INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES SPAR OVER FURTHER POW ABUSE ALLEGATIONS
" A memorandum, written by the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency to a senior Pentagon official, cites brutal treatment of Iraqi insurgents captured in Baghdad in June, several weeks after disclosures of abuses at Abu Ghraib prison created a worldwide scandal. The memorandum noted that officials had seen prisoners being brought in to a detention center with burn marks on their backs and complaining about sore kidneys."
P.S.: Historians Against the War has just produced a pamphlet that examines the U.S. government’s historical and current use of torture. You can find it at: http://www.historiansagainstwar.org/resources/torture/
(WASHINGTON POST)

 

ZACK SOTO'S SHOW CLOSES
As you can see, the reception on December 3 at Gallery 307 in the Design Building at LSU for "My Neighborhood", Zack's show of prints and drawings, was well attended. Audience response was tremendous. The reception officially marked the end of the run of the show (and his graduation from college).

HOW PAT TILLMAN DIED
"It ended on a stony ridge in fading light. Spec. Pat Tillman lay dying behind a boulder. A young fellow U.S. Army Ranger stretched prone beside him, praying quietly as tracer bullets poured in. 'Cease fire! Friendlies!' Tillman cried out. "
(WASHINGTON POST)

FAST TALKERS
"Doctors and government officials don't like to talk much about it, but there is an obvious reason people get hooked on methamphetamine: sex. Meth eventually destroys the sex drive, but for a short while it can boost sexual appetite and performance more powerfully than drugs such as cocaine, doctors say."
(MSN, unearthed by Joel Sogol)

SILLY SEX LAWS
"Ban gay authors like Shakespeare. Yeah, that's right, what we need are more laws. Or do we? A search of state criminal code databases reveals that there are already laws, lots of laws, regulating even private sexual expression. You might find some of them surprising."
(MSN, unearthed by Joel Sogol)

BOOK BANNING BILL PROPOSED
"Shakespeare and the Greeks may literally be history at Auburn University libraries if a bill banning works that recognize homosexuality becomes law in Alabama. State Rep. Gerald Allen, R-Tuscaloosa, is pushing a bill that would prohibit the use of state funds for the purchase of any materials that promote homosexuality."
(OPELIKA-AUBURN NEWS, unearthed by William R. Blanchard)

AIRPORT XRAY MACHINE UNDRESSED PASSENGERS
A new passenger scanner being employed at London's Heathrow airport uses radiation to see through clothing. Civil liberties groups are angry. No wonder they are angry, go to this story and follow the link to see a picture of what the scanners can see.
(TALKLEFT, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

CAT STEVENS GETS PEACE PRIZE
"Yusuf Islam, the singer once known as Cat Stevens, was awarded the 'Man for Peace' prize in Rome at the opening of a meeting of Nobel Peace Prize laureates. Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev praised him for charity work and for standing by his convictions despite personal hardships. He last made headlines in September, when he turned up on Washington's no-fly list for having suspected ties to terrorists - a claim he has strongly denied.The "Peace Train" singer, who largely gave up music after converting to Islam in the late 1970s, mused about the strangeness of being barred from one country while being honored in another."
(MY WAY, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

AARP WILL FIGHT OVER SOCIAL SECURITY CHANGES
"Gearing up for battle over the future of Social Security, AARP, the influential lobby for older Americans, said Thursday that it opposed President Bush's plan to divert some payroll taxes into private retirement accounts. But it supports new incentives for private accounts that supplement Social Security."
(NEW YORK TIMES)

GET OVER IT, WE LOST!
Even as Sen. John F. Kerry's campaign is steadfastly refusing to challenge the results of the presidential election, the bloggers and the mortally wounded party loyalists and the spreadsheet-wielding conspiracy theorists are filling the Internet with head-turning allegations that frauds cost the Democrats the election.
"At this point the number of irregularities brought to our attention is not going to change the outcome of the election," said DNC spokesman Jano Cabrera. "The simple fact of the matter is that Republicans received more votes than Democrats, and we're not contesting this election."
(WASHINGTON POST)

17 REASONS NOT TO SLIT YOUR WRISTS
"If you're looking on the bright side, there's some good news to be found in Tuesday's results. "
(ALTERNET)

ALABAMA HEALTH RANKINGS RELEASED
"Alabama is tied with West Virginia for 43rd this year; it was also 43rd in 2003. Strengths include strong support for public health with 7.3 percent of the state health budget allocated to public health, high access to adequate prenatal care with 77.8 percent of pregnant women receiving adequate prenatal care and a moderate rate of uninsured population at 14.2 percent. Alabama's challenges include a high prevalence of obesity at 28.4 percent of the population (Our state is the fattest, click here for details), a high premature death rate with 9,814 years of potential life lost before age 75 per 100,000 population and a low high school graduation rate with 57.2 percent of incoming ninth graders who graduate within four years. Alabama is 39th for the combined measures of risk factors and 47th for the combined measures of outcomes, indicating that the state's relative healthiness may remain steady or improve in future years. Disparities in health outcomes are high in Alabama, as shown in the difference in premature death rates. "
(Suggested by Jim Sturdevant)

US COMPANY FINED FOR SELLING VACCINES TO CUBA
"In early June, Chiron Corp was slapped with a $168,500 fine by the U.S. Treasury Department for having shipped vaccines to Cuba for infants and children from its plants in Germany and Italy in 1999-2002. The vaccines included those for polio, haemophilus influenza, flu, rabies and a vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella. The sanction, according to this Cuban site, "came only two months after the Bush administration had unveiled its program to 'aid the Cuban people' in which it promised that once the current Cuban government is removed, the United States will launch a program to assure that all children under 5 years of age will be vaccinated against the very diseases prevented by these vaccines."
(MEDICC.ORG)

YOUTH VOTE DID MATERIALIZE
"The 2004 presidential race, as far as the youth vote was concerned, was a landmark election, bringing out nearly 21 million voters under the age of 30 to the polls, the biggest turnout, in raw numbers, since 1972.'
The youth vote in 2000 made up 16.4 percent of the total, translating to about 16.2 million votes. In 2004, the the youth vote made up 18.4 percent, translating to about 20.9 million votes. That's a jump of 4.6 million and a jump in overall turnout, too. More than 51 percent of citizens ages 18 to 29 voted. In 2000, it was 42.3 percent."
(WASHINGTON POST)

MILITARY 'COMMISSIONS' HALTED BY FEDERAL JUDGE
"A coalition of defense lawyers and conservative military law experts hailed a decision by a federal judge halting the Bush Administration's special trials at the U.S. military prison in Cuba.
In a setback for the Bush administration, U.S. District Judge James Robertson found that detainees at the Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, may be prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions and therefore entitled to the protections of international and military law -- which the government has declined to grant them. "
(WASHINGTON POST)

ELECTION SEEN AS GREEN LIGHT FOR GOP ENVIRONMENTAL AGENDA
"With the elections over, Congress and the Bush administration are moving ahead with ambitious environmental agendas that include revamping signature laws on air pollution and endangered species and reviving a moribund energy bill that would open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to energy exploration. In addition, the administration intends to accelerate conservation efforts by distributing billions of dollars to private landowners for the preservation of wetlands and wildlife habitats."
(NEW YORK TIMES)

LESBIAN ELECTED DALLAS' SHERIFF (NO, REALLY!)
"One-time migrant farm worker Lupe Valdez made history this week when she became the first woman and the first Hispanic elected Dallas County sheriff, not to mention the first Democrat to win the post since the mid-1970s. She also is openly gay."
(HOUSTON CHRONICLE, unearthed by Bill Messick)

