Return of the Fallen: Pentagon Releases Hundreds More War Casualty Homecoming Images: "In response to Freedom of Information Act requests and a lawsuit, the Pentagon this week released hundreds of previously secret images of casualties returning to honor guard ceremonies from the Afghanistan and Iraq wars and other conflicts, confirming that images of their flag-draped coffins are rightfully part of the public record, despite its earlier insistence that such images should be kept secret.

One year after the start of a series of Freedom of Information Act requests filed by University of Delaware Professor Ralph Begleiter with the assistance of the National Security Archive, and six months after a lawsuit charging the Pentagon with failing to comply with the Act, the Pentagon made public more than 700 images of the return of American casualties to Dover Air Force Base and other U.S. military facilities, where the fallen troops received honor guard ceremonies. The Pentagon officially refers to the photos as "images of the memorial and arrival ceremonies for deceased military personnel arriving from overseas." Many of the images show evidence of censorship, which the Pentagon says is intended to conceal identifiable personal information of military personnel involved in the homecoming ceremonies."

(Via The National Security Archives.)

Salon.com News | The atheist: "Actually, holy alliance would be a better phrase. Bush and bin Laden are really on the same side: the side of faith and violence against the side of reason and discussion. Both have implacable faith that they are right and the other is evil. Each believes that when he dies he is going to heaven. Each believes that if he could kill the other, his path to paradise in the next world would be even swifter. The delusional 'next world' is welcome to both of them. This world would be a much better place without either of them."

(Via Salon.)

Salon.com News | Wiretaps in U.S. jump 19 percent in 2004: "The number of secret court-authorized wiretaps across the country surged by 19 percent last year, according to court records which also showed that not a single application was denied.

State and federal judges approved 1,710 applications for wiretaps of wire, oral or electronic communications last year, and four states - New York, California, New Jersey and Florida - accounted for three out of every four surveillance orders, according to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. That agency is required to collect the figures and report them to Congress."

(Via Salon.)

The New York Times | Itty-Bitty and Shrinking, Fusion Device Has Big Ideas: "In a surprising feat of miniaturization, scientists are reporting today that they have produced nuclear fusion - the same process that powers the sun - in a footlong cylinder just five inches in diameter. And they say they will soon be able to make the device even smaller.

While the device is probably too inefficient to produce electricity or other forms of energy, the scientists say, egg-size fusion generators could someday find uses in spacecraft thrusters, medical treatments and scanners that search for bombs."

(Via /.)

AlterNet: War on Iraq: The Future of Islam: "Reza Aslan explains why the real target in the 9/11 attacks was not the United States but moderates in the Muslim world."

(Via AlterNet.)

Salon.com News | Senator Franken?: "But Franken is tiring of merely being a provocateur. Although in just a year his show captured 53 stations nationwide, including eight of the top 10 markets, the most recognizable face of Air America Radio is becoming restless, and ready for a new challenge.

Al Franken wants to be a senator."

(Via Salon.)

Salon.com News | Blair releases legal advice on Iraq war: "Prime Minister Tony Blair released the attorney general's confidential advice on the legality of the Iraq war on Thursday, an embarrassing reversal forced by a leak and relentless pressure from political rivals only days before a national election.

Blair had hoped to focus on the economy, health care and education before the May 5 vote. But the document thrust the ferocious debate about Britain's support of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and Blair's integrity to the forefront of the campaign.

'Whatever I say, I will never, ever convince some people who have been opposed to this war,' said Blair. 'I cannot apologize for that decision because I still think the world is a better place with Saddam in prison rather than in power.'

The dispute hinged on the advice given to Blair by his top legal adviser Lord Goldsmith on March 7, 2003. The confidential note has been the subject of intense press speculation in recent months and, finally, a detailed leak to Channel 4 News on Wednesday night."

(Via Salon.)

House Overturns New Ethics Rule as Republican Leadership Yields: "In a rare retreat, the Republican-led House on Wednesday overturned contentious rule changes made to the House ethics process, with Republicans saying they surrendered to the Democrats to try to restore a way to enforce proper conduct in the House.

'I am willing to step back,' said Speaker J. Dennis Hastert of Illinois, the moving force behind ethics revisions forced through by the majority in January.

After a closed-door meeting with House Republicans, Mr. Hastert indicated that the reversal was primarily motivated by a need to resolve the torrent of questions surrounding the conduct of Representative Tom DeLay, the majority leader.

