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| "The percentage of registered voters who say they would support President Bush in 2004 fell below 50 percent for the first time, according to a new CNN/USA TODAY/Gallup poll, which finds more Americans concerned about the economy." |
| Thursday, February 27, 2003: "Under a $500,000 anti-truancy program approved Tuesday, 200 Chicago public school freshmen deemed most in danger of dropping out will participate in "Adventure Ed'' outings meant to teach them team-building and decision-making skills. Among prescribed activities are running obstacle courses, rope climbing, wall climbing and camping." Chicago Sun-Times' Red Streak |
| "When the lead anchor for a major local newscast simulates masturbation, you know something strange is going on." Philadelphia Magazine per Romenesko |
| "A new Web site aims to let grassroots peaceniks place their bets in the ultimate 'dead pool': at www.marchtowar.com they can lay down five dollar wagers on when—to the minute—the new Iraq War will start. The winner walks away with 20 percent of the kitty in the form of prepaid gasoline cards, while the rest will go to humanitarian aid in the war's aftermath." Village Voice |
| "The unusual, transitory, and difficult-to-document military career of George W. Bush." Mother Jones |
| "Under any circumstances, the new Bush budget would seem ideologically driven, lopsidedly tilted to the rich, and deeply flawed as a purported stimulus to growth. But the administration’s economic proposals are particularly peculiar and ominous in light of the administration’s drive toward war in Iraq." In These Times |
| "Classified nuclear threat reports warn that rogue countries and terrorists have learned it is possible to make atomic bombs using low-enriched uranium, a common fuel for nuclear reactors used to conduct research and generate power. The reports, described to USA TODAY by top federal officials, also conclude that it would be easier than previously believed for enemies of the United States to make such weapons using spent nuclear fuel, the waste generated by reactors." |
| "Four years ago, an elite squad of 40 Cook County Jail guards (in Chicago) invaded a maximum-security cellblock for the sole purpose of beating and terrorizing prisoners, then filed false reports to cover it up, according to Cook County sheriff's internal affairs documents, prisoner interviews and sheriff's sources." Chicago Tribune (reg/req) |
| "Iraq is an artificial fusion of antagonistic tribes. Victory may be rapid and easy - but that's when the real trouble could start." UK Guardian |
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| Wednesday, February 26, 2003: "Between now and the end of May there are four periods during which the (astrological) charts of Iraq, the USA, Bush and Hussein are simultaneously triggered: February 26-28, March 8-18, April 9-17 & May 11-15. These transits do not necessarily imply the start of war but they will certainly coincide with tense exchanges of the verbal and diplomatic kind. They are also likely to be occasions upon which crucial decisions are made." Penny Thornton's Cosmic Update |
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| "The Pentagon has begun telling the White House and Congress that defeating
Iraq and occupying the country for six months could cost as much as $85
billion, according to sources — considerably more than what senior administration
officials have been saying in public.
Combined with aid for regional allies such as Turkey, the price tag for the conflict could top the $100-billion mark, twice the war costs cited just last month by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and an amount that the White House dismissed as outlandish last fall." LA Times |
| "HAMBURG, Germany -- The hijacking conspiracy spawned in this northern port city likely was broader and deeper than previously reported, according to investigative files amassed by German authorities since Sept. 11, 2001." Chicago Tribune (reg/req) |
| "Up to four million people each year are victims of human trafficking, one of the fastest growing crimes in the world, and criminals earn an estimated $7bn from the trade." BBC |
| "The Bush administration plans to intensify airstrikes in the southern
and northern no-fly zones whether Iraq is shooting at U.S. planes or not.
As the United States approaches the possibility of war with Iraq, military
sources say there will be a major effort to cripple Iraq's air defenses
in both these zones and in the south, to take out surface-to-surface missiles
that pose a threat to American troops in Kuwait.