EMINEN JOINS THE REVOLUTION
"Eminem, the man who George Bush once called 'the most dangerous threat to American children since polio' , and one of the least likely artists to come out with an overtly political message and a rallying call to youth, released 'Mosh, a rousing call to arms for the hip hop generation to take back the government that seeks to represent them.
With 'Mosh,' Eminem, the most polarizing musician of our times, takes on the most polarizing election of our times.
In the video, Eminem leads a mob fired up and politicized by four years of outrage and anger at the Bush administration. Clad in black hoodies, fists raised, the angry young men and women descend on a state building ... to vote."
(ALTERNET)

UNION CLAIMS HATCH ACT VIOLATION BY FORMER BUSH ADVISER
"When retired Air Force Col. Ken Cordier took questions during a mandatory training session on prisoner-of-war issues, 'his comments included statements about scumbags who threw their medals over the fence, [and] that the Democratic Party was the 'peace' party, as if that were a derogatory title,' an American Federation of Government Employee wrote in the union's request for a Hatch Act investigation. "
(WASHINGTON POST)

BUSH'S PENCHANT FOR SECRECY
"As detailed in a telling new Congressional report, Mr. Bush's secrecy obsession - by now a widely recognized hallmark of his presidency - is truly out of hand."
CLICK HERE FOR THE REPORT
CLICK HERE FOR A DETAILED PRESS RELEASE
(NYT)

NEWS CREW CONFIRMS WEAPONS THERE AFTER US ARRIVAL
A videotape shows a huge supply of explosives still at the Al Qaqaa munitions complex nine days after the fall of Baghdad.
FOR AN ONGOING DISCUSSION ON THIS TOPIC SEE THE TALKING POINTS BLOG

(NYT)

WE DON'T NEED NO STINKIN SPIN
"As the presidential election reaches its final days, both campaigns are airing a barrage of dishonest claims in their advertisements. An examination of several prominent examples demonstrates just how bad the situation has become."
(SPINSANITY)

SWING STATE REVIEW
The blog, Election Law at Moritz is publishing a swing state review, most importantly reporting that "All eyes are, or should be, on Ohio, as the state prepares to conduct hearings later this week on the challenges raised by the Republican Party to over 20,000 newly registered voters. The vast majority of these challenges will occur in Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland and is predominantly Democratic territory. The county's board of elections will hold hearings at the Cleveland Convention Center to hear the more 17,000 challenges lodged by the Republicans in this county. "
(ELECTION LAW AT MORITZ, unearthed by Ed Still's VOTELAW)

IS TOO!
Minneapolis' City Pages has just posted a story with some Bush quotes, the most interesting of which is a listing of the times he has made the al Qaeda/Sadam connection.
"This is a person [Saddam] who has had contacts with al Qaeda."
--October 2002
"He's got connections with al Qaeda."
--October 2002
"This is a guy who has had connections with these shadowy terrorist networks."
--October 2002
"We know he's got ties with al Qaeda."
--November 2002
"In terms of [Iraq's] support for terrorism, we have established that Iraq has permitted al Qaeda to operate within its territory. As the president said recently, 'The regime has long-standing and continuing ties to terrorist organizations. And there are al Qaeda terrorists inside Iraq.' The president has made his position on Iraq eminently clear, and in the coming weeks and months we shall see what we shall see."
--John Bolton, undersecretary of state for arms control, speech to the Hudson Institute
"We know that he's had connections with al Qaeda."
--November 2002
"He's had connections with shadowy terrorist networks like al Qaeda."
--November 2002
"We know that he has had contacts with terrorist networks like al Qaeda."
--November 2002
"And, not only that, he is--would like nothing better than to hook up with one of these shadowy terrorist networks like al Qaeda, provide some weapons and training to them, let them come and do his dirty work, and we wouldn't be able to see his fingerprints on his action."
--November 2002
"Evidence from intelligence sources, secret communications, and statements by people now in custody reveal that Saddam Hussein aids and protects terrorists, including members of al Qaeda."
--January 2003
"God told me to strike at al Qaeda and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did, and now I am determined to solve the problem in the Middle East."
--GWB to Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, as reported in the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz, June 23, 2003
"Fuck Saddam. We're taking him out."
--Speaking to Condi Rice, March 2002, a full year before the invasion of Iraq.

(CITY PAGES)

CRONKITE DOWN ON THE WAR
"Veteran newsman Walter Cronkite said Americans aren't any safer because of the U.S.-led war on Iraq. 'The problem, quite clearly, is we have excited the Arab world, the Muslim world, to take up arms against us,' Cronkite said Saturday, adding that this excitement far exceeds the anger that existed among terrorist groups prior to the war."
(FINDLAW)

HOW UNCONVENTIONAL
"A new legal opinion by the Bush administration has concluded for the first time that some non-Iraqi prisoners captured by American forces in Iraq are not entitled to the protections of the Geneva Conventions, administration officials said Monday. The opinion, reached in recent months, establishes an important exception to public assertions by the Bush administration since March 2003 that the Geneva Conventions applied comprehensively to prisoners taken in the conflict in Iraq, the officials said. But, as recently as May 2004, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld reiterated in public testimony the administration's view that "everyone in Iraq who was a military person" as well as "the civilians or criminal elements" who were detained by the American authorities would be "treated subject to the Geneva Conventions." "
(NYT)

THE REAL ISSUE IN MIDDLE EAST IS SUPPORT FOR MODERATES
"President Bush's 'global war on terror' is a politically expedient slogan without real substance, serving to distort rather than define. It obscures the central fact that a civil war within Islam is pitting zealous fanatics against increasingly intimidated moderates. The undiscriminating American rhetoric and actions increase the likelihood that the moderates will eventually unite with the jihadists in outraged anger and unite the world of Islam in a head-on collision with America."
(NYT OP-ED)

WHERE HAS THE GRAND OLD PARTY GONE?
"The party of Lincoln and Liberty was transmogrified into the party of hairy-backed swamp developers and corporate shills, faith-based economists, fundamentalist bullies with Bibles, Christians of convenience, freelance racists, misanthropic frat boys, shrieking midgets of AM radio, tax cheats, nihilists in golf pants, brown shirts in pinstripes, sweatshop tycoons, hacks, fakirs, aggressive dorks, Lamborghini libertarians, people who believe Neil Armstrong's moonwalk was filmed in Roswell, N.M., little honkers out to diminish the rest of us, Newt's evil spawn and their Etch-A-Sketch president, a dull and rigid man suspicious of the free flow of information and of secular institutions, whose philosophy is a jumble of badly sutured body parts trying to walk. Republicans: The No.1 reason the rest of the world thinks we're deaf, dumb and dangerous. "
(SEATTLE POST INTELLIGENCER, unearthed by Jim Sturdevant)

BUSH'S BLINDERS
"There are consequences, often powerful consequences, to turning one's back on reality. The president may believe that freedom's on the march, and that freedom is God's gift to every man and woman in the world, and perhaps even that he is the vessel through which that gift is transmitted. But when he is crafting policy decisions that put people by the hundreds of thousands into harm's way, he needs to rely on more than the perceived good wishes of the Almighty. He needs to submit those policy decisions to a good hard reality check."
(NEW YORK TIMES OP-ED)

STOP, STOP, STOP HURTING AMERICA
"JON STEWART ON CNN'S CROSSFIRE: Here's just what I wanted to tell you guys.
CARLSON: Yes.
STEWART: Stop.
STEWART: Stop, stop, stop, stop hurting America. "
(MEDIA MATTERS)

WIRED LOVE
According to a September report on Wired.com, a computer gadget that is equipped with wireless a receiver, can be activated remotely at different speeds and force by one person who uses the device's password at Sinulator's Web site, and that manipulation can be done not only by keyboard and mouse, but by a male placing the Sinulator's transmitting sleeve ('Interactive Fleshlight') over his penis and thrusting at his (or the recipient's) preferred speed and force. 'Thus, a man can be thrusting in Cleveland while a woman is penetrated in Seattle.' [Wired.com, 9-24-04] "
(CHUCK SHEPHER'S NEWS OF THE WEIRD)

