C E B O . org

Posted 3:09 PM by Mary

Environmentalists Against War

Posted 8:44 AM by Mary

Say No to U.S. Blackmail

Tell Congress to Oppose U.S. Bilateral Immunity Agreements
Tell your Representative to oppose U.S. Bilateral Immunity Agreements that undermine the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

The Bush administration is blackmailing foreign countries that join the International Criminal Court. The U.S. has cut military assistance to countries that belong to the ICC but do not sign a Bilateral Immunity Agreement, which prohibits the country from surrendering Americans to the ICC. This campaign makes poor and war-torn nations choose between American money and international law – both of which are essential to their development.

Please write to your member of Congress and tell them that you disagree with the administration’s blackmail. The Bush administration must stop discrediting the Rome Statute and start supporting the ICC. The United States will prosper by promoting an increasingly democratic world that upholds the rule of law. These bilateral immunity agreements seek only to destabilize some of our most fundamental foreign policy goals: the spread of democracy, rule of law, and universal human rights.

usaforicc

Posted 11:07 PM by Mary

Health GAP: "WASHINGTON - October 2 - White House pick for global AIDS czar endorses disinformation campaign on global AIDS funding, abstinence policies.
During Senate confirmation hearings yesterday, Randall Tobias, ex-Eli Lilly CEO and Pres. Bush's appointee for head of the U.S. Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, included in his testimony incorrect and misleading statements about the capacity of poor countries to absorb U.S. funding for AIDS treatment and prevention, according to AIDS activists. His confirmation is expected in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today.
'Tobias told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that according to his experts, money is 'not the problem' in confronting the AIDS crisis,' said Asia Russell of Health GAP. 'This is patently untrue. Annual spending on AIDS in poor countries needs to reach $10.5 billion by 2005 just to utilize poor countries' existing infrastructure alone. U.S. underfunding of the fight against AIDS is a major problem.'
Today, total global spending on AIDS is only $4.7 billion. 'While the Administration continues to hide behind the excuse of inadequate infrastructure,' asserts Rusell, 'it is undermining the Global Fund, the multilateral program with the capacity and legitimacy in place to save lives now.'
The Global Fund needs $3 billion in 2004 to fund qualified proposals. Pres. Bush plans to give only 6.6% of the total to the Global Fund in 2004, or $200 million, although the U.S. comprises 33% of the world economy. Bush promised $1 billion for the Global Fund, as part of his $3 billion Global AIDS Act, signed into law in May. Bush has broken that promise, according to advocates. 'The Administration plans to isolate and underfund multilateral efforts to combat the pandemic, even if they have to mislead the public in order to do it,' said Salih Booker, Direc"

Posted 11:18 PM by Mary

Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "U.S. Suffers U.N. Setback Over Iraq; No WMD Found , by Tabassum Zakaria
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration suffered a string of setbacks over Iraq on Thursday ranging from a rebuff for its proposals on a U.N. role from U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan to an opinion poll showing Americans thought the war had not been worth it.
Compounding Washington's problems, the CIA official directing the weapons search in Iraq reported to U.S. lawmakers that no chemical or biological arms -- the main reason cited for the U.S.-led invasion in March -- had yet been found.
In Baghdad, the top U.S. general in the country, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, said guerrilla attacks had become more lethal and casualties would continue rising.
He was speaking after three U.S. soldiers died in one day, taking the toll of U.S. soldiers killed in action since May 1 -- when President Bush declared major combat over -- to 84.
Bush is trying to garner foreign help in running Iraq by obtaining a new U.N. resolution, but U.N. officials and diplomats reported that Annan made clear on Thursday the world body could not play a proper political role in Iraq under terms Washington wanted.
While not refusing outright to participate in the political process, Annan told ambassadors at a Security Council lunch that the new U.S.-drafted resolution envisaged an impossible U.N. role.
It was one of the few times during his five years as secretary-general Annan had opposed the United States so bluntly on a crucial issue.
The United States had tacit support for the resolution from a majority of Security Council members, although many were skeptical. But Annan's comments, diplomats said, might make it impossible for the 15-member Security Council to support the measure."

Posted 11:15 PM by Mary

In Iraq, U.S. Finds No Banned Weapons (washingtonpost.com): "In Iraq, U.S. Finds No Banned Weapons
Tenet Assails Panel Leaders' Criticism of Prewar Data
By Dana Priest and Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, October 3, 2003; Page A01
After searching for nearly six months, U.S. forces and CIA experts have found no chemical or biological weapons in Iraq and have determined that Iraq's nuclear program was in only 'the very most rudimentary' state, the Bush administration's chief investigator formally told Congress yesterday.


Before the war, the administration said Iraq had a well-developed nuclear program that presented a threat to the United States.
Now, 'It clearly does not look like a massive, resurgent program, based on what we discovered,' former U.N. weapons inspector David Kay, who heads the government's search, said yesterday after briefing House and Senate intelligence committees in a closed session on his interim report. He said he will need six to nine months to conclude his work, and congressional sources said the administration is requesting an additional $600 million toward the effort to find weapons of mass destruction. "

Posted 9:50 PM by Mary

Coming to the grocery shelf: fair-trade food | csmonitor.com: "Coming to the grocery shelf: fair-trade food

A label already on chocolate will soon appear on bananas

By Rory Van Loo | Special to The Christian Science Monitor

Consumers have saved countless animals by buying tuna labeled as 'dolphin-safe' and cosmetics that are free from animal testing.
Now a new label is entering the mainstream, only this one aims to help people.


TRANSFAIR USA




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The fair-trade label is currently found on chocolate, coffee, and tea in the United States, and is scheduled to appear on bananas by the end of the year. The label assures shoppers the item was originally purchased at an above-average price. That extra money is intended to enable farmers to feed their families and send their children to school rather than to the fields.
TransFair USA, based in Oakland, Calif., began issuing the American fair- trade label in 1999 as part of a consortium of 17 national fair-trade labeling organizations in North America, Europe, and Japan. The group's inspectors make annual visits to producers throughout Africa, Asia, and Latin America to ensure that the producers operate democratically and use some of the fair-trade premium for social, economic, or environmental projects.
Fair-trade products are already available in the nation's three largest grocery chains - Kroger, Safeway, and Albertsons - and through other chains "