Salon.com Politics: "Remember when George W. Bush had a 'mandate' and 'political capital' he could spend? If it was ever true, it isn't anymore. There's a new USAToday/CNN/Gallup Poll out today, and the results aren't pretty for the president: His approval rating has dropped seven points in just a week, hitting an all time low of 45 percent.

The biggest part of the slide may be coming from Bush's base: USA Today says Bush's approval ratings dropped most sharply 'among men, self-described conservatives and churchgoers.'"

(Via Salon.)

Independent Media Center | Hunger Strike at Georgetown Over, All Demands Met

24 Mar 2005 04:59 GMT
 

At Georgetown University, in Washington, D.C., the hunger strike has just ended. Twenty-two students went on hunger strike nine days ago to demand a living wage for University employees. All 10 Demands that the Stundent Solidarity Group had made have been met by the University.
Follow DC IMC and US IMC for additional information. Also, see the recent feature on this site for background information."

(Via IndyMedia.)

LewRockwell.com Blog: Shoot the messenger: "Some hilarity from Snopes.com:

'A federal drug agent shot himself in the leg during a gun safety presentation to children and his bosses are investigating...He drew his .40-caliber duty weapon and removed the magazine, according to the police report...Witnesses said the gun was pointed at the floor and when he released the slide, one shot fired into the top of his left thigh.'

But wait, there's more. Somebody videotaped it all (see the video), and it turns out that the DEA didn't suspend this agent wafter he shot himself in close quarters with children, oh no, they only suspended him after the video surfaced and the DEA was humiliated. Then, they began an investigation to find out who taped it. As we all know, it is a serious crime to expose federal idiocy.

The best part in the video is when the students start to make fun of the agent following the shooting."

(Via LewRockwell.com Blog.)

AlterNet: The Front: "For well over two decades now, dreamers and schemers who hope to overthrow the mullahs have been lurking along the banks of the Seine, passing secrets and lies through proxies, back channels, and middlemen. Among the Persian plotters marooned in the French capital is a former minister of commerce in the shah's government, who has recently acquired the code name of 'Ali.'

To the influential U.S. congressman who bestowed that somewhat unoriginal alias on him, the elderly bureaucrat is actually an oracle who passes along invaluable intelligence about terrorist conspiracies emanating from Tehran, and an important asset who should be cultivated by the CIA.

Yet 'Ali' is actually a cipher for Manucher Ghorbanifar, the notorious Iranian arms dealer and accused intelligence fabricator – and the potential instrument of another potentially dangerous manipulation of American policy in the Persian Gulf region."

(Via AlterNet.)

LewRockwell.com Blog: The Evil Patriot Act: "The old saw that Washington is a hammer and the rest of us are nails comes true once again. When the so-called Patriot Act was passed more than three years ago, many people warned that once armed with such a weapon, federal prosecutors would find a way to expand the definition of what one calls 'terrorism.'

The man in New Jersey who pointed a green laser at a small passenger jet now has been indicted under the Patriot Act. He also has been charged with 'lying' to law enforcement officers. (May I remind you that it is official FBI policy to lie? The law goes only one way.)

I am not condoning the man's behavior; it was stupid, but almost surely did not go to criminal. Furthermore, I seriously doubt that he was trying to bring down the plane or even make things difficult for the pilots. He simply was shining a light, which was pretty careless -- and even dangerous, in retrospect -- but one must differentiate it from an act by a 'terrorist' trying to make a passenger jetliner crash.

The Patriot Act is evil in every sense of the word. For all of the noise coming from the U.S. Department of (In)Justice that this law 'protects' Americans from terrorists, it is clear that it simply is a weapon wielded by federal prosecutors to fatten their own personal resumes. Keep in mind that we do not have one (that is right, not one) example of the federal government protecting us from ANY acts of terrorism since 9/11. Yes, a large number of people have gone to jail, but for things that really are not crimes."

Emphasis mine.

(Via LewRockwell.com Blog.)

Salon.com News | Death penalty for I.V. drug users: "Death penalty for I.V. drug users

The Bush administration is considering imposing a gag rule on U.S.-funded groups that provide clean needles to addicts, despite their huge success in preventing the spread of HIV.

...

