Wednesday, December 08, 2004

Newshog 08-12-2004

The Social Security shell-game, "four more years" of War, Blair does a Pilate, and some other interesting stuff I read over the past few days, in the Wednesday Newshog Briefs.

  • The new Cold War. The "war of civilisations" isn't just against Islam, says Justin Raimondo of Antiwar.com.

  • Ralph Nader: US liberals are political cowards. He says. "Our political system is an idiocracy. It's the laughing stock of the western world."

  • Finland has the best education results in the world. How? They don't centrally control how teaching is done, there are few private schools, and even elementary teachers have Masters degrees.

  • Want to see what two returned veterans think of the Iraq War and mainstream media reporting? Two op-eds, one on Pat Tillman, the other on politicians and the media ignoring the facts.

  • Anonymous intelligence reports say...anonymous diplomats protest...US gets tough...regime change. Sounds familiar, and now, since he won't toe the Bush line, its the turn of the International Atomic Energy Agency's elBaradei.

  • In case you forgot, the US is a country that stocks nerve gas. 100 gallons was moved to new containers this week at a base in Kentucky after the old one eroded.

  • Rumsfield agrees with British Army (see yesterdays post)- it's "four more years" of war in Iraq.

  • Kevin Drum analyses the smoke and mirrors behind Social Security privatisation. In what world could the US economy be good enough for the private plans to be worthwhile, and yet the Social Security fund still go bust?

  • More Rummie - This time he gets an earfull from disgruntled soldiers in a Q&A session after giving them a "pep talk"

  • Tony Blair has rejected demands that he set up an independent inquiry into the number of civilians killed in Iraq, says it's the insurgents who kill civilians. When will he announce he is standing for leadership of the Conservative Party?

  • Looks like the old Berlin Wall to me. The Guardian has a gallery of images of the West Bank's barrier.

  • Mujahideen use internet for efficient recruiting - "In the space of a few hours, volunteers can leave their countries and find themselves in the heat of battle."

  • The International Herald Tribune points out that the US undoubtably knew about the UN oil-for-food scandal all along, but it suited the administration to say nothing at the time.

  • What is the US budget for intelligence operations? I can't tell you, it's a secret...psst...about $40 billion.

  • Your handbag was stolen with your passport in it? Time to lock you up under armed guard. Welcome to the Land of the Free.

Quote of the Day:

The key to wisdom is this - constant and frequent questioning... for by doubting we are led to question and by questioning we arrive at the truth.
Peter Abelard

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