:: NEWS COCKTAIL aka BlahBlahBlog ::

:: 1.31.2005 ::

:: "Judge Backs Guantanamo Detainee Challenges" ::

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration must let foreign terror suspects challenge their confinement in U.S. courts, a judge said Monday in a ruling that found unconstitutional the hearing system set up by the Pentagon.

U.S. District Judge Joyce Hens Green also raised concerns about whether detainees have been tortured during interrogations. Judges, she said, should make sure people are not detained indefinitely based on coerced and unreliable information.

posted by me

:: 10:57:00 PM [+] ::
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:: "Carnivore redux" ::

A CNET report
By Declan McCullagh

Robert Corn-Revere clearly remembers the day he became the first person to tell the world about the FBI surveillance system once known as Carnivore.

Corn-Revere, a partner at the Davis Wright Tremaine law firm, had been fighting on EarthLink's behalf to keep a government surveillance device off the company's network in late 1999. A short while later, though, a federal magistrate judge sided with the FBI against the Atlanta-based Internet provider.

Worried about the privacy impact, Corn-Revere revealed the existence of Carnivore in testimony before a House of Representatives subcommittee on April 6, 2000. "They were using a technology called Etherpeek, which was off the shelf," Corn-Revere told me last Friday. "When we challenged it, they said, 'We're not using that. That would be wrong. We have our own software developed. It's called Carnivore.'" (Etherpeek is a Windows surveillance utility from WildPackets that can decode protocols used with e-mail, Web browsing and instant messaging.)

Now history is repeating itself. A flurry of press reports this month noted that the FBI has ceased using Carnivore, which had been renamed DCS1000. But not all of them mentioned that the government is hardly calling a halt to Internet wiretaps--instead, it's simply buying its surveillance tools from private companies again.

Read more here.

posted by me

:: 10:11:00 AM [+] ::
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:: So Weird ::

From Chuck Shepherd's News of the Weird

LEAD STORY
Nonlethal war tactics suggested by an Air Force research team in the 1990s were made public in December by the military watchdog organization Sunshine Project and included a recommendation to expose enemy troops to powerful aphrodisiacs in order to distract them into lustful hookups with each other (irrespective of gender). (The Pentagon said the idea was dropped almost immediately, but the Sunshine Project said it was discussed as recently as 2001.) Other ideas: giving the enemy severe halitosis (so they could be detected within a civilian population), overrunning enemy positions with rats or wasps, and creating waves of fecal gas. [New Scientist, 1-14-05]

Scenes of the Surreal
(1) In a December demonstration against the opening of a McDonald's in the Mediterranean town of Sete, France, about 500 protesters, using a homemade catapult, bombarded the restaurant with fresh catches of the area's renowned delicacy, octopus. (2) NASA announced in October it was retiring the KC-135 plane it had long been using to train astronauts for weightlessness in flight; an official told reporters that the air crews had kept track of the amount of astronaut vomit cleaned up over the years and that the total was at least 285 gallons. [Agence France-Presse, 12-18-04] [Washington Post, 10-30-04]

Send your Weird News to Chuck Shepherd, P.O. Box 18737, Tampa FL 33679 or WeirdNews@earthlink.net

posted by me

:: 1:23:00 AM [+] ::
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:: "Gunpoint democracy" ::

An editorial from
The San Francisco Chronicle

THE BUSH administration appears eager to characterize today's Iraqi elections as a milestone. "If people are given a right to express themselves in a ballot in a ballot box, in the public square, and through a free and open press, it'll lead to peace," President Bush has said.

But elections are not likely to be a panacea to the chaos and danger that has endured after the U.S.-led invasion to overthrow Saddam Hussein. As much peril as exists today -- and it is considerable, with security precautions that include a ban on vehicle traffic and extensive mobilizations of police and soldiers -- the post-election challenges are equally daunting. An election that requires concealment of certain candidates' names for security reasons, as this one does, is anything but a reflection of stability.

Read more here.

posted by me

:: 1:13:00 AM [+] ::
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:: Don't Do Windows! ::

Open-source software urged for poor nations
From The Seattle Times

Activists at the World Social Forum, where Microsoft is viewed as a corporate bogeyman, urged developing nations yesterday to leap into the information age with free, open-source software.

John Barlow, a lyricist for the Grateful Dead, told a gathering that poor nations can't solve their problems unless they stop paying expensive software-licensing fees.

Open-source software includes programs that are not controlled by a single company. The software can be developed by anyone, with few restrictions. The best known such software is Linux, which can be downloaded free from the Internet.

"Already, Brazil spends more in licensing fees on proprietary software than it spends on hunger," said Barlow, co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a cyberspace civil-liberties group.

The World Social Forum has drawn tens of thousands of people to an annual protest against the World Economic Forum, a gathering of world leaders under way in Davos, Switzerland.

ALSO
World Social Forum Puts Linux in Spotlight

And meanwhile...
Gates Proposes Open Source Forum with Brazilian President

posted by me

:: 12:59:00 AM [+] ::
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:: "Iraq reconstruction funds missing" ::

From BBC News

Almost $9bn (£4.7bn) of Iraqi oil revenue is missing from a fund set up to reconstruct the country.

The BBC's File On 4 programme has learnt that out of over $20bn raised in oil revenues during US-led rule, the use of $8.8bn is unaccounted for.

Read more here.

ALSO

Audit: US lost track of $9 billion in Iraq funds

Time.com: Bremer's Next Insurgency: Auditors

posted by me

:: 12:51:00 AM [+] ::
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:: "Government computer blunders are common and expensive" ::

From Security Focus
By Ted Bridis, The Associated Press

The FBI's failure to roll out an expanded computer system that would help agents investigate criminals and terrorists is the latest in a series of costly technology blunders by government over more than a decade.

Experts blame poor planning, rapid industry advances and the massive scope of some complex projects whose price tags can run into billions of dollars at U.S. agencies with tens of thousands of employees.

"The government is just as inept in buying computers as it is in using them for accounting," declared a 1994 report, called "Computer Chaos," from a Senate Governmental Affairs subcommittee. "The system is indeed broken and it is time to fix it."

Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the senior Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, called the FBI's computer overhaul "a train wreck in slow motion." Critics said the FBI's case illustrated government's propensity to build its software from scratch, which can dramatically increase a project's complexity and cost.

"They do have a tendency to reinvent the wheel," said James X. Dempsey, an expert on national security for the Center for Democracy and Technology, a Washington-based civil liberties group.

Read the entire story here.

posted by me

:: 9:31:00 AM [+] ::
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:: "Can Howard Stern now relax?" ::

A CNET report
By Declan McCullagh

You can't blame Howard Stern, Janet Jackson and other targets of official bluenosedom for toasting the departure of Michael Powell, the Federal Communications Commission chair who led a crusade against raunch and ribaldry on the air.

They may be right. For all Powell's talk about limited government, the 41-year-old Republican arguably resuscitated a vague "indecency" standard for the sake of political expediency. Other critics point to the "broadcast flag" ruling, which bans the sale of certain computer hardware starting in mid-2005, as another shameful chapter in the history of the FCC.

But Powell's legacy is more complicated than either copyright or censorship.

