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July 31, 2003
Pentagon kills Poindexter's terrorism futures marketThis 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 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.
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.
A federal judge on Friday sentenced Jackie Hudson to 2 1/2 years, Ardeth Platte to almost 3 1/2 years and Carol Gilbert to two years and nine months. All three were given three years of supervised probation.
U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn departed from sentencing guidelines Friday in punishing the women. While the maximum term is 30 years, the guidelines call for a six-year minimum term.
"We're satisfied," prosecutor Robert Brown said.
...
They said nothing during the hearing. Earlier, they defiantly told a crowd of 150 supporters outside the courthouse they were not afraid of prison.
"The hope of the world rests on each of our shoulders," Hudson said. "We are doing our part. What about you?"
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.
...
"Issa declined to be interviewed" for the Chronicle's story, and we say he was damn right. Today's dynamic Republican will not answer questions he doesn't like....
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
Read It Rating: 8
Left/Right Rating: L2
Freedom Rating: -1
Learning Percentage: 75%
Paul Krugman | 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.
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.
Read It Rating: 6
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: 1.5
Learning Percentage: 60%
July 29, 2003
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."
...
"Is this a murky picture? Yes, it's murky. Information about terrorism is inevitably murky because terrorists hide, and because you get an awful lot of information that's simply not true," he said.
...
But Wolfowitz's description of the intelligence as "murky" differed sharply from the way the spy data was characterized before the war.
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."
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.
Foley, of West Palm Beach, has hit the national TV and radio talk-show circuit in recent weeks to bash a Tampa-area summer camp not unlike most camps -- except that the boys and girls, ages 11-18, are naked.
Foley, a Republican hoping to replace Sen. Bob Graham, says that letting naked teenagers play together is immoral and potentially dangerous.
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.
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.
"I refute any suggestion we misled parliament or the country totally," Blair told a committee of senior members of parliament Tuesday.
"I think we did the right thing in relation to Iraq. I stand 100 percent by it and I think our intelligence services gave us the correct intelligence and information at the time.
"I am quite sure we did the right thing in removing Saddam Hussein because not merely was he a threat ... to the wider world but it was an appalling regime that the world is well rid of."
Fighting for his political reputation, Blair said he was confident that weapons of mass destruction would be found in Iraq.
Read It Rating: 7.5
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: .5
Learning Percentage: 55%
July 28, 2003
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.
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.
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%
July 27, 2003
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.
The gulf between the new estimates and those from existing historical-statistical studies is so vast -- a difference of several hundred thousand animals -- that it has already provoked a spirited debate over scientists' techniques in gathering and analyzing the data.
...
Roman and Palumbi analyzed DNA from three species of North Atlantic whales and found the genetic variation to be unexpectedly high in all cases -- a result indicating that before commercial whaling began in the 17th and 18th centuries there was a much larger pool of animals than historical records suggest.
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.
Read It Rating: 7.5
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: 1
Learning Percentage: 90%
July 26, 2003
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.
Read It Rating: 7.5
Left/Right Rating: L2
Freedom Rating: ?
Learning Percentage: 39%
July 24, 2003
Congress Takes Aim at the USA-PATRIOT Act
From the ACLU ONline e-mail newsletter:
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.
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.
Read It Rating: 7
Left/Right Rating: R2
Freedom Rating: 7.5
Learning Percentage: 65%
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.
This is a danger as more and more anti-terrorist laws and rules straightjacket the nation. There is a congruent danger: the rise of neoconservatism on the right. The movement is using the threat of terrorism to expand government at home and abroad. America must safeguard its freedoms in the fight against terrorism, but protect itself from pernicious policies that erode freedom in the name of liberty.
...
Some in the neoconservative movement have openly called for an American empire around the globe. Max Boot, the writer, recently praised what he termed America's "imperialism" and said it should impose its views "at gunpoint". James Woolsey, the former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, has called for a decades-long campaign to re-order the entire Middle East along neoconservative lines. Such thinking is profoundly un-American.
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.
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.
