and it is he who is called outrageous. See Miami Herald. See the video of Al Franken and Bill O'Reilly at Book TV To conclude, we're all in the Matrix now. See Consortium News LINK SURVEY
June 2, 2003
Outrage over Michael Powell's attempt to hijack the public airways for a handful of very wealthy corporate interests has now trickled up as high as Ted Turner, creator of CNN, who sold out to Time-Warner. Turner writes: "On Monday the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is expected to adopt dramatic rule changes that will extend the market dominance of the five media corporations that control most of what Americans read, see and hear. I am a major shareholder in the largest of those five corporations, yet -- speaking only for myself, and not for AOL Time Warner -- I oppose these rules. They will stifle debate, inhibit new ideas and shut out smaller businesses trying to compete. If these rules had been in place in 1970, it would have been virtually impossible for me to start Turner Broadcasting or, 10 years later, to launch CNN." See Monopoly or Democracy?. "Angry Allies" in Salon says, "Democratic officials, with few exceptions, seem unconcerned with the fact that the U.S. government has not yet been able to locate any direct evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq -- the declared reason for the war. But that fact is not going unnoticed by opposition parties to leaders allied with President Bush, especially in light of comments made Tuesday night by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld allowing that WMD may never be found, which is an apparent contradiction to previous administration remarks on the subject." Former FCC chairman Reed Hundt says deregulation is a right-wing power grab, "the culmination of the attack by the right on the media." Salon Media: It Pays to be Right Wing See TomPaine.com Bushes visit Auschwitz. The wayfaring heart comes home. See the New York Times. The working poor have been intentionally shafted by the new tax bill. How mean-spirited and vindictive can these people get? Our government is run by Scrooge. "If they'd rather die, then they'd best get it over with, and reduce the surplus population." They are arrogantly thumbing their noses in our faces now. See the Boston Globe.