A note from the editors ...

A note from the editors ...
May/June 2004

It's been a hair-raising month and your Iguana editors have been hard-pressed to decide what to put in our woefully small and infrequent publication. The escalation of tensions with Cuba resulting from the U.S. decision to use military planes to broadcast radio Marti over our island neighbor? The U.S.-backed Colombian paramilitaries captured in Venezuela preparing another coup attempt? The news from Iran that rumors are flying about 'weapons of mass destruction' being planted in Iraq by U.S. forces? The abolition of the 40-hour week for millions of workers by the Bush administration through administrative decree? The placing on the Florida ballot a requirement that minors seek parental consent for an abortion? The denial by the FDA of over-the-counter status for the Morning-After Pill for U.S. women? The order to purge voting lists all over Florida of 'felons' based on lists provided to Supervisors of Elections by the discredited Florida Department of State? The events, people, and campaigns organized to fight all this? We're trying, but it's an avalanche.

And then there's the mainstream press, focusing a spotlight on the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. military and contractors. And just like a spotlight, they're obliterating the context of the abuse--the destruction, looting, occupation and degradation of a whole country in a war that never had to happen. We happen to agree that the problem should be narrowed down to a few bad apples and the guilty should be punished, starting with Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Ashcroft and a few dozen more. If they were prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, it would at least be a setback for the forces of evil.

In lieu of publishing a 60-page edition this month, may we suggest a few news services that are getting out the truth in this dangerous time. "Democracy Now!" the weekday radio and TV show hosted by Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez is broadcast on Free Speech TV (on the Dish Network) and on many local cable access stations, and via the internet at www.democracynow.org (you can play it live at 9-10 a.m. or replay it any time after that.) For a website that rounds up the best of the independent, foreign and progressive mainstream press, got to www.commondreams.org. For an email news service that does the same but with more news of the progressive movement (4 posts a day) subscribe to Portside (www.portside.org). And of course, go by the Civic Media Center for a wealth of unbought and unbossed print media.

Tell your friends and neighbors, arm yourself with the facts, and we'll see you out there making history. It'll take some doing, but together we can change the direction of our country. Now's the time.