JustACitizen.com ~~~SIBEL EDMONDS~~~

This Web site was created as a nonpartisan effort to:
• Provide information in the form of interviews, articles, court and legal documents, and statements and press releases of various organizations and agencies about the ongoing efforts of Former FBI Translator and now "Whistleblower" Sibel Edmonds in her pursuit to overcome the government's misuse of the "state secrets privelege" and to be able to exercise via the court system her Constitutional rights and perform her responsibilities as an American citizen by making the American public aware of critical shortcomings in our government’s ability to protect the country against foreign espionage and terrorist threats.
• Provide a link to an online petition calling on the members of the U.S. Congress to require the immediate release of the entire report completed by the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General (DOJ-IG) of its investigation into confirmed reports by Sibel Edmonds on the cover-up of information and leads pre and post 9/11.
• Provide a quick and easy way for American citizens to contact their representatives in the U.S. Congress to raise awareness and demand action in regards to Sibel Edmonds’ plight.
In addition, we aim to motivate the American public to Urge Congress to Act Now, because, while it may appear that the actions of an individual citizen cannot have much of an impact on the affairs of the nation as a whole, as "just a citizen," U CAN make a difference, a big difference, simply by signing our petition and contacting members of Congress to demand that they represent YOU in the important decisions that must be made to ensure a safer society and a thriving democracy.

ProjectSyndicate.org

Project Syndicate is an international association of quality newspapers devoted to:

• bringing distinguished voices from across the world to local audiences everywhere;
• strengthening the independence of printed media in transition and developing countries;
• upgrading their journalistic, editorial, and business capacities.

Project Syndicate currently consists of 243 newspapers in 112 countries, with a total circulation of 38,489,201 copies. Its activities fall into three broad categories:

• disseminating the highest quality commentaries and analysis to its member papers;
• fostering institutional links among member papers;

Project Syndicate is a not-for-profit institution. Financial contributions from member papers in developed countries support the services provided free by Project Syndicate to members in less advanced economies. Additional support comes from the Open Society Institute, Politiken Foundation and Die Zeit Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius Foundation.

What We Do

Each year, Project Syndicate delivers hundreds of commentaries by prominent figures to the world's foremost newspapers. With twenty monthly series and one weekly series of commentaries on topics ranging from economics and international affairs to science and philosophy, Project Syndicate's global reach helps readers worldwide understand the issues and choices that are shaping their lives.

All commentaries are written by men and women who deserve to be heard by a global audience - and who know that only Project Syndicate delivers their message to the right address time after time. Project Syndicate's contributors embody the world as it is: an endless variety of professions, national and cultural backgrounds, and political perspectives. Past commentaries have come from:

• Politicians, including UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, former President of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev, President of Poland Aleksander Kwasniewski, former Japanese Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka, former NATO Secretary General George Robertson, US Senator Dianne Feinstein, former French Prime Minister Michel Rocard, Prince Hassan of Jordan, and former President of Costa Rica and Nobel Laureate Oscar Arias;
• Novelists, such as Umberto Eco, Nadine Gordimer, Arundhati Roy, and Vladimir Voinovich;
• Academics, including Joseph S. Nye, Pierre Nora, Peter Singer, Nina Khrushcheva, John Gray;
• Global strategists, including Zbigniew Brzezinski, Richard Haass, Sergei Karaganov, and Kenichi Ohmae;
• Scientists, such as Nobel Laureates Sydney Brenner, Paul Berg, and Harold Varmus;
• Economists, including Joseph E. Stiglitz, Jeffrey D. Sachs, Guillermo Calvo, James Wolfensohn, George Soros, Otmar Issing, and Daniel Cohen;
• Activists, such as former EU Commissioner Emma Bonino, Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, and the Director of Human Rights Watch in China, Xiao Qiang and Egypt's human rights activist Saad Eddin Ibrahim.

Congressional Research Reports for the People

American taxpayers spend nearly $100 million a year to fund the Congressional Research Service, a "think tank" that provides reports to members of Congress on a variety of topics relevant to current political events. Yet, these reports are not made available to the public in a way that they can be easily obtained. A project of the Center for Democracy & Technology, Open CRS provides citizens access to CRS Reports that are already in the public domain and encourages Congress to provide public access to all CRS Reports.

