December 20, 2005

News -- December 20, 2005

The New Madness of King George - " On the Sunday before Christmas, a fidgety George W. Bush interrupted regular programming on U.S. networks to deliver an address to the nation that painted the Iraq War and the War on Terror in the same black-and-white colors he has always favored."
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2005/121905.html

Did Congress Pass Legislation Allowing Bush to Violate The Law Against Illegal Spying? - "Will they continue to allow him to keep doing it now that he's confessed? If WE THE PEOPLE don't act on this, and demand an end to it and serious, legal repercussions, the USA is lost."
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_rob_kall_051219_did_congress_pass_le.htm

Congressman calls for Bush impeachment - "U.S. Rep. John Lewis said Monday in a radio interview that President Bush should be impeached if he broke the law in authorizing spying on Americans. ... "Its a very serious charge, but he violated the law," said Lewis, a former civil rights leader. "The president should abide by the law. He deliberately, systematically violated the law. He is not King, he is president.""
http://www.accessnorthga.com/news/ap_newfullstory.asp?ID=69123

Saddam's scientists freed as US house of cards starts to tumble - "THE British-educated Iraqi microbiologist known as Dr Germ is among two dozen senior Baathist prisoners who have been freed after more than 2½ years in US detention, it was disclosed yesterday. ... Huda Ammash, the US-trained scientist nicknamed Chemical Sally or Mrs Anthrax, has also been released. She and Dr Taha were both high-ranking members of Saddam Hussein’s party and had been accused of being central figures in his biological weapons programme.
Dr Taha was even named in the dossier on Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction that the British Government released in September 2002 to make the case for war."
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7374-1943882,00.html

US Holding Children in Prison Camps as POW's - "Today, I started reading former President Jimmy Carter's new book, "Our Endangered Values". In it, he revealed something that is absolutely horrifying--the US is holding children as young as 8 years of age who have been captured in Afghanistan and Iraq in prison camps--namely, the one in Guantanamo, Cuba. Worse yet, Donald Rumsfeld knew about it. Read a short excerpt below: ... This is an absolute outrage. How could any normal, sane person ever, ever in their lives even think about torturing a child? That our own military could engage in such acts of evil, sadistic brutality--AGAINST CHILDREN--is almost too horrible to even think about. Every single sick SOB who had a part in this needs to be sent to prison for the rest of their lives, including Rumsfeld."
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=18817&hd=0&size=2&l=e

The miscreant dynasty - "Behind George W, there are four generations of Bushes and Walkers devoted first to using political networks to pile up and protect personal fortunes and, latterly, to using absolutely any means to gain office, not because they want to do good, but because they are what passes in American for hereditary aristocrats. In sum, George Bush stands at the apex of a pyramid of privilege whose history and social significance that, given his animosity to scholarly thought, he almost certainly does not understand."
http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/the-miscreant-dynasty/2005/12/18/1134840743188.html

Time for W to answerfor his actions - "You may not know it, but we are living in the Responsibility Era. So said George Bush back in 2000 when he accepted the Republican presidential nomination. He vowed that he would be the Responsibility President and, it seems, repeat the word over and over until it lost all meaning. That one speech, forgettable but retrievable, contained this line: "And to lead this nation to a responsibility era, a President himself must be responsible." Churchill, rest easy. ... This recitation of the obvious is a bit of clumsy rhetorical strutting, but also a way of ducking the ultimate in responsibility: accountability. This is something Bush will not accept or countenance."
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/col/story/376130p-319604c.html

Bush’s Snoopgate - "Finally we have a Washington scandal that goes beyond sex, corruption and political intrigue to big issues like security versus liberty and the reasonable bounds of presidential power. President Bush came out swinging on Snoopgate—he made it seem as if those who didn’t agree with him wanted to leave us vulnerable to Al Qaeda—but it will not work. We’re seeing clearly now that Bush thought 9/11 gave him license to act like a dictator, or in his own mind, no doubt, like Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. ... No, Bush was desperate to keep the Times from running this important story—which the paper had already inexplicably held for a year—because he knew that it would reveal him as a law-breaker." -- What Bush has done has been far more dangerous to this country than lying about receiving a blow-job in the Oval Office. Lock him, and the rest of his adminstration, behind bars.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10536559/site/newsweek/

