The Little Brown Reader

Pentagon kills Poindexter's terrorism futures market

This kind of stuff just goes to show that if people get enough power, they will eventually do themselves in, due to hubris, cracked ethics, and a level of distance from reality that borders on delusion.

Just as long as he's not allowed to control anything that fires live rounds, I say let Admiral Poindexter get as wild as he wants with his crazy computer projects. Ultimately he's making a mockery of himself, and maybe at some point it will all add up to enough to wake up the general public before it's too late.

CNN.com - Amid furor, Pentagon kills terrorism futures market - Jul. 30, 2003

Read It Rating: 8
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -1
Learning Percentage: 70%

But, I don't waaant a recall! Waaaa!

This is a two-fer page from TruthOut, with Bill Maher whining and the LA Times bemoaning -- both of them unhappy about the upcoming California recall election.

I'm already tired of hearing people complain about and assail this recall election. Hopefully there will be a big wave of getting over it soon, but I'm not holding my breath.

I wonder how many of these recall naysayers were big anti-recall people before this one came up. I don't remember there being a lot of folks complaining about how it's an abuse of democracy and such until recently, now that it's actually happening and some folks find it inconvenient.

I heard someone say recently that the fact that 30-plus attempts to have a recall election have failed before shows that it's a bad idea. No...it shows that this time, people just might be fed up enough to go through with it.

I'll be the first to admit that it's a pretty crazy process, but it is what it is. It's been in the California Constitution for nearly a hundred years. The thing to do is roll with it.

I have never liked Gray Davis. He simply reeks of everything that people mean when they say the word "politician" in a bad way. (Such as in, "Politicians are all a bunch of crooks," or "I don't like politicians", etc.) I don't know of a single policy, proposal, or act of his that I support. If they were going to draw a random Californian's name out of a hat and put that person in place of Gray Davis, I'd welcome the change.

Recall ho!

t r u t h o u t - Bill Maher | Recalls Are for Cars, Not California Governors

Bush Takes Responsibility for Iraq-Niger Claims, announces marriage meddling

This "defining marriage" business pisses me off. I checked my dictionary again, and as I expected, marriage is already defined, just like it was 7 years ago when I first wrote about this issue.

Of course, it wasn't an entirely fair test, because I looked in the same dictionary then as I did now. I'm a little scared to look in a newer one, lest I find that there really is no definition of marriage anymore -- thus requiring that the president and Congress get involved in the job of defining it (or, insanely laughably, put the definition in the Constitution).

Bush Takes Responsibility for Iraq Claims
President Touches on War, Gay Marriage, Economy in Wide-Ranging News Conference
By Mike Allen
The Washington Post
Wednesday 30 July 2003

President Bush took personal responsibility today for including flawed intelligence about Saddam Hussein in his State of the Union address after letting others take the blame for three weeks. But he said history will vindicate the war in Iraq, even though no unconventional weapons have been found.

Bush said administration lawyers are drafting a law that would define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, stopping short of endorsing the constitutional ban on gay marriage that is being championed by some Republican leaders following a Supreme Court ruling that effectively decriminalized sodomy.

Washington Post original

Read It Rating: 8
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -6
Learning Percentage: 45%

Nuns Jailed for Vandalizing Silo in Protest

t r u t h o u t - Three Nuns Jailed for Vandalizing Silo

By Judith Kohler
Associated Press

Friday 25 July 2003

DENVER (AP) -- In October, three nuns vandalized a nuclear missile silo to protest the use of weapons of war. For that act, all three will spend the next several years behind bars.

"The hope of the world rests on each of our shoulders," Hudson said. "We are doing our part. What about you?"

Full story

AP original (appears to be shifting as the story develops)

Read It Rating: 8.5
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -1.5
Learning Percentage: 90%

Darrell Issa's Teeny Weapon

Total Recall
Darrell Issa's Teeny Weapon

by Paul Brennan
Friday 25 July 2003

It was only an "unloaded . . . little, teeny pistol," Congressman Darrell Issa (R-Somewhere south of San Onofre) told the Los Angeles Times earlier this month, hoping to explain away a 1972 weapons conviction. Now the San Francisco Chronicle tells us how unloaded and teeny.

But Issa is in the awkward position of declining interviews at the moment he needs the press most. Not merely bankrolling the Davis recall, Issa has also put himself forward as the man most likely to replace the governor if the recall succeeds. In that campaign, he'll depend on the media, a media that occasionally insists on dogging facts-like evidence that Issa has habitually lied in his résumé.
Full story

OCWeekly original

Read It Rating: 8
Left/Right Rating: L2
Freedom Rating: -1
Learning Percentage: 75%

Paul Krugman | You Say Tomato

You Say Tomato

By Paul Krugman
The New York Times | Opinion

Tuesday 29 July 2003

Excerpt:

What must worry the Bush administration, however, is a third possibility: that the American people gave Mr. Bush their trust because in the aftermath of Sept. 11, they desperately wanted to believe the best about their president. If that's all it was, Mr. Bush will eventually face a terrible reckoning.

NYT original

Read It Rating: 8
Left/Right Rating: L2.5
Freedom Rating: 1.5
Learning Percentage: 60%

3 Legal Challenges Mounted to California's Recall Election Process

This article also has updates on the latest word from potential contenders.

Three Separate Legal Challenges Mounted to California's Recall Election Process

By David Kravets
Associated Press
Tuesday 29 July 2003
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - As the clock ticks toward the state's first gubernatorial recall election, three separate lawsuits are challenging the way California plans to carry it out.

TBO.com/AP Original

Read It Rating: 6
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: 1.5
Learning Percentage: 60%

FEMA: The Structure of Tyranny?

Aside from detailing the traditional info about Executive Orders allowing the president to grant martial law powers to FEMA, this analysis draws the connection to the new Department of Homeland Security, which author John Newman (a soon-to-be freshman in college) asserts is largely a giant version of FEMA.

FEMA: The Structure of Tyranny?

Read It Rating: 7
Left/Right Rating: R1
Freedom Rating: 4
Learning Percentage: 15%

Wolfowitz: Iraq Intel Was 'Murky'

CBS News | Wolfowitz: Iraq Intel Was 'Murky'

July 28, 2003 11:49:40
(CBS/AP) Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, one of the architects of the war in Iraq, told interviewers Sunday that intelligence on Iraq's alleged weapons and suspected links to terrorism was "murky."

In his Feb. 5 presentation to the Security Council, Secretary of State Colin Powell told delegates, "What we're giving you are facts and conclusions based on solid intelligence."

Full story...

Read It Rating: 7
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -2
Learning Percentage: 30%

Bush has another agenda in Africa

This is a long analysis of a lot of the goings on in Africa, through the lens of what it means for America, and more specifically what it means for Bush. I wouldn't know where to start excerpting it...there's a lot in there. The whole thing isn't about oil, although there's certainly a focus on that factor.

Bush has another agenda in Africa

Oil quest may outflank bid to end conflict, boost development

ANALYSIS
By Kari Huus
MSNBC

July 7 -- President Bush left for Africa on Monday to stress his conviction in the battle against AIDS and his efforts to encourage economic growth, trade and good governance where it is badly needed. The trip, which in many ways echoes the themes of predecessor Bill Clinton, represents a turnaround from 2001, when candidate George Bush made it clear Africa was not really on his radar. Now, with strife in Liberia focusing new attention on the continent, Bush says he wants to send the message to Africa that Americans care. He also has a new motivation to make friends on the continent -- oil.

Read It Rating: 10
Left/Right Rating: L1
Freedom Rating: -6
Learning Percentage: 80%

Nudists: Foley's attack on camp is malicious

Here's a quote from Foley in the article, in response to the charge that he's just using the camp as a hot issue to energize his bid to be promoted to the Senate:

''This might be an important issue that conservatives want a solution to, but I'm not doing this to energize the base,'' he said. ``I'd be pursuing this with the same vigor as I would if I were just seeking reelection.''

Meaning, I guess, "I'd be sticking my nose where it doesn't need to be for my own political gain, no matter what particular gain I was after."

The Miami Herald | 07/07/2003 | Nudists: Foley's attack on camp is malicious

BY PETER WALLSTEN
pwallsten@herald.com

In his quest for a seat in the U.S. Senate, Rep. Mark Foley has rankled a group that is barely covered in most elections: nudists.

But ''naturists'' who say the camp exposes their children to a perfectly healthy and wholesome education see something more calculated: A candidate with a reputation as a social moderate on issues such as gay rights and abortion has found a convenient target to boost his reputation among conservatives who decide GOP primaries.

Full story...

Read It Rating: 4.5
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -1
Learning Percentage: 50%

Blair defends case for Iraq war

From the photo caption for this story: A new poll shows 54 percent of those questioned would not trust Blair "further than I could throw him."

The number isn't actually that stunning, but it's pretty funny that a polling company included that phrasing in a question. It's a slightly different metric than the rest of the pack.

CNN.com - Blair defends case for Iraq war - Jul. 8, 2003
British support for war declining, poll shows

LONDON, England -- Prime Minister Tony Blair has staunchly defended his case for going to war with Iraq, rejecting claims that he misled Britain ahead of the conflict.

Fighting for his political reputation, Blair said he was confident that weapons of mass destruction would be found in Iraq.

Full story...

Read It Rating: 7.5
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: .5
Learning Percentage: 55%

U.S. May Cut Aid In Court Dispute

U.S. May Cut Aid In Court Dispute (washingtonpost.com)

About 35 Nations Could Lose Funds

By Peter Slevin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 1, 2003; Page A14

The Bush administration, intent on exempting U.S. citizens from prosecution by the International Criminal Court, is drawing fresh accusations of diplomatic heavy-handedness by threatening to cut off military aid to dozens of allies that refuse to sign immunity deals with the United States.

A deadline for cooperation expired at midnight Monday, freezing money not yet spent this year by about 35 countries and putting the countries on notice that they could be denied millions for military equipment and training programs in the next budget year if they do not comply with U.S. wishes.

Full story...

Read It Rating: 8
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: ? (Depends on whether it leads to the furthering or the reduction of the new American Empire)
Learning Percentage: 20%

Outlawing Subversives: the US and Hong Kong

David Lindorff contrasts the huge and fervent protests in Hong Kong over a new anti-sedition law with the relatively apathetic reaction in the U.S. over the USA-PATRIOT Act.

David Lindorff: Outlawing Subversives: the US and Hong Kong

Read It Rating: 8
Left/Right Rating: L5
Freedom Rating: -2
Learning Percentage: 50%

Post-War, The Tone Has Changed

I'm doing some catching up, so there might be some oldish articles (like this one) in the coming batch.

This one's a TruthOut translation of a Le Monde article. Here's the original.

Post War

Le Monde

Friday 11 July 2003

The tone has changed. It is no longer the triumphant and triumphalist tone of the Commander-in-Chief of the American armed forces strapped into an air force fighter pilot outfit, landing in a combat jet on the deck of an aircraft carrier of the Pacific Fleet to celebrate the end of combat in Iraq. Thursday July 10 President George W. Bush soberly acknowledged: "We have a security problem in Iraq, without any doubt." Since the end of the war three months ago not a day has gone by that American forces have not been the object of several daily attacks: more than 70 soldiers have been killed, thirty or so of them in ambushes. According to a CBS poll the same Thursday, less than half of Americans believe the situation in Iraq is under control...

Read It Rating: 5
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -6
Learning Percentage: 20%

Whales May Have Been More Plentiful Than Once Thought

Whales May Have Been More Plentiful (washingtonpost.com)

Scientists may have profoundly underestimated the number of whales that once lived in the North Atlantic Ocean, a controversial finding that could have critical implications for the future of whaling and whale conservation, a new genetic study concludes.

In fact, the authors report today in the journal Science, their analysis showed that the pre-whaling, or "historic," population of humpback whales in the North Atlantic was 240,000, 12 times as many as the current historical-statistical estimate of 20,000. There are about 10,000 now.

Full story...

Read It Rating: 7.5
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: 1
Learning Percentage: 90%

Ruppert: BEYOND BUSH -- Part I

This long article by conspiracy investigator (and creator of "The Truth and Lies of 9-11") Michael Ruppert was not nearly as interesting and revealing as I expected it to be, after it sat on my desktop intimidating me with its length for a long time. Much of the length is due to really long excerpts and quotations from other sources. Ruppert backs up many conclusions that I've drawn myself, including the key one -- which is that Bush will be impeached in his second term, if he wins (or otherwise acquires) one.

I don't know where Part II of this is, or if it exists yet, but it would be helpful, since Ruppert definitely leaves some unresolved issues.

BEYOND BUSH -- Part I

Read It Rating: 7.5
Left/Right Rating: L2
Freedom Rating: ?
Learning Percentage: 39%

Congress Takes Aim at the USA-PATRIOT Act

In a huge victory, the House voted on Tuesday evening -- by an extraordinary margin -- for an amendment to this year's Commerce, Justice and State funding bill that would bar federal law enforcement agencies from implementing "sneak and peek" search warrants. In one of its most controversial provisions, the USA PATRIOT Act allowed government agents to execute so-called sneak and peek warrants and search homes, confiscate certain types of property and essentially "bug" computers without notifying the subject of the search that it is happening.

Conservative Rep. C.L. "Butch" Otter (R-ID) offered the amendment, which passed by a vote of 309 to 118, with 113 Republicans voting in favor. The amendment still has to clear the Senate and the President before it becomes law.

The Otter Amendment is the first unequivocal indication that lawmakers are taking seriously a broad, grassroots backlash against excessive government powers, which has grown exponentially in the past several months. To date, at least 142 communities and three states, encompassing more than 16 million people, have passed pro-civil liberties resolutions that speak out against the PATRIOT Act, many of which call for specific fixes to the bill.

"Although we applaud Rep. Otter and his fellow patriots, there is now more to be done," said Timothy Edgar, an ACLU Legislative Counsel. "The PATRIOT Act is replete with similar unnecessary and un-American surveillance, detention and investigative powers that must be repealed before we can really begin to restore civil liberties protections to where they need to be in America."

Learn more on the ACLU's campaign to keep America Safe and Free.

TAKE ACTION!

Click here to send a FREE "Thank or Spank" fax to your Representative!

Much more needs to be done to alleviate the worst provisions of the PATRIOT Act and we need to let our Members of Congress know that we are watching!

Trinward: A new paradigm for "service"

Long-time Libertarian activist Steve Trinward discusses some ideas for funding the efforts of would-be full-time activists.

A new paradigm for "service"

Read It Rating: 7
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: 1
Learning Percentage: 68%

Rep. Ron Paul, the GOP’s loner from the Lone Star State

‘I’ll probably win this argument’
Rep. Ron Paul, the GOP’s loner from the Lone Star State

By Jeff Dufour

Being Ron Paul would seem a frustrating proposition.

A strict opponent of almost everything government undertakes, the Texas Republican congressman usually finds himself on the losing end of legislative battles.

No more so than this year, in which the United States fought a war he didn’t support. Congress, meanwhile, enacted a tax cut he feels is too small, returned to deficits, expanded the role of government through the Department of Homeland Security and is poised to pass a Medicare reform package he abhors.

But, he said last week from his office in the Cannon Building, “I’m not frustrated because I didn’t expect very much. I think we’re getting what I have anticipated.”

Yet he’s not about to keep quiet. On July 10, he underscored why he’s often a thorn in his own party’s side as much as in the Democrats’. In a lengthy floor speech dubbed “Neo-Conned,” he lambasted the administration and its philosophical bedfellows.

Full story

Read It Rating: 7
Left/Right Rating: R2
Freedom Rating: 7.5
Learning Percentage: 65%

Upholding Liberty in America

Upholding Liberty in America

by Ed Crane and William Niskanen
Ed Crane is president of the Cato Institute and William Niskanen is its chairman.

In the aftershock of September 11, 2001, there is a heightened awareness among most Americans of how precious their freedom is. They also realise the need for better government intelligence work to fight terrorism. But they should not let the government usurp basic liberties.

All is not gloom. What is needed now is for limited government conservatives of the variety exemplified by Ronald Reagan and Barry Goldwater to join forces with libertarians and enlightened liberals who respect civil liberties. They should speak out in support of America's heritage of liberty.

