Editor's Cut: "CIVIL LIBERTIES, n. Unnecessary privileges that you aren't afraid of losing unless you are a God-hating, baby-killing, elitist liberal who loves Saddam Hussein more than your own safety. (Megan Ellis, Bellingham, Washington)"

(Via The Nation Weblogs.)

AlterNet: Rights and Liberties: The White Elephant in the Room: "The bitter truth is that the election marks a substantial and dangerous victory for the rightwing forces in this country. Despite a presidency marked by numerous impeachable offenses; despite daily exposure by the press over many months of the administration's lying and incompetence; despite both a disastrous war and an unprecedented loss of jobs; despite an impressive effort by the Democrats, unions and allied groups to mobilize and protect the vote; despite a massive voter turnout led by African American voters; despite the fact that people of color constituted 23 percent of all voters as opposed to 19 percent in the last election, the president turned a 500,000 vote loss in 2000 into a 3.5 million vote victory and the Republicans increased their majorities in both the House and the Senate."

"The Bush administration has rudely informed Arab Americans that they, like other immigrant groups from the Global South before them, are not just part of the 'melting pot.' They are also a group that is singled out by the government, the media and much of the public for racist stereotyping and harsh treatment."

(Via AlterNet.)

Misbehaving on the page || kuro5hin.org: "'I'll be really blunt,' said Rosenberg, 'it's a lot harder in 2004 to find intelligent people who will write a pro-Bush piece. They are few and far between.'"

(Via k5.)

Tommy Thompson Resigns From HHS: "Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson announced his resignation today, joining an exodus from President Bush's first-term Cabinet."

(Via washingtonpost.com - Politics.)

I hope US learns 'Iraqi lessons': Putin: "In his interview, Putin said terrorism could only be solved through multilateral cooperation under the auspices of UN"

(Via TOI - India.)

Former CIA Head Calls for Limiting Access to the Internet: "'Former CIA head George Tenet has called for limiting access to the internet to only those who take security seriously and that the industry should 'lead the way' in restricting access. Somehow I don't think that this is a call to ban Microsoft products from the internet. What exactly does he want?'"

(Via Slashdot.)

E-Mails Provide a Glimpse Into 'Iron Triangle': "From a program initially seen by Boeing and the Air Force as a clever way to acquire a new tanker fleet without having to budget for it and buy the planes outright, the lease has now developed a reputation as the most significant military contracting abuse in 20 years, according to a letter sent to the Pentagon last month by Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John W. Warner (R-Va.) and two other committee members."

"In fact, said PA&E director Ken Krieg in a memo on June 20, 2003, to Wynne and others, lease costs would exceed purchase costs by $1.9 billion to $6 billion, depending on the accounting method used."

(Via washingtonpost.com - Politics.)

The Daily Outrage: "Next year the Bush Administrations plans to spend $270 million on abstinence-only education. As a result, here are some remarkable lessons school children ages 9-18 may learn as part of their curriculum: half of gay male teenagers tested positive for AIDS; the HIV virus spreads via sweat and tears; abortions lead to suicide and sterilization; and touching one's genitals can result in pregnancy. Our favorite stat from the report released by Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA): A 43-day-old fetus is a 'thinking person.'"

"Don't worry, things are even worse abroad. A startling report from an esteemed Pentagon advisory council sharply rebukes President Bush's belief that freedom is on the march. "American direct intervention in the Muslim World has paradoxically elevated the stature of and support for radical Islamists, while diminishing support for the United States to single-digits in some Arab societies," the report found. "Muslims do not 'hate our freedom,' but rather they hate our policies.""

(Via The Nation Weblogs.)

Iran said to sharpen nuclear program: "Iran is developing more advanced ballistic missiles that could deliver nuclear weapons to targets as far as Berlin and is also shielding from international inspectors two military complexes believed to be part of its clandestine atomic bomb program, American intelligence officials, international diplomats, and an Iranian opposition group claimed yesterday."

(Via Boston Globe -- World News.)

More than 40 percent of Americans using prescription drugs: "Americans are cramming their medicine chests ever fuller in the struggle to lower cholesterol, treat depression, reduce inflammation, and ease other illnesses."

"Americans seem to look for that magic pill, don't they?"

(Via Boston Globe -- National News.)

The question is, will he have the authority and support needed to do his job?

Ex-NYC police chief seen as Ridge successor: "President Bush plans to nominate Bernard Kerik, who led the New York City police through the crisis of the 2001 terrorist attacks, as the next Homeland Security secretary as early as today, according to Republican officials"

(Via Boston Globe -- National News.)

