ANOTHER ANGLE
News others won't tell you



Making martial law easier - International Herald Tribune
A disturbing recent phenomenon in Washington is that laws that strike to the heart of American democracy have been passed in the dead of night. So it was with a provision quietly tucked into the enormous defense budget bill at the Bush administration's behest that makes it easier for a president to override local control of law enforcement and declare martial law.



NATIONAL:



737 U.S. Military Bases = Global Empire
The total of America's military bases in other people's countries in 2005, according to official sources, was 737. Reflecting massive deployments to Iraq and the pursuit of President Bush's strategy of preemptive war, the trend line for numbers of overseas bases continues to go up. Interestingly enough, the thirty-eight large and medium-sized American facilities spread around the globe in 2005 -- mostly air and naval bases for our bombers and fleets -- almost exactly equals Britain's thirty-six naval bases and army garrisons at its imperial zenith in 1898.



An Orwellian solution to kids skipping school
Let's say your teenager is a habitual truant and there is nothing you can do about it. A Washington area politician thinks he might have the solution: Fit the child with a Global Positioning System chip, then have police track him down. "It allows them to get caught easier," said Maryland Delegate Doyle Niemann (D-Prince George's), who recently co-sponsored legislation in the House that would use electronic surveillance as part of a broader truancy reduction plan. "It's going to be done unobtrusively. The chips are tiny and can be put into a hospital ID band or a necklace."



Terrorists Chip In
Information-security expert Lukas Grunwald is not reluctant to share his opinion of the radio frequency identification (RFID) technology that is now a mandatory security feature of American passports. “This whole design is totally brain damaged,” Grunwald told Wired magazine. “From my point of view all of these RFID passports are a huge waste of money. They’re not increasing security at all.”



Accused Terrorist Is Big GOP Donor
The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) won't say what it plans to do with thousands of dollars in campaign donations it received from an accused terror financier.
Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari gave $15,250 to the NRCC since 2002, according to FEC records published on the Web site opensecrets.org. On Friday, Alishtari pled not guilty to funding terrorism and other crimes, including financial fraud.



JFK security call off
Various angles and clips of security detail being called off, to stand down and not run along side the prez's motorcade. who could authorise this?



INTERNATIONAL:



Occupied Somalia: 12 Killed as heavy mortar fire hits Mogadishu
The attacks underscore the huge challenge facing the interim government of Abdullahi Yusuf, the president, as it tries to tame a nation in anarchy since Mohamed Siad Barre, the former president, was ousted in 1991.



Venezuela Preparing for 'Asymmetrical' Showdown With U.S.
Chavez is keen on ramping up his country's defenses using a windfall of petroleum dollars that have filled state coffers in recent years. Having already spent a significant portion of that money on education and health programs for Venezuela's impoverished, the leftist leader has set his sights on becoming the continent's military superpower.



IRAQ:



The New Iraqi Oil Law: Leaked
Privatizing Iraq's oil and splitting Iraq into three regions are just two negative features of this 29 pages law.



Where in the world is Moqtadl Al-Sadar?
The cleric is not in Tehran, but in Kufa, southern Iraq, according to a Western source. Stories that he has fled across the border are incorrect, according to Albrecht Gero Muth, a former adviser to Kofi Annan when the latter was U.N. Secretary General, who remains in contact with al-Sadr.



BUSH CRIME FAMILY:



Why Did Rove Receive A Copy Of A Secret Iranian Proposal For Negotiations In 2003?
Inter Press Service reports that, in early May 2003, Karl Rove received a copy of a secret Iranian proposal for negotiations with the United States from former Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) — who is now serving 30 months in prison for his role in a corruption scandal.



Iran - This, Mr President, is how wars start
"If the Iranians decide to respond by showing that they can be tough guys, too, we could easily get an escalation of a tit-for-tat nature," he told me. "It would start in Iraq, where we start to do things and they respond. Then we [the US] believe they're responsible for that, and so we decide to ratchet it up by hitting them somewhere else, and then they respond by hitting us in the Gulf. And then we are at war."



ECONOMY:



Kraft says up to 8,000 jobs cut
Kraft says it may eliminate up to 9 percent of its work force and exit up to 20 production facilities, according to a document outlining the plan.



OP-ED:



Obama Drama – Another Political Sleeping Pill for Black People. --
Yes, I would like to see a President Obama, but for reasons other than euphoria and emotionalism, his Senatorial voting record notwithstanding. I would like to see the “possibility” of finally having a President that would speak out as a Black man and actually do something that directly benefits Black people, the people to whom this country owes a tremendous debt. (Hey, I can dream, can’t I?)



FOOD&DRINK:



POTATO, CHEDDAR, AND CHIVE SOUP
The combination of potatoes and cheese just can't be beat, especially here, in this rich, filling soup.



REVIEWS/INTERVIEWS:



Gates Takes a New Look at 'Uncle Tom'
In the 1950s, Uncle Tom's Cabin went from being a literary phenomenon to an object of scorn, with its title character symbolizing black self-loathing. Henry Louis Gates has re-examined the book in a new annotated edition.



HUMOR?:



Men on Films - In Living Color