UNDERNEWS

UNDERNEWS
NOV 19, 2005
FROM THE PROGRESSIVE REVIEW
EDITED BY SAM SMITH
Since 1964, Washington's most unofficial source

E-MAIL: mailto:news@prorev.com

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WORD
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War is, at first, the hope that one will be better off; next, the
expectation that the other fellow will be worse off; then, the
satisfaction that he isn't any better off; and, finally, the surprise at
everyone's being worse off - Karl Kaus

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PAGE ONE MUST
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NEARLY HALF OF AMERICANS SEE TORTURE AS OKAY

WASHINGTON TIMES - Nearly half of Americans think torturing terror
suspects to gain information can be justified, according to a survey
published by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. The
survey of 2,006 persons found that 46 percent thought torturing
terrorists to gain important information was sometimes (31 percent) or
often (15 percent) justified; 17 percent thought it was rarely
justified; and 32 percent were opposed. By contrast, the study found
that of 520 opinion leaders questioned on the issue, no more than one in
four thinks that torture of terrorist suspects can be sometimes or often
justified, Agence France-Presse reports. The survey also found that
opinion leaders differ on who should be held responsible for prisoner
abuse in Iraq and at the detention center at U.S. Naval Station
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The survey noted that more than 50 percent of
academics, journalists, foreign affairs analysts and scientists think
such abuses are the result of official policy, against 60 percent of
military and religious leaders who see it as mostly misconduct by
soldiers and contractors.

http://insider.washingtontimes.com/articles/normal.php?
StoryID=20051117-111246-5047r

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REPORTER: HALLIBURTON FIRM ABUSING UNDOCUMENTED WORKERS IN KATRINA
CLEANUP

HALLIBURTON WATCH - Halliburton's KBR subsidiary and its subcontractors
illegally abuse immigrants and undocumented workers in hurricane-damaged
areas of the Gulf Coast, Roberto Lovato of Salon.com reported today.

In an article titled "Gulf Coast slaves," Lovato writes of his travels
throughout the storm-ravaged region where KBR's cleanup contracts
currently amount to $124.9 million. He observed "squalid trailer parks
where up to 19 unpaid, unfed and undocumented KBR site workers inhabited
a single trailer for $70 per person, per week." Many suffer from
work-related health problems, including diarrhea, sprained ankles, cuts
and bruises acquired while working for KBR.

At one point, many undocumented workers were thrown off the job and
forced to live in the streets of New Orleans after Halliburton refused
for two months to pay a subcontractor. Seventy-four workers filed a
complaint with the Department of Labor seeking $56,000 in back pay.

A Halliburton subcontractor even threatened several Latino workers with
deportation if they left the Belle Chasse military base in Louisiana,
where an estimated 500 immigrants are employed.

Halliburton denies violating labor laws, but immigration enforcement
officials discovered undocumented workers at the Belle Chasse facility
in October. "Visits to the naval bases and dozens of interviews by Salon
confirm that undocumented workers are in the facilities," wrote Lovato.

As in Iraq, workers from poor countries are lured to the Gulf Coast by
KBR's shady job brokers peddling exaggerated wages and benefits that
rarely materialize after immigrants arrive for work. "They were going to
pay seven dollars an hour, and the food was going to be free, and rent,
but they gave us nothing," a teenage worker from Mexico told Lovato.
"They weren't feeding us. We ate cookies for five days. Cookies, nothing
else," he said. . .

"A shadowy labyrinth of contractors, subcontractors and job brokers,
overseen by no single agency, have created a no man's land where nobody
seems to be accountable for the hiring -- and abuse -- of these
workers," reported Lovato. The lack of accountability is an "open
invitation for exploitation, fraud and abuse," said James Hale, vice
president of the Laborers' International Union of North America.