The Senate clerk received the statement of candidacy and organization for the "Jerry Springer for U.S. Senate" committee on Monday afternoon, according to a spokesman at the clerk's office. The documents were sent by certified mail last week.
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.
With almost no hope of stopping a recall from reaching the ballot this fall, the embattled governor is launching a fierce but risky counterattack to convince voters that dumping him in an extraordinary special election would reward extremists, cost the state more than $30 million even though it is broke, and harm just about everything in California but the sunshine.
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.
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.
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 officials made the disclosure hours after they were alerted by the CIA to the existence of a memo sent to Bush's deputy national security adviser, Stephen J. Hadley, on Oct. 6. The White House said Bush's chief speechwriter, Michael Gerson, on Friday night discovered another memo from the CIA, dated Oct. 5, also expressing doubts about the Africa claims.
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.
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.
Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said in a news conference late this afternoon that the shooting occurred at 2:08 p.m. in the balcony of the City Council chamber, as the council meeting was in progress.
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.
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 gunman was instantly shot and killed by a police officer assigned to City Hall, who fired six shots from the Council floor to the balcony where Mr. Davis had been shot, 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.
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.)
July 23, 2003
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."
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.
Among the anti-terrorism officials present was Maj. Gen. Timothy Lowenberg, adjutant general of the state National Guard. Lowenberg, who is also a lawyer, said Ashcroft made a good point in noting that the Patriot Act takes well-established components of criminal law and applies them to the war on terrorism.
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.
"We will be watching to see whether Republicans from states that allow medical use of marijuana will vote to defend their most vulnerable citizens from these cruel federal attacks," Fox added. "We will also be keeping an eye on Dick Gephardt, who -- while campaigning in New Hampshire on Sunday -- promised a seriously ill patient that he would support `states' rights' on medical marijuana."
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.
''This is what was meant when our forefathers wrote in the Constitution, 'Of the people, for the people, by the people,' '' said Mayor Ray Williams. ''And I am proud of the aldermen for holding firm and showing their support for the taxpayers of Spring Hill.''
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.
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.
"They are a strong force," says Koul Panha, executive directorof the Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia. ...
...
"They go to study in Phnom Penh and when they come back, they are educating their family," says Mr. Panha. "The son or daughter of a peasant farmer comes back and asks why they're not fighting corruption."
"It wasn't like that before," he says. "They didn't even see it as corruption."
...
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.
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."
By contrast, they describe Mr. Galotti's successor, Peter King Hunsinger, as even-keeled.
A few days earlier, in similar vein, The New York Times announced the appointment of a new executive editor, Bill Keller. A veteran reporter, Mr. Keller is earning praise from colleagues and superiors for his "decency" and for being "an accomplished manager and a trusted leader." That represents a shift, they say, from the approach of his predecessor, Howell Raines, who conceded that many people on the staff viewed him as "inaccessible and arrogant."
Could these high-profile, high-powered appointments be the harbinger of friendlier work environments elsewhere? ...
In a newsroom meeting, Keller told the staff that he does not regard their work as "an endless combat mission," the paper reports. Instead, he wants colleagues to savor life a little more, either spending time with their families or enjoying culture. "That will enrich you and your work as much as a competitive pulse rate will," he said.
What refreshing advice for CEOs in every business to give their underlings....
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 U.S. ambassador to Niger, Barbro Owens-Kirkpatrick, knew: She had sent reports to Washington debunking the allegations. Joe Wilson, the envoy sent to Niger by the CIA, knew: His fact-finding trip quickly confirmed the ambassador's findings. The CIA knew: The agency tried unsuccessfully in September 2002 to convince the Brits to take the false charge out of an intelligence report. The State Department knew: Its Bureau of Intelligence and Research labeled it "highly dubious." The president's speechwriters knew: They were told to remove a reference to the Niger uranium in a speech the president delivered in Cincinnati Oct. 7 — three months before his State of the Union. And the National Security Council knew: NSC staff played a key role in the decision to fudge the truth by having the president source the uranium story to British intelligence.