March 24, 2005  |  Sexual behavior is one of the most difficult human behaviors to alter, and the tragedy of the ongoing global HIV pandemic reflects the enormous complexity of that effort. But one cause of HIV transmission is far easier to remedy than unprotected sex: intravenous drug use with contaminated needles. Unfortunately, the United States is now trying to block the most effective method for fighting needle-transmitted AIDS -- distributing clean needles to addicts -- by pressuring the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to suppress data showing the success of needle-exchange programs and by considering an international 'gag' rule on AIDS groups that work with needle users and receive American funding."

(Via Salon.)

The Nation | Blog | The Daily Outrage | Soldiers Speak Out | Ari Berman: "Poor Training:

Donald Rumsfeld, December 7, 2003: 'Our force today is as trained, equipped, experienced, combat hardened, benefiting from lessons learned in Afghanistan, benefiting from lessons learned in Iraq, benefiting from lessons learned in the post-major conflict portion of Iraq.'

 

Awbalth, a soldier from CA, October 20, 2004: 'The thing we needed most in Iraq wasn't bullets, body armor, cash, air conditioning, hot chow, or armored vehicles, although we were short on all of these things; the thing we really needed the most was training and preparation. We had no or very little training on urban combat tactics, raids to detain or kill targeted individuals, collecting, reporting, analyzing, and using human intelligence, developing sources of information, using interpreters, bomb/unexploded ordinance detection and disposal, handling of detainees, questioning detainees, use of non-lethal force, cordon and search operations, and riot control. This lack of training has caused the deaths of untold numbers of soldiers and Iraqis.'"

(Via The Nation Weblogs.)

Mar 24, 2005: Ignoring the real crisis: "And while they played Chicken Little on Social Security, those same officials completely ignored the real crisis facing America's seniors: the Medicare shortfall.

With health care costs rising, seniors face a double-digit percentage increase in Medicare premiums for the second year in a row. By 2020 — two decades before the Social Security insolvency date — Medicare will go bankrupt. Even some conservatives recognize the disconnect of the administration's single-minded focus on Social Security."

(Via DNC: Kicking Ass.)

AlterNet: MediaCulture: Pentagon to Reuters: what torture? where?: "Suppose I've been accused of stealing this computer but after launching an investigation of me, I find that I did not in fact steal this computer. Stupid? Absolutely. Well, ladies and gentlemen, I give you your Pentagon, refusing to reopen a faulty investigation in which none of the accusers were even questioned.

Three Iraqis working for Reuters were detained near Fallujah and claim that they were sexually abused and tortured (this was prior to the Abu Ghraib abuses) before being released without charge."

(Via AlterNet.)

European and Pacific Stars & Stripes: "‘What keeps me awake at night is what this all-volunteer force will look like in 2007,’ Gen. Richard Cody told lawmakers recently on Capital Hill."

...

"‘This fight,’ Cody said, ‘has taken a toll.’

If left unchecked, he said, that toll could have dire consequences.

‘If we as a country don’t show our appreciation — and that appreciation is really in how well we resource them, how well we take care of the families, how well we get the balance right so that we can give some predictability into the Guard and Reserves as well as into our active force — then I think we will have stretched this all volunteer force.

While Cody stopped short of warning that the military could have to return to a draft, some experts say that may not be too far over the horizon."

(Via Stars and Stripes.)

The Poor Man » You should never have quit your day job: "Jeff Gannon (no p-links), busy whoring himself out as a blogger:

8:45am
Liberals say they support our troops but not the war, but nonetheless they will stage an anti-war rally outside Ft. Bragg on the second anniversary of the liberation of Iraq. I have no doubt the protesters will get lots of media coverage - but that is a good thing - Americans should see exactly who these people are and what they represent. STORY

Let’s read the STORY, paragraph 1:

Military families and veterans are helping organize a major anti-war rally outside Fort Bragg in North Carolina that could draw several thousand people Saturday, the second anniversary of the Iraq war.

Ew, the military. Ew, families. Ladies and gentleman, your Republican party."

(Via The Poor Man.)

HARD RIGHT by Thomas Fleming: "We also know, from our moral and legal traditions, that it can never be safe to entrust such a decision to the self-seeking politicians who seek public office, whether as state legislator, governor, congressman, or president, and that the only step more perilous than entrusting politicians with the power of life and death over members of our family is to give such power to the most dangerous enemies of morality and religion: federal judges. The Republican strategy, even if it had not been revealed in a GOP Senate memo as a cynical ploy, is subversive of the constitutional order of the United States and of what moral order is left in our society."

...

