Power: It's Ours to Give, Not His to Take - "When the leader believes he needs more power, he must go to the people or their representatives and ask them for it. The power in our democratic form of governance, after all, resides with the people. It’s ours to give, not his to take. President Bush didn’t do that. Acting in secrecy, he simply took the power he wanted for his own. That’s how dictators in banana republics operate. That’s the issue here. It’s that simple."
'Tough choices' for whom? - "However, when the wealthy and powerful speak of ''tough choices,'' the true meaning of the phrase is turned into a cynical code, meaning: making choices that will not directly affect the decision-maker, but will make life tougher for those already in a tough situation. ... How come you never hear politicians talking about the ''tough choice'' of not giving away billions of dollars in tax breaks for corporations and the super rich? ... When politicians make the ''tough choices'' that Pence speaks of they understand their own lives are not at stake. What they're really saying is: Look at the foresight and courage I have. This won't be easy but I'm going to persevere through the pain (despite the fact that the pain will actually be felt by someone else). That's not a real ''tough choice.'' ... The real tough choice we, the people, have ahead of us is deciding whether to keep electing people who choose to balance budgets on the backs of those who lead the toughest lives in this country while giving tax give-aways to the rich in the hopes that the crumbs will eventually fall from the table."
Democrats assemble an army of veterans to beat Bush - "ANDREW HORNE, clear-eyed, clean-cut and ramrod straight, never wanted to be a politician. But then something happened to the Marine Reserves lieutenant colonel who once supported the invasion of Iraq. He was sent to fight there. It was an experience that turned him vehemently against President Bush and a war he now believes can never be won definitively. “Iraq is a symptom of what’s wrong with this Administration,” Mr Horne told The Times over coffee near his Kentucky law office. “It’s hubristic. It’s wedded to political cronyism. It hides the truth. It ignores advice. I want to go to Washington to be part of a solution.”"
The Art of Saying Nothing - "We thought President Bush's two recent Supreme Court nominees set new lows when it came to giving vague and meaningless answers to legitimate questions, but Attorney General Alberto Gonzales made them look like models of openness when he testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday about domestic spying. Mr. Gonzales seems to have forgotten the promise he made to the same panel last year when it voted to promote him from White House counsel to attorney general: that he would serve the public interest and stop acting like a hired gun helping a client figure out how to evade the law."
Yet Another Bush Lie - "George W. Bush has assured Americans that they can relax about his warrantless wiretapping because the program is reviewed by lots of lawyers and intelligence professionals. What he doesn’t say is that officials who object too much find themselves isolated, ridiculed and pushed out of their jobs."
Snapshot of death - "Click on the picture to enlarge. The actual number of deaths is likely to be much higher. The map is based on data from the American, British and Iraqi governments and news reports. The number killed by US strikes in particular seems low."
It's Your War! You Go Fight It! - "According to the Denver Rocky Mountain News, a survey of high school students in Jefferson County, Colorado, just west of Denver, revealed that 25 percent of them opted out of allowing military recruiters to contact them. This is up from 13 percent one year before. In highly affluent Douglas County, south of Denver, the number is 55 percent. As one high school junior in Boulder told "the Rocky": “The whole getting-shot-at thing - I have better things I want to do.” This survey comes on the heels of a recent Pentagon study stating that the US Army “has become a ‘thin green line’ that could snap unless relief comes soon.” I know exactly where the Army can find such “relief.” Millions of Americans who support America’s policy of perpetual war have never served one day in the military. Most of the pundits, politicians and policymakers who promote and vote for America’s troop presence in 130 countries, as well as the Iraq war and – this is a safe bet – a war with Iran, fall into this category. For some "sacrifice" means reading an e-mail from a Democrat."
Intelligence - "I'm going to say something very dangerous: most people are so quick to accuse someone else for problems they see going on around the world, but Muhammad-forbid we look in the mirror."
US plans massive data sweep - " The US government is developing a massive computer system that can collect huge amounts of data and, by linking far-flung information from blogs and e-mail to government records and intelligence reports, search for patterns of terrorist activity. The system - parts of which are operational, parts of which are still under development - is already credited with helping to foil some plots. It is the federal government's latest attempt to use broad data-collection and powerful analysis in the fight against terrorism. But by delving deeply into the digital minutiae of American life, the program is also raising concerns that the government is intruding too deeply into citizens' privacy. ... ADVISE "looks very much like TIA," Mr. Tien of the Electronic Frontier Foundation writes in an e-mail. "There's the same emphasis on broad collection and pattern analysis." ... "This sort of technology does protect against a real threat," says Jeffrey Ullman, professor emeritus of computer science at Stanford University. "If a computer suspects me of being a terrorist, but just says maybe an analyst should look at it ... well, that's no big deal. This is the type of thing we need to be willing to do, to give up a certain amount of privacy." Others are less sure." -- Count me as one of the "others."
