tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57175282011-04-21T13:45:39.143-04:00A mundane look at the fascinating world of... (The emphasis is always mine.)atznoreply@blogger.comBlogger1821100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-10235441400739608052011-03-09T01:42:00.002-05:002011-03-09T02:14:31.956-05:00

As much as we lament the erosion of the newspaper industry, the sensational viciousness of cable TV and the vapidity of much of the blogosphere, every now and then it helps to step back, look around and say, damn, at least we're not Chinese state controlled media. Seriously. Check this editorial from the Global Times titled "Charlie Sheen is not filial".If that sounds funny from the start, that's

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-31454423510715367392007-05-04T17:36:00.000-04:002007-05-04T17:37:33.620-04:00

In a story titled US Iraq troops 'condone torture', the BBC reports that that a "Pentagon survey found that less than half the troops in Iraq thought Iraqi civilians should be treated with dignity and respect."Not exactly reassuring.

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1152727845750871952006-07-12T14:10:00.000-04:002006-07-12T14:13:29.320-04:00

BBC reports about Neil Coulbeck, Enron witness found dead in park.

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1147467079409253652006-05-12T16:51:00.000-04:002006-05-12T17:07:41.160-04:00

From Reuters.com: Feds search former CIA No. 3's home, office. The official in quesiton is former executive director of the Agency, Kyle "Dusty" Foggo. The investigators include: FBI CIA inspector general's officeInternal Revenue Service, and Defense Criminal Investigative Service.The investigations involve his suspected steering of contracts to one Brent Wilkes. And maybe some bribery...

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1147358789807056102006-05-11T10:46:00.000-04:002006-05-11T10:46:29.870-04:00

BBC says "more than three million", but Forbes says "5 million". I wouldn't bet against the BBC here...

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1143665701805040892006-03-29T15:55:00.000-05:002006-03-29T15:55:01.866-05:00

For anyone who entertains the question of whether the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping conducted by the NSA is legal, a definitive position is available from a group of 14 constitutional law scholars. I refer you to the The New York Review of Books: ON NSA SPYING: A LETTER TO CONGRESS. In digesting the legal arguments, first job is to figure out what law(s) govern the case. The

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1137599764896743302006-01-18T10:56:00.000-05:002006-01-18T12:05:24.950-05:00

A quick survey of today's stories about Iran's resumed of nuclear development is an interesting case. The major facts are essentially understood by all sources, so the resulting variation in news coverage is a great example of observer expectancy result.Xinhua: "Iran optimistic about escaping UNSC referral"NY Times: "Iran Proposes New Talks With Europeans, Who Are Mostly Dismissive"The

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1137091153393613192006-01-12T13:39:00.000-05:002006-01-12T14:38:42.656-05:00

There are some stories that can give you insight into a national character. You might not expect the official state-controlled media to have any of them, particularly in the case of Russia, but, then again you might not have read RIA Novosti's story about Moscow's Homeless Subway Dog Monument:A stray dog called Malchik ("Boy") lived underground inside the Mendeleyevskaya Station for about three

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1133213694312186772005-11-28T16:34:00.000-05:002005-11-30T15:16:51.876-05:00

Meet a former Vietnam War hero and decorated Navy "Top Gun" pilot, recipient of numerous commendations including the Navy Cross and two Silver Stars, the Representative of California's 50th Congressional District elected no fewer than eight times, and recently, admitted felon. Say hello to Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-CA).You might hear a lot about him since he just plead guilty to

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1131121753811709792005-11-04T11:29:00.000-05:002005-11-04T12:03:16.290-05:00

Howard Kurtz is incisive in his "Dressed for Success, Primed for Failure" at the Post. The topic is everybody's favorite former FEMA Director, Mike Brown:After Brownie was reckless enough to appear alongside Bush in a long-sleeved white shirt, came this urgent advice from Worthy: 'Please roll up the sleeves of your shirt, all shirts. Even the president rolled his sleeves to just below the elbow.

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1129090398671324952005-10-12T00:13:00.000-04:002005-11-04T12:04:10.740-05:00

Is it the Onion?: U.S. Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers told George W. Bush in a 1997 birthday card that he was "the best governor ever" and, in a separate note to her boss, said she hoped his twin daughters recognize their parents are "cool." No... it's the Washington Post. See also, W's reply: Bush wrote back to wish Miers a happy 52nd birthday, telling her that he appreciated her

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1127192067987317232005-09-20T00:46:00.000-04:002005-09-20T01:35:29.953-04:00

At the end of the same BBC article you get a few "Oh, and by the way" points to consider: Nine Iraqi police and a civilian have died in suicide bombings between Baghdad and Karbala, where Shias are attending a major religious festival ... a nephew of Saddam Hussein, Ayman Sabawi, has been sentenced to life in prison for funding Iraq's insurgency An Iraqi reporter working for the New York

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1127191397046344202005-09-20T00:43:00.000-04:002005-09-20T01:41:15.126-04:00

The BBC reports on a striking story:UK soldiers 'storm' Basra prison[click to view video footage]British forces have rescued two UK servicemen who were arrested by Iraqi police in the southern city of Basra. Official Iraqi sources say British tanks stormed the city's jail, but the Ministry of Defence says the men's release was negotiated. Basra governor Mohammed al-Waili said it was a "barbaric

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1126579643597381492005-09-12T22:47:00.000-04:002005-09-12T23:43:49.410-04:00

In case anyone had forgotten, Ohio is still seriously, seriously fucked up:deputies found 11 children locked in cages rigged with alarms Monday in a north Ohio house... ages 1 to 14... in cages in the walls of the home in Clarksfield Township, about 50 miles west of Cleveland. They had no blankets or pillows, according to the Huron County Sheriff's Office. The brief report mentions that they

atznoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1124922937198065832005-08-24T18:35:00.000-04:002005-09-12T23:45:06.890-04:00

You know those murky pronouncements made by extremist religious figures that call for such-and-such to be killed? They always seemed kind of strange and far away to me. Like what did Salman Rushdie ever do to you, jackass. But did you ever wonder what it would sound like if instead of addressing throngs of bearded Iranians, the pronouncement was made in English, stateside, by somebody more

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1124852501785181232005-08-23T23:01:00.000-04:002005-08-24T20:46:03.070-04:00

From the Miami Herald: "Soldiers regained control of a number of oil wells in Ecuador's northeastern Amazon region on Friday after six days of protests brought oil production to a halt and prompted the government to declare." The recovery represents 20 of the 80 wells in the Libertador oil field. Although 25%, these are apparently the lesser wells, representing less than 15% (30,000 of 201,000

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1124845563600511132005-08-23T21:06:00.000-04:002005-08-23T21:06:03.643-04:00

Well, we got Election Workers Kidnapped and Publicly Killed... Is that ok? Read to the end of the NYTimes article to get to punch line: "Your American ambassador is giving an Islamic character to the state," the Kurdish leader said. "You spent all this money and all this blood to bring an Islamic republic here. We are very worried."

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1124256741809555062005-08-17T01:32:00.000-04:002005-09-13T00:35:10.796-04:00

From NYTimes:A military intelligence team repeatedly contacted the FBI in 2000 to warn about the existence of an American-based terrorist cell that included the ringleader of the Sept. 11 attacks, according to a veteran Army intelligence officer who said he had now decided to risk his career by discussing the information publicly. The officer, Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer, said military lawyers later

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1123352832198473282005-08-06T14:27:00.000-04:002005-08-06T14:27:12.206-04:00

Steven Vincent, wrote for the (July 31) New York Times: "An Iraqi police lieutenant, who for obvious reasons asked to remain anonymous, confirmed to me the widespread rumors that a few police officers are perpetrating many of the hundreds of assassinations - mostly of former Baath Party members - that take place in Basra each month. He told me that there is even a sort of "death car": a white

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1123351689758495012005-08-06T14:08:00.000-04:002005-08-06T14:08:09.820-04:00

Try John Hopkins: "Iraqi Civilian Deaths Increase Since War"

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1121204061334769072005-07-12T17:34:00.000-04:002005-07-12T17:40:42.706-04:00

From the New York Times amongst many others...

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1120180904679343142005-06-30T21:21:00.000-04:002005-09-13T00:39:01.546-04:00

Bob Novak is a Useless TurdSo the Supreme Court has refused to hear their case, and Time magazine appears ready to hand over their reporters' email, correspondence and notes to a government Special Prosecutor in the Valerie Plame case. That case, you'll recall, is where (multiple) White House staff deliberately revealed to reporters the identity of Plame, an undercover CIA agent, in order to

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1120058883652845242005-06-29T11:28:00.000-04:002005-06-29T11:28:03.703-04:00

A brain architecture artifact.

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1119749222681897772005-06-25T21:27:00.000-04:002005-06-25T21:36:12.550-04:00

The deco cast alumninum statues of Justice and Law that Ashcroft concealed are uncovered again. Major reports talk money:"Covering the statues with curtains cost the US government $8,000" [BBC]"The sculptures... cost U.S. taxpayers a total of $7,275" [Post]Those dollar figures are separated by 69 years (2002 and 1933, respectively), but the cost is still remarkable. I'd bid on those curains if

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1119716263477146462005-06-25T12:17:00.000-04:002005-11-21T10:30:58.920-05:00

It is nothing to report that Vice President Cheney lies. This is well known and unremarkable. But the characteristic style of this administration's public address is somehow novel. It goes like this: Start by repeating the lie that you have practiced, in your head. Not out loud!Quick! Introduce some minute detail of partial truth, relying on the utterly compliant media not to contextualize the

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1119682919518530422005-06-25T03:01:00.000-04:002005-06-25T03:07:23.816-04:00

At the end of recounting the sharp exchange between Donald Rumsfeld and Senator Edward Kennedy this week, CBS News tosses in an interesting tidbit that I can't find anything else about anywhere online:"the Wisconsin Democratic Party, at its state's convention earlier this month, passed a resolution that would seem to cover all the bases. The delegates called for immediate steps to be taken to

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1119192912310108892005-06-19T10:55:00.000-04:002005-06-19T11:48:16.596-04:00

Kellogg Brown & Root, the routinely corrupt subsidiary of Halliburton, has added another $30 Million in Guantanamo construction contracts, to build the 220-cell "Camp Six" by next June. Why this would be necessary after reducing the number of "enemy combatant detainees" by half makes for interesting speculation. NYTimes includes a rehash of Pentagon spokespersonspeak, that it "is designed to be

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1116784812447766382005-05-22T14:00:00.000-04:002005-05-22T15:50:18.550-04:00

America has no monopoly on militant nationalism. As though to reinforce the principle "whatever USA can produce, Japan can produce better", the Legislature in Tokyo has reconstituted a National Holiday to honor WWII Emperor Hirohito:A House of Representatives committee on Friday approved a bill to rename April 29, which is now Greenery Day, as Showa Day to mark the birthday of Emperor Hirohito...

atznoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1115996585676821372005-05-13T11:03:00.000-04:002005-05-13T18:11:22.516-04:00

Remember the cases of Sr. Airman Ahmad Halabi or Capt. James Yee? They were commended military men untill they were swept up, denounced publicly with great zeal, confined in solitary, formally threatened with execution, and ordered not to speak Arabic. In Yee's case, he was manacled, blindfolded, ear-covered (so novel a fuckwithing we don't even have a good word for it), etc., et cetera. He

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1108135493844711122005-02-11T10:24:00.000-05:002005-02-11T11:08:16.520-05:00

Reuters has the rehash from a heretofore undisclosed 9/11 Commission report that found its way to the NYTimes:The FAA seemed more concerned about airport congestion, delays and safety issues than about security...The commission report said federal aviation officials reviewed 52 intelligence reports between April and Sept. 10 that warned about Osama bin Laden or al Qaeda.... Officials had amassed

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1107555510893265572005-02-04T17:18:00.000-05:002005-02-04T18:14:16.463-05:00

Reuters' Top News Article: "Actually it's quite fun to fight 'em, you know. It's a hell of a hoot. It's fun to shoot some people. I'll be right up front with you, I like brawling," said [James] Mattis. "You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil," Mattis said... "You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1107270999087913632005-02-01T10:16:00.000-05:002005-04-11T16:12:22.720-04:00

Friends, Nobodies, Countrymen: It is time to get worried. The BBC reportEd US teens 'reject' key freedoms: "A significant number of US high-school students regard their constitutional right to freedom of speech as excessive, according to a new survey." If you can't get teenagers to care about free speech, who can you get?

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1107191207277214722005-01-31T12:06:00.000-05:002005-01-31T12:06:47.276-05:00

Washington Post: "A federal judge ruled this morning that special military tribunals the Pentagon as used to determine the likely guilt of most of the 500 men held at a prison in Guantanamo Bay -- and to justify their continued imprisonment -- are illegal." The Seattle Post-Intelligencer: [Federal District Court Judge Joyce Hens] "Green also ruled that hearings set up by the government to

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1106927998067456632005-01-28T10:59:00.000-05:002005-02-01T12:47:09.226-05:00

It was front page material in the Dispatch and other major papers today. Seattle Times: Guantanamo Bay Female interrogators' tactics aired Female interrogators tried to break Muslim detainees at the U.S. prison camp at Guantánamo Bay by sexual touching, wearing a miniskirt and thong underwear and in one case smearing a Saudi man's face with fake menstrual blood, according to an insider's written

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1106348895332348582005-01-21T18:08:00.000-05:002005-01-21T18:22:13.726-05:00

CS Monitor does a good job sampling various reactions to Bush's lavish re-inauguration celebrations. The 10 different inaugural balls and the characteristic incompetence did catch my attention, but I admit I was more focused on watching Condi Rice... so this article is a good cross-section or catch-up. Israel, Rupert Murdoch, the Wall Street Journal and some Polish paper like Bush's speech. WSJ

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1105570452508363452005-01-12T17:54:00.000-05:002005-01-12T18:45:50.620-05:00

It has been almost a year since Bush proceeded with the invasion of Iraq citing the imminent threat of Iraqi WMDs. The operation was executed by a body of hundreds of thousands of US military personnel, among whom some 1,350 have been killed and over 10,000 wounded. A part of this body is the 1,700-member force known as the Iraqi Survey Group, formally dedicated to uncovering the WMDs cited to

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1105124114186825252005-01-07T13:55:00.000-05:002005-01-07T13:55:14.186-05:00

Alberto Gonzales is nominated for and expected to be the next Attorney General. Apparently, it doesn't matter that he authored the formal legal opinion that abandoned the Geneva Convention in permitting the US to torture prisoners. Read for yourself the primary source material: Jan. 22, 2002 Jan. 25, t002 Mar. 6, 2003 Dec. 30, 2004

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1105117955958518532005-01-07T13:12:00.000-05:002005-01-07T13:38:06.093-05:00

Paradoxically, one of the only redeeming features of the 2004 election in Ohio is that it was so badly botched. By which I mean, maybe somebody will notice, this time... possibly long enough to fix something (i.e., more than a week). So much crap. Punchcards, touch screens, "missing" machines, day-long lines in the rain, outright fraud, incompetence, discarded voter registrations (outright fraud

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1103750357707491932004-12-22T16:19:00.000-05:002004-12-22T16:37:26.583-05:00

Why would the FBI be the one alleging the military tortured prisoners in Guantanamo? Well, they're playing an old military game: cover your ass. It turns out that military interrogators regularly impersonated FBI agents during interrogation, thereby insulating themselves from later blame, but also with the effect of making the detainee utterly unprosecutable in an US court. Maybe that is part of

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1103296532965073642004-12-17T10:15:00.000-05:002004-12-17T17:41:57.923-05:00

When Donald Rumsfeld received pointed questions about the war recently, in particular about the continued scarcity of body armor and reinforced humvees, it got a lot of play in the press. This is somewhat odd, since the same questions have been posed repeatedly for over a year in different stories and reports. How many times have local papers and stations already run the "Family Raises Money to

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1102603361071810582004-12-09T09:42:00.000-05:002004-12-09T12:05:14.136-05:00

Five Dead, Several More Wounded It happened at the Alrosa Villa. Some fucking hostile dude wearing a Columbus Blue Jackets home jersey slaughtered (former Pantera) Damageplan band members and regular people in what can only be described as vulgar display of power. Taking his will-to-domination and clash with reality to a new level, this psycho holiday could only end beyond cemetary gates: the

atznoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1102526049099219682004-12-08T13:14:00.000-05:002004-12-08T18:31:37.340-05:00

Activists Dominate Content Complaints: Nearly all indecency complaints in 2003 -- 99.8 percent -- were filed by the Parents Television Council, an activist group. This year, the trend has continued, and perhaps intensified. Through early October, 99.9 percent of indecency complaints, aside from those concerning the Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" during the Super Bowl halftime show

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1102486401310985312004-12-08T01:13:00.000-05:002004-12-08T01:26:12.950-05:00

And so it has come to pass. The nation's largest radio broadcaster (and notable Texan Bush-linked corporate campaign contributer) is teaming up with the nation's most insidious TV broadcaster. That's right, Clear Channel and Fox News have joined forces. According to Forbes: Fox currently provides one-minute newscasts to 275 stations. Starting next year, it will provide more than 100 Clear

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1102353782216271862004-12-06T12:23:00.000-05:002004-12-06T12:23:02.216-05:00

In this case, the BBC is talking about methylisothiazolinone, a chemical used in cosmetic products like Pert, Pantene, Suave, etc. Check your product labels for indredients or reference the list at the National Library of Medicine.

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1101312054474197812004-11-24T11:00:00.000-05:002004-11-24T11:00:54.473-05:00

I don't usually do entertainment news, but a great opening line caught my eye on Google News. The film is Alexander (as in "the great"), and the Tribune reviewer is Craig Outhier, found here in an Arizona paper, the East Valley Tribune: "Not content to direct a mediocre historical epic, filmmaker Oliver Stone marshals all of his talent as a provocateur to direct a colossally bad one in '

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1100738359746076232004-11-17T19:39:00.000-05:002004-11-17T19:39:19.746-05:00

NYTimes reports that the New C.I.A. Chief Tells Workers to Back Administration Policies. His doublespeak is already well crafted. On the one hand, he says "We provide the intelligence as we see it - and let the facts alone speak to the policymaker,'' meaning effectively "we don't make policy... and we don't comment on it either." Then on the other hand, he says the CIA's job is to "support

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1100682480407614192004-11-17T04:08:00.000-05:002004-11-17T04:08:00.406-05:00

FAGS V FOOD by Political Editor Oonagh Blackman. It might give it away to mention it runs in the Mirror (UK). Ah, Britishisms.

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1100639868053757512004-11-16T16:17:00.000-05:002004-11-16T17:49:03.346-05:00

We're only halfway into it, but November is already the 2nd most fatal month for U.S. troops in Iraq, approaching 100 dead. While we're on pace to surpass it, for now the cruelest month is still April (with 135 dead). Then you have the videotaped slaughter of an unarmed, wounded, motionless, allegedly "insurgent" prisoner recorded by NBC camerman Kevin Sites. From the Globe and Mail report: On

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1100504956472675332004-11-15T02:49:00.000-05:002004-11-15T03:14:32.896-05:00

Resignations are rippling through the CIA, including the head of clandestine operations. So reports anyone with a newspaper, e.g. The New York Times. NYTimes goes further, saying: At the heart of the tensions is resentment felt at the C.I.A. over criticisms of the agency's performance, particularly on Iraq and its illicit weapons. Many intelligence officials believe the C.I.A. has been unfairly

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1100212705089968322004-11-11T17:38:00.000-05:002004-11-11T18:44:52.893-05:00

Almost 2 decades have passed since Mordechai Vanunu exposed Israel's nuclear arsenal. But today, St. George's Cathedral was stormed by about 30 heavily armored/armed tactical forces and he was removed via an unmarked car. Vanunu had been living there under house arrest, since his release from prison in April, having accepted sanctuary from The Right Reverend Riah Abu El-Assal, Epicscopal Bishop

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1100094070761482852004-11-10T08:41:00.000-05:002004-11-10T08:41:10.760-05:00

BBC reports that the relatives of Iraqi Prime Minister Allawi have been kidnapped. On the one hand, an obvious security failure, as any kidnapping. On the other hand, a first cousin, the cousin's wife and step-daughter are quite remote from Allawi himself, suggesting security for himself and his immediate family is better, if not good. The number of abductions in recent months numbers in

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1100030937264693432004-11-09T15:08:00.000-05:002004-11-09T15:38:11.146-05:00

Thus queries Fred Kaplan's headline at Slate. Kaplan has some interesting restatements of fact regarding Fallujah. Obviously, the offensive was postponed until after the US Presidential election. Less obvious is the likely harmful effect of the extra 6 months spent fortifying, organizing and trap-setting. On Iraqi Security forces: "National Public Radio's Anne Garrels, who is embedded with the

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1099960230484910822004-11-08T19:30:00.000-05:002004-11-08T19:30:30.483-05:00

With all the ill-timed catastrophe of a Fallujah offensive, Judge James Robertson of U.S. District Court has invalidated the entire procedure (such as it was) of military tribunals for Guantanamo Bay detainees. In fact, he nearly disposes of the "detainee" terminology also. The Washington Post reports Judge Rules Guantanamo Trials Unlawful: "Military trials set up to determine the guilt or

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1099888775674264152004-11-07T23:39:00.000-05:002004-11-07T23:39:35.673-05:00

In what appears to be a predetermined trajectory for US forces in Iraq, 10,000 Marines are proceeding to "retake" the city of Fallujah, vowing to eradicate opposition in the area. The Marines are clearly more committed to a "sending a stern message to militants that they will be dealt with unmercifully" (CSM) in a show of force than they are to the accuracy of their targetting. For this reason

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1099784928581896312004-11-06T18:48:00.000-05:002004-11-06T19:15:19.210-05:00

A sampling of Ohio, from all over the news: New York Times: "Voting Problems in Ohio Set Off an Alarm": "Officials in Ohio will be able to reject some of the approximately 155,000 provisional ballots cast there..." "Voting machines in Ohio failed to register votes for president in 92,000 cases over all this year," Ken Blackwell's expected voter turnout: 72%. Reported turnout: 70%. "In Ohio,

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1099620097664065412004-11-04T21:01:00.000-05:002004-11-04T21:17:17.850-05:00

From the front page of The Mirror in the UK, "DOH! 4 More Years of Dubya: How can 59,054,087 people be so DUMB?" The clever British headlines keep coming. See also "War More Years".

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1099619325044071802004-11-04T20:48:00.000-05:002004-11-04T20:48:45.043-05:00

From Reuters: "F-16 fighter fires at New Jersey school." I guess they're just practicing for Fallujah.

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1099515833972069642004-11-03T15:19:00.000-05:002004-11-03T16:33:59.153-05:00

Election results read directly from the the voting-machine receipts in 3 precincts of North-Central Columbus, Ohio, each precinct having four voting machines: Precinct 19B _Bush 278 = ( 73 + 71 + 75 + 59) Kerry 442 = (102 +116 +112 +112) Precinct 21B _Bush 334 = ( 89 + 71 + 84 + 90) Kerry 471 = (121 + 93 +123 +134) Precinct 21C _Bush 285 = ( 86 + 71 + 72 + 56) Kerry 417 = ( 97 +111 +104 +105)

atznoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1099086720857039902004-10-29T17:52:00.000-04:002004-10-29T17:52:00.856-04:00

When Azzam the American isn't enough, well, by all means let's get Osama bin Laden himself out on the campaign trail. Anyone got a better October Surprise? Anyone?

atznoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1099065270892063212004-10-29T14:30:00.000-04:002004-10-29T14:31:15.420-04:00

Reuters "Top News Article" discusses ABC's airing of an unauthenticated video tape featuring threats from self-identified "Assam the American" or "Azzam al Amriki", purportedly a member of al Queda. If from this post's title and all the qualifying modifiers in the preceding sentence you conclude that I don't buy it, you're right. But I'll start with the supporting case. The 75-minute

atznoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1098419497084498032004-10-22T00:31:00.000-04:002004-10-22T00:31:37.083-04:00

Sen. Levin again tackles the bogus rationale for the Iraq war, publishing a 46-page report that squarely criticizes Douglas Feith and the OSP (Office of Special Plans), a Pentagon office set up to circumvet normal intelligence channels and provide the Administration what they wanted: reliably falsified "intelligence". Story at Reuters.

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1098292666548339932004-10-20T13:17:00.000-04:002004-10-20T14:45:38.523-04:00

An interesting report from Physicians for a National Health Program and a Harvard Med School doctor says 1.7 Million US military veterans have neither health insurance nor VA coverage. Some basic numerical context: US Population: 295 Million, 45 Million uninsured (15%) US Veterans: 23 Million, 1.7Million uninsured (7.4%) Reuters highlights the report's criticism of Bush's "January 2003

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1098290227568042022004-10-20T11:19:00.000-04:002004-10-20T12:37:07.566-04:00

This account from UK-based paper, the Guardian: U.S. Army reservist Staff Sgt. Ivan ``Chip'' Frederick, 38, of Buckingham, Va., admitted to allegations of conspiracy, dereliction of duty, maltreatment of detainees, assault, and committing an indecent act. Frederick, as a mid-level enlisted Staff Seargeant (E6) is still the highest ranking individual charged over Abu Ghraib torture and sexual

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1097769122288054022004-10-14T11:52:00.000-04:002004-10-14T14:17:13.923-04:00

What effect is this supposed to have? RATED R for graphic, crude and sexual humour, violent images and strong language; all involving puppets. Source: Globe and Mail reviewing Team America: World Police, a new film in a blazing South Park style, but shot entirely with physical puppets. Certainly the most conspicuous and puppety puppetry since Being John Malkovich. But even this intoxicating

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1097655070611654382004-10-13T04:11:00.000-04:002004-10-13T04:30:51.573-04:00

Ask yourself "What is the First Amendment is good for?". In this link to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (donations accepted -- to them, not me), the EFF also mentions that their first case was representing role-playing game publisher Steve Jackson Games against the Secret Service. Biggups, gamer dorks in defense of democratic principles! Now where did they put that +1 Constitutional Liberty

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1097075029467013172004-10-06T11:03:00.000-04:002004-10-06T18:18:42.010-04:00

Donald Rumsfeld, the U.S. Secretary of Defense (seriously, he's the only one we've got) says... On Monday, to the Council on Foreign Relations: asked to explain the connection between Saddam and Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network -- one of the U.S. arguments for launching a war on Iraq... He replied: "To my knowledge, I have not seen any strong, hard evidence that links the two." Today:

atznoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1096670559873944422004-10-01T18:33:00.000-04:002004-10-01T18:42:39.873-04:00

The title tells the story, details from Reuters.

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1096503752669845482004-09-29T20:22:00.000-04:002004-09-29T20:22:32.670-04:00

The Top News Article from Reuters is that the U.S.A.P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act is unconstitutional. Unconstitutional inasmuch as the Act gave the FBI essentially unchecked power to demand records from businesses without a warrant or judicial review, and barred anyone contacted from even disclosing the surrender of documents. To anyone. Including, say, your lawyer. Or a judge. This was so messed up

atznoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1096035748607804942004-09-24T10:22:00.000-04:002004-09-24T10:39:11.390-04:00

The Washington Post editorializes on Freeing Mr. Hamdi: "What remains objectionable -- what looms as more objectionable than ever, now that the government has acknowledged Mr. Hamdi's unimportance -- is the unnecessary assault on civil liberties that the administration led in his case. For three years the administration insisted that Mr. Hamdi be held incommunicado and without any semblance of

atznoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1095910858051887722004-09-22T23:40:00.000-04:002004-09-22T23:54:04.726-04:00

The following are direct quotes from a BBC NEWS report on their country's continued military presence, "Basra: British troops in Iraq's 'peaceful' city": Last month, British troops fired 100,000 rounds of ammunition in southern Iraq. The base in Amara sustained more than 400 direct mortar hits. The British battalion there counted some 853 separate attacks of different kinds: mortars, roadside

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1095894898138280032004-09-22T19:14:00.000-04:002004-09-24T10:53:56.676-04:00

You know the guy, Yaser Esam Hamdi. Hamdi, "enemy combatant" (does that even mean anything anymore?); Hamdi, "U.S. citizen" (does that even mean anything anymore?); Hamdi, "detainee". He's only been in a military prision for 3 years or so, without charges: "The military designated Hamdi an enemy combatant and held him incommunicado and without a lawyer for much of his time in custody." Actually

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1095892149775208682004-09-22T18:29:00.000-04:002004-09-24T10:50:04.780-04:00

The genius of the Bush administration's positioning regarding the National Guard CBS documents is already evident. They were able to take a factual set of criticisms and make them off limits by calling out the forgery of referenced documents. They knew whatever documents CBS viewed had to be forgeries, because they had themselves *already sanitized* files from that time during W's gubernatorial

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1095862164292396642004-09-22T10:09:00.000-04:002004-09-22T10:09:24.293-04:00

... as The Guardian (UK) headlines: "Cat Stevens refused entry to US." You know the guy. Cat Stevens, man... aka Steven Demetre Georgiou, aka Yusuf Islam. So his name is either French, Islamic or girly. Sounds shady. When TSA folks heard he was aboard Flight 919 from London to UK, it was diverted midflight to the Fed's favorite busting strip in Bangor, Maine. 250 people on an international

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1095714022045002402004-09-20T17:00:00.000-04:002004-09-20T17:00:22.046-04:00

IAEA: "More than 40 countries with peaceful nuclear programmes could retool them to make weapons, the head of the UN atomic watchdog agency said on Monday amid new US and European demands that Iran give up technology capable of producing such arms."

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1095711126083445452004-09-20T16:12:00.000-04:002004-09-20T16:40:14.046-04:00

This is huge. The United Press International's Editor at Large publishes points of consensus and concern amongst the heads of other nations' own intelligence agencies. Do you think we'll see the administration acknowledge the concerns or do you think we're in for more snide "Old Europe" comments? Off the record conversations with intelligence chiefs in five major European countries -- each with

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1095529972018905332004-09-18T13:52:00.000-04:002004-09-18T13:52:52.020-04:00

GlobalSecurity.org continues its role as a repository of direct and detailed public information of military, strategic and technological concren with a simple story from 3rd Brigade Combat Team at Fort Carson: GIs claim threat by Army: "Soldiers say they were told to re-enlist or face deployment to Iraq" The .mil spokesman says, effectively, "no, we just told them they might get transferred and

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1095523897818427812004-09-18T12:11:00.000-04:002004-09-18T12:11:37.816-04:00

Reuters: "Deaf children thrown together in a school in Nicaragua without any type of formal instruction invented their own sign language -- a sophisticated system that has evolved and grown, researchers reported on Friday. Their observations show that children, not adults, are key to the evolution and development of language, the researchers report in Friday's issue of the journal Science."

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1095368627938049302004-09-16T17:03:00.000-04:002004-09-16T17:03:47.936-04:00

11 months ago, the Bush Administration got $18.4 Billion from the US Congress to fund Iraqi reconstruction. This kind of thing was supposedly central to W's ambitions, "spreading freedom, planting hope, bringing democracy" (or whatver crappy abstractions-of-the-moment). Judge for yourself by the numbers. Overall, "$7.1 Billion of the $18.4 billion fund has been set aside for contractors, but

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1095347418745910372004-09-16T11:10:00.000-04:002004-09-16T11:10:18.746-04:00

In case there was any confusion, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, in response to a BBC questioner, called the invasion of Iraq illegal. Specifically, it violates the U.N. Charter. Most of the article is spent listing self-righteous responses from those governments waging the Iraq war, saying effectively, "Yeah-huh it is." (None of them speak to the text of the Charter.) Kudos to a

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1095197756065042632004-09-14T17:35:00.000-04:002004-09-14T17:35:56.066-04:00

I've been back and forth on the documents CBS used to reveal what was already known about GWBush's Nat'l Guard stint: namely, that he got in on special connections, avoided Vietnam, skipped his physical exam, was grounded and therefore failed to fulfill his duties. Nobody honestly contends otherwise. (I'll go ahead and add that he was busy losing a gubernatorial race and too coked up to fly,

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1095195992830509002004-09-14T17:06:00.000-04:002004-09-14T17:06:32.830-04:00

A corollary to the doctrine that the President can legally give illegal orders, Project Censored 2005 describes the caselaw by which Fox News themselves established that The Media Can Legally Lie. Moreover, they can fire you if you refuse to lie with them! It's the First Amendment. Seriously. I wish I was joking. Really. But if not, well, I'm allowed to lie, sucker.

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1095138770453930792004-09-14T01:12:00.000-04:002004-09-14T01:12:50.453-04:00

One of Amazon's greatest strengths is the consumer tracking and preference matching data. They don't just sell enormous volumes of books/CDs/DVDs (plus apparel, cookware, and electronics). They compile and analyze all manner of correlative consumer trends and feed this back into the content of the site. They correlate purchases, and they correlate items browsed. What's this have to do with

atznoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1095114832470920462004-09-13T18:33:00.000-04:002004-09-13T18:33:52.470-04:00

Seymour Hersh's exposé of secret US torture squads operating in Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, but also in Pakistan, Singapore, Sweden, Egypt and elsewhere has been published: Chain of Command : The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib You can start with a digest from the Guardian (UK): Bush team 'knew of abuse' at Guantanamo, or excerpt 1 (of 2) and excerpt 2 (of 2).

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1094853158524320362004-09-10T17:52:00.000-04:002004-09-10T17:52:38.523-04:00

SF Gate: "At another hearing, it was disclosed that the military had concealed as many as 100 'ghost detainees' from the Red Cross" The National Press Club provided another moment for Rumsfeld to let his genius show through: "Does it rank up there with chopping someone's head off on television?" he asked. "It doesn't." I'm sure that's what the country's best journalists wanted to know: "Sir,

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1094851337043649382004-09-10T17:22:00.000-04:002004-09-10T17:22:17.043-04:00

Washington Post publishes new criticism of the Abu Ghraib investigations. Despite some investigators (clearly illegitimate) attempts to whitewash the situation, significant revelations have been made. "Ghost prisoners" numbering not zero (as previously claimed), not one (as previously claimed), not several (as previously claimed), but dozens, were hidden from the Red Cross and sometimes the

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1094681978290438422004-09-08T18:19:00.000-04:002004-09-08T18:19:38.290-04:00

... then accounts like these might make a difference regarding GWBush's Texas Air Nat'l Guard service: Gerald Lechliter, a lifelong registered Independent and "retired (1999) Army colonel with active Marine enlisted service (1967-69)" who was there at Dannelly in Alabama where Bush was supposed to be in 1972, wrote 34 pages of actual research and analysis concluding W's obligations were not

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1094323283795426462004-09-04T14:41:00.000-04:002004-09-04T14:41:23.796-04:00

Record rise in Medicare fees / Seniors, disabled hit with biggest premium increase in 40 years: "largest dollar increase in the program's 40-year history"

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1094160023180297342004-09-02T17:20:00.000-04:002004-09-02T17:20:23.180-04:00

Don't take my word for it. And for $#@!'s sake, don't take W's word for it. The Miami Herald digests the same Census Bureau report, sayingMore Americans in poverty, uninsured: "The national poverty rate declined from 1993 to 2000, when it reached 11.3 percent. In the next three years, 4.3 million more people fell below the poverty line, and the median household income dropped by more than

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1094157322505350622004-09-02T16:35:00.000-04:002004-09-02T16:35:22.506-04:00

Before the election, how many times do you think Bush and cronies are going to show up in Ohio and talk about how strong the economy is? Something like "I know the recovery has lagged behind around here, but growth is strong and the tax cut is working!" Create more jobs. America. Dream, America, jobs. And the dream of America is to job the tax cut family job America. You know the drill.

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1094135837358836752004-09-02T10:37:00.000-04:002004-09-02T10:37:17.356-04:00

Jobless Claims Unexpectedly Rise 19,000.

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1094052717529787462004-09-01T11:31:00.000-04:002004-09-01T11:35:29.663-04:00

From NYTimes and everybody else: Detroit Terrorism Convictions Dismissed: The Justice Department has asked a federal judge to throw out terrorism convictions against two Arab men accused of forming a sleeper cell... The move abandons the crucial charge in what was the first major terrorism trial after the Sept. 11 attacks. The department has also conceded errors in its handling of the case

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1093717664009597362004-08-28T14:27:00.001-04:002004-08-28T14:27:44.010-04:00

UK's Guardian on Abu Ghraib: It was only last month that the US army formally asserted that the abuse of Iraqi prisoners in Abu Ghraib prison consisted of "aberrations" that could not be put down to systemic problems. This week, however, two official reports... one for the Pentagon chaired by the former defence secretary James Schlesinger, and the other for the US army by Generals George Fay and

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1093717625107369582004-08-28T14:27:00.000-04:002004-08-28T14:27:05.106-04:00

UK's Guardian on Abu Ghraib: It was only last month that the US army formally asserted that the abuse of Iraqi prisoners in Abu Ghraib prison consisted of "aberrations" that could not be put down to systemic problems. This week, however, two official reports... one for the Pentagon chaired by the former defence secretary James Schlesinger, and the other for the US army by Generals George Fay and

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1093639681282252112004-08-27T16:48:00.000-04:002004-08-27T16:48:01.283-04:00

Gaining the attention of editors overseas, our own Ohio University is in the news, not for imposing a "Napster tax" but for revealing the imposition! Napster, unsurprisingly, has demanded that they stfu. Check out the Register: "Napster gags university over RIAA's student tax"

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1093445919383685612004-08-25T10:58:00.000-04:002004-08-25T10:58:39.383-04:00

Interesting comparisons in an Italian study reported by New Scientist: Cigarettes more polluting than diesel exhaust. This is the somewhat predictable result of measuring particulate emissions, i.e. smoke, that cigarettes are explicity designed to produce. Otherwise though, the fact that a diesel engine idling for 10 minutes burns 10 times cleaner than 3 cigarettes is rather notable. The

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1093382343960908912004-08-24T17:19:00.000-04:002004-08-24T17:19:03.960-04:00

Washington Post (via Buffalo News) reports Dogs used to frighten teenagers at Abu Ghraib: ...the new report according to Pentagon sources will show that MPs were using their animals to make juveniles - as young as 15 years old - urinate on themselves as part of a competition. "There were two MP dog handlers who did use dogs to threaten kids detained at Abu Ghraib," said one Army officer familiar

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1093381145095194702004-08-24T16:59:00.000-04:002004-08-24T17:01:01.576-04:00

Coming off the dry spell since Jim Traficant's failed stab at re-election to Congress from inside Federal Prison, Youngstown is officially back in action as the state's premiere purveyor of bizarro politics. Ohio Democrat endorses Bush In the 2000 presidential election, Vice President Al Gore, the Democratic nominee, received 69,212 votes to 40,460 for Bush in Mahoning County, which includes

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1093014644376886962004-08-20T11:10:00.000-04:002004-08-20T11:10:44.376-04:00

But wait, now NYTimes is saying "The alias used by the suspected terrorist on the watch list was Edward Kennedy said David Smith a spokesman for the senator." T.? Edward? Tedward? Do we even have a consistent cover story for this one?

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1093014096813378892004-08-20T11:01:00.000-04:002004-08-20T11:01:36.813-04:00

Still don't think "Homeland Security" is a jumbled political mess? You must not have been hanging out w/ Senator Kennedy then. Sen. Kennedy Flagged by No-Fly List: "U.S. Sen. Edward M. Ted Kennedy said yesterday that he was stopped and questioned at airports on the East Coast five times in March because his name appeared on the government's secret no-fly list... A senior administration

atznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5717528.post-1092814569721896332004-08-18T03:36:00.000-04:002004-08-18T03:36:09.720-04:00

"It looks to me to be a two-bit frame-up" Will anyone contend that humanities research and skills are not relevant to national security? Is there a single skill set deficiency in the entire Intelligence Community greater than that in language comprehension? Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying understanding documents at the intersection of Urdu, Turkish and Arabic is easy. But without it, we

atznoreply@blogger.com0