Commentary Two courtroom wins for the Second Amendment Wall Street Journal by Colin Levey

"This week, two unlikely judges shared a small moment of justice on behalf of the Second Amendment.... Why are these judicial straws in the wind significant? They mark a trend that began to emerge last year. As Americans have begun to think differently about their personal safety, courts have begun looking at the gun question in a more sober light." (01/29/03)

http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/clevey/?id=110002984


Commentary My unfriendly skies Strike the Root by Joe Bommarito

"Here are the real threats to aviation. More people are driving instead of flying. More businesses are teleconferencing in lieu of travel. More people are staying home. Fewer airliners are flying. The failure is occurring on an industry-wide basis, with a few notable exceptions, and largely because people don't want to be treated like dirt. Businesses whose customers are treated like dirt, even by third parties, will fail." (01/29/03)

http://www.strike-the-root.com/columns/bommarito/bommarito15.html

Commentary The triumph of equality Strike the Root by George Smith

"Greed was out, cooperation was in. Achievement was out, sensitivity was in. Prosperity was out, sustenance survival was in. We were no longer the target of envy. Mediocrity, like the state, was everywhere. Government had finally realized mankind's ultimate dream: equality." (01/30/03)

http://www.strike-the-root.com/columns/Smith/smith38.html

Commentary 9-Digit 'Social' overused as ID Wired by Joanne Glasner

"These days, Social Security participants may be called upon to display the nine-digit numbers for tasks as routine as punching a timecard, checking out library books, looking up a test score or eating at the company cafeteria. Faced with growing pressure from constituents concerned about the risks of identity theft, lawmakers are contemplating ways to curtail use of Social Security numbers for purposes other than taxpayer identification. .... Steve Allen, who had his identity stolen and now works as a volunteer for the Identity Theft Resource Center, said 'The Social Security number is so abused in today's world that it's a very, very poor way to identify anyone.They need to come up with some other way.'" (01/29/03)

http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,57395,00.html

Commentary Union knows its state: lousy The Nation by Robert Scheer

"Let me tell you about the state of the union: It's lousy. The only real question is whether the President doesn't know it or just doesn't care. You also have to wonder why the Democrats offer only token opposition to an Administration run amok. And you might also be curious as to why the mass media have allowed this 'what, me worry?' President to charm his way through the worst humbling of the U.S. economy since the Depression." (01/28/03)

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20030210&s=scheer20030128

News Constitutional right to hunt and fish will be up to voters Milwauke Journal

"Wisconsin voters will decide April 1 whether to change the state constitution to guarantee people the right to hunt, fish and trap after the Legislature on Tuesday paved the way for the spring referendum ... If approved by voters, the amendment giving people 'the right to fish, hunt, trap and take game subject only to reasonable restrictions as prescribed by law' would be inserted into the constitution's Declaration of Rights. It would be the first addition to that declaration since 1997, when state voters approved an amendment guaranteeing the right to keep and bear arms." (01/29/03)

http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/jan03/114184.asp


News Web site critical of Lincoln statue shut down by Tripod Virginia Pilot

"An anonymous Web site dedicated to airing allegations of fraud against the underwriters of a statue of Abraham Lincoln was shut down Wednesday after the statue's sponsors complained. The Web site, hosted by Internet service Tripod.com, had accused the U.S. Historical Society, its chairman, Robert H. Kline, and its president, Martin J. Moran, of illegally misleading state and federal officials and the public about the society's nonprofit status." (01/29/03)

http://www.pilotonline.com/breaking/br0129lin.html

Commentary The empire strikes back Village Voice by Ian Urbina

"This Saturday, more than a thousand of America's top military and government leaders and their guests are scheduled to gather at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C., for a secretive tribal rite called the 103rd Annual Wallow of the Military Order of the Carabao. And they won't be singing 'Kumbaya.' In fact, on what these days feels like the eve of war, nothing says 'imperialism' better than the annual Wallow, which celebrates the bloody conquest of the nascent Philippine Republic a century ago in the aftermath of the Spanish-American War." (01/31/03)

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0305/urbina.php

Commentary Dear George Bush: Thanks for the police state Prison Planet by Ed Lorentz

"Two years ago, at the National Republican Convention, GW Bush stated 'Big Government is Not the Answer'. If it isn’t the answer then why on earth have our president and our equally corrupt Congress and Senate foisted on us the biggest and not coincidentally, most intrusive government ever in the history of the United States? The price tag for Bushes Police State is going to cost us, the victims, approximately 2.1 Trillion dollars (US dollars to boot!) The most galling part is that we will be forced to pay for the slave chains we will wear." (01/30/03)

http://www.prisonplanet.com/analysis_lorentz_013003_thanks.html

News UK cash crisis forces halt to rail projects Independent

"The cash crisis on the railways led to a scaling back of some major projects today and the delay of others. One of the schemes affected is the upgrade to the London to Scotland East Coast Main Line, which will now be smaller in scope, with train frequency improvement plans 'subject to affordability'". (01/30/03)

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/transport/story.jsp?story=374073

News Fire strike may be banned by emergency law if war begins Independent

"Firefighters would be banned from striking as soon as any military action began against Iraq under draconian new plans being considered by the Government. Lord Goldsmith, the Attorney General, is expected to conclude a war constitutes a 'material change in circumstances', allowing him to seek an injunction halting action. An outright ban on industrial action is one of the 'nuclear' options open to ministers if the dispute drags on." (01/30/03)

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=373937

News Koreans accused of buying peace - and Nobel Prize
Sydney Morning Herald

"South Korean investigators have found that almost $400 million of government funds secretly flowed to North Korea, fuelling claims the Stalinist state was bribed to take part in the historic 2000 summit between the two Koreas .... The summit was the high-point of the Sunshine Policy of engagement with the North pioneered by President Kim Dae-jung, and played a part in the 2002 Nobel Peace prize he was awarded." (01/31/03)

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/01/30/1043804466580.html

News Israeli pets get chemical safety kits Yahoo/Reuters

"Israelis bracing for possible Iraqi chemical or biological attacks can take comfort in the knowledge that their pets will be safe. Supergum, a private manufacturer of nuclear, biological and chemical protective gear, has developed a kit for animals, which the company says is the first of its kind." (01/30/03)

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=857&ncid=757&e=10&u=/nm/20030130/od_uk_nm/oukoe_odd_pets

Commentary Uh, Mr. President, just what is this Medicare plan of yours? Capitol Hill Blue by staff

"Memo to President Bush. When both Republicans and Democrats don't understand your Medicare plan, it may need some medical attention. Bush ran into GOP and Democratic resistance to his Medicare reform proposal Wednesday, with even White House allies saying they were confused about what the president intended to propose and a key Republican pledging to block the plan." (01/29/03)

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_1645.shtml


Commentary Bush’s new antiterror database plan MSNBC/CNet by Declan McCullagh

"Bush used his State of the Union address to announce the Terrorist Threat Integration Center (TTIC), a mammoth data-collection project intended to fuse information collected domestically by police and internationally by spy agencies .... The White House offered few details about how TTIC will evolve, but critics of an existing data-mining program under development by the U.S. government were quick to draw comparisons to the controversial Total Information Awareness (TIA) project." (01/29/03)


http://www.msnbc.com/news/866064.asp?0cv=CB20

Commentary Another sad week for federalism Strike the Root by John Bottoms

"The consequences of the death of federalism, which posits that the dangers of raw political power are best limited by spreading it thinly among competing groups, were starkly apparent in several recent power-grabs by our central government in Washington." (01/28/03)

http://www.strike-the-root.com/columns/Bottoms/bottoms30.html


Commentary American Taliban Strike the Root by Daniel Patrick Welch

"The main lesson of Vietnam for the war complex seems to be that keeping American casualties low gives a green light for action. The result has been an enormous increase in the disproportionality of deaths in later conflicts bordering on madness." (01/28/03)

http://www.strike-the-root.com/columns/welch/welch1.html

Commentary The state of the Union or the state of big government? Too Good Reports by Chuck Baldwin

