NEOCON 101
"Neocons" believe that the United States should not be ashamed to use its unrivaled power – forcefully if necessary – to promote its values around the world. Some even speak of the need to cultivate a US empire. Neoconservatives believe modern threats facing the US can no longer be reliably contained and therefore must be prevented, sometimes through preemptive military action.
Are you one? Take the test.
(CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR)

HIGHS AND LOWS OF 2003
The highs and lows of 2003 as seen by the New York Times' critics.
(NYT)

SCHOONER BRINGS MEDICAL SUPPLIES TO CUBA
"The ship is carrying 100-150 boxes of medical supplies, sports equipment and special wheelchairs for organizations in Baracoa, Cuba, that help the blind, elderly, handicapped and women with high-risk pregnancies. Voyager is making its second humanitarian mission to Cuba, but the St. Augustine-Baracoa Friendship Association has already made two dozen trips to Cuba to help people in need."
(ST. AUGUSTINE RECORD, unearthed by CubaNews Digest)

Village Voice:
FILM CRITICS' POLL
Here's the list of the best films for the year as seen by the critics for the Village Voice.
(VILLAGE VOICE)

FELIX AWARDS
Michael Musto's annual Felix Awards do need an introduction, but rather than waste time trying to come up with a truly appropriate one, let's just get on with the honors—the wacky wrap-up of the year in tears, fears, queers, and male brassieres. These tawdry trophies make the Golden Globes look relevant. And the Felixes go to . . .
(VILLAGE VOICE)

CASTRO: BATTLE OF IDEAS
...this is a country where no school-age child is to be seen roaming about or begging in the streets, where 100% of elementary-age children go to school and graduate from sixth grade, and that it is the only country in the hemisphere - including the United States - where 100% of children enroll in seventh grade and 99.5% of teenagers graduate from ninth grade. "This is a country, the only one in the hemisphere, where, from birth, children have the possibility of growing up healthy, of having a liter of milk a day, the necessary food, and, in terms of their schooling, can progress from kindergarten to graduation as a doctor of science without having to spend a single cent," he observed.
(GRANMA, unearthed by Cuban Daily News Digest)

BATTLEFIELD CHICAGO
...[T]he Bush Administration has insisted on treating [Yaser] Hamdi and [Jose] Padilla as soldiers. Labeling them "enemy combatants," the administration asserts that they may be held without any legal process whatsoever until the "war on terror" is over....

...(In upholding the detention of Hamdi) the Fourth Circuit's ruling was frighteningly broad. But what the government was asking the Second Circuit to do in the Padilla case was still more dramatic: to sanction the indefinite detention of an American citizen who was not captured on a foreign battlefield, but rather picked up in Chicago. The government was arguing, in short, that the one fact that the Hamdi court relied upon was one fact too many.

Although the district court that heard Padilla's habeas corpus request ruled that the government should have to provide "some evidence" in support of its position that Padilla was an enemy combatant, the government disagreed. In its view, no fact, no evidence, and no legal process should be required.

The Second Circuit ruled against the government on broader grounds than did the district court, and thus did not discuss the government's burden of proof. Yet its opinion was in many ways a narrow one, which in no way challenged the government's key underlying claims. It did not, for example, question the Bush Administration's assertion that the "war on terror" is a literal war, unlike, for instance, the Cold War or the War on Drugs.
(FINDLAW COMMENTARY)

TEXAS-STYLE PURITANISM
"Joanne Webb, a former fifth-grade teacher and mother of three, was in a county court in Cleburne, Texas, on Monday to answer obscenity charges for selling the vibrator to undercover narcotics officers posing as a dysfunctional married couple in search of a sex aid. "
(SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

RUMSFIELD WAS SENT TO APPEASE SADDAM IN 1984
Donald Rumsfeld went to Baghdad in March 1984 with instructions to deliver a private message about weapons of mass destruction: that the United States' public criticism of Iraq for using chemical weapons would not derail Washington's attempts to forge a better relationship, according to newly declassified documents.
Mr Rumsfeld's earlier trip to Baghdad, in December 1983, has been widely reported as having helped persuade Iraq to resume diplomatic ties with the US. An explicit purpose of Mr Rumsfeld's return trip in March 1984, the documents reveal, was to ease the strain created by a US condemnation of chemical weapons.
(SYDNEY MORNING HERALD)

AMERICAN GULAG ARCHIPELAGO
"Saddam Hussein is now prisoner No. 1 in what has developed into a global detention system run by the Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency, according to government officials.

Many of the prisoners are still being held in a network of detention centers ranging from Afghanistan to the United States Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Officials described it as a prison system with its own unique hierarchy, one in which the most important captives are kept at the greatest distance from the prying eyes of the public and the media. It is a system in which the jailers have refined the arts of interrogation in order to drain the detainees of crucial information."
(NYT)

CITIZEN OVERSITE
A new Internet site unveiled by Iowa state officials Monday was promoted as a tool for citizens to track government performance.
The Web site summarizes agency operations, government finance and economic indicators and detailed performance information from each state agency. It lists a mission, goals and an explanation of plans to improve outcomes for each of 47 departments.
(FINDLAW)

EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT!!!
Just got this email from a friend of a friend's cousin. Don't know if its legit, looks it and I trust the people who sent it to me. (I deleted his name):
From:

Subject: We got Saddam Hussein!
Date: Sun, 14 Dec 2003 16:53:20 +0300
ALL,

As you all know by now, we have captured Saddam Hussein. The 1st Brigade Combat Team "Raiders", 4th Infantry Division (M)with Special Ops forces caught HVT#1.

I participated in this raid last night which started at about 1900 (7PM) as we quickly rehearsed the plan. This was a joint operation between 1st Brigade, 4ID and Special Ops Forces. After we rehearsed the plan at a grain storage facility in Tikrit (that smelled like an outhouse by the way!), we mounted up and drove about 20km south to Ad Dawr. We had Humvees and a some armored Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles and the Special Ops guys brought their toys. I won't go into what they ride around in, but they have got some nice vehicles and equipment! One vehicle you'd never expect to see over here! Totally out of place but totally fits the Special Ops "look".

We drove at about 40-50 MPH in total darkness on the highway across the Tigris River and headed south to the small town of Ad Dawr. We used our Night Vision Goggles as we sped down the road as some of the locals watched this convoy of about 30 vehicles speed by in the moonless night. Wonder what they were thinking? Last night was pitch black with no moon until about 2130hrs (9:30PM).

After we hit the objectives (Wolverine 1 & 2) we set a cordon and began the search. Initially we didn't find him and the Special Ops soldiers in the house were being led away from his #1's "rat hole" by an Iraqi that was in the house.

Well, the "rat hole" was discovered and the cover moved and sure enough, there he was down in the bottom! Our Special Ops guys whisked him away in a "Little Bird" (small Special Ops Helicopter)off to Tikrit for a quick stop and then off to Baghdad.

We drove all the way back up to Tikrit in disbelief that we had finally found this guy! All the work and intelligence gathering we have done for the past 8 months have paid off! It has been quite amazing watching us narrow the ring around this guy. We have got an amazing "wiring diagram" with Saddam Hussein in the middle working outwards starting with his children, wives, cousins, uncles, nephews, body guards, drivers, etc. Amazing! We just followed up on all the clues we have gathered and here we are. The last two weeks we have really been "cleaning house" on Saddam Husseins most trusted aides. We have had a great working relationship with our Special Ops brothers. We have shared information and worked together for so long on this that it's great to be able to say that "I was part of the unit that caught Saddam Hussein!"

I have a great photo of him in the house that I'll try to send, but it's a very big file. Over 2 MB! I'll try to send it in another email as an attachment!

1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division (Mechanized) RAIDERS!

SUPREME COURT OVERTURNS GORE ENDORSEMENT
Just moments after former Vice President Al Gore endorsed former Vermont Governor Howard Dean for President in Harlem yesterday, the Supreme Court overturned his endorsement by a 5-4 margin.
The Court, finding the former Vice President’s endorsement of Mr. Dean unconstitutional, transferred his endorsement to President George W. Bush instead.
(BOROWITZ, unearthed by Joel Sogol)

INTERNATIONAL RUM FESTIVAL
Preparations are already underway in Havana for the International Rum Festival, scheduled for June 6 to 9, 2004 to coincide with festivities for the 485th anniversary of the founding of the city of San Cristobal de La Habana.
During that period, Havana will be transformed into the world’s capital for quality rum thanks to fruitful exchanges between producers, retailers, bar tenders and rum-lovers from around the globe and particularly from those regions where rum is produced from the sugar cane and select honeys from the Caribbean, Mexico, Central and South America."
(GRANMA, unearthed by Cuban Daily News Digest)

ADIOS RUBEN
"Ruben Gonzalez, one of the stars of the Buena Vista Social Club band, died Monday in Havana. He was 84. Gonzalez was the pianist of the group that helped spark a renaissance of traditional Cuban music."
(NPR)

IT'S WORKED SO WELL FOR THEM
"Israeli advisers are helping train US special forces in aggressive counter-insurgency operations in Iraq, including the use of assassination squads against guerrilla leaders, US intelligence and military sources said yesterday."
(GUARDIAN, unearthed by Common Dreams)

THE KETTLE IS BLACK
"President Bush cites dictator Fidel Castro's recent crackdown against dissidents as reason to prolong the 42-year-old Cuba embargo. Yet the Cuban people know that Bush himself has imprisoned, indefinitely and without due process on that same island, hundreds of Muslims as 'enemy combatants' of the United States. The hypocrisy isn't lost on anyone. Although Bush shouldn't be compared to Castro, whose atrocities are many, the president's high road to moral superiority ends at the Guantanamo gulag. Once again, Castro can thumb his nose at a U.S. rationalization for the embargo."
(DAYTONA NEWS-JOURNAL, unearthed by Cuba News Digest)

CHE FACEPLATE OPTIONAL
"Cubans wear them like fine jewelry, but they don't glitter. They ring. They chime. They even vibrate. Cellphones, old news in most of the Americas, are the latest rage in this socialist nation. They're a symbol of status and power, a way to slip into the wireless world, if only for a moment."
(DALLAS NEWS, unearthed by Cuba Daily News Digest)

CHANGING FACE OF CUBA, PART 2
"In such areas as trade, the environment, the arts, even tourism, Americans are choosing to work with Cubans despite an economic embargo"
(NAPLES DAILY NEWS)

CHANGING FACE OF CUBA, PART 3
Bracing themselves for burgeoning tourism, Cuban environmentalists and their international counterparts focus on conservation efforts.
(NAPLES DAILY NEWS)

CHAPLAIN SPEAKS OUT
"Captain Yee was held in solitary confinement in a South Carolina Navy brig for nearly three months while he was under investigation, permitted only two 15-minute telephone calls a day after a month and, his lawyers said, barred from speaking Arabic to his wife, whom he met while studying Islam in Syria in 1997."
... He was released last week without any espionage charges brought against him. But in a twist that Mrs. Yee said was more devastating than the espionage investigation, the military has charged him with adultery — a violation of military code — and possession of pornography, in addition to charges that he had disobeyed orders by taking classified information home.
... Shaheed Nuriddin, a close friend of the Yees, said: "The adultery was worse. The Army had come to her and said, `You don't know the man you married.' And this was after they kept trying to get her to identify her husband as a terrorist."
(NYT)

SCAM BAITERS
Scam-baiters start by replying to emails from African fraudsters trying to fleece recipients with fake charities or investments.
The baiters pretend to fall for the scams while secretly humiliating the fraudsters, whom they call 'lads.'
Typically, they make endless demands for proof of identity that force the lads to forge passports, bank accounts and documents. Sometimes the lads are told to photograph themselves in ridiculous poses, with loaves of bread on their heads, or clutching signs with secret passwords.
(STUFF unearthed by www.dailyrotten.com)

COINTELPRO ALL OVER AGAIN
A confidential FBI memo confirms that the federal government is targeting innocent mericans engaged in nothing more than lawful protest and dissent.
In the memo the FBI advocates spying on peaceful protesters and ndicates that protesters who engage in civil disobedience or other disruptive acts should be treated like potential terrorists. It confirms that the government has monitored the actions of peaceful protestors and wants intelligence about protestors to be reported to the nearest FBI field office or terrorism task force.(ACLU, unearthed by Wilson Myers)

CHANGING FACE OF CUBA, PART 1
"....More than ever, their presence represents a change in the minds of a growing number of Americans with which the U.S. government may soon be finding itself in the position of playing catch-up. "
(NAPLES DAILY NEWS and featured in CUBANET, unearthed by Cuba Daily News)

ALABAMA DELEGATION'S COMMENTS TO CUBANS
"On the agreement between Alimport and Alabama State Port Authority, we have agreed to work jointly in the movement of bulk, breakbulk, refrigerated and containerized cargo via our terminal facilities. Also we have agreed to work with our legislature for the lifting of the travel ban and promote tourism via Air, Cruises, ferries, etc, between Mobile and Cuba."
(RADIO HABANA)

BUSH'S BETRAYAL (OP-ED)
In Bush's first three years, nondefense discretionary spending -- which fell by 13.5 percent under Ronald Reagan -- has soared by 20.8 percent. His more libertarian-minded voters are taken aback to discover that 'compassionate conservatism' turned out to mean social conservatism -- a stepped-up drug war, restrictions on medical research, antigay policies, federal subsidies for marriage and religion -- and big-spending liberalism justified as 'compassion.'"
(WASHINGTON POST Op-Ed piece, featured in CATO newsletter)

THE ZERO FILES
"They are, in a way, the real-world equivalent of television's 'X-Files,' the fictional secret collection of FBI cases involving alien abductions and grand conspiracies that kept legions of fans entertained for nearly a decade."
(SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

KENNEDY TAPE RELEASED
the National Security Archive has posted an audio tape of the President and his national security advisor, McGeorge Bundy, discussing the possibility of a secret meeting in Havana with Castro. The tape, dated only seventeen days before Kennedy was shot in Dallas, records a briefing from Bundy on Castro's invitation to a U.S. official at the United Nations, William Attwood, to come to Havana for secret talks on improving relations with Washington. The tape captures President Kennedy's approval if official U.S. involvement could be plausibly denied.
(NATIONAL SECURITY ARCHIVES, unearthed by CubaNews Digest)

OAKSTERDAMN!
"Here, cafes sell marijuana for medicinal use with the studied casualness of a Starbucks offering double-shot, soy milk, no-foam lattes. The model, as the nickname indicates, is free-wheeling Amsterdam, where cafe patrons openly enjoy joints with their espressos or beers. But there is one big difference: Oakland doesn't have Amsterdam's clear-cut laws, which make such sales unquestionably legal. "
(SUN-SPOT, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

CAPTIVES MAY BE RELEASED
"Time Magazines is reporting the possibility of an impending large-scale release from Guantanamo — which currently houses about 660 prisoners, most of whom were captured during and after the Afghan war. Time quoted American officials as saying that some of the detainees being considered for release had been captured by Afghan warlords and sold for the bounty offered by Washington for Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters."
(NYT)

SHOT IN THE ARM FOR CUBA
"It was Cuba's $1 billion gamble — to train an army of scientists, develop a sprawling biotech industry and tackle every disease from cancer to AIDS.
The bet paid off, Cuban officials say. Since 1990, Cuban scientists have developed dozens of new treatments and drugs, including the world's only vaccine against meningitis B. "
(SEATTLE TIMES, unearthed by CubaNews Digest)

