Another Angle 8 - March - 2006

ANOTHER ANGLE
News others won't tell you



NATIONAL:



Nation of Islam officials offer reply
Brother Leonard Muhammad, said on the radio Tuesday that the Nation of Islam forgave the people who left the commission because “you left out of confusion. You misunderstand what the commission is all about. Come back to the commission and debate your point.” He later issued a stronger challenge to them to return. “They need to come back or shut up,” Leonard Muhammad said. “And leave me alone,” Claudette Muhammad chimed in.



Spike Lee To Secratary Of State: 'Condi That Stop Smokin' Crack'
"People say, 'She's so successful' and 'Look at her position as a black woman.' She is a black woman who grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, and said that she never experienced a day of racism in her life." "Condi, stop smoking that crack!


Cosby's Lawyers See No Flattery in an Imitation
The "House of Cosbys" cartoon tells the story of Mitchell Reynolds, an obsessed Bill Cosby fan who builds a machine that clones Cosbys, each of whom has a special power (like data analysis). It had been the No. 1 rated show on Channel101.com for three consecutive months.



How black music became urban
Over the years the dynamics of black music have been aptly demonstrated by the way in which: “From blues, jazz, rock n roll, R&B, to reggae, it's had to redefine itself after it's been co-opted by the mainstream in order to maintain its relevance to its black core fan-base.”



Obituary: Gordon Parks, chronicled African-American life
Gordon Parks, 93, the photographer, filmmaker, writer and composer who used his prodigious, largely self-taught talents to chronicle the African-American experience and to retell his own personal history, died Tuesday at his home in New York. As a photographer, Parks combined a devotion to documentary realism with a knack for making his own feelings self-evident. The style he favored was derived from the Depression-era photography project of the Farm Security Administration, which he joined in 1942 at the age of 30. Perhaps his best-known photograph, which he titled "American Gothic," was taken during his brief time with the agency; it shows a black cleaning woman named Ella Watson standing stiffly in front of an American flag, a mop in one hand and a broom in the other. Parks wanted the picture to speak to the existence of racial bigotry and inequality in the U.S. capital.



Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett Dies at 45
The youngest of nine children born into poverty in a Chicago housing project, Puckett was drafted by the Twins in 1982 and became a regular just two years later. He got four hits in his first major league start and finished with 2,304 in only 12 seasons. "There are a lot of great players in this game, but only one Kirby,"



INTERNATIONAL:



Israel slaps the U.S. - and slaps again
Israel has in recent days delivered not one but two slaps to its closest ally. The first came in remarks by ex-Shin Bet chief and senior Kadima candidate Avi Dichter, speaking of negating the road map and moving on to a policy of unilateralism - in contrast to statements by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in her joint news conference with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. The second was delivered via a USAID report, which corroborated the claims of Palestinians that Israel was failing to keep promises it had made to Rice, a situation which according to the study could bring about economic catastrophe, beginning with the destruction of the Gaza hothouses project, which Washington had so strongly supported.



Aborigine singer 'left for dead'
An investigation has been launched after a prominent Aboriginal woman in Australia was left for dead after collapsing at a busy city bus stop.




IRAQ:



Iraqi farmers forbidden to have non-genetic modified seed
A new report [1] by GRAIN and Focus on the Global South has found that new legislation in Iraq has been carefully put in place by the US that prevents farmers from saving their seeds and effectively hands over the seed market to transnational corporations. This is a disastrous turn of events for Iraqi farmers, biodiversity and the country's food security.



BUSH CRIME FAMILY:



Poll: Cheney Less Popular Than OJ



Iran will be stopped, Cheney vows to Israeli lobbyists
Cheney made it clear Iran would not be allowed to have a nuclear weapon, described the Iranian regime as "irresponsible," and warned the United States had "all options on the table."



Neocon raps to RAW on Iran Contra, Iraq




HEALTH&FITNESS
Finding a Way: Peachy French Toast in Winter
Sure, the calendar says it's almost spring, but around here we won't be seeing local peaches until, at the earliest, mid-summer. Plus, I knew that any "fresh" peaches I'd find this time of year would be stone-hard and flown in from faraway lands, and that this would render the whole point of the recipe obsolete. And yet, I wanted that French toast. Badly.



REVIEWS/INTERVIEWS:



Stepin Fetchit, Hollywood's First Black Film Star
"The lazy man character that [Perry] played was based on something that had come from slavery," Watkins says. "It was called 'putting on old massa' -- break the tools, break the hoe, do anything to postpone the work that was to be done."
Finally, the white characters would become exasperated and do the work themselves.



Singer Bettye Lavette, Still Raising Hell
Bettye LaVette grew up in the same Detroit neighborhood as Smoky Robinson, Jackie Wilson and Aretha Franklin. But she didn't make it to the heights that they did. After a Top 10 R&B hit in 1962, her follow-up singles failed, and she bounced from record label to record label, never quite breaking through to stardom. LaVette is currently celebrating her 60th birthday, and her latest album, I've Got My Own Hell to Raise.



HUMOR?:



Tom Tomorrow: The Untroubled World of Your Average Conservative

Another Angle 6 - March - 2006

ANOTHER ANGLE
News others won't tell you



NATIONAL:



BAY AREA Blacks make 'covenant' for change
As if reciting a prayer, the crowd of more than 2,000 read the lines together in a solemn voice:
Covenant No. 1: Securing the right to health care and well-being.
Covenant No. 2: Establishing a system of public education in which all children achieve at high levels and reach their full potential.
Covenant No. 3: Correcting the system of unequal justice.



Its Real: Prison Labor for the Military
We've heard that troops are in such short supply in Iraq that ordinary seamen off Navy Trident subs are being given quickie training as sentries, rather than serving on strategic missile platforms, and off they go to Iraq. Now, with the receipt of the Army plans to use federal prisoners for labor, we have to ask what kind of picture this paints of the military's state of readiness?



THE FOX NEW FOUR PART STORY ON ISRAELI SPYING IN THE US
These are the videos AIPAC lobbied FOX News to remove from their website. Since then,. AIPAC has found itself embroiled in yet another espionage case, this time involving an operative inside the very Pentagon office from which many of the now discredited claims abut Iraq's WMD.



Bias preserved in deeds
The houses along Biltmore Avenue are full of black people, but none of them are supposed to live there. Buried in records are 60-year-old property restrictions that banned minorities from living in the modest High Point neighborhood.Clause No. 8 reads like this:"No person of any race other than the Caucasian race shall use or occupy any building or any lot, except that this covenant shall not prevent occupancy by domestic servants of a different race ... "



NAACP: Teacher Accused of Forcing Boy to Drink Soap



Depleted Uranium in Urine of Soldiers



A Few Good Curators
DJs, like curators, are collectors, so when Grandmaster Flash and other hip-hop luminaries met up with some officials from the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History the other day, there was some serious collecting to discuss. To begin with, museum director Brent Glass described his institution's grand undertaking: "It's the only museum in the world that has the mission of telling the whole of American history."



INTERNATIONAL:



UK: Ministers back 'terminator' GM crops
Ministers are trying to scrap an international agreement banning the world's most controversial genetic modification of crops, grimly nicknamed "terminator technology", a move which threatens to increase hunger in the Third World.



Police street-stop rule 'faces axe'
Strict anti-racism rules for when police accost suspects in the street could be dropped because they are taking up too much time, it has emerged. Officers are currently obliged to provide everyone stopped with an on-the-spot written record stating why they were targeted.(England)



IRAQ:



Lethal ‘flying gunships’ returning to Iraq
The four-engine gunships, whose home base is Hurlburt Field in Florida, have operated over Iraq before, flying from airfields elsewhere in the region. In November 2004, air-to-ground fire from AC-130s supported the U.S. attack that took the western city of Fallujah from insurgents.



Hello Iran, Bye Iraq; US GIs on Video; Drilling USA; Talabani woos Sadr; "Smoking" Iraqis




BUSH CRIME FAMILY:



CUNNINGHAM SCANDAL FIGURE LINKED TO IRAN CONTRA COCAINE TRAFFICKING
"It was drugs, it was money-laundering, it was everything," South Florida detective James Rider told Robert Parry of The Consortium at the time. "I know the CIA was in there somewhere."



Former DEA Agent Wants George H. Bush, Negroponte And Other Higher-Ups Held Accountable For Illegal Drug Smuggling
After Castillo blew the whistle, Bush made a point to seek out Castillo during one of his South of the border visits, in essence trying to "feel out" Castillo, but at the same time careful not to make any incriminating statement. "When Bush confronted me and then just walked away after I told him some of the evidence I had, it was obvious he knew what was going on and was involved in the illegal drug trade," said Castillo. And when Castillo's allegations first went public, he was the first government DEA agent with first-hand knowledge of North's drug dealing sanctioned by Bush and other higher-ups.



BUSH & CHENEY VOW TO JAIL REPORTERS
Perhaps Bush and Cheney , joint custodians of the nation’s first unitary diktatorship, need a refresher course on the Pandora’s Box they open by their latest salvo into the world of totalitarian madness. The biggest leakers in the United States are "Nero" Cheney and his ward , "Caligula" Bush.



Staged attack to precede war against Iran
Psychological manipulation and military plans are now being fine-tuned and put into place in order to carry out a war against Iran. This manipulation of the public at large strongly resembles preparations taken prior to the current war in Iraq, giving rise to suspicions of a potential diversionary tactic by the U.S. military. At the same time that pressure to pull the troops out of Iraq is intensifying, the U.S. is dispatching an entire division there, possibly to employ against Iran at a later date.



Priests clean up after Bush dogs
Hindu priests who take care of the memorial of Mahatma Gandhi, the Indian independence leader, conducted a purification ceremony at the shrine after last week’s visit by President Bush.



ECONOMY:



HOUSING MARKET GLUTS UP
The Commerce Department said yesterday the backlog of unsold new homes in January reached the highest level ever of 528,000, with sales steadily sliding by as much as 5 percent.
*How a housing downturn could roil economy
*US mortgage bonds face risk if house prices fall
*48% home sales drop leads state



OP-ED:



Stanley Crouch: Copyrighting the N-word
You know the old saying, 'Whatever the market will bear.' " Now we find that comedian Damon Wayans has spent the past 14 months trying to copyright the N-word with "iggas" instead of "iggers."



Horray for Honkeywood? Spike Lee Speaks Out
You go to any studio, the [only] black you are going to see is the guy at the gate. In Hollywood, there is not one African-American who is an executive that has gatekeeper position that could greenlight a picture. They'll make a movie with Denzel [Washington] and Jamie [Foxx] and Eddie [Murphy], but only because they can make money off them.



REVIEWS/INTERVIEWS:



Dr. John: 'We're Gonna Be Back' in New Orleans
In a tour of devastated neighborhoods, he expresses fear that the city's unique grassroots culture has been uprooted. Dr. John, 65, now lives on Long Island. He was on tour when Katrina struck six months ago. But he felt the storm's wrath intimately. Nearly every member of his band and much of his road crew had homes in New Orleans that were either damaged or destroyed.



HUMOR?:



Sutton Impact: Bush's Expanded Presidential Powers

Another Angle 3 - March - 2006

ANOTHER ANGLE
News others won't tell you



NATIONAL:



Hip hop orgs say, 'Shut 'em down!'
Dozens of groups across the country are calling for Congress to censure the President. Within hours of the news, the National Organizing Committee of the National Hip Hop Political Convention, the League of Pissed Off Voters, ColorofChange.org, the Hip-Hop Caucus, the Finding Our Folk Tour and others drafted a petition demanding the Congressional Censure. More on the petition here.

Valley High teacher appeals suspension over comment
Paul Dawson, a white teacher at Valley High, was suspended last month after he admitted saying "niggah" to a student who would not sit down in class on Dec. 2, according to district documents. But Dawson argued that the term did not constitute a racial slur.



