SADDAM HUSSEIN - "Iraq’s deposed president, whom Osama bin Laden called `the worst Arab despot,’ should have faced real justice at an international legal tribunal like the UN Hague Court. That would have served warning to other despots who violated human rights and committed aggression. The United States did right to hand over Serb tyrant Slobodan Milosevic to the Hague. But Saddam had to be quickly silenced before he told the world about his long collusion with the United States. Dead men tell no tales."
Where are the Mass Graves? - "As I watched nonstop coverage of Saddam's Death Watch, I was told over and over that this was a heinous mass murderer. There were mass graves. That up to 300,000 people were killed during his reign. Then they told us what he was actually convicted for -- 148 dead in Dujail. That's a terrible crime. But there's at least that amount of people killed every two days in Iraq now. Now, I looked into the mass grave claims and the US government found graves that contained hundreds of bodies in some places. And prosecutors claimed that Saddam gassed 5,000 Kurds in Northern Iraq. This hardly adds up to 300,000 killed. I am not saying that he didn't kill that many, I just don't know why we didn't do our homework and convict him all of his crimes. ... As we all know, and have repeated ad nauseam, Saddam was a really bad guy and a dictator that killed many people. But I don't see where the 300,000 number came from and I'm pissed they never proved it. And that still doesn't match up to how many Iraqis have been killed in just the three and half years of the Iraq War. We didn't kill all those people and our objective is not to oppress the Iraqi people for our own gain (well, not exactly at least; though their oil is yummy for our cars' tummy). But Saddam was executed for killing a 148 people. And our invasion has cost the lives of at least several hundred thousand people that otherwise would not have died. I'm not drawing any conclusions and I'm not even making any inferences. I'm just saying it's something to be pondered."
An all-consuming 'war on terror' - "We are trapped in fighting an unwinnable - even nonsensical - "war on terror" because its invention was required in order to fight in Iraq. After years of slaughter in Iraq, the neoconservative fantasy of a series of cheap, fast, neo-imperial victories is dead. But the war on terror lives on, stronger than ever. How did the war on terror take on a life of its own and trap the entire political class, and most Americans, into public beliefs about the need to fight a global war on terror as our first priority, even when there's little or no evidence of an enemy present in the United States? What accounts for $650 billion worth of expenditures, along with baseless cycles of "sleeper cell" hysteria and McCarthyist policies of surveillance and "pre-emptive prosecution" not seen in this country since the early 1950s?"
FBI Reports Duct-Taping, 'Baptizing' at Guantanamo - "In them, FBI employees said they had witnessed 26 incidents of possible mistreatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, including previously reported cases in which prisoners were shackled to the floor for extended periods of time or subjected to sexually suggestive tactics by female interrogators. In a previously unreported allegation, one interrogator bragged to an FBI agent that he had forced a prisoner to listen to "Satanic black metal music for hours," then dressed as a Catholic priest before "baptizing" him. One agent reported being told that while questioning male captives, female interrogators would sometimes wet their hands and touch detainees' faces in order to interrupt their prayers. Such actions would make some Muslims consider themselves unclean and unable to continue praying."
Olbermann to Bush: ‘You Do Not Own This Country’ - "First we sent Americans to their deaths for your lie, Mr. Bush, now we are sending them to their deaths for your ego."
Soldiers and Imperial Presidents - "There is no escaping the fact that the U.S. is an imperialist nation conceived in genocide and racism that has continued through the ages, and worsened with the rise of modern technology and weaponry. With the advent of smart bombs came stupid and immoral leaders. Our litany of crimes against earth and humanity are concealed under layers of moral language, but the actual deeds belie the intent behind what is being done in our name. Ignorance, however, does not absolve anyone from culpability."
Democracy = Terrorism? - "Thus, the natural consequence of this is that they will do whatever they can to ensure that their way of life becomes dominant over all else, and that it is accepted by the world as being the norm. Hence, these nations deem it necessary to convey their democratic way of life to the rest of the world so that they are able to further sustain their dominance and ensure that any threat to their civilisation is made impotent."