Read the story here.

posted by me

:: 2:13:00 PM [+] ::
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:: "Robots soldiers ready for Iraq?" ::

Bloodless warfare
From Wired News

Made by a small Massachusetts company, the SWORDS, short for Special Weapons Observation Reconnaissance Detection Systems, will be the first armed robotic vehicles to see combat, years ahead of the larger Future Combat System vehicles currently under development by big defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin (LMT) and General Dynamics (GD).

Military officials like to compare the roughly three-foot-high robots favorably to human soldiers: They don't need to be trained, fed or clothed. They can be boxed up and warehoused between wars. They never complain. And there are no letters to write home if they meet their demise in battle.

But officials are quick to point out that these are not the autonomous killer robots of science fiction. A SWORDS robot shoots only when its human operator presses a button after identifying a target on video shot by the robot's cameras.

Running on lithium ion batteries, it can operate up to four hours at a time, depending on the mission. Operators work the robot using a 30-pound control unit which has two joysticks, a handful of buttons and a video screen. Quinn says that may eventually be replaced by a Gameboy type of controller hooked up to virtual reality goggles.

- - -

posted by me

:: 3:04:00 PM [+] ::
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:: "Espionage Unit Expands Rumsfeld's Domain" ::

The Pentagon has created an secret arm and is reinterpreting U.S. law to give the secretary of defense authority over clandestine operations abroad.
By Barton Gellman, The Washington Post

posted by me

:: 10:11:00 PM [+] ::
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:: So Weird ::

From Chuck Shepherd's News of the Weird (.885)

LEAD STORY
Editor Frank Kelly Rich's bimonthly tribute to overdrinking -- the magazine Modern Drunkard -- is a 50,000-circulation glossy "about drinking and only about drinking, and not just drinking, but heavy drinking," he told the Los Angeles Times in January. Recent features included biographies of great drunks, a dictionary of bar slang, and a testimonial on how drinking cured one man's fear of flying. "The most accomplished people," Rich said, "have been drinkers," and he implied that people in the Middle East ought to drink more. Calling serious drinkers an "oppressed minority," Rich said he himself has about eight drinks a day, sometimes up to 30 (when he frequently blacks out). Said Rich's wife, of her husband's career, "When you find your calling, you have to go with it." [Los Angeles Times, 1-1-05]

Time Is of the Essence
Austrian artist Muhammad Mueller started a project in November, as political commentary, in which two people at a time dig a tunnel from the city of Graz to Gradec, Slovenia, 42 miles away, using only shovels; he estimated the venture would take 5,600 years. And in July, a federal appeals court rejected the Environmental Protection Agency's leak-safety standards for the long-awaited nuclear waste repository at Nevada's Yucca Mountain; EPA had found the proposed site safe until the year 12,000 A.D., but the court said that wasn't long enough (and noted that one National Academy of Sciences report recommended protection until the year 302,000 A.D.) [ABC News-AP, 11-8-04] [New York Times, 7-10-04]

Send your Weird News to Chuck Shepherd, P.O. Box 18737, Tampa FL 33679 or WeirdNews@earthlink.net

posted by me

:: 9:13:00 PM [+] ::
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:: "The Tyranny of Bush" ::

From Media Monitors Network
by Yamin Zakaria

"The proclamation to fight against tyranny is nothing more than declaring the US intention to further its domination of the world as Bush proclaimed: “The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands”.

“Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.”
-- C.S. Lewis

George Bush proclaimed his plan to fight tyranny during the inauguration speech but the crucial question is: who are the tyrants and the tyrannized. The problem with giving definition and elucidating is that everyone can be measured against it, which explains why terms like ‘terrorism’, ‘tyranny’ has remained vague; such words are usually invoked to denigrate the opponents of the US. It is only by clarifying the terms and debating its meaning a worldwide consensus can be achieved, forming common ideas and universal principles. Therefore, as a small contribution towards that process and a world that is increasingly becoming monopolized by a unipolar mass media let us look at some examples how the others view “tyranny”.

Read more here.

ALSO
Bush doctrine expected to get chilly reception
Inaugural speech reflected world view at odds with much of world
WashingtonPost.com via MSNBC.com

posted by me

:: 10:11:00 AM [+] ::
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:: "World press electrified by Bush vision" ::

From BBC News

"Hold on to your hats, this may be the most ambitious presidency ever." That's the message from one Israeli paper after President George W Bush's inauguration - a message echoed across the world's press.

For China's press his speech raises the question whether Washington will head further down a "unilateral" path in foreign relations.

One Polish paper heralds the speech as the dawn of a conservative revolution, while in Germany and Turkey there's a bleak forecast for the new Bush era.

Read world press reactions here.

Sample
Things are now clearer than ever: We have the right to feel a chill down the spine. To describe Bush as a madman with a mission at the head of a state bristling with weapons does not really get us any further... and, although insulting, it is no longer even particularly original. And yet this US administration sends a chill down the spine of anyone unwilling to become accustomed to listening to this madness.

Germany's Die Tageszeitung

posted by me

:: 9:31:00 PM [+] ::
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:: "OAF OF OFFICE" ::

From an e-newsletter
Thursday, January 20, 2005
by Greg Palast

Watching John Kerry lip-synch the oath of office, I couldn't help wondering, 'what if.'

Here on stage in Washington was the winner-class warmed and protected by cashmere and tax cuts against the strange, nipple-chilling cold. Hell had frozen over.

Our President said, "It is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation." Well, no, it isn't.

Our President said, "We will widen retirement savings and health insurance." No, he won't.

Our President said, "America will not pretend that jailed dissidents prefer their chains." Yes, he will.

Our President said, "And our country must abandon all the habits of racism." Oh, sure.

He doesn't believe a single word he's saying. And all over America, everyone knows he's lying and America is truly relieved.

America doesn't want to give up the habit of racism. Karl Rove doesn't. Jeb Bush doesn't. If not for challenging hundreds of thousands of voters in Black precincts of Ohio and other swing states, if not for purging thousands more from voter rolls for the crime of voting while Black, you wouldn't be president now, would you, Mr. President?

You won't "pretend that jailed dissidents prefer their chains," unless they are chained by your buck-buddies in Saudi Arabia.

You'll "support democratic movements" so long as the citizens of Venezuela don't get carried away and decide that democracy means they can choose a leader you don't like.

And you'll "widen Social Security and health insurance"? Who are you kidding? I just got a doctor bill for $5,200 … should I send it to you at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue?

You said, "You have seen that life is fragile, and evil is real, and courage triumphs." What you meant was, "Courage is fragile and real evil triumphs." Indeed your entire campaign was about American cowardice: "they" are coming to get us. Americans, scared for their lives, soiled their underpants and waddled to the polls crying, "Georgie, save us!"

Franklin Roosevelt said in his inaugural, "We have nothing to fear but fear itself." But he didn't have Dick Cheney creating from his bunker a government which is little more than a Wal-Mart of Fear: midnight snatchings of citizens for uncharged crimes, wars to hunt for imaginary weapons aimed at Los Angeles, DNA data banks of kids and grandmas, the Chicken Little sky-is-falling social security spook-show, and shoe-searches in airports. Fear is your only product.

In another world, in which all votes are counted, J.F. Kerry would have gathered most of those arcane chits called "electoral votes" and would have taken that oath today.

But, dear Reader, there's one cold statistic Kerry voters must face. The fact that Republicans monkeyed with the votes in swing states doesn't wash away that big red stain: 59 million Americans marched to the polls and voted for George W. Bush.

If bin Laden doesn't scare you, THAT should.

Because if 59 million Americans agreed with George Bush that every millionaire's son, like him, shouldn't have to pay inheritance taxes; that sucking up to Saudi petrocrats constitutes a foreign policy; that killing Muslims in Mesopotamia will make them less inclined to kill us in Manhattan; that turning over social security to the casino operators that gave us Enron, WorldCom and world depression is smart economics; then, fine, Mr. Bush deserves the job. But most Americans, bless'm, don't actually believe any of that hokum. YET MOST STILL VOTED FOR HIM!

What we witnessed on November 2, 2004 was a 59-million strong army of pinheads on parade ready to gamble away their social security so long as George Bush makes sure that boys kill each other, not kiss each other; who feel right proud that our uniformed services can kick some scrawny brown people in the ass in some far off place when we're mad and can't find Osama; who can't bring themselves to vote for a guy with a snooty Boston accent who's never been to a NASCAR tractor pull and who certainly thinks anyone who does is a low-Q beer-burping blockhead. And they are.

Today we witnessed more than the coronation of some privileged little munchkin of mendacity. It is the triumphal re-occupation of our nation by nitwits who think Ollie North's a hero not a conman, who can't name their congressman, who believe that Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden were going steady, who can't tell Afghanistan from Souvlaki-stan. Bloated with lies and super-size fries, they clomped to the polls 59 million strong to vent their small-minded little hatreds on us all.

When I looked today at the oaf of office, I could not shake the feeling that this election was an intelligence test that America flunked.

posted by me

:: 9:31:00 PM [+] ::
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:: "MORE MONEY FOR IRAQ? NOT WITHOUT CONDITIONS" ::

From an e-newsletter
By Arianna Huffington

When pressed by The Washington Post last week about why no one in his administration has been held accountable for the myriad failures in Iraq, President Bush sounded uncannily like Will Forte's petulant caricature on "Saturday Night Live": "Well, we had an accountability moment — and that's called the 2004 election."

There was no word on whether the president then put his thumb on his nose and wiggled his fingers or just went with the more efficient single middle finger.

In the next few weeks, Democrats in Congress will have an "accountability moment" of their own — George Bush's request for another $80 to $100 billion in supplemental funding for the war in Iraq.

This will be the third time since the war began that the president has come to the Hill looking to refill his Iraqi coffers. The last two times, congressional Democrats helped rubber-stamp his requests, forking over $152 billion in military funding.

The time has come for Democratic leaders to say: "Not this time, Mr. President."

First they need to admit that they were wrong. Wrong to trust the president and wrong to allow him to put our troops in harm's way without a plan for post-Saddam Iraq, without significant allies (sorry Bulgaria), and without an exit strategy.

It can be Harry Reid or Nancy Pelosi or the just-back-from-Iraq John Kerry or the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, David Obey — but somebody with a (D) after his or her name needs to demand a straight answer to specific questions. Questions like: Mr. President, what are our long-term goals in Iraq? Are they realistic? How long will it take — and how many more billions will have to be spent — to reach them? What are our total casualty figures and how many more casualties are we willing to endure? Are we or are we not committed to a permanent presence there?

Democrats should begin the appropriations debate by demanding, at long last, a realistic assessment of the situation. While the president continues sounding like a happy-talk local weatherman, forever optimistic that the insurgency's torrential RPG and IED showers will soon be giving way to loads of sunny freedom and democracy, some high-profile Republicans — perhaps looking to their legacies, or maybe just sick of the condescending lies — are offering a gloomy forecast.

Outgoing Secretary of State Colin Powell, for example, recently told the president, "We're losing." And Brent Scowcroft, the outgoing head of the Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, warned that the Iraqi elections "have the great potential for deepening the conflict." So which is it, Mr. President? Are we about to witness Iraq's 1776 (with Grand Ayatollah Sistani taking on the role of Thomas Jefferson) or about to find ourselves smack in the bloody middle of a Shiite vs. Sunni holy civil war?

Democrats should then demand that the president explain his exit strategy and how long he thinks it will take before our troops come home. The White House originally figured we'd be in and out before the flowers tossed at the liberators' feet had wilted. That fantasy soon gave way to the notion that things would be better once we captured Saddam. Then once sovereignty was transferred ("Let freedom feign!"). Then once elections were held.

Now they're certain they'll be better, uh, when they get better. "Clearly, we don't see the election itself as a pivotal point," Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage suddenly announced last week. "It's the beginning of a process where Iraqis will write a constitution and at the end of the year will actually vote for a permanent government." So now it's when Iraqis vote for a "permanent government" — which is precisely what many Arabs in the Middle East are afraid of. As a high-ranking Jordanian official told me: "When the mullahs take over, the election will turn out to have been one person, one vote, one time."

The Democrats should also do everything in their admittedly diminished power to try to place some conditions on this next round of funding before they vote. That is, after all, their job. The one they've sworn an oath to do.

For starters, they should demand an answer to the question: How do you propose to pay for the $100 billion? Will the president consider rolling back the tax cuts he gave the top 1 percent of American taxpayers, asking them to sacrifice in the name of freedom and democracy? (Yeah, right!) Or will he just add another hundred bil to the mounting tab he's running up for future generations?

Democrats should also link the money to a pledge from the administration that the first dollars spent will go toward making sure our troops have everything they need, including body armor, fully-armored Humvees, GPS devices, and equipment to jam the signals insurgents use to activate the remote-controlled explosives that have caused the death and mutilation of so many young Americans. The Democrats should force the president to put our money where his lip service is.

They should also take the opportunity to turn the spotlight on the epidemic of fraud and corporate profiteering that have infected the Iraqi operation. The White House has to explain why taxpayers should cut it another $100 billion check when the money we've already forked over has been so poorly spent, much of it by administration cronies. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, just 27 cents of every dollar earmarked for the rebuilding of Iraq is reaching ordinary Iraqis, with the rest being pocketed by big U.S. corporations.

What's more, nearly two years after we toppled Saddam, the people of Iraq still have to deal with massive food shortages, less electrical power than before the war, and disease-producing water and sewage systems. At the very least, Democrats should demand that Congress pass the bipartisan resolution co-sponsored by Sens. Dick Durbin and Larry Craig calling for the formation of a special committee modeled on the one Harry Truman created during WW II to root out war profiteering.

And, finally, Democrats should force the president to address the question of whether the 14 "enduring bases" we're constructing around Iraq indicate plans to make a U.S. military presence there permanent. Even Bush family fixer James Baker is concerned about the message being sent by the bases: "Any appearance of a permanent occupation will both undermine domestic support here in the United States and play directly into the hands of those in the Middle East who — however wrongly — suspect us of imperial design."

Weren't U.S. bases in Saudi Arabia what initially caused Osama bin Laden to set his murderous sights on America? Bush needs to send an unequivocal message that there will be no long-term American military presence in Iraq. He can begin by getting rid of the clause in the interim Iraqi constitution that allows the U.S. to set up permanent bases. Does sovereign mean sovereign or doesn't it?

