Category: News

Sept. 11 panel portrays a chaotic US response. WASHINGTON — F-16 fighter pilots sent to circle the nation's capital on the morning of the 2001 terrorist attacks never learned that Vice President Dick Cheney had authorized them to shoot down hijacked planes — an order given after all four planes had crashed — the Sept.… Continue reading Sept. 11 panel portrays a chaotic US response

Lock up your journalists. Reporters in chains. Under Homeland Security orders, journalists from England, Sweden, Holland and other friendly countries are being detained at U.S. airports, strip-searched and deported. [Salon.com] “Most countries that require special visas for journalists tend to be totalitarian states.” said Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of… Continue reading Lock up your journalists

NYTimes Op Ed from Peter Singer on the Aegis affair.  He hits the nail on the head here: The strength of systems of democracy and capitalism are that they are supposed to be self-correcting and self-improving. When mistakes are made, lessons are learned so that the errors are not repeated. When it comes to the… Continue reading NYTimes Op Ed

The Son of Patriot Act Also Rises. Legislators attempt to pass Patriot Act II provisions to increase government power with legislative tricks, adding them to unrelated must-pass bills. It's a repeat of last year's events, but this time opponents are watching. By Kim Zetter. [Wired News]

Yahoo News – Fla. Voting Machines Have Recount Flaw. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Touchscreen voting machines in 11 counties have a software flaw that could make manual recounts impossible in November's presidential election, state officials said. A spokeswoman for the secretary of state called the problems “minor technical hiccups” that can be resolved, but critics allege… Continue reading Yahoo News

New from Iraq.   More on the mess at the Pentagon.  This is going to end badly.  Spicer is an enforcer for oil and mining companies with a “spicy” past, and we just gave him more than a quarter of a billion dollars.   Occupation authorities in Iraq have awarded a $293 million contract effectively creating the world's largest private army to… Continue reading New from Iraq

Seriously, Bush really DOES hate the Constitution!. By far, the best break-down of the controversy around the Pentagon how-to-justify-torture memo is currently over at Randy Paul's site; he provides the most logical explanation I've seen of how the Bush administration's attempt to justify torture under newly-invented wartime or enemy combatant rules is complete and total… Continue reading Seriously, Bush really DOES hate the Constitution!

Police union's picket line halts work on convention. Democratic National Convention organizers were forced to shut down the start of FleetCenter construction yesterday after some construction workers and delivery trucks refused to cross a picket line led by Boston police officers outside the arena. More construction problems were expected today, as city and convention officials… Continue reading Police union's picket line halts work on convention

Suicide by Pseudoscience. Political purges will kill American science. Just ask Trofim Lysenko, one of Stalin's top scientific stooges. By Bruce Sterling from Wired magazine. [Wired News]

The text of the White House legal finding (PDF — WSJ) that agreements against torture don't apply to the US. [John Robb's Weblog]