Another Angle 10 - April - 2006

ANOTHER ANGLE
News others won't tell you



NATIONAL:



US plans Iran strikes - report
A government consultant is quoted as saying Mr Bush believes he must do "what no Democrat or Republican, if elected in the future, would have the courage to do" and "that saving Iran is going to be his legacy".
Bush: Iran Strike Plans 'Wild Speculation'
UK official: Iran nuke strike 'nuts'



Third Retired General Wants Rumsfeld Out
The three-star Marine Corps general who was the military's top operations officer before the invasion of Iraq expressed regret, in an essay published Sunday, that he did not more energetically question those who had ordered the nation to war. He also urged active-duty officers to speak out now if they had doubts about the war.



The world's biggest prison system
More than 2.1 million people are in jail in the US at any one time; that is about one in 140 Americans, or as many people as live in Namibia, or nearly five Luxembourgs - and it is a number that continues to rise.
Why Jamaicans are over-represented in British Prisons



Positive spring break for Black college students
This year, while college students have been better known for trucking to plush hideaways in Latin America, or on sunny beaches in Florida, many have dedicated themselves to working in the American Gulf to make the people damaged by Hurricane Katrina whole. Because of this desire, MTV and United Way sponsored a special project that attracted students at many universities, and subsequently more than 35,000 students participated—a welcome response by students of all colors.



Slavery and the Black Family
Everyone knows that African Americans have very high rates of single-parent families, but they disagree about why this has occurred. The black people of the West Indies and of the US had one thing in common: Their ancestors were slaves. Kinship connections in much of the world, and certainly in most of Africa, are more important than marital ones. Children in West Africa are often raised by people who are not their parents. And these kinship groups were broken up during the middle passage and by the sale of slaves in the West. In America and the West Indies, slavery created more barriers for any father hoping to play such a parental role.



Another 9/11 to legitimize attack on Iran? -



McKinney tops Bush leak on Fox 2:1


INTERNATIONAL:



Iran shoots down surveillance drone
Iran has shot down an unmanned surveillance plane in the south amid reports that the United States is planning military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, a press report said on Sunday. “This plane had taken off from Iraq and was filming border areas,” a report in the hardline Jumhuri Eslami newspaper said. It added the Islamic Republic “officials have obtained information from the plane system and recordings”, without giving any further details.



Official: U.S. Backing Somali Militants
The United States is backing a new coalition of Somali militants fighting Islamic extremists for control of the lawless nation's capital, a U.S. official said, as both sides prepared for a battle that could explode in widespread violence. Residents say both sides have recently received an infusion of cash and weapons as they face off for control of the country, which has had no central government since warlords divided it into clan-based fiefdoms in 1991.



Hamas: Israel made 'declaration of war'
Hamas said it considered Israel's severing of contacts with the new Palestinian government "a declaration of war" and President Mahmoud Abbas accused the Jewish state of breaking international law.



Peace activist feared being shot, inquest told
Tom (Hurndall) had reported being "shot at, gassed and chased" by soldiers during the five days he was in Rafah and read extracts from the email, in which Tom described the danger that both he and the Palestinians were facing.



Ohio gov. faced with ethics charges
The Office of Disciplinary Counsel, an arm of the state Supreme Court, said Monday that Taft also violated Ohio's code of professional conduct for lawyers, which states that a lawyer shall not ``engage in any other conduct that adversely reflects on the lawyer's fitness to practice law.''



IRAQ:



What Really Happened In "Falluja April 2004"
WarningThis film contains graphic images. Viewer discretion advised.



BUSH CRIME FAMILY:



Bush Has Violated 1947 National Security Act
The pertinent text of the 1947 National Security Act reads as follows: SEC. 601. (50 U.S.C. 421) (a) Whoever, having or having had authorized access to classified information that identifies a covert agent, intentionally discloses any information identifying such covert agent to any individual not authorized to receive classified information, knowing that the information disclosed so identifies such covert agent and that the United States is taking affirmative measures to conceal such covert agent's intelligence relationship to the United States, shall be fined under title 18, United States Code, or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.