DoD News: Media Roundtable on Troop Extensions: "Q:  General, are any of these extensions -- will this result in any of these troops having been on the ground in Iraq for more than 12 months..."
"GEN. RODRIGUEZ:  ...Up to 14 months, the longest."

"Q:  What will the total be? ..."
"GEN. RODRIGUEZ:  ... approximately 150,000 in Iraq. ...late December, early January"

(Via GlobalSecurity.org.)

Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK): "In mid-November 2004 reports surfaced that North Korea was taking down a number of the ubiquitous public portraits of Kim Jong Il. The reported removals have sparked speculation about changes in the power structure of North Korea's Stalinist government."

(Via GlobalSecurity.org.)

Nov 23, 2004: The trillion dollar swindle: "As they lay the groundwork for what will probably be a controversial fight over Social Security, Republican lawmakers and the Bush administration are examining a number of accounting strategies that would allow the expensive transition to a partially privatized Social Security system without — at least on paper — expanding the country's record annual budget deficits. The strategies include, for example, moving the costs of Social Security reform 'off-budget' so they are not counted against the government's yearly shortfall."

(Via DNC: Kicking Ass.)

Powell tastes Haiti's unrest: "Four people were killed and nine were wounded in gunfire that first erupted within blocks of US Secretary of State Colin Powell yesterday as he visited the National Palace to show American support for Haiti's interim government."

(Via Boston Globe -- World News.)

A WHOLE NEW KIND OF "K" RATION: "Army's decision to test the animal tranquilizer Ketamine as away to soothe injured soldiers. The drug – known in the clubs has 'Special K' – has been reducing party-goers to gurgling blobs for more than a decade. This year, the Army has been running final, phase III Food and Drug Administration trials on a quarter-dose nasal inhaler of 'K,' to see if it can substitute for morphine. 'With morphine, the soldier's just gorfed, he can't do anything,' Col. Bob Vandre, of the Army's Medical Research and Materiel Command, told me as I stopped by his booth -- a mock MASH tent -- at the Army Science Conference. 'With this, he can drive his truck, or shoot his gun.'"

(Via Defense Tech.)

ACLU Seeks Police Files on Activist Groups: "The American Civil Liberties Union is trying to get confidential documents of Joint Terrorism Task Forces around the country. The group thinks law enforcement officers are using the resources of the task forces to spy on protest groups in ways that would have otherwise been forbidden."

(Via NPR News: Nation.)

US to boost its Iraq force by 12,000: "Amid growing concerns about the stability of Iraq, the Pentagon yesterday announced that it will boost the number of troops there to the highest level since the start of the war, as US-led ground forces continue attacking insurgents while attempting to secure polling places in time for January elections."

(Via Boston Globe -- World News.)

VOA News Report: "The United States said Wednesday it has imposed sanctions against four Chinese business entities and a North Korean state company for selling missiles or weapons of mass destruction technology to Iran. The proliferation issue also figured in State Department talks Wednesday between senior U.S. and Chinese diplomats. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department."

(Via GlobalSecurity.org.)

ACLU challenges FBI on antiterror probes: "The American Civil Liberties Union is seeking information from the FBI on why bureau task forces set up to combat terrorism also looked into antiwar, animal rights, and environmental groups."

(Via Boston Globe -- National News.)

We have few reliable sources in Iran, yet it looks like he's gonna push for a second war:

The Daily Outrage: "'Our policy could be based on a wild-ass guess,' "

(Via The Nation.)

Sound familiar?

Bush Calls for New Consensus on Middle East: "President Bush, on a fence-mending trip to Canada, called on Wednesday for an international consensus in a new quest for peace in the Middle East that he said must start with Palestinian steps toward democracy."

(Via Reuters: Politics.)

Report warned on abuse: "A confidential report to Army generals in Iraq in December 2003 warned that members of an elite military and CIA task force were abusing detainees, a finding delivered more than a month before Army investigators received the photographs from Abu Ghraib prison that touched off investigations into prisoner mistreatment."

(Via Boston Globe -- World News.)

Cuba frees dissident writer: "Cuban authorities yesterday freed dissident writer Raul Rivero, the best known of a dozen political prisoners released over the past few days"

(Via Boston Globe -- World News.)

Former Bush campaign official indicted: "James Tobin, former top Bush campaign official in New England, is accused of mounting a low-tech version of denial-of-service attack."

