Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Another Angle 7 - February - 2006

ANOTHER ANGLE
News others won't tell you



NATIONAL:



FEMA CONCENTRATION CAMPS: Locations and Executive Orders
Look for the location nearest you.


Coretta King eulogists jab Bush at funeral
Lowery, former head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which King helped found in 1957, gave a playful reading of a poem in eulogy of Mrs. King. "She extended Martin's message against poverty, racism and war / She deplored the terror inflicted by our smart bombs on missions way afar," he said. "We know now there were no weapons of mass destruction over there / But Coretta knew and we knew that there are weapons of misdirection right down here / Millions without health insurance. Poverty abounds. For war billions more but no more for the poor." The mourners gave a standing ovation. Bush's reaction could not be seen on the television coverage, but after Lowery finished speaking, the president shook his hand and laughed.

Video: King mourners applaud Bush-bash



NO mayor asks foreign countries for aid
Nagin, who has hosted a steady stream of foreign dignitaries since Hurricane Katrina hit in late August, says he may seek international assistance because U.S. aid has not been sufficient to get the city back on its feet.



Rove threatens blacklist
The White House has been twisting arms to ensure that no Republican member votes against President Bush in the Senate Judiciary Committee’s investigation of the administration's unauthorized wiretapping. Congressional sources said Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove has threatened to blacklist any Republican who votes against the president. The sources said the blacklist would mean a halt in any White House political or financial support of senators running for re-election in November.



Going Condo in Harlem
Gentrification is alive and well everywhere.



Layoffs Hit Black Auto Workers Hardest
“Our job as workers is not to save the corporation, but to save these poor people on the street!” In 1979, 2.1 percent of all African-American workers were employed in automobile manufacturing. By 2004, this share had fallen by more than one-third to 1.3 percent. By contrast, the share of white workers employed in auto manufacturing fell just 0.2 percentage points from 1.3 percent to 1.1 percent.



Black Americans' Inventions Contribute to Modern Life
Dr. Patricia E. Bath has dedicated her life to the treatment of blindness. She revolutionized cataract surgery by inventing a laser called the Laserphaco Probe, patented in 1988 in the United States. This was the first of four patents. She has dedicated her life to the prevention, treatment and cure of blindness.



INTERNATIONAL:



Iran Secretly Tests New Surface-To-Surface Missile
"We do not intend to attack any country, but if we are attacked, we are capable of effectively responding. Our position is defensive."



Iran paper plans Holocaust cartoons
"The Western papers printed these sacrilegious cartoons on the pretext of freedom of expression, so let's see if they mean what they say and also print these Holocaust cartoons."



'Sleeper bugs' used to steal 1m euros in France
Police say the virus is embedded in emails or websites and remains dormant until the user contacts their bank online. When that happens, the bug becomes active and records passwords and bank codes which are then forwarded to the thieves.



IRAQ:



US maps strategic refit for Iraq
A senior US officer admitted yesterday that the presence of more than 300,000 foreign troops in the Middle East, most of them American, was a "contributory factor" to instability in the region. (he said) The US would "not maintain any long-term bases in Iraq. Our position is when we leave we will not have any bases there." He did not speculate when that might be, though he said the US could not stay in the region for as long as its forces have remained in Germany or Japan.



Iraq: 800 Killed in 31 Days
In January more than 800 people — soldiers, security officers and civilians — were killed as a result of the insurgency in Iraq. While the daily toll is noted in the newspapers and on TV, it is hard for many Americans to see these isolated reports in a broader context.



BUSH CRIME FAMILY:



Helen to Scotty: You know what happened to Nixon when he broke the law.
The questioner, outspoken liberal columnist Helen Thomas, has been covering the White House since President John F. Kennedy, asks McClellan if Bush should obey the law. Video-WMP Video-QT



Teen prison fiend is Libby's guardian angel
It would be difficult to find a more loathesome Bush parasite than Mel Sembler. "For 16 years, Sembler, with his wife Betty, directed the leading juvenile rehab business in America, STRAIGHT, Inc., before seeing it dismantled by a breathtaking array of institutional abuse claims by mid-1993. Just one of many survivors is Samantha Monroe, now a travel agent in Pennsylvania, who told The Montel Williams show this year about overcoming beatings, rape by a counselor, forced hunger, and the confinement to a janitor's closet in 'humble pants' -- which contained weeks of her own urine, feces and menstrual blood.



Halliburton bills U.S. taxpayers $50 for $5 labor in Iraq
...an invoice from KBR subcontractor, Ranj Company, shows "washer folders" (laundry workers) are paid $7 a day, but the requisition shows the military is billed between $60 and $70 a day for this work, a roughly ten-fold markup for KBR. Security guards are paid $16 a day even though the military reimburses KBR at a daily rate of $60 for this work.



OP-ED:



Blackonomics You Asked For It
You have heard the saying, “Be careful of what you ask for, you just might get it;” and it’s really true. When the Trent Lott debacle was upon us I was shouting, “Let him stay; don’t ask for his resignation.” Obviously those who wanted him to step down won that battle, but I wonder what will happen now that he is no longer the leader of the U.S. Senate.



Texas Judge Denounces New Bankruptcy Law
A bankruptcy judge in Texas, by all accounts a sober and respected fellow, wrote the attached opinion, denouncing the new bankruptcy law. As he puts it: Congress wasn't interested in the opinions of any experts in the field, because it had its own agenda, "to make more money off the backs of consumers."



HEALTH&FITNESS:



The media assault on Mexico's alternative cancer clinics
Many patients only seek alternative care after they been poisoned, radiated and chemically bombarded by conventional medicine. At that point, even the best alternative medicine in the world has very little left to work with. But at least naturopaths can offer some degree of realistic hope for terminal cancer patients, long after conventional oncologists have told them to go home and die (after they pay their $150,000 chemotherapy bill first, of course).



FOOD&DRINK:



CREAM CHEESE POUND CAKE
Very rich and creamy. It's great as a dessert with coffee.



REVIEWS/INTERVIEWS:



For a Period Film, a Serving of Lean, Smoky Jazz
It should come as news to no one that the front-runner for best jazz vocal album in this year's Grammy Awards is an intimate standards session that evokes the sound of the 1950's. Isn't that often the case? What's interesting about the current favorite is that it comes with a period picture attached, the George Clooney film "Good Night, and Good Luck." The soundtrack is the latest effort from Dianne Reeves, a singer who has been unbeatable in recent awards seasons.



New Film Portrays Jesus As Black
Jean-Claude La Marre will star, direct and write the script. The film is expected to be released theatrically in November with 20th Century Fox on board to handle the distribution.


JUST WEIRD:



'Roller chicks' battle in derby revival
US roller derby, the televised 1970s mock-sport featuring skaters bashing each other while circling a rink, has been given a cheeky make-over, complete with mini skirts, fish-net stockings and real competition.



HUMOR?:



Tom Tomorrow: The Bushies' Game of Hide-and-Conceal