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.
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.
Calvin Prince boasted he could deliver drugs to customers like they were ordering a pizza.
...
Prince was not jailed but under new laws designed to stop convicts profiting from their crimes, his business accounts were investigated and he was found to have profited up to £180,000 from his drug dealing.
He has now been ordered to pay £70,000 within 28 days or face 18 months jail - and still owe the debt.
July 22, 2003
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.
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 attempted to file the suit last week, charging the mayor had violated state and federal provisions against providing food and drink to prospective voters. Hooker’s suit attempts to address what he says is an election process that “is corrupt at the core and deprives voters of a ‘free and equal’ … election.” Purcell has declined comment.
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%
July 21, 2003
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.
The report, by the Congressional Research Service, the research arm of Congress, does not calculate the full effect of the changes, since it does not consider the further cuts in student awards that will probably occur once the new formula is applied to billions of dollars in state awards and university grants.
...
The Department of Education has cited its obligation under federal law to revise the formula and played down the impact. Sally L. Stroup, its assistant secretary for postsecondary education, told The Washington Post last month that "the changes will have a minimal impact on a handful of students."
The figures cited in the report made clear, however, that the new formula would trim the government's primary award program, the Pell grant, by $270 million once it takes effect in the 2004-5 academic year. That amount, financial aid experts said, probably means that hundreds of thousands of students will end up getting smaller Pell grants, not counting the 84,000 who it is estimated will no longer qualify.
"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%
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."
...
"Is this a murky picture? Yes, it's murky. Information about terrorism is inevitably murky because terrorists hide, and because you get an awful lot of information that's simply not true," he said.
...
But Wolfowitz's description of the intelligence as "murky" differed sharply from the way the spy data was characterized before the war.
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."
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.
Foley, of West Palm Beach, has hit the national TV and radio talk-show circuit in recent weeks to bash a Tampa-area summer camp not unlike most camps -- except that the boys and girls, ages 11-18, are naked.
Foley, a Republican hoping to replace Sen. Bob Graham, says that letting naked teenagers play together is immoral and potentially dangerous.
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.
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.
"I refute any suggestion we misled parliament or the country totally," Blair told a committee of senior members of parliament Tuesday.
"I think we did the right thing in relation to Iraq. I stand 100 percent by it and I think our intelligence services gave us the correct intelligence and information at the time.
"I am quite sure we did the right thing in removing Saddam Hussein because not merely was he a threat ... to the wider world but it was an appalling regime that the world is well rid of."
Fighting for his political reputation, Blair said he was confident that weapons of mass destruction would be found in Iraq.
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.
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.
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%
July 27, 2003
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.
The gulf between the new estimates and those from existing historical-statistical studies is so vast -- a difference of several hundred thousand animals -- that it has already provoked a spirited debate over scientists' techniques in gathering and analyzing the data.
...
Roman and Palumbi analyzed DNA from three species of North Atlantic whales and found the genetic variation to be unexpectedly high in all cases -- a result indicating that before commercial whaling began in the 17th and 18th centuries there was a much larger pool of animals than historical records suggest.
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.
Read It Rating: 7.5
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: 1
Learning Percentage: 90%
July 26, 2003
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.
Read It Rating: 7.5
Left/Right Rating: L2
Freedom Rating: ?
Learning Percentage: 39%
July 24, 2003
Congress Takes Aim at the USA-PATRIOT Act
From the ACLU ONline e-mail newsletter:
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.
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.
Read It Rating: 7
Left/Right Rating: R2
Freedom Rating: 7.5
Learning Percentage: 65%
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.
This is a danger as more and more anti-terrorist laws and rules straightjacket the nation. There is a congruent danger: the rise of neoconservatism on the right. The movement is using the threat of terrorism to expand government at home and abroad. America must safeguard its freedoms in the fight against terrorism, but protect itself from pernicious policies that erode freedom in the name of liberty.
...
