American POWs lose claim vs. Iraq

Interesting story. Please read to learn more about how our country operates. - Vox
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/04/26/MNGERCF90S1.DTL
"By the time the onetime POWs won their claim in federal court in 2003, the United States had invaded Iraq and toppled Hussein's government. To the surprise of the former U.S. prisoners, the Bush administration went to court seeking to nullify the award they had won. (emphasis added by Vox)
The government's lawyers argued that Iraq..."

Oh, and Support the troops! - Vox

Rosa Parks vs. OutKast: Lawsuit Settled

http://www.wbai.org/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=5478&Itemid=2
“The living and health needs of Mrs. Parks, who is 92 years old, will be secure under the settlement,” said Dennis Archer, the former mayor of Detroit who has served as a guardian for Mrs. Parks who suffers from dementia. "

I was disturbed by this when I first heard of it a couple of years ago. I think that Mrs. Parks (possible relation) is being taken advantage of by those around her. Or maybe she just needs the money. After all, how much does being a living symbol for equality really pay? - Vox

Plan your protests carefully

New Rules For Central Park?
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/news/wabc_042005_centralparkrule.html
"Events of 50,000 people or more could be limited to six a year, four of which are already reserved for classical concerts - that leaves two..."

And

Keeping Great Crowds Off Central Park's Great Lawn
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/27/nyregion/27park.html?ei=5090&en=acc287a4c271748f&ex=1272254400&partner=

Report Finds No Evidence Syria Hid Iraqi Arms

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/04/25/AR2005042501554.html
"U.S. investigators hunting for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq have found no evidence that such material was moved to Syria for safekeeping before the war, according to a final report of the investigation released yesterday."

Where are they now: Elian Gonzalez

What happened to Elian Gonzalez?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4471099.stm
"The Cuban government carefully guards his privacy. State security agents appear to have set up camp in the house next door. Anyone loitering nearby is questioned. Photographs are prohibited."

Players can get 'high' in 'Narc' video game

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/fun.games/04/22/narc/index.html
"ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- In the first-person video game "Narc," published by Midway, you play an undercover police officer busting drug dealers.
Except in this game, your cop character can take the drugs he confiscates -- and the illicit substances can enhance performance."

Yet another reason to dislike outsourcing

Indian Call Center Fraud Case Highlights Need for Change
http://www.macnewsworld.com/story/features/42112.html
"Police in India announced on Thursday that they had recovered 1 million Indian Rupees (almost US$23,000) in funds allegedly stolen from Citibank customers in the U.S. by employees of an Indian call center firm."

Are you on the list?

Air Safety
Extending the No-Fly Zone
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1050224,00.html
"Aviation sources say the list has grown to more than 31,000, up from 19,000 last September"

In a related story:
Mystery Flight
Two passengers trigger alarms—and fresh echoes of 9/11.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7529185/site/newsweek/
"...That's when the routine became extraordinary: by the time the Boeing 747 had finished its three-hour crossing of the Atlantic, Homeland Security screeners were on high alert. The names of two Saudi passengers aboard the KLM flight had begun producing "hits" on the screening center's lists of 70,000 suspect foreigners...."

Mike Piazza

As if Mets pitchers don't have enough to worry about trying to get out major league hitters, they also have to worry about getting clocked by Mike Piazza trying to throw the ball down to 2nd base. One day he's going to drill one of them right in the back of the head and put them out on the DL (let's hope it's not Pedro). - Vox

Remembrance: Anthony Baez

Frances Livoti will be released from prison this weekend. - Vox

Whistleblower says Bush regime is hiding mad cow outbreaks

Interesting article. We're definitely NOT getting the whole story.
http://www.unknownnews.org/0504120407madcow.html

Um, what century are we in?

Workers Attach Chimney Pipe for Conclave
http://www.tampabaylive.com/stories/2005/04/050415pope.shtml
"The conclave begins Monday. Starting that afternoon, the cardinals will send up smoke signals from the burned ballot papers of the vote to indicate whether they have found a successor to Pope John Paul II. Black smoke means no pope has been elected; white smoke signals a new pope."
I thought this is hilarious:
"...bus drivers, technicians and other people who will have access to the cardinals during the conclave take their oath of secrecy. The list includes elevator operators who will ferry the cardinals,..."
So they have technicians and elevator operators, but still send smoke signals!?!?! - Vox

Roundup Nabs More Than 10,000 Fugitives

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FUGITIVE_ROUNDUP?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
""Operation Falcon" - an acronym for Federal And Local Cops Organized Nationally"
(Sounds to me like a national police force. - Vox)

It's always good to get violent criminals off the street, but something about this operation just doesn't smell right to me. Smells fishy. - Vox

Speak truth to power (before it's too late)

This is a more contemporary version of a poem attributed to the Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöeller (1892-1984). I think it is food for thought, and the words ring very true today. - Vox

They came for the Muslims, and I didn't speak up...
By Stephen Rohde (Author's Note: The USA Patriot Act became law a little over one year ago.)

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 upon the...
http://www.janrainwater.com/htdocs/Rohde.htm

NYPD Disgrace

Videos Challenge Accounts of Convention Unrest
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0413-05.htm
"Of the 1,670 cases that have run their full course, 91 percent ended with the charges dismissed or with a verdict of not guilty after trial. Many were dropped without any finding of wrongdoing, but also without any serious inquiry into the circumstances of the arrests, with the Manhattan district attorney's office agreeing that the cases should be "adjourned in contemplation of dismissal.""

"...That was a problem in the case of Mr. Dunlop, who learned that his tape had been altered only after Ms. Clancy found another version of the same tape. Mr. Dunlop had been accused of pushing his bicycle into a line of police officers on the Lower East Side and of resisting arrest, but the deleted parts of the tape show him calmly approaching the police line, and later submitting to arrest without apparent incident.
A spokeswoman for the district attorney, Barbara Thompson, said the material had been cut by a technician in the prosecutor's office. "It was our mistake," she said. "The assistant district attorney wanted to include that portion" because she initially believed that it supported the charges against Mr. Dunlop. Later, however, the arresting officer, who does not appear on the video, was no longer sure of the specifics in the complaint against Mr. Dunlop."
For those of you who don't read between the lines: the NY District Attorney's office doctored the tapes to strengthen their case! - Vox

In the bulk of the 400 cases that were dismissed based on videotapes, most involved arrests at three places - 16th Street near Union Square, 17th Street near Union Square and on Fulton Street - where police officers and civilians taped the gatherings, said Martin R. Stolar, the president of the New York City chapter of the National Lawyers Guild. Those tapes showed that the demonstrators had followed the instructions of senior officers to walk down those streets, only to have another official order their arrests. (emphasis added by Vox)
Ms. Thompson of the district attorney's office said, "We looked at videos from a variety of sources, and in a number of cases, we have moved to dismiss."

The FIRST African Pope? Sorry, too late.

This article, printed on CNN's website, is one of the worst examples of misinformation I've read. Notice how it starts right out using the words African and Black interchangeably. - Vox
http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/africa/04/04/africa.pope.ap/

""It would show that God has a sense of humor to give the people a black pope, but are Westerners ready to accept that?" asked Cardinal Bernard Agre of Ivory Coast, one of Africa's 12 cardinals."
God doesn't give the people a pope. The "conclave" of cardinals elects a new pope. - Vox

"Former Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, praised John Paul for speaking out against the evils of apartheid and seeking to unite humanity. He also called for the next pope to be African.
"We hope that perhaps the cardinals when they meet will follow the first non-Italian pope by electing the first African pope," Tutu said from Cape Town, South Africa.
Does Bishop Tutu not know that there have already been 3 African Popes (Pope Saint Victor 1 (189-203 A.D.), Pope Saint Gelasius 1 (492-496 A.D.), Pope Saint Miltiades 1 (who may have also been black) (311-314 A.D.))? Or does he mean the first black Pope? - Vox

"But Archbishop of Dakar Theodore Adrien Sarr doesn't think the cardinals will.
"An African pope? Sooner or later we will see it, but this time around, I don't think the time has come," he said."

***READ THIS***

THIS is why people ought to be concerned about privacy. - Vox
http://www.wftv.com/news/4351937/detail.html
"ORLANDO, Fla. -- Orange County's sheriff may have broken the law when he used driver's license records to track down a woman who wrote a newspaper to criticize his staff's use of Taser stun guns and described him as too fat for basic police work, critics say."

Policemen Get $2.2M in Discrimination Suit

Interesting switch. - Vox
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MILWAUKEE_DISCRIMINATION?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Hasn't the reconstruction started yet?

Someone once asked me why the media doesn't show all the good things we're doing in Iraq. Building schools and stuff. They only show the bad things we're doing there.
Maybe this is because there never has been (m)any good things we're doing there, building schools, hospitals, rebuilding the infrastructure we're destroying, etc. Judging by this article, we're still waiting for the good things to start. - Vox

New call for help to rebuild Iraq
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4410153.stm
"The US has spent only 20% of the $18.6bn allocated for reconstruction, of which half has paid for security. " (Also refer to my posting on Thursday, March 31, 2005, "On Iraq Reconstruction " - Vox)

Progress in Afghanistan?

Taleban coming in from the cold
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4360965.stm
"In return for promising to give up violence and pledging support to the government of Hamid Karzai, they are granted an amnesty.
If someone approaches US troops asking to join the scheme "we'll take some data down on him", explains Col Cheek, "and make a formal declaration".
"Then we'll send him on his way and if he's good to his word, he'll be all right.""

Bomb links
But American commanders have gone further with this reconciliation drive. In some cases, they have released militants from US detention.
In his area, Col Cheek has set free a man allegedly linked to several bomb attacks. The man has subsequently been appointed as a local police chief in one eastern province.
Col Cheek admits he had doubts about the move, but "as it's turned out, it's been a very positive measure - the security's much better there, the populace are very pleased with how he is doing".
More controversially, he has released another man directly implicated in an attack that killed five people last year in Paktika province, including a popular local doctor."...

Question: If this man was allegedly linked or directly implicated in an attack that killed an American soldier, would he be released? - Vox

This is REALLY eff-ed up!

Police charged with Brazil deaths
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4415775.stm
"Investigators believe four officers acted as gunmen while the others played supporting roles.
The 30 men, women and children were killed when gunmen drove through the city's poor suburbs, firing at random."

"Democracy" in Iraq?

Iraqi compromise fuels angry debate
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4359559.stm
"In countries from the UK, to France, to India, argued Professor Cole, a simple majority is enough to form a government.
"In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the two-thirds super-majority is characteristic of only one nation on Earth, i.e. American Iraq. I fear it is functioning in an anti-democratic manner to thwart the will of the majority of Iraqis, who braved great danger to come out and vote.""

Wolfowitz/Cheney = World Bank

Interesting commentary. - Vox
http://www.guerrillanews.com/articles/1249/Cheney_s_Oil_Change

"Dick Cheney, a long-time beneficiary of World Bank largess, has moved to take ownership of the world’s development coffers through his man, Wolfowitz. For his part, Wolfowitz will have a chance to extend his Iraq reconstruction theories to the global level. These concepts mostly involve U.S. control over energy resources. While the Bank, over which the U.S. holds de facto veto power, has done a lot for the nation’s oil interests over the years, his nomination is a clear signal that the administration craves more."...

"Wolfowitz never really emphasized eliminating global poverty-<>the World Bank’s stated mission-as a national strategic priority. Bush points to Wolfowitz’s stint as U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia as proof of his “commitment to development.” But as an envoy he obsessed about gaining U.S. corporate access to Indonesia’s energy resources in the 1980s, at a time when strongman Suharto banned opposition, and skimmed plenty from World Bank and other development finance groups."...

"Cheney and Wolfowitz understand that global hegemony requires control over the three pillars of power: military, political, and economic. The World Bank sets the terms of global development. When developing countries started demanding a decrease in U.S. political power in the institution, when the Bank balked at supporting Wolfowitz’s reconstruction and debt cancellation plans for Iraq, and when a Bank-commissioned study recommended getting out of the oil business, the World Bank became a natural target for a hostile takeover."...

The tale of the Israeli Nuclear whistleblower

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2005/03/17/964008-ap.html

A little background: http://www.ifamericansknew.org/cur_sit/vanunu-freedom.html

"Taliban Country"

Watch this film. An alternative view of freedom's march.
http://www.talibancountry.com/
"Away from the glare of the media, in the most remote and dangerous parts of Afghanistan, US marines are on a mission to hunt down the Taliban. But in many places their security sweeps are proving counterproductive. More and more villagers are alleging they have been abused by marines. This week’s documentary is a disturbing exposé of American actions in Afghanistan. Journalist Carmela Baranowska spent three weeks embedded with the marines. She then returned in secret to document what was really happening. It’s a story of prisoners abused and villagers humiliated. This report prompted a US inquiry."

If you're going to support U.S. war and aggression, at least know what it is you're supporting. - Vox

Excerpts from 1992 draft "Defense Planning Guidance"

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/iraq/etc/wolf.html
Key Points/Excerpts:
· The number one objective of U.S. post-Cold War political and military strategy should be preventing the emergence of a rival superpower.
· Another major U.S. objective should be to safeguard U.S. interests and promote American values.
· If necessary, the United States must be prepared to take unilateral action.

Such a bizarre case

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1375264/posts
"When the issue surfaced last year, Mr. Berger insisted that he had removed the classified material inadvertently. But in the plea agreement reached with prosecutors, he is expected to admit that he intentionally removed copies of five classified documents, destroyed three and misled staff members at the National Archives when confronted about it,..." (emphasis added by Vox)

Read his explanation in the last 3 paragraphs of the article. Classic.

Keep in mind that he was "reviewing" this material for his appearance before the 9/11 Commission. The 9/11 Commission! Oh, my bad, I thought that had some significance or something. Talk about a media black-out. - Vox

Viva La Revolution!!!!

LET NO PODIUM BE SAFE!!

Pat Buchanan Attacked
http://video.woodtv.com/index.php?video_id=437

Earlham student hits pundit with pie
http://www.indystar.com/articles/3/233155-3993-102.html

Ann Coulter causes stir at KU: Heckling, standing ovations interrupt right-wing commentator
http://www.ljworld.com/story200443.html