"Mrs. Schiavo’s parents have the right and duty to do what they can for their daughter, but the rest of us—and, by the rest of us, I include Bill Frist, Tom Delay, George Bush, and the Vatican spokesmen who so cavalierly intrude themselves into legal and constitutional matters they do not understand—have no business. Playing politics with a dying woman, even if it advances the pro-life cause or expands the electoral base of the Republican Party, is contemptible."

(Via Hard Right!.)

Wolfowitz Romancing Tunisian World Bank Employee?...: "I can't vouch for the accuracy of this gossipy story that Paul Wolfowitz is romantically involved with Shaha Ali Riza, a Tunisian woman brought up in Saudi Arabia formerly married to Bulent Riza, a Turk.

I don't think the private lives of people are relevant to their public service (and I would stand up even for those with scandalous private lives as long as they were good at their jobs and hadn't materially harmed anyone). I object to the article's implication that this relationship is any reason for which Wolfowitz should not be president of the World Bank. Obviously, he couldn't be in charge of Ms. Riza's salary or promotions, but there are ways to delegate those things. (In universities, deans sometimes are married to faculty, and they just recuse themselves from oversight over a spouse).

Actually, if the article is true, it is the best thing I've ever heard about Wolfowitz."

(Via Informed Comment.)

AlterNet: MediaCulture: No Life Support for You: "Example: Most everyone in Washington (and, for that matter, elsewhere) believes that grandstanding politicians are using the issue for political gain. But should that information be included in every story, or should news consumers be allowed to come to their own conclusions?

One option is to simply put forth incontrovertible facts – say, by including in each story quoting a Republican lawmaker, the fact that a one-page GOP memo leaked last week called the Schiavo case 'a great political issue' that would appeal to the party's base and potentially result in the defeat of Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida."

...

"There is one bit of context, however, that seems particularly salient, and it involves a six-month old boy named Sun Hudson. On Thursday, Hudson died after a Texas hospital removed his feeding tube, despite his mother's pleas. He had a fatal congenital disease, but would have been kept alive had his mother been able to pay for his medical costs, or had she found another institution willing to take him. In a related Texas case, Spiro Nikolouzos, who is unable to speak and must be fed through a tube because of a shunt in his brain – but who his wife says can recognize family members and show emotion – may soon be removed from life support because health care providers believe his case is futile.

The Hudson and Nikolous cases fall under the Texas Futile Care Law, which was signed into law by then-governor George W. Bush."

(Via AlterNet.)

Mar 22, 2005: Culture of life: "Although President Bush claims to care deeply about a 'culture of life,' his administration is ignoring evidence that proves its mercury policy could endanger an entire generation of unborn children.

The Environmental Protection Agency paid for and peer-reviewed a Harvard study proving that the benefits of implementing strict controls on mercury released into the environment far outweighed the costs of those controls. Mercury, which is released into the air, deposited in water, absorbed by fish, and then consumed by humans, can cause severe brain damage, especially to the fetuses of pregnant females.

The Harvard study estimated that strict controls on mercury could save up to $5 billion a year in health care costs. But the administration ignored that study and claimed that those controls would result in just one one-hundredth of the savings. But those numbers reflected only the effects of eating freshwater fish, when most of the fish consumed in the U.S. comes from the ocean."

(Via DNC: Kicking Ass.)

Salon.com News | Document: Bin Laden evaded U.S. forces: "March 22, 2005  |  Washington -- A terror suspect held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was a commander for Osama bin Laden during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s and helped the al-Qaida leader escape his mountain hideout at Tora Bora in 2001, according to a U.S. government document.

The document, provided to The Associated Press in response to a Freedom of Information request, says the unidentified detainee 'assisted in the escape of Osama bin Laden from Tora Bora.'

The detainee is not identified by name or nationality. He is described as being 'associated with' al-Qaida and having called for a jihad, or holy war, against the United States.

In an indication that he might be a higher-level operative, the document says he 'had bodyguards' and collaborated with regional al-Qaida leadership. 'The detainee was one of Osama bin Laden's commanders during the Soviet jihad,' it says, referring to the holy war against Soviet occupiers."

(Via Salon.)

winning the war of symbols: "The Republicans are using the Terri Schiavo case for electoral gain, after supporting bills that permits hospitals to end the lives of patients because they can't pay their bills.  They've become living examples of Alfred Adler's observation that 'it is easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them,' and they need to be slammed for it. It is hideous to use a human tragedy for political strategy, but since the GOP already has (and at least one memo on the topic has been found), Democrats weighing their tactical response should look at their options harder and smarter."

(Via Night Light.)

Why are just America’s Cultural Institutes out of style? : "Why has the U.S. government become so allergic to displays of soft power abroad when the British, French, German, Spanish, and now even Chinese are hard at work maintaining, expanding – or yes, developing – their own cultural centers, libraries and language training institutes across the globe?

The U.S. used to be a master at the game. For years we taught hundreds of thousands of adults aged 16 on up to speak and read English. We also provided free access to the latest American magazines and books. We showed the best – although not necessarily the latest- American films and art works. We staged performances by American musicians, dancers, theater troupes and, in certain countries, mounted large, impressive exhibits of American life – exhibits that offered in the Soviet Union, for example, backdrops for and personal connections to young, vivacious American Russian speaking guides.

During the 1980s when the downsizing of the U.S. Information Agency began in earnest and in the 1990s when the reductions turned into a torrent falling on the Agency like an executioner’s blade, cultural centers, libraries and language programs were deemed too expensive."

(Via WhirledView.)

Secrecy News 03/21/05: "In response to a Freedom of Information Act request for historical intelligence budget figures, the Central Intelligence Agency last year told a federal court (1) that 'the most definitive source for the total CIA appropriation for any given year is the figure indicated in the classified annex to the intelligence authorization act for that year'; and (2) that 'CIA was not able to locate the classified annexes to the intelligence authorization acts for Fiscal Years 1947 to 1970.'

This alarming admission caught the attention of the National Archives, which asked the CIA to explain whether it had lost or improperly destroyed the budget records (Secrecy News, 12/10/04).

In a February 23, 2005 reply, CIA chief information officer Edmund Cohen said the Agency conducted 'extensive research' into the matter and found that such classified annexes only began to be produced by congressional authorizers in the 1980s."

(Via Secrecy News.)

My Way News: "AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - The Friday night lights in Texas could soon be without bumpin' and grindin' cheerleaders. Legislation filed by Rep. Al Edwards would put an end to "sexually suggestive" performances at athletic events and other extracurricular competitions.

'It's just too sexually oriented, you know, the way they're shaking their behinds and going on, breaking it down,' said Edwards, a 26-year veteran of the Texas House. 'And then we say to them, 'don't get involved in sex unless it's marriage or love, it's dangerous out there' and yet the teachers and directors are helping them go through those kind of gyrations.'

Under Edwards' bill, if a school district knowingly permits such a performance, funds from the state would be reduced in an amount to be determined by the education commissioner."

(Via LewRockwell.com Blog.)

AlterNet: Sudden Death: "All told, after a steady decline in accidents and deaths at steel plants, USWA reported nine fatalities of its union members in steel plants in 2004, up from just three in 2003. Already this year, USWA says six workers have been killed in steel-related accidents, including Velma Burnette, crushed by a loose load of steel at the Republic Engineer Plant in Loraine, Ohio on January 27, the first woman killed at the plant in 40 years."

...

"But over the past 20 years, automation of much of what occurs inside the plants has drastically reduced fatalities and accidents.

During the same period however, steel production at U.S. plants plummeted, largely because of foreign competition and an over-saturation of steel on the market."

...

"But then, in recent years, a worldwide steel boom began to change the industry's fate and American steel plants have fired up production once again. According to the American Iron and Steel Institute, U.S. steel plants shipped off nearly six percent more product in 2004 than in 2003, and approximately 12 percent more than in 2002.

But while business is good, steel companies have suddenly found themselves without the 'old timers,' as they're called, whose mastery of their own specialized crafts has been particularly missed now that there's more work to be done. Ostensibly, a far younger, less experienced generation of workers like Herbie Tolman, have been thrust into technically demanding and often dangerous jobs without many of the veterans there to show them the safest way to work."

(Via Salon.)

AlterNet: Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad Wolfowitz: "To some, Paul Wolfowitz's nomination to be president of the World Bank is yet another sign of neoconservative political hegemony; to others, it smacks of a setback for the neocons, as it means one of their top (though least doctrinaire) defense intellectuals will, for the first time in his career, be using balance sheets, not bullets, as instruments for realizing formidable political vision.

