A TALE OF TWO GITMOS: WHERE WAS THE MSM? - " Last June 17, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told reporters, "If you think of the people down there (at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba), these are people, all of whom were captured on a battlefield. They're terrorists, trainers, bomb makers, recruiters, financiers, (Osama bin Laden's) bodyguards, would-be suicide bombers, probably the 20th 9/11 hijacker." Yet two recent reports, based on the Defense Department’s own documentation, reach conclusions that are dramatically different than Mr. Rumsfeld’s. And, despite the millions of words journalists have written about GITMO during the past few years, the mainstream press has largely ignored these new reports. One report, prepared by a team headed by Mark Denbeaux, a law professor at Seton Hall University in New Jersey – who is a lawyer for two of the Guantanamo detainees – found that more than half of the terror suspects being held have not been accused of committing hostile acts against the United States or its allies."
US threatens to cut aid to Iraq if new government is sectarian - "The US and Britain are pressuring Iraq's dominant Shia community to relinquish two key ministries in negotiations for a new government, as the country was hit by a wave of bombings that killed at least 24 people." -- So much for "democracy."
Bush Shrugs Off Objections to Port Deal - "Brushing aside objections from Republicans and Democrats alike, President Bush endorsed the takeover of shipping operations at six major U.S. seaports by a state-owned business in the United Arab Emirates. He pledged to veto any bill Congress might approve to block the agreement." -- He really wants this company to take over the ports.
Bush vs. Constitution - "Repeatedly through our history, the liberties guaranteed by the Constitution have been threatened in war by an overreacting government and then reaffirmed in peace by calmer leadership. The Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, Lincoln’s suspension of habeas corpus, the suppression of free speech during and after World War I, the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, McCarthyism, and the wiretapping of Vietnam-era dissenters -- all of these came to be seen, once fears subsided, as violations of our freedoms and embarrassments to our heritage. George W. Bush’s presidency is another era of overreaction at the expense of constitutional rights, but the prospects for a quick correction are not auspicious. Nothing has helped end earlier bouts of repression so much as the fact that the wars themselves came to a close, and nothing has so exposed our liberties to indefinite jeopardy as the conception of a “war on terrorism” with no end. The president claims an inherent power to imprison American citizens whom he has determined to be this country’s enemies without obtaining a warrant, letting them hear the charges against them, or following other safeguards against wrongful punishment guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. Under his administration, the government has engaged in inhumane treatment of prisoners that amounts to torture, and when Congress passed legislation to ban such treatment, he declared he would simply interpret the law his own way. Although the Constitution says treaties are the “supreme law of the land,” the president has abrogated them on his own. And, we now know, he ordered a secret program of electronic surveillance of Americans without court warrants. But there is something more dangerous than any of these specific abuses and usurpations, and that is the theory of inherent powers that Bush invokes to justify most of these actions and the possibility of its being effectively institutionalized by a meek Congress and, worst of all, by a deferential Supreme Court."
How George Bush fabricated the Iraqi WMD myth - "Maybe we’ve forgotten. Or perhaps we just weren’t paying attention in the first place. But, before 9/11, the Bush administration itself denied the existence of WMD in Iraq:"
Bush's Mysterious 'New Programs' - "But recent developments suggest that the Bush administration may already be contemplating what to do with Americans who are deemed insufficiently loyal or who disseminate information that may be considered helpful to the enemy. Top U.S. officials have cited the need to challenge news that undercuts Bush’s actions as a key front in defeating the terrorists, who are aided by “news informers” in the words of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. ... In such extraordinary circumstances, the American people might legitimately ask exactly what the Bush administration means by the “rapid development of new programs,” which might require the construction of a new network of detention camps." -- Interesting read.
Guess who the big loser is under Bush health plan - "Heads up, Americans. The Bush administration is now greasing the skids for employers to drop your health coverage. This is a biggie. ... Demonically, the Bush proposal gives employers new reasons not to offer traditional health coverage, or any medical benefits at all. Indeed, the new health savings accounts could do to the traditional health plan what the 401(k) plan did to the traditional pension: Kill it off."