"As we approach another State of the Union speech, we need to remind ourselves that before becoming President of the United States, G. W. Bush declared, 'Big government is not the answer.' However, since taking the oath of office, the growth of the federal government has exploded in ways never seen before." (01/28/03)

http://www.toogoodreports.com/column/general/baldwin/20030128.htm

Commentary In the arms of the State Laissez Faire Times by Russell Madden

"There are any number of transgressions someone might commit that would not induce me to shed tears if the perpetrator were to die while in the custody of the State: Murder. Rape. Serious assault. Imagine for a moment, however, what we should think about an older person who is imprisoned for a nonviolent federal offense; who spends a number of years behind bars; and whose life ends with his 'debt to society' yet unpaid." (01/30/03)

http://freedom.orlingrabbe.com/lfetimes/arms_tax_state.htm

Commentary Affirmative action or racism Jewish World Review by Walter Williams

"For black politicians, civil rights organizations and white liberals to support the racist practices of the University of Michigan amounts to no less than a gross betrayal of the civil rights principles of our historic struggle from slavery to the final guarantee of constitutional rights to all Americans. Indeed, it was practices like those of the University of Michigan, but against blacks, that were the focal point of much of the civil rights movement." (01/29/03)

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/williams.html

Commentary How will Iraq strike back? The American Conservative by Richard K. Betts

"Most Americans take for granted that if the war proves bloodier than the optimists expect, the price will be paid by the military or people in the region. If an invasion succeeds, however, Saddam Hussein will have no reason to withhold his best parting shot -- which could be the release of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) inside the United States. Such a counterattack against civilians could make the death toll of Sept. 11 look small. Washington has done little to prepare the country for this possibility." (01/27/03)

http://www.amconmag.com/01_27_03/cover.html


News Cable Co. rejects anti-war ads Tampa Tribune

"Comcast cable television company rejected ads that an anti-war group wanted to air during President Bush's State of the Union speech, saying they included unsubstantiated claims." (01/28/03)

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGAYLRIJIBD.html

News Patient's patience earns Guinness record Ananova

"An NHS patient has become the holder of the new world record for the longest wait on a hospital trolley. Tony Collins spent 77 hours and 30 minutes waiting for treatment. He said he did not know whether to laugh or cry: 'Unfortunately, it will probably be the sort of record that gets broken every day in the NHS.'" (01/29/03)

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_744839.html?menu=news.quirkies

Commentary Two courtroom wins for the Second Amendment Wall Street Journal by Colin Levey

"This week, two unlikely judges shared a small moment of justice on behalf of the Second Amendment.... Why are these judicial straws in the wind significant? They mark a trend that began to emerge last year. As Americans have begun to think differently about their personal safety, courts have begun looking at the gun question in a more sober light." (01/29/03)

http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/clevey/?id=110002984

News Homeland Security Dept. issues secrecy rules Frederal Register

"This interim final rule implements Executive Order 12958, entitled 'Classified National Security Information,' as amended, by establishing the initial elements of the Department of Homeland Security's classified national security information regulations." (01/27/03)

News Group takes new approach to organ donation Channel 9 News

"A grass-roots group out of Nashville says it can save your life. Lifesharers is a non-profit organ donation group, with a controversial caveat. Lifesharers gives 'first dibs' to its members who've agreed to donate. Organizers say its an innovative way to fight organ shortages. But established donor groups raise one ethical objection." (01/28/03)

http://www.newschannel9.com/vnews//1043796726/?keywords=lifesharers

News Gays and lesbians to be counted by census Ottawa Citizen

"The federal agency is asking Canadians to declare their sexual orientation in a national survey, building on the last census, which for the first time asked how many common-law couples were of the same gender. 'This is a touchy subject that could raise fears in individuals about their private lives,' acknowledged Pierre Turcotte, Statistics Canada's chief of social reporting. " (01/29/03)

http://www.canada.com/toronto/news/story.asp?id=26C6678B-FAA1-49CB-A3DE-C22565E83B0D

News Teen fights ban of pot project MAPINC/Mercury News

"A Belmont teenager refused to back down Tuesday on her fight to get her project on medicinal marijuana entered in the school science fair this week. The Belmont Redwood Shores School District offered a written apology for waiting so long to ban her project and full credit for her work. But 13-year-old Veronica Mouser would have none of it.' I don't agree with them at all,' she said. 'It seems like bribery to me. They just want to give me the letter of apology and a grade, so this won't get out and so they can keep it closed out.'" (01/29/03)

http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n144/a08.html?397

News British MPs call for ban on spanking Independent

"MPs led renewed calls for the Government to impose a full ban on smacking yesterday, warning that loopholes in the law were allowing child abusers to escape justice .... Britain was chastised by the United Nations last year for failing to introduce a ban on smacking. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child criticised the Government for 'taking no significant action' to introduce a ban and criticised its failure to modernise English law, which is based on a statute from 1860 allowing 'reasonable chastisement' of children." (01/28/03)

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=373341


News Vegetarians sink their teeth into settlement
Chicago Sun Times

"Vegetarians packed a courtroom Monday at the Daley Center to show their outrage about groups that might share in a $10 million settlement by McDonald's Corp.The fast-food chain agreed to the settlement after it apologized for misrepresenting animal-fat content in its french fries and hash browns.Six of the case's seven original plaintiffs are protesting some of the groups scheduled to share in the $10 million because they claim the groups violate the vegetarian and Hindu values the settlement was meant to honor." (01/28/03)

http://www.suntimes.com/output/business/cst-fin-mac28.html


News Sentence upheld for killing unborn baby with cocaine CantonRep.com

"The [S.C.]state Supreme Court upheld the conviction of a woman accused of killing her fetus by taking crack cocaine. The court ruled Monday that Regina McKnight’s 12-year sentence was not too harsh because she should have known taking cocaine could result in a stillbirth. McKnight was convicted under South Carolina’s homicide by child abuse law." (01/28/03)

http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?Category=23&ID=82365&r=2


News 'Clean Urine' bill passes Yahoo/Reuters

"Something smells funny in the Arkansas drug-testing business, and a state legislator thinks it might be the urine. Jay Martin, a freshman state representative, won passage through the Arkansas House of Representatives last week of his measure that will make it illegal to sell or use urine to falsify a drug or alcohol screening test ... [there was] only one dissenting vote, which came from a lawmaker who complained the bill was an invasion of privacy." (01/28/03)

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=573&ncid=757&e=1&u=/nm/20030128/od_nm/odd_urine_dc

News Battle set over firearms in schools Salt Lake Tribune

"Utah's concealed-weapon permit holders will be free to carry guns into public schools if a state senator has his way. Senate Majority Leader Michael Waddoups, R-Taylorsville, is sponsoring a bill at the behest of the Statewide Prosecutors Association that he says will 'clean up' two muddy statutes on concealed weapons. But the measure has rekindled a controversy in Utah over whether legally concealed weapons have a place on Utah school grounds." (01/28/03)

http://www.sltrib.com/2003/Jan/01282003/utah/24071.asp

News Suspect accused of gunrunning Orlando Sentinel

"Reports of men buying enough assault rifles to storm a police station led local deputies and federal agents late Friday to a man they suspect of gunrunning from Puerto Rico. The man said he is a novice gun collector, but gunshop records linked him to purchase orders for 42 of the same model gun." (01/28/03)

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orl-locgunarrest28012803jan28,0,5482148.story?coll=orl%2Dhome%2Dheadlines



Commentary The Bushopranos Village Voice by Ward Sutton

Cartoon: First family redefined.

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0305/sutton.php


Commentary Bad economy good Laissez Faire Times by Russell Madden

"Aaiiieee! Run for the hills! Dive into your bomb shelters! Tremble under your beds! Yes. The worst of all possible worlds is nigh at hand. A few citizens, i.e., the ones who pay the bulk of federal and state taxes are shirking their duty and not paying enough taxes! The lazy, rich bastards!" (01/27/03)

http://freedom.orlingrabbe.com/lfetimes/bad_economy.htm


Commentary War as entertainment Counter Punch by Pierre Tristam

"Most Americans know war as an entertainment on par with the thrills of a Jerry Burkheimer flick or the artificial mush of "Saving Private Ryan." Whether or not GIs are involved in a war somewhere around the globe, cities may be razed, whole populations decimated, American bodies may be dragged down a bedraggled street. But as long as the mall keeps its regular hours and cheap gas is keeping the SUV happy, the off-shore mayhem is all part of the day's mass of information ... None of it is real." (01/28/03)

http://www.counterpunch.org/tristam01282003.html


Commentary Expelled, and it wasn't even a real phaser
Independence Institute by Jon Caldara

"Meet 13-year-old Mitch Muller ... Mitch is a good kid. He works hard for his grades in his seventh-grade classes. He's not what you'd call a discipline problem. But in today's zero-tolerance world of public education, Mitch is a danger." (01/26/03)

http://www.i2i.org/Caldara/camera/2003/012603.htm

Commentary Does Tony Blair have any idea what the flies are like that feed off the dead? Arab News by Robert Fisk