WANTED: JOB AS A POET LAUREATE
So, this is why Roy Moore "quit" his day job.
(RETAKING AMERICA, unearthed by Linda McKnight)

PERSONAL USE OF MJ UPHELD IN ALASKA
"The Alaska Court of Appeals has rejected a request by the state to reconsider a decision allowing adults to possess small amounts of marijuana for personal use. "
(FAIRBANKS DAILY NEWS-MINER, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

CRITICAL COMIX ART
"Uncle Sam is a warning about the hubris of empire; if our society must now be seen through the scrim of 9-11, a citizen could do worse than give it a serious read. "
(VILLAGE VOICE)

JUVENILE DNA MAY BE CATALOGUED
"DNA profiles from hundreds of thousands of juvenile offenders and adults arrested but not convicted of crimes could be added to the FBI's national DNA crime-fighting program under a proposed law moving through Congress."
(USA TODAY, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

"ENEMY COMBATANT" CASE REACHES APPEALS COURT
"A federal appeals court panel cast doubt Monday on whether President Bush has the authority to designate an American citizen an 'enemy combatant' and detain him indefinitely without criminal charges. "
(CNN, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

STAR CHAMBER REDUX
"ASIF Iqbal, a British citizen, traveled to Pakistan in September 2001, planning to marry in the village where his father still lived. Before he could wed, he was captured. By whom is unclear. He wound up at the US camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where he has been living in a cell for 22 months. Like the other 650 men and boys there, Iqbal has no idea when, if ever, he will be charged with a crime, taken to court, or set free. He has no way to tell his side of the story to anyone except his jailers, much less prove innocence to a judge. This is exactly as it should be, the Bush administration says. These people have terrorist ties or were on the wrong side in the war in Afghanistan and are ineligible for the protections that international law provides, the White House maintains."
(MANILLA TIMES, unearthed by CubaNews Digest)

SPOOK REBELLION
"An unprecedented array of US intelligence professionals, diplomats and former Pentagon officials have gone on record to lambaste the Bush administration for its distortion of the case for war against Iraq. In their view, the very foundations of intelligence-gathering have been damaged in ways that could take years, even decades, to repair.
A new documentary film beginning to circulate in the United States features one powerful condemnation after another, from the sort of people who usually stay discreetly in the shadows - a former director of the CIA, two former assistant secretaries of defense, a former ambassador to Saudi Arabia and even the man who served as President Bush's Secretary of the Army until just a few months ago. "
(COMMON DREAMS, unearthed by CubaNews Digest)

CUBA POLITICS WORRY FARMERS
Cuba is now the United States' 35th largest agricultural export market, up from 208th just two years ago...
"doing business with Cuba is a lesson in working with paranoid, controlling bureaucrats who require loads of unnecessary paperwork at frequent stages of the deal. And he's not talking about the communist government in Havana. 'The difficult part has been, for the most part, working with our government: "
(VOA, unearthed by CubaNews Digest)

DRINKOMETER
How much Alcohol have you consumed? How much has it cost you?
(Suggested by Joel Sogol)

AT WHAT PRICE?
Government officials have typically responded to terrorist attacks by enacting "antiterrorism" legislation designed to assuage public fears by making "the dubious claim that they can prevent terrorism by curtailing the privacy and civil liberties of the people."
(CATO)

US BLOCKS EFFORTS BY US TROOPS TO RECOVER DAMAGES
"The Bush administration is seeking to block a group of American troops who were tortured in Iraqi prisons during the Persian Gulf war in 1991 from collecting any of the hundreds of millions of dollars in frozen Iraqi assets they won last summer in a federal court ruling against the government of Saddam Hussein."
(NYT)

CONSUMER LEVEL ANTI-SURVEILANCE
This is an interesting piece of spam that I just got. It's the answer to the ubiquitous mini video cam, a device that can "detect the presence of a hidden camera or any device that emits an electronic signal". Supposedly can also "detect wireless audio transmitting devices commonly used for wiretapping, perfect for security checks prior to any sensitive meetings and discussions."

WAS IT GOOD FOR YOU?
How does the other sex experience pleasure ? You've always wondered how the other sex experiences an orgasm... Do you want to see the difference? Then try this Orgasmic Simulation.
(Suggested by Beth Adams)

I'M JUST THINKING OF YOU DEAR
"Women who perform the act of fellatio and swallow semen on a regular basis, one to two times a week, may reduce their risk of breast cancer by up to 40 percent, a North Carolina State University study found. "
(CNN, unearthed by Tommy Bealle)

BUSH BAITING
"HAVANA: US linguist and political dissident Noam Chomsky said on Thursday (NZT) that President George W Bush will have to 'manufacture' another threat to American security to win reelection in 2004 after US failure in occupying Iraq. "
(STUFF, unearthed by CubaNews Digest)

JUSTICE DESSERTS
"'We do not directly control the number of inmates that enter into our prison system,' wrote Mr. Ashcroft. 'An overall reduction of the magnitude included in the Senate bill — approximately $270 million below the request — would have a dramatic adverse impact on the staff and inmate safety at existing facilities.' (emphasis supplied by TALKLEFT)"
And, from one of TalkLeft's most astute readers:
Gee, John, do you think that perhaps the Department's history of pushing for increased sentencing guidelines, fighting departures, mandatory minimums, etc., might have something to do with the number of inmates in the prison system? The chickens come home to roost.
(TALKLEFT, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

CUBA TRAVEL BILLS MIGHT BE JEOPARDIZED
The Transportation-Treasury Appropriations bill, with the Cuba travel amendment, is going into conference committee (to reconcile the House and Senate versions of the bill) in the next few days. The Cuba amendment will face stiff opposition from the Republican leadership. Based on quotes in the media over the last week, these leaders are gearing up to delete the Cuba travel provision in conference and keep it from arriving at the President’s desk. The conference committee should obey congressional rules and follow the will of the majorities in the Senate and House who have voted to lift the travel ban. (CLICK ON ARTICLE TO SEE WHAT YOU CAN DO!
(LAWG)

RECORD "HIGH"
"Marijuana Arrests For 2002 Near Record High Despite Feds' War On Terror, FBI Report Reveals
Pot Smokers Arrested In United States At A Rate Of One Every 45 Seconds"
(TALKLEFT, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

GOP PROBE OF AGENT OUTTING: INFIGHT OR COVERUP?
"The Justice Department and FBI have broadened their criminal investigation of who leaked the identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame to include subsequent Bush administration efforts to discredit her and her diplomat husband, according to two administration officials familiar with the probe.
Of particular interest, the two sources said, were contacts between White House officials and the Republican National Committee during the burgeoning scandal. Probers are interested in how the Bush administration and party officials strategized to stymie negative press and to counter public criticism by former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV of the leak of his wife's status as a CIA officer. "
(VILLAGE VOICE)

AND TO GEORGE BUSH, I LEAVE.......
From an obituary published in The Times-Picayune, New Orleans on 10/2/2003:
Word has been received that Gertrude M. Jones, 81, passed away on August 25, 2003, under the loving care of the nursing aides of Heritage Manor of Mandeville, Louisiana. She was a native of Lebanon, KY. She was a retired Vice President of Georgia International Life Insurance Company of Atlanta, GA. Her husband, Warren K. Jones predeceased her. Two daughters survive her: Dawn Hunt and her live-in boyfriend, Roland, of Mandeville,LA; and Melba Kovalak and her husband, Drew Kovalak, of Woodbury, MN. Three sisters, four grandchildren and three great grandchildren, also survive her. Funeral services were held in Louisville, KY. Memorial gifts may be made to any organization that seeks the removal of President George Bush from office.
(unearthed by Frances Black and Donna Soto)

