Chicago Media Watch is holding "an urgent city-wide conference" on war and propaganda Saturday, November 2, on the campus of Loyola University. Some of the speakers will include "David Schippers, attorney for FBI special agent and whistleblower Robert Wright, who was stopped from speaking out about the investigation of terrorist cells in the US, under threat of termination. ... Professor Nancy Snow of UCLA's Annenberg School of Communication who previously worked for US Information Service, and author of Propaganda, Inc.

A memorandum from top spinmeisters provides advice, based on opinion polls, as to how Democratic Party members of Congress can explain their votes on the resolution giving President Bush the green light to attack Iraq -- whether the Democrat voted for or against war. According to the New York Times, the memo from Stan Greenberg, James Carville and Bob Shrum contains such advice as "An opponent of the Iraq resolution can run competitively
with the Republican proponent, when he or she affirms

"U.S. food companies can seek federal approval to avoid using the word "irradiation" on labels of foods treated with the disease-killing process, and instead use language such as "cold pasteurization," the Food and Drug Administration said. ... The FDA issued guidelines explaining how companies can petition the agency to use more neutral language on the label of food treated with irradiation.