Commentary Statists To Libertarians: "You Can't Win!" The Libertarian Enterprise by Tim Condon

"The taunt goes out, from sea to shining sea, reflecting off purple mountains' majesty, across amber waves of grain, throughout the home of the brave and the land of the free: 'Give it up, suckers!' Forget about human freedoms that are guaranteed by our Constitution, bequeathed to us by our Founding Fathers, they say. 'You can't win!' This perpetual taunt goes out from all the dark corners of American political punditry like some tired, ugly Marxist cant that can't be killed. 'It's historically inevitable!' goes the argument, so give it up, you libertarians, you Constitutionalists, you classical liberals, you patriots and freedom-lovers of all stripes." (05/18/03)

http://www.webleyweb.com/tle/libe224-20030518-02.html

Commentary Shrugged off as "business as usual" Las Vegas Review Journal by Vin Suprinowicz

"In the part of the world that gave us the word 'Byzantine,' where kickbacks and gratuities to those in power are routinely reported on corporate balance sheets under the heading 'baksheesh,' and given Gen. Garner's overnight success in our own corporate world ... while the nagging whistle-blower was promptly deep sixed on trumped-up charges of smooching the secretaries ... Jay Garner would have seemed the perfect choice. What went wrong?" (05/18/03)

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2003/May-18-Sun-2003/opinion/21267674.html

Commentary Noises The Libertarian Enterprise by William Stone III

"In my essay, "The Phantom Menace", I predicted that Saddam Hussein -- and indeed, virtually all of the "terrorists" that government has paraded before us -- would turn out to be absolutely no threat whatsoever. I pointed out that the FedGov's stated reasons for starting a war with Iraq were mutually exclusive. History is now bearing out my assertion." (05/19/03)

http://www.webleyweb.com/tle/libe224-20030518-03.html
====
News Marijuana legal in Ontario Cannabis Culture

"Marijuana advocates across Canada are celebrating a
May 16 Ontario court decision, which effectively
legalized possession in Canada's largest province.
On Friday, May 16, Ontario Summary Conviction Appeal
Court Justice Steve Rogin upheld the lower court
ruling of Justice Philips, concerning a case of pot
possession in Ontario.Justice Rogin agreed that the federal government had failed in its obligation to change the law to allow for medical use of marijuana, and so the entire law was void." (05/16/03)
http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/2958.html

News Someone didn't like Condon's message Orlando Weekly

"It was the third day of the National Rifle Association's annual conference, April 27, and Tim Condon thought he was home free. He had already survived two days of sore feet, meddlesome security officers and zealous members of the Million Mom March yelling anti-gun slogans through a bull-horn. Condon, a 53-year-old Tampa attorney, traveled to the Orange County Convention Center to hand out fliers and brochures promoting ...[the free State Project]... But day three of the conference, security guards suddenly took an interest in Condon, who was standing underneath a covered walkway outside the Orange County Convention Center. According to Condon, the guards asked him to cease and desist. He refused ... When Condon continued his distribution, deputies put him in handcuffs and marched him through the Convention Center ... The NRA failed to return phone calls. But the Convention Center's manager of security and transportation, Greg Forehand, agrees with Condon, saying he was arrested 'on behalf of the NRA management staff.'" (05/15/03)

http://www.orlandoweekly.com/news/story.asp?ID=3945

News Groom to be sues strip club over bachelor party injuries Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

"A Fort Wayne man alleges that dancers at a local adult entertainment club caused severe injuries while dancing with him during his bachelor party, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Allen Superior Court.
Justin Scheidt went to Showgirl III, 930 Coliseum Blvd. E., in the early-morning hours of his wedding day last June as a continuation of his bachelor party that started the night before, the lawsuit said. His friends paid $40 for the female entertainers to get Scheidt on the main stage and dance, the lawsuit said.... While on his honeymoon, Scheidt was unable to consummate his marriage because of "serious and permanent injuries" he sustained from the dancers falling on him, the suit said." (05/16/03)

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/news/5876608.htm

Commentary The new Mafia Strike the Root by Mark Glenn

"What else do you call a well-run organization with long reaching tentacles that wields silent, yet powerful influence in government, finance, and media? An organization that extorts over six billion dollars a year from the American taxpayers?.... An organization that can pick up the phone, call the President of the United States and order him to bomb another nation back into the Stone Age on completely false pretenses?" (05/15/03)

http://www.strike-the-root.com/3/glenn/glenn1.html

Commentary Bush reams nation good San Francisco Chronicle by Mark Morford

"Turns out it really was all a big joke after all. The war, that is. All a big fat nasty murderous oil-licking lie, a sneaky little power-mad game with you as the sucker and the world as the pawn and BushCo as the slithery war thug, the dungeon master, the prison daddy....We've been sucker-punched and ideologically molested and patriotically sodomized...." (05/14/03)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/2003/05/14/notes051403.DTL

Commentary A ticket to failure Counter Punch by Tricia
Reinhart

"Every few months, a "peace plan" is pulled out of the drawers of the white house and keeps the public discourse busy for a few weeks. Although this ritual has a fixed pattern and predetermined end, it is curious that many in Israel are still tempted to believe that this time it is different." (05/15/03)

http://www.counterpunch.org/reinhart05152003.html

Commentary A calculated act with a political message Pacific News Service by William O. Beeman

"President Bush characterized the May 12 suicide bombing in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as being carried out by 'killers whose only faith is hate.' In fact, the devastating attack was a calculated, political act that was probably not orchestrated by al Qaeda and not directed primarily against the United States.A thorough understanding of the incident -- a repeat of a similar attack that took place in 1995 -- might help the United States to act in a responsible and measured manner." (05/14/03)

http://news.pacificnews.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=5a088c12620fcae70755524cb2ea8e1d

Commentary Settlements: a user guide Yellow Times by Gabriel Ash

"The imagery of settlers as benign civilians, just wanting to live their lives as they choose, serves Sharon's intentions of burying the 'roadmap' and saving Israel once more from the looming threat of peace. Indeed, the continuing expansion of settlements during the Oslo process already 'saved' Israel from peace once. From 1993 to 2001 settler population in the West Bank increased 91 percent, convincing Palestinians that Israel had no intentions to leave the Occupied Territories. But that imagery is false. West Bank settlements are nothing like suburbs in New Jersey. They are a fundamental aspect of what is unique about Israel. It is therefore necessary to understand settlements for what they really are -- weapons." (05/15/03)

http://www.yellowtimes.org/article.php?sid=1354&mode=thread&order=0

Commentary The air campaign Village Voice by Mark Fiore

The battle begins! Cartoon by Mark Fiore (05/15/03)

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0320/fiore.php

News Eyes of Texas, U.S. on truant legislators Star Telegram

"Wives have been watched. A former House speaker's plane was tracked. Federal officials have been asked to intervene. Even the El Paso Police Department has gotten involved. The hunt for Democrats on the lam from the Texas Legislature has involved virtually every level of government, ranging from a house call by local cops to monitoring conducted -- apparently unwittingly -- by a California-based agency that normally is involved in the fight against terrorism and weapons of mass destruction." (05/14/03)

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/5858118.htm



News Big Brother eye in the sky studied Kansas City Star/AP

"The Homeland Security Department is considering the use of unmanned aircraft to track drug smugglers, illegal
immigrants and terrorists along the porous U.S. border with Mexico, a top official told a Senate panel Tuesday.
Jay Stanley, spokesman for the American Civil
Liberties Union, cautioned that aerial surveillance is limited now by the cost and difficulty of flying a plane
over a target. The use of drones could significantly
expand the amount of surveillance on Americans, he said.
'It definitely evokes the most paranoid visions of Big
Brother's eye in the sky,'Stanley said." (05/13/03)

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/breaking_news/5852230.htm

News US rivals turn on each other as weapons search draws a blank Observer [UK]

"Each setback ratchets up the political pressure. Infighting between government departments and intelligence agencies is becoming vicious on both sides of the Atlantic. Having fought a war to disarm Iraq of its terrible weapons, neither the US nor Britain can admit that Iraq never had them in the first place." (05/14/03)

http://www.observer.co.uk/iraq/story/0,12239,953604,00.html

News Weapons of bloodless war BBC News

'There is a misconception that war is about killing,' said Dr John Alexander, formerly in the US Army with Special Operations and now a leading advocate for the development of non-lethal weapons. 'War is about imposition of will. Non-lethal weapons fit in the spectrum of this' .... Advocates of non-lethal weapons say they have been frustrated by international treaties covering certain ways of using weapons.'In the future we will have lasers on the battlefield, but they won't be intended to blind you, they will be intended to drill a hole in you, which is perfectly legal.'" (05/13/03)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3021873.stm

News US Congress moves to back tactical nukes BBC News

"The US House of Representatives looks set to approve funds for the research and development of a new generation of small tactical nuclear weapons which could be used to attack deep bunkers holding weapons of mass destruction.... The shift of policy has been sought by the Pentagon since last summer, when it began to develop plans to reshape the US nuclear arsenal to take account of the new doctrine of pre-emption." (05/13/03)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3025737.stm

News Half of all doctors have been asked by patients to aid euthanasia Independent

"Half of the doctors in Britain have had to deal with patients requesting the right to die, researchers revealed yesterday. A quarter of the medical profession was in favour of a change in the law that would allow them to help terminally ill people to end their lives. But the independent survey of more than 900 doctors, mainly GPs, commissioned by the anti-euthanasia group Right to Life, found that 60 per cent were opposed to the concept of assisted suicide." (05/14/03)

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health/story.jsp?story=406042


====
Commentary Grammar and the passive American Strike the Root by Craig Russell

"Our vague, passive thinking has made us a vague, passive people, unwilling and often unable to take responsibility and act because we not only can’t conceive of what to do, we can’t even conceive of doing. So many of us live, like my students, in a conceptual world in which nothing happens and everything simply is." (05/14/03)

http://www.strike-the-root.com/3/russell/russell8.html

Commentary Fool me twice Strike the Root by mrhain

"Dear Ministry of Information, You know, I really don’t mind being lied to by my TV anymore; I just sort of take it for granted that such is its purpose in life. What does chafe my behind is when the little people inside that infernal box insult my intelligence. Look, if you’re going to try and put one over on me, at least show a little respect and make it good. It’s just plain demeaning when you try and hit me with something weak and transparent. You government-type people are supposed to be good with illusions, that’s what my neighbors and I are paying you for. Like my TV, that’s your job." (05/14/03)

http://www.strike-the-root.com/3/mrhain/mrhain3.html

Commentary Basic freedoms, R.I.P. SF Bay Guardian by Nessie

"There's another front in this war that bears watching -- the home front. It is here at home that the war on (some) terrorism is having what could easily prove to be it's greatest impact. While American air power crams what some call democracy down the throat of the third world, democracy at home is gasping for breath. Some would say it is already locked in its death throes. A case can be made that it's already dead. Basic freedoms that every American once took for granted have become, at best, fading, cherished memories." (05/14/03)

http://www.sfbayguardian.com/37/33/x_nessie.html

Commentary Pfizer announces 'Zoloft for Everything' campaign The Onion by staff

"'Zoloft is most commonly prescribed for the treatment of depression and anxiety disorders, but it would be ridiculous to limit such a multi-functional drug to these few uses,' Pfizer spokesman Jon Pugh said. 'We feel doctors need to stop asking their patients if anything is wrong and start asking if anything could be more right.'... Last week, the FDA okayed Zoloft for treatment of 'the entire range of unpleasant or otherwise negative social, physical, and mental feelings that an individual may experience in the course of a human life.'" (satire) (05/14/03)