'Us am living in Bizarro World' - "For those of you who don't remember Bizarro, he was the distorted, dim-bulb opposite of Superman, the result of a twisted duplicating ray. He and other Bizarros lived on a square planet called Htrea (Earth spelled backwards), and swore allegiance to the Bizarro Code: "Us do opposite of all Earthly things! Us hate beauty! Us love ugliness! Is big crime to make anything perfect on Bizarro World!" Yeah, that about sums up America circa 2006."
Secret Service agents say Cheney was drunk when he shot lawyer - "A written report from Secret Service agents guarding Vice President Dick Cheney when he shot Texas lawyer Harry Whittington on a hunting outing two weeks ago says Cheney was "clearly inebriated" at the time of the shooting."
Rumsfeld calls for US-controlled worldwide propaganda networks - "Correspondents say that in recent months victory in the battle for public opinion has become a new front for the Bush administration."
US Congress Votes to Provoke Iran - "In other words, they don't mind starting another needless war, sacrificing more young Americans, killing more innocents and creating even more hatred of US worldwide, sinking us all into more debt, just to cover their asses. Or maybe they really are trying to destroy America."
Why I Published Those Cartoons - "I acknowledge that some people have been offended by the publication of the cartoons, and Jyllands-Posten has apologized for that. But we cannot apologize for our right to publish material, even offensive material. You cannot edit a newspaper if you are paralyzed by worries about every possible insult." -- Thank you Luis for pointing us to this story.
Skype a nightmare for wiretappers - "Even as the U.S. government is embroiled in a debate over the legality of wiretapping, the fastest-growing technology for Internet calls appears to have the potential to make eavesdropping a thing of the past. Skype, the Internet calling service recently acquired by eBay Inc., provides free voice calls and instant messaging between users. Unlike other Internet voice services, Skype calls are encrypted — encoded using complex mathematical operations. That apparently makes them impossible to snoop on, though the firm leaves the issue somewhat open to question."
'A Scanner Darkly' Reveals Near Future Police State - "A new movie set to hit the big screen this summer depicts a near future America that has lost the war on drugs and capitulated into the tentacles of a pervasive control grid. A Scanner Darkly represents the latest example of a refreshing and burgeoning trend in Hollywood that seeks to enlighten the viewer into recognizing the real world prison barriers being erected around society today."
Vote Due on South Dakota Bill Banning Nearly All Abortions - "Lawmakers here are preparing to vote on a bill that would outlaw nearly all abortions in South Dakota, a measure that could become the most sweeping ban approved by any state in more than a decade, those on both sides of the abortion debate say."
Poll: Youths Back N. Korea if Attacked - "Nearly half of South Korean youths who will be old enough to vote in the country's next elections say Seoul should side with North Korea if the United States attacks the communist nation, according to a poll released Wednesday."
US Judge: Google infringed copyright by posting thumbnail porn - " The judge ruled that because Google receives advertising money from offering search functions, it is not entitled to the same level of free use of the images as other entities would be."
Biometrics, ID cards, tagging, DNA kits being pushed on kids - "The rational behind the program according to KidsafeID is that "A child is reported missing every 40 seconds in the United States alone." Right, so carrying a biometric ID card will prevent that?"
A Satellite Baby-Sitting Service - "Two companies have announced plans to launch personal GPS "location devices" this year, which will act as a kind of LoJack for everyone from meandering children to nervous executives in kidnap-prone countries. One is a bracelet, which parents can lock on their kids' wrists to track their location and movements over the Internet, that is made by Wherify.Another -- and the most sci-fi application by far -- an implantable GPS device that Applied Digital Solutions of Florida plans to develop within the next eight months.
Yahoo!Mail bans Allah and Dirty Harry handles - "Yahoo! is banning the use of allah in email names - even if the letters are included within another name. ... Nor will Yahoo! accept yahoo, osama or binladen. But it will accept god, messiah, jesus, jehova, buddah, satan and both priest and pedophile."
Minister Buys Lap Dances To Tell Strippers About God - "Veitch used to be a stripper herself in Las Vegas, but then she embraced Christianity and decided to start sharing her faith with her former colleagues."
University rocked by marking fiasco - "A UNIVERSITY graduate student abandoned the institution in frustration after a marking fiasco during which a lecturer told him to produce "more smarter writing"." -- I can't make this up.
Quote of the Day
"My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total. And I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution."
~ Barbara Jordan
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