| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"maff" |
| Date: |
30 Sep 2006 06:19:56 AM |
| Object: |
OT: The politics of fear |
The politics of fear
Mark Seddon
September 29, 2006 06:55 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/mark_seddon/2006/09/the_politics_of_fea=
r=2Ehtml
Rarely a day passes without President Bush forcibly reminding the
American people of the dangers posed by terrorists and the need for a
permanant war on terror. Terrorism is of course a threat, it has been
thoroughout the last century and it is now. Yet during the darkest days
of the IRA's bombing campaigns, the terror attacks of the Baader
Meinhof and the Red Brigades, the hijackings by Black September and the
outrages of ETA, politicians kept a sense of proportion.
What we have today is the crude manipulation of the "politics of fear".
The latest Gallup poll in the United States reveals that 70% of
registered voters trust President Bush to tackle terrorism, leaving any
Democrat as an also run. But when the same group of people are polled
on who could best extract America from the Iraq imbroglio, the figures
turn neatly around. Nearly 70% trust the Democrats over the
Republicans.
A meeting of realities
Rory McCarthy
September 29, 2006 03:25 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/rory_mccarthy/2006/09/rory_mccarthy.html
When I lived as a correspondent in Baghdad I saw two different
realities unfolding before me. Inside the Green Zone, the
heavily-fortified US and British political headquarters, you had
diplomats, generals and Iraqi politicians arguing over the details of
interim constitutions, election laws and the process of running a new,
fragile government. This was one Iraq, and the one that was most
written about and discussed in the wider world; a narrative in which
our governments played a central role and the Iraqis were mere figures
in the background. You might have been convinced into thinking this was
a country that was moving forward, however slowly.
Then there was a second, much larger reality, which was what was
happening on the streets in the rest of Iraq, the area that the
American military referred to as the Red Zone. There, the picture
wasn't nearly so good, progress wasn't inevitable and instead a slide
into extremist Islamic rule and civil war had begun.
An unfair boost to credentials
Rajnaara Akhtar
September 29, 2006 01:46 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/rajnaara_akhtar/2006/09/blair_on_palest=
ine.html
Tony Blair's rapturous farewell speech has not only silenced Brownites
but also given the prime minister a new impetus. His deservedly
acclaimed delivery has ensured the final weeks and months of his
leadership will provide him with a role above and beyond rubber
stamping documents and meeting dignitaries.
Mr Blair's commitment to the Middle East, whether you agree with his
vision or otherwise, seems undisputable: "From now until I leave office
I will dedicate myself, with the same commitment I have given to
Northern Ireland, to advancing peace between Israel and Palestine. I
may not succeed. But I will try because peace in the Middle East is a
defeat for terrorism." This statement needs careful analysis.
Putting faith in non-believers
Theo Hobson
September 29, 2006 01:12 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/theo_hobson/2006/09/secularism_must_rej=
ect_its_dan.html
The debate about the place of religion in society has never been so
important. The quality of the debate must improve. Those of religious
faith must listen more attentively to secularists, and vice-versa.
One major factor that harms the quality of the debate is the refusal of
many secularists to acknowledge the complexity and variety of religious
faith. They are far too quick to assume that they know what it is. In
practice, they are very often arguing against a simplistic caricature.
Pervez, Hamid and George with a boiling tureen of cheese fondue
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1884420,00.html
Our world leaders' use of the Brechtian suspension of belief is
admirable, but it's really no way to run a war on terror
Marina Hyde
Saturday September 30, 2006
The Guardian
How many "man behind the curtain" moments can the war on terror
sustain, one wonders, before the fabric of the illusion is irreparably
torn, and all sane people are reduced to a state of such gibbering fear
at the scale of the incompetence behind it that they are forced to
retreat to mountain caves and distil drinking water from their own
urine until the last battle?
The curtain image, you'll recall, refers to the moment in the Wizard of
Oz at which Dorothy and her friends become aware that - far from being
an omnipotent sorcerer - the great and powerful Oz is in fact nothing
more than mechanical smoke and mirrors. This contraption is operated
from behind a screen by a small white-haired gentleman, who attempts to
deny his unmasking by calling into his voice modulator: "Pay no
attention to that man behind the curtain!"
Reaping the harvest of our self-disgust
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1884297,00.html
Muslims recognise how individualism has failed to deliver, while the
west remains disorientated
Hanif Kureishi
Saturday September 30, 2006
The Guardian
These days I don't often think about Margaret Thatcher, but I am aware
that the world we inhabit now was partly brought about by what she and
her party considered in the 80s to be freedom. By this I mean
deregulation, the liberal market and consumerism, notions much extended
under Tony Blair and his government.
Thatcher's specific enemy was communism. Our avowed and necessary enemy
- since the attacks on the World Trade Centre - is Islam in its radical
version, which is increasing in strength, particularly since the failed
invasion of Iraq.
How one of the biggest rows of modern times helped Danish exports to
prosper
http://www.guardian.co.uk/cartoonprotests/story/0,,1884506,00.html
One year on, protagonists have few regrets despite deaths of more than
139 people
Luke Harding in Copenhagen
Saturday September 30, 2006
The Guardian
For years Denmark's Muslim community had been trying to get its own
graveyard. Last week it finally got a small patch of green on the
outskirts of Copenhagen. The cemetery already has its first resident -
Walid Taloze, a 42-year-old Palestinian who died last week. A few roses
lie on Taloze's grave. Next to him is space for neighbours. Surrounded
by poplars and firs, the graveyard might almost be bucolic, were it not
for the sullen 21st century roar from the nearby motorway.
Bush faces wave of challenges to terror law
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1884351,00.html
Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
Saturday September 30, 2006
The Guardian
The Bush administration yesterday faced a raft of legal challenges to a
sweeping new regime for Guant=E1namo that would deny court oversight to
detainees in the war on terror, and would bar prosecution of US
personnel for war crimes.
Mr Bush is expected to move within days to sign into law proposals for
the treatment and trial before military tribunals of the detainees. The
legislation, approved by the senate on Thursday, is a victory for the
White House over senate Republicans, who had resisted attempts to relax
standards on the treatment of detainees, and depart from standard rules
of evidence in their trials.
Bush is a lying failure, says al-Qaida number two
http://www.guardian.co.uk/alqaida/story/0,,1884595,00.html
Dan Glaister in Los Angeles
Saturday September 30, 2006
The Guardian
Al-Qaida's second-in-command has branded George Bush a "lying failure"
and urged Christians to convert to Islam in the wake of Pope Benedict
XVI's recent remarks about the Islamic faith.
In a video message released yesterday, the Egyptian-born doctor Ayman
al-Zawahiri asked: "Bush, oh failure and liar, why can't you be
courageous for once and confront your people and tell them the truth
about your losses in Iraq and Afghanistan?
Bars, brothels and a regime of terror - inside the jail run by its
inmates
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1884316,00.html
When the military raided the 'Republic of Pav=F3n' they found a prison
turned feudal state
Rory Carroll in Pav=F3n, Guatemala
Saturday September 30, 2006
The Guardian
Halfway down main avenue, through a blue door on the left-hand side,
was the telephone centre with 14 landlines, each tucked into a wooden
booth for privacy when making threats.
Seven stores further down, past the video arcade where you could play a
game shooting up police officers, there was an internet point for those
who prefer extortion via text. The bookshop across the way offered
religious titles as well as an academic tome, La Tortura, with insights
on mental and physical abuse. For lunch you could sit down at a pizza
restaurant, or if in a rush grab a burger and beer from one of the
stalls.
Blue hats and wife storage - Borat haunts Kazakh president
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1884317,00.html
Ed Pilkington in New York
Saturday September 30, 2006
The Guardian
The president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, met George Bush in
the White House yesterday vowing to continue to push for the
modernisation of his central Asian country. "Women can now travel on
inside of bus, homosexuals no longer have to wear blue hats, and age of
consent has been raised to eight years old," he said.
The discussion between the two leaders ranged widely to include nuclear
disarmament, Kazakhstan's booming industry in oil and fermented horse
urine, and the country's advocacy of the death penalty for baking
bagels, a policy warmly supported by the Bush administration.
Blogs in space another first for Soyuz tourist
http://www.guardian.co.uk/space/article/0,,1884406,00.html
Laura Smith
Saturday September 30, 2006
The Guardian
"A long, long time ago in a country far, far away ... there was a young
girl who had her eyes fixed on the twinkling stars of the night skies
over Tehran."
So begins the blog of Anousheh Ansari, who this week created a clutch
of precedents, including first paying female space tourist, first
Iranian space tourist and first female Muslim in space.
The telecoms entrepreneur who emigrated to the United States at 16 and
now lives in Dallas has added another probable first to the list: by
blogging from space.
Day the East End said 'No pasaran' to Blackshirts
http://www.guardian.co.uk/farright/story/0,,1884440,00.html
Audrey Gillan
Saturday September 30, 2006
The Guardian
They built barricades from paving stones, timber and overturned
lorries. Women threw the contents of chamber pots on to the heads of
policemen and children hurled marbles under their horses and burst bags
of pepper in front of their noses.
Next Wednesday marks the 70th anniversary of the day that Jews,
communists, trade unionists, Labour party members, Irish Catholic
dockers and the people of the East End of London united in defiance of
Sir Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists and refused to let them
march through their streets.
A translated man
http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,1882812,00.html
Salman Rushdie's early novels electrified British fiction and the
publishing industry in the 1980s. And then there was the fatwa. He is
still creating sparks on both sides of the Atlantic
James Campbell
Saturday September 30, 2006
The Guardian
Reviewing Salman Rushdie's latest novel, Shalimar the Clown, in the New
Yorker last year, John Updike opened with a rhetorical question that
would make any writer's heart sink: "Why, oh why, did Salman Rushdie in
his new novel call one of his major characters Maximilian Ophuls?"