Some in the neoconservative movement have openly called for an American empire around the globe. Max Boot, the writer, recently praised what he termed America's "imperialism" and said it should impose its views "at gunpoint". James Woolsey, the former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, has called for a decades-long campaign to re-order the entire Middle East along neoconservative lines. Such thinking is profoundly un-American.
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.
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.
The Senate clerk received the statement of candidacy and organization for the "Jerry Springer for U.S. Senate" committee on Monday afternoon, according to a spokesman at the clerk's office. The documents were sent by certified mail last week.
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.
With almost no hope of stopping a recall from reaching the ballot this fall, the embattled governor is launching a fierce but risky counterattack to convince voters that dumping him in an extraordinary special election would reward extremists, cost the state more than $30 million even though it is broke, and harm just about everything in California but the sunshine.
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.
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.
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 officials made the disclosure hours after they were alerted by the CIA to the existence of a memo sent to Bush's deputy national security adviser, Stephen J. Hadley, on Oct. 6. The White House said Bush's chief speechwriter, Michael Gerson, on Friday night discovered another memo from the CIA, dated Oct. 5, also expressing doubts about the Africa claims.
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.
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.
Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said in a news conference late this afternoon that the shooting occurred at 2:08 p.m. in the balcony of the City Council chamber, as the council meeting was in progress.
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.
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 gunman was instantly shot and killed by a police officer assigned to City Hall, who fired six shots from the Council floor to the balcony where Mr. Davis had been shot, 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.
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.)
July 23, 2003
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."
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.
Among the anti-terrorism officials present was Maj. Gen. Timothy Lowenberg, adjutant general of the state National Guard. Lowenberg, who is also a lawyer, said Ashcroft made a good point in noting that the Patriot Act takes well-established components of criminal law and applies them to the war on terrorism.
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.
"We will be watching to see whether Republicans from states that allow medical use of marijuana will vote to defend their most vulnerable citizens from these cruel federal attacks," Fox added. "We will also be keeping an eye on Dick Gephardt, who -- while campaigning in New Hampshire on Sunday -- promised a seriously ill patient that he would support `states' rights' on medical marijuana."
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.
''This is what was meant when our forefathers wrote in the Constitution, 'Of the people, for the people, by the people,' '' said Mayor Ray Williams. ''And I am proud of the aldermen for holding firm and showing their support for the taxpayers of Spring Hill.''
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.
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.
"They are a strong force," says Koul Panha, executive directorof the Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia. ...
...
"They go to study in Phnom Penh and when they come back, they are educating their family," says Mr. Panha. "The son or daughter of a peasant farmer comes back and asks why they're not fighting corruption."
"It wasn't like that before," he says. "They didn't even see it as corruption."
...
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.
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."
By contrast, they describe Mr. Galotti's successor, Peter King Hunsinger, as even-keeled.
A few days earlier, in similar vein, The New York Times announced the appointment of a new executive editor, Bill Keller. A veteran reporter, Mr. Keller is earning praise from colleagues and superiors for his "decency" and for being "an accomplished manager and a trusted leader." That represents a shift, they say, from the approach of his predecessor, Howell Raines, who conceded that many people on the staff viewed him as "inaccessible and arrogant."
Could these high-profile, high-powered appointments be the harbinger of friendlier work environments elsewhere? ...
In a newsroom meeting, Keller told the staff that he does not regard their work as "an endless combat mission," the paper reports. Instead, he wants colleagues to savor life a little more, either spending time with their families or enjoying culture. "That will enrich you and your work as much as a competitive pulse rate will," he said.
What refreshing advice for CEOs in every business to give their underlings....
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 U.S. ambassador to Niger, Barbro Owens-Kirkpatrick, knew: She had sent reports to Washington debunking the allegations. Joe Wilson, the envoy sent to Niger by the CIA, knew: His fact-finding trip quickly confirmed the ambassador's findings. The CIA knew: The agency tried unsuccessfully in September 2002 to convince the Brits to take the false charge out of an intelligence report. The State Department knew: Its Bureau of Intelligence and Research labeled it "highly dubious." The president's speechwriters knew: They were told to remove a reference to the Niger uranium in a speech the president delivered in Cincinnati Oct. 7 — three months before his State of the Union. And the National Security Council knew: NSC staff played a key role in the decision to fudge the truth by having the president source the uranium story to British intelligence.
