[APR-news] APR -- October 14 - 18, 2005

Tue Oct 18 14:36:32 GMT 2005

Alternative Press Review - Your Guide Beyond the Mainstream
www.altpr.org
October 14 - 18, 2005

http://www.bushcommission.org/call-charter.htm
The 2005 International Commission of Inquiry on Crimes Against Humanity
Committed by the Bush Administration of the United States

******
http://www.altpr.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=509&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0
The Good Americans
By Sheila Samples

The one thing -- the only thing -- that George Bush has ever done
successfully is campaign. That boy sure loves to play dress-up. He's in his
element strutting around in various costumes, while smirking and blinking
before carefully vetted audiences whose members sign loyalty pledges and are
conditioned to cheer and wave their flags as he gives the same
smoke-'em-out-and-kill-'em-all stump speech over and over. And over again.
Bush loves to talk about his bold vision and to brag about the options piled
on the table, and his disciples love to hear it. Like their counterparts in
1930s Germany, these vacuous, grinning, paper-mache masses are loyal,
patriotic and obedient.

http://www.altpr.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=508&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0
POW Abuse: Nothing New Going On Here
By Mickey Z.

As news of a prisoner hunger strike finally begins to trickle out from
Guantanamo, rest assured any wrongdoing will be pinned on a few bad apples.
However, even a cursory glance at U.S. treatment of enemies captured during
military interventions will demonstrate that the goings-on at Gitmo (or Abu
Ghraib for that matter) are standard operating procedure for the home of the
brave.

http://www.altpr.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=506&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0
VA Seeks to Punish Iraq War Veterans
By Gene C. Gerard

The Veterans Affairs Department is currently reviewing approximately
one-third of the cases of veterans who are receiving disability benefits for
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). After conducting an internal study,
the VA believes that they were too lenient in deciding which soldiers were
eligible for PTSD benefits. Last year, the VA spent $4.3 billion on PTSD
disability payments and the VA hopes to reduce these payments by revoking
PTSD benefits for many veterans. This will be the final insult to soldiers
who were asked to fight a war in Iraq on false premises.

http://www.altpr.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=507&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0
Poll This, Blacks Tell Bush
By Seth Sandronsky

Two percent. That's the percentage of U.S. blacks who approve of President
Bush's job performance, a new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll found. Blacks'
current two percent approval rating of Bush is down from 19 percent a
half-year ago. Why is this? Hurricane Katrina and modern communication.
Millions of African Americans watched TV coverage of the post-Katrina human
suffering, and they are furious about it.

******
Other articles of interest

http://www.prwatch.org/node/4059
The Emperor Doesn't Disclose: Why the Fight Against Fake News Continues
Diane Farsetta, PR Watch

Like much news that's damaging to the Bush administration, the report came
out on a Friday. Since then, it's gotten little media attention -- just 41
mentions in U.S. newspapers and wire stories, according to a news database
search on October 11. That's remarkably sparse coverage for a story showing
that the U.S. government has been engaged in illegal propaganda aimed at its
own citizens.

http://www.antiwar.com/orig/jscahill.php?articleid=7623
Out-Saddaming Saddam: Mr. Bush Goes to Tikrit (Sort Of)
Jeremy Scahill, Antiwar.com

If any Iraqis caught the hilarious videoconference today between Bush at the
White House and troops from the 42nd Infantry Division in Tikrit, it may
have seemed like a high-tech version of a familiar scene from the old days
when Saddam used to travel to Tikrit to feel (and more importantly to have
others feel) his greatness. The videoconference was a display of just how
far the propaganda system has come since Bush took over from Saddam. Instead
of visiting Tikrit, which the president lightly acknowledged he could not
safely do, Bush addressed-- via satellite--an adoring bunch of US soldiers
that had apparently been given a heavy dose of Kool-Aid before the telecast
began. Oh, there was one Iraqi there--Sergeant Major Akeel from the 5th
Iraqi Army Division, whose role in the affair was limited to smiling like a
good Iraqi and saying to Bush, "I like you."

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=4&ItemID=8945
Media and Propaganda: Kasim Tirmizey interviews David Barsamian

[I]n the United States where five corporations basically control what most
Americans see, hear, and read, these corporations have very close economic,
political, and I dare say emotional ties with power. They identify with the
state, and they subordinate their cameras and their microphones to the
interest of the state. Particularly in time of war where there is much
jingoistic hysteria, flag waving, and nationalist fervour; the media, much
of the media, not all, much of the media see themselves as being instruments
of American destiny, whatever that might mean, or American power. We saw
that very clearly with Iraq and Afghanistan, but also historically, the
Vietnam War, the attacks on Laos and Cambodia, these went unchallenged for
years. The media internalized the basic assumptions that are generated by
the state, that such and such country is a threat to the United States, that
becomes the basis of discussion, and then the dialogue...

http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/2352/
The Real Case for Israel: What lies behind Alan Dershowitz's campaign
against Norman Finkelstein?
Neve Gordon, In These Times

