Albion Monitor Issue 125 AUGUST 2004
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The handover that wasn't

Despite "Hand-Over," Iraqis Have Little Control Over Security
Security has worsened, the economy has not picked up, the Americans are still there

Poll: Iraq War Top Concern Of Voters
Foreign policy trumps economy for first time since Vietnam
Bush Administration Quietly Admits Global Warming RealFREE!
Report agrees "Carbon dioxide is the largest single forcing agent of climate change"

U.S. On Verge Of Winning Battle Of Najaf, But Again Losing The War
U.S. now in exactly the same position as Saddam in 1991, violently crushing a Shiite uprising

First Iraq Assembly Turns Into Fight Over Najaf
"We are the sons of Najaf and we have done nothing to defend it from the attack"

'Staggering Amount' of Cash Missing In Iraq
Audit by the CPA's inspector general finds $8.8 billion gone
U.S. Soldier Files Lawsuit Over Extended Service Catch-22 FREE!
Without declaration of war, soldiers can't be kept in uniform indefinitely

Bush Announces Largest Troop Redeployment Since WWII
Goodbye Germany, Korea, Hello Romania, Iaq

As Many As 40 Migrant Workers Dead In Building Olympic Site
Only 1 person died in construction projects for 2000 Sydney Olympics

Olympics Planners Ignored Environmental Measures
Unlike 2002 Games, no effort to show environmental conciousness

Bush Pick To Head CIA Unlikely To Reform Agency
Several call Goss a "cat's paw" for Cheney

Japan's Nuke Accident Stirs Anger
Nation's worst reactor accident killed 4

White House Revealed Identity of Key Spy In Al-Qaeda
Was "probably the most important asset the U.S. has ever had inside al-Qaeda"

Aid Groups Charge U.S. With Extortion Tactics In Afghanistan
Afghanis told no humanitarian aid unless they inform on Taliban, al-Qaeda suspects

UN Wary Of Returning To Supervise Iraq Elections
"Any Iraqi elections without UN observers or monitors will be a hard sell"
Neither U.S. Or NATO Willing To Be Responsible For Fair Afgan Elections FREE!
Security fears because warlords and militias rule outside the major cities

Justice Dept. Covered Up FBI Link To Al-Qaeda Operative
Aided double or triple agent to change identity, evade arrest

Private Contractors Have Become Hidden Branch Of Military In Iraq
"A method of hiding the real level of casualties"

USDA Cheated Black Farmers Out Of Muti-Billion Dollar Settlement
"The implications of this are tremendous. If it's allowed to continue, the black farmer will be a thing of the past"

Frightened Iraqi Christians Flee To Syria
Recent bombings at churches in Baghdad and Mosul killed at least 11

Iraq Avoids UN Dues By Crying Poverty
Even as U.S. pleads for UN help in reconstruction and accused of squandering millions
Iran Abruptly Ends Trial Into Canadian Journalist's Death FREE!
Burns, blow to head, imply reporter was tortured in jail
They're Back: Neo-cons Revive Committee on the Present Danger FREE!
Senator Joe Lieberman among those in revival of controversial hawk group


OPPOSITION LEADER HINTS AT ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT
VENEZUELA'S CHAVEZ WINS MANDATE IN HUGE VOTER TURNOUT
President Hugo Chavez won an easy victory in the recall election, with 58 percent, or nearly 5 million votes. It is believed that 8.5 million of Venezuela's 14 million registered voters went to the polls, many standing in line for hours. Nobel Peace laureate and former president Carter, one of the international observers, said the Carter Center had monitored nearly 50 elections around the world and that he had never before seen such a turnout. Chavez will now serve out his term until January 2007, and will be able to run for re-election. The overwhelming win gave him an even stronger mandate for his "revolution for the poor."