CALL YOUR CONGRESSPERSON!
The House of Representatives is scheduled to vote as early as today, October 28, on a bill (H.R. 2359) that would extend and expand the Basic Employment Verification Pilot Program. Contact your member of Congress to urge a "no" vote.
H.R. 2359 would:
1. Expand the basic pilot program from six to 50 states, disregarding the findings of a GAO report that recommended that the program should not be expanded because of flaws in both its design and implementation.
2. Include an expansion of the program that would allow state and local governments to use the program to check the citizenship and immigration status of workers, and take the first steps to a national ID program.
Call the Congressional switchboard at 202-224-3121.
(Suggested by Boyd Campbell)

SHOOTING THE BIRD NOT A CRIME IN TEXAS
"'the middle finger jerk was so popular among the Romans that they even gave a special name to the middle digit, calling it the impudent finger: digitus impudicus."
(HOUSTON CHRONICLE, unearthed by Bill Messick)

NRA BLACKLIST
Here's an interesting blacklist compiled by the NRA of "anti-gun" individuals, including authors, professional groups, actors, etc. Your pediatrician's group is on it!
(stopNRA.com unearthed by Joel Sogol)

AFFLECK CHARGE DROPPED
"Charges against Ben Affleck were dropped after New Hanover County officials said they found no evidence to support a woman's claims that the actor threatened to kill her. District Attorney John Carriker said Tuesday that repeated attempts by Kure Beach police to contact accuser Tara Ray were unsuccessful and he dismissed the warrant."
(AP, unearthed by Findlaw)

HAVING A BALL IN CUBA
It was an impromptu pickup game that transcended baseball, politics and ideologies. At those precious moments, it was as if time had stood still and the world was at peace.
(LOS ALTOS TOWN CRIER, unearthed by CubaNews Digest)

SUICIDE PROMO KILLED
The webcast of a concert by Florida band Hell On Earth that was supposed to occur this past Saturday night (October 4), and feature a live suicide, did not happen, according to the Associated Press. The show and suicide were both scheduled to be broadcast on the band's website from two separate, secret locations, but the site was brought down Saturday night by a flood of data from computers in Hong Kong.
The unidentified person who reportedly planned to commit suicide said that he or she would sue anyone who interfered.
(YAHOO)

TWO WINGS OF THE SAME BIRD?
"Puerto Rico and Cuba are two wings of a bird -- they receive flowers and bullets in the same heart, wrote Lola Rodriguez de Tio, the Puerto Rican poet and separatist, in 1893. The verse immortalizes the bond between her native and adopted islands, the last two Spanish colonies in the New World. Like Rodriguez de Tio, I am a Puerto Rican in Cuba, where I've lived for the past two years."
(ORLANDO SUN SENTINEL)

C-MURDER FOUND GUILTY
"Rapper Corey Miller, better know as C-Murder and the younger brother of mogul Master P, was convicted of second-degree murder yesterday in Louisiana. The conviction carries an automatic life sentence."
(ROLLING STONE)

MEDIA FLAP
"Carlson gave out a number, but it was for the Washington bureau of Fox News, CNN's bitter rival. The bureau was deluged with calls. To get back at him, Fox posted Carlson's unlisted home number on its Web site. After his wife was inundated with obscene calls, Carlson went to the Fox News bureau to complain. He was told the number would be taken off the Web site if he apologized on the air. He did, but that didn't end the anger. In an interview with The Washington Post, Carlson called Fox News 'a mean, sick group of people.'"
(FINDLAW)

COLIN POWELL STATEMENTS GO UNCHALLENGED BY MEDIA
"If New York Times editors were interested in correcting the record, all they would have to do is re-print a correction they ran over three years ago (2/2/00): 'A front-page article yesterday... on Iraq misstated the circumstances under which international weapons inspectors left that country before American and British air strikes in December 1998. While Iraq had ceased cooperating with the inspectors, it did not expel them. The United Nations withdrew them before the air strikes began.' "
(FAIR)

COURT RULES RIGHTS NOT GARBAGE
"The New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled Monday that garbage is private, even when it has been put out near the street for collection.
The 4-1 decision runs counter to rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court and high courts in most other states. But the court said New Hampshire's constitution provides a stronger expectation of privacy than the U.S. Constitution."
(FREDERICKSBURG FREE LANCE-STAR, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

UP IN SMOKE
"Police say 59 pounds of marijuana disappeared from a police evidence room and may have been inadvertently burned, forcing prosecutors to drop charges against three Houston men."
(HOUSTON CHRONICLE, unearthed by Bill Messick)

IT'S IN THE CARDS
It seems that friends and foe alike are spoofing the Iraq playing cards.
A Russian newspaper can't keep enough in stock of the deck featuring the Bush royal family. It includes Bush as the Jack of Hearts, Laura Bush as the Queen of Hearts and National Security Advisor Condolezza Rice as the Queen of Diamonds. The pack contains 36 cards, the number of cards in a traditional Russian deck, and each suit has a particular meaning. The hearts are called the 'family' and feature the Bush family and their trusted friends."

A notoriously idiotic Frenchman's version of the cards is less Bush-friendly. "'I found it completely indecent to present a manhunt as a game,' said Thierry Meyssan, the man behind the French deck. 'We thought this card game would allow us to ... explain why we consider the government of George Bush a threat to international security.' "
(CHANNELNEWS ASIA AND CNN, Illustration from ChannelNews Asia)

ANNAN CHALLENGES US POLICY
U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan warned President Bush Tuesday that his doctrine of pre-emptive military intervention posed a fundamental challenge to the United Nations and could lead to the law of the jungle.
(FINDLAW)

BUSH UN SPEECH A BOMB
"The invasion of Iraq, to them, remained a dangerous act of unilateralism now beset by intractable problems."
(NYT)

JUSTICE CONCEPTS IN THE YEAR 2003:
CLERIC ARRESTED BECAUSE HE MIGHT HAVE DONE SOMETHING WRONG
"Investigators are looking into the possibility that he was sympathetic to prisoners there and was preparing to aid them in some undetermined way. 'That's the fear and the suspicion that the Army is pursuing,' the second law enforcement official said."
(NYT)

GOVERNMENT DOPE ASSAILED
The department was compelled to begin direct distribution in July, following an Ontario court order this year that said needy patients should not be forced to get their cannabis on the streets or from authorized growers, who themselves obtain seeds or cuttings illegally. ...
The government dope also came under fire Monday from Canadians for Safe Access, a patients' rights group that is pressing for supplies of safe, effective marijuana. Laboratory tests indicate the Health Canada product has only about three per cent THC - not the 10.2 per cent advertised - and contains contaminants such as lead and arsenic, said spokesman Philippe Lucas of Victoria.
(CJAD, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

SEATTLE VOTE TRIES ENDRUN AROUND FED MARIJUANA POLICY
In a sharp rebuke to White House Drug Czar John Walters, Seattle voters overwhelmingly passed Initiative 75 today, ordering Seattle police and prosecutors to make arrest and prosecution of adults possessing marijuana for personal use their lowest priority. With 97 percent of the vote counted, the measure was winning by a margin of 58.6 percent to 41.4 percent."
(MARIJUANA POLICY PROJECT, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

CNN REPORTER'S COMMENTS DRAW FIRE
CNN star reporter Christiane Amanpour has stirred a media hornets' nest by claiming US television networks, including CNN, were "intimidated" by the Bush administration in their coverage of the war in Iraq.
Amanpour said she believed that journalists "did not ask enough questions, for instance, about weapons of mass destruction" -- adding that the issue of those alleged weapons "looks like this was disinformation at the highest levels."
(HERALD SUN, unearthed by CubaNews Digest)

CUBA EDITORIAL
The United States, and South Florida, have too much at risk to sit on the sidelines until events spin out of control. Instead, U.S. policy-makers must seek opportunities now to guide, sway and encourage groups, enterprises and institutions to adopt forward-looking approaches that embrace democratic and marketplace driven ideas.
(SUN SENTINEL, unearthed by CubaNews Digest)

