Commentary Rick Santorum and a morally neutral government Strike the Root by Lee McCracken

"Whenever government enacts any policy, it is making a moral judgment. That is, it is making a judgment about what is good and what is evil, what should be pursued or encouraged, and what should be avoided or punished."
(04/28/03)

http://www.strike-the-root.com/3/mccracken/mccracken3.html

Commentary Hey Nineteen (or America's true constitution, where is it?) Strike the Root by Doug Newman

"Today, too many of us could give a rip about our God-given freedoms as long as we feel good about who occupies the Oval Office and the intentions of their policies and agendas. Heaven forbid that contemporary Americans peel back the rhetoric and research the real-world implications of the policies that make them feel so tingly inside." (04/28/03)

http://www.strike-the-root.com/3/newman/newman4.html


Commentary Kapt. Kanada locates elusive Iraqi 'WMDS' The Libertarian Enterprise by Manuel Miles

"The government-mouthpiece media of the entire 'western world' seem to be suffering the same outbreak of CRS [see my article on this topic in a previous edition of TLE] in regard to the pre-invasion claims of WMDs as they did about the mythological genocide perpetrated against the poor, helpless KLA drug-and-prostitution gangs." (04/28/03)

http://www.webleyweb.com/tle/libe221-20030428-07.html

Commentary Power play in Northern Iraq Asia Times by Hooman Peimani

"Saddam Hussein deliberately upset the population balance between Arabs, Turkmens and Kurds in oil-rich northern Iraq through forced removals. Now these groups are trying to redress the imbalance and reclaim land that they believe is rightfully theirs, even if it means taking up arms." (04/29/03)

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/ED29Ak01.html

Commentary Total information control Counter Punch by Peter Phillips

"Freedom of information in American society is in danger because corporate media needs to maintain access to official sources of news. Consolidation of media has brought the total news sources for most Americans to less than a handful and these news groups have an ever-increasing dependency on pre-arranged content. The 24-hour news shows on MSNBC, Fox and CNN are closely interconnected with various governmental and corporate sources of news. Maintenance of continuous news shows requires a constant feed and an ever-entertaining supply of stimulating events and breaking news bites." (04/28/03)

http://www.counterpunch.org/phillips04282003.html

Commentary Thievery in Baghdad Yellow Times by Firas Al-Atraqchi

"What President Bush should have said, and unfortunately didn't, was that Iraq's natural resources need protection from the protectors themselves -- the U.S. forces and brigade of media personnel in Iraq. In less than a week, the media was forced to admit that some of its own were willing participants in a little looting and 'confiscating' on the side, and report that U.S. military personnel were responsible for stealing cash as well as other Iraqi items." (04/28/03)

http://www.yellowtimes.org/article.php?sid=1299&mode=thread&order=0
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News Fighting back: medical marijuana patients sue Ashcroft Counter Punch

"California medical marijuana patients blocked a country road in Santa Cruz county last September, trapping DEA agents who had just chainsawed 167 marijuana plants grown by the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana (WAMM).... These same patients, together with their city and county officials, are now suing the federal government, and the individual DEA agents, to prevent such raids from taking place again. On April 23, the City and County of Santa Cruz became the first public entity to file a lawsuit against federal drug warriors." (04/28/03)

http://www.counterpunch.org/harrison04282003.html


News Smoking toking college MAPINC/Ottawa Sun

"The first mistake the unrefined marijuana sampler invariably makes is thinking the stronger the cannabis, the better. 'Everyone comes in here thinking that strong is good and that is absolutely wrong,' says a pot tour guide who goes by the name Berry and plies his trade at the Cannabis College in the heart of Amsterdam.... The college, which opened in 1997, says it provides tourists with 'correct, objective information about the cannabis plant' with seminars and tutorials. Admission is free." (04/28/03)

http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n604/a07.html?397

News Lawyer sends bill for 81-hour day Ananova

"A lawyer in Pennsylvania who submitted bills for an 81-hour day and three 25-hour days says he made 'innocent mistakes.' Attorney Barry Van Rensler made £265,000 representing a local education authority in one year.... He has since returned £12,000 to the Upper Darby School District. 'I love the school district, and I would never intentionally overcharge them,' Mr Van Rensler told the paper." (04/28/03)

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_775069.html

News Threatened with knife, man shoots assailant Idaho Statesman

"Manca and his friends later went to the 7-Eleven to buy cigarettes. About 10 minutes later, Jordan and Myrick pulled up in a pickup, got out and started a fight with Manca´s friends. As Manca came out of the store, Jordan threatened him with a knife, police said. Manca pulled his handgun and fired three or four times. No charges have been filed against Manca, who was questioned and released. Police said it appears he was defending himself." (04/28/03)

http://www.idahostatesman.com/News/story.asp?ID=38512

News Unfit buyers slip by gun screening Star Telegram

"The FBI's instant background check system, established to help prevent felons and the mentally ill from buying guns, is riddled with cracks because many states are slow in providing crucial information or don't provide it at all. Among the states with the poorest records is Texas, which does not report involuntary commitments to mental institutions to the FBI and provides incomplete criminal information." (04/28/03)

http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/local/5734631.htm

Commentary How the road to war was paved with lies
Independent by Raymond Whitaker

"The case for invading Iraq to remove its weapons of mass destruction was based on selective use of intelligence, exaggeration, use of sources known to be discredited and outright fabrication, The Independent on Sunday can
reveal. A high-level UK source said last night that intelligence agencies on both sides of the Atlantic were furious that briefings they gave political leaders were distorted in the rush to war with Iraq. 'They ignored
intelligence assessments which said Iraq was not a threat,' the source said." (04/27/03)

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/story.jsp?story=400805

Commentary Better not try breast-feeding in Texas
Las Vegas Review Journal by Vin Suprinowicz

"The energetic young attorneys who took on the case free of charge for the low-income family decided that rather than taking an apologetic posture, the way to handle this matter was to enter into evidence images of classic paintings hanging in some of the most famous galleries of Europe, showing the Virgin Mary giving suckle to the infant Jesus, daring the perverts of the Richardson Police Department to explain how this constitutes pornography or demonstrates the sole and specific purpose of catering to anyone's 'prurient interest.'" (04/27/03)

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2003/Apr-27-Sun-2003/opinion/21184422.html

Commentary Resistance to tyranny The Libertarian Enterprise by L. Neil Smith

"In the dishonorable tradition of George Dukmejian and Pete Wilson, the GOP has now been thoroughly 'Californicated'. With the notable exception of Congressman Ron Paul, if there's one Republican left who, as T.D. Melrose observed, wouldn't 'rather see a woman raped in an alley and strangled with her own pantyhose than see her with a gun in her hand', he's keeping his mouth shut for fear of being 'disappeared' by the neocon Nazis running his party." (04/28/03)

http://www.webleyweb.com/tle/libe221-20030428-02.html

Commentary Party patrol Village Voice by Carla Spartos

"Every summer, thousands of New Yorkers descend upon Central Park's Rumsey Playfield for the highly anticipated SummerStage concert series .... But this year, dance community activists fear that concerts like those at SummerStage could be jeopardized. Equipped with a loosely worded law making venue owners and concert promoters responsible for their patrons' partying ways, overzealous prosecutors could target mainstream event organizers with stiff fines, jail sentences (up to 20 years), and property seizures." (04/27/03)

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0317/spartos.php

Commentary Conservatives rise for the Bill of Rights Village Voice by Nat Hentoff

"A significant development in the movement to resist the Ashcroft-Bush dismembering of the Bill of Rights is the growing coalition between conservative groups and such organizations as the American Civil Liberties Union and People for the American Way. This has been going on -- with only marginal attention from the media -- since the ACLU organized a broad-based, though unsuccessful, fight to defeat the first USA Patriot Act toward the end of 2001. And it was the conservative Republican libertarian, Dick Armey, then majority leader in the House, who stripped the Orwellian 'Operation Tips' out of the Department of Homeland Security bill." (04/25/03)

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0318/hentoff.php

Commentary The other war: Bush and the end of civil liberties Counter Punch by Elaine Cassel

