Los Angeles Policeman of the World
From: The White House
To: Albert Gore, Jr.
Dear Al:
We found some more votes. You won!
When do you want to take over?
Sincerely,
George W. Bush
Unknown News - Let's play ... Los Angeles Policeman of the World! - Guess the next countries to be victim of overt or covert actions by the U.S. government. Complete with a color-coded list of the world's countries with dates Amerika last acted against them. [unknown]
To play "Los Angeles Policeman of the World!," simply send an email to unknownnews@bigfoot.com, picking the date and nation of America's next overt action, and the date and nation of America's next covert action. One-by-one, as each nation listed on this page is bombed by America, or its leader assassinated by American agents, its government toppled by the CIA, etc., the player who picked the unlucky target country and the closest-to-correct date will receive a glamorous trip for two to that very nation (not really)! Or maybe a mock-up of Henry Kissinger's impressive Nobel Peace Prize. Or, who knows, our winner could quite possible receive only the fame and fortune of being announced as winner. Depends on our budget and mood.
Michelle Saxton at Salon - Judge rules against anti-war student - If you're a student in Charleston, West Virginia, you may not wear a T-shirt that says "When I saw the dead and dying Afghani children on TV, I felt a newly recovered sense of national security. God Bless America." [unknown]
Times of India - Afghanistan's biggest power station hit - It seems that Afghanistan did have one piece of major infrastructure. Past tense. Better watch those U.S. bridges guys. Terrorism begets terrorism. As the Israelis and Palestinians well know. [unknown]
The Kajaki hydro-electric power station in Helmand province was bombed on Wednesday afternoon and electricity supplies to the cities of Kandahar and Lashkarga have been completely halted, a Taliban official told AFP in Kabul.
But Amir Khan Muttaqi, the Taliban education minister, told the Pakistan-based AIP that the dam has also been badly damaged.
"So far water has not started gushing out of the dam but any further bombing will destroy the dam. It may cause widespread flooding, putting at risk the lives of thousands of people," Muttaqi was quoted as saying.
Electronic Frontier Foundation - EFF Analysis Of The Provisions Of The USA PATRIOT Act That Relate To Online Activities - A summary of part of the abomination that GW signed into law last Monday. Kuro5hin discussion here. [kuro5hin]
The civil liberties of ordinary Americans have taken a tremendous blow with this law, especially the right to privacy in our online communications and activities. Yet there is no evidence that our previous civil liberties posed a barrier to the effective tracking or prosecution of terrorists. In fact, in asking for these broad new powers, the government made no showing that the previous powers of law enforcement and intelligence agencies to spy on US citizens were insufficient to allow them to investigate and prosecute acts of terrorism. The process leading to the passage of the bill did little to ease these concerns. To the contrary, they are amplified by the inclusion of so many provisions that, instead of aimed at terrorism, are aimed at nonviolent, domestic computer crime. In addition, although many of the provisions facially appear aimed at terrorism, the Government made no showing that the reasons they failed to detect the planning of the recent attacks or any other terrorist attacks were the civil liberties compromised with the passage of USAPA.
Lew Rockwell at LewRockwell.com - An Inevitable Bog - Government doesn't work. When will the people learn this eternal truth. [lew]
Alison C. Hofley at LewRockwell.com - An Angry American Asks - One woman's recent airport experience. Heil Georgie! [lew]
AP - Sheriff proposes civil defense force - John Raichi, the Sheriff in Astoria, Oregon, has proposed that the militia be called on to patrol during periods of high alert. He didn't use the word "militia", but that's what he's calling for. Excellent idea. [kaba]
Daisy Outdoor Products - Daisy Response to Consumer Product Safety Commission Complaint - Their guns are safe when used as directed under adult supervision. [kaba]
It is important to note that the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has reviewed these same models regularly over the past 20 years, most recently in 1999, and found them to be safe with no defects. The models being reviewed by CPSC are sold only to people who are at least 16 years of age and should be used only under the supervision of an adult. Those models also contain numerous safety features. In order to fire the air gun one needs to pump it, pull back the bolt, push forward the bolt, aim it, and fire. One cannot fire this gun without completing all of these steps. We are not aware of any accidental firings of these models. At any time during these steps, the user can always check to see whether the air rifle is loaded.
