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EMERGENCY PROTEST
OF BUSH’S PLAN TO ESCALATE IRAQ WAR
THURSDAY, JAN. 11, 5 P.M.
POWELL & MARKET STS.
SAN FRANCISCO
FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL THE A.N.S.W.E.R. COALITION:
415-821-6545

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Witness Against Torture
Thursday, January 11, 2007: The 5 year anniversary of the first
prisoners being brought to Guantánamo. March, Press Conference
and Nonviolent Direct Action in Washington, DC. Endorsed
by Center for Constitional Rights, CodePink, Network of Spiritual
Progressives, Pax Christi USA, School of Americas Watch, United
for Peace and Justice and other groups.
http://www.witnesstorture.org/jan11

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BARRIO UNIDO FOR A GENERAL AND UNCONDITIONAL AMNESTY

We make a call to the immigrant community and all those who are
in solidarity with our struggle to join us in front of the Federal Building
to protest the raids that we have been victims of and that are occurring
in different parts of the country.

They harass us as though we are animals of prey.
They lock us up in prisons for working for a miserable salary.
They steal our salaries that we earn with the sweat of our brow.
They separate us from our children leaving them traumatized for life......

We denounce the North American government for treating us like garbage
to be thrown away and taking advantage of our search for our daily bread
for their own political reasons.

We denounce the Mexican and Latin American governments for being
accomplices with the North American government for our misery and
for this involuntary exodus that has been forced upon us because
of the political, social, and economic conditions of our countries

We demand.......
To cease the immigration raids now!
To free all detained workers!
To return jobs to all those detained!
The right to all undocumented immigrants to unionize!

We demand a General and Unconditional Amnesty for all!

Protest the United States government

When: Friday, January 12, 2007
Where: 450 Golden Gate (Federal Building)
Time: 4pm to 7pm
Join in the struggle!

For more information call 415-431-9925

In Spanish:

BARRIÓ UNIDO POR UNA AMNISTÍA GENERAL E INCONDICIONAL
Hace un llamado a la población emigrante y a todos las que se
solidarizan con ella a un piquete enfrente del Edificio Federal
en protesta a las redadas de que estamos siendo victimas
en diferentes partes del país.
DONDE:
Se nos acosa como si fuéramos animales de caza.

Se nos encierra en prisiones para trabajar por sueldos de miseria.

Se nos roban los sueldos que hemos ganado con el sudor de
nuestra frente...

Se nos separa de nuestros hijos dej*ndolos traumados de por vida......

Denunciamos al gobierno Norte Americano por tratarnos como
basura desechable y utilizar nuestra búsqueda por el pan de cada
día para sus propósitos políticos...

Denunciamos a los gobiernos de México y América latina por ser
cómplices con el gobierno de Estados Unidos de nuestra miseria
y de este éxodo involuntario que las condiciones políticas,
sociales, y económicas de nuestros países nos ha obligado
a emprender.

Demandamos...

¡Cese a las redadas de la migra ahora!
¡Libertad a todos los trabajadores detenidos!
¡Regreso a su puesto de trabajo a todos los detenidos!
¡Derecho de los indocumentados a sindicalizarse!
¡Demandamos una Amnistía General e Incondicional para todos!

Piquete al Gobierno de Estados Unidos
Cuando: Viernes, 12 de Enero 2007
Dónde: 450 Golden Gate
Hora: 4pm a 7pm
Únete a la lucha
Para mas información llame a 415-431-9925

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REPORT BACK ON VENEZUELA

7:00 PM Saturday, January 13
522 Valencia Street, 3rd Floor Auditorium

Hear about:

-Factories run by workers

-The election turnout for Hugo Chavez

-Occupied factories

-Socialism of the 21st Century

See: A short film on current developments in Venezuela.

Speakers:

-John Peterson, National Secretary of US Hands Off Venezuela,
Participant in HOV’s International Delegation to Venezuela

-Mel Martynne and Mary Eliasar, participants in Global
Exchange’s Election Delegation in Venezuela

-Nell Myhand and Lori Nairne, Global Women’s Strike,
San Francisco Bay Area

An opportunity for discussion will follow the presentations.

Sponsored by Hands Off Venezuela

Hands Off Venezuela is an international organization dedicated
to the principle that the people of Venezuela have the right to
determine their own destiny without interference from foreign
countries.

Contact info: (415) 786-1680, email:
sfbay@ushov.org web www.ushov.org

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ARTICLES IN FULL:
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1) Airstrike Rekindles Somalis’ Anger at the U.S.
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN and MARK MAZZETTI
January 10, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/10/world/africa/10somalia.html?ref=world

2) Democrats Plan Symbolic Votes Against Iraq Plan
By JEFF ZELENY and CARL HULSE
January 10, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/10/washington/10capitol.html?ref=us

3) House Passes Security Bill; Senate Stance Is Uncertain
By ERIC LIPTON
January 10, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/10/washington/10homeland.html?ref=us

4) 9/11 Bill Contains Little-Known Provisions
By Angie C. Marek
Posted 1/9/07
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/070109/9homelandbill.ht

5) Climate Experts Worry as 2006 Is Hottest Year on Record in U.S.
By Marc Kaufman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 10, 2007; A01
www.marxmail.org
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/09/AR2007010901949.html

6) Iraqi Civilians Brace for a Surge
by DAVID ENDERS
January 9, 2007
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070122/enders

7) Soldier Diagnosed With Mental Problems
"FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. — An Army private charged with the slaughter
of an Iraqi family was diagnosed as a homicidal threat by a military
mental health team three months before the attack."
By RYAN LENZ, Associated Press Write
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2007Jan10/0,4670,IraqSoldierDiagnosisABRIDGED,00.html

8) Raids, Reforms, and the Labor Movement
By Tim Costello, Jeremy Brecher and Brendan Smith
t r u t h o u t | Guest Contributors
Tuesday 09 January 2007
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010907M.shtml

9) CIA gets the go-ahead to take on Hizbollah
By Toby Harnden, US Editor
Last Updated: 1:47am GMT 10/01/2007
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/01/10/wleb10.xml

10) IN PRAISE OF PRINCES AND PRESIDENTS -- FORD
[Col. Writ. 1/3/07] Copyright 2007 Mumia Abu-Jamal
[VIA Email...bw]

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1) Airstrike Rekindles Somalis’ Anger at the U.S.
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN and MARK MAZZETTI
January 10, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/10/world/africa/10somalia.html?ref=world

MOGADISHU, Somalia, Jan. 9 — Somali officials said Tuesday that dozens
of people were killed in an American airstrike on Sunday, most of them
Islamist fighters fleeing in armed pickup trucks across a remote, muddy
stretch of the KenyaSomalia border.

American officials said terrorists from Al Qaeda had been the target
of the strike, which they said had killed about a dozen people. But the
officials acknowledged that the identities of the victims were still
unknown.

Several residents of the area, in the southern part of the country, said
dozens of civilians had been killed, and news of the attack immediately
set off new waves of anti-American anger in Mogadishu, Somalia’s
battle-scarred capital, where the United States has a complicated legacy.

“They’re just trying to get revenge for what we did to them in 1993,”
said Deeq Salad Mursel, a taxi driver, referring to the infamous “Black
Hawk Down” episode in which Somali gunmen killed 18 American
soldiers and brought down two American helicopters during
an intense battle in Mogadishu.

The country’s Islamist movement swiftly seized much of Somalia last
year and ruled with mixed success, bringing a much desired semblance
of peace but also a harsh brand of Islam.

Two weeks ago, that all changed after Ethiopian-led troops routed the
Islamist forces and helped bring the Western-backed transitional
government to Mogadishu. Ethiopian officials said the Islamists
were a growing regional threat.

The last remnants of the Islamist forces fled to Ras Kamboni, an
isolated fishing village on the Kenyan border that residents said
had been used as a terrorist sanctuary before. Starting in the
mid-1990s, they said, the Islamists built trenches, hospitals
and special terrorist classrooms in the village and taxed local
fisherman to pay the costs.

On Sunday, an American AC-130 gunship pounded the area
around Ras Kamboni, and also a location father north where
American officials said three ringleaders of the bombings in 1998
of the United States embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were hiding.
Somali officials said those bombings had been planned in Ras Kamboni
after a local Somali terrorist outfit invited Al Qaeda to use the village
as a base.

According to Abdul Rashid Hidig, a member of Somalia’s transitional
parliament who represents the border area, the American airstrike
on Sunday wiped out a long convoy of Islamist leaders trying to flee
deeper into the bush, though he said he did not know if the specific
suspects singled out by the United States had been with them.

“Their trucks got stuck in the mud and they were easy targets,”
he said.

Mr. Hidig toured the area with military officials on Tuesday and said
he had met several captured foreign fighters who had come from
Europe and the Middle East. “I saw two white guys and asked,
Where are you from?” Mr. Hidig said. “One said Jordan, the other
Sweden. Yeah, it was weird.”

Mr. Hidig said two civilians had been killed by the airstrike, but
representatives of the Islamist forces said it had killed many more.

The Islamists’ health director said dozens of nomadic herdsmen
and their families were grazing their animals in the same wet valley
that the Islamists were trying to drive across. “Their donkeys, their
camels, their cows — they’ve all been destroyed,” he said.
“And many children were killed.”

He spoke by telephone from an undisclosed location; his account
could not be independently verified.

Mustef Yunis Culusow, a former Islamist leader who abandoned
the movement days ago, said the once-powerful Islamist movement’s
top leaders were now trapped in a small village with Ethiopian
soldiers in front of them, the Indian Ocean behind them and now
American gunships circling above them.

“The leaders know they’re finished,” Mr. Culusow said in a telephone
interview from Kismayo, a large town north of Ras Kamboni. “They’ve
basically told the young fighters they can go, it’s over, and that anyone
who stays behind should be resigned to die.”

For several days, Ethiopian fighter jets and helicopter gunships have
been laying down a blanket of fire over the area, and attacks
continued on Tuesday.