Updike promised to spare readers the "maddening exercise" of trying to
"overlay" Rushdie's Ophuls "with the historical one", the German-born
actor and director who made the name famous in the 1940s and 50s. "The
two have no connection."
Change or die
http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,1882805,00.html
George Monbiot argues that there's still time to save the world in his
solidly researched manifesto for change, Heat. We must act now, says PD
Smith
Saturday September 30, 2006
The Guardian
Heat: How to Stop the Planet Burning
by George Monbiot
277pp, Allen Lane, =A317.99
The 1959 film of Nevil Shute's On the Beach depicts a world in its
dying days. After a nuclear war, lethal fallout is gradually being
carried on the wind to all four corners of the world. The film
concludes with a lingering shot of a banner flying in a deserted
Melbourne street: "There is still time ... brother." For the fictional
inhabitants of Melbourne - and the world - it was too late. For cinema
audiences, however, many of whom wept openly after seeing On the Beach,
there was still time to act. Such fictions played an important role in
raising awareness about the threat of nuclear war. We stared into the
abyss and then stepped back from the brink. Today we face a threat as
terrible in its way as nuclear holocaust: global warming.
Making ourselves up
http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,1882803,00.html
John Banville enjoys Michael Frayn's lesson on the appeal of
uncertainty, The Human Touch
Saturday September 30, 2006
The Guardian
The Human Touch: Our Part in the Creation of a Universe
by Michael Frayn
704pp, Faber, =A320
Writing some time in the spring of 1888, Nietzsche declared: "There
exists neither 'spirit', nor reason, nor thinking, nor consciousness,
nor soul, nor will, nor truth: all are fictions that are of no use." No
doubt the Great Nay-sayer - he was also, of course, the Great Yea-sayer
- would have approved of The Human Touch, Michael Frayn's gigantic jeu
d'esprit, if for nothing else than the insouciance with which it denies
most of the so-called truths that common sense holds to be
self-evident.
English and proud of it
http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,1882808,00.html
Mike Phillips searches for the deeper meaning behind one immigrant's
success story, George Alagiah's A Home From Home
Saturday September 30, 2006
The Guardian
A Home From Home
by George Alagiah
288pp, Little, Brown, =A317.99
George Alagiah is a nice man. Something about his personality brings
that most English of formulations to mind. Back in the days when I
freelanced for the BBC we used to walk past each other in the corridors
at TV Centre. We never spoke, but on these occasions he would give me a
warm, friendly smile, which made me look forward to seeing him. This
same sense of agreeable and incontestable decency is both the strength
and the weakness of his book.
Iraq: the week the truth was told (except by Tony Blair)
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article1772334.ece
President George Bush is forced to release a secret US intelligence
report that says the Iraq war has increased the threat of terrorism
An MoD think-tank, aided by MI6, says the Iraq war has served as a
"recruiting sergeant" for extremists in the Muslim world
Former foreign secretary Jack Straw tells Question Time the situation
in Iraq is "dire" because of Bush's mistakes
The PM again refuses to countenance that the war in Iraq has increased
Islamic terrorism, and the threat to Britain
By Rupert Cornwell in Washington
Published: 30 September 2006
Secret intelligence assessments and public statements by former senior
officials, the evidence presented in influential new books and in a
simmering generals' revolt against the Defence Secretary, Donald
Rumsfeld, all deliver the same message: the Anglo-American war of
choice, the invasion of a sovereign country in March 2003 not only was
founded on false pretences. It also created more problems than it has
solved.
In London, Jack Straw, foreign secretary at the time, described the
present state of Iraq, where 50,000 or more civilians have died since
2003, as "dire". On the BBC programme Question Time, Mr Straw admitted
he regretted various elements of the war.
As Kurd and Arab clashes surge, a third war is looming in Iraq
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article1772326.ece
By Patrick Cockburn in Arbil
Published: 30 September 2006
When the Kurdish President, Massoud Barzani, banned the Iraqi flag from
being flown on top of public buildings in Kurdistan this month, the
Iraqi Kurds took a further symbolic step towards de facto independence.
He justified the ban by saying "so many pogroms and mass-killings were
committed in its name".
The Iraqi Kurds are not seeking statehood, calculating that this is not
now in their interests, but they want a degree of autonomy that amounts
almost to the same thing. "If there is no federal solution there is no
hope for this country," Mr Barzani told The Independent in his
mountain-top headquarters in Salahudin overlooking the Kurdish capital,
Arbil.
Lula close to victory after year of scandals
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article1772328.ece
By Andrew Buncombe in Sao Bernardo do Campo
Published: 30 September 2006
Brazil's charismatic leader, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, is on
the brink of cementing a remarkable political comeback and securing a
second term in office - only a year after a series of scandals
threatened to end his career.
As the world's fourth largest democracy prepares to vote tomorrow,
polls suggest the man universally known simply as Lula is within a
hair's breadth of winning an outright majority and avoiding a second
round run-off.
