Hypocrisy in Iraq

Ah, yes. The U.S. government invaded Iraq because their "weapons of mass destruction posed an imminent threat to us." OOPS! Nope, that wasn't it because there WERE no weapons of mass destruction. Lie #1.

Since that reason didn't suffice, the reason the U.S. government invaded Iraq became "to free the Iraqi people"--to "give democracy to the people of Iraq"--to "stop the torture Saddam Hussein was inflicting on his own people." OOPS! As this video clip shows, that cannot be the reason, either. Lie #2 (these lies are just WAY too easy to list!).

There is now video proof of U.S. soldiers torturing and humiliating Iraqi prisoners. As Ahmad Taher, 24, a student at Baghdad's Mustansiriyah University said, "Americans claim that they respect freedom and democracy — but only in their country."

I guess Bush & Co. didn't invade Iraq to free the Iraqi people from anything.

So, remind me again, WHY DID WE INVADE IRAQ?



Above: One Iraqi prisoner was told to stand on a box with his head covered, wires attached to his hands. He was told that if he fell off the box, he would be electrocuted, the Army says. Photo: CBS

Click HERE to view the video clip of the report. You'll need the Real One player to view the video. Click here to download your free copy of Real player if you don't already have it..

Claim vs. Fact: Razing the Rhetoric

Here's a tool to help you dissect the conservative rhetoric you hear every day and find facts...TRUTH!

"The Claim vs. Fact database, found at www.claimvfact.org, contains more than 400 separate quotes on all kinds of issues from top conservatives including Bush administration officials, members of Congress and Fox News personalities. The database contrasts these quotes with well-documented facts. And you don't have to take their word for the facts they cite – in as many places as possible, they include direct Web links to primary source materials."



Click HERE to go to the Claim vs. Fact database and learn TRUTH now!

How To Predict The 2004 Election

Mark Shields tells you how to predict the Presidential election in November. Click HERE to find out how "you, too, can be a prophet, sage and seer."

Clowning Around

It appears Dubya McDonald is in WAY over his head.

Tax Burden Shifting off Wealthy onto Everyone Else

Tax cuts? Where?

Under the disguise of a "tax cut," Bush has actually raised taxed on most of us. The only people who have experienced real cuts are the people who need tax cuts the least--the super wealthy and powerful.

Click HERE to learn more about yet another piece of the Bush propoganda machine.



Bush Tax Cuts = Tax Shifts

Click HERE to read the full report from United for a Fair Economy.

I think billionaire Warren Buffet says it best: "if class warfare is being waged in America, my class is clearly winning."

Diebold: "Complete Idiots"

As computer scientists, professors, state and federal lawmakers express their concerns about the integrity of "paperless" and unverifiable voting, Diebold just makes excuses for its inability to produce reliable machines.

These e-voting machines are as easy to hack and manipulate as your home computer. Is this what we, as a democracy, have resorted to? If we get, say, 90% of all the votes counted, that's OK. Or, maybe it's 80% counted. What's the number? This is how the business-world measures itself: 100% is not attainable, so it sets an arbitrary number for its definition of "success".

Why shouldn't this apply to our votes and our democratic government? Because 100% is the only acceptable number of votes that count! Anything less than 100% would ensure we do not live in a democracy.

When will we finally abandon the idea that government should be run like a business? A business has the luxury of choosing its market. Our government is for ALL of us. It doesn't have the ability to pick and choose its "customers."

I guess the problems we're seeing with private companies creating and running our e-voting machines should be expected when we try to run government like a business, then. These problems may be within the acceptable range in the business world, but they're an abomination to our democratic government.

Click HERE to learn more about this evolving story.



Above: Protesting outside the California Secretary of State's office in Sacramento. AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli

PLEASE go to VerifiedVoting.org to find out what's currently being done to ensure a paper trail for every vote cast on e-voting machines. Demand your public officials mandate paper ballots on all e-voting machines in your state: click HERE to learn how your state is currently addressing this problem.

On a satirical note, I thought I'd highlight the following quote from the President of Diebold: "We're not idiots, though we may act from time to time as not the smartest," Diebold President Robert J. Urosevich told California regulators investigating the company's performance.

Learning Free From Money-Hungry Media

I just learned about the website, AskQuestions.org, and thought I'd share this amazing resource with you.

AskQuestions.org practices “bottom-up” journalism by inviting the public to submit questions. The most popular questions are handed over to professional researchers and reporters, who then come back to provide us facts, statistics...truth!

This is your opportunity to ask questions about anything you want to know about--to learn more about the world around you without the media TELLING YOU what you need to learn about.