John W. Dean: The Truth About Lewis "Scooter" Libby's Statements to the Grand Jury
What is apparent, however, based on Fitzgerald's filing, is that no one other than Bush, Cheney, Libby and apparently Addington was aware of this unilateral and selective declassification - if, indeed, the NIE was declassified. The secrecy surely suggests cover-up. For example, Fitzgerald notes that Libby "consciously decided not to make [then Deputy National Security Adviser] Hadley aware of the fact that defendant [Libby] himself had already been disseminating the NIE by leaking it to reporters while Mr. Hadley sought to get it formally declassified." (Also, CIA Director George Tenet apparently was not aware of the partial declassification by Bush.)



ECONOMY:



The Real Reasons Why Iran is the Next Target
In 2005-2006, The Tehran government has a developed a plan to begin competing with New York's NYMEX and London's IPE with respect to international oil trades - using a euro-denominated international oil-trading mechanism. This means that without some form of US intervention, the euro is going to establish a firm foothold in the international oil trade. Given U.S. debt levels and the stated neoconservative project for U.S. global domination, Tehran's objective constitutes an obvious encroachment on U.S. dollar supremacy in the international oil market



OP-ED:



The Lynching Of Cynthia McKinney
First of all, let’s get some facts straight. McKinney was not wearing her optional lapel pin, but according to WXIA-TV in Atlanta, she did show her Congressional ID. It is also not the first time that the Capitol police have failed to recognize McKinney, something that is documented in the new film “American Blackout”. And as Representative Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas told Amy Goodman on Democracy Now, the same thing has happened to her and sometimes the manner in which she has been treated, “is not necessarily accepting.”



Gangster Government
OK, let's accept the White House alibi that releasing Plame's identity was no crime. But if that's true, they've committed a bigger crime: Bush and Cheney knowingly withheld vital information from a grand jury investigation, a multimillion dollar inquiry the perps themselves authorized. That's akin to calling in a false fire alarm or calling the cops for a burglary that never happened - but far, far worse. Let's not forget that in the hunt for the perpetrator of this non-crime, reporter Judith Miller went to jail.



The Blue Pill People
There are none so blind as those who will not look. If you are one of those who will look, take a look around. You are surrounded -- surrounded by millions who will not look. These are the blue pill people. Who are these blue pill people and why won't they look?



The Iran Plans
“This is much more than a nuclear issue,” one high-ranking diplomat told me in Vienna. “That’s just a rallying point, and there is still time to fix it. But the Administration believes it cannot be fixed unless they control the hearts and minds of Iran. The real issue is who is going to control the Middle East and its oil in the next ten years.”



SCIENCE&TECHNOLOGY:



A Song from Sumer (2,300 BC)
When we think of ancient civilisations, it tends to be difficult to relate to them as real people with ordinary lives, loves and considerations, instead our attention is usually taken by the better-documented royal and military activities of the day. In many ways this doesn’t tell us much about how ordinary people lived - in the same way that the lifestyles of the rich and famous don’t necessarily directly relate to the man in the street today.



First Knights Templar are discovered
The first bodies of the Knights Templar, the mysterious religious order at the heart of The Da Vinci Code, have been found by archaeologists near the River Jordan in northern Israel.



FOOD&DRINK:



ELEGANT STRAWBERRY PIE
Very easy, but people will think you spent hours on it.



REVIEWS/INTERVIEWS:



A Hit-and-Miss Pop Odyssey
The limits of tender-bellied celebrity journalism go head-to-head with essayistic grace in critic Touré's Never Drank The Kool-Aid. The title means to convey the author's immunity to his subjects' spin; however, a few pieces suggest his bottle of Evian may have been dosed. That said, Kool-Aid's hit-and-miss pop odyssey still makes a most convincing argument for privileging contemplative journalism over glossy-mag wankery.



Remembering Percussionist Don Alias
Percussionist Don Alias died last month at the age of 66. He was known for maintaining his own unique sound while working with artists as diverse as Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, and Joni Mitchell. Felix Contreras, himself a percussionist, looks at the lasting impact of Alias' musical work.



HUMOR?:



Bush's Brain? See Nixon's Guide to Presidential Behavior