It was the third effort to oust Chavez by the U.S.-backed opposition, which attempted an April, 2002 coup d'etat that failed after a popular uprising demanding Chavez' return. His foes will probably try again, maybe by an assassination attempt. Shortly before the recall vote, opposition leader and two-time president Carlos Andres Perez called for violence and hinting at an eventual dictatorial period. "Chavez must die like a dog, because he deserves it," Perez said

 Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez at a February 29, 2004 rally (Photo courtesy vheadline.com)
{
 + Venezuela President Chavez Easily Defeats Recall Vote
 + Why Venezuela's Chavez Won a Landslide Victory FREE!

 + Chavez Sees Mandate For Progressive Social Programs
 + Violence Needed Against Chavez, Venezuela Opposition Leader Says FREE!



Pakistan Keeping Taliban Alive, Analyists Say FREE!
Taliban could be used for future leverage against pro-India officials in Afghanistan
Business Near Standstill In Baghdad, Merchants Complain FREE!
"People see the explosions and killings, and they are afraid to go out"

Arab Leaders Wary Of Sending Troops To Iraq
Increasingly concerned that violence and instability in Iraq could spread

Iraq Anger Against Americans Growing Despite Hand-Over
Dreams that resistance will eventually overrun Baghdad and evict American forces

Vast Number Of Aliens In Prisons Run by Private U.S. Contractors
Lawsuit asks: Are prison contractors working for the U.S. beyond the reach of law?
DuPont Denies It Withheld Studies Showing Teflon Health Risks FREE!
Studies found chemical accumulates in body and does not break down
Polluted U.S. Beaches Closing in Record Numbers FREE!
Most local authorities don't know source of contamination, worst rate since 1991

Minorities Rarely Seen Working In U.S. Newsrooms
Percentage of minorities in TV or radio has dropped dramatically since 2001

Oil Found Off Cuba Shores, But No Windfall For Castro
Rumors spread throughout country: "Why shouldn't fortune smile on us too?" \
Bush Must Reverse Course On Iran, Former Diplomats Urge FREE!
Urgent need for more "carrot," less "stick" as Iran on threshold of nuke power

N Iraq Land Disputes Could Be Next Flashpoint
No efforts by U.S. or Iraq government to address land claims as Kurds flood back to homeland
With No Money or Military, Afghanistan's Lone Female Presidential Candidate Fights For Votes FREE!
Candidacy has proved surprising -- and even worrisome -- to the competition
Already Charges Of Fraud As Afghan Election Campaign Begin FREE!
Copies of voter-registration cards reportedly passed around

Palestinians Living In Iraq On Hard Times Since Saddam's Fall
Iraqi landlords evicted Palestinians by the thousands when U.S. invaded

Israel's Bedouin Arab Minority May Be Next Intifada
Traditional villages in Negev desert unrecognized by Israel, so all homes "illegal"
Ships Face Renewed Risk Of Pirates FREE!
182 cases of piracy worldwide in the first half of 2004

'Fetal Pain' Law Next Goal Of Anti-Abortion Groups
Backers justify bill by comparing abortion to slaughter of livestock and treatment of laboratory animals

Olympics, UN, U.S. Shun Burma After Year Of Broken Promises
No progress in promised "road map towards democracy"

The outsourcing of American jobs
 outsourced graphic
A UC/Berkeley study estimates that 14 million U.S. jobs (11 percent of the total work force) could be outsourced
OUTSOURCED
(out-sôrzd)   tr.v.   out-sourc-ing, out-sourc-es
  1. The free-trade shifting of labor offshore to reduce costs

  2. The relocation of "old economy" jobs to make room for "new economy" jobs

  3. The loss of 1 out of 10 American jobs -- maybe even yours

{
 + America's Boom Industry: Outsourcing FREE!

 + Training My Overseas Replacement
 + The China Price FREE!

 + India Making $12 Billion/Year Via Outsourcing
 + The Warning Of The Ghost Shirts FREE!

 + Jobs In Spain Shifting To Eastern Europe
 + We Are All Protectionists Now FREE!

 + On Hold With A Call Center In India
 + "Productivity" A Straw Man In The Outsourcing Debate FREE!