American military and intelligence officials expressed confidence
that at least one senior Qaeda leader in Somalia had been killed
in the American attack or subsequent strikes by Ethiopian troops.
One official said Abu Taha al-Sudani — a Sudanese aide to Fazul
Abdullah Mohammed, who is thought to be the ringleader of
Al Qaeda’s East African cell — might have been killed.

American military and intelligence officials said that they expected
further military strikes but that the terrorism suspects were probably
traveling separately and trying to blend into the civilian population.

Pentagon and intelligence officials said the Ethiopian offensive
had unearthed fresh intelligence about the location of Qaeda
operatives whose trail had long gone cold.

“When you disrupt things and people move around, they become
easier to target,” said one American counterterrorism official,
speaking on condition of anonymity. “They have to make
arrangements on the fly, and they become easier to find.”

American and Ethiopian forces are sharing intelligence to pinpoint
the whereabouts of the terrorism suspects and their entourages.
The Pentagon announced that the aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower
had been dispatched to the region to tighten a naval blockade
off the Somali coast.

Washington’s decision to wade back into Somalia was, in a way,
a culmination of America’s seesaw policy toward the country
in the last five years.

With the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan consuming the attention
of national security planners in Washington, the Bush administration’s
interest in Somalia was driven primarily by fact that a handful
of Qaeda operatives responsible for attacks in the Horn of Africa
were thought to be hiding there.

America’s recent forays into Somalia have tended to backfire.
President Clinton abruptly curtailed a large American-led aid mission
in the 1990s after the 18 soldiers were killed, leaving the country
in a swirl of chaos and bloodshed, where much of it remains.

Then, last summer, American efforts to finance a band of Mogadishu
warlords as a bulwark against the growing Islamist movement stumbled
when many Somalis learned of the hidden American hand and threw
their support behind the Islamists.

With the Pentagon still snakebitten by its experience in Somalia —
rendering a ground offensive in the lawless country unpalatable —
there was little the thousands of American soldiers and marines
stationed in neighboring Djibouti could do to track down the
Qaeda suspects.

Until this week, Washington was content to remain behind the
scenes and use the Ethiopian invasion as the public face of the
effort against the Islamists and their allies.

Now the Islamists have lost their grip on the country, and Somalia
could be close to a turning point. For the first time since 1991,
when the military dictator Mohammed Siad Barre fled, plunging
the country into anarchy, there is a potentially viable government
in the capital. But its survival depends on the thousands of Ethiopian
troops still here, and increasingly, it seems, many Somalis
do not like them. For their part, the Ethiopians have vowed
not to stay much longer.

Some call the Ethiopians infidel invaders because Ethiopia is
a country with a long Christian identity, though it is in fact half
Muslim. Others do not like them because Ethiopia is a close
ally of the United States, which is why American airstrikes
could make things difficult for the Ethiopians and transitional
government officials.

Some Islamists have vowed to carry on as an Iraq-style insurgency,
and on Tuesday night two truckloads of gunmen attacked Ethiopian
troops based at a government building, the former Ministry of Skins
and Hides, in downtown Mogadishu.

The booms of rocket-propelled grenades echoed across town and
set off a two-minute gunfight. As shoppers in a nearby market
ducked for cover, spent shells clinked on the pavement. Afterward,
residents reported seeing two bodies on the street.

Jeffrey Gettleman reported from Mogadishu, and Mark Mazzetti from
Washington. Mohammed Ibrahim and Yuusuf Maxamuud contributed
reporting from Mogadishu.

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2) Democrats Plan Symbolic Votes Against Iraq Plan
By JEFF ZELENY and CARL HULSE
January 10, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/10/washington/10capitol.html?ref=us

WASHINGTON, Jan. 9 — Democratic leaders said Tuesday that they
intended to hold symbolic votes in the House and Senate on President
Bush’s plan to send more troops to Baghdad, forcing Republicans
to take a stand on the proposal and seeking to isolate the president
politically over his handling of the war.

Senate Democrats decided to schedule a vote on the resolution
after a closed-door meeting on a day when Senator Edward M. Kennedy
of Massachusetts introduced legislation to require Mr. Bush to gain
Congressional approval before sending more troops to Iraq.

The Senate vote is expected as early as next week, after an initial
round of committee hearings on the plan Mr. Bush will lay out for
the nation Wednesday night in a televised address delivered from
the White House library, a setting chosen because it will provide
a fresh backdrop for a presidential message.

The office of Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House, followed with
an announcement that the House would also take up a resolution
in opposition to a troop increase. House Democrats were scheduled
to meet Wednesday morning to consider whether to interrupt their
carefully choreographed 100-hour, two-week-long rollout of their
domestic agenda this month to address the Iraq war.

In both chambers, Democrats made clear that the resolutions —
which would do nothing in practical terms to block Mr. Bush’s
intention to increase the United States military presence in Iraq
— would be the minimum steps they would pursue. They did not
rule out eventually considering more muscular responses, like
seeking to cap the number of troops being deployed to Iraq
or limiting financing for the war — steps that could provoke
a Constitutional and political showdown over the president’s
power to wage war.

The resolutions would represent the most significant reconsideration
of Congressional support for the war since it began, and mark
the first big clash between the White House and Congress since
the November election, which put the Senate and House under
the control of the Democrats. The decision to pursue
a confrontation with the White House was a turning point for
Democrats, who have struggled with how to take on Mr. Bush’s
war policy without being perceived as undermining the military
or risking criticism as defeatists.

“If you really want to change the situation on the ground,
demonstrate to the president he’s on his own,” said Senator
Joseph R. Biden Jr., chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee.
“That will spark real change.”

The administration continued Tuesday to press its case with
members of Congress from both parties. By the time Mr. Bush
delivers his speech, 148 lawmakers will have come to the White
House in the past week to discuss the war, White House aides
said Tuesday night, adding that most met with the president
himself.

While Mr. Kennedy and a relatively small number of other
Democrats were pushing for immediate, concrete steps to
challenge Mr. Bush through legislation, Democratic leaders
said that for now they favored the less-divisive approach
of simply asking senators to cast a vote on a nonbinding
resolution for or against the plan.

They also sought to frame the clash with the White House on
their terms, using language reminiscent of the Vietnam War
era to suggest that increasing the United States military
presence in Iraq would be a mistake.

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3) House Passes Security Bill; Senate Stance Is Uncertain
By ERIC LIPTON
January 10, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/10/washington/10homeland.html?ref=us

WASHINGTON, Jan. 9 — Delivering on a major campaign promise,
House Democrats used their new majority Tuesday to push through
a bill that would write into law several remaining recommendations
of the Sept. 11 commission.

The measure includes more than a dozen initiatives like tightening
cargo security and distributing antiterrorism grants based more
on risk rather than on a political formula.

The vote put Republicans in a difficult spot. They opposed major
elements of the bill, saying they went beyond panel recommendations
and would be prohibitively expensive without significantly aiding security.

But after failing to delay action on the bill, many Republicans felt
they had no choice but to vote in favor of it — and 68 did.
The measure passed 299 to 128.

House Democrats said the rapid vote reflected their commitment
to eliminating important vulnerabilities that remain in the nation’s
antiterrorism programs.

“Our first and highest responsibility as members of this Congress
is to protect the American people, defend our homeland and
strengthen national security,” said Representative Steny H. Hoyer,
Democrat of Maryland and the House majority leader.

The effort faces an uncertain future in the Senate, as some
Democrats have expressed concerns that the bill’s mandate
on inspecting ship containers may be unreasonable. The bill
says that before any United States-bound ship container leaves
an overseas port, it must be checked for radioactive material
that could be used to build weapons.

The Bush administration also opposes major parts of the bill.

The legislation includes no formal estimate of its cost, but
it clearly would be in the billions of dollars.

One of its most far-reaching provisions would require that
all air cargo on passenger jets be inspected for explosives;
now only high-risk shipments are inspected.

The bill also calls for the United States to develop, with other
nations, an agreement on how to handle detainees of the Iraq
war or counterterrorism efforts, and for creation of a new
federal coordinator of efforts to prevent the spread of
unconventional weapons.

And it would require that Transportation Security Administration
workers be subject to the same labor rules as other federal
workers, perhaps allowing them to unionize.

Republicans said that 39 of the commission’s 41 recommendations
had already been adopted — a claim Democrats do not accept.
They also said that many of the bill’s provisions did not reflect
changes explicitly called for by the panel.

“I hope the 9/11 families do not give you a pass on this,” said
Representative Phil Gingrey, Republican of Georgia, who called
the bill an overtly political measure.

But the Democrats called each section essential. “Hurricanes
Katrina and Rita reminded us all again how unprepared we all
are to deal with catastrophe whether caused by nature or terrorist
attack,” said Representative Bill Pascrell Jr., Democrat of New Jersey.

Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, independent of Connecticut, who
held a hearing Tuesday as the Senate prepared for its version
of this bill, noted that one major recommendation — not in the
House measure — was strengthening Congressional oversight
of intelligence and counterterrorism efforts. “We found it a lot
easier to reform the rest of the government than we did to
reform ourselves post-9/11,” Mr. Lieberman said. “That’s
unfinished work.”

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4) 9/11 Bill Contains Little-Known Provisions
By Angie C. Marek
Posted 1/9/07
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/070109/9homelandbill.ht

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is starting off her first week in power
with H.R. 1, a hefty bill designed to implement the 9/11 commission
recommendations that she says remain undone. The measure has
some highly publicized–and controversial–recommendations, including
one plan calling for 100 percent of roughly 2 billion tons of cargo carried
on commercial flights each year to be screened by security officials
by 2009. Only about 10 to 15 percent of such cargo is inspected today,
and airlines have expressed concerns the measure could endanger
an arrangement that generated $13 billion in profits for them in 2005.

But not every proposal in the bill is familiar to lobbyists who frequently
traffic the halls of Capitol Hill. Here's our take on some smaller points
in the 279-page bill that could substantially change the way homeland
security looks today:

TSA unionization:

Ever since the Transportation Security Administration was created
in a hurry in the days right after 9/11, the country's airport screeners–
a force that today includes about 43,000 people–have been unable to
formally unionize. The House bill gives all TSA employees collective
bargaining rights, as well as some protection if they become whistle-
blowers. "TSA has the highest injury and attrition rates in the federal
government," John Gage, the national president of the American
Federation of Government Employees, a government union, said
Monday. "The new legislation will improve security by stabilizing
the workforce and improving morale."