"George Bush and Tony Blair and Dick Cheney and Jack Straw and all the other little warriors who are bamboozling us into war will not have to think of these vile images. For them it’s about surgical strikes, collateral damage and all the other examples of war’s linguistic mendacity. We are going to have a just war; we are going to liberate the people of Iraq -- some of whom we will obviously kill -- and we are going to give them democracy and protect their oil wealth and stage war crimes trials and we are going to be ever so moral, and we are going to watch our defense 'experts' on TV with their bloodless sandpits and their awesome knowledge of weapons which rip off heads." (01/26/03)

http://www.arabnews.com/Article.asp?ID=22242


Commentary Law and liberty in America Strike the Root by Jacob Halbrooks

"The United States of America was born, not so that one privileged class could better rule over other people, but in order that people could be free of such unjust government control. Unfortunately, the spirit of the revolution was never brought to its logical end and has thus waned in America , to the point that now the list of grievances in the Declaration of Independence pales in comparison to the tyranny people face today." (01/28/03)

http://www.strike-the-root.com/columns/Halbrooks/halbrooks13.html

News Surreal torture in modern art cells Sydney Morning Herald

"A Spanish art historian has uncovered what was alleged to be the first use of modern art as a deliberate form of torture, with the discovery that mind-bending prison cells were built by anarchist artists 65 years ago during the country's bloody civil war... Most were the work of an enthusiastic French anarchist, Alphonse Laurencic, who invented a form of "psychotechnic" torture, according to the research of the historian Jose Milicua." (01/28/03)

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/01/27/1043534004548.html

News Gun co. wins teacher slaying ruling Las Vegas Sun

"A judge threw out a $1.2 million verdict Monday
against the company that distributed the gun 13-year-old Nathaniel Brazill used to kill his teacher 2 1/2 years ago. Circuit Judge Jorge Labarga ruled that the Nov. 14 award for the teacher's widow was inconsistent because the jury also determined the gun used to kill
Lake Worth Middle School teacher Barry Grunow was not defective." (01/27/03)

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nat-gen/2003/jan/27/012701663.html

News Computer game sparks gay backlash Yahoo News

"A computer game made in the United States that lets players shoot different types of people, including gays, has been labeled a dangerous homophobic toy by some.
An earlier version of the game has already been banned in Australia, and a Dutch gay rights activist is attempting to have the government ensure it does not wind up on store shelves in the Netherlands. 'Postal 2' is scheduled to go on sale in March." (01/24/03)

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=101&ncid=101&e=1&u=/po/20030125/co_po/computer_game_sparks_gay_backlash

News Dixie Conference to drop its name after 40 years
Roanoke Times

"The 40-year-old Dixie Conference is changing its name to avoid any negative connotations of the word 'Dixie.' 'Primarily it's due to sensitivity to ethnic groups and just making sure that 'Dixie' name is not offensive to anyone,' Ferrum athletic director Ted Kinder said. 'Although it hasn't been widespread, there does seem to be a negative association with 'Dixie,' and if it's offensive to anyone, the conference has decided it's probably best to change the name.'" (01/26/03)

http://www.roanoke.com/roatimes/news/story143516.html

News Showering Iraq with propaganda Capitol Hill Blue

"In this era of cruise missiles and satellite-guided bombs, the United States has turned to a 200-year-old war tactic -- airborne propaganda -- as it prepares for combat with Iraq. Since December, U.S. warplanes have dropped more than 2.4 million printed leaflets across Iraq in fluttering salvos of persuasion aimed at Iraqi soldiers and civilians. Written in Arabic, many of the fliers tout where to tune in, and when, to hear U.S. radio broadcasts to Iraqis that bash Saddam Hussein and explain why America may go to war against him." (01/26/03)

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_1620.shtml


Commentary Guns in Britain despite ban National Post by Theodore Dalrymple

"When ... a crazed gunman in Scotland massacred 15 children and their teacher at the junior school in Dunblane in 1996, the British government enacted gun control legislation in response to the natural public emotion and revulsion against this terrible act. Well, the evidence concerning gun control is unequivocal and conclusive: It hasn't worked, just as its critics always said it wouldn't. The reason for this is obvious: law-abiding people don't use guns to commit crimes, while criminals are not likely to take any notice of licensing restrictions and regulations." (01/24/03)

http://www.nationalpost.com/commentary/story.html?id={A3FA0B41-2E74-46E7-9DFA-39BC9480A047}


