Griping among the troops is as old as armed conflict, [b]ut something more than that is happening now in Iraq with what appears to be growing resistance from the troops.

Wal-Mart's zeal to "hold the lowest feasible [inventory] level while avoiding the risks of 'stock outs,'" its competitive advantage, is also the weak link in its anti-union empire.

Today, it is said that the global illicit drug trade involves "US$500 billion annually of which US$300 billion is laundered" (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, "Money Laundering"). That's about 5% of the GDP of the United States ($10.99 trillion), but don't think it's chump change. Consider this: the cost of the US war on Iraq is $150 billion (and counting). Imagine how many insurgencies and counter-insurgencies (using narco dollars in the name of fighting against "narco terrorists") $500 billion can buy, given that military and paramilitary soldiers' labor power in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East is incomparably cheaper than US soldiers'.

"Nervos belli, pecuniam infinitam [The sinews of war, unlimited money]." -- Cicero, "Phillipic against Marc Anthony," V.ii.5

At the end of November, President Bush made a stop in Cartagena to visit with Columbian President Alvaro Uribe Velez to celebrate the combined work of the countries to fight "narco-terrorism." Contributor Ana Carrigan writes that the counter-narcotics program started under President Clintos has been transformed under President Bush. "Following 9/11, guerillas have lost their identity as a peasant insurgency sustained by endemic rural proverty and morphed into an 'illegal-armed group' of 'narco-terrorists.' " And despite claims that government policies are working to stop the flow and production of cocaine, statistics and stories prove otherwise.

"I'm going out telling the story that I think is the biggest story of our time: how the right-wing media has become a partisan propaganda arm of the Republican National Committee," says Moyers. "We have an ideological press that's interested in the election of Republicans, and a mainstream press that's interested in the bottom line. Therefore, we don't have a vigilant, independent press whose interest is the American people."

A reflection on what's to be done after the defeat of the Democratic Party in the 2004 elections.

"In areas with punch cards or optically scanned ballots, the black-white gap ranged from four to six percentage points. Lever and electronic machines, which prohibit overvoting and make undervoting more transparent and correctible, cut the discrepancy by a factor of ten." -- Michael Tomz and Robert P. Van Houweling

Analysis of the crisis in the Ukraine with the recent elections. USA and Russian interests surveyed in context of geopolitics and neoliberalism.