Hi. The past week's incoming, pertinent mail has been staggering and I've almost O.D.'d on what to send you and storage space for the rest. Here, almost randomly, are a few of the shorter ones. For the few and brave, I earnestly suggest subscribing to NY Transfer, from whom I glean many such and who pass on a good percentage of what I send you that has other sources. They begin each day's accumulation of up to 100 items with a table of contents. I note the 10 or so that look promising and plow on. No fee but donations welcome.
To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://olm.blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Ed House passes Lee's bill barring permanent Iraq bases By Josh Richman, STAFF WRITER Inside Bay Area Wednesday, July 25, 2007 7:34 PM http://origin.insidebayarea.com/argus/localnews/ci_6460997 The House voted 399-24 today to pass Rep. Barbara Lee's bill to prevent creation of permanent U.S. military bases in Iraq and to bar U.S. control of Iraqi oil. Lee's HR 2929 was considered under suspension of the rules, which bars amendments, limits debate and requires a two-thirds vote for passage -- a sign that House Democratic leaders saw it not only as good policy, but as another tool putting Republicans on the spot to oppose a long-term presence in Iraq. "Putting Congress on record with this clear statement helps take the targets off our troops' backs and it supports our goals of handing over responsibility for security and public safety to Iraqi forces," Lee, D- Oakland, said on the House floor. "We must soundly reject the vision of an open-ended occupation as bad policy that undermines the safety of our troops and recognize it for what it is: another recruiting poster for terrorists," she said. All of the 24 nay votes were Republicans. House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, voted for it but belittled it, too. "Instead of wasting time with meaningless stunts and undermining our troops overseas through harmful rhetoric, members of Congress should be united and focused on preventing al Qaeda from establishing permanent bases in Iraq and using them to stage terrorist attacks against the United States and our allies," Boehner said. " `No permanent bases' is already the policy of the United States, and there is no such thing as a `permanent' U.S. military base in foreign countries," Boehner added. "All U.S. military bases abroad are subject to cooperative agreements with the respective host countries. The agreements can be altered or eliminated at any time." But House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Lantos, D-San Mateo, was one of several speakers who noted on the House floor today that the Bush Administration "has drawn a parallel between our proposed sustained presence in Iraq and the U.S. obligation to South Korea after the Korean War. "Mr. Speaker, we have been in South Korea for more than 54 years and I hope we won't be as long as that in Iraq," Lantos said. "The Korean peninsula over half a century was vital to our security interests during the Cold War. But Iraq is not Korea. It is now beyond question that our national security is being harmed -- not helped -- by our continuing vast footprint in Iraq." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, said "the Democratic Congress will go on record -- every day if necessary -- to register a judgment in opposition to the course of action that the President is taking in Iraq" and to "fight for a redeployment of our forces as the central element of a new-direction strategy for Iraq." Lee first introduced legislation to bar permanent bases in June 2005, and has led several efforts to attach base-related amendments to spending and authorization bills. The House passed her amendment barring permanent bases to the 2006 Iraq supplemental spending bill, but it was stripped out in conference committee. No- spending clauses were, however, written into this year's Defense Authorization bill, Defense Appropriations bill and Iraq supplemental, all of which became law. And the House already has passed similar amendments for next year's Defense Authorization bill and Foreign Operations Appropriations bill. But spending bills expire, while the bill passed today effectively extends the ban indefinitely. *** From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [NYTr] Five Ways Bush's Era of Repression Has Stolen Your Liberties Since 9/11 sent by Susan (active-l) - Jul 24, 2007 The New Press via AlterNet - Jul 24, 2007 http://www.alternet.org/story/57689/ [The following is an excerpt of Matthew Rothschild's "You Have No Rights: Stories of America in an Age of Repression" (The New Press, 2007).] Five Ways Bush's Era of Repression Has Stolen Your Liberties Since 9/11 By Matthew Rothschild "To those who scare peace-loving people with phantoms of lost liberty, my message is this: Your tactics only aid terrorists.... They give ammunition to America's enemies, and pause to America's friends."-former attorney general John Ashcroft "You're either with us or against us." -George W. Bush Today's America is a much less free place than the America of 2000. Following the attacks of September 11, 2001, the Bush administration has, by word and by deed, erected an edifice of repression here in the United States. We've been living in it ever since. And it's not a comfortable place. The government is monitoring your phone calls and can read your e-mails and open your snail mail. The government can access records of your large financial transactions, such as buying a house. Law enforcement officers can bust into your home when you're not there, riffle through your belongings, plant a recording device on your computer, and leave without notifying you for at least thirty days -- and maybe a lot more. You no longer have the right to protest where the president or vice president can