"QUINCE" DOCUMENTARY PLANNED
Through her production company, Nuyorican Productions, multimedia star Jennifer Lopez will try her hand at producing a documentary, tentatively titled ''Los Quinces,'' for HBO later this year, according to Variety. The film will chronicle one week in the life of a Cuban-American teen and her family in Miami, focusing on their preparations for the lavish debutante ball that, in Cuban tradition, marks a girl's transition to womanhood on her 15th birthday.
()
(ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY)

PUFFING OVER PUFFY'S VIDEO
MOORE & BODE CIGARS, INC. v. BAD BOYS ENTM'T, INC., SEAN COMBS: Florida Lawsuit By A Cigar Company Against Hip-Hop Rap Star Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs And His Company Alleging That His "Shake Your Tailfeather" Video Was Made Using Unauthorized Footage Of The Manufacturer's Secret Cigar Making Processes.
(FINDLAW)

PATRIOT ACT ABUSED
In the two years since law enforcement agencies gained fresh powers to help them track down and punish terrorists, police and prosecutors have increasingly turned the force of the new laws not on al-Qaida cells but on people charged with common crimes.
(SALON, unearthed by William L. Pfeiffer Jr.)

BUSH REVERSES HIMSELF ON PATRIOT ACT
In a three-point presidential plan that critics are already dubbing Patriot Act II, Mr. Bush is seeking broad new authority to allow federal agents — without the approval of a judge or even a federal prosecutor — to demand private records and compel testimony.
(NYT)

CHONG GOES UP IN SMOKE
Tommy Chong, who played one half of the dope-smoking duo in the Cheech and Chong movies, asked for leniency from a judge Thursday but was sentenced to nine months in prison for conspiring to sell drug paraphernalia. Chong told the court he "got carried away" with his movie character.He admitted once having "a drug problem with marijuana" but said he beat it by redirecting his energy to salsa dancing.
(CNN, unearthed by W. Anderson Ward)

REPORTER BARRED FROM PATRIOT MEETING
I wanted to talk with John Ashcroft, but the door was closed.
(BUFFALO NEWS, unearthed by A Friend)

EXCITABLE BOY DIES
The poet of Gower Avenue became a stateless pop star behind the single from the follow-up Excitable Boy, the mini-surrealist "Werewolves of London." As novelty smashes often do, it seemed to come from nowhere, or everywhere. On that record and the next two, Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School and The Envoy, Zevon removed his seamy scenes of betrayal and secret combat to an atlas of international hot spots, filled with spies, drunks, mercenaries, and the women who didn't love them.
(VILLAGE VOICE)

PATRIOT ACT REDUX
"National Review Online recently invited Timothy Lynch, who directs Cato's Project on Criminal Justice, to write a column about Attorney General John Ashcroft's speaking tour in defense of the Patriot Act. That article can be found here. One week later, National Review Online published an article in response to Lynch, which was authored by Barbara Comstock, who serves as the director of public affairs at the U.S. Department of Justice. Tim Lynch submitted the following response to the editors of National Review Online, but they declined to publish it.
(CATO)

UNINTENDED VICTIM
"In the two years since Sept. 11, 2001, the view of the United States as a victim of terrorism that deserved the world's sympathy and support has given way to a widespread vision of America as an imperial power that has defied world opinion through unjustified and unilateral use of military force."
(NYT)

SHOULD YOU BE AFRAID OF THE PATRIOT ACT?
The truth of the matter seems to be that while some portions of the Patriot Act are truly radical, others are benign. Parts of the act formalize and regulate government conduct that was unregulated—and potentially even more terrifying—before. Other parts clearly expand government powers and allow it to spy on ordinary citizens in new ways. But what is most frightening about the act is exacerbated by the lack of government candor in describing its implementation.
(SLATE, unearthed by Kate Varner)

REVOLUTION REVISITED
But for me, that visit was the start of a life-long love affair. There is no need to confuse that statement with uncritical acclaim for everything about the place. But criticism should never ignore the fact that Cuba's primary service to the world has been to provide living proof that it is possible to conquer poverty, disease and illiteracy in a country that was grossly over-familiar with all three. That is a pretty big service. The fact that it has been delivered in the face of sustained hostility from an obsessive neighbour makes it all the more stunning
(CUBADEBATE, unearthed by CubaNews Digest)

PENSACOLA SHIPMENTS TO CUBA BEGIN
It's not just Pensacola's port that's doing business with Cuba. The Port of Mobile is also finalizing agreements to ship millions of dollars worth of goods there.
(WEAR-TV, unearthed by CubaNews Digest)

WHY SOME CHRISTIANS SUPPORT RILEY'S TAX PLAN
Alabama citizens will vote on a proposal to reform the state’s regressive tax code. Whether or not the measure passes — and both opinion polls and Alabama history suggest it will fail — the story of how a progressive tax initiative became the subject of a statewide referendum, and how it came to be championed by a heretical faction of the religious right, including a conservative Republican governor, has political ramifications that will reverberate long after the vote itself.
(MAKING LIGHT)

HALLUCINOGENIC TEA USE UPHELD AS RELIGIOUS SACRAMENT
A federal court ruled that the group’s use of ayahuasca was likely protected under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). Ayahuasca (also known as hoasca) is a visionary tea that serves as the sacrament of the UDV religion.
(COGNITIVE LIBERTIES, See also WKOB-TV report, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

WOULD YOU LIKE FRIES WITH THAT?
With the United States swallowing its pride to seek help sorting out the postwar debacle in Iraq, France and fellow ''Old Europe'' opponents of the conflict can barely resist gloating.
(MSN)

MALE BARE SKIN PRIVILEDGES CHALLENGED IN LAWSUIT
"Because of having to cover their breasts in places and at times when men do not cover their breasts," the suit states, "plaintiffs and all other women and girls are afflicted with a badge of second-class citizenship."
(ORLANDO SENTINEL, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

JOIN DARTH'S ARMY!
No matter where you live, chances are the 501st presence can be felt. Spanning all 50 U.S. States, and over 21 countries worldwide, they are quickly dominating the planet with numbers increasing daily and recruiting at an all time high. The Rebellion will soon be eliminated and peace will be restored back to earth. VADER'S FIST!

ARE CUBAN ARTISTS BEING BLACKLISTED FROM GRAMMYS?
Cuban musicians nominated for the Latin Grammy awards in Miami held little hope of receiving U.S. visas in time for the ceremony, a problem that Cubans said was due to politics but American officials attributed to red tape.
(WASHINGTON POST)

IMPORTANT CUBA VOTE LOOMING
In early September, Congress will vote on whether to give Americans their freedom back - their freedom to travel to Cuba.
Now is the time to contact your representatives in the House and Senate, and the message is simple, direct, and clear: Vote for Freedom, lift the ban on legal travel by Americans to Cuba.
(Center for International Policy)

HAS MOORE LOST IT?
Some court officials here have told me they belief Moore has "lost it," that he is mentally unable to perform his duties. They also tell me he truly believes what he's doing is right. That bothers me perhaps more than if he were doing it for money or politics because it means he has lost rational thought If such is the case there is the provision noted above, under the judicial disciplinary process, to protect the people from the mental incapacity of a judge.
(MONTGOMERY INDEPENDENT, unearthed by Joel Sogol)

KOREA ANNOUNCES NUKE POLICY
North Korea startled a six-nation conference in China on East Asian security by announcing its intentions to formally declare its possession of nuclear weapons and to carry out a nuclear test, an administration official said Thursday," according to The Associated Press.
(CATO)

CHRISTIAN PANTIES!
What a Trend We Have in Jesus!

