I Hereby Declare Myself an Enemy Combatant - "And yes, I know this means I’ll end up in Gitmo or in one of those nifty new Kellogg Brown and Root Detention Centers . But I would suffer the fate of demons should I make a whore of my soul, to paraphrase another Unlawful Enemy Combatant. Why do I consider myself even remotely capable of being labeled this way? Posted on http://www.whitehouse.gov/, the National Security Council’s “Strategy for Winning the War on Terror” states the following: “Subcultures of conspiracy and misinformation. Terrorists recruit more effectively from populations whose information about the world is contaminated by falsehoods and corrupted by conspiracy theories. The distortions keep alive grievances and filter out facts that would challenge popular prejudices and self-serving propaganda.” On Monday, October 16, 2006 , Fatherland Security Chief Chertoff stated that an “area of concern” is the threat of “plots involving local communities, American citizens, who may become radicalized over the Internet . . . .” It is clear: the next front of control is the blogosphere and the alternative news media. By contributing towards the “subculture” exposing the fascist nightmare oozing out of D.C., I must be necessarily “keeping alive grievances” that make our population a ripe recruiting ground for bad people."
The limits of liberty: We're all suspects now - "There will be many reasonable people among you who will argue that the fight against terrorism or some other compelling problem makes the removal of a fragment of liberty the best option available to us. A little bit here, a little bit there doesn't really matter, particularly when it involves somebody else's rights. Without thinking very deeply, we say to ourselves "if you've done nothing wrong you've got nothing to fear from these new laws". Not true. There is something to fear - because someone else's liberty is also your liberty. When it's removed from them, it's taken from you even though you may not be able to conceive of the circumstances when you might need it. A system of rights must apply to bank managers, illegal immigrant cockle pickers and every type of defendant otherwise it doesn't count."
Approval of Republicans at record low: poll - "With congressional elections less than three weeks away, the Republican party's approval ratings are at an all-time low, with approval of the Republican-led Congress at its lowest point in 14 years, according to an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released on Wednesday."
Electing Extremism - "Around the U.S., right-wing radicals are running for everything from national political office to a county mosquito control board."
Poll: Lieberman's Lead Growing in Conn. - "Sen. Joe Lieberman has built a 17-point lead over Democratic challenger Ned Lamont, according to the first Quinnipiac University poll since the two faced off in a debate this week." -- Politics must be an addiction. Oh no, wait...make that power is an addiction.
Republican ad refers to black women as "ho's" - "The radio ad criticizes Democrats for being pro-choice and features two black men speaking on the subject: BLACK MAN #1: "If you make a little mistake with one of your 'hos,' you'll want to dispose of that problem tout suite, no questions asked." BLACK MAN #2: "That's too cold. I don't snuff my own seed." BLACK MAN #1: "Maybe you do have a reason to vote Republican.""
Spin the Bottle: Finger Pointing Edition - "I've been seeing a whole lot of coverage over the whole "voting machine" issue. Most of the coverage I've seen implies that the upcoming election will be manipulated by the Republican party. Could be it is, could be it's not. But here's my question."
Former delegate gets purported Diebold code - "Diebold Election Systems Inc. expressed alarm and state election officials contacted the FBI yesterday after a former legislator received an anonymous package containing what appears to be the computer code that ran Maryland's polls in 2004. Cheryl C. Kagan, a longtime critic of Maryland's elections chief, says the fact that the computer disks were sent to her - along with an unsigned note criticizing the management of the state elections board - demonstrates that Maryland's voting system faces grave security threats."
How To Spot a Dictator - "Well, now that we have established a Democratic Dictatorship there seems to be some confusion. This is America! Constitutional Monarchy? It can’t happen here! We learned that in the third grade. It has happened here! With the passing of the Military Commissions Act of 2006, America has its very first bona fide dictator! The Silver Spoon Kid from Texas has made good."
"You're under arrest." For what? "None of your business." - "As of yesterday we, all of us, are just one indiscretion, misunderstanding or set up away from disappearing. ... But the reason you end up in federal custody, refused a lawyer, or a trial, may never be known, to you or anyone else. "Get outta here, Pizzo. I'm a US citizen. That kind of stuff only happens to foreign terrorists." No. You get outta here. As of yesterday it can happen, and it can happen to YOU."
Top US general says Rumsfeld is inspired by God - "The top US general defended the leadership of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, saying it is inspired by God." -- But what if God is not good?