Full column

Read It Rating: 9
Left/Right Rating: R1
Freedom Rating: 7.5
Learning Percentage: 10%

Jerry Springer files for Senate race

Talk show host Springer files for Senate race

MALIA RULON, Associated Press Writer Monday, July 14, 2003

(07-14) 13:19 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) --
Jerry Springer, the talk show host whose nationally syndicated program often spotlighted strippers and skinheads, officially filed papers on Monday to run for the U.S. Senate from Ohio.

Springer, the former mayor of Cincinnati, will make a final decision on whether to run for the Democratic nomination by the end of the month....

Read It Rating: 8
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: 1
Learning Percentage: 60%

Gov. Davis Comes Out Fighting In Round 2 of Recall Campaign

Gov. Davis Comes Out Fighting In Round 2 of Recall Campaign (washingtonpost.com)

By Rene Sanchez
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 23, 2003; Page A03

LOS ANGELES, July 22 -- The last stand of California Gov. Gray Davis (D) has begun.

His poll numbers look bleak. His administration is in the grip of a $38 billion deficit, the worst financial crisis in state history. And many Democrats fear he is doomed. But Davis is promising to fight the recall to the finish with the same hardball style that has defined his long political career.

Full story

Read It Rating: 7
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: 1.5
Learning Percentage: 45%

Anti-BCRA brief filed before Supreme Court

Don't be thrown off by the Right To Life group cited in the court case tile below -- this is a broad coalition case against the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act. The national political party mentioned in this poorly-written "press release" is of course the LP; the member of Congress would be Ron Raul; you've probably heard of some of the "nonprofit ideological corporations" (?), but there are a couple different cases like this, and I dont want to mis-guess what groups are in this particular case. I'm pretty sure I'm a member of at least one or two of them.

As far as I can tell, the only good thing to come from the "Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act" is that it gave me the idea of using "Bipartisan" as a term to mock and insult the compromising core of the two corrupt parties. I am grateful for that, but it's served its purpose, and it can go away now.

Press Releases at Liberty For All - Madison Center Files BCRA Opening Brief in Supreme Court

On Tuesday, July 8, 2003, Madison Center attorneys filed their opening brief in the United States Supreme Court in National Right to Life Committee v. FEC (No. 02-1733), one of the consolidated appeals challenging the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA). The Madison Center represents a national political party, a member of Congress, a state attorney general, nonprofit ideological corporations, a political action committee, and a minor, who are challenging various provisions of BCRA that limit their freedom of speech and association in the name of "reform."

One key argument in the brief was that "reform" groups advocating enactment of BCRA engaged in the same sort of issue advocacy activity to pass BCRA that they condemned as corrupting when done by other ideological corporations because such activity might influence elections and politicians might feel grateful for their efforts. Common Cause and Campaign for America held town hall meetings for favored candidates, issued communications lionizing candidates promoting their brand of "reform" and sharply attacking those who didn't, issued scorecards, operated phone banks all during peak election seasons. But when examined under oath in this case, leaders of these organizations admitted that their activity might influence elections but that it would never be corrupting.

Full release

Read It Rating: 5.5
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: 2
Learning Percentage: 65%

Blame for Bush's Uranium Mistake is spread around some more

t r u t h o u t - Bush Aides Disclose Warnings From CIA
Oct. Memos Raised Doubts on Iraq Bid

By Dana Milbank and Walter Pincus
The Washington Post

Wednesday 23 July 2003

The CIA sent two memos to the White House in October voicing strong doubts about a claim President Bush made three months later in the State of the Union address that Iraq was trying to buy nuclear material in Africa, White House officials said yesterday.

The information, provided in a briefing by Hadley and Bush communications director Dan Bartlett, significantly alters the explanation previously offered by the White House. The acknowledgment of the memos, which were sent on the eve of a major presidential speech in Cincinnati about Iraq, comes four days after the White House said the CIA objected only to technical specifics of the Africa charge, not its general accuracy.

Full story

Washington Post original

Read It Rating: 8.5
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: 1
Learning Percentage: 60%

Councilman Is Shot to Death in City Hall

For some reason, the version of this story that TruthOut has posted on their site doesn't match the original that they link to. Also, truthOut lists two authos of the story, but only one of those two is listed on the NYT story. Here's both:

t r u t h o u t - NY City Councilman / Community Activist Assassinated in City Hall

By Daniel J. Wakin and Carla Baranauckas
The New York Times

Wednesday 23 July 2003

Gunfire erupted in City Hall this afternoon, killing Councilman James E. Davis of Brooklyn and the gunman, an apparent political rival of the councilman, and sending other council members diving under their desks, city officials said.

Mr. Davis and the gunman, 31-year-old Othniel Askew, were both in the balcony of the second-floor council chamber after entering City Hall together and bypassing metal detectors a short time earlier, Mr. Kelly said.

Full story

NYT -- Councilman Is Shot to Death in City Hall

By MICHAEL COOPER

New York City councilman was killed inside City Hall yesterday afternoon by a political opponent who accompanied him to a Council meeting, pulled out a pistol and shot him in front of scores of stunned lawmakers and onlookers, officials said.

The shooting stirred panic in the nearly 200-year-old seat of city government as officials initially believed that a gunman was still loose. City Hall was sealed, the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges were briefly closed, subway trains bypassed stops near City Hall, and several nearby streets were barricaded. The crush of heavily armed police officers flooding the area - just blocks from the World Trade Center site - once again had New Yorkers fearing that a terrorist attack had taken place.

Full story

Read It Rating: 6
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: 1
Learning Percentage: 75%

(I gave the story a freedom rating of one, because it might lead to the end of the class system when it comes to weapons checks and metal detectors at courthouses and public buildings. No offense intended to Councilman Davis, who sounds like he was a great guy.)

GOP Frets About Bush Re-Election Chances

The line that is bolded below gives me the giggles. Please let me never have cause to say, "we must have blinders on."

t r u t h o u t - GOP Frets About Bush Re-Election Chances

By Ron Fournier
The Associated Press

Wednesday 23 July 2003

WASHINGTON - For the first time since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, rank-and-file Republicans say they are worried about President Bush's re-election chances based on the feeble economy, the rising death toll in Iraq and questions about his credibility.

"Of course it alarms me to see his poll figures below the safe margins," said Ruth Griffin, co-chair of Bush's 2000 campaign steering committee in New Hampshire. "If he isn't concerned, and we strong believers in the Bush administration aren't concerned, we must have blinders on."

Full story...

Guardian.uk/AP Original

Read It Rating: 7
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: 3.5
Learning Percentage: 55%

Ashcroft gives 'pep talk' in Seattle

Ashcroft gives 'pep talk' in Seattle

Excerpt:

...
And he said that the Justice Department is exploring a legislative refinement of the Patriot Act to give federal agents even more tools to track terrorists. For example, he said that agents should be able to use administrative subpoenas to gain information about terrorist targets. Such subpoenas are currently used by the FBI to obtain records of things like toll phone calls and bank accounts.

Asked if he is concerned that the Patriot Act diminished civil liberties, Lowenberg deferred to Congress, saying federal legislators "are the ones that should be holding hearings and taking testimony to ensure the balance struck is appropriate."

Read It Rating: 7
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -7
Learning Percentage: 15%

House to Vote on Medical Marijuana

House to Vote on Medical Marijuana Today
Will Republicans From Medical Marijuana States Protect Their Citizens?

MPP Press Release
JULY 22, 2003

Excerpt:

"The last time the House voted on medical marijuana was on a 1998 resolution opposing state medical marijuana laws," said Steve Fox, director of government relations for the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C. "That resolution passed, 310-93. But given the growing outrage over the DEA's raids on patients and caregivers in California, we expect it to be much closer this time.

Gephardt and fellow presidential contender Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH),voted for the 1998 resolution. In May, however, Kucinich said in an interview that he now supports medical marijuana "without reservation." He has since cosponsored both medical marijuana bills in Congress.

Read It Rating: 8
Left/Right Rating: L5
Freedom Rating: 1.5
Learning Percentage: 20%

Spring Hill residents get say on taxes

Note to Mayor Ray Williams: this may well be what was meant when our forefathers wrote in the Constitution, 'Of the people, for the people, by the people' -- except for the fact that that phrase isn't in the Constitution (it's in the Gettysburg Address...and I'm not certain it was about property taxes per se). I still give the mayor an 'A' for effort, which is what our forefathers meant when they wrote "no child shall be left behind" into the Constitution. ;-|

I kid the mayor, but still applaud the resolution.

Note to The Tennessean Staff Writer Sue McClure: It's not your job to determine that residents pay "only" such and such an amount of taxes. If it's such a dismissable amount of money, then maybe she wouldn't mind paying it for everybody.

Spring Hill residents get say on taxes

City leaders approve 'taxpayer bill of rights'

SPRING HILL — Residents and politicians gave the Spring Hill Board of Mayor and Aldermen a standing ovation last night after it approved a ''taxpayer bill of rights'' that allows residents to vote on any future property tax increases.

The resolution also states that any budget surpluses created by excess revenues in the general fund will be returned to the taxpayers in the next fiscal year by means of a property tax reduction.

Full story...

Read It Rating: 7
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: 2
Learning Percentage: 70%

U.S. government held in contempt

U.S. government held in contempt

Judge chides Army engineers for Missouri River water levels

ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON, July 22 -- A federal judge held the Army Corps of Engineers in contempt Tuesday for refusing to lower Missouri River water levels to protect endangered birds and fish. U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler ordered the corps and the secretary of the Army to comply by Friday or pay $500,000 for each day the corps refuses to comply. She said she may consider "more draconian contempt remedies" if flow is not cut by July 31.

Read It Rating: 3.5
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: ?
Learning Percentage: 75%

Cat Farmer: Liberal or Conservative?

Liberal or Conservative?
by Cat Farmer

Read It Rating: 4
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: 7
Learning Percentage: 15%

Young Cambodians rock the vote

Young Cambodians rock the vote | csmonitor.com

Excerpts:

Whether for demonstrations against garment-factory conditions or to raise teachers' salaries, protest organizers look to youths for nearly all their support. When election monitoring groups appealed for local observers to fill their ranks, the response was almost exclusively from this younger generation.

National Election Committee statistics estimate that more than one-third of some 6.3 million people who will vote in the upcoming election are 30 or under. And the number of teens coming of voting age is only expected to increase, with more than 60 percent of the total population age 24 or under, according to a recent UN Population Fund report.

Full story...

Read It Rating: 8
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: 5
Learning Percentage: 80%

CEOs find that a carrot works better than a club

CEOs find that a carrot works better than a club | csmonitor.com

Excerpt:

...Last week Ron Galotti, publisher of GQ magazine, resigned under pressure in the wake of what company officials described as widespread unhappiness among employees. They called his management style "abrasive" and his selling techniques "brash."

What refreshing advice for CEOs in every business to give their underlings....

Full column

Read It Rating: 5.5
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: 1
Learning Percentage: 30%

Arianna: what didn't the president know?

I'd like to state for the record that I'm not a fan of the modern journalistic tactic of making any scandal a "-gate" scandal. I still like Arianna though.

In Yellowcake-gate what didn't the president know?

Commentary by Arianna Huffington
July 22, 2003

Excerpt:

As the Niger controversy — Yellowcake-gate — is turning into a political firestorm, the question should be: What didn't the president know? And why does he know less and less every day? After all, it's becoming clearer that just about everyone else involved knew that the president was using a bogus charge. Whatever the opposite of "top secret" is, this was it.

The bottom line is this radioactive canard had been thoroughly discredited many times, but the Bush administration so badly wanted it to be true they just refused to let it die.

Full column

Read It Rating: 8.5
Left/Right Rating: L1
Freedom Rating: 1
Learning Percentage: 20%

'Business-like' cannabis dealer ordered to pay £70,000

Ananova - 'Business-like' cannabis dealer ordered to pay £70,000

A drug dealer who had business cards printed boasting of a 24-hour cannabis supply service has been ordered to hand over £70,000 - or go to jail.

He has now been ordered to pay £70,000 within 28 days or face 18 months jail - and still owe the debt.

Full story...

Arizona border grows deadlier

Arizona border grows deadlier

Susan Carroll
The Arizona Republic
Jul. 17, 2003 12:00 AM

DESERT WEST OF SELLS -- Undocumented immigrants are seven times as likely to die crossing the U.S.-Mexican border through Arizona now than five years ago.

The Border Patrol blames the increased rate of death on smugglers who lead immigrants into increasingly remote and treacherous areas of the border to evade capture. But activists say the Border Patrol has driven immigrants to their deaths by stationing thousands of agents in and around border cities from San Diego to Brownsville, Texas, funneling immigrants through the remote Arizona desert.

Full story...

Read It Rating: 9
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -7
Learning Percentage: 35%

Hooker denied right to file lawsuit

This is about a guy who's suing the local government officials so much that the government is effectively making it illegal for him to sue them. He sounds like what you might call "a character". It could just be that he's a full-time thorn in their side, and lacks the proper PR.

Hooker denied right to file lawsuit

By Amanda Wardle, awardle@nashvillecitypaper.com
July 17, 2003

Local legal and political personality John Jay Hooker will not be allowed to file suit against Metro incumbent mayoral candidate Bill Purcell, Davidson County Circuit Court Special Master Mary Ashley “Marsh” Nichols ordered Wednesday.

Hooker’s recent filing came despite an order issued against him in June by Davidson County Sixth Circuit Judge Thomas Brothers saying Hooker could not file suits in Davidson County without Special Master approval.

Full story...

Read It Rating: 4.5
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -2
Learning Percentage: 75%

Tens of Thousands Will Lose College Aid, Report Says

Tens of Thousands Will Lose College Aid, Report Says

Tens of Thousands Will Lose College Aid, Report Says
By GREG WINTER

The first report to document the impact of the government's new formula for financial aid has found that it will reduce the nation's largest grant program by $270 million and bar 84,000 college students from receiving any award at all.

"It's pretty hard to call several hundred thousand students a handful," said Brian K. Fitzgerald, director of the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance...

Read It Rating: 5
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: ?
Learning Percentage: 80%

Conflict of Interest, for Sale or Rent

This article lays the system out pretty openly.

Let's review:

The politicians are given (by the people) the power to command and control businesses and interest groups.

The politicians make all sorts of rules, and tip the scales of influence and largesse this way and that.

The businesses and interest groups decide which politicians make the rules and tip the largesse the way they like, and they give that politician money so he or she can stay in office.

AND THE PEOPLE KEEP VOTING FOR THOSE POLITICIANS, and keep giving them the power to command and control businesses and interest groups.

Any questions?

GOP Attorneys General Asked For Corporate Contributions (washingtonpost.com)

By R. Jeffrey Smith and Tania Branigan
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, July 17, 2003; Page A01

Republican state attorneys general in at least six states telephoned corporations or trade groups subject to lawsuits or regulations by their state governments to solicit hundreds of thousands of dollars in political contributions, according to internal fundraising documents obtained by The Washington Post.

The documents describe direct calls the attorneys general made, for example, to representatives of Pfizer Inc., MasterCard Inc., Eli Lilly and Co., Anheuser-Busch Cos., Citigroup Inc., Amway Corp., U.S. Steel Corp., Nextel Communications Inc., General Motors Corp., Microsoft Corp. and Shell Oil Co., among other companies. They also make clear that RAGA assigned attorneys general to make calls to companies with business and legal interests in their own states.

Read the whole sad story

Read It Rating: 9.8
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -7
Learning Percentage: 65%

Kucinich backs gay marraige

Would-be president backs gay marriage - The Washington Times: United Press International

CLEVELAND, July 16 (UPI) -- Democratic president hopeful, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, has reversed his opinion and now favors same-sex marriages.

But Tuesday, at a forum for presidential contenders sponsored by a gay-rights group, Kucinich said "there should be a federal law that would allow gay couples to be married," rather than leaving the matter to the states.

Full story...

Read It Rating: 7.5
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: 1.5
Learning Percentage: 70%

FRONT PORCH SITTING: A PROPOSAL

Sean Scallon offers an idea for a different kind of third party presdiential campaign, or campaigns. He has two main recommendations: one, that the LP draft Rep. Ron Paul and the Constitution Party draft Rep. Tom Tancredo, whether those two want to be drafted or not; and two, that they basically run "front porch campaigns", harkening back to the days of yore when that was the primary means of campaigning.