HOW CAN WE GO WRONG? GOD TALKS TO OUR PRESIDENT
"a domestic policy adviser to Ronald Reagan and a treasury official for the first President Bush, told me recently that ''if Bush wins, there will be a civil war in the Republican Party starting on Nov. 3.'' The nature of that conflict, as Bartlett sees it? Essentially, the same as the one raging across much of the world: a battle between modernists and fundamentalists, pragmatists and true believers, reason and religion. " What makes Bush's presidency so radical — even to some Republicans — is his preternatural, faith-infused certainty in uncertain times.
(NYT MAGAZINE, unearthed by Illruminations and Boing, Boing)

SHRIMP IMPORT TARIFFS TOUTED
TREY BRYANT HAS THIS TO SAY: To all of my friends who may or may not be aware of the massive dumping of foreign shrimp into the U.S. market I am forwarding this message which I received from a friend this morning. PLEASE read it and support your U.S. Congressmen in the imposition of the tariffs on these countries. There are two reasons. First, the U.S. domestic shrimp tastes MUCH BETTER; Second, and much more importantly, the plight of the American shrimping industry is in dire need of our support. While wholesale (and I emphasize the term wholesale) shrimp prices have dropped to levels below those of some twenty years ago, the price of fuel and the other necessities to operate our shrimp boats has risen drastically. Also important to note is that your prices at the market or restaurants has not noticeably changed. The tariffs ARE working! Take a look and help our domestic shrimp markets from the local shrimpers to the processors. ORDER DOMESTIC SHRIMP AND SUPPORT THESE TARIFFS! The prices you will pay at the store or restaurant will NOT differ signifigantly, as it is the wholsale food brokers who are making the killing on the margins. You will be saving an American way of life!
(SEAFOODBUSINESS.COM)

DEMS EYE 8 KEY SENATE SEATS
"With Republican senators retiring in Oklahoma and Colorado and a third battling for her seat in Alaska, Democrats have a chance to pick up three seats on Nov. 2. That would be enough to control the chamber, where there are 51 Republicans, 48 Democrats and one independent who sides with the Democrats. "
(WASHINGTON POST)

BEST OF NEW YORK 2004
Each year the Village Voice presents The Best of New York, a supplent offering inside information—essays, characters, leisure, drinks, shopping, food, music, bodily pleasures, and politics—you just won't find anywhere else.
(VILLAGE VOICE)

EXPEDITED REMOVAL LAW SOUGHT
Here's a review of a new bill, introduced last week in Congress by House Speaker Dennis Hastert and others, that would allow the U.S. government to transfer prisoners under its control to the security forces of countries like Saudi Arabia and Egypt for questioning. In these countries, prisoners are likely to face torture. This practice is called "rendering." The new legislation would serve to annul U.S. treaty obligations under the U.N. Convention Against Torture; the U.S. is a party this treaty.
(HUMAN RIGHTS FIRST)

ARCHIVE OF POLITICAL ADS
The Living Room Candidate: Presidential Campaign Commercials 1952-2004 is an innovative online exhibition presenting more than 250 television commercials from every election year beginning in 1952, when the first campaign ads aired, and including ads from this year’s campaign. Users can watch nearly four hours of TV commercials and explore the expanding world of Web-based political advertising. The site includes a searchable database and features commentary, historical background, election results, and navigation organized by both year and theme.
(Suggested by Vote 121, see below)

TWO VIEWS ON WORLD STABILITY
"One of the sharpest differences between the U.S. and its longtime allies is over the issue of when to use force. A June poll conducted in part by the German Marshall Fund of the United States found that 54% of the Americans surveyed, compared with 28% of the Europeans, believed that military strength would ensure peace. Among Europeans, 73% said the war in Iraq had increased the threat of terrorism.
The disparity represents two dynamics: The world has yet to understand how Sept. 11, 2001, jolted America's sense of security, and the U.S. has underestimated how much international credibility it sacrificed in the Iraq war. "
(LA TIMES, unearthed by Common Dreams)

PATIENT DIES DURING TELEVISED OPERATION
"Hundreds of doctors watched on live video as Italian surgeons replaced a man's heart valve without cutting open his chest. Then something went wrong. The valve was in place, but his heart was failing as the live telecast to Washington ended. Two hours later, the 77-year-old died in a Milan hospital."
(FINDLAW/AP)

TORTURE BY PROXY
"Our intelligence agencies have a name for this torture-by-proxy. They call it 'extraordinary rendition.' As one intelligence official explained: 'We don't kick the s -- out of them. We send them to other countries so they can kick the s -- out of them.' "
(SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE topic suggested by Joel Sogol)

DEBATE PRIMER
"At first glance, the candidates' assertions may have the ring of truth. But on close examination, many of their pronouncements turn out to be exaggerated, lacking in context or wrong. "
(WASHINGTON POST)

FOURTH ESTATE OR FIFTH COLUMN?
"If you were watching the network evening news in June, July and August, you would have seen somewhat favorable coverage of John Kerry -- six out of 10 evaluations were positive -- and somewhat unfavorable coverage of President Bush.
If you were watching Fox News Channel's 6 p.m. newscast, you would have seen about the same coverage of the president. But Kerry's evaluations were negative by a 5 to 1 margin."
(WASHINGTON POST)

HANDY TOOLBAR LETS YOU KEEP UP WITH POLITICS
Here's a pretty valuable little toolbar: Vote121, a browser toolbar that brings all the latest campaign news and opinion straight to your browser. Without interrupting your normal browsing routine, you can learn more about the presidential candidates, get an active countdown to the election and an up-to-the-minute display of the projected election results – and it’s all free! -- Vote121 Toolbar.
And, thanx to Paul Whitehurst who steered me to Political State Report. The site, which is hosted by Temple Stark, is dedicated to giving its readers thoughts and facts about politics and politicians in all 50 states, and DC.
From that site I found some nice Alabama sites:
VoteLaw,
my friend Ed Still's blog from Birmingham.
States Writes
a Progressive Peer Directory from The American Street.
Alabama Politics
"Political news and commentary from the Heart of Dixie."
Illruminations
another interesting site whose motto is "It's more complicated than that."
The World Around You
An informed perspective on local (Prattville/Montgomery), state (Alabama), regional (southeast), national (US), and world politics and events.
The Haze Filter
DESPERATELY SEEKING SOME CLARITY IN THIS MADHOUSE WE CALL OUR WORLD!

CAT STEVENS TO BE DEPORTED
"Reuter's is reporting that former pop singer Cat Stevens, a Muslim, will be deported to Britain because his activities could be 'linked to terrorism,' a U.S. official said on Wednesday.
In case you've forgotten, Stevens was the composer of, among many hits, Peace Train:
Now, I've been cryin' lately,
Thinkin' about the world as it is.
Why must we go on hating?
Why can't we live in bliss?