"Patriot I was enacted in an atmosphere of panic, paranoia, and patriotism. Ashcroft mounted quite an offensive when he laid it out before Congress. If you dared to criticize in that hour of peril, you were by definition soft on terrorism. The press now admits that it rolled over for Patriot I; the handful of journalists who questioned its provisions got hate mail and death threats for their trouble. But it left even some Republicans thinking Ashcroft had gone too far. Though there isn't much they can do about it. We may have Congress to thank for the Patriot Act itself, but Ashcroft's executive orders and the regulations hastily promulgated by the agencies under his control are where the real action has been." (04/27/03)

http://www.counterpunch.org/cassel04262003.html

Commentary Move over, hippies, the Libertarians are coming Burlington Free Press by Sam Hemingway

"As swings of the political pendulum go, this one would be a lulu. According to an Associated Press report, Vermont is one of 10 sparsely populated states that a group of Libertarians is considering fertile territory for its Free State Project. Imagine it: Vermont could suddenly switch from being perhaps the most liberal state in the union to being the most Libertarian one." (04/27/03)

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/Columnists/Sam/0427042845.htm

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News No frills airline sacks no clothes pilots Ananova

"It's reported that two US pilots have been fired after allegedly stripping off mid-flight. Southwest Airlines said the men were dismissed for 'inappropriate conduct' after removing all or most of their clothes in the cockpit of the Boeing 737.... The US Federal Aviation Administration said there was no specific ban on flying naked." (04/27/03)

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_774280.html?menu=news.quirkies

News Knifing ruled self defense Wichita Eagle

"After about three weeks of threatening phone calls from her boyfriend's ex-girlfriend, Ajalene Wilson, 19, had taken to carrying a kitchen knife in her car for protection. Then last week, at a crowded QuikTrip in the middle of the afternoon, the other woman -- 24-year-old TemekaBryant -- attacked Wilson. Wilson fought back, pulling out the knife she carried. Swiping blindly at Bryant, Wilson stabbed her three times." (04/26/03)

http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/5720825.htm

News Medical marijuana clinic still battles Feds MAPINC/Marin Independent Journal

"Business is booming at a Fairfax enterprise that has no competitors, 50 daily customers seven days a week, all the publicity it can stand and annual sales of about $1 million.... As head of Marin County's only medicinal marijuana clinic, Shaw hasn't exactly traveled a yellow brick road to success. Federal agents have shut down pot clinics in Oakland, San Francisco and Santa Cruz but, through it all, Shaw's Fairfax clinic has continued to fill prescriptions for patients." (04/27/03)

http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n599/a11.html?397

News Work as 'polar power', Blair tells US and Europe
Sydney Morning Herald

"Europe and the United States should work as 'one polar power' to tackle the world's problems rather then bickering as they did over Iraq, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said in an interview published today.Speaking to the Financial Times newspaper, Blair said the best way to stop Washington acting unilaterally was to join forces with it rather than opposing it." (04/28/03)

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/04/28/1051381877643.html

News IRA 'moving towards closure of conflict' Independent

"The Irish peace process sprang to life again yesterday when the republican movement held out the prospect of its complete disarmament and a commitment to 'complete and final closure of the conflict'. The language used by Gerry Adams, the Sinn Fein president, was hailed in London and Dublin as a dramatic advance in a negotiating process that many had feared was running into the sands." (04/28/03)

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/ulster/story.jsp?story=401095

News US arrests bogus Baghdad mayor Guardian

"American forces arrested the self-styled mayor of Baghdad yesterday in a show of strength in advance of today's talks aimed at forming a provisional government of Iraq. Mohammed Mohammed Mohsen al-Zubaidi, a returned exile associated with the opposition Iraqi National Congress, had been creating committees to run the city and claimed to have US backing. He was arrested on the bizarre charge of 'exercising authority which was not his'. But the arrest, apart from dramatising that he did not have any official status, seemed designed as a warning to those political parties that have denounced the US occupation and threatened to set up an alternative government." (04/28/03)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,944840,00.html