How well he'll do is anyone's guess. There were, however, a few comments of optimistic or deferential cast in last Tuesday's papers regarding the deputy secretary of defense that bear commenting on, in the service of divining what we're likely to see from the architect of 'free and democratic Iraq' – which a report released by the anti-corruption group Transparency International reveals is reeling with corruption and graft, thanks in part to the poor planning and practices of the U.S.-led invasion and occupation that was Wolfowitz's baby."

(Via AlterNet.)

Dear Mr. President Letters: "Dear Mr. President,

You often say, 'Whoever is not with us, is against us.' However, Jesus says in Mark 9:40, 'Whoever is not against us is for us.' Mr. President, your approach, although slightly different in syntax, is significantly different in meaning than the approach of the founder of the faith which you profess to practice. Your phrasing advocates pre-emptive violence, whereas Jesus' advocates pre-emptive peace."

(ViaTimothy McSweeney's Internet Tendency.)

Salon.com Politics: "Remember the scene in 'Fahrenheit 9/11' when Michael Moore followed a pair of Marine recruiters to a working-class mall outside Flint, Michigan, where the two riffed on basketball and hip-hop in order to woo several young black men to join the Corps? Moore's implication was that the U.S. military schemed to send a disproportionate number of poor minorities off to fight and die in the war.

Not so, says a new report from the Center for American Progress: 'Two years after the invasion of Iraq, the rising American death toll has prompted some commentators to suggest that poor and minority soldiers are bearing the brunt of the war's human cost. An analysis of casualties by the Center for American Progress in Washington suggests otherwise. The majority of the dead are Army and Marine enlisted personnel, white men in their mid-20's, who graduated from high schools in major cities and suburban areas. Moreover, a look at the poverty rates in the high schools many of them attended suggests that these young men and women are from working-class communities that are neither disproportionately poor nor rich.'"

(Via Salon.)

Federalism put in coma by Republicans: "President Bush, like the rest of his party, had zero difficulty in throwing aside the fatuous lip service the GOP pays to concepts like Federalism and States Rights, in order to sign a bill which put one case and one case only in front of a federal judge.  What about all this talk about 'big government' and its evils?  What is more 'big government' than Congress passing a bill to intervene in one family's medical decision, especially after a state court has worked 15 years towards a resolution"

(Via Martini Republic.)

LewRockwell.com Blog: Schiavo, "A Great Political Issue": "No, no, I'm sure this memo was faked by Dan Rather and the 'MSM'. Republicans wouldn't really use the Schiavo case as 'a great political issue,' would they? They're the party of life, after all, the deaths of 1,500 U.S. servicemen and a few tens of thousands of Iraqis notwithstanding."

(Via LewRockwell.com Blog.)

Time to stop playing patriot games- The Times of India: "In order to prove that I'm a true Indian, do I have to stand up for Narendra Modi? The cancellation of the Gujarat CM's US visa has caused an epidemic of patriotism. How dare the neo-imperialists in Washington impugn the sovereignty of the Indian republic by denying entry to an elected representative of the people of an Indian state? Never mind that Modi is accused of mass murder. His Indianness comes before his alleged murderousness, and as such we, as Indians first and moral beings second, must support him. As one commentator put it, he might be a mass murderer. But he is our mass murderer and we ought to close ranks behind him. An ingenious argument, which the Nazis should have adopted at the Nuremberg trials. Sure Hitler was a monster, but he was our monster and we had to follow him. Come to that, the Jews were also our Jews, to do with as we liked."

(Via The Times of India.)

BIG BOOST FOR PREDATOR FLEET: "The U.S. Air Force is looking to expand its fleet of flying drones, big time. Right now, the service has three active squadrons of Predator unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs. But that could expand to 15 squadrons of the robotic planes under a $5.7 billion plan just introduced by the Air Force. In recent years, the Air Force and CIA have used the bulbous-nosed, propeller-driven Predator UAVs to blast insurgents in Iraq, take out Al Qaeda operatives in Yemen, and spy on Iran's nuclear facilities. The 144-drone buy would be the Air Force's 'largest acquisition of robotic aircraft to date and represents a significant milestone in the evolution of unmanned aerial vehicles,' according to the Los Angeles Times. Predator squadrons are slated to be activated in Texas and Arizona in 2006 and 2007, then New York in 2009, said Capt. Shelley Lai, an Air Force spokeswoman. "

(Via Defense Tech.)

