DON'T FORGET WHO IS OUT THERE DOING THE DIRTY WORK

UNION CALLS FOR IRAQ PULLOUT
Nearly 4000 delegates of Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the nation's largest with 1.6 million members, voted unanimously at the union's national convention in San Francisco today to end U.S. occupation of Iraq and to bring U.S. troops stationed there home.
(ANTI-IMPERIALIST LEAGUE, Suggested by Cuba News Digest)
For Common Dreams story on other voices calling for pullout Click Here

REVEREND MOON CROWNED MESSIAH IN CONGRESS
"As a shining symbol of democracy, the United States capital is not ordinarily a place where coronations occur. So news that the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the eccentric and exceedingly wealthy Korean-born businessman, donned a crown in a Senate office building and declared himself the Messiah while members of Congress watched is causing a bit of a stir."
(NYT)

UNDERSTANDING SECT FIRST STEP TOWARDS PEACE
"Shiites stick together. Their formidable official religious establishment, or Hawza, acts as one entity, even though its members may be in Najaf, in Qom in Iran (the other major center of learning), or any other place with substantial numbers of Shiites. Unlike, say, the Vatican, the Hawza is not an organized theocracy with clear hierarchies and chains of authority. Rather, it is bound by fervor, consensus and the utter devotion of its leaders and followers. This makes it a tricky institution to predict. "
(NYT)
For an excellent piece on Saudi Arabia and the problems of terrorism there see the latest Newsweek or click here.

THERE. HE SAID IT AGAIN!
"Vice President Dick Cheney said Saddam Hussein had 'long-established ties' with al Qaida, an assertion that has been repeatedly challenged by some policy experts and lawmakers. The vice president on Monday offered no details backing up his claim of a link between Saddam and al Qaida."
(FINDLAW)

FORMER DIPLOMATS BOO BUSH
"A group of 26 retired U.S. diplomats and military officers said Wednesday that President Bush should be voted out of office in November for damaging U.S. national security interests and America's standing in the international community."
Prominent members include retired Marine Gen. Joseph P. Hoar, commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East during the administration of Bush's father; retired Adm. William J. Crowe Jr., ambassador to Britain under President Bill Clinton and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President Ronald Reagan; and retired Adm. Stansfield Turner, former head of the Central Intelligence Agency.
(FINDLAW)

CUBA TRAVEL REGS POSTED
The new travel regulations concernig travel to Cuba have been posted.

WILL REAGAN SURVIVE TEST OF TIME?
"What of Ronald Reagan, whose weeklong farewell ceremonies, culminating on Friday in a funeral at the National Cathedral and burial in California, have stirred such emotion and such largely laudatory comment? (CLICK HERE FOR CRITIQUE OF COVERAGE) What will history, with its privileged vantage point far from the heat of partisan battles, conclude about him?"
(NYT)

NY TIMES' RESPONSE TO CRITICISM OF TORTURE SCANDAL COVERAGE
"New York Times public editor Daniel Okrent posted a response to criticism that the paper's May 14 report downplayed the CIA and Justice Department interrogation methods of Al Qaeda suspects. "
(FAIR)

MOBILE MAYOR SIGNS CUBA LETTER
"Mobile Mayor Mike Dow Dow is one of 33 politicians and heavy hitters who signed an open letter calling for Bush to work with members of Congress who seek to lift restrictions on travel, and sales of agricultural products and medicines to Cuba.
(MOBILE PRESS REGISTER)

TAPE BELIES US CLAIMS THAT WEDDING WAS BOGUS
"A wedding party videotape has been discovered by the Associated Press that belie assertions made by the US military that a recent attack that killed scores of civilians was justified because it was in actuality "a safehouse for foreign fighters."
The wedding videotape shows a dozen white pickup trucks speeding through the desert escorting the bridal car — decorated with colorful ribbons. The bride wears a Western-style white bridal dress and veil. The camera captures her stepping out of the car but does not show a close-up.
Many of the family members (mostly males and many of them children, the bride) guests and musicians appearing in the video have been identified, some of them later as victims who were killed in the attack.
Video shot by the news agency a day after the attack shows fragments of musical instruments, pots and pans and brightly colored beddings used for celebrations, scattered around the bombed out tent. "
(CANADA TV, unearthed by Cuba News Digest)

WHO WOULD JESUS VOTE FOR?
A secret email obtained by Village Voice shows that White House staffers, including the National Security Council's top Middle East aide (Eliott Abrams, remember him?) have been consulting with apocalyptic Christians eager to ensure American policy on Israel conforms with their sectarian doomsday scenarios.
These Christian fundamentalists claim to be 'the Christian Voice in the Nation's Capital'. The group vociferously opposes the idea of a Palestinian state. They fear an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza might enable just that, and they object on the grounds that all of Old Testament Israel belongs to the Jews. Until Israel is intact and Solomon's temple rebuilt, they believe, Christ won't come back to earth.
(VILLAGE VOICE)

GREENPEACE WALKS
A Miami federal trial judge granted a judgment of acquittal to Greenpeace in the government's unprecedented prosecution of an advocacy organization for the nonviolent civil disobedience of its members. Greenpeace was indicted for the offense once known as sailor mongering, more specifically, for boarding a ship as it was "about to arrive at its destination" in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2279, and for conspiracy to violate that statute because its members boarded the ship to protest its cargo of unlawfully harvested mahogany.
(TALKLEFT, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

CALLING MADAM LAFARGE!!!!
"A new site by Fundrace.org, follows the political money to your front door. While records of campaign contributions have long been available online, Fundrace has a twist: plug in any address and retrieve a list of all the donors in the neighborhood, the names of their favored candidates and the amount bestowed. "
(nyt)

WHEN THE MUSIC STOPS!
" Eminem's copyright infringement claims over use of his song 'Lose Yourself' in a commercial for Apple Computer Inc. can go forward.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor ruled that the suit brought by Eminem's publishing company can proceed against several companies, including MTV parent company Viacom and advertising agency TBWA/Chiat/Day."
(FINDLAW)