http://www.theonion.com/onion3918/pfizer_launches.html

Commentary Now it's Alaska! Counter Punch by David Lindorff

"The Bush Administration and Attorney General John Ashcroft may have been able to pull a fast one in the wake of 9/11, winning passage of the draconian and grotesquely named USA PATRIOT Act, but a grass-roots resistance movement is starting to blow up in the administration's face. As of today, 104 towns, cities and even the state of Hawaii, have passed resolutions in defense of the Bill of Rights which in often forceful language instruct state and local law enforcement not to participate in the act's assaults on civil liberties. The latest jurisdiction to consider such fight-back legislation is the state of Alaska, a bastion of conservative libertarianism." (05/14/03)

http://www.counterpunch.org/lindorff05142003.html

Commentary The hydra's head: propagandists and selling the US-Iraq War Counter Punch by Paul de Rooij

"One generally doesn't think of psychological warfare as something waged against the home population; but this is perhaps the best way to appreciate the US experience during the past few months.... Psyops appeal to the base human behavior of large groups. In the case of the enemy, fear and even terror are likely to achieve the desired results. In the case of the home population, it is the stoking of jingoism, the "we-ism" in the crowd, the intimidation of dissent-- and the fear factor is there too. The American flag acreage on display everywhere is a clear manifestation that we are dealing with psyops targeting the home population." (05/14/03)

http://www.counterpunch.org/rooij05142003.html

Commentary Oh the drama Strike the Root by mrhain

"It occurred to me just how dramatized and Hollywood-like coverage of current events has become. Of course I already knew better than to expect any real images of war to be shown on state-sanctioned TV; what I’m talking about here is something a little more insidious than the mere sanitizing and censoring we’ve all come to expect. I’m talking about the high drama of it all, how the reporting is done is such a way as to suck us in to the storyline. I’m talking about spiffy computer generated graphics and satellite pictures interweaved with exciting cut-scenes of helmeted reporters shouting over explosions and moving with the troops. I’m talking about the never-ending sagas, The Hunt for Osama, The Hunt for Al-Qaeda, The Hunt for Saddam, and the gripping soon-to-be TV movie, Saving Private Lynch." (05/13/03)

http://www.strike-the-root.com/3/mrhain/mrhain2.html

Commentary Gods and generals and memories Strike the Root by Douglas Herman

"Soldiers sometimes share more in common with those they fight -- with the warriors of the so-called enemy -- than with those who send them out to die. Robert E. Lee, once superintendent of West Point , previously chosen by Lincoln to lead the Union army, (which he rejected) now opposed many of his former students on this battlefield. Defending the well-fortified heights to the west, Lee could only shake his head at the carnage. 'It is well that war is so terrible,' he said, 'We should grow fond of it.'" (05/13/03)

http://www.strike-the-root.com/3/herman/herman4.html
Commentary Has Islam failed? Counter Punch by Michael Neumann

"We needn't be relativists when we compare civilizations. But it is one thing to insist on applying 'Western values' to practices such as slavery or female genital mutilation. It is quite another to suppose that Western values are whatever today's ideologues declare them to be-- economic freedom, for instance, as opposed to equally Western values like asceticism, environ-mentalism, socialism and communism. And it is something else again to compare Islamic realities, not with Western ones, but with America as it looks to patriotic bar-stool warmers after six beers." (05/13/03)

http://www.counterpunch.org/neumann05132003.html


Commentary Does defeat always have to be so humiliating? Yellow Times by Ramzy Baroud

"What makes Iraq's defeat a humiliating one, is not only the way the US chose to fight this dirty war, collect the spoils or reveal its 'wanted list' of Iraq's top alleged war criminals on decks of playing cards. The defeat was especially difficult because it exposed our incompetence.
On one hand, the Arab world repeated the same old broken record, angry masses that are quickly dispersed by anti-riot police, and two-faced leaderships: against the war in fiery speeches while doing their best to provide the needed logistical help to aid the invaders. And, since the war is over, the only country that publicly hailed the war on Iraq, amongst the Arabs, Kuwait, has emerged on top, as poor Arab nations are now seeking forgiveness from the tiny Sheikdom, for opposing the war. " (05/13/03)

http://www.yellowtimes.org/article.php?sid=1346&mode=thread&order=0

Commentary Roh and Bush: Same side, different goals Asia Times by John Feffer

"Roh Moo-hyun is going to Washington with a public and a private message. Publicly, the South Korean president will affirm his government's desire to strengthen its relationship with the United States and bring a peaceful end to the nuclear crisis with North Korea. The private message, which won't appear in any newspaper headlines, will be: 'Mr Bush, please don't screw things up for us.'" (05/14/03)

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/EE14Dg02.html

Commentary War on drugs arguments based on big lies MAPINC/Vancouver Courier by Allen Garr

"Two weeks ago, Walters' special assistant David Murray winged his way here to issue dire warnings about the impact of Ottawa decriminalizing pot possession and establishing North America's first safe-shooting site here. Everything, he said, was on the line including, "the integrity of the hemisphere, regarding our commerce, regarding the implications of trade." Sounds like the rhetoric we heard when Canada decided to sit out the recent U.S. war in Iraq. While some folks in the police community and on the right-wing fringe of Canadian politics may take Murray's warning seriously, his arguments are based on a collection of big lies, not least of which is that the U.S. war on drugs is working. " (05/12/03)


http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n701/a01.html?397


===
News Serial streaker has no plans to retire Ananova

"A serial streaker who targets high profile television and sporting events has refused to rule out continuing his 'hobby' despite a warning from a judge.Mark Roberts, 38, from Liverpool, was appearing at Manchester Crown Court charged with causing a public nuisance following his latest prank, performed in front of the Earl and Countess of Wessex." (05/13/03)