(REUTER'S)

"SMOKETOWN SIX" CHARGED FOR FLASHING PREZ
"Six Lancaster city men are headed to court next month, accused of dropping their pants this summer in protest during President George W. Bush's visit to Smoketown Elementary School. Each of the self-monikered 'Smoketown Six' has been charged with one count of disorderly conduct for stripping down to thong underwear minutes before the president's bus rolled by on its way to the school."
(POLITICAL STATE REPORT, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

GUANTANAMO DIARY
There is a sense here that the U.S. military leaders overseeing these trials are making much up as they go. This confounds the very notion of the "rule of law." Here, the Presiding Officer writes a memoranda and that becomes the law. And yet, the memos and documents to date do not answer really basic practical questions. Someone will ask, "May I have access to this piece of evidence?" and will be told by the Presiding Officer, "Well, I don't know."
(HUMAN RIGHTS FIRST)

SUNSHINE PATRIOTS
"The GOP's champions of this war had a hard time finding their own way to the battlefield"
(VILLAGE VOICE)

PART-TIME CONTSTITUTION
"Four suspected al Qaeda terrorists will face military trials this week at the Navy base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in historic legal proceedings that have not been conducted by the U.S. government since World War II and are unlike anything most Americans face in the criminal justice system," The Washington Post reports.
The Cato Project's Handbook for Congress warns against the establishment of military tribunals for civilians, noting that the Constitution's jury trial clause is "not a 'peace provision' that can be suspended during wartime."
(CATO PROJECT)

JOINT MOTIONS
"A group of 38 California medical marijuana patients filed legal motions on Tuesday asking the federal government to give them back their pot worth nearly a million dollars. "
(REUTER'S, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

THOU SHOULDN'T
"Ten teachers of Christian ethics at leading seminaries and universities have written a letter to President Bush criticizing his campaign's outreach to churches, particularly its effort to gather church membership directories. "
(WASHINGTON POST)

WWJD?
"Jesus was a social liberal. He liked a party, attended many. His first miracle was to turn water into wine for a wedding feast. He consorted, even dined, with sinners, the disfranchised, the poor, the homeless, the jobless, the lame and the afflicted. He talked to women on a level playing field, even to an oft-divorced and wanton woman, and dared anyone to cast aspersions, much less stones, at her."
(MINISTRY OF TRUTH, unearthed by Joe Paul)

DIXIE BUCKS BUSH ON CUBA
Thirty-five states sold $700 million in supplies to Cuba since 2001. And Southerners possess the ports where tons of powdered milk, poultry, soybeans and other items set sail for Havana....
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour is Bush's statewide campaign manager, yet Gulfport and Pascagoula ports shipped $50 million in goods to Cuba last year. Bible Belt businessmen at the Mississippi Development Authority's recent summit on Cuban trade want even bigger deals with Cuba, which has been under embargo since the 1960s.
(MISSISSIPPI SUN HERALD, unearthed by Cuba News Digest)

DIDDLY AWARDS
A tribute to the most profligate, prejudiced, and just plain pigheaded members of Congress.
(MOTHER JONES, unearthed by Joel Sogol)

GAG REFLEX
Chuck Shepherd's News of the Weird, a recap of news about stupid people and things reports that Tim Ekelman, 33, was hospitalized in Hamilton, Ontario, in 1998 with a collapsed lung, a sliced throat and voice-box damage after he, believing there was nothing to it, attempted to swallow a friend's 40-inch-long sword.
(MSN)

DOG ODS
"A police sniffer dog died of a suspected overdose while out hunting for drugs, British police said. Todd, a 7-year-old Springer spaniel, had been looking for drugs in a field and car in Preston, northern England, when his handler noticed he was looking unwell."
(PAKISTAN DAILY TIMES, unearthed by Kate Varner)

"THE BOSS" STUMPS AGAINST "NUMBER 1"
"Bruce Springsteen, Dave Matthews, the Dixie Chicks, Babyface and more than a dozen other stars are fanning out to play concerts in the most hotly contested terrain of the presidential election. MoveOn.org, a group dedicated to defeating President Bush, yesterday announced the 'Vote for Change Tour,' which will land in 34 cities in nine states.
CLICK HERE FOR SPRINGTEEN'S OP-ED PIECE IN NYT"
(WASHINGTON POST AND NEW YORK TIMES)

WHITHER THE TRUTH?
These are incredibly difficult issues and an honest search for solutions can only come from a sustained effort by the broadest array of America's brightest and wisest men and women. What the U.S. really needs is leadership that could marshal that effort.
Unfortunately, we've become a society addicted to the fantasy of a quick fix. We want our solutions encompassed in a sound bite. We want our leaders to manipulate reality to our liking.
(NYT)

MRS. C's MISSION
After the toxic life of the wreckage at ground zero, patients like David O'Neal, a day laborer in Local 79, and Joseph Lebretti, a Local 580 ironworker, thank the doctors. Who do the doctors thank? Who do the unions thank? Hillary Clinton.
(VILLAGE VOICE)

HOBBESIAN?

I was reading the article below (NUMBER TWO) that called Cheney a "Hobbesian". Given that I am prone to using metaphors and images I thought I would follow that trail to refresh my memory about Thomas Hobbes. I Found the definition on a website that is very interesting. Some professor at Oregon State has put together an instructional site (click here)that has a wealth of information and that is quite fun. If you just want the bare bones part of the site go to the site map link.

DEFENSE OR EMPIRE? Ultimately, the real rationale for missile defense is to protect U.S. forces so they can engage in military intervention throughout the world to enforce a Pax Americana -- a strategy of empire by another name. ... A better alternative -- especially given the post-September 11, 2001, realities of the al-Qaeda terrorist threat -- is for the United States to adopt a more restrained foreign policy." (CATO INSTITUTE)

THAT'S RICH
How do you determine who's rich, middle class or poor? President Bush weighed has clairified things with a broad, new definition of rich and not rich.
(WASHINGTON POST)

SHADOW GOVERNMENT
"A 43-page, painstakingly annotated report, 'Ending Secret Detentions,' by Human Rights First (formerly named the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights). claims that the the U.S. is holding prisoners in more than two dozen secret detention facilities worldwide. "At least half of these operate in total secrecy...these offshore prisons are 'beyond the reach of adequate supervision, accountability, or law [and the Geneva Conventions]. "
(VILLAGE VOICE)

NUMBER TWO
"Dick Cheney Is a Hobbesian whose doom-laden vision of life as a dog-eat-dog struggle has not only defined our nation's foreign policy but his own public persona."
(VILLAGE VOICE)

SAME SEX MARRIAGE AMENDMENT FLIP-FLOP
"This week the Senate formally debated the Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA) - which would change the U.S. Constitution to eliminate the right of any state to permit same-sex marriage. Having failed to muster sufficient votes to bring it to the floor for a vote, Republican leaders have avowed to continue efforts to pass such a constitutional amendment, though. But, only eight years ago, they were advocating the opposite solution: Rather than federalizing the issue of same-sex marriage, they advocated leaving it to the states. "
(FINDLAW)

CUBAN EMIGRATION EXPLAINED
"When compared with most migratory waves until that time, Cuba's post-revolutionary emigration was a historic anomaly. The emigrants represented the most privileged sectors of the previous regime and their decision to emigrate reflected a clear political choice against the Cuban revolution. Under this premise, the United States accepted them under exceptional conditions and the emigres became the social base for the counter-revolution.
Beginning in 1980, those presuppositions were radically altered and a crisis afflicted the bases that had created both the United States' preferential policy and the Cuban government's overall opposition to the emigration movement. "
(Progresso)

ALABAMANS SUPPORT MEDICAL MARIJUANA
A statewide survey finds overwhelming support among Alabama residents for legalizing marijuana use for medical purposes, the Mobile Register (CLICK HERE FOR THAT STORY) reported July 4.
(JOIN TOGETHER, unearthed by Joel Sogol)

PATRIOT ACT REMAINS UNBRIDLED
"The Republican-led House bowed to a White House veto threat Thursday and stood by the USA Patriot Act, defeating an effort to block the part of the anti-terrorism law that helps the government investigate people's reading habits.
The amendment appeared on its way to victory as the roll call's normal 15-minute time limit expired, but GOP leaders kept the vote open for 23 more minutes as they persuaded about 10 Republicans who initially supported the provision to change their votes, losing by 210-210, with a majority needed to prevail. "
(COMMON DREAMS)