Storm the White House
Multi-Day Event, Beginning March 15, come when you can and stay as long as you can - we are taking over the White House until they leave.
Just putting it out there.



U.S. Cites Exception in Torture Ban
Bush administration lawyers, fighting a claim of torture by a Guantanamo Bay detainee, yesterday argued that the new law that bans cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of detainees in U.S. custody does not apply to people held at the military prison.



Republican Congressman Predicts Bush Impeachment
Republican Congressman Ron Paul has gone on record with his prediction that the impeachment of George W. Bush is right around the corner but warned that in the meantime the US was slipping perilously close to a dictatorship.
*The bungling Bush presidency is falling apart



Midwest Oil fined for selling gas too cheaply
The Minnesota Commerce Department on Thursday announced plans to fine a gas station chain $140,000 for repeatedly selling gas below the state's legal minimum price.



Two Resign From Ill. Hate Crimes Panel
SEE YA! How dare these people! Let's hope the govenor continues to stand up.



DeLay fights for his political life in Texas
DeLay, nicknamed "the Hammer" for the blunt way he wielded power during 22 years in the U.S. House of Representatives, has been swamped by ethics allegations that have made him a prime Democratic target in November's elections and a national symbol for charges of Republican corruption.



Katherine Harris Caught Up in Bribery Scandal



Suit Accuses a Police Chief of Blocking CPR
The chief, Robert K. Bowman of the small town of Welch, told Mr. Snead that his friend, red-faced and gasping for breath, had the virus that causes AIDS, according to a lawsuit filed yesterday. Chief Bowman grabbed Mr. Snead's shoulder, the suit says, pulling him away from his friend, Claude Green Jr.



After critical new article, Abramoff group sendsRaw Story cease and desist over year old story



Gulf War Veteran Gets Placebos Instead Of Real Medicine
Like thousands of other soldiers, Army veteran Mike Woods said he developed bizarre symptoms after serving in the first Gulf War -- blackouts, chest pain and numbness in the extremities. Woods looked to the Veterans Administration for help. He said his VA doctor prescribed him a drug called Obecalp.



INTERNATIONAL:



Drought crisis develops in Ethiopia
The United Nations World Food Program believes the critical situation in the southern Borena Zone and south-eastern Somali Region is likely to get even worse as there have been forecasts of continued dry weather. This will leave an estimated 11 million people in Ethiopia, Somalia, Djibouti and Kenya without food.



IAEA says no evidence of Iranian n-weapons plan
In its report which has been circulated to its 35 board members, the IAEA said that its three years of investigations had not shown "any diversion of nuclear material to nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices".



IRAQ:



Who Will Tell Our Stories?
The Bush administration insists it is bringing democracy to Iraq; yet refuses to listen to the wishes of the Iraqi people. Now we see just how far the administration will go to keep the voices of Iraqis away from the American public.



ECONOMY:



Corporate tax breaks may be found illegal
Every year, U.S. companies collect billions of dollars worth of tax breaks from states and cities anxious to lure jobs and investment to their regions. Now a good chunk of this largesse may be threatened by a U.S.Supreme Court case.



Europeans Again Lift Rates and Hint at More Increases
With Europe seemingly on firm economic footing, the European Central Bank on Thursday raised interest rates for the second time in three months and signaled more increases to come.



OP-ED:



Shining Light into the Abyss
Occasionally events occur that reveal transitory glimpses of painful truths that are ordinarily kept hidden from public view, as when lightning strikes in darkness and reveals the contours of a landscape. Hurricane Katrina was such an event. As that powerful storm wrecked havoc upon the Gulf Coast, the world saw with absolute clarity who this government serves.



Let Them Starve
Columnist Charles Krauthammer, that great humanitarian, that lover of western "values", was even more blunt. Hamas must be cut off completely, he wrote, with "no recognition, no negotiation, no aid, nothing. And not just assistance to a Hamas government but all assistance." That is to say: let them starve.



SCIENCE&TECHNOLOGY:



RFID: Sign of the (End) Times?
Katherine Albrecht is on a mission from God. "My goal as a Christian (is) to sound the alarm." If the VeriChip becomes a common payment device similar to the "contactless" payment system in the Exxon Mobil Speedpass, all who wish to buy and sell goods will be compelled "to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads," as it says in Revelation.



HEALTH&FITNESS:



Bextra - What Did Pfizer Know? - Everything




REVIEWS/INTERVIEWS:



Movie Review 'Dave Chappelle's Block Party': A Comedian's Ultimate Goal: Rock the Block
In "Dave Chappelle's Block Party," The nominal idea, the comic explains on camera, was "the concert I've always wanted to see." The result, which ping-pongs between Brooklyn and Mr. Chappelle's hometown in Ohio, is a tantalizing sketch-portrait of the artist amid an outpouring of hard beats and soul.



HUMOR?:



Tom Toles

Another Angle 2 - March - 2006

ANOTHER ANGLE
News others won't tell you



NATIONAL:



Ports deal will close by Monday
"My understanding is that the deal will not close today," Deputy Treasury Secretary Robert Kimmitt told a Senate panel. "Although they had announced March 2 as the closing date ... that deal will not now close until tomorrow or Monday."
*U.S. Reviewing Second Dubai-Based Company



DeWine Billed For Bush Visit
The president appeared at a home in Indian Hill for a DeWine campaign fund raiser that collected more than $1 million. Hamilton County Sheriff Simon Leis has sent DeWine a bill for $7,400 for the president's security. But the DeWine campaign says it doesn't have to pay, so it won't.



The Ohio Vote Debacle
It turns out, we missed more than a few of the dirty tricks Karl Rove, Ken Blackwell and their GOP used to get themselves four more years.
*Social Security info on Blackwell Web site



Quietly, U.S. buys $38m in depleted uranium shells...
The U.S. Army quietly placed an order for $38 million in depleted uranium rounds last week, bringing the total order from a West-Virginia based company to $77 million for fiscal year 2006.



