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In sum, the invasion of Iraq failed to meet the test for a humanitarian intervention. Most important, the killing in Iraq at the time was not of the exceptional nature that would justify such intervention. In addition, intervention was not the last reasonable option to stop Iraqi atrocities. Intervention was not motivated primarily by humanitarian concerns. It was not conducted in a way that maximized compliance with international humanitarian law. It was not approved by the Security Council. And while at the time it was launched it was reasonable to believe that the Iraqi people would be better off, it was not designed or carried out with the needs of Iraqis foremost in mind. War in Iraq: Not a Humanitarian Intervention
Human Rights Watch finds the post fact rationale for the invasion wanting. It comes from their World Report 2004 - Human Rights and Armed Conflict, where other essays therefrom include: Losing The Peace In Afghanistan, Sidelined: Human Rights In Post-War Iraq and "Glad to be Deceived": the International Community and Chechnya, to name but a few.
comment posted at 5:11 PM on Jan-26-04
comment posted at 1:42 AM on Jan-27-04

I'mNotSorry.net is a website where women can share their positive experiences with abortion.
comment posted at 11:25 AM on Jan-25-04
comment posted at 10:44 PM on Jan-25-04

New poll: Bush sinking, Kerry surging Overall, 52 percent of those polled by NEWSWEEK say they would not like to see Bush serve a second term, compared to 44 percent who want to see him win again...
comment posted at 12:00 AM on Jan-25-04

[Warning: AppleFilter] Apple provides customized RSS feeds from iTunes store.
comment posted at 10:25 AM on Jan-23-04

Google (kinda) Offers Social Networking called Orkut
Acording to this CNET artice, Orkut is the outgrowth of a personal project by Google Engineers Orkut Buyukkokten. He created "Orkut.com in the past several months by working on it about one day a week--an amount that Google asks all of its engineers to devote to personal projects". And oh, by the way:

"Membership to orkut is by invitation only.
If you have a friend who's a member of orkut, have them invite you to join."
comment posted at 1:03 AM on Jan-23-04
comment posted at 1:50 PM on Jan-23-04
comment posted at 12:16 PM on Jan-25-04

Dean Goes Nuts Don't get me wrong! I am actually a Howard Dean supporter and will be voting for him when, and if, the time comes. I just think that January 19, 2004 was a magical day in politics and Howard Dean should be immortalized on the internet. I'm just doing my part to make sure that happens.
comment posted at 2:28 PM on Jan-22-04

you think it's been a cold winter in the north east this year?
"For those of us living around the edge of the N. Atlantic Ocean, we may be planning for climate scenarios of global warming that are opposite to what might actually occur."
comment posted at 11:44 AM on Jan-22-04

Hate Bush? Love to Shop? Putting affiliate programs to good use, this site takes the standard affiliate commissions and donates it toward groups working to replace Bush in 2004. To stay within F.E.C. guidelines, none of the money will go directly to our candidate.  Rather, the money will be sent to democratic/progressive/liberal groups such as moveon.org. Quite a range of online stores represented, too.
comment posted at 5:24 PM on Jan-20-04

Implications of a 4-Star Command in Iraq. In an small press release, it was recently announced that Iraq *may* be getting a 4-star general, but *not* to replace the current 3-star military commander of that nation. So what difference does a single star make? "...In other words, the Defense Department is putting forward the idea of another regional command because it anticipates the possibility of intensifying combat operations throughout the region. The war in Iraq might be coming under control, but from the standpoint of the Defense Department, the end of the Iraq campaign is the preface to follow-on campaigns."
comment posted at 5:31 PM on Jan-20-04

"You could get a journalist cheaper than a good call girl, for a couple hundred dollars a month" (PDF, 112k) "The Covert News Network", on Project MOCKINGBIRD - "Watergate muckraker Carl Bernstein uncovered a list of over 400 reporters and a coterie of publishers and media moguls who had basically been rubber-stamping CIA propaganda since the 1950s." Alex Constantine on Mockingbird. "Investigators digging into MOCKINGBIRD have been flabbergasted to discover FOIA documents in which agents boast (in CIA office memos) of  pride in having placed "important assets" inside every major news publication in the country. " ( from Geoff Metcalf on Mockingbird). Cheryl Seal on Mockingbird, with additional links. Enjoy the election!
comment posted at 8:20 AM on Jan-20-04

Cheney outlines Bush's vision of the war on terrorism in a January 14th speech, likening it to the Cold War in both scope and duration. Does this represent a change in tenor for the 2004 campaign and a move away from Reagan-esque sunny optimism that defined the 2000 run?
comment posted at 8:33 AM on Jan-20-04

John Kerry suprises Howard Dean, the pundits, and much of the nation with what looks like a solid win in Iowa after being counted out of the race. Perhaps its time to take a second look at Kerry.
comment posted at 6:40 PM on Jan-19-04

CNN reports that Google is developing email ad service. As if I don't get enough spam in my inbox! Google, please don't turn evil... please.
comment posted at 12:35 PM on Jan-19-04

Invitation? What Invitation? Howard Dean says Jimmy Carter asked him to church in Georgia. Carter doesn't think so. Why is Dean so worried about his lead in the last days of the Iowa Caucuse that he needs to lie?
comment posted at 11:59 AM on Jan-19-04
comment posted at 12:14 PM on Jan-19-04
comment posted at 12:30 PM on Jan-19-04
comment posted at 12:32 PM on Jan-19-04

Are You A Metrosexual? Don't worry if, despite scholars in Michigan voting it one of 2003's most over-used and useless words, you don't know what it is - you might still be! (For men only, unfortunately. What would the female equivalent be?)
comment posted at 2:51 PM on Jan-18-04
comment posted at 2:57 PM on Jan-18-04
comment posted at 3:02 PM on Jan-18-04
comment posted at 5:14 PM on Jan-18-04

It looks like NASA may be altering the colors of the Mars Spirit rover photos.
comment posted at 2:55 PM on Jan-18-04

For sale: one argyle sweater, previously used as target of media ridicule.
comment posted at 11:25 AM on Jan-18-04
comment posted at 2:46 PM on Jan-18-04
comment posted at 5:12 PM on Jan-18-04

Wal-Mart Locks Its Workers In. And not without serious consequences. One worker had a heart attack, another had an asthma attack and an assistant manager wouldn't let him out immediately, another had his ankle smashed by heavy machinery and had no way of getting to a hospital. It's not the first time the world's largest private employer has stiffed its 1.2 million workers out of millions of dollars. What price unfettered industrialization?
comment posted at 10:56 PM on Jan-17-04
comment posted at 3:31 AM on Jan-18-04
comment posted at 11:17 AM on Jan-18-04

Iraq Coalition Casualties Count
comment posted at 1:29 PM on Jan-17-04

Viacom's CBS today rejected a request from liberal group MoveOn to air a 30-second anti-President Bush ad, saying the spot violated the network's policy against running issue advocacy advertising. This, despite running anti-drug and anti-smoking ads. So, is it only issues about which they disagree?
comment posted at 1:44 PM on Jan-16-04
comment posted at 2:10 PM on Jan-16-04

Techies Left Behind James Pace Jr. used to work as a steamfitter in a General Electric plant in Bridgeport. That was back in the early '70s, when the grapevine was alive with warnings: These jobs are going overseas. Go back to school. There's no future here. Pace left the plant, enrolled in computer school, studied information technology and never looked back. That is, not until 23 years later, on the day he was told his $100,000-a-year job as an IT (information technology) consultant had been sent to India
comment posted at 2:29 PM on Jan-16-04

Complaint to nic.cx results in goatse.cx being suspended. Obligatory online petition is started. Screams and sobbing are heard on a regular basis on Slashdot. Links are SFW, but any investigation further may not be. This is truly a dark time for the internet.
comment posted at 11:53 AM on Jan-15-04
comment posted at 11:59 AM on Jan-15-04

Trusting The Redcoats: How many independent-minded Americans actually rely on the BBC (specially the World Service) for accurate coverage of American politics? Not to mention The Guardian. Is it a strictly an elitist, liberal/left-wing phenomenon? What does it mean? What does it say about better-informed liberal newspapers and media of the U.S.? If so, why aren't like-minded Europeans just as cosmopolitan and, say, pay the same attention to news sources like The New York Times, NPR and others, rather than stolidly sticking to their own national staples?
comment posted at 10:19 PM on Jan-14-04

Fact: The only way to leave the U.S. military is if you are wounded or dead.
Fact: More U.S. soldiers are taking their life.

Uncle Sam wants you.
comment posted at 12:45 PM on Jan-14-04

George Lakoff tells how conservatives use language to dominate politics "Why do conservatives appear to be so much better at framing? - Because they've put billions of dollars into it. Over the last 30 years their think tanks have made a heavy investment in ideas and in language. In 1970, [Supreme Court Justice] Lewis Powell wrote a fateful memo to the National Chamber of Commerce....He outlined the whole thing in 1970. They set up the Heritage Foundation in 1973" "So if you go on Fox News....and the question is, 'Are you in favor of the President’s tax relief program or are you against it?' -- it doesn't matter what you say. If you say, 'I’m against tax relief,' you're still evoking that framing. you're still in their frame..."

"George Lakoff, a professor of linguistics and cognitive science at the University of California Berkeley, is a specialist in the technique of "framing," a communication tool that creates a "frame" for a message that defines the terms of the debate." (Interview with Lakoff )
comment posted at 11:04 AM on Jan-14-04
comment posted at 12:53 PM on Jan-14-04

"The Media vs. Howard Dean." Salon (subscription or Flash ad viewing required) observes that the media have been doing everything in their power to attach negative labels to US presidential candidate Howard Dean. Will the adage that "there's no such thing as bad publicity" prevail? Meanwhile, the Internet is increasing in relevance as a news source, according to a recent survey. Which websites do you peruse for political coverage, if any?
comment posted at 10:19 AM on Jan-13-04

How to Lose Your Job in Talk Radio Why did this happen? Why only a couple of months after my company picked up the option on my contract for another year in the fifth-largest city in the United States, did it suddenly decide to relegate me to radio Outer Darkness? The answer lies hidden in the oil-and-water incompatibility of these two seemingly disconnected phrases: “Criticizing Bush” and “Clear Channel.”
comment posted at 2:22 AM on Jan-11-04
comment posted at 9:39 PM on Jan-11-04
comment posted at 1:17 AM on Jan-12-04

Howard Dean in Lord of the Rings clever poster of dean in ring garb.
comment posted at 6:04 PM on Jan-10-04

VP would back ban on gay marriage Best guess: Bush won't try for an amendment so as not to lose potential votes for his party. But this does say something about the man next in line--if not already first--for the presidency.
comment posted at 7:57 PM on Jan-10-04

Affirmative Action Texas Style: Part 2

[A]fter consultation with each of the Texas A&M University System Regents, I have decided that, effective immediately, Texas A&M will no longer award points for legacy in the admissions review process.

comment posted at 1:48 PM on Jan-10-04

New report says Bush planned Iraq War before 9/11 Jan. 10 — NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill charges in a new book that President Bush entered office in January 2001 intent on invading Iraq and was in search of a way to go about it.
comment posted at 2:21 PM on Jan-10-04