CRS Reports do not become public until a member of Congress releases the report. A number of libraries and non-profit organizations have sought to collect as many of the released reports as possible. Open CRS is a centralized utility that brings together these collections to search.

Unfortunately, there is no systematic way to obtain all CRS reports. Because of this, not all reports appear on the Open CRS web site. CDT believes that it would be far preferable for Congress to make available to the public all CRS Reports.

NotInOurName.net

The Not In Our Name project was initiated at a meeting in New York City, on March 23, 2002. The meeting was called for by a letter that proposed ways to strengthen and expand resistance to our government's course in the wake of September 11, 2001.

The meeting adopted the proposal - and the Not In Our Name project was born.

CSPANDemocrats.com

If you're lucky enough to get through to Washington Journal, and you like this website, please mention it during your comments!! The more the better! Thanks for your support!

C-SPANdemocrats, is a website by, for and about us democrats who fancy ourselves "C-SPAN JUNKIES".

Finally, a place for those left of center to communicate unique, diverse points of view with each other. Reflecting the politics of the day as observed through our only, true, "window on Washington".

This website was born out of the aggravation of hearing opinions by guests and callers on the daily C-SPAN show "Washington Journal", but being denied the ability to engage anyone directly in continued debate after the segment or show was over.

We invite you to click on any of the links regarding the topic that would most interest you. You are encouraged to participate in the discussion but are welcome to simply observe as well. At any time, if there is a topic of discussion not available to you, please don't hesitate to drop it in the suggestion box.

This website is dedicated to the victims and families of September 11th, 2001 as well as all of our troops and their families who have sacrificed so much to defend the rest of us. Thank you for your support.

Prospect.org

The American Prospect was founded in 1990 as an authoritative magazine of liberal ideas, committed to a just society, an enriched democracy, and effective liberal politics. Robert Kuttner, Robert Reich, and Paul Starr launched the magazine initially as a quarterly.

Since then, the Prospect has grown into a monthly magazine with a paid circulation of 55,000, a special in-depth report in most issues, and a daily Web magazine (www.prospect.org) with more than 300,000 monthly visitors.

Our mission, simply put, is to rise to the momentous occasion that confronts all Americans who seek a just society built on our greatest traditions. Contemporary conservatism stands to thwart those traditions; it advances its agenda by way of stealth, fear-mongering, and a massive propaganda apparatus. It is our mission to expose that agenda and the lies that support it.

Rising to our historical occasion also means reviving and rebuilding liberalism, renewing its connections both to American history and to people's lives in the 21st century, and giving progressive political leaders the weapons they need for battle. Through dogged reporting, cool analysis, witty commentary and passionate argument, the Prospect strives to beat back the right wing and to build a majority of true patriots who understand what really makes America great.

The Prospect's articles generate debate, further ideas, and set agendas. We explore and challenge the conservative views of policy and politics that have been so seductive in this era. Political leaders and journalists look to the Prospect to see what smart, resolute liberals have to say. The American Prospect does not back political candidates, nor does it attempt to achieve unanimity or even consistency among its writers. It seeks to provide a forum for working through the heated controversies and hard choices that vex its editors and writers as much as other Americans.

Our readers include notables and ordinary citizens who want a practical politics for a progressive America. It is a magazine of public ideas, firmly committed -- however unfashionably -- to public improvement.

In addition to its print and online magazine, the Prospect sponsors Moving Ideas, an Internet collaborative of more than 130 advocacy groups and research institutions, formerly known as the Electronic Policy Network. At Movingideas.org, a visitor can find the best available research and advocacy material on public issues ranging from clean air and global warming to judicial nominations, organized for easy searching.

The Prospect also convenes meetings of like-minded organizations in Washington. We co-host a biweekly strategy meeting of major progressive organizations to exchange ideas and develop a common message and a political and media strategy. We also hold special events on key issues that we've addressed in print: our October 2003 conference, American Strategies for Security and Peace, was co-sponsored by the Center for American Progress and the Century Foundation, and brought together a bipartisan group of experts concerned with the direction of American foreign policy.

We founded the Prospect out of a conviction that the conservative undertow in American political life is profoundly influenced by the dominance of conservative media and think tanks. Our conservative counterparts have played a critical role in pulling the entire national debate to the right. We intend to take it back.