Alito to Christian right: I'll remember you



US Has Been Preparing to Turn America Into a Military Dictatorship
Under the heading of "civil disturbance planning", the U.S. military is training troops and police to suppress democratic opposition in America. The master plan, Department of Defense Civil Disturbance Plan 55-2, is code-named, "Operation Garden Plot". Originated in 1968, the "operational plan" has been updated over the last three decades, most recently in 1991. The plan was activated during the Los Angeles "riots" of 1992, and more than likely during the recent anti-WTO "Battle in Seattle."
*Concentration Camps in America - Are They For You?
*10-Year U.S. Strategic Plan For Detention Camps Revives Proposals From Oliver North



FOIA Request Form
Under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), anyone has the right to request information from the government. Last strengthened by Congress in response to the Watergate scandal, FOIA gives citizens a way to demand transparency from the Administration -- and take the government to court if necessary.


No Cinderella Story, No Ball, No Black Debutante
Like so many other aspects of New Orleans, Mardi Gras has long been rigidly polarized along racial lines, with its black and white adherents celebrating equally enthusiastically but almost totally separately in krewes, which are private, nonprofit clubs.



Memories of the Movies in Segregated America
Writer and filmmaker S. Pearl Sharp offers an audio essay about the black movie going experience during the days of segregated American cinema.



INTERNATIONAL:



At 75, Gorbachev laments US 'arrogance'
"Ending the Cold War was given as a gift" to the United States, but it only strengthened its arrogance and unilateralism, he said. "The winner's complex is worse than an inferiority complex, because it's harder to cure."



Carjacking: the everyday ordeal
Acclaimed as a masterpiece by many critics, the film's success has beamed international attention on to a form of armed robbery which evokes particular dread.



IRAQ:



Saddam admits link to killings
Saddam Hussein admitted yesterday that he ordered the trial of Shia villagers who were executed, and decreed the destruction of their farmlands, following an assassination attempt against him in Dujail in 1982. The former Iraqi dictator insisted his actions as the then Iraqi president did not constitute a crime, but it was the first time he had acknowledged a direct personal link to the events in Dujail.



BUSH CRIME FAMILY:



Bush was warned about Katrina
The AP has just released video and an article proving that Bush's advisers were desperately concerned about potential damage from Hurricane Katrina, and that they warned him repeatedly.
*VIDEO Bush, Chertoff Warned before Katrina
*VIDEO: Nagin Responds
*How did the Washington Post miss the levees in their new story about the Katrina video?



Abramoff credit card paid for DeLay trip
The paper trail seems so obvious, it makes you wonder whether anyone ever worried about getting caught. When Congressman Tom Delay and his wife flew from Houston to a golf resort in Scotland, in June, 2000, the first class air fare cost $14,001. A big ticket item for a public servant.



Dubai funds Neil Bush’s company
As investigative reporters start digging to “follow the money” in what is becoming known as the “Dubai Debacle,” Neil Bush is certain to find center stage once again in what well could be also dubbed the coming “Neil-gate” controversy.



Bush, an Opponent of Raising Taxes, Proposes $47 Bln in Fees



Molly Ivins: Level of Bush administration incompetence is truly chilling
But when you look at the details of what incompetence means, it becomes both chilling and really, really expensive. You may recall Bunnatine Greenhouse, a senior civilian contracting official with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, who said the Kellogg, Brown & Root (KBR) contract was "the most blatant and improper contract abuse I have witnessed during the course of my professional career." (Greenhouse was later demoted for her honesty.)



How Bush has stayed away from soldiers' funerals
Nadia McCaffrey's son Patrick, 34, a member of the Californian National Guard, was killed during an ambush in Iraq in June 2004. She said she had not expected Mr Bush to attend her son's funeral in person but thought the government would send someone."He was my only child, but it was not only that. Patrick did not want anything from the military. He joined up out of patriotism. I would have thought that... somebody could have come. Nobody showed up."



ECONOMY:



FT.com / World / Americas - Data trigger long dollar sell-off
Dollar/euro volatility has fallen to multi-year lows in recent weeks as modestly upbeat data in both trading blocs have reinforced expectations for further tightening in both jurisdictions.



OP-ED:



Andy Young - The Shameless Son
http://www.blackcommentator.com/173/173_cover_andy_young.html
We should never give up on our people. Each venue is another opportunity to correct ourselves. Let us take up the challenge. Raw and blatant betrayal cannot be tolerated, and it is up to us to make it extremely uncomfortable for the betrayers. They cannot sit among us, much less in elevated positions.



The Most Dangerous Days
We as a nation are being led by a man - and an administration - that perceive reality through a prism of triumphalism, that refuses to see the truth of things, that avoids hard facts the way a cat avoids water. If any further proof of this is needed, look no further than the Tuesday interview of Mr. Bush on CNN. "I know the American people want somebody to stand on principle," said Bush, "make decisions and stand by them and lead this world toward a more peaceful tomorrow, and I strongly believe we're doing that. And I enjoy it. It's a fantastic opportunity." He is enjoying this fantastic opportunity. 'Nuff said.



Mahatma Bush: Norman Solomon
Gandhi's enthusiasm for nonviolence is nearly matched by Bush's enthusiasm for violence. The commander in chief regularly proclaims his misty-eyed pride in U.S. military actions that destroy countless human lives with massive and continual techno-violence. But the Bushian isn't quite 180 degrees from the Gandhian. The president of the United States is not exactly committed to violence; what he wants is an end to resistance.



FOOD&DRINK:



HASHBROWN PIZZA
This quick hearty dish is a crowd pleaser and great for the busy family.



REVIEWS/INTERVIEWS:



The Murder of George Jackson: an Interview with His Lawyer, Stephen Bingham
Jackson, author of the widely read prison memoir Soledad Brother, had been thrown in jail for a petty robbery, and became a revolutionary behind bars. He was murdered in August 1971 by guards at San Quentin prison in an alleged "escape attempt."