Marwahin, 15 July 2006: The anatomy of a massacre
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/article1769991.ece
A special report by Robert Fisk
Published: 30 September 2006
In antiquity, Pliny wrote of the cliffs of Bayada. The chalk runs down
to the Mediterranean in an almost Dover-like cascade of white rock, and
the view from the top - just below the little Lebanese village of
Chama'a - is breathtaking. To the south lies the United Nations
headquarters and the Israeli frontier, to the north the city of Tyre,
its long promentary, built by Alexander the Great, lunging out into the
green-blue sea. A winding, poorly-made road runs down to the shore
below Chama'a and for some reason - perhaps because he had caught sight
of the Israeli warship off the coast - 58-year-old Ali Kemal Abdullah
took a right turn above the Mediterranean on the morning of 15 July. In
the open-topped pick-up behind him, Ali had packed 27 Lebanese
refugees, most of them children. Twenty-three of them were to die
within the next 15 minutes.
The tragedy of these poor young people and of their desperate attempts
to survive their repeated machine-gunning from the air is as well-known
in Lebanon as it is already forgotten abroad. War crimes are easy to
talk about when they have been committed in Rwanda or Bosnia; less so
in Lebanon, especially when the Israelis are involved. But all the
evidence suggests that what happened on this blissfully lovely
coastline two and a half months ago was a crime against humanity, one
that is impossible to justify on any military grounds since the dead
and wounded were fleeing their homes on the express orders of the
Israelis themselves.
Forward to the Future
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15063608/site/newsweek/
Don't expect to hear any meaningful debate before the midterms. But
some Republicans are getting ready for a postpoll challenge to the
White House on Iraq.
By Eleanor Clift
Newsweek
Updated: 2:26 p.m. ET Sept. 29, 2006
Sept. 29, 2006 - After November, there will be no more lapdogs when it
comes to Iraq. The leaked National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) paints a
bleak picture of Bush administration policies to combat terrorism, and
it is the opening shot in what will become a campaign from within the
Republican Party to extricate the country from the mess in Iraq.
Selective Intelligence
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15035936/site/newsweek/
The National Intelligence Estimate doesn't say what Bush says it
does. How will he handle upcoming secret reports on Iran and Iraq?
WEB EXCLUSIVE
By Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball
Newsweek
Updated: 7:13 p.m. ET Sept. 29, 2006
Sept. 27, 2006 - The White House's release of a dire National
Intelligence Estimate on global terrorism has illustrated once again
how easy it is to publicly misrepresent intelligence-community
findings-especially when almost all of the key documents remained
shrouded in secrecy.
Fair and Balanced?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15051659/site/newsweek/
A former New York Times ombudsman says Linda Greenhouse's political
comments aren't necessarily a bad thing.
Web Exclusive
By Jessica Bennett
Newsweek
Updated: 6:08 p.m. ET Sept. 28, 2006
Sept. 28, 2006 - Linda Greenhouse is unarguably a leader in her field.
For nearly 30 years, the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter has covered
the Supreme Court for the paper of record, The New York Times. Back
before she covered the high court, she became the first woman to work
out of the Times's state capital bureau in Albany. Among many awards,
Greenhouse received the 2004 career award for excellence in journalism
from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and this
past June, was asked to return to Harvard Law School to give a speech.
'It Is Time for Muslims to Reciprocate'
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15047857/site/newsweek/
This week a Berlin opera house cancelled a performance of Mozart in the
latest of many crises over religious sensitivities. A moderate Muslim
asks: Have we learned anything?
WEB-EXCLUSIVE COMMENTARY
By Akbar Ahmed
Special to Newsweek
Updated: 5:16 p.m. ET Sept. 28, 2006
Sept. 28, 2006 - The voluntary closing of the Deutsche Oper Berlin
because of the anticipated sensitivities of Muslims hearing about their
Prophet's severed head assumes great symbolic significance in the age
of globalization in which we live. Images, events and words-as we saw
in the case of Pope Benedict a few days ago-have the capacity to
inflame societies across the world in a matter of hours.
Desert Showdown
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15046056/site/newsweek/
An incumbent senator and his opponent, a president's son, square off on
issues facing Nevada's voters.
WEB EXCLUSIVE
By David Gerlach
Newsweek
Updated: 12:37 p.m. ET Sept. 28, 2006
Sept. 28, 2006 - Nevada's first-term Republican senator, John Ensign,
says it's time for Americans to get behind President Bush. A member of
the Senate Armed Services Committee, the incumbent backed Bush during
the recent standoff with some of his colleagues over the treatment and
interrogation of terror suspects. So far, Ensign's re-election campaign
has faced little strong resistance, although Democrat Jack Carter has
cut Ensign's once sizable lead 9 points in a recent Rasmussen poll.
Carter believes that Ensign is a Bush clone, vulnerable in a state
where the president's approval ratings are in the 30s. Even though this
is his first race for office at any level, Carter has at least one
enviable political asset: his father is none other than former
president Jimmy Carter.