BlackWednesday.org

Bush is an idiot!

Why Third Parties?

They rarely win, but 3rd party candidates are essential

While their presidential candidates stand little chance of being elected, members of America's third parties have historically promoted concepts and policies that have been incorporated as important parts of our social and political lives. Here are some major examples:

Women's Right to Vote
Both the Prohibition and Socialist Parties promoted women's suffrage during the late 1800's. By 1916, both Republicans and Democrats supported it and by 1920, the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote had been ratified.

Child Labor Laws
The Socialist Party first advocated laws establishing minimum ages and limiting hours of work for American children in 1904. The Keating-Owen Act established such laws in 1916.

Immigration Restrictions
The Immigration Act of 1924 came about as a result of support by the Populist Party starting as early as the early 1890's.

Reduction of Working Hours
You can thank the Populist and Socialist Parties for the 40-hour work week. Their support for reduced working hours during the 1890's led to the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.

Income Tax
In the 1890's, the Populist and Socialist Parties supported a "progressive" tax system that would base a person's tax liability on their amount of income. The idea led to ratification of the 16th Amendment in 1913.

Social Security
The Socialist Party also supported a fund to provide temporary compensation for the unemployed in the late 1920's. The idea led to the creation of laws establishing unemployment insurance and the Social Security Act of 1935.

"Tough on Crime"
In 1968, the American Independent Party and its presidential candidate George Wallace advocated "getting tough on crime." The Republican Party adopted the idea in its platform and the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 was the result. (George Wallace won 46 electoral votes in the 1968 election. This was the highest number of electoral votes collected by a third party candidate since Teddy Roosevelt, running for the Progressive Party in 1912, won 88 votes.)

Frontline: Private Warriors

* Who is employed by the private contracting firms in Iraq?

Here is a breakdown of the numbers:

50,000 support/logistics contractors
These are civilians hired by KBR, the Halliburton subsidiary which holds the military's logistical support contract. They work as weathermen, cooks, carpenters, mechanics, etc. Most are from Third World countries and the majority are Filipinos.

20,000 non-Iraqi security contractors
Of these, 5-6,000 are British, American, South African, Russian or European; another 12,000 are from Third World countries, such as Fiji, Colombia, Sri Lanka, and India.

15,000 Iraqi security contractors
Most of these were hired mainly by the British security firm Erinys to guard Iraq's oil infrastructure.

40-70,000 reconstruction contractors
Hired to rebuild Iraq. Some are Iraqis, but they're mostly from the U.S. and dozens of other countries and employed by companies such as General Electric, Bechtel, Parsons, KBR, Fluor and Perini.

* How much do private contractors get paid?
Money is a prime motivator for those working in Iraq. Guards for private security firms can typically make between $400 and $600 per day. Guards employed by Blackwater, a high-profile American company that guarded Ambassador Paul Bremer, the former head of the CPA, are paid up to $1000 per day.

* How many contractors have been killed in Iraq?
The exact number is not known; not all companies report casualty numbers. More than 300 contractor deaths have been reported in the press. Of the companies featured in this film, Erinys says it has lost three employees on its contract with the Army Corps of Engineers, and an additional 16 employees who were killed guarding Iraqi oil infrastructure. KBR, which employs over 50,000 in the region, told FRONTLINE that 65 of its employees, including 16 truckers, have been killed since the beginning of the war.

Watch Full Program Here

Bill Moyers with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now

Bill Moyers: "The Radical Right Wing is Very Close to Achieving a Longtime Goal of Undermining the Independence of Public Broadcasting"

With the increasing politicization of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the threat of funding cuts in Congress, public media in this country is facing a serious crisis. We spend the hour with legendary journalist Bill Moyers - the subject of much of the pressure brought by CPB chair Kenneth Tomlinson.

Moyers says, "I think we're at a moment in American history that is unique. I think we are in danger of losing our democracy because of the domination, the monopoly of power being exercised by the huge economic interests, both directly and indirectly. In public broadcasting we need to get back to the revolutionary spirit of dissent and courage that brought us into existence in the first place, and this country does, too."
*
Public Broadcasting is facing the most serious threat to its existence since Congress created the non-profit Corporation for Public Broadcasting more than thirty years ago. CPB is the U.S taxpayer-funded agency that passes funds to public broadcasting stations in this country. Last week the House Appropriations Committee voted to cut $100 million dollars in federal funding to the CPB which is 25 percent of it's total allocation. The proposal would also eliminate money that stations need to convert to digital programming and to upgrade technology. In addition, funds for the "Ready to Learn" program that produces children's shows such as "Sesame Street," would also be cut. All told, the cuts in the budget for public television and radio would amount to a reduction of nearly 50 percent. And the proposal would eliminate all federal funding to the corporation in two years. The full House is scheduled to vote on it this week.

At a White House news conference Monday, press secretary Scott McClellan was questioned about the funding cuts.

* White House news conference, June 20, 2005.
The threats of funding cuts to public broadcasting have come amid revelations of the increasing politicization of the CPB. Under its mandate from Congress, the CPB is required to act as an independent buffer between lawmakers and public broadcasters. But this week, National Public Radio reported that they had obtained emails from a CPB official that showed that CPB Chair Kenneth Tomlinson had conferred with the White House in hiring decisions and in shaping policy at the corporation. In past interviews, Tomlinson has said that the White House does not interfere with CPB.

Last year, he secretly paid more than $14,000 to an outside consultant, to monitor the political content of the guests on the PBS program NOW with Bill Moyers. The consultant, Fred Mann, worked for the American Conservative Union for many years.

And earlier this month, it was revealed that a former co-chair of the Republican National Committee is Tomlinson's favored candidate to take over as President of the CPB. Patricia de Stacy Harrison is currently a high-ranking official at the State Department. She was co-chair of the RNC from 1997 until January 2001, helping to raise money for Republican candidates, including George W. Bush. The vote on the position is expected to take place today.

Yesterday, sixteen senators signed a letter urging President Bush to remove Tomlinson from his position. The senators wrote, "We strongly disagree with your Administration's decision to appoint an individual to head a not-for-profit corporation such as public broadcasting who is actively undermining, under-funding, and ultimately undoing its mission."

We are joined today by the man in the crosshairs - subject of much of the pressure brought by Tomlinson, Bill Moyers. Before we go to him live, let's go to his goodbye on his show NOW last December.

* Excerpt of "Now with Bill Moyers"
Moyers was the host of NOW with Bill Moyers for three years. Over the past three decades he has become an icon of American journalism. He was one of the organizers of the Peace Corps, a special assistant for Lyndon Johnson, a publisher of Newsday, senior correspondent for CBS News and a producer of many groundbreaking series on public television. He is the winner of more than 30 Emmys, nine Peabodys, three George Polk awards and is the author of three best-selling books. His latest is called "Moyers on America: A Journalist and His Times." Bill Moyers joins us in our firehouse studio for the hour.

Transcript

Technopuritanism.net

Michael Takes Away Death Squads and Torture

Handbook for the New Paradigm - Volume One

The Handbook for the New Paradigm is composed of several volumes of messages purported to be telepathically received from an advanced Ultra-Dimensional race by George Green. You are obviously expected to view this material with discernment and not "buy into" anything just because it exists, right? Evaluate it on your own terms and in accordance with your experience. It will mean different things different people, like anything else. The material seems to be of service to people, and for that reason it exists here. Find what is of use to you in terms of your life journey .... and have fun! - Val Valerian

Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Politics

V. POLITICS: The historical development of economic, legal, and political ideas and institutions, ideologies and movements.

CampaignForEducation.org

"Millions of parents, teachers and children around the world are calling on their governments to provide free, good quality, basic education for all the world's children. They are part of the Global Campaign for Education; we add our voice to their call."

- Nelson Mandela and Graca Machel, April 2002.

Education is a basic human right and fundamental to the fight for human dignity and freedom. For 125 million children and 880 million adults, that right is violated everyday.

The Global Campaign for Education promotes education as a basic human right, and mobilizes public pressure on governments and the international community to fulfill their promises to provide free, compulsory public basic education for all people; in particular for children, women and all disadvantaged, deprived sections of society.

Halliburton to build new $39m Guantanamo jail

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Halliburton Company unit will build a new US$30 million (A$39 million) detention facility and security fence at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where the United States is holding about 520 foreign terrorism suspects, the Defence Department has announced.

The announcement comes the same week that Vice President Dick Cheney and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld defended the jail after US lawmakers said it had created an image problem for the United States.

