Negative Liberty

Is this the Patriot Act Redux?

Kissinger has some opinions about the Middle East. That’s putting it mildly.

What, children are being left behind?! Lies, surely!! OK, probably shouldn’t be joking. This isn’t funny at all.

We’re really beginning to see some election machine problems in the wild. This is really scary.

CDC says Black-White vaccine gap closed.

Former Texas Governor Ann Richards dies at 73.

This can’t be good. Saudi Arabia encouraging oil and not alternative fuels. It’s never been about running out of oil for me.

Earmark reform bill has passes the Senate. What? They did something right?

White House attempting to keep Bolton at the UN. If you don’t remember, they temporarily handed him the job as a recess appointment. The Senate doesn’t seem to pleased with him…

Powell backs GOP leaders in move away from Bush’s policy on detainees. BAM. I loved Tony Snow’s reponse to a reporter’s question on whether Powell was just confused. “Yes.” Ha.

The real story about Armitage and Plame.

Blair defending American and warning countries about isolating the US.

Specter’s warrantless wiretapping bill is dead in the water.

Awwww SNAP! Congress is being called on its BS report on Iran.

Remember those Anthrax letters? What happened? Sue and you may find out.

BORAT seems to be causing some trouble. Looks hilarious to me.

The NYPost loves its Mikey. Bloomberg for Prez?

Clooney lends his dashing good looks to the Darfur debacle.

How do we live well without harming our planet? Let Netflix be an example.

A lesson in effective political advertising.

See you tomorrow…

2008, 2008 election, ann richards, anthrax, arlen specter, borat, bullshit, campaigns, cdc, cia, colin powell, darfur, diebold, earmark reform bill, education, education system, election fraud, elections, ethnic cleansing, foreign policy, geneva conventions, genocide, george clooney, gop, green planet, henry kissinger, iran, iran nuclear report, john bolton, los angeles, michael bloomberg, middle east, netflix, no child left behind, nypost, oil, patriot act, recess appointment, richard armitage, saudi arabia, saudi oil, senat, tony blair, torture, united nations, vaccine gap, valerie plame, voter fraud, voting, warrentless wiretapping, white house, wiretapping

Well, we’re back. And I’m alive, for the two of you reading this. Forgive the obligatory 9/11 items in today’s Linkroll. We talked a lot about having a roundtable about 9/11 but figured it’s going to be covered nine ways from sunday, so screw that. But since we’re not posting anything, let me just say when I walked the WTC PATH last week, I got very, very pissed off. The politics of all of this are pathetic. End rant.

On a lighter note, I always feel better after getting back on schedule after being off for so long. Kind of like how I keep telling myself I’m going to start running again. Yeah… never gonna happen.

Anyway…

Bush spoke last night about freedom and moderation (Whatever the hell that meant.) to mark the 5th of November… er yeah, the 5th 9/11.

Exclusive control of the executive and legislative branches of government is bad, no matter the party.

On a related note: Read this. And this.

Driftglass on five years.

To my huge surprise, apparently Cheney is a hard-liner.

Foreign Affairs kicks ass.

I hear the Bolton speech at Nebraska was border-line ridiculous, and apparently the bloke is sarcastic about genocide. Look for the audio version in the Podcast.

Facebook takes another step in its quest for world domination.

Iraq seems to be in dire trouble.

The IMF has been in the news quite a bit recently, with saying the World economy is overall stable, and that China needs to be doing some thinking.

Wikipedia gives a royal “fuck you” to China – unlike Google and countless others.

Americans blame Bush for 9/11.

Maybe this will be the final word. There was no link between Al Qaeda or Osama bin Laden and Saddam.

Worried CIA operatives buy legal insurance. Probably a smart move.

A 2008-coattail effect rundown.

CNN sums up my feelings about the sad thing that is what happened to the unity after 9/11. And all I can say to those politicians is: “Fuck you. Seriously. Fuck you.” Someone recently said to me that all politicians are corrupt in Congress and we should just start from scratch. I’m starting to like that idea.

Fox says America is safer. I guess that’s that.

It’s been a little heavy today.

See you tomorrow…

9/11, anniversary, campaigns, censorship, china, cia, committees, congress, dick cheney, elections, facebook, foreign affairs, fox, freedom, george bush, google, investigation, iraq, john bolton, jon stewart, polls, saddam link, senate, terror, wikipedia

Sorry about the lack of links as of late. We have all been very busy and/or sick. Fawkes, who normally handles the linkroll, is out today, so I’ll do a quickie to keep you busy.