David Gerlach recently spoke with both Ensign and Carter as part of
NEWSWEEK's ongoing Face Off series profiling the midterm's most
interesting races. Excerpts:
Pirates of the Mediterranean
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/30/opinion/30harris.html?pagewanted=3Dall
By ROBERT HARRIS
In the panicky aftermath of a daring terrorist attack in 68 B.C., the
Roman people made decisions that set them on the path to the
destruction of their Constitution. One cannot help wondering if history
is repeating itself.
Spinning the Spin
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15035656/site/newsweek/
For voters, the National Intelligence Estimate is probably the single
most important document to emerge in this election. Plus, *****
Cheney's surprise party.
Web-Exclusive Commentary
By Richard Wolffe and Holly Bailey
Newsweek
Updated: 7:25 p.m. ET Sept. 28, 2006
Sept. 27, 2006 - Amid all the hoopla about the National Intelligence
Estimate on terrorism, it's worth stepping back to gain a little
perspective. Like three and a half years of perspective. Back in March
2003, President Bush addressed the nation from the Oval Office just
after the first military strikes in Iraq. "The people of the United
States and our friends and allies will not live at the mercy of an
outlaw regime that threatens the peace with weapons of mass murder,"
he said. "We will meet that threat now, with our Army, Air Force,
Navy, Coast Guard and Marines, so that we do not have to meet it later
with armies of firefighters and police and doctors on the streets of
our cities."
Putting Troops on the Beat
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/29/AR200609290=
1518.html
By Charles J. Dunlap Jr.
Saturday, September 30, 2006; Page A17
It's hurricane season again, which, along with recent reflections on
the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, causes us to think about
the complexities of dealing with disaster on a major scale. One stark
lesson taught by last year's tragedy in New Orleans concerned the
fragility of civilized societies. Scenes of chaos at the city's
convention center and elsewhere illustrated how quickly the strong
could exploit the weak.
Unfortunately, a chunk of the New Orleans police force was nowhere to
be found. Scores of officers left the city, and a few were alleged to
have joined in the looting. Distraught victims begged for help on
national television.
Thai Military Leaders Say They Retain Power to Remove a Civilian
Government
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/30/world/asia/30thai.html?ref=3Dworld
By SETH MYDANS and THOMAS FULLER, International Herald Tribune
Thailand's junta said it would not interfere with the workings of an
interim government but reserved the right to fire it.
MyBallot Box
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15027829/site/newsweek/
MySpace launches a new effort to bring the benefits of social
networking to voter registration.
Web Exclusive
By Andrew Romano
Newsweek
Updated: 8:19 a.m. ET Sept. 28, 2006
MySpace.com has a knack for making comedians (Dane Cook), rock bands
(Arctic Monkeys) and scantily-clad models (Tila Tequila) cool. But now
the social-networking colossus is setting its sights on a slightly
squarer property: the ballot box. On Wednesday, the site will begin
steering its tens of millions of members to
myspace.com/declareyourself, a new in-house page where they can
register to vote and-with a single click-tell their entire network
of friends to follow. It's Rock the Vote goes viral. "Putting the
simplest voter registration tool on a platform that already reaches 54
million unique monthly visitors is a huge step in promoting civic
engagement," says Jeff Berman, MySpace's senior vice president for
public affairs. "This is where people are spending their time. The
potential is enormous."
Ex-Firebrand Ortega on the Comeback Trail
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/30/world/americas/30nicaragua.html?ref=3Dwor=
ld&pagewanted=3Dall
By MARC LACEY
Washington's old cold war nemesis, Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, has
his best chance yet of returning to power in elections on Nov. 5.
Growing Unarmed Battalion in Qaeda Army Is Using Internet to Get the
Message Out
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/30/world/30jordan.html?ref=3Dworld&pagewante=
d=3Dall
By HASSAN M. FATTAH
Al Qaeda's increased reliance on various forms of media have made
Web-savvy sympathizers like Abu Omar ever more important.
India Digs Deeper, but Wells Are Drying Up, and a Farming Crisis Looms
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/30/world/asia/30water2.html?ref=3Dworld&page=
wanted=3Dall
By SOMINI SENGUPTA
With a driving need to boost agricultural production, Indians are
tapping their groundwater faster than nature can replenish it.
Is Woodward Calling Bush a Liar?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2006/09/29/BL200609290065=
7_pf.html
By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Friday, September 29, 2006; 12:46 PM
After two books that made President Bush look pretty good, Bob Woodward
is out with a new one that comes awfully close to calling the president
a liar.
I can't imagine Woodward himself ever using the word -- it's much too
shrill for the poster boy for the mainstream media.
Legislating Violations of the Constitution
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/29/AR200609290=
1055.html
By Erwin Chemerinsky
Special to washingtonpost.com
Saturday, September 30, 2006; 12:00 AM
With little public attention or even notice, the House of
Representatives has passed a bill that undermines enforcement of the
First Amendment's separation of church and state. The Public Expression
of Religion Act - H.R. 2679 - provides that attorneys who successfully
challenge government actions as violating the Establishment Clause of
the First Amendment shall not be entitled to recover attorneys fees.
