Over 500 people in the packed hall applauded eagerly when Dr. Bob Bowman stated he was an advocate of doctor-controlled, single-payer health care for all.

They cheered louder still when the congressional candidate from Florida’s 15th District pledged that his first piece of legislation submitted in the House of Representatives would be articles of impeachment.  

But they simultaneously jumped to their feet and roared approval when he leaned over the podium to say he was running with a group of Democrats, Republicans, Greens, Libertarians, Independents and non politicians “…who are all united by one thing.  We want to bring our troops home from George Bush’s quagmire in Iraq and expose the lies that allowed him to send them there, including 9/11.”

Experienced in stumping on the campaign trail, Bowman was more dynamic than most of the speakers at the Chicago conference dubbed, “9/11: Revealing the Truth, Reclaiming Our Future,” but many other speakers were just as adamant about referring to the events of September 11, 2001 as the excuse George Bush needed to invade Iraq and Afghanistan. 

When the House and the Senate pass similar but not identical bills, they create a conference committee to work out the differences.  When they both passed amendments to the "emergency supplemental" spending bill stipulating that none of the money could be used to build permanent bases in Iraq, the conference committee, behind closed doors this week, resolved that non-difference by deleting it. 

This would appear to be a blatant violation of the rules of Congress and an unconstitutional voiding of the will of the people as expressed by their Representatives and Senators.  But it can't appear that way to a people that knows nothing about it.  And it does not appear that way at all to the journalists who inform the public of its government's doings.  Even the minority members of the conference committee and the leaders of the minority party in Congress seem entirely comfortable with this course of events, although Congresswoman Barbara Lee has denounced the Republicans for it.

In the old days, they'd brandish the head of the captured chieftain from the battlements. These days, given the effects on human bone and tissue of artillery and 500-pound bombs, there's a cull from an old most-wanted list and then, when the morticians have done their work, a photo of the cadaver's visage, decently cleaned up.

When Saddam Hussein's sons, Uday and Qusay, were located and killed in July 2003, connoisseurs of the mortician's arts were particularly impressed by the efforts taken to make them presentable for post-mortem primetime.

At the White House press conference Thursday morning, there was gloating of course, just as there was when Saddam's sons were killed. It takes an effort now to recall that, like the late Zarqawi, Uday and Qusay, too, were credited with inspiring a large part of the resistance, and then, as now, guarded hopes were expressed in Washington that maybe some sort of a corner had been turned.

How Capitalism Unleashes the Beast of Soulless Avarice

Jinshan Mining Ltd, a leading mineral extraction corporation based in China, has officially announced its ground-breaking technology for extracting gold from the water supply in the United States, including groundwater, rivers, lakes and streams. After years of fastidious research, Jinshan has concluded that most of the water throughout the continental United States contains significant trace levels of gold particles. Its scientists have determined that the concentration of particles is high enough to enable the mining concern’s innovative new extraction process to cull significant quantities of the precious metal from ordinary H2O.

Jinshan, a Chinese multinational, has indicated they have found a surprisingly inexpensive means to process the millions of gallons of American water necessary to reap the profits they seek.

CEO Zhu Jintao was brimming with enthusiasm as he addressed eager members of the US media via satellite link from a remote area of China where he was vacationing with his family: