Monthly Archives: March 2003

Once again, millions of people worldwide protested the seemingly imminent war on Iraq yesterday. Unfortunately, the day was again not just filled with an amazing excercise of people’s freedom, but also tainted with governmental injustice. At the local rally in Buffalo, NY, three people were arrested for no apparent reasons. Any reasons the police officers [...]

Last week, a federal judge ordered that Jose Padilla, a US citizen who was arrested by the US government under the pretense that he is an “enemy combatant”, be allowed to meet with his lawyers. I applaud this decision despite the judge’s willingness to side with the government’s ridiculous rhethoric of the accused’s defense being [...]

In recent weeks, White House officials have proposed that a cost and benefit analysis comparing the costs of national security verus the cost of lost liberties be executed. While this could be a good way to illustrate some of the disproportionate costs of ineffective security measures, I fear that too much focus will be placed [...]

After massive protests and active disagreement with British PM Tony Blair’s stance on Iraq in parliament, it seems that a series of resignations has started, beginning with the Tory whip. It appears that even in Great Britian, just like in the US, even conservatives don’t support the upcoming war.

A recent NY Times article confirmed that requests for financial aid are increasing in number across the nation, including New York state, at an unusually fast rate. This is yet another reason why Governor Pataki’s proposed budget is such a bad idea.

According to a new WIRED article, further evidence that the US army is planning on using depleted uranium weapons in the war on Iraq has surfaced.

It’s been a long time but the President-select has finally been able to force himself to enact law that benefits everyone again. The national do not call registry is now law. Even though it’s not as effective as it could be, there are plans to widen its scope.

Last week, it emerged that the US has been spying on other UN members in order to collect material that would aid them in their quest to get an authorization for the illegitimate attack on Iraq. As usual, and more than usual, the American corporate media has been neglecting the story. Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked [...]

It would seem that there is an old rule under which the UN can stop one of its members’ wars if they threaten global peace. While this in and by itself is a very worthy measure that I would love to see used against the US government, I hardly think that if it was used [...]

It is well known that many pieces of governmental legislation since 9/11 have been posing a serious threat to the liberties and rights of the people in America. What is new however is that organizations and coalitions from across the spectrum have taken action to defend the Bill of Rights.

While we hear about increased government spending almost every week, it is never for education. All the government wants to funnel money into is wars it seems. And how convenient too for them: Less money for education means less educated citizens and therefore less dissent in the face of senseless governmental action.

As recent articles have suggested, the imminent war on Iraq is more about global dominance than it is about oil. With an iron grip on Iraq’s oil resources, which are far larger than many others anywhere, the US government would have an unparalelled amount of power over all users of petrol, i.e. practically everyone.

Last Wednesday, 3/5, thousands of students nationwide and globally protested against the upcoming war on Iraq by not attending classes and holding rallies. The day of action under the motto of “Books, not Bombs” was organized by the National Student and Youth Peace Coalition. Even more so than the February 15th protests, this event was [...]

While the system itself has been around for a while now, tests of the CAPPS II system are only about to be introduced now by Delta airlines. Much like the newest net in the fishing industry, this tool too will catch and consequently inconvenience many innocent people. What’s more it is also not known exactly [...]

Note: The following letter was published on March 3rd in the Spectrum, the undergraduate student news paper at the University at Buffalo, in reply to a previous letter. This is in response to McKenzie Levindofske’s letter in the Feb. 28 issue of The Spectrum. Dear Miss Levindofske and agreeing conservatives: As the title of this [...]

Last week, the 9th circuit court of appeals ruled that the words “under God” in the pledge of allegiance were indeed unconstitutional. I believe that the ruling on this issue was fair and just. One must remember that the contested phrase was only added to the pledge in 1954 and as such is not as [...]

Not only does NY Governor Pataki not care enough about the immediate future of the economy in his state, but he also seems unconcerned about the more distant future of it. In his effort to balance the state budget, Governor Pataki has imposed cuts on school budgets that would have allowed K12 schools to operate [...]

I have remarked several times how our representatives in DC never seem to stand up for justice and equality when the going gets tough. This is only one of the newest examples of this. When confronted with meager domestic security spending, congressional democrats complained that only a part of the promised $3.5 billion had been [...]

The Buffalo Common Council today was set to vote on a resolution against the war today at its weekly regular meeting. Item number 84 came up on the agenda (the resolution against the war), before the title of the agenda item was completely done being read, Councilmember at large Lotempio immediately made a motion to [...]

And once again it has been shown that the peace movement is having an impact on the corporate class: In a recent survey, two thirds of all US newspapers opposed the Bush administration’s push for pre-emptive action. The article mentions that this may well have been due to the massive protests on 2/15. If this [...]

According to an op-ed in the NYT last week, history has shown that containment can very well work when dealing with foreign nations posessing WMDs that are controlled by cruel dictators. The US administration should take these events, and not Afghanistan as a precedent for the attack on Iraq.

And today it was the NYT’s turn to confirm one of my theories, this time the one on the Bush administration’s severe lack of credibility. The author agrees that the administration seems to have a clear problem with making good on their promises.

In the same vein of my post on the supreme court, a new article on Alternet also hopes for an awakening, this time one of the people to oppose Bush’s religious crusade on the East. Once one delves into the documents regarding Bush’s foreign policy it becomes blatantly obvious that he is on a religiously [...]

In an op-ed from last week, Anthony Lewis reinforces a very important point I have made several times: It appears that ever since 9/11 started a new era of constitution violating laws, the supreme court seems to have failed in its duty to monitor the government’s actions and intervene if those interfere with Americans’ freedoms [...]

In the whole collection of issues surrounding the “second resolution” at the UN regarding the war on Iraq, it seems that the US may use slick tactics to pull the dissenting nations into agreeing with them in some way as no resolution so far has authorized a war against Iraq.

Despite what President-select Bush may be saying, the war on Iraq will quite probably not start for almost another month. According to this article it will take the US troops about that long to get ready.

Democratic candidates for the 2004 elections have made great efforts to criticize President-select Bush as of late. But seriously, are they expecting people to actually believe them? Major party politicians who care for the people and oppose Bush? Can anyone say Hillary Clinton?

Though it’s been a while, it is still very relevant: A comination of a police state and Orwell’s 1984 is coming our way in the form of the second “patriot” act. The ACLU has written an extensive summary of what the act proposes. I don’t want to hear anyone say “oh it won’t pass”.