Warren Jeffs has been arrested. Leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints, he is wanted as an accomplice to rape and for attempting to marry minors to older men. His actions represent many of the excesses present in the practice of polygamy in the United States.

I may not care much for the “Gubernator,” but at least he had the balls to sign a climate control agreement of the kind Bush dismissed. Conservatives in particular continue to dismiss global warming as “liberal propaganda,” but there are some who are willing to act.

The RIAA says: Don’t share kids, it’s illegal. Don’t worry, it has nothing to do with protecting art, but everything to do with dwindling bottom lines for an association of leeching middlemen. Also: Ramen = music?

Darfur continues to deterioriate. Ineffectual UN leadership, a useless African Union force, and nothing but words from Western nations have led to a deepening of the tragedy already on a slippery slope to genocide.

Bush uses national security and Iraq to boost mid-term chances. Somehow, I don’t think that focusing on the violent mess that is Iraq will help. National security is always a favorite Republican standby, but given that Bush’s numbers didn’t really increase much after the whole trans-Atlantic plane-bombing scare, I don’t know how much that’ll help him. This, however, might do more for his cause.

Iran wants to be a regional superpower. Aside from the fact that “regional superpower” is a meaningless term, it is true that Iran has emerged as the dominant power player in the Middle East, not the least because of the United States’ attitude towards it. Here is a place where America’s War on Terror is at its least effective and most dangerous.

The US War on Terror sets a bad example, giving governments around the world an excuse to detain anyone without reason. Just brand them a “terrorist.”

Mm, pork! The perils of a welfare state.

2006 elections, alaska, america, california, campaigns, climate, copyright, darfur, international community, iran, iraq, israel, lebanon, middle east, polygamy, republicans, riaa, terrorism, united nations, war on terror, welfare

Sen. Joseph Biden’s plan for Iraq.

Newspaper executives admit they must reinvent the wheel to survive.

China don’t mess around with its secrets.

The bizarre story of the day goes to: middle-school teacher suspended for displaying foreign flags in his classroom.

Are we the 21st century Rome? Empire building is good, right?

For some reason I have it in my head Bush is from Texas. I have no idea why. Anyway, he’s vacationing back home with pops in New England.

The State Department is investigating Israel’s breach of arms agreements.

Liberals to become extinct as conservatives out-breed them.

Democrats are clinging to Katrina rebuilding efforts, or lack thereof, in an election swing campaigning against the administration.

In his usual manner, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin is pissed. Specifically, he’s pissed that nothing’s happening. Not in New York, not in New Orleans, apparently. But he says he’s doing a better job than New York. I live nearby and I haven’t seen them do a single thing at the WTC site in 4 months. I’d say he’s right. And I still really want to see that Spike Lee film.

Pub owners are complaining about the smoking ban in Edinburgh. What are you going to do?

Jeff Sachs says the best way to win in the middle east is to drop the “us vs. them” ideology. Probably a good start.

Warrantless wiretapping would have prevented 9/11, according to Rove.

No scary intelligence for the elections this November, please.

Muslim and Arab men see a decline in earnings after 9/11.

Everyone seems to be discussing American foreign policy, so we can either just sit back and enjoy, or we can post something substantial. Maybe next week. Until then, read this article.

Why doesn’t Lieberman just switch parties? He’d probably get more support.

As Sen. Hagel was sounding off about Iraq last week, another Republican, this time Rep. Says, is calling for a timetable for a pullout.

And for our ridiculous post of the day: GOP push to kill Science for good.

We will be bringing you our first roundtable post on Monday morning.

See you Monday…

9/11, campaings, china, christopher says, chuck hagel, democrats, elections, empire, enlightenment, foreign policy, gop, intelligent design, internets, iraq, israel, joseph biden, joseph lieberman, journalism, karl rove, katrina, liberals, new orleans, new york, newspapers, november elections, nsa, president bush, ray nagin, republicans, rome, science, scotland, smoking bans, state secrets, texas, wiretapping

Pluto is no longer a planet. Take that Disney. It’s kind of funny, because it really doesn’t change anything as Temüjin pointed out in yesterday’s comments. It’s still Pluto.

Now I’m not in the habit of Bush bashing, but check this out in regards to his comments earlier in the week about Iraq’s involvement in 9/11.