Redress for watch listers:

Democrats want to create a formal Office of Appeals and Redress
that will handle the dozens of cases each year of people who believe
they are incorrectly on the TSA's no-fly or special selectee list, which
earns them extra screening when they fly. The Government Accountability
Office reported earlier this year that 31 names were removed from
terrorist watch lists in 2005 alone because of errors.

Funds for Muslim schoolchildren:

9/11 commission member Tim Roemer praised Democrats on Monday
for introducing a bill that would ensure "progress on winning hearts
and minds around the world." Democrats plan to create an International
Arab and Muslim Youth Opportunity Fund that would invest in public
education in Arab and Muslim countries. No word in the bill on how
much such an effort would cost.

An independent civil liberties watchdog board:

The president currently has a civil liberties panel within his office that
he appoints to keep an eye on homeland security efforts. Democrats
would create a four-person independent civil liberties board staffed
with nominees who earn the Senate's approval. No more than three
members could be from the same party.

More money for fusion centers:

Democrats would make many ideas in a report they released this
fall on state and local intelligence gathering into law with the 9/11
commission bill. Democrats want to create special grant and training
programs that will help law enforcement officials set up fusion centers,
hubs where they are able to synthesize intelligence gathered by cops
on the ground for signs of terrorism activities. Special liaisons posted
in Washington would gather intelligence tips from state and local
agencies and serve as a point of contact for them within the director
of national intelligence's office. (More information on fusion centers
is in our story "Spies Among Us.")

Terrorism grants for the risky:

The House bill picks up on an issue that has stoked disagreement
between the House and the Senate for years by enshrining a bill
originally passed into law in 2005 by the House Homeland Security
Committee. That measure would have lowered the share of homeland
security grants guaranteed to each state to just 0.25 percent
of the total funding pot–with 0.45 percent guaranteed for border
states. That would have left 90 percent of the roughly $2 billion
in annual homeland security grants to be divvied up according
to risk. The Senate favored higher minimal percentages in 2005
and is likely to take that tack again.

Much more security for sea cargo:

On Monday, Bennie Thompson, the incoming head of the House's
Homeland Security Committee, vowed to "speed up" an already
planned pilot program in which DHS will screen 100 percent
of cargo headed to the United States out of three foreign ports.
(Our recent story has more on that program and other port
security efforts.) Once H.R. 1 passes, Democrats will give DHS
three years to ensure that 100 percent of cargo headed to the
United States from large foreign ports is screened before it's
loaded onto ships. DHS will have five years to bring smaller
ports up to that standard. Smart seals, which set off alarms
if a container is tampered with at sea, will be required on
cargo containers as soon as the technology becomes available.

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5) Climate Experts Worry as 2006 Is Hottest Year on Record in U.S.
By Marc Kaufman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 10, 2007; A01
www.marxmail.org
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/09/AR2007010901949.html

Last year was the warmest in the continental United States in the past 112
years -- capping a nine-year warming streak "unprecedented in the
historical record" that was driven in part by the burning of fossil fuels,
the government reported yesterday.

According to the government's National Climatic Data Center, the
record-breaking warmth -- which caused daffodils and cherry trees to bloom
throughout the East on New Year's Day -- was the result of both unusual
regional weather patterns and the long-term effects of the buildup of
carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

"People should be concerned about what we are doing to the climate," said
Jay Lawrimore, chief of the climate monitoring branch of the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "Burning of fossil fuels is causing
an increase in greenhouse gases, and there's a broad scientific consensus
that is producing climate change."

The center said there are indications that the rate at which global
temperatures are rising is speeding up.

Average temperatures nationwide in 2006 were 2.2 degrees Fahrenheit higher
than the mean temperatures nationwide for the 20th century, the agency
said. It reported that seven months in 2006 were much warmer than average,
and that last month was the fourth-warmest December on record. Average
temperatures for all 48 contiguous states were above or well above average,
and New Jersey logged its hottest temperatures ever.

Many researchers are concerned that rising temperatures could lead to
widespread melting of the polar ice caps, resulting in higher sea levels
and more extreme droughts and storms. But NOAA also pointed to one silver
lining: The unusually warm temperatures from October to December helped
keep residential energy use for heating 13.5 percent below the average for
that period.

NOAA said an El Ni?o weather pattern in the equatorial Pacific also
contributed to the warm temperatures by blocking cold Arctic air from
moving south and east across the nation.

Climate experts generally do not make much of temperature fluctuations over
one or two years, but Lawrimore said the record 2006 temperatures were part
of a long and worrisome trend. For instance, NOAA said, the past nine years
have all been among the 25 warmest years on record for the continental
United States.

Advocates for more action to control carbon dioxide emissions also voiced
concern.

"No one should be surprised that 2006 is the hottest year on record for the
U.S.," said Brenda Ekwurzel, a climate scientist with the Union of
Concerned Scientists, a public interest group. "When you look at
temperatures across the globe, every single year since 1993 has been in the
top 20 warmest years on record."

"Realistically, we have to start fighting global warming in the next 10
years if we want to secure a safe environment for our children and
grandchildren," she said.

Lawrimore said other NOAA research has found that the rate of temperature
increase has been significantly greater in the past 30 years than at any
time since the government started collecting national temperature data in
1895. Globally, 2005 was the hottest year on record, Lawrimore said, and
2006 was slightly cooler.

He said that although there is a scientific consensus that carbon dioxide
from cars, power plants and factories is leading to global warming, there
is no consensus yet on whether the warming will increase more quickly or
more slowly in the future. Some researcher have predicted that temperatures
worldwide will increase by a catastrophic 7 to 8 degrees on average by the
end of the century, while others project an increase of a more modest 2
degrees by century's end.

The burning of oil and other fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide, which
rises, blankets the Earth and traps heat. Climate scientists report that
there has not been this much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in the past
650,000 years.

The Bush administration has rejected proposals to cap carbon dioxide
emissions or impose carbon taxes as a way to limit global warming.
Lawrimore said he believes the problem could and should be addressed by
developing new technologies for powering vehicles and industry.

Late December's springlike temperatures in the eastern two-thirds of the
country made it the fourth-warmest December on record in the United States
and contributed greatly to the record high for the year. Several Northern
cities were unusually warm -- with Boston 8 degrees above average and
Minneapolis-St. Paul 17 degrees above average for the last three weeks of
the month.

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6) Iraqi Civilians Brace for a Surge
by DAVID ENDERS
January 9, 2007
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070122/enders

Successive waves of ethnic cleansing that have washed over Baghdad
in recent weeks are spreading to neighborhoods that had until now
been spared.

"Today two of the Shiite families on our street received threats,"
said a woman living in Baghdad's Sadia district, a majority-Sunni
area where until now the presence of the Jaish al-Mahdi, a Shiite
militia, had apparently pre-empted cleansing.

As the Bush Administration seeks to send as many as 20,000
more US troops to Iraq, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced
Saturday that three more Iraqi army units will also be deployed
in the capital. The units will come from the Shiite south and the
Kurdish north, where the military is little more than militia units
loyal to various political leaderships.

Salam al-Midi is a Kurd and a former US military translator living
in Iraqi Kurdistan, where the two major Kurdish political parties
use pesh merga units to maintain a police state. In Mosul, Iraq's
second-largest city, three hours north of Baghdad, Midi helped
the military train these units, which essentially make up the police
force in the largely Arab city. Midi said the presence of pesh
merga in Mosul only exacerbates decades-old tensions between
Kurds and Arabs over political dominance in the city.

"They don't know the language, the Arabic language, it's hard.
It's one of the major difficulties they will face," Midi said. "Second,
they are Kurds. Comparing Kurds and Arabs is like comparing
apples and oranges. They cannot work together. For sure,
terrorist organizations are going to react, and their reactions
are going to be bad. And at the same time the Kurdish
side will want to take revenge on the Arabs, the Iraqi people."

Sunni parliamentarians have complained that the plan does
not focus heavily enough on battling Shiite militias like the
Mahdi Army, which is blamed for engaging in ethnic cleansing
and assassinations. Many Shiites, on the other hand, view the
militia as necessary to provide any modicum of safety against
Sunni guerrillas and lawlessness. The Mahdi Army reportedly
has begun a conscription drive in Sadr City in response to the
plan, compelling each family to send one man between the
ages of 15 and 45. Last year the militia also sent troops
to Mosul in response to an increased armed Kurdish presence.
Many of the Shiites Saddam Hussein drove from southern Iraq
were resettled in his Arabization campaigns of Kurdish areas.

Muthanna Harith al-Dhari, the son of Harith al-Dhari, the
spokesman of Iraq's influential Association of Muslim Scholars,
a hard-line Sunni group, pointed out that this is not the first
time security plans for the capital have been announced.
As violence rose steadily throughout last year, sweeps
of Baghdad have done little to impede the ability of Iraqi
guerrillas and militiamen to attack US troops or one another.
December was the third deadliest month of the war for
US troops and the deadliest for Iraqis.

Harith al-Dhari left Iraq after being threatened with arrest
by the current government and accused of terrorist activities
by Muqtada al-Sadr, the most influential hard-line Shiite cleric
and the Mahdi Army's nominal leader. But Dhari's son Muthanna,
who remains in Baghdad, said that past security plans--which
mostly amounted to sweeps of neighborhoods known
for Sunni guerrilla activity--created resentment among
the population. He also warned against adding US troops.

"We think that the security plan that started today does not
follow good principles," the younger Dhari said. "To figure
out the situation, they should take into account who is
responsible for poor security. They have a lot of foreign
troops making all these problems, and now they will send
more and it will make a bigger problem. They will search
the areas where they think the problems are starting. Can
they tell us if the security plans they have used until now
have had any success? I can tell you there is nothing new
here, it is the same old thing. They just will make more
checkpoints, which will make people's lives more difficult.

In largely Sunni cities such as Falluja and Samarra, the
presence of Shiite militias and Kurdish pesh merga in the
military has already added acrimony to claims of collective
punishment, round-ups, raids and death-squad activity.

