[APR-news] Weekend Edition -- December 16-18, 2005

Sat Dec 17 21:54:05 GMT 2005

Alternative Press Review - Your Guide Beyond the Mainstream
www.altpr.org - Weekend Edition (December 16-18, 2005)

http://fuckchristmas.org/
Website of the Week

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http://www.altpr.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=556&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0
True Belligerence or Belligerent Bluster? Tel Aviv and Tehran Go At It Again
By Ron Jacobs

Like governments everywhere, Tehran is choosing to create fear in order to
prevent a goodly portion of its population from expressing a freedom it
desires. Tel Aviv is attempting something similar by allowing Defense
Minister Mofaz to issue not-so-vague threats against Tehran. Washington has
its "war on terrorism," Tehran has Israel, and Israel has Tehran. The
existence of an enemy, no matter how imaginary or real, is the perfect
excuse to rule by fear and limit personal and political expression. Plus, it
makes it much easier to divert governmental spending from social needs to
the military.

http://www.altpr.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=555&mode=nocomments&order=0&thold=0
Privatize Me...Corporatize Me.... Blackwaterize Me...
by Jason Miller

As some have written and conjectured, the Posse Comitatus Act (passed by
Congress during Reconstruction to prevent the government from using the
military to enforce civilian law) is in serious jeopardy of going the way of
the dinosaurs. Signs of ill portent for the Act are its statutory rather
than Constitutional nature (leaving it much more vulnerable to legislative
changes), the federal government's use of the military to fight the "War on
Drugs" along America's borders, the precedent set by the deployment of
Blackwater's military proxies in New Orleans, and the Bush Regime's repeated
statement of its intention to rely heavily upon the military in times of
domestic crisis (i.e. during future hurricanes, a potential outbreak of
Avian Flu). Unfortunately, Posse Comitatus affords the American public about
as much protection from martial law (at the whim of our deranged president)
as the levees provided New Orleans from the ravages of Katrina.

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Other articles of interest

http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn12172005.html
Time-Delayed Journalism: The New York Times and the NSA's Illegal Spying
Operation
Jeffrey St. Clair and Alexander Cockburn, CounterPunch

It's a long, sad decline from what Lowe wrote in 1851 to the disclosure by
the New York Times on Friday that it sat for over a year on a story
revealing that the Bush administration had sanctioned a program of secret,
illegal spying on US citizens here in the Homeland, by the National Security
Agency. And when it comes to zeal in protecting the Bill of Rights, between
December 22, 1974 and December 16, 2005 it's been a steady run down hill for
the New York Times.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/dec2005/pent-d15.shtml
Pentagon's domestic spying operations target opponents of Iraq war
Barry Grey, WSWS

As Congress moves toward passage of a bill to extend the USA Patriot Act,
scattered reports are surfacing in the US media of a massive expansion of
domestic spying operations by the US military. The reports make clear that
US citizens engaged in peaceful and legal political activity in opposition
to the war in Iraq and aggressive military recruiting tactics are being
monitored by military intelligence agencies and included in rapidly
expanding secret data banks.

http://kurtnimmo.com/?p=162
Corporate Media Reveals the Obvious: Neocons Authorized Domestic Snooping
Kurt Nimmo, Another Day in the Empire

Back in 1952, as Truman went about constructing the now ominous national
security state, the mission of the NSA was to collect intelligence on
"foreign governments," not U.S. citizens per se. Of course, as any student
of history will tell you, government invariably considers its own citizens
as the enemy and directs massive resources into snooping activity and
technology (think Echelon) and "counter intelligence," that is to say
subverting the liberty of the people and, in many instances, directing
violence and even assassination against opponents, as all fascists are wont
to do.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/12/15/155219
Pentagon Caught Spying on U.S. Anti-War and Anti-Nuclear Activists
Democracy Now! Interview with William Arkin

What is particularly worrisome right now is that the National
Counterterrorism Center, which was set up as part of the Office of the
Director of National Intelligence, is now working to conglomerate all of
these databases and that the Counterintelligence Field Activities, CIFA of
the Department of Defense, is working to ensure that the military gains
access to all of these databases, as well. So each of these, which goes into
the creation of various watch lists and various tip-offs for the military or
the intelligence community to surveil certain people, that determine the key
words that the NSA or the F.B.I. then uses in its surveillance to catch
certain emails or certain telephone conversations or certain international
communications, all of these are now becoming more and more efficiently
employed, the notion being that somehow we're going to catch the next
Mohammed Atta, but the reality being that huge numbers of innocent,
non-threatening American citizens are being sweeped up in this gigantic
swirl.

http://prisonplanet.com/articles/december2005/151205martial_law.htm
Martial Law No Longer On The Horizon: It's Already Here - Part One
Militarized Federal Police All Over The Streets With The Precedent to Kill
Steve Watson, Prison Planet

The Associated Press reported that Federal air marshals are expanding their
work beyond airplanes, launching counterterror surveillance at train
stations and other mass transit facilities in a three-day test program. This
involves Federally brainwashed goons stomping round with machine guns and
vicious dogs, getting in everyone's face and randomly grabbing and searching
people on the subway. This is to be implemented NATIONWIDE: "The so-called
"Visible Intermodal Protection and Response" teams - or VIPER teams - will
patrol Amtrak's Northeast Corridor and Los Angeles rail lines; ferries in
Washington state; bus stations in Houston; and mass transit systems in
Atlanta, Philadelphia, Washington and Baltimore."

http://prisonplanet.com/articles/december2005/151205martial_law2.htm
Martial Law No Longer On The Horizon: It's Already Here - Part Two
Global Move Into Police State Confirms Earth As Literal Prison Planet
Steve Watson, Prison Planet

Along with militarized Federal police roaming around in public nationwide,
moves are afoot by the Pentagon to track and trace American citizens whom
they deem to be 'Suspicious'.

http://www.counterpunch.org/kolko12172005.html
The Decline of the American Empire: Defeated in Iraq, Bankrupt at Home,
Despised Around the Globe (And That's Just the Good News)
Gabriel Kolko, CounterPunch

The world is escaping American control, and Soviet prudence no longer
inhibits many movements and nations. World opposition is becoming
decentralized to a much greater extent and the US is less than ever able to
control it--although it may go financially bankrupt and break up its
alliances in the process of seeking to be hegemonic. This is cause for a
certain optimism, based on a realistic assessment of the balance-of-power in
the world.

http://lewrockwell.com/orig6/dclark1.html
Why 'Opting-Out' Is Not Enough
Debbie Clark, LewRockwell.com

It's a no-brainer that government money means government control.
Government takes money from its citizens through involuntary taxation to
support its welfare-state, which includes government schools, and then, with
the money it has stolen, controls the people by forcing them to be part of
its system, whether they want to be or not, and also controls the people who
run that system. School itself is not voluntary, but is compulsory at least
up to a certain age under the police powers of the states. If you have any
doubt as to the utter evil and wickedness that holds this system together,
just try ignoring it as though it didn't exist and carry on with your happy
life at home with your children and see what happens.

http://www.smmirror.com/Volume1/issue51/on_depraving.html
On Depaving
Jan Lundberg, Santa Monica Mirror

Obviously, there is more to be worried about than "high" gas prices in our
car-dependent, paved culture. Instead of dealing with this issue head on,
"solutions" range from building more roads to "alleviate" traffic
congestion, to building non-oil burning vehicles. Unfortunately, the
environmental movement is largely funded not to take direct action, but to
instead push for technofixes. People assume there are replacement fuels and
technologies for oil, but consider, for example, how cheaply it flowed until
massively subsidized after the 1970s, and oil is our asphalt and tires as
well as fuels. This is one reason fundamental lifestyle change and land-use
are the real key.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_robert_j_051216_intelligent_design_d.htm
Intelligent-design debate reveals limits of religion and science
Robert Jensen, OpEd News

Despite the clashes between claims based in faith v. reason, it seems that
most people -- on both sides of the debate about religion and science in the
United States -- share a belief in a kind of magic. Sadly, this need for
magical thinking undermines the ability of religion and science to deal with
the complexity of the material world and the mystery of creation.

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NewsWire

http://www.newmatilda.com/admin/preview/home/articledetail.asp?ArticleID=1196
The revolution will not be televised: An insurrection against establishment
media is underway

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/New_York_Times_admits_it_held_1215.html
New York Times admits it held domestic spying story for a full year at the
request of the Bush Administration

http://www.mountaintimes.com/mtweekly/2005/1215/govtightenaccess.php3
Government Tightens Access To Information

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001699490
Two embedded journalists expelled for violating rule against photographing
damaged military vehicles

http://www.feminist.org/news/newsbyte/uswirestory.asp?id=9424
Women's rights editor jailed in Afghanistan

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001699832
Another columnist caught getting paid to plant favorable articles for
clients

http://westword.com/Issues/2005-12-15/news/message.html
AIM, fire: The American Indian Movement targets The Rocky Mountain News

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1215-12.htm
Good news: Global survey shows "an alarming picture of declining levels of
trust" in governments, business and non-governmental organizations

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/12/16/echelon_in_your_backyard/
NSA uses ECHELON against US citizens

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_7828.shtml
Bush ordered NSA to spy on Americans

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_7818.shtml
Pentagon admits spying on antiwar activists

http://villagevoice.com/news/0551,ridgeway,71106,2.html
A Half-Century of Spying on U.S. Citizens

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20051216-0017-ca-fbi-plodoodle.html
FBI questioned teen for scribbling 'PLO' in notebook

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/12-05/12-17-05/a09lo650.htm
Senior at UMass Dartmouth interrogated by Homeland Security for requesting
copy of "The Little Red Book" at library

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002688671_eugene17m.html
Environmental-arson probe has Eugene activists on edge

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/12/15/155230
New York Activist Faces Life in Prison; Feds Accuse Him of Eco-Terrorism

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/legal/article333258.ece
Group of men held without charges reveal the authorities have not even
questioned them since their arrests four years ago

http://www.chris-floyd.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=337&Itemid=1
Serial Mass Murderer George Bush Confesses to 30,000 Murders; Receives
Applause

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/121405C.shtml
War Criminals: The Silence of the Doctors

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1215/p02s01-usmi.html
Short of recruits, Army redoes its math by trimming enlistment goals

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/news/nation/13421901.htm
Lowering enlistment goals wasn't enough: Army now accepting high percentage
of recruits who scored in lowest category on military's aptitude tests

http://www.wpherald.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20051216-113235-6667r
Germany complicit in torture?

http://survival-international.org/news.php?id=1268
BRAZIL: Indians thrown off land-Ranchers burn down houses

http://survival-international.org/news.php?id=1258
BRAZIL: Top officials accused of genocide of Indians

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article333457.ece
In the footsteps of Che Guevara: Evo Morales poised to become first
indigenous president of Bolivia which has been run by politicians of
European descent since 1825

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=94655
290,000 Israelis Eligible to Vote in Iraqi Elections

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10503411/
Protesters battle past police, reach WTO venue

http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/121605_world_stories.shtml#8
Cornell ecologist's study finds that producing ethanol and biodiesel from
corn and other crops is not worth the energy

http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=9472
Climate, storms hit extremes in 2005

http://www.terradaily.com/news/climate-05zzzzzzzb.html
2005 Set To Be Second Warmest Year On Record

http://upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20051216-115509-3761r
2005 hottest year ever for northern hemisphere

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