Another Angle 2 - January - 2007

ANOTHER ANGLE
News others won't tell you



NATIONAL:



'Surge' Protectors
With liberal bloggers leading the way, the call went forth last week: Henceforth ye shall purge the “surge” from your vocabularies and laptops and replace it with “escalation” – with all its echoes of Vietnam and, incidentally, accuracy regarding the current situation.



Aid to Africa triples under Bush, but strings attached
As with aid to other countries, it comes with strings attached, including a requirement that the government open up to trade and foreign investors. Some African specialists complain that because of such conditions, American assistance is still more about self-interest than altruism.



Social Security Agreement With Mexico Released After 3 1/2 Year ...FOIA Battle
The Totalization Agreement could allow millions of illegal Mexican workers to draw billions of dollars from the U.S. Social Security Trust Fund. The agreement between the U.S. and Mexico was signed in June 2004, and is awaiting President Bush's signature. Once President Bush approves the agreement, which would be done without Congressional vote, either House of Congress would have 60 days to disapprove the agreement by voting to reject it.
United States/Mexico Totalization Agreement
Totalization Agreements


Betrayal of the Big Easy
Last August two-thirds of New Orleans was under water. In low-lying areas - such as the lower ninth ward, where many of the city's musicians originate - almost no reconstruction work is being done. Insurance companies won't cover new buildings unless the levees are reinforced to withstand another big storm, and the government won't cough up the $30bn-plus the work is expected to cost. So the powers that be are effectively abandoning the lower-lying areas, offering precious little hope of return to the Katrina diaspora spread over the south.



Shooter Kills Town's First Black Mayor-Elect
The first black mayor-elect in a largely white Louisiana town committed suicide days before he was to take office, the town's coroner said Tuesday. The Westlake City Council scheduled an emergency meeting Tuesday after the mayor-elect, the first black man elected to lead the largely white town, was found shot to death. The body of Gerald Washington, 57, was found Saturday night in the parking lot of a former school. He had been shot once in the chest.



Democrats To Start Without GOP Input
Nancy Pelosi, the Californian who will become House speaker, and Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, who will become majority leader, finalized the strategy over the holiday recess in a flurry of conference calls and meetings with other party leaders. A few Democrats, worried that the party would be criticized for reneging on an important pledge, argued unsuccessfully that they should grant the Republicans greater latitude when the Congress convenes on Thursday.



The Court-Martial of Ehren Watada Begins
Watada's court appearance comes on the same day the new Democratic-controlled Congress returns to work and begins to investigate one of the lingering questions surrounding the nearly four-year-old war. It's the same question that Watada said led to his decision to publicly challenge the legality of the war and refuse deployment - whether the intelligence that led to the US-led invasion was cooked by Bush administration officials.



Man races pigs near planned mosque site
Earlier this month, Baker conceded that the Muslims probably aren't after his land, but he said he had to go through with the pig races because "I would be like a total idiot if I didn't. I'd be the laughingstock now because I've gone too far."



INTERNATIONAL:



Israel says it can do Iran on it's own
Although experts elsewhere have questioned Israel's ability to cripple the Iranian program, which is scattered and built in part in underground bunkers, analysts at INSS said Israel would be capable of carrying it off. Brigadier General (res.) Giora Eiland said there would not be a military strike without a full "strategic and military" understanding with the U.S.



Oprah's girls academy opens in SA
Built on 52 acres, the 28-building campus, which was originally to cost $10 million, and not the actual $40 million, boasts modern classrooms, computer and science laboratories, a library, theatre and health centre.



IRAQ:



Few Iraqis Are Gaining U.S. Sanctuary
“They said they have nothing for Iraqis,” said Amar, sitting in a small house in western Baghdad. “We feel just like stupid trash.”



BUSH CRIME FAMILY:



Bush Silences a Dangerous Witness
Like the climactic scene from the Mafia movie “Casino” in which nervous Mob bosses eliminate everyone who knows too much, George W. Bush has now guaranteed that there will be no public tribunal where Hussein gives testimony on these potentially devastating historical scandals, which could threaten the Bush Family legacy.



OP-ED:



The Three Hundred And Fifty Billion Dollar Lynch Mob
Bush is playing a VERY dangerous game with forces far beyond his comprehension. He's trying to help the Caucasian Shiites, who Bush and his Evangelicals have so much in common with, oppress and lynch secular Sunnis while at the same time trying to help the Caucasian non-Semitic Ashkenazi Jews in Israel steal the land of Canaan from its Semitic inhabitants. What he seems not to realize is that if you hold a stick of dynamite in your hand which has a fuse on either end and then light both fuses, you get blown to smithereens no matter WHICH fuse hits the dynamite first.



Venezuela’s Black Vote
President Chavez proudly identifies himself as a man of African descent and is often the subject of racial epithets by the wealthy elite who are predominantly of European descent. Not only does he acknowledge his heritage, the president has made changes that have aligned most Afro-Venezuelans with him.



SCIENCE&TECHNOLOGY:



Wild Predictions for a Wired 2007
Synthetic corneas will be approved by the Food and Drug Administration, allowing the shortsighted to have artificial contact lenses transplanted right into their eyes. No more popping out!



FOOD&DRINK:



Yukon Gold Potato and Wild Mushroom Gratin with Blue Cheese
Use fresh button mushrooms if wild mushrooms are hard to get; you will still have delicious results. Yukon Gold potatoes have a pale yellow color and a buttery taste that adds to the richness of this dish.



REVIEWS/INTERVIEWS:



The Black Panthers
A new photographic history of the US Black Panther Party brilliantly depicts a high point in the struggle for black liberation.Yuri Prasad looks back at a period of hope and anger.



Revisiting Aunt Jemima: 'Slave in a Box'
For a look at the Aunt Jemima phenomenon both historically and culturally, Farai Chideya talks with Maurice Manring, author of Slave in a Box: The Strange Career of Aunt Jemima.



HUMOR?:



This Modern World