Saturday, October 18, 2003

A NOTE TO THE FEDS: THANK HIM, AND HIRE HIM. This story about the airplane smuggling incident has some very interesting details in it: A college student who the FBI believes hid box cutters and other banned items aboard two Southwest Airlines planes had warned government officials he would try to bring forbidden articles onto commercial flights to expose holes in security. A federal law enforcement official confirmed Saturday that investigators are interviewing Nathaniel T. Heatwole of Greensboro, N.C., to learn how he got... [The Light of Reason] They should thank him and offer him a job, but this being the real world what they'll actually do is arrest him and charge him with some invented-on-the-spot felony for having the nerve to embarrass his lords and masters. 10:25:25 PM    comment () some terrorists are more equal than others. David Neiwert runs a little thought experiment: Imagine the following scenario: Federal agents arrest a Muslim man, a member of a radical sect, living in Michigan, on gun and drug charges. When they search his home, they discover a bunker containing a cache of weapons and explosives worthy of an army: an anti-aircraft gun capable of firing 550 rounds per minute up to four miles away, machine guns, explosives, thousands of rounds of ammunition, and booby traps. Investigators also find pictures of President Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld with scope cross-hairs drawn over them. How do you suppose the media would handle that story? My guess that if it didn't lead the evening news, it would be reported on it. It would at least be above the fold in many newspapers, and almost certainly would be a hot topic of conversation among the nation's radio talk-show hosts. Michael Savage would have a field day. But what happens when, instead, the circumstances are identical, and the suspect is a white man associated with a militia unit? It gets buried in the Grand Rapids Press. And that's about it. [Al-Muhajabah's Islamic Blogs] Perhaps Mr. Neiwert is too young to remember it, but the media was attacking "evil militamen" rather heavily during the 1990s and cheerleading for government persecution of groups like the Viper Militia. 10:17:39 PM    comment () CAREFUL WITH THAT HISTORY, MR. PRESIDENT. Sometimes you just have to wonder if anyone at all is minding the store. Apparently, Bush made a number of comparisons between his nation-building plans for Iraq and the wonderful history of America's relationship with the Philippines during his visit to Manila. Among other things, there's this: While Mr. Bush made elliptical references to the Spanish-American War, some of his critics have argued that the justification for invading Iraq bore a resemblance to the rationale the United... [The Light of Reason] It seems even Bush recognizes the similarities between Iraq and the "liberation" of the Phillipines, although he's apparently stupid or ignorant enough to think that makes it a good thing. 10:01:17 PM    comment () Is Syria Next?. There's been a lot of speculation that Iraq was just the first in a line of nettlesome problems in the Middle East that neo-cons wanted to "solve." Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said in an interview almost a year ago that Iran should be the next target. However, it seems Washington has decided to step up its campaign against Syria. [Back In Iraq 2.0] The Crusaders were making threatening noises at Syria immediately after the conquest of Iraq, but Bush told them to cut it out (supposedly the directive was "no more wars before the election"). Now they seem to be starting up again--could there be another war before the election after all? If the Feds do try to conquer Syria before Iran, that will give Iran additional time to develop working nuclear weapons--which, given the circumstances, they would be insane not to do. 5:07:41 PM    comment () Emiliano Antunez at Sierra Times - Rush and Chong - possibly the best, most concise, statement on the war on freedom, er... some drugs, that I've read. [sierra] Within a month's time, drug war supporter and conservatives' conservative Rush Limabugh fesses up (only after being outed by a tabloid) about his addiction to prescription pain killers and 70s pothead icon Tommy Chong (the other half of Cheech and Chong) is sentenced to nine months in prison, not for possession of the evil weed, not for distribution of the enticing white powder, but for selling "paraphernalia." America has definitely reached the boiling point of hypocrisy in its useless drug war. ... The cat is out of the proverbial bag, many Americans have known for years that the war on drugs is not about drugs. This drug war is a war by our own government on its own citizens, it has made mince meat of the fourth amendment, it has shredded the second amendment, it has given the government the power to peak into our finances, it has run rough shod over private property rights, it has turned our inner cities into war zones, it has turned non violent youths into criminals and in the process ruined countless lives. [End the War on Freedom] This is a very relevant comparison which I haven't seen made anywhere else. 4:44:06 PM    comment ()

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