be just

Voices - Why the Government Tests Few Chinese Imports Massive amounts of Chinese imports are threatening public health and safety. Many food and consumer products pose risks. Lead in children’s toys and jewelry. Toxins in foods for pets and humans, and in toothpaste. Unsafe automobile tires. Many prescription drugs made with few safeguards. The list is endless. The federal government is not safeguarding American citizens through thorough testing of imports. Why? Simple: The Chinese have us by our budget-deficit balls. Our government depends on China for loaning us money and for not dumping the vast hoard of over one trillion dollars it has accumulated by financing our huge deficits and selling us virtually everything. Dumping dollars is called the Chinese economic nuclear option. They can wreck the American economy any time they want. America is being held hostage because of our government’s disastrous fiscal and trade policies. And, yes, all this middle-class-killing free trade global...

Saudi police beat us up, say British Shia pilgrims - Independent Online Edition > Middle East : "A group of British and American Muslims on pilgrimage to Mecca say they were illegally detained and brutally beaten by Saudi religious police. The men, who suffered physical mistreatment as well as verbal abuse during their incarceration, claim they were arrested because they are Shia and Westerners. The Foreign Office is expected to raise the matter with the Saudi government although the authorities in the country say they have already started an investigation. The eight men were among a group of 35 British and American nationals on a two-week visit to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina when they were arrested. They say the religious police, a powerful force in the Sunni kingdom, waded in after an argument developed between the group and a Sunni worshipper at a shrine. The men, now back in this country, claim the police repeatedly struck them with chair legs, sticks and heavy han...

Afghan anti-terror meet hears calls to oust NATO force - Yahoo! News : "'How can I accept that yesterday jihad against the Russians was a must, and today this is not a jihad?' he asked. 'There is no need for the NATO forces. Bring Islamic countries' troops,' said Mohmand, from Pakistan's Mohmand Agency, in a heated address that earned him a smattering of applause. His call came on the second day of a three-day 'peace jirga', aimed at persuading the fiercely independent tribes from the remote border regions to root out Taliban and Al-Qaeda elements using their mountainous territories as hideouts."

Al Jazeera English - News - Us Marine In Iraq Murder Freed : "A US Marine, sentenced to eight years in military prison for killing an Iraqi civilian last year, has been released after being granted clemency."

Al Jazeera English - News - Iraqi Governor Killed In Bombing : "The governor and chief of police of the southern Iraqi province of Qadisiyah have been killed by a roadside bomb, local security and health officials said. The bomb struck the governor's convoy in the town of Aajaf on Saturday as the officials headed back to the provincial capital Diwaniyah from the funeral of a tribal sheikh"

Al Jazeera English - News - Kosovo Leaders Demand Independence Kosovan leaders have called for independence from Serbia by the end of 2007 despite efforts to seek a compromise solution by international mediators from Russia, the US and EU. Agim Ceku, Kosovo's prime minister, said: "I am working for the recognition of the independence of Kosovo, in its current borders ... this year."

Bush's war adviser says a return to the military draft is worth considering - International Herald Tribune : "WASHINGTON: Frequent tours for U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan have stressed the all-volunteer force and made it worth considering a return to a military draft, President George W. Bush's new war adviser said Friday. 'I think it makes sense to certainly consider it,' Army Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute said in an interview with National Public Radio's 'All Things Considered.' 'And I can tell you, this has always been an option on the table. But ultimately, this is a policy matter between meeting the demands for the nation's security by one means or another,' Lute added in his first interview since he was confirmed by the Senate in June."

: "Twenty-four hours after I reported China’s announcement that China, not the Federal Reserve, controls US interest rates by its decision to purchase, hold, or dump US Treasury bonds, the news of the announcement appeared in sanitized and unthreatening form in a few US news sources. "

Fighting the Democrats’ Complicity with Bush : "Despite the massive, overwhelming repudiation of the Iraq war and the Bush Jr. administration by the American people in the November 2006 national elections conjoined with their consequent installation of a Congress controlled by the Democratic Party with a mandate to terminate the Iraq war, since its ascent to power in January 2007 the Democrats in Congress have taken no effective steps to stop, impede, or thwart the Bush Jr. administration’s wars of aggression against Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, or anywhere else, including their long-standing threatened war against Iran. To the contrary, the new Democrat-controlled Congress decisively facilitated these serial Nuremberg crimes against peace on May 24, 2007 by enacting a $95 billion supplemental appropriation to fund war operations through September 30, 2007."