"A federal grand jury indictment released Wednesday charges Tobin with attempting to "disrupt communications" by clogging the Democrats' phones on Election Day through repeated hang-up calls. The four-count indictment also says Tobin targeted the Manchester Professional Firefighters Association's phones in an attempt to interfere with its get-out-the-vote effort."

(Via CNET News.com.)

Post-9/11: More racism 'n' hate: "FBI's hate crime statistics show racial bias crimes are on the rise in America."

(Via TOI - The United States.)

Unprecedented security accompanies Bush on official Ottawa visit: "'Thanks to George Bush, we've got people up on rooftops with guns, ready to shoot people,' one protest bellowed through a bullhorn. 'Do we need that?'"

(Via Canada.com.)

Canadians protest against Bush visit: "Protest organisers said yesterday's march drew at least 13,000 people"

(Via Scotsman.com .)

The Daily Outrage: "House Republicans celebrated World AIDS Day a week early. How? By cutting funding for the internationally-supported Global Fund to Fight AIDS by $200 million in the recently passed omnibus spending bill."

(Via The Nation Weblogs.)

Haaretz - Israel News - Article: "Bush said: 'God told me to strike at al Qaida and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did"

(Via Haaretz.com.)

More about those armed drones:

ARMED DRONES ROLLING TO IRAQ: "As soon as March or April, eighteen Talon robots armed with automatic weapons are scheduled to report for duty in Iraq, as part of the Army's Stryker Brigade. "

(Via Defense Tech.)

Great news for AIDS awareness week:

Human Test: Novel Vaccine Stops HIV: "After getting three under-the-skin injections of the tailor-made vaccine, the amount of HIV in the patients' blood (called the viral load) dropped by 80%. After a year, eight of the 18 patients still had a 90% drop in HIV levels. All patients' T-cell counts stopped dropping."

(Via WebMD.)

Talon Robots to Wield Guns in Iraq: "new prototype Talon robots that will be hitting the sunny deserts of Iraq—fully-armed"

(Via Gizmodo.)

Dec 1, 2004: It's Tom Delay...again: "So Delay's ethical problems cost him a sizable amount of money in legal bills, then House Republicans changed their ethics rules so that he could stay in the leadership even if indicted on criminal charges, then those same House Republicans helped organize a fundraiser to help him pay for his bills, then at the fundraiser he took a check for $100,000 from a company looking for federal prison contracts and yet, the Republicans still want this man as their leader?"

(Via DNC: Kicking Ass.)

The Online Beat: "But is it really appropriate to compare the United States in 2004 with a warped media market like South Africa during apartheid days?

Actually, the comparison may be a bit unfair to South African media in the apartheid era--when many courageous journalists struggled to speak truth to power."

The Daily Outrage: The Facts in Iraq: "Conditions on the ground, by the numbers"

(Via The Nation Weblogs.)

Healing Iraq: "Just in case you were wondering. Yes, we did contact the police in our neighbourhood using the public phone numbers they had given out a couple of months ago. Guess what? They were surrounded by insurgents and couldn't do anything about it. In Adhamiya, the police station was set on fire and four policemen were killed in the fighting, the rest seem to have left their posts. The National Guard base in Saddam's former palace near the Adhamiya bridge was also under attack for the whole day."

(Via Healing Iraq.)

Iraq Blog Count: "Dear Family of shot man, I made sure not mention the names of the soldiers involved in the shooting in order to protect their privacy, in your son's case I didn't mention his name because I never bothered find out what his name was. I worried for hours about how the footage broadcast would effect the morals of the soldiers and their families back home, but really I didn't spend one second considering how seeing the last few seconds of your son's life would effect you. Afterall, your son chose to live by the sword and he died by the sword. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. I do hope that all the American troops return home safely soon. When people like you commit acts of savagery, I have no problem showing them to the world and generalizing that all your people and your religion is to blame, when one of us acts in the same manner we ensure to explain the horrible strain the poor fellow was under and the circumstances that might have led the person involved to 'lose it'. I am American you see and I work for NBC, you hate us already so we don't bother with your feelings. I would like to report that while your son was being killed I performed my duties proudly, I kept rolling the camera and did my job. I watched and never lifted a finger to save your son's life."

Open Letter from Liberal Arabs & Muslims: "The following letter prepared by three leading Arab and Muslim intellectuals calls on the United Nations Security Council to proceed to the establishment of an International Tribunal to prosecute individuals, groups, or entities including, but not limited to, Muslim clerics, who issue religious edicts (“fatwas”) inciting terrorist acts."

(Via Iraq the Model.)

