House Republican leaders were forced to abruptly pull their $54 billion budget-cutting bill off the House floor yesterday, amid growing dissension in Republican ranks over spending priorities, taxes, oil exploration and the reach of government.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/111105J.shtml

Viet Nam vet Kenneth "Larry" Stephens writes, "I do not support the policy of this 21st century Viet Nam. But having said that, I do support our troops, and as a demonstration of that support, I will speak out and fight vigorously against the abuse of our troops and the failure of honesty in this administration by their deliberately hiding the true human cost of this war."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/111105I.shtml

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_7639.shtml


Informant: Joseph Wanzala

We, like so many of you, have been appalled by what we've seen at gas stations and on the news in recent months. At gas pumps across the country, Americans have been watching prices climb, and their wallets shrink. That's why a couple of weeks ago, when the world's largest oil company, ExxonMobil, announced record-breaking profits, it got everyone's attention - including Congress'.

TODAY, Congress is holding hearings against Exxon and the rest of the oil industry for possible price gouging.

Take Action! Tell YOUR Senators what you think about Exxon's profits

http://members.greenpeace.org/action/start.php?action_id=69&ref_source=list

In fact, Exxon's profits exceeded the gross domestic product of several oil producing nations, including Kuwait, Libya and Qatar. Exxon made a profit of nearly $10 BILLION this quarter, and got another windfall from Bush's $14.5 BILLION in tax breaks and incentives for the energy industry. In short, ExxonMobil has made the highest quarterly profit earnings in U.S. history, but it hasn't spent a dime on alternative energy.

At a time when the average American is unsure how to pay for increased heating costs this winter, Exxon's red-hot profits are a slap in the face. Worse yet, they're a kick in the teeth for average fisherman in Alaska, who still have not received the $5 billion dollars awarded to them by a court of law following the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989. What's Exxon's excuse?

Exxon's behavior is greedy, and it's time for Congress to put a stop to it.

Sincerely,

Chris, Nick, and the rest of the Greenpeace Energy Team
http://www.greenpeace.org/usa


Informant: Nick

Capitol Hill Blue
by Doug Thompson

11/08/05

Spurred by paranoia and aided by the USA Patriot Act, the Bush Administration has compiled dossiers on more than 10,000 Americans it considers political enemies and uses those files to wage war on those who disagree with its policies. The 'enemies list' dates back to Bush's days as governor of Texas and can be accessed by senior administration officials in an instant for use in campaigns to discredit those who speak out against administration policies or acts of the President. The computerized files include intimate personal details on members of Congress; high-ranking local, state and federal officials; prominent media figures and ordinary citizens who may, at one time or another, have spoken out against the President or Administration... [Editor's note: Oh, what a badge of honor to be on this list - MLS]

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_7625.shtml


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

CounterPunch
by Sofiri Peterside, Patterson Ogon, Michael Watts and Anna Zalik

11/10/05

There are a number of lessons to be learned from of the events of September 11th and the carnage in Iraq that followed. One is that oil politics is a violent, corrupt and authoritarian business. Another is that life in the oil states is often nasty, brutish and short. The life and memory of Ken Saro-Wiwa, the Nigerian social activist, entrepreneur and acclaimed novelist is being celebrated this week, ten years to the day after he was hung by the Nigerian military tribunal on trumped up charges. Saro-Wiwa rose to international prominence precisely because he sought to expose, and to democratize, the sordid realities behind the quest for oil, money and power. But the tenth anniversary of his death also reminds us how little has changed in oil-rich Nigeria, indeed across the West African 'Gulf oil states'...

http://www.counterpunch.org/watts11102005.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Centre for Research on Globalization
by Daily Kos

11/10/05

That's right. Not from Al Jazeera, or Al Arabiya, but the US Army, in their very own publication, from the (WARNING: pdf file) March edition of Field Artillery Magazine in an article entitled 'The Fight for Fallujah:' 'WP [i.e., white phosphorus rounds] proved to be an effective and versatile munition. We used it for screening missions at two breeches and, later in the fight, as a potent psychological weapon against the insurgents in trench lines and spider holes when we could not get effects on them with HE. We fired 'shake and bake' missions at the insurgents, using WP to flush them out and HE to take them out.' In other words the claim by the US Government that White Phosphorus was used only for illumination at Fallujah had been pre-emptively debunked by the Army. Indeed, the article goes on to make clear that soldiers would have liked to have saved more WP rounds to use for 'lethal missions'...

http://tinyurl.com/bh3km


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Sierra Times
by Lee R. Shelton IV

11/11/05

By placing your child in the care of a government-run indoctrination center, you are saying that you trust the government to raise your child, essentially giving up your due process and privacy rights. You are admitting that the government is able to give your child something you cannot provide. When you consider how poorly the government manages everything else, why would any reasonable person think things would be different when it comes to education?

http://www.sierratimes.com/05/11/11/163_231_6_85_27189.htm


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Mother Jones
by Tom Engelhardt

11/10/05

Cynics might call this a classic case of closing the barn doors after most of the cows had been let out (and slaughtered) and only those with Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (that's Mad Cow Disease to you) remained inside. But better informed observers suspect that this is another case of 'lessons gleaned.' Unfortunately, old habits die hard and so ethics in the White House is being treated in a highly secretive manner. Short of a thoroughly unethical leaker, the rest of us will, sadly, never benefit from the presentations of the White House Counsel's office...

http://tinyurl.com/dq2lb


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Human Events
by Pat Buchanan

11/11/05

With the rout of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's initiatives, Democratic victories in New Jersey and Virginia, and President Bush's free fall in national polls on job performance, credibility and character, the Republican Party is in imminent peril of losing the country. Indeed, since 9/11, the party has indulged in a willful self-delusion that it has become America's Party. The Bush triumph in 2004, talking heads brayed, settled the matter: Red State America has triumphed over Blue State America. The future belongs to us. This was always hyperbole. Where Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan rolled up 49-state landslides in re-election runs, Bush won 31 states, losing every state north of the Potomac and east of Ohio, two of the three great industrial states of the Midwest, Michigan and Illinois, and he was skunked on the Pacific rim. Had Kerry hammered him on trade and lost jobs in Ohio, Bush would be a one-term president...

http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=10210


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp