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July 19, 2005

07.19.05 Edition | Massacre in Haiti; Work Camps in Dubai; Attacks on Planned Parenthood
July 19, 2005 Edition

"The Best of the Rest of the Web"

THiS WEEK: A PR firm hired by an unknown company conducted a bomb drill for the exact same time, date, and locations of the real bombs detonated in the London Underground on July 7th; surge of violence on Haitians by UN troops; indigenous youth challenge corporate mining; what you can learn by actually asking Iraqis what they think about the US invasion; the FBI may have sought to instigate an anti-Muslim witch hunt in Lodi, California; new food distribution program in Venezuela promises to feed millions; Mike Davis describes the hellish conditions of work camps in Dubai; umbilical cord blood of US babies born in 2004 shown to contain an average of 200 industrial chemicals and pollutants; Weyerhauser conducts illegal logging in Saskatchewan to sell products to Xerox; illustrating the war in Darfur, in crayon; Planned Parenthood under steady attack; and much more.

This Week's Picks:

  1. Confusion and Coincidence in London Bomb Drill
    The day that the London bombings occured, a security consulting firm called Visor Consultants conducted a "training scenerio" involving the detonation of four bombs in the British transit system, according to a BBC radio 5 interview with Visor executive Peter Powers.

    Al Jazeera
    http://www.aljazeera.com/cgi-bin/news_service/middle_east_full_story.asp?service_id=9160


  2. VIDEO | Eyewitnesess Describe Massacre by UN Troops in Haiti
    A graphic, on location video presentation of recent violent attacks in Haiti by UN Troops. (256 K stream)

    Democracy Now
    http://play.rbn.com/?url=demnow/demnow/demand/2005/july/video/dnB20050711a.rm&proto=rtsp&start=43:19


  3. CARTOON | Who Will Be the Next Supreme Court Nominee?
    A graphic, on location video presentation of recent violent attacks in Haiti by UN Troops. (256 K stream)

    Tim Kreider
    http://www.thepaincomics.com/weekly050706a.htm


  4. Sinister Paradise
    In addition to being super-exploited, Dubai's helots are also expected to be generally invisible. The bleak work camps on the city's outskirts, where laborers are crowded six, eight, even twelve to a room, are not part of the official tourist image of a city of luxury without slums or poverty.

    Mike Davis | Mother Jones
    http://www.motherjones .com/commentary/columns/2005/07/sinister_paradise.html


  5. The Art of War
    The children's drawings construct a compelling case against the government of Sudan as the architects of the Darfur crisis and explicitly show violations of the laws of war. To hear and read the testimony of victims of atrocities is very powerful; it is even more horrifying to see such mayhem through the eyes of children, uncoached and often uneducated but clearly exposed to brutal ethnic cleansing.

    Dr. Annie Sparrow and Olivier Bercault | Human Rights Watch
    http://hrw.org/photos/2005/darfur/drawings


  6. Bush Regales Dinner Guests with Impromptu Oratory on Virgil's Minor Works
    According to guests, the subject of Virgil arose serendipitously, when a servant opened a window in the Red Room, to which the group had retired for after-dinner drinks. Noticing the breeze, Bush raised his glass and delivered a toast to the changing of the seasons. He then apologized to "lovely Winter," explaining that he "meant no slight against her."

    The Onion
    http://www.theonion.com/news/index.php?issue 4127&n=1


  7. AUDIO | To Make Matters Worse...
    Can progressives put aside what they want to believe about the US-led invasion of Iraq and simply listen to the Iraqis themselves? That's what Pacifica Radio journalist Aaron Glantz did; his sometimes surprising findings are recorded in How America Lost Iraq. Rebecca Gordon of War Times discusses changes in mainstream thinking about the US military presence in Iraq.

    C.S. Soong | Against the Grain
    http://www.againstthegrain.org/audio7.12.05.mp3


  8. Witchhunt at Lodi
    On June 7, national and international media attention focused on the small, agricultural town of Lodi, where the FBI arrested and detained two Pakistani-Americans, who they suspected had al Qaeda affiliations. The FBI released an affidavit to the media containing charges of terrorism—but in the affidavit filed with a federal court, these allegations were downplayed. While the Justice Department has maintained that it was not deliberately trying to precipitate an anti-Muslim witch hunt, the difference between the two affidavits—the one released to the media and the one filed in court—as well as recent FBI activity in Lodi, tell a different story.

    Veena Dubal and Sunaina Maira | Siliconeer/Pacific News Service
    http ://news.pacificnews.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=c9e8897dac195e1003efb0e65d48c0eb


  9. Venezuela Food Program
    In Venezuela, a new community-based food distribution system provides jobs, nourishment, and social interaction for lower income people. According to President Hugo Chavez, the program aims to supply food to more than 15 million citizens, or about 60% of the population.

    Roberto Jorquera | Green Left Review / Z Net
    http://www.zmag.org/content/sh owarticle.cfm?SectionID=45&ItemID=8284


  10. Body Burden: The Pollution of Newborns
    In a study spearheaded by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) in collaboration with Commonweal, researchers at two major laboratories found an average of 200 industrial chemicals and pollutants in umbilical cord blood from 10 babies born in August and September of 2004 in U.S. hospitals. Tests revealed a total of 287 chemicals in the group. The umbilical cord blood of these 10 children, collected by Red Cross after the cord was cut, harbored pesticides, consumer product ingredients, and wastes from burning coal, gasoline, and garbage.

    Environmental Working Group
    http://www.ewg.org/reports/bodyburden2/execsumm .php


  11. Indigenous Youth Challenge Corporate Mining
    On June 22, the second International Indigenous Youth Conference (IIYC) released several resolutions and declarations aiming to stop the destructive impacts of globalization on indigenous lands, cultures, and peoples.

    Angela Sterritt | Cultural Survival
    http://209.200.101.189/publications /win/win-article.cfm?id=2699


  12. Saskatchewan: The Province of Weyerhauser
    It has been discovered that Weyerhauser has been illegally logging in Saskatchewan specifically to sell products to Xerox. This report includes a video documentary, photo gallery and links to source documents.

    Rainforest Action Network
    http://www.ran.org/case_studies/saskatchewan


  13. Aristide in Exile
    When United Nations troops kill residents of the Haitian slum Cité Soleil, friends and family often place photographs of exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide on their bodies. The photographs silently insist that there is a method to the madness raging in Port-au-Prince. Poor Haitians are being slaughtered not for being "violent," as we so often hear, but for being militant; for daring to demand the return of their elected president.

    Naomi Klein | The Nation
    http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050801 &s=klein


  14. Foes Keep Planned Parenthood Under Steady Attack
    The campaign against Planned Parenthood now goes far beyond anti-abortion protests. Led by two national organizations—Life Decisions and STOPP—it features community protests, corporate boycotts and targeting of clinics with weak finances.

    Cynthia L. Cooper | Women's eNews
    http://www.womensenews.com/article.cfm/dyn/aid/ 2373



- Media Picks Contributing Editors: James Adams, Adam Barker, and Erica Wetter
- Media Picks compiled and edited by Erin Wiegand and Brian Awehali

Posted by erin at July 19, 2005 11:40 PM

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