Bush: It could be worse. Well, he’s right.

Scientists believe they have found a way around Administration ethical objections to (and Bush veto) to stem cell research.

As a strong sign of goodwill and nonproliferation, Israel is buying some nuclear subs. Who can blame them?

One of Howard Dean’s web peoples is now going to be working for Sen. John McCain. Interesting.

Stop polluting! Save the polar bear… family jewels?

If you’re going to have a “chief astronomer” and sack him for being a scientist… maybe you shouldn’t have a chief astronomer position in the first place?

Canadia is not going to rule out a private healthcare initiative. But then where will all the hipster teenagers move to avoid Bush and Privatization?

Keeping in mind the source of this article, rumors are abound of a “surprise” coming in regards to Iran’s nuclear program. What, is the Iran going to open its trench coat to reveal its dirty bomb to the rest of the innocent world? Something to keep an eye… or two, on.

“2nd 9/11 has been prevented.” Good to know. It’s strange, I didn’t hear much about the Germany plots. I’ve been really busy the last week, was this breaking news on CNN and Fox and all that? Just curious.

The United States has renewed its offer to end its Cuba embargo. I won’t hold my breath.

Prudhoe bay is having some fresh problems. The Alaskan oil field had to throttle its output by another 90,000 barrels a day. All this while the EPA is examining two-year-old documents from an engineering firm that warned of corrosion in the BP pipeline network. Ouch.

Not really politically relevant at all, but there’s a new startup company which claims to offer you a better solution for searching and organizing your web experience. Play around with it and let me know what you think.

Hillary is comfortably ahead in the polls in NY.

For all the crap I like to give CNN, its “In the Footsteps of bin Laden” was pretty interesting. The real question is: Where’s the Mike Wallace one-on-one with bin Laden?

This just in: French fishermen don’t like Greenpeace. But who does? Joking.

Phillipine President Gloria Arroyo is a strong political force, now surviving two separate attempts of impeachment. There have been claims of corruption, fraud and human rights violations.

It has come to my attention that United States “ambassador” to the United Nations will be holding a public forum at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln as part of its E.N. Thompson Forum on World Issues lecture series. If you happen to be in the middle of nowhere — a.k.a. Lincoln, Nebraska — stop by and try not to let your head explode. I do not believe they are serving alcohol at this event.

Are we giving the terrorists what they want? Author Bruce Schneier seems to think so.

Blimey, those anti-truck-bomb security poles actually work. This video is good evidence to that.

Here’s a great interview with Editor in Chief of Al-Jazeera from the Washington Post’s David Ignatius. They are the “channel for everybody” not the “channel of insurgents.”

Anderson Cooper: Method anchor.

An update to an earlier story, the FDA has allowed over-the-counter sales of Plan B medication. Three cheers.

Martin Jacques, over at CiF, has a nice commentary on the “international community” as only “the west”.

In case anyone has forgotten, there are still atrocities occurring in Sudan. And peace plans are failing left and right.

The judge who ruled against the wire-tapping program has come under fire for her involvement in a organization which donated funds to the plaintiff, the ACLU. Considering the sources of the outing (JudicialWatch) and that of this article (ThinkProgress), try to stay objective and come to your own conclusions.

I don’t know where Caligula’s analysis is, but the Democrats are thinking very hard about the 2008 race and who to nominate.

The Journal has a very interesting piece on the Housing burst, if you’re comfortable with that term, if you’re into that sort of thing.

Is there movement in Congress to make Churches exempt from Eminent Domain? Marci Hamilton takes a look. This is definitely Caligula’s area of expertise.

Sen. Barack Obama is set to take a public HIV/AIDS test as a show of support for the practice.

Great, now not only do you have to watch out for the IRS, but you have to watch out for the fake IRS.

1 in 4 Americans feel safer now than they did before 9/11. That’s reassuring. Thanks CNN.

What do we really know about the Iran threat? What do you say? Are we being misled?

There is some chatter on the Polygamy front:

Robert George

In response: Independent Gay Forum

New Attacks on Gay Marriage: Independent Gay forum

On a different note, I am fascinated by Guido Fawkes’ referring to himself in the third person in all of his posts. And no, there’s no relation.