The Democratic leadership has a responsibility to act as the loyal opposition and not just throw up its hands and sign off on the funding. I realize that they are outnumbered and can't actually stop the White House from getting its way — but the moral power of making a stand is critically important, especially coming after an election in which even staunch Democrats sometimes wondered what precisely their party stood for. What better way for Democrats to set the stage for the 2006 campaign than by forcing the Bush administration to level with the American people?

But the more I hear from congressional Democrats, the graver are my concerns about how ready they are for their accountability moment close-up. Take Rep. Rahm Emanuel, the new head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. This weekend, when Tim Russert asked whether, knowing there are no WMD in Iraq, he would still have voted for the war had he been in Congress, Emanuel went all John-Kerry-at-the-Grand-Canyon and answered "Yes." I actually had to get the transcript to make sure I hadn't misheard. I hadn't.

And it isn't just Emanuel. Judging from conversations I've had with a number of other congressional Democrats, it doesn't appear that there is a strategy — let alone a clear one — for how to deal with the appropriations request. As one House member told me, "We haven't even started thinking about it yet." Well, what have they been doing? Deciding what to wear to the inauguration of the guy who beat them because they "hadn't even started thinking about it" last year either?

The American people — especially those being asked to put their lives on the line in Iraq — deserve better than that.

© 2005 ARIANNA HUFFINGTON.

posted by me

:: 9:12:00 PM [+] ::
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:: "FBI Tosses Carnivore to the Dogs" ::

From Wired News
The bureau abandons its controversial, customized snooping software in favor of ISP-initiated internet wiretaps and commercial applications designed to sift through e-mail and other online communications.

posted by me

:: 10:22:00 AM [+] ::
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:: "A pale orange landscape with a spongy surface topped by a thin crust" ::

New Titan Photos Reveal Surface
From Wired News
DARMSTADT, Germany -- Pictures snapped by the Titan probe and a low, whooshing sound picked up by an on-board microphone drew gasps and applause from scientists Saturday, as the mission to Saturn's moon continued its breathtaking revelations from more than 900 million miles across the solar system.

Data beamed back from Titan, one of Saturn's moons, sketched a picture of a pale orange landscape with a spongy surface topped by a thin crust.

"The closest analogs are wet sand or clay," said John Zarnecki, in charge of instruments analyzing Titan's surface..

ALSO from Wired News

Photo Sites Share and Share Alike
Product Review » So, you've got a nifty camera phone or digital camera, and now you want to show off your best shots of your buddy taking a header into a snowbank. Daniel Terdiman looks at several photo-sharing sites.

posted by me

:: 10:23:00 AM [+] ::
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:: Ivins this week ::

A flat out whopper
By Molly Ivins

More minor misinformation gushes forth every day.

And now comes yet another low. According to Newsweek magazine, the administration is planning the ultimate idiocy. Not enough that it has engaged in torture, it is now considering setting up as terrorists themselves. It is impossible to tell how seriously the administration is taking this proposal, but it is being discussed. It's called "the Salvador option" -- backing death squads to target Sunni insurgents and their sympathizers. Newsweek quotes one military source: "The Sunni population is paying no price for the support it is giving the terrorists. ... From their point of view, it is cost-free. We have to change that equation."

Just when you thought it couldn't get worse ...

Read the article here.

Other columns by Ivins published this week:

"These people are slicker than bus station chili"

"Prior-roarities"

posted by me

:: 10:33:00 AM [+] ::
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:: "Bumpy new world foreseen by CIA group" ::

Toronto Star
LANGLEY, Va.—And now, a look into the future: Al Qaeda, out; murky and scattered new terror cells, in. Hollywood, out; India's "Bollywood" in.

posted by me

:: 10:23:00 AM [+] ::
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:: "Former U.S. spies want to come in from the cold" ::

Ex-Soviet-bloc defectors hope to force CIA to pay them lifetime compensation
By ALAN FREEMAN
Wednesday, January 12, 2005 - Page A3
The Globe and Mail

WASHINGTON -- They claim to be the spies who were left out in the cold by their handlers at the CIA. And now they're fighting back.

Going by the pseudonyms of John Doe and his wife Jane, a pair of onetime defectors from a former Soviet bloc nation took their case to the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday in an effort to force the CIA to pay them the lifetime compensation they say they were promised years ago.

It's a story worthy of a Cold War spy novel by John le Carré or Len Deighton, full of alleged coercion by the Central Intelligence Agency that led to a stint of espionage on behalf of the Americans and resettlement of the spies under new identities in the United States.

Read more here.

ALSO
Disgruntled ex-spy sues the CIA
International Herald Tribune

Lively debate sparks spy case arguments
CNN

Former Eastern Bloc Spies Sue CIA over Contract
NPR (audio)

posted by me

:: 10:51:00 AM [+] ::
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:: "AMERICA'S FINITE FUTURE?" ::

From an e-newsletter
By Arianna Huffington

Near the beginning of "Saturday Night Fever," John Travolta's Tony Manero, frustrated that his boss thinks he should save his salary instead of spending it on a new disco shirt, cries out, "F- - - the future!" To which his boss replies: "No, Tony, you can't f- - - the future. The future f- - -s you! It catches up with you and it f- - -s you if you ain't prepared for it!"

Well, I don't know if you've noticed, but America has morphed into a nation of Tony Maneros — collectively dismissing the future. And nowhere is this mindset more prevalent than at the Bush White House, which is unwavering in its determination to ignore the future.

The evidence is overwhelming. Everywhere you look, it's IOUs passed on to future generations. Record federal debt. Record foreign debt. Record budget deficits. Record trade deficits.

And this attempt to f- - - the future is not limited to economics. You see the same attitude when it comes to energy policy, health care, education, Social Security and especially the environment — with the Bushies redoubling their efforts to make the world uninhabitable as fast as possible. (See their attempts to gut the Clean Air Act, gut the Clean Water Act, gut the Endangered Species Act, gut regulations limiting pollution from power plants.)

And the even bigger problem? They don't see this as a problem. In fact, it actually all may be an essential part of the plan.

If this last sentence doesn't make a wit of sense to you, then you are clearly not one of the 50 million Americans who believe in some form of End-Time philosophy, an extreme evangelical theology that embraces the idea that we are fast approaching the end of the world, at which point Jesus will return and carry all true believers — living and dead — up to heaven ("the Rapture"), leaving all nonbelievers on earth to face hellfire and damnation ("the Tribulation"). Christ and his followers will then return to a divinely refurbished earth for a thousand-year reign of peace and love.

In other words, why worry about minor little details like clean air, clean water, safe ports and the safety net when Jesus is going to give the world an "Extreme Makeover: Planet Edition" right after he finishes putting Satan in his place once and for all?

Keep in mind: This nutty notion is not a fringe belief being espoused by some street corner Jeremiah wearing a "The End Is Nigh!" sandwich board. End-Timers have repeatedly made the "Left Behind" series of apocalyptic books among America's best-selling titles, with over 60 million copies sold.

And they have also spawned a mini-industry of imminent doomsday Web sites like ApocalypseSoon.org and Raptureready.com. The latter features a Rapture Index that, according to the site, acts as a "Dow Jones Industrial Average of end time activity" and a "prophetic speedometer" (the higher the number, the faster we're moving toward the Second Coming). For those of you keeping score, the Rapture Index is currently 152 — an off-the-chart mark of prophetic indicators.

