Another Angle 17 - February - 2006

ANOTHER ANGLE
News others won't tell you



NATIONAL:



March 20 to 26, 2006: Iran-USA, beginning of a major world crisis,
If this Alarm is so precise, it is that LEAP/E2020’s analyses concluded that all possible scenarios now lead to one single result: we collectively approach a "historical node" which is henceforth inevitable whatever the action of international or national actors. At this stage, only a direct and immediate action on the part of the US administration aimed at preventing a military confrontation with Iran on the one hand, and at giving up the idea to monetarise the US foreign debt on the other hand, could change the course of events.


McKinney warns of new underclass of "Katrina Homeless"
In the absence of decisive Executive action, an under-funded FEMA made its own executive decision to shelter hundreds of thousands of survivors in hotels, paying in some cases rates in excess of $400 per night, resulting in a windfall for hotel chains during their slow season, but depleting FEMA’s budget. Now, with summer business coming, the hotels want the survivors out and FEMA is evicting tens of thousands of families from temporary housing.



White House Defends Sale of Port Operations to Arab Firm
The Bush administration on Thursday rebuffed criticism about potential security risks of a $6.8 billion sale that gives a company in the United Arab Emirates control over significant operations at six major American ports.



Chertoff's Sweetheart Deal For Israeli-Owned Carnival Cruise Cruise Line
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, through a hastily arranged deal with Carnival Cruise Lines, $236 million from U.S. taxpayers will flow to a tax exempt Israeli-founded corporation registered in Panama. Before federal assistance even reached the victims of Hurricane Katrina, Carnival Cruise Lines had received a profitable deal to provide three ships to house evacuees from New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.



Bolton seeks to replace UN chief
The U.S. ambassador opened Security Council discussions on the next U.N. secretary-general, calling the choice of a replacement for Kofi Annan probably the most important decision the world body will make this year.




San Francisco Bay View - National Black Newspaper of the Year
Venezuela's CITGO draws scorn from U.S. right wing, praise from the people
While thousands of families in New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Delaware and Pennsylvania are heaping praise on Venezuelan oil company CITGO for the discounted heating oil they have received this winter to help them survive the cold, the ultra-conservative American Family Association is calling for a boycott of CITGO. An action alert on the AFA web page refers to Chavez as a "dictator" who "has vowed to bring down the U.S. government."



Fla. Officials Release Boot Camp Tape
On the 80-minute tape, which has no sound, as many as nine guards can be seen wrestling Martin Anderson to the ground and restraining him. The boy appeared limp for most of the ordeal and never appeared to offer significant resistance. At one point, a guard struck him from behind, lifting his feet off the ground. At the beginning, as the guards are pinning him against a pole, they struck him three times with their knees. The physical confrontation lasted about 30 minutes.



Officer who shot unarmed black man won't face federal...charges
Roach chased Thomas, 19, into an unlit alley and shot him out of sight of other officers. Later, Roach said he had not actually seen a weapon, but fired when Thomas suddenly jerked his hands from his waist.



Schoolhouse Rock for the GOP
I'm just a bill.
Yes, I'm only a bill.
And I'm sitting here on Capitol Hill.



Batman takes on al-Qaida
Frank Miller, who has inked his way through 120 pages of the 200-page opus, told a recent comic book convention that the novel was an unashamed "piece of propaganda" in which Batman "kicks al-Qaida's ass".



INTERNATIONAL:



China Rushes to Complete $100B Deal With Iran
The deal would clear China Petrochemical Corp., also known as Sinopec, to develop the Yadavaran oil field in southern Iran. Analysts assume that the Iranian field could produce as much as 300,000 barrels of oil per day, making it one of the larger overseas operations for a Chinese company.



US Pursues "Inoculation" Strategy to Curb Chavez
In what she termed an "inoculation" strategy, Rice said she had sought support from Europe and other Latin American nations to highlight U.S. charges that the populist Chavez abuses his power to target political opponents and business leaders. "The international community has just got to be much more active in supporting and defending the Venezuelan people," Rice told a congressional hearing.