All of the information that we have seen about the incidents being reviewed by CPSC indicates that individuals using the air rifles were ignoring safety warnings at the time they fired the product.
JPFO - NBC to Air the Story of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising - Rabidly anti-gun NBC will air tomorrow and Monday the story of how a small group of determined Jews held off the German army for almost a month. There's a good telling of this story in John Ross'es novel Unintended Consequences. NBC is selling a video of the 4-hour mini-series for $20. If you don't have Mr. Ross'es book, and you can't afford both the book and the video, go for the book. [jpfo]
Steve Kubby at DrugSense Weekly - Life Beyond the Drug War: Sitting out the Drug War in a Safe Haven - a warning that the end of Amerika's war on drugs will be even more dangerous than before. Liberty will return, but for now people who need medical cannabis would be safer in another country, Canada for example.
You don't have to live in fear of your own government. There really are safe havens and life beyond this immoral and unconstitutional war. Most Americans come from families who have left their home countries and moved on to find freedom. Sadly, the time has now come to move away from America, at least temporarily, until the Constitution and Bill of Rights have been restored and people can again feel safe and secure in their own homes.
Vin Suprynowicz - 'Students' of death - Vin appears to think that we should treat non-citizens differently than citizens during war-time. I have another idea. The problem is not that due process makes it too hard to deal properly with terrorists. The problem is that America no longer has due process. Remember the old cowboy movies where the murderer was captured, was jailed until a gallows could be constructed, then was put on trial? When found guilty by a jury, he was taken outside and hanged, with the entire community watching, including the kids. That's what proper due process looks like for murderers, and terrorists, and treasonous congress critters. No special war-time considerations necessary.
Our constitutional guarantee of due process -- our fine traditions of the presumption of innocence, the right to counsel, our bans on torture; incarceration without trial; on cruel and unusual punishment -- are part of what make us free and great. These cannot be sacrificed. In fact, officials who violate these constitutional guarantees should, themselves, be indicted and put on trial.
...
There is an answer. There is a proper constitutional provision to suspend these rights for foreign nationals. It is contained in the Section 8 power of Congress to "declare War, [and] grant letters of Marque and Reprisal ..."
...
The German spies who landed by submarine in Florida and on Long Island in 1942 were rounded up, quickly tried by military tribunals on charges of being enemy soldiers out of uniform, shot without fanfare, and buried in unmarked graves.
Salman Rushdie at The New York Times -
Yes, This Is About Islam 
- It's a fight between the political
"Islamists" and the true Muslims, whose religion is a personal
affair. [faisal]
Highly motivated organizations of Muslim men (oh, for the voices of Muslim women to be heard!) have been engaged over the last 30 years or so in growing radical political movements out of this mulch of "belief." These Islamists -- we must get used to this word, "Islamists," meaning those who are engaged upon such political projects, and learn to distinguish it from the more general and politically neutral "Muslim" -- include the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, the blood-soaked combatants of the Islamic Salvation Front and Armed Islamic Group in Algeria, the Shiite revolutionaries of Iran, and the Taliban. Poverty is their great helper, and the fruit of their efforts is paranoia. This paranoid Islam, which blames outsiders, "infidels," for all the ills of Muslim societies, and whose proposed remedy is the closing of those societies to the rival project of modernity, is presently the fastest growing version of Islam in the world.
...
An Iraqi writer quotes an earlier Iraqi satirist: "The disease that is in us, is from us." A British Muslim writes, "Islam has become its own enemy." A Lebanese friend, returning from Beirut, tells me that in the aftermath of the attacks on Sept. 11, public criticism of Islamism has become much more outspoken. Many commentators have spoken of the need for a Reformation in the Muslim world.
Don Hazen at AlterNet - Time for Action -- An AlterNet Editorial - Mr. Hazen gives a short introduction to an excerpt from a speech by Bill Moyers. I'm split on my opinion of this. Some of it is good, but there's a socialist undertone to the whole thing that bothers me. I agree that we are at peril from our own government. But what these guys appear to want instead also frightens me. [rattler]
This is their game: they are counting on your patriotism to distract you from their plunder. They are counting on you to be standing at attention with your hand over your heart, pledging allegiance to the flag, while they pick your pocket. If, in the name of the war on terrorism, President Bush hands the state over to the energy industry, it's every patriot's duty to join the loyal opposition.