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/11/15/halliburton_katrina

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MEDICARE DRUG PLAN CUTS OFF AID TO THE NEEDY

THOMAS GINSBERG, KNIGHT RIDDER - Under federal rules effective Jan. 1,
low-income and elderly patients who enroll in the program, known as
Medicare Part D, will lose the ability to get free medications through
the drugmakers' tax- deductible charities, known as patient- assistance
programs. Some companies, going further, said this week that they would
drop patients who were merely eligible for Part D, whether or not they
actually enrolled in it, as allowed under longstanding rules. As a
result, in about six weeks, up to half of the roughly 3 million to 4
million charity patients nationwide may lose free access to more than
1,200 brand-name drugs, according to estimates of three companies. Other
recipients should be unaffected. . . News of the cutoff followed a
ruling last week by the Inspector General of the Department of Health
and Human Services barring companies from giving free drugs to Part D
enrollees, hoping to prevent fraud. While suggesting an alternative
charity system, the ruling threw a confusing twist into the
already-baffling Medicare prescription-drug program. ''The last thing we
need is one more variable in a hopelessly complex situation," said
Robert M. Hayes, president of the Medicare Rights Center, an advocacy
group based in New York. On Tuesday, Americans could begin to sign up
for the new voluntary Medicare prescription-drug coverage. About 42
million Medicare recipients are eligible for the program.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/11/19/
medicare_plan_to_cut_off_free_drugs_for_the_needy/?rss_id=
Boston+Globe+--+National+News

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IRAQ
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THE MAN WHO SOLD THE WAR

PR WATCH - While the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence drags its
feet on discovering how the White House sold the Iraq war, journalist
James Bamford has written a major expose on one of the key players: John
Rendon. In his Rolling Stone story "The Man Who Sold the War," Bamford
traces the development of Rendon and his firm The Rendon Group (TRG)
from Democratic Party organizer to Kuwaiti liberator to secretive
Pentagon propagandist-for-hire. In a rare interview, Rendon "boasted
openly" to Bamford of "the sweep and importance of his firm's efforts as
a for-profit spy." One example of TRG's work is the story of Iraqi exile
Adnan Ihsan Saeed al-Haideri, who claimed Saddam Hussein had tons of
biological, chemical and nuclear weapons. The fact that al-Haideri
failed CIA polygraph tests didn't stop TRG from giving Judith Miller the
print exclusive interview. "Her front-page story, which hit the stands
on December 20th, 2001, was exactly the kind of exposure Rendon had been
hired to provide," Bamford writes.

http://www.prwatch.org/spin/

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/_/id/8798997?pageid=rs.
Home&pageregion=single7&rnd=1132271793151&has-player=true

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POST CONSTITUTIONAL AMERICA .
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YOU MAY HAVE TO TAKE LIE DETECTOR TEST TO FLY IN THE LAND OF THE FREE

REUTERS - A new walk-through airport lie detector made in Israel may
prove to be the toughest challenge yet for potential hijackers or drug
smugglers. Tested in Russia, the two-stage GK-1 voice analyzer requires
that passengers don headphones at a console and answer "yes" or "no"
into a microphone to questions about whether they are planning something
illicit. The software will almost always pick up uncontrollable tremors
in the voice that give away liars or those with something to hide, say
its designers at Israeli firm Nemesysco. . . The GK-1 is expected to
cost between $10,000-$30,000 when marketed. A spokesman for Moscow's
Domodyedevo airport, which is using a prototype, said "the tester (lie
detector) has proved to be effective and we are in principle ready to
use it.". . .

"Unlike conventional lie detectors such as the polygraph, this is
minimally invasive, requiring hardly any physical contact," Liberman
said, adding that the first stage of the test takes between 30-75
seconds. Those that fail are taken aside for more intensive questioning
and, if necessary, searches. Liberman said around 12 percent of
passengers tend to show stress even when they have nothing to hide.

http://news.com.com/Lie+detectors+may+be+next+step+in+airline+
security/2100-1008_3-5958656.html?part=rss&tag=5958656&subj=news