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_779866.html


News All kinds of marshmallows remain tax-free in New York News Day

"Though few, if any, consumers took notice, the Pataki administration has just extended the tax-free status of big marshmallows. Up until five years ago, big marshmallows were subject to sales tax because they were considered candy. Mini-marshmallows and Marshmallow Fluff, on the other hand, were exempt from sales tax since they were classified as food." (05/11/03)

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ny--marshmallowtax0511may11,0,2044504.story?coll=ny-ap-regional-wire

News Gun-toting homeowner, 75, thwarts attempted break-in
Clarkston/Independence

"A 75-year-old man apparently thwarted a break-in attempt by firing several shots at intruders in his home, investigators said.... 'He was just sitting on his couch watching television,' Patterson said. 'He heard a loud banging noise and went to investigate it.' When the man entered the kitchen, he found three men coming through the back door, which had been kicked open. 'There was apparently an exchange of gunfire,' Patterson said. The intruders fled after the shooting." (05/13/03)

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=982&dept_id=498574&newsid=7995153&PAG=461&rfi=9

News Warrant flaw topples charges MAPINC/Minneapolis Journal Sentinel

"Police Chief Dean Pushnig said Monday that he will investigate a West Allis woman's allegation that police executed a drug raid on her home without a valid search warrant, then tried to cover it up. Angela Talaska, 34, was arrested and accused of dealing marijuana after as many as 20 West Allis police officers raided her home May 5. But Officer Chad Evenson, who obtained the warrant, forgot to get it signed, then collected the signature after the raid without telling the court commissioner the bust had already occurred." (05/13/03)

http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n701/a06.html?397

News First criminal charges of internet piracy
Sydney Morning Herald

"Three Sydney students have become the first people in the world to appear in court facing criminal charges over internet music piracy. Tommy Lee, 21, Charles Cok-Hau Ng, 20, and Peter Tran, 20, are accused under the Copyright Act of running a Napster-like website, Mp3 WMA land, that allowed millions of web users to swap pirated music. Record companies claim they have lost $60 million worth of sales because of the site." (05/14/03)

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/05/13/1052591788418.html

News Israel arrests Palestinian party leader and supporters over 'Hamas link' Independent

"Israeli police arrested the leader and 14 members of one of the largest Israeli Arab political parties yesterday.
Sheikh Ra'ed Salah and his followers in the Islamic Movement were accused of channelling funds to Hamas, which has carried out suicide bombings. The Islamic Movement denied any links with Hamas.It was not clear whether the authorities were accusing the Islamic Movement of directly funding suicide bombings and other militant attacks." (05/14/03)

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=406010

Commentary Falling in love ... again Strike the Root by Jeff Baxter

"Once upon a time, she was the handmaiden of all. She was worshipped by all, and men far and wide lavished their affection upon this woman. She never wavered, and she freely loved back with an intensity that only grew with each new day. Being in her presence was like breathing fresh air, like having all the hopes and dreams of life placed at your doorstep -- yours for the taking. Men spoke of her as if she were an ancient Goddess of ultimate beauty, and in truth, she was." (05/12/03)

http://www.strike-the-root.com/3/baxter/baxter5.html

Commentary Flag in the rain Strike the Root by Adam Engel

"Bored white corpuscles, the wife and I alternately crept and cruised the clogged arteries of Empire on our way to some godforsaken suburb to visit reactionary relatives in the rain. We passed depressing god awful towns. Same supermarkets, drugstores, fast-food, Starbucks, Gap, Barnes and Noble what-have-you (just like NYC!). Hundreds upon hundreds of flags in every neighborhood, lining every Main Street and pocking every block. You could tell the truly lower and working class neighborhoods cause the flags had yellow ribbons on them, which meant the kids were off from school that day, out fighting for -- what else? -- The Flag." (05/12/03)

http://www.strike-the-root.com/3/engel/engel5.html

Commentary We are all liberals now The Libertarian Enterprise by Doug Newman

"Rush Limbaugh always tells us that two identifying characteristics of a liberal are: An emphasis on symbolism over substance. An emphasis on feeling rather than thinking. If this is the case, we might as well face it: 96 percent of Americans are liberals. A bill [House Bill 1368] currently going through the Colorado State House of Representatives -- it may be law by the time you read this -- will require students in public schools to recite the Pledge of Allegiance every morning at the start of school.... The rhetoric used against anyone who opposes this bill will be similarly simplistic: if you oppose it, you are anti-flag and just not a patriot." (05/12/03)

http://www.webleyweb.com/tle/libe223-20030511-07.html

Commentary Thai mobs lynch border police while 'terrorists' invade Laissez Faire Times by Richard S. Ehrlich

"About 30 'trained terrorists' infiltrated from Malaysia into Thailand's Muslim-majority south, killed Thai troops, stole weapons and escaped because of lax security, according to the prime minister. 'I was informed that about 30 trained terrorists had crossed the border' from Malaysia into southern Thailand, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said." (05/12/03)

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

Commentary Bush, Bin Laden, Bechtel and Baghdad
Counter Punch by Chris Floyd

"Veteran observers of the klepto-plutocracy that has, lazar-like, long encrusted the American body politic were not surprised to see the hoary name of the Bechtel Group bobbing up in the swill of sweetheart deals now being doled out by the Corrupter-in-Chief for the "reconstruction" of his new fiefdom in Iraq. Decades before its comrade in cronyism, the Carlyle Group, made its meteoric, Bush-assisted ascent to global prominence, Bechtel had already perfected the dark art of milking intimate government connections for fat, risk-free contracts." (05/12/03)

http://www.counterpunch.org/floyd05122003.html

Commentary Will Europe and Russia seek to check U.S. power? Yellow Times by Erich Marquardt

"The U.S. will continue to stand unchallenged on the world stage until another state or group of states attempts to check its power. As of now, no such entity exists, and the members of the Bush administration have taken note of this situation and are thus pushing U.S. interests on the world. Because the U.S. wields an abundance of economic and military power, other powerful states are hesitant to stray too far from U.S. interests. China, for example, has the potential to check U.S. power; however, its growth potential is reliant on good relations with Washington. Because of the Sino-U.S. relationship, it will be France, Germany and Russia that will most likely be able to check U.S. power." (05/12/03)

http://www.yellowtimes.org/article.php?sid=1340&mode=thread&order=0

====================

News Earprint catches burglar out Ananova

"Police officers in Belgium believe they have caught a burglar after two years -- thanks to an earprint on a bedroom door. The print was left during a burglary in July, 2001, when police believe the intruder put his ear to the door to make sure the people inside were asleep.
And they believe they have now caught up with the burglar after recently arresting a man who was trying to sell a stolen mobile phone .... The man had distinctive ears which reminded one of the officers of the earprint from the old burglary case." (05/12/03)

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_779396.html?menu=news.quirkies

News Sheik hands over guins, encourages Iraqis to to same WBAL News

"In a move a U.S. military commander called 'pretty substantial,' a prominent Iraqi sheik has handed over dozens of assault weapons and explosives to U.S. troops in a show of goodwill.... The sheik said the Iraqi people need food and other aid. In exchange, he said, they must give up their weapons. Iraqi citizens are under orders to disarm, and the military hopes the gesture from a prominent leader will encourage others to hand in their weapons." (05/12/03)

http://www.thewbalchannel.com/news/2197460/detail.html

News Some Democrats move delicately to the right on gun control Kansas City Star

"Howard Dean puts it point-blank. 'Sure,' said the former Vermont governor, a Democrat running for president. 'You can walk into my office with a gun.' Because packing heat is legal in the Green Mountain State, Dean doesn't mind if you carry a gun there -- provided you are not a convict, mentally ill or threatening someone with your weapon. Perhaps no other state in the nation is so lenient when it comes to carrying concealed firearms.
Repeat: Dean is a Democrat, and widely considered a liberal one at that." (05/12/03)

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascitystar/5839391.htm

News Activists bond set in bar shooting Cincinnati Enquirer

"The neighborhood watch activist who critically injured an armed robber inside a Northside bar returned to jail Saturday after an appearance in Hamilton County Municipal Court.... McKinney, a member of Cincinnati's Citizens on Patrol Program (COPP), remained in the Hamilton County jail on Saturday, facing charges of felonious assault and carrying a weapon in a tavern. McKinney was carrying a semiautomatic pistol at Junker's Tavern on Langland Avenue after 11 p.m. Thursday. When two masked men entered waving handguns, he shot one in the head, police said." (05/12/03)

http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2003/05/11/loc_shooter11.html

News Iraqi soldiers march on US base to demand back pay
Sydney Morning Herald

"Just a month after their defeat at the Americans' hands, 300 Iraqi soldiers marched on the US Army's main Baghdad base yesterday to demand back pay and a future in the new Iraq.... The Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance, the US-led postwar administration, has been making $US20 ($A31) emergency payments to some civil servants in an effort to restart government operations. The Iraqi military has not yet benefited, although the US Joint Chiefs chairman, Air Force General Richard Myers, said over the weekend that ORHA would look at ways to rebuild a 'new and reformed' Iraqi armed forces." (05/13/03)

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/05/12/1052591733712.html

News How a health lawsuit threatens America's favourite cookie

"The Oreo cookie -- two round chocolate-flavoured slabs with a sugary white cream filling -- is America's favourite biscuit. Oreos are stocked in every supermarket and corner store and are instantly recognisable to children across the country. They are also a tempting target for a lawsuit. A British-born lawyer called Stephen Joseph has filed suit against Kraft Foods Inc, the manufacturers, alleging not only that the biscuits are unhealthy, but that the company engages in 'fraudulent and deceptive marketing'." (05/13/03)

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=405752

News PM obsessed with place in history, says ex-minister Independent

"Clare Short launched a withering attack on Tony Blair's 'presidential' style when she resigned from the Cabinet yesterday and threatened to lead a backbench mutiny against him. Ms Short resigned as Secretary of State for International Development on the ground that the Prime Minister had broken his promises to her by backing US proposals to give the United Nations 'only a minor role' in post-war Iraq." (05/13/03)

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=405768

Commentary With a little help from his friends Las Vegas Review Journal by Vin Suprinowicz

"[W]ho's this guy Jay Garner, dispatched by George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld to undertake the unenviable task of bringing Iraq halfway home to the 21st century?
Three-star Gen. Jay Garner (retired) served as commander of this country's Space and Missile Defense Command, outside Washington, D.C., from 1994 to 1996. Garner subsequently served as assistant vice chief of staff for the Army until his retirement in August 1997, after which he went to work as president of SY Technology. And that's where his resume starts to get interesting." (05/11/03(

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2003/May-11-Sun-2003/opinion/21227403.html

Commentary Why I took down 'Old Glory' The libertarian Enterprise by Jay P Hailey