Poll: Forty percent of American voters believe the Israel Lobby has been a key factor in going to war in Iraq and now confronting Iran - "The poll, which was carried out by Zogby International, reveals that 39% of the American public "agree" or "somewhat agree" that "the work of the Israel lobby on Congress and the Bush administration has been a key factor for going to war in Iraq and now confronting Iran." However, a similar number, 40%, "strongly disagreed" or "somewhat disagreed" with this position. Some 20% of the public, or more than one in five, were not sure."
655,000 Dead: Reporting the Reporting - "According to the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, George Bush's lies have killed not 30,000 innocent Iraqis, as the president not long ago estimated, but nearly 22 times that amount, or 655,000. Neither the Pentagon, nor much of the mainstream media have made much attempt to make their own counts -- it's just not that important to anyone. So how has the U.S. media reported on these shocking-albeit-necessarily-imprecise findings, based on door-to-door surveys in 18 provinces, by the experts trained in this kind of thing? The actual methods included obtaining data by eight Iraqi physicians during a survey of 1,849 Iraqi families -- 12,801 people -- in 47 neighborhoods of 18 regions across the country. The researchers based the selection of geographical areas on population size, not on the level of violence. How strict were their standards? They asked for death certificates to prove claims -- and got them in 92 percent of the cases. Even so, the authors say that the number could be anywhere from 426,000 to 800,000."
We've lost battle for Baghdad, US admits - "A day after George Bush conceded for the first time that America may have reached the equivalent of a Tet offensive in Iraq, the Pentagon yesterday admitted defeat in its strategy of securing Baghdad."
Major Change Expected In Strategy for Iraq War - "The growing doubts among GOP lawmakers about the administration's Iraq strategy, coupled with the prospect of Democratic wins in next month's midterm elections, will soon force the Bush administration to abandon its open-ended commitment to the war, according to lawmakers in both parties, foreign policy experts and others involved in policymaking."
White House rejects Iraq partition plan - "The White House yesterday rejected partitioning Iraq into three sections based on ethnicity and religion and took issue with reports that President Bush now views the 3-1/2-year-old Iraq war as similar to the war in Vietnam."
Shiite militia takes over Iraqi city - "The Shiite militia run by the anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr seized control of a southern Iraqi city on Friday in one of the boldest acts of defiance yet by the country's powerful, unofficial armies, witnesses and police said."
Essay by promoter of “ex-gay” movement sparks racism charges - "A prominent member of the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) is under fire for publishing an essay in which he argues that Africans were fortunate to have been sold into slavery, and the civil rights movement was "irrational.""
New Bible publication literally cuts out unused parts - "That's because those troublesome verses about justice for the poor, responsibility for the rich to address their neighbors' needs, and all that talk about money, are gone. Not just edited out, cut out."
Antarctic ozone hole biggest on record, U.S. reports - "This year's ozone hole over Antarctica is bigger and deeper than any other on record, U.S. scientists reported on Thursday."
One billion people overweight, 300 million obese worldwide - "The scourge of obesity, bringing in its train a host of health and economic problems that could one day cripple economies, is more prevalent in some countries than others, but still constitutes a global epidemic, says WHO. A billion people out of the world's six billion population are now considered overweight, compared with 800 million who do not have enough to eat."
Candidate: Use Textbooks As Shields From School Shooters - "If elected, he said he would put thick used textbooks under every desk for students to use in self-defense." -- I don't even know what the hell to say.
Video-hungry users could push Net to brink - "Soaring demand for games, video and music will stretch the Internet to its limits, Canada's Nortel Networks Corp. says, and it expects service providers will make big investments in its technology to avoid a crunch."
TV causes autism - study - "According to the research, heavy TV indulgence before the age of three is clearly associated with an increase in autism. The paper suggests that TV could be a trigger for those with a genetic predisposition toward the condition."
Study finds risks, benefits in giving Ritalin to preschoolers - ""I hope publication of this does not lead to more overprescribing," said Dr. Sidney Wolfe of the watchdog group Public Citizen. "The safety isn't adequately established, the efficacy even less.""
Ancient fish fossil provides missing link in evolution of land animals - "The discovery of a 380 million-year-old fossil in a remote region of Western Australia has given scientists new insight into the process by which fish evolved into land animals."
Study: Expectations matter when it comes to math - "Telling women they can't do well in math may turn out be a self-fulfilling statement."
Discriminate against tattoos, piercings at your own risk - "According to legal experts in employment law, if you fit any of these categories, you are setting yourself up for lawsuits from members of a new activist lobby representing the ever-growing population of those into "body modification.""
Most mothers don't get enough sleep - "Half of U.S. mothers are not getting enough sleep and they believe getting more rest would make them better parents, according to a U.S. study."
Quote of the Day
"The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists will we be?"
~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
No comments:
Post a Comment