Newshog 29-12-2004

It's been an interesting couple of days bobbing around the blogosphere following the "elitist liberal aristoblogs" debate, but now it is back to earth with a bang and a frenzied search of the internets for news and comment that hopefully brings a deeper understanding of some current issues. Thanks also to Kat and Shirrin for sending me links I just had to include! Without further ado, this is the 'Newshog news briefs'.

• New and dangerous secrecy oaths at the Dept. of Homeland Security make whistleblowing less likely, cover up systematic errors.
  
  
• The Raw Story says "Democrats own the issues, lack the scope...declare war on poverty". Is that a call for good old working-class labor I hear?
  
  
• From The Rocky Mountain News, Colorado - an in depth look at how companies cannot make their pension schemes profitable and are axing plans wholesale. If the corporations can't make private pension investment work, what chance does the poor guy on the street have?
  
  
• Here is something we are not hearing much about, and which certainly does not fit with the fictional stereotypes of Iraq in particular and the Arab world in general. Prior to "liberation" Christians were Iraqis like all other Iraqis. Thanks to "liberation" they are now under great threat.
  
  
• From the Arkansas Times, two hard hitting stories - "Tort reform" is a scheme to protect rich corporations from the consequences of wrongdoing and a sorrowful comparison between the first George W., who crossed the Delaware, and the second, who would doubtless have sickened his namesake by allowing torture of prisoners.
  
  
• As the tsunami death toll climbs past 100,000, a Swedish newspaper reports that experts in Thailand did not issue a warning out of concern for the tourist industry.
  
  
• Is the end of the world now? Are we out of oil? What prior dealings did the US have with Iraq? Conspiracies abound. How near is the truth? The AlterNet top 10 conspiracy theories of 2004. Call those conspiracy theories? They should read the Daily Grail more often. We have real conspiracy theories there!
  
  
• Sudan is China's largest overseas oil project. China is Sudan's largest supplier of arms. While the US is bogged down in Iraq, the Chinese are making strategic partnerships in oil and weapons worldwide.
  
  
• Russia and China are set to hold unprecedented joint military maneuvers on Chinese territory next year involving both nations' air forces and navies - including strategic bombers. Both nations have frequently spoken about their adherence to a ``multi-polar world,'' a term that refers to their opposition to the perceived U.S. domination in global affairs.
  
  
• So even many neoconservative experts admit that it is 'bye bye, unipolar world'. Everyone has realised this except those close to the President, it seems.
  
  
• Time to ask 'who is in charge of Russia policy at State?' as the White House seems intent on a second Cold War.
  
  
• A close ally of Tony Blair warns today that Labour's general election prospects could be undermined by disunity as candidates to succeed the Prime Minister jockey for position. My money is still on Gay Gordon, the man who is really behind the British economic recovery and someone who still believes in old-fashioned compassionate socialism, but I can't see Bush pleased by that prospect.
  
  
• Opposition within the military to the war in Iraq is small but growing and has taken a variety of forms including 5,000+ desertions, lawsuits, conscientious objectors and refusal of suicide missions.
  
  
• Six Navy SEALS are suing the Associated Press for daring to print pictures of them torturing prisoners, saying their lives are in danger now that their identities have been compromised.
  

Quote of the Day:

What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty and democracy?
Mahatma Ghandi