UNITED STATES NEWS DIGEST
Bush's Support for Sharon Seen as Madness
In a performance that has all the rationality of Lewis Carroll's "Red Queen," President George W. Bush on April 18 called Ariel Sharon "a man of peace." That statement is a sure sign that W., who was never picked for President because he was smart, is a "lame duck." Humiliated by Sharon, who refused both U.S. and United Nations' demands and resolutions to withdraw from Palestinian-ruled territories, Bush either has to admit that he really did give Israel a "green light" for the atrocities, or stand exposed as impotent. More to the point, the world is holding Bush as complicit in Sharon's war crimes.
Writes The New York Times of April 19, the timing of this Bush statement could not have been worse "on a day when Arab, European and United Nations officials focussed on the destruction that the Israeli incursions had left behind, particularly in Jenin. Mr. Bush's comments may bolster Palestinian suspicions that the United States was supporting Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, and secretly approving his military actions."
Palestinian Chief Negotiator Saeb Erekat said on the day of the speech that: "When I hear the President saying that Sharon is a man of peace after he has destroyed our way of life, and after the Jenin refugee camp, I don't know if this is not a reward for Israeli terrorism.... And then he says history will prove that Sharon is withdrawing ... All I can say is that he is wrong as wrong can be."
Netanyahu Attacks Bush and Powell Behind Closed Doors
According to syndicated columnist and GOP insider Robert Novak, during his meetings beginning on April 10 with a score of U.S. Senators, former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched into vicious attacks against President Bush's Mideast policy. Noting that Netanyahu is openly campaigning to replace Ariel Sharon as Israel's war Prime Minister, Novak described Bibi's private discussions on the Hill: "Netanyahu is the favorite Israeli politician among conservative Republicans." According to Novak, Bibi was peddling Israeli intelligence "evidence" that Saddam Hussein has nuclear weapons, that could be smuggled into the U.S. by terrorists and detonated.
On April 13, a well-place Arab diplomatic source confirmed Novak's report, and added that Sharon rushed Netanyahu to Washington to preempt a deployment to the Middle East by James Baker III, the former Secretary of State, who is hated by the Likud crazies for putting pressure on Yitzak Shamir in 1991. When Israeli intelligence learned that some senior Republican and Democratic Party figures, including some of the old Reagan Republicans, were pushing to bring in Baker III as a special Mideast envoy, Bibi was dispatched to mobilize the evangelicals and the neo-cons within the GOP to stop this from happening.
Christian Fundies and Neo-Con Zionists Team Up To Oust Powell, Capture Bush
A combination of new reports over the past week presents a clear picture that the Christian fundies, in league with the neo-conservatives and the hard-core rightwing Zionist Lobby, have been on an all-out drive, to capture President Bush and lash him to their insane war plan, and, in the course of it, sabotage Colin Powell's recent Mideast tour, to the point of driving him out of the government altogether. From the moment that Bush, on April 4, called for Sharon to withdraw Israeli forces from the West Bank Area A, and announced the deployment of Powell to the Mideast, there has been a full-scale mobilization of the radical right, to get Bush to back off, and give Sharon the total green light for his Hitlerian massacre.
On April 11--the day Colin Powell arrived in Jerusalem--Gary Bauer, Jerry Falwell, the Rev. John Hagee, Marlin Maddoux, Ed McAteer and the Rev. Tim Timmons, all leading Darbyite Zionists--issued a letter to President Bush, assailing him for sending Powell on a peace mission, warning, "We believe the Bush Doctrine is in great jeopardy and the war on terrorism with it. We believe it is imperative for the United States to stand with our friend and ally Israel as they attempt to defeat the same forces of terrorism that we have been battling since September 11, 2001. We would ask you to end pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon so that he has the time necessary to complete the mission he has undertaken--the elimination of terrorist cells and infrastructure from the West Bank territories.... Secretary Powell's current peace-making trip is sending a dangerous message."
The Bauer-organized fundie letter appears to have been part of a campaign, first launched in February of this year, to marshall the combined resources of the Christian Zionists and the American Friends of Likud, to sink any Bush Administration support for Mideast peace, and to press for U.S. backing for the execution of Arafat and the entire Palestinian Authority. The Jerusalem Post online reported on Feb. 1 that a $200,000 war chest had been put together for a series of ads, attacking Arafat and demanding that Bush put Arafat and the PA/PLO on the foreign terrorist organizations list. ZOA and the Religious Roundtable co-sponsored the initiative, which included an ad on the Karine A, signed by Gary Bauer, calling Arafat and the PA "the Nazis of the modern era."