Preparations for war appear to be nearly complete." ALSO, "When and if the United States does go to war, military sources say the United States is preparing a monster new weapon to be used during the first nights. It's called MOAB, short for "massive ordnance air burst" bomb...(its) massive explosive punch, sources say, is similar to a small nuclear weapon." ABCNEWS |
| "Thailand's interior ministry has said that the death toll from a crackdown on drugs has reached 993 since the campaign started on February 1." BBC |
| "France's top chefs railed yesterday against the pressures of their job and the power of the critics after one of this food-obsessed country's culinary giants committed suicide, apparently because of a bad review." UK Guardian |
| "After more than 30 years, it appears the venerable Pioneer 10 spacecraft has sent its last signal to Earth. Pioneer's last, very weak signal was received on Jan. 22, 2003." NASA News |
| Tuesday, February 25, 2003: "...Bush's born-again Christianity cannot be questioned. Indeed, it dovetails with his widely attested lack of intellectual curiosity, his seemingly utter certainty of his convictions and with the difficulty of persuading him to change a mind already made up. Few mortals can compete with God for his ear. But the approach carries dangers..." The Independent (UK) |
| "Saddam Hussein indicated on Monday that he does not intend to follow U.N. orders to destroy his Al-Samoud 2 missiles, and challenged President Bush to an internationally televised debate via satellite linkup." USA Today |
| "An exodus of Pakistani asylum seekers going from the United States into Canada has overwhelmed both sides of the border." NYT(reg/req) |
| "Says Greg Mitchell, editor of Editor & Publisher: 'The press woefully underplayed the anti-war movement until recently. Now coverage is growing, of the large marches at least. But I still don't see the kind of regular day-to-day coverage that was common during, say, the nuclear freeze movement of the early 1980s. That's the true test of taking dissent seriously.' " USA Today |
| Things we learned enroute to looking up other things: "The explosive growth of three private water utility companies in the last 10 years raises fears that mankind may be losing control of its most vital resource to a handful of monopolistic corporations. In Europe and North America, analysts predict that within the next 15 years these companies will control 65 percent to 75 percent of what are now public waterworks. The companies have worked closely with the World Bank and other international financial institutions to gain a foothold on every continent. They aggressively lobby for legislation and trade laws to force cities to privatize their water and set the agenda for debate on solutions to the world’s increasing water scarcity. The companies argue they are more efficient and cheaper than public utilities. Critics say they are predatory capitalists that ultimately plan to control the world’s water resources and drive up prices even as the gap between rich and poor widens. The fear is that accountability will vanish, and the world will lose control of its source of life." The Center for Public Integrity |
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| "The common cold costs the U.S. economy $40 billion a year in treatments and lost workdays, according to a new study by the University of Michigan that appears to be the first to quantify the cost of the most commonly occurring illness in humans." Detroit Free Press |
| "For months, diplomats from France, Germany, Russia, and China have
bobbed and weaved in the hushed chamber of the UN Security Council, attempting
to slow or block what many in their countries see as a US rush toward war
with Iraq.
Much of their opposition stems from a genuine adversity toward combat, at least in this instance. But besides its principles, each nation is also considering a mix of economic realities and national interests that tend to color its decision." Christian Science Monitor |
| Monday, February 24, 2003: "Between now and the end of May there are four periods during which the (astrological) charts of Iraq, the USA, Bush and Hussein are simultaneously triggered: 26-28 February, 8-18, March, 9-17 April, 11-15 May. These transits do not necessarily imply the start of war but they will certainly coincide with tense exchanges of the verbal and diplomatic kind. They are also likely to be occasions upon which crucial decisions are made." Penny Thornton's Cosmic Update |
| "That most lamentable duct tape suggestion last week by a Homeland
Security official - which drove countless panicked citizens out to buy
the product - has been widely derided as useless and pretty crazy.
But maybe not so crazy. Turns out that nearly half - 46 percent to be precise - of the duct tape sold in this country is manufactured by a company in Avon, Ohio. And the founder of that company, that would be Jack Kahl, gave how much to the Republican National Committee and other GOP committees in the 2000 election cycle? Would that be more than $100,000?" Washington Post |
| "With the U.S.-Iraq showdown possibly headed to a climax, many Republicans who have spent months staunchly behind President Bush's hard-line posture are confronting anxiety, skepticism and some outright opposition among their constituents." LA Times |
| "Many people in the world increasingly think President Bush is a greater threat to world peace than Iraqi President Saddam Hussein." Washington Post |
| "Helen Thomas has had the courage to say what many are thinking, that Bush is "the worst president in all of American history." For exercising her First Amendment freedom, the entire Republican Party smear machine has now been deployed against the brave and distinguished journalist." Media Whores Online |
| Sunday, February 23, 2003: "The possibility of war with Iraq could unleash acts of anti-American violence in the United States or overseas by individual extremists who do not belong to Al Qaeda or other Middle Eastern terrorist groups but sympathize with their grievances, intelligence and law enforcement officials say." NYT (reg/reg) |