See you tomorrow…

2008 elections, 9/11, aclu, aids, alaska, anderson cooper, astronomy, barack obama, campaigns, canadia, catholicism, churches, cuba, democracy, democrats, elections, embargo, eminent domain, evolution, gay marriage, germany, global warming, gop, greenpeace, guido fawkes, healthcare, hiv, howard dean, intelligent design, international community, iran, iraq, irs, israel, john bolton, john mccain, lebanon, marriage, middle east, netvibes, november elections, nsa wiretapping, nuclear proliferation, oil, plan b, planets, pluto, polar bears, polls, pollution, polygamy, president bush, privacy, privatization, purdhoe bay, religion, robert george, stem cell research, terrorists, the french, the pope, university of nebraska, wiretapping

Senator Lieberman is tied with Ned Lamont in this poll, says we’re in WWIII.

Edwards is out and about again, Caligula’s favorite Dem. candidate at the moment, the South’s favorite son is fundraising and thinking about 2008 so it seems.

There are some hot races, besides the Lamont-Lieberman extravaganza, including for the Governor of Virginia, and the Maryland Senate race.

The Geneva Conventions of 1949 are now universal. Except when inconvenient, of course.

More evidence of a civil war in Iraq, via Jill Carrol. America is now enemy #2.

The PEW center did an interesting poll about Iraq, broken down by religion.

It’s about time: A federal judge has blocked the administration’s plan to allow logging in Sequoia National Monument.

The housing bubble may just burst… Good timing as we’re in an ideal place for a slower-down in the economy.

Obama cancels his Democratic Republic of the Congo trip due to factional violence. It still boggles my mind that Obama is the sole African American in the United States Senate. Just completely boggles my mind.

Colbert’s at it again, using the internets in a plot to destroy America. Actually, he’s just using the internets to showcase fans’ creative edits to his green-screen footage. Clever.

I don’t know what I love more about this article, the fact they put “war on terror” in quotes or that it was short enough for me to read in 30 seconds.

While this link forces me to admit I frequent Wonkette, they did hilariously pointed out something interesting about the Richard Armitage meeting with Bob Woodward. It does look like Armitage is the original source of the leak, not that Woodward ran with it before anyone else – he just knew before everyone else. Bragging rights are important in journalism.

Volokh has a good rundown of the prospects of the NSA wiretapping on appeal. Some of the comments are interesting, if not tedious from the day before. But that’s why you read political blogs, right?

McCain is trying to gain some public clout by criticizing the current policies on Iraq. Somehow it doesn’t seem to carry much weight with me, coming from him. But I’ve never really been much of a fan.

Nick Clegg makes some good points for an open-door immigration policy in Europe.

It’s either a really good day or a really bad day to be a Marine. In the first involuntary recall since the early days of Iraq, the Marines fall short in recruiting. There was a great excerpt of a narrative on this subject on NPR today, listen for it – while I do a better job of finding NPR links.

I didn’t catch it, but HBO ran Spike “Inside Man” Lee’s special on the Katrina anniversary. I’ll have to keep my eye out for reviews. I’m sure we’ll be seeing Brian Williams knee deep in some water next week not dodging flying metal. Wait that was Anderson. Nevermind.

On an unrelated note, can someone please tell me why what we call a planet or a dwarf planet is so important? Temüjin?

Don’t cash that Medicare check just yet. The big bad government made a $50M oopsies.

See you tomorrow…

ahmadinejad, anniversaries, barack obama, bob woodward, campaigns, democrats, environment, eu, gop, immigration, internets, iran, jill carrol, john mccain, joseph lieberman, katrina, medicare, ned lemont, new orleans, november elections, planets, polls, president bush, privacy, religion, spike lee, the guardian, valerie plame

Iran announces its assumed rejection of the United Nations deadline, but ready for talks? Meanwhile, if you didn’t catch the Mike Wallace 60 Minutes interview with Iranian President Ahmadinejad, check it. Only Wallace could help Ahmadinejad appear lucid.

On a related note, a former Iranian president is coming to Washington. Or so claims FOXNews.

California raises its minimum wage to $8 by 2008. And what is the nation still stuck at?

Rumors are abound of a Malaria vaccine venture, with trials in the field. Hopefully this is not vapor like the heralded SPf66 from a decade ago.

The GOP has gained some measureable support following the foiled airline plot, says USAToday poll.

Aw snap. North Korea is pissed again.

DVRs can help you avoid everyone’s least favorite part of political campaigns. Wait, do people have favorite parts of campagins.