Remembering Singer Nina Simone
The recent reissue of her album, To Be Young, Gifted and Black, prompted commentator Mark Anthony Neal to consider how her songs inspired a generation.



HUMOR?:



Fiore: The Thriving Business of Long War Inc.

Another Angle 1 - March - 2006

ANOTHER ANGLE
News others won't tell you



NATIONAL:



Conyers: Patriot Act renewal 'dangerous'
Congressman John Conyers Jr. (Democrat - MI) released the following statement calling the bill calling for reauthorization of the Patriot Act "dangerous" because it makes it harder for recipients to challenge gag-orders, and complaining about the lack of debates or hearings leading up to the vote.


How Major Corporations and Government Plan to Track your Every Move with Radio Frequency Identification
"We may be standing on the brink of that terrifying world if global corporations and government agencies have their way. It's the world that Wal-Mart, Target, Gillette, Procter & Gamble, Kraft, IBM, and even the United States Postal Service want to usher in within the next ten years.



The Soldiers Speak. Will President Bush Listen?
One more bit of evidence that our grim stay-the-course policy in Iraq has failed. Even the American troops on the ground don't buy into it ? and having administration officials pontificate from the safety of Washington about the need for ordinary soldiers to stay the course further erodes military morale.
*The Troops Want to End Iraq Occupation in 2006
*Poll: U.S. Troops in Iraq: 72% Say End War in 2006


Senator Feinstein's War-Profiteering
The Democrats aren’t just letting the Republicans get away with murder, however, some of them are also reaping the benefits of the Bush wars. We constantly hear about Dick Cheney’s ties to Halliburton and how his ex-company is making bundles off US contracts in Iraq. But what we don’t hear about is how Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein and her husband are also making tons of money off the “war on terror”.


Connecting John Snow, David Sanborn, the Carlyle Group, CSX, and ...
It just gets weirder and weirder.
*US Coast Guard warned about ports
*Dubai Does Brisk War Business
*Dubai Port Company Official Tells Senate Boycott Of Israel Is True...


U.S. plan to divide Iran
Marines produce road map to ethnic strife Washington bankrolls separatist groups



Storm's Missing: Lives Not Lost but Disconnected
"We get some calls that say, 'I just thought about my fiancé is missing,' " said Lenora Green, shaking her head in a mixture of sympathy and disbelief. "It's like they just click back into reality because of the shock they're going through."
*The 'New Orleans Stare' - Mental Health Needs of Blacks Acute ...after katrina
*Fat Tuesday for Disaster Profiteers



Historic pictures of civil rights struggle published
The photos had been in a box marked: "Keep. Do Not Sell." At the time they were taken, the newspaper did not want to draw attention to the racial discord of the 1950s and 60s, photographers from the period said. "The editors thought if you didn't publish it, much of this would go away," said Ed Jones, 81, a photographer at the News from 1942 to 1987.



Plan To Name Street After Black Panther Blasted
A police union official is criticizing a Chicago proposal to rename a street after a slain Black Panther leader who once advocated violence against police officers. The City Council's transportation committee approved an ordinance yesterday to rename a one-block section of Monroe Street on the city's West Side after former Panther Fred Hampton. Hampton was gunned down by police in a controversial raid at his Chicago apartment in 1969.



Court Blocks DOD's New Rules for Workers
"Taken as a whole, the design of these regulations appears to rest on the mistaken premise that Congress intended flexibility to trump collective bargaining rights," wrote Sullivan, who noted that the new regulations "entirely eviscerate collective bargaining."



Reichstag Fire Anniversary: A Precedent ?
A small group of sociopaths, seeking world domination, set fire to a nationally symbolic building and blamed it on a group of misguided idealists, thereby inculcating a sense of fear into the nation and enabling the perpetrators to gain total control of the nation.
Sound familiar ?



Appointee with ties to Farrakhan won't quit
"Why should I step down? What have I done? That's a foolish question," Claudette Marie Johnson said when asked whether she intends to remain a member of the governor's Commission on Discrimination and Hate Crimes. "If you were appointed by the governor, would you step down?" A group of Jewish, gay and conservative lawmakers plan today to call on Johnson, also known as Sister Claudette Muhammad, to publicly repudiate Farrakhan's statements or step down from the governor's panel.



Smithsonian's Doors Open to a Hip-Hop Beat
Grandmaster Flash gave his prized Technics turntable. Ice-T offered vintage tour T-shirts and rare CD's. Afrika Bambaataa gave a trove of jackets, caps and jewelry in his trademark Afrocentric style. All will go to the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History in Washington, where they will reside alongside the flag that inspired "The Star-Spangled Banner" and the Woolworth's lunch counter from Greensboro, N.C., where four black students sat for civil rights in 1960.




San Francisco Bay View - National Black Newspaper of the Year
Slave revolts, the Underground Railroad and the Baptist Church: The rise and fall of the Black Hockey League
Black life was not always so constrained in Canada. Even though historians downplay Canada’s own sordid attempts at slavery, slavery did indeed exist there, though it was never economically as viable as it was in the more Southern colonies. During the American revolution, thousands of formerly enslaved Blacks and freedmen fought on the side of the British loyalists, many in the Ethiopian Regiments and the Black Rangers, because they saw their struggle (rightly so as it turned out) as a fight against slavery.



More know Simpsons than Constitution
Pathetic!

INTERNATIONAL:



Campaign against Bush visit gains momentum

"We emphatically oppose the forthcoming visit... President Bush is the topmost official of U.S. imperialism, leading enemy of the sovereignty of nations and the peoples of the world today. He is the leader of the imperialist quest at neo-colonial world domination. He is certainly not welcome in India... "
*Open Letter to President Bush on His Visit to India
*Bush Should Not Visit Gandhi Memorial, Says Peaceniks
*Why India Should Choose Iran, Not the US
*Arundhati Roy: Baby Bush go home

Israel angered as Europe aids Palestine
The bulk of yesterday's EU-agreed aid package will go on direct humanitarian aid paid through the UN and other agencies. But the EU will also release $21m for salaries which had been frozen in a World Bank Trust fund - providing this is spent before the new Palestinian government is formed.
*Palestinians face financial collapse



Apartheid's founding party draws last breath
The successor to the party that introduced apartheid and enforced racist segregation for 46 years took a mere 2 per cent of the vote against the ANC's two-thirds majority. Finally, in August 2004 the NNP's national executive took a unanimous decision to dissolve the party.



