Republican Tactic: Handicapping Voter Registration

Republicans have hand-tied voter registration drives in Florida and Ohio this year, clearly with the intent of keeping the disenfranchised from voting. They claim it's about voter fraud and most who agree can quote one anecdote about fraud, but there is no irrefutable evidence that voter registration drives are fraudulent.
New York Times

If there was ever a sign of a ruling party in trouble, it is a game plan that calls for trying to win by discouraging voting. The latest sign that Republicans have an election-year strategy to shut down voter registration drives comes from Ohio. As the state gears up for a very competitive election season this fall, its secretary of state, J. Kenneth Blackwell, has put in place "emergency" regulations that could hit voter registration workers with criminal penalties for perfectly legitimate registration practices. The rules are so draconian they could shut down registration drives in Ohio.


[...]This year, Mr. Blackwell's office has issued rules and materials that appear to require that paid registration workers, and perhaps even volunteers, personally take the forms they collect to an election office. Organizations that run registration drives generally have the people who register voters bring the forms back to supervisors, who can then review them for errors. Under Mr. Blackwell's edict, everyone involved could be committing a crime. Mr. Blackwell's rules also appear to prohibit people who register voters from sending the forms in by mail. That rule itself may violate federal elections law.


Mr. Blackwell's rules are interpretations of a law the Republican-controlled Ohio Legislature passed recently. Another of the nation's most famous swing states, Florida, has been the scene of similar consternation and confusion since it recently enacted a law that is so harsh that the Florida League of Women Voters announced that it was stopping all voter registration efforts for the first time in 67 years. MORE

Pushing Mexicans Back Across the Border Will Crush Mexican Economy

Few of those wanting to send illegal immigrants from Mexico back across the border understand the consequences. They are too worried about the racist ideas of "wetbacks" who work for nothing. If we made them guest workers, they'll pay taxes funding entitlements including Social Security and Medicare. Sending them all home will be a human disaster. Not only will people starve in Mexico, social unrest will peak. The last thing we need is a unstable country on our southern border.
This issue is about racism, pure and simple. People who think it's about jobs simply don't get it. Send them home and wages and prices rise feeding the inflationary spiral sending both Mexico and the US into recession.
Go ahead, shoot yourself in the foot, again, America.
PINR

Remittances from illegal immigrants in the United States are Mexico's second largest source of foreign exchange earnings and have become the backbone of Mexico's economy. In 2005, these remittances surpassed US$20 billion or 2.7 percent of G.D.P. By comparison, Mexico earned $35 billion from oil exports and about $12 billion from tourism revenue in 2005. Much of Mexico's oil revenue is diverted toward the federal government's budget or used to service the massive debt of the country's state-owned oil company, Pemex.


[...]Declining remittances will deal a severe blow to Mexico's economy, aggravating social and political instability that is already becoming acute. Depending on U.S. economic developments and the outcome of immigration reform efforts, Mexico's economy could dip into recession as early as 2007, sparking a significant increase in social unrest. Perhaps this unrest will trigger economic reforms that will improve social conditions in Mexico. If not, Mexico's long-term political, social and economic outlooks are bleak. MORE

More Chaos in Somalia

Somalia again is in the news with a Taliban-like Islamist take over of Mogadishu. The US belatedly supported the losing team. Some say it hurt more than it helped. Somalia has been a failed state for most of the last decade. With multiple warlords competing for power, the only hope of resolution was from a uniting ideologic force, such as provided by Islamic fundamentalism. Time will tell if they will turn out like the Taliban, providing space and protection for Al Qaeda. One can only hope thats not the case. But with the US bogged down in Iraq, we have little choice but to wait.
New York Times

Terrorist groups linked to Al Qaeda may just have won a new foothold in the strategic Horn of Africa, as radical Islamist militias captured Somalia's capital, Mogadishu.


The immediate concern among many Somalis is a forcible imposition of harsh Islamic law, Taliban style. The larger international concern is that Mogadishu's new rulers may follow the Taliban's example in another way, sheltering international terrorist operations in a region within tempting striking distance of vulnerable countries on the Arabian peninsula and in East Africa.


The Bush administration wasn't exactly caught looking the other way. But with more than 130,000 American troops tied down in Iraq and some 20,000 more in Afghanistan, and with America's reputation in the Islamic world driven to an all-time low, Washington's ability to respond effectively to a very real danger was severely compromised.


For want of better options, the United States had thrown its support to a different set of warlords with few visible merits beyond their willingness to fight their Islamist rivals. But by some accounts, Washington's support for these warlords only discredited them in the eyes of many Somalis.


The parallels to Afghanistan when the Taliban took power in 1996 are uncanny, and frightening. The sequel, however, does not have to turn out quite as horribly. Mogadishu's new masters claim to be interested mainly in establishing peace, stability and Islamic rule at home. They insist that they are willing to talk with anybody, which at least raises a possibility that they could be talked out of sheltering international terrorists.


With good luck, perhaps a new battlefront with international terrorism may yet be avoided. Luck, however, is no substitute for a more supple and effective American strategy against a highly mobile foe like multinational Islamist terrorism. Washington needs to develop more agile responses of its own. It especially has to avoid getting drawn into quagmires that force it to fight on the terrorists' terms and timetable.

Vietnam, Anxious to Counter Balance China, Reaches Out to US

Since the Sino-Vietnamese War in 1979, when they fought a bloody three week border war has been worried about its northern border. Both sides claimed victory, however given the little mention China makes of this war and Vietnam's claim of a major victory, I would venture that Vietnam outclassed the Chinese with their battle hardened troops and inflicted most of the casualties. Both sides may have lost as much as 1/3 to 1/2 of their initial committed ground force in the conflict. I think China has been reluctant to push it's military since then and has been working on modernizing it's forces.
As China modernizes there army, Vietnam will have a much harder time defending it's border. So its interest in developing its relationship with the US, acquiring its technology to replace its aging Russian equipment is Vietnam's best hope to maintain its borders.
U.S. Upbeat After Vietnam Talks - Los Angeles Times

U.S. officials had been careful not to raise expectations ahead of Rumsfeld's visit here, particularly given Vietnam's occasionally tense relations with its northern neighbor, China. But after meetings with Defense Ministry officials and Prime Minister Phan Van Khai, Pentagon officials emerged upbeat, saying Hanoi appeared eager to deepen defense cooperation despite the possibility of antagonizing Beijing. "Both sides agreed we wanted to expand things," a Pentagon official involved in the talks said.


Eleven years after the U.S. and Vietnam normalized diplomatic relations, bilateral defense cooperation remains extremely limited. For example, a U.S. Navy destroyer is scheduled to arrive in Vietnam next month, the fourth U.S. naval ship to make a port call in four years, and two Vietnamese officers will arrive in Texas this month for English-language training. As a result, the moves agreed to during Rumsfeld's visit were small steps. But the defense secretary characterized them as important, particularly alongside a recently signed trade deal and progress toward Vietnam's membership in the World Trade Organization.

The Baby Boomer's Coming Retirement Crunch

Haven't you all wondered what the consequences are that we face with all this deficit spending and tax cuts? You all knew that there would be one didn't you? The Bush Administration had at least two targets for this strategy. The first one was to "starve the beast". By running up deficits and cutting taxes, attempts to balance the budget will be handicapped by payments on principle and interest. Paying for Social Security now competes with other entitlements and would require tax increases, something that will be increasingly difficult to do as the economy slows down the wages continue to be stagnant.
The other part of the plot was to effectively destroy Medicare and eventually Social Security. All that energy to save Social Security was in crisis was in fact a deception to turn attention away from the real basket case, Medicare. Cuts in payments for Medicare are making doctors refuse to take it. Medicare is not expected to survive much longer in it's current form. Also, pensions both private and public under funded. There will be no taxes available to bail these out for long. In the end, the baby boomers will be on there own. Our leaders have stabbed us in the back by ignoring the truth too long to allow us to head off a problem.
Business Week

Many baby boomers are facing retirement without adequate savings of their own. Together with Medicare trust funds that will be exhausted and inadequately funded corporate and government pensions, you have the makings of a potential crisis.


The problem for financial markets is twofold: First, the underfunding in corporate and other pension funds will cause individual firms great hardship, making those with high legacy costs uncompetitive. Second, the underfunding at the state and federal government levels will cause tax hikes, which will alter regional and international competitiveness. We currently estimate that U.S. corporate pensions are underfunded by about $140 billion. Add the cost of other postemployment benefits and the deficit doubles. State pensions are underfunded by $284 billion.


Disturbing as those numbers are, the federal underfunding situation dwarfs the state and private ones. Social Security has a $4.6 trillion shortfall (based on present discounted value of the next 75 years), and the federal civilian and military employee programs are underfunded by $4.5 trillion.


The underlying problem is demographics. The postwar baby boom was a phenomenon throughout the industrial world, and those babies born in the late 1940s and 1950s are approaching retirement. The leading edge of the baby boom is now turning 60, and we can expect the ratio of retirees to workers to rise. Those who are now paying into pensions will start collecting benefits, and there isn't enough money in the pot to pay the pensions promised. MORE

Iran Planning Terror Attack?

An Israeli news source called Ynetnews, is reporting that American and European intelligence is on the look out for a Hizbullah plot to disrupt the World Cup of soccer in Germany.

Israel has warned European and American intelligence bodies of possible attempts by Hizbullah cells, led by Imad Mugniyah, to carry out terror attacks during the upcoming World Cup tournament in Germany, the Saudi Al-Watan newspaper reported on Friday. According to the report, the terror plot is aimed at proving to the international community that Tehran is capable of retaliation if attacked.


Sources in Washington said a joint US-European operations room has been set up to deal with such a scenario; to this end, two American aircraft carriers, along with a French ship are making their way to the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf.

The same source earlier reported a Hizbullah plot to activate sleeper cells in the US if the nuclear stand-off between the US and Iran heats up. Laura Mansfield has more from an Arabic language Lebanese newspaper.

Al-Watan al-Arabi has learned that the most serious warning came before this Spring in a testimony by FBI Director Robert Mueller before a US Congressional Committees. Mueller revealed that his intelligence personnel busted a Hizballah network that had been smuggling illegal immigrants across the Mexican border into US territory.


It seems that the most surprising of Mueller's remarks were that these illegal immigrants were terrorists and individuals who threaten US national security. Relying on their information, the sources say that the transformation of Mexico into a base for sending pro-Hizballah terrorist cells to the US territory has become a nightmare for the United States. It is said that reports continue to indicate that this process is continuing in a suspicious way, and that it is considered to be a serious and extensive expansion of Hizballah cells in the United States, Canada, and Latin America.


Latest US reports speak of a plan drawn up by the Iranian intelligence for Hizballah. Reports say that the plan is not aimed at what was reported previously about recruiting elements from Hizballah to implement operations against US interests in the Middle East or at asking Hizballah to direct its missiles at Israel. Reports circulating within certain US intelligence services have indicated that the US-Iranian war has moved to the United States. These reports have provided several recent factors and pieces of evidence to justify these apprehensions, especially the Hizballah's presence and infiltration of US territory, the recent mobilization of both Hizballah's active and dormant cells, as well as the active cells in Latin America and Canada and the increase of infiltrations across the Mexican and Canadian borders.


[...]According to informed sources, these US expectations consider the likelihood that a huge bridge, a nuclear reactor, a high-rise building, or a financial center might be targeted. They have been expecting that Iranian intelligence might entrust Hizballah with mounting further dangerous attacks, rather than destabilizing the country, spreading panic, and threatening the security of citizens.


One of the scenarios called for serious preparations against Hizballah cells carrying out suicide operations targeting top US officials in response to a plan of assassinations, which Tehran says a secret US unit had entered Iran to carry out. An expert says that the plan has failed twice in assassinating President Ahmadinezhad but has succeed in liquidating several officials from the Revolutionary Guard and the intelligence, and that the hard-line wing in Tehran decided to retaliate in kind. Thus, Iran asked one of the Hizballah cells in Latin America to carry out this retaliation and that they had crossed the US border from Mexico some weeks ago.


Indeed, the information provided by this expert goes so far as to affirm that a secret assassination unit belonging to Hizballah received training on such operations at the Imam Ali Camp near Tehran and that some reports went so far as to indicate that the official who would be targeted is US Vice President Dick Cheney.


It seems that selecting Cheney for assassination was for two reasons. The first is logistical; namely, the difficulty of targeting the US President in view of the protection measures around him. The second is political and is due to the Iranian leadership's conviction that the man behind the planning of wars against Iran is the vice president who leads the US hard-line current and who is supervising the entire project of changing regimes in the region.


How true and credible is this information? The same source believes that these scenarios are very close to the scenarios that the US intelligence might have to face. Moreover, the source adds that previous activities by Hizballah in the United States strengthen this possibility, indicating that during the Clinton administration, the US intelligence apprehended an assassination unit which was said to belong to Hizballah and which was preparing to assassinate Anthony Lake, the US national security adviser. The operation was shrouded in total secrecy. However, what is certain is that apprehensions about the US Hizballah is now dominating the activities of the US intelligence community, which is considering the scenario of transferring the war with Iran to the United States to be a certainty, believing and that this plan has been drawn up in the secret dens of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard intelligence and whose implementation would be the task of Hizballah and its US-based cells.

I would not be surprised that Iran is preparing a covert operation to respond to a military attack from the US and or Israel. Hizbullah would a logical operational link. However, I fail to see why they would put their existance at risk just to retaliate for Iran. They have their own political interests in Lebanon. While they would be happy to support operations by Iran, they would hardly be expected to openly spearhead it. Now why would Iran want to create the sort of conditions that would invited a military attack from the US and/or Israel?
Global Research says it best.

Of course, if Iran actually does this, it will demonstrate its leadership has gone stark raving bonkers, as it would provide an ironclad pretext for Israel and the United States to shock and awe the nation into Stone Age submission. Considering this, and the fact the Israelis and neocons are shopping for just a handy pretext, we can assume with a fair degree of accuracy the above mentioned “intelligence bodies,” with the unmentioned Mossad taking the lead, are responsible for conjuring up this nonsense.

Yes, it would seem likely that the source of these reports is another disinformation operation by the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad. Similarly, Hizbullah is one of the most formidable organizations opposing Israel today. They are well armed and supplied largely by Iran. But I don't see them volunteering to sacrifice their strong political position in Lebanon.
The crazy thing about this apparent disinformation operation is that they have strange "allies" in attempting to provoke confrontation in Europe at the World Cup. Opinionated Voice points to that part of the story.

‘Islam’ has been regarded a threat to internal German security, when it is in fact Germany itself that is the threat.

Jamal links to USATODAY.com.

In Germany and several other European nations, crowds shower minority players with racial insults at times. Several of the U.S. team's African-American players who compete professionally in European leagues say they have been targets of discrimination and verbal and even physical abuse because of their race — on and off the field. There are concerns about how racial incidents might affect the World Cup in Germany, where the 32-team tournament begins June 9 and will be held in 12 cities. An anti-racism group in Germany is so concerned that it has warned non-white World Cup visitors to avoid rural towns and villages outside Berlin, in the formerly communist eastern part of the country.

Does Israel really want to stoke the ire of Islamiphobia in Europe with the primary political benefactors would be the neo-nazis and other xenophobic interests? Clearly, Israel is worried about Iran and thinks the time to respond is now before they consolidate politically and build nuclear weapons. At least intelligence operatives believe risky gambits that might stir adversaries in the long-range for a quick confrontation with Iran.

Was the 2004 Election Stolen?

We are all tired of hearing about the past two corrupt elections for President. The costs for this country have been emense. We can't let this happen ever again. We need to hear about this until we have it right.
This article has a surprising author, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and has some amazing quotes from several well known people. Well worth the read.
Rollingstone

Republicans prevented more than 350,000 voters in Ohio from casting ballots or having their votes counted -- enough to have put John Kerry in the White House.
by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. MORE

Alleged Sleeper Terror Cell Arrested in Toronto

Our worse fears have manifest just across the Canadian border in Toronto. An alleged sleeper cell of 18 South Asians, including five juveniles and their Imam were arrested.
The only thing amazing about this development is that it took so long. This world is a lot more dangerous than it was in 2001. A new generation of terrorists are being trained and hidden underground all over the world waiting for their time. The inspiration the Iraqi war provided is sprouting new cells that will mature over the next 10 years and try to cripple the economies of the West. If 9/11 was any predictor, they will do great damage and take many lives.
There has got to be more of these cells, even in the US. Lets just hope they are found. And lets hope they are indeed terrorists and this isn't another example of overzealous counter-terrorism. I am more afraid of the backlash of further loss of privacy and freedoms. Safety isn't worth a loss of liberty.
New York Times

Seventeen Canadian residents were arrested and charged with plotting to attack targets in southern Ontario with crude but powerful fertilizer bombs, the Canadian authorities said Saturday. The arrests represented one of the largest counterterrorism sweeps in North America since the attacks of September 2001. American officials said that the plot did not involve any targets in the United States, but added that the full dimension of the alleged attack was unknown.


At a news conference in Toronto, home to at least six suspects, police and intelligence officials said they had been monitoring the group for some time and moved in to make the arrests on Friday after the group arranged to take delivery of three tons of ammonium nitrate, a fertilizer that can be made into an explosive when combined with fuel oil. "It was their intent to use it for a terrorist attack," said Mike McDonell, a Royal Canadian Mounted Police assistant commissioner. He said that by comparison the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City that killed 168 people was carried out "with only one ton of ammonium nitrate."


The 17 men were mainly of South Asian descent and most were in their teens or early 20's. One of the men was 30 years old and the oldest was 43 years old, police officials said. None of them had any known affiliation with Al Qaeda.


[...]The F.B.I. issued a statement on Saturday saying there was a "preliminary indication" that some of the Canadian subjects might have had "limited contact" with two people from Georgia who were recently arrested. Those two were Ehsanul Islam Sadequee, 19, an American of Bangladeshi descent, and Syed Haris Ahmed, 21, a Pakistani-born American.


Law-enforcement officials said they had made "casing" videos of various sites in Washington, D.C., and have said that their case was linked to the arrests of several men in Britain last fall, and that the two were believed to have met with "like-minded Islamic extremists " in Canada in March 2005.


A counterterrorism official in the United States said that while there was contact between the Georgia men earlier this year and those arrested in Canada on Friday, there was no evidence that the Georgia suspects were involved in the bombing plot.


[...]Tarek Fatah, the communications director of the Muslim Canadian Congress, a national group, said that Mr. Jamal, the oldest of the suspects, is a well-known and fiery figure in the Toronto area's South Asian community, and that he was the imam of the Ar-Rahman Quran Learning Center, a mosque in a rented industrial building in Mississauga.


[...]Luc Portelance, the assistant director of operations at the Canadian intelligence agency, said the group's members "appear to have become adherents of a violent ideology inspired by Al Qaeda." The police official, however, said that there was no evidence of links between the two groups.


Alvin Chand, the brother of suspect Steven Vikash Chand, dismissed the police allegations outside the courthouse. "He's not a terrorist, come on, he's a Canadian citizen" Mr. Chand said, The Canadian Press reported. "The people that were arrested are good people. They go to the mosque. They go to school, go to college." MORE

Iran Continues to Play Its Strong Nuclear Hand

The Bush Administration was disengenuous in offering to talk to Iran. They made an offer that Iran has already rejected. Bush is clearly counting on a rejection of pre-conditions by Iran so that he won't lose conservative support before the Congressional elections later this year. So you can expect that there won't be much progress until after the elections.
ABC News

A breakthrough in negotiations over Iran's nuclear program is possible, the republic's president told the U.N. chief Saturday while welcoming unconditional talks with all parties, including the United States. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a speech later Saturday that his government would not rush to judge an incentives package offered by Western countries to persuade Iran to halt its uranium enrichment program.


State television reported that Ahmadinejad spoke by phone to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and told him the crisis could be settled as long as the United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency preserved Tehran's right to use atomic energy.


A U.S. offer for negotiations is conditioned on Iran suspending uranium enrichment a process that can produce both fuel for nuclear reactors that generate electricity and the material for atomic warheads and allowing international inspections to prove it.


[...]Iran has said intends to move toward large-scale enrichment involving 3,000 centrifuges by late 2006 but also indicated it might suspend large-scale uranium enrichment to ease tensions.

ChinaDaily.com.cn

"As soon as Iran fully and verifiably suspends its enrichment and reprocessing activities, the United States will come to the table with our EU-3 colleagues and meet with Iran's representatives," Rice told reporters at the State Department. The EU-3 -- Britain, France and Germany -- have led negotiations, which stalled earlier this year. China and Russia have also been involved in talks with Iran. Iran must also resume cooperating with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, she said.


Iran's ambassador to the United Nations, Javad Zarif, said only that he had received the statement but, given the late hour in Tehran, would have no immediate comment.


Though President Bush has said he is committed to a diplomatic solution in the standoff with Iran, he "is not going to take any of his options off the table, temporarily or otherwise," Rice said in response to a question about whether a military option remains a possibility. But Rice said Wednesday that the United States and its European partners have agreed on a package of incentives and possible penalties intended to persuade Iran to stop enrichment and cooperate with the IAEA.


Iran has previously rejected any conditions for talks on its nuclear program, which it insists is for civilian purposes. And Zarif last week said Iran would not respond to a "carrot-and-stick" approach. "It's not whether Iran likes carrots," he said. "Iran demands respect. If there is to be a solution in Iran, Iran has to be part of the solution." Iran ended all voluntary cooperation with the United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency in February, including allowing snap inspections of its nuclear facilities. The country insists on its right to a full range of nuclear technology.

More Doublethink Dubya, "Sure we'll negotiate with ya, pardner. But first you gotta surrender yer nuclear ambitions. Otherwise we'll be workin' full down to slap you down!" Great negotiation tactic, NOT!

Big Brother Wants Your Internet Surfing Records

This is both scary and reassuring. Scary because they want to know what we do on the Internet on demand. Reassuring only in that they don't already have this information.
Gonzales will go down in history as another totalitarian from the Bush Administration. He needs to be slapped down hard. The scary part is that no one seems inclined to do so. He's trodding all over the constitution and he's the guy who is supposed be defending it from all offenders. It's like having the fox watch the hen house. Chilling.
Los Angeles Times

Big Internet and telephone companies are girding to fight an unprecedented call by the Bush administration for them to keep detailed records of customers' online activities for two years. The request by Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales and FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III would dramatically expand the government's ability to track what people do online and with whom they communicate. MORE

Broadband Providers Lobby Against Internet Neutrality

The amazing thing is so few people know about this threat to our basic freedoms many of us have been taking for granted. Our wondrous Internet is about to be stolen from us. Big money in the form of the Telcos and Cable duopoly is on the verge of controlling what we see on the Internet.
WaPo

Open-Internet advocates said the bill would make the FCC toothless in the area of net neutrality, which is the concept that companies controlling Internet access should not use that power to block or slow particular Web services.


"We are extremely concerned that legislation before your committee would fail to protect the Internet from discrimination and would deny consumers unfettered access," six companies wrote in a letter to Barton and Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), who is chairman of the panel's subcommittee on telecommunications and the Internet.


"We have urged Congress to adopt network neutrality requirements that are meaningful and enforceable. The provisions in the committee bill achieve neither goal," the letter said on behalf of Amazon.com Inc., eBay Inc., Google Inc., IAC/InterActiveCorp, Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc.

The broadband lobby's main argument is that they have been limited in their growth by limited funds. Allowing tiers of Internet access will allow them to build infrastructure. But there are truths that are not widely known.
Save the Internet

Compared with other developed nations the U.S. has fallen from 3rd to 16th in broadband penetration per capita, far behind countries like Canada, South Korea and Japan. The United States also numbers 16th in terms of broadband growth rates, suggesting our world ranking won’t improve any time soon.


But that’s only the half of it. Recent Free Press analysis of the “low-priced” introductory broadband offers by companies like AT&T and Verizon reveal them to be little more than bait-and-switch gimmicks. On a per megabit basis, U.S. consumers pay 10 to 25 times more than broadband users in Japan.


The reason for the Broadband price gouging? According to Free Press’ Derek Turner, it’s due to an industry-friendly regulatory regime that gave the cable/telco duopoly control of the broadband marketplace:


The “fierce competition” among broadband platforms is seriously overstated. The FCC’s own report shows that satellite and wireless broadband continue to lose market share. Today, cable and DSL providers control almost 98 percent of the residential and small-business broadband market.


No competition means no fair pricing. As Brodsky also points out, this could become worse by regulations that allow telephone companies not to have to share their broadband networks with competitors on the theory that they will invest in the network.

What we need to retain is what has been called Network Neutrality

This is about Internet freedom. "Network Neutrality" -- the First Amendment of the Internet -- ensures that the public can view the smallest blog just as easily as the largest corporate Web site by preventing Internet companies like AT&T from rigging the playing field for only the highest-paying sites.


But Internet providers like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast are spending millions of dollars lobbying Congress to gut Net Neutrality. If Congress doesn't take action now to implement meaningful network neutrality provisions, the future of the Internet is at risk.


Network Neutrality — or "Net Neutrality" for short — is the guiding principle that preserves the free and open Internet.


Net Neutrality ensures that all users can access the content or run the applications and devices of their choice. With Net Neutrality, the network's only job is to move data — not choose which data to privilege with higher quality service.


Net Neutrality is the reason why the Internet has driven economic innovation, democratic participation, and free speech online. It's why the Internet has become an unrivaled environment for open communications, civic involvement and free speech.

Consider some of the other changes that are occurring. Newspapers are going out of business all over America. Many, if not most, big city papers have been bought out by huge multimedia companies. Those media companies have shown an inclination to limit our access to the news to the point that a paid public service statement from the United Church of Christ is rejected by network TV and a book that lists the top 25 censored news stories is published annually in America.
Newspapers and other written media have been an important part of our democracy since Thomas Paine published "Common Sense" and helped light the fire of revolution and independence from a monarchy bent on exploiting, not nurturing it's colonies. Today we face a different kind of threat. Very few men control virtually all of our news in the mainstream media and they've demonstrated a willingness to limit even big stories like Downing St. Memos are still not widely known by Americans.
Al Gore characterized our democracy as "hollowed out" by a dearth of editorial variety in the "marketplace of ideas". He called for the preservation of freedom on the Internet.

We must ensure by all means possible that this medium of democracy's future develops in the mold of the open and free marketplace of ideas that our Founders knew was essential to the health and survival of freedom.

The Internet is our last hope for a free exchange of creative ideas that makes our democracy vibrant, responsive, and alive. That freedom of information is the only thing that preserves our liberty.

Basra Sinks Into Chaos

There is very little good news coming from Iraq. Even in the relatively stable south, in the oil rich city of Basra, political violence, assassinations, kidnappings have become a daily occurrence. British casualties have increased, but without much progress quelling the violence. One hundred and seventy six Iraqis have been assassinated. The quagmire of Iraq gets worse by the day.
New York Times

Iraq's new prime minister made an urgent visit to this increasingly lawless city on Wednesday, imposing a state of emergency and ordering leaders to cease their violent struggle for power and allow order to return to this oil-rich region. Maj. Gen. Hassan Swadi al-Saad, Basra's police chief, says he trusts only a fraction of his force. Gangs fight through their own police units.


Once seemingly immune to the violence that has plagued the rest of the country, Basra Province, the heart of Iraq's Shiite south, has sunk into chaos. Shiite political parties and their militias are fighting to control the provincial government and the region's oil wealth, contributing to some of the worst rates of killing since the invasion, with 174 killings in the past two months — double the amount from the previous two months, according to the Basra police.


[...]To a large degree, the violence has resulted from a power grab by Shiite factions left practically on their own to run the region and impose their own version of democracy while American and Iraqi officials in Baghdad have fought insurgents elsewhere. "Freedom of speech, freedom of expression: it just hasn't quite worked out the way it was planned," Brigadier Everard said. "They're not prepared to debate. They tend to do things at the end of a gun."


In a city that welcomed the American invasion, threats against Iraqis working for the American Embassy are now so widespread that they have not picked up its trash or pumped its sewers for three weeks.


One large prize is control of Basra's oil exports. The city is near the country's only seaport, and nearly all of Iraq's current exports flow through it. Political parties accuse one another of skimming from the flow and trying to control it. "As long as we have parties, it's impossible to ensure security," said one of Basra's senior security officials. "If you print this," the official added nervously, explaining why he wanted his name withheld, "I'll be killed."


One of the ways the parties have wielded influence is through control of portions of this city's 15,000-man police force, which is about double it's the authorized size. Rival parties and gangs fight one another through their own police units. The police chief, Maj. Gen. Hassan Swadi al-Saad, has said he trusts only a small fraction of his forces. MORE

Bloggers in Prison in Egypt

When Bush talks about democracy in the Middle East, he certainly isn't referring to his buddy Mubarak of Egypt. Egypt has been operated as a totalitarian government for most of it's modern history. Yet, do we see Bush protesting human rights abuses in Egypt? No way, if anything, Mubarak and Bush are cut from the same cloth. They both wish to supress dissent, run things his way, and eliminate pesky checks and balances. I'm sure George is envious of Mubarak's free hand.
WaPo

Just over a year ago, Alaa Seif al-Islam was one of a growing number of Egyptian bloggers who recounted their lives online, published poetry, provided Web tips, helped private aid agencies use the Internet and stayed out of politics.


But on May 25, 2005, Seif al-Islam witnessed the beating of women at a pro-democracy rally in central Cairo by supporters of the ruling National Democratic Party. He was then roughed up by police, who confiscated the laptop computer ever at his hand. After that, Seif al-Islam's blog turned to politics. It began not only to describe the troubles of Egypt under its authoritarian president, Hosni Mubarak, but also described acts of repression and became a vehicle for organizing public protests.


On May 7, Seif al-Islam took part in a downtown sit-in to show support for two judges whose jobs are threatened because they denounced electoral fraud during parliamentary elections in November. Police with sticks broke up the protest and trucked dozens of demonstrators, including Seif al-Islam, to jail, where he remains.


At least six bloggers are among about 300 protesters jailed during the past month's suppression of demonstrations. The bloggers, supporters say, were singled out by police, who pointed them out before agents rushed in to hustle them away.In the view of some human rights observers, the Egyptian government has begun to note political activity online and is taking steps to rein it in.


"Blogging was a new but growing phenomenon. The government is monitoring, and it doesn't like" what it sees, said Gamal Eid, director of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information. The legal status of the jailed bloggers and other detainees distresses their relatives and friends: Under Egypt's emergency laws, which have been in place for 25 years, the bloggers can be jailed indefinitely. A special court reviews such detentions only every 15 days. Some prisoners held under emergency laws have been jailed for more than a decade.


Among the charges lodged against Seif al-Islam is insulting Mubarak, who has been Egypt's president for a quarter-century.

Bush would need Cheney's concentration camps if he jailed everyone who has insulted him.

Anti-U.S. Rioting Erupts in Kabul

The victory in Afghanistan continues to evolve into a quagmire since Bush pulled the majority of troops to his adventure in Iraq. This continues to be a good year for bin Ladin. There will be thousands of new recruits in Afghanistan now as well as tens of thousands in Iraq.
New York Times

The speed and magnitude of the unrest was such that hundreds of police officers and soldiers struggled to contain the violence. The Afghan government and the American military authority issued statements promising full investigations of the accident. It became clear the American military and the Afghan police and army had used their weapons to try to disperse the crowds. Scores of people were treated in hospitals for gunshot wounds.
A 7-year-old boy was among the dead, and two more schoolchildren were badly wounded, said Dr. Amin, the duty doctor at Khair Khana Hospital in the northern part of Kabul, who like many Afghans uses only one name. Four people died at the hospital, he said, and 60 wounded people were given first aid before being transferred to other hospitals.


Although the sudden explosion of violence may have been a reaction to the five deaths in the crash, it is a sign that Afghans are losing patience with the government and the foreign military presence in Afghanistan, residents said.
Ali Seraj, a businessman and a descendant of the Afghan royal family, contended that the American military showed a careless attitude toward human life that was becoming a growing problem, whether it was the bombing of villages in counterinsurgency activities in southern Afghanistan or car accidents in the capital. "This type of attitude has created a great deal of mistrust and hatred," he said.


Just last week, President Karzai ordered an investigation of an American airstrike on a village near Kandahar in the south that killed at least 35 civilians. In another episode, the United States military said last month that it would investigate the killings of seven members of a family in an airstrike in Kunar Province in the east during an operation against insurgents.


On Monday, clashes began early in the morning when a truck leading an American military convoy smashed into 12 cars in rush-hour traffic as it went down a long hill from the Khair Khana pass just north of Kabul. Five civilians were killed and more injured in the multiple crash, a statement from Mr. Karzai's office said. MORE

On This Memorial Day Weekend

Grey Eagle is a 35 year old wife, mother, and U.S. Soldier with the 101st Airborne Division. She is a Combat Medic with Charlie Company (1st Brigade) deployed at FOB Warrior, Iraq. She offers compelling thoughts for this Memorial Day.

These past 8 months, the visions of the wounded and of the dead, will forever change this holiday for me. In one particular moment, as I sought to prepare a soldier’s remains, I discovered a photo of his family within his helmet. On this weekend that moment burns in my memory and etches a meaning of this time deeply into my soul. I think that anyone who visits this website during this weekend should click on the Tributes, and pick at least one soldier from the list and take the time to read about them. It is a small way not only to pay tribute to our fallen, but in that moment that you are reading about them, they are alive. See when you read about a fallen soldier, they are in your heart and for those few minutes they are alive again, within you. I think we owe them that much for their sacrifice. Take a moment and leave a comment for that soldier and for those who visit that Tribute in the future to know that on this weekend you will keep this soldier alive in your heart.


On this weekend I wish to pass on a thought to those who visit this website. In the Soldier’s Creed it states “Duty, Honor, Country”. Nowhere does it mention politics. On this special day, put your political thoughts aside. On this day remember every soldier has a family, someone who loves them and will miss them deeply. I can tell you from personal experience that there isn’t one soldier who has been deployed that did not reflect on that moment they were called to offer their lives at least once. Know that no soldier’s final thoughts were of whether we should or shouldn’t be here, but of those they will leave behind.

What's Wrong With America?

Contrary to the view point of the Christian fundamentalists, evolution never stops. Our culture has made many adjustments over the past couple thousand years that reflects evolutionary advancement. One of the most important developments is the advancing political and social power of women. Today, while it's still largely a man's world, men have to compete with women at every level of acheivement. It's particularly notable that women have begun to consistently win top high school academic honors, even sweeping national science competitions.
Although many younger women are still drawn by their primordial instincts to dominant aggressive men, women have become smarter about their choices because of the high proportion of physical and emotional abusiveness associated with aggressive men.
Men's image of themselves has also evolved. A manly man no longer is required to project an image of a chest pounding, tough man "who won't back down", and whose emotional repertoire is limited to angry, hungry, and horny. Real men do cry, they might eat quiche, change a diaper, and perhaps sit with the women in family gatherings and enjoy the family gossip. They can enjoy romantic movies and still be an NFL football fan.
The problem is that many men are uncomfortable with the changes. They feel like they have lost something in that they no longer dominate the limelight. They are afraid that they've lost something by giving up the intimidation factor. In the blog The Other Side of Kim du Toit, the author writes about his frustration and his heroes.

we’re sick of women treating us like children, and we’re really ####### sick of girly-men politicians who pander to women by passing an ever-increasing raft of Nanny laws and regulations (the legal equivalent of public-school Ritalin), which prevent us from hunting, racing our cars and motorcycles, smoking, flirting with women at the office, getting into fistfights over women, shooting criminals and doing all the fine things which being a man entails.


Speaking of rap music, do you want to know why more White boys buy that crap than Black boys do? You know why rape is such a problem on college campuses? Why binge drinking is a problem among college freshmen?


It’s a reaction: a reaction against being pussified. And I understand it, completely. Young males are aggressive, they do fight amongst themselves, they are destructive, and all this does happen for a purpose.


Because only the strong men propagate.


And women know it. You want to know why I know this to be true? Because powerful men still attract women. Women, even liberal women, swooned over George Bush in a naval aviator’s uniform. Donald Trump still gets access to some of the most beautiful pussy available, despite looking like a medieval gargoyle. Donald Rumsfeld, if he wanted to, could #### 90% of all women over 50 if he wanted to, and a goodly portion of younger ones too.

Men like this want to kick butt and think that is what should make the world go their way. What they miss is that men who run on aggression only are easily manipulated. Embarass their sense of dominance and challenge their pre-eminence, they react very predictably. This is how bin Ladin has been winning the so-called "war on terror". The aggressive response in Iraq has simply fallen into his hands. He now has a forum to breed hate at America and teach guerrilla warfare tactics under fire, the best possible circumstance.
And behind every aggressive man is the woman who loves him. Witness the confusion Dr. Helen has about Mad Suburban Dad, saying he sounds like a woman who hates men!

June is Torture Awareness Month

Shining Light In Dark Corners supports efforts to advocate for the end of torture perpetrated worldwide, but especially by the US.
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and a few other NGOs, have designated June Torture Awareness Month. Elendil has created a blogroll you can join if you're interested. You can find it here. The idea is that everyone is linked to from the blogroll, and in exchange, you discuss torture (as you already do), and link to the Torture Awareness site to help support the NGOs.
Elendil says,

There's a lot of bloggers concerned about human rights abuse in the War on Terror. If we coordinate, we can show our support and help Amnesty and HRW make Torture Awareness Month a success.

The Promise of Stagflation

Remember our old buddy stagflation from the Arab Oil Imbargo in the 1970's? The dollar is headed rapidly down with the stock market, prices are headed up thanks to US energy policy and inevitably, the economy will slow as foreign investors run for the border. We can thank our illustrious commander in chief for wasting the strongest economy in decades and an unprecidented international concensus on combating terrorism into economic, military and diplomatic disaster.
PINR

As historically benign investment risk in the U.S. begins to rapidly increase during the next several months, foreign capital flight could intensify dramatically, prompting the dollar's devaluation against other major currencies. Weakening economic fundamentals, missteps by the U.S. Federal Reserve, increasing political instability and extreme global geopolitical instability are factors that could easily push investment risk in the United States to extraordinary heights sending foreign investors toward the exit.


Rising energy prices are finally beginning to push U.S. inflation indicators broadly higher. As summer begins, energy demand in the United States will increase, driving crude oil and fuel prices much higher. This will fan the inflation fire in the United States. At the same time, rising prices will begin to dampen the growth of both private consumption and investment, slowing U.S. economic growth. Although not seen in the U.S. since the early 1970s, stagflation could make a strong comeback bid in the months ahead.


The last episode of stagflation in the United States was the result of the 1973-1974 Arab oil embargo, which produced a prolonged increase in international crude oil prices. The reappearance of stagflation could accelerate foreign capital flight from the United States. How the U.S. Federal Reserve responds to the unusual combination of rising inflation and slowing economic growth could further accelerate foreign capital flight. With inflation already rising and U.S. economic growth far above sustainable levels in the first quarter of this year, one can easily argue that the Fed has been too timid in tightening monetary policy during the past several months.


This timidity can be blamed on two factors: the change in the chairmanship at the Fed and the approach of U.S. mid-term elections. The Fed's new chairman, Ben Bernanke, was appointed by President George W. Bush. Bernanke has undoubtedly come under some amount of political pressure to delay further tightening of monetary policy until after the November 7 elections in order to avoid a U.S. economic slowdown. The Fed's failure to act decisively in the face of rising inflation could damage the credibility of the U.S. monetary system, turning capital flight into a flood.


The flood of foreign capital from the United States could be further attenuated by political instability. Public opinion polls indicate that popular support for President Bush has fallen to about 30 percent. Popular support for Vice President Dick Cheney is below 25 percent. The exceedingly weak popular support for the president and vice president raises questions about the legitimacy of the entire Bush administration. This erosion of legitimacy has encouraged public rebuke of several administration officials including Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.


[...]Yet another factor that could produce a torrent of foreign capital flight from the United States is extreme global geopolitical instability. Historically, geopolitical instability has usually prompted a flight to the safe haven of the U.S. dollar. Geopolitical instability, however, has rarely been of such global proportion and so elevated. The Bush administration is simultaneously applying pressure on two very strong adversaries, Iran and North Korea. Military action against either of these countries will have profound long-term negative global economic and geopolitical consequences. Even the threat of military action or the imposition of economic sanctions against Iran or North Korea would have similar negative consequences. MORE

Black Only Programs Discriminatory?

WaPo has a rather interesting guest editorial by a NAACP leader decrying the discrimination of the black male only programs in higher education. While I do think these programs represent misplaced priorities, to decry them as discriminatory seems more political posturing than real.

I'm sorry to report that 52 years after Brown v. Board of Education, separate but equal is all the rage in certain parts of the education world -- especially on college campuses where special programs are offered that target minority students for "special" and separate attention, counseling, mentoring, tutoring, residences and instruction.


The latest of these race fads are the Black Male Initiatives (BMIs), government-funded and university-sponsored, and underway on campuses in states including Georgia, Kansas, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. The initiatives focus on recruiting, schooling and "saving" black men.

The problem really lies in a sub-culture where black males who are serious about school are told they are "too white" and a "cool pose" image of a wheeling-dealing (often in drugs) single promiscuous black man who doesn't have a clue how to behave in an all too white workplace.
Further isolating black men in high profile programs long after the problem manifests may be too much too late. However, there is nothing wrong with offering specialized help for adult special students, who constitute a significant population in urban community colleges, where the black men can "disappear" into a fully integrated program.
Significant resources need to be directed to the black community to support young parents and their children. Just how that might manifest is still, unfortunately an open question.

Abbas Has A Plan

Perhaps I'm missing something. Jamal at Opinionated Voice comments that Abbas' proposal for referendum to give implicit recognition to Israel is accepting apartheid.
Compared to his peers, Abbas is a statesman. He seems to have a sense of history and a good understanding of the dynamics of politics. The proposal seems to have all the ingredients of a short range plan that just might work. Abbas’s called for a referendum on negotiating with Israel if no deal is reached on a political program within 10 days. The ultimatum given appears intended to push Hamas to moderate it's stand, or save face and not do so. Then a referendum could authorize recognition of Israel, accepting a Palestinian state on the West Bank and Gaza and approving the 18 point plan.

The document, negotiated by senior members of the leading Palestinian factions currently being held in prison by Israel, has 18 main proposals.


1 The establishment of a Palestinian state and the return of refugees to their homes.
2 Incorporating Hamas and Islamic Jihad into the Palestine Liberation Organisation [PLO].
3 To resist Israeli occupation of lands captured in 1967 [the West Bank and Gaza].
4 The formulation of a political plan including Arab summit resolutions, the PLO platform and fair international proposals.
5 To consolidate the Palestinian Authority as the core of the state.
6 The setting up of a national unity government for all factions, especially Fatah and Hamas.
7 The PLO and its president, Mahmoud Abbas, would be in charge of peace negotiations.
8 Freedom for all Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
9 Aid for refugees.
10 To set up a united movement for resistance against Israeli occupation with political backing.
11 Maintain democratic elections and politics.
12 The condemnation of the Israeli and US siege on the Palestinian people.
13 To promote national unity by backing the Palestinian Authority, president, PLO and government.
14 Ban on use of weapons in internal conflicts and renouncing divisions and [internal] violence.
15 To improve the participation of the people of Gaza in freedom and independence.
16 To reform and develop the security forces.
17 The passing of laws reorganising the security forces and banning security officers from political activity.
18 To boost efforts of international solidarity groups in struggles against Israeli occupation, settlements and security barrier.

This looks like a very shrewd gambit. Abbas must be a pretty good chess player. He pushes Hamas to join the mainstream and recognize Israel, but still gives them an out should they decide they can't. I think they would have already done so if they could have. To allay concerns about giving away land, he adds a condition he knows Israel will never accept, withdrawal to its pre-1967 borders. But if he can bring Hamas into the PLO, or into the process in some other way, negotiating based on the Abu Mazen Plan from 1995, the plan that looked very much like Sharon's Wall.
Abbas sees a future of PLO as a united Palestinian organization, one that would wield the kind of political clout it never has or can have without essentially renouncing terrorism. The 18 point plan calls for centralized "resistance", clearly a move to redirect energies politically. Hamas and Islamic Jihad then would be "welcomed" into the PLO, the Palestinian Authority would presumably incorporate both Fatah and Hamas members. Hamas could focus it's efforts on cleaning up the corruption within PLO and the PA. Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and perhaps even Iran could be persuaded to join this coalition. Perhaps even Syria might see this as way to begin to shed it's pariah status. Such a coalition would have the clout to force the US to the table to pressure Israel to negotiate in good faith.
Before Rabin was assasinated, peace seemed so close. I so much want to see this happen. I've thought from the beginning that Abbas is the kind of man who had the skills to do this. He lacked the political support to clean house in the PLO, so he has lost support and credibility playing the power broker, rather than the leader. Perhaps he can become the leader now. I pray.