Baghdad Burning: "Elections are a mystery. No one knows if they'll actually take place and it feels like many people don't want to have anything to do with them. They aren't going to be legitimate any way. The only political parties participating in them are the same ones who made up the Governing Council several months ago- Allawi's group, Chalabi's group, SCIRI, Da'awa and some others. Allawi, in spite of all his posturing and posing, has turned himself into a hateful figure after what happened in Falloojeh. As long as he is in a position of power, America will be occupying Iraq. People realize that now. He's Bush's boy. He has proved that time and again and people are tired of waiting for something insightful or original to come from his government."

Evidence of sex abuse by [U.N.] Congo staff outrages Annan: "Details of the story include the fact that over 150 counts by at least 30 staff members are being investigated, and that this isn't the first time that the U.N. has been so accused."

(Via Kuro5hin.org.)

Alexander the Neocon by Daniel McCarthy: "The second thing worth knowing is that 'Alexander' is mildly interesting as a document of left-wing Bushism. War, slaughter, and all that goes with world conquest are all right, as long as they secure such goods as improved literacy and the mixing of different races and cultures. This is a perfectly natural companion, by the way, to libertarian Bushism, or liberventionism, which says that a bit of bloodshed is perfectly fine as long as it secures open markets and the free flow of people and goods. There’s a line about that in Stone’s 'Alexander,' too."

An Open Letter to Christian Conservatives by William L. Anderson: "Moreover, if evangelicals really want to believe that the Bush Administration is the standard of righteousness, then something is desperately wrong with the evangelicals’ standards. Indeed, let us be honest; evangelicals seem to be convinced that they 'have arrived' with the latest political wins for the Republicans. Who needs standards of truth and decency when one can win at the polls instead?"

Neocon Lexicon by Harry Browne: "Support our troops = Don’t say anything bad about the Bush war in Iraq because that might demoralize the soldiers fighting there. So just let them continue to die, rather than suggest that they might be dying in vain."

THE PADDLE, CIVILIZATION, AND SANITY: "A seventh-grade teacher in Missouri has been charged with duct-taping one student to the desk and taping the mouth of another student shut. This does not sound like the best pedagogical technique, but the press reports are strangely silent on what the children may have done to provoke this response.

I have been a teacher and still teach a little class at our office, and I can say frankly that I wish I had thought of duct tape"

(Via Hard Right!.)

BONO’S JUSTICE, AKA MARXISM: "A ‘just’ society, on this understanding, is a society in which incomes are leveled out so that gap between the richest and the poorest members is slight, and where each person has the chance to fulfill his dreams, and it makes no difference if my parents worked hard and your parents were trailer trash, or, indeed, if you work hard and I am trailer trash.

On the international scale, justice is the old Marxist cry (sounded loudly in The Communist Manifesto) for equalizing the conditions of life in rich and poor nations. In other words, it is the welfare state applied internationally. Individuals or nations that prefer to hang onto their own money and spend it they way they would like, are, by definition unjust.

Now, poor Bono may well be some kind of ‘committed Christian’ (and I can think of several institutions where he might be committed—lunatic asylums and prisons mostly), but his argument is fundamentally anti-Christian because it takes away from human beings the obligation and opportunity to be charitable."

(Via Hard Right!.)

Red Cross Finds Detainee Abuse in Guantánamo: "A secret report states that the U.S. military has used psychological and sometimes physical coercion 'tantamount to torture."

(Via The New York Times > Washington.)

A brief history of Iran's nuclear program: "2002 Jan. President Bush describes Iraq, Iran, and North Korea as an 'axis of evil.'"

(Via Boston Globe -- World News.)

Capital Games: More on the 'Stolen Election': "The e-mails keep coming, but the evidence is far from clear."

(Via The Nation Weblogs.)

Is this political?

In battle of bulge, soda firms defend against warning: "With the federal government considering its first-ever warning that soft drinks can cause unhealthy weight gain, soda companies -- longtime icons of the US food industry -- are finding themselves increasingly on the defensive"

(Via Boston Globe -- National News.)

The proles aren't the ones the government worries about:

US eyes collection of college-student data: "The federal government is considering the creation of a national database to collect information and track the progress of every college student in the country"

(Via Boston Globe -- National News.)

Tom Ridge Resigns as U.S. Security Chief: "Calling the move 'a difficult decision,' U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge announces his resignation from the Bush administration."

(Via NPR News: Nation.)

Nov 29, 2004: Take action: "George Bush and Congressional Republicans are gearing up to take yet another swing at working families. This time the plan calls for a tax hike by removing the deductibility of your state and local income and property taxes. This money isn't going to deficit reduction, and it's not even going to fund new spending initiatives. Instead, the money is going to the wealthiest one percent of Americans in the form of new tax breaks on investments like stock sales, dividends, and interest earnings."

(Via DNC: Kicking Ass.)

NO LAW AFTER 9/11: "Who is responsible for the abuse and torture of prisoners in Iraq? How widespread are the abuses. Are we dealing with a few bad apples or with a systemic problem? Sean Baker, a military prison guard stationed at Guantanamo, can offer an important insight. Baker was told to put on an orange jumpsuit and pose as a prisoner refusing to get out from under his bunk. When his colleagues, who were not told it was a training exercise, entered the cell they proceeded to choke and beat the bejesus out of him. Baker, who now suffers from brain damage..."

(Via Hard Right!.)

Network News Presidents on the Election: "The presidents of ABC News (David Westin), CBS News (Andrew Heyward), NBC News (Neil Shapiro, fmr. Dateline guy) on the stage, along with a moderator, Dick Wald of the Columbia School of Journalism, former president of NBC, Senior Vice President of ABC, also of the Washington Post and Herald Tribune"

(Via Aaron Swartz.)

Commerce Clause Use and Abuse: "Today the Supreme Court will hear arguments in Ashcroft v. Raich, the case that asks whether growing marijuana for your own medical use is close enough to interstate commerce to justify federal intervention."

(Via Reason Online: Hit and Run.)

GAMES NEOCONS PLAY: "Collon has been highly critical of the Bush administration’s foreign policy and of Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz in particular. He has denounced the Iraq war and taken up the case of civilian victims in Brussels. Until now, Collon’s enemies have been unable to land a glove on him. At last the neocons think they have something on him: his authorship of Monopoly: L’OTAN et le conquete du monde. Hasbro, the ‘American’ company that makes toys in Third World sweatshops, owns the rights to the game ‘Monopoly’ and they are suing Collon’s publisher for 265,000 euros on a charge of copyright infringement."

(Via Hard Right!.)

Too far:

The New York Times > International > Americas > Colombian Tells of Marxist Plot Against Bush: "Marxist rebels had planned to assassinate President Bush last Monday during his four-hour stopover in Colombia to meet President Álvaro Uribe, Defense Minister Jorge Alberto Uribe said Saturday,"

Thoroughly UnAmerican:

Boston.com / News / World / Terror suspects' torture claims have Mass. link: "cases of what the CIA calls 'extraordinary' rendition -- the secret practice of handing prisoners in US custody to foreign governments that don't hesitate to use torture in interrogations."

The Bush Doctrine: Selective Bullying by Harry Browne: "Vladimir Putin, the Russian 'president,' has announced that he's developing a new nuclear weapon system that 'not a single other nuclear power has, or will have, in the near future.' Since the Russians already have the nuclear weapons and conventional forces that could overrun any country in the world – except one – we must assume that such a new weapons system will be aimed at only one country – America."

"The "Bush doctrine" of foreign policy is really very simple: Attack any country that can't fight back, but don't rock the boat with any country that might be able to attack the United States."

Use It or Lose It by Charley Reese: "The government would like us all to spy on our neighbors to detect terrorists. What we really should do is keep our eyes open for injustices, and when we find them, we should speak out."

That Pre-9/11 Mindset: Meet the New Normal, Same as the Old Normal by Roderick T. Long: "We've been saying for decades that the U.S. government's arrogant interventions around the world have only been increasing the risk of blowback, and that the State, in the event of such blowback, would be as ineffective at protecting the civilian population as it is at everything else. "

NPR : WWII Internment Curriculum Protested: "Some island residents and parents believe the program should teach that internment was justified, given wartime concerns."

Bush Orders Major CIA Expansion: "President Bush orders the CIA to increase by 50 percent the number of CIA analysts and spies"

(Via NPR News: Top Stories.)

WTO allows India to penalise US: "India has been allowed to slap sanctions on US"

(Via TOI - Intl Business.)

Bush Cabinet Moves Seen as Stifling Dissent: "President Bush is moving to concentrate power as he begins his second term, placing trusted members of his inner circle in key positions"

(Via Reuters: Politics.)

Is Brazil quietly building up? || kuro5hin.org: "Brazil's current president is Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. He is a friend of Hugo Chávez and admires Fidel Castro, and this together with the fact that its government is denying UN inspectors access to some parts of the uranium facility may stir up some doubts in some places about what Brazil is really intending to do"