"Refugee Crisis Grows as Darfur War Crosses a Border"
Arab gunmen from Darfur have pushed across the desert and entered Chad, stealing cattle, burning crops and killing anyone who resists. The lawlessness has driven at least 20,000 Chadians from their homes, making them refugees in their own country.
*Chad's Oil Riches, Meant For Poor, Are Diverted


IRAQ:



Violence threatens Iraq drawdown
Imagine that!



BUSH CRIME FAMILY:



Jeb Bush Asked to Explain Cruise Ship Deal
In a letter, Rep. Henry Waxman of California called on Bush to explain his role in the award of the "lucrative contract," which was given to the Florida-based company without a full competitive bid process. The e-mails Waxman released were provided to Congress by Michael Brown, former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.



The Secret Service at Booker Elementary: The Dog That Did Not Bark
Okay, let's have a look at how the Secret Service reacted when President Bush was informed by Andrew Card that America was under attack
*Get Over It, America: Osama bin Laden Didn't Do 9/11!



ECONOMY:



FT.com / Markets / Capital markets - Fed in call for 'stand-by' Treasuries bank
The US Federal Reserve has asked Wall Street dealers to develop a "stand-by" bank that would step in if one of the two leading Treasuries clearing banks encountered problems. The Fed and the US Treasury depend on the Treasuries securities market to implement monetary policy and fund the US government. But the market, in which $545bn is traded daily, depends on two banks, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of New York, to clear its trades. This situation concerns regulators.
Registration is required for further reading.



Global Credit Ocean Dries Up
"The carry trade has pervaded every single instrument imaginable, credit spreads, bond spreads: everything is poisoned," said David Bloom, currency analyst at HSBC.
"It's going to come to an end later this year and it's going to be ugly, even if we haven't reached the shake-out just yet. History tells us that carry trades end when central bank tightening cycles begin." Ominously, almost every bank other than the Bank of England is now tightening in unison.



OP-ED:



Behind The Curtain No Longer
Six months ago to this day, Hurricane Katrina not only flooded a city and flattened a coast. She also blew away the thick curtain our nation had drawn across our most poor. “Pay no attention to the poor behind the curtain!” those controlling the levers in Washington have since been saying, as they desperately try to distract us with more smoke and loud noises. But it is too late; Katrina exposed our poor for all the world to see.



Twilight of the Hegemony
Bush's ill-fated invasion of Iraq has set in motion forces beyond his control. By invading Afghanistan and Iraq and by threatening Syria and Iran, Bush has taught Muslims everywhere that they owe their humiliation to the Western controlled secular governments that suppress their aspirations. When Bush attacks Iran, the US army will be caught between the Iraqi Shia and the Iranian Shia and will be decimated in fourth generation conflict, so aptly described in CounterPunch a few days ago by William S. Lind.



Thom Hartmann: When Americans No Longer Own America
Through a combination of the "Fast Track" authority pushed for by Reagan and GHW Bush, sweetheart trade deals involving "most favored nation status" for dictatorships like China, and Clinton pushing us into NAFTA and the WTO (via GATT), we've abandoned the principles of tariff-based trade that built American industry and kept us strong for over 200 years.



Bob Herbert : Ike Saw It Coming
The military-industrial complex has become so pervasive that it is now all but invisible. Its missions and priorities are poorly understood by most Americans, and frequently counter to their interests.



Bush in Pakistan
As I left my office this evening I saw with apprehension three sinister dark helicopter gunships patrolling low over Islamabad. I wondered who they were protecting. Then I realised that a murderer, in fact a mass murderer, will be in town tomorrow. But the helicopters were not there to protect the people of Islamabad from this murderer but they were there to protect the murderer from the wrath of the people of the world.



SCIENCE&TECHNOLOGY:



'Project SERPO' story gets more credible?
Is it a hoax and fiction? Is it a disinformation psychological operation (PSYOP) of some kind? Is it part of an acclimation program to further educate and prepare Americans and the international population for the reality of extraterrestrial visitation and activities on Earth? Or, is it something else or some combination of things?

FOOD&DRINK:



Sticky Rice
Sticky rice is the main event at the northern Thai table. Small bites of each dish are put on the diner's plate, then a walnut-size amount of rice is formed into a ball with your fingers and used to pick up a chunk of meat or vegetable.

REVIEWS/INTERVIEWS:



Roundtable: Black Authors in Spotlight
Black authors are enjoying increasing book sales and greater attention. Farai Chideya hosts a roundtable on the past, present and future of black literature. Guests include author DeWitt Gilmore, who writes under the name Relentless; Malaika Adero, senior editor for Atria Books; and Nick Chiles, editor-in-chief of travel magazine Odyssey Couleur.



HUMOR?:



'Boondocks' Comic Strip Going on Hiatus



This Modern World

Another Angle 27 - February - 2006

ANOTHER ANGLE
News others won't tell you



NATIONAL:



Farrakhan's Saviors' Day Speech Raises Controversy
"You are a weak nation now and your country has been taken from you by the synagogue of Satan. They own Congress. That's why the Congress ain’t right," Farrakhan said.
“The synagogue of Satan” by Minister Louis Farrakhan



Former CIA Analyst: Western Intelligence May Be Behind Mosque Bombing
"The main question is Qui Bono? Who benefits from this kind of thing? You don't have to be very conspiratorial or even paranoid to suggest that there are a whole bunch of likely suspects out there and not only the Sunnis. You know, the British officers were arrested, dressed up in Arab garb, riding around in a car, so this stuff goes on."