The bill has only one purpose: to prevent suits challenging
unconstitutional government actions advancing religion.
A federal statute, 42 United States Code section 1988, provides that
attorneys are entitled to recover compensation for their fees if they
successfully represent a plaintiff asserting a violation of his or her
constitutional or civil rights. For example, a lawyer who successfully
sues on behalf of a victim of racial discrimination or police abuse is
entitled to recover attorney's fees from the defendant who acted
wrongfully. Any plaintiff who successfully sues to remedy a violation
of the Constitution or a federal civil rights statute is entitled to
have his or her attorney's fees paid.
In Frankfurt, Mideast Play Manages to Insult All Sides
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/30/theater/30stag.html?ref=3Deurope
By SARAH PLASS
The English Theater is going ahead with "The Last Virgin," a
bluntly satirical play about Muslims and Jews in the Middle East.
White House Disputes Book's Account of Rifts on Iraq
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/30/us/30account.html?ref=3Dus&pagewanted=3Da=
ll
By DAVID E. SANGER
The White House suggested that the account by Bob Woodward was provided
by former aides who believe their advice was ignored.
The Case for What 'Comes as a Shock to Most Jews and Christians
Alike'
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/30/us/30beliefs.html?ref=3Dus
By Peter Steinfels
Jon D. Levenson, professor of Jewish studies at Harvard, argues that in
classical Judaism, resurrection of the dead was a central belief.
Politics Books by Brian Mann and Thomas F. Schaller
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/01/books/review/Hacker.t.html?ref=3Dwashingt=
on
Reviewed by ANDREW HACKER
Should Democrats court rural conservatives, or spurn them? Two new
books come to opposite conclusions.
'Letting Students Down'
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15014682/site/newsweek/
A new study finds that even top undergraduates are woefully ignorant of
history and civic government
WEB EXCLUSIVE
By Pat Wingert
Newsweek
Updated: 12:00 p.m. ET Sept. 26, 2006
Sept. 26, 2006 - Does going to college make students better-educated
citizens? A new study of more than 14,000 randomly selected college
students from across the country concludes that the answer is often no.
Not only did many respondents at the 50 participating colleges fail to
answer half of the basic civics questions correctly, but at such elite
schools as Cornell, Berkeley and Johns Hopkins, the college freshmen
scored higher than the college seniors. Josiah Bunting, III, chairman
of the National Civic Literacy Board of the Intercollegiate Studies
Institute (ISI), the nonprofit that funded the study, decried "the
students' dismal scores" as providing "high-quality evidence of
..=2E. nothing less than a coming crisis in American citizenship." Mike
Ratliff, a senior vice president at the ISI spoke to NEWSWEEK's Pat
Wingert about the study's findings, which were released today.
'The American Way of Strategy'
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/01/books/review/Frankel.t.html?ref=3Dwashing=
ton&pagewanted=3Dall
By MICHAEL LIND
Reviewed by MAX FRANKEL
Trying to maintain world dominance, Michael Lind argues, can only hurt
the United States.
Parents Take Language Class Into Their Own Hands
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/30/nyregion/30play.html?ref=3Deducation
By WINNIE HU
In affluent suburban areas from New York to San Diego, children are
studying second and even third languages at ages when they are still
learning English.
Clinton Loses His Cool
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15002956/site/newsweek/
Was the former president justified in blasting a Fox News interviewer
who questioned his administration's counterterrorism record?
Web-Exclusive Commentary
By Michael Hirsh
Newsweek
Updated: 7:16 p.m. ET Sept. 29, 2006
Sept. 25, 2006 - Even Bill Clinton, who never met a camera he failed to
charm, couldn't keep his rage out of public view any longer. Ever since
ABC television aired its riveting but risibly fictive docudrama "The
Path to 9/11" earlier this month, former Clintonites have been
seething. The miniseries had laid much of the blame for the failure to
get Osama bin Laden on Clinton and his supposedly wimpy
national-security team. The Bush administration, meanwhile, is
portrayed mostly positively, seen gearing up to take on bin Laden when
9/11 hits. No surprise there: "The Path to 9/11" was scripted by a
conservative screenwriter named Cyrus Nowrasteh, who once took part in
a panel at the right-wing Liberty Film Festival entitled "How
Conservatives Can Lead Hollywood's Next Paradigm Shift."
A Different Kind of Politics?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14961215/site/newsweek/
Sen. Barack Obama believes America is ready to move beyond extreme
partisan debates. Could he be the candidate to lead the way?
