U.S. Senate adopts bill to isolate Hamas government - "The U.S. Senate adopted on Friday a bill to isolate the Hamas-led Palestinian government and to ban contacts with Hamas." -- Democracy only means to vote in the leaders the US government approve of.
Democracy in chains - "US Republicans are planning to change the law to stop black, Hispanic and Native American voters going to the polls in 2008." -- Too much to put here. Interesting read.
Slowly They Turned on U.S., Inch by Inch, Step by Step ... - "Frankly, I can't think of any reason why this is important except one. That would be to continue to "take down names" and make our Bill of Rights into a Bill of Wrongs. And so, step by step, inch by inch, our rights are being eroded until one day we'll wake up to reveille in some concentration camp. Not because we're Jewish, but maybe because we're not. Or maybe because not being Jewish implies being un-American.Or maybe we'll wake up to prayers and have to face Mecca. Or face the South, where our leader has moved. To Mexico City. Eh?"
GOP Candidate's Call for Labor Camp Rebuked - "A Republican gubernatorial candidate's call for creation of a forced labor camp for illegal immigrants drew rebukes Friday from two GOP lawmakers, who labeled it a low point in the immigration debate."
Pentagon Details Abuse of Iraq Detainees - "U.S. special operations forces fed some Iraqi detainees only bread and water for up to 17 days, used unapproved interrogation practices such as sleep deprivation and loud music and stripped at least one prisoner, according to a Pentagon report on incidents dating to 2003 and 2004. The report, with many portions blacked out, concludes that the detainees' treatment was wrong but not illegal and reflected inadequate resources and lack of oversight and proper guidance more than deliberate abuse. No military personnel were punished as a result of the investigation."
Democrats need a new script - "Are the Democrats going to be such easy prey again, neutralized by phony wedge issues and neglectful of the real issue, which is the administration's flagrant use of falsehoods to justify a war of choice? It could happen again. The leaderless Democrats, speaking in a cacophony, are being outgunned by the conservatives and members of their own party representing the Democratic Leadership Council who are at heart "Republican lite.""
Veteran Critic of White House Turns on 'Gullible' Press Pack - "For almost five decades, White House reporter Helen Thomas has been covering America's leaders with a healthy dose of scepticism and an endless string of pointed questions. Along the way she has ruffled presidential feathers and, since becoming a columnist in 2003, she has made clear her views on some of those incumbents - including George W Bush who she has described as the "worst president in all of American history". Now, 85-year-old Thomas has focused attention on her fellow reporters, accusing them of failing in their duties in the run-up to the Iraq war. "I ask myself every day why the media have become so complacent, complicit and gullible," she writes in Watchdogs of Democracy?, a book published this week. "It all comes down to the 9/11 terrorist attacks that led to fear among reporters of being considered 'unpatriotic' or 'unAmerican'.""
Bush executive orderlimits property seizure - "On the one-year anniversary of the controversial Supreme Court decision expanding the government's power of eminent domain, President Bush issued an executive order preventing federal agencies from seizing private property except for public projects such as hospitals or roads."
Bush wants power to cut items in spending bills - "President Bush is pushing Congress to give him more authority to slice and dice the budget, an idea that's popular with conservatives who think the White House needs more muscle to restrict federal spending."
The World What? - "So the U.S. team has bombed at the World Cup. Again. And even though 2 billion people (!) are probably watching the World Cup, the fact that the U.S. even had a team in it hardly casts a ripple of awareness in America. Soccer gets even less interest from Americans than the quadrennial TV show Who Wants to Be America’s Next Despot. Why don’t Americans "get" soccer? ... The more likely reason, I think, is a combination of nationalism – and the U.S. is certainly one of the most absurdly nationalistic societies on Earth, given to wild fanatical claims about itself in comparison to others, and naturally prefers "American" sports like baseball, basketball and football to foreign sports – and and the other is what could be called elitism. Although most Americans believe in merit or something like it, in their favored sports they seem to prefer athletes who are far beyond average. Whether it’s giants in basketball or football or power hitters in baseball, Americans seem to prefer displays of brute force and size over finesse and coordination. ... And it’s not an original observation to say that American society is an unusually violent and brutal society in regards to it’s favored forms of entertainment, from sports to the movies and videogames to TV shows, especially the highly-rated TV show the "U.S. bombs and/or invades (insert name of country here)" regularly broadcast by the news/war channels. I think it’s certainly true that this preference for displays of destructive violence is translated into sports that feature displays of strength and favor large size. Perhaps for Americans, sports are merely an interlude between wars and a substitute for the disparity of military destruction that the U.S. enjoys over other regimes, which excites and inspires the most nationalistic Americans. Could it be that soccer’s worldwide popularity resides more in it’s equality of access, which favors societies where individuals have less disposable income to spend on sports equipment, but also is an expression of a more anti-imperialist and peaceful mentality in relation to the rest of the world?"
Congressional Hopeful Blames Troubles On The Devil - "Republican congressional hopeful John Jacob believes the devil is impeding his efforts to unseat five-term Representative Chris Cannon. ... Jacob says that since he decided to run for Congress, Satan has disrupted his business deals, preventing him from putting as much money into the race as he had hoped."
Doctors See Way to Cut Suffering in Executions - "A flood of lawsuits challenging lethal injection as cruel and unusual has stalled executions in some states and may prompt others to abandon them. And a Supreme Court ruling last week made it easier for death-row prisoners to file such suits. But medical experts say the current method of lethal injection could easily be changed to make suffering less likely." -- Nice debate, huh?
Cameroon girls battle 'breast ironing' - "This involves pounding and massaging the developing breasts of young girls with hot objects to try to make them disappear. Statistics show that 26% of Cameroonian girls at puberty undergo it, as many mothers believe it protects their daughters from the sexual advances of boys and men who think children are ripe for sex once their breasts begin to grow."
Bandanna banned in Springfield mall - "A southwest Missouri mall defended its dress code after a security guard told a 10-year-old girl her bandanna decorated with peace signs, smiley faces and flowers violated the mall’s code of conduct. ... Lydia had violated No. 10 on the list of 17 offenses: "failing to be fully clothed or wearing apparel which is likely to provide a disturbance or embroil other groups or the general public in open conflict."" -- Huh? Insanity runs rampant.
Worldwide reports of Morgellons Disease -- Interesting.
Stem cell op helps woman to stand again - "A WOMAN confined to a wheelchair for the past five years has told of the miracle moment she stood up after revolutionary stem-cell treatment. Julia Sandeman, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, paid £13,500 for the make-or-break operation in a Dutch clinic."
Charged Paper Moves on Its Own - "Gold-coated cellophane that bends when charged could work as the tiny wing-flexing muscles in paper surveillance planes, insect robots or even serve as smart wallpaper that emits sound like a speaker."
Teaching robot dogs linguistic tricks - "Researchers led by the Institute of Cognitive Science and Technology in Italy are developing robots that evolve their own language, bypassing the limits of imposing human rule-based communication."
Quote of the Day
"But for the present we're stuck with the world as it is."
~ Dr. Cors, A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr.
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