News -- January 7, 2006

An Imperial President? Bush Claims Right To Ignore New Law Banning Torture - "Five years after President Bush joked, "If this were a dictatorship, it’d be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I’m the dictator,” we look at the growing controversy over presidential power and how it relates to many of today’s biggest stories: the Senate ban on torture, the nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court, domestic surveillance and the jailing of U.S. citizens as enemy combatants. Earlier this week three influential Republicans Senators condemned Bush for claiming he has the authority to ignore a new law banning the torture of prisoners during interrogations."
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/01/06/1451239

Homeland Security opening private mail - "Last month Goodman, an 81-year-old retired University of Kansas history professor, received a letter from his friend in the Philippines that had been opened and resealed with a strip of dark green tape bearing the words “by Border Protection” and carrying the official Homeland Security seal."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10740935/

The lie detector you'll never know is there - "THE US Department of Defense has revealed plans to develop a lie detector that can be used without the subject knowing they are being assessed. The Remote Personnel Assessment (RPA) device will also be used to pinpoint fighters hiding in a combat zone, or even to spot signs of stress that might mark someone out as a terrorist or suicide bomber." -- Or a million other legitimate reasons for stress.
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg18925335.800

Congress' hands caught in the cookie jar - "Dozens of U.S. senators are quietly tracking visits to their Web sites even though they have publicly pledged not to do so."
http://news.com.com/Congress+hands+caught+in+the+cookie+jar/2100-1028_3-6020711.html?tag=nefd.top

The unpleasant truth about "American heroes" - "American soldiers are hired killers. No more, no less. The epitome of soldierdom is unquestioning obedience. Can’t have soldiers questioning orders to “light up” some brown skinned family, can we?I suppose some of those returning body bags showed great courage. Most were just obeying orders.Yeah, yeah, I know. There are many fine young people who honestly believe they are doing their patriotic duty. Poor deluded dupes. I hope they live long enough to grow out of it."
http://www.unknownnews.org/060106a-alch.html

Famine threatens 11 million in Horn of Africa - "An estimated 11 million people in the Horn of Africa “are on the brink of starvation” because of severe drought and war, with some deaths already being reported in Kenya, the United Nations said Friday. People in Somalia, Kenya, Djibouti and Ethiopia need food aid, water, new livestock and seeds, the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization said in a statement." -- But the U.S. is spending more than $1bn a week for war.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10742023/

Ministers Say They BlessedSeats Ahead of Alito Hearing - "Insisting that God "certainly needs to be involved" in the Supreme Court confirmation process, three Christian ministers today blessed the doors of the hearing room where Senate Judiciary Committee members will begin considering the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito on Monday."
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB113649645107138940-Ku05eyOWs5xFbqD33aaAarliwqo_20060112.html?mod=blogs

How to lie like a christian - "Begin by demonstrating that you are completely out of touch with reality. ... Then deny the transparently obvious motivation behind your actions, pretending to some sort of disinterested neutrality."
http://secularfront.blogspot.com/2006/01/how-to-lie-like-christian.html

Folks, our country is in peril - "The American Republic (democracy was a word our Founders despised by the way) is in sharp decline if you haven't noticed. Maybe you all could just stop chewing sand for a moment, breathe some polluted air, and take a look around!"
http://www.unknownnews.org/060106a-cr.html

Letterman to O'Reilly: "60% of what you say is crap" - "I'm pretty sure everyone has seen this, already, but if you haven't, it's a must- watch- it's been all over the place, but C&L has the best link... ... Ya see- Bill spent the first half-damned-hour of his show, whining about this interview- the first ten minutes were bad enough- with a tightly-edited, out of sequence hatchet rehash of the interview. Then, once Billy ran out of air, he brought on two guests, who then spent the next twenty minutes gushing over him, reassuring Billy time and time again that Dave was just a "bad ol' meanie.""
http://www.ericblumrich.com/

A library of best sellers at your fingertips - "The printed page is facing its biggest threat with the launch of the first electronic book that people can read for hours without straining their eyes. Sony's Reader is the size of a slim paperback but can store hundreds of books at a time. When the cover is lifted, books are displayed on a sheet of electronic "paper", one page at a time."
http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/01/07/wsony07.xml

In L.A., the hybrid is, like, so last year - "That's why some Hollywood hipsters are trading in their hybrids for old Mercedes and fueling up with biodiesel, which doesn't cause greenhouse gases and is a renewable energy source."
http://news.com.com/In+L.A.,+the+hybrid+is,+like,+so+last+year/2100-11389_3-6021723.html?tag=nefd.lede




Quote of the Day
"One of the true tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency."
~ Arnold Glasow