WEB EXCLUSIVE
By Howard Fineman
Newsweek
Updated: 9:33 a.m. ET Sept. 25, 2006
Sept. 25, 2006 - On the campaign trail this fall, no one is a bigger
draw-especially for young voters-than Sen. Barack Obama of
Illinois. Of mixed racial and religious heritage, the 45-year-old
Harvard Law School graduate strikes many Americans as a one-man answer
to both the "clash of civilizations" and the Red-Blue chasm in America.
Last week he spoke to a packed house at a MoveOn.org event hosted by
Georgetown University students in regal Gaston Hall-a favorite venue
for Democrats trying out ideas for presidential campaigns. In the green
room afterward, Obama sat down with NEWSWEEK chief political
correspondent Howard Fineman. Obama, who has been in the Senate for
less than two years, did not slam the door on what would be a daring
2008 bid. Excerpts:
The Bob Woodward Effect
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15068387/site/newsweek/
The White House is in full damage-control mode over his new book
Web Exclusive
By Richard Wolffe
Newsweek
Updated: 11:13 p.m. ET Sept. 29, 2006
Sept. 29, 2006 - There are few journalists in Washington who can throw
the White House off its stride: Bob Woodward is one of them.
Woodward's new book, "State of Denial," paints a damning picture of
White House policy in the aftermath of the Iraq invasion. After The New
York Times printed excerpts of the book on Friday, the West Wing
immediately went into full damage-control mode, as top aides tried to
figure out how to respond. Woodward had delivered copies of the book to
the White House on Friday morning-earlier than they expected because
of the newspaper leak. The arrival of a Woodward Tome has become a kind
of biennial ritual in Washington. The last two, which detailed the
Afghan war and the successful early invasion of Iraq, were fairly kind
to the president and his staff. But this was a different kind of book,
and the administration was already bracing for a rougher ride.
Bed Behavior
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15003955/site/newsweek/
It's not only about sex. How a couple sleeps together may reveal a
lot about their relationship.
Web Exclusive
By Pat Wingert and Barbara Kantrowitz
Newsweek
Updated: 9:41 a.m. ET Sept. 26, 2006
Sept. 26, 2006 - Let's say you've been married 20 years. You go to
bed at midnight and wake up at 7. That's seven hours a night, seven
nights a week for 20 years-or a grand total of 50,960 hours in bed
with your spouse. If you're both working, taking care of kids and
meeting the obligations of everyday life, you probably spend more time
together in bed than in any other place. So what does your behavior
there reveal about your relationship? Amazingly, very few researchers
have studied this potentially rich topic. When Paul C. Rosenblatt, a
professor of family science at the University of Minnesota, started
exploring the subject in an online medical research database, he found
40,214 entries on human sleep, 34,295 dealing with couples, and 19,162
on marriage and marriage therapy, but only 15 on couples and sleep. To
fill that gap, he decided to conduct his own study by interviewing 88
adults: 42 couples and four others who were in relationships where they
regularly shared a bed with a partner. (Three of the 42 couples were
lesbian and three were unmarried heterosexuals; the rest were married).
The participants ranged in age from 21 to 77.
Rx: Sex
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14107632/site/newsweek/
New research finds that being intimate during late pregnancy may help
prevent overdue births.
Web-Exclusive Column
By Pat Wingert and Barbara Kantrowitz
Updated: 9:13 a.m. ET Aug. 1, 2006
A few years ago, in the middle of a hot summer afternoon, a
hard-working colleague stood up and announced to the newsroom that he
was going home to have sex with his wife. In fact, he was under
doctor's orders to do so. As a group, newspaper reporters aren't
easily impressed, but this announcement definitely got their attention.
Dishing On Asia's Food
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15015269/site/newsweek/
Food criticism may be an underdeveloped art in Asia, but bloggers are
beginning to fill the void. A conversation with Chubby Hubby, one of
Asia's most influential food bloggers.
Web Exclusive
By Alexandra A. Seno
Special to Newsweek
Updated: 1:10 p.m. ET Sept. 26, 2006
Sept. 26, 2006 - Dining is a joy in Singapore. And in Hong Kong,
Taipei, Tokyo, Hanoi... And yet food criticism in Asia is, relative to
the West, still in its formative stages. Recently, however, food
bloggers have begun to change all that. They're huge sensations today
not just within their respective countries, but throughout the region.
Aun Koh, who blogs as Chubby Hubby, is one of the most popular of
Asian's food bloggers. A former magazine publisher, Chubby, 33, writes
daily on everything food related-from restaurant review to recipes,
wine, travel and even marriage. His blog (www.chubbyhubby.net) gets
80,000 hits a month, enough to support several advertisers, he claims.
In August it won kudos from none other than Singaporean Prime Minister
Lee Hsien Loong, who mentioned Chubby in his National Day speech. He
joined NEWSWEEK's Alexandra A. Seno in an instant-message exchange.
Excerpts:
Berlin signals new tack over Middle East
http://www.guardian.co.uk/elsewhere/journalist/story/0,,1882097,00.html
Germany is breaking sharply with its own past by deploying a naval
force to Lebanon, writes Ian Black
Wednesday September 27, 2006
Guardian Unlimited
It's a coming of age of sorts, or at least the smashing of an old and
sensitive taboo. In the next few days German warships will take up
position in the eastern Mediterranean in the country's biggest naval
deployment since the second world war. The mission: to help police the
Lebanese coastline to stop arms smuggling by Hizbullah guerrillas.
