Alternative news and media sources for current events today.http://www.skyhen.orghttp://www.skyhen.org/WarOnDrugs/pot_activist_rallies_support.phpThe self-proclaimed Prince of Pot, faces extradition for seed sales — a crime that isn't prosecuted in Canada — and up to life in prison if convicted by a U.S. court.http://www.skyhen.org/Focus/iraqcoverage/coalition_forces_sweep_into_tal_afar.phpU.S. and Iraqi troops swept into the insurgent stronghold of Tal Afar early Saturday, conducting house-to-house searches and battering down walls with armored vehicles.http://www.skyhen.org/Activism/court_vacates_an_fbi_gag_order.phpFor the second time since the USA Patriot Act broadened the FBI's power to demand private records in secret, a federal judge ruled yesterday that it is unconstitutional for the government to impose an automatic and permanent ban on public disclosure of any case in which it uses that power.http://www.skyhen.org/Politics/in_the_floods_parties_agendas_surface.phpAfter the political tidal wave of 1994 swept conservatives into control of Congress, Republicans doggedly tried -- and repeatedly failed -- to repeal a Depression-era law that requires federal contractors to pay workers the prevailing wages in their communities. Eleven days after the deluge of Hurricane Katrina, President Bush banished the requirement, at least temporarily, with the stroke of his pen.http://www.skyhen.org/Focus/katrina/casualty_of_firestorm_outrage_bush_and_fema_chief.phpTo Democrats, Republicans, local officials and Hurricane Katrina's victims, the question was not why, but what took so long?http://www.skyhen.org/Focus/ukraine/fired_ukraine_premier_sees_end_of_orange_revolution.phpUkraine's ousted prime minister, Yulia V. Tymoshenko, said Friday that the partnership that led the "Orange Revolution" last year was over and that she would no longer support the man who fired her, President Viktor A. Yushchenko.http://www.skyhen.org/Focus/iran/wider_us_net_seeks_allies_against_irans_nuclear_plan.phpStymied in its effort to rally a worldwide coalition to press Iran, the Bush administration has opened an unusual diplomatic struggle with Russia, China and India to have Iran's suspected nuclear weapons activities brought before the United Nations Security Council for possible sanctions.http://www.skyhen.org/Focus/katrina/under_fire_bush_seeks_to_reassure_katrina_survivors.phpPresident George W. Bush, under fierce criticism for his government's slow response to Hurricane Katrina, sought to reassure storm survivors on Monday as a veteran lawmaker complained that bureaucratic red tape was hampering relief efforts in Mississippi.http://www.skyhen.org/Politics/for_bush_a_deepening_divide.phpThe starkly different verdicts on Bush's stewardship of the two biggest crises of his presidency underscore the deepening polarization of the electorate that has occurred on his watch.http://www.skyhen.org/Focus/iraqcoverage/the_tipping_point_on_iraq.phpSeptember 2005 could go down in history as the month in which Iraq policy finally turned around.http://www.skyhen.org/Focus/iraqcoverage/as_us_tries_to_secure_an_iraqi_town_insurgents_respond.phpThe American military recently moved into this small town 10 miles south of Falluja, one of the most violent locales in Iraq, to secure it for the coming elections, and the insurgents took all of a day to respond.http://www.skyhen.org/Focus/katrina/few_choices_to_rid_new_orleans_of_poisoned_water.phpThe toxic brew of chemicals and human waste in the New Orleans floodwaters will have to be pumped into the Mississippi River or Lake Pontchartrain, raising the specter of an environmental disaster on the heels of Hurricane Katrina.http://www.skyhen.org/Focus/russia/putin_tells_west_not_to_interfere_in_ex_soviet_republics.phpRussia will not tolerate outside interference in former Soviet republics or any attempts to destabilise countries on Russia’s borders, President Putin declared last night.http://www.skyhen.org/Focus/iraqcoverage/violence_rages_in_iraq_hotspots.phpViolence in several Iraqi hotspots Monday claimed more coalition and insurgent deaths in pitched battles and ambushes up and down the war-torn country.http://fairuse.1accesshost.com/news2/latimes825.htmlWhile the federal government has spent much of the last quarter-century trimming the safety nets it provides Americans, it has dramatically expanded its promise of protection in one area — disaster.http://www.skyhen.org/AmericanEmpire/tragic_costs_of_bushs_iraq_obsession.phpSupporters of the war in Iraq predicted that the dominos would fall in the Middle East. Instead, the dominos are falling across America.http://www.skyhen.org/Focus/iraqcoverage/insurgents_assert_control_over_town_near_syrian_border.phpFighters loyal to militant leader Abu Musab Zarqawi asserted control over the key Iraqi border town of Qaim on Monday, killing U.S. collaborators and enforcing strict Islamic law.http://www.smokeoutamerica.ca/On September 10th, people in cities in Canada, the United States, and across the globe are uniting in protest against the arrest of Marc Emery and the unprecedented escalation by the Bush administration of the failed War on Drugs.http://www.skyhen.org/WarOnDrugs/drugs_in_the_andes_the_sausage_effect.phpAs the US squeezes at one end (Colombia), the other end (Peru and Bolivia) expands.http://www.skyhen.org/Focus/iraqcoverage/gunmen_mount_dawn_raid_on_iraq_ministry.phpUp to 30 gunmen in 10 cars fired on Iraq's interior ministry at dawn on Monday, killing two police and wounding five, ministry sources said, in what appeared a carefully coordinated attack on a sensitive target.