http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=47783
Palace Revolt - "They were loyal conservatives, and Bush appointees. They fought a quiet battle to rein in the president's power in the war on terror. And they paid a price for it. ... These Justice Department lawyers, backed by their intrepid boss Comey, had stood up to the hard-liners, centered in the office of the vice president, who wanted to give the president virtually unlimited powers in the war on terror. Demanding that the White House stop using what they saw as farfetched rationales for riding rough-shod over the law and the Constitution, Goldsmith and the others fought to bring government spying and interrogation methods within the law. They did so at their peril; ostracized, some were denied promotions, while others left for more comfortable climes in private law firms and academia. Some went so far as to line up private lawyers in 2004, anticipating that the president's eavesdropping program would draw scrutiny from Congress, if not prosecutors. These government attorneys did not always succeed, but their efforts went a long way toward vindicating the principle of a nation of laws and not men."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11079547/site/newsweek
Enough of the Bush "Patriot Act" - "The drums of Washington's Beltway warriors sound all too familiar; in my case the call was to defend the freedom of the people of South Vietnam from the red peril; or was it that we were defending ourselves from the yellow peril? Or were the North Vietnamese defending themselves from the white peril? I don't recall. I just know it was a perilous world we lived in, and if Vietnam fell, so too would Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and all the rest, like dominoes. That theory, I'm sorry to say, is alive and well today in the Mideast. If Iraq falls, so too will Iran, Lebanon, Syria, etc. Dominoes déjà vu. The beat goes on. How many times have we heard that Iraq is not like Vietnam? I agree; it's not. It's much worse. And the guys who got us in there have no idea of how to get us out. This administration cannot comprehend that democracy is a process; it cannot be imposed on another country by military force. The will of the people must provide the foundation for a democratic government; the people who want it must be as willing to die for it as the people who so vehemently oppose it. We cannot do the killing and the dying for Iraqi freedom; Iraqi patriots must do it for themselves."
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0129-25.htm
The problem with democracy - "God damn that democracy. What are we to do with people who don't vote the way they should? ... The Middle East was never a successor to Nazi Germany or Fascist Italy, despite the rubbish talked by Messrs Bush and Blair. How long will it be before we can throw away the burden of this most titanic of wars and see our future, not as our past, but as a reality?"
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11694.htm
UN unveils plan to release untapped wealth of...$7 trillion (and solve the world's problems at a stroke) - "The most potent threats to life on earth - global warming, health pandemics, poverty and armed conflict - could be ended by moves that would unlock $7 trillion - $7,000,000,000,000 (£3.9trn) - of previously untapped wealth, the United Nations claims today. The price? An admission that the nation-state is an old-fashioned concept that has no role to play in a modern globalised world where financial markets have to be harnessed rather than simply condemned."
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article341967.ece
Blair and Bush 'conspired to go to war regardless of United Nations' - "Tony Blair knew that George Bush was only "going through the motions" of offering support for a second UN resolution in the run-up to the Iraq war, it was claimed last night."
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article341740.ece
USA threats after boycott support - "US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice threatened Norway with "serious political consequences" after Finance Minister and Socialist Left Party leader Kristin Halvorsen admitted to supporting a boycott of Israeli goods." -- Huh?
http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article1196096.ece
Exxon Sees Record Profits for Any U.S. Co. - "Exxon Mobil Corp. posted record profits for any U.S. company on Monday _ $10.71 billion for the fourth quarter and $36.13 billion for the year _ as the world's biggest publicly traded oil company benefited from high oil and gas prices and demand for refined products. The results exceeded Wall Street expectations and Exxon shares rose nearly 3 percent in morning trading."
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/01/30/D8FF3N98D.html
Study Ties Political Leanings to Hidden Biases - "The new interest has yielded some results that will themselves provoke partisan reactions: Studies presented at the conference, for example, produced evidence that emotions and implicit assumptions often influence why people choose their political affiliations, and that partisans stubbornly discount any information that challenges their preexisting beliefs. ... Another study presented at the conference, which was in Palm Springs, Calif., explored relationships between racial bias and political affiliation by analyzing self-reported beliefs, voting patterns and the results of psychological tests that measure implicit attitudes -- subtle stereotypes people hold about various groups. That study found that supporters of President Bush and other conservatives had stronger self-admitted and implicit biases against blacks than liberals did. ... "If anyone in Washington is skeptical about these findings, they are in denial," he said. "We have 50 years of evidence that racial prejudice predicts voting. Republicans are supported by whites with prejudice against blacks. If people say, 'This takes me aback,' they are ignoring a huge volume of research.""
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/29/AR2006012900642_pf.html
Google: Trials of an internet giant - "Fast, funky and free, it became the way to search the web. But now it stands accused of censorship, exploitation and violating the privacy of its users. ... And that's not all: Google faces a batch of lawsuits from companies that once benefited from its search engine and which were then consumed by it. It also faces suits from the US government."
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/article341719.ece
Demo: Cloning a Verichip - "Verichip markets their product for access control. This means that you could have a chip implanted, and then your front door would unlock when your shoulder got close to the reader. Let us imagine that you did this; then, I could sit next to you on the subway, and read your chip's ID. At this point I can break in to your house, by replaying that ID. So now you have to change your ID; but as far as I know, you cannot do this without surgery. None of this ought to surprise you."
http://cq.cx/verichip.pl
Sale of counterfeit goods lands eBay in legal battle - "The legitimacy of eBay's business model is being tested by Tiffany & Co, which is suing eBay for facilitating the trade of counterfeit Tiffany jewellery. EBay argues that it has no obligation to investigate claims of counterfeiting unless the complaint comes from a "rights owner" - a party holding a trademark or copyright."
http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/sale-of-counterfeit-goods-lands-ebay-in-legal-battle/2006/01/29/1138469607223.html
Killer bees join list of hazards of Florida living - "As if hurricanes, roaches, sea lice and insurance bills weren't bad enough, Floridians can add a new menace to their list of worries. Killer bees are here."
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-killerbees-jan28,0,1875683.story?coll=sns-ap-football-headlines&track=mostemailedlink
Quote of the Day
"If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator."
~ President George W. Bush
No comments:
Post a Comment