http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/15/politics/15cnd-program.html?ei=5065&en=80681ada74c04ce9&ex=1135314000&partner=MYWAY&pagewanted=print
Is the Pentagon spying on Americans? - "The Defense Department document is the first inside look at how the U.S. military has stepped up intelligence collection inside this country since 9/11, which now includes the monitoring of peaceful anti-war and counter-military recruitment groups. “I think Americans should be concerned that the military, in fact, has reached too far,” says NBC News military analyst Bill Arkin."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10454316/
Muslim Conspiracy to Rule World Just Nonsense - "Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld et al have been raising the spectre of a worldwide Islamic rule by a caliph, as envisaged by Osama bin Laden, Abu Musab Zarqawi and other terrorists. The chances of a caliphate coming are zero. But raising its spectre helps keep Americans scared. Never mind that, just as the reasons given for the Iraq war proved false, the explanations offered for terrorism have not met the test of time either. ... Exaggerating the power of the enemy is a standard war tactic (used against Saddam Hussein by both George H.W. Bush in the 1991 Gulf War and by George W. Bush in 2003). But this caliphate business takes the cake. One can laugh it off but for its possible long-term consequences."
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1215-27.htm
Enemies of the state? Police fail even to question men held as a terror threat - "Suspected of plotting terror, a group of men have been held for four years but never charged. Now, in their first testimonies, they reveal the authorities have not even questioned them since their arrests."
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/legal/article333258.ece
For Hillary Clinton, Six Years Make a Difference - "In 1999, Hillary Rodham Clinton was skewered as a carpetbagger from Illinois and Arkansas who would get her comeuppance at the hands of the mayor of New York City. Today, she appears to be coasting to a 2006 Senate re-election victory that could set her up for a White House run two years later." -- The news gets worse each day.
http://articles.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20051215055209990009&ncid=NWS00010000000001
Pentagon rolls out stealth PR - "A $300 million Pentagon psychological warfare operation includes plans for placing pro-American messages in foreign media outlets without disclosing the U.S. government as the source, one of the military officials in charge of the program says." -- Now, why do you think the Pentagon thinks this is necessary?
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-12-14-pentagon-pr_x.htm
US among top 10 nations jailing scribes - "China, Cuba, Eritrea, and Ethiopia were the world's leading jailers of journalists in 2005, together accounting for two-thirds of the 125 editors, writers, and photo journalists imprisoned around the world, while US was for the first time listed among the top 10, the Committee to Protect Journalists has said. The United States, which is holding journalists in detention centers in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, rose to sixth among countries jailing journalists, just behind Uzbekistan and tied with Myanmar, it said." -- Nice list to be on, huh?
http://in.rediff.com/news/2005/dec/14us.htm
You've Got Mail, and ... - "In an age when many search for sex on the Internet, Los Angeles County health officials on Wednesday unveiled a controversial tool to fight the spread of HIV and other diseases: a website that helps send anonymous e-mail warning people that they might be infected." -- This is a horrible idea.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-web15dec15,0,1140423.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Remember Gay Marriage? - "That kind of rhetoric had its desired effect, driving conservative voters to the polls in large numbers, helping to re-elect President Bush and increasing Republican representation in Congress and state legislatures. But a year later, it seems pertinent to ask: Have you heard or read a single word about a federal gay-marriage amendment since the election?
No, you have not, because this supposedly all-important issue has vanished from the political landscape. Judging from the available evidence, this dire threat to marriage and family, this looming peril to the very core of American society, has simply disappeared as a concern. Certainly, nobody's talking about it or trying to do anything about it any longer. ... A cynical person might look at that evidence and suggest that maybe the gay-marriage controversy was never real in the first place. Maybe it was just a product, like soap or toilet paper, that was manufactured by politicians and then sold by certain media outlets and interest groups. Maybe those politicians never had any intention of trying to pass such an amendment and were merely playing their supporters for fools."
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1215-30.htm
Sex Survey 'Eye-Opening' For Local Parents - "In a districtwide survey, nearly half of high school students and one in five middle school students said they have had sexual intercourse, and a higher percentage of high school boys than girls reported being physically hurt by their "significant others." "We really do not understand what's going on with kids today," Lloyd Zimet, who oversees prevention and wellness programs for Hillsborough schools, told a small group of Parent-Teacher Association parents and grandparents last week." -- Hey, guess what? Teenagers have been having sex all along, it just wasn't so out in the open before.
http://www.tampatrib.com/MGBW1T2U2HE.html
Congress Expects Up to $100B Wartime Request - "The Pentagon is in the early stages of drafting a wartime request for up to $100 billion more for Iraq and Afghanistan, lawmakers say, a figure that would push spending related to the wars toward a staggering half-trillion dollars." -- Read that last number again. That's like spending $3600 an hour, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for about 16,000 years.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051213/ap_on_go_co/iraq_war_costs
Police look for answers in text messages - "TEXT messages and emails urging gangs to muster for rampages in and around Sydney continued to be widely circulated yesterday, as police announced a taskforce would investigate the use of phones to incite violence. ... "You are getting text messages from people you don't even know," he said. "The next day I would ring the number and it was disconnected. [I have] no idea where it came from. I don't know where they're getting my number."" -- Now, who do the riots help?
http://smh.com.au/news/national/police-look-for-answers-in-text-messages/2005/12/13/1134236063896.html
Scientists in Spain link additive to obesity - "Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is a food additive (E-621) used as a flavor enhancer in a variety of foods. Until now it has been generally considered as one of the least offensive additives used by the food industry. But Spanish scientists have concluded that aswell as enhancing flavour, MSG also enhances hunger and as such could be one of the key factors behind the problem of obesity, especially among children."
http://www.euroresidentes.com/Blogs/2005/12/scientists-in-spain-link-additive-to.htm
Go-ahead for first full face transplants - "British surgeons are preparing to carry out an unprecedented full face transplant operation next year after being granted ethical approval to actively seek patients."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,3605,1668774,00.html
Mice Created With Human Brain Cells - "Add another creation to the strange scientific menagerie where animal species are being mixed together in ever more exotic combinations. Scientists announced Monday that they had created mice with small amounts of human brain cells in an effort to make realistic models of neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease."
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/12/12/D8EF1M2O0.html
Bumblebees Recognize People - "Don't be too proud of never forgetting a face: It turns out even a humble bumblebee can distinguish and recall different human faces, say researchers who have conducted experiments on the surprisingly canny insects."
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20051212/bumblebee_ani_print.html
Archaeologist finds 2,000-year-old Maya mural - "A photo released by the National Geographic Society shows a detail from a Maya mural found at San Bartolo in Guatemala. The mural depicts the birth of the cosmos and the divine right of a king." -- Check out the picture.
http://www.startribune.com/stories/722/5780138.html
Study: Wikipedia as accurate as Britannica - "Wikipedia is about as good a source of accurate information as Britannica, the venerable standard-bearer of facts about the world around us, according to a study published this week in the journal Nature."
http://news.com.com/Study+Wikipedia+as+accurate+as+Britannica/2100-1038_3-5997332.html?tag=nefd.top
Quote of the Day
"Liberties are not given; they are taken."
~ Aldous Huxley
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