From inside the Administration, a traitorous network is working with the above groups to drive out Powell. These are the right-wing warmongers around Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz who hold key "second tier" positions in and around the White House. The grouping led by Wolfowitz has been together since the early 1980s, operating through a rat's nest of think tanks entangled with the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). In 1985, the Wolfowitz grouping, known as the "Wohlstetter Kindergarten," came under investigation in the network involved in Israeli espionage after the capture of spy Jonathan Jay Pollard, an agent of the Sharon/Likud apparatus in Israel. Known as the "X Committee," many of these Wolfowitz cohorts also hold sensitive Defense Department and White House positions today. These include Richard Perle, chairman of the Defense Policy Board; Dov Zakeim, Comptroller of the Defense Department; and Doug Feith, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy. While these Administration officials are forbidden by the White House to openly attack Powell, they use media outlets and private groups like the ZOA and Christian Zionists.
Jeb Bush Reelection has White House Running Scared
One of the reasons for President Bush's turning a blind eye to Israeli war crimes, is fear of alienating the rightwing Israeli lobby's voters and contributors needed to maintain the Bush family "dynasty," and get Presidential brother Jeb Bush reelected Governor of Florida this year.
Jeb's dependence on the Bush family money machine was evident on April 10, when he was in Washington, D.C. for a private fundraiser at the home of Wayne Berman (a Washington wheeler-dealer and GOP fundraiser, who was caught up in a corruption scandal in Connecticut, and was a recipient of lucrative loans from the University of Texas Management Corp., the privatized university endowment that has been a source of largesse to "Friends of G.W.," including the Carlyle Group).
Berman is an Achilles' heel for the Bush family. On March 5, 2000, at the height of the Republican primaries, the London Sunday Times, ran an article by its New York bureau chief Tom Rhodes, entitled "Bush's Backers in Fraud Inquiry." Rhodes had pointed out that there was an ongoing investigation by U.S. Attorney for Connecticut Stephen C. Robinson, FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Michael Wolf, and IRS Criminal Investigation Division Chief Gregory Szczeszek, into how $500 million of Connecticut state pension funds were allegedly laundered through Wayne Berman's Washington, D.C.-based lobbying firm, Park Strategies.
Cheney Thanks Israelis for Bombing Iraqi Nuclear Reactor
Leading the parade of officials to the Israeli Independence Day celebrations at the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C. on April 17 were Vice President Dick Cheney and wife. Cheney was whisked in from his "undisclosed location" to deliver a few chilling remarks. He praised outgoing Israeli ambassador, David Ivry, for his work in saving the world from Saddam Hussein's nuclear program. While Cheney was Secretary of Defense, then-General Ivry had ordered the Israeli attack against the Osirak nuclear reactor. Cheney reiterated a U.S. commitment to keeping Israel "strong and secure." "Our friendship is strong and enduring and it can never be changed," Cheney said, stressing the need to "defeat all terrorists." "Our countries are full partners in defeating this threat to the civilized world," Cheney said. Then he continued, "The people of America and of Israel believe in the possibility and the necessity of peace arrived at through good will, negotiation and an absolute renunciation of terror and violence as tools of negotiation. Terrorists are trying to destroy goodwill and spread fear and hatred, and to smother any hope on either side of a peaceful settlement. [Terrorists] must not be permitted to shape the destinies of Israelis and Palestinians. That destiny and the future of the Middle East must be shaped and decided by peacemakers."
Among the other speakers were strong supporters of Sharon, including Paul Wolfowitz, Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.), Jim Saxton, and former Senator Smith from New Hampshire. Wolfowitz was rather low-key, although he said he was happy to be "among friends." In contrast to his speech at the pro-Israel Nuremberg Rally on Capitol Hill on April 15, he was not booed, as he did not mention the Palestinians or "peace." Senator Joe Lieberman (D-Conn) was, of course, present, but he didn't speak.