Why Aren't Black Business Tycoons Celebrated During Black History Month?
For more than two decades, a number of historians, led largely by the pathbreaking scholarship of Professor Juliet E.K. Walker of the University of Texas, have been working to expand our knowledge of the rich tradition of black entrepreneurs, managers, and corporate executives. Too few people, including U.S. historians, have taken notice.



INTERNATIONAL:



Venezuela Prepared to Stop U.S. Exports
"If our country, our process, our constitution are attacked by the Bush administration, we are not going to send any more oil," Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez told the Ultimas Noticias daily in an interview. "We'll see then which of the two governments is able to manage this type of a situation better."



Israeli company stops petroleum supplies to Palestinian lands
Al-Bader said the Israeli company that exported petroleum products to Palestinian lands notified the Palestinian Authority (PA) that it could not continue supplying Palestinian lands, after the official Palestinian check bounced due to insufficient fund.



Iran clear and present danger to US
With its need to import and consume more petroleum and more of everything, there is no way for the US to pay its debts, even though it may earn some money from lending out the funds deposited with it by the countries of the world. There simply is too much US dollars within the world’s financial system. And so the deficit of the US will continue to grow, for such is the size of its debt that it cannot pay even the interest from earnings. In reality, the US is bankrupt. That is why Iran must be destroyed at any cost. The Iranian oil bourse poses a clear and present danger to the survival of the United States.
*US 'skeptical' of Iran- Russia nuclear deal
*BELLACIAO - March 20 to 26, 2006: Iran-USA, beginning of a major ...world crisis



Mexico front-runner promises break with U.S. policies
Conservative President Vicente Fox broke that tradition after taking office in 2000 when he joined the United States in condemning the lack of fundamental liberties in Cuba and elsewhere. Mexico's foreign policy under Fox sought to promote human rights and civil liberties abroad. That'll change, Lopez Obrador signaled to a crowd estimated between 70,000 and 120,000. Having led public opinion polls for two years, Lopez Obrador is on track to become Mexico's first president elected from a left-wing party, the Party of the Democratic Revolution.



Egypt Announces Discovery of Ramses II Statues



BUSH CRIME FAMILY:



Why Is Halliburton Building Internment Camps?
As early as September of 2002, John Ashcroft discussed internment of even American citizens who were deemed “enemy combatants” [2a] and Peter Kirsanow of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission said that he “could foresee a scenario in which the public would demand internment camps for Arab Americans if Arab terrorists strike again in this country.” If there’s a future terrorist attack in America ‘’and they come from the same ethnic group that attacked the World Trade Center, you can forget about civil rights.” [2 b]



ECONOMY:

Private Rivers
The IDB, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are the largest purveyors of water privatization worldwide. Behind the charitable guise of providing water to the poor, the majority of the water projects are implementing changes that shift control of water management and propriety over water itself from democratic forums (like city councils and state legislatures) to corporate board rooms. The majority of these projects are in Africa and Latin America, while most of them include some type of "hydro-sector reform."



U.S. and Colombia Reach Free Trade Deal
What do we get in return? Cocaine?

OP-ED:



US and Iran Collision Course Is Financial, Not Nuclear
LEAP/E2020's researchers and analysts thus identified 7 convergent crises that the American and Iranian decisions coming into effect during the last week of March 2006, will catalyse and turn into a total crisis, affecting the whole planet in the political, economic and financial fields, as well as in the military field



FOOD&DRINK:



BUFFALO BURGERS WITH PICKLED ONIONS AND SMOKY RED PEPPER SAUCE




REVIEWS/INTERVIEWS:



Jazzman Gerald Wilson, Still Enjoying His 'Time'
Jazz great Gerald Wilson is still going strong at 87. His most recent album, In My Time was released last year.

Another Angle 26 - February - 2006

ANOTHER ANGLE
News others won't tell you



NATIONAL:



Give 'em hell, Harry!
If you think Rev. Lowery spoke truth to power, after you see this you will know why the Bush Crime Family would not share the stage at Coretta Scott King's funeral with Harry Belafonte.



Tiny neo-Nazi march jeered, ends early
More than 500 counterprotesters held back by 300 police officers drowned out the message of a neo-Nazi group that marched through Orlando's historic black Parramore neighborhood Saturday.



Spring Break on the Gulf Coast
This spring break, undergrad and graduate students across the country are going to be heading down to Biloxi, Miss., Mobile Ala., and New Orleans, La. Not to party hearty, or to get their groove on at clubs catering to them and their dollars, but to help make a difference in the lives affected most by the biggest natural disaster to hit the United States in recent history, thanks to the organizing efforts of the Katrina on the Ground initiative.



Unrest continues at Augustine Volcano
The level of concern color code for Korovin Volcano was elevated from Green to YELLOW on Wednesday (2/22/06) of this week in response to elevated seismicity. Distinct seismic signals were recorded four of six days between January 17 and 22, with a sustained, 11 minute-long seismic signal on February 22, indicating unrest at this volcano.



War Corporatism: The New Fascism
A video by Simon Robson aka. Knife Party and friend, Barry McNamara. It's an animated look at the dogs of War Corporatism unleashed upon the world by Bush and the PNAC as stated in the September 2000 document Rebuilding America's Defenses.



EPA OK’d plan to dump nerve agent into Delaware
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency won't oppose the U.S. Department of Defense and DuPont Co.'s plan to dump a wastewater byproduct of a deadly nerve agent into the Delaware River. The agency said it's assured of a safe treatment for up to 4 million gallons of caustic wastewater created in the treatment for VX, a chemical weapon with a pinhead-size potency to kill a human. DuPont is treating VX for disposal at its Newport Chemical Depot in Indiana.