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BOSTON TO SPY ON ITS CITIZENS WITH CAMERA NETWORK

SUZANNE SMALLEY, BOSTON GLOBE - By January, Boston will install about 40
sophisticated surveillance cameras in Chinatown, along Boston Harbor,
and in high-crime areas, probably including Dorchester, Mattapan, and
Roxbury.
Mayor Thomas M. Menino said yesterday he believes the digital cameras
can be an effective tool against crime. ''Any technology or any
operation that we can use that will help us combat violence in the
streets of our city, we're going to look at very seriously," he said in
an interview. Police Commissioner Kathleen M. O'Toole said yesterday
that the city eventually plans to link its cameras with others already
in transportation hubs, housing developments, and private businesses to
help stem a surge in crime. . . Sarah Wunsch, a staff lawyer for the
American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, said yesterday that
cameras have not been effective in combating crime in Britain, where
they have been commonplace since the 1990s. She also said the public
should be concerned about the cameras' power to give the government more
information on individual habits. ''We're talking about the government
and the police choosing to use high-powered surveillance cameras out in
public, where people think the government is not spying on them," Wunsch
said. ''We will turn into a very different society . . . 'Who are you
meeting with? What book are you reading?' Americans ought to think about
it."

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/11/19/
city_to_use_cameras_in_bid_to_fight_crime/

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BARTENDERS LATEST TARGET OF SPYING

CAPTON - Capton's Beverage Tracker system is an innovative liquor
monitoring system that helps bar owners increase their liquor profits by
providing real-time wireless liquor consumption data to help prevent
against shrinkage. Our system help you identify over-pours and drink
giveaways. Think of it as an electronic journal of everything that
happens within your bar operations. Remember, you can't manage what you
can't measure.

Beverage Tracker takes complex technology and creates a simple and
manageable way to track each and every ounce as your bar staff
free-pours liquor. Electronics and a battery are contained in each
spout. As the spout pours liquor it wirelessly transmits how much in
real-time to software which captures each and every pour. Your patrons
will never know you're using something besides a regular pour top. Your
bartenders will be conscious that even though they are free pouring they
are still accountable for what they pour. Wireless Spout Beverage
Tracker uses wireless free-pour spouts, allowing bartenders to pour
liquor without restricting flow or limiting quantities. Each spout
contains a unique microchip that transmits pour data via radio frequency
to the receiver. Each microchip has a unique code, enabling each spout
to be tracked individually.

http://www.captoninc.com

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GOOD NIGHT REALITY

EDWARD WYATT, NY TIMES - "Goodnight Moon" has been newly revised by
Harper Collins. In a newly revised edition of the book, which has lulled
children to sleep for nearly 60 years, the publisher, Harper Collins,
has digitally altered the photograph of Clement Hurd, the illustrator,
to remove a cigarette from his hand. Harper Collins said it made the
change to avoid the appearance of encouraging smoking and did so with
the permission of the illustrator's estate. But Mr. Hurd's son, also a
children's book illustrator and author, said he felt pressured to allow
it. And the move has touched off something of a tempest in the nursery,
with some children's booksellers expressing outrage. One has even
mounted a campaign to have the original picture restored.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/17/books/17moon.html

PROTEST SITE
http://www.goodnightreality.com/

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WORDS
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Rumor is that President Bush's brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, may run
for president. Rumor is? According to Florida voting machines, he's
already won. --Jay Leno

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush says he wants to be president. Well that's good,
somebody will have to pardon his brother. -David Letterman

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FIELD NOTES
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BLOGGING RIGHTS OF STUDENTS

ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION EFF has added a guide to Bloggers' Rights
for students, a companion piece to its previous Guide to Bloggers'
Rights.

Do Public School Students Have Free Speech Rights under the First
Amendment? Absolutely. Both minors and adults have First Amendment
rights, and according to the Supreme Court, public school students don't
"shed their constitutional right to freedom of speech or expression at
the schoolhouse gate." In the Tinker case, the Court said that public
high school students had a First Amendment right to wear black armbands
to class in symbolic protest of the Vietnam War. "Students in school as
well as out of school are 'persons' under our Constitution," the Court
said, and "they are possessed of fundamental rights which the State must
respect..."

But I'm a Private School Student-What About Me? You also have First
Amendment rights, but those rights only protect you from government
censorship, not private censorship. As a general matter, you will
receive no protection from censorship or punishment by a private school
or college. However, some states provide private high school and college
students with additional speech protections that go above and beyond the
First Amendment. Furthermore, if your private school has an applicable
written policy, the school must follow that policy.

http://www.eff.org/bloggers/lg/