Cheney was chief executive officer of Halliburton from 1995 through August 2000.

Critics have decried the indefinite detention of Guantanamo detainees, whom the United States has denied rights accorded under the Geneva Conventions to prisoners of war. The prison was called "the gulag of our times" in a recent Amnesty International report.

An air-conditioned two-story prison, known as Detention Camp Number 6, will be built at Guantanamo to house 220 men. It will include exercise areas, medical and dental spaces as well as a security control room, the contract announcement said.

The contract announcement did not specify whether the new prison would also hold foreign terror suspects.

Under the deal with the Norfolk, Virginia-based US Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Atlantic, the work is to be wrapped up by July 2006. It is part of a larger contract that could be worth up to $500 million if all options are exercised, the Defence Department said.

The project is to be carried out by Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root Services of Arlington, Virginia. It includes site work, heating ventilation and air conditioning, plumbing and electrical work, the Pentagon said.

The first prisoners arrived at the prison camp in January 2002 after the September 11, 2001, hijacked airliner attacks on New York and the Pentagon.

The Pentagon has said about 520 detainees from more than 40 countries are being held at the prison, without giving a precise figure.

Rumsfeld said on Tuesday US taxpayers had spend more than $100 million on construction costs and no other facility could replace it.

Govtrack.us

There is a huge divide between citizens and government in the United States. I'm no expert in politics, but it seems to me the larger the divide the less responsible politicians are to their constituents, and this is bad. Worse yet, it can be avoided. We could have better government if we could only make it simpler for people to see what their representatives are doing.

The problem isn't that people cannot see what their senators and representatives are doing. They tell us what they're doing through newsletters and media coverage. And we can see them doing what they're doing on C-SPAN. Furthermore, the government itself makes available information about legislation through THOMAS. But each of these sources has its flaws, including bias, dullness, and information overload, making them useless for the interested citizen to casually keep tabs on Congress.

GovTrack.us fills the need for a source of information useful for people. It is both a large collection of data as well as a tool for filtering out what you don't want to see. You can dig deep in GovTrack, finding information the mass media does not have room for, and you can let GovTrack send information to you, like a newspaper customized to your interests. It's the power of the Internet put to use to close the citizen-country divide.

On this site you'll find the status of legislation, the speeches of representatives on the House and Senate floors, voting records, campaign contribution summaries, and more, plus the opinions of other users through their blog entries. And you can follow only the issues that interest you through email updates and RSS feeds.

JustSayNoToFascism.com

We are the Conscience of America
Sure, there is strength in unity. Yes, it makes a people strong to have grounding in moral principles. Indeed, a leader who has proven himself in the world of commerce does have abilities that could be useful in government. Certainly, it is vital to demonstrate iron resolve and conviction.

Just make Sure that you are adhering to a code of righteousness as you conduct your business. Never let defects of character such as temptation, greed, fear or hatred interfere with the just dispensation of your duties. Never forget that we are all human beings, no matter what we look like, what we wear, where we live, how we re-create ourselves.

And Just make Sure that you Never succumb to lying, cheating, stealing, killing, destroying or torturing, and that you adhere to principles of righteousness instead, as prophets and philosophers the world over, down through the ages, have mandated.

We will be watching. The millions of us. We will continue to seek truth and justice, and we will readily speak out when we see those values undermined, denied or repressed.

We are the Conscience of America. --Mark Frankenberg

MajorityReporter.com

Hey everyone,
I'm interested in getting some feedback from the community. I have a website that I would like to launch as a LIFE Magazine for the rest of us sort of thing. It's not really about the Majority Report radio show, but more about the Majority Report culture if you will. Hear me out.

In short, I'm looking to reframe the debate in some context. In our current debate model we are heavily divided. We're divided on religious beliefs, we're divided on geographical borders, and we're divided on social issues. Do you think they (whoever they are) could've done that on purpose? Is it possible that those we oppose have consciously tried to frame the debate in lots of little struggles rather than one massive struggle in attempt to divide dissent into more digestible pieces? Is it possible to reframe the debate in an Us v. Them model for solidarity sake? Them being the rich… who rule and control the world, i.e. the capitalists, and us being the rest of us... who work for them, i.e. the majority.