I'm not altogether opposed to the idea of the front porch campaign -- I don't think it can carry the whole weight of a campaign, but it has some qualitites which recommend it to some extent. And I'm certainly not opposed to the idea of the LP drafting Ron Paul as its presidential candidate. Tom Tancredo, however...from what I've gathered, Tom Tancredo is hardcore anti-immigration. And I can't support that.

I know -- Tom Tancredo can do a front porch campaign, but with a big wall around his property, and extensive vigilante patrols guarding his property from unwanted intrusion.

FRONT PORCH SITTING: A PROPOSAL -- A DIFFERENT KIND OF 3RD PARTY CAMPAIGN IN 2004
by Sean Scallon

Read It Rating: 7.5
Left/Right Rating: R2
Freedom Rating: 2
Learning Percentage: 40%

From heroes to targets

I also posted this article at PNAC.info, my site about the "Washington ideologues" mentioned below.

Salon.com News | From heroes to targets

The U.S. occupation of Iraq has turned into a daily debacle, say experts, because the Washington ideologues who planned the war were living in a fantasy.

- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Michelle Goldberg

July 18, 2003 | The Pentagon hawks who planned for postwar Iraq assumed American troops would be welcomed with flowers and gratitude. They assumed Saddam's regime could be decapitated but the body of the state left intact, to be administered by American advisors and handpicked Iraqis. They assumed that other countries, despite their opposition to the war, would come around once they saw how right America was, and would assist in Iraq's reconstruction.

America isn't losing the peace. The peace never began.

The current chaos in Iraq, many experts say, is the inevitable result of grandiose neoconservative ideology smacking into reality. The neocons underestimated the Iraqis' nationalism and their mistrust of America. They were so convinced that a bright new Middle Eastern future would inevitably spring from military victory that they failed to prepare for any other scenario. "Everything derives from a very defective understanding of what Iraq was like," says retired Col. Pat Lang, who served as the Pentagon's chief of Middle Eastern intelligence from 1985 until 1992 and who has closely followed the discussions over the Iraq war and its aftermath. "It was a massive illusion that the neocons had. It all flows from that."

Full story

Read It Rating: 9.5
Left/Right Rating: L2
Freedom Rating: -4.5
Learning Percentage: 50%

"Hunting for Bambi"

LOADED FOR BARE

July 16, 2003 -- A controversy has erupted over a twisted new Las Vegas game in which armed players in camouflage hunt down naked young women with paintball guns - and even have sex with them after the chase.

The company soon hopes to have something for everyone and will eventually introduce hunts in which women can track naked hunks and gays can go after men, the spokesman said.

Full story...

Read It Rating: ?
Left/Right Rating: ?
Freedom Rating: ?
Learning Percentage: ?%

Bush Welfare Marriage Plan Sailing Through Congress

If we're going to take social engineering to this level, why don't we just go whole hog? We could plot out the perfect life, and just reward or penalize everybody based on how close they come to being that model citizen. We're getting fairly close to that anyway, with the drug war, and various penalties and prizes for raising the right kind of family, and so on. Just think of how intricate and controlling it could be if we maxed out the system!

For instance, I'm cooking soybeans right now. Soybeans are healthy and full of protein, so I'd get points for that. But they're from China, and most likely genetically modified, so I'd probably be docked for buying foreign and messing with ecology. Then my point total gets docked overall because I'm single with no children -- which, in the Bush paradigm, means I'm pretty much a defective citizen.

All in all, it would maybe add up to a 5-cent credit for me. The Treasury could credit it right to my bank account as soon as the in-home Big Brother system detected that I was done with my meal. There could even be an audio recognition -- something like, "Way to go, citizen Lance Brown! You're making yourself strong and healthy, which is good for all of us. Keep doing things that are good for society as we see it, and you will be amply rewarded. And by the way, have you thought about getting married?"

(In case you hadn't noticed, I'm not a big fan of social engineering.)

If there's anything lamer than the social engineering aspect of this measure, it's the pathetically lazy Bipartisan manner in which it's wandering its way into law. Did you know that Bush has not vetoed one bill since he took office?

Bush Welfare Marriage Plan Sailing Through Congress

Thursday, July 17, 2003

WASHINGTON — President Bush's proposal to nudge women on welfare (search) toward the altar is headed for approval in Congress despite opposition from both the political left and right, as Democrats choose other battles to fight in the welfare debate.

Despite the concerns, Republicans are largely in favor of the plan and Democrats are largely resigned to it.

Full story...

Read It Rating: 7.5
Left/Right Rating: R2
Freedom Rating: -2.5
Learning Percentage: 65%

Is Fraud a High Crime or Misdemeanor?

Is Fraud a High Crime or Misdemeanor?

by Jacob G. Hornberger, July 16, 2003

In claiming that 16 controversial words in his State of the Union address last January were technically correct, the president is implying that he didn't actually deceive -- or intend to deceive -- the American people.

The answer is inescapable: The president's intent was to terrify the American people into believing that Saddam Hussein had the means to explode a nuclear bomb over some American city — either now or in the immediate future. And who can deny that the president was successful in generating the mind-numbing fear that became a principal reason that Americans supported the invasion of Iraq?

Full column...

Read It Rating: 9
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: 7
Learning Percentage: 35%

Ashcroft Could Face Reckoning on Detainee Mistreatment

Exposé Energizes Court Battle
Ashcroft Could Face Reckoning on Detainee Mistreatment
by Chisun Lee
July 16 - 22, 2003

A month after its release, a meticulous exposé of the Justice Department's troubling treatment of immigrants detained after the September 11 attacks has spurred a burst of legal activity that could lead to a reckoning for U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft in a Brooklyn courthouse.

Seven former detainees accuse Ashcroft, FBI director Robert Mueller, former Immigration and Naturalization Service commissioner James Ziglar, and prison wardens and guards of ethnic profiling, violating their due process rights, and physical and verbal abuse, among other grievances. CCR wants Brooklyn U.S. District Court judge John Gleeson to hear the lawsuit as a class action encompassing possibly dozens, even hundreds, of other detainees.

Full story...

Read It Rating: 9
Left/Right Rating: L5
Freedom Rating: 1.5
Learning Percentage: 60%

Lee Shelton: Is George W. Bush A One-Term President?

This is one of two articles I've read recently that speaks of the positive prospects of the Democrats in 2004, without saying much at all about the positive qualities of said Democrats. The elements in the Democrats' favor are generally phrased in terms of negatives about Bush that can be exploited (as in the excerpt below). It may be that the mainstream of America may be so disgusted by Bush a year from now that the Anyone But Bush strategy might do the trick on its own. But that's not where the mainstream is quite yet -- and if it doesn't get there, or if somehow Bush can turn the tide back in his favor, then the Democrats are actually going to need a candidate worth cheering for in his or her own right.

Lee Shelton seems to be positing that Hillary is going to get drafted in to save the day, but I have my doubts about that. She would certainly spice up the race though.

Like Father, Like Son: Is
George W. Bush A One-Term President?

By
Lee R. Shelton IV

Toogood Reports [Thursday, July 17, 2003; 12:01 a.m. EST]

Immediately following Gulf War I, President George Bush enjoyed a popularity rating that reached 91 percent. That number, however, plummeted once the voters began to focus on the recession that Bush denied even existed. His bid for a second term went down in flames. Now, with the 2004 presidential election still 15 months away, could his son be facing the same fate?

While so-called conservatives will no doubt try to get Americans to turn their attention to Bush´s "victories" in the war on terror, I believe that Democrats will zero in on two chinks in the administration´s armor: the economy and credibility. With a six percent unemployment rate and a projected budget deficit of over $450 billion to exploit, you can be sure they won´t pull any punches. And don´t underestimate the Democrats´ ability to attack Bush´s credibility now that the White House has admitted that its decision to attack Iraq was based––at least in part––on questionable intelligence.

Full story...

Read It Rating: 7.5
Left/Right Rating: L4
Freedom Rating: 1
Learning Percentage: 55%

Democrat Eyes Potential Grounds for Bush Impeachment

Democrat Eyes Potential Grounds for Bush Impeachment

By John Milne
Reuters

Thursday 17 July 2003

CONCORD, N.H. (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Bob Graham said on Thursday there were grounds to impeach President Bush if he was found to have led America to war under false pretenses.

After his appearance in New Hampshire, Graham issued a statement saying he was not calling for Bush's impeachment and saw the issue as a largely academic one...

Full story...

Reuters original

Read It Rating: 4.5
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: 2
Learning Percentage: 15%

Pentagon may punish GIs who spoke out on TV

Pentagon may punish GIs who spoke out on TV

Robert Collier, Chronicle Staff Writer Friday, July 18, 2003

Excerpts:

...Ask any grunt standing guard on a 115-degree day what he or she thinks of the open-ended Iraq occupation, and you'll get an earful of colorful complaints.

First lesson for the troops, it seemed: Don't ever talk to the media "on the record" -- that is, with your name attached -- unless you're giving the sort of chin-forward, everything's-great message the Pentagon loves to hear.
...

Full story

Read It Rating: 9
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -3
Learning Percentage: 50%

President Defends Allegation On Iraq

President Defends Allegation On Iraq

By Dana Priest and Dana Milbank
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, July 15, 2003; Page A01

President Bush yesterday defended the "darn good" intelligence he receives, continuing to stand behind a disputed allegation about Iraq's nuclear ambitions as new evidence surfaced indicating the administration had early warning that the charge could be false.

In the face of persistent questioning about the use of intelligence before the Iraq war, administration officials have responded with evolving and sometimes contradictory statements....

Full story...

Read It Rating: 6
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: ?
Learning Percentage: 35%

The 44 Trillion Dollar Question (part 1)

The 44 Trillion Dollar Question (part 1)
by Joey B. King

In case you have not heard, the Bush Administration is suppressing a report commissioned by the US Treasury Department. The report estimates that the financial obligations of the federal government for the next 75 years to be at least $44 trillion measured in 2002 dollars. The "baby boom" generation will most certainly break the bank with future healthcare and retirement entitlements. To meet this financial obligation would require an immediate and permanent 66% increase in the federal income tax across the board.

I know what I am about to say may not sound Libertarian to some, but I challenge anyone to come up with a politically viable solution (ending the SS today program is not a winnable political solution). What if federal office buildings were converted to condos and given to the retirees instead of cash. A similar program brought many of my family members, who were unpaid American Revolutionary War veterans, to Tennessee. The government gave them land-oftentimes sight unseen- as compensation. It was the only choice then, and it very well may be the only choice 20 years form now.

Full column...

Read It Rating: 7
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: 2
Learning Percentage: 50%

GOP Team Leader: Why Saddam Hussein Was a Grave and Gathering Danger

Choose... Build Team Radio Print and TV Distribute Lit. Upgrade Members Event Calendar The Radio Report Message Boards Alert My Team Register New Voters

Why Saddam Hussein Was a Grave and Gathering Danger September 11 crystallized how vulnerable we are to terror, and showed what our enemies are willing and able to do. President Bush promised the American people that he would not stand idly while dangers gathered abroad. Saddam Hussein's regime was a grave and gathering threat that the U.S. and our allies could not afford to ignore because it: Possessed and used weapons of mass destruction, and was known to be pursuing chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons programs. Saddam Hussein's regime used weapons of mass destruction against Iraqi civilians in Halabja in 1988, and against the Iranian army in the 1980s. The Iraqi regime failed to account for at least 30,000 liters of biological agents (including anthrax, botulinum toxin, and aflatoxin), 3.9 tons of the nerve agent VX, nearly 30,000 empty munitions that could be filled with chemical agents, 550 artillery shells filled with mustard agents, and over 6,000 chemical aerial bombs. Saddam maintained a cadre of nuclear scientists that he called his "nuclear Mujahadeen," and aggressively and covertly sought to acquire equipment necessary to manufacture gas centrifuges for uranium enrichment. After the Gulf War in 1991, we discovered that Saddam Hussein was several years closer to developing a nuclear weapon than our intelligence experts predicted. Repeatedly defied the will of the international community that it abandon its weapons of mass destruction program and submit to U.N. weapons inspections. Iraq defied 17 United Nations Security Council resolutions over a 12-year period. Iraq repeatedly defied and deceived international weapons inspectors. The semi-annual weapons updates provided by Iraq to Dr. Blix contained over 600 instances of missing or incomplete data on chemical, biological, and missile related imports, and Iraq was cited for willful attempts to hide growth media that could be used to produce biological agents. Sponsored and harbored known terrorists and terrorist groups. Iraq stoked terrorism and instigated violence in Palestinian territories, paying the families of suicide bombers $25,000 for attacking innocent civilians. Iraq harbored the notorious Abu Nidal, whose terror organization carried out more than 90 terrorist attacks in 20 countries that killed or injured nearly 900 people, including 12 Americans; and Abu Abbas, who was responsible for seizing the Achille Lauro and killing an American passenger. Iraq harbored Musab al-Zarqawi, a known associate of Usama Bin Laden who directed an al-Qaida training camp in eastern Afghanistan until late 2001. Zarqawi directed poisons/toxins lab in northeast Iraq alongside the radical Ansar al-Islam group, and his terror cell was responsible for assassinating an American foreign aid worker in 2002. Represented a potentially devastating nexus of weapons of mass destruction and terror organizations that could have had threatened millions of civilians in the region and at home. With its weapons program and known support for terrorism, Saddam's regime could have secretly passed the world's deadliest weapons to terrorists. From information obtained in Afghanistan, the United States knew that Al-Qaida was aggressively seeking to acquire weapons of mass destruction. Was one of the most brutal and repressive regimes in the world, which practiced ethnic cleansing, used chemical weapons on its own citizens, and committed numerous atrocities. Saddam's ethnic cleansing campaign displaced some 700,000 people throughout Iraq and destroyed more than 2,000 Kurdish villages. The Iraqi regime had more forced disappearance cases than any other country in the world.Ø We are only beginning to uncover the truth about the Iraqi regime. Over the last four months, U.S. and coalition forces, human rights groups, and Iraqi citizens themselves have found: Mobile chemical and biological labs of the kind described in Secretary Powell's presentation to the United Nations. Nuclear arms materials, including documents and components of a gas centrifuge used for uranium enrichment, hidden in the garden of an Iraqi nuclear scientist. Mass graves of thousands who were slaughtered by the regime. More than seven miles worth of documents that are being analyzed to provide a fuller picture of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program.

Reading While Bearded: another FBI visit

I included a long excerpt from this story, but there's plenty left at the original source, and I encourage you to read the whole thing there. The title above comes from the snarky caption that's under the article's accompanying photo.

Careful: The FB-eye may be watching
Reading the wrong thing in public can get you in trouble

BY MARC SCHULTZ

"The FBI is here,"Mom tells me over the phone. Immediately I can see my mom with her back to a couple of Matrix-like figures in black suits and opaque sunglasses, her hand covering the mouthpiece like Grace Kelly in Dial M for Murder. This must be a joke, I think. But it's not, because Mom isn't that funny.

Then, Agent Trippi asks, "Do you drive a black Nissan Altima?" And I realize this meeting is not about a friend. Despite their reassurances, and despite the fact that I haven't committed any federal offenses (that I know of), I'm starting to feel a bit like I'm in trouble.

Full column...

Read It Rating: 9
Left/Right Rating: L3
Freedom Rating: -2
Learning Percentage: 50%

P.O.'d voters rally in NV against governor, justices

The folks featured in this article respresent a mishmash of views, all centered around the theme of frustration and anger at people in government, mishandling money and bypassing the state constitution to get more. The "vow to recall" those people isn't as exciting as it sounds in the headline.

Las Vegas SUN: Activists vow to recall Nevada governor, justices over tax issue

Read It Rating: 5
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: 1.5
Learning Percentage: 50%

RAVE Act I: The Chill Is On

Pretty much everyone in the drug reform movement knew the R.A.V.E. Act was bad news, and that's why so many activists fought so hard (and successfully) to keep it from passing. But in the kind of move that makes "politician" a dirty word, Joe Biden snuck this very unpopular bill onto a very popular bill that was certain to pass. Without the frosting: He cheated, in order to bypass the will of the people and his colleagues.

And wouldn't you know, the first widely-known implementation of this stain of a law was an instance of precisely the worst kind of misuse that anyone not wrapped up in drug war hysteria could plainly see was bound to occur.

And Joe's all, "Wait a minute, that wasn't supposed to happen!"

And everyone's all like, "Duh, Joe. Duh."

Free drugs or free speech?
By DAVID CRISP, The Billings Outpost

A canceled Billings rock concert could provoke an early challenge to new national anti-drug legislation.

