Rating the Presidents
by Patrick J. Buchanan
With the passing of President Reagan, historians, scholars and journalists have again taken to rating our presidents.
http://www.lewrockwell.com
Rumors of the Neocons' Demise Are Greatly Exaggerated
By Jacob Heilbrunn
Jacob Heilbrunn is an editorial writer for The Times.
June 16, 2004
Neoconservatism is finished. According to the conventional wisdom, the Pentagon's top neocons, like Paul D. Wolfowitz, Douglas J. Feith and William J. Luti, have been discredited by the insurgency in Iraq, by Abu Ghraib and by growing public discontent with the war. The United Nations has been invited back begged, really while the organization's chief opponent, Richard Perle, has been marginalized. The exposure of Iraqi exile leader Ahmad Chalabi as a charlatan, and possibly as an Iranian spy, has delivered the knockout punch. The neocons have lost President Bush's confidence, it seems, and will be abandoned if he wins a second term.
That's the way the story goes, anyway. In Washington, it is widely believed, easy to understand and fun to pass along. But it is also wrong.
http://fairuse.1accesshost.com
Why They Lie — and Get Away With It
by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.
Let me propose a solution to a puzzle that has vexed all of us for nearly three years – since 9-11, actually. The puzzle concerns the sheer ubiquity of dissembling in the Age of Bush.
The crazy claims hit us every day: lies brazen, bold, and breathtaking in their degree of misrepresentation; assertions that are perfect inversions of what is true; claims so implausible that believing them would require a level of ignorance that no one who reads the daily newspaper could possess; analysis so twisted, it is a wonder that anyone could spout it without laughing.
http://www.lewrockwell.com
Iraq Is Not World War II
by Charles V. Peña
In his commencement speech to the 2004 graduating class of the U.S. Air Force Academy, President Bush likened the war on terrorism to World War II, comparing 9/11 to Pearl Harbor. "The Middle East will set the course of our current struggle," said Bush, we are fighting "the war on terror in Iraq." But even implying that Iraq is like the Second World War ignores history and shows that the president continues to confuse and conflate Iraq with al Qaeda.
http://www.cato.org
Breaking Codes: An Impossible Task?
By Paul Reynolds
BBC News Online world affairs correspondent
Recent reports that the United States had broken codes used by the Iranian intelligence service have intrigued experts on cryptology because a modern cipher should be unbreakable.
Four leading British experts told BBC News Online that the story, if true, points to an operating failure by the Iranians or a backdoor way in by the National Security Agency (NSA) - the American electronic intelligence organisation.
http://news.bbc.co.uk
U.S. Indicts CIA Contractor in Afghanistan Prison Death
By Terry Frieden
CNN Washington Bureau
Thursday, June 17, 2004 Posted: 8:34 PM EDT (0034 GMT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A contractor working for the CIA has been indicted on charges stemming from the death of a prisoner at a prison in Afghanistan, Justice Department officials said.
It is the first time charges have been brought against a civilian since the reports of alleged prison abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan surfaced in the past few months.
http://www.cnn.com
Spy Hunter Faces Sex Charges
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, California, June 16, 2004
"The case was poorly investigated from the beginning."
(CBS/AP) A key investigator in an espionage case against a Syrian-born former interpreter at the Guantanamo Bay prison now faces criminal charges himself, including rape, sodomy and fondling girls, the Air Force said.
http://www.cbsnews.com
Report Says U.S. Has 'Secret' Detention Centers
Thu Jun 17, 2004 03:43 PM ET
By Sue Pleming
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is holding terrorism suspects in more than two dozen detention centers worldwide and about half of these operate in total secrecy, said a human rights report released on Thursday.
http://www.reuters.com
Sacrificing Civil Liberties
The Federal Bureau of Errors
By CHRISTOPHER BRAUCHLI
He who would distinguish the true from the false must have an adequate idea of what is true and false.
Spinoza, Theological-Political Treatise
To err is human, and the FBI is nothing if not human.
http://www.counterpunch.com
Fake Terror on Congess Followed by 'Patriot' Act II Vote
Last Thursday air traffic controllers guided a plane near the Reagan Memorial Event, but they did not tell the security on the ground, who thought it was a terrorist attack. Cops were screaming, "run, run run!" and had some members of Congress, the Supreme Court and even Rupert Murdoch running for their lives. 'Someone' intentionally created this terror scare for Congress- how do we know? Because the FAA spokesman was caught in an outright lie. Hundreds of people were terrorized for no reason.... well there may be a reason, but the FAA knew the plane was not a threat.
http://www.benfrank.net
Sweeping Stun Guns to Target Crowds
19:00 16 June 04
Exclusive from New Scientist.