Rape Is "Weapon Of War" In Darfur Region Of Sudan
"5-6 men would rape us, one after the other, for hours during six days, every night"

Bush Stands Behind Colombia President Despite Ties to Drug Kingpin
President Uribe was on list of 104 of the "more important Colombian narco-terrorists"
Corporate Welfare for Jumbo Shrimp FREE!
U.S. shrimp industry wants Bush to shake down Third World farmers

Cleanup Begins On Lead Contamination Along Mexico Border
Work took 10 years to start, despite high rate of extreme birth defects, including anencephaly
Times Sq billboard Ad in Times Square purchased by Project Billboard. The group sued media giant Clear Channel, the company that owns the billboards, after it refused to use its original version (insert)

"Blood Diamond" Smuggling Continues Despite Clamp Down
"The mines monitors are poor and broke, and can be bribed -- as happens often"

Colombia's Bloody War Ignored By Media
News blackout even in Colombia as military keeps reporters away from troops with U.S. advisors

New Book Documents Rise Of The Neo-Cons
View of the world as a moral battleground with little interest in such notions as "stability"

Neo-Cons, Realists, Fight Over Iran Policy
Neo-cons insist Iran is ripe for revolution by "democratic" forces

Latino Workers Not Fooled By Bush "American Dream" Rhetoric
Well aware of White House efforts to pull the plug on any immigration reforms

Times Sq Billboard Battle Ends In Compromise
Clear Channel denies that politics played a role in opposing ad

New York Protest
FBI Investigating GOP Convention Protesters
ACLU: "visits to protesters definitely contributes to a climate of fear and intimidation"
Massive Protest As GOP Convention Begins FREE!
Up to 500,000 protesters at non-violent NYC march

Anti-Bush Marchers May Not Be Pro-Kerry Voters
Hard to tell how many of the thousands of young people will actually show up at the polling booth

Peaceful March Caps 3 Days Of Anti-Bush Protest
Up to 500,000 protesters at non-violent NYC march
Demonstrators Remind GOP That Ground Zero Still Toxic FREE!
Blame EPA for not disclosing the true extent of the contamination

Politics As Usual
Cheney Speaks to the Reptile Brain FREE!
The deed was done, because all three brains had been touched

More Black, Brown Faces To Be Seen At GOP Convention
GOP boasts minorities almost 20% of the delegates at their New York convention

Obama Likely To Be Senate's Only Black For Years To Come
Obama will a mostly lily-white legislative body that has resisted change for years

Growing Fears Of Cancelled, Postponed Election
Memo: "the executive branch could make decisions that would make it impossible or impractical" for election to take place
Bush Must Love Hawkish Democratic Party Platform FREE!
Delegates were prevented from challenging platform or voting to include anti-war plank

Alan Keyes Candidacy No Laughing Matter
Has name recognition, is a polished debater and has a telegenic presence

Oil, Gas Giants Pouring $$ Into Bush Campaign
Little-known National Petroleum Council has been "underground pipeline" on energy policies

Bush Support Eroding Among Florida's Cubans
Immigrants who arrived after 1980 strongly against new Bush anti-Cuba policies

Candidates' Wives Still Trivialized By Press
CNN's Judy Woodruff comparing Kerry and Bush cookie recipes shows nothing's changed


Fox News crossing dangerous lines
fox crossing dangerous lines
Every day, Fox News and other Rupert Murdoch properties issue marching orders to their cadre of hard-core conservatives. It is a niche news channel with a different commercial model -- it seeks to attract and continually reclaim an audience fragment, by reiterating the worldview that first drew them. Unencumbered by the traditional notions of journalism, Fox News can shamelessly promote themselves as being fair and balanced, while either attacking, marginalizing or altogether avoiding opposing points of view. Fox's distorted broadcasts are in some ways less worrisome in what they actually say than in what they represent. CNN, MSNBC and even to some degree, the broadcast networks have taken up the cause of flashy, content-light reporting, even aping much of Fox's conservative slant

{
 + For Worse, Fox News Can't Be Ignored FREE!
 + Fox News Just Part Of The Murdoch Spin FREE!
 + "Outfoxed" Warns: Fair And Balanced Doesn't Count For Many FREE!