Bush shows he believes he is above the law - " Who needs the Patriot Act? Not President Run-amok. The president has now admitted to secretly authorizing what amounts to an end-run around the law that is meant, specifically and determinedly, to keep intelligence agencies from snooping on Americans at home. In asking the super-secret National Security Agency to monitor - without any court oversight whatsoever - the international phone calls and e-mails of hundreds of Americans, President George W. Bush has gone far beyond what even the Patriot Act allows. So why make a fuss over the Senate's refusal to extend it? Even if lawmakers passed it, Bush would ignore it. This is a president who believes no law applies to him."
http://www.newsday.com/news/columnists/ny-opcoc204558361dec20,0,3978167.column?coll=ny-news-columnists

Number of electoral democracies reaches 122 as freedom spreads - "The number of electoral democracies around the world rose from 119 to 122 this year, setting a new record as freedom made inroads in the Middle East and Africa, an independent monitoring group said." -- I am beginning to believe that freedom, like truth and beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/12/20/051220134942.8w8uaqyp.html

Federal Agents Visit College Student Over Interlibrary Loan Book Request - "Federal agents visited a college senior two months ago because he requested a book written by Mao Tse-Tung. The UMass Dartmouth student was working on a research paper on Communism for a class on fascism and totalitarianism. When he requested Mao Tse-Tung’s book on communism called “The Little Red Book” through an interlibrary loan, he filled out a form with his name, address, phone number, and Social Security number. Later, agents from the Department of Homeland Security visited the student at his parents’ home, according to news reports. The student’s professors say that the student was told by the agents that the book was on a federal watch list, and that his background, which includes time spent abroad, triggered a further investigation. The student said that the agents brought the book with them, but did not leave it with the student. The student is not alone. Reports have surfaced that the National Security Agency was authorized to spy on at least 500 American citizens at any time since 2002. All this surveillance is done without warrants due to provisions in the U.S. Patriot Act." -- Freedom reigns.
http://freemarketnews.com/WorldNews.asp?nid=3716

Buying a President - "America's business leaders supplied more than $75 million to return Bush to the White House last year _ and he has paid dividends. Bush administration policies, grand and obscure, have financially benefited companies or lobbying clients tied to at least 200 of the president's largest campaign fund-raisers, a Toledo Blade investigation has found. Dozens more stand to gain from Bush-backed initiatives that recently passed or await congressional approval. The investigation included targeted tax breaks, regulatory changes, pro-business legislation, high-profile salaried appointments, and federal contracts."
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_7849.shtml

Teens Say Marijuana "Easy to Get" Despite Record Arrests - "For the 31st year in a row, approximately 85% of high school seniors have told government survey-takers that marijuana is "easy to get," according to the 2005 Monitoring the Future survey released today. The report comes less than two months after the FBI reported an all-time record number of marijuana arrests in 2004. In today's survey, 85.6% of high school seniors described marijuana as being either "fairly easy" or "very easy" to get. This "easy to get" figure has remained virtually unchanged since the survey began in 1975, having never dropped lower than 82.7% (in 1992) or higher than 90.4% (in 1998). Over the same 31-year period, the number of U.S. marijuana arrests has varied dramatically, dropping to a low of 282,800 in 1991 and then beginning an almost unbroken rise to a record high of 771,605 last year."
http://www.mpp.org/releases/nr20051219.html

Decoding of Mammoth Genome Might Lead to Resurrection - "Scientists have mapped part of the genome of the wooly mammoth, a huge mammal that's been extinct for about 10,000 years. The breakthrough could lead to recreating the creatures. ... “More importantly our discovery means that recreating extinct hybrid animals is theoretically possible," Poinar said."
http://www.livescience.com/animalworld/051219_mammoth_dna.html

This is the Google side of your brain - "Up until now, "society's intelligentsia has been the most intellectual. In the next generation, it will be those best at search-engine optimization," says Fern Reiss, the chief executive of a Newton, Mass.-based media company."
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techinnovations/2005-12-18-google-memory_x.htm

Researchers Find Barbie Is Often Mutilated - "Barbie, beware. The iconic plastic doll is often mutilated at the hands of young girls, according to research published Monday by British academics. "The girls we spoke to see Barbie torture as a legitimate play activity, and see the torture as a 'cool' activity," said Agnes Nairn, one of the University of Bath researchers. "The types of mutilation are varied and creative, and range from removing the hair to decapitation, burning, breaking and even microwaving.""
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/12/19/D8EJGO4G3.html




Quote of the Day
"Democracy is a form of government that substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few."
~ George Bernard Shaw

No comments: