“It’s not about the oil! We swear! It’s about…um…weapons of mass destruction. No, nevermind…it’s about capturing Saddam! Err…wait, strike that. It’s about the freedom of the Iraqi people. Um… Hey, look a rabbit!” Who could have seen this coming?
Category Archives: ShortLinks
Fruit slaves.
I read a fascinating article in the most recent (soon to be one issue ago) issue of the New Yorker about migrant workers in Florida. The extensive piece documented the conditions of slavery in which fruit-picking migrant workers are kept. They pay a coyote to take them over the border from Mexico, who puts them …
No More Obits
CNN just took down their obituaries-from-the-future page. That was fast.
Evil Syria
It’s fascinating to watch the slow jingoistic buildup against Syria that the White House is spearheading. It started a few weeks ago, with a lone mention of Syria by Rumsfeld that left reporters scratching their heads. Then, out of the blue, Syria was warned not to harbor former Iraqi leaders last Friday. Saturday, Rumsfeld and …
Muzzle Awards
The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression has given out their annual muzzle awards, which exists for the purpose of “calling attention to those who in the past year forgot or disregarded Mr. Jefferson’s admonition that freedom of speech ‘cannot be limited without being lost.’” The dubious awards are given out on …
SARS Watch
Well, whaddyaknow?
SARS Tracking
LazyWeb request: a website to track SARS infections. It’s rumored that big media is working to keep the story quiet, and I suspect that the CDC would like to keep infection rates understated. It would be great if there were some sort of a clearinghouse website where people could submit links to local news stories …
PATRIOT Act to be Permanent
Surprise surprise: Republicans want to make the PATRIOT Act permanent, instead of expiring in 2005. I forget…what liberties was it that we were defending?
U.S. Kills Journalists
As I posted on MeFi this morning, the U.S. military has killed several journalists, just a month after they threatened to kill them. It’s hard to know if this is a coincidence or not, so I was encouraged to see an interview with Christiane Amanpour this evening, in which she offered a restrained condemnation of …
Math criminal.
The Supreme Court has ruled in the case of Black vs. Virginia, in which a man was convicted of burning a cross on his private property. They have decided to uphold Virginia’s law, which states: 18.2-423. Burning cross on property of another or public place with intent to intimidate; penalty; prima facie evidence of …