That record makes many Iraqis uneasy when they see
announcements like the Iraqi Ministry of Defense recent
disclosure that the US military will provide 4,000 armored
personnel carriers, 1,800 Humvees and sixteen helicopter
gunships to the Iraqi military. Until now, the United States
has been reluctant to provide such heavy materiel.

"Any support to the sectarianism and the security mess will
be preparation for the civil war. This will increase the violence
in Iraq, and they will fail again," said Saleh Mutlaq, leader
of the Iraqi Dialogue Front, a secular party accused by its
critics of links to the previous government. "America is sending
tools to strengthen sectarian strife and the civil war. These tools
are dirty and will be given to dirty people."

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7) Soldier Diagnosed With Mental Problems
"FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. — An Army private charged with the slaughter
of an Iraqi family was diagnosed as a homicidal threat by a military
mental health team three months before the attack."
By RYAN LENZ, Associated Press Write
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2007Jan10/0,4670,IraqSoldierDiagnosisABRIDGED,00.html

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. — An Army private charged with the slaughter
of an Iraqi family was diagnosed as a homicidal threat by a military
mental health team three months before the attack.

Pfc. Steven D. Green was found to have "homicidal ideations" after
seeking help from an Army Combat Stress Team in Iraq on
Dec. 21, 2005. Green said he was angry about the war, desperate
to avenge the death of comrades and driven to kill Iraqi citizens,
according to an investigation by The Associated Press.

The treatment was several small doses of Seroquel--a drug to
regulate his mood--and a directive to get some sleep, according
to medical records obtained by the AP. The next day, he returned
to duty in the particularly violent stretch of desert in the southern
Baghdad suburbs known as the "Triangle of Death."

On March 12, 2006, Iraqi police reported a break-in at the home
of a family in Mahmoudiya, about 20 miles from Baghdad.
The intruders shot and killed the father, mother and two
young daughters. The older girl, 14-year-old Abeer Qassim
al-Janabi, was raped and her body set afire.

The carnage first was assumed to be the work of insurgents. That
changed in late June when two members of Green's unit told their
superiors of suspicions that soldiers were involved in the killings.
Now the Army believes Green and four other soldiers are responsible.
One of them has confessed and provided information to prosecutors;
in testimony at his court-martial, the soldier identified Green
as the ringleader.

If the charges are true, the attack would be among the most horrific
instances of criminal behavior by American troops in the nearly
four-year-old war. It also would represent a worst-case scenario
for the military's much-criticized practice of keeping mentally
and emotionally unfit personnel in the killing fields of Iraq.

Col. Elspeth Cameron Ritchie, psychiatry counsel to the Army
Surgeon General, would not specifically discuss Green when
contacted by The AP. She defended the military's policies
regarding the treatment of emotionally or psychologically
distressed soldiers.

"If unresponsive to treatment and/or a persistent danger to
self or others, they will be evacuated," Ritchie told
The AP in an e-mail.

The 101st Airborne Division also declined to comment, noting
it is an open federal case.

The Army and the Marines, who have the most personnel on the
ground in Iraq, have been faulted for the manner in which troops
with mental and emotional difficulties are being treated.

Sending troops already in Iraq who have been diagnosed with
mental illness back to combat duty--often under medication
that has not been prescribed long enough to have provided relief
--has been a particular criticism.

Green has been charged with the murders and rape and pleaded
not guilty in federal court in Kentucky. He is being tried in federal
court because his arrest came after he had been discharged from
the Army. Three others face the same charges and will be court-
martialed.

From interviews with people who spoke on condition of anonymity
because they were not authorized by the military to discuss the
case, and from viewing the Army's medical and investigative
records, the AP also has learned:

-Three months passed without Army doctors and clinicians from
the Combat Stress Team having any contact with Green. He was
summoned for a second examination on March 20, 2006--eight
days after the killing of the family. Green was diagnosed as having
an anti-social personality disorder and declared unfit for service.
The process of discharging him began a week later and he was
sent home.

-The Army's own investigation of Green's initial treatment, prompted
by concerns he and others would use mental health problems
as a defense in trial, is highly critical. Among the most salient
findings from a July review of Green's treatment: "Although a safety
assessment was conducted, there is no safety plan addressing how
Soldier (Green) will keep from acting on his homicidal thoughts."

-Lt. Col. Elizabeth Bowler, a psychiatrist and Army reservist from
California who took over the Combat Stress Team with Green's unit
in January, recommended his discharge after the second examination
in March. Yet she wrote a final evaluation that said Green exhibited
no traits that would indicate dangerously erratic or homicidal moods,
according to documents viewed by The AP.

Green deployed to Iraq in September 2005 from Fort Campbell with
a battalion from the 101st Airborne Division's 502nd Infantry
Regiment. The unit was charged with security operations and
assisting Iraqi army units in the "Triangle of Death."

Eleven days before Green's first visit with the stress team in December
2005, he and five others were manning a checkpoint when an Iraqi
civilian approached, according to testimony in military hearings.
The civilian was familiar because of his status as a sometimes
informant. He greeted the soldiers warmly before pulling a pistol
from his belt and shooting two of them at point-blank range.

Green's behavior worsened after that, according to commanders.
He was directed to visit doctors a second time. Eight days later,
Bowler told commanders that Green was unfit for service,
according to documents. The discharge process for Green
concluded in May 2006.

The Pentagon issued new guidelines in November that prevent
personnel with certain pre-existing mental problems from deploying
to Iraq or Afghanistan. Clinicians evaluating whether a soldier
in Iraq or Afghanistan is fit for service are now required to review
all medical records. Mental illnesses that are not expected to be
resolved in one year will be cause for discharge.

The Army's hearings on the family's murder concluded in August.
Those who testified put forth this outline of the crime:

The plot to rape and kill was hatched as the soldiers hit golf balls
at a checkpoint. They had seen the older daughter on patrols
in the area. After drinking whiskey bought from Iraqi policemen,
they masked their faces and crept through backyards in afternoon
daylight to get to the family's home.

They knew the family kept a gun in one bedroom for protection.

Once in the house, Green herded the father, mother and 5-year-old
daughter to another room, closed the door and shot them dead.
Green had blood on his clothes and boots when he returned.

Green and at least two others took turns raping the other daughter
before killing her with the family's AK-47. They set her body
on fire with kerosene dumped from a lamp in the kitchen
in an effort to hide evidence.

Steven Green is in custody at an undisclosed location in Kentucky,
according to federal law-enforcement officials. Prosecutors have
not said if they will seek the death penalty.

Pfc. Jesse V. Spielman, 22, of Chambersburg, Pa.; Sgt. Paul E. Cortez, 24,
of Barstow, Calif.; and Pfc. Bryan L. Howard, 23, of Huffman, Texas,
have been charged with rape and murder and await courts-martial.
They are in custody at Fort Campbell.

Spc. James P. Barker, 24, of Fresno, Calif., pleaded guilty in November
as part of an agreement to testify against the others.

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8) Raids, Reforms, and the Labor Movement
By Tim Costello, Jeremy Brecher and Brendan Smith
t r u t h o u t | Guest Contributors
Tuesday 09 January 2007
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010907M.shtml

The December immigration raids at Swift & Co., and increased
enforcement activity elsewhere, are a body blow against labor's
attempt to organize low-wage workers.

Undocumented workers comprise a significant percentage
of the work force in many of the industries targeted for organizing
by unions, including cleaning contractors, hotels, meatpacking,
food processing, light industry, and commercial laundries. The
raids will make workers feel more insecure and may make them
less willing to take the chances required to organize. The raids
may also make employers more willing to use immigration status
as a club to thwart organizing and more willing to cooperate with
immigration authorities to protect themselves from prosecution
or lawsuits. If a significant percentage of the work force feels
vulnerable, all workers will be hurt, since chances of successful
organizing campaigns will be greatly reduced.

The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), which
represents workers at five of the six plants [raided] has pursued
an aggressive legal defense and support strategy for workers
caught in the raids. But with so much at stake, the response
by the labor movement as a whole has been remarkably timid.
Those unions that have spoken out have mainly issued press
releases to condemn the raids and to call for Congressional
action on immigration reform. That is simply not enough.

In fact, the raids also provide a good opportunity for labor
to reframe the immigration debate with fresh ideas and new
action. The raids were an affront to common decency. They
were an assault on human rights, on labor rights, and on the
notion of proportionality in the conduct of law enforcement.
The raids were conducted under false pretenses: Only a handful
of those caught in the raids were charged with "identity theft" -
the ostensible reason for the raids; and they were discriminatory
because company officials, who knowingly built an entire staffing
system in the meatpacking industry based on undocumented
workers, walked away free.

As part of reframing the immigration issue, labor leaders
need to stand shoulder to shoulder with workers from the
affected communities, in the affected communities. They need
to make a public display of supporting those swept up in the raids,
many of whom are now unemployed and facing deportation. And,
very importantly, they need to stress that the raids undermine
working conditions for all workers - not just undocumented
immigrants. One way to do this would be to hold public hearings,
in which workers in the industry - immigrants and non-immigrants
- tell their stories. Properly done, reframing the immigration issue
can both help build alliances between immigrant and non-immigrant
workers for real immigration reform, and also cement the relationship
of labor with immigrant communities in the upcoming policy
debates and the 2008 elections.

Current immigration policies function badly, as they have
for years. Reform is needed, but the immigration "crisis" is largely
a product of the Republican right's attempts to fan the flames
of a growing, but still contained, backlash against undocumented
immigrants to create a wedge issue during the 2006 elections.
They miscalculated badly. The real backlash was among the millions
of Hispanic voters, many of whom had voted Republican in past
elections but voted Democratic in this time. Nevertheless, it is
undeniable that the nativists have poisoned the national debate
on immigration reform. Many working-class and middle-class
voters with genuine concerns about globalization and the economy
are at least listening to hard-liners.