A May 30 fund-raising concert for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws was canceled as bands were setting up for the show. The cancellation followed a warning from a federal drug agent that the Eagles Lodge could be fined up to $250,000 if illegal drugs were used at the event.

Full Story...

The Chill Is On
Fighting raves, squelching speech

by Jacob Sullum, Reason Online

Karen Tandy, expected to be confirmed soon as the new head of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), did not face many tough questions when her nomination was considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee. One of the few exceptions came from Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.), who asked her about a problem he was instrumental in creating.

The law, which Biden sponsored, makes it a federal crime to "knowingly and intentionally" make a place available "for the purpose of manufacturing, distributing, or using any controlled substance." Violators are subject to $250,000 or more in civil penalties, a criminal fine of up to $500,000, and a prison sentence of up to 20 years.

Full Story...

Read Them Rating: 9.5
Left/Right Rating: L2
Freedom Rating: -4.5
Learning Percentage: 65%

William Lloyd Garrison - "...I will not equivocate..."

I happened upon Julian Bond of the NAACP giving a speech on C-Span, and a couple seconds after I flipped to it, he belted out this quote by William Lloyd Garrison:

"I do not wish to think, or speak, or write, with moderation. . . . I am in earnest -- I will not equivocate -- I will not excuse -- I will not retreat a single inch -- AND I WILL BE HEARD."

My kind of guy, that William Lloyd Garrison was. That quote speaks so true to me it gives me chills -- literally. He wrote that in 1831 in the very first issue of his anti-slavery newspaper, the Liberator. Bam! What a way to kick it off.

And he (along with many other who rallied to that cause) won. 35 years later he published his last Liberator, after Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. He did not equivocate. He did not excuse. He did not retreat a single inch. He was right, and he won.

My kinda guy.

William Lloyd Garrison at PBS's "Africans in America" feature.

Read It Rating: 10
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: 10
Learning Percentage: 55%

Families live in fear of midnight call by US patrols

Thought you couldn't get any more appalled at what's going on in Iraq? Think again.

It turns out Bush was telling the truth in his 2000 campaign, when he said he wasn't into nation building. (Just nation destroying.)

If I had a "Read It" rating higher than 10, I'd give it to this article.

Families live in fear of midnight call by US patrols

From Daniel McGrory in Baghdad

NEVER again did families in Baghdad imagine that they need fear the midnight knock at the door.

Mr Akhjan, whose 58-year-old father was arrested three weeks ago for driving a truck with no doors or headlights, said: “People are so sickened by what is happening they talk of wanting Saddam to come back. How bad can the Americans be that in three months we want that monster back?”

Full story...

Read It Rating: 10
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -10
Learning Percentage: 75%

Choiceless ballot coming to voting booth near you

Choiceless ballot coming to voting booth near you

Commentary by Cokie Roberts and Steven Roberts
July 03, 2003

If you think you will have a real choice when you vote for your member of Congress next year, think again. Your political leaders are conspiring to kill democracy in the House of Representatives.

Democrats are hardly guilt-free. In California, they were the main architects of a plan that protects every single incumbent of both parties and creates not one — zippo, zero — swing district. The whole state is entirely choiceless.
...

Full commentary

Read It Rating: 10
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -7.5
Learning Percentage: 55%

War on Drugs Assailed in Congress

An e-mail from the rockin'-then-rockin'-some-more Marijuana Policy Project:

Dear Friend:

This is a busy time in the nation's capital. Congress is currently
considering a number of bills and a nomination related to marijuana
policy. As a result, the Marijuana Policy Project has sent many
requests for action to its e-mail subscribers. You will be pleased to
know that in this alert you will not be asked to do anything.

The purpose of this alert is to describe a very encouraging event that
occurred in Congress this week. On Wednesday, the U.S. House Judiciary
Committee considered the Office of National Drug Control Policy
(ONDCP) Reauthorization Act of 2003. The Democrats on the committee
did not rubberstamp this bill; instead, they used the hearing as an
opportunity to attack not only the Bush administration's medical
marijuana policy, but also the war on drugs in its entirety.

U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) pressed the medical marijuana issue.
First, he proposed an amendment that would have ended the drug czar's
practice of interfering in state efforts to pass medical marijuana
legislation. Then, he proposed another amendment that would have
prevented the drug czar from approving the budget of any agency that
used funds to arrest medical marijuana patients. All Democrats in
attendance supported the latter amendment. (There was not a roll call
vote on the first amendment.)

More surprising was the vehemence with which the Democrats denounced
the war on drugs. The spark that lit the fuse for this explosion was
an amendment proposed by U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), which would
have deleted the entire reauthorization bill. Saying that the bill was
"not worth the paper it is printed on," Rep. Waters declared that
ONDCP is "wasteful, ineffective and unworthy." U.S. Rep. Melvin Watt
(D-NC) called the war on drugs a "dismal failure" and said that there
is nothing he is more embarrassed about than the federal government's
drug policy.

Nadler and U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX) also had harsh words
for the war on drugs, while the committee's ranking member, U.S. Rep.
John Conyers (D-MI), decried the growing number of prisoners in this
country serving time for nonviolent drug offenses. In the end, 10 of
11 Democrats in attendance voted in favor of deleting the entire bill.

The momentum for marijuana policy reform is clearly building. You can
almost feel the once-seemingly impenetrable wall of the war on drugs
starting to crumble. MPP is excited to be involved in this fight and
looks forward to keeping you posted about future developments.

Sincerely,

Steve Fox
Director of Government Relations
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.

P.S. Please visit http://www.mpp.org/USA/donate.html or write to
MPP, P.O. Box 77492, Washington, D.C. 20013 to donate to our
lobbying work on Capitol Hill.

Ann Coulter and Joe McCarthy, sittin' in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g

If you find conservative pundit Ann Coulter to be shrill and irrational, then this article should provide you with reassurance that you weren't jumping to false conclusions. If you're a fan, I suggest reading this and other dissections of her books. It really sounds like she's playing fast and loose with the facts (on top of the shrillness and irrationality.)

Salon.com Books | Has she no shame?

Of course not, and now we know why: In her new book "Treason," Ann Coulter reveals that her role model is Joe McCarthy. And her grasp of facts is even worse than her judgment..

- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Joe Conason

July 4, 2003 | "Slander" is defined in Bouvier's Law Dictionary as "a false defamation (expressed in spoken words, signs, or gestures) which injures the character or reputation of the person defamed." The venerable American legal lexicon goes on to note that such defamatory words are sometimes "actionable in themselves, without proof of special damages," particularly when they impute "guilt of some offence for which the party, if guilty, might be indicted and punished by the criminal courts; as to call a person a 'traitor.'"

"Whether they are defending the Soviet Union or bleating for Saddam Hussein, liberals are always against America," according to her demonology. "They are either traitors or idiots, and on the matter of America's self-preservation, the difference is irrelevant. Fifty years of treason hasn't slowed them down." And: "Liberals relentlessly attack their country, but we can't call them traitors, which they manifestly are, because that would be 'McCarthyism,' which never existed." (Never existed? Her idol gave his 1952 book that very word as its title.)

Full story...

Read It Rating: 9
Left/Right Rating: L4/R9
Freedom Rating: 1 (for exposing Coulter)
Learning Percentage: 95%

Say It: This Is a Quagmire

Say It: This Is a Quagmire

by Tom Hayden

Excerpt:

No one in the media, military or political establishment can use the "Q-word" apparently, for fear of dredging up the images of Vietnam that they have been trying to erase for the past generation.

Ending a quagmire eventually requires a strong peace movement and public frustration. ...

Full article...

Read It Rating: 9.5
Left/Right Rating: L4
Freedom Rating: 3
Learning Percentage: 40%

Among Democrats, The Energy Seems To Be on the Left

Among Democrats, The Energy Seems To Be on the Left

By David Von Drehle
The Washington Post

Thursday 10 July 2003

Ten years after Bill Clinton proclaimed a centrist "New Democrat" revolution, the left is once again a driving force in the party.

In recent weeks, the progressive left has: lifted a one-time dark-horse presidential candidate, former Vermont governor Howard Dean, into near-front-runner status; dominated the first serious Internet "primary"; and convened the largest gathering of liberal activists in decades.

Washington Post original

Read It Rating: 6
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: 1
Learning Percentage: 50%

Le Figaro interviews French Foreign Affairs Minister Dominique de Villepin

"One Must Follow One's Principles to the End"

Pierre Rousselin interviews French Foreign Affairs Minister Dominique de Villepin

Le Figaro

Read It Rating: 6.5
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: 1
Learning Percentage: 40%

Texas Roads Yield Record-Breaking Drug Busts

Two notable things about this article. First, it says law enforcement "claimed huge victories" because of their prodigious seizures, but they don't say anything about whether drug use or possession is down due to their "victories". Also, Lt. Ben Valdez says it doesn't necessarily mean there's more tarfficking going on, just "that were doing something right." Since according to the article, all of their drug-related arrests were made during otherwise routine traffic stops, my guess is that what they're "doing right" is searching lots more people without probable cause. And just because the record-breaking seizures don't "mean that there's necessarily more of it going on", they certainly could be seen to suggest as much.

Lastly, it's worth noting that 51,000 punds of marijuana is just the tiniest drop in the bucket of the amount of marijuana that sure travels the highways of Texas in any given month. I have little doubt the same could be said for heroin and cocaine.

Yay for the drug war! Clasp hands everyone; let's all be proud together!

Texas Roads Yield Record-Breaking Drug Busts

Texas law enforcement Monday claimed huge victories in the war on drugs during 2002, boasting record amounts of illegal drug seizures.

According to the Department of Public Safety, state troopers on routine patrol last year seized a record 86 pounds of heroin, more than a ton of cocaine and nearly 51,000 pounds of marijuana.

Read It Rating: 4
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -4
Learning Percentage: 10%

Brad Edmonds: Why We don't Need Gov't, in a Nutshell

In a Nutshell

by Brad Edmonds

I often write "without government, we’d be better off with regard to ______." Whenever I write that, I get emails saying "but we must have government, or many important good things would never happen," or "there are lots of bad people, and we need government to keep them under control." People who say such things sometimes believe they have historical evidence to support them, but usually they are unaware of some basic principles and history. The following is my attempt to put in a nutshell why we don’t need government:

Full article...

Read It Rating: 9.5
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: 9.5
Learning Percentage: 10%

Bill Clinton | FCC Rule Cannot Be Allowed to Stand

There's so much I could assail in this. I have been wanting to take the time to write about the FCC brouhaha for a while, and I may do so sometime soon, but not right now.

So I'll just point out the hypocrisy of Bill Clinton, who opened the door -- economically, politically, and philosophically -- when his 1996 Telecommunications Act loosened media ownership rules, ushering in the Clear Channel era. Also, he implies that this is the first time there's been a serious shift in regulation of media ownership, which is not the case. In fact, ownership rules of the media the FCC oversees have been expanded in the 1940s, the 50s, the 80s, and the 90s. Furthermore, the FCC has not been living up to its mission statement since its very earliest days. It's no surprise that they reaffirmed this mismanagement once again, and no one should expect them to effectively perform the job of making sure that the nation's media are used in service of the "public interest, convenience and necessity."

What I don't understand is how anyone thought that some commission, headed by 5 people, could be expected to do such a thing.

Bill Clinton | FCC Rule Cannot Be Allowed to Stand

Read It Rating: 2
Left/Right Rating: L1
Freedom Rating: -5
Learning Percentage: 0%

Confess or Die, US Tells Jailed Britons

t r u t h o u t - Confess or Die, US Tells Jailed Britons
Outrage over plight of Guantanamo detainees

Martin Bright, Kamal Ahmed and Peter Beaumont
The Observer
Sunday 06 July 2003

The two British terrorist suspects facing a secret US military tribunal in Guantanamo Bay will be given a choice: plead guilty and accept a 20-year prison sentence, or be executed if found guilty. American legal sources close to the process said that the prisoners' dilemma was intended to encourage maximum 'co-operation'.
The news comes as Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, prepares to urge US Secretary of State Colin Powell to repatriate the two Britons. He will say that they should face a fair trial here under English law. Backed by Home Secretary David Blunkett, Straw will make it clear that the Government opposes the death penalty and wants to see both men tried 'under normal judicial process'.
Lawyers acting for Moazzam Begg, 35, from Sparkbrook, Birmingham, and Feroz Abassi, 23, from Croydon, said that any confessions gathered while the men were kept without charge or access to lawyers in Bagram airbase in Afghanistan and Camp Delta in Cuba would have no status in international law and would be inadmissible in British courts.

Full story...

Observer original

Read It Rating: 8.5
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -8
Learning Percentage: 50%

Controversy over State of the Union claim intensifies

Controversy over State of the Union claim intensifies

By Wolf Blitzer
CNN
Friday, July 11, 2003 Posted: 5:54 PM EDT (2154 GMT)

Washington (CNN) -- Did President Bush go too far in making the case for war against Iraq? It's a controversy that's clearly not going away. Indeed, it seems to be getting more intense every day.

Read It Rating: 7
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: 1
Learning Percentage: 37%

Tilting Democrats in the Presidential Race

Tilting Democrats in the Presidential Race

by Norman Solomon

The corporate Democrats who greased Bill Clinton's path to the White House are now a bit worried. Their influence on the party's presidential nomination process has slipped. But the Democratic Leadership Council can count on plenty of assistance from mainstream news media.

Usually, major-party candidates wait until they have a lock on the presidential nomination before diving to the center. Eager to avoid being hammered by the national press corps for supposed liberalism, Dean hasn't bothered to wait.

Full story...

Read It Rating: 9.5
Left/Right Rating: L7
Freedom Rating: 1
Learning Percentage: 60%

Republican Is Sentenced for Eavesdropping

t r u t h o u t - Republican Is Sentenced for Eavesdropping

The Associated Press

Wednesday 09 July 2003

RICHMOND, Va., July 8 (AP) — The former executive director of the Virginia Republican Party was sentenced today to three years of probation and fined $5,000 for illegally intercepting a Democratic Party conference call.

"I stand before you a humbled man," Mr. Matricardi, 35, said.

Full story...

NYT original

Read It Rating: 6.5
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: ?
Learning Percentage: 95%

The Pentagon's Plan for Tracking Everything That Moves

And here I was thinking a whole two months was going to go by without a new Big Brother-type project being announced. Silly me. TIA, TIPS, LifeLog, and Carnivore have a new baby sibling -- CTS.

Big Brother Gets a Brain
The Pentagon's Plan for Tracking Everything That Moves

By Noah Shachtman
The Village Voice

Wednesday 09 July 2003

The cameras are already in place. The computer code is being developed at a dozen or more major companies and universities. And the trial runs have already been planned.

Fort Belvoir is only the beginning for CTS. Its architects at the Pentagon say it will help protect our troops in cities like Baghdad, where for the past few weeks fleeting attackers have been picking off American fighters in ones and twos. But defense experts believe the surveillance effort has a second, more sinister, purpose: to keep entire cities under an omnipresent, unblinking eye.

Full story...

Village Voice original

Read It Rating: 10
Left/Right Rating: L4
Freedom Rating: -7
Learning Percentage: 90%

Wrestling for the Truth of 9/11

This is a TuthOut double-story, but the first one is the more pertinent one. It's a New York Times editorial concerning the issues that were recently raised by the two men who are heading the 9/11 investigation commission.

Wrestling for the Truth of 9/11

The New York Times | Editorial

Wednesday 09 July 2003

The Bush administration, long allergic to the idea of investigating the government's failure to prevent the Sept. 11 terror attacks, is now doing its best to bury the national commission that was created to review Washington's conduct. That was made plain yesterday in a muted way by Thomas Kean, the former New Jersey governor, and Lee Hamilton, the former congressman, who are directing the inquiry. When these seasoned, mild-mannered men start complaining that the administration is trying to intimidate the commission, the country had better take notice.

Full editorial...

NYT original

Read It Rating: 8.5
Left/Right Rating: ?
Freedom Rating: ?
Learning Percentage: 40%

U.S. report on 9/11 to be 'explosive'

t r u t h o u t - U.S. Report On 9/11 To Be 'Explosive'

Government errors, Saudi ties to terrorists among highlights

By Frank Davies
The Miami Herald
Thursday 10 July 2003

WASHINGTON - A long-awaited final report on the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks will be released in the next two weeks, containing new information about U.S. government mistakes and Saudi financing of terrorists.
Former Rep. Tim Roemer, who served on the House Intelligence Committee and who has read the report, said it will be ''highly explosive'' when it becomes public.

Miami Herald original

Read It Rating: 7
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: .5
Learning Percentage: 60%

Out With Dean, in with Clark

They thought of different reasons than me, but Salon and I have come to the same conclusion: Howard Dean is not the right guy for the Democrats to pick if they want to beat Bush. They give him an OK chance of making it to the nomination, but I wouldn't even go that far. I think he would basically get McCained by the DNC party machinery, in favor of Edwards, Kerry, or Gephardt.

My money is on Gen. Wesley Clark. All you Democrats out there -- Clark's your man if you want to beat Bush. And I know you do. And none of this vice president talk, either -- he should be right out front. Give one of these other hopefuls the VP slot. Gephardt or Kerry.

Salon.com News | The trouble with Howard Dean

As a social liberal and fiscal moderate, he's lured students, professionals and the antiwar left. But he's more George McGovern than Bill Clinton.

- - - - - - - - - - - -
By John B. Judis

July 11, 2003 | Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean is the only Democratic presidential candidate who has stirred any interest beyond party regulars. He has established himself as the "straight talk" candidate in a field dominated by trimmers and positioners. He has shown Democrats that they can raise money without depending on big donors and soft money from labor unions. Yet if the Democrats nominate him as their presidential candidate, he is almost sure to lose to George W. Bush, and perhaps by a very large margin.

Read It Rating: 9
Left/Right Rating: L6
Freedom Rating: 1
Learning Percentage: 66%

Nader, Whom Democrats Saw as 2000 Spoiler, Ponders '04 Run

Nader, Whom Democrats Saw as 2000 Spoiler, Ponders '04 Run

By MICHAEL JANOFSKY

WASHINGTON, July 10 — Ralph Nader, the consumer advocate whom Democrats blame for costing Al Gore the last presidential election, said today that he would decide later this year whether to seek the White House again, as a Green Party candidate or an independent.

"Perot shows that the American people are ready for a three-way race," he said, before referring to Mr. Perot's 18 percent showing in 1992. "He got 19 million votes, and that ain't chickenfeed."

Full story...

Read It Rating: 8
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: 1
Learning Percentage: 55%

Local Elite In Iraq Losing Faith In U.S.

Another disturbingly revealing look at the fractured mess in Iraq.

Much of the article is fit for excerpting, but I'll just choose the one that was most striking, in the grand scheme of things. Dari and Ingram (mentioned in the excerpt) are respectively the Iraqi and U.S. leaders in the region featured in the story.

As of last week, neither Dari nor Ingram had ever had any contact with the U.S.-led civilian administration ostensibly governing Iraq, although Dari oversees an area that is home to 900,000 people.

t r u t h o u t - Local Elite In Iraq Losing Faith In U.S.

There appears to be a break in the text toward the end of the article, both on TruthOut and in the International Herald Tribune original

Read It Rating: 9.5
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -?
Learning Percentage: 70%

Moves afoot to curb CEO salaries

Moves afoot to curb CEO salaries | csmonitor.com
Steps by shareholders and the SEC affect pay, stock options, 'golden parachutes.'

By David R. Francis | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

At a recent Saturday soccer game, Scott Klinger noted that the watching dads weren't griping about referee calls but about the pay of their companies' chief executive officers.

In the wake of corporate scandals such as the Enron affair, American workers have become more conscious of the huge gap between CEO pay and their own, says Mr. Klinger, co-director of Responsible Wealth, a group that is pushing to change a system that, he says, "violates the American sense of fairness."

Read It Rating: 5
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -2
Learning Percentage: 65%

2002 Federal Register Is Longest Ever

2002 Federal Register Is Longest Ever (washingtonpost.com)

Page Count of Regulations Grows Under GOP, Study Finds

By Christopher Lee
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 8, 2003; Page A15

The Bush administration, philosophically wedded to the idea of smaller government, issued a record-high number of pages of new federal regulations last year, according to a study to be released today by the Cato Institute.

The libertarian think tank found that the Federal Register boasted 75,606 pages of federal regulations in 2002, up from a high of 74,528 pages in 2000, when President Bill Clinton was still in office....

Full story...

Read It Rating: 6.5
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -4
Learning Percentage: 70%

Slate: Why I'm rooting for an Edwards surge.

Hedging on medical marijuana. Pro-capital punishment. "Doesn't take a back seat to Bush or anyone else" on "American strength" re: foreign policy. He also seems to think it makes sense to pay college students a subsidy to get them to work 10 hours a week.

Edwards might be a better challenge for Bush as the author claims, but he doesn't have me looking forward to his presidency.

Dean vs. Edwards vs. Bush - Why I'm rooting for an Edwards surge. By William Saletan

Unless we learn something awful about Howard Dean in the next several months, the Democratic race for president will probably come down to him and one other, more openly centrist candidate. If money, experience, and military service govern the decision, that candidate could be John Kerry. But there's one other candidate I can see filling the centrist slot, surviving the Dean insurgency, and giving President Bush a tougher fight. That candidate is John Edwards.

Full story...

Read It Rating: 8.5
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -3
Learning Percentage: 70%

LP - LNC Meeting Report, June 28-29, 2003

To me, the most interesting detail in this detailed report was that the new Executive Director Joe Seehausen plans to make sure all new members get a call from the LP within 48 hours of signing up. Smart! A close second was the fact that prospects for 50 state ballot access in 2004 are not looking good. Bad!

All in all, this was an interesting read if you care for a insider update on what the national LP is up to lately.

LNC Meeting Report,
June 28-29, 2003, Seattle WA

by Sean Haugh
Executive Director of the Libertarian Party of North Carolina

New online organizing tool for Dean supporters

Wired News: Netizens Rally for Dean Team

By Katie Dean (no relation to Howard)
02:00 AM Jul. 04, 2003 PT

A new site has popped up on the Net to help elect Howard Dean president, using a network of independent "nodes" of supporters to collaborate, share news and even design multimedia campaign materials.

"It's an autonomous, self-organizing, grass-roots campaign network," said Zack Rosen, ...

Full story

Read It Rating: 8.5
Left/Right Rating: L2
Freedom Rating: 2
Learning Percentage: 75%

Liberia's Taylor not ready to leave

Liberia's Taylor not ready to leave

President says he's waiting on peacekeeping force

Tuesday, July 8, 2003

MONROVIA, Liberia (CNN) -- Liberian President Charles Taylor said in an interview Monday that he would honor his pledge to accept asylum in Nigeria only when conditions were right.

Taylor said he would leave soon after such a force is in place. "I will then proceed to exercise the invitation granted to me by the president of Nigeria."

Full Story...

Into Africa -- How Iraq Begat Liberia

This article has a lot of in-context lnks to other articles about the issues it discusses.

Into Africa
How Iraq begat Liberia

July 7, 2003

Jesse Walker

Liberia poses no threat to American security. It possesses no weapons of mass destruction, and it would be foolish to use them against us if it did. It is not allied with Osama bin Laden, it has never attacked the United States, and most Pentagon officials are reportedly opposed to sending soldiers there. If they are deployed, our troops are hardly equipped to transform it into a peaceful constitutional republic.

...it's hard to imagine anyone who doesn't want the American occupation of Iraq to end as soon as possible; the argument, for most of us, is over just how soon that is. It's hard to believe someone would want to add yet another occupation to our overburdened military's dance sheet.

Full article...

Read It Rating: 8.5
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: 5
Learning Percentage: 60%

Does genetic engineering void "all men are created equal?"

Reason's Ronald Bailey examines whether progress in genetic engineering is a threat to the premise that "all men are created equal".

Created Equal?
Independence Day 2003
June 20, 2003

Ronald Bailey

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal" is one of the most evocative and profound claims made in the Declaration of Independence of the United States 227 years ago. Now some policy intellectuals are claiming that this self-evident truth is imperiled by the prospect of human genetic engineering that could shatter human equality as some citizens take advantage of the new technologies while others do not. "The political equality enshrined in the Declaration of Independence can't withstand the destruction of the idea that humans are in fact equal," claims environmental writer Bill McKibben in his new anti-progress book, Enough: Staying Human in an Engineered Age.

But hold on. Are humans "in fact equal"? After all, we look around and see that there is nothing at all self-evident about physical human equality or equality of status; some people are short, some tall, some fat, others thin, some strong, others weak, some poor, others rich, some brilliant and others dim....

Full column

Read It Rating: 7.5
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: 5
Learning Percentage: 60%

Guerilla Pox from Reason Express

This is one of the items in this week's Reason Express e-mail newsletter. It's a consistently excellent newsletter, which includes a few entries in this format, and then a couple sections of just story titles and links, and some quotes of the week. You can subscribe here. The full version of this week's newsletter is here.

1. Guerilla Pox

Don Rumsfeld can browbeat the Pentagon press pool all he wants. It will not change the fact that U.S. troops are now engaged in a low-level guerilla conflict with Iraqi irregular forces that have demonstrated some ability to plan and coordinate their attacks.

This little episode also demonstrates that the U.S. and Turkey do not even remotely share the same goals for Iraq. A stable and prosperous Iraq absolutely requires some sort of Kurdish autonomy, something that Turkey cannot abide.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2003/07/07/MN254188.DTL

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/06/international/worldspecial/06TURK.html?ei=5062&en=58ae19e54b215676&ex=1058068800&partner=GOOGLE&pagewanted=print&position=

http://printerfriendly.abcnews.com/printerfriendly/Print?fetchFromGLUE=true&GLUEService=ABCNewsCom

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A10569-2003Jul4?language=printer

Full Reason Express rating-
Read It Rating: 9
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: 6
Learning Percentage: 75%

MPP Pressures Presidential Candidates

I'm a member and long-time supporter of MPP. They are great.

Dear Friend,

The Marijuana Policy Project's work to pressure the presidential
candidates on the medical marijuana issue in New Hampshire is really
starting to pay off. In just the past week, representatives of Granite
Staters for Medical Marijuana (GSMM) -- a campaign of the Marijuana
Policy Project -- have confronted all four U.S. senators running for
the Democratic Party's nomination and have forced them to make public
statements on the issue. Without GSMM, most of these candidates'
positions would be unknown.

Please visit http://www.GraniteStaters.com/donate to donate as much as
you can to this project. (There are no campaign contribution limits.)
Our work in New Hampshire is completely unfunded at this point, so
every dollar you give will help us turn up the heat on the
presidential candidates. Alternatively, if you do not donate to our
presidential campaign work, MPP will be hard-pressed to maintain our
campaign through the January 27, 2004, New Hampshire primary.

GSMM supporters have cornered Senators John Kerry, Bob Graham, Joe
Lieberman, and John Edwards during the past week. The results have
been surprisingly favorable.

* On July 2, Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) told New Hampshire medical
marijuana advocate Linda Macia that he was "in favor of" medical
marijuana. Ms. Macia said that Sen. Kerry "came right out and
said, 'I'm in favor of it.'" Kerry added that he is "in favor of
its prescription." This is a positive statement from Sen. Kerry,
who is a top contender for the Democratic presidential nomination.

* The next day, Sen. Bob Graham (D-FL) told MPP's Aaron Houston that
although as president he would not sign legislation that would
allow seriously ill people to use marijuana, he would respect and
defer to the laws of the individual states. "If a state, like
Oregon, has said that this, their judgment, is appropriate, I
would, although I would disagree with it, I would defer to the
state judgment." While it is clear that Sen. Graham personally
opposes medical marijuana, his statement that he would support the
rights of states that have decided to protect patients is an
encouraging development.

* On July 6, Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT) told GSMM that he would
"probably" sign legislation to allow seriously ill people to use
medical marijuana with their doctors' approval and that he is
"sympathetic" on the issue. This statement represents a possible
change of heart for Sen. Lieberman. In 1998, he endorsed a
resolution in Congress that supported the arrest and imprisonment
of medical marijuana patients.

* Not all developments were positive, however. Last night, before a
national C-SPAN audience, Sen. John Edwards (D-NC), in response to
a question from Ms. Macia, said that as president he would "put
together a group of people" to study whether medical marijuana is
"important to provide pain relief." Such a study would offer no
relief in the short term to patients who are living with the
threat of DEA raids hanging over their heads. Interestingly, when
confronted by GSMM representatives after the televised portion of
the town hall meeting, Sen. Edwards claimed that the fact that
Californians are being raided is "all new information" to him. He
offered to look at the information and provide GSMM with a
response.

* Meanwhile, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean continues to struggle
to nail down his own position on medical marijuana. Earlier last
week, on June 30, Dean retreated from a previous promise to ask
the Food and Drug Administration to report on the evidence
regarding marijuana's medical safety and efficacy within 60 days
of taking office. Dean stated on his Web site that marijuana
should not be treated any differently than other drugs up for FDA
approval. As governor, Dean blocked legislation that would have
protected patients in Vermont.

* In another remarkable development likely attributable to the
efforts of GSMM, an article about Dean in The Economist described
his positions on various issues. Medical marijuana was one of only
eight issues discussed. Although we cannot read every article ever
printed, we are almost certain that this is a first for coverage
of a leading presidential contender.

The pressure on the presidential candidates will continue. Already,
nearly 100 New Hampshire residents have volunteered to assist Granite
Staters' efforts. With this level of grassroots support and,
hopefully, a similar outpouring of financial support, the medical
marijuana issue will be prominent throughout the campaign.

Sincerely,

Rob Kampia
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.

P.S. Again, please visit http://www.GraniteStaters.com/donate to
donate to our effort to inject the marijuana issue into
presidential politics. Thank you in advance for your support.

Read It Rating: 8.5
Left/Right Rating: L1
Freedom Rating: 6
Learning Percentage: 65%

Congressman reneges on term-limits pledge

Note that this guy is already thinking about re-election in 2006, prior to the 2004 election. I wonder if anyone thought to ask him about his plans for his 8th, 9th and 10th terms after that.

A quote the promise-breaker:

"It seemed to me at that time term limits would be a good idea for the nation," he said. "I didn't fully understand what personal relationships and seniority could mean to the district."

Translation: "I had no idea how much power there was to grab in Washington. No way I'm giving this up."

And then there's this gem:

LoBiondo said because other congressmen have broken the term limit pledge, it would be unfair to people in his district to abide by it.

Translation: "Don't trust me, or my colleagues."

CNN.com - Congressman reneges on term-limits pledge

VINELAND, New Jersey (AP) -- A New Jersey congressman elected on a promise to serve no more than 12 years Washington said Monday he will go back on his word and seek a seventh term.

Read It Rating: 4
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -2
Learning Percentage: 60%

TruthOut double-story: Troop Morale In Iraq Hits 'Rock Bottom'; Fatigued, US Troops Yearn For Home

Two good stories about the current mood, attitudes, and situations of soldiers in Iraq.

t r u t h o u t double-story- Troop Morale In Iraq Hits 'Rock Bottom'; Fatigued, US Troops Yearn For Home

Excerpts:

Some frustrated troops stationed in Iraq are writing letters to representatives in Congress to request their units be repatriated. "Most soldiers would empty their bank accounts just for a plane ticket home," said one recent Congressional letter written by an Army soldier now based in Iraq. The soldier requested anonymity.

...

The rethink about troop levels comes as senior military leaders voice concern that multiple deployments around the world are already taxing the endurance of US forces, the Army in particular. Some 370,000 soldiers are now deployed overseas from an Army active-duty, guard, and reserve force of just over 1 million people, according to Army figures.

...

The open-ended deployments in Iraq are lowering morale among some ground troops, who say constantly shifting time tables are reducing confidence in their leadership. "The way we have been treated and the continuous lies told to our families back home has devastated us all," a soldier in Iraq wrote in a letter to Congress.

...

"A lot of guys, because the dates have been tossed around, have lost hope," says Capt. John Jensen, an engineering battalion chaplain. "Nobody's been able to answer that question: when?"

...

The trauma of this conflict is varied: Soldiers say they have seen remarkable scenes of killing and carnage; others speak of fears they face daily, doing urban patrols against an unseen, ghostlike enemy. Others have been away from home too long, with the absence and new dangers fraying their families' patience.

One result is that the US Army is planning a screening process and two-week "decompression" session for soldiers going home, to look for danger signs, reacclimatize them to civilian life, and advise them on getting to know loved ones again.