Commentary Fighting for freedom while losing our freedom CNS News by AlaN cARUBA

"There is a terrible irony that Americans are getting ready to liberate Iraqis from the despotic control of Saddam Hussein at the same time we continue to lose many of the freedoms we take for granted." (01/27/03)

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCommentary.asp?Page=\Commentary\archive\200301\COM20030127e.html


News 'Margarine' boost for diesel cars Ananova

"A supermarket chain is to begin selling a new fuel for cars which uses the same ingredient as some salad dressings and margarines. Sainsbury's claim GlobalDiesel is less harmful to the environment and can improve a car's fuel economy." (01/27/03)

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_744119.html?menu=news.quirkies

Commentary Six books Strike the Root by Glen Allport

"At first glance these six may seem odd choices, but each has something important to say about the nature of the human world. Taken together they represent an unusual but compelling thesis: First, that freedom and emotional health are not merely linked, but in the long term require each other, and second, that 'sensitive dependence on early conditions' is as true of humans as it is of any other complex system. These six do one thing more: They introduce perceptions of reality so different from the norm as to astonish, delight, shock, and sometimes horrify. Every one of these books demolishes entrenched assumptions. The world may never look the same after you’ve read them." (01/27/03)

http://www.strike-the-root.com/columns/allport/allport3.html

Commentary Books I recommend Strike the Root by Wally Conger

"I refuse to recommend the obvious libertarian 'classics.' You already know about them. So .... " (01/27/03)

http://www.strike-the-root.com/columns/Conger/conger6.html


Commentary The wartime deceptions: Saddam is Hitler and it's not about oil Independent by Robert Fisk

"[A]re we prepared to pay the price of so promiscuous a war? Arabs who admire Saddam -- and there are plenty in Jordan -- believe Iraq cannot hold out for more than a week. Some are convinced the US 3rd Infantry Division will be in Baghdad in three days, the British with them. It's a fair bet that hundreds, if not thousands, of Iraqis will die. But in the civil unrest that follows, what are we going to do? Are American and British troops to defend the homes of Baath party officials whom the mobs want to hang?" (01/27/03)

http://argument.independent.co.uk/commentators/story.jsp?story=373102

Commentary New economy wistfully recalled The Onion by staff

"Like thousands of other dot-com promotional doodads produced from the mid-'90s until the New Economy bubble burst in the winter of 2000-01, the object was created as a means of "raising awareness and generating excitement about the brand." Handed out by the thousands at antHead.com's extravagant launch party in July 1999, it soon found its way into Noyce's bedroom junk drawer, along with numerous other equally functionless giveaways from the time, including a FilmZone.com miniature director's chair, a Boo.com yo-yo, and a Kozmo.com glow-in-the-dark floppy flyer." (01/22/03)

http://www.theonion.com/onion3902/new_economy.html

Commentary America, from ally to 'World's Biggest Terrorist State' Village Voice by Raffi Khatchadourian

"Under the watchful gaze of police in riot gear, roughly 1500 antiwar protesters marched in zigzag formation across central Ankara on Saturday, chanting 'No war!' and carrying signs that denounced 'American aggression' and labeled the United States a terrorist state." (01/25/03)

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0305/khatchadourian.php

5 c

Commentary Selling a war no one wants Counter Punch by Jason Leopold

"To sell a war on Iraq to the public, Bush and his cronies have turned the White House into a propaganda machine. This week, the new office of Global Communications issued the report 'Apparatus of Lies,' which attempts to make a case for war by showing the world how Saddam Hussein murdered his own people during the Gulf War, destroyed his country's infrastructure and has a long history of lying and deceit." (01/24/03)

http://www.counterpunch.org/leopold01242003.html

Commentary Liberty's court of last resort Village Voice by Nat Hentoff

"According to the Bush administration, an American citizen can be held indefinitely, incommunicado, on its say-so that the government's facts are actually factual. This is due process? This is America? Yet the Fourth Circuit stated in the same decision that stripping any citizen of his or her constitutional protections 'is not a step that any court would casually take.'" (01/24/03)