Still with me? Hang on I'll try to clear it up a little. The religious right has framed everything as a religious issue, whether it is or not they've managed to work it into their agenda. The trouble is that not everyone is religious so lots of people are left out of the unified voice. The women's movement is capable of associating most social issues in the context that it affects women. Again, the problem is that we're not all women so lots of people are left out of the unified voice.

Environmentalists too, how many social issues have an adverse affect on the environment? Lots, and they do an excellent job of getting their message out as well, but again many people aren't all that up on the environmental movement. There are tons of movements out there and most of them do a pretty good job of engaging a certain percentage of the population, but each leave a much larger portion of the population behind.

What do we all have in common? We work… we earn a paycheck... we're labor. In that context labor is affected by everything and has some level of affect on every social issue in our world. That's where the Us v. Them come into play. The people who work v. the people who own us, or think th

Posted by: Paxil at June 13, 2005 11:25 PM

Sorry, it cut off on me, I guess it's too long. Forgive me, here's the rest.

That's where the Us v. Them come into play. The people who work v. the people who own us, or think they do anyway.

So...I'm interested in some ideas and suggestions about how this transition in dissent can be accomplished. The website I have is The Majority Reporter (http://www.majorityreporter.com), I’m sure many of you have seen it come and go as I’ve tried to figure out where it’s niche is. I'm shooting for something on the lines of a group blog/magazine/indy media/international labor news/protest journal/counter culture guide type thing. The ultimate focus is obviously social issues that affect us all, but the issues will be framed in a "we're all labor" context in attempt to frame the debate to show how all of these issues have an adverse effect on all of us in a certain way.

What are your thoughts? Do you want to help? Do you care?

Peace.

Paxil

Posted by: Paxil at June 13, 2005 11:27 PM

FreePress2005.blogspot.com

Interest grows in solving cryptic CIA puzzle after link to Da Vinci Code

FreePressInternational.com/

Downing Street Memo

The Downing Street "Memo" is actually a document containing meeting minutes transcribed during the British Prime Minister's meeting on July 23, 2002—a full eight months PRIOR to the invasion of Iraq on March 20, 2003. The Times of London printed the text of this document on Sunday, May 1, 2005, but to date US media coverage has been limited. This site is intended to act as a resource for anyone who wants to understand the facts revealed in this document.

The contents of the memo are shocking. The minutes detail how our government did not believe Iraq was a greater threat than other nations; how intelligence was "fixed" to sell the case for war to the American public; and how the Bush Administration’s public assurances of "war as a last resort" were at odds with their privately stated intentions.

When asked, British officials "did not dispute the document's authenticity." and a senior American official has described it as "absolutely accurate." Yet the Bush administration continues to simultaneously sidestep the issue while attempting to cast doubt on the memo’s authenticity.

Nobody wants to go to war. We trust our leaders to shed blood in our name only when absolutely necessary. But the facts revealed by the Downing Street Memo force us to ask ourselves: Was I misled? Did President Bush tell me the truth when he said he would not take us to war unless absolutely necessary?

More than two years after the start of the Iraq War, Americans are just learning that our government was dead set on invasion, even while it claimed to be pursuing diplomacy. Please join us in demanding that we get to the bottom of this issue.

NarcoNews.com

The Narco News Bulletin works to tell the truth. We call it as we see it. Yet we are conscious that it's our truth. The whole truth can only be constructed by the participation of the people. Thus, we strive to work together, to collaborate, with your truth and the truths of others, "to make a bigger truth."

Narco News is a project in authentic journalism. We do not accept advertising. We do not charge a price for our reports.

Narco News has no bank account. During our legal battle against Banamex-Citigroup in the New York Supreme Court, we did have a defense fund, titled Drug War on Trial, exclusively for our legal expenses. We were victorious in that battle, and are no longer seeking funds for our defense.

In sum, Narco News makes no profit, raises no funds, and seeks to keep free speech free from economic pressures.