As the socially sanctioned institution representing workers' interest
in policy debates on labor and employment issues, the labor movement
must step forward and assume its responsibility to help craft a worker-
friendly immigration policy. As an institution representing both immigrant
and non-immigrant workers; as an institution with ties to potential allies
in sending countries, and as an institution with renewed political clout
in this Congress, the labor movement is in a perfect position to convene
a genuine debate on immigration reform.

Here are some ideas to help shape such a debate.

Labor must demand that the raids be stopped. The current immigration
problem is a result of conscious action - and inaction - on the part of
governments throughout the hemisphere; of businesses looking for
cheap labor; of workers looking for jobs wherever they can find them,
and of consumers looking for cheaper goods. To single out the most
vulnerable - immigrant workers and their families - as scapegoats
for an entire system violates any accepted standard of decency.
A rational debate on immigration reform cannot be conducted with
the immigration authorities ready to storm plant gates.

There is the basis for an alliance between established and
immigrant workers. Immigrant-rights advocates and progressives
should not cede the established working class to the right-wing
nativists. US workers - partially because many have immigrant roots -
can be an ally in the fight for just reforms, as the generally progressive
role of US unions in the current debate shows. But fears that
immigrants take jobs and decrease wages need to be taken
seriously. Immigration legislation should emphasize the labor
rights of immigrant workers, both to protect their human dignity
and to protect the wages and working conditions of established
workers.

Any comprehensive immigration program will be the result
of a compromise among workers - both immigrant and established
- employers, and politicians. The result will not be perfect, but
it can be satisfactory. Employers need immigrant workers; workers
need jobs. The interests of both are opposed to the right-wing,
anti-immigrant ideologues. But it's time to junk the existing narrow
debate that revolves around a limited amnesty, a fortress America,
and a guest-worker program. A comprehensive plan is needed -
one that addresses the concerns of all the stakeholders in the
US and the sending countries.

Policies supported by the US and institutionalized in treaties
like NAFTA are a key factor pushing migrants north. NAFTA
helped push around two million peasants off the land in Mexico.
It forced many Mexican companies out of business because they
were unable to compete with cheaper imports. While NAFTA was
touted as a way to slow northward migration, it has done the
opposite. The giant sucking sound that many thought NAFTA
would produce turned out to be less from jobs going south
than from workers heading north. In 1995, there were 2.5 million
undocumented Mexican workers in the US; ten years later, there
were around 10.5 million. Any solution to the immigration
problem must begin with rewriting NAFTA. With massive political
change going on in Latin America, it's time to take a fresh look
at ways new hemispheric economic policies can make it possible
for people to live decently at home without being dependent
on migration or remittances from the US or elsewhere.

In some industries and some localities, there is already
a hemispheric labor market. In some occupations, undocumented
immigrants make up a substantial percentage of the work force.
About 24 percent of all farm workers are undocumented immigrants;
17 percent of all cleaners; 14 percent of all construction workers,
and 12 percent of all food-preparation workers. Taking a closer
look at jobs within these categories, 36 percent of all insulation
workers; 29 percent of all roofers and drywall workers, and
27 percent of all butchers and food processors are undocumented.
National laws have not kept pace with the reality of transnational
labor markets. What's needed now are laws and regulations that
guarantee immigrant workers the basic human and labor rights
needed to let them work and live in dignity.

Immigration reform must be hemispheric in scope. A step in
the direction of recognizing the hemispheric and global nature
of the immigration issue has already been taken. The
governments of the nations of Latin America that send
migrants to the US have banded together to lobby against
the most draconian immigration reform bills were before the
last Congress. This recognition that immigration is no longer
a strictly national issue should prompt the labor and social
movements in Latin America and the US to convene
a hemispheric meeting of unions and social movements
to help draft an immigration program that is friendly
to workers and immigrants. Unions and social movements
should not leave immigration reform to elite decision-makers,
whether in the US or in the hemisphere.

Increased border security fails to keep undocumented
immigrants out, but it does keep them in. Labor needs to
stop pandering to the enforcement crowd and take them
on in a policy debate, beginning with the myth that increasing
border enforcement is part of the solution. The facts speak
otherwise. The number of border patrol agents increased
from around 2,500 in the 1980s to 12,000 today. Overall
spending on border security since the late 1980s has
increased 500 percent. One result is that the cost for an
undocumented immigrant to make a crossing today is
about $2,500. According to Princeton sociologist Douglas
Massey, in the 1980s about half of all undocumented
Mexicans returned home within 12 months, but by 2000
the return rate was only 25 percent. That's because, while
the increased enforcement doesn't keep people out, it does
keep them in by making it more expensive and riskier
to return to their homeland. Thus, the net result of increased
border security is to actually increase the number
of undocumented workers in the US. Effectively sealing
the border would require a massive attack on civil liberties
and unacceptable economic and political costs in the US and
abroad - and its primary effect would be to keep even more
undocumented immigrants from returning home.

Abruptly halting undocumented immigration would have
a chaotic effect on the economies of Mexico and Central America.
After oil, remittances from the US provide the second-largest
source of foreign capital in Mexico. About 18 percent of Mexican
adults - and 29 percent of Salvadoran adults - receive remittances
from someone in the US. Those remittances are essential to support
families and build communities. Shutting off the flow would create
hardship and instability in Mexico and Central America. Instead,
ways need to be found to smooth the flow of remittances and
make them part of a new economic development strategy that
utilizes them to provide socially constructive forms of credit.

A program can be developed that represents the interests
of established US workers, undocumented immigrants, and Latin
Americans. Their interests can be meshed with those of US
employers on this issue. The claims of nativist ideologues to
speak for American workers can be discredited. If the groundwork
for such a program is laid now, the alliance of immigrants and
established workers can seize the initiative in shaping progressive
immigration legislation in the next few years.

Tim Costello, Jeremy Brecher and Brendan Smith are the
co-founders of Global Labor Strategies, a resource center providing
research and analysis on globalization, trade, and labor issues.
GLS staff members have published many previous reports on
a variety of labor-related issues, including Outsource This!;
American Workers, the Jobs Deficit, and the Fair Globalization
Solution; Contingent Workers Fight For Fairness, and Fight Where
You Stand!: Why Globalization Matters in Your Community and
Workplace. They have also written and produced the Emmy-
nominated PBS documentary Global Village or Global Pillage?
GLS has offices in New York, Boston, and Montevideo, Uruguay.
For more on GLS, visit: www.laborstrategies.blogs.com or
email info@laborstrategies.org.

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9) CIA gets the go-ahead to take on Hizbollah
By Toby Harnden, US Editor
Last Updated: 1:47am GMT 10/01/2007
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/01/10/wleb10.xml

The Central Intelligence Agency has been authorised to take covert
action against Hizbollah as part of a secret plan by President
George W. Bush to help the Lebanese government prevent the
spread of Iranian influence. Senators and congressmen have been
briefed on the classified "non-lethal presidential finding" that allows
the CIA to provide financial and logistical support to the prime
minister, Fouad Siniora.

The finding was signed by Mr Bush before Christmas after
discussions between his aides and Saudi Arabian officials.
Details of its existence, known only to a small circle of
White House officials, intelligence officials and members
of Congress, have been passed to The Daily Telegraph.

It authorises the CIA and other US intelligence agencies
to fund anti-Hizbollah groups in Lebanon and pay for
activists who support the Siniora government. The secrecy
of the finding means that US involvement in the activities
is officially deniable.

The Bush administration hopes Mr Siniora's government,
severely weakened after its war with Israel last year, will
become a bulwark against the growing power of the Shia
sect of Islam, championed by Iran and Syria, since the
fall of Saddam Hussein.

Mr Bush's move is at the centre of a fresh drive by America,
supported by the Sunni states of Saudi Arabia, Jordan and
Egypt as well as Israel, to stop Iranian hegemony in the
Middle East emerging from the collapse of Iraq.

The finding, drawn up at the White House by National
Security Council (NSC) officials, is a sign of Mr Bush's
growing alarm at the threat posed by Iran, which has
infiltrated the Iraqi government and is training Shia
insurgents as well as supplying them with roadside
bombs.

A former US government official said: "Siniora's under
siege there and we are always looking for ways to help
allies. As Richard Armitage [a former deputy US secretary
of state] said, Hizbollah is the A-team of terrorism and
certainly Iran and Syria have not let up in their support
of the group."

Prince Bandar bin-Sultan, the former Saudi Arabian ambassador
to Washington, is understood to have been closely involved
in the decision to prop up Mr Siniora's administration and
the Israeli government, which views Iran as its chief enemy,
has also been supportive.

"There's a feeling both in Jerusalem and in Riyadh that the
anti-Sunni tilt in the region has gone too far," said an
intelligence source. "By removing Saddam, we've shifted
things in favour of the Shia and this is a counter-balancing
exercise.

Prince Bandar, now King Abdullah's national security adviser,
made several trips to Washington and held meetings with
Elliot Abrams, the senior Middle East official on the NSC.

Prince Turki al-Faisal resigned abruptly as ambassador
to Washington last month. Intelligence sources said that
a principal reason for this was his belief he had been
undermined by Prince Bandar, who had not told him
of the Lebanon plan or even that he was visiting
Washington.

As a quid pro quo to the Sunni Arab states, Mr Bush
and Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, have agreed
to work harder to re-start negotiations about a peace
deal with the Palestinians.

According to the Swoop website (theswoop.net), which
contains briefings on diplomatic and intelligence matters:
"US officials point to the Israeli release of some tax monies
owed to the Palestinian Authority as the first fruits of this
approach.

Reuel Marc Gerecht, a former clandestine CIA officer, said
that such a finding would involve "various steps and types
of non-military activity" agreed to by the Lebanese. "It takes
two to tango. You're only those things that the Lebanese
themselves would want you to do," he said.

Bush administration officials have spoken of their desire
to promote "mainstream" Arab states and have even spoken
of the existence of a "Sunni crescent" in the Middle East. But
there is tension between this policy and the support for Nouri
al-Maliki's Shia-led government in Iraq, which has links to
Shia death squads and Iran.