Dubai Firm Takeover Extended From Six US Ports To 21...
P&O is the parent company of P&O Ports North America, which leases terminals for the import and export and loading and unloading and security of cargo in 21 ports, 11 on the East Coast, ranging from Portland, Maine to Miami, Florida, and 10 on the Gulf Coast, from Gulfport, Miss., to Corpus Christi, Texas, according to the company's Web site.



Hamer at '64 Dem convention fueled Miss. party's defection
A national TV audience in 1964 was captivated by the booming voice of a stubby Mississippi black woman named Fannie Lou Hamer coming from the Democratic National convention in Atlantic City. Dramatically, she told from her personal experience how Mississippi blacks through violence and intimidation were excluded from the political process in her state.



Obedient Slaves Have Nothing to Fear:
Get used to surveillance gadgets mounted above every intersection or inside every store. Soon enough, surveillance cameras will be “on downtown streets and in apartment complexes, shopping malls and even private homes to fight crime during a shortage of police officers,” as presaged by Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt.



INTERNATIONAL:



Russia, Iran agree to set up enrichment venture - vice president
Russia and Iran have agreed to set up a joint uranium enrichment venture in Russia, the Iranian vice president said Sunday. "We held talks with the Russian side on Russia's proposal yesterday and today. The talks saw good progress. Both sides are pleased with the talks," Gholamreza Agazadeh said after a meeting with Russia's nuclear chief Sergei Kiriyenko.



U.S. Defends Conditions at Bagram Prison
The U.S. military on Sunday defended its detention of about 500 inmates at its main base in Afghanistan, saying they are treated humanely and provided the ``best possible living conditions.'' The New York Times on Sunday reported that inmates are held by the dozen in wire cages at the Bagram Air Base, north of Kabul - some for as long as two or three years without access to lawyers or the chance to hear the allegations against them.
Afghan Inmates Riot, Take Over Prison Wing


IRAQ:



Iraqi Government warns of 'endless civil war'



In pictures: Iraq shrine bombing



After Askariya
Sammara eyewitness, however, have published accounts on various websites, like Iraqirabita.org, saying US and Iraqi forces had sealed off access ways to the Shrine the night prior to the explosion.



BUSH CRIME FAMILY:



Witnesses say they funneled donations
Tom Noe was so eager to become a Bush “Pioneer” that he used a pair of former top aides to Gov. Bob Taft to launder campaign contributions to the President’s re-election bid, documents released yesterday by prosecutors show. H. Douglas Talbott told investigators last summer that he and Doug Moormann took part in Mr. Noe’s alleged scheme in October, 2003, to illegally funnel money into the President’s campaign.



Details of 2005 Bush bike accident released
HE MAY be the most powerful man in the world, but proof has emerged that President George Bush cannot ride a bike, wave and speak at the same time.



ECONOMY:



Orders to U.S. factories for manufactured goods fall by largest amount in 5.5 years



Cancelled home orders: Latest bubble prick?



Setting sail away from America: The world finds it's too hard to do business with the US
In the UK, in the cash-rich Gulf states and in fast-growing India, different incidents in the past week have made people ask the same question: is it worth doing business with the US?



OP-ED:



Katrina and the Failure of Black Leadership
http://www.blackcommentator.com/172/172_cover_katrina_shock.html
So this is not a commentary about the minutia of legislation that has been introduced under the signatures of various Black congresspeople. None of it is going anywhere, anyway. It is about Black leadership, and its failings in the wake of the Katrina crisis. Black congressional leadership been has been dragged around by the nose by Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the white folks who are indebted to corporations.



Being Poor's the Real Crime as Cops Nab Trash Thieves
Milwaukee Municipal Judge Jim Gramling, a judge with a social conscience, told Journal Sentinel columnist Jim Stingl that he has seen a parade of poor people in front of him recently charged with stealing garbage. Gramling, who unfortunately is retiring from the bench, said he routinely voids these tickets, which carry a fine of $122. He said he's seen police pile multiple charges onto poor people, including a $300 fine for failure to obtain a junk dealer's license.



On the brink in Iraq
Like the Sarajevo assassination that precipitated World War I, the attack on the mosque may trigger a war, but it won't be the cause. The cause is far more deep-rooted, embedded in the chaos and bitterness that followed the U.S. invasion of Iraq and America's deliberate efforts to stress sectarian differences in creating the Iraqi Governing Council and subsequent government institutions. If the current crisis doesn't spark a civil war, be patient. The next one will.



Black men still waiting for a reason to smile
What makes us happy? Sad? And what our goals are for the future? Due to lack of space, this column reflects only the viewpoints of the male gender. One of my biggest pet peeves is men who don't smile. Maybe this is why I discovered a liking for Nelly's song Grillz (urban term for diamond studded fake teeth), " ... smile for me daddy, I wanna see yo grillz..."



HEALTH&FITNESS:



Guess who the big loser is under Bush health plan
Demonically, the Bush proposal gives employers new reasons not to offer traditional health coverage, or any medical benefits at all. Indeed, the new health savings accounts could do to the traditional health plan what the 401(k) plan did to the traditional pension: Kill it off. Like 401(k)s, the proposed HSAs could save money for employers while transferring the cost and risk of providing what was once an expected benefit onto the workers.



FOOD&DRINK:



Celebrating the Corn Flake's Centenary
In honor of corn flakes' centenary, public television chef Daisy Martinez has devised a number of recipes using the cereal.



REVIEWS/INTERVIEWS:



Helping to Shape the Sound of Philly Soul
When Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff started Philadelphia International Records in the early 1970s, they followed in the footsteps of great regional soul labels like Detroit's Motown and Stax in Memphis.With John Jackson, author of House on Fire: the Rise and Fall of Philly Soul, Kenny Gamble and Thom Bell give their personal insights into this important piece of music history.



JUST WEIRD:



Psycho Path Voted Wackiest Street Name
Farfrompoopen Road, the only road to Constipation Ridge, lost to Divorce Court and Psycho Path, which placed No. 1 in an online poll of the nation's wildest, weirdest and wackiest street names.



HUMOR?:



Tom Tomorrow: It's Just That Simple!