DEATH PENALTY APOLOGIA
Acting under severe constraints imposed by our own constitutional system, we execute some people here and there, episodically confessing worry and even shame that we're not quite sure about what we're doing. Then we nervously try it all again. Politically, we can't live without capital punishment. Morally, we have some trouble living with it. So we impose just enough of it to keep the art form alive.
(SLATE, unearthed by Kate Varner)

DO-IT-YOURSELF FIREWORKS DISPLAY
"Using your mouse, click in the sky above NYC. HAPPY FOURTH!!!!!"
(Suggested by Jay Lewis)

"FEENEY 2" PROPOSED
Not content with filling up the country's prisons, the Jihadists have decided to exacerbate the injustices perpetrated by their already draconian policies. We're talking about here, in the U.S.! Despite the recent Blakely decision that puts the whole scheme in question Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), a proponent of the notorious Feeney Amendment, has introduced legislation to further curtail the sentencing discretion of federal judges.
A hearing regarding this legislation will take place on Tuesday, July 6, before the House of Representative's Crime Subcommittee. Because Congressman Sensenbrenner is the Chair of the House Judiciary Committee and controls the committee's agenda, The "Defending America's Most Vulnerable: Safe Access to Drug Treatment and Child Protection Act" (H.R. 4547) poses a serious risk. It would:

Establish mandatory minimum sentences for drug distribution involving persons under 18 years of age. The sale of any quantity of any controlled substance (including anything greater than five grams of marijuana) by a person older than 21 to a person younger than 18 would be subject to a ten-year mandatory minimum sentence; persons 21 years or older convicted a second time of distributing drugs to a person under 18 or convicted a first time after a felony drug offense has become final would receive a mandatory life sentence.

Result in a blanket five-year mandatory minimum sentence for distribution of any quantity of any controlled substance in a metropolitan area. The bill increases to five years the federal mandatory minimum sentence for the sale of a controlled substance, of any type or quantity, within 1,000 feet of a school, college, public library, drug treatment facility (or any place where drug treatment, including classes, are held), or private or public daycare facilities -- in short, almost anywhere in cities across the U.S.

Unduly restrict the federal "safety valve" to cases in which the government has certified that the defendant pled guilty to the most serious readily provable offense (the one that carries the longest sentence), and has "done everything possible to assist substantially in the investigation and prosecution of another person," and would prohibit the federal "safety-valve" in cases where drugs were distributed or possessed near a person under 18, where the defendant delayed his or her efforts to provide substantial assistance to the government, or provided false, misleading or incomplete information. Eliminate the mitigating role cap under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines for minimal or minor drug offenders.

Exacerbate overly harsh sentencing based on drug weight by requiring that a defendant be punished for the conduct of co-conspirators that occurred before the defendant joined the conspiracy.
(NACDL)

IT'S A HERITAGE THING
Essie Mae Washington-Williams, a biracial woman who stepped forward last year to acknowledge that she was the daughter of the late Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, now wants to join the United Daughters of the Confederacy, an organization of descendants of soldiers who fought for the South in the Civil War."
(NYT)

$87,000,000,000.00
"On September 7th, 2003, President Bush announced on national television that he was asking the Congress to grant him an additional $87 billion dollars for the next fiscal year, beginning October 1, to continue the fight on terror in Iraq and Afghanistan.
But $87 billion is an impossibly high number for anyone to visualize. Let's have a look...."
(CRUNCHWEB, unearthed by Connie Acevedo)

INSIDE THE BELLY OF A BEAST
Purna Raj Bajracharya, 47, who came from Nepal in 1996, was swallowed up in the government's new maximum security system of secret detention and secret hearings, and his only friend was the same F.B.I. agent who had helped decide to put him there.Visa violators would be held indefinitely, until the F.B.I. was sure the person was not involved in terrorism. As a visa violator under suspicion, Mr. Bajracharya was among hundreds placed in the special interest category, and his case was wiped from the public record.
(NYT)

BUSH DOCTRINE ERODING
"The occupation of Iraq has increasingly undermined, and in some cases discredited, the core tenets of President Bush's foreign policy, according to a wide range of Republican and Democratic analysts and U.S. officials. "
(WASHINGTON POST, unearthed by tompaine.com)

THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM
"By only describing its individual parts, Americans fail to grasp the massive weight and dimension of the elephant. The big picture is obscured. We can't see that what's in front of us is all part of the same beast: failed conservative policies."
(ALTERNET, unearthed by tompaine.com)

UTAH V. MOONEYS
(No, Not Those Moonies, this couple belongs to a different religious sect): "Utah law incorporates a federal regulation exempting from prosecution members of the Native American Church who use peyote in bona fide religious ceremonies. On its face, the federal regulation does not restrict the exemption to members of federally recognized tribes. The exemption is available to all members of the Native American Church."
(Suggested by Paul Whitehurst)

LOCAL POLL SHOWS SUPPORT FOR WAR IS WEAKENING
"As violence in Iraq escalates leading up to Wednesday's transfer of power, fewer Alabamians now think the U.S. invasion made the world safer, according to the results of a Mobile Register-University of South Alabama poll taken last week. Less than half the 407 people surveyed said the war has made the world a safer place, a stark difference from April 2003, after the successful invasion, when more than three-quarters of respondents said the same thing. "
The poll results are consistent with a USA Today/CNN/Gallup Poll released on Thursday that shows that for the first time since the start of the war in Iraq, a majority of Americans now say the U.S.-led invasion was a mistake. Fifty four percent of the 1,005 Americans polled said it was a mistake to send U.S. troops into Iraq, compared with 41 percent who held that view three weeks ago. The findings mark the first time since Vietnam that a majority of Americans has called a major deployment of U.S. forces a mistake, USA Today reported on its Web site. Like the local poll, this poll also showed that 55 percent said the war has increased U.S. vulnerability, compared to a December poll in which 56 percent said the war made the United States safer.
Click Below for
New York Times Article
Findlaw story
Common Dreams Piece
(VARIOUS SOURCES)

DON'T FORGET WHO IS OUT THERE DOING THE DIRTY WORK

UNION CALLS FOR IRAQ PULLOUT
Nearly 4000 delegates of Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the nation's largest with 1.6 million members, voted unanimously at the union's national convention in San Francisco today to end U.S. occupation of Iraq and to bring U.S. troops stationed there home.
(ANTI-IMPERIALIST LEAGUE, Suggested by Cuba News Digest)
For Common Dreams story on other voices calling for pullout Click Here

REVEREND MOON CROWNED MESSIAH IN CONGRESS
"As a shining symbol of democracy, the United States capital is not ordinarily a place where coronations occur. So news that the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the eccentric and exceedingly wealthy Korean-born businessman, donned a crown in a Senate office building and declared himself the Messiah while members of Congress watched is causing a bit of a stir."
(NYT)

UNDERSTANDING SECT FIRST STEP TOWARDS PEACE
"Shiites stick together. Their formidable official religious establishment, or Hawza, acts as one entity, even though its members may be in Najaf, in Qom in Iran (the other major center of learning), or any other place with substantial numbers of Shiites. Unlike, say, the Vatican, the Hawza is not an organized theocracy with clear hierarchies and chains of authority. Rather, it is bound by fervor, consensus and the utter devotion of its leaders and followers. This makes it a tricky institution to predict. "
(NYT)
For an excellent piece on Saudi Arabia and the problems of terrorism there see the latest Newsweek or click here.