TomPaine.com

TomPaine.com is for people who want to keep in touch with the progressive community but don't have time to surf dozens of websites. We do it for you. It's also for people who care about the progressive cause and are looking for an online home. Each day we scour the country—from Capitol Hill to newspapers to think tanks and activist groups—and highlight the news, ideas and actions that you need to stay fully informed. Because we're based in Washington, D.C., expect us to be obsessed with the workings of the nation's capitol. Here's what you'll find on our site:

Well-informed, superbly argued opinion pieces

Overlooked but newsworthy reporting

An insightful house web log of the events, stories, people and political actions driving Washington

Humorous, interesting and outrageous tidbits and visuals you'll want to send to your friends

TomPaine.com was founded by John Moyers in 1995 to amplify public-interest voices and take on controversial issues—often in coordination with regular advertisements published on the Op-Ed page of The New York Times.

CrooksandLiars.com

The Video Blogger that features satire and hard news.

Unknownnews.net

Corporations own every major newspaper, every TV and radio station, and every major media outlet in America. They offer "objective journalism," but not because feigning impartiality is somehow "ethical." It's simply the strategy that offends the fewest advertisers, draws the largest audience, and makes the most profit.

There's nothing wrong with making an honest profit, but profit is not the motive here. No corporation owns Unknown News, and we're not doing this to turn a profit, so we don't pretend to be "objective journalists."

We're Helen & Harry. We're real human beings, not a 'network' or newspaper. We care, so we have some opinions.

We appreciate the Bill of Rights, and other great works of fiction. We have no patience for the status quo of bipartisan duplicity, hypocrisy, graft, and glad-handing.

We are disgusted with the Democratic and Republican parties, whose policies and politicians are responsible for most of America's problems (and more and more of the world's). We do not believe these thoroughly corrupt parties, policies, and politicians offer any serious solutions to the problems they have created.

One America Committee

There are two different Americas in our country today - one for those at the top who get everything they want, and another for everybody else who struggles just to get by.

John Edwards understands this, and knows that if we want to build one America, we need a change in our country's leadership. George Bush and Republicans across the country have not led us toward one America; the Democrats across this country will.

The One America Committee is dedicated to helping elect Democratic candidates across the country. Join us, and together, we can build one America that works for all of us!

Bush Administration Lie Archive at The Leftcoaster

January 24, 2005 - Zogby: No Support For Iran Attack - But 31% Of Americans Ashamed To Have Bush President

January 21, 2005 - George Lakoff Decodes Inaugural Speech To Be All About Money

January 21, 2005 - Despite Contrived Images Yesterday, Bush Is On Shaky Political Ground

January 19, 2005 - Bush Walks Away From Pushing Gay Marriage Ban

January 17, 2005 - Pentagon Pushes Back Against Hersh Story on Iran - Without Denying It

January 5, 2005 - Unproven Missile Defense Already Obsolete

December 30, 2004 - Neocons Firmly in Charge

December 27, 2004 - Freedom And Liberty? For Whom?

December 20, 2004 - Scamming Ponzi's Pyramid Scheme

December 18, 2004 - The Military and Intelligence

December 5, 2004 - We Got It Wrong About Bu$h

December 3, 2004 - Where Are The Jobs Bush Promised?

December 2, 2004 - War Is An Oil Racket

November 24, 2004 - Science Is Good For Intelligence, But "Junk" When Talking About The
Environment

November 19, 2004 - Shades of Chalabi - Powell Uses Intelligence From Walk-In Source On
Iran

November 10, 2004 - Remember When Ashcroft Got In?

November 7, 2004 - Provisional Open Thread

October 28, 2004 - FBI Launches Investigation Of Bush Administration Halliburton Contracting

October 27, 2004 - Despite The White House Rhetoric, US About To Lose Control Of Ramadi

October 27, 2004 - Bush: Open Mouth, Insert Foot

October 27, 2004 - Bush Ignoring Media On Iraq Explosives Disappearance

October 25, 2004 - Bush Administration WILL Push Iraq/Afghan Costs Well Over $200 Billion
- After The Election

October 25, 2004 - The Middle Class Isn't Better Off Than It Was Four Years AgoOctober 25, 2004 - Explosives are no matter

October 23, 2004 - No Evidence Found Of Election-Related Terrorist Attack

October 23, 2004 - Bush And Rummy DID Let Bin Laden Get Away At Tora Bora

Continued at Link

Huffingtonpost.com

Some Honest Questions for Bush Republicans From a Liberal Pussy

If you happen to be a W. Bush supporter who's skimming through the Huffington Post to see who the liberal traitors and agitators are, I have some questions for you. And these are honest, "I really am looking for an answer" questions, not rhetorical snarky questions.