During a news conference, Bush said he had no intention of backing Schlesinger, a former state representative who has been hammered by questions about his gambling. Ouch.Related, there are calls for Lieberman to be thrown out of the Democratic party?

Privacy advocacy groups are calling for car companies to include information about the don’t-ask-don’t-tell car black boxes in the owners’ manual.

Can circumcision help prevent AIDS? Huh?

Raise your hand if you think Jill Carrol will win a Pulitzer by default next go-round? I’m raising my hand. OK, now that I’m done being insensitive, part 80* of her series, posted today, says terrorists are more clever than she thought.

Opposition to the Iraq war at an all-time high. Really?

This is just cool. Detect nukes in container ships at sea from SF Bay for $12,000.

Congress poised to destroy our internets!

Newt’s back for a 2008 presidential run?
We will have a state-of-the-field-type post coming soon.

Bush finally says he supports Plan B availability without prescription to those over 18.

That Hagel video: “Most unstable Middle East since 1948?”. [Transcript, Fox]

In case you didn’t catch it in the New York Times yesterday, McCain is playing fundraising hopscotch in Washington.

Bush pledges $230M+ to help Lebenon. This is, noted by ThinkProgress, less than is spent in Iraq every day. On that note, what is our deficit at thesedays anyway?

Media Matters has an interesting analysis of the media’s coverage of Administration positions on detention authority.

Apartheid: Israel style?

Is this current push for wider use of airline databases a good thing? Or is it an attack on privacy ala payment records?

I definitely didn’t even think of this, but what do professional, or amatuer musicians do in the current restriction-heavy-flying situation? They’ve brought this to my attention.

See you tomorrow…

ahmadinejad, aids, california, campaigns, chuck hagel, congress, dvr, gop, internets, iran, iraq, israel, joseph lieberman, net neutrality, north korea, polls, president bush, privacy, sanctions

Sen. Hagel says the GOP has lost its way.

How much wood could a wood chuck chuck if a wood chuck could chuck wood at all? What Ned Lemont can do for the party: Everything Lieberman never could or would? Possible input from Caligula soon.

More wire-tapping-goodness-appeal comments from the corner of Bush’s mouth.

Gates foundation helps MediaNews Group acquire new newspapers. Nice to see money is going to the needy.

It’s like deciding who suffers: your mom or your sister… The ever-persisting question of what to do with Social Security.

Michael Hayden is my idol. I want to be just like him when I grow up. He says warrants are the enemy.

WIRED, as always, delves into the world of the currupt and illegal with a great story on PirateBay, the torrent tracker.

Is America a Christian nation? This is a great article.

The Washington Post gives us a good roundup of the current on-goings in Iraq. Basically, it’s not good. Who’da thunk it?

I can really see the push for the Democratic convention in Denver, while others are really pushing for NY. New York is too easy. Can you imaging what it could do for momentum if there was a successful convention in the heart of a Red state?

The CIA is running into trouble in its continuing quest into British financial records. Legal trouble that is, what other kind is there?

10,000 Reasons civilisation is doomed. Add your own.

We have a few articles On Deck for this week:

Caligula has some general thoughts on the Democratic hopes, specifically how the country will vote Republican if the party nominates Hillary.

Temüjin has an analysis coming later this week of why Lebenon shows us why we’ve already lost the ‘War on Terror’.

Temüjin also has a discussion for tomorrow about the social conundrum that is Polygamy.

See you tomorrow…

america, bill gates, bloomberg, christianity, chuck hagel, cia, democrats, denver, gates foundation, gop, iraq, joseph lieberman, michael hayden, ned lemont, piracy, religion, washington post

I thought I would start Sunday’s roll with two YouTube favorites:

George Galloway going off again. Brilliant.

This afternoon, TIME posted its Hillary coverstory. Look for Caligula’s analysis tomorrow.

Someone’s getting a little desperate. Anyone have an over-under on when he’s going to drop out.

Is it possible that Religion fosters bad behavior? Creighton University presents the study online.

The Economist published a piece about photojournalism, and how to improve on digital photography standards.

The war rages on. This article comes as the Episcopal Church’s leader in the U.S. has been saying homosexuality is no sin.

Just when you thought polygamy was dead, they come out of the woodwork. I suppose having six wives never really goes out of style. Look for Temüjin’s analysis soon.

See you tomorrow…

george galloway, hillary clinton, homosexuality, photojournalism, polygamy, religion