the new citizenship project

Booming oil means record Q2 sales for Halliburton

Income from continuing operations met Wall Street forecasts, and the company said it continued to expand its business globally. Thanks, Iraq war! Thanks, no-bid contracts! Thanks, Bush regime!

Gitmo War Crimes Trial: Judge bars all evidence obtained by torture

The judge ruled that some of Hamdan’s statements made at Gitmo may be allowed, but his defense is arguing that all his statements were coerced by using abusive tactics. How much evidence will be thrown out is yet to be determined, but if this article from the AP is accurate, the first of King George’s war tribunals is shaping up to be yet another three ring circus.

Police infiltrating, spying on “leftist” groups

AP reports on new documents released by the ACLU of Maryland that show that the Maryland state police have been infiltrating anti-war and anti-death penalty groups undercover and spying on them.

Undercover Maryland state police officers infiltrated meetings of peace and anti-death penalty groups for more than a year, according to documents released Thursday by the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Police also included the name of at least one prominent peace activist in a federal database for tracking terrorists and drug dealers.

ACLU attorney David Rocah said documents released Thursday show state police violated federal laws prohibiting departments that receive federal funds from maintaining databases with information about political activities and affiliations. The ACLU obtained the documents after suing the state police.

Dispatches from the Culture Wars

Indicted for War Crimes, Sudan cites U.S. as example why it needn’t comply

Last week, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC) filed charges for the first time against a sitting head of state, charging President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan with three counts of genocide, five counts of crimes against humanity and two counts of war crimes. Fareed Zakaria had Sudan’s ambassador to the United Nations on his CNN show, GPS, to discuss the charges, which he called “a joke” and cited the U.S.’ 2002 withdrawal from the ICC treaty as an example of why Sudan does not recognize the court’s authority and will not cooperate with it.

Blackwater claims it will abandon security biz

Stung by lawsuits, protests, government audits, criminal charges and negative media attention executives from the mercenary firm Blackwater Worldwide say providing security in Iraq and elsewhere has become a drain on the company’s future and will be gradually phased out. However, while Defense Secretary Robert Gates released a letter Monday questioning the extensive use of private contractors by the military, there are no immediate plans to end Blackwater’s Iraq contract, renewed last year despite a deadly Baghdad shooting spree by the company’s agents. Link

Collapsing fiat currency in need of golden parachute with silver lining

Money served throughout history as a medium of exchange and as a storehouse of value. But when gold and silver coins were replaced by paper currencies, money no longer was the same. Paper money, no longer having intrinsic value, now functions only as a medium of exchange, a function that degrades over time.

Ex-cop may be charged in Taser death

Baron Pikes, 21, was tasered nine times by a police officer. He was shocked so many times the coroner says it’s possible Pikes was already dead when he was tasered the final two times. Now, a Louisiana prosecutor must decide whether to press charges against the cop. “The family wants justice,” an attorney said.

McCain adviser points to 2020 Iraq withdrawal date

As we’ve heard ad nauseum, McCain’s position is that there should not be a timetable, so Boot isn’t saying that McCain is proposing those dates as goals or targets. But what he is saying is that the practical implication of McCain’s policy of open-ended commitment is that American troops would not be able to withdraw from Iraq until 2018 or 2020.

The 25 Most Vicious Iraq War Profiteers

The Iraq war is many things to different people. It is called a strategic blunder and a monstrous injustice and sometimes even a patriotic mission, much to the chagrin of rational human beings. For many big companies, however, the war is something far different: a lucrative cash-cow. The years-long, ongoing military effort has resurrected fears of the so-called “military-industrial complex.” Media pundits are outraged at private companies scooping up huge, no-questions-asked contracts to manufacture weapons, rebuild infrastructure, or anything else the government deems necessary to win (or plant its flag in Iraq). No matter what your stance on the war, it pays to know where your tax dollars are being spent.