"The administration is reaping its own whirlwind after Iraq,"
said the intelligence source. "For 50 years the US preferred
stability over legitimacy in the Middle East and now it's got
neither. It's a situation replete with ironies."

toby.harnden@telegraph.co.uk

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10) IN PRAISE OF PRINCES AND PRESIDENTS -- FORD
[Col. Writ. 1/3/07] Copyright 2007 Mumia Abu-Jamal
[VIA Email...bw]

I have struggled to not write about the passing of U.S. President Gerald
Ford. I sought to not do so for days.

Yet, the imperial fashion adopted by most of the American press, which
praised his administration almost unanimously as "his salvation of the
republic," forced me to put pen to paper.

Much of the reporting that we have seen has simply been dishonest,
historically inaccurate, and a national amnesiac.

What I found particularly perturbing was the virtually unanimous
official opinion that former President Ford's pardon of Richard M. Nixon
was an act of "courage."

Why?

Because he opposed the will of the majority of the American people?

There is something unseemly about issuing a pardon to a man *before* he
was criminally charged with anything, and further, *one who built much
of his political career on law and order.**

Ford, to hear the corporate press tell it, simply made a deep, inner
decision to save the nation the trauma of a trial against Nixon, by
issuing a preemptive pardon.

The problem with this official reading is that there's plenty of
evidence that it just ain't true.

Acclaimed historian, Howard Zinn, in his phenomenal "A People's History
of the United States - 1492-Present" (New York: Harper Collins
Perennial, 2003) tells us that *months* before the Nixon resignation,
".... top Democratic and Republican leaders in the House of
Representatives had given secret assurance to Nixon that if he resigned
they would not support criminal proceedings against him." (p. 546]

The *New York Times* reported that what Wall Street wanted in case Nixon
resigned was, "the same play with different players."

It took a French journalist to voice what no mainstream American paper
would -- that U.S. political leaders wanted a change of face, but not a
change of politics. Zinn writes:

"No respectable American newspaper said what was said by Claude Julien,
editor of 'Le Monde Diplomatique' in September 1974. 'The elimination
of Mr. Richard Nixon leaves intact all the mechanisms and all the false
values which permitted the Watergate scandal.' Julien noted that
Nixon's Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, would remain at his post --
in other words, that Nixon's foreign policy would continue. 'That is to
say,' Julien wrote, 'that Washington will continue to support General
Pinochet in Chile, General Geisel in Brazil, General Stroessner in
Paraguay, etc....'" [p. 545]

Clearly, for millions of people in the U.S., and in Latin America, 'the
long national nightmare' was far from over.

Nixon's regime was criminal to the core, despite his rhetoric about 'law
and order.' It was a government that broke laws frequently and
flagrantly, *and got away with it*. Slush funds, burglaries, illegal
corporate campaign contributions, illegal wiretaps, corruption -- you
name it.

A deal. A pardon. A swift goodbye, and the imperial press applauds.

'Law and order' was a program for Blacks, Hispanics, poor people,
political opponents, and radicals. For the wealthy and well-to-do, it
was business as usual.

Ford was part of that program.

And because he played his part, the media played their part: 'the king
is dead, long live the king.'

From Shakespeare's "Richard II," the immortal lines are writ:

"For God's sake, let us sit upon the ground
And tell sad stories of the death of kings:...."

The stories, we see, are still being told.

Copyright 2007 Mumia Abu-Jamal

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LINKS AND VERY SHORT STORIES
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Israel’s Purging of Palestinian Christians
by Jonathan Cook in Nazareth
www.dissidentvoice.org
January 9, 2007
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Jan07/Cook09.htm

Democrats Beef Police State With 9/11 Commission Bill
Political "opposition" also helping Bush gain traction for Iran military strike
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/january2007/100107democratsbeef.htm

Wage Increase Could Hinge on Tax Cuts
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
January 10, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/10/washington/10wage.html?hp&ex=1168491600&en=91d9820f1ef98a84&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Britain: An Increase in Profit at the London Stock Exchange
By BLOOMBERG NEWS
The London Stock Exchange, seeking to fend off a hostile takeover
by the Nasdaq Stock Market, reported a 9.9 percent increase in
third-quarter profit and forecast a “strong performance” in fiscal
2008. Net income rose to £31 million ($59.8 million) in the three
months ended Dec. 31, up from £28.2 million a year earlier, the
exchange said. Revenue increased 11 percent, to £89.9 million
($173.5 million). The third-quarter results “support the board’s
rejection of Nasdaq’s offer, which significantly undervalues the
business and the exchange’s unique strategic position,” the
exchange’s chief executive, Clara Furse, said. “Our strong growth
prospects will continue to enhance the quality of our markets.”
The exchange, Europe’s biggest equity market, released its
earnings about three weeks ahead of schedule and two days
before Nasdaq’s offer to pay £12.43 a share expires.
January 10, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/10/business/worldbusiness/10fobriefs-ANINCREASEIN_BRF.html

Venezuelan Plan Shakes Investors
By SIMON ROMERO and CLIFFORD KRAUSS
January 10, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/10/business/worldbusiness/10venezuela.html?ref=business

Mayor Finds Friendly Ears on Senate Homeland Security Panel
By SEWELL CHAN and ERIC LIPTON
WASHINGTON, Jan. 9 — Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg took his perennial
pitch for more security money to Congress on Tuesday, but this year,
for a change, lawmakers seemed poised to listen.
January 10, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/10/nyregion/10bloomberg.html?ref=nyregion

3 Relatives of Plotter Are Held by Officials
By WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM
January 10, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/10/nyregion/10plot.html?ref=nyregion

Gas-Like Odor Permeates Parts of New York City
By CHRISTINE HAUSER and SEWELL CHAN
January 8, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/08/nyregion/08cnd-odor.html?hp&ex=1168318800&en=b688635a7be2e78d&ei=5094&partner=homepage

The Second Declaration of Havana
Walter Lippmann, CubaNews Los Angeles, California
This is one of the great political documents of all time. It was
presented to the Cuban people on February 4, 1962, following Cuba's
expulsion from the Organization of American States. It is printed
here in its entirety. [editorial note from Fidel Castro Speaks,
edited by James Petras and Martin Kenner, Grove Press, 1969.]
It is now web-posted in English here:
http://www.walterlippmann.com/fc-02-04-1962.html
Original Spanish:
http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/discursos/1962/esp/f040262e.html


The universe gives up its deepest secret
It is the invisible material that makes up most of the cosmos.
Now, scientists have created the first image of dark matter
By Steve Connor, Science Editor
Published: 08 January 2007
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/article2134891.ece

Blood and oil: How the West will profit from Iraq's
most precious commodity
The Independent (UK)
January 7, 2007
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2132574.ece

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SCROLL DOWN TO READ:
EVENT ANNOUNCEMENTS (IN FULL DETAIL)
GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS

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EVENT ANNOUNCEMENTS
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BARRIO UNIDO FOR GENERAL AND UNCONDITIONAL
AMNESTY FOR ALL!
EMERGENCY PICKET LINE
FRIDAY, JANUARY 12, 2007, 4:00 - 7:00 P.M.
FEDERAL BUILDING
450 GOLDEN GATE AVE.
BETWEEN POLK AND LARKIN STREETS, S.F.

STOP THE ICE RAIDS! FREE THE WORKERS!
STOP THE DEPORTATIONS!
THE WORKERS SHOULD GET THEIR JOBS BACK!
WE DEMAND IMMEDIATE, GENERAL AND UNCONDITIONAL
AMNESTY FOR ALL! DEFEND THE RIGHT OF
ALL WORKERS TO ORGANIZE UNIONS IN THEIR OWN DEFENSE!

All human beings have basic, inalienable human rights to life, liberty
and the pursuit of happiness. If your family is starving and you
can not find work, you have the right to find someplace where you can
feed, clothe and house your family.

If capital can go all over the world exploiting workers, then workers
have the right to move to find work for their family's basic survival.

IMMIGRANT WORKERS ARE GUILTY OF NOTHING
BUT WORKING HARD TO SUPPORT THEMSELVES
AND THEIR FAMILIES.

From South America, Latin America, China, Africa, India--in countries
all over the world, not to speak of the war in Iraq--a war of blood
for oil--U.S. businesses are raking in huge profits off the backs of workers
who earn slave wages and work under the most dangerous working conditions
at best, and under a state of war at worse.

Meanwhile, here at home, they are laying off workers, closing factories,
doing
away with benefits and working conditions won by worker's struggles
in the past--installing two, three, many-tiered pay scales--driving down
wages to below the scale parents are earning--leaving our children
with the heritage of a guaranteed life of poverty without union
representation.

WORKERS HAVE THE RIGHT TO ORGANIZE UNIONS!

And now they launch an all-out war against the most vulnerable workers
--who are driven to work in these meatpacking plants. Whether
documented or not, this is brutal, dangerous and difficult work.

And not so coincidentally, these same workers just happen
to be in the midst of a fight to win union recognition!

THESE ARRESTS ARE A THREAT TO ALL WORKERS
AND ALL UNIONS!

These mass arrests are terrorist tactics designed as a warning
to all workers that if they struggle for a better life and better
working conditions, they will be persecuted in every way
imaginable.

This is an all-out assault on every worker and it is being
executed by a terrorist government--the U.S. Government--
who uses pre-emptive war based upon outright lies to further
their oil profits; who will stop at nothing to increase their
rate of profit.

The ultimate goal of the U.S. Government is for American big
business to continue to accumulate unimaginable wealth
at the expense of the hardworking majority all over the
world--nothing is off-limits to them in this, their fundamental
pursuit!

STOP THE ICE RAIDS! FREE THE WORKERS!
STOP THE DEPORTATIONS!
THE WORKERS SHOULD GET THEIR JOBS BACK!
WE DEMAND IMMEDIATE, GENERAL AND UNCONDITIONAL
AMNESTY FOR ALL! DEFEND THE RIGHT OF
ALL WORKERS TO ORGANIZE UNIONS IN THEIR OWN DEFENSE!

An injury to one is an injury to all! We are only as strong as our
weakest link. If we allow these terrorists from ICE to continue
to carry out these assaults against the basic human rights
of any of us--no matter what our immigration status--they
will not hesitate one second to use these same tactics of mass
firings, arrest, etc. against all of us who dare to struggle
in our own defense and in our own, basic human interests and
for our own basic rights as workers and human beings!