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.
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.
Calvin Prince boasted he could deliver drugs to customers like they were ordering a pizza.
...
Prince was not jailed but under new laws designed to stop convicts profiting from their crimes, his business accounts were investigated and he was found to have profited up to £180,000 from his drug dealing.
He has now been ordered to pay £70,000 within 28 days or face 18 months jail - and still owe the debt.
July 22, 2003
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.
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 attempted to file the suit last week, charging the mayor had violated state and federal provisions against providing food and drink to prospective voters. Hooker’s suit attempts to address what he says is an election process that “is corrupt at the core and deprives voters of a ‘free and equal’ … election.” Purcell has declined comment.
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%
July 21, 2003
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.
The report, by the Congressional Research Service, the research arm of Congress, does not calculate the full effect of the changes, since it does not consider the further cuts in student awards that will probably occur once the new formula is applied to billions of dollars in state awards and university grants.
...
The Department of Education has cited its obligation under federal law to revise the formula and played down the impact. Sally L. Stroup, its assistant secretary for postsecondary education, told The Washington Post last month that "the changes will have a minimal impact on a handful of students."
The figures cited in the report made clear, however, that the new formula would trim the government's primary award program, the Pell grant, by $270 million once it takes effect in the 2004-5 academic year. That amount, financial aid experts said, probably means that hundreds of thousands of students will end up getting smaller Pell grants, not counting the 84,000 who it is estimated will no longer qualify.
"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%
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.
The gulf between the new estimates and those from existing historical-statistical studies is so vast -- a difference of several hundred thousand animals -- that it has already provoked a spirited debate over scientists' techniques in gathering and analyzing the data.
...
Roman and Palumbi analyzed DNA from three species of North Atlantic whales and found the genetic variation to be unexpectedly high in all cases -- a result indicating that before commercial whaling began in the 17th and 18th centuries there was a much larger pool of animals than historical records suggest.
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.
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.
Read It Rating: 7.5
Left/Right Rating: L2
Freedom Rating: ?
Learning Percentage: 39%
July 24, 2003
Congress Takes Aim at the USA-PATRIOT Act
From the ACLU ONline e-mail newsletter:
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.
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.
Read It Rating: 7
Left/Right Rating: R2
Freedom Rating: 7.5
Learning Percentage: 65%
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.
This is a danger as more and more anti-terrorist laws and rules straightjacket the nation. There is a congruent danger: the rise of neoconservatism on the right. The movement is using the threat of terrorism to expand government at home and abroad. America must safeguard its freedoms in the fight against terrorism, but protect itself from pernicious policies that erode freedom in the name of liberty.
...
Some in the neoconservative movement have openly called for an American empire around the globe. Max Boot, the writer, recently praised what he termed America's "imperialism" and said it should impose its views "at gunpoint". James Woolsey, the former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, has called for a decades-long campaign to re-order the entire Middle East along neoconservative lines. Such thinking is profoundly un-American.
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.
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.
The Senate clerk received the statement of candidacy and organization for the "Jerry Springer for U.S. Senate" committee on Monday afternoon, according to a spokesman at the clerk's office. The documents were sent by certified mail last week.
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.
With almost no hope of stopping a recall from reaching the ballot this fall, the embattled governor is launching a fierce but risky counterattack to convince voters that dumping him in an extraordinary special election would reward extremists, cost the state more than $30 million even though it is broke, and harm just about everything in California but the sunshine.
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.
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.
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 officials made the disclosure hours after they were alerted by the CIA to the existence of a memo sent to Bush's deputy national security adviser, Stephen J. Hadley, on Oct. 6. The White House said Bush's chief speechwriter, Michael Gerson, on Friday night discovered another memo from the CIA, dated Oct. 5, also expressing doubts about the Africa claims.
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.
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.
Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said in a news conference late this afternoon that the shooting occurred at 2:08 p.m. in the balcony of the City Council chamber, as the council meeting was in progress.
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.
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 gunman was instantly shot and killed by a police officer assigned to City Hall, who fired six shots from the Council floor to the balcony where Mr. Davis had been shot, 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.
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.)
July 23, 2003
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."
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.
Among the anti-terrorism officials present was Maj. Gen. Timothy Lowenberg, adjutant general of the state National Guard. Lowenberg, who is also a lawyer, said Ashcroft made a good point in noting that the Patriot Act takes well-established components of criminal law and applies them to the war on terrorism.
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.
"We will be watching to see whether Republicans from states that allow medical use of marijuana will vote to defend their most vulnerable citizens from these cruel federal attacks," Fox added. "We will also be keeping an eye on Dick Gephardt, who -- while campaigning in New Hampshire on Sunday -- promised a seriously ill patient that he would support `states' rights' on medical marijuana."
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.
''This is what was meant when our forefathers wrote in the Constitution, 'Of the people, for the people, by the people,' '' said Mayor Ray Williams. ''And I am proud of the aldermen for holding firm and showing their support for the taxpayers of Spring Hill.''
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.
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.
"They are a strong force," says Koul Panha, executive directorof the Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia. ...
...
"They go to study in Phnom Penh and when they come back, they are educating their family," says Mr. Panha. "The son or daughter of a peasant farmer comes back and asks why they're not fighting corruption."
"It wasn't like that before," he says. "They didn't even see it as corruption."
...
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.
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."
By contrast, they describe Mr. Galotti's successor, Peter King Hunsinger, as even-keeled.
A few days earlier, in similar vein, The New York Times announced the appointment of a new executive editor, Bill Keller. A veteran reporter, Mr. Keller is earning praise from colleagues and superiors for his "decency" and for being "an accomplished manager and a trusted leader." That represents a shift, they say, from the approach of his predecessor, Howell Raines, who conceded that many people on the staff viewed him as "inaccessible and arrogant."
Could these high-profile, high-powered appointments be the harbinger of friendlier work environments elsewhere? ...
In a newsroom meeting, Keller told the staff that he does not regard their work as "an endless combat mission," the paper reports. Instead, he wants colleagues to savor life a little more, either spending time with their families or enjoying culture. "That will enrich you and your work as much as a competitive pulse rate will," he said.
What refreshing advice for CEOs in every business to give their underlings....
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 U.S. ambassador to Niger, Barbro Owens-Kirkpatrick, knew: She had sent reports to Washington debunking the allegations. Joe Wilson, the envoy sent to Niger by the CIA, knew: His fact-finding trip quickly confirmed the ambassador's findings. The CIA knew: The agency tried unsuccessfully in September 2002 to convince the Brits to take the false charge out of an intelligence report. The State Department knew: Its Bureau of Intelligence and Research labeled it "highly dubious." The president's speechwriters knew: They were told to remove a reference to the Niger uranium in a speech the president delivered in Cincinnati Oct. 7 — three months before his State of the Union. And the National Security Council knew: NSC staff played a key role in the decision to fudge the truth by having the president source the uranium story to British intelligence.
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.
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.
Calvin Prince boasted he could deliver drugs to customers like they were ordering a pizza.
...
Prince was not jailed but under new laws designed to stop convicts profiting from their crimes, his business accounts were investigated and he was found to have profited up to £180,000 from his drug dealing.
He has now been ordered to pay £70,000 within 28 days or face 18 months jail - and still owe the debt.
July 22, 2003
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.
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 attempted to file the suit last week, charging the mayor had violated state and federal provisions against providing food and drink to prospective voters. Hooker’s suit attempts to address what he says is an election process that “is corrupt at the core and deprives voters of a ‘free and equal’ … election.” Purcell has declined comment.
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%
July 21, 2003
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.