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0305/hentoff.php

Commentary Impeach the President Laissez Faire Times by T. E. Ruppenthal

"After painful consideration, I have decided it is time to bring out my Impeach the President placard, dust it off and display it yet again. It has been an oft-used sign, first waved during the LBJ regime and utilized for every president since. Now it is time to confront this latest in our long line of executive branch losers." (01/27/03)

http://freedom.orlingrabbe.com/lfetimes/impeach_president.htm

News British letter asks criminals to behave Excite/AP

"On Friday morning, 22 men and women in Wiltshire county, southern England, received personal letters from Inspector Geoff Miles telling them they have a choice -- get back on the straight and narrow or be targeted by police. The letters were hand delivered to a group of repeat offenders who have been convicted of offenses including burglary, violence and drug and alcohol-related crime." (01/24/03)

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20030124/D7OOOKR00.html

News DoD offering admin privileges on .mil Web sites
The Register

"Care to register a .mil Web site of your own for free? The DoD has gone out of its way to make it a snap. An unbelievably badly-protected admin interface welcomes you to register whatever domain you please (http://Rotten.mil anyone?), or edit anything they've already got." (01/24/03)

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/29026.html

News US tightens security rules for aviation workers Yahoo News

"U.S. regulators issued a rule on Friday giving them the authority to immediately revoke, suspend or deny licenses to pilots or professional credentials to other aviation workers deemed a security risk by the government. The rule ... was issued without prior public notice or comment and took effect immediately. " (01/24/03)

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030125/ts_nm/attack_pilots_dc_1

Commentary Are we itching for war or just really stupid?
Seattle Times by Chuck Sigars

"So, not only do a majority of Americans think Saddam and Osama are in cahoots, but a vast majority thinks that either there were Iraqis in the planes used on 9/11 or don't know that there weren't. Are we ready for a war or what?" (01/24/03)

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorialsopinion/134620660_sigars24.html

News County in Colorado debates guns at work CNN

"Under the proposal, all 1,300 county employees, from janitors to the county manager, would be permitted to carry concealed weapons if they have permits and inform their supervisors in advance. It would not apply to
courts, which are governed by state laws prohibiting guns in courthouses." (01/25/03)

http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/Central/01/25/guns.to.work.ap/index.html


News Comment on Federal regulations online PC World

"A one-stop online shop has opened for citizens who want to research and comment on any of the thousands of regulatory actions considered yearly by the federal government. The Bush administration has launched http://www.Regulations.gov, a Web site designed to streamline and increase public participation in the federal regulatory process." (01/23/03)

http://pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,108932,00.asp

Commentary If you're not Atlas, are you still allowed to shrug? The Libertarian Enterprise by Joel Simon

"One of the things I fear is my tendency to knuckle under rather than stand up to intimidation or pressure. Someday I'll have to unambiguously fight or crawl, and I'm terribly afraid that I'll crawl. That would end any reason for life I might ever have had. I fear it.
I can't afford to turn down work for principle. I'm getting big in the belly and gray in the beard. I've got child support payments. I've got credit card companies mad at me .... For just a moment I tried to work out how to shave without a mirror for the rest of my life. And then I told him no." (01/27/03)

http://www.webleyweb.com/tle/libe208-20030127-04.html


Commentary On the backs of children Las Vegas Review Journal by staff

"Republican Gov. Kenny Guinn now proposes $1 billion in new taxes and fees -- higher taxes on cigarettes, alcohol, real property and employees; new taxes on movie tickets, VCR rentals, and admission to baseball, football and basketball games; indirect levies on virtually every retail product available. He is doing this because -- according to his Jan. 20 State of the State speech -- he refuses 'to balance the budget on the backs of our children, senior citizens and the poor.'" (01/26/03)

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2003/Jan-26-Sun-2003/opinion/20541369.html


News Under-nine football team's logo is 'violent and offensive' Ananova

"A children's football team have been ordered to change their logo because their local football association says it's violent and offensive. Sedgley Scorpions' under-nines have a badge saying 'Stuffem, tankem, 'ammerem', which is a well-known expression in the West Midlands." (01/25/03)

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_743416.html?menu=news.quirkies

News Woman freed in shooting case Bay Area News

"Police have released a San Ramon woman who said she shot her boyfriend in self-defense. [She said her boyfriend] had been holding her inside the house against her will. She told police that he taunted her with a gun before handing it to her, egging her on and daring her to shoot it .... When officers arrived, they found the boyfriend dead from a gunshot wound." (01/24/03)

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/5021594.htm