News -- December 11, 2005

The US has used torture for decades. All that's new is the openness about it - "According to declassified training manuals, SOA students - military and police officers from across the hemisphere - were instructed in many of the same "coercive interrogation" techniques that have since gone to Guantánamo and Abu Ghraib: early morning capture to maximise shock, immediate hooding and blindfolding, forced nudity, sensory deprivation, sensory overload, sleep and food "manipulation", humiliation, extreme temperatures, isolation, stress positions - and worse. In 1996 President Clinton's Intelligence Oversight Board admitted that US-produced training materials condoned "execution of guerrillas, extortion, physical abuse, coercion and false imprisonment". ... Yet when covering the Bush announcement, not a single mainstream news outlet mentioned the location's sordid history. How could they? That would require something totally absent from the debate: an admission that the embrace of torture by US officials has been integral to US foreign policy since the Vietnam war. It's a history exhaustively documented in an avalanche of books, declassified documents, CIA training manuals, court records and truth commissions. ... But let's be clear about what is unprecedented: not the torture, but the openness. Past administrations kept their "black ops" secret; the crimes were sanctioned but they were committed in the shadows, officially denied and condemned. The Bush administration has broken this deal: post-9/11, it demanded the right to torture without shame, legitimised by new definitions and new laws. ... The terrible irony of the anti-historicism of the torture debate is that in the name of eradicating future abuses, past crimes are being erased from the record. Since the US has never had truth commissions, the memory of its complicity in far-away crimes has always been fragile. Now these memories are fading further, and the disappeared are disappearing again."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1664174,00.html

The latest of U.S. scandals in Iraq - "But the man refused to give them answers for their questions, simply because he doesn’t know. Thus, the Marines threatened to strip his wife naked in front of him if he didn't speak, but the man still refused to talk, saying he had no answer for their questions. So they carried out their threat, ripping off his wife’s clothing and gazing at her naked body in front of the husband, who was bound at the time, the paper correspondent said, adding that the brother of the householder said that the Marines left the house after his brother collapsed seeing his wife standing naked in front of the men."
http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=10227

Israel readies forces for strike on nuclear Iran - "ISRAEL’S armed forces have been ordered by Ariel Sharon, the prime minister, to be ready by the end of March for possible strikes on secret uranium enrichment sites in Iran, military sources have revealed."
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-1920074,00.html

Netanyahu: Pre-emptive Strike on Iran - "If he succeeds in becoming Israel's next prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu indicated Monday he will not hesitate to order a military strike against Iran's nuclear program in order to safeguard his nation from annihilation."
http://www.michnews.com/artman/publish/article_10634.shtml

Dictionary of Republicanisms - " Over the past few decades, the radical right has engaged in a well-funded, self-conscious program of Orwellian doublespeak, transforming the American political discourse to suit its ends. ... bankruptcy n. A punishable crime when committed by poor people but not corporations. ... creationism n. Pseudoscience that claims George W. Bush's resemblance to a chimpanzee is totally coincidental. ... God n. Senior presidential adviser. ... Patriot Act n. 1. The pre-emptive strike on American freedoms to prevent the terrorists from destroying them first. 2. The elimination of one of the reasons why they hate us. ... pro-life adj. Valuing human life up until birth." -- Make sure to read the entire list.
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20051212/kvh/2

1984, and Bush's Unusual Dictionary - "In the United States, politicians and military officials have widely adopted Orwell’s principles and many of their speeches are authentic paradigms of "newspeak." If there has ever been a moment in history that has forced the gatherers of "newspeak" to work overtime, this is it."
http://www.watchingamerica.com/lanacionar000001.shtml

U.S. told Saudi Arabia bin Laden could strike with civilian plane - "The U.S. government warned Saudi Arabia more than three years before the Sept. 11 attacks that Osama bin Laden might use civilian airplanes in terror attacks, according to a memo released Friday by the National Security Archive, NBC News reported."
http://www.guerrillanews.com/headlines/6525/Memo_Notes_U_S_Feared_Jet_Attack_Prior_to_9_11

Worker Privacy: You Have None - "If you have internet access at work, there's a very good chance your employer has a system in place to monitor your online activities. So, if you're concerned about privacy, take heed. Under current U.S. law, there's little you can do to protect the confidentiality of your internet use on the job. Here's a rundown of the rights you don't have at work."
http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,69732,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_12

Group warns bill contains national ID - "An umbrella organization of dozens of groups that monitor legislation affecting civil liberties says a new immigration-reform measure contains a provision that could lead to de facto establishment of a national identification scheme."
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47840

Company To Workers: Light Up And You're Fired - "Quit smoking, or you're fired. That's what Scotts Miracle-Gro is telling its employees. If they don't quit smoking by October, they'll lose their jobs. The lawn and garden company is trying to keep health insurance costs down by promoting healthy lifestyles for its employees."
http://www.nbc11.com/health/5508409/detail.html

Can a $103 fine stop students from swearing? - "Under a new plan, 2,800 students at two high schools in the district could be subject to $103 fines for uttering profanity on school premises. Officials there call it a last-ditch effort to create a learning space free from the linguistic irreverence so commonplace in society today. "We have had kids that just curse out their teachers in the hallways," says Zandralyn Gordon, the acting principal at Hartford Public High School. "That cannot continue." Her exasperation is shared by administrators across the country. Some want similar "no-swear zones." But the move raises questions: What, exactly, is a swear word? And is it fair to punish students who simply mimic the phrases they hear from their favorite sitcom stars, their parents, and sometimes, even their teachers?"
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1207/p01s03-ussc.html

Vegetables Without Vitamins - "Imagine the surprise of going online and discovering that the vitamin and mineral content of vegetables has drastically dropped."
http://www.soilandhealth.org/06clipfile/0601.LEMag/LE%20Magazine,%20March%202001%20-%20Report%20Vegetables%20Without%20Vitamins.htm

Slim = sad. Fat = happy - "A new study has revealed that, rather than being content and confident, slim people struggle to deal with life's woes. Anxiety and mental suffering often dominate their lives - to such a degree that they are much more likely to commit suicide than large people."
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article332389.ece

Teacher arrested for snorting cocaine in class - "It didn't take long for students in the 2nd period 7th grade science class at Lake Shore Middle School to realize something was wrong with their substitute teacher."
http://www.9news.com/acm_news.aspx?OSGNAME=KUSA&IKOBJECTID=11bbd7f9-0abe-421a-00ef-45b371701d75&TEMPLATEID=0c76dce6-ac1f-02d8-0047-c589c01ca7bf




Quote of the Day
"America is not free. Americans don’t know freedom. Americans know fear –and so America goes to war. We will continue to imprison or destroy anyone who disagrees – as long as we fear facing the question of being wrong. Who made America right?"
~ Monica Benderman