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May 2006

May 31, 2006 News
Posted: Wednesday, May 31, 2006

¤ US forces: Iraqi women killed in error
¤ 'Bin Laden' tapes & 9/11 conspiracies
¤ How Massacres Become the Norm
¤ CUPE in Ontario votes to boycott Israel
¤ Iraq PM orders state of emergency in Basra
¤ India held back by wall of instability
¤ U.S. troops kill pregnant woman in Iraq
¤ Iran calls U.S. talks offer 'propaganda'
¤ Widening the Racial Wealth Gap
¤ What Iran should say to Condoleezza Rice
¤ Why it's over for America
¤ Countless My Lai Massacres in Iraq
¤ Spreading Democracy in Haditha
¤ The Haditha Massacre: a product of a phony, failed, and immoral war!
¤ Al-Maliki tired of US excuses
¤ Rob Newman's History of Oil. Video
¤ Ken Loach's History Lesson
¤ 54 killed in Iraq violence
¤ Car bombs, other attacks kill 54 people in Iraq's bloodiest day in weeks
¤ Car bombing in Iraq kills 5 policemen
¤ Was it an Isolated Event and Did the Military Try to Cover it up?
¤ Attacks kills six Afghan staff with international groups
¤ Embedded Journalism and the Disinformation Campaign for War on Iran
¤ Chavez backs Peru candidate
¤ Bush sends 1,500 more troops to Iraq
¤ Gore: Bush is 'renegade rightwing extremist'
¤ It will be a verdict on Bush and it looks bad. Very bad
¤ Blair has been blinded by an imperialist illusion
¤ GEORGE AND TONY SITTIN’ IN A TREE – K-I-L-L-I-N-G
¤ Fake Soldier Confession Video Runs As Cover For Real Slaughter
¤ Saddam Defense Witness Killed, Lawyer Says
¤ American Capitalism and The Moral Poverty of Nations
¤ Deaths of 2 in CBS Crew Lead to Painful Reassessments
¤ Burying Mexico's Dirty War
¤ Global Empire: Who Pays? Who Profits?
¤ Leftists for Occupation
¤ Cheney desperate to attack Iran, World Cup offers pretext
¤ Oil rises above $72 on China demand
¤ 'Why we bite'
¤ Separating the real from the fake
¤ 647,000 Indonesians displaced by quake
¤ Java earthquake toll passes 5,800

May 29, 2006 News
Posted: Monday, May 29, 2006

¤ Bombings in Iraq leave at least 33 dead
¤ Deadly Attack On CBS News Crew
¤ How Bush hoodwinked the US press
¤ Dixie Chicks — a profile in courage
¤ Bush: Vows Long Middle Eastern War, Spreads the Fallacy of the Cold War Analogy
¤ Undocumented worker used as slave in Wisconsin home for 19 years
¤ Speaking Up For Palestinians
¤ Oil on Troubled Waters
¤ Chavez Spreads His Oil Wealth in Bolivia
¤ Did Bush’s "Bring it On" Bravado Bring On the Haditha Massacre
¤ A Veteran Stays Home on Memorial Day
¤ The Latest Neocon Lie About Iran
¤ 75 Now on Hunger Strike at Guantanamo
¤ Afghans Riot After U.S. Accident; 8 Dead
¤ The Battle Spreads In Afghanistan
¤ Iraq violence claims 50 lives
¤ Symantec confirms high-risk corporate AV flaw
¤ Galloway backs Castro on Cuba TV
¤ Dozens left injured after bombs rock Ethiopia
¤ Africa battles ‘oil curse’
¤ 3,000 UK troops are Awol since war began
¤ Death toll from road accident in Afghanistan rises to 25
¤ Fighting in the Shadows
¤ What People Believe
¤ World is blind to real situation in Iraq: activists
¤ Cindy Sheehan: 'Stop this bullshit war for profit’
¤ Afghan forces, militants clash: 7 die
¤ Is Abbas a Traitor?
¤ Doctor describes the devastation of Iraq
¤ Tony Blair’s Washington visit and the curious case of a disappearing BBC story
¤ Indonesian earthquake death toll continues to grow as rescuers clear the rubble
¤ Ramadi: US raid kills seven civilians in Iraq
¤ Aid pours in to Java as quake toll passes 4,300
¤ Indonesia quake toll passes 5,000
¤ Airstrike Kills Dozens in Afghanistan
¤ Riot Erupts After Kabul Traffic Accident
¤ Sixty attacks a month on British forces as 1,000 soldiers go Awol
¤ Bush 'planted fake news stories on American TV'
¤ Baghdad Numb to Reports of Massacre
¤ Iran: U.S. Will Fail to Spark Unrest
¤ Dying for a Lie
¤ The Evil Is In Our Government
¤ Che at the Marches
¤ Bomb kills 11 near Baghdad
¤ What May Come of the Haditha Massacre?
¤ Why the Pentagon keeps overestimating Beijing's military strength.
¤ New Bush appointee caught changing and distorting his own quotes
¤ Bush worshippers are the real un-Americans
¤ The children of Guantanamo Bay
¤ Rumsfeld says Flight 93 was "shot down."
¤ New Scandal Worse Than Abu Ghraib
¤ Media Memorial Day
¤ US and Afghan forces fire on rioters
¤ 'The hardest word'

Bush Squares Off with Bolivia and Venezuela
Posted: Sunday, May 28, 2006

By: Roger Burbach, venezuelanalysis.com

George W. Bush has come out with harsh words for the governments of Bolivia and Venzeuela. "Let me just put it bluntly - I'm concerned about the erosion of democracy in the countries you mentioned," Bush said in response to a question put to him about Venezuela and Bolivia. "I am going to continue to remind our hemisphere that respect for property rights and human rights is essential for all countries," he added.

While Bush's hostility towards Hugo Chavez of Venezuela is well known, his critical comments about Bolivia came as somewhat of a surprise, given that Evo Morales has served only four months as the country's first Indian president and has done nothing to thwart the democratic process. As Bolivian foreign minister David Choquehuanca noted: "We are creating a participatory democracy and the world knows it. I don't understand how the United States can say democracy is eroding..."

Bush's true agenda is reflected in his call for "respect for property rights." A change is taking place in South America as Morales and Chavez move to exert greater control of their energy resources and challenge US plans for a hemispheric free trade zone. As the president of the Bolivian Senate, Santos Ramirez, noted: "Bolivia and Latin America are no longer the servile democracies that tolerate...poverty and the surrendering of sovereignty."

Early in May Morales announced that Bolivia would nationalize its energy resources, particularly its natural gas exports. While no foreign corporations were expropriated out right, Morales made it clear that "the looting of our natural resources by foreign enterprises is over."

At the same time Morales is moving to reshape the country's commercial relations, particularly with Venezuela. This week Hugo Chavez flew to Bolivia, declaring "we are going to concretize the People's Trade Treaty," an accord that was recently signed between Venezuela, Bolivia and Cuba. It is openly pitched as an alternative to the US-backed Free Trade Area of the Americas, a trade zone based on neo-liberal principles that facilitates the expansion of multinational corporations.

Bolivia and Venezuela have signed eight different accords dealing with 200 different projects concerning energy, mining, education, sports and cultural exchanges. Most importantly Venezuela has agreed to invest over $1 billion to help industrialize Bolivia's natural gas production, including the construction of a petrochemical complex.

Venezuela is also providing diesel fuel, which Bolivia does not produce, in exchange for the sale of soybeans. This comes at an opportune moment for Bolivia as most of its soy exports have gone to Colombia which just signed a free trade agreement with the United States. The US-Colombian accord means that cheap, subsidized US grains will flood Colombia, driving out Bolivian soybeans.

In Bolivia Morales took Chavez on a visit to Chipare, the semi-tropical region where he rose to prominence as the leader of the coca growers' confederation. There they announced their intention to build a factory to process coca leafs for herbal teas, medicinal products, and cosmetics. This is certain to arouse the ire of the United States which for years has pursued a policy of forced eradication of coca in Chipare, leading to the virtual militarization of the region.

The burgeoning economic alliance between Venezuela and Bolivia also helps offset the difficulties that have arisen with Brazil and Argentina over Morales' determination to exert greater control over natural gas exports. Both neighboring countries have significant investments in Bolivia's gas fields, and both are importing gas for domestic use at prices well below the world market. At a recent international gathering of Latin American and European leaders in Vienna, Austria, Morales and President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil exchanged harsh words over efforts to draft a new accord over natural gas. While the two leaders formally made up before they left Austria, there is little doubt that Chavez' support provides Bolivia with leverage in its negotiations with its two more powerful neighbors.

Venezuela is also signing a financial accord aimed at bolstering Bolivia's banking and monetary system. This is intended to strengthen Morales' hand vis-á-vis the United States and international financial institutions. The Bolivian government at the end of March announced that it would not solicit any new loans from the International Monetary Fund. The fund has aroused a great deal of antipathy in recent decades as it restricted social spending and forced the privatization of state enterprises, particularly in the tin mining industry.

The visit of Chavez to Bolivia coincides with the opening of the Exchange Fair, a project of the People's Trade Treaty between Bolivia, Venezuela and Cuba. Enterprises from all three countries participated with the goal of expanding commerce and sharing technical expertise. At the fair the vice-president of Bolivia, Alvaro Garcia Linera, criticized the US neo-liberal trade regime, asserting: "It is not necessary for small producers and entrepreneurs to subordinate themselves to financial capital…There are other forms of interdependence, other forms of globalization, other ways to generate regional exchanges of products, ideas, and necessities." Garcia Linera concluded, "Bolivia needs the world, and it will produce for the world."

Roger Burbach is director of the Center for the Study of the Americas, based in Berkeley, California. He is the co-author, with Jim Tarbell, of Imperial Overstretch: George W Bush and the Hubris of Empire, published by Zed Books. He has written extensively on Latin America and is currently working on a book on the social movements and the new left in Latin America.

Reprinted from:
www.venezuelanalysis.com/articles.php?artno=1741


May 28, 2006 News
Posted: Sunday, May 28, 2006

¤ Photos are said to show Iraqi victims
¤ US massacre of civilians at Hajiyan and manipulation of public opinion
¤ Media’s Distortions to Justify the Occupation of Iraq
¤ In Haditha, Memories of a Massacre
¤ Haditha: the "M" word hits the media
¤ "Nobody was killed at Abu Ghraib"
¤ Iraq: Horrific details of atrocities in Haditha emerge
¤ China says it is a 'benign force' in Africa
¤ Congo Holding 3 Americans in Alleged Coup Plot
¤ IMF cuts off credit to Bolivia
¤ USA – the self-styled CEO of Planet Inc
¤ Back in the USSA
¤ Please, Not Fidel Castro’s Fortune Again!
¤ Fresh evidence of 'executions' by rogue US marines in Iraq
¤ Terror alert as Caspian oil pipeline opens
¤ Death toll tops 3,500 as quake devastates Indonesia's royal city
¤ Blair beefed up his Iran speech to please Bush
¤ Bloggers can shield sources
¤ Autopsy: No Arabs on Flight 77
¤ Chaos grips East Timor capital
¤ Rescuers search for quake survivors

May 27, 2006 News
Posted: Saturday, May 27, 2006

¤ 3,000 dead in Java earthquake
¤ 'I'll miss his ties' - Bush's tribute to tongue-tied ally
¤ Iraq violence leaves 15 dead
¤ Iraq supports Iran on nuclear development
¤ The Hardest Word
¤ A total disappointment
¤ Why Are You Financing a Video Game on Invading Venezuela?
¤ Iran and the Uses of "Preventive" War
¤ The Palestinians Must Pay a Price for Their Choice
¤ Wrongly Detained? Too Bad
¤ Making Hay(den) While They Shun Signs
¤ Bush says he regrets 'tough talk'
¤ Bush Smirked After 'Admitting Mistakes'
¤ Marines may face trial over Iraq massacre
¤ Marines accused of cover-up after Haditha killings
¤ 'Are you Bush defenders just blowing smoke, or do you really not get it?'
¤ US helicopter goes down in Iraq
¤ U.S. Hypocrisy in Cuba
¤ Something to talk about
¤ Why is Bush only going after Iran's nuclear program?
¤ Liars' Club Confab: Bush and Blair at White House
¤ Italy to pull 1,100 troops from Iraq

British Pol: Killing Blair 'Justified'
Posted: Saturday, May 27, 2006

George Galloway Says Assassination Attempt On PM Would Be 'Morally Justified'

Maverick British politician George Galloway has claimed it would be "morally justified" for an assassin to target Prime Minister Tony Blair, but he said he was not advocating an attempt, according to a magazine interview published Friday.
Full Article : cbsnews.com

May 26, 2006 News
Posted: Friday, May 26, 2006

¤ Galloway responds to Blair ‘assassination’ row
¤ The Busheviks
¤ Poverty Rates in Venezuela: Getting the Numbers Right
¤ Chavez and Morales in trade deals
¤ The Irony of Iraq
¤ Bush's $15-a-Barrel Blunder
¤ Don't Forget: Memorial Day is About Memory, Not Amnesia
¤ Stuck in a Cake-Walk War
¤ The Few, the Proud, the Murderers
¤ Put a Disclaimer on the Bible, Not the DaVinci Code
¤ Say, Did Tony Snow Really Get a New Job?
¤ The Iraq war and the truth--between blog and corporate media
¤ Israeli shellings kill Palestinians
¤ Fresh Afghan fighting leaves 11 dead
¤ "Victory"? Forget it
¤ Haifa Zangana Interview Video
¤ A glimpse of freedom
¤ 'How can people live, I wonder?'
¤ About 3,000 flee Afghan fighting
¤ Millions of Afghans could go hungry
¤ Bush's China Syndrome: Hypocrisy, History and Twelve Kinds of Hell
¤ Cuba: A Clean Bill of Health
¤ Ken Lay--Guilty. George Bush--Guilty.
¤ Bush speaks on illegal immigration
¤ Putin revives energy row with US
¤ Bush and Blair admit that Iraq presents 'immense challenge'
¤ Car bomb kills at least eight in Baghdad
¤ Bomb kills 9, wounds 30 in Baghdad
¤ How US persuaded law chief to approve invasion of Iraq
¤ Blair and Bush Are Duo Even in Descent
¤ Blair is accused of new cover-up over Attorney General's advice on Iraq war
¤ Killing Blair 'morally justified' says Galloway
¤ Countdown to Apartheid
¤ Oil for Occupation, But None for Iraqis
¤ Take the President, Please
¤ Ahmadinejad: Not Hitler After All
¤ How much longer can the dollar reign supreme?
¤ Osama comes to Moussaoui’s defense?
¤ 'Bushco: The dog flew my homework to Syria!'
¤ 'My twenty-five minutes with Condoleezza Rice'
¤ another made-for-tv ‘blow to al-Qaida’ craters
¤ Tar Baby
¤ George Bush meets George Orwell
¤ US military massacres 80 villagers in Afghanistan
¤ Iran has the right to self-defence

May 25, 2006 News
Posted: Thursday, May 25, 2006

¤ China says US is scaremongering
¤ Why Can't the US Apply Its New North Korea Policy to Iran?
¤ How much longer should the U.S. underwrite Israeli crimes?
¤ Osama bin Laden: A Weapon of Mass Convenience
¤ A dead nemesis perpetuated by the US government
¤ The Fake bin Laden Video Tape
¤ OSAMA: A 757 Hit the Pentagon!
¤ Make Big Oil Pay For Raking It In
¤ Wow! Iraqi Leader Takes Bush's Calls
¤ Bush Prepares to Cut and Run in Afghanistan
¤ 65 killed in fresh Afghan violence
¤ Afghanistan: US troops killed over 25 civilians in one week
¤ Attack on civilians in Afghanistan 'unfortunate,'
¤ Be Ruthless
¤ The Politics of Paranoia and Intimidation
¤ National Post apologizes for anti-Iran story
¤ U.S. is urged to stop paying Iraqi reporters
¤ It's not the first war under false pretenses
¤ Bolivia rebuts Bush's accusations of undermining democracy
¤ They Never Miss Their Cue
¤ Basra Explodes
¤ Sharon's Legacy in Action
¤ Amnesty report
¤ Nine killed in Somalia fighting
¤ New Israeli P.M. Ehud Olmert desperate to become Sharon’s substitute for Bush
¤ Foreign citizens will not be allowed to adopt Russian children anymore
¤ Russian children abused and murdered by American foster parents
¤ Canada out of Afghanistan
¤ What's the price of Iraqi lives?
¤ The Militarisation of the Eastern Mediterranean
¤ Same Old Stuff, Just a Different Face!
¤ Why this part from Aziz’s testimony in court, not translated to English?

May 24, 2006 News
Posted: Wednesday, May 24, 2006

¤ Easily Dispensable: Iraq's Children
¤ Amnesty attacks US 'disappearances'
¤ Shell fined for Niger Delta damage
¤ Slaves to the "Free Market" Unite
¤ OECD warns rebalancing of US deficit may drive dollar down sharply
¤ Arundhati Roy on India, Iraq, U.S. Empire and Dissent
¤ American War Crimes In Iraq 1991-2005
¤ It's Not the First War Under False Pretenses
¤ Hypocrisy is A Weapon US Doesn't Need in Arsenal
¤ Violence in Afghanistan surges as Taliban appears more organised
¤ European governments cover up illegal CIA abductions
¤ A Slow Motion Coup
¤ New Estimate of Venezuela's Total Oil Reserves Makes It...
¤ What happened in Kurdish Halabja?
¤ Massacre in Kandahar
¤ Palestinian Catastrophe: Myths Revisited
¤ Karzai orders inquiry after US raid kills 16
¤ Moscow angered by US plan for 'star wars' bases in Europe
¤ Sportswear makers 'failing to improve working conditions'
¤ Iraq: 2 500 killed, 85 000 displaced in two months
¤ Bush Democracy Doctrine, RIP
¤ Bush: U.S. would aid Israel if attacked
¤ How Dick Cheney Got His Cold War On
¤ How Bush Brewed the Iranian Crisis
¤ Shooting to Kill on the Border
¤ Yes, I Am Actually Calling Them Racist
¤ A Nation in Chains
¤ Captured Al-Qaeda kingpin is case of ‘mistaken identity’
¤ U.S. Says World Could Handle Loss of Iran Oil
¤ Media Misconceptions of Ramadi Continue - Media Analysis !
¤ World Premiere of Documentary "With Blood"
¤ Multilateral Collusion
¤ The Delusions of Global Hegemony
¤ U.S. group warns of humanitarian disaster in Gaza
¤ Amnesty slams Israel
¤ I Can't Believe It's Not Napalm!
¤ War Provoking Terror, Amnesty Says

May 23, 2006 News
Posted: Tuesday, May 23, 2006

¤ The Unholy Union Behind the War on Terror
¤ Decline And Fall in the US
¤ Coerced Confessions - A Corporate Abuse
¤ A Life Sentence for refusing to Commit Murder
¤ Rep. Murtha On Iraq: "It's Worse Than It Was Prewar"...
¤ Iraq doctor brings evidence of US napalm at Fallujah
¤ The threat of Depleted Uranium exposure
¤ Uproar in court as judge ejects Saddam lawyer
¤ The Anti-Empire Report
¤ Vladimir Putin and the rise of the petro-ruble
¤ The "Deal Government" Fiasco and Iraq's Future
¤ George W. Bush's policy takes the USA to financial collapse
¤ Iran's future lies in Russia's hands
¤ India on alert for suicides after stocks slide
¤ U.S. Vs Russia: Back to cold war
¤ US prison population rises to 2.18 million
¤ The Great Iraq Oil Grab
¤ Moussaoui and Foreign-Policy Unrealities
¤ Crying for a Horse
¤ Failed State? Yes, but for other reasons
¤ Government Secrecy Is a Farce
¤ Iran the Target of Disinformation Campaign
¤ Don't Believe the Handover Hype
¤ Basra, Britain's Mesopotamian mess revisited
¤ LISTENING IN
¤ The movie of mass destruction and Hollywood designs on Iraq
¤ Nepal wakes up with a headache
¤ Drug companies 'failing to meet health needs of world's poorest'
¤ US air strike on Taliban kills Afghan civilians
¤ Bush decries 'erosion of democracy' in Venezuela, Bolivia
¥ Democracy as Bush Defines it: Policies unfavorable toward US interests
¤ Army suicides up since Iraq war
¤ Israel is whittling away at Palestinians' land again

Can Things Get Any Worse?
Posted: Monday, May 22, 2006

AUSTIN, Texas—Looking at the wreckage of the Bush administration leaves one with the depressed query, “Now what?” The only help to the country that can come from this ugly and spectacular crackup is, in theory, things can’t get worse. This administration is so discredited it cannot talk the country into an unnecessary war with Iran as it did with Iraq. In theory, spending is so out of control it cannot cut taxes for the rich again; the fiscal irresponsibility of the Bushies is already among its lasting legacies.
Full Article : commondreams.org

May 22, 2006 News
Posted: Monday, May 22, 2006

¤ Airstrike in South Afghanistan Kills 76
¤ Hume Argues Persistent Violence Helps Iraq Make Political Progress
¤ Surveillance of Journalists ‘Makes Me Feel…As If We Are Drug Dealers or Terrorists’
¤ Top Ten Signs of the Impending U.S. Police State
¤ Inside story of the Guantanamo uprising
¤ A changing world
¤ Who's guilty? The Victim, Of course
¤ Disloyal and dangerous? The U.S. media may think so
¤ Sordid history of U.S. Latin America policy
¤ Courage
¤ Pope says low birth rates in Canada due to 'pervasive effects of secularism'
¤ Bush governs in dictator style
¤ IRAN: EMPTY THE INCUBATOR BABYS OUT WITH THE PR-BATH
¤ Israel expands settlements, yet again
¤ The Secret Relationship Between Israel and Oil
¤ Ex -US soldier: 'If he didn't answer the way we liked, we would shoot his youngest kid
¤ US films at Cannes go Bush-whacking
¤ Another 'Coalition of the Willing'?
¤ What People Believe
¤ The Administration That Won’t Stop Lying
¤ Target Russia?
¤ The Administration That Won't Stop Lying
¤ President grabs power while Congress sleeps
¤ US 'not offering Iran guarantees'
¤ Molly Ivins: Can Things Get Any Worse?
¤ How the Bush administration deconstructed Iraq
¤ Violence Invades Baghdad's Emergency Rooms
¤ AIDS Vaccine Testing Goes Overseas
¤ 'Radical chicks
¤ Afghan car bombing kills civilians
¤ Pressed by U.S., European Banks Limit Iran Deals
¤ Amid War, Troops See Safety in Reenlisting
¤ Iraqi PM vows "maximum force" as bombs kill 19
¤ Blair in surprise Baghdad visit
¤ '$45m paid to Iraq kidnappers'
¤ Montenegrin PM hails independence

May 20, 2006 News
Posted: Saturday, May 20, 2006

¤ 'Iraq War Conceived in Israel'
¤ The Iranian "badge" story: Neo-con propaganda?
¤ Has Bush's Iran War Propaganda Begun?
¤ What Is The Real Purpose Of Bush's NSA Surveillance?
¤ The Snooping Goes Beyond Phone Calls
¤ The missing facts in 'United 93'
¤ The Jews And The Concentration Camps
¤ Why the United States invaded Iraq, and now is thinking about invading Iran
¤ We Are the Deciders
¤ Mexico condemns U.S. decision to build border fences
¤ Middle America: Welcome to the Centre of the USA
¤ The age of the neocons headed for the dustbin of history
¤ A Little Fascism Still Goes a Long Way
¤ U.S. Fails to Comply With Ban on Torture
¤ You got your damn war
¤ What happened to the "what" or the "why"?
¤ Viva Chavez
¤ Managing cruelty
¤ U.S. Moves to Weaken Iran
¤ Ecuador accuses US of 'blackmail' as oil dispute worsens
¤ Real Oil Crisis
¤ U.S. Infant Mortality Among Worst in Industrialized Nations
¤ On the Road to Kabul
¤ The Land They Fought For
¤ 26 killed in Iraq attacks
¤ Is there any good reason for staying in Iraq?
¤ How The War On Terrorism Has Gone Way Too Far
¤ What People Believe
¤ Bush's 'Big Brother' Blunder
¤ Reversing Policy, U.S. 'Froze' Iran Talks in March
¤ The (lack of) intelligence underpinning Bush's Iraq policy
¤ Viêt Con - Go

Iran's Letter Should Start a Dialogue
Posted: Friday, May 19, 2006

Wanted: A seasoned U.S. statesman to start direct talks with Iran.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wrote an 18-page letter to President Bush on May 10 that recited a host of Iranian grievances but barely touched on the crucial topic of Iran's apparent pursuit of nuclear weapons.

What the United States needs now is a diplomatic pro well-versed in Middle Eastern affairs who can read between the lines of that letter, ignore the fiery rhetoric and look for a clue on how to peacefully end the dangerous U.S. rift with Tehran.
Full Article : commondreams.org

Skeptics doubt new 9/11 Pentagon footage
Posted: Friday, May 19, 2006

"There were hundreds of eyewitnesses who saw a plane hit the building. So it would be absurd to say definitively that a plane didn't hit the building. But one has to wonder."

Mr. Fetzer theorizes the Pentagon was hit by a twin-engine A3 Sky Warrior plane, and a missile was fired into the building before impact. "The evidence is so powerful and so strong that the government had to have a role in orchestrating these events, not merely allowing them to happen," he said.
Full Article : canada.com

May 19, 2006 News
Posted: Friday, May 19, 2006

¤ Renewed Afghan Battles Kill More Than 100
¤ Typhoon Chanchu Kills 50 People in Asia
¤ Skeptics doubt new 9/11 Pentagon footage
¤ Should We Remove Our Criminal Media Yet? Or Do You Want to Bend Over and Take More?
¤ Do We Need Protection by Bush, or From Him?
¤ American Military tested new generation Microwave weapons on Iraq civilians
¤ Pentagon video ignites debate
¤ Siege of 1.4 Million Souls in Gaza v International Law
¤ No security guarantee for Iran: US
¤ Rumsfeld Seeks Extra Funds for War Bills
¤ Bush Is Certifiable
¤ US 'must end secret detentions'
¤ US troops killed Iraqis 'in cold blood'
¤ Sheehan Labels Bush's White House: "A Crime Scene!"
¤ The Existing Question
¤ Gruesome Iraq War movie sparks Pentagon outrage
¤ AT&T and NSA : Their 'Secret Rooms'
¤ On Recent Wars
¤ Blaming Bush
¤ Dismantling Iraqi Life
¤ Who Will Inherit the NSA?
¤ Wreckage of the Bush administration
¤ Inquiry Implies Civilian Deaths in Iraq Topped Initial Report
¤ Growing number of Iraqis take trips to morgues
¤ The Neo-Monarchy of George W. Bush
¤ Never enough Surveillance Agency
¤ No one in Baghdad wants to talk about U.S. Embassy project
¤ Baghdad ER... where the truth hurts
¤ The Weapon Iran May Not Want to Use
¤ Britain's human rights record attacked in EU report
¤ Prodi signals early end to Italian role in Iraq 'occupation'

Caribbean Indian actors in cinematic movies
Posted: Thursday, May 18, 2006

Indian Arrival Day will be observed as a national holiday in Trinidad and Tobago on Tuesday May 30, 2006.

By Dr. Kumar Mahabir

Twenty-eight years after the screening of the first Hindi movie, Bala Joban [Sweet Youth] in Trinidad in the Caribbean, an immigrant law student in London made his debut in a British-made cinematic movie. Basdeo Panday became the first Caribbean Indian to be an actor on the big screen in Nine Hours to Rama (1963). Panday's part as the laundryman in Nine Hours to Rama was brief, but it was a speaking role that earned him notable credit among stars like Horst Buchholz, José Ferrer and Valerie Gearon. The movie about the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi was nominated for the BAFTA Film Award in the Best British Cinematography Category in 1964.

Panday also acted in two other British cinematic movies: Man in the Middle (1964) and The Brigand of Kandahar (1965). The first two films were distributed worldwide by 20th Century Fox, and the third by Warner Brothers. All three films were set, in whole or in part, in India, with Panday being one of the few non-white actors to play a speaking role in these movies.

About five years after Panday appeared on film, another Trinidad Indian stage actor-turned-politician, made his debut on the cinema screen. Ralph Maraj appeared as the leading actor with Angela Seukaran in two movies released in the same year: The Right and the Wrong (1970) and The Caribbean Fox (1970). Both movies were the first-feature films to be produced in Trinidad and scored commercial successes at box offices at home and in other Caribbean islands. The Right and the Wrong won a Gold Medal at the Atlanta Film Festival for its excellent cinematography.

But it was really in Bim (1974) that Maraj excelled as a film actor in the title role of Bim/Bheem Singh. The story was based on the composite life of the notorious assassin, Boysie Singh, and aggressive trade unionist and Hindu leader, Bhadase Sagan Maraj. Film producer and critic, Dr. Bruce Paddington, states, " ... it was certainly one of the most important films to be produced in Trinidad and Tobago, and has become one of the classics of Caribbean cinema." At the United States Virgin Islands Film Festival in St Thomas in 1975, Bim won a gold medal special jury award as "a film of unusual merit."

The Caribbean Indian actor who has earned the honour of starring in the most Hollywood films is Errol Sitahal. He portrayed a business executive in the comedy Tommy Boy (1995) starring Chris Farley. Sitahal was also the mysterious Indian servant with a pet monkey in the movie A Little Princess (1995). The engaging family drama is ranked as one of the finest children's films in the 1990s. Sitahal appeared in another Hollywood blockbuster, Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle (2004). In this adult comedy, distributed by New Line Cinema, Sitahal was Kumar's stern father who is an Indian medical doctor.

Also making her extraordinary appearance as an actress on stage and cinema was Grace Maharaj. She starred in scores of stage performances, numerous television commercials, four television serials, and four full length movies: Bim (1974), Man from Africa/Girl from India (1982), Men of Gray 11: Flight of the Ibis (1996) and The Mystic Masseur (2001). In 1994, Maharaj received the prestigious Cacique Award in Trinidad for her long service in drama.

Other notable Trinidad Indian actors who have been featured in speaking roles in cinematic movies include Kenneth Boodhu in The Caribbean Fox, and Simon Bedasie in Bim, Operation Makonaima (1972), and Men of Gray 11 (1996). Hansley Ajodha and Devindra Dookie also acted in Men of Gray 11. Other performers like David Sammy, Patti-Anne Ali, Dinesh Maharaj, Keith Hazare Imambaksh and Anthony Harrypaulsingh have all appeared in minor roles in The Mystic Masseur (2001). Directed by Ismail Merchant and filmed on location in Trinidad, the movie is an adaptation of a novel by Caribbean Indian Nobel Prize laureate, V.S. Naipaul. The Guyanese comedian Habeeb Khan played a leading role in If Wishes Were Horses (1976), the only English-speaking musical film in the Caribbean.

The Caribbean has a fledging film industry and, consequently, prospects for acting in cinema are extremely limited. But opportunities abound in stage dramas, television movies, short documentaries and advertising commercials. It is important that Indians appear in the spotlight in numbers commensurate with their size in the population. It is also important to celebrate their achievements because they have struggled as ethnic minorities to achieve visibility and stardom on the silver screen. They exhibit certain collective cultural codes and social behaviour which their audiences can often recognize and identify (with). And it is heartening for a people to see themselves as stars on screen – even if is in fantasy.

Dr Kumar Mahabir, Ph.D. Anthropology, University of Florida
Chairman, Indo-Caribbean Cultural Council (ICC)

10 Swami Avenue, Don Miguel Road
San Juan, Trinidad and Tobago
West Indies


May 18, 2006 News
Posted: Thursday, May 18, 2006

¤ Nat Guard leaders oppose Bush takeover
¤ Speaking of Words: Totalitarianism
¤ Lapdogs: How the Press Rolled Over for Bush
¤ Protesters Arrested at Halliburton Meeting
¤ Western projects are bleeding Afghanistan dry
¤ Americans turn their back on Bush
¤ Baghdad Attack Leaves 19 People Dead
¤ At Least 18 Iraqis Killed in Attacks
¤ At least 70 die as fighting engulfs Afghanistan
¤ Lawmaker: Marines killed Iraqis ‘in cold blood’
¤ Top general says Caracas has no immediate plans to sell F-16s to Tehran
¤ Bombing Iran in Four Easy Steps
¤ Discovery of a Terrorist Plot, Then and Now
¤ Iraq may already be lost to us
¤ Iraq's oil: A neo-con dream gone bust
¤ Is the NSA’s phone call database legal because the president says so?
¤ Marines killed Iraqi civilians 'in cold blood'
¤ Tone down rhetoric on Iran nuclear talks: Annan
¤ Feds' citizenship flashcards omit Freedom of the Press
¤ Nat Guard leaders oppose Bush takeover
¤ Two Palestinians killed in Israeli raid

Information Highway Robbers
Posted: Wednesday, May 17, 2006

What makes the Internet revolutionary is that it is democratic, open to anyone with a computer and an Internet connection. That could soon change.

As In These Times went to press, the House was setting to vote on the "Communications Opportunity Promotion and Enhancement (COPE) Act of 2006," a bill written by the telephone and cable TV corporations. Among other provisions, the act formally guts what is known as the First Amendment of the Internet— "network neutrality." (The Senate will consider a similar bill in late May or early June.)
Full Article : inthesetimes.com

May 17, 2006 News
Posted: Wednesday, May 17, 2006

¤ This isn’t Policy; its barbarism
¤ Immigrant Scapegoats and the Manufacturing of a Crisis
¤ Venezuela is Now Accused of Being an Imperialist Nation!
¤ Guffaws for Bush's Immigration Speech
¤ "The Worst President in History?" Why the Question Mark?
¤ Osama bin Laden, A.K.A. CIA Asset "Tim Osman"
¤ Deja vu - the search for Weapons of Mass Destruction this time in Iran
¤ Venezuela 'may swap oil currency'
¤ 9/11 Commission report is a lie
¤ Bad news, America: World doesn't like We the People
¤ Iraq never supported terrorism before
¤ Now America reacts Iraq didn't get us riled up -- but domestic spying did
¤ Charlie Sheen's Pentagon Questions Remain Unanswered
¤ Venezuela, China Sign $1.3 Billion Tanker Deal
¤ Venezuela’s Chavez meets with Gadhafi in Libya
¤ Chavez in Algeria for political, energy talks
¤ Information Highway Robbers
¤ The Real Assault on America
¤ The Moral Barbarism of Blair and Bush
¤ When Two Poor Countries Reclaimed Oilfields...
¤ Will the Real Traitors Please Stand Up?
¤ Fear Is the Coin of the Realm
¤ Ecuador official sees US free trade talks as 'impossible'
¤ Great Presidential moments
¤ 'Impeachment is too good for Bush'
¤ 'America in Baghdad'
¤ 'Could lunacy explain Bush's policies?'
¤ Seven die in southern Russia suicide blast
¤ Racism in Canada Causes Black Women Trouble
¤ White and Might Make Right
¤ Down in the polls, Bush dusts off a uniform in the art of distortion
¤ Iran says EU offer like 'candy for gold'
¤ The contest for memory
¤ Basra carnage escalates as one person killed every hour
¤ U.S. reserves nearly 'broken,' says chief
¤ U.S. Secretly Backing Warlords in Somalia
¤ Hearing Moussaoui
¤ Iraq’s resistance evolves
¤ Afghanistan Attacks Leave 8 Dead, 13 Hurt
¤ Chavez proclaims end of U.S. Empire
¤ Two Palestinians killed in Israeli raid

U.S. to renew diplomatic relations with Libya
Posted: Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Having renounced nuclear weapons, nation to be dropped from terror list

The Bush administration said Monday it will restore normal diplomatic relations with Libya for the first time in over a quarter century after deciding to remove Moammar Gadhafi’s country from a list of state sponsors of terrorism.

Full Article : msnbc.msn.com

May 16, 2006 News
Posted: Tuesday, May 16, 2006

¤ A government out of control
¤ Iraq violence claims another 60
¤ Vivacious Venezuelan
¤ U.S. to renew diplomatic relations with Libya
¤ Brazil gripped by fear as gang riots spread
¤ Bush bans arms sales to Chávez
¤ India's US nuclear deal hangs by a thread
¤ Gang Attacks in Brazil Kill More Than 80
¤ Castro Denies Forbes Report on His Wealth
¤ EU looks to resume aid to Palestinians
¤ Disorderly Conduct
¤ Will the major media finally cover the electronic election fraud issue?
¤ Federal Source to ABC News: We Know Who You're Calling
¤ Palestinian spouses to remain banned from Israel
¤ Violence kills 19 in Sri Lankan
¤ Appealing to the United States is Not Very Appealing
¤ Welcome to London, President Chavez!
¤ What Bush's Speech on Immigration Will Miss
¤ America the Titanic
¤ They Did it Their Way - So They Have No One To Blame But Themselves
¤ Where is the Global Outcry at This Continuing Cruelty?
¤ Hello, White House?
¤ One More Clue That the American Empire Is Waning
¤ Media Liars on Iran
¤ This Time, It Really Is Orwellian
¤ The silliness of bird flu panic.
¤ US Bribes Way Into Kazakhstan's Oil Wealth
¤ Israeli Soldiers Shoot Two International Peace Activists In The Head
¤ Bush's snooping of phone records holds great peril for Americans
¤ Italian Pay-off From Niger Forgery?
¤ Oil for no one if Iran attacked
¤ Iranian Oil Bourse for dummies

May 14, 2006 News
Posted: Sunday, May 14, 2006

¤ Dozens of police shot dead in Brazil
¤ Revolution in the Camden air as Chávez gets a hero's welcome
¤ Report: Suicidal troops sent into combat
¤ Ex-WMD Inspector: Politics Quashed Facts
¤ Cheney Pushed U.S. to Widen Eavesdropping
¤ Forty killed in Iraq carnage
¤ Russia and US trade angry words over Iran at UN dinner
¤ Iraq's 'ragtag' army units start fighting among themselves
¤ Chavez offers oil to Europe's poor
¤ Crying Wolf: Who is Behind the Death Squads in Iraq? Video
¤ Phone snooping creates uproar
¤ IAEA, the UN's Nuclear Witchdoctor
¤ American Dominatrix
¤ Film on U.S. military hospital 'extremely graphic'
¤ Europe underwrites starvation policy
¤ 14 Dead in Bombings Near Baghdad Airport
¤ Israeli raids kill seven Palestinians
¤ Gangsters kill 50 in Brazil rampage
¤ Karl Rove Indicted on Charges of Perjury, Lying to Investigators
¤ President Hugo Chavez: Benevolent Man Of Action
¤ Oil companies sticking with Venezuela

May 13, 2006 News
Posted: Saturday, May 13, 2006

¤ Venezuela and Bolivia use summit to hail 'new era'
¤ The Russian bear is back
¤ Telephone Records are just the Tip of NSA's Iceberg
¤ Ongoing Somali fighting leaves 135 dead
¤ Son of top Iraqi judge shot dead
¤ America Loses Guns, Prisoners
¤ Western-Style Democracy – No!
¤ China, Canada seek crude off Cuba, but not US
¤ 45 Minutes with Bush
¤ The Most Despised President in History
¤ The Army Slays Its Own
¤ Mister Bush and Mister Zarqawi, Video Stars
¤ US Military Bases in Brazil
¤ Transnational Corporations Stand Condemned
¤ Parsing Bush’s Words on the NSA Scandal
¤ The New Utopians
¤ Chávez is a Threat Because He Offers the Alternative of a Decent Society
¤ Bush's Words on Oil are Utterly Devoid of Meaning
¤ Our Presidential Prophet of God and Great Decider
¤ The Theater of the Absurd
¤ Axis of feeble
¤ Bush lied repeatedly about scope of NSA spying on Americans
¤ Pre-Emptive Hallucinations
¤ US feverishly works to frame Iran
¤ It’s not about nukes
¤ Iran: Euro to replace dollar as oil currency
¤ Halliburton wins concentration camp contract
¤ This Time, It Really Is Orwellian
¤ Words of Mass Deception
¤ Monkey-I nail is I banish from zôo for bad behavior
¤ The factors behind the increase in the price of oil
¤ Bush’s Banana Republic
¤ 'U.S. history lesson: Stop meddling'
¤ I spy, with my widdle eye-q
¤ Gunmen Kill Son of Top Iraqi Judge
¤ Nigeria: 200 Burnt to Death in Lagos Pipeline Fire
¤ The Times and USA Today have Missed the Bigger Story -- Again
¤ NSA has your phone records; 'trust us' isn't good enough
¤ Many killed in Brazil gang attacks

May 12, 2006 News
Posted: Friday, May 12, 2006

¤ Slavery: Is it time for an apology?
¤ Chicago's Abu Ghraib
¤ Mossad murdered 530 Iraqi scientists
¤ Looting By Another Name
¤ The Corporation Video
¤ Law Prof. Francis A. Boyle on Impeachment
¤ Ahmadinejad: Is he John Locke or John Brown?
¤ Saving Iraq: Mission Impossible
¤ The nuclear hypocrites
¤ US considers attacking Iran through Azerbaijan
¤ US rejects calls for Guantánamo closure
¤ Trail of Deception: Remembering how we got here
¤ America, You Lost! The Railroading of Zacarias Moussaoui
¤ The Israeli Torture Template
¤ Ray McGovern Is Going to Rumsfeld's House
¤ How Iran will win a sanctions war
¤ US Army Troop Build up on Iraq-Iran Borders
¤ Bush Lied About Iraq, Has No Right to Attack Iran
¤ New phone-tap row threatens President's nominee for CIA
¤ Sequel to White Mischief as aristocrat kills again
¤ Sri Lankan sea battle leaves 45 dead
¤ US Aggression-Time Once Again: Target Iran
¤ Secretary of Lies
¤ Recycled Non Sequiturs
¤ High-Octane Rocket-Rattling Against Tehran Won't Work
¤ Morales and Chávez face EU showdown in Vienna
¤ Somalia fighting enters sixth day
¤ Palestinian killed in Israeli raid
¤ Iranian nukes not the real issue
¤ US should be aware of the risks of Bush's war talk
¤ Stop the Neocons from Digging our Graves!
¤ What Sort of (Hated) Nation Have We Become?
¤ Pen and Sword: A Letter From Iran
¤ The Completely Other Side of AIDS
¤ Apocalypse Now?
¤ The biggest con: Democrats & Republicans work together to destroy America, part 1 of 3
¤ Part 2 of 3 | Part 3 of 3

US phone firms gave spy agency records of billions of calls
Posted: Friday, May 12, 2006

* Bush denies wiretaps of citizens were illegal
* Eavesdropping may derail appointment of CIA chief


George Bush tried desperately yesterday to defuse the news that the three biggest telephone firms in the US provided the National Security Agency with the records of billions of calls made by Americans.

The revelation that the warrantless wiretapping authorised by President Bush was far more sweeping than the administration has admitted could derail the confirmation of Michael Hayden, a former director of the agency, as new CIA chief.

Covered in a report by the paper USA Today, the story also reopens questions about whether Mr Bush acted illegally in authorising taps on Americans without court oversight. USA Today reported that since the September 2001 terror attacks, AT&T Corp, Verizon Communications Inc, and BellSouth Corp had been providing the agency with detailed records of the calls made by their 200 million customers, both international and domestic.

Full Article : guardian.co.uk

May 11, 2006 News
Posted: Thursday, May 11, 2006

¤ Blair under fire again over date of departure
¤ Afghan poppy farmers expect record opium crop
¤ Rodeo diplomacy
¤ American oil worker shot dead after rebel threats
¤ Police school blasts kill six officers
¤ Hispanic Americans a growing force, figures show
¤ Iraq head urges end to bloodshed
¤ Bush's Slow Race in the Last Lap
¤ All of Us Participate in a New Iraq
¤ Nuclear Standoff or Realpolitik?
¤ NSA has massive database of Americans' phone calls
¤ TALIBAN NOT TERRORISTS?!
¤ Baghdad's Security Forces to Be Revamped
¤ The Decline and Fall of Bush
¤ The Globe Is Lop-Sided
¤ From stiff upper lip to clenched jaws
¤ China urged to quadruple gold reserves
¤ Why are we enabling Israel?
¤ Electrocuted, gassed, frozen, boiled alive
¤ The Gitmo 'decider'
¤ Evidence against terror suspect extracted by torture
¤ Chávez to snub No 10 on private visit to Britain
¤ 6 Policemen Killed in Pakistan Bombings
¤ Mogadishu clashes kill 17

May 10, 2006 News
Posted: Wednesday, May 10, 2006

¤ Putin hits out at Washington as Iran dispute intensifies
¤ Ex-communist elected as Italian president
¤ More Katrina Waste, Fraud Said to Be Seen
¤ Iraqi president says killing must stop
¤ Bush extends US sanctions against Syria
¤ Defend America, Buy More Iranian Oil
¤ Oil Drives the Genocide in Darfur
¤ China, Cuba, Saudi Arabia elected to new UN human rights council
¤ Is Venezuela the New Niger?
¤ Abstinence Backfires
¤ Ten-Year-Old Forbidden From Singing Pink's Anti-Bush Song at School
¤ Kavkaz Center warns of a provocation
¤ What has happened?
¤ Zen Mind, Bush Mind
¤ Nonsense takes center stage at White House
¤ Why President Ahmadinejad is Right
¤ Chavez Visits Europe and Africa
¤ Africa Became the First Continent Where Mobile Phone Users Outnumber
¤ How Morales took on the oil giants - and won his people back
¤ Rumsfeld is a pathological liar.
¤ 1,091 killed in Baghdad in April
¤ How we (essentially) stole Iraq's oil
¤ Is the s**t starting to hit the fan?

Rice responded to Iran's letter before US translation
Posted: Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Condoleezza Rice admits she responded to Iran letter before US had translated missive

SECRETARY OF STATE CONDOLEEZZA RICE: Well, I won't try to judge the motivations for the letter and I certainly don't know the ins and outs of internal Iranian politics. We choose to treat the Iranian Government as the Iranian Government and to respond accordingly.

We've gotten the letter. We've not had a chance to do our own translation and of course we'll do that, but an initial reading of the letter would suggest that there is nothing in it that addresses the major issues between the United States and the rest of the world and Iran on the other hand. So not concrete issues on the nuclear side or on any of the other issues that we face. It's very philosophical, I would say. But again, I think we want to take a harder look at it, look at the actual translation and get a better sense of what's there. But that's the initial reading.

Full Article : rawstory.com

May 9, 2006 News
Posted: Tuesday, May 9, 2006

¤ Rice admits she responded to Iran letter before US had it translated
¤ Full Text : The President of Iran's Letter To President Bush
¤ Learning About Racism, Live on NPR and CNN
¤ Does It Really Matter Who Runs the CIA?
¤ My Encounter with Rumsfeld
¤ Oil Rises Above $70 as U.S. Rejects Iranian President's Letter
¤ Suicide Truck Bomber Kills 17 in Iraq
¤ E-Mails Show Brown Disputed Levee Breach
¤ Gold hits $700 for first time since 1980
¤ Russia Explodes over "Blackmail" Remarks
¤ Korean Farmers Say No to Giant US Base
¤ Cronyism At Any Cost, Once Again!
¤ BUSH IS NOT HITLER, II
¤ US Democrat Biden advocates the communal break-up of Iraq
¤ Neocons Dismember the CIA
¤ Tehran reaches out to US in surprise move
¤ Iraqi turmoil leaves at least 42 dead
¤ Blair: I'll quit next year - trust me
¤ General who eavesdropped on public is new CIA chief
¤ Recruiting Abuses Mount as Army Struggles to Meet Goals
¤ Dolts or Liars
¤ Rumsfeld denies making claims Iraq had WMDs
¤ Violence in Iraq Leaves at Least 34 Dead
¤ Foreign Policy, Monetary Policy, and Gas Prices
¤ Straw's departure strengthens Blair's agenda against Iran
¤ The Press and Priorities - What's Really Important
¤ None of Our Business
¤ Acquitted Zuma ready to fight for presidency
¤ Cui Bono? Negroponte or Rumsfeld?
¤ N-strike on Iran absurd: Blair
¤ 2 Years Later, Slayings in Iraq and Lost Cash Are Mysteries
¤ Darfur protest forces UN envoy to retreat
¤ Bush approval rating falls to new low in poll

May 8, 2006 News
Posted: Monday, May 8, 2006

¤ Moussaoui Asks to Withdraw Guilty Plea
¤ Violence in Iraq Leaves at Least 34 Dead
¤ The US's geopolitical nightmare
¤ The Misuses of "Anti-Semitism"
¤ Hungry Marines Asking Iraqis For Food
¤ New U.S. Foreign Policy for Palestine; Starvation
¤ Paradise Now
¤ Life in the Bush Economy: Fat, Drunk and Broke
¤ Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media
¤ Fresh violence hits Iraq cities
¤ Blair's terrible legacy
¤ Straw Canned Over Iran?
¤ British tactics reviewed as Basra erupts
¤ Iran breaks silence with US to offer nuclear 'solutions'
¤ Strong Earthquake Rocks Indonesian Island
¤ Insurgents Bomb Iraqi Oil Pipeline, Kill 3
¤ Landing a big fish: as good as it gets for Bush
¤ One Excellent Reason Not to Join the Military
¤ Did Bush Force British Minister Out?
¤ NBC, CBS, Fox cropped Rumsfeld questioner's challenges
¤ Brazil Unveils Uranium Enrichment Center
¤ Vice Squad
¤ Colbert shows media who's boss
¤ Mainstream Media, Why the Blackout on Stephen Colbert?
¤ The Last Gasp of the Dollar; Iran bourse opens next week
¤ The Final Say
¤ Jimmy Carter: Punishing the innocent is a crime
¤ The Real Oil Story: The Oil in Iraq
¤ Part of me died when I saw this cruel killing
¤ Raising the stakes on Iran
¤ The fall and fall of Afghanistan
¤ Cuban, Venezuelan Aid Streams Into Bolivia
¤ Another brick in the wall
¤ Interview With Retired CIA Analyst Ray McGovern
¤ Iran seeks euro-denominated oil market
¤ Spain accepts Bolivia gas plans
¤ Bolivia wins first round of gas battle after Brazil backs down
¤ Mediocre goods of all kinds flood Iraq in absence of controls
¤ The invaders enjoying our soil, sun and water, while Iraqis are dying
¤ Wargaming Iran
¤ Baghdad Morgue Daily Visit for Iraqis
¤ Fire erupts at Palestinian parliament
¤ The Drug of War

Point Fortin Borough Day Celebrations 2006
Posted: Sunday, May 7, 2006

Trinidad and Tobago

Point Fortin Borough Day Celebrations
Point Fortin Borough Day Celebrations in Pictures


Staff Article

This year's Borough Day celebrations in Point Fortin turned out to be quite a success. Saturday's activities hold some of the biggest events in the two weeks of Point Fortin Borough celebrations.

The Point Fortin Borough Day Celebrations started somewhere around the mid-eighties. It came at a time when Point Fortin was in an economic downturn. With the removal of Trintoc from Point Fortin, there was a great call-out in the society for job opportunities. At that time, the then council adopted a rather radical move to try to use culture as a means of creating economic activity in the area, and so was born 'Pan on the Move'.

The Borough which was inaugurated on the 30th April 1980 hosted thousands of people from all over the country, and around the world as they gathered at the main area to participate in the festivities which started days before this major event. Although the crowd contained mainly people from about seventeen to thirty-five, both the very young and the very old could be seen parading the streets from about half-past-one on Saturday morning.

The day's event began with a number of trucks, which were hardly mobile because of the large following, blasting music on the streets. People danced and frolicked until sunrise and made way for the J'ouvert bands to entertain the by-standers. These bands came from all over the country to play a part in the huge celebrations.

After the J'ouvert mas, some participants took a break for a good Saturday meal and a bit of rest from partying. Others continued the 'lime' on the streets or ventured to the bars to eat and drink with family and friends.

About four in the afternoon the Traditional Carnival Characters came out in full force along with a more mature crowd who usually pass on the early morning celebrations to enjoy the evening parade and the 'Pan on the Move' section of the celebrations. Many of the major steelbands from all over Trinidad and Tobago were represented.

The general success of the Point Fortin Borough Day celebrations should be used as an example for other large events outside of Carnival in the country.

What may be of benefit to the celebrations though are plans for better crowd management and a more constant flow of activities.

Also Read:

Life & Development in Point Fortin
Marlon Richardson Speaks

Point Fortin Borough Day Celebrations in Pictures May 06, 2006

May 7, 2006 News
Posted: Sunday, May 7, 2006

¤ Congo's tragedy: the war the world forgot
¤ CONNIE MACK'S MYTHS VS. VENEZUELAN FACTS
¤ The president says immigrants 'must learn to misinterpretate English'
¤ Nationalization of Gas!
¤ CIA in disarray as Rumsfeld starts turf war with rival
¤ Israeli strikes on Gaza claim six more lives
¤ 4 Car Bombings Kill 17, Hurt 44 in Iraq
¤ How Basra riots turned bloody
¤ The Kennedys: Cover-up with a capital K?
¤ Eight Palestinians killed in IDF operations over weekend
¤ Russia sends $10 million in aid to Abbas, bypassing Hamas
¤ 10 U.S. Soldiers Killed in Afghan Crash
¤ Book: Palestinian Killed With Chocolate
¤ Bird Brains
¤ Five servicemen die as insurgents in Iraq bring down UK helicopter
¤ New Chief Will Find C.I.A. Is Hobbled on Iran
¤ A U.S. 'Propaganda' Program, al-Zarqawi, and 'The New York Times'
¤ Is American Foreign Policy an Infinite Crisis?
¤ Mission Akkomplished
¤ Is The US Provoking Civil War in Iraq?
¤ The Tragedy of False Confessions
¤ Islamophobia, a Retrospective
¤ We Came, We Marched, And ... ?
¤ News Muse
¤ Rumsfeld Uses Colin Powell as a Human Shield
¤ Atomic 'Incident' In The US?
¤ No troops to Afghanistan: India
¤ "United 93": What Happened on the Planes?
¤ The two crucial mistakes that cost Straw his job