Weapons that can incapacitate crowds of people by sweeping a lightning-like beam of electricity across them are being readied for sale to military and police forces in the US and Europe.
http://www.newscientist.com
Bioterror Grand Jury Trial Begins for Professor
16:22 15 June 04
NewScientist.com news service
A grand jury trial which could indict a US art professor who used bacterial strains in his art and kept DNA amplification equipment in his home began on Tuesday.
http://www.newscientist.com
Nerve Stimulator Approved for Depression
Millions could benefit from implanted device
Betterhumans Staff
6/16/2004 4:07 PM
An implanted device that stimulates nerves has been approved for use by millions of people in the US suffering from major depression
http://www.betterhumans.com
State Sets Standard for E-Voting
By Kim Zetter
04:39 PM Jun. 15, 2004 PT
The California secretary of state on Tuesday released the first standards in the nation for a voter-verified paper trail for electronic voting machines, in an effort to restore voter confidence in the devices.
http://www.wired.com
Haider's Sister to Head Party After European Poll Disaster
By Roland Prinz in Vienna
17 June 2004
After a disastrous showing in European Parliament elections, the right-wing, anti-immigrant Freedom Party has moved quickly to nominate a new leader, the sister of the former party chief Jörg Haider.
http://news.independent.co.uk
Internet's Role in Racism Debated
Officials from more than 60 countries have been meeting in France to discuss ways of combating racism on the internet.
Divisions have emerged between France and the United States over how to tackle the problem.
http://news.bbc.co.uk
Pro-Israel PAC Contributions to 2004 Congressional Candidates
2004 Top Ten Career Recipients of Pro-Israel PAC Funds
http://www.wrmea.com
Russian Oil Tycoon on Trial for Tax Evasion
By Maria Golovnina
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's richest man, oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, has gone on trial charged with fraud and tax evasion in a case widely seen as initiated by the Kremlin and which even his own lawyers expect him to lose.
http://sg.news.yahoo.com
Holocaust Hotline Anger in Poland
Marek Bekerman
BBC News Online
An international organisation dedicated to hunting down Holocaust war criminals has opened a telephone hotline for potential informants in Poland.
The Simon Wiesenthal Centre is the group behind the move.
http://news.bbc.co.uk
Nazi Past Comes Back to Haunt Denmark
By Tony Paterson in Berlin
16 June 2004
The Danish government was under pressure to set up a "truth commission" to investigate Nazi war crimes yesterday following publication of a book exposing the extent to which ordinary Danes collaborated with German death squads during the Second World War.
http://news.independent.co.uk
New Exhibits Shine Spotlight on Anne Frank's Prewar Life
By Toby Axelrod
BERLIN, June 15 (JTA) Like tens of millions of others, Siegfried Kuhn read Anne Frank’s diary but he didn’t stop there.
http://www.jta.org
Increased German 'Suffering'
By Gilad Margalit
Today, on the 51st anniversary of the revolt against the Communist regime in East Germany, the plenum of the Bundestag in Berlin will discuss a bill proposed by the CSU-CDU faction - the joint faction of the Christian Democratic and Christian Socialist ultra-conservative opposition (in coordination) - that seeks to unify the commemoration of victims of the two German dictatorships: the Nazi and the Communist regimes.
http://www.haaretz.com
Free Speech ... With Some Limits
Guest View
Geoff Carver
Special to The Augusta Free Press
I don't think anyone ever suggested you would go to jail for thinking the wrong way (Going to jail for thinking the wrong way, June 2 AFP).
http://www.augustafreepress.com
Forbes Names Mel Gibson Most Powerful Celebrity
Thu Jun 17, 2004 06:34 PM ET
By Larry Fine < < [Wasn't he one of the Three Stooges?]
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Mel Gibson, whose controversial film "The Passion of the Christ" paid off big at the box office, is the year's most powerful celebrity, according to Forbes magazine's Celebrity 100 power rankings.
http://www.reuters.com
Tackling Iran's Heroin Habit
By Sam Bagnall
Series producer, World Weddings
Iran has the highest proportion of heroin addicts in the world and a growing Aids problem.
In a country where discussing sex, drugs and Aids is taboo, two doctors tackle the stigma and help those who are suffering.
http://news.bbc.co.uk
Train Wreck of the Week
The Working Group on Financial Markets better known as “The Plunge Protection Team” and the Fed are doing everything they can to move the stock market higher. They both continue to attempt to suppress the prices of silver and gold as each day more Americans realize the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq have been failures. The Bush neocons had a yellow alert recently to take the atrocities at Abu Ghraib prison out of the headlines. The longer we stay bogged down in the Middle East the worse it is going to be. The Fed showing its “patriotism” is increasing aggregates at a $2 trillion annual clip.
http://www.theinternationalforecaster.com
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