Democrats Set To Renew Attack On Free Speech - "A new piece of legislation set to be re-introduced in Congress by the Democrats under the guise of anti-bullying would reprimand schoolchildren for verbal criticism of their peers in any context, including sexual orientation, religion or simply expression of an opposing idea. The bill echoes federal hate crime legislation about to be debated as Congress enters its first session tomorrow."
Army Attempts to Redefine Free Speech - "When does political speech become a crime punishable by imprisonment? When the Army doesn't like what it hears. One journalist shares the battle she and her source face against censorship."
Voice of the White House January 1, 2007 - "In that area of the world, pedophilia is rampant and both Thailand and Indonesia are viewed as areas where lustful pursuit of teen and pre-teen boys is absolutely rampant. Finnegan’s investigations in Jakarta uncovered the names of a number of the highest level diplomatic personnel, to include two senior CIA agents (both undercover as an “American businessman” and an “American reporter” for a major U.S. news service, respectively.) Finnegan interviewed dozens of boys and their procurers, took pictures of U.S. visitors to assignation parlors, planted tape recorders where they could do the most good and photographed satiated visitors upon their exits. Agents of the PRC operating in Indonesia, as well, were fully aware of this traffic in underaged and certainly illegal flesh and it was because of this serious potential breach of security that Finnegan was so deeply involved."
UN staff accused of raping children in Sudan - "Members of the United Nations peacekeeping forces in southern Sudan are facing allegations of raping and abusing children as young as 12, The Daily Telegraph reported today."
Robertson Predicts 'Mass Killing' - "Robertson said God told him during a recent prayer retreat that major cities and possibly millions of people will be affected by the attack, which should take place sometime after September." -- Shut up, Pat.
America’s Holy Warriors - "The drive by the Christian right to take control of military chaplaincies, which now sees radical Christians holding roughly 50 percent of chaplaincy appointments in the armed services and service academies, is part of a much larger effort to politicize the military and law enforcement. This effort signals the final and perhaps most deadly stage in the long campaign by the radical Christian right to dismantle America’s open society and build a theocratic state. A successful politicization of the military would signal the end of our democracy."
Poll: Americans See Gloom, Doom in 2007 - "One in four, 25 percent, anticipates the second coming of Jesus Christ." -- Jesus.
No religion and an end to war: how thinkers see the future - "People's fascination for religion and superstition will disappear within a few decades as television and the internet make it easier to get information, and scientists get closer to discovering a final theory of everything, leading thinkers argue today."
CEOs have already made a mint this year - "The new year is only two days old, but that's all the time it took for the country’s highest-paid CEOs to earn the annual salary of the average Canadian."
'If we fail to act, we will end up with a different planet' - "One of the world's leading experts on climate change has warned that the Earth is being turned into a "different planet" because of the continuing increase in man-made emissions of greenhouse gases."
Science told: hands off gay sheep - "SCIENTISTS are conducting experiments to change the sexuality of “gay” sheep in a programme that critics fear could pave the way for breeding out homosexuality in humans. The technique being developed by American researchers adjusts the hormonal balance in the brains of homosexual rams so that they are more inclined to mate with ewes. It raises the prospect that pregnant women could one day be offered a treatment to reduce or eliminate the chance that their offspring will be homosexual. Experts say that, in theory, the “straightening” procedure on humans could be as simple as a hormone supplement for mothers-to-be, worn on the skin like an anti-smoking nicotine patch."
Plastic may spell the end of the silicon microchip - "By using a cheap and simple set of processing operations to build up layers of circuitry on plastic “substrates” – the material on which circuits are formed – rather than silicon wafers used in conventional microchips, the developments promised to slash the cost of making semiconductors."
Toyota Developing Drunken Driving System - "Toyota Motor Corp. is developing a fail-safe system for cars that detects drunken drivers and automatically shuts the vehicle down if sensors pick up signs of excessive alcohol consumption, a news report said Wednesday."
TV ban on adverts for cheese, the latest 'junk food' - "Much to the disgust of its makers, cheese is to be regarded in the same light as crisps, sugary cereals and cheeseburgers."
Young turn to Web sites without rules - "Smaller start-ups who are not able, or willing, to be as diligent are seeing their audiences explode as users seek the more freewheeling environment that typified YouTube's early days."
Quote of the Day
"Perhaps this is a coincidence. Or maybe not."
~ J.R. Nyquist
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