Mr. Hastert's relenting to Democrats' demands marked a startling turn as Republicans confronted the fallout from a stalled ethics process that Democrats said was rigged to protect Mr. DeLay, who was admonished three times by the ethics committee last year. The Republican majority has also come under increasing criticism for the rule changes, which their opponents said would render the committee impotent to pursue wrongdoing by members.

One of the most immediate effects of the House's reverting to the old rules will be the opening of an investigation into persistent questions about Mr. DeLay's overseas travel and his relationships with prominent lobbyists. "

It looks like they're starting to loose that momentum. Oh Thank God.

(Via NY Times.)

The Onion | Report: U.S. Foreign Policy Hurting American Students' Chances Of Getting Laid Abroad: "American students traveling abroad confirm the findings of a study indicating that Washington's unilateral approach to foreign policy has seriously undermined Americans' chances of getting laid.

'I've been in Amsterdam for two months and have yet to begin a conversation with a cute girl that hasn't ended in a lecture about how big, evil America is taking everyone's oil,' said college sophomore Brad Higgs, a participant in Johns Hopkins University's study-abroad program."

(Via The Onion.)

The New York Times > Washington > Senate Panel Is Widening Its Review on Nominee to U.N.: " In a widening of the inquiry into John R. Bolton's nomination to be ambassador to the United Nations, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee intends to conduct formal interviews in the next 10 days with as many as two dozen people, Congressional officials said Tuesday.

Those to be interviewed include a former deputy director of central intelligence and a former assistant secretary of state. The two officials, John E. McLaughlin and John S. Wolf respectively, have not spoken publicly about Mr. Bolton's nomination, but both have been described by others as having clashed with him on personnel matters related to intelligence.

The list, which Democratic officials said had been broadly endorsed by Republican panel members, also included Thomas Hubbard, a former ambassador to South Korea who clashed with Mr. Bolton over a speech on North Korea.

Prospects for Mr. Bolton's nomination have appeared uncertain since last-minute qualms among some Republican senators forced the Senate committee last week to postpone a confirmation vote. "

(Via NY Times.)

RFID PASSPORT PLAN FIZZLING?: "The State Department may be backing off a bit from its dumb-ass plan to embed radio frequency ID chips in passports, according to Wired News sleuth Kim Zetter. Instead of freely broadcasting to the world the passport-holder's personal information, the State Department is mulling the idea of requiring the 'RFID reader to provide a key or password before it could read data embedded on a... passport's chip. It would also encrypt data as it's transmitted from the chip to a reader so that no one could read the data if they intercepted it in transit.' Pretty Good Privacy creator Phil Zimmerman thinks the plan can 'end the threat of skimming and eavesdropping' on the passports by potential evil-doers and identity thieves. But anti-RFID jihadist Bill Scannell notes that the chips would still contain a code that says the passport belongs to an American. 'And for a lot of bad guys,' he adds, 'that would be enough.' "

(Via Defense Tech.)

Capital Games: "April 13, 2005, was a dark day for Democrats. As House Republicans gleefully passed legislation to repeal the estate tax permanently, 42 Democrats--about one-fifth of the party's caucus in the House--went along for the limo ride. It's true that 160 Democrats did vote against this unjustifiable tax break for the wealthiest of Americans. (Only one GOPer said nay to it.) But the three-and-a-half dozen Democrats who sided with Denny Hastert and Tom DeLay gave ammo to Republicans and their conservative allies in the punditry who were now able to claim the repeal was a bipartisan action that had drawn significant Democratic support. "

(Via The Nation Weblogs.)

Apr 26, 2005: The Marines speak out: "The New York Times ran an in-depth article describing the problems with armor, manpower and moral in Iraq. The sunny picture the White House has tried to paint is unfortunately obscured by the truth. Working halfway around the world with no timeline or exit strategy, many are breaking their silence to speak out about the lack of supplies and the toll on life-long soldiers."

...

"The experiences of Company E's marines, pieced together through interviews at Camp Pendleton and by phone, company records and dozens of photographs taken by the marines, show they often did just that. The unit had less than half the troops who are now doing its job in Ramadi, and resorted to making dummy marines from cardboard cutouts and camouflage shirts to place in observation posts on the highway when it ran out of men. During one of its deadliest firefights, it came up short on both vehicles and troops. Marines who were stranded at their camp tried in vain to hot-wire a dump truck to help rescue their falling brothers. That day, 10 men in the unit died."

(Via DNC: Kicking Ass.)

Salon.com News | Weapons inspector ends WMD search in Iraq: "WASHINGTON (AP) -- Wrapping up his investigation into Saddam Hussein's purported arsenal, the CIA's top weapons hunter in Iraq said his search for weapons of mass destruction 'has been exhausted' without finding any.

