http://www.organicconsumers.org/epa6.cfm


Informant: ireland

Two unrelated reports detailing Republican misdoings in government agencies have a common thread: putting politics before the people.

http://tompaine.com/uncommonsense/index.php#6743

by Michael T. Klare, TomPaine.com

With his advisers and his agenda against the wall, Bush may just use a new war to distract his detractors.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20051116/a_war_for_karl.php



Wag the Dog

Now that the current occupant of the White House is facing roiling political scandals of his own, Michael Klare reasons that he, too, or his embattled adviser, Karl Rove (not to mention his besieged Vice President, Dick Cheney) may be thinking about ways to "wag the dog."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/111605S.shtml

by Gary Bass, TomPaine.com

Will moderate Republicans on the Hill have the courage to stand up to their far-right colleagues?

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20051116/the_moderates_integrity_test.php

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2005/11/13/the_politics_of_pandemics/


Informant: binstock

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Pandemic jitters

Washington Times
by Tom Bethell

11/15/05

It was refreshing the other day when Rep. Joe Barton of Texas, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said 'no' to the administration request for an extra $7.1 billion for the latest 'pandemic.' 'I would vote against it and I would encourage others to vote against it,' Mr. Barton said. Good for him. Avian flu has been grossly exaggerated and it's time someone said so. There have been all of 60 deaths, worldwide. The same virus infected 18 people in Hong Kong in 1997. Then, two years ago, there were a handful of cases in both Vietnam (population 83 million) and Thailand (population 66 million). In both countries combined, 20 people, known to have been working with chickens, contracted influenza symptoms. All this is from the New England Journal of Medicine. Now the government wants to reach into taxpayers' pockets for billions more to prepare for a flu crisis. It is feared the virus will mutate and become easily transmitted from person to person. But it has shown no sign of doing so over eight years...

http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/20051114-102617-5550r.htm


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

by Dan Bacher

The Sacramento City Council, by an 8 to 1 vote on November 1, called for “a humane, orderly, rapid and comprehensive withdrawal of United States military personnel and bases from Iraq.” The Council also asked Congress and President Bush to deliver “promised veterans’ health, education, disability, and rehabilitation benefits, and otherwise meet the needs of returning veterans.” Sacramento, joins a growing list of cities, including Chicago, San Francisco and Philadelphia, calling for withdrawal. California’s capital city is the second community in the Central Valley after Davis to support an anti-war resolution...

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Nov05/Bacher1116.htm

by Lucinda Marshall

There have been a couple of encouraging signs of sanity lately that make me wonder if we've finally hit rock bottom and begun to see the light. I say that very cautiously, fully realizing that after the siege of the last five years, this could be grasping at straws. But hopefully they are the straws that break the proverbial camel's back. First, there was the crystal clear message sent by voters in last week's election, a slam-dunk vote of no confidence. That is not an illusion because right on the heels of the election, Congressional Republicans are frantically re-thinking their budget cuts after the realization set in that they all of a sudden might not be able to get away with slashing out the heart of basic social services...

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Nov05/Marshall1116.htm

Pentagon officials acknowledged Tuesday that US troops used white phosphorus as a weapon against insurgent strongholds during the battle of Fallujah last November.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/111605Z.shtml

A federal judge Monday stopped a logging project in Giant Sequoia National Monument, keeping intact more than 1,000 acres in a preserve that houses two-thirds of the world's largest trees.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/111505EC.shtml

Louisiana marshes are a nursery for many fish caught in the gulf, and they support the state's rich Cajun culture. But years of oil and gas development and water engineering projects have weakened the entire marsh system. Scientists now question whether some marshlands must be given up to the encroaching Gulf of Mexico.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/111505EB.shtml