Go ahead...check it out! Go to www.askquestions.org, or click HERE to start learning more without the pop-culture media prescribing to you what you should and should not know. Increase your awareness now! Have fun...ENJOY!

Wildlife Sanctuary: Luxury Hotel Plans

Aldabra is a small ring of islands isolated in the middle of the Indian Ocean where wildlife that doesn't survive elsewhere on the planet flourishes.

Aldabra is actually the world's largest raised coral atoll, which makes all it contributes to the world that much more unique and precious.

This fragile ecosystem is now threatened with plans to build a hotel on Aldabra by the Seychelles government.



Above: Aerial view of Aldabra, the world's largest raised coral atoll.

The reason animals and plants flourish here is because humans have not interfered with it. Now that a luxury hotel is planned, the atoll's incredible ability to provide for wildlife may be in serious jeopardy.

Click HERE to learn more about this disturbing possiblity and what is being done about it.

Here is an excerpt from the article:

"VICTORIA (Reuters) - Isolated in the middle of the Indian Ocean, the world's largest raised coral atoll, Aldabra, is the land that time forgot.

Thousands of giant tortoises, exterminated across most of the world, roam the inhospitable terrain.

Huge robber crabs -- the world's largest terrestrial arthropods -- measuring up to 3 ft in length, scour the beaches, climbing up coconut palms and ripping open coconut shells with their massive pincers.

White throated rails, the last surviving flightless bird of the Indian Ocean -- a region famous for the now extinct dodo -- wander amid the dense scrub.

Hawksbill and green turtles come in their thousands to breed on the shores of the atoll. In decline almost everywhere else, the numbers returning to Aldabra are rising each year.

Accommodating 200 plant species onshore and waters teeming in sharks, ray, groupers and other exotic fish, Aldabra, along with the Galapagos islands, is one of the world's greatest surviving natural treasures.

"Aldabra is a very special place because it is virtually untouched by the modern world," says Guy Esperon, warden of Aldabra.

"Its remoteness from the rest of the world has ensured the survival and protection of all of the species on Aldabra," he adds.

But conservationists say this fragile ecosystem is now under threat with plans to build a hotel on Aldabra by the Seychelles government, which administers the atoll."

NOT shopping at Wal-Mart

You've decided you don't want to shop at Wal-Mart anymore as a way to "vote with your wallet." You'd prefer to spend your money elsewhere. But where do you shop for those essentials Wal-Mart sells at a price you can afford?

I've got two suggestions: Costco and BJ's Wholesale.

Both companies sell the essentials you need at low prices. And, unlike Wal-Mart, provide better wages, twice as many of their employees (vs. Wal-Mart's) are covered under their company health insurance plans and they allow their workers to share in the profits of the company.



Click HERE to locate a Costco store near you.



Or, click HERE to locate a BJ's Wholesale club near you.

James Goldsborough of the San Diego Union-Tribute wrote an article about the recent defeat of Wal-Mart in Inglewood, California. He provides us with some insight as to why the Inglewood win over Wal-Mart is so important and how it has implications for Wal-Mart (and all the other bullying companies that exploit everyone they can to "make a buck") across the country.

Click HERE to read Goldsborough's article.

Here's an excerpt:

"Last month, The Wall Street Journal compared Wal-Mart with Costco, another large retailer and grocer. It pointed out that Costco, in contrast to Wal-Mart, "is held up as a retailer that does it right, paying well and offering generous benefits" to employees.

Costco draws criticism from Wall Street for sharing its success with its employees, reported the Journal. "Public companies need to care for shareholders first," said a Wall Street analyst critical of Costco, noting that Costco stock traded at only 20 times earnings compared with Wal-Mart's 24 times. "Costco runs its business like it is a private company," sniffed this critic.

To that, Costco President and CEO Jim Sinegal replied, "I happen to believe that in order to reward the shareholder in the long term, you have to please your customers and workers."

The Wall Street critic, like so many in corporate America today, just doesn't "get it."

Low-Wage Jobs Fail 30 Million Americans

Here's a book to consider borrowing from your local public library: in The Betrayal of Work: How Low-Wage Jobs Fail 30 Million Americans, the author, Beth Shulman, states what countless Americans already know to be true--working hard doesn't necessarily mean you'll be rewarded for your labor.

Shulman traveled the country to talk with the invisible working poor so that we would have the opportunity to read about how America's returning to ancient and failed serfdom capitalism is affecting intelligent, hard-working people--like the janitor who made $6 an hour after working for the same company for 8 years and got fired when she and others asked for a raise. Unfortunately, this story is not unique in America's greedy capitalist environment today.