THERE. HE SAID IT AGAIN!
"Vice President Dick Cheney said Saddam Hussein had 'long-established ties' with al Qaida, an assertion that has been repeatedly challenged by some policy experts and lawmakers. The vice president on Monday offered no details backing up his claim of a link between Saddam and al Qaida."
(FINDLAW)

FORMER DIPLOMATS BOO BUSH
"A group of 26 retired U.S. diplomats and military officers said Wednesday that President Bush should be voted out of office in November for damaging U.S. national security interests and America's standing in the international community."
Prominent members include retired Marine Gen. Joseph P. Hoar, commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East during the administration of Bush's father; retired Adm. William J. Crowe Jr., ambassador to Britain under President Bill Clinton and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President Ronald Reagan; and retired Adm. Stansfield Turner, former head of the Central Intelligence Agency.
(FINDLAW)

CUBA TRAVEL REGS POSTED
The new travel regulations concernig travel to Cuba have been posted.

WILL REAGAN SURVIVE TEST OF TIME?
"What of Ronald Reagan, whose weeklong farewell ceremonies, culminating on Friday in a funeral at the National Cathedral and burial in California, have stirred such emotion and such largely laudatory comment? (CLICK HERE FOR CRITIQUE OF COVERAGE) What will history, with its privileged vantage point far from the heat of partisan battles, conclude about him?"
(NYT)

NY TIMES' RESPONSE TO CRITICISM OF TORTURE SCANDAL COVERAGE
"New York Times public editor Daniel Okrent posted a response to criticism that the paper's May 14 report downplayed the CIA and Justice Department interrogation methods of Al Qaeda suspects. "
(FAIR)

MOBILE MAYOR SIGNS CUBA LETTER
"Mobile Mayor Mike Dow Dow is one of 33 politicians and heavy hitters who signed an open letter calling for Bush to work with members of Congress who seek to lift restrictions on travel, and sales of agricultural products and medicines to Cuba.
(MOBILE PRESS REGISTER)

TAPE BELIES US CLAIMS THAT WEDDING WAS BOGUS
"A wedding party videotape has been discovered by the Associated Press that belie assertions made by the US military that a recent attack that killed scores of civilians was justified because it was in actuality "a safehouse for foreign fighters."
The wedding videotape shows a dozen white pickup trucks speeding through the desert escorting the bridal car — decorated with colorful ribbons. The bride wears a Western-style white bridal dress and veil. The camera captures her stepping out of the car but does not show a close-up.
Many of the family members (mostly males and many of them children, the bride) guests and musicians appearing in the video have been identified, some of them later as victims who were killed in the attack.
Video shot by the news agency a day after the attack shows fragments of musical instruments, pots and pans and brightly colored beddings used for celebrations, scattered around the bombed out tent. "
(CANADA TV, unearthed by Cuba News Digest)

WHO WOULD JESUS VOTE FOR?
A secret email obtained by Village Voice shows that White House staffers, including the National Security Council's top Middle East aide (Eliott Abrams, remember him?) have been consulting with apocalyptic Christians eager to ensure American policy on Israel conforms with their sectarian doomsday scenarios.
These Christian fundamentalists claim to be 'the Christian Voice in the Nation's Capital'. The group vociferously opposes the idea of a Palestinian state. They fear an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza might enable just that, and they object on the grounds that all of Old Testament Israel belongs to the Jews. Until Israel is intact and Solomon's temple rebuilt, they believe, Christ won't come back to earth.
(VILLAGE VOICE)

GREENPEACE WALKS
A Miami federal trial judge granted a judgment of acquittal to Greenpeace in the government's unprecedented prosecution of an advocacy organization for the nonviolent civil disobedience of its members. Greenpeace was indicted for the offense once known as sailor mongering, more specifically, for boarding a ship as it was "about to arrive at its destination" in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2279, and for conspiracy to violate that statute because its members boarded the ship to protest its cargo of unlawfully harvested mahogany.
(TALKLEFT, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

CALLING MADAM LAFARGE!!!!
"A new site by Fundrace.org, follows the political money to your front door. While records of campaign contributions have long been available online, Fundrace has a twist: plug in any address and retrieve a list of all the donors in the neighborhood, the names of their favored candidates and the amount bestowed. "
(nyt)

WHEN THE MUSIC STOPS!
" Eminem's copyright infringement claims over use of his song 'Lose Yourself' in a commercial for Apple Computer Inc. can go forward.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor ruled that the suit brought by Eminem's publishing company can proceed against several companies, including MTV parent company Viacom and advertising agency TBWA/Chiat/Day."
(FINDLAW)

"THE ZEW" OFFERS FREE CONCERT
Radio station WZEW-FM is bringing another free concert to Mobile, Warner Brothers recording artists The Pat McGee Band with special guest Michael Tolcher will play Sunday, May 16 @ 5:00 pm. at Felix's Fish Camp, on the Mobile Bay Causeway.
Come hear why jambands.com says:
"For the past eight years, they have built their reputation as one of the country's premiere live acts, by combining heartfelt songs with the flair for improvisation, plus the fearlessness to rip down the walls of structure and go where the music takes them. Their tremendous live energy has garnered them a passionate and devoted fan base, and they tour as hard as any jamband, playing up to300 shows a year."

ALABAMA/CUBA CHICKEN TRADE RESUMES
"Alabama's poultry industry has resumed sales to Cuba that were interrupted by the island nation's concerns about avian influenza."
(AP, unearthed by Cuba Daily News Digest)

FCC SUCKS!
"Media companies, artists and civil rights activists have joined together to protest a ruling last month by the U-S Federal Communications Commissions against U2 lead man Bono for his use of an expletive on last year's Golden Globes broadcast. The FCC received hundreds of complaints after Bono said, 'This is really, really, f------ brilliant.' "
(CFRA)

THE TUG OF HOME
"In their work and in their lives, exiled artists struggle with the place they once called home"
(BOSTON GLOBE, Suggested by Cuba News Digest)

DIFFERENT TIMES, DIFFERENT TACK
"AUBURN, Ala. (AP) As Fidel Castro worked his way through a line of American agricultural officials in Havana last summer, he complimented a visitor on his excellent Spanish.
Diego Gimenez smiled. He didn't tell the Cuban dictator that he learned the language growing up there or that he was a prisoner of war during his last visit to the island. "
(WASHINGTON TIMES, unearthed by Cuba News Digest)

WAR IS HELL!
Regardless of which side of the debate about the war you're on, this film clip of a helicopter kill is interesting. WARNING: this is gruesome. It is the view from a AH-64D Apache helicopter engaging Iraqis who are supposedly placing a mine on a road. The aircraft is hovering at about 900 meters, using 2nd Generation Forward Looking Infrared and 30 MM auto cannon. The clip is from the recording of the infared system and cockpit audio recording. (This description appears in the Fucked Company site.)
(Suggested by "Cowboy" Bob Clark)

SPANISH LESSON
There's so much anti-Americanism now. That is Bush's achievement.
(NYT)

DOMINIONISTS?
(Good friend Joel Sogol just sent me a story on a piece of legislation that hasn't gotten much play. Did a Google search on "Dominionists" and the result is quite scary. Interestingly, some of the better arguments against this movement and this legislation, come, not from liberals but from rightwing extremists and religious groups who see them as false prophets. )
"The Constitution Restoration Act – drafted by a former minion of TV evangelist Pat Robertson – is the fruit of decades of work by a group of extremists known broadly as "Dominionists." Their openly expressed aim is to establish "biblical rule" over every aspect of society – placing "the state, the school, the arts and sciences, law, economics, and every other sphere under Christ the King." Or as Attorney General John Ashcroft – the nation's chief law enforcement officer – likes to say: "America has no king but Jesus!"
(SMIRKING CHIMP, unearthed by Joel Sogol)

US HELPED BRAZIL PLOTTERS
From 1964 to 1985, Brazil was ruled by a string of five colorless military presidents chosen by their fellow officers. The dictatorship ended in 1985 when a democracy movement swept the country. Newly declassified U.S. documents show the extent of American willingness to provide aid to Brazil's generals during the 1964 coup that ushered in 21 years of often bloody military rule.
(BILLINGS GAZETTE, unearthed by National Security Archives and Cuba News Digest)

TECH GUIDE: OPERATOR GUIDE TO WOMEN 1.0
"Learn how to maintain a woman distro. Includes secrets of flawless booting and file management, and solutions to frequently encountered errors."
(TECH TV)

FOURPLEX FIRE
Last Friday in my apartment I heard a loud noise. Couldn't tell if it was an explosion or airbrakes from the radio remote truck at Soul Kitchen or what. Turned out it was a fire at the fourplex where a lot of our friends live (and have lived). Then, a few days later I get an email from my friend Linda Touart telling me about some pictures her husband Rick had taken. The internet is a funny little animal. This site is a real trip. Be sure your sound is on.

RECIPE CAUSES MAGAZINE RECALL
"Southern Living magazine has recalled its April issue from newsstands because of an error in a recipe for dinner rolls that resulted in minor burns to at least five readers."
(AP, unearthed by Findlaw)

MORE BIG LIE?
"Donald Rumsfeld, argues that the inhumane incarceration, the secrecy and the abuse of any principles of justice are all justified by the fact that the Guantanamo prisoners are the hardest of hard cases. But given what we know of those who have been released, the refusal of the US to open the evidence to challenge, and the secrecy that surrounds the prison and all who languish there, the proposition that - like the weapons of mass destruction - maybe none of them are terrorists - is worth considering.
(GUARDIAN, unearthed by Common Dreams)

DEBRIEFING NOTES DISCOVERED AT COFFEE SHOP
Someone, obviously readying him/herself to prep Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld – left notes on the table of a local coffeeshop. Talking points, hand-written notes on spin tactics, and a hand-drawn map to the Secretary's house were found by a resident of DuPont Circle, who made them available to the Center for American Progress. The name of said resident is being withheld at his request, as he fears that he may be accused on national television of being "disgruntled." (Click on the headline to see the actual notes)
(AMERICAN PROGRESS, unearthed by Common Dreams)

YELLOW JOURNALISM
"Put 30 drug testing workers in a room together for a few hours and it isn't long before they start trading strange - and somewhat indelicate - tales of urine collection."
(MYWAY.COM, unearthed by Jim Jeffries)

MY DOG ATE MY BACON!
"A new study of how the media has covered the issue of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), released today, concludes, 'Many stories stenographically reported the incumbent administration's perspectives on WMD, giving too little critical examination of the way officials framed the events, issues, threats and policy options.' "
(COMMON DREAMS)

EVERY CHILD LEFT BEHIND
The federal No Child Left Behind law is threatening to wreck public education in Minnesota and elsewhere. That's what it was designed to do.
(CITY PAGES)

WATCHDOGS ARE SLEEPING
Partisan TV pundit participation in the RNC's attack on Kerry is perhaps to be expected, but they were not the only media figures to simply pass on the Republican allegations without examination....
Embarrassingly, Dicks had to explain to Woodruff that most of the weapons "votes" weren't individual votes at all, but a single vote on the Pentagon's 1991 appropriations bill. Woodruff responded with surprise to this information: "Are you saying that all these weapons systems were part of one defense appropriations bill in 1991?"...
Unfortunately, Hume failed to raise an important follow-up: Why was Cheney now criticizing Kerry for having essentially the same position Cheney advocated back in 1991?
(FAIR)

BYRD IN COOP
"Legendary rock artist David Crosby was arrested yesterday for possessing marijuana and a .45 caliber handgun. Crosby had checked out of a Times Square hotel but reportedly left behind a piece of luggage. A hotel employee searching the luggage for identification found the gun and the pot. Police arrested Crosby when he returned to the hotel to claim the luggage."
(TALKLEFT, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

STRICT RECONSTRUCTIONIST
"Lost amid the flurry of victory signs being waved by his most strident GOP backers is the fact that the president actually loves activist jurists, as long as they embrace his views on marriage, gay sex, civil liberty, reproductive rights and religion. "
(SF CHRONICLE, unearthed by Kathryn Varner)

FOOD FIGHT!
"A dispute at the salad bar turned into a food fracas at an upscale retirement home, with a man taking a bite out of another's arm and other residents suffering minor injuries."
(FINDLAW, unearthed by Bill Messick)

DEFENSE POSTURE
"A judge ruled Tuesday that a defendant could proceed with her theory of defense, despite objections by the prosecutor. The woman, charged with causing a fatal car crash in 1999, says that she couldn't have been behind the wheel because she was performing a sex act on the driver at the time.
'A defendant has a right to offer a defense no matter how outlandish, silly or unbelievable one might think it will be,' the judge said.
Her lawyer noted that the decendant's pants were down when he was thrown from the car. But the Assistant State said the defense is flawed. 'His pants could have been down because he was mooning a car he was drag racing,' Platt said. 'His pants could have been down because he was urinating out of a window. His pants could have been down because he wasn't feeling well.'"
(SUN SENTINEL, unearthed by Bill Messick)

UNITED STATES V. DAVIDSON
Congratulations to our partner Peter Madden for the latest decision from the Eleventh Circuit. The issue involved the proper interpretation of two sentencing guideline provisions.

GOP STAFFERS PURLOIN DEMO FILES
"Two Republican congressional staffers improperly accessed about 4,700 computer files of their Democratic colleagues, a source familiar with an investigation of the matter said on Thursday.
Members of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee privately received a written report on the probe of their own panel's computer system, and put off until at least next week what, if any action to take, said the source, who asked not to be identified.
Options included -- if consensus can be reached on the often sharply divided panel -- seeking criminal prosecutions against the two Republican staffers who have since resigned."
(REUTER'S, unearthed by Common Dreams)

CUBAN CATHOLICISM EXPLAINED AT TUSCALOOSA
"In Cuba, the Passion did not last 12 hours; it has lasted many years. It started in 1961, and it continues today,' Salvador Larrua said after an address to a small group at the University of Alabama."
(TUSCALOOSA NEWS, unearthed by Larry Clayton)

LIBYA TRAVEL BAN LIFTED
"The United States lifted a long-standing ban on travel to Libya on Thursday after Moammar Gadhafi's government affirmed that it was responsible for the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 in 1988.
The White House announcement lifted travel curbs that have been in place for 23 years against Libya, a country which the United States had long branded a sponsor of state terrorism.
(AP)

BOOTLEG CAUSES STIR
"When DJ Dangermouse decided to combine raps from Jay-Z's 'The Black Album' with music from the Beatles' legendary 'White Album' to create 'The Grey Album,' he didn't have permission from either side to do it - and he didn't care. 'I intended for it to be for friends and for people who knew my stuff. I figured it would get passed around, and it would be this little underground thing, but it kind of took off on its own,' said the music producer, born Brian Burton. That's an understatement. Although he only pressed up a few thousand copies on CD, it has become a hotly traded album on the Web, sparking the consternation of the Beatles' parent label and an Internet protest in support of Dangermouse."
CHECK OUT
DANGERMOUSE(The artist)
DOWNTHILLBATTLE(The Rebel Upstarts)
GREYTUESDAY(Great Links and Info)
TRACKS(Downloadable, but to quote Nixon, that would be illegal)
(FINDLAW)

DUBYA ACTION FIGURE AVAILABLE

(Suggested by LeeAnn)

NODINE'S GAMBIT?
"Only 50-years-old, former two-term Mobile City Councilman John Peavy left public office more than a decade ago. Yet his political career stretches back to an unsuccessful, albeit politically promising, bid to unseat former City Commissioner Gary A. Greenough. Peavy said he would welcome a return to his old District 7 post at City Hall if a vacancy occurs there.
Incumbent Councilman Stephen Nodine is campaigning for County Commission, District 2. Should incumbent Commissioner Freeman Jockisch be forced out of office in connection with his state and federal indictments stemming from financial irregularities at his fire sprinkler business, Nodine could conceivably join the commission through a gubernatorial appointment well before the next County Commission takes the oath of office in January, 2005, thereby opening up Peavy's old post."
(MOBILE BAY TIMES)

DID IKE AND ALIENS MEET?
"The question remains: Did Ike really meet with extra-terrestials 50 years ago?"
Just to make things more intriguing: On the night in question, the Associated Press reported this: "Pres. Eisenhower died tonight of a heart attack in Palm Springs."
Two minutes later, the AP retracted that bulletin and reported that Ike was still alive.
(MSNBC, unearthed by, who else but, Joel Sogol)

GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT?
Rodney Stanberry is serving a 20 year sentence for the 1992 attempted murder of a Mobile County woman. His conviction came despite the fact that another man confessed to the crime, a confession kept secret from the jury.
(WKRG-TV)

BANISHED WORDS
Lake Superior State University issued its 28th annual 'extreme' List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-Use, Over-Use and General Uselessness, which the world needs 'now, more than ever.' LSSU has been compiling the list since 1976, choosing from nominations sent from around the world. This year, words and phrases were pulled from a record 3,000 nominations.
(Suggested by Discovery Resources)

AGENTS SPY ON US CONFERENCE
"U.S. Army intelligence spied on a Texas University conference on Islam and then asked for a list of participants, a measure dismissed by organizers and civil rights groups as 'unprecedented' intimidation."
(ISLAM ON-LINE, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

WHEN BUSH WAS IN ALABAMA

Are people claiming that Bush wasn't here or are they saying he didn't report for Guard duty? Or, gee, are they aghast to think that a connected politico's son might be assigned a cushy assignment?
The topic came up accidentally yesterday while I was having lunch. A lawyer friend - also a yellow dog Democrat and hardly one who is going to make excuses for the prez - was still living in Montgomery with his parents, also well-connected GOPers. So he saw him constantly. At any rate, he called Bush an affable "good guy" (followed by the kind of criticism you might expect) and remembers him as being "Montgomery's eligible batchelor" which - if that's an accurate statement - is enough said for the (Republican) women of Montgomery.
But the real point was that he not only remembers Bush as being in Alabama during the Blount campaign but also as being assigned to the Guard. The attention that this is drawing is an unfortunate tabloid diversion - like Clinton's lack of military service or Janet Jackson's boob. It's a santimonious tempest in a teapot and probably, yes, a little invited (aircraft carrier) payback (Clinton). But, if I run into someone at lunch that knows this much about it, surely the media - the Montgomery Advertiser, Mobile Press-Register, or the Birmingham Post - can clarify it pretty easily.
So, get your MTV-like groove on if you must, but sooner or later we're going to have to look at the really serious and immediate issues at hand.
The real debate should be about now. Right now , he's on duty full-time so the issue of what he may have done twenty years ago is bogus. Right now , he's Commander-in-Chief of the most mighty military power in the world. No one can claim it's a cushy assignment or that when forced to handle a horrific situation that he did not rise admirably - and rationally - to the challenge. But giving the devil his due, the issue Right now is whether you support his world view and want to see it continued. Do you support his neoconservative views or do you think them whacky? Right now , he has our economic future in his hands. What he is doing Right now and the potential that he has to continue doing it is the issue. Right?
CLICK HERE TO SEE A VALID CRITIQUE OF BUSH'S MILITARY HISTORY
OR
CLICK HERE TO SEE A WASHINGTON POST STORY AT MOBILE FREE PRESS
(LINK TO NYT STORY ADDED FEB 17, MFP LINK ADDED FEB 18)

COCKFIGHTING?
Bill Messick sent me a link that says that cockfights will go on in Caddo Parish, La. State district judge Charles Scott ruled Tuesday that state law permitting such battles trumps a local ordinance banning animal cruelty. On a whim, I just did a search of the news on cockfighting. Lo and behold, it's a crime wave!
Anonymous tip leads deputies to discovery of cockfight
Merced Sun-Star, CA - Feb 2, 2004
Nine men were cited Sunday after the Merced County Sheriff’s Department
busted up a cockfight north of Merced. Another man was ...

7 Killed in Brawl at Mexico Cockfight Den
Newsday - Feb 2, 2004
By Associated Press. TULANCINGO, Mexico -- A fight broke out between
two families at an illegal cockfighting den, and seven people ...

Cockfight brings tickets, destruction of 60 birds
Modesto Bee, CA - Feb 4, 2004
... injured birds. Most of the spectators ran, Huston said, but seven were
detained and cited for attending a cockfight. Animal Control ...

7 Killed in Brawl at Mexico Cockfight Den
Tuscaloosa News (subscription), AL - Feb 2, 2004
A fight broke out between two families at an illegal cockfighting
den, and seven people were killed, police said Monday. The two ...

Cockfight suspects facing maximum penalty of $50 fine
AL.com, AL - Jan 27, 2004
Two Mobile County sheriff's deputies dispatched Sunday to raid a reported cockfight
at a south Mobile County home saw dozens of people scatter and run away as ...

2 arrested at Irvington cockfight
AL.com, AL - Jan 26, 2004
Mobile County Sheriff's Department deputies raided an Irvington cockfight Sunday
afternoon, arresting two people and questioning about 40 more, sheriff's ...

Cockfight case resolved with $3700 penalty
MLive.com (subscription), MI - Jan 28, 2004
... Misdemeanor warrants remain pending in Allegan County for seven out-of-state
residents who police charged with attending a cockfight.

Second arrested for cockfight
Times-Journal, AL - Jan 29, 2004
A second man has been arrested after DeKalb County authorities raided
a cockfight near Collinsville on Jan. 17. Jimmy Van Johnson ... Five people killed at cockfight in Colombia
Deepika, India - Jan 26, 2004
Bogota, Jan 27 (DPA) Contract killers shot dead five people and injured 13 in a shootout
at a cockfight in the southwestern Colombian city of Jumbo, police said ...

South Alabama's cockfighters
AL.com, AL - Feb 8, 2004
... Seaman was among 40 cockfight spectators who authorities found but did not charge
with any crime when they raided a cockfight in Irvington on Jan. 25. ...
       Call for stronger cockfighting law - AL.com
       and more »

Officials raid cockfight in south DeKalb
Times-Journal, AL - Jan 20, 2004
... The building included bleachers and a concession stand. According to
Reed, this was the fourth cockfight on the property since Nov. ...

DeKalb Officers Raid Cockfight, Arrest One
WAFF, AL - Jan 20, 2004
... The raid was the second in three years at the site though Reed says it
was the fourth cockfight on the property since November Second.

Balinese riot after police raid cockfight
Jakarta Post, Indonesia - Jan 23, 2004
... Yangbatu in downtown Denpasar, Bali, barricaded the main road near their village
on Friday afternoon to vent their anger over a police raid on a cockfight held ...

Tracing cockfighting myths
AL.com, AL - Feb 8, 2004
... We can't say with 100 percent certainty that he did not judge a cockfight,
but we have never found evidence to say that he did," Blanchette said. ...

Get tough on cockfighting
AL.com, AL - Feb 2, 2004
Two major cockfight busts within a week at opposite ends of Alabama -- last Sunday
in Mobile County and days earlier near Hunstville -- were commendable ...

LIFELOG DEAD
The Pentagon has pulled the plug on LifeLog, its stunningly ambitious effort to build a database tracking a person's entire existence.
(DEFENSE TECH, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

HIGH HOLY DAYS
The Rev. Richard A. Arko, 40, a Roman Catholic priest accused of growing marijuana in his church living quarters was charged Jan. 22 with illegal cultivation of marijuana, a fifth-degree felony, possession of criminal tools and illegal use or possession of drug paraphernalia.
(KANSAS CITY STAR, unearthed by Bill Messick)