"Any of the promises or principles that I used to feel were attach to that red, white and blue rag have been obliterated. It's just the gang colors of the meanest batch of monkeys on some random patch of dirt. I had to take it down. I looked at Stars and Stripes but instead I saw Swastikas, Hammers-and-Sickles, red flags, Jolly Rogers and maybe a crusader's cross or two. I hear Fox News, CNN and MSNBC giving Bush blowjobs right out of the Gobbels manual for fascist propaganda, always with that rag fluttering nearby. It's not a promise any more. It's a lie and a direct threat of violence." (05/11/03)


http://www.webleyweb.com/tle/libe223-20030511-03.html

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News The infidels deserved to die Sydney Morning Herald

"Three of the self-confessed Bali bombers have described their 202 victims, including 88 Australians, as sinners and "infidels" and the Sari Club as a "place of adultery".... The three men ... said they targeted the club expecting it to be full of Americans, but were not disappointed to kill so many Australians. 'Australians, Americans, whatever -- they are all white people,' said Imron, who admitted training with Islamic mujahideen terrorists on the Afghanistan-Pakistani border and being a follower of Osama bin Laden." (05/12/03)

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/05/11/1052591674275.html

Commentary Neo-Trots in the ascendancy The Last Ditch by David Wright

"Just when one thought things couldn't get any weirder in the festering mess that is today's 'conservatism,' monstrosities have hatched from it so hideous, so perverted, so wretchedly deformed, that one might take them for hallucinations -- caused, perhaps, by Saddam's elusive chemical weapons, secretly infused by Osama bin Laden into one's breakfast orange juice. They're not, though. They're for real .... After my wife threw a glass of cold water in my face, I calmed down and realized that those news items merely signal the next logical steps along 'conservatism's' careening flight into Mussolini-style fascism." (05/03/03)

http://www.thornwalker.com:16080/ditch/dtw_santorum.htm

Commentary Bullying Common Dreams by Catherine Cooper

"We are no longer exporting goods and services. We are placing ourselves in the position to force feed our ideology upon a world held hostage by our arms. As President Bush said before his invasion, "If you're not with us, you're against us." I may be alone in thinking we are in a more dangerous position than when we confronted the Soviets, but I don't think the outcome will be as forgiving. The short-term goal of negotiations at gun-point will yield short term results, but how many cultures can we successfully bully? And what really, is the ultimate cost?" (05/09/03)

http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0509-08.htm

Commentary Drunk on power Counter Punch by Sam Hamod

"Bush is now demonstrating what Alcoholics Anonymous refers to as the "dry drunk syndrome"--a sense of false self-aggrandizement, a belligerency against those who disagree with him, a logic that brooks no shades of gray or complexity, a glorification of having "conquered alcohol" (but not realizing that another addiction has taken its place) and an unsatisfied feeling at the core of his being that must constantly be fed by new and exhilarating experiences or adventures to satisfy his new addiction." (05/09/03)

http://www.counterpunch.org/hamod05092003.html


Commentary Eminent domain and private gain Christian Science Monitor by Alexandra Marks

"The Constitution does give local governments the right to condemn property through eminent domain for "public use" if the owner is compensated. But in the past five years, both state and local governments have taken or threatened to take more than 10,000 homes and small businesses such as Brody's to turn them over to private developers, according to a report compiled by the Institute for Justice, a nonprofit advocacy law firm in Washington." (05/09/03)

http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0509/p01s03-ussc.html

News TSA not screening workers for guns, explosives CNS News

"Anyone who has flown since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks has stood in line for the new screening procedures implemented by the Transportation Security Administration and has probably seen a pilot or flight attendant be ushered by for 'expedited screening.' But a TSA official acknowledged Thursday to the House Transportation Subcommittee on Aviation that airport workers who do not normally work on board airplanes do not undergo any security screening." (05/09/03)

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewPolitics.asp?Page=%5CPolitics%5Carchive%5C200305%5CPOL20030509c.html

News Sheriff's task force to search cars in Milwaukee for guns Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

"Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. announced Tuesday he has established a gun crime task force that will rely on so-called consent searches of cars in the city, a practice that has been restricted among
Milwaukee police. Consent searches, in which police get drivers' permission to search vehicles stopped for minor infractions, can turn up evidence of more serious crimes. Proponents say the tactic helps police find drugs and
guns. But critics say the practice invites abuse." (05/06/03)

http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/may03/139000.asp

News ScotRail to use DNA to track down people who spit at staff Ananova

"A rail company is using DNA technology to track down passengers who spit at staff.ScotRail employees have been given 'saliva recovery kits' in case they're victims of such attacks. The kits contain gloves, an evidence bag and two swabs so staff can submit samples of spit for testing. Strathclyde Police and British Transport Police are checking samples against the national DNA database." (05/08/03)

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_778255.html?menu=news.quirkies

News Got ammo? Not without a license Queens Chronicle

The popular National Rifle Association defense 'Guns don't kill people, people kill people' leaves out a key technicality: it's the bullets that do the killing. This idea is at the heart of a new bill and resolution introduced last Friday by Councilman James Sanders (D-Laurelton) that seeks to make it harder for unlicensed rifle and shotgun owners to get ammunition. The Ammunition Control Act, co-sponsored by Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria), would require shotgun and rifle owners to present detailed information about their weapon -- including make, model, manufacturer's name and serial number -- each time they purchase ammunition." (05/08/03)

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1865&dept_id=152958&newsid=7952178&PAG=461&rfi=9


News Storeowner shoots burglar Town Talk (LA)