Learn more about the book, The Betrayal of Work: How Low-Wage Jobs Fail 30 Million Americans by clicking HERE. Or, go to your local public library and borrow it.



Click HERE if you'd like to purchase this book.

Quotable

"Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education. The human mind is our fundamental resource."

- John F. Kennedy

Billionaires For Bush

"Billionaires For Bush" may sound like a group that endorses the Bush administration.

Au contraire, actually. Billionaires for Bush is an organization that makes fun of the super-wealthy who only care about themselves, which is the very group Bush targets for his support.



You may see this very sarcastic and funny performance group at a demonstration near you. Just look for the people dressed in black ties and gowns (see photo below).

Click HERE to learn more about this hilarious protest group.



Above: Billionaires For Bush protesting the selfish and greedy in New York

Hybrid Cars: Demand is HIGH, but where's the supply?

Typical of the American automobile industry, it's dragging its feet by not producing hybrid cars at a rate that keeps up with demand. There are thousands of people on waiting lists to buy fuel efficient hybrid gasoline-electric cars...and demand is even stronger during these times of record-high gas prices!

When will the American car industry wake up and meet the demand for low emission, fuel-saving vehicles? They need only look at profits Toyota and Honda are making by giving the car-driving public what they want in hybrid cars.



Above: The Toyota Prius, one of a few low emission, fuel-efficient hybrid cars on the market today

Click HERE to learn more about the American automakers' sluggish response to the high demand of hybrids.

Victory For The People!

Yesterday, residents of Inglewood, California voted against Wal-Mart building a supercenter store in their community. This is a HUGE win for Inglewood, as Wal-Mart spent more than $1,000,000.00 on their campaign to build in Inglewood while opponents of Wal-Mart spent just a fraction of that.

Residents were convinced of the truth--that Wal-Mart drives out small, independent businesses in the community, increases automobile traffic which amplifies suburban sprawl and pollution in the area, pays their employees minimum wage with little or no opportunity for advancement and will not let their workers protect themselves by unionizing.

Inglewood said "no" to the behemoth Wal-Mart--a trend that is becoming more and more commonplace in America (San Diego refused Wal-Mart and so did the city of Chicago, recently).

Click HERE to learn more about the Inglewood "David vs. Goliath" victory over Wal-Mart.

Fed Up with Wal-Mart

Inglewood, California residents will vote today on the fate of a proposed Wal-Mart in their city.

Wal-Mart is attempting to bypass environmental, urban development and zoning laws in order to build in Inglewood. Residents are not buying their sales pitch.

Wal-Mart will not allow its workers to unionize. They are able to offer their shoppers rock-bottom prices because they don't pay their store employees a living wage. How can anyone live off of the average $6.10 an hour Wal-Mart pays its "sales associates" (or, $12,688 per year if they are permitted to work full-time)?

Click HERE to read more about the Inglewood store initiative and Wal-Mart's bullying tactics.



Or, click HERE to go to the website, "Wal-Mart Blows," and learn more about this disgusting and cruel company.

Blood Diamonds

This is 14-month-old Marie Koroma, playing with a marble.

Part of Marie's left arm was cut off by rebels in Sierra Leone when she was 3 months old. Photo by Joe Ledford of the Kansas City Star.

Sierra Leone is a country in West Africa whose most important export is diamonds. Greed and the desire to control this valuable commodity caused civil war to break out in Sierra Leone.

Tactics used in this civil war caused by greed resulted in Marie's amputation. Unfortunately, hers is not an isolated story. Thousands upon thousands of children (and civilian adults) have lost their limbs for the desire to control the diamond trade in Sierra Leone.



Above: Freetown, Sierra Leone: A two-year-old girl who lost her arm when rebels from the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) opened fire on a group of fleeing civilians. The little girl's grandmother, on whose back she was strapped, was killed in the incident.

You might ask, "what can I do to help?"

I'd suggest there are many ways you can help:

1. If you purchase diamonds, make sure you purchase from a jeweler who has joined the Jewelers for Clean Diamond Imports. Click HERE to check the list for a local jeweler.

2. Spread the word about these atrocities--tell everyone you know about what's happening to children in Sierra Leone! The more we learn about the consequences of our purchases, the more we can take action with our wallets.

3. Learn more about the situation in West Africa--go to your local public library, or research on the internet. The following websites may be helpful: Human Rights Watch's "Sierra Leone: A Call for Justice", PBS's "Sierra Leone: Truth and Reconciliation", Amnesty International's "Conflict Diamonds", and The Campaign to Eliminate Conflict Diamonds.

More on "smart purchasing" of products and how you can influence policy to right injustices as a consumer by "voting with your wallet" in upcoming posts.