Rice Warns Arab States Not to Fund Hamas
The Palestinian Authority gets a majority of its approximately $1.9 billion annual budget from overseas sources. Without money from the United States and Europe - or Palestinian customs fees collected by the Israelis - a Hamas-led government would be nearly broke. Hamas leaders have said they will look elsewhere for money, and are expected to appeal to Arab states and to Iran. ``It will be very interesting to see if that $1.9 billion is available,'' Rice said with evident skepticism.
-U.S. asks Palestinians to return $50 million



Japan turns off the heat
Japan imports 16% less oil than it did in 1973, although the economy has more than doubled. Billions of dollars were invested in converting oil-reliant electricity-generation systems into those powered by natural gas, coal, nuclear energy or alternative fuels.


The Dollar Dumped
Government divisions and public sector firms have been ordered to use the euro for foreign goods and services by Syrian Prime Minister Naji al-Otari.



IRAQ:



Japan plans Iraq troop withdrawal
The government`s withdrawal plan includes moving the 600 troops to Kuwait by May as a first step, and recalling them to Japan by July, after cleaning their equipment and vehicles to pass quarantine inspections in Japan.



BUSH CRIME FAMILY:



York: The Little-Noticed Order That Gave Dick Cheney New Power
There has been much talk about the powerful role Dick Cheney plays in the Bush White House. Some of that talk has been based on anecdotal evidence, and some on entirely fanciful speculation. But Executive Order 13292 is real evidence of real power in the vice president's office.
-Can Cheney really declassify at will?



ECONOMY:



War threats follow Countries dumping US dollar
Dumping the dollar - Syria, Iran, Iraq, Venezuela.



OP-ED:



Blackonomics: Celebrate Black History by Celebrating Ken Bridges
On October 11, 2002, driving back from Virginia to Philadelphia, Ken stopped at a service station, and the next thing he knew he was on the ground. Felled by a sniper’s bullet, I know he was thinking about his family, his dear and loving “Queen” Jocelyn, and his six children whom he could not wait to see and tell about the deal he and Al had just made for the MATAH Network.


America’s enemy is injustice
Open your eyes, American people, and stop dancing and playing and partying and drinking and smoking dope while your country is going to hell. Wake up and take your responsibility.



Averting Election Theft in Haiti
A blatant and shameful attempt to steal a presidential election was blocked yesterday in Haiti, the Western Hemisphere's poorest country. Haven't the Haitian people suffered enough? The man-made terror and violence coupled with natural disasters that have been inflicted upon the people of Haiti will be recorded in history as catastrophic events that caused tremendous loss of life and an unbearable and tragic existence for the Haitian people.



SCIENCE&TECHNOLOGY:



New Videos Help Explain Mysterious Flashes
Scientists have photographed the mysterious flashes and come up with interesting names for them: elves, blue jets, tigers and sprites. The flashes are associated with thunderstorms, and each type is incredibly brief and behaves differently.
See the video in Quicktime or Real Video



FOOD&DRINK:



CROCKPOT CHICKEN, SAUSAGE & SHRIMP GUMBO
When the weather gets cold, this is a family favorite! It takes a little prep, but simmering in the crockpot unattended all day makes it worth it!



REVIEWS/INTERVIEWS:



Interview: US Rep. McKinney on Katrina, Race, Class
“What we learned was that the National Guard and the City [of New Orleans] requested buses, and FEMA held them up. If the Department Of Homeland Security (which oversees FEMA) had just done what it was asked to do,” lives could have been saved and people could have been spared from suffering, the Congresswoman told Atlanta Progressive News. “It’s just incredible.”



Self-Described Economic Hit Man John Perkins: “We Have Created the World’s First Truly Global Empire”
"We use many techniques, but probably the most common is that we'll go to a country that has resources that our corporations covet, like oil, and we'll arrange a huge loan to that country from an organization like the World Bank or one of its sisters, but almost all of the money goes to the U.S. corporations, not to the country itself, corporations like Bechtel and Halliburton, General Motors, General Electric, these types of organizations, and they build huge infrastructure projects in that country: power plants, highways, ports, industrial parks, things that serve the very rich and seldom even reach the poor."



Now, Video Resurrects the Radio Star
The video-sharing Web site YouTube.com has changed the way some people see the Internet. But it's also changing how people hear vintage artists, from the late Wilson Pickett to the up-and-coming Arctic Monkeys.



JUST WEIRD:



Horse penis comes to Beijing menus
China's cuisine is renowned for being "in your face" - from the skinned dogs displayed at food markets to the kebabbed scorpions sold on street stalls - and there is no polite way of describing Guo-li-zhuang.



HUMOR?:



Meet Dick Cheney's Legal Team!