GEORGE CARLIN's DECALOGUE
"The list of ten commandments was artificially and deliberately inflated to get it up to ten. Here's what happened... "
(unearthed by Joel Sogol)

TONS OF MORALITY
"This is nowhere more evident than in a small church in Forkland, Ala., about two hours west of Montgomery, where a delicately wrought stained-glass window depicts the tablets inscribed with Hebrew lettering. The window, I was told, was a gift of a Jewish family in the area who used the church on Saturday mornings for their Sabbath services. This elegant rendering of the Commandments stands in stark contrast to the two-and-a-half ton monument of them standing in the middle of the courthouse.
Those engaged in the controversy seem to have lost sight of the Ten Commandments' real meaning, turning them instead into a political symbol to be shoved this way and that."
(NYT Op-Ed by Mobile Register Reporter Roy Hoffman)

A PARODY? OF FOXNEWS? GO FIGURE.
FILM AT ELEVEN
Fox News on Monday dropped its trademark infringement lawsuit against Al Franken and his publisher, Penguin Group, that aimed to stop sales of the liberal satirist's new book but instead turned it into a top seller.
U.S. District Judge Denny Chin said the title was clearly a parody protected by the First Amendment. He said Fox's motion seeking the injunction was "wholly without merit" and that its trademark was weak.
(FINDLAW)

ALABAMA/CUBA PACT
The delegation met with Cuban President Fidel Castro for more than three hours, talking about relations between Alabama and Cuba and about establishing trade relations.
(Miami Herald, unearthed by CubaNews Digest)

MARS HOLDS COURT
As Mars readies for its close-up on Wednesday, the Red Planet already has gained a growing fan base of casual sky watchers eager to see new details during the planet's closest swing-by in 60,000 years.
(HOUSTON CHRONICLE)

BUSH FALLS IN POLL
"The poll marked the first time in a Newsweek survey that supporters of Mr. Bush were out-numbered by those who would not like to see him back remain in office. In April, 52 percent of voters backed the president for a second term, while 38 percent did not. "
(VOA)

REVIEW:
MATT AND BEN
"Set in 1995, when Matt Damon and Ben Affleck were struggling actors, the play has Ben fantasize about being famous. 'I'm going to meet Daisy Fuentes,' he says. 'I like Latin women.' "
(NYT)

KIDS STILL BEING HELD BY US
military interrogators say three teenagers held as suspected terrorists at the Guantanamo Bay naval base have no further intelligence value and should be sent home.
(Globe and Mail, unearthed by CubaNews Digest)

TRULY HEROIC
Alabama residents are wreaking a nasty revenge on the woman who took their state’s chief justice to court over his religious monument
(NEWSWEEK, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

MOORE'S CHARGES
Here is the JIC complaint filed against Justice Moore
(FINDLAW, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

DOES THE CONSTITUTION HATE GOD?
One of the hard lessons of the religion cases is that if the public square is going to welcome everyone, it cannot necessarily welcome all of their gods. Perhaps the most American sentiment of all is the faith that somehow, He will be there anyhow.
(SLATE, unearthed by Kate Varner)

DUMB LAWS
Sure, you know you're going to get a ticket for driving over the speed limit or a fine for littering. I'll bet you didn't know though that in Wyoming it is illegal for women to stand within five feet of a bar while drinking; that in Richmond, VA it is illegal to flip a coin in any eating establishment to determine who buys a cup of coffee; or that in Alabama it's illegal to wear a fake mustache that causes laughter in church.
(unearthed by Bill Messick)

Photo by William Blanchard

LE ROCK REDUX
"The Montgomery Advertiser reports here that 'Protesters removed, monument stays.' The Birmingham News reports here that 'Court won't stop monument move.' A related editorial is entitled 'Test of courage: Other state officials must act if Moore will not.' The Mobile Register contains an article headlined 'They came from all over for glimpse of the drama.' And The Crimson White reports here that 'Monument defenders undeterred.'"
This morning's edition of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports here that "Commandments feud spurs arrests; Supreme Court stays out of dispute in Alabama." And CNN.com reports that "Alabama justice not giving up monument fight; Ten Commandments still in place as deadline passes."
(HOW APPEALING, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

THE ROCK HASN'T MOVED!!!
"Security guards looking worried, police officers here and there around the building, with several motorcycle cops out front. Yellow traffic cones have been placed near the street. I wonder if they are going to cordon off the area when the time comes to move the Rock. I think it will only get busier as the day goes on. I imagine there's no freight elevator that could handle the thing if they (the people charged with moving it) hoped to take it out some other way than the front entrance."
(HOW APPEALING, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

THE TRIBES OF YALE
Tip O'Neill, the former Speaker of the House, used to say that all politics is local. He learned his lessons in taverns and church basements and political clubs in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His local was a working-class neighborhood where relationships mattered, where promises were remembered, and where memories were long. It was a physical place that changed only slowly over time.
The current crop of political figures—the Howard Deans and Hillary Rodham Clintons, the George Bushes and Karl Roves, already squaring off for the presidential prizes in 2004 and 2008—has a very different sense of "local."
...To the extent that they are the product of a place, a time, and a people, the place would be college campuses and high-powered law schools.
(VILLAGE VOICE)

OH GOD!
Poor God. Just when it seems he finally might make a break from Alabama, another politician grabs the hem of his robe and drags him back in.
(COX NEWSPAPERS, unearthed by W. Anderson Ward)

THE LONG HOT ROAD HOME
Hundreds of Iraqis civilians are being held in makeshift jails run by US troops - many without being charged or even questioned. And in these prisons are children whose parents have no way of locating them. Jonathan Steele reveals the grim reality of coalition justice in Baghdad.
(GUARDIAN, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

COINCIDENCE OR CONSPIRACY?
Conspiracy websites have been making these points for months. But Kleinberg, in citing them on the floor of Congress, studiously avoids the word 'conspiracy'. This is what creates the sense that the events she relates are astonishingly improbable.
(Pop Matters, unearthed by Lee Ann Waterss)

PANAM GAMES: CUBA AND US CLASH IN BASEBALL
The U.S. team had the lead for the first six innings with a score of one to nothing. Cuba got a base hit and the runner advanced to second. With another base hit, Cuba tied the score. The tie breaker came the next inning, when a base hit knocked in a runner from third base; a homerun in the 8th inning sealed the fate...
(Radio Habana Cuba, unearthed by Cuba News Digest)

GORBACHEV COMING TO MIAMI
The National Summit on Cuba announced that former Soviet leader President Mikhail Gorbachev is coming to Miami to discuss historic perspectives on U.S. policy toward the island at the upcoming Florida National Summit on Cuba Oct. 4 at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables.
(TAMPA BAY BUSINESS JOURNAL, unearthed by Cuba News Digest)

THEY CAN DISH IT OUT BUT....
FOX NEWS NETWORKS, LLC v. PENGUIN GROUP (USA) INC. AND ALAN S. FRANKEN
Fox News sues comedian Al Franken for trademark infringement over the use of "Fair and Balanced" in his new book.
(FINDLAW)

GOP CUBANS THREATEN BUSH
On Monday, 13 Republican state legislators, including 10 Cuban-Americans, sent the president a warning. In a pointed letter, they wrote that if Mr. Bush did not make 'substantial progress' toward fulfilling four Cuban-American demands, 'we fear the historic and intense support from Cuban-American voters for Republican federal candidates, including yourself, will be jeopardized."
(NYT)

TAX PROTESTER WINS ACQUITAL
A woman who said she refused to pay federal income taxes because the IRS didn't respond to her inquiries about tax law has been acquitted of tax evasion.
The whole thing could have been resolved if the government had simply answered her questions,'' Becraft said. ``It didn't happen. I made an argument to the jury that an American has a right to ask the government for answers."
(Guardian, unearthed by beamonk)

HAVANA HIP HOP FEST TO INCLUDE ERYKAH BADU
The 9th edition of Havana's Rap Festival Hip-Hop'2003, scheduled for this month, will be attended by several foreign artists. According to sources from the organizing committee, artists from the United States, Mexico, Colombia, Great Britain, Brazil and Canada have confirmed participation in the event. Among the special guests is the US singer Erykah Badu, who has won several Grammy Awards and three Platinum Records in the United States and abroad.
According to experts, Badu is among the best performers of the so-called un-soul style, characterized by a fusion of hip-hop and soul, with some elements of jazz. Other special guests are the groups Trop 305 and Tomorrouz Weaponz, and the disc jockey Tony Touch, all from the United States.
Cuba will be represented by the groups Obsesion, Doble Filo, Cubanitos 20-02, Primera Base, Cubanos en la Red, Aninimo Consejo, Eddy K, Familia's Cuba Represent, Sexto Sentido, Alto Voltaje and Papo Record.
(Cuba News Digest)

WEED STRONGER THAN LSD
DEA has issued a nationwide warning about salvia divinorum, a legal hallucinogenic herb from Mexico that officials describe as stronger than LSD.
(NY Daily News, unearthed by Joel Sogol)

BLACKLISTING FEDERAL JUDGES
Ashcroft has ordered federal prosecutors to start collecting information on federal judges who give sentences that are lighter than those suggested by federal guidelines.
(NYT, unearthed by Kate Varner)

OYEZ, YEAH, YEAH!
Getting audio recordings of landmark legal arguments is becoming as easy as downloading the latest Snoop Dogg single.
For the first time, Internet users can download, edit and swap many of the U.S. Supreme Court's greatest hits.
(Washington Post, unearthed by mich248)

PICKERING A FIGHT
By Emily Bazelon
It's nice to see conservative lawmakers deferring to a judge's belief that some criminals deserve a second chance. Except these are the same lawmakers who spent their last term chipping away at the power of federal judges to reduce criminal sentences.
(Slate, unearthed by Kate Varner)

LAWYERS ATTACK BUSH TACTICS
A bipartisan group of prominent New York lawyers, former federal judges and former government officials has launched a fierce attack on the Bush administration’s conduct in the war on terror, charging that the detention of suspected terrorist Jose Padilla is unconstitutional.
(NY Observer, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

TEENAGE JACKASSES!
Four teenagers were charged Saturday with attacking homeless people with a stun gun as they slept and videotaping the assaults.
(Atlanta Journal Constitution, unearthed by Kate Varner)

FANTASY JUSTICE
Modeled after fantasy sports games, this blog is devoted to cases the U.S. Supreme Court will be hearing this coming term. Participants will predict the outcome of each case and how each justice will rule; points will then be awarded based on the number of cases and justices correctly predicted.

(unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

REGGAETON DEBUTS AT MADISON SQUARE
A Spicy Mix of Salsa, Hip-Hop and Reggae, the music got a name, reggaeton. It spread across Puerto Rico and has made inroads in Miami and New York. And on Saturday night, reggaeton is bound for Madison Square Garden, in a concert headlined by reggaeton's leading innovator, Tego Calderon, and featuring two dozen other rappers and disc jockeys.
(NYT)

TALIBAN KILLING CLERICS
...third senior Muslim cleric killed by Taliban assassins here in the last 40 days.
(NYT)

TERRORISM AND CIVIL SOCIETY AS INSTRUMENTS OF US POLICY IN CUBA
Using the debate centering around the island nation's recent crackdown, Phillip Agee relates his experiences as a CIA agent and the US' not-so-secret campaigns of subversive action campaigns againts Cuba.
(Granma, unearthed by Cuba News Digest)

REPORT FROM SANTIAGO: 50TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION
The following are some some impressions of the celebration in Santiago of the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution, held in Santiago de Cuba, Saturday July 26th, 2003 and attended by Fidel Castro.
(Walter Lippman, unearthed by Cuba News Digest)

BUSH IS 'LIBERAL SPENDER'
The Bush administration's newly released budget projections reveal an anticipated budget deficit of $450 billion for the current fiscal year, up another $151 billion since February. Supporters and critics of the administration are tripping over themselves to blame the deficit on tax cuts, the war, and a slow economy. But the fact is we have mounting deficits because George W. Bush is the most gratuitous big spender to occupy the White House since Jimmy Carter. One could say that he has become the 'Mother of All Big Spenders.'
(CATO Institute)

ETYMOLOGICAL DISCUSSION WORTH KNOWING

(Smoking Gun, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

VENCEREMOS BRIGADE CHALLENGES TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS
The eighty members of the 34th Contingent of the Venceremos Brigade arrived at Havana's Jose Marti Airport tonight on a Cubana Airlines flight from Toronto.The Brigade has never asked for, or accepted, a license for travel to Cuba. The Brigade challenges the right of the U.S. government to restrict travel to Cuba and calls for an end to the travel ban and to the economic blockade. At 8:30 AM on August 4th, the Brigade will return on foot across the International Peace Bridge in from Ft. Erie, Ontario, Canada to Buffalo, New York, to announce its return from Cuba. The Brigade will be joined by supporters on both sides of the international border.
(Cuba News Digest)

REVERSE TELEPHONE NUMBER LOOKUP
Google has implemented a new feature where you can type someone's telephone number into the search bar. Type in the number, dashes included, Mapquest will actually put a star on the address. Also included are any webpages that include that number.

ELVIS SLEPT HERE, GATORS THERE
Mobile Bay featured in today's New York Times Travel section.

GOODBYE, NOT FAREWELL
By JORGE I. DOMINGUEZ
The battle between succession and transition is the key to Cuba's politics. In late 2002, Cuba held local and national elections. Last March, the National Assembly elected the Council of State, which will serve for five years. The assembly and the council will formally choose Cuba's next president. Also in March, six prominent activists announced a hunger strike, and the opposition lobbied the European Union to reject Cuba's application for preferential trade treatment and assistance. The crackdown on the opposition followed.
(NYT Op-Ed))

A PRISONER BECOMES A WARDEN
By GUSTAVO ARCOS BERGNES
After the failed July 26, 1953, attack on the Moncada barracks in Santiago de Cuba, where the troops of the dictator Fulgencio Batista were stationed, Fidel Castro and some 100 other surviving assailants (myself among them) were tried for sedition and sentenced to up to 15 years in prison. Fidel Castro's sentence was 15 years, although he was given amnesty, along with the rest of us, after 21 months. He was never again jailed. He came to power in the 1959 revolution and has since become He Who Sends Others to Jail.
(NYT Op-Ed)

CONSERVATIVE THINK TANK WARNS AGAINST EMPIRE
You know things have gotten really weird when one of the premier conservative think tanks puts out a warning against empire. (Citing, Manifesto Warns of Dangers Associated With an Empire (Murray, Wall Street Journal, 7/15/03).
(Uncommon Thought, unearthed by Cuba News Digest)

CLOSEST ENCOUNTER WITH MARS
This month and next, Earth is catching up with Mars, an encounter that will culminate in the closest approach between the two planets in recorded history. Never again in our lifetime will the Red Planet be so spectacular. The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287. Due to the way Jupiter's gravity tugs on Mars and perturbs its orbit, astronomers can only be certain that Mars has not come this close to Earth in the last 5,000 years but it may be as long as 60,000 years. The encounter will culminate on August 27th when Mars comes to within 34,649,589 miles and will be (next to the moon) the brightest object in the night sky. It will attain a magnitude of -2.9 and will appear 25.11 arc seconds wide. At a modest 75-power magnification Mars will look as large as the full moon to he naked eye.
Mars will be easy to spot. At the beginning of August Mars will rise in the east at 10 p.m. and reach its azimuth at about 3 a.m. But by the end of August when the two planets are closest, Mars will rise at nightfall and reach its highest point in the sky at 12:30 a.m. That's pretty convenient when it comes to seeing something that no human has seen in recorded history. So, mark your calendar at the beginning of August to see Mars grow progressively brighter and brighter throughout the month.
No one alive today will ever see this again.
(Unearthed by Connie Acevedo)