Military role in space said set to expand - "The military's role in deterring attacks on commercial satellites is set to be strengthened in the first broad overhaul of U.S. space policy in a decade, a U.S. official said on Wednesday."
City Chatter: The Terrorists of Tiny Town: Homeland security keeping our country safe from kindergarteners (hey, they could be Al Qaeda...) - "The kindergarten class at Lakewood’s Taft Elementary was planning a field trip to NASA Glenn Research Center. It’s a popular trip because it’s free, because the NASA staff already has age-appropriate tours that fit well with school curriculum, and, well, it’s outer space, for pete’s sake. They’ve got rocket ships. And NASA works the education angle hard. According to the agency, “A major part of the NASA mission is ‘To inspire the next generation of explorers . . . as only NASA can.’” And of course they talk about math and science. NASA says about 400 school groups took tours last year. But school principal Margaret Seibel says this year’s trip for Taft kindergarteners — we’re talking 6-year-olds here — had to be canceled due to homeland security concerns. Since new security regulations went into effect in May 1, 2005, access to the Visitor Center is restricted to United State citizens. All others might be terrorists. No tourists from France, no exchange students from Tokyo and, no foreign national kindergarteners on field trips. “I was told they would not make any exceptions,” Seibel says. Because two kids in the kindergarten class are not U.S. citizens, the teacher had to cancel the trip." -- No comment.
Israel plans to build 'museum of tolerance' on Muslim graves - "Skeletons are being removed from the site of an ancient Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem to make way for a $150m (£86m) "museum of tolerance" being built for the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Centre. Palestinians have launched a legal battle to stop the work at what was the city's main Muslim cemetery. The work is to prepare for the construction of a museum which seeks the promotion of "unity and respect among Jews and between people of all faiths"."
Fawlty England fans risk jail - "England football fans could be jailed if they do the Basil Fawlty goosestep during the World Cup Finals in Germany. Using Nazi symbols or actions is illegal in Germany and authorities say the same tough penalties given to right wing extremists will apply to fans who copy the salutes - even if done in jest. Christian Sachs, spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said: "It doesn't matter if someone is doing the goosestep, raising their arm in the Hitler greeting or handing out swastikas, these are all crimes in Germany and can be punished with up to three years in jail.""
Group alleges Yahoo! complicit in Chinese dissident arrest - "A freedom of speech group has accused Yahoo! of complying with the Chinese government's program of cracking down on dissident political speech on the Internet."
Chips that really get under your skin - "Without the white headphones, how will anyone know you're listening to an iPod? Researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) weren't concerned with such weighty questions when they developed a chip that allows you to listen to an iPod using your forearm as the transmission wire for the audio signals. The chip was detailed in one of several presentations during a session called "Silicon in Biology" at the International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) here Thursday."
News Corp profit tops one billion US dollars - "News Corp. announced a profit of 1.08 billion dollars in the just-ended quarter, nearly triple the result from the same period a year ago." -- Go ahead, try to fathom one billion dollars.
6-Year-Old Accused Of Sexual Harassment - "It's a case of sexual harassment -- involving first-graders. A boy at Downey Elementary in Brockton, Mass., was suspended from school for three days last month after school officials said that he sexually harassed a girl in his class."
NASA Telescope Spots Mega Solar Systems - "Scientists have found evidence of two mega solar systems - giant stars enveloped by what appear to be huge disks of planet-forming dust, they said Wednesday. The appearance of cloudy disks around stars are believed to represent current or future planetary systems. ... The new stars are believed to be 30 to 70 times more massive than the sun."
Oldest Known Tyrannosaur Found - "Paleontologists have unearthed two fossilized dinosaurs believed to be the oldest ancestors of the tyrannosaur family, researchers announced Wednesday. The new species had a cranial crest and was likely covered in feathers, but was only a third the size of its famous cousin, Tyrannosaurus rex. Still, the discovery sets back the clock on the tyrannosaur family by at least 30 million years."
Quote of the Day
"There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws."
~Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged
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