The Nation | Blog | The Daily Outrage | Bolton's Big Secret | Ari Berman: "Much has been written about the appointment of unilateralist uber-hawk John Bolton as America's new UN ambassador, but there's been almost nothing regarding Bolton's role in promoting the fantasy that Saddam Hussein tried to acquire enriched uranium from Niger. In fact, United Press International is the only national news agency or publication thus far to detail Bolton's behind-the-scenes dealings, in a news story by Christian Bourge and a column by Steve Clemons, who's monitored Bolton at his blog The Washington Note."

(Via The Nation Weblogs.)

AlterNet: The Washington Establishment Fails Logic 101: "I just got back from a trip to the Happiest Place on Earth. Didn't ride the Teacups, though. Because I wasn't in Disneyland but in Washington, D.C., where everyone is walking on air, swept away by the Beltway's latest consensus: President Bush was right on Iraq, and, as a result, Tomorrowland in the Middle East will feature an e-ticket ride on the Matterhorn of freedom and democracy.

The political and cultural establishment has gone positively goofy over this notion. In the corridors of power, Republicans are high-fiving, and Democrats are nodding in agreement and patting themselves on the back for how graciously they've been able to accept the fact that they were wrong. The groupthink in the nation's capital would be the envy of Dear Leader Kim Jong II."

(Via AlterNet.)

AlterNet: War on Iraq: Fog of War: "Thousands convene in North Carolina to focus the peace movement's gaze on Iraq war veterans, bereaved families, active-duty soldiers and their kin."

...

"The North Carolina Peace and Justice Coalition had called the Fayetteville action to place Iraq war veterans, bereaved families, active-duty soldiers and their kin in the center of the antiwar crusade. Sponsors included Veterans For Peace, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Quaker House, Military Families Speak Out, Bring Them Home Now, Fayetteville Peace with Justice, N.C. Council of Churches, and United for Peace and Justice."

(Via AlterNet.)

LewRockwell.com Blog: Re: Terri Schiavo Mess: "I was going to steer clear of this alternately heart-wrenching and infuriating fiasco, but while waiting to make Confession this morning I overheard two parishioners, saying, 'Did you see Tom Delay on the Schiavo issue? He was excellent!' I would have expected a bit more skepticism about our political leadership among Latin Mass Catholics, so therefore I wish to set the record straight.

The facts are thus: this is nothing but the lowest form of political ploy. There was legislation available at the beginning of last week -- and earlier -- that could easily have been modified to assuage the concerns of the Senate and acted upon far before the 'last minute.' Compromise was entirely possible before the feeding tubes were yanked from the suffering woman."

(Via LewRockwell.com Blog.)

How a bill becomes a law, Virginia style!: "How can we influence legislation in Virginia? In order to lobby effectively, you first need to know how the process works and what opportunities you have to influence it. First I'll outline the process, and then describe the ways we can help move it in our direction.

For simplicity’s sake, I’ll track a bill originating in the House of Delegates on its way to becoming law:"

(Via Democracy for Virginia.)

LewRockwell.com Blog: Re: Terri Schiavo Mess: "I was going to steer clear of this alternately heart-wrenching and infuriating fiasco, but while waiting to make Confession this morning I overheard two parishioners, saying, 'Did you see Tom Delay on the Schiavo issue? He was excellent!' I would have expected a bit more skepticism about our political leadership among Latin Mass Catholics, so therefore I wish to set the record straight.

The facts are thus: this is nothing but the lowest form of political ploy. There was legislation available at the beginning of last week -- and earlier -- that could easily have been modified to assuage the concerns of the Senate and acted upon far before the 'last minute.' Compromise was entirely possible before the feeding tubes were yanked from the suffering woman."

(Via LewRockwell.com Blog.)

the acme politics company: "An email from StartChange.org about the mass production of fake news with tax dollars got me thinking:   why does it seem as if Bush & Co. are the Roadrunner and the Democratic/liberal opposition is Wile E. Coyote?  Sure, the Republicans hold all branches and organs of government in an iron fist, which means they do lots more runnin' and their opponents do lots more chasin'.   But that's only part of it.   As long as liberals keep reacting instead of acting, they'll be forced to work harder and be more sophisticated, and yet will always be one step behind.   Maybe that's why efforts like MoveOn.org, no matter how well executed, look a little like the Acme Politics Company.   They're too high-tech, too elaborate.  It's time for a couple of 'beep-beeps' and some bold moves from the left.  And for God's sake, can we all have some fun while we're at it?

