News -- October 6, 2006

Ethics committee to probe Foley scandal - "The House ethics committee yesterday opened an investigation into the congressional page scandal, vowing to follow the evidence and spare no one based on politics as it approved "nearly four dozen" subpoenas for members, Capitol officials and staffers." -- We'll see.

Only Way to the Truth---Torture Hastert - "Is there anything worse, in the minds of most Americans than being a sexual predator to underage kids? ... There's only one way to get this information. Send Foley, Hastert, Boehner, and the rest of them to Guantanamo and torture the information out of them. I mean, that's this administration's policy, isn't it? Why restrict it to Muslims? Why not just expand it to all involved in anti-social activities, especially one as serious as this."

Pelosi says she would drain GOP 'swamp' - "As in the first 100 hours the House meets after Democrats — in her fondest wish — win control in the Nov. 7 midterm elections and Pelosi takes the gavel as the first Madam Speaker in history. Day One: Put new rules in place to "break the link between lobbyists and legislation." Day Two: Enact all the recommendations made by the commission that investigated the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Time remaining until 100 hours: Raise the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour, maybe in one step. Cut the interest rate on student loans in half. Allow the government to negotiate directly with the pharmaceutical companies for lower drug prices for Medicare patients."

Waterboarding Republic - "First, people who are experts in interrogation of the enemy pretty much agree that torture doesn’t work. Those being tortured will say anything they think their interrogators want to hear, just so the torture will stop. Secondly, the information, even if true, which is rare, in virtually every case is outdated by the time the torture is finished. Certainly no enemy would continue with plans known to someone who was captured. But even more importantly, as former Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell said, we lose our moral high ground if we torture prisoners. To me, that is a hundred times more powerful a statement than Bush's repetitious rantings that “we are protecting Americans.” That phrase, of course, is born of polling that says Americans want to be protected, and delivered by the likes of Karl Rove, who, if nothing else, knows how to demagogue."

Major chains refuse to play Bush death film - "Newmarket Films set itself an unusual challenge when it decided to release the controversial faux investigative documentary "Death of a President" just six weeks after acquiring the movie at the Toronto International Film Festival last month. But it might face an even more formidable obstacle because several major theater chains are refusing to play the film, which mixes real news footage with dramatized segments depicting the fictional 2007 death of President Bush."

Anti-U.S. Attack Videos Spread on the Internet - "Videos showing insurgent attacks against American troops in Iraq, long available in Baghdad shops and on Jihadist Web sites, have steadily migrated in recent months to popular Internet video-sharing sites, including YouTube and Google Video. Many of the videos, showing sniper attacks against Americans and roadside bombs exploding under American military vehicles, have been posted not by insurgents or their official supporters but apparently by Internet users in the United States and other countries, who have passed along videos found elsewhere."

Congress' shameful retreat from American values - "I would not send my college kid off for a semester abroad if I were you. Last week, we suspended human rights in America, and what goes around comes around. Ixnay habeas corpus. The U.S. Senate, in all its splendor and majesty, decided that an "enemy combatant" is any non-citizen whom the president says is an enemy combatant, including your Korean greengrocer or your Swedish grandmother or your Czech au pair, and can be arrested and held for as long as authorities wish without any right of appeal to a court of law to examine the matter. If your college kid were to be arrested in Bangkok or Cairo, suspected of "crimes against the state" and held in prison, you'd assume that an American foreign service officer would be able to speak to your kid and arrange for a lawyer, but this may not be true anymore. Be forewarned. The Senate also decided it's up to the president to decide whether it's OK to make these enemies stand naked in cold rooms for a couple of days in blinding light and be beaten by interrogators. This is now purely a bureaucratic matter: The plenipotentiary stamps the file "enemy combatants" and throws the poor schnooks into prison and at his leisure he tries them by any sort of kangaroo court he wishes to assemble and they have no right to see the evidence against them, and there is no appeal. This was passed by 65 senators and will now be signed by President Bush, put into effect, and in due course be thrown out by the courts. It's good that Barry Goldwater is dead because this would have killed him."

