One of the true horrors of the Iraqi War is the death toll of the civilian population caught up in that conflict. In Oct., 2006, “The Lancet,” a prestigious British Medical Journal, published a study entitled: “The Human Cost of the War in Iraq.” One of its co-authors was Dr. Gilbert Burnham of the Johns Hopkins U. Its stunning conclusion: 659,965 Iraqis have died in the war as of July, 2006! On May 8, 2007, Dr. Burnham discussed that report.

Reid is now opposing the Iraq War because the U.S. is losing; he initially supported the war and backed the invasion. The war is another imperial adventure by the U.S. and there is a growing divide, by those supporters of U.S. imperialism, that a continued war is weakening U.S. imperialism.

Want-to-be president, Sen. Hillary “War Lite” Clinton (D-NY), recently gushed over U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD). She said that “Pro-Surge” Mikulski had “paved” the way for her. Indeed, Mikulski has done a lot of paving, especially with respect to the manufacturing jobs lost on her watch. In addition, Mikulski persists in supporting funding for the Iraqi War. Now, it has been disclosed that she knew the Bush-Cheney Gang was lying about the war.

The workers at Joe's Mt. Washington Bike Shop in Baltimore, Maryland have gone union. All ten workers at the bike shop are now card carrying members of the Industrial Workers of the World.

This issue is about education. Education has always been so important that no society permits it to go unregulated. In Baltimore, a large group of high school students, in what has been called the “Algebra Project” has challenged the control of the Board of Education through strikes, rallies, and a citizen ’s arrest of the state superintendent. Most recently Project participants have organized a shadow Board of Education. At stake are millions of dollars in school funding. We tell the story in three articles...read more.
#file_1#

This issue of the Indypendent Reader examines local food systems in Baltimore. Food is a necessity we all share, so common and everyday that it has the potential to bring us together and break down the boundaries of race, ethnicity and culture that so often keep Baltimoreans fragmented. Yet we find that food is also an indicator of extreme inequalities within our city. From Harbor East’s Whole Foods to the corner-stores of East and West Baltimore, ours is a city increasingly polarized by class divisions, in which the few who can afford it have the option to eat high quality organic foods while the rest of the population has almost no choice but to live on a diet of unhealthy, over-processed, high-fat, high-sugar junk food—not to mention the tens of thousands of Baltimore residents who epend on soup kitchens and emergency food banks every week for their meals. ....Read More.
#file_1#

Larry Kloze is a master gardener who has worked on many community gardens in Baltimore City. Indymedia met with Mr. Kloze at his home in April 2007. Note: Look for Indypendent Reader Spring 2007, a special issue on food and poverty.

The recent bombing of the Iraq parliment building undermines the idea that the U.S. effort to create security is improving in Iraq. How much of that will be covered by the mainstream U.S. media?