Now I'm not saying that Bush is a delusion-driven End-Timer (although he has let it be known that God speaks to — and through— him, and he believes "in a divine plan that supersedes all human plans"). But he and his crew are certainly acting as if that's the case.

Take the jaw-dropping federal debt, which currently stands at $4.3 trillion. Just last month the Government Accountability Office released a report that found that Bush's economic policies "will result in massive fiscal pressures that, if not effectively addressed, could cripple the economy, threaten our national security, and adversely affect the quality of life of Americans in the future."

And what was the administration's reaction to this frightening assessment? Vice President Cheney shrugged, took a hearty swig of the End-Time Kool-Aid, and announced that the administration wants another round of tax cuts. Basically a big f- - - you.

Then there's our trade deficit, which ballooned to a record $165 billion in the third quarter of 2004, when imports exceeded exports by 54 percent. Thanks to this imbalance, America is racking up a staggering $665 billion in additional foreign debt every year — that's $5,500 for every U.S. household — and placing our future economic security in the hands of others. Here is Bush's response to this daunting prospect: "People can buy more United States products if they're worried about the trade deficit." Sounds like he's really got it under control.

I guess after the Rapture, debts of all kinds will be forgiven. The White House is promoting a similar "What Me Worry?" attitude with our live-for-the-moment energy policy. America currently spends $13 million per hour on foreign oil — a number that will only increase as U.S. oil production peaks within the next five years just as consumption by industrializing nations doubles over the next 25 years.

So is the president pushing for a long-overdue increase in mileage standards or launching an all-out effort to break our dependence on foreign oil? Hardly. Instead, he's getting ready to make his umpteenth attempt to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling.

And that is just a small part of the president's full-bore assault on the environment, best summed up by Sen. Jim Jeffords, the ranking minority member on the Environment and Public Works Committee: "I expect the Bush Administration will go down in history as the greatest disaster for public health and the environment in the history of the United States."

That said, it's not hard to see why Bush has hopped aboard the Apocalypse Express. Acting like there's no tomorrow dovetails just as neatly with his corporate backers' rapacious desires as it does with his evangelical backers' rapturous desires. It offers him a political twofer: placating his corporate donors while winning the hearts and votes of the true believers who helped the president achieve a Second Coming of his own. No small miracle, given his record.

It's important to point out, however, that it's not just the White House and the End-Timers. Acting as if we have a finite future has infected our entire culture. Just look at personal savings, which have fallen to next to nothing, with Americans socking away a meager two-tenths of 1 percent of their disposable incomes. Meanwhile, the average U.S. household carries about $14,000 of credit-card debt; one in four consumers spends more than he or she can afford; and, as a result, every 15 seconds, someone somewhere in America is going bankrupt. Which, I guess, in Bush World is how an angel gets his wings.

All this represents a seismic shift in our cultural outlook. Since our founding, the American ethos has been forward-looking, geared to a bountiful future, with each generation of parents working as hard as they can to ensure a better life for their children. Those days are clearly gone.

And it has put our entire civilization at grave risk — a point echoed with great clarity by Jared Diamond, whose new book, "Collapse," looks at the reasons why so many great civilizations of the past have failed.

Although Diamond offers a range of reasons why these societies collapsed, one message comes through loud and clear: We've got to stop living like there is no tomorrow — or "f- - - the future" will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

© 2005 ARIANNA HUFFINGTON.

posted by me

:: 12:34:00 AM [+] ::
...

:: "Drug industry protection comes at taxpayer expense" ::

Miami Herald
via whittierdailynews.com

THE irony in a recently released government report on prescription-drug imports would be laughable if the issue weren't so critical for millions of fixed-income seniors and chronically ill Americans dependent on increasingly costly drugs. The report puts down the idea of reimporting drugs by arguing that the hundreds of million of dollars needed to ensure drug safety would erode most savings to consumers. Yet there's no evidence that the 12 million prescription-drug products imported from Canada last year caused a safety risk, even as health problems appeared with FDA-approved drugs such as Vioxx and Celebrex.

Read more here.

ALSO
FDA: Scientist can publish controversial Vioxx safety data
cnn.com

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Food and Drug Administration has given a scientist permission to publish data indicating that as many as 139,000 people had heart attacks that may be linked to Vioxx, the scientist's lawyer said Monday.

posted by me

:: 12:42:00 PM [+] ::
...

:: "CBS' COWARDICE AND CONFLICTS BEHIND PURGE" ::

Network's Craven Back-Down on Bush Draft Dodge Report Sure to Get a Standing Rove-ation at White House
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
From an e-newsletter
By Greg Palast

"Independent" my ass. CBS' cowardly purge of five journalists who exposed George Bush's dodging of the Vietnam War draft was done under cover of what the network laughably called an "Independent Review Panel."

The "panel" was just two guys as qualified for the job as they are for landing the space shuttle: Dick Thornburgh and Louis Boccardi.

Remember Dickie Thornburgh? He was on the Bush 41 Administration's payroll. His grand accomplishment as Bush's Attorney General was to whitewash the investigation of the Exxon Valdez Oil spill, letting the oil giant off the hook on big damages. Thornburgh's fat pay as counsel to Kirkpatrick & Lockhart, the Washington law-and-lobbying outfit, is substantially due to his job as a Bush retainer. This is the kind of stinky conflict of interest that hardly suggests "independent." Why not just appoint Karl Rove as CBS' grand inquisitor and be done with it?

Then there's Boccardi, not exactly a prince of journalism. This is the gent who, as CEO of the Associated Press, spiked his own wire service's exposure of Oliver North and his traitorous dealings with the Ayatollah Khomeini. Legendary AP investigative reporters Robert Parry and Brian Barger found their stories outing the Iran-Contra scandal in 1986 stopped by their bosses. They did not know that Boccardi was on those very days deep in the midst of talks with North, participating in the conspiracy.

Today I spoke with Parry at his home in Virginia. He was sympathetic to Boccardi who at the time was trying to spring AP reporter Terry Anderson held hostage in Iran. But to do so, Boccardi joined, unwittingly, in a criminal conspiracy to trade guns for hostages. He then spiked his own news agency's investigation of it. Parry later discovered a 1986 email from North to John Poindexter in which North notes that Boccardi "is supportive of our terropism (sic) policy" and wants to keep the story "quiet." Poindexter was indicted, then pardoned. Boccardi was not, and there is no indication he knew he was abetting a crime. But the AP demoted journalist Barger and forced him to quit for -- the offense of trying to report the biggest story of the decade. This hardly gives Mr. Spike the qualification to pass judgment on working journalists.

And who are the journalists whom CBS has burned at the corporate stake? The first lined up for career execution is '60 Minutes' producer Mary Mapes. Besides the Bush draft dodge story, Mapes produced the expos? of the torture at Abu Ghraib when other networks had the same material and buried it.

I admit to a soft spot for Mapes. Four years ago, BBC Television London broadcast my report that Jeb Bush had wrongly purged thousands of African-Americans from the voter rolls, thereby fixing the election for his big brother. CBS Evening News ran away scared from the story, as did ABC and other US networks. This year, when Bush tried to repeat the trick, Mapes wanted to put it on '60 Minutes.' However, after the draft dodge story hullabaloo, that was not going to happen.

And what was the crime committed by Mapes and, let's not forget, Dan Rather, whose career was also toasted by the story?

CBS said, "The Panel found that Mapes ignored information that cast doubt on the story she had set out to report -- that President Bush had received special treatment 30 years ago, getting to the [Texas Air National] Guard ahead of many other applicants …."

Well, excuse me, but that story is stone cold solid, irrefutable, backed-up, sourced, proven to a fare-thee-well. I know, because I'm one of the reporters who broke that story … way back in 1999, for the Guardian papers of Britain. No one has challenged the Guardian report, or my follow-up for BBC Television, whatsoever, though we've begged the White House for a response from our self-proclaimed "war president."

CBS did not "break" this Chicken-Hawk George story; it's just that Dan Rather, with Mapes' encouragement, found his journalistic soul and the cojones, finally, after 5 years delay, to report it. Did Bush get special treatment to get into the Guard? Baby Bush tested in the 25th percentile out of 100. Yet, he leaped ahead of thousands of other Vietnam evaders because the then-Speaker of the Texas legislature sent a message to General Craig Rose, head of the Guard, to let in Little George and a few other sons of well-placed politicos.

[See some of the documentation at http://www.gregpalast.com/ulf/documents/draftdodgeblanked.jpg and a clip from the BBC Television report at http://www.gregpalast.com/images/TrailerClips.mov]

Mapes and Rather did make a mistake, citing a memo which could not be authenticated. But let's get serious folks: this "Killian" memo had not a darn thing to do with the story-in-chief -- the President's using his daddy's connections to duck out of Vietnam. The Killian memo was a goofy little addition to the story (not included in my Guardian or BBC reports).

So CBS inquisitors took this minor error and used it to discredit the story and ruin careers of reporters who allowed themselves an unguarded moment of courage. And, crucial to the network's real agenda, this nonsensical distraction allowed the White House to resurrect the fake reputation of George Bush as Vietnam-era top gun.

CBS executives' model was clearly the hatchet job done on BBC news last year by the so-called "Hutton Report." In that case, some used-up lordship viciously attacked the BBC's ballsy uncovering of an official lie: that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. Lord Hutton seized on a minor error by one reporter to attempt to discredit the entire BBC investigation of governmental mendacity.

In Britain, the public stood with the "Beeb." But in my own country, the American press itself, notably the New York Times, has joined in the lynch mob, repeating the allegations against the investigative reporters without any independent verification of the charges whatsoever.

I would note that neither CBS nor the New York Times punished a single reporter for passing on, as hard news, the Bush Administration fibs and whoppers about Saddam Hussein's nuclear and biological weapons programs. Shameful repetitions of propaganda produced no resignations -- indeed, picked up an Emmy or two.

Yes, I believe heads should roll at CBS: those of the "news" chieftains who for five years ignored the screaming evidence about George Bush's dodging the draft during the war in Vietnam.

At the top of the network's craven and dead wrong apology to the President is that cyclopsian CBS eyeball. But I suspect that CBS itself has little interest in eating its own flesh. This vile spike-after-broadcast serves only its master, the owner of CBS, Viacom Corporation.

"From a Viacom standpoint, the election of a Republican administration is a better deal. Because the Republican administration has stood for many things we believe in, deregulation and so on…. I vote for Viacom. Viacom is my life, and I do believe that a Republican administration is better for media companies than a Democratic one."

That more-than-revealing statement, made weeks before the presidential election, by Sumner Redstone, billionaire honcho of CBS' parent company, wasn't reported on CBS. Why not? Someone should investigate.

Viacom needs the White House to bless its voracious and avaricious need to bust current ownership and trade rules to add to its global media monopoly. Placing the severed heads of reporters who would question the Bush mythology on the White House doorstep will certainly ease the way for Viacom's ambitions.

At the least, at the upcoming inaugural parties, CBS' ruler Redstone can expect that White House occupants will give him a standing Rove-ation.

---
Greg Palast's report for BBC Television on the President's evasion of the military draft can be seen in the BBC documentary, "Bush Family Fortunes," updated in a special US edition on DVD. See a segment here.

posted by me

:: 10:22:00 AM [+] ::
...

:: "Surreal Ordeal" ::

Real World Doesn't Use a Joystick
From Wired News
As video games get more and more involved, people are finding it difficult to switch their brains back to reality. By Daniel Terdiman.

ALSO
from Wired News

Feelings, Wo, Wo, Wo, 'Filn'
If you're feeling verklempt, don't explode. That's one of the lessons of Farklempt, a new tech-art piece that explores group dynamics in the context of a video game. Rachel Metz reports from New York.

Astronomers Spot Colossal Stars
Scientists use advanced computer modeling to discover three supergiant stars that dwarf the sun. All three are more than 1,500 times the sun's diameter.

We're Creative Commonists, Bill
When Bill Gates calls those in favor of copyright reform communists, the Microsoft chief's comments provoke a tongue-in-cheek embrace of the insult and some awesome logos for a growing movement. By Katie Dean.

Will We Ever Learn?

posted by me

:: 10:11:00 AM [+] ::
...

:: A letter from Michael Moore ::

[This is from an e-newsletter that I received Friday. Apologies for the delay.]

Dear Friends,

Something historic happened yesterday. For the first time since 1877 a member of the House and a member of the Senate stood up together to object to the outcome of a presidential election.

This is the first step on a necessary road toward making sure that everyone is allowed to vote and that every vote is counted (something we did not see in 2000 or 2004) so the next time around ALL of us can be confident, when the election results come in, that they reflect the will of the people, not the whim of mechanical error and human obstruction.

Unlike 2000, when the black members of Congress were told to sit down and shut up, this time a senator had the courage to stand with them, as the law requires, to force Congress to go back to their separate chambers to discuss and debate the issues surrounding the vote count. Senator Barbara Boxer rose to the occasion and stood with Ohio Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones and 29 other Representatives "to cast the light of truth on a flawed system which must be fixed now." The ensuing debate, at times, became a debate over me and all of you and the fact that we would dare make the attempt to protect our democracy.

I was blown away when Representative Maxine Waters took to the floor and said, "Mr. Speaker and members, I dedicate my objection to Ohio's electoral votes to Mr. Michael Moore, the producer of the documentary '9/11' and I thank him for educating the world on the threats to our democracy and the proceedings of this house on the acceptance of the electoral college votes for the 2000 presidential election."

I am honored to the point of embarrassment because it is Maxine Waters who deserves thanks for defending our most basic right, not once, but twice.

Coming out of the gates like this in the very first week of session sent a strong message that we are not going to be pushed around. If the Republicans think the next four years are going to be a cakewalk, they've got another thing coming. With Michigan Representative John Conyers leading the charge, we showed them something not seen in over 120 years. And we're just getting started!

Congratulations to the tens of thousands of you who called, faxed, and e-mailed Barbara Boxer and other senators. You have shown the world, with the strength of your convictions, that the movement toward a truly representative democracy will not be stopped in its tracks. Yesterday's actions will be marked by history books as a turning point for the electoral process and for a Democratic Party that has for too long sat back and taken it on the chin.

Your voices have echoed all the way up to the hallowed halls of Congress and for that, you deserve thanks more than anyone.

Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com

P.S. If you want to see portions of what took place, check out the video clips and transcripts on the website.

posted by me

:: 9:15:00 PM [+] ::
...

:: Media Hack ::

An Obscene Waste of Energy
From Wired News
» The FCC has some meaningful duties, but regulating content shouldn't be one of them. Commentary by Adam L. Penenberg.

in April 2004, Lynn Woolley, author of The Last Great Days of Radio, suggested scrapping the agency entirely, because the FCC "in its current form has proven itself to be so destructive to the industry -- particularly radio -- that it would be better to abolish it and start over."

In June, digital libertarian Declan McCullagh argued that the agency was "no longer necessary" and does "more harm than good." He estimates that some technologically backward decisions have cost Americans tens of billions of dollars.

Less than two months later, Ayn Rand Institute writer Robert Garmong called the FCC's very existence "a flagrant violation of the right to free speech." While the agency justifies regulating broadcast content because the airwaves are supposed to be public property, "just as the government does not own -- and so has no legitimate control over -- the presses of The New York Times, so it has no business regulating what may be broadcast over airwaves."

Recently, even FCC chairman Michael Powell has seen fit to criticize the agency he heads. In a December interview, he explained, "When something happens that (the FCC) doesn't understand, kill it. We tried to kill cable. We tried to kill long-distance. When (MCI founder) Bill McGowan starting stringing out microwave towers that threatened AT&T, the FCC tried to stop him. The FCC tried to kill cable because it was going to threaten broadcasting."

Although a great believer in smaller government -- Powell views himself a "Reagan-era child" -- he doesn't call for the end of the FCC. If he were philosophically consistent, though, he might.

So is getting rid of the FCC a good idea?

Read more here.

posted by me

:: 10:34:00 AM [+] ::
...

:: "Chief of Army Reserve Criticizes Policies" ::

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Army Reserve, whose part-time soldiers serve in combat and support roles in Iraq and Afghanistan, is so hampered by misguided Army policies and practices that it is "rapidly degenerating into a 'broken' force," the Reserve's most senior general says.

posted by me

:: 6:39:00 PM [+] ::
...

:: 100,000 dead ... ::

Not from a tsunami, but from U.S. invasion
A reader commentary
From The Cumberland Times-News
By Mary Spalding, Frostburg

A huge swath of destruction levels homes and places of work, wipes out whole towns, destroys infrastructure needs such as water and electricity, and, in its wake, leaves people vulnerable to hunger, disease, and despair. Over 100,000 men, women, and children are indiscriminately killed, many more injured and left homeless, orphaned, or worse. The giant tsunami in Asia? No, the U.S. military in Iraq. Looks like the weapon of mass destruction was found in Iraq, and it is us.

The media has latched onto the tsunami as its latest tragedy of the day, regaling us Americans who sit comfortably in our armchairs with panoramas of death, devastation, and human suffering. While channel surfing (not a particularly savory choice of words, under the circumstances) last night, I couldn't seem to find a news or pseudo-news station that wasn't showing these images. The disaster, of course, is horrific; yet, isn't there something disturbing about our consumption of these voyeuristic photos? Why are they so wildly popular? Do these images simply reinforce the idea in the minds of so many of us that we are somehow God's chosen, our soil somehow to be miraculously spared the ravages of war, famine and natural disaster? Hubris!

What is perhaps even more disturbing to me, however, is how little the media has made of the Johns Hopkins Center for International Emergency, Disaster and Refugee Studies' "conservative" estimate of over 100,000 Iraqi civilian deaths since our invasion of Iraq. The European press ran this story, but where is the media outcry in this country over this astronomical number? According to the study, more than half of those civilians were women and children, and most of them died from our bombs falling on their homes. Where is our compassion for those casualties? Where is our sympathy for those motherless children, those hungry orphans, those fathers no longer capable of supporting their families, those families whose homes have been obliterated?

I can only scratch my head and wonder how anyone could think unleashing such destruction could possibly win the hearts and minds of Iraqis. We have liberated them, all right: Liberated them from their homes, their health, their families, their lives. Think about it. Iraqis are not that familiar with democracy. Would democracy sound good to you if this were what you witnessed of it? How can we hope to gain the confidence of this nation when we have treated its noncombatant citizens this way? What, from these actions, will have helped convince our enemies that we are not, in fact, the "Great Satan?"

And where is the public outcry demanding that such human carnage be stopped? Of course, it's bad enough that our own sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, wives, husbands, and friends are coming home with lost limbs or in coffins. But let this number sink in: One hundred thousand; 100,000 civilians. Civilians are people like you and me, going to work, raising a family, paying the bills. Civilians are old grandmothers and grandfathers, newborn babies, toddlers. Civilians are moms and dads and teenagers and 10-year-old girls. One hundred thousand of them. Dead. Because of us. Collateral damage? Puh-leeze. None of this needed to happen.
We're horrified that a big earthquake-generated wave killed this many people. But we should be more horrified that we have done so, and done so willingly. The U.S. military is not a tsunami. It is not a natural force; it is a force born of choices made by human beings. Christian-right beliefs to the contrary, our actions are not acts of God. This destruction has one cause: The Bush administration's poorly conceived and feebly planned "liberation" of Iraq and the blind support behind this fiasco. A tsunami has no will; it has no conscience. How can we live with ours?

posted by me

:: 1:31:00 PM [+] ::
...

:: Y2K... ::

Hoax or averted disaster?
From /.

from the circumstances-flex dept.
Allnighterking writes "Y2K -- remember the fear it generated? Cartoons were written about it. The dried food industry saw a boom. Doomsayers abounded. But in the end, no planes fell, no one died and the electric grid stayed up for three more years. Was it all a hoax? Or was it the result of careful and complete planning and upgrading. American RadioWorks has a series of articles talking about the disaster that never happened called Y2K You can either Listen in or read the Transcripts of each of the 3 broadcasts and decide for yourself. The over 100 Billion pumped into the US economy alone may well have fueled the boom and predicated the bust. Could the success at Y2K prevention have made the coming problem in 2038 something people will ignore?"

read more here.

posted by me

:: 12:43:00 PM [+] ::
...

:: "Wave of Relief? ::

Tech Gives It Up for Asia
From Wired News
Websites and tech companies get customers and employees to pitch in and help victims of the Southeast Asian tsunami. By Rachel Metz.

ALSO from Wired News
Did Quake Speed Earth's Spin?

posted by me

:: 12:30:00 PM [+] ::
...

:: "Mars Rover Exceeds 1-Year Mark -- And Expectations" ::

National Geographic News
John Roach

A year ago yesterday scientists erupted in riotous applause when a robotic rover named Spirit safely bounced to a stop on Mars. Today, long after the end of its 90-day initial mission, the rover continues to dazzle the world with insight into Mars's wet past.

Scientists gathered yesterday at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, to celebrate the one-year anniversary of Mars exploration by Spirit and its twin Opportunity, which plopped down on the opposite side of the red planet on January 24, 2004.

ALSO
On Mars, When Opportunity and Spirit Knock
The NY Times

NASA celebrates martian Spirit of adventure
The Register

posted by me

:: 12:23:00 PM [+] ::
...

:: A letter from Michael Moore ::

[Received via Moore's e-newsletter]

Dear Members of the U.S. Senate,

Welcome back! The 109th session of Congress has just begun. I'm watching you on C-SPAN right now and you all look so snap-happy and clean-faced. It's like the first day of school all over again, isn't it?

I have a favor to ask of you. Something isn't right with the vote from Ohio. Seems a lot of people didn't get to vote. And those who did, thousands of theirs weren't counted.

Does that seem right to you? I'm just asking. Forget about partisan politics for a moment and ask yourself if there is a more basic right, in a democracy, than the right of the people to vote AND have ALL their votes counted.

Now, I know a lot of you wish this little problem of Ohio would just go away. And many of you who wish this are Democrats. You just want to move on (no pun intended!). I can't say I blame you. It's rough to lose two elections in a row when the first one you actually won and the second one you should have won. And it seems this time around, about 3 million more Americans preferred to continue the war in Iraq and give the rich more tax breaks than those who didn't. No sense living in denial about that.

But something isn't right in Ohio and more than a dozen members of the House of Representatives believe it is worth investigating.

So on Thursday at 1:00pm, Rep. John Conyers of Detroit will rise and object to the vote count in Ohio. According to the laws of this land, he will not be allowed to speak unless at least one of you -- one member of the United States Senate -- agrees to let him have the floor.

A very embarrassing moment during the last session of Congress occurred in the first week when none of you would allow the members of Congress who were black to have the floor to object to the Florida vote count. Remember that? You thought no one would ever notice, didn't you? You certainly lucked out that night when the networks decided not to show how you shut down every single member of the Congressional Black Caucus.

No such luck this year. Everyone now knows about that moment of shame. Thank you? You’re welcome.

But this Thursday, at 1:00pm, you will have a chance to redeem yourself.

Congressman Conyers and a dozen other members of Congress have some serious questions about how the Republican secretary of state in Ohio (who was also the state’s co-chair of Bush’s reelection campaign) conducted the election on November 2. The list of possible offenses of how voters were denied access to the polls and how over a hundred thousand of their votes have yet to be counted is more than worthy of your consideration. It may not change the outcome, but you have a supreme responsibility to make sure that EVERY vote is counted. Who amongst you would disagree with that?

If you would like to read more about the specific charges, I ask that you read these two links: “Senators Should Object to Ohio Vote” —by Jesse Jackson and “Ten Preliminary Reasons Why the Bush Vote Does Not Compute, and Why Congress Must Investigate Rather Than Certify the Electoral College”. I am asking everyone on my mailing list to send you a letter joining me in this call to you to do your job and investigate what happened before you certify the vote.

It only takes one member of the House and one member of the Senate to stop the acceptance of the Electoral College vote and force a legitimate debate and investigation. Do you know why this provision is set in stone in our nation’s laws? I mean, why would we allow just two officials in a body of 535 members to throw a wrench into the works? The law exists because nothing is more sacred than the integrity of the ballot box and if there is ANY possibility of fraud or incompetence, then it MUST be addressed. Because if we don't have the vote, what are we left with?

C'mon Senators! Especially you Democrats. Here is your one shining moment of courage. Will you allow the gavel to come down on our black members of Congress once again? Or will you stand up for their right to object?

We will all be watching.

Yours,
Michael Moore
mmflint@aol.com

P.S. My whereabouts this week: I will be on the Today Show Thursday morning, Jay Leno on Friday night. And... the People's Choice Awards are this Sunday night, live on CBS at 9pm! Can we defeat the superheroes Spiderman, Incredibles and Shrek for best picture? A documentary??? Whoa... tune in...

posted by me

:: 10:44:00 PM [+] ::
...

:: "Chile's top court upholds charges against Pinochet" ::

From CBC News
SANTIAGO, CHILE - Chile's top court has upheld murder and kidnapping charges against Gen. Augusto Pinochet, bringing the former dictator a step closer to standing trial for human rights abuses.

posted by me

:: 11:21:00 AM [+] ::
...

:: Ivins on 2005
("Who is in favor of lowering ethics standards first?") ::

Off to a bad start
By Molly Ivins

Now, I'm not going to conclude that Fascism Is Upon Us just because we have an administration that not only can't find the Constitution but apparently doesn't know there is one. Too early in the year for that. Long way to go. Got to save your indignation. But it is unpleasantly reminiscent of Watergate, isn't it? That's what we're looking at here, folks -- not just constitutional deafness, but moral turp as well. All we need is one bag job and an alert night security man.

Read more here.

Also, you can find an archive of 2004 columns by Molly Ivins here.

:: 11:13:00 AM [+] ::
...

:: Ivins on 2004 (Dogmeat Year) ::

Oh, What a Year it Was
by Molly Ivins

AUSTIN, Texas — Oh 2004, 2004, bird thou never wert. Was it really that horrible a year, or does it only seem that way?

Abu Ghraib, the endless trials anent Kobe Bryant and Scott Peterson, war in Iraq looking worse every day, Howard Dean eliminated over a whoop and a presidential race so devoid of joy that the high point was when the president claimed God speaks through him — leaving us to contemplate the news that God doesn't know how to pronounce nuclear and has yet to master subject-verb agreement. "Performance enhancing drugs" in baseball. Ray Charles died. Karl Rove is Man of the Year. We're all overweight. Swift Boat Liars win the presidential race for Bush. Then just to round things off nicely, a terrible natural disaster. What a bummer.

But, look at it this way ... the Boston Red Sox won the championship. Eliot Spitzer is scaring the spit out of the insurance industry (check out those year-end bonuses on Wall Street, El). The Greek Olympics went well. Maybe we could end the payola by just having them in Greece every time. Lance Armstrong won the Tour de France for a record sixth time, a symbolic victory for cancer patients everywhere.

Jon Stewart survived a storm of approval and came out just as sardonic as ever. Richard Clarke showed us all that public servant, class act and bureaucrat can be the same thing.

In other highlights ...

posted by me

:: 10:55:00 AM [+] ::
...

:: "Aid Army Struggles to Reach Tsunami Survivors" ::

Wired News
Rescue workers raced to get food and water to millions of tsunami survivors on Tuesday, and struggled to clear airport runways to fly aid into regions where giant waves washed roads away as well as people.

Want to help in some way? Stop by the UNICEF home page.

posted by me

:: 10:11:00 AM [+] ::
...

:: The 2004 Falsies Awards ::

From AlterNet
By Laura Miller

This year marks the beginning of a new tradition for the Center for Media and Democracy. To remember the people and players responsible for polluting our information environment, we are issuing a new year-end prize that we call the "Falsies Awards." The top ten finalists will each receive a million bucks worth of free coupons, a lifetime supply of non-fattening ice cream, an expenses-paid vacation in Fallujah, and our promise to respect them in the morning.

Read more here.

ALSO
Top News Stories of 2004
By Will Durst, AlterNet.
I have compiled a list of the top ten news stories eliciting humor in 2004 – because it’s your right to know.

AND
The 25 Dumbest Quotes of 2004
By Daniel Kurtzman, AlterNet.
Outrageous spin, inane flubs and Bill O'Reilly trying to talk sexy – all ready for consumption thanks to the internets.

1. "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." -President Bush

posted by me

:: 11:23:00 AM [+] ::
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:: Happy New Year! ::

Big boost for blogs in 2004
ZDNet.com

The number of blogs and the use of blog readers rose rapidly last year--but a majority of Americans still do not know what a blog is.

ALSO
It's True: 2004 Really Was the Year of the Blog
Editor & Publisher

posted by me

:: 10:55:00 AM [+] ::
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