The report, by the Congressional Research Service, the research arm of Congress, does not calculate the full effect of the changes, since it does not consider the further cuts in student awards that will probably occur once the new formula is applied to billions of dollars in state awards and university grants.
...
The Department of Education has cited its obligation under federal law to revise the formula and played down the impact. Sally L. Stroup, its assistant secretary for postsecondary education, told The Washington Post last month that "the changes will have a minimal impact on a handful of students."
The figures cited in the report made clear, however, that the new formula would trim the government's primary award program, the Pell grant, by $270 million once it takes effect in the 2004-5 academic year. That amount, financial aid experts said, probably means that hundreds of thousands of students will end up getting smaller Pell grants, not counting the 84,000 who it is estimated will no longer qualify.
"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%
Congress Takes Aim at the USA-PATRIOT Act
From the ACLU ONline e-mail newsletter: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.
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.
Read It Rating: 7
Left/Right Rating: R2
Freedom Rating: 7.5
Learning Percentage: 65%
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.
This is a danger as more and more anti-terrorist laws and rules straightjacket the nation. There is a congruent danger: the rise of neoconservatism on the right. The movement is using the threat of terrorism to expand government at home and abroad. America must safeguard its freedoms in the fight against terrorism, but protect itself from pernicious policies that erode freedom in the name of liberty.
...
Some in the neoconservative movement have openly called for an American empire around the globe. Max Boot, the writer, recently praised what he termed America's "imperialism" and said it should impose its views "at gunpoint". James Woolsey, the former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, has called for a decades-long campaign to re-order the entire Middle East along neoconservative lines. Such thinking is profoundly un-American.
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.
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.
The Senate clerk received the statement of candidacy and organization for the "Jerry Springer for U.S. Senate" committee on Monday afternoon, according to a spokesman at the clerk's office. The documents were sent by certified mail last week.
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.
With almost no hope of stopping a recall from reaching the ballot this fall, the embattled governor is launching a fierce but risky counterattack to convince voters that dumping him in an extraordinary special election would reward extremists, cost the state more than $30 million even though it is broke, and harm just about everything in California but the sunshine.
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.
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.
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 officials made the disclosure hours after they were alerted by the CIA to the existence of a memo sent to Bush's deputy national security adviser, Stephen J. Hadley, on Oct. 6. The White House said Bush's chief speechwriter, Michael Gerson, on Friday night discovered another memo from the CIA, dated Oct. 5, also expressing doubts about the Africa claims.
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.
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.
Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said in a news conference late this afternoon that the shooting occurred at 2:08 p.m. in the balcony of the City Council chamber, as the council meeting was in progress.
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.
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 gunman was instantly shot and killed by a police officer assigned to City Hall, who fired six shots from the Council floor to the balcony where Mr. Davis had been shot, 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.
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."
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.
Among the anti-terrorism officials present was Maj. Gen. Timothy Lowenberg, adjutant general of the state National Guard. Lowenberg, who is also a lawyer, said Ashcroft made a good point in noting that the Patriot Act takes well-established components of criminal law and applies them to the war on terrorism.
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.
"We will be watching to see whether Republicans from states that allow medical use of marijuana will vote to defend their most vulnerable citizens from these cruel federal attacks," Fox added. "We will also be keeping an eye on Dick Gephardt, who -- while campaigning in New Hampshire on Sunday -- promised a seriously ill patient that he would support `states' rights' on medical marijuana."
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.
''This is what was meant when our forefathers wrote in the Constitution, 'Of the people, for the people, by the people,' '' said Mayor Ray Williams. ''And I am proud of the aldermen for holding firm and showing their support for the taxpayers of Spring Hill.''
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.
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.
"They are a strong force," says Koul Panha, executive directorof the Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia. ...
...
"They go to study in Phnom Penh and when they come back, they are educating their family," says Mr. Panha. "The son or daughter of a peasant farmer comes back and asks why they're not fighting corruption."
"It wasn't like that before," he says. "They didn't even see it as corruption."
...
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.
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."
By contrast, they describe Mr. Galotti's successor, Peter King Hunsinger, as even-keeled.
A few days earlier, in similar vein, The New York Times announced the appointment of a new executive editor, Bill Keller. A veteran reporter, Mr. Keller is earning praise from colleagues and superiors for his "decency" and for being "an accomplished manager and a trusted leader." That represents a shift, they say, from the approach of his predecessor, Howell Raines, who conceded that many people on the staff viewed him as "inaccessible and arrogant."
Could these high-profile, high-powered appointments be the harbinger of friendlier work environments elsewhere? ...
In a newsroom meeting, Keller told the staff that he does not regard their work as "an endless combat mission," the paper reports. Instead, he wants colleagues to savor life a little more, either spending time with their families or enjoying culture. "That will enrich you and your work as much as a competitive pulse rate will," he said.
What refreshing advice for CEOs in every business to give their underlings....
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 U.S. ambassador to Niger, Barbro Owens-Kirkpatrick, knew: She had sent reports to Washington debunking the allegations. Joe Wilson, the envoy sent to Niger by the CIA, knew: His fact-finding trip quickly confirmed the ambassador's findings. The CIA knew: The agency tried unsuccessfully in September 2002 to convince the Brits to take the false charge out of an intelligence report. The State Department knew: Its Bureau of Intelligence and Research labeled it "highly dubious." The president's speechwriters knew: They were told to remove a reference to the Niger uranium in a speech the president delivered in Cincinnati Oct. 7 — three months before his State of the Union. And the National Security Council knew: NSC staff played a key role in the decision to fudge the truth by having the president source the uranium story to British intelligence.
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.
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.
Calvin Prince boasted he could deliver drugs to customers like they were ordering a pizza.
...
Prince was not jailed but under new laws designed to stop convicts profiting from their crimes, his business accounts were investigated and he was found to have profited up to £180,000 from his drug dealing.
He has now been ordered to pay £70,000 within 28 days or face 18 months jail - and still owe the debt.
July 22, 2003
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.
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 attempted to file the suit last week, charging the mayor had violated state and federal provisions against providing food and drink to prospective voters. Hooker’s suit attempts to address what he says is an election process that “is corrupt at the core and deprives voters of a ‘free and equal’ … election.” Purcell has declined comment.
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%
July 21, 2003
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.
The report, by the Congressional Research Service, the research arm of Congress, does not calculate the full effect of the changes, since it does not consider the further cuts in student awards that will probably occur once the new formula is applied to billions of dollars in state awards and university grants.
...
The Department of Education has cited its obligation under federal law to revise the formula and played down the impact. Sally L. Stroup, its assistant secretary for postsecondary education, told The Washington Post last month that "the changes will have a minimal impact on a handful of students."
The figures cited in the report made clear, however, that the new formula would trim the government's primary award program, the Pell grant, by $270 million once it takes effect in the 2004-5 academic year. That amount, financial aid experts said, probably means that hundreds of thousands of students will end up getting smaller Pell grants, not counting the 84,000 who it is estimated will no longer qualify.
"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%
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.
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 attempted to file the suit last week, charging the mayor had violated state and federal provisions against providing food and drink to prospective voters. Hooker’s suit attempts to address what he says is an election process that “is corrupt at the core and deprives voters of a ‘free and equal’ … election.” Purcell has declined comment.
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.
The report, by the Congressional Research Service, the research arm of Congress, does not calculate the full effect of the changes, since it does not consider the further cuts in student awards that will probably occur once the new formula is applied to billions of dollars in state awards and university grants.
...
The Department of Education has cited its obligation under federal law to revise the formula and played down the impact. Sally L. Stroup, its assistant secretary for postsecondary education, told The Washington Post last month that "the changes will have a minimal impact on a handful of students."
The figures cited in the report made clear, however, that the new formula would trim the government's primary award program, the Pell grant, by $270 million once it takes effect in the 2004-5 academic year. That amount, financial aid experts said, probably means that hundreds of thousands of students will end up getting smaller Pell grants, not counting the 84,000 who it is estimated will no longer qualify.
"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%