I'm really looking to figure out this divide in our country between the so-called true patriots and the shiftless liberals. So help me out and then when you see me on the road with my "Wal-Mart: Low Wages, Low Morals...Always" bumper sticker, feel free to flip me off.

Now I already fully admit that I'm a liberal idiot and cynical godless appeasement junkie, so there's no need to call me that. Oh, and also, I'm a Hollywood smart-ass and a Prius driving hippy. I won't get into the fact that I was raised in a lower class background and I hadn't been to Hollywood until five years ago. Plus, even though I believe in a strong military and supported our attack of Afghanistan and Serbia, you can call me a weak-kneed pussy. It's really okay. I get it. So here are my questions...

MotherJones.com

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Interview with a US Soldier: Dead heroes can’t pay the bills! by Jay Shaft

This interview was conducted in January 2005, but the soldier asked me not to release it for several months after he was deployed. He contacted me earlier this month from Iraq and asked me why I had not put it yet. I felt that it needed to be released over the Memorial Day weekend. This interview and the initial fact finding interview he refers to were conducted by phone, with a member of a peace group and one member of MFSO being present during the interview.

The soldier that I spoke to in this interview was about to deploy for the second time to Iraq. He has already completed one tour and only been home for about five months. He wouldn’t say exactly how long he had been home. The person who set up this interview has confirmed that it was less than six months. This soldier was extremely angry and scared about having to go back to Iraq. I also have a letter from him that he sent from Iraq two weeks ago. I will release it in the next week after I have removed certain things that might identify him or get him in trouble.

IMPORTANT NOTE: CERTAIN FACTS AND DETAILS HAVE BEEN CHANGED IN THIS INTERVIEW TO PROTECT THE IDENTITY OF THIS SOLDIER. The soldier asked to be interviewed anonymously, and I do not know his name or any facts that can lead back to him. He was directed to me by a member of Military Families Speak Out. I am dedicated to protecting him from military reprisals and harassment, and I have taken every precaution to keep his identity hidden.

This soldier has asked to be called Sergeant Nobody when I published the interview, so I have done so. Here is his story and his message that he asked me to deliver to the American people.

Atrios.Blogspot.com

Atrios is the pseudonym of Duncan Black, a 32 year old recovering economist living in Center City Philadelphia. This blog has been online since April, 2002, and currently gets an average of over 100,000 visits per day.

NonViolence.org

Nonviolence.Org is an entirely virtual new media organization. It was started by one person—-me, Martin Kelley—-in my home office in 1995. Almost eight years later, it’s won accolades and attention from the mainstream media but has remained largely invisible to progressive foundations and much of the old peace movement.

The past eight years have seen countless “New Media” projects burst on the scene only to wither away. Yet Nonviolence.org continues without any funding, attracting a larger audience every year. As the years have gone by and I’ve found the strength to continue it, I’ve realized more and more that this is a ministry. As a member of the Religious Society of Friends I’m committed to spreading the good news that war is unnecessary. In my personal life this is a matter of faith in the “power that takes away occassion for all war.” In my work with Nonviolence.org I also draw on all the practical and pragmatic reasons why war is wrong.

A Hole In The Wall by Sugata Mitra

A revolution in information technology is redefining poverty, as how much you know is becoming just as important as how much you own. "The Hole in the Wall" examines one possible solution to the growing technological gap between rich and poor -- the so-called 'digital divide' -- that threatens to consign millions to an "information underclass."

When Indian researcher Sugata Mitra embedded a high-speed computer in a wall separating his firm's New Delhi headquarters from an adjacent slum, he discovered that slum children quickly taught themselves how to surf the net, read the news, and download games and music. Mitra then replicated the experiment in other locations. Each time the results were similar: within hours, and without instruction, the children began browsing the Internet.

Can children -- given only access and opportunity -- really teach themselves the rudiments of computer literacy with no instruction? "The Hole in the Wall" experiment, and the documentary film that chronicles it, show the answer to be a "Yes!" Mitra estimates that, given access to one hundred thousand computers, one hundred million Indian children could teach themselves computer literacy within five years.

The film concludes by noting that the spread of information technology is changing societies around the world, and the implications of Mitra's experiment are profound -- particularly for poor people.