It's up to us to organize and fight back! If we are united, we cannot loose!

WE ENCOURAGE ALL WORKERS AND ALL LABOR AND COMMUNITY
ORGANIZATIONS TO ENDORSE THIS ACTION AND COME OUT TO
PICKET THE FEDERAL BUILDING TO PROTEST THESE RAIDS!
BRING YOUR OWN BANNERS AND SIGNS!

For more information contact:

Barrio Unido por una Amnistia
General e Incondicional
Cristina Gutierrez,
415-431-9925
companeros98@hotmail.com

Bonnie Weinstein, www.bauaw.org
415-824-8730
bonnieweinstein@yahoo.com

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REPORT BACK ON VENEZUELA
7:00 PM Saturday, January 13
522 Valencia Street , 3rd Floor Auditorium
Hear about:
-Factories run by workers
-The election turnout for Hugo Chavez
-Occupied factories
-Socialism of the 21st Century
See: A short film on current developments
in Venezuela .
Speakers:
-John Peterson, National Secretary
of US Hands Off Venezuela (recently
returned from Venezuela )
-A speaker from Global Exchange
-A speaker from Global Women’s
Strike, San Francisco Bay Area
-An opportunity for discussion will follow
the presentations.
Sponsored by Hands Off Venezuela
Hands Off Venezuela is an international
organization dedicated to the principle
that the people of Venezuela have the
right to determine their own destiny
without interference from foreign
countries.
Contact info:
phone (415) 786-1680
email sfbay@ushov.org
web www.ushov.org

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ACT NOW TO END THE WAR!
SATURDAY JANUARY 27, 2007
Washington, D.C.
VOLUNTEER Live in NYC or DC? We need your help
before and during the protest. Call 212-868-5545
STAYINFORMED Visit www.unitedforpeace.org for
updated information and to sign up for our action alerts
DONATE Whether you can contribute $10, $100, or
$1000, we need your support to help end the war!
Call 212-866-5545 or visit www.unitedforpeace.org/donate
Join us for a massive
march on Washington
to tell the new Congress:
unitedforpeace&justice
www.unitedforpeace.org (212)868-5545
On Election Day the voters delivered a dramatic,
unmistakable mandate for peace. Now it's time for action.
On Jan. 27, 2007, help send a strong, clear message to
Congress and the Bush Administration:
Bring the troops home now!

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MARCH ON THE PENTAGON
SATURDAY, MARCH 17, 2007
U.S. OUT OF IRAQ NOW
From Iraq to New Orleans, Fund the People's Needs NOT THE
WAR MACHINE! End Colonial Occupation: Iraq, Palestine, Haiti and
everywhere! Shut Down Guantanamo
AnswerCoalition.org

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LYNNE STEWART AND MICHAEL RATNER IN BAY AREA
FEBRUARY 23-25 (Lynne and her husband Ralph will
stay on several more days. Stay tuned for complete
schedule of events.)
Dear Friends of Lynne Stewart,
I am pleased to announce that Lynne Stewart and Michael Ratner have
just accepted our invitation to tour the Bay Area. The confirmed
dates are February 23-25, 2007. Lynne, accompanied by her husband
Ralph Poynter, will stay on several more days for additional meetings.
In solidarity,
Jeff Mackler,
West Coast Coordinator, Lynne Stewart Defense Committee
Co-Coordinator, Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal
O: 415-255-1080
Cell: 510-387-7714
H: 510-268-9429

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May Day 2007
National Mobilization to Support Immigrant Workers!
Web: http://www.MayDay2007.net
National Immigrant Solidarity Network
No Immigrant Bashing! Support Immigrant Rights!
webpage: http://www.ImmigrantSolidarity.org
e-mail: info@ImmigrantSolidarity.org
New York: (212)330-8172
Los Angeles: (213)403-0131
Washington D.C.: (202)595-8990

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GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
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A NEW LOOK AT U.S. RADIOACTIVE WEAPONS
Join us in a campaign to expose and stop the use of these illegal weapons
http://poisondust.org/

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You may enjoy watching these.
In struggle
Che:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqcezl9dD2c
Leon:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukkFVV5X0p4

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FIGHTBACK! A Collection of Socialist Essays
By Sylvia Weinstein
http://www.walterlippmann.com/sylvia-weinstein-fightback-intro.html

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URGENT APPEAL TO SAVE IRAQ'S ACADEMICS.
Call for action to save Iraq's Academics
A little known aspect of the tragedy engulfing Iraq is the systematic
liquidation of the country's academics. Even according to conservative
estimates, over 250 educators have been assassinated, and many
hundreds more have disappeared. With thousands fleeing the country
in fear for their lives, not only is Iraq undergoing a major brain drain,
the secular middle class - which has refused to be co-opted by the
US occupation - is being decimated, with far-reaching consequences
for the future of Iraq.
http://www.brussellstribunal.org/

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END ALL U.S. AID TO ISRAEL!
Stop funding Israel's war against Palestine
Complete the form at the website listed below with your information.
https://secure2.convio.net/pep/site/Advocacy?
JServSessionIdr003=cga2p2o6x1.app2a&cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=177

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ENDORSE THE A.N.S.W.E.R. CALL TO ACTION
March 17-18, 2007
GLOBAL DAYS OF ACTION ON THE
4TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE WAR!
http://answer.pephost.org/site/Survey?
SURVEY_ID=3400&ACTION_REQUIRED=URI_ACTION_USER_REQUESTS&JServSessionIdr011=
k7a3443r73.app8a

http://answer.pephost.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ANS_homepage

Please circulate widely
www.answercoalition.org

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Sand Creek Massacre
Hello, Everyone,
On November 29, 1864, 700 Colorado troops savagely slaughtered
over 450 Cheyenne children, disabled, elders, and women in the
southeastern Colorado Territory under its protection. This act
became known as the Sand Creek Massacre. This film project
("The Sand Creek Massacre" documentary film project) is an
examination of an open wound in the souls of the Cheyenne
people as told from their perspective. This project chronicles
that horrific 19th century event and its affect on the 21st century
struggle for respectful coexistence between white and native
plains cultures in the United States of America.

Listed below are links on which you can click to get the latest news,
products, and view, free, "THE SAND CREEK MASSACRE" award-
winning documentary short. In order to create more native
awareness, particularly to save the roots of America's history,
please read the following:

Some people in America are trying to save the world. Bless
them. In the meantime, the roots of America are dying.
What happens to a plant when the roots die? The plant dies
according to my biology teacher in high school. American's
roots are its native people. Many of America's native people
are dying from drug and alcohol abuse, poverty, hunger,
and disease, which was introduced to them by the Caucasian
male. Tribal elders are dying. When they die, their oral
histories go with them. Our native's oral histories are the
essence of the roots of America, what took place before
our ancestors came over to America, what is taking place,
and what will be taking place. It is time we replenish
America's roots with native awareness, else America
continues its decaying, and ultimately, its death.

You can help. The 22-MINUTE SAND CREEK MASSACRE
DOCUMENTARY PRESENTATION/EDUCATIONAL DVD IS
READY FOR PURCHASE! (pass the word about this powerful
educational tool to friends, family, schools, parents, teachers,
and other related people and organizations to contact
me (dvasicek@earthlink.net, 303-903-2103) for information
about how they can purchase the DVD and have me come
to their children's school to show the film and to interact
in a questions and answers discussion about the Sand
Creek Massacre.

Happy Holidays!

Donald L. Vasicek
Olympus Films+, LLC
http://us.imdb.com/Name?Vasicek,+Don
http://www.donvasicek.com
dvasicek@earthlink.net
303-903-2103

"THE SAND CREEK MASSACRE" AWARD-WINNING DOCUMENTARY
SHORT FEATURED AT NATIVE AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL:
http://www.aberdeennews.com/mld/aberdeennews/news/local/16035305.htm
(scroll down when you get there])
"THE SAND CREEK MASSACRE" AWARD-WINNING
WRITER/FILMMAKER DONALD L. VASICEK REPORT:
http://www.digitalcinemareport.com/sandcreekmassacre.html
"THE SAND CREEK MASSACRE" AWARD-WINNING DOCUMENTARY
SHORT FINALIST IN DOCUMENTARY CHANNEL COMPETITION (VIEW HERE):
http://www.docupyx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28&Itemid=4
1
VIEW "THE SAND CREEK MASSACRE" AWARD-WINNING DOCUMENTARY
SHORT FILM MOVIE OF THE WEEK FOR FREE HERE:
http://twymancreative.com/twymanc.html

SHOP:
http://www.manataka.org/page633.html
BuyIndies.com
donvasicek.com.

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MUST SEE: PBS VIDEO NOTEBOOK: A DAY AT THE PLANT
NOW's Senior Correspondent Maria Hinojosa takes us inside the
world's largest pork processing plant, located in Tar Heel, North
Carolina. As the first TV journalist ever allowed to film inside the
plant, owned by The Smithfield Packing Company, Hinojosa gives
us an insider's view of what conditions are like in a plant that
slaughters over 33,000 hogs per day.
http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/250/smithfield.html

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Rights activist held in Oaxaca prison
Three students arrested and held incommunicado in Oaxaca
http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2006/11/80142.html

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TAX THE RICH! FEED THE POOR! MONEY FOR HUMAN NEEDS, NOT WAR!
www.bauaw.org
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The following quote is from the 1918 anti-war speech delivered
in Canton, Ohio, by Eugene Debs. The address, protesting World War I,
resulted in Debs being arrested and imprisoned on charges of espionage.
The speech remains one of the great expressions of the militancy and
internationalism of the US working class.

His appeal, before sentencing, included one of his best-known quotes:
"...while there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal
element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free."

