THE FLASHLIGHT, August 2-8, 2008
THE FLASHLIGHT
No Peace without Justice, No Politics without the Facts
August 2-8, 2008
Mary K. Matossian, Editor
mary@matossian.net
US Economy
BBC 8-1. Unemployment is up to 5.7%. General Motors reported a $15.5 billion loss for the second quarter, mainly on account of the collapse in the market for SUVs and trucks.
PBS 8-4. Oil prices are below $120 a barrel because US drivers are reducing their consumption. 8-5. The Dow Jones index went up 331 points in a day. But the housing slump is expected to continue into 2009, and the credit crunch is expected to linger for 6-8 months.
US Politics
CNN 8-6. The Obama campaign claims McCain is ignorant of computers and the Internet, hence out of touch.
CNN 8-5. Ron Suskind, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, has published a new book, The Way of the World, in which he claims that the White House ordered the CIA to plant false evidence in order to provoke the Iraq War. He also claims that before the war Bush knew that there were no WMD’s in Iraq.
Vice President Cheney is being urged not to attend the Republican Convention.
Obama wants to levy an excess profits tax on Big Oil; McCain wants to give Big Oil 4 billion in tax breaks.
Tom Daschel says that McCain voted with President Bush 90% of the time.
US Crime
BBC 8-1. Army scientist Dr. Bruce Ivins, a prime suspect in the anthrax case seven years ago, feeling severely depressed, killed himself by an overdose of painkillers. CNN 8-6. He was afraid that the Army was about to discontinue the search for an anthrax vaccine, a project on which he was working. According to the FBI report Ivins had a history of paranoia and alcoholism. He was solely responsible for the crime. Crucial evidence came from analysis of the DNA of the anthrax strain to which Ivins had exclusive access.
NYT 8-8. A military panel sentenced Bin Laden’s driver to a short term (5 years, 6 months), of which only 5 months remain, instead of the 30 years sought by the prosecution.
Turkey
Turkish Daily News 8-4. The Turkish Government claims that the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) was responsible for the bombing in Istanbul 7-27, which killed 17 and wounded 154 persons.
China
BBC 8-4. China is the worst polluter on earth. In particular, particulate matter from industries in South China is blown north over Beijing, which has a population of 17.4 million. Many people suffer from bronchial spasms, nausea, and vomiting.
Iraq
Az-Zaman 8-5. US casualties in Iraq were the lowest last July since the 2003 invasion. But neither the US nor the Iraq government are reporting Iraqi casualties. Az-Zaman has no statistics for such casualties, but it claims that they have risen sharply.
Pakistan
BBC 8-7. Leaders of the two main opposition parties, Arif Ali Zarda and Nawaz Sharif, threaten Musharraf with impeachment. It would take a two-thirds majority of Parliament. They wish to restore to their seats the judges which Musharraf fired during his period of emergency rule.
Obituary
BBC 8-3. Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Nobel Prize winning writer, died at 89. He described conditions in the Soviet prison camps.
No Peace without Justice, No Politics without the Facts
August 2-8, 2008
Mary K. Matossian, Editor
mary@matossian.net
US Economy
BBC 8-1. Unemployment is up to 5.7%. General Motors reported a $15.5 billion loss for the second quarter, mainly on account of the collapse in the market for SUVs and trucks.
PBS 8-4. Oil prices are below $120 a barrel because US drivers are reducing their consumption. 8-5. The Dow Jones index went up 331 points in a day. But the housing slump is expected to continue into 2009, and the credit crunch is expected to linger for 6-8 months.
US Politics
CNN 8-6. The Obama campaign claims McCain is ignorant of computers and the Internet, hence out of touch.
CNN 8-5. Ron Suskind, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, has published a new book, The Way of the World, in which he claims that the White House ordered the CIA to plant false evidence in order to provoke the Iraq War. He also claims that before the war Bush knew that there were no WMD’s in Iraq.
Vice President Cheney is being urged not to attend the Republican Convention.
Obama wants to levy an excess profits tax on Big Oil; McCain wants to give Big Oil 4 billion in tax breaks.
Tom Daschel says that McCain voted with President Bush 90% of the time.
US Crime
BBC 8-1. Army scientist Dr. Bruce Ivins, a prime suspect in the anthrax case seven years ago, feeling severely depressed, killed himself by an overdose of painkillers. CNN 8-6. He was afraid that the Army was about to discontinue the search for an anthrax vaccine, a project on which he was working. According to the FBI report Ivins had a history of paranoia and alcoholism. He was solely responsible for the crime. Crucial evidence came from analysis of the DNA of the anthrax strain to which Ivins had exclusive access.
NYT 8-8. A military panel sentenced Bin Laden’s driver to a short term (5 years, 6 months), of which only 5 months remain, instead of the 30 years sought by the prosecution.
Turkey
Turkish Daily News 8-4. The Turkish Government claims that the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) was responsible for the bombing in Istanbul 7-27, which killed 17 and wounded 154 persons.
China
BBC 8-4. China is the worst polluter on earth. In particular, particulate matter from industries in South China is blown north over Beijing, which has a population of 17.4 million. Many people suffer from bronchial spasms, nausea, and vomiting.
Iraq
Az-Zaman 8-5. US casualties in Iraq were the lowest last July since the 2003 invasion. But neither the US nor the Iraq government are reporting Iraqi casualties. Az-Zaman has no statistics for such casualties, but it claims that they have risen sharply.
Pakistan
BBC 8-7. Leaders of the two main opposition parties, Arif Ali Zarda and Nawaz Sharif, threaten Musharraf with impeachment. It would take a two-thirds majority of Parliament. They wish to restore to their seats the judges which Musharraf fired during his period of emergency rule.
Obituary
BBC 8-3. Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Nobel Prize winning writer, died at 89. He described conditions in the Soviet prison camps.
posted by THE FLASHLIGHT at 6:44 AM
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