MISSISSIPPI SHIPMENT OF CATTLE HEADS TO CUBA
Nearly 140 head of cattle left the Mississippi State Port at Gulfport Tuesday in the first large cattle shipment to Cuba since the embargo began.
(Sun-Herald, unearthed by Cuba News Digest)

JUSTICE DEPT VIOLATIONS CITED
A report (click here for full report) by internal investigators at the Justice Department has identified dozens of recent cases in which department employees have been accused of serious civil rights and civil liberties violations involving enforcement of the sweeping federal antiterrorism law known as the USA Patriot Act.
(NYT)

FUNDING FOR SNOOPING PROGRAM CUT
"Without fanfare, senators debating defense spending for next year have proposed eliminating all money for the Pentagon's development of a vast computerized terrorism surveillance program that has raised privacy concerns," reports the Associated Press. "In the past, Congress has limited the Defense Department's ability to implement the system now known as Terrorism Information Awareness while allowing research to proceed, but the new provision goes further to ban funding outright."
(CATO)

ADIOS CELIA 
She left Cuba in 1960 for Mexico and the U.S., where, with Tito Puente and other artists of the time, she injected the Afro-Cuban beat into our soul and elevated the infectious sound of salsa, music that propelled us to the dance floor.
(El Diario/LA PRENSA OnLine )

ADIOS COMPAY!
Compay Segundo, the salty Cuban singer and guitarist who rose to global fame in his 90's as the eldest of the elder musical statesmen featured on the album and film 'Buena Vista Social Club,' died on Sunday at his home in Havana, an official at his record company in Spain said. He was 95.
(NYT)

FEDS CONTINUE BATTLE AGAINST POT GURU
Still licking their wounds, federal prosecutors have fired another shot at freed grass guru Ed Rosenthal, appealing the light sentence that let the convicted medical pot grower walk away a free man last month.
"The U.S. Attorney('s ofice) got its marching orders from Washington, as a matter of course," he said. "(Attorney General John) Ashcroft is very idealistic on the subject of marijuana and medical marijuana and wants the U.S. Attorney to emphasize the fact that they don't like it."
(SF Examiner, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

ALABAMA DUI LAWS CALLED RICKETY
In 1997, the Legislature amended Alabama's DUI law to make a fourth DUI conviction a felony. But technical flaws quickly became evident, prompting numerous appeals court challenges as judges and lawyers tried to grope through how various questions should be handled. And a big new problem, saying that out-of-state convictions don't count toward the stiffer penalties, was opened by the Alabama Supreme Court this spring "
(Mobile Register, unearthed by W. Anderson Ward)

VOTE CANADIAN
Canada's government will sell marijuana and seeds to sick people and their suppliers to fulfill a court order for it to provide medical cannabis by Wednesday.
(KC Star, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

STAND OFF
This is the transcription of the ACTUAL radio conversation between the British and the Irish off the coast of Kerry, October 1998.
Radio conversation released by the Chief of Naval Operations 10-10-98.

IRISH: Please divert your course 15 degrees to the south to avoid a collision.
BRITISH: Recommend you divert your course 15 degrees to the north to avoid a collision.
IRISH: Negative. You will have to divert your course 15 degrees to the south to avoid a collision.
BRITISH: This is the Captain of a British Navy Ship. I say again, divert YOUR course.
IRISH: Negative. I say again, you will have to divert YOUR course.
BRITISH: THIS IS THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER HMS BRITANNIA! THE SECOND LARGEST SHIP IN THE BRITISH ATLANTIC FLEET. WE ARE ACCOMPANIED BY THREE DESTROYERS, THREE CRUISERS AND NUMEROUS SUPPORT VESSELS. I DEMAND YOU CHANGE YOUR COURSE 15 DEGREES NORTH. I SAY AGAIN, THAT IS 15 DEGREES NORTH OR COUNTER-MEASURES WILL BE UNDERTAKEN TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF THIS SHIP.
IRISH: We are a lighthouse ................ Your Call.

(Source, except as indicated above, unknpwn. Unearthed by Joel Sogol)

DEA BAN ON HEMP FOODS REJECTED
A federal appeals court Monday overturned a Drug Enforcement Administration ban on the sale of food containing the marijuana relative hemp, saying the agency failed to give adequate public notice.
(Salon, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

MONUMENT MUST GO!
My good friend and colleague Steve Glassroth reports that the 11th Circuit has just issued a 50-page opinion affirming judge Thompson's decision finding that the monument erected by our Chief Justice was offensive to the First Amendment. Interestingly enough, the opinion was written by 11th Circuit Judge Carnes, formerly with the Alabama Attorney General's office.

Icon Wars
(unearthed by Melanie Vier)

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A SECRET SERVICE AGENT?
(unearthed by Al Alvarez)

US ALONE ON CUBA
When Secretary of State Colin Powell appealed to Latin America's leaders earlier this week to help hasten the end of Fidel Castro's rule in Cuba, his message fell largely on deaf ears.
(Christian Science Monitor, unearthed by CubaNews Digest)

PR DEATH PENALTY CASE PUTS ISLAND AT ODDS WITH US
The last execution in Puerto Rico, a hanging, took place in 1927. Two years later, Puerto Rico's legislature — like those throughout much of Latin America — outlawed the death penalty. The 1952 Constitution, which defined Puerto Rico's status as a self-governing commonwealth associated with the United States, reiterated the unconditional ban on capital punishment.
(TalkLeft, unearthed by Paul Whitehurse)

ACLU MEMBERSHIP SOARING
Membership in the American Civil Liberties Union is soaring and its leaders attribute the growth to one of their chief opponents: Attorney General John Ashcroft.
See also, Ashcroft Wants Partiot Act Widened (ATLANTA JOURNAL, unearthed by Kate Varner)

THE BOYS WHO CRIED WOLFOWITZ
Allegations keep piling up that the Bush administration tried to scam the world into war by exaggerating evidence of the Iraqi threat. One critic has pronounced it "arguably the worst scandal in American political history." So you might reasonably ask a supporter of the war, How do you feel about that war now?
Thanks for asking.
(NYT)

THE HERESY THAT SAVED A SKEPTIC
"Belief was not an issue anymore," she said. "It offered a different version of faith. The other versions had become univocal. We read the Gospels as if they all say the same thing."
(NYT)

PROTESTS IN IRAN
What started as a small student march against the issue of university privatization on Tuesday has snowballed into violent nightly protests by demonstrators from across the social spectrum demanding more social, economic and political freedom.
See also, A Growing Fury in Iran(NYT)

CAN IRAQ BECOME A DEMOCRACY?
And, Will American Remain One?
Ironically, as America purports to attempt to spread liberal democracy abroad, it has for years - and most intensely, over the last two years, been threatening liberal democracy at home.
(FINDLAW)

KILLER BISCUITS
One customer who had been at the store for awhile became concerned and walked over to the car. He noticed that Linda's eyes were now open, and she looked very strange. He asked her if she was okay, and Linda replied that she'd been shot in the back of the head, and had been holding here brains in for over an hour. The man called the paramedics, who broke into the car because the doors were locked and Linda refused to remove her hands from her head.
(Mayoff, unearthed by Joel Sogol)

CANADIANS INVEST IN CUBAN BEER
The Bucanero brewery is a 50-50 joint venture founded on May 2, 1997 between the Food Corporation S.A. attached to the Ministry of the Food Industry and the Canadian enterprise Cerbuco Brewing Inc. a subsidiary of the Belgian Interbrew N.V. company, which currently hold fourth place among the largest world producers. In Cuba the joint venture is the sole importer and distributor of beer for the hard-currency market, as well as holding exclusive exports of the Cuban product, including Cristal and Mayabe.
(Granma, unearthed by CubaNews Digest)