Wake Up

My political compass: Economic Left/Right: -8.00 Authoritarian/Libertarian: -7.28 Take the test yourself here.

Check out an excellent animation about the current state of the USA here [Flash required].

“Hundreds of Muslim men and boys are being subjected to strip searches in freezing, standing room only detention centers in southern California after being arrested for routine visa irregularities, immigration lawyers said on Thursday. They estimated that between 1,000 and 2,500 males, some as young as 16, were spending their fourth day locked up in […]

“North Korea, one of the world’s poorest, most isolated countries, is a difficult place to employ the containment strategy the United States is now pursuing. The world has little left to withdraw or withhold, according to diplomats and specialists. What levers exist largely have been pulled already — most recently when the Bush administration cut […]

“United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said that he sees no basis at present for the use of force against Iraq. Mr Annan told Israeli radio that Baghdad was co-operating with UN weapons inspectors and that no military action should be considered at least until they had reported back to the Security Council.” – from […]

From a BBC article: “An agreement has been signed in the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat, paving the way for construction of a gas pipeline from the Central Asian republic through Afghanistan to Pakistan.” And here’s some commentary from Truthout: “Since September 11th, 2001, there has been intense speculation regarding Bush administration negotiations with the Taliban regarding […]

“As the Bush administration draws up plans to simplify the tax system, it is also refining arguments for why it may be necessary to shift more of the tax load onto lower-income workers. Economists at the Treasury Department are drafting new ways to calculate the distribution of tax burdens among different income classes, which are […]

Okay, I saw this over on another weblog, and, since I think it’s funny, I’m reposting it here: —BEGIN JOKE— President George Bush visited the 4th grade of an elementary school yesterday. They were in the middle of a discussion related to words and their meanings. The teacher asked the President if he would like […]

“Could anyone have a more useless job than those weapons inspectors in Iraq? Does anyone honestly believe there is any vague chance that George Bush might say ‘Well, fair enough, we couldn’t find anything so it’s nice to know that he’s mended his ways.’” So begins a very cutting column from The Independent’s Mark Steel, […]

“The Senate approved legislation to establish a Department of Homeland Security and it will soon be signed into law by the president. Buried in this massive bill, snuck into it in the dark of night by persons unknown (actually, it’s fair to say by Republican persons unknown), was a provision that — incredibly — will […]