The Bundesmarine flotilla sailed from Wilhemshaven on September 21. It
consists of two frigates - the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Karlsruhe -
supported by helicopters, supply ships and patrol boats, with about
1,500 men on board. It is due in the Cypriot port of Limassol on
October 2, and will assume command of Unifil's multinational naval
contingent a week later.
This is far from Germany's first overseas military deployment. Since
the early 1990s the Bundeswehr has been involved in UN and Nato
missions as far afield as the Balkans, Congo and Afghanistan - evidence
of an increasingly confident foreign and defence policy. Until
unification, post-war (West) Germany's military activities were
confined to the Nato alliance, and were strictly within its European
area of operations.
A set down protest
http://www.guardian.co.uk/elsewhere/journalist/story/0,,1883908,00.html
Dan Glaister reports on a demonstration that was so well-planned,
organisers told police which people would be arrested
Friday September 29, 2006
Guardian Unlimited
For once, the news, even the sluggish print news, was ahead of events.
Roads would be blocked, traffic would be gridlocked, 1-2,000
demonstrators would take part, and 420 of them would be arrested. The
police even had their names. All this was reported almost 24 hours
before the protest got under way.
In a bizarre piece of event planning, the organisers of a march to
raise awareness of the plight of immigrant workers in the hotel
industry had enlisted the help of the LAPD, not previously renowned for
its sympathetic approach toward protesting workers.
Like rival 19th century generals drawing up battle plans, the two sides
agreed the location, they colluded on the timing and they even
conspired on the numbers of protesters. To help ease the arrest
process, organisers provided the police with a list of those who would
be arrested in advance. A special car park was set up for the chosen
ones, and they were instructed to hand their car keys over to march
organisers, as well as any valuables such as wedding rings. Such items,
they were told, can slow down the pace of both arrest and release.
.
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| User: "Andres64" |
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| Title: Re: OT: The politics of fear |
30 Sep 2006 10:09:53 AM |
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maff wrote:
The politics of fear
Mark Seddon
September 29, 2006 06:55 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/mark_seddon/2006/09/the_politics_of_fear.html
Rarely a day passes without President Bush forcibly reminding the
American people of the dangers posed by terrorists and the need for a
permanant war on terror. Terrorism is of course a threat, it has been
thoroughout the last century and it is now. Yet during the darkest days
of the IRA's bombing campaigns, the terror attacks of the Baader
Meinhof and the Red Brigades, the hijackings by Black September and the
outrages of ETA, politicians kept a sense of proportion.
What we have today is the crude manipulation of the "politics of fear".
The latest Gallup poll in the United States reveals that 70% of
registered voters trust President Bush to tackle terrorism, leaving any
Democrat as an also run. But when the same group of people are polled
on who could best extract America from the Iraq imbroglio, the figures
turn neatly around. Nearly 70% trust the Democrats over the
Republicans.
Good evening, London. Allow me first to apologize for this
interruption. I do, like many of you, appreciate the comforts of every
day routine- the security of the familiar, the tranquility of
repetition. I enjoy them as much as any bloke. But in the spirit of
commemoration, thereby those important events of the past usually
associated with someone's death or the end of some awful bloody
struggle, a celebration of a nice holiday, I thought we could mark this
November the 5th, a day that is sadly no longer remembered, by taking
some time out of our daily lives to sit down and have a little chat.
There are of course those who do not want us to speak. I suspect even
now, orders are being shouted into telephones, and men with guns will
soon be on their way. Why? Because while the truncheon may be used in
lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer
the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the enunciation of
truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this
country, isn't there? Cruelty and injustice, intolerance and
oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and
speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance
coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this
happen? Who's to blame? Well certainly there are those more responsible
than others, and they will be held accountable, but again truth be
told, if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a
mirror. I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn't be?
War, terror, disease. There were a myriad of problems which conspired
to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. Fear got the
best of you, and in your panic you turned to the now high chancellor,
Adam Sutler. He promised you order, he promised you peace, and all he
demanded in return was your silent, obedient consent. Last night I
sought to end that silence. Last night I destroyed the Old Bailey, to
remind this country of what it has forgotten. More than four hundred
years ago a great citizen wished to embed the fifth of November forever
in our memory. His hope was to remind the world that fairness, justice,
and freedom are more than words, they are perspectives. So if you've
seen nothing, if the crimes of this government remain unknown to you
then I would suggest you allow the fifth of November to pass unmarked.
But if you see what I see, if you feel as I feel, and if you would seek
as I seek, then I ask you to stand beside me one year from tonight,
outside the gates of Parliament, and together we shall give them a
fifth of November that shall never, ever be forgot.
- V (from V for Vendetta)
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