Contact Me
Please don't support this Blog
Weekly Archives
News:
Required Reading:
|
Saturday, May 10, 2003
Amazing Artwork in Wood! Kerry Shirts maintains this scroll saw web page. The image at the left is made from hundreds of individually cut and stained pieces of wood.
Check out the site for amazing "pictures in wood." Kerry has quite a repertoire, including wildlife, portraits, business logos, mayan art, and religious themes.
One of these days, I'm going to purchase this.
posted by Walter Reade at 9:56 PM
Terrorists are popping up like weeds . . .Across the southern portions of Afghanistan, where the Taliban found strong support among the rural conservative Pashtun populations, there are definite signs that the Taliban are making a comeback. Some Taliban leaders, such as Salam and Taliban commander Mullah Muhammad Hasan Rehmani, are giving interviews once again. Others are dropping leaflets, calling for a jihad against US forces and against the new Afghan government of President Hamid Karzai. Still others are increasingly willing to discuss the secret hierarchy that is directing this jihad and the sources of funding that keep it running.
It's this confidence that undercuts recent assertions by US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that major combat operations in Afghanistan are over, and that the focus will now be on reconstruction.
Taliban appears to be regrouped and well-funded, from the Cristian Science Monitor.
posted by Walter Reade at 5:37 PM
Flat Tax In Iraq?Mark Skousen recently met up with Donald Rumsfeld, and asked him a number of interesting questions."Would you favor a flat tax for Iraq---and the United States?" He laughed and said the tax system is the U. S. was incomprehensible and should be replaced. [Skousen comments,] Russia recently adopted a 13% flat tax with excellent success, and there is rumor that Iraq will have one too. Isn't it time for the U. S.? Read more here.
posted by Walter Reade at 3:31 PM
Friday, May 09, 2003
War is PeaceA Norwegian parliamentarian nominated President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair for the Nobel Peace Prize on Thursday, praising them for winning the war in Iraq. 'Sometimes it's necessary to use a small and effective war to prevent a much more dangerous war in the future.'
I say we bomb Norway now in order to prevent more ludicrous statements in the future. (Article)
posted by Walter Reade at 11:30 PM
Senate panel votes to lift ban on low-yield nuclear weaponsLow-yield nuclear weapons have warheads of less than five kilotons, or about a third of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima in World War II. Combined with precision missiles, low-yield weapons could be used to hit a target without causing as much damage to surrounding areas as other nuclear weapons would. I'll bet we'll use these when we bomb North Korea . . . for developing nukes. (Article) (Via Thoughtcrimes)
posted by Walter Reade at 11:18 PM
Biometric Passports
Image from LibertyThink. Read more.
posted by Walter Reade at 6:30 AM
One Step at a TimeFirst they came for the Muslims
- First they came for the Muslims, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Muslim.
- Then they came for the immigrants, detaining them indefinitely solely on the certification of the attorney general, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't an immigrant.
- Then they came to eavesdrop on suspects consulting with their attorneys, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a suspect.
- Then they came to prosecute non citizens before secret military commissions, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a non-citizen
- Then they came to enter homes and offices for unannounced, sneak and peak searches, and I didn't speak up because I had nothing to hide.
- Then they came to reinstate Cointelpro and resume the infiltration and surveillance of domestic religious and political groups, and I didn't speak up because I no longer participated in any groups.
- Then they came to arrest American citizens and hold them indefinitely without any charges and without access to lawyers, and I didn't speak up because I would never be arrested.
- Then they came to institute TIPS Terrorism Information and Prevention System recruiting citizens to spy on other citizens and I didn't speak up because I was afraid.
- Then they came for anyone who objected to government policy because it only aided the terrorists and gave ammunition to America's enemies, and I didn't speak up because I didn't speak up.
- Then they came for me, and by that time, no one was left to speak up.
(Via LibertyThink)
posted by Walter Reade at 6:22 AM
Hooray for HalliburtonThe Associated Press reports:
A subsidiary of Halliburton Co. paid a Nigerian tax official $2.4 million in bribes to get favorable tax treatment, the company disclosed in a federal filing.
. . .
Vice President Dick Cheney led the company until August 2000. Wednesday, the Bush administration denied there was any connection between Cheney's former role in running the company and a $76.7 million no-bid contract with the government to extinguish Iraqi oil well fires and help restart Iraq's oil industry. (Via From the Inside looking Out)
posted by Walter Reade at 6:12 AM
Thursday, May 08, 2003
Serious Resource for Serious EducationACNE (the American Collage Network for Educators) is a national support group for high school and middle school teachers using that powerful but misunderstood teaching tool, COLLAGE. ACNE is not just for teachers, but for students and parents as well. It brings all of us together to overcome prejudice against collage and to help us better appreciate the wisdom of the teachers who use it most. ACNE also provides networking, mentoring, emotional support, empowerment, and justification for thousands of teachers who face the constant hassle of misinformed parents and students who belittle one of the most powerful education tools ever, COLLAGE. Read about the American Collage Network for Educators (ACNE).
posted by Walter Reade at 9:16 PM
Assault Weapons
 An article in the New York Times reports that Bush supports a ban on "assault weapons." Scott McClellan, a White House spokesman tell us: "The president makes decisions based on what he believes is the right policy for Americans," adding that the ban was put in place as a way of deterring crime. Of course, banning "assault" weapons will do no such thing. This is because (1) less than 1% of gun crimes are committed with "assault" weapons, and (2) criminals tend to not pay attention to the law.
On a related note, my daughter informed me yesterday that they are not allowed to bend paper clips at her school, "because then they are a weapon." I wouldn't be surprised if they find some of these babies in Iraq.
posted by Walter Reade at 7:41 AM
Iran's NukesThe New York Times reports that "the Bush administration is concerned that Iran has stepped up its covert nuclear program." Meanwhile, "In 2002, President Bush cued LANL to begin developing 'Earth Penetrator' mini-nukes that can be routed underground to blow up bunkers, say, or caves." (Read about this and more the Mother Jones article Fear and Fallout in Los Alamos.)
posted by Walter Reade at 7:36 AM
Freedom and ResponsibilityWhen the freedom they wished for most was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free and was never free again. Edith Hamilton.
posted by Walter Reade at 7:14 AM
End World Hunger NowA lucid (and humorous) way to solve world hunger.
posted by Walter Reade at 7:02 AM
Wednesday, May 07, 2003
Google to offer blog searchingGoogle allows people to search Web pages, as well as to search specifictypes of content such as news sources and shopping sites through its Froogle service, Usenet groups. Soon the company will also offer a service for searching Web logs, known as "blogs," Schmidt said. From this article. (Via Education/Technology - Tim Lauer)
posted by Walter Reade at 5:24 PM
I feel much better nowFrom New York Times article Pentagon Surveillance Plan Is Described as Less Invasive.A top Pentagon research official told Congress today that a program intended to forestall terrorism by tapping computer databases - but curbed by legislation this winter because of privacy fears - would not look into Americans' financial or health records. But they will still be reading your e-mail . . .
posted by Walter Reade at 5:19 PM
Tuesday, May 06, 2003
And what if they really want us out?So, it's the end of the war in Iraq, is it? If anyone thinks George W Bush could pass that one off aboard the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln last week - "major combat operations have ended" was the expression he used - they should take a closer look at secretary of defence Rumsfeld's speech to US troops in Baghdad a day earlier.
It was filled with all the usual myth-making: the "many" Iraqis who flocked to welcome the Americans on their "liberation" of Baghdad, the "fastest march on a capital in modern military history" (which the Israelis achieved in three days in 1982). But the key line was slipped in at the end.
The Americans, he said, still had "to root out the terrorist networks operating in this country". What? What terrorist networks? And who, one may ask, are behind these mysterious terrorist networks "operating" in Iraq? I have a pretty good idea. They may not actually exist yet. But Donald Rumsfeld knows (and he has been told by US intelligence) that a growing resistance movement to America's occupation is gestating in Iraq.
Read the entire opinion in Stand by for part two of the Iraq war. (Via Eric's Little Portal(et))
posted by Walter Reade at 11:23 PM
On Iraq's Democracy"It doesn't have to be perfect, all it has to be is representative," an American official said today, adding, "The key word is interim." An elected government would be expected to follow in one to two years, officials said. Would that be before or after the 2004 elections? (Read the entire New York Times article.)
posted by Walter Reade at 11:19 PM
Looting at the U.N.Hunger pains can apparently turn even the most upstanding diplomat into a looter. At noon on Friday, food workers at the U.N. headquarters walked off their jobs, calling a wildcat strike. The result: none of the U.N.'s five restaurants and bars was staffed. The walkout left thousands of U.N. employees scrounging for lunch — eventually, the masses stripped the cafeterias of everything, including the silverware. Read the Time article here.
posted by Walter Reade at 11:08 PM
Why truth mattersRead the column by Nicholas Kristof.When I raised the Mystery of the Missing W.M.D. recently, hawks fired barrages of reproachful e-mail at me. The gist was: "You *&#*! Who cares if we never find weapons of mass destruction, because we've liberated the Iraqi people from a murderous tyrant." But it does matter, enormously, for American credibility. After all, as Ari Fleischer said on April 10 about W.M.D.: "That is what this war was about."
(Via Follow Me Here)
posted by Walter Reade at 11:03 PM
A Press Conferece We'd Like to SeeReporter #1: Mr, Vice-President, How do you think the war is going?
Cheney: I think the war is going well and according to plan. It is only a matter of time before the Anglo-American forces take Baghdad.
Reporter #1: Sir, don't you mean "Coalition" forces?
Cheney: Ummm, yeah....right....what you said.
Reporter #2: Could you explain to us again why we do not want the Iraqis to have chemical weapons?
Cheney: Listen, if I have said it once, I have said it a thousand times...there are good ways to kill people and then there are bad ways to kill people. For example, a cluster bomb....that would be a good way to kill people. The electric chair, also good. JDAM weapons, those are great ways to kill people. But, chemical weapons?....That is a bad way to kill people.
(From IsDickCheneyDeadYet.com)
posted by Walter Reade at 6:02 PM
And how are the two related?Many supply-siders are furious that a popular president, coming off the war in Iraq, is being thwarted in his quest for huge tax cuts by Republicans like Ms. Snowe. The Club for Growth, a conservative group, has run television advertising in Maine asserting that the senator is "standing in the way" of Mr. Bush on the tax cuts, just as the French stood in his way on the war in Iraq. From New York Times article Bucking Bush, Senator Takes a Thorny Path
posted by Walter Reade at 1:41 PM
Any Safer?A pithy letter in the May 12, 2003, issus of Time:The troops are heroes. Saddam has fallen. But one lingering question remains: Do you really feel any safer now that he is gone? The Muslim extremists who had everything to do with 9/11 are still on the loose. Osama bin Laden is free as a bird, and all the American p.r. in the world won't be able to stop al-Qaeda from future terrorist activities. RON LOWE, Nevada City, Calif.
posted by Walter Reade at 7:16 AM
News QuakesThis is a particularly interesting way to track news stories graphically. (Thanks J-Walk Blog.)
posted by Walter Reade at 6:57 AM
Monday, May 05, 2003
Coincidence, Indeed!In what the government describes as a bizarre coincidence, one U.S. intelligence agency was planning an exercise last Sept. 11 in which an errant aircraft would crash into one of its buildings. But the cause wasn't terrorism — it was to be a simulated accident. While this information has been around for a while, it is the first I have heard about it. Read the AP story here. Read some extremely interesting commentary here. Let's hope the simulated terrorist events planned the week of May 12 don't produce similar results. (Thanks LibertyThink)
posted by Walter Reade at 6:57 PM
A Positive StoryWhile I read very few "Great Story" e-mails, I did read and enjoy this short piece, Attitude is Everything.
posted by Walter Reade at 6:32 PM
The Interesting Case of Lynne StewartShould we violate lawyer-client confidentiality in order to wage the war on terror? John Ashcroft thinks so, and sends a strong message to attorneys -- don't represent accused terrorists.
In 2000, the government eavesdropped on communications between Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman (convicted in connection with the 1993 World Trade Center bombing) and his attorney, Lynne Stewart. Typically, communication between an attorney and client is privileged, but the government claimed this was done in order to "protect the nation." Two years later, Stewart was charged with four counts of aiding and abetting a terrorist organization. If convicted, she faces 40 years in prison.
Read a recent article, an interview with Stewart, and an article critical of Stewart. You can also visit the Justice for Lynne Stewart website.
In an (un)related article, it appears that John Ashcroft has no problem breaking a gag order.
posted by Walter Reade at 5:29 AM
|
|
