Quote of the Day: Truth

The men the American public admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men they detest most violently are those who try to tell them the truth.

H. L. Mencken

UK: How to waste the tax payer’s money

In times when governments - particularly in Europe - leave an ever growing number of their citizens after taxes and social security just with enough of their income to barely survive, more and more rumors and stories stories surface how bluntly this money is then blown by the administrators.

One might get the impression that the control mechanisms that once worked so-so…

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Image: The government hates competition

An interesting sign on Texas congressman Ron Paul’s desk. According to online sources Ron Paul, Republican, is seen as “kind of a libertarian” but also as a “Constitutionalist” and an advocate of limited government who is pretty solid on a lot of issues and has a quite consistent voting record.

While his voting record includes a few quite scary ones, he has also opposed U.S. military interventions overseas, including Iraq…
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Civil Rights: Guantánamo Bay cell reconstruction

This Monday Amnesty International started a tour to cities and regional towns in Australia with a full scale reconstruction of the cell in which Australian David Hicks and other detainees are being held at Guantánamo Bay. The cell is a reconstruction of the solitary confinement cells in Guantánamo Bay and measures 1.8 meters wide, 2.4 meters in length and 2.4 meters high. There is an Quicktime virtual reality panorama and additional images online (links below) that provide you with an understanding of the space where David Hicks and others are now being detained since 5 years…

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Iraq: New survey paints a devastating portrait of life

A new survey by ABC News, the BBC and the leading German TV news show has been published today. The survey that after 2004 and 2005 has now been conducted a third time demonstrates a strong deterioration of people’s hope and lives in Iraq. Millions more just want to leave and most - in difference to the previous surveys - now believe it is right to fight the Americans. More than 2000 participants across Iraq have been interviewed for this…

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USA: The Must-Do List

The New York Times has an interesting “opinion piece” with a “must- do list” containing things that need to be done to recreate some of the founding principles of American democracy and reverse certain policies introduced by the current US administration. The list includes the following items…

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USA: The changes of the organic food industry

Phil Howard - a professor with the Michigan State University - has published a set of graphics showing the changes and acquisitions within the organic food industry over the last years. The graphics show the changes that have occurred since the USDA national organic standards were implemented (October 2002), including the introduction of new food labels by major food processors, significant acquisitions of organic brands plus the investment firms involved within these…

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Books: American Torture

American Torture - the new book of award winning journalist and documentary filmmaker Michael Otterman - reveals how torture became standard practice in today’s War on Terror. The book traces the history of American torture from Nazi Germany to Guantanamo Bay. Rod Barton, former Director of Intelligence, weapons inspector and Advisor to the CIA (Iraq) describes it as an immensely disturbing story made all the more chilling by his disclosures that today these interrogation techniques are officially sanctioned under the guise of national security and that sets of rules have been developed to govern its practice. He also says that this book should be compulsory reading for everyone with concerns over human rights…

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USA: “The Day I Got Deported From the US”

There is a very interesting description of what an UN Aid worker had to experience when he tried to enter the US with his EEC passport.
Also read the comments - even more insights…
The story is at the The Road to the Horizon blog.

USA: FBI puts up reward for lost external hard drive

After recent “reports” that the FBI has lost 160 laptops in the last 44 months it has now put up a USD 25,000 reward to locate and return an IOMEGA external hard drive missing since last month. The hard drive was reported missing on January 23rd from the Birmingham, Alabama Veterans Administration Medical Center where it was used by an employee in medical research to…

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