:: Saturday, August 31, 2002 ::

Star Telegram | 08/31/2002 | Police ask stores to take fingerprints
ARLINGTON - Police are asking businesses to voluntarily participate in a program to take customers' fingerprints if they pay by check.
posted by ~ Blinded ~ at 11:58 PM

Mad as Hell - by Jeff Crook
On August 22nd, the Associated Press reported a small protest in Portland, Oregon. A band of people numbering in the 'hundreds' gathered to protest Bush administration policies ranging from war in Iraq to forestry initiatives.

At some point during this peaceful protest, the police reacted violently to protestors' unwillingness to remain inside so-called First Amendment Zones - remote areas cordoned off and removed from presidential view, where protestors can hold signs without their being seen by either the president they are protesting or the press sent to cover his visit. Protestors are not allowed outside these zones, while presidential supporters are escorted inside.


posted by ~ Blinded ~ at 4:34 PM

Ashcroft Seeks to Abuse Use of 'Secret Court'
For many citizens, the notion of an American "secret court" would appear a striking contradiction in terms. Until last week's disclosures by Congress, few Americans were aware that our government routinely used such a court to conduct searches of its own citizens for foreign intelligence gathering, searches that would be denied as unconstitutional by any conventional court. But this little-known court released to Congress a rare public opinion chastising Attorney General John Ashcroft and disclosing dozens of secret violations by the Justice Department.
.


posted by ~ Blinded ~ at 4:22 PM

:: Friday, August 30, 2002 ::

Underground Panther in the Sky
Two quotes I've heard recently on MSNBC 'Buchanan and Press', referring to the dog-gassing tapes shown constantly for a day and a half on CNN:
"Make that dog your baby, make that dog your wife make that dog yourself. . . " Talk about MANIPULATIVE.
"I haven't heard a peep about those tapes elsewhere on TV. Until NOW. Why?" Well, Cheney just announced we are going to war. Cheney's speech interrupted the 'Buchanan and Press' show.
<...>
It's easy to see the purpose of the "program" concerning the dogs. We are told to associate ourselves with the helpless dogs imprisoned by evil men in glass cages dying.
<...>
The fear they are manufacturing IS: "What if those evil terrorist Muslim Arabic people caught my child and stuck her in a glass box and raped, murdered, and gassed her for giggles-n-shits?"


posted by ~ Blinded ~ at 7:55 PM

WTO Allows EU's Sanctions on U.S. (washingtonpost.com)
GENEVA –– The World Trade Organization said Friday that the European Union can impose $4 billion in sanctions against the United States – a figure 20 times bigger than any sanction allowed in the past – because of tax breaks given to U.S. corporations operating abroad.

posted by ~ Blinded ~ at 2:22 PM

NORML| WORDING OF MARIJUANA BALLOT QUESTION RELEASED
The wording for the November ballot question that would make possession of small amounts of marijuana legal in Nevada has been released by the secretary of state's office.

Secretary of State Dean Heller on Tuesday released the final language that includes the question, explanation and brief arguments for and against passage. It is posted on the office's website at sos.state.nv.us.
posted by ~ Blinded ~ at 1:49 PM

The Sun Newspaper Online - UK's biggest selling newspaper

THE sickening champagne and caviar lifestyle being enjoyed by Earth Summit delegates was exposed yesterday.
They are gorging on mountains of lobster, oysters and fillet steak at the Johannesburg conference — aimed at ending FAMINE.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2002391624,00.html

i think perhaps a quote is in order. timeless words, imo.

"Fighting fire with empty words
While the banks get fat
And the poor stay poor
And the rich get rich
And the cops get paid
To look away
As the one percent rules America"

Queensryche


posted by - singularity - at 3:48 AM

:: Wednesday, August 28, 2002 ::

Motherjones.com -- Rewriting Texas Texts
Texas conservatives are aiming to revise their state's schoolbooks -- and teach a lesson to publishers nationwide.

posted by ~ Blinded ~ at 4:41 PM

New Blog is up
The most recent archives can be found here. Questions, comments, you know where to find me.

posted by ~ Blinded ~ at 4:02 PM

:: Wednesday, August 21, 2002 ::

t r u t h o u t - William Rivers Pitt | All Along the Watchtower
Stanley Hilton, a San Francisco attorney and former aide to Senator Bob Dole, filed a $7 billion lawsuit in U.S. District Court on June 3rd. The class-action suit names ten defendants, among whom are George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld and Norman Mineta.
[...]
LIHOP stands for Let It Happen On Purpose. The LIHOP Theory puts forward the accusation that Bush and his people allowed the September 11th attacks to take place, despite the fact that they had been repeatedly warned of an impending strike.

posted by Christi Dodd at 6:01 PM

CNN.com - UK to pay Afghan asylum seekers to go home - August 21, 2002
The UK Home Office has stated plans to trial a payment of between £600 (US$917) for individuals and up to £2,500 (US$3820) for families who volunteer to return to Afghanistan.
[...]
Hughes expressed the government's desire to take in "those genuinely fleeing persecution" but ensure "those with unfounded claims are removed from the country quickly and efficiently."




posted by Christi Dodd at 3:35 PM

:: Thursday, August 15, 2002 ::

Camps for Citizens: Ashcroft's Hellish Vision
Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft's announced desire for camps for U.S. citizens he deems to be "enemy combatants" has moved him from merely being a political embarrassment to being a constitutional menace.

Ashcroft's plan, disclosed last week but little publicized, would allow him to order the indefinite incarceration of U.S. citizens and summarily strip them of their constitutional rights and access to the courts by declaring them enemy combatants.
posted by ~ Blinded ~ at 11:36 AM

Rights Trampled in U.S.
U.S. authorities deliberately trampled constitutional rights after Sept. 11 in a crackdown that saw immigrants jailed without cause, tried in secret and, in some cases, physically abused, a leading human-rights group has charged.

In a report to be released today, Human Rights Watch accuses President George W. Bush's government of displaying "a stunning disregard for the democratic principles of public transparency and accountability" in its response to the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.


posted by ~ Blinded ~ at 11:30 AM

:: Monday, August 05, 2002 ::

U.S. Drug Policy Fostering Rights Abuse, Turmoil in Bolivia
United States pressure on Bolivia to eradicate coca, the raw material for cocaine, has resulted in serious human rights abuses and social turmoil, particularly in the semi-tropical Chapare region of the country, according to a new report released Friday by the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA).
posted by ~ Blinded ~ at 5:54 PM

80 year old vet arrested for remark at airport
Eighty-year-old Fred Hubbell, tired and cranky after facing a gantlet of searches at Bradley International Airport, made a sarcastic remark about a rifle that he quickly came to regret.

Suddenly he found himself in handcuffs - with a firsthand sense of what the Transportation Security Administration means by "zero tolerance."

posted by ~ Blinded ~ at 5:51 PM

:: Sunday, August 04, 2002 ::

Ananova - Scientist blames failure of monsoon on US warplanes
The chief scientific officer at the Centre for Atmospheric Sciences in New Delhi says large volumes of greenhouse gases have been released by US warplanes.
posted by ~ Blinded ~ at 2:09 PM