I'm not criticizing these groups - far from it.  Their work is critical, and terrific people run them.   I'm just saying the time is right for some low-tech (or 'appropriate technology') initiatives (with emphasis on the word 'initiative')."

(Via Night Light.)

Wolfowitz's Plot to Destroy OPEC And Why it was a...: "The BBC Newsnight reports the titanic struggle between the Neoconservatives and Big Oil over Iraqi petroleum. If this story is true, it is some of the best reporting to come out of the Iraq scandal for months, and Greg Palast and his colleagues have scooped the Washington Post and the New York Times.

It is a story that also has a bearing on Paul Wolfowitz's bid to become chairman of the World Bank. I have some questions for him. Does he want to reduce the Arabs to poverty? Is he hostile to the very existence of OPEC and of producer cooperatives in primary commodities? Does he favor the use of warfare by states to permit their corporations to take over public energy resources in the Global South? Are his economic policies going to be rooted in a desire to further the interests of the Likud and other rightwing parties in the Global South?"

(Via Informed Comment.)

Wolfowitz's Plot to Destroy OPEC And Why it was a...: "The BBC Newsnight reports the titanic struggle between the Neoconservatives and Big Oil over Iraqi petroleum. If this story is true, it is some of the best reporting to come out of the Iraq scandal for months, and Greg Palast and his colleagues have scooped the Washington Post and the New York Times.

It is a story that also has a bearing on Paul Wolfowitz's bid to become chairman of the World Bank. I have some questions for him. Does he want to reduce the Arabs to poverty? Is he hostile to the very existence of OPEC and of producer cooperatives in primary commodities? Does he favor the use of warfare by states to permit their corporations to take over public energy resources in the Global South? Are his economic policies going to be rooted in a desire to further the interests of the Likud and other rightwing parties in the Global South?"

(Via Informed Comment.)

Salon.com News | Pakistan explosion kills 27, injures 18: "March 19, 2005 | QUETTA, Pakistan -- A bomb exploded Saturday as minority Shiite Muslims congregated at a shrine in a remote town in southwestern Pakistan, killing at least 27 people and wounding 18, police said.

Thousands of worshippers were at the shrine of a Shiite saint near the town of Naseerabad, about 210 miles south of Quetta in restive Baluchistan province, when the bomb went off outside, said Mubarak Ali, a local police official.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility and no indication the attack was linked to clashes between renegade tribesmen and government forces at a town elsewhere in southwestern Baluchistan that left at least 30 people dead this week."

(Via Salon.)

Foreign Policy: Contrabandwidth: "People can get almost anything on the black market%u2014drugs, passports, even human organs. Now add Web sites to the list. Inside many authoritarian regimes that closely monitor and censor the Internet, access to blocked Web sites has become a black market commodity like any other. Typically, the process is simple: Savvy black marketers in cybercafes, universities, private homes, and elsewhere exploit technological loopholes to circumvent government filters and charge fees for access. According to the OpenNet Initiative (ONI) (www.opennetinitiative.net), a research organization devoted to tracking blocked Web sites, black market access to filtered pages in Saudi Arabia runs anywhere from $26 to $67 per Web site."

(Via /.)

Free Iraqi: Was that really a pro-Syrian rally?: "Was that really a pro-Syrian rally?

According to Al-Ra'ai Il A'am Kuwaiti newspaper (Arabic link), students of 'Omar Al Mukhtar' educational center in Helba city in Becca valley demonstrated yesterday in huge numbers against the Syrian presence in Lebanon. So far nothing unusual, but what makes this demonstration significant is not the numbers of demonstrators but rather the place and what the students had to say."

(Via Free Iraqi.)

Foreign Policy: Contrabandwidth: "People can get almost anything on the black market%u2014drugs, passports, even human organs. Now add Web sites to the list. Inside many authoritarian regimes that closely monitor and censor the Internet, access to blocked Web sites has become a black market commodity like any other. Typically, the process is simple: Savvy black marketers in cybercafes, universities, private homes, and elsewhere exploit technological loopholes to circumvent government filters and charge fees for access. According to the OpenNet Initiative (ONI) (www.opennetinitiative.net), a research organization devoted to tracking blocked Web sites, black market access to filtered pages in Saudi Arabia runs anywhere from $26 to $67 per Web site."

(Via /.)