Commentary Toppling bad regimes needs no apologies Gulf News by Amir Taheri

"In the Second World War the German army won more battles than their British, Russian and American adversaries. German generals such as von Papen and Von Rundstedt achieved battleground victories that would have made Cyrus or Alexander proud. But Germany lost the war, nonetheless. The reason was that its leaders ignored one fact: war is an instrument of politics, not the other way round, a fact spelled out by Aristotle over 2000 years ago." (02/12/03)
http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/opinion.asp?ArticleID=77116

Commentary Fake terror alerts Strike the Root by John Kaminski

"How stupid do they think we are? Only hours after our much-praised Secretary of State is revealed to have been using material plagiarized from a college student to justify why we're going to kill thousands of people with bombs, our government issues a terror alert and expects us to believe it? And how stupid are we? We believe it." (02/10/03)

http://www.strike-the-root.com/3/kaminski/kaminski1.html


Commentary Total police state takeover InfoWars by Alex Jones

"Upon reading S. 22, it is clear that the leadership of the Senate is fully aware of the Patriot Act II, and have passed these riders out of their committees into the full bill .... The second Patriot Act dwarfs all police state legislation in modern world history .... Bill Allison, Managing Editor of the Center for Public Integrity, the group that broke this story, stated on my radio show that it was obvious that they were just waiting for another terrorist attack to opportunistically get this new bill through." (02/10/03)

http://www.infowars.com/print_patriotact2_analysis.htm

Commentary The shuttle's secret military mission Laissez Faire Times by Yoichi Clark Shimatsu

"Astronaut Ilan Ramon spied on Iraq with a multispectral camera. Were spectral emissions from the shuttle powered by americium-242?" (02/13/03)

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


Commentary Every passenger a terrorist Strike the Root by Mike Powers

"Why do you need to X-ray my shoes?" I naively asked. 'Ever since that man boarded a plane with explosives in his shoes, we have been screening shoes.' 'Oh!' I gleefully replied. 'It's a good thing he didn't hide them in his underwear!'" (02/12/03)

http://www.strike-the-root.com/3/powers/powers1.html


Commentary Bush's war on the soul of America Counter Punch by Wayne Masden

Anyone who closely examines Patriot II will realize that the document represents the same sort of power grab by Hitler after the Reichstag Fire of 1933.... Like the Reichstag Fire Decree, there is nothing really temporary with either Patriot I or II.... It is also important to point out that much of what is contained in Patriot II is not aimed at effectively defending the United States against terrorists, but at curtailing the freedoms of the American people." (02/11/03)

http://www.counterpunch.org/madsen02112003.html


Commentary These voters, you can't trust them Independence Institute by Jon Caldara

"Colorado's voter initiatives have handcuffed that state's ability to raise necessary revenues. That was the finding from a report in Governing magazine, a publication for bureaucrats, written by bureaucrats....
The report entitled, 'The Way We Tax' looked at all 50 states to see which had the best and worst systems for taking away your money. It wasn't a big surprise they put Colorado near the bottom of their list. They said that our Taxpayer's Bill of Rights -- commonly called TABOR -- has 'strangled lawmakers' ability to raise taxes.'" (02/09/03)

http://www.i2i.org/Caldara/camera/2003/020903.htm

Commentary Don't fence them in Village Voice by Sarah Ferguson

"The mayor and the police chief and the attorney general may not like it, but the masses are about to take to the streets of New York. Despite the Bloomberg administration's unprecedented refusal to allow protesters to march in the city, peace activists insist that hundreds of thousands of people will assemble within sight of the United Nations on Saturday, urging the Security Council to pursue further weapons inspections in Iraq, not war .... The New York event was supposed to include a walk past the UN. But pressed by the U.S. Justice Department, which filed a friend of the court brief, a federal judge ruled the city could deny the necessary permit because a march of such scale would pose an unacceptable security risk." (02/12/03)

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0307/ferguson.php


Commentary Schools get dunce for self esteem Strike the Root by George Smith

"We need to wake up to the fact that no one can give us self-esteem. The responsibility for sustaining it lies with each of us alone. If we fail to understand this principle, we tend to look for self-esteem where it can't be found, as many school teachers are doing." (02/11/03)

http://www.strike-the-root.com/3/smith/smith1.html


Commentary Ashcroft's spy plans CNet by Declan McCullough

"The FBI and state police would be able to eavesdrop on what Web sites you visit, what you search for with Google and with whom you chat through e-mail and instant messaging -- all without a court order for up to 48 hours. That's if you're suspected of what would become a new offense of 'activities threatening the national security interest.'" (02/10/03)

http://news.com.com/2010-1071-983921.html


Commentary Analysis of Patriot II Security Focus by Kevin Poulsen

"A sweeping new anti-terrorism bill drafted by the Justice Department would dramatically increase government electronic surveillance and data collection abilities, and impose the first-ever federal criminal penalties for using encryption in the U.S." (02/07/03)

http://online.securityfocus.com/news/2296


Commentary De-minding our young Fredoneverything by Fred Reed

"A peasantrified population is, among other things, politically malleable. A bright child of seven who reads turns into a kid of eighteen who thinks, at least during moments of hormonal respite; who graduates to serious history and literature and, when lied to, will go to the library and check out a book. Those who live for television will believe what they are told, having no inkling that they are being bamboozled. Is this intended, or just incidental to the larger aims of our cultural vandals?" (02/10/03)

http://www.fredoneverything.net/Alice.shtml



Commentary Reefer madness MAPINC/Baltimore Sun by staff

"Attorney General John Ashcroft's cruel crusade against the medical use of marijuana backfired last week. In an extraordinary display that should thoroughly discredit the endeavor, federal jurors in California held a press conference to apologize to the man they had just convicted of cultivating pot -- an offense with a mandatory five-year prison sentence. Jurors were outraged to discover after the trial that the defendant, Ed Rosenthal, was growing medical cannabis for the city of Oakland for use by critically ill patients under California's medical marijuana law." (02/09/03)

http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n225/a01.html?397


Commentary Powell doesn't know who he is up against
Guardian by Jason Burke

"Desperately trying to paint all Muslim militants as 'al-Qaeda' is wrong and counter-productive. Eliminating one man, or one group, will not make much difference. Nor will concocting spurious links between very different threats. If Powell believes his own rhetoric then he has simply not understood the nature of his enemy." (02/09/03)

http://www.observer.co.uk/worldview/story/0,11581,891962,00.html



News Grandmother faces deportation after 54 years in the UK Ananova

"A grandmother who has lived in Britain for 54 years has been told by the Home Office that she will be deported because she is considered American.... Last Friday she received a letter from the Home Office telling her to leave the country within ten days because she could not prove she had lived here for 14 years." (02/11/03)

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_749749.html?menu=news.latestheadlines

News Coffee company brews up cash for gay charities Salt Lake Tribune

"The name -- GayCoffees -- seems certain to cause some controversy. So do some of the slogans and promotions attached to the company's custom-roasted blends. After all, when was the last time you walked down the supermarket aisle and saw a bag of Fetish Beans, complete with the flag of the leather pride movement?" (02/09/03)

http://www.sltrib.com/2003/Feb/02092003/sunday/27025.asp

News Gun control: Schools ban even the word Ottawa Citizen

"The word gun was banned from spelling tests in one school only and not across the Upper Canada District School Board, board officials said Tuesday ... the word was removed from Grade 1 spelling lists at Lombardy Public School where a complaint originated from a parent, not from all schools as had been widely reported." (02/11/03)

http://canada.com/national/story.asp?id=%7BDE06E5E3-685B-4751-841C-FAB8B263AADD%7D

News First Nations' firearms licences CBC News

"A B.C. First Nation will start issuing its own firearms licences later this week, in a direct challenge to Ottawa's firearms' registry. The Tsilhquot'in Nation says it will issue the new licences instead of the legally-required federal licences ... many people on the reserves are worried their guns will be taken away from them, if they register with the federal government." (02/11/03)

http://vancouver.cbc.ca/template/servlet/View?filename=bc_licences20030210


News Generic drug maker wins a big one Law.com/The National Law Journal

"Generic drug makers are gaining legal ground on the large pharmaceutical companies in their battle over billion-dollar drugs .... The latest shot in this battle came out of the courts on Jan. 16 when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit threw out, on a summary judgment motion, a common legal ploy used by brand-name companies against their generic competitors: In the past, after a drug's patent had expired, the manufacturer would acquire a new patent for the drug based on the drug's unapproved use to treat a medical condition. This new patent would be used to forestall generic manufacture of the drug." (02/11/03)

http://www.law.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/View&c=LawArticle&cid=1044059453543&t=LawArticleIP

News Can't you read the sign? Well, no, as a matter of fact Sydney Morning Herald

"Councils with large migrant populations are moving to ban foreign languages on shopfront signs unless they are accompanied by an English translation. Businesses failing to comply could face legal action under the draft policy, which says 'all advertising and signage shall be displayed in English but may include a translation in another language'." (02/12/03)

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/02/11/1044927601229.html

News Famous hacker suffers break-ins to own corporate Web site Security Focus/AP

"The world's best-known computer hacker suffered the indignity of having someone break into his new security consulting company's Web site .... A hacker calling himself 'BugBear' added one page to Mitnick's corporate Web site on Jan. 30 with a message, 'Welcome back to freedom, Mr. Kevin,' and added that "it was fun and easy to break into your box.'" (02/10/03)

http://online.securityfocus.com/news/2326

Commentary Don't fence them in Village Voice by Sarah Ferguson

"The mayor and the police chief and the attorney general may not like it, but the masses are about to take to the streets of New York. Despite the Bloomberg administration's unprecedented refusal to allow protesters to march in the city, peace activists insist that hundreds of thousands of people will assemble within sight of the United Nations on Saturday, urging the Security Council to pursue further weapons inspections in Iraq, not war .... The New York event was supposed to include a walk past the UN. But pressed by the U.S. Justice Department, which filed a friend of the court brief, a federal judge ruled the city could deny the necessary permit because a march of such scale would pose an unacceptable security risk." (02/12/03)

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0307/ferguson.php

Commentary Schools get dunce for self esteem Strike the Root by George Smith

""We need to wake up to the fact that no one can give us self-esteem. The responsibility for sustaining it lies with each of us alone. If we fail to understand this principle, we tend to look for self-esteem where it can't be found, as many school teachers are doing." (02/11/03)

http://www.strike-the-root.com/3/smith/smith1.html

Commentary Ashcroft's spy plans CNet by Declan McCullough

"The FBI and state police would be able to eavesdrop on what Web sites you visit, what you search for with Google and with whom you chat through e-mail and instant messaging -- all without a court order for up to 48 hours. That's if you're suspected of what would become a new offense of 'activities threatening the national security interest.'" (02/10/03)

http://news.com.com/2010-1071-983921.html

Commentary Analysis of Patriot II Security Focus by Kevin Poulsen

"A sweeping new anti-terrorism bill drafted by the Justice Department would dramatically increase government electronic surveillance and data collection abilities, and impose the first-ever federal criminal penalties for using encryption in the U.S." (02/07/03)

http://online.securityfocus.com/news/2296

Commentary De-minding our young Fredoneverything by Fred Reed

"A peasantrified population is, among other things, politically malleable. A bright child of seven who reads turns into a kid of eighteen who thinks, at least during moments of hormonal respite; who graduates to serious history and literature and, when lied to, will go to the library and check out a book. Those who live for television will believe what they are told, having no inkling that they are being bamboozled. Is this intended, or just incidental to the larger aims of our cultural vandals?" (02/10/03)


http://www.fredoneverything.net/Alice.shtml


News Famous hacker suffers break-ins to own corporate Web site Security Focus/AP

"The world's best-known computer hacker suffered the indignity of having someone break into his new security consulting company's Web site .... A hacker calling himself 'BugBear' added one page to Mitnick's corporate Web site on Jan. 30 with a message, 'Welcome back to freedom, Mr. Kevin,' and added that "it was fun and easy to break into your box.'" (02/10/03)

http://online.securityfocus.com/news/2326

News Bosnian sex trade shames UN The Scotsman

"A senior United Nations official is demanding that her colleagues involved in the sex trade in Bosnia should be stripped of their immunity and prosecuted. Madeleine Rees, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Bosnia, has broken ranks to demand that UN officials, international peacekeepers and police who are involved in sex crimes be brought to justice in their home countries." (02/09/03)

http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=160672003


News Big brother watching fat intake Observer

"Amanda Cooper used to love going to the supermarket and piling her trolley high with chocolate biscuits and pepperoni pizzas - but not any more. Her supermarket smart card reads the bar codes and sounds out an alert whenever the 30-year-old picks up anything that might contain more than 10 per cent fat. By the time she reaches the check-out, her weekly groceries consist of vegetables, diet soup and wholemeal bread. But she knows she's overweight and that she has no choice -- her GP prescribed the card for her. It is all part of an alarming scenario being painted for life in 2015, when a bewildering array of devices will be used to keep us healthy." (02/09/03)

http://www.observer.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,892011,00.html