Gulags For American Citizens In Final Planning Stages - "Bush administration and US army preparations to target American citizens and intern them in forced labor camps has vastly accelerated in the past month and commentators from all over the political spectrum are sounding the alarm bells that the round-ups may begin soon. Once the bane of the media's stereotypical 'tin foil hat wearing' caricatures, concentration camps in America are now serious news and no one is laughing."

In Border Fence's Path, Congressional Roadblocks - "No sooner did Congress authorize construction of a 700-mile fence on the U.S.-Mexico border last week than lawmakers rushed to approve separate legislation that ensures it will never be built, at least not as advertised, according to Republican lawmakers and immigration experts." -- Don't you love politics?

The Ayes Have It - "Third, I want to know who the hell is developing these voting machines to begin with. From the various articles I've read, I've come away with the impression that the project was handed over to a high-school introductory COBOL class for coding and the woodshop class for hardware. You're telling me that casinos worldwide can find shops capable of building extremely secure systems, but the government can't find a shop that follows acceptable practices, including documented QA/QC systems? I know, I know... I shouldn't ever be surprised by any statement beginning with "the government isn't able to find a group that can effectively...", but this time it's hitting close to home."

Gay Marriage Dealt Defeat in California - "A state appeals court upheld California's ban on gay marriage Thursday, a critical defeat for a movement hungry for a win after similar losses in two other states."

How can limbo just be abolished? - "The Pope may be about to abolish the notion of limbo, the halfway house between heaven and hell, inhabited by unbaptised infants. Is it really that simple?"

Vatican and Jesuit Corruption Questioned at Chicago 9/11 Truth Conference - "A growing number of American researchers are coming to the conclusion that the real controllers of the Illuminati/New World Order are the Vatican and Jesuit Order."

Harvard committee recommends returning religion to curriculum - "Harvard University, founded 370 years ago to train Puritan ministers, should again require all undergraduates to study religion, along with U.S. history and ethics, a faculty committee is recommending."

We Had Abortions - "It is time to speak out again– in even larger numbers —and to make politicians face their neighbors, influential movers and shakers, and yes, their family members. We cannot, must not—for U.S. women and the women of the world—lose the right to safe, legal, and accessible abortion or access to birth control. Just as in 1972, Ms. will send the signed petitions to the White House, members of Congress and state legislators. We will also place the petition online."

Law & Order: Hardcore Porn Star's Unit - "With a scenario like the one described above, why has Law & Order been one of the most popular TV franchises for more than 15 years, while watching videos of people having sex is still socially criminal?"

Bush says education bill will be a priority next year - "President Bush said Thursday that renewing the No Child Left Behind law will be a priority for him next year but acknowledged the law isn't working as well for parents as it should."

Making Water From Thin Air - "A company that developed technology capable of creating water out of thin air nearly anywhere in the world is now under contract to nourish U.S. soldiers serving in Iraq."

Marijuana may help stave off Alzheimer’s - "New research shows that the active ingredient in marijuana may prevent the progression of the disease by preserving levels of an important neurotransmitter that allows the brain to function."

Blogs to books: A six-figure industry? - "Bloggers are scoring rich paydays by turning their online diaries into books, but some publishers say the craze could fizzle out with a glut of new titles destined to yield disappointing sales."

Milky Way teeming with Earth-like orbs - "Hubble telescope's recent finds suggest billions of planets." -- Duh.

New Hawking book to examine creation of the universe - "Stephen Hawking, the Cambridge University physicist who wrote the best-selling "A Brief History of Time," is to start work on a new book that will examine how and why the universe was created."




Quote of the Day
''The United States seems to believe this military action shows its world leadership. But that is its misconception. Real world leadership is to take initiatives in promoting the Kyoto Protocol, nuclear disarmament, and arms control, and solving environmental issues."
~ Mikhail Gorbachev