Iran eyes badges for Jews - "Human rights groups are raising alarms over a new law passed by the Iranian parliament that would require the country's Jews and Christians to wear coloured badges to identify them and other religious minorities as non-Muslims."
The Neo-Monarchy of George W. Bush - "To underscore grounds for concern, the administration has pronounced a theory of presidential power that should alarm anyone who wants government power limited. Under the Unitary Executive doctrine of the Bush Justice Department and many conservative legal theorists, the executive branch has enough implied and inherent powers during wartime to negate the checks and balances ordinarily provided by Congress and the courts. Considering that the Bush administration’s “war on terror” is vague enough to last indefinitely and assumes a global battlefield, the Unitary Executive doctrine is a blueprint for despotism that Napoleon would have envied."
The Eternal Value of Privacy - "The most common retort against privacy advocates -- by those in favor of ID checks, cameras, databases, data mining and other wholesale surveillance measures -- is this line: "If you aren't doing anything wrong, what do you have to hide?" Some clever answers: "If I'm not doing anything wrong, then you have no cause to watch me." "Because the government gets to define what's wrong, and they keep changing the definition." "Because you might do something wrong with my information." My problem with quips like these -- as right as they are -- is that they accept the premise that privacy is about hiding a wrong. It's not. Privacy is an inherent human right, and a requirement for maintaining the human condition with dignity and respect."
No one in Baghdad wants to talk about U.S. Embassy project - "Don't ask about the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. It's a secret - security reasons. But it's hard keeping a 104-acre complex rising on the banks of the Tigris River hidden. Anyone who cares to know can easily see four giant construction cranes towering over the river at the largest such project ever undertaken by the United States - a symbol of American presence that will last well into the future."
Report Says FAA Got 52 Warnings Before 9/11 - "The Federal Aviation Administration received repeated warnings in the months before Sept. 11, 2001, that al Qaeda hoped to attack airlines, according to a previously undisclosed report by the commission that investigated the terrorist attacks."
Senate panel backs US gay marriage ban - "A Senate panel approved a controversial proposal to write a gay marriage ban into the US Constitution. The proposed amendment will go to the full Senate on June 5 for what is expected to be a heated debate on a ban backed by President George W. Bush." -- God damn this hypocritical country. Sure you have liberty, but only the liberty we say you can have. Sure you have the right to pursue happiness, but only what we deem happiness to be.
The Logic of 'Love It or Leave It' - "Any person who has strong sentiments against the way things are done in this country has probably heard "love it or leave it" at some point. What is the logic of this argument?"
The War On Sex - "They have a plan for you, and if you are anything like the 85 percent of American couples who have sex once a week, you're not going to like it. The pro-life groups who are the most committed to ending legal abortion -- and gotten the furthest in their goals -- are also leading campaigns against the only proven ways to prevent abortion: contraception. Shocking as it may be, there is not one pro-life organization in the United States that supports the use of contraception. Instead the pro-life movement is the constant opponent of every single effort to provide Americans with the ability to prevent unwanted pregnancies."
Happy Sex Is Healthy Sex - "And yet, "18 out of 25 students wrote papers that dealt with addiction or predators," she said. "Unfortunately, that image is very entrenched. It's what the media has latched onto. Anything that has to do with sex and the internet is (portrayed as) negative.""
Vaccine to halt cancer endorsed - "An advisory panel to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration yesterday recommended approval of a vaccine to protect women and girls as young as 9 years old against a sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer."
Final chromosome in human genome sequenced - "Scientists have reached a landmark point in one of the world's most important scientific projects by sequencing the last chromosome in the human genome, the so-called "book of life"."
Illegals granted Social Security - "The Senate voted yesterday to allow illegal aliens to collect Social Security benefits based on past illegal employment -- even if the job was obtained through forged or stolen documents."
Mexicans say nothing will halt illegal trips north - "Mexicans say it will take more than three layers of fence and 6,000 National Guard troops to keep them out of the United States."
'National' or 'common'? Senate ponders what to call English - "Whether English is America's "national language" or its national "common and unifying language" was a question dominating the Senate immigration debate."
Reid calls language proposal racist - "Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid called a proposal to make English the official language "racist" on the Senate floor yesterday."
US Proposes Ban on Nuclear Bomb-Making Material - "The United States has presented a draft treaty aimed at cutting off production of fissile material, the plutonium and uranium used in making nuclear weapons."
ISP snooping plans take backseat - "A prominent Republican in the U.S. Congress has backed away from plans to rewrite Internet privacy rules by requiring that logs of Americans' online activities be stored."
Couple Arrested For Asking For Directions - "WBAL-TV 11 News I-Team reporter David Collins said Joshua Kelly and Llara Brook, of Chantilly, Va., got lost leaving an Orioles game on Saturday. Collins reported a city officer arrested them for trespassing on a public street while they were asking for directions. "In jail for eight hours -- sleeping on a concrete floor next to a toilet," Kelly said."
'Da Vinci Code' Called 'Real Danger' to Christians' Faith - "Leaders of several religious organizations Wednesday urged filmgoers to boycott "The Da Vinci Code," which opens in theaters on Friday. While most speakers at the Washington, D.C., news conference condemned the film, the head of one group went further, calling the movie "a real, real danger" to the faith of Catholics and other Christians."
What Do You Think Of The Da Vinci Code? Who Cares? - "The Da Vinci code is the latest salvo in mass marketed conspiratorial junk that creates a counterfeit cultural zeitgeist and diverts focus from the real conspiratorial agendas that are unfolding before our own eyes not on a movie screen or a fictional paperback but in reality."
A fine romance: how humans and chimps just couldn't let go - "It could be the oldest, not to mention the messiest, break-up in history. When humans and chimpanzees split up along the path of evolution, they carried on having sex for as long as 4m years, geneticists claim today. The revelation suggests that the history of humanity may be far more complex than scientists appreciated."
Some apes, birds can think ahead, studies show - "Two carefully planned sets of experiments to be published on Friday in the journal Science show intelligent birds and great apes can plan into the future in a way that transcends simple food caching, as squirrels, foxes and other animals do. ... "Apes and jays can also anticipate future needs by remembering past events, contradicting the notion that such cognitive behavior only emerged in hominids.""
Quote of the Day
"Must be a yearning deep in human heart to stop other people from doing as they please."
~ Mannie, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein
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