May 2, 2003 | Dollars & Crosses
The State Department has released its Patterns of Global Terrorism report for 2002, which shows a gain: terrorist acts were down last year.
According to the report the seven designated state sponsors of terror are Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Syria, and Sudan: "Iran remained the most active state sponsor of terrorism in 2002" and "Iraq planned and sponsored international terrorism in 2002. Throughout the year, the Iraqi Intelligence Services (IIS) laid the groundwork for possible attacks against civilian and military targets in the United States and other Western countries. The IIS reportedly instructed its agents in early 2001 that their main mission was to obtain information about US and Israeli targets."May 2, 2003 | Dollars & Crosses
Last December more than 1000 "academics and intellectuals" signed a letter warning that Israel would use the cover of war in Iraq to expel the Palestinians. Never happened.
The New York Sun notes "this letter made drastic accusations about the Israeli government, condemning it for something it had not done and that there was no evidence it ever intended to do. Israel's haters, however, are seldom swayed by history or fact."May 1, 2003 | Dollars & Crosses
From Cox and Forkum:
Recommended: If you have enjoyed Cox and Forkum's work displayed at Capitalism Magazine don't forget to get their paperback collection of their cartoons available at the Cox and Forkum website.
May 1, 2003 | Dollars & Crosses, Dollars & Crosses 2
Americans are already used to socialist celebrities prancing about the country lamenting the fact that "regular people" don't care about the inane viewpoints of someone who once played a smart person on television. But now, they're telling those "regular people" to shut-up, and they're threatening to petition Uncle Sam (the guy with all of those banned "assault weapons") if America doesn't comply.In a letter dated 28 April 2003, the William Morris Agency sent a "cease-and-desist" letter to the "Boycott Hollywood" website. Apparently, some of William Morris' clients don't like what those regular folk have to say about them.Rumors that Susan Sarandon is petitioning to modify the first amendment to read "the famous people" are entirely unsubstantiated, but I don't mind spreading them anyway.[Because the Boycott Hollywood website may soon go offline, a copy of the William Morris letter can be found here. And yes, the server is slow. Just deal.]May 1, 2003 | Dollars & Crosses
While vouchers are routinely supported by 65% of urban residents, support levels are barely half that amount in the suburbs. Voucher proponents have grown increasingly frustrated with this resistance, and have yet to acknowledge that suburban resistance to choice is entirely reasonable and unlikely to be nagged away.
Families that purchase homes in good suburban school districts typically do so, in large part, because of the "seat license" it confers in the local schools. Choice-based reforms, on the other hand, allow students to attend schools where their family hasn't "bought" a seat....
Those who own homes in districts with good schools risk losing tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in home equity, may no longer be able to assure their children services they had purchased, and will find that local schools may no longer enjoy first crack at quality teachers or provide as uniformly desirable a peer group. [Frederick Hess, New York Sun, 4/30/03]
Well, maybe; the whole argument is on the premise that people are entitled to an education at someone else's expense. Vouchers are a mechanism for public funding of private schools. This effectively subjects them to all the strings that are tied to institutions that receive public money--vouchers will eventually bring private education down to the level of public education. Nor do vouchers address the fundamental moral issue that individuals have no right to demand that someone else pay for educating their children. Having children is a choice. If a couple can't afford to support children, then they shouldn't go having children; they have no right to make that choice and then force someone else to bear the costs.
Real education reform would institute tuition tax credits, whereby individuals spend their own money on education and their taxes are decreased by that amount. Of course, such a plan doesn't have the "altruistic" justification of sacrificing some members of society for the sake of the poor--but the notion that the poor are entitled to an education at public expense is a big reason why we're in this mess to begin with.Apr 30, 2003 | Dollars & Crosses
Saudi Arabia is home to some of Islam's holiest sites and the deployment of US forces there was seen as a historic betrayal by many Islamists, notably Osama Bin Laden. It is one of the main reasons given by the Saudi-born dissident --blamed by Washington for the 11 September attacks--to justify violence against the United States and its allies. [BBC News, 4/29/03]
"Dissident"?
Bear in mind those US forces were deployed in the Middle East to stop this:
A 31-year-old Kuwaiti woman, Asrar Qabandi, was captured by Iraqi secret police occupying her country in 1990 for "crimes," one of which included speaking with CNN on the phone. They beat her daily for two months, forcing her father to watch. In January 1991, on the eve of the American-led offensive, they smashed her skull and tore her body apart limb by limb. A plastic bag containing her body parts was left on the doorstep of her family's home. [New York Times]
So the "justification" is the the U.S. should have allowed Saddam to stay in Kuwait.
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Tony Blair contrasts BBC objectivity to the "Iraqi information Minister":
"Tony Blair blitzed the BBC on Friday over its twisted coverage of the Iraq war. The PM was furious after a newsman claimed terror in Baghdad is worse than under Saddam. War reporter Andrew Gilligan said on Radio 4's Today programme: 'Baghdad's people are passing their first days of liberty in a greater fear than they've ever before known. The old fear of the regime was habitual, low-level. This fear is sharp and immediate.' Mr Blair was furious at a War Cabinet meeting on Friday. He gave his official spokesman his blessing to say: 'Try telling that to people whose relatives have been dropped head-first into shredders. I doubt if the Iraqi information minister would try to justify this report.' " [Sun]
OK, maybe Bagdahd Bob isn't dishonest enough to work for the BBC. My apologies to the "Iraqi information Minister."