"An Alexandria storeowner shot two burglars -- killing one of them -- early Tuesday when they entered the business through the ceiling, police said....[The storeowner] has not been charged with a crime. The store was closed at the time, but [he] was staying inside in an effort to deter break-ins." (05/07/03)

http://www.thetowntalk.com/html/15EC8CF0-6A45-48D3-802F-DFCB047E868C.shtml

News Warrants issued for pot houses to 'ensure safety' MAPINC/Airdrie Echo

"The City of Airdrie is taking steps in the wake of recent busts at local homes housing marijuana grow operations. Warrants have recently been executed on houses involved to ensure the integrity of the buildings, said Ed Funfer, Airdrie director of municipal enforcement. 'We want to make sure that they're safe,' Funfer said, adding that in marijuana grow houses, electrical bypasses are often part of the operations and, as such, could have a negative effect on a structure's overall safety." (05/06/03)

http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n675/a12.html?397

News Wanted: top hackers as trackers Sydney Morning Herald

"Police are offering 20 computer nerds the opportunity to become highly paid spies working for the NSW counter-terrorist unit.... The computer spies - most likely university computer science graduates or highly skilled IT workers -- will be offered wages of between $60,000 and $103,000. The high wage offer to civilian employees is a first for the police service but seen as necessary by the Commissioner, Ken Moroney, to recruit the best computer specialists from the private sector." (05/09/03)

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/05/08/1052280377317.html

========

Commentary Iraqi welcome for US turns to fury The Age (Australia)by Mark Baker

"This is the way the war ends: not with the jubilation of the liberated but with the whimpering of ragged children. 'Water! Water!' they cry, running from the roadside towards passing cars, thrusting their fingers towards their mouths in the salute of the thirsty.... In the early days, after the first battle of the war was won and the sporadic resistance subdued, many of Umm Qasr's residents came out of their mud-brick houses to welcome the invaders. Now they throw stones at the military." (05/95/03)

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/05/04/1051987604147.html

Commentary The other 'f' word Counter Punch by Ben Tripp

"[T]here are three sacred lines with regard to American democracy that can never be crossed: the line between privilege and power, the line between Church and State, and the line between civilian and military leadership. Cross any of them, and you're at fascism's doorstep. Cross two, you're on the threshold with your hand on the doorknob." (05/08/03)

http://www.counterpunch.org/tripp05082003.html


Commentary Plywood at $86 Baltimore Sun by staff

"The Army fessed up yesterday and admitted that Halliburton Co. stands to make a lot more money out of the mess in Iraq than it had been letting on.
Halliburton had gotten a no-bid contract that supposedly was limited to extinguishing oil fires, but then Saddam Hussein's men inconveniently neglected to set many wells ablaze. No worry -- there were a few other paragraphs buried in that no-bid contract, paragraphs that talk about Halliburton's 'operation of facilities' and -- our favorite -- 'distribution of products.'" (05/08/03)

http://www.sunspot.net/news/opinion/bal-ed.cheney08may08,0,6472065.story?coll=bal%2Dpe%2Dopinion

Commentary Senator Santorum's Department of Sexual Security Village Voice by Mark Fiore

Cartoon. (05/08/03)
http://villagevoice.com/alertrd.php3?article=43957

Commentary 1984 is here! Free Inquiry Magazine by Nat Hentoff

"Throughout our history, the Bill of Rights has been often held in contempt by our government -- witness the 1798 Alien and Sedition Acts; Abraham Lincoln’s suspension of habeas corpus and the mass jailing of opponents of his policies during the Civil War; Woodrow Wilson’s near-extinction of the First Amendment during the First World War; the 'Red Scare' raids and deportations of the early 1920s; the internment of Japanese-Americans in the Second World War; and the depredations of 'Tailgunner Joe' McCarthy. But the extent and depth of the subversion of civil liberties by the Bush administration is far more dangerous and will have much longer-lasting effects, because the war on terrorism is not going to have a definitive end for decades to come." (Spring 2003)

http://www.secularhumanism.org/library/fi/hentoff_23_2.htm


Commentary Fascism anyone? Free Inquiry Magazine by Lawrence W. Britt

"For the purpose of this perspective, I will consider the following regimes: Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Franco’s Spain, Salazar’s Portugal, Papadopoulos’s Greece, Pinochet’s Chile, and Suharto’s Indonesia.... Analysis of these seven regimes reveals fourteen common threads that link them in recognizable patterns of national behavior and abuse of power .... Does any of this ring alarm bells? Of course not. After all, this is America, officially a democracy with the rule of law, a constitution, a free press, honest elections, and a well-informed public constantly being put on guard against evils. Historical comparisons like these are just exercises in verbal gymnastics. Maybe, maybe not." (Spring 2003)

http://www.secularhumanism.org/library/fi/britt_23_2.htm

Commentary Bush's military defeat Counter Punch by Harvey Wasserman

"The 'victory' which has so enamored the US corporate media was an assault by a rich nation of 280 million people which spends more on its military than the rest of the world combined, against an impoverished, disunited nation 20 times smaller which has been ruled by a hated dictator installed by the US, subjected to international sanctions for 12 years, continually bombed through that time, and which was recently disarmed by United Nations weapons inspectors. Far a military triumph, its military conduct drew mocking derision from the major media outside the US." (05/02/03)

http://www.counterpunch.org/wasserman05022003.html

Commentary Redefining democracy The American Prospect by Robert Kuttner

"So desperate were the U.S. forces after a week of looting and anarchy that they have been reduced to hiring members of Saddam's police force to keep order. Some 2,000 of the previous regime's hated police are already patrolling Baghdad's streets in their old uniforms. Imagine what signal that sends to ordinary, anti-Saddam Iraqis. Evidently it was Saddam's foreign policy that President Bush loathed, not Saddam's repression of citizens. Bush has compared Saddam to Hitler, but we didn't turn over the policing of postwar Berlin to the Gestapo. So much for winning hearts and minds." (05/02/03)

http://www.prospect.org/print-friendly/webfeatures/2003/04/kuttner-r-04-17.html

Commentary Remembering Joe McCarthy Whitehouse.org by staff

"THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon. Today, with America's vast, bloodthirsty force of bravely unquestioning military grunts entering the final days of its totally justified mission to effortlessly annihilate Iraqazoid trash like blowflies on a roadside armadillo carcass, I wanted to take a few minutes off from my demanding schedule of aircraft carrier campaign commercial shoots to commemorate the passing of our nation's greatest-ever patriot -- not counting me, of course." (satire) (05/02/03)

