Truthout roundup 9/30

John Cory A Mad Day
http://www.truthout.org/093008J
John Cory, Truthout: "I'm mad as hell because today was bad and was all about politics and not country first. Democrats were once again Charlie Brown to the Republican's Lucy with the football and we saw the predictable result. Republicans are whining about ‘the big mean lady who talked bad about us so we showed her - we didn't vote for America, we voted against the big mean lady who didn't talk nice!' And the media talking heads will regurgitate this bilge for hours and days to come."

Ex-CIA Official Pleads Guilty to Steering Agency Contracts
http://www.truthout.org/093008K
Jerry Markon, The Washington Post: "The CIA's former top administrator pleaded guilty today to steering agency contracts to a defense contractor and concealing their relationship, making Kyle 'Dusty' Foggo the highest-ranking member of a federal intelligence or law enforcement agency to be convicted of a crime, officials said."

For Once, Congress Heard Voters
http://www.truthout.org/093008L
David Lightman, McClatchy Newspapers: "Almost until the early afternoon vote Monday on the financial rescue plan, voters bombarded congressional offices, protesting almost in unison: Don't bail out renegade financial executives and companies. On Monday, House members, who face the voters in five weeks, listened to their constituents rather than their party leaders and rejected the $700 billion financial rescue package. For many, it was just too much to swallow too quickly, and too hard to explain."

Olmert Advocates Returning Land Seized in 1967 to Win Peace
http://www.truthout.org/093008M
Mark Mackinnon, The Globe and Mail: "Israel's departing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that his country will have to withdraw from 'almost all' of the land it seized in a 1967 war if it wants to have peace with Syria and the Palestinians."

In Hard Times, Tent Cities Multiply
http://www.truthout.org/093008N
The Associated Press: "A few tents cropped up hard by the railroad tracks, pitched by men left with nowhere to go once the emergency winter shelter closed for the summer. Then others appeared - people who had lost their jobs to the ailing economy or newcomers who had moved to Reno for work and discovered no one was hiring. Within weeks, more than 150 people were living in tents big and small, barely a foot apart in a patch of dirt slated to be a parking lot for a campus of shelters Reno is building for its homeless. Like many other cities, Reno has found itself with a 'tent city' - an encampment of people who had nowhere else to go."

Bill Simpich The Anthrax Case Reopens
http://www.truthout.org/093008A
Bill Simpich, Truthout: "The past week's Congressional anthrax hearings revealed that public pressure is keeping the doors open in the anthrax case. FBI Director Robert Mueller promised that the FBI will provide their evidence to a panel of experts for scientific evaluation. The battle will now turn to the independence of this panel, and whether 'all evidence' or merely 'scientific evidence' will be under review."

Prosecutor to Probe Firings of US Attorneys
http://www.truthout.org/093008B
Ari Shapiro, NPR News: "Attorney General Michael Mukasey has appointed a federal prosecutor to follow up on a scathing investigation of the Bush administration's decision to fire nine U.S. attorneys in 2006. The Justice Department's inspector general and the Office of Professional Responsibility released the report jointly Monday morning. It is harsh, but incomplete, as key officials in the White House and Congress refused to cooperate with the inquiry."

Bill Quigley Shame: The US War Against Unarmed Working Mothers
http://www.truthout.org/093008C
Bill Quigley, Truthout: "Dozens of petite young mothers gathered this week in the parking lot outside the US Department of Homeland Security in Gulfport, Mississippi. Each wore a long dress or pants to hide her electronic ankle bracelet. Lift up a pants leg and you can see the black plastic band and monitor, which is the size of a pack of cigarettes. The crime these mothers are charged with? Not guns, not drugs, not spying. Working to put food on the table for their families and not being citizens of the US."

Palin: McCain Campaign's End Run Around Media
http://www.truthout.org/093008D
Joe Garofoli, The San Francisco Chronicle: "The McCain campaign is attempting to do something unheard of in the modern political era. It is not just running against the mainstream media, it is running around it. [Palin] has yet to hold a major press conference 32 days after McCain announced her as his running mate - and that's not changing anytime soon. McCain spokesman Michael Goldfarb said Palin will do at least one news conference before election day. That could mean that the person who could potentially lead the free world will have done one national press conference before being sworn into office."

Patrick Lagace Economics for Dummies
http://www.truthout.org/093008E
Patrick Lagace, La Presse: The Canadian editorialist - in a tone adopted also in France - excoriates financial management on the other side of the border.