Tuesday, February 12
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Robert Kaercher is the guest editor today. |
Is the U.S. Getting Ready to Strike Pakistan?
“A
tidal wave of misery is engulfing Iraq -- and it isn't the usual violence that
Americans are accustomed to hearing about and tuning out. To be sure, it's
rooted in that violence, but this tsunami of misery is social and economic in
nature. It dislodges people from their jobs, sweeps them from their homes,
tears them from their material possessions, and carries them off from families
and communities. It leaves them stranded in hostile towns or foreign
countries, with no anchor to resist the moment when the next wave of
displacement sweeps over them.”
Pentagon Charges Alleged 9-11 Planner
“[Khalid
Sheik] Mohammed, a Pakistani national better known as KSM, has said he planned
every aspect of the Sept. 11 attacks. But his confession could be problematic
if used as evidence because the
“An extreme form of interrogation going back at least as far as the Spanish Inquisition, waterboarding has been condemned as torture by just about everyone – except the legal experts of the Bush administration.” Column by Ray McGovern.
Arrests
Made in Chinese Spying Cases
“The arrests mark China's latest attempts to gain top secret information about U.S. military systems and sales, said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Wainstein. He described China as ‘particularly adept, and particularly determined and methodical in their espionage efforts’.” Even if the Feds’ charges against these people are accurate (and their track record leaves much to be desired), perhaps there wouldn’t be any secrets to steal if they weren’t obsessively building the deadliest and most massive military arsenal in human history, to be used at a moment’s notice against any country on Earth for any reason that strikes their fancy. And considering past neocon saber-rattling at China, the thugs in Beijing are probably trying to prepare themselves in the event they ever have to mount a defense against the thugs in Washington.
Another
Twist in the Rosenberg Saga
“Some of us are old enough to remember when America's leaders - from president Eisenhower on down - told us that Julius and Ethel Rosenberg had to die because they gave the Russians the secret of the atomic bomb. Now it has been revealed - half a century late - that they knew all the time that it was a lie.” Frank Askin examines some inconvenient facts about the most infamous espionage case of the Cold War.
Partnership
for the Destruction of Liberty…And You
“Let's keep the primary lesson simple: The most wealthy and powerful private interests align with government -- and this partnership between the most powerful private interests and the state gets what it wants. You -- the ‘ordinary’ citizen -- are of no importance whatsoever in these calculations, except insofar as your labor, and occasionally your life, are required so that the ruling elites are assured of getting what they want.” As usual, Arthur Silber has some rather disturbing news for us. But it’s better to be informed and disturbed than to be ignorant and blissful.
“…I
picked up Perilous Times, by Geoffrey Stone, and started reading. And
what I read impressed me. Stone has written an important book on the fate of
civil liberties when war passions are riding high. Randolph Bourne wrote that
‘war is the health of the state’. He wrote that war ‘sets in motion
throughout society these irresistible forces for uniformity, for passionate
cooperation with the government in coercing into obedience the minority groups
and individuals which lack the larger herd sense’.”
“If there is one well-established truth in political economy, it is this: That in all cases, for all commodities that serve to provide for the tangible or intangible needs of the consumer, it is in the consumer’s best interest that labor and trade remain free, because the freedom of labor and of trade have as their necessary and permanent result the maximum reduction of price.” The classic 1849 essay by the Belgian economist Gustave de Molinari that is widely cited as marking the birth of market anarchism as we know it today.
Historian Susan Wise Bauer mourns the loss of South Korea’s “National Treasure No. 1.”
Living
To 100 Not So Hard, Say Researchers
“Living
to 100 is easier than you might think. Surprising new research suggests that
even people who develop heart disease or diabetes late in life have a decent
shot at reaching the century mark.”
“In
what is seen as a sign of the declining dollar, many New York City stores have
begun accepting euros. What do you
think?”
Facebook Is Like the Hotel California
You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave. (NYT link, 2 pages, Editor's pick)
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