Nor did Charles Duelfer, head of the Iraq Survey Group, find any evidence that such weapons were shipped officially from Iraq to Syria to be hidden before the U.S. invasion, but he couldn't rule out some unofficial transfer of limited WMD-related materials.

He closed his effort with words of caution about potential future threats and careful assessment of this and other unanswered questions.

The Bush administration justified its 2003 invasion of Iraq as necessary to eliminate Hussein's purported stockpile of WMD."

(Via Salon.)

Salon.com News | Bush draws laughs on 'Splash Day' question: "President Bush drew laughs from his audience Tuesday when he asked whether the Galveston area still hosts 'Splash Day.'

The annual beach party that dates to the 1950s does live on -- but now as an unofficial gay and lesbian event.

In town to speak about Social Security, Bush told the crowd: 'I want to thank the mayor for being here -- Lyda Ann Thomas greeted me coming in. I said, 'Do you still have Splash Day?''"

(Via Salon.)

Fourteen Defining Characteristics Of Fascism: "Dr. Lawrence Britt has examined the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia) and several Latin American regimes. Britt found 14 defining characteristics common to each:"

(The full text has descriptions of all of these; below is a quick list)

1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism
2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights
3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause
4. Supremacy of the Military
5. Rampant Sexism
6. Controlled Mass Media
7. Obsession with National Security
8. Religion and Government are Intertwined
9. Corporate Power is Protected
10. Labor Power is Suppressed
11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts
12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment
13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption
14. Fraudulent Elections

(Via /.)

Slashdot: News for nerds, stuff that matters: "Time Magazine is reporting that the Bush Administration is removing U.S. delegates from the Inter-American Telephone Commission because they gave money to John Kerry in last year's election. A Bush spokesman admits it's true: 'We wanted people who would represent the Administration positively, and--call us nutty--it seemed like those who wanted to kick this Administration out of town last November would have some difficulty doing that,' says White House spokesman Trent Duffy. Employees of Qualcomm and Nokia are among those who have been removed from the commission.'"

(Via /.)

A "volunteer" police state: "As he aggressively moved the three of us toward the exit, we kept asking why this was happening. He simply replied that it was a 'private event' and we had to leave. An unknown person then led us outside, where we were surrounded by a group of law enforcement agents and other people who repeated that we needed to leave. Intimidated and embarrassed, and getting nowhere with our attempts to reenter the event or get an explanation, we walked back to my car and drove away.

Some questions have been answered since that day. We now know that, despite holding valid tickets and being properly dressed, Alex, Karen and I were removed from the event because of the message on a bumper sticker on my car: 'No More Blood for Oil.' This detail was revealed during a telephone conversation with the Secret Service the day after the incident. A week later, in a face-to-face meeting, the Secret Service also informed us that the man who had removed us was not an agent but a 'Republican staffer' on the host committee responsible for managing security. They would not disclose his identity to us, however."

(Via Salon.)

SNOOP PROGRAM RETURNS: "Everyone at Defense Tech HQ did a little hat dance after we heard about the demise of MATRIX, the far-flung, state-run, terrorist-profiling database. But it looks like we danced too soon. Officials in Florida -- who helped run the original data-mining effort -- have put out a call for information for MATRIX II, Defense Tech pal Ryan Singel reports in today's Wired News. And the sequel looks even more invasive than the original Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange. "

(Via Defense Tech.)

AlterNet: War on Iraq: The Value of Human Life: "This is an excerpt from the recently re-released 'Twilight of Empire' (Perceval Press), featuring a new foreword by Howard Zinn. This piece was written soon after the occupation began, but we feel it still has resonance.

The ongoing U.S. occupation of Iraq presents a special challenge for Muslims who self-identify as socially and politically progressive. The challenge is to speak out, rise up, and act against the unilateral American display of unbridled military power, as well as against acts of violence by some Iraqis toward that same American might or perceived Iraqi sympathizers. This double critique arises out of the Qur'anic view that to save the life of one human being--any human being--is to have saved the life of all humanity, and to take the life of a single human being, any human being, is as if to destroy all of humanity [Qur'an 5:32]."

(Via AlterNet.)