The military community was shocked by the murder last summer of four wives in six weeks at Ft. Bragg, GA, after Special Forces returned home from Afghanistan.

...

Soldiers say they are also concerned about their reception and worry that the negative press about the US inability to stamp out resistance, heavy-handed behavior, and mismanaging the occupation will take some of the shine off their swift assault on Baghdad.

"We are not seeing people exhausted, but people with discipline problems - another sign of combat stress," says Colonel Knapp. "If they had gone home sooner, they would go home to a parade, put on their ribbons, and felt much better about themselves."

Both full stories at TruthOut

Originals at CSMonitor.com:

Troop Morale In Iraq Hits 'Rock Bottom'

Fatigued, US Troops Yearn For Home

Read It Rating: 9
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: ?
Learning Percentage: 75%

MSNBC Fires Michael Savage After Anti-Gay Remarks

I'm surprised he managed to behave himself this long. Four whole months!

MSNBC Fires Michael Savage After Anti-Gay Remarks

The Associated Press

Monday 07 July 2003

NEW YORK - MSNBC on Monday fired Michael Savage for anti-gay comments.

There was no immediate comment from Savage, according to a spokesman at his office in California.

Full story...

azcentral.com original

Read It Rating: 7.5
Left/Right Rating: R5
Freedom Rating: 2.5
Learning Percentage: 70%

Tom Knapp's Program For The Libertarian Movement (draft)

I'm going to write an entry in response (or, more accurately, as a supplement) to this call to action by Thomas Knapp from Rational Review. Specifically, I plan to submit a number of ideas and proposals related to the fourth point (excerpted below) in his Program For The Libertarian Movement.

It should be noted (and he notes it in his text) that his essay is currently in draft status -- not necessarily the official final product.

Mourn -- and organize -- on the 4th of July
by Thomas L. Knapp

Excerpt:

4) In anticipation of a failure of the state to implement the first two points of this program, we call upon the libertarian movement to create, and to offer for the use of the American people, such alternative institutions as may be required to perform the legitimate services required for polity; said institutions shall operate in accordance with the Zero Aggression Principle, upon the basis of the Unanimous Consent of all who deal with them, and in direct competition with the state's distorted versions of said institutions for the patronage of the American people.

Wi-Fi RV Parks

Wi-Fi RV Parks

The following RV parks offer Wireless Internet access using what's known as Wi-Fi technology. Wi-Fi stands for Wireless Fidelity. It’s also known as 802.11b and is basically a two-way radio with about a 300 ft. range and software that sends and receives standard internet data, usually at broadband speed (fast!).

Short article plus list

Campers shying away from SoCal forest

This headline caught my eye because I plan to be RVing a lot, starting later this year. It's probably not important to anyone else, unless they've been planning on camping in southern California.

Campers shying away from forest
Threat of increased fire danger affecting bookings at popular spots
By Diana L. Roemer, Staff Writer

ANGELES NATIONAL FOREST -- Campground operators in the Angeles National Forest say fewer campers are booking sites this summer as a result of two major forest fires 10 months ago and warnings of an even worse fire danger this summer.

Read It Rating: 3
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: N/A
Learning Percentage: 55%

Marijuana Helped Rats With Brain Tumors

ABCNEWS.com : Marijuana Helped Rats With Brain Tumors

Promising Results of Brain Cancer Study Questioned by Some Critics

The Associated Press
N E W Y O R K, Feb. 29 — Marijuana-like drugs eradicated some brain cancers in rats and helped other animals live longer, according to a study published in the March issue of the journal Nature Medicine.

Dr. Rolf Barth, who studies brain tumors at Ohio State University, called the work interesting. But he said the type of glioma cells used to create the tumors does not provide a very good mimic of the human disease.

Full story...

Dean Not Progressive on Mideast

Dean Not Progressive on Mideast

By Ahmed Nassef, AlterNet
June 30, 2003

Although often portrayed as progressive, former Vermont governor and Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean falls short on several issues important to progressives, with the Middle East being one of the more glaring.

Apparently, there is another side to this "anti-war" candidate. When combined with his dubious record as governor on issues like welfare "reform" and gun control, it may be prudent for progressives to think twice before casting their vote for Howard Dean.

Full commentary...

Read It Rating: 10
Left/Right Rating: L5
Freedom Rating: Dean: -4 ; author: 1
Learning Percentage: 85%

Thousands Protest Bush on 4th

Thousands Protest Bush on 4th

As many as 5,000 gathered at Franklin Square and marched through Center City to oppose U.S. policies.
By Martha Woodall
Inquirer Staff Writer

Saturday 05 July 2003

While dignitaries marked the opening of the new National Constitution Center yesterday, several thousand of the hoi polloi marked the Fourth with a noisy, upbeat antiwar rally a block away at Franklin Square.

Afterward, in a march that snaked through the hot Center City streets, 3,000 to 5,000 demonstrators shook placards to a steady drumbeat and chanted: "Stop the crazy son of a Bush! Stop the war now!"

Full story...

Philly Inquirer original

Read It Rating: 6.5
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: 3
Learning Percentage: 65%

Lawyers Furious as US Builds Death Chambers

This a double story at TruthOut, but the first story carries most of the weight, including the headline TruthOut used for the page

t r u t h o u t - Lawyers Furious as US Builds Death Chambers

Lawyers Furious as US Builds Death Chambers
by Frances Gibb and Tim Reid
Times UK Online
TimesUK Original

Saturday 05 July 2003

LAWYERS expressed outrage yesterday at plans to put al-Qaeda suspects, including two Britons and an Australian, on military trial in Guantanamo Bay.

Asked if there were any other checks and balances other than that, the official replied: “No, sir.”

Full TruthOut double-story...

Read It Rating: 9.5
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: .5
Learning Percentage: 50%

HOPE FOR FUTURE FADES IN IRAQ

READY TO EXPLODE

Jul 3 2003

HOPE FOR FUTURE FADES IN IRAQ
From Tom Newton Dunn In Basra

FORMER Iraqi soldier Najab fingered his pistol and glared at two British soldiers trying to calm an angry crowd protesting at crippling shortages.
Speaking outside one of Saddam Hussein's old palaces just 50 yards from the British HQ in Basra, he said: "Our patience has run out. We've no money to feed ourselves, we haven't been paid for six months and we're fed up with broken promises.

This is Basra three months after British tanks rolled in to a rapturous welcome. Instead of jubilation there is frustration. In the broiling summer heat this is a city waiting to explode.

Full story...

Read It Rating: 9
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -7.5
Learning Percentage: 75%

Wired News: Government Prying, the Good Kind

Wired News: Government Prying, the Good Kind

By Michelle Delio

02:00 AM Jul. 04, 2003 PT

"The whole art of government consists in the art of being honest," according to the architect of the Declaration of Independence and third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson.

The premise of GIA is that if the government has a right to know personal details about citizens, then citizens have a right to similar information about the government.

Full story...

Read It Rating: 10
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: 8
Learning Percentage: 85%

MIT launches watch on US government

MIT launches watch on US government

System to empower an informed citizenry

By Egan Orion: Saturday 05 July 2003, 10:05

FITTINGLY ENOUGH, Wired chose yesterday -- July 4, the US Independence Day -- to run the story that the MIT Media Lab has built a fully web-enabled system promoting Government Information Awareness.

Full story...

Read It Rating: 5
Left/Right Rating: L2
Freedom Rating: 4
Learning Percentage: 75%

Wives Clamour for US Troops Return

Wives Clamour for US Troops Return

Julian Borger reports from Hinesville in Georgia, where life is centred on the US Third Division

The Guardian

Excerpt:

One wife expressed anxiety about President George Bush's "bring them on" invitation to Iraqi guerrillas this week, but she stressed that she did not want her name mentioned.

"But," he added, "the longer the troops are over there, then the less immune it gets."

Full story...

Guardian original

Read It Rating: 6
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: 0
Learning Percentage: 40%

Google Humor: Cannot find Weapons of Mass Destruction

This is currently what you get if you go to Google, type in "weapons of mass destruction", and choose "I'm Feeling Lucky". It's pretty funny.

Cannot find Weapons of Mass Destruction

Read It Rating: 7.5
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: ?
Learning Percentage: 25%

Students feeling pull of politics

Students feeling pull of politics

Collegians, high schoolers joining campaigns

By Patrice Sawyer
psawyer@clarionledger.com

Some teens and early twenty-somethings — referred to as Generation Y — are spending this summer delivering campaign signs, typing voting data into computers and hobnobbing at various political functions around the state.

The high school and college students are bucking the national trend of tuning out politics, and they want their peers to join them.

Full story...

Read It Rating: 6.5
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: 1
Learning Percentage: 65%

The dwindling youth vote: Where will it be in 2004?

The dwindling youth vote: Where will it be in 2004?
By Robert Weiner and Amy Rieth
csmonitor.com

WASHINGTON – Plain and simple: Young people don't vote in the numbers they used to. When 18-year-olds were granted the right to vote in 1972, the turnout of 18- to 24-year-old voters was a healthy 52 percent. But it dropped steadily to 38 percent in 2000.

Why are young people - critical to our nation's future - voting in drastically lower numbers? How can we bring them back?

Full opinion piece...

Read It Rating: 8.5
Left/Right Rating: L2
Freedom Rating: 2
Learning Percentage: 55%

Anger Rises for Families of US Troops in Iraq

t r u t h o u t - Anger Rises for Families of US Troops in Iraq
By Jeffrey Gettleman
The New York Times

Excerpt:

"I want my husband home," Ms. Leija, a mother of three children, said. "I am so on edge. When they first left, I thought yeah, this will be bad, but war is what they trained for. But they are not fighting a war. They are not doing what they trained for. They have become police in a place they're not welcome."

"They were crying, cussing, yelling and screaming for their men to come back," said Lucia Braxton, director of community services at Fort Stewart.

Full story...

NY Times original

Read It Rating: 8
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: 1
Learning Percentage: 75%

Bush Picks Six to Face Military Tribunal

I don't know what bothers me the most about military tribunals -- if it's that they don't comply with the Bill of Rights, or that the U.S. regularly criticizes countries that do this sort of thing, or that it seems to indicate that our normal criminal justice system is not competent to administer justice, or that it makes the U.S.'s efforts to establish immunity from the International Criminal Court, and its recriminations over Belgium's war crimes charges against U.S. officials, look so hypocritical that it hurts, or that we are holding these people and probably the tribunals in CUBA (?!?!), or that we are appointing U.S. military lawyers to defend supposed "enemy combatants"...

Maybe it's all those things. They all bother me the most.

Just kidding. It's the Bill of Rights thing, hands down...but the whole package stinks. Bad.

Bush Picks Six to Face Military Tribunal

Excerpts:

``The State Department issues a report every year in which it criticizes those nations that conduct trials before secret military tribunals. What I'm hearing sounds alarmingly like something similar,'' said Neal Sonnett, also a former president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

The Pentagon officials also raised the possibility that the military might continue to hold the suspects even if they are acquitted by a tribunal. The prisoners' status as ``unlawful combatants'' in the war against terrorism is separate from their guilt or innocence on charges brought before a tribunal, a military official involved in the tribunal process said.

Full story...

Read It Rating: 9
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -10
Learning Percentage: 45%

License-plate spray foils traffic cameras

The free market: Helping people evade law enforcement since...well, since the beginning of law enforcement, I'm sure.

License-plate spray foils traffic cameras

By Steve Sexton
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Motorists have litigated against them, fired bullets at them and thrown garbage on them — all to get back at the traffic cameras that have caught them in the act of running a red light or speeding.
Now they have a new weapon in their arsenal, and it comes in a can for $29.99. A clear spray called Photoblocker can be applied to license plates to make them hyper-reflective and unreadable when the camera flashes.

Full story...

Read It Rating: 7.5
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: 3
Learning Percentage: 65%

Teacher quits rather than take down nude web photos

Teacher quits rather than take down nude web photos

A Swiss teacher, who posted nude photographs of herself on the internet, has chosen to resign rather than remove the photos, education authorities said.

...

Full story...

Read It Rating: 2
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -2
Learning Percentage: 85%

Wolfowitz granted authority over miltary tribunals

:-(

CNN.com - Defense deputy gets authority for military tribunals

From Barbara Starr
CNN Washington Bureau
Tuesday, June 24, 2003 Posted: 2:01 PM EDT (1801 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has delegated his role as "appointing authority" for military commissions to his deputy, according to Pentagon officials.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld signed a delegation last weekend putting Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz in authority over the tribunals that will try al Qaeda and Taliban suspects, the officials said.

Under an order that President Bush issued in November 2001, military tribunals can be used to try non-citizens accused of terrorist acts. Individuals brought before the tribunals would have no right to a jury trial, no right to confront their accusers and no right to judicial review of trial procedures or sentences, which could include death.

Full article...

Read It Rating: 8.5
Left/Right Rating: R8
Freedom Rating: -8.5
Learning Percentage: 70%

Pay no attention to the neocon behind the curtain

Pay no attention to the neocon behind the curtain

By Timothy P. Carney
carney@evansnovak.com

Debates among and about “Neoconservatives” and “Paleoconservatives” recently have bounced between being enlightening, mendacious, vicious, and dangerous. But easily the most bizarre aspect of the fight is the claim that neoconservatives don’t exist—that they are the hallucinations of fevered minds.

Regardless of whether you consider yourself neo-, paleo-, non- or just plain-conservative, it is worth examining whether a) there is such a thing as a neocon, and b) how, if it all, they differ from conservatism proper.

Full column

Read It Rating: 8
Left/Right Rating: R7
Freedom Rating: 2
Learning Percentage: 55%

What's so great about America

In this must-read essay, Dinesh D'Souza explains what it is that draws people from other countries to America. He calls it "self-determination" and "the pursuit of happiness", both of which support my belief that what draws people to America is freedom. Not wealth or welfare, but the promise of individual liberty.

What's so great about America | csmonitor.com

Read It Rating: 10
Left/Right Rating: R3
Freedom Rating: 10
Learning Percentage: 85%

Bush Asks Congress For $30 Billion To Help Fight War On Criticism

You can always count on The Onion to deliver the funny.

The Onion | Bush Asks Congress For $30 Billion To Help Fight War On Criticism

Read It Rating: 9
Left/Right Rating: L1
Freedom Rating: 2
Learning Percentage: 20%

An Interesting Day: President Bush's Movements and Actions on 9/11

I've only just begun reading this ultra-long and detailed report, but it seems to be extremely well documented, with links or references for every claim or fact. It's a minute-by-minute chronography of President Bush's activities on 9-11. I have no idea where it leads to yet, but it's just amazingly detailed and documented. Very interesting, and I'll be chipping away at reading it until I get through it all.

An Interesting Day: President Bush's Movements and Actions on 9/11

Read It Rating: 10
Left/Right Rating: L1
Freedom Rating: ?
Learning Percentage: est. 90-95%

Flirting with Fascism

June 30, 2003 issue
Copyright © 2003 The American Conservative

Flirting with Fascism

Neocon theorist Michael Ledeen draws more from Italian fascism than from the American Right.

By John Laughland

On the antiwar Right, it has been customary to attack the warmongering neoconservative clique for its Trotskyite origins. Certainly, the founding father of neoconservatism, Irving Kristol, wrote in 1983 that he was “proud” to have been a member of the Fourth International in 1940. Other future leading lights of the neocon movement were also initially Trotskyites, like James Burnham and Max Kampelman—the latter a conscientious objector during the war against Hitler, a status that Evron Kirkpatrick, husband of Jeane, used his influence to obtain for him. But there is at least one neoconservative commentator whose personal political odyssey began with a fascination not with Trotskyism, but instead with another famous political movement that grew up in the early decades of the 20th century: fascism. I refer to Michael Ledeen, leading neocon theoretician, expert on Machiavelli, holder of the Freedom Chair at the American Enterprise Institute, regular columnist for National Review—and the principal cheerleader today for an extension of the war on terror to include regime change in Iran.

Full article...

Read It Rating: 6.5
Left/Right Rating: R4
Freedom Rating: 2
Learning Percentage: 90%

Blair's spin-doctor admits 'editing' report

The biggest thing to be learned from this story is how much detailed thought goes into the official statements of governments in regard to war. It's fair to assume that the same amount of detailed examination goes on here in the U.S.