http://www.whitehouse.org/news/2003/050203.asp

Commentary Pain The Libertarian Enterprise by William Stone III

"Letters to the editor, your Congressmen, the President. Protests, marches, political parties. T-shirts, coffee mugs, Web sites. Mailing campaigns, leaflets, fliers ...
We've tried and done them all, but in the end, what has it accomplished? Very damned little, I'm sorry to say. Every year the police state grows and every year the noose tightens a little bit more." (05/05/03)

http://www.webleyweb.com/tle/libe222-20030505-02.html

Commentary Making the world safe for mob rule Las Vegas Review Journal by Vin Suprinowicz

"Our sloppy spokesmen have been promising everyone our central government intends to allow and encourage 'democracy' in Iraq. Many of the 60 percent of that nation's populace who are long-oppressed Shiite Muslims are now responding quite predictably, and at an escalating volume, that they wish to take this opportunity to vote to create there not a secular regime on the American (or even the Turkish) model, but rather a fundamentalist 'Islamic republic' like that of neighboring Iran, where moaning mullahs and gibbering muftis would enforce the 7th century edicts of the Quran, ordering women caned for going about without their hair or ankles covered." (05/04/03)

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2003/May-04-Sun-2003/opinion/21225710.html

Commentary Despair: the terrorist's best recruiting officer Independent by Gilles Kepel

"Day in day out, two juxtaposed stories unfold on al-Jazeera or Abu Dhabi television. On the one hand, there are images of suicide attacks in Palestine, followed by scenes of Israeli repression, and of the burial of 'martyrs' watched by angry crowds of bearded youths and close shots of veiled female mourners. And on the other, images of Iraqi hostility towards American troops, scenes of armed retaliation and, again, burials where turbaned sheikhs chant defiant slogans against America, and followers praise Allah the Almighty, as well as close shots of spilled blood on the streets." (05/04/03)

http://argument.independent.co.uk/commentators/story.jsp?story=402901

Commentary Reefer madness NY Daily News by Christian Red, T.J. Quinn and Michael O'Keefe

"[A]s Americans grow more tolerant of marijuana, the sports world is heading in the opposite direction. Athletes caught smoking pot are not simply petty offenders, as the laws in most states define them. They are also disgraced role models, marketing liabilities and now, according to a burgeoning group of anti-doping advocates, they're cheaters as well. Many experts believe marijuana can enhance performance and are pushing to extend pot testing to all sports, not just the handful that screen for it now." (05/03/03)

http://www.nydailynews.com/05-04-2003/sports/more_sports/story/80538p-73937c.html

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News Small town, big guns KLAS TV News

"It's just a small dot on the map but a town in Utah has a law on the books that is making people take notice. The Virgin River flows 154 miles through Nevada and Arizona. On its way through Utah, it cuts through the town of Virgin. It's not a big place -- only about four miles long. The town's 420 residents are a mix of working class and retired people who like to fish and hunt. The local gun range is a popular spot. The residents here have something to make sure their firearms are never taken away, ordinance 2000-06-15. There is a law on the town books that requires every resident of Virgin to bear arms. The head of every household must own some sort of weapon." (05/02/03)

http://www.klas-tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1259647&nav=168XFaTI

News New drug laws won't slow border traffic MAPINC/ Ottawa Sun

"U.S. Ambassador Paul Cellucci suggested yesterday that Canada's plan to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana may not lead to border friction if the change includes tough penalties for criminal trafficking and cultivation. Contrary to recent warnings by other U.S. officials, including U.S. drug czar John Walters, Mr. Cellucci said people will have to "wait and see" whether such a law would lead to congestion and other problems at the Canada-U.S. border." (05/03/03)

http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n649/a03.html?397

News Pro-Gun Group Prompts Arrest Of One Of It's Own At National Convention Sierra Times

"Leaders of a pro-second amendment, liberty activist group are outraged over the arrest of a member of their group, who is also a paid member of the well-known second amendment group that had him arrested for passing out flyers outside a gun show last Sunday.The National Rifle Association apparently had one of its members, a pro-gun activist, arrested at its national convention on, April 27, 2003 in Orlando, Florida for handing out pro-gun freedom literature from an organization known as the Free State Project, Inc." (05/03/03)

http://www.sierratimes.com/03/05/05/article_fsp_nra.htm

News Health workers save their hospital Ananova

"Workers from a Romanian psychiatric hospital have saved it from being closed down by using their own wages for repairing and sanitising the buildings. The 50-strong staff were told the hospital was to shut because of its poor condition and lack of money for repair works." (05/04/03)

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_776790.html?menu=news.quirkies

News U.S. says Canada cares too much about liberties Ottawa Citizen

"The United States says the lack of funding for police
and restrictive privacy legislation in Canada are
frustrating probes of political extremists.The comments in an annual report on international terrorism were the latest critical remarks from the U.S. apparently aimed at prodding Canada to bring its security measures in line." (05/01/03)

http://www.canada.com/search/story.aspx?id=78a2260b-4770-4682-be60-e6fe1d3b8144

News SARS Virus found to survive for weeks outside human body Sydney Morning Herald

"New research into the deadly SARS virus shows that it is more resilient than first thought and can survive for weeks outside the human body. The research, published by the Geneva-based World Health Organisation, suggests that Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome -- a flu-like epidemic that has killed at least 449 people worldwide -- might be able to be spread through contact with contaminated objects and not just through direct contact with an infected person." (05/05/03)

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/05/05/1051987637923.html