It is not everyday that a professor hires a prestigious law firm to threaten
the University of California Press. Yet, for months, Alan Dershowitz,
Harvard's Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law, tried to stop UC Press from
publishing Norman Finkelstein's Beyond Chutzpah. When the Press' director
Lynne Withey replied that she believed in academic freedom and would
therefore go ahead with the book, Dershowitz sent letters to the 
university's
board of trustees and even to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, asking
them to intervene on his behalf. Following both the trustees' and governor's
decision not to get involved, one would have thought that the struggle would
end. But now that the book is on the shelves, it seems that a new campaign
is underway to cancel the author's reading engagements, for example, at
Harvard Bookstore and Barnes and Noble in Chicago. So what is the
controversy about?

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/columns/pressingissues_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001306699
After 'NY Times' Probe: Keller Must Fire Miller, and Apologize to Readers
Greg Mitchell, Editor & Publisher

As the devastating Times article, and her own first-person account, make
clear, Miller should be promptly dismissed for crimes against journalism --
and her own paper. And her editor, who has not taken responsibility, should
apologize to readers

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2005/101705.html
When Journalists Join the Cover-ups
Robert Parry, Consortium News

As embarrassing as the Judith Miller case is for the New York Times, the
fiasco underscores a more troubling development that strikes near the heart
of American democracy - the press corps' gradual retreat from the principle
of skepticism on national security issues to career-boosting "patriotism."
Miller - and many other prominent Washington journalists over the past
quarter century - largely built their careers by positioning themselves as
defenders of supposed American interests. Instead of tough reporting about
national security operations, these reporters often became conduits for
government spin and propaganda.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/10/17/1423204
Judith Miller's Access to Power Was More Important Than Truth
Barbara Ehrenreich, Democracy Now!

Judith Miller had that access, and that was more important to them than
truth, apparently. There is a problem, you know, of getting too much access,
getting too friendly with those people you're interviewing, getting embedded
and in bed with them, which in a sense, you know, she was, and that's where
mainstream journalism very easily crosses the line into becoming
spokespeople for those in power. And that's what the Times became.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2099-1813695_1,00.html
Waiting for the lights to go out
Bryan Appleyard, Sunday Times (UK)

The greatest getting-and-spending spree in the history of the world is about
to end. The 200-year boom that gave citizens of the industrial world levels
of wealth, health and longevity beyond anything previously known to humanity
is threatened on every side. Oil is running out; the climate is changing at
a potentially catastrophic rate; wars over scarce resources are brewing;
finally, most shocking of all, we don't seem to be having enough ideas about
how to fix any of these things.

http://www.getunderground.com/underground/features/article.cfm?Article_ID=1902
The House of Cards
Dan Benbow, Get Underground

Absent in the 24-hour news cycle was a serious public dialogue about the
larger implications of Katrina, from America's abandonment of its most
vulnerable citizens to the folly of thinking man can develop anytime,
anywhere by "taming the land" to the utter insanity of constructing an
economy and a lifestyle around a finite resource.

http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=20051017081945776
Stirring Up Old Dirt: Katrina's Environmental Devastation Adds to a Legacy
of Environmental Racism
Kari Lydersen, Infoshop News

Sewage, oil, chemical effluent, hydrocarbons, natural gas, acids,
anti-freeze, bleach. These are among the ingredients in the toxic stew that
bubbled from destroyed chemical plants, oil refineries, homes, hospitals and
factories in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, mixing in the floodwaters and
flowing into Lake Ponchatrain, the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico.
Many ecologists say the massive flooding was caused in part by environmental
damage wrought by humans - the destruction of barrier wetlands along the
Gulf Coast and, in the bigger picture, global warming caused by greenhouse
gas emissions.

http://www.socialistworker.org/2005-2/561/561_02_BirdFlu.shtml
Bird flu: The nightmare scenario
Nicole Colson, Socialist Worker

The outbreak of a bird flu pandemic could kill tens of millions--maybe
hundreds of millions--of people around the world. But rather than come up
with a sane plan to help contain the spread of avian influenza, the Bush
administration is viewing the threat of the emerging illness as an
opportunity--to push for even greater domestic powers for the U.S. military.

http://www.counterpunch.org/kramer10142005.html
USAID and Haiti: The Friendly Face of US Imperialism
Sasha Kramer, CounterPunch

The fundamental problem with USAID's stated objectives is that it is not in
the national interests of the US government to promote self sufficiency in
developing countries.

http://www.blackcommentator.com/154/154_freedom_rider_porn_high_places.html
Porn in High Places
Margaret Kimberley, Black Commentator

We saw a brief glimpse of the humiliation and violence waged against Iraqis
when photos of abuse and death at Abu Ghraib prison were first made public.
As awful as those images were, there are more to come that are apparently
much, much worse. The American Civil Liberties Union sued the federal
government to force the release of an additional 87 photographs and 4
videos. The feds took the position that the images will ruin America's image
abroad and increase the likelihood of terror attacks. That is quite an
admission of guilt.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=BUK20051014&articleId=1079
The New Anti-Terror Laws in Australia: Anyone supporting the insurgency in
Iraq or Afghanistan faces possible jail sentence
Maz Bukhari, Global Research

Anyone supporting the insurgency in Iraq, Afghanistan or any country where
Australian troops are deployed could face a penalty of 7 years' jail under
the new terrorism laws. Control orders of unlimited duration, secret
preventive detention, the monitoring of lawyers, and life imprisonment for
funding terrorist organisations are also suggested under the new laws.

http://www.organicconsumers.org/Politics/harpers101205.cfm
Harper's Magazine: We Now Live in a Fascist State
Lewis H. Lapham, Organic Consumers

Having met many fine people who come up to the corporate mark -- on golf
courses and commuter trains, tending to their gardens in Fairfield County
while cutting back the payrolls in Michigan and Mexico -- I'm proud to say
(and I think I speak for all of us here this evening with Senator Clinton
and her lovely husband) that we're blessed with a bourgeoisie that will
welcome fascism as gladly as it welcomes the rain in April and the sun in
June. No need to send for the Gestapo or the NKVD; it will not be necessary
to set examples. We don't have to gag the press or seize the radio stations.

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article4245.shtml
Selling colonialism
Anthony Loewstedt, Electronic Intifada

Kingdom of Heaven, directed by Sir Ridley Scott and starring Orlando Bloom,
Jeremy Irons, Eva Green, Liam Neeson, has now been released on DVD (20th
Century Fox). Watching this Hollywood extravaganza is like seeing the
current Iraq war through the eyes of an American soldier, or a portrait of
apartheid from the point of view of a rich white South African farmer, or a
depiction of the Jewish settlements in the West Bank from the perspective of
a Jewish settler. It is also like the foreign news in the quality U.S. and
British news media today: no direct or conscious lies, but extremely
one-sided. In end effect, it has all the historicity of an early
cowboys-and-Indians-movie or Birth of a Nation, the infamous 1916 film that
sympathizes with the Ku Klux Klan.

******
NewsWire

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=filmNews&storyID=2005-10-12T071801Z_01_ROB225980_RTRIDST_0_FILM-PORN-DC.XML
Buried clause in Children's Safety Act of 2005 would tag films, TV shows
with sex scenes as porn

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/legal/article320005.ece
Judges liken terror laws to Nazi Germany

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1210978
Bush Teleconference With Soldiers Staged

http://www.survival-international.org/news.php?id=1093&PHPSESSID=dc0e72f1bffab8e8f22ce4808b77751d
Thrown out for wearing a t-shirt

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,3604,1589902,00.html
EU says internet could fall apart

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article320111.ece
British military officer in Iraq investigating abuse of Iraqi civilians
found dead

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article320343.ece
Are British troops at breaking point in Iraq?

http://www.freemarketnews.com/WorldNews.asp?nid=1326
US caught in Iraq car-bombing

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4344136.stm
War criminals: US troops use 'starvation of civilians as a method of 
warfare'

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/oct2005/iraq-o18.shtml
Business as Usual: Mass Murder of Civilians by Cowardly US Terrorists
Continues

http://fairuse.1accesshost.com/news2/border-clashes.html
US Troops and Syrians in Tense Clashes on Iraqi Border

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/foreignaffairs/story/0,11538,1592808,00.html
Bush told Blair of 'going beyond Iraq'

http://www.turkishweekly.net/news.php?id=20675
Ex-US Marine Asks Iraqis for Forgiveness

http://www.komotv.com/stories/39728.htm
85-year old Seattle woman recruited by Marines

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/oct2005/home-o17.shtml
Los Angeles: city of the stars becomes US homeless capital

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&refer=us&sid=alsNn4mUMcOg
U.S. Consumer Spending May Slump in a `Cold, Dark' Winter

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9685172/
September oil production lowest since 1943

http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/1632
Bankruptcy Bill Would Thrust Predatory Counseling on the Destitute

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/environment/article319997.ece
Man will wipe out rare creatures of the deep

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/10/14/D8D7VMC80.html
Planet sees warmest September on record

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/12/AR2005101202498.html
2005 on track to be the hottest year on record

http://rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_4159592,00.html
Century of droughts predicted

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8155
Marijuana might make you smarter

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4337486.stm
Duh! G8 summit police lied, says report

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0%2C5744%2C16898139%255E29277%2C00.html
Police had role in Bali blasts

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2092-1827359,00.html
Noam Chomsky Voted #1 Global Public Intellectual

******
http://www.altpr.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=81&page=1
Subscribe to Alternative Press Review magazine

To help support Alternative Press Review you can make donations online at
the APR website (www.altpr.org), or send donations by mail to:

Alternative Press Review
PO Box 6245
Arlington, VA 22206