The statements made by the Bush Administration were quite direct in their claims, not hedging them, as you can see the British took care to do.

IOL : Blair's spin-doctor admits 'editing' report

Read It Rating: 6
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -1
Learning Percentage: 70%

Abolish Marriage

Michael Kinsley proposes a way to cut short the impending extended brouhaha over gay marraige. His column basically sums up the view I've had for a long time.

Abolish Marriage - Let's really get the government out of our bedrooms. By Michael Kinsley

Excerpt:

That solution is to end the institution of marriage. Or rather (he hastens to clarify, Dear) the solution is to end the institution of government-sanctioned marriage. Or, framed to appeal to conservatives: End the government monopoly on marriage. Wait, I've got it: Privatize marriage. These slogans all mean the same thing. Let churches and other religious institutions continue to offer marriage ceremonies. Let department stores and casinos get into the act if they want. Let each organization decide for itself what kinds of couples it wants to offer marriage to. Let couples celebrate their union in any way they choose and consider themselves married whenever they want. Let others be free to consider them not married, under rules these others may prefer. And, yes, if three people want to get married, or one person wants to marry herself, and someone else wants to conduct a ceremony and declare them married, let 'em. If you and your government aren't implicated, what do you care?

Full Column...

Read It Rating: 10
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: 6
Learning Percentage: 45%

GOP Team Leader: Bush's 4th of July Message

An Independence Day Message From President Bush “On July 4, 1776, our Founders adopted the Declaration of Independence, creating a great Nation and establishing a hopeful vision of liberty and equality that endures today. This Independence Day, we express gratitude for our many blessings and we celebrate the ideals of freedom and opportunity that our Nation holds dear. “America's strength and prosperity are testaments to the enduring power of our founding ideals, among them, that all men are created equal, and that liberty is God's gift to humanity, the birthright of every individual. The American creed remains powerful today because it represents the universal hope of all mankind. “On the Fourth of July, we are grateful for the blessings that freedom represents and for the opportunities it affords. We are thankful for the love of our family and friends and for our rights to think, speak, and worship freely. We are also humbled in remembering the many courageous men and women who have served and sacrificed throughout our history to preserve, protect, and expand these liberties. In liberating oppressed peoples and demonstrating honor and bravery in battle, the members of our Armed Forces reflect the best of our Nation. “We also recognize the challenges that America now faces. We are winning the war against enemies of freedom, yet more work remains. We will prevail in this noble mission. Liberty has the power to turn hatred into hope. “America is a force for good in the world, and the compassionate spirit of America remains a living faith. Drawing on the courage of our Founding Fathers and the resolve of our citizens, we willingly embrace the challenges before us. “Laura joins me in sending our best wishes for a safe and joyous Independence Day. May God bless you, and may God continue to bless America.” Encourage your Team to upgrade today | Unsubscribe Need assistance? Click here. Copyright © 2003 Republican National Committee. Privacy Policy Paid for by the Republican National Committee. Not Authorized By Any Candidate Or Candidate Committee.

t r u t h o u t - Bush Taking Heat for 'Bring Them On' Remark

This is a series of short stories and snippets of reaction to Bush's belligerent comment of a couple days ago. Also included is a copy of a letter from Senator Frank Lautenberg to Donald Rumsfeld about his concerns over developments in Iraq.

t r u t h o u t - Bush Taking Heat for 'Bring Them On' Remark

Read It Rating: 4.5
Left/Right Rating: L2
Freedom Rating: 0
Learning Percentage: 40%

Leftist Movements: The Hidden Truth behind "Anti-Americanism"

Color-coded terror alert system should be scrapped, Libertarians say

LP Press Release: Color-coded terror alert system should be scrapped, Libertarians say (July 3, 2003)

WASHINGTON, DC -- The national color-coded terror alert system should be scrapped, Libertarians say, because it only alarms the public with warnings that are too vague to be useful.

Since the system was instituted last fall, the threat has been raised to orange four times, and no attacks have taken place -- raising questions about the reliability of the underlying intelligence data.

Full press release...

Read It Rating: 4
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: 1
Learning Percentage: 20%

J. Neil Schulman: Collateral Damage and the Libertarian Non-Aggression Principle

In this essay, brought to my attention by Tom Knapp's Life of the Party, pt. 4, J. Neil Schulman is having a libertarian identity crisis (or he was a few months ago at least). His essay doesn't really claim that though -- instead, he tries to lay the blame on libertarianism itself -- saying basically that the non-aggression principle doesn't fly in the modern age. He uses a number of equivocations and dramatic historical references in his efforts to justify his eschewing of an essential tenet of the philosophy he says he's held for 30 years. He concludes with a tacit endorsement of the then-upcoming war on Iraq.

His last line would fit well inside <sigh> tags, but italics will have to suffice:

This is, I admit, not a pristine libertarian position. That's because, in the world I see, this libertarian can't find one.

Collateral Damage and the Libertarian Non-Aggression Principle, by J. Neil Schulman

Read It Rating: 4.5
Left/Right Rating: R2
Freedom Rating: -3
Learning Percentage: 60%

Tom Knapp: The Life of the Party, Pt. 4

In part four of his series, Thomas Knapp tackles the issue of the Iraq war as it pertains to the LP, and posits (echoing Justin Raimondo's ultimatum of sorts) that the LP must define itself as staunchly anti-war -- at least inasmuch as all the wars currently on the table are antithetical to libertarianism -- and that "pro-war libertarians" should be, in effect, shown the door.

I'm not ready to take a stand on the idea of a party "purge" -- it's not my intention to try and shape the party in ushc a way -- but I'll say this much: It's incontrovertible in my mind that the War on Iraq was in conflict with libertarian principles. Anyone who supported that war was reaching outside the libertarian toolbox to do so.

The Life of the Party, part four by Thomas L. Knapp

Read It Rating: 9.5
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: 6
Learning Percentage: 55%

Tom Knapp: The Life of the Party, Pt. 3

In part three of his "Life of the Party" series, Thomas Knapp discusses the damaging effects of ethics controversies in the LP lo these many years.

The Life of the Party, part three by Thomas L. Knapp

Read It Rating: 7
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: 2
Learning Percentage: 35%

Tom Knapp: The Life of The Party, Pt. 2

In part two of his series, Tom discusses the difference between an "electoral party" strategy, and an "ideological party" strategy, and asserts that the LP has tried to be both, and can't keep doing so.

The Life of the Party, part two by Thomas L. Knapp

Read It Rating: 8
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: 4
Learning Percentage: 60%

Tom Knapp: the Life of the Party, Pt. 1

In this first part of a now-6-part series, Tom Knapp proposes a session of introspection for the Libertarian Party, summarizes his reasons for calling for such, and initiates his part of the discussion.

The life of the Party (Part One) by Thomas L. Knapp

It's the stuff of folklore: in December of 1971, a few people got together in David F. Nolan's Denver apartment and founded a new political party. The following year, that party -- the Libertarian Party -- ran its first presidential ticket, receiving the vote of one renegade elector.

My own offerings will no doubt suffer, to one degree or another, from many of the same defects I've pointed out in prior efforts. That's unavoidable -- if tacit assumptions were so easy to escape from, someone else would have already done so over the course of the last three decades. Nonetheless, I hope to create, over time, an online "symposium" incorporating competing visions, interactive discussions and modular resources, available to all, for the purpose of advancing a long overdue period of introspection in the LP.

Full article...

Read It Rating: 7
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: 3.5
Learning Percentage: 50%

Couple ordered to stop squealing and groaning during sex

Ananova - Couple ordered to stop squealing and groaning during sex

An Italian couple have been ordered to make love more quietly after the woman's screams of ecstasy provoked complaints from neighbours.
...
The couple were originally told they must be completely silent during sex but Judge Ermanno Tristano overturned that ruling.

Full Story...

Read It Rating: 4
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: 0
Learning Percentage: 75%

Man jailed for life after spitting

Ananova - Man jailed for life after spitting

A man who faced a year in jail for allegedly beating his wife has received a life sentence after spitting on a policeman during his arrest.

John Marquez, 36, was convicted of "placing bodily fluid upon a government employee."

Read It Rating: 6.5
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -8
Learning Percentage: 75%

Bush: "Bring Them on"

Two different versions of the same AP story.

Yahoo! News - Bush Says Troops Aren't About to Withdraw

Bush: 'Bring Them On'

Excerpts:

"There are some who feel like that the conditions are such that they can attack us there. My answer is bring them on," Bush said. "We've got the force necessary to deal with the security situation."

Rep. Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., said, "I have a message for the president: enough of the phony, macho rhetoric."

Read It Rating: 7.5
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -4
Learning Percentage: 55%

Recall bid to land in court?

sacbee.com -- Politics -- Recall bid to land in court?

By Margaret Talev -- Bee Capitol Bureau
Published 2:15 a.m. PDT Tuesday, July 1, 2003

An opinion handed down Monday by California elections officials raised the prospect that a recall campaign against Gov. Gray Davis will go to a courtroom before it gets to the voting booth.

Some recall supporters threatened to sue, saying Secretary of State Kevin Shelley's interpretation is misguided and could delay until March an election that recall supporters hope to hold by late October or early November. A March election could give the Democratic governor the political advantage of a higher Democratic turnout expected for the presidential primary.

Read It Rating: 4
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: ?
Learning Percentage: 25%

Weintraub: Cops' protest tactics cost lots in dollars and in liberty

Daniel Weintraub: Cops' protest tactics cost lots in dollars and in liberty

By Daniel Weintraub -- Bee Columnist
Published 2:15 a.m. PDT Sunday, June 29, 2003

I thought the anti-globalization demonstrators who descended upon Sacramento last week were, for the most part, overly afraid of the future and hopelessly wedded to the status quo, no matter how bad it is for billions of people in the developing world.

But as the conference of agricultural ministers, and the demonstrations, came to a close, I realized that something else bothered me even more than what the protestors had to say. It was the way the state and local police forces mobilized to keep them from saying it, or at least to keep many people from hearing their message.

The law enforcement tactics I saw last week are part of a growing trend.

Full column...

Weintraub's assessment echoes the appraisal made by one of the other hosts of the news hour when I was on last week.

Read It Rating: 9
Left/Right Rating: R3
Freedom Rating: 2
Learning Percentage: 45%

Dean And Kucinich Momentum Worries Other Hopefuls...except for the Kucinich part

This is a double-story that TruthOut created a misleading title for. Kucinich's momentum doesn't have anyone worried, and the articles included there don't imply as much. They also spelled Kucinich's name wrong, as did the author of the story about him. The article about him talks about his Department of Peace, and his campaign generally.

t r u t h o u t - Dean And Kucinich Momentum Worries Other Hopefuls

Read It Rating: 5
Left/Right Rating: L5
Freedom Rating: 1
Learning Percentage: 30%

Arianna: ... And Human Rights For All?

Arianna is awesome. We don't always see eye-to-eye, but she writes a great column -- lots of them. This is one.

... And Human Rights For All?

With Saddam's weapons of mass destruction nowhere to be found, the president's Iraq talking points now center on the humanitarian upside of having ousted the Butcher of Baghdad. His speeches are liberally peppered with mentions of "mass graves," "torture chambers," and encomiums to "freeing the people of Iraq from the clutches of Saddam Hussein." He's all but doused himself in the sweet-smelling scent of human rights and put on an Amnesty International t-shirt.

His five-day visit will include stops in Senegal, Botswana, Uganda, Nigeria, and South Africa -- but not the absurdly named Democratic Republic of Congo, site of what one African expert has labeled "the worst humanitarian situation on the entire face of the earth."

Full column...

I don't support a doctrine of having the U.S. be the world's savior military force, but the bigger point in Arianna's article is right on target. Almost 4 million people have died in the Congo since 1998. If the U.S. is using liberation as a viable motive for going to war, cleaning up the Congo would be a no-brainer. And as Arianna says, maybe paying a visit during a tour of Africa. I guess Bush doesn't want to look hypocrisy so directly in the face.

Read It Rating: 9.5
Left/Right Rating: L2
Freedom Rating: ?
Learning Percentage: 85%

'Massive' Role in Iraq for US, More Troops Requested

This is another double-story at TruthOut. Too depressing to try commenting on, really.

t r u t h o u t - 'Massive' Role in Iraq for US, More Troops Requested

Read It Rating: 9
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -10
Learning Percentage: 80%

9/11 KIN RIP 'HEARTLESS' BLOOMBERG

9/11 KIN RIP 'HEARTLESS' BLOOMBERG

Read It Rating: 2
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: N/A
Learning Percentage: 55%

Nader considering another try at White House in 2004

I wrote about what I think of a Nader 2004 run a while ago here.

Nader considering another try at White House in 2004

By Tom Squitieri
USA TODAY

WASHINGTON -- Ralph Nader, still blamed by many Democrats for draining critical votes from Al Gore in the 2000 race for the presidency, says he is seriously considering running in 2004.

Nader says he has moved closer to a repeat run as the Green Party nominee after concluding that Democrats have no one who can defeat President Bush.

Full story...

I'm not clear if his logic there is that since no Democrat can defeat Bush, then he has to step in and do it, or if it's that since they can't beat him, then Ralph should take advantage of the chance to "go after him the way I could," as he puts it.

I think it would be a hoot if Nader ran as a Democratic candidate. Then he could go after all those Democrats, and if he did good enough, then he could go after Bush on a really big scale. That would actually be kinda cool. I think I'd actually prefer Nader over Bush if I had to choose -- though that's not really fair because like many people, I just want the country off this new track of warmongering and lost freedoms Bush has put us on. As far as I know, with possibly one exception, none of the other current contenders has a pack of neocons brewing up grand plans of global control. As to the lost freedoms, I don't much expect that any Democrat that got elected would be returning any freedoms anytime soon. Except maybe Kucinich, or Al Sharpton.

No one mentioned in this entry is going to get my vote no matter how it shakes down. I don't vote for Democrats or Republicans, and I'm not voting for Ralph Nader.

'BAGHDAD BOB' GETS ARRESTED

I didn't know he was dubbed Baghdad Bob -- but I don't think I hang with the same crowd as the guy who wrote this article.

'BAGHDAD BOB' GETS ARRESTED

By NILES LATHEM
New York Post Online Edition

June 25, 2003 -- WASHINGTON - Saddam Hussein's top wartime propagandist - dubbed "Baghdad Bob" for his outlandish, lie-filled news briefings - was captured at a Baghdad roadblock, a London newspaper reported today.
Word of the capture came as six British troops were killed yesterday, in southern Iraq, the deadliest day for coalition forces since Saddam's fall.

Read It Rating: 3.5
Left/Right Rating: ?
Freedom Rating: ?
Learning Percentage: 40%

Iraqi attacks could signal wide revolt

This is one of the uglier of the recent Mess in Mesopotamia stories I've read, in terms of portending a grim future.

The Seattle Times: Nation & World: Iraqi attacks could signal wide revolt

By The Associated Press and Los Angeles Times

VICTOR CAIVANO / AP

BAGHDAD, Iraq — U.S. troops in Iraq are getting ambushed everywhere and every day — while guarding gas stations, investigating car thefts or on their way to make phone calls home.

And although the term is rarely used at the Pentagon, from every description by military officials, what U.S. troops face on the ground in Iraq has all the markings of a guerrilla war — albeit one in which there are multiple opposition groups rather than a single movement.

Full story...

Read It Rating: 10
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: ?
Learning Percentage: 75%

Support for Iraq war slips 30% since May

Lots of interesting results in this article, if you care about polls.

CNN.com - Poll: Support for Iraq war slipping - Jul. 1, 2003

Only 56 percent of Americans view the current fighting as going well in Iraq, according to a new CNN/USA Today Gallup poll. That is much lower than the 70 percent in late May and the 86 percent in early May who thought the fighting was going well.

Read It Rating: 8
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: 1
Learning Percentage: 75%

On Dean: The Doctor Is (Officially) In

A critical editorial "welcoming" of Howard Dean into the presidential race.

The Doctor Is (Officially) In (washingtonpost.com)

Read It Rating: 5.5
Left/Right Rating: ?
Freedom Rating: ?
Learning Percentage: 50%

Mobs move into 'Sims Online' power vacuum

This is a month old, but I just found it now, through Online Community Report.

Mercury News -- Mobs move into 'Sims Online' power vacuum

Excerpt:

An underground group known as the Sims Shadow Government has taken over the fantasy world that is ``The Sims Online,'' meting out mob justice.