The remains of genocide victims are scattered in some 300 sites in Rwanda. Skulls, even whole skeletons are laid out in buildings where killings occurred. Should the bones be buried to help the nation forget?

Oceans Have Used Up Third Of Capacity To Absorb Carbon Emissions FREE!
Oceans, plants the main way CO2 taken out of the atmosphere

Should The Bones Of Rwanda Be Silenced?
Skulls, skeletons kept unburied as reminder of 1994 genocide

Revolt Against Microsoft Monopoly Spreads Through European Governments
Paris the latest city to consider dumping Windows and other products

Charges That Australia Funded Covert Indonesia "Disruption" Program
353 refugees killed in boat disaster in 2001

Japan Honors WWII Dead, Including War Criminals
Violent side of Japan's war history has been expunged from school textbooks

What's So Radical About Iraq's Rebel Cleric? FREE!
Calling al-Sadr "radical" is a misrepresentation and an insult to all those who oppose foreign occupation

A Different World Inside Privately-Run Prison
Constantly trimming expenses kill any chance of running the prison in an efficient, humane manner

The Fearful American Empire
The future is not bright for democracies worldwide

Unanswered Questions Of "Fahrenheit 9/11" FREE!
Question 6: How scary is the upcoming presidential election?

Police Expanding Powers By Collecting DNA From Arrestees
Critics see a worrying erosion of due process and what they call "DNA privacy"

Attica And Abu Ghraib In Your Own Backyard
News media helps keep quiet the conditions that lead to abuse

Leading Source Of Children's Books Partners With Big Oil FREE!
Let's be blunt: the American Petroleum Institute is not about education


Columnists
MOLLY     IVINS Molly Ivins

 + Dubya's Vietnam Years Deserve "Swift Boat Scrutiny"
 + Thank Bush For Lost Right To Overtime
 + Kerry Must Answer Iraq Questions Bush Can't
 + Keep A Wary Eye On Florida
 + Canada: Living Next Door To The Simpsons


ROBERT   SCHEER
 + Iraqi Soccer Stars Give Bush A Swift Kick
 + Kerry Made a Bush League Error on Iraq
 + Chalabi Gives Bush Another Sucker Punch
 + Kerry's Great Strength: Patriotic Protest


 } Robert Scheer

NORMAN     SOLOMON
 + Beyond Hero-Worship
 + How the Press Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love Rumsfeld
 + Woodstock Redux: A Time of Butterflies and Bombers
 + Networks' Shameful Excuses For Poor Convention Coverage



 } Norman Solomon

ALEXANDER     COCKBURN
 + Kerry Gets Free Pass From Anybody But Bush Crowd
 + Not Even A Dime's Worth Of Difference
 + Kerry Makes A Strong Case For Nader


 } Alexander Cockburn

STEVE   YOUNG:   TALK RADIO AND THE LORDS OF LOUD FREE!
 + Incomplete Sentences, Talk Radio's Greatest Weapon
 + Hell Freezes Over: Listeners Complain About Talk Radio Tactics
 + Talk Radio Says "Fahrenheit 911" Illegal, Or At Least, Offensive
 + Talk Radio's Latest Low: Military Duty As "Resume Padding"
 } Steve Young


L E T T E R SFREE!



OCTOB SURPRI

NOT SCARED YET? TRY CONNECTING THESE DOTS FREE!
If the president's numbers look no better in October than they do now, there will be particularly strong personal incentive on the part of the president, Rumsfeld, and Vice President Cheney to pull out all the stops in order to make four more years a sure thing. What seems increasingly clear is that putting off the election is under active consideration


Albion Monitor
(http://www.albionmonitor.net)
Issue 125

Editor: Jeff Elliott (editor@monitor.net)

The Albion Monitor is currently published as an ongoing newspaper by Wayward Press, POB 1733, Sebastopol, CA 95473

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