Read the complete speech at:
http://douglassarchives.org/debs_a78.htm

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!VIVA FIDEL! LONG LIVE FIDEL! LONG LIVE THE CUBAN REVOLUTION!
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My Name is Roland Sheppard
This Is My `Blog'
I am is a retired Business Representative of Painters District
Council #8 in San Francisco. I have been a life long social activist
and socialist. Roland Sheppard is a retired Business Representative
of Painters District Council #8 in San Francisco. I have been
a life long social activist and socialist.
Prior to my being elected as a union official, I had worked
for 31 years as a house painter and have been a lifelong socialist.
I have led a unique life. In my retire age, I am interested in writing
about my experiences as a socialist, as a participant in the Black
Liberation Movement, the Union Movement, and almost all social
movements.
I became especially interested in the environment when I was
diagnosed with cancer due to my work environment. I learned
how to write essays, when I first got a computer in order to put
together all the medical legal arguments on my breakthrough
workers' compensation case in California, proving that my work
environment as a painter had caused my cancer. After a five-year
struggle, I won a $300,000 settlement on his case.
The following essays are based upon my involvement in the
struggle for freedom for all humanity. I hope the history
of my life's experiences will help future generations
of Freedom Fighters.
For this purpose, this website is dedicated.
web.mac.com/rolandgarret/iWeb/Site/RolandSheppardsBlog.html

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The Corporate Looting of the Gulf Coast
Robin Hood in Reverse
http://www.counterpunch.org/quigley11132006.html
More Info:
www.justiceforneworleans.org
For a detailed report:
Big, Easy Money: Disaster Profiteering on the American Gulf Coast
by Rita J. King, Special to CorpWatch
August 15th, 2006
http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=14004

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TAX FACT SHEET
http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/901006_taxpolicy.pdf

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Communist Manifesto illustrated by Disney [and other cartoons) with
words by K. Marx and F. Engels--absolutely wonderful!...bw]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1oGIffyVVk&NR

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Asylum Street Spankers-Magnetic Yellow Ribbon
http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=bfMgRHRJ- tc

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Homer Simpson Joins the Army
Another morale-booster from Groening and company. [If you get
a chance to see the whole thing, it's worth it...bw]
http://hotair.com/archives/2006/11/12/video-the-simpsons-salute-the-lazy-and
-uneducated/

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A Look at the Numbers: How the Rich Get Richer
Clara Jeffery (May/June 2006 Issue
IN 1985, THE FORBES 400 were worth $221 billion combined.
Today, they re worth $1.13 trillion more than the GDP of Canada.
THERE'VE BEEN FEW new additions to the Forbes 400.
The median household income
has also stagnated at around $44,000.
AMONG THE FORBES 400 who gave to a 2004 presidential
campaign, 72% gave to Bush.
IN 2005, there were 9 million American millionaires,
a 62% increase since 2002.
IN 2005, 25.7 million Americans received food stamps,
a 49% increase since 2000.
ONLY ESTATES worth more than $1.5 million are taxed.
That's less than 1% of all estates
http://www.motherjones.com/cgi-bin/print_article.pl?url=http://www.motherjon
es.com/news/exhibit/2006/05/perks_of_privilege.html

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Do You Want to Stop PREVENT War with Iran?

Dear Friend,

Every day, pundits and military experts debate on TV when, how and where
war with Iran will occur. Can the nuclear program be destroyed? Will the
Iranian government retaliate in Iraq or use the oil weapon? Will it take
three or five days of bombing? Will the US bomb Iran with "tactical"
nuclear weapons?

Few discuss the human suffering that yet another war in the Middle East
will bring about. Few discuss the thousands and thousands of innocent
Iranian and American lives that will be lost. Few think ahead and ask
themselves what war will do to the cause of democracy in Iran or to
America's global standing.

Some dismiss the entire discussion and choose to believe that war simply
cannot happen. The US is overstretched, the task is too difficult, and
the world is against it, they say.

They are probably right, but these factors don't make war unlikely. They
just make a successful war unlikely.

At the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), we are not going to
wait and see what happens.

We are actively working to stop the war and we need your help!

Working with a coalition of peace and security organizations in
Washington DC, NIAC is adding a crucial dimension to this debate - the
voice of the Iranian-American community.

Through our US-Iran Media Resource Program
http://niacouncil.c.topica.com/maafjioabumkFbIfQs8eafpLV5/
http://niacouncil.c.topica.com/maafjioabumkFbIfQs8eafpLV5/ , we help
the media ask the right questions and bring attention to the human side
of this issue.

Through the LegWatch program

http://niacouncil.c.topica.com/maafjioabummRbIfQs8eafpLV5/
http://niacouncil.c.topica.com/maafjioabummRbIfQs8eafpLV5/ ,

we are building opposition to the war on Capitol Hill. We spell out the
likely
consequences of war and the concerns of the Iranian-American community
on Hill panels

http://niacouncil.c.topica.com/maafjioabumkGbIfQs8eafpLV5/
http://niacouncil.c.topica.com/maafjioabumkGbIfQs8eafpLV5/

and in direct meetings with lawmakers. We recently helped more than a dozen
Members of Congress - both Republican and Democrats - send a strong
message against war to the White House

http://niacouncil.c.topica.com/maafjioabumkHbIfQs8eafpLV5/
http://niacouncil.c.topica.com/maafjioabumkHbIfQs8eafpLV5/

But more is needed, and we need your help!

If you don't wish to see Iran turn into yet another Iraq, please make a
contribution online or send in a check to:

NIAC
2801 M St NW
Washington DC 20007

Make the check out to NIAC and mark it "NO WAR."

ALL donations are welcome, both big and small. And just so you know,
your donations make a huge difference. Before you leave the office
today, please make a contribution to stop the war.

Sincerely,
Trita Parsi
President of NIAC

U.S. Labor Against the War (USLAW)

www.uslaboragainstwar.org
http://www.uslaboragainstwar.org/
Email: info@uslaboragainstwar.org

PMB 153
1718 "M" Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20036
Voicemail: 202/521-5265

Co-convenors: Gene Bruskin, Maria Guillen, Fred Mason,
Bob Muehlenkamp, and Nancy Wohlforth
Michael Eisenscher, National Organizer & Website Coordinator
Virginia Rodino, Organizer
Adrienne Nicosia, Administrative Staff

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Immigration video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tacK8MAfuAs

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Enforce the Roadless Rule for National Forests
Target: Michael Johanns, Secretary, USDA
Sponsor: Earthjustice
We, the Undersigned, endorse the following petition:
This past September, Earthjustice scored a huge victory for our roadless
national forests when a federal district court ordered the reinstatement
of the Roadless Rule.
The Roadless Rule protects roadless forest areas from road-building
and most logging. This is bad news for the timber, mining, and oil
& gas industries ... And so they're putting pressure on their friends
in the Bush Administration to challenge the victory.
Roadless area logging tends to target irreplaceable old growth forests.
Many of these majestic trees have stood for hundreds of years.
By targeting old-growth, the timber companies are destroying
natural treasures that cannot be replaced in our lifetime.
The future of nearly 50 million acres of wild, national forests
and grasslands hangs in the balance. Tell the secretary of the
USDA, Michael Johanns, to protect our roadless areas by enforcing
the Roadless Rule. The minute a road is cut through a forest, that
forest is precluded from being considered a "wilderness area," and
thus will not be covered by any of the Wilderness Area protections
afforded by Congress.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/112283692?z00m=6687205&z00m=668720
5<l=1162406255

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Mumia Abu-Jamal - Reply brief, U.S. Court of Appeals (Please Circulate)

Dear Friends:

On October 23, 2006, the Fourth-Step Reply Brief of Appellee and
Cross-Appellant, Mumia Abu-Jamal was submitted to the U.S. Court
of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Philadelphia. (Abu-Jamal v. Horn,
U.S. Ct. of Appeals Nos. 01-9014, 02-9001.)

Oral argument will likely be scheduled during the coming months.
I will advise when a hearing date is set.

The attached brief is of enormous consequence since it goes
to the essence of our client's right to a fair trial, due process
of law, and equal protection of the law, guaranteed by the Fifth,
Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
The issues include:

Whether Mr. Abu-Jamal was denied the right to due process
of law and a fair trial because of the prosecutor's "appeal-after
-appeal" argument which encouraged the jury to disregard the
presumption of innocence and reasonable doubt, and err
on the side of guilt.

Whether the prosecution's exclusion of African Americans
from sitting on the jury violated Mr. Abu-Jamal's right
to due process and equal protection of the law,
in contravention of Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986).

Whether Mr. Abu-Jamal was denied due process and equal
protection of the law during a post-conviction hearing
because of the bias and racism of Judge Albert F. Sabo,
who was overheard during the trial commenting that
he was "going to help'em fry the nigger."

That the federal court is hearing issues which concern
Mr. Abu-Jamal's right to a fair trial is a great milestone
in this struggle for human rights. This is the first time
that any court has made a ruling in nearly a quarter
of a century that could lead to a new trial and freedom.
Nevertheless, our client remains on Pennsylvania's death
row and in great danger.

Mr. Abu-Jamal, the "voice of the voiceless," is a powerful
symbol in the international campaign against the death
penalty and for political prisoners everywhere. The goal
of Professor Judith L. Ritter, associate counsel, and
I is to see that the many wrongs which have occurred
in this case are righted, and that at the conclusion
of a new trial our client is freed.

Your concern is appreciated

With best wishes,

Robert R. Bryan

Law Offices of Robert R. Bryan
2088 Union Street, Suite 4
San Francisco, California 94123

Lead counsel for Mumia Abu-Jamal

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Antiwar Web Site Created by Troops
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
A small group of active-duty military members opposed to the war
have created a Web site intended to collect thousands of signatures
of other service members. People can submit their name, rank and
duty station if they support statements denouncing the American
invasion. "Staying in Iraq will not work and is not worth the price,"
the Web site, appealforredress.org, says. "It is time for U.S. troops
to come home." The electronic grievances will be passed along
to members of Congress, according to the Web site. Jonathan
Hutto, a Navy seaman based in Norfolk, Va., who set up the Web
site a month ago, said the group had collected 118 names and
was trying to verify that they were legitimate service members.
October 25, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/25/washington/25brfs-005.html

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Judge Orders Release of Abu Ghraib Child Rape Photos
Submitted by davidswanson on Mon, 2006-10-23 20:54. Evidence
By Greg Mitchell, http://www.editorandpublisher.com
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/14864

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Profoun