Read It Rating: 3.5
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: .5
Learning Percentage: 75%

Iran blocking access to opposition and sex sites

CNN.com - Iran blocking access to sex sites on Web - Jul. 1, 2003

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran is blocking access to Web sites containing pornographic material and opposition-driven dissent against the country's Islamic establishment, an official said Tuesday.
More than 140 Web sites promoting dissent, dancing and sex have been blocked since the crackdown began last month, said Farhad Sepahram, an official at the Telecommunications Ministry.

Sepahram said most of the blocked Web sites belong to opposition groups. ...

Full story...

Read It Rating: 6
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -4
Learning Percentage: 55%

White House Web Chat humor

Funny-ish article about questions in the new White House web chats.

Some Web Chat Ideas Are Out of This World (washingtonpost.com)

By Dana Milbank
Tuesday, June 3, 2003; Page A21

Excerpt:

The space creature, one King Bloop Zod of planet Mars, sent an e-mail to the White House Web site in hopes of communicating with earthling Mel R. Martinez, secretary of Housing and Urban Development, who was holding a Web chat. Their historic exchange follows.

Your problem is one that does not appear to be housing. I think you are doing great at promoting tourism but affordable housing in America is more of my concern. Good luck in your endeavors.

Full Story...

Read It Rating: 4.5
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: 2
Learning Percentage: 65%

Proliferating Iranian weblogs give voice to taboo topics

Proliferating Iranian weblogs give voice to taboo topics | csmonitor.com

Excerpts:

In a recent entry, LadySun - the handle used by a feisty online diarist - takes aim at the strict dress code for women, grumbling about a guard who wouldn't let her into a hotel, "cuz I wasn't wearing socks!!"

...

Her entry reflects the widespread feelings of frustration over the political deadlock holding back change in Iran.

And no-one is spared LadySun's criticism. She lambastes "this stupid Bush" who has "no idea what kind of people Iranians are" yet releases statements in support of the students. "Where were he and his fellow neoconservative friends when the same Saddam Hussein was bombing Iran with chemical weapons?" she demands.

...

...He worked out an easy way to show Persian letters and characters on the Internet, a protocol which Iran's 20,000 bloggers now use.

An Internet boom in Iran has seen the number of users soar by 90 percent in the past year, with about three million users in a population of 65 million - half of them under 25. Some 15 million are expected to be online within the next four years.

...

When Internet cafes became popular four years ago, Islamic conservatives saw the Web as the West's latest high-tech weapon in its assault on Islamic values.

One ayatollah railed that pictures that "threaten all of humanity and chastity" could hurtle down phone lines at the speed of light.
...

Full story...

Hagelin, Nader, Buchanan Unite in FEC Complaint Against Commission on Presidential Debates

U.S. Newswire - Hagelin, Nader, Buchanan Unite in FEC Complaint Against Commission on Presidential Debates

Contact: Ann Brown, 301-951-8018; or Jason Adkins of Adkins, Kelston, and Zavez, P.C. 617-367-1040; or Bonnie Tenneriello of the National Voting Rights Institute, 617-624-3900 ext. 24

WASHINGTON, June 17 /U.S. Newswire/ -- A group of third party candidates and their parties from across the political spectrum joined together today to file a legal complaint with the Federal Election Commission to block the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) from sponsoring, with corporate backing, the presidential debates in 2004.

The complaint also asks the FEC to require the CPD to return millions of dollars in corporate contributions made to the two major parties in the 2000 elections, arguing that the CPD is subject to the same ban on campaign contributions as other corporations.

Full press release

Read It Rating: 9.5
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: 4
Learning Percentage: 65%

Ashcroft: KEEP BIG BROTHER'S HANDS OFF THE INTERNET

I only read the beginning of this and scanned the rest. The irony was too thick -- it was choking up my brain.

This is not a joke article, as much as it might seem so.

KEEP BIG BROTHER'S HANDS OFF THE INTERNET

By Senator John Ashcroft

Republican, Missouri
Chairman of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Affairs, Foreign Commerce and Tourism

[Senator Ashcroft takes issue with administration views on the Internet
and the use of encryption technology.]

Excerpt:

The Clinton administration would like the Federal government to have the capability to read any international or domestic computer communications. The FBI wants access to decode, digest, and discuss financial transactions, personal e-mail, and proprietary information sent abroad -- all in the name of national security. To accomplish this, President Clinton would like government agencies to have the keys for decoding all exported U.S. software and Internet communications.

There is a concern that the Internet could be used to commit crimes and that advanced encryption could disguise such activity. However, we do not provide the government with phone jacks outside our homes for unlimited wiretaps. Why, then, should we grant government the Orwellian capability to listen at will and in real time to our communications across the Web?

Why indeed, Senator?

Read the whole hypocritical thing here.

Read It Rating: 5.5
Left/Right Rating: R?
Freedom Rating: ?
Learning Percentage: 40%

DNC: Supreme Court Watch Flash animation

I can't sum up my feelings about this silly Flash animation from the Democratic National Committee in a few words. I'm going to fold this into my upcoming entry about the sad state of the Dems as well.

DNC: Supreme Court Watch

Read It Rating: 6
Left/Right Rating: L5
Freedom Rating: ?
Learning Percentage: 65%

Daily Kos: My conversation with McAuliffe

This is another piece that I'll probably be refrencing soon in an entry I'm going to write about the sad state of the Democrats. I posted recently at my main blog about how I have many sympathetic feelings toward at least liberals, if not Democrats themselves.

Daily Kos: My conversation with McAuliffe

Excerpts (McAuliffe is the first speaker, Kos the other):

"I'm in Minnesota. Just did a great event -- had two tractor trailers with 40,000 pink slips to symbolize the jobs lost under Bush every month." McAuliffe was pumped!

McAuliffe asked point blank: "How do you think we should do that?"

Kos is collecting suggestions, FWIW, and posted some good ideas himself. It's all there at the Daily Kos.

Read It Rating: 7
Left/Right Rating: L6
Freedom Rating: 0
Learning Percentage: 45%

Cal Poly Student Punished for Posting Flier

Cal Poly Student Punished for Posting Flier

Public University Gives Heckler's Veto to Students Who Claim "Offense"

SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA--In the spring of 2003, a student at the California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) was found guilty of “disruption� for posting a flier—in a public area—that some students found “offensive.� The public university placed unequal rights above the Bill of Rights. “Allowing some individuals to veto the protected expression of others is an unconscionable betrayal of Cal Poly’s moral and legal obligations,� said Thor L. Halvorssen, CEO of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE).

On November 12, 2002, Steve Hinkle, an undergraduate and a member of the Cal Poly College Republicans (CPCR), posted fliers advertising a speech by Mason Weaver, author of It’s OK to Leave the Plantation. In that book, Weaver argues that dependence on the government puts many African-Americans in circumstances similar to slavery. Weaver’s speech was sponsored by both CPCR and the student government. The flier contained merely the title of the book, a photograph of the author (who is African-American), and the time and location of the speech.

Full press release from FIRE

A lot more of background info is posted at FIRE's home page.

Read It Rating: 8
Left/Right Rating: L7 vs. R2
Freedom Rating: -6.5
Learning Percentage: 85%

Foes of Davis recall post tactics on Web

Foes of Davis recall post tactics on Web / Petition workers complain of intimidation

Internet posting by recall opponents:

-- As you go about your daily routines (driving to and from work, shopping, going to the movies, the doctor, etc.), keep your eyes open for recall petitioners at all times.

-- The most important thing you can do is provide us feedback about where and when signature gathering efforts are occurring. Call us . . .

Engage the Petition Collectors - If you see recall petitioners, here's what to do:

-- Engage them in conversation; the longer they talk to you, the less time they have to collect signatures; they have a limited period of time to collect over 1 million signatures.

-- Ask what petitions they are carrying.

-- It is important to determine if they are only carrying the recall petitions or if they also have the anti-recall petition and others.

-- If they tell you they have the "Save Our Teachers" or "Evaluate the Recall Process" petition, ask them to show it to you.

-- Note: There is no "Save Our Teachers" petition. This is our anti-recall petition. The signature collector is "double dipping." They are trying to get people to sign both the recall and the anti-recall petitions so they can make more money.

-- Remember, the longer you engage them, the fewer signatures they can collect.

-- Do not attempt to provoke or get into a physical confrontation with signature gatherers. We do not want you to be arrested.

Take Action

-- Complain to the store manager. Tell the manager you are a customer and you are offended by being harassed as you enter their store. Tell the manager you will take your business elsewhere.

-- Do not falsely sign a petition. This is against the law.

-- If you like to "mix it up," it is OK to debate or argue with the signature gatherer.

-- Counter them with the anti-recall petition; it is OK to stand in front of their table or approach potential signers before they do, or otherwise inhibit their activity.

-- Distribute the "Who's Behind the Recall" leaflet.

-- Approach potential signers and ask them if they know who is behind the recall: remind them that it is a bunch of right-wing conservative Republicans, like Darrell Issa and Bill Simon, who can't win an election fairly; they are trying to overturn a legal and fairly conducted election.

Full story...

Read It Rating: 7
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -1
Learning Percentage: 70%

Occupation Forces Halting Elections Throughout Iraq

Occupation Forces Halting Elections Throughout Iraq

By William Booth and Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Washington Post
Saturday 28 June 2003

SAMARRA, Iraq -- U.S. military commanders have ordered a halt to local elections and self-rule in provincial cities and towns across Iraq, choosing instead to install their own handpicked mayors and administrators, many of whom are former Iraqi military leaders.
The decision to deny Iraqis a direct role in selecting municipal governments is creating anger and resentment among aspiring leaders and ordinary citizens, who say the U.S.-led occupation forces are not making good on their promise to bring greater freedom and democracy to a country dominated for three decades by Saddam Hussein.
The go-slow approach to representative government in at least a dozen provincial cities is especially frustrating to younger, middle-class professionals who say they want to help their communities emerge from postwar chaos and to let, as one put it, "Iraqis make decisions for Iraq."
"They give us a general," said Bahith Sattar, a biology teacher and tribal leader in Samarra who was a candidate for mayor until that election was canceled last week. "What does that tell you, eh? First of all, an Iraqi general? They lost the last three wars! They're not even good generals. And they know nothing about running a city."

Full story...

Washington Post original

Read It Rating: 9.5
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -8
Learning Percentage: 85%

US admits to 50 secret tests of bio weapons on troops

This is no big surprise, but it's still lame and disturbing.

US admits to 50 secret tests of bio weapons on troops - smh.com.au

July 1 2003

The Pentagon used potentially dangerous chemical and biological agents in 50 secret tests involving US military personnel in a decade-long project to measure the weapons' combat capabilities, according to Pentagon findings.

The tests were done between 1962 and 1973 and involved 5,842 service members. Many were not told of the tests, some of which involved releases of deadly nerve agents in Alaska and Hawaii.

Full lame, disturbing story...

Read It Rating: 10
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -7
Learning Percentage: 75%

Russian press freedom hits static

An interesting story about a disturbing trend in Russia.

Russian press freedom hits static

Last week, the Kremlin replaced a popular TV station in what critics say is part of a media crackdown.

By Fred Weir | Special to The Christian Science Monitor

MOSCOW – Viewers of Russia's popular TVS station got a shock last week when the picture suddenly froze during a late-night movie. Adjusting their TV sets didn't help. It turned out that the "pause" button had been pressed - permanently - in the headquarters of Russia's Press Ministry.

The next day the privately owned, politically combative but heavily indebted TVS network was replaced by a state-run sports channel, a decision the ministry said was taken "in the interests of television viewers."

Full story...

Read It Rating: 8.5
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -5
Learning Percentage: 95%

The top-secret joke the CIA didn't want you to hear

The top-secret joke the CIA didn't want you to hear

One of the CIA's deepest and darkest secrets -- a classified report about a plot by the "Ebenezer Scrooge" terrorist group to attack Santa Claus and his reindeer -- has finally been revealed after almost 30 years.
...

Mr. Blanton also noted that the CIA has refused to release its official history of the agency's role in a 1953 coup against Iran's government. The spy organization's involvement in the overthrow of the democratically elected regime is well-known and documented by other government and historical records. But Mr. Blanton's organization believes that in light of the turbulent U.S.-Iranian relationship these days, the CIA has, so far, found it convenient to keep details of the 1953 coup locked up.

Full story...

Expert Said to Tell Legislators He Was Pressed to Distort Some Evidence

Expert Said to Tell Legislators He Was Pressed to Distort Some Evidence

By James Risen and Douglas Jehl
The New York Times
Wednesday 25 June 2003

A top State Department expert on chemical and biological weapons told Congressional committees in closed-door hearings last week that he had been pressed to tailor his analysis on Iraq and other matters to conform with the Bush administration's views, several Congressional officials said today.
The officials described what they said was a dramatic moment at a House Intelligence Committee hearing last week when the weapons expert came forward to tell Congress he had felt such pressure.
By speaking out, they said, the senior intelligence expert, identified by several officials as Christian Westermann, became the first member of the intelligence community on active service to make this sort of admission to members of Congress.

Full story at TruthOut

New York Times original

Read It Rating: 7.5
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -3
Learning Percentage: 50%

t r u t h o u t - Kerry, Dean Making Noise on Campaign Trail

This is two stories on one page at TruthOut. They do this sometimes, if there are two closely-related stories.

t r u t h o u t - Kerry, Dean Making Noise on Campaign Trail

McCain Gives Nod to Kerry Campaign
By Andrew Miga
The Boston Herald
Monday 30 June 2003

WASHINGTON - GOP maverick Sen. John McCain, whose breezy straight-talking style ignited the 2000 White House race, predicts Sen. John Kerry could rekindle the same campaign magic this time around.
``He certainly can,'' McCain (R-Ariz.) said in a telephone interview with the Herald from Arizona.
``He's smart, he's tough and he's experienced. He has the capability.''
McCain, meanwhile, was skeptical that upstart Democrat Howard Dean, who considers himself the McCain of the 2004 race, could ultimately show wide political appeal.

Fund-Raising Puts Dean in Top Tier of Contenders
By Adam Nagourney
The New York Times

Monday 30 June 2003

Howard Dean announced yesterday that he had raised close to $9 million this year, establishing himself as a top-tier candidate in the Democratic presidential field. The figure stunned his rivals and transformed Dr. Dean from a maverick into a more traditional contender.

"He'll beat everybody," Steve Elmendorf, a senior adviser to Representative Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri, said of Dr. Dean.

Both full stories...

Read It Rating: 7.5
Left/Right Rating: L4
Freedom Rating: .5
Learning Percentage: 65%

Pittelli | When Will House Republicans Call for Bush's Impeachment?

When Will House Republicans Call for Bush's Impeachment?

Excerpts:

There are those who say that the President's current popularity or the Republican majority in the House and Senate preclude the possibility of his impeachment. Perhaps they are underestimating the moral integrity of our Republican congressmen. In fact, some of them have already publicly stated their opinions on this subject. They did so in February of 1999 when they served as Impeachment Trial Managers for the Senate Impeachment Trial of former President Clinton. Let’s look at what they had to say then:

...

These, of course, are just a few examples. It is likely that most of those who voted to impeach Clinton are on record as to the high ethical standards they were following. Certainly, they must follow these same standards when considering Bush’s egregious lies and the consequences of those lies. It is time to draft the Articles of Impeachment and let those who oppose them state why this case deserves more leniency than was given to former President Clinton.

Full article from CommonDreams.org

Read It Rating: 6
Left/Right Rating: L6
Freedom Rating: ?
Learning Percentage: 35%

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U.S. Finds Iraq War Far From Finished

U.S. Finds Iraq War Far From Finished

By Alissa J. Rubin
Times Staff Writer
June 29, 2003
Guerrilla-style attacks are growing. A military official vows to stay the course in quelling resistance and rebuilding the nation.

BAGHDAD -- Facing a marked increase in the frequency and brazenness of attacks on U.S.-led forces in Iraq in the last two weeks, military officials are for the first time speaking more openly about the potential for a long-term fight to quell the resistance to the American presence.

"The natural tendency is to stay to fix the problem because after all we're Americans, we stay and fix the problems, but the reality is to accept that there are some things even superpowers can't do."

Full Article...

LATimes original

Read It Rating: 10
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -8
Learning Percentage: 80%