REVERSING PLEDGE, BUSH LETS OPEC BILK AMERICANS

As a presidential candidate in 2000, George Bush pledged to use his "political capital" to influence OPEC when gas prices soared, saying that during a crisis, a president, "ought to get on the phone with the OPEC cartel and say, 'We expect you to open your spigots" (1). But with gas prices soaring in the United States (2), newspapers report the White House now says the president refuses to "personally lobby oil cartel leaders to change their minds" (3).

With the president refusing to do anything about the situation, OPEC opted this week to cut supply to further inflate gas prices and bilk American consumers (4). While Saudi Arabia's ambassador told the White House yesterday that his country supposedly opposed higher oil prices, the president's refusal to use his close relations with the Saudi government gave the Saudis a pass to support the OPEC production cut (5). Despite the Saudi effort to keep American energy prices high - and despite their ties to terror groups (6) - the President continues to insist that Saudi Arabia is "our friend" (7).

During his term, the president has pursued other policies that help enrich the oil industry, which has given him more than $3 million since 2000 (8). For instance, his tax legislation actually created a massive tax incentive for consumers to purchase gas-guzzling SUVs over fuel efficient hybrid cars (9). Meanwhile, the first budget President Bush introduced after taking office tried to cut 37%, (almost $200 million), out of federal research on renewable energy and energy efficiency programs (10).

Sources:

1. "OPEC to cut back despite high prices", Washington Times, 04/01/2004.

2. "Surging Gas Prices Pump Up Political Debate", Los Angeles Times, 03/31/2004.

3. "Bush Refuses to Lean on Oil Cartel", Miami Herald, 04/01/2004.

4. "OPEC cut to oil output likely to keep prices near record levels", Dallas Morning News, 04/01/2004.

5. "Saudi envoy plays nice with White House on oil supply", USA Today, 4/02/2004.

6. "The Saudi Connection", US News and World Report, 12/15/2003.

7. President Bush Vows to Bring Terrorists to Justice, 05/15/2003.

8. OpenSecrets.Org

9. "SUV, truck owners get a big tax break", Detroit News, 12/18/2002.

10. "Proposed Bush Budget Cuts Renewables and Energy Efficiency Programs", Resources for the Future, 04/11/2001.

This post is from misleader.org.

Visit Misleader.org to learn more about Bush Administration distortion.

Wal-Mart Exploiting the Elderly

Just when you think Wal-Mart couldn't stoop any lower, they do!

Annie Lee Martin, an 82-year-old resident of Inglewood, California, was recently the target of a public relations blitz for a new Wal-Mart proposed to be built in Inglewood.

Since Wal-Mart was meeting a lot of resistance to its new store proposal, they thought they'd do whatever they could to influence public opinion in their favor--but they did it at the expense of Annie Martin.

As Annie was leaving a supermarket near her home, she was photographed by a sort-of "Wal-Mart papparazzi." They then, in turn, used her photograph on a postcard which was mailed out to residents in the area.

The postcard also featured what seemed to be a glowing letter of recommendation by Martin for the Wal-Mart project that stressed the boon of jobs for youth the initiative would bring – another attempt by the retail giant to paint the measure as a local economic windfall as well as put a folksy, African-American face on an increasingly heated battle over the fate of development in Inglewood. Martin has adamantly denied the quotes in the Wal-Mart "PR postcard."

Click HERE to learn more about how Wal-Mart will exploit everyone it can to make a buck.



Click HERE to learn more about a book called "How Wal-Mart Is Destroying America (and the World) and What You Can Do about It" by Bill Quinn. You may wish to purchase it or borrow it from your local library if you're interested in reading more about this disturbing company.

Massachusetts Tops U.S. Tech Index

The great state of Massachusetts remains the state best positioned to take advantage of the high-technology economy, according to The Milken Institute.

Massachusetts was the only state to score higher than 80 out of 100 and was well ahead of No. 2 California, while less than 1 point separated California from No. 4 Maryland.

Like the 2002 study before it, the new survey found a link between how well a state scores in the index and its per-capita income. Moreover, the researchers contend that the more a state invests in technology and develops technology businesses, the better off its citizens will be.

"If they don't become part of the knowledge economy, they risk some very large dislocations among their population," Ross DeVol, director of regional economics for the Milken Institute, told Reuters.

Massachusetts wasn't the only New England state that fared well: Connecticut was #10, Rhode Island was #11, New Hampshire was #12 and Vermont was #22. Rhode Island and Vermont made the biggest gains in the country over 2002, moving up 10 and 9 spots respectively.

Click HERE for the complete state rankings (Adobe Acrobat Reader required).