New North American Military Command Constitutionally Challenged
On April 17, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Richard Myers unveiled the new unified command plan, which is to take effect Oct. 1, 2002. The major feature of the new plan is the creation of a Northern Command, which will have geographic responsibility for North America, to include the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and part of the Carribbean. NORAD, the civil support teams that are to assist civil authorities in the case of an attack using nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons, and the Pentagon's support for natural disaster response will all be placed under the new commander of the Northern Command. The geographic areas of responsibility currently assigned to the Norfolk-based Joint Forces Command, out to 500 miles off the East Coast, will be assigned to the Northern Command, and the remainder of the Atlantic will be assigned to the European Command. The change will have a significant impact on NATO, according to Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Steven Cambone, who did not give details on this aspect.
One wrinkle in the plan is the "posse comitatus law," a Constitutional provision which prohibits the employment of the military in a domestic capacity. Proponents of civil liberties have raised concerns about the Northern Commmand in the context of already-serious erosion of civil rights under "anti-terrorism" legislation. At the press conference, Rumsfeld repeatedly emphasized that in the case of some incident in the U.S., the Northern Command will not have the authority to respond first. Its mission will be in support of Federal, state, and local authorities at the order of the President. Of course, Cambone noted later in the briefing that the President has the authority to suspend the posse comitatus law by declaring an incident a Federal matter.
Skyrocketing Health Costs Portend Increase in Uninsured Families
Health insurance premiums are expected to jump a record 25% for the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS), according to David Broder writing in the Washington Post April 17. CalPERS is the largest pension fund provider of health coverage in the U.S., serving 1.2 million state employees and retirees, an ominous warning for the rest of the nation about rising health-care costs. The seven managed-care plans serving CalPERS submitted bids for 2003, with increases of 15-41%, a problem facing virtually every other corporate and individual purchaser in the United States.
Broder warns that such premium increases would force employers to cut back, or eliminate, health insurance benefits, driving more and more families into the ranks of the uninsured. "Time has run out for this dysfunctional, disjointed thing we call health care," he says.
"It is kind of a downward death cycle," said William Crist, president of CalPERS, one that "requires a public policy change."
Judge Knocks Down DOJ Attempt To Stop Oregon Assisted Suicide
A Federal judge has overruled Attorney General John Ashcroft's attempt to block the Oregon "assisted suicide" bill. Death cultists and civil libertarians are celebrating the decision by U.S. District Court Judge Robert Jones in Portland, who accused Ashcroft of trying to "stifle an ongoing, earnest and profound debate"--over euthanasia.
The judge claimed that the Controlled Substances Act--which Ashcroft cited as barring the use of controlled substances with the intent to kill--was aimed at drug dealers, not doctors "prescribing and dispensing controlled substances in compliance with a carefully worded state legislative act." Since 1997, at least 70 people have been helped to kill themselves in Oregon, the only state in the Union to permit this behavior.
The present ruling comes just days after a bill legalizing euthanasia took effect in the Netherlands, the first Western country to legalize euthanasia since Germany under Adolf Hitler.
Bush Endorses 'Victims' Rights' Constitutional Amendment
President Bush has endorsed a U.S. Constitutional amendment for "victims' rights," with the right to testify at criminal trials. The amendment was introduced April 15 by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif) and Jon Kyl (R-Ariz). Bush said crime victims are getting a "huge slap," and are "victimized a second time," when they are not allowed to vent and get revenge on criminals by participating as an official part of trials. The intensification of the victims' rights campaign accompanies the Neighborhood Watch and FBI-informants programs, as a feature of the post-9/11 response to the "Clash of Civilizations" coup.
Philadelphia School System Handed Over to Privateers
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer of April 18, management of one of the oldest public school systems in the U.S. will be handed over to privatization: the schools in Ben Franklin's Philadelphia. The city, which has been devastated by budget and service cuts, plans to give all of its 70 schools to a hodge-podge of for-profit "education firms," local universities, and non-profit and for-profit corporations to run. The notorious Edison Schools for-profit corporation was given 20 schools; other schools are to be picked over by companies associated with "music moguls" and/or cable-TV stations.
Of course, most of these management companies will not honor trade-union contracts with teachers.
New Pro-Marijuana Campaign Cites Leading Politicians
The latest ad campaign for marijuana legalization is a $500,000 extravaganza being conducted by the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), according to the Washington Times. The ad campaign uses quotes from various public officials such as former speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, Mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg, former President Bill Clinton, New York Governor George Pataki, and Rep. Dana Rohrbacher of California ("I did everything but drink the bong water"), to claim that smoking marijuana will not destroy your life--just look at these leaders (!).
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