| "New research shows that some traumatized people may be better off repressing the experience than illuminating it in therapy...The new research is rooted in part in the experience of Sept. 11, when swarms of therapists descended on New York City after the twin towers fell." NYT's magazine |
| "Creating genuine homeland security would cost trillions of dollars and completely change the way we go about our lives. Is this where you want to live?" NYT's magazine |
| Saturday, February 22, 2003: The habits and needs of a little-understood group explained by Jonathan Rauch in The Atlantic. |
| "School lunches are loaded with fat -- and the beef and dairy industries are making sure it stays that way." Mother Jones |
| "A (British) Government-backed course is encouraging pupils under 16 to experiment with oral sex, as part of a drive to cut rates of teenage pregnancy." The Times |
| Top CBS executives are deeply concerned that Sunday night's GRAMMY Awards may turn from a celebration of music -- into a giant anti-war political rally. Drudge Report |
| Friday, February 21, 2003: "Journalist Carl Bernstein, who helped break the Watergate story three decades ago, told a Sarasota audience Wednesday that the Bush administration should seek to prevent a holy war, not start one." Bradenton Herald - "Famed reporter criticizes Iraq tact" |
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| "Nobody gives a shit what anti-war or pro-war writers think. Really. So shut up. That goes double for poets. Shut the hell up, poets. Everybody just shut up." The Stranger |
| "A new E&P survey of newspaper editorial positions on the Iraq crisis shows that the growing rift at the United Nations and massive antiwar demonstrations around the globe appear to have had an impact. E&P now finds that a majority of top papers oppose any attack on Iraq without broad international support." |
| Thursday, February 20, 2003: In 1991 "Iraqis torched 690 Kuwaiti wells that took 200 days and $2.5 billion to extinguish. Estimated costs for a worst-case scenario in Iraq have been as high as $50 billion." USA Today |
| "The U.S. military plans to allow special operations troops to fight offensively with Philippine forces battling Muslim rebels, Pentagon sources told CNN Thursday." |
| "The Bush administration may soon face vexing choices. Will it attempt to divide the Iraqi spoils among its allies, including Russia and France should they ultimately decide to support a war effort, and thus create cynicism throughout the Middle East and the world? Or will the Bush administration attempt to make Iraq a showcase for responsible government in the Middle East, by enabling the Iraqi people to cast off the odious debts brought upon them by an illegitimate regime and by giving the other peoples of the region an inkling of what a future without odious rulers could hold for them." Urban Renaissance Institute |
| "A new theory and a revised interpretation of earlier observations have bolstered the idea that Mars has more water than previously thought and encouraged speculation about the possibility of life on the planet." NYT(reg/req). Full report available in the journal Nature. |
| "Three giant cargo ships are being tracked by US and British intelligence on suspicion that they might be carrying Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. Each with a deadweight of 35,000 to 40,000 tonnes, the ships have been sailing around the world's oceans for the past three months while maintaining radio silence in clear violation of international maritime law, say authoritative shipping industry sources." Independent (UK) |
| Wednesday, February 19, 2003: "Why, in so many places, has the allure of the United States as a promoter of democracy and champion of the little guy been replaced with rage at its power?" A few answers attempted in the NYT(reg/req) |
| "As America strives to win the hearts and minds of people abroad who question US integrity, policies, and character, an institution at home is proving a liability. The institution is Hollywood." Christian Science Monitor |
| "A leaked document suggests that Washington is beginning detailed planning for a new generation of smaller nuclear weapons." BBC |
| "All-news cable networks including Fox News and CNN have refused to broadcast advertising opposing the impending war with Iraq -- but that hasn't stopped antiwar groups." Chicago Sun-Times' Red Streak |
| Let's see - we have a president chosen my a minority, following a war policy opposed by the majority. What a world, what a world. |
| Tuesday, February 18, 2003: "There are two possible explanations for the great trans-Atlantic media divide. One is that European media have a pervasive anti-American bias that leads them to distort the news, even in countries like the U.K. where the leaders of both major parties are pro-Bush and support an attack on Iraq. The other is that some U.S. media outlets — operating in an environment in which anyone who questions the administration's foreign policy is accused of being unpatriotic — have taken it as their assignment to sell the war, not to present a mix of information that might call the justification for war into question." From a NYT's Op-Ed by Professor Paul Krugman. |
| Things we learned enroute to looking up other things: "All of us have heard this term 'preventive war' since the earliest days of Hitler. I recall that is about the first time I heard it. In this day and time...I don't believe there is such a thing; and, frankly, I wouldn't even listen to anyone seriously that came in and talked about such a thing." -- President Dwight Eisenhower, 1953, upon being presented with plans to wage preventive war to disarm Stalin's Soviet Union. |
| "Senior Bush administration officials are for the first time openly discussing a subject they have sidestepped during the buildup of forces around Iraq: what could go wrong, and not only during an attack but also in the aftermath of an invasion." NYT (reg/req) |
| "After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, a French newspaper ran the now-famous headline, 'We are all Americans.' Now, with growing resistance worldwide to the idea of a US-