Positive Universe Abstracts

NY Times (Editorial) By BOB HERBERT

Published: August 29, 2005

First the bad news: Only about two-thirds of American teenagers (and just half of all black, Latino and Native American teens) graduate with a regular diploma four years after they enter high school.

Now the worse news: Of those who graduate, only about half read well enough to succeed [...]

Guardian Unlimited, UK

Nicaragua and South Africa, not the US, should be the inspiration for the people framing Iraq’s constitution

George Monbiot Tuesday August 30, 2005 The Guardian (h)

Between the idea and the reality falls the shadow of occupation. Whatever the parliamentarians in Iraq do to try to prevent total meltdown, their efforts are compromised by the fact that [...]

Seattle Post Intelligencer By HELEN THOMAS HEARST NEWSPAPERS (h)

WASHINGTON — It’s time for the Democratic Party to take a courageous stand and call for the withdrawal of troops from the senseless war in Iraq.

Its human cost and the billion-dollars-a-week tab in Iraq should give all Americans pause.

Would the Republicans have hesitated to challenge the Democrats if the [...]

USA Today For all the spin Sunday surrounding the completion of the draft Iraqi constitution — President Bush hailed it as an “inspiration” and the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, waxed lyrical about its potential to evolve — the truth is grim.

The United States had hoped the document would knit together Iraq’s three main communities [...]

Mother Jones, CA

News:In Darfur, the survivors of genocide at the hands of the janjaweed militias are corralled in desperate refugee camps–which is just how the Sudanese government likes it.

By Monika Bauerlein September/October 2005 Issue (m)

This text accompanies a photo essay by Oliver Jobard/Sipa in the September/October 2005 issue of Mother Jones.

THERE ARE 10 MILLION REFUGEES IN [...]

US campaign to ring Chavez alarm fails to resonate Reuters AlertNet, UK 28 Aug 2005 12:31:20 GMT Source: Reuters By Saul Hudson

WASHINGTON, Aug 28 (Reuters)(h) - “Since when did Venezuela become a threat?” asked U.S. radio sports talk show host Tony Kornheiser.

“Since gas went over $3,” his co-host joked, referring to soaring U.S. prices and the fact Venezuela holds [...]

Dahr Jamail’s Iraq Dispatches August 27, 2005

As the US-backed Iraqi puppet government flails about arguing over the so-called constitution, Iraq remains in a state of complete anarchy. There is no government control whatsoever, even inside the infamous “Green Zone” where the puppets seem to have tangled their strings.

Why the harsh tone for the conflagrations of the [...]