By Barbara L. Minton | Remember Ron Paul, the candidate who annoyed reporters, the left and the right by trying to talk about the real issues facing Americans during the presidential contender's debate? Although he gets very little media coverage aside from ridicule, he is still around and trying to get Americans to wake up to the threat to their liberty presented by the forces behind globalization. His latest initiative ...

Britain has failed in its duty to stop the US from committing "shameful acts" in the treatment of suspects detained during the war on terror, one of America's most respected intellectuals Noam Chomsky warns.   In an interview with The Independent, Professor Chomsky calls on the government to use its special relationship with Washington to secure the closure of Guantanamo Bay.   The emeritus professor of linguistics said that he has heard only ...

World Socialist Website | In a further escalation of the attack on democratic rights, the Labour government is proposing a huge increase in state surveillance. It is implementing new measures under the pretext of the “war on terror” to intrude ever deeper into the private lives of people who are viewed as potential criminals rather than citizens. As things stand, the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) introduced ...

SchNEWS | From Transition Town workshops to the city slickers at the Financial Times (to over-excited pieces in ill-researched journals like SchNEWS), there’s been more and more interest in ‘Peak Oil’. Perhaps it’s got something to do with the price of a barrel reaching $140+ (down to a mere $115ish at the mo), and more noticeably for most, petrol at the pumps is at record highs. Not to mention ...

By ERIC LICHTBLAU | WASHINGTON — Tucked deep into a recent proposal from the Bush administration is a provision that has received almost no public attention, yet in many ways captures one of President Bush’s defining legacies: an affirmation that the United States is still at war with Al Qaeda. Seven years after the Sept. 11 ...

By John Byrne | The ACLU issued a stinging rebuke to the Denver Police Department Wednesday, alleging that the department may have violated laws and constitutional rights of protesters arrested outside the Democratic National Convention. In the letter, obtained by RAW STORY, the ACLU revealed that the police refused those arrested access to attorneys. Police did not let detainees use phones unless they posted their own bonds, and even failed ...

By Sam Smith | The confluence of Barack Obama's stadium acceptance extravaganza and John McCain's pick for vice president offers superfluous but final proof that Americans have been consigned to spend their lives as part of a crowd scene in an HBO special. Both Obama and Palin have come out of nowhere, rising to preeminence not on the basis of achievements, politics or service but by having all the ...

By Bruce Schneier | Premier Election Solutions, formerly called Diebold Election Systems, has finally admitted that a ten-year-old error has caused votes to be dropped. It's unclear if this error is random or systematic. If it's random -- a small percentage of all votes are dropped -- then it is highly unlikely that this affected the outcome of any election. If it's systematic -- a small ...

By Inayat Bunglawala | Britain’s foreign secretary, David Miliband, has been lecturing Russia on the need to respect Ukrainian and Georgian sovereignty. He doesn’t seem to realise how incongruous this sounds to much of the world, given Britain’s own disregard of international law. In a similar vein, our former prime minister, Tony Blair, also caused wry smiles earlier this month when he visited Malaysia to give the Universiti ...

By Patti Thorn | DNEVER - "Follow Us. Welcome to Denver," read the electronic sign on the police vehicle. And with that conciliatory gesture, an unpermitted march for peace was allowed to proceed Wednesday afternoon through downtown Denver streets - peacefully. It was easily the largest demonstration in a week filled with them. See video of the march here and here. At least 3,000 Iraq war veterans and war ...

Undercurrents in association with VisionOnTV reported the people who are making a differenece by working together collectively. When large numbers of determined and well-organised people get together they can turn things around, making a historic difference.The climate camp aimed to do just that. Whether it's participating in the collective organisation of the camp, taking part in workshops or taking direct action to tackle dangerous developments like new coal-fired power ...

By Paul Stott | Few terrorist attacks have had such contrary explanations as the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie. Sunday evening at 9pm the BBC2's Conspiracy Files enters the fray, examining some of the claims and counter claims. One interesting question is whether the programme will feature either of Britain's two best known 9/11 'truthers' (and former MI5 officers) David Shayler and Annie Machon. Shayler worked ...

Human Rights Watch | This Wednesday, unless the UK foreign secretary takes rapid action, Britain’s High Court will hold a hearing to assess whether the UK government should be ordered to hand over secret documents to lawyers for a Guantanamo detainee. The detainee in question, Binyam Mohamed, faces possible charges of conspiracy and material support for terrorism before a military commission at Guantanamo. Mohamed, an Ethiopian national and ...

By Michael Cambray | It seems that most people are finally awakening to the fact that it is not a good idea to blindly accept the manipulating lies with which we are daily brainwashed, particularly by the communications media. It is totally acceptable and sensible nowadays to be cynical and critical of any source of information, particularly when associated with politics, big business and the media. The 'information' age has ...

By David Gutierrez | For the first time, a branch of the U.S. government has admitted that the common industrial chemical bisphenol A (BPA) may pose a health risk. BPA is a crucial ingredient in the hard, clear polycarbonate plastic found in water and baby bottles. It is also used to make liners for food and infant formula cans. BPA has been shown to seep out of these containers and into ...