see you, or at major public events when they aren't even present. Law enforcement officers can now monitor you in public if you are merely exercising your political rights. They can infiltrate your political organizations. And they can keep track of you at your place of worship. The government can find out from bookstores and libraries the material you've been reading, and the bookstore owner and the librarian can't talk about it, except to their lawyers, for a whole year -- or more. The government can hold you in preventive detention for months on end as a "material witness." If you're not a citizen the government can deport you on a technicality or for mere political association. If you're not a citizen the government can label you an "enemy combatant" and send you to secret prisons around the world, where you may never see the light of day again -- much less a lawyer or a judge. And even if you are a citizen, the government can label you an enemy combatant and hold you in solitary confinement here in the United States. Under George W. Bush's interpretation of the president's powers during the so-called war on terror he can do just about whatever he wants. He cites the Authorization for Use of Military Force bill, which Congress passed on September 18, 2001, as the justification for this enormous leeway. "Congress gave me the authority to use necessary force to protect the American people, but it didn't prescribe the tactics,"Bush said in a speech at Kansas State University on January 23, 2006. Those tactics, he presumes, are totally up to him. Under this rationale Bush could send F-16s to attack a residential area in, say, Indianapolis if he thought Al Qaeda suspects were there. Lest you think I'm exaggerating, check out the February 13, 2006, issue of Newsweek: (continued...) *** Dear EmailNation Subscriber, In May 2003 Donna Schaper published an op-ed with the New York Times called "The Heretic in the Hibiscus," that told the story of her rejection from Coral Gables Garden Club on the grounds that she was too liberal. As it turned out, the ladies of the Club feared that she would do what she had done at the Miami church where she was minister, namely "bring in blacks and gays to membership and participation." In response to her article, dozens of garden societies across American contacted Schaper, inviting her to join their societies. In Grassroots Gardening--just published by Nation Books--Schaper distills what she has learned from a lifetime of gardening and activism into a lively and readable book. She argues that dirt touching, seeding, and harvesting rituals can help keep radicals sane, energetic, and positive. Many assume gardening is for people with country homes. On the contrary, gardening is a great passion for many progressive, political, communal people and a ritual for anybody who wants to stay sufficiently angry, humble, and hopeful to sustain an activist life. Read excerpts from Grassroots Gardening, watch an accompanying video by Molly Schwartz and click here to purchase a copy of the book online. And read Nation intern Sophie Johnson's related online exclusive detailing how urban community gardens are cutting a promising new path to empowering the poor. Finally, please visit The Nation online to listen to RadioNation with Laura Flanders on Air America Radio, to read new Nation blogs, to view newsfeed links updated each day, to see when Nation writers are appearing on TV and radio, to get info on nationwide activist campaigns, and to check out exclusive online reports and to read special weekly selections from The Nation magazine! Best Regards, Peter Rothberg, The Nation *** From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [NYTr] A Million Lives Saved by Cuban Doctors Prensa Latina via Radio Havana Cuba http://www.radiohc.cu A Million Lives Saved by Cuban Doctors Havana, July 25 (PL) -- Over 31,000 Cuban health professionals are currently working in human solidarity in 71 countries around the world, a total of 100,000 such professionals since 1963, Public Health Minister Jose Ramon Balaguer noted. Balaguer pointed out that these professionals have made 300 million medical consultations, performed 2 million surgeries, 700,000 deliveries and have saved approximately 1 million lives in emergency attention. Receiving diplomas at the Havana Medical Sciences Institute graduation were 1,188 graduates from 25 countries, including Cuba, in medicine, dentistry, nursing and health technology. At the third graduation of the Havana-based Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM), 1,842 physicians concluded their studies, among them eight students from the United States. Since 2005 almost 5,000 physicians have been trained free of charge, at the ELAM. *** ----- Original Message ----- From: Consortiumnews.com To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, July 27, 2007 2:51 AM Subject: Dangers of a Cornered George Bush As the nation and the world face 18 more months of George W. Bush's presidency, a chilling prospect is that Bush -- confronted with more defeats -- might just "lose it" and undertake even more reckless military adventures. In this special memorandum, the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity collaborated with psychiatrist Justin Frank, author of Bush on the Couch, to assess the potential dangers and suggest possible countermeasures to constrain Bush. For the full story of how dangerous a cornered Bush might become, go to http://www.consortiumnews.com. Orders for our new book, "Neck Deep: The Disastrous Presidency of George W. Bush," also can be placed now by going to http://www.neckdeepbook.com. For each copy purchased at the publisher's Web site, $5 will go to help pay the bills at Consortiumnews.com. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! 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