Commentary on the Bush administration's apparent lack of a coherent plan for rebuilding Iraq.

First, we learned about a conference of rabid Evangelical Christians and Zionists, that received a $100,000 grant from a Zionist clique. On its Op Ed pages, we found A.M. Rosenthal, who once urged the U.S. to bomb the capitals of five Muslim countries; Jonah Goldberg, who had suggested the U.S. “bomb Canada;” Mona Charen, who viciously smeared the Peace Movement, as “enemies of freedom;” and finally, Nat Hentoff, a pseudo-liberal, who supported the U.S.-led war against Iraq. They all contributed to the “Silly Season Edition” of the Washington Times.

The California Anti-terrorism Information Center blurs the distinction between terrorism and political dissent. CATIC warned Oakland police of potential violence at the Port of Oakland in April. Ian Hoffman et al report.

The Baltimore Wage Commission is investigating complaints that Aramark violated the City living wage ordinance by underpaying workers assigned to the city Convention Center.

Text of a speech given by Arundhati Roy at Riverside Church in Harlem, New York on May 13. Roy, speaking "as a subject of the American Empire," criticizes the Iraq war and the role of the United States around the world. Roy argues that democracy (small d) is under seige around the world because "Democracy has become Empire's euphemism for neoliberal capitalism."

A grand jury in Baltimore released a non-binding report recommending that the government and medical institutions distribute hard drugs in limited doses to addicts as an alternative to unsuccessful drug policies. Mayor Martin O'Malley disagrees with the grand jury.

Baltimore's contribution to the media monopoly and the declining intelligence of American public discourse--the Sinclair Broadcast Group. Sinclair is located in Hunt Valley, MD. Paul Schmelzer reports.

Arthur MacEwan examines whether the US war on Iraq was waged for oil. He concludes that "the economic story is never the whole story, and oil is never the whole economic story. In the ... application of U.S. power, numerous strategic and political considerations come into play. Yet, ...the U.S. government is concerned with domination and a major factor driving that goal of domination is economic. In the Middle East, Iraq and elsewhere, oil, ...looms large in the picture."