AlterNet: Frist's Message of Divisiveness: "Yesterday was the much anticipated 'Justice Sunday,' the offensive event sponsored by right-wing religious groups willing to pervert their religion for misbegotten political purposes. Though hundreds of religious leaders, even his own reverend, implored Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) to reconsider his participation in the event or 'use that opportunity to repudiate the message of divisiveness and religious manipulation that is at the core of the gathering,' Sen. Frist did neither. Instead, Frist joined the festivities through a videotaped statement -- a 'stunt that in itself [imbued] 'Justice Sunday' with a touch of all-American spectacle worthy of 'The Wizard of Oz'' -- and 'stepped up his threats to change Senate rules ... while simultaneously calling for 'more civility in political life.''"

(Via AlterNet.)

Diluting the Purchasing Power of the Dollar by Vin Suprynowicz: "Last time, visiting Rep. John Spratt, D-S.C., ranking minority member of the House Budget Committee, was explaining the Democratic objections to President Bush's proposal to "allow" workers to shift a small portion of their Social Security levies into (government supervised) private retirement accounts."

"'Security for whom? For the aged?' asked conservative columnist John T. Flynn in his 1948 book, The Roosevelt Myth.

'What of the millions of people who through long years of thrift and saving have been providing their own security? What of the millions who have been scratching for years to pay for their life insurance and annuities, putting money in savings banks, commercial banks, buying government and corporation bonds to protect themselves in their old age?' Mr. Flynn asked, nearly 60 years ago. 'These thrifty people have seen one-half their retirement funds wiped out by the Roosevelt inflation that has cut the purchasing power of the dollar in two.'"

(Via Lew Rockwell.)

Tom Davis: Keep "Urban Kind of People" Out of VA-11: "Oh, Tom. Those pesky minorities, voting Democratic again. If only you could take them out of those districts you need to win - it would be so much easier for Republicans to gain power and stay in power!

Of course, if you can't "take out" minorities, your next best defense if you're a Republican is keeping them from coming into your district in the first place, and an article in today's Washington Post shows us that Davis is actively engaged in preventing more "urban kind of people" from moving into his own district:"

...

"One politician who spoke to Davis says the congressman told him straight-out that he opposes Pulte Homes' MetroWest project because 'all it does is produce Democrats.'

Davis won reelection last year with a solid 60 percent of the vote against a largely unknown opponent, but he saw frightening cracks in his electoral foundation. 'He lost Merrifield, the area around the Dunn Loring Metro station, and he's convinced that it turned blue because of development around the station,' says Democrat Gerry Connolly, the Fairfax board chairman. [...]

Davis's alternative to density at such suburban Metro stations as Vienna is not more sprawl, but rather a push to repopulate the District. 'Culturally, the people who would move into this project in Vienna are urban kind of people. A lot of them are single, and they would be happy living closer in.'"

(Via Democracy for Virginia.)

The Nation | Blog | The Daily Outrage | Too Much Christ | Ari Berman: "We hoped to never write these words: John Kerry and Hillary Clinton are cosponsoring a bill with Rick 'Man on Dog' Santorum. Its name is deceptively harmless--The Workplace Religious Freedom Act. But the practical effect could be an enormous boost for an emboldened religious right."

(Via The Nation Weblogs.)

Apr 22, 2005: Here comes the rain again: "Republican Senator Rick Santorum doesn't want you to get your weather for free. He's introduced a bill that would keep the National Weather Service from releasing weather forecast information to the public.

Why? Because companies like AccuWeather offer the same information for cost or on advertisement-driven sites, and they don't want the competition."

(Via DNC: Kicking Ass.)

Apr 25, 2005: You know things are bad for Bush...: "when even Katherine Harris won't support his risky plan to privatize Social Security."

(Via DNC: Kicking Ass.)

Apr 25, 2005: You know things are bad for Bush...: "when even Katherine Harris won't support his risky plan to privatize Social Security."

(Via DNC: Kicking Ass.)

Slashdot: News for nerds, stuff that matters: "'Environmental engineers at Penn State University and a research scientist at Ion Power Inc. have created an electrically-assisted microbial fuel cell that can be used to produce hydrogen from organic material. The amount of electricity needed for the process is less than the amount required to power a standard cell phone. This advancement can be used to produce hydrogen as a byproduct of water treatment. ' Coverage at ScienceDaily as well."

A significant change in they hydrogen economy -- we could fuel our cars from our own waste treatment plants!!

(Via /.)

New York Post Online Edition: : "Two NYPD veterans are being investigated by Internal Affairs for allegedly accepting payoffs from the motion-picture industry to arrest vendors of pirated DVDs, law-enforcement sources told The Post."

Oh my how things have changed. It used to be gangsters who did this...

(Via /.)