Just like Resident Bush interchanges the arch-enemies Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, the former representing pan-Islamic fundamentalism and the latter pan-Arab secularism, the U.S. government’s campaign against terrorism relies on the slogan: “Any Arab will do.” In the government’s unending quest to track down the CIA’s former Al Qaeda assets, they’ve apparently gone to randomly picking up any Arab national who is a political activist. Federal authorities arrested Ahmed Benzouda on May 30 at his Urbana, Illinois apartment. Benzouda is a Moroccan citizen, just graduated from the University of Illinois’ Urbana-Champaign campus, and was in the country on a student visa set to expire in August 2002. While at the campus, Benzouda, a secular anti-authoritarian, anti-Islamic activist, participated in the Israel divestment campaign and Palestinian solidarity events.

A strong, spirited and resilient assemblage of anti-war protesters gathered at Kent State University on the anniversary of the students killed and wounded 32 years ago on May 4th. A crowd estimated just under 1000 people combined efforts to commemorate those lost in similar anti-war efforts over three decades ago with a crystal clear statement against the Bush Administration’s self-declared “war on terrorism.” The rally and protest march resoundingly rejected the war in Afghanistan and any expansion of war with resounding chants of “NO MORE WAR IN OUR NAME…LET THEM NOT HAVE DIED IN VAIN.” Over and over the chant repeated, just to the side of the site where Ohio National Guardsmen shot K.S.U. student protester Allison Krause dead in 1970. Respects were paid to all involved on that horrible day in history. Most of us there made another pledge on this day in history (in part)….

On June 3, a San Francisco attorney filed a $7 billion lawsuit against President Bush and other government officials for “allowing” the 911 terrorist attack to occur. In a class action suit, Attorney Stanley Hilton named ten defendants including Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice.

Hilton claims to represent the families of 14 victims and that 400 plaintiffs are involved nationwide. Hilton is a former aide to Senator Bob Dole. He told the San Francisco Examiner that “He has sources within the FBI, CIA, the National Security Agency and Naval intelligence” and demands “Bush’s impeachment.”

The suit claims that the Bush administration ignored intelligence information, refused to round up suspected and known terrorists prior to 911, and Hilton contends that the U.S. “government benefited from installing a puppet Afghan government friendly to U.S. oil interests.”

On March 28,2002, the Sierra Club filed a 60-Day Notice of Intent to Sue the City of Columbus for its illegal sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs). SSOs are where raw sewage flows into basements, streets and streams. They have been illegal since the Clean Water Act was passed in 1972.

· Columbus has had over 10,000 reported sewage backups into basements in the last 5 years. The city routinely denies responsibility, when in most instances they are at fault. Columbus also refuses to pay damages, telling people to sue. The Sierra Club believes there are many unreported backups, since many people do not know they can report, and others give up reporting after getting no restitution from the city previously. Some backups have caused tens of thousands of dollars of damages to individual homes.

· Columbus has at least 106 monitored sanitary sewer overflows. These are illegal, but are tracked and reported, at least part of the time. Under the Clean Water Act, the city could be fined $25,000 for each location for each day of overflow. Reported overflows in the last 5 years add up to fines of over $2 million.

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