News Airport giving away free socks Ananova

"A Tennessee airport is giving away free socks to people whose shoes are checked by security staff.... Chuck Whitman, a federal Transportation Security Administration worker at the airport, said the idea is 'to provide world-class security and world-class customer service.'" (02/10/03)


http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_749284.html?menu=news.quirkies

Commentary Damn Right to Bear Arms Strike the Root by Adam Engel

"Whether the NRA wrangles lighter gun control legislation from THE MAN is as irrelevant to my ownership of a weapon as the ACLU’s lawyers’ haggling with THE MAN over my right to speak. THE MAN and his shredded Constitution have nothing to do with my decision to defend myself from HIM or talk trash to HIM. They might, the NRA on the Mainstream right, the ACLU on the Mainstream left, both be doing a disservice by perpetuating the charade that this is some sort of society or democracy, that we do everything all fair and legal around here." (02/10/03)

http://www.strike-the-root.com/3/engel/engel1.html

Commentary Fake terror alerts Strike the Root by John Kaminski

"How stupid do they think we are? Only hours after our much-praised Secretary of State is revealed to have been using material plagiarized from a college student to justify why we're going to kill thousands of people with bombs, our government issues a terror alert and expects us to believe it? And how stupid are we? We believe it." (02/10/03)

http://www.strike-the-root.com/3/kaminski/kaminski1.html

Commentary The dildo dialogues Counter Punch by Susan Block

"The Constitution no longer protects us, because the judges are part of the police department (at least most of the judges are; there are some great ones). Judge Real is not the only Tricky Dick on the bench. Thus, there are only two things that protect us against this kind of insidious despotism: LAWYERS and MONEY (and yes, the two are symbiotically related), a very thin line between freedom and the gangsterism of our police force." (02/10/03)

http://www.counterpunch.com/block02102003.html

Commentary This is your military on drugs Counter Punch by Mark Donham

"When I think of the fear and paranoia that I have suffered just because I wanted to grow a couple cannabis plants on my own land for use in my own home, and knowing how much stronger and dangerous "speed" is than cannabis, I am filled with more disgust and anger. Yes, to me the revelation that our government is funding our military's illegal drug habits while funding prisons for me if I should get caught with the same substance is particularly outrageous." (02/10/03)

http://www.counterpunch.com/donham02102003.html

Commentary The Bushopranos part III Village Voice by Ward Sutton

"Like far\ther, like son". Cartoon by Ward Sutton. (02/09/03)

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0307/sutton.php

3 N 5 C

Commentary The cheating heart The Libertarian Enterprise by Wendy McElroy

"Marriage is based on an explicit understanding of monogamy: this means that the deceived spouse is lied to and betrayed. Such an affair is not merely immoral, it is an act of fraud and a breach of contract. The defrauded spouse acts in the belief that the marriage contract is being honored. He or she makes life-defining decisions and incurs obligations based on the contract: having children, buying a home, taking a particular job, sharing income, making mutual investments. The adulterous spouse reaps the benefits of the marriage contract while violating its terms." (02/10/03)

http://www.webleyweb.com/tle/libe210-20030210-09.html


Commentary Iraq, regime change and Divine Right The Libertarian Enterprise by Douglas Newman

"Conservative Christians have come to resemble their liberal counterparts when it comes to politics.... Saddam is a horrible guy who has done horrible things. No one denies that. The world would be better off without him. However, things are just not as simple as the Bush administration, its amen corner in the media, and groups like the World Prayer Team would have us think." (02/10/03)

http://www.webleyweb.com/tle/libe210-20030210-03.html


Commentary The other war Village Voice by Mark Fiore

You can help win the "other war", the War on Drugs. Animation by Mark Fiore. (02/06/03)

http://www.villagevoice.com/fiore/

Commentary Power point of view Guardian by Ben Rooney

"Much beloved of businessmen and schoolchildren alike, PowerPoint's fades, animated bullets and amusing ways of spelling out headlines have been responsible for inducing stupor and boredom in Travelodges the length of the country. It has become, without doubt, the most pervasive and ubiquitous business tool invented. But until the US secretary of state, Colin Powell opened his presentation at the United Nations security council earlier this week, never has this piece of nearly 20-year-old software been, indirectly, a casus belli. Was this PowerPoint's finest, or most ignominious, hour?" (02/07/03)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/comment/story/0,12449,891336,00.html

Commentary The crusading lawyers Capitalism Magazine by S.M. Oliva

"Lawyers are supposed to act as advocates, defending the individual rights of their clients before the law. In any controversy, be it civil or criminal, the case must revolve around the parties, not their counsel. Yet that is no longer a guiding principle for many members of the bar. Every day bares [sic] witness to new abuses of the judicial system by 'crusading lawyers' that seek to enrich themselves at the expense of their clients and, more importantly, at the expense of individual rights." (02/07/03)

http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=2430

Commentary Will Kenny Guinn kill the canary?
Las Vegas Review Journal by Vin Suprynowicz

"Nevada -- with Wyoming and Delaware -- is one of the three most business-friendly states in the union (though perhaps I should say, 'has been, till now')... literally tens of thousands of business entities whose corporate officers have never even set foot in these states have hired local 'resident agents' to help them file their fees and paperwork and officially incorporate businesses there .... Gov. Kenny Guinn has just proposed a smothering blanket of new tax hikes which could drop Nevada from that happy list of "pro-business" states ... and that hardly anyone at the Legislature seems to care." (02/09/03)

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2003/Feb-09-Sun-2003/opinion/20603005.html

News Four Cuban coast guardsman defect in Key West NBC 6 News

"Four Cuban coast guardsman defected to the U.S. Friday, docking their patrol boat at a Key West resort, walking into town and surrendering to a police officer .... The incident took place on the same day the federal government increased the terrorist threat alert level to orange -- the second highest threat level. Some in South Florida are asking how a group of armed military personnel were able to easily breach the sea border, getting past the Coast Guard and onto U.S. soil." (02/07/03)

http://www.nbc6.net/news/1963227/detail.html

News DOD announces TIA update Dept. of Defense

"The Department of Defense will establish two boards to provide oversight of the Total Information Awareness Project, the program designed to develop tools to track terrorists. The two boards, an internal oversight board and an outside advisory committee, will work with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), as it continues its research. These boards will help ensure that TIA develops and disseminates its products to track terrorists in a manner consistent with U.S. constitutional law, U.S. statutory law, and American values related to privacy." (02/07/03)

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Feb2003/b02072003_bt060-03.html

News New colas tap into anti- U.S. sentiment News Day

"The cola wars are taking on a new dimension in Europe, where Muslims are being asked to pledge allegiance to one of two new brands .... By offering a dose of activism along with the usual sugar, preservatives and carbonated water, the entrepreneurs behind both new drinks are trying to cash in on anti-American sentiment within Britain's 2.5 million Muslim community." (02/07/03)

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-muslim-cola-wars0207feb07,0,571539.story


News DOJ drafts sweeping expansion of Anti-Terrorism Act Center for the Public Integrity

"The Bush Administration is preparing a bold, comprehensive sequel to the USA Patriot Act passed in the wake of September 11, 2001, which will give the government broad, sweeping new powers to increase domestic intelligence-gathering, surveillance and law enforcement prerogatives, and simultaneously decrease judicial review and public access to information. The Center for Public Integrity has obtained a draft, dated January 9, 2003, of this previously undisclosed legislation and is making it available in full text [pdf]." (02/07/03)

http://www.public-i.org/dtaweb/report.asp?ReportID=502&L1=10&L2=10&L3=0&L4=0&L5=0

Text of DOJ draft
http://www.publicintegrity.org/dtaweb/downloads/Story_01_020703_Doc_1.pdf


News Anan warns Bush against unilateral strike Yahoo/Reuters

"U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned the United States on Saturday against attacking Iraq on its own, arguing collective action under a U.N. umbrella would have greater legitimacy and better odds of success.'This is an issue not for any one state alone, but for the international community as a whole,' Annan said." (02/08/03)

News Eunuchs take up role of consumer champions Ananova

"A group of eunuchs in New Delhi are helping to right faulty telephone lines by taking up complaints on behalf of consumers. The eunuchs reportedly adopt direct and unorthodox line of actions like threatening to expose themselves to get cases heard.... Telephone users have reported a 'remarkable' improvement in services since the eunuchs took up cudgels on their behalf." (02/09/03)

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_748738.html

News Jailed Brit academic freed after 5 months BBC News

"A Scottish woman has been released from jail in Indonesia, after spending five months behind bars for visa violations. Dr McCulloch, a lecturer originally from Dunoon in Argyll, attracted the attention of the Indonesian authorities after writing a string of critical articles about the conflict in the region .... She was first arrested on spying charges after visiting a separatist rebel camp in Aceh. Together with 57-year-old American nurse Joy Saddler, she was convicted by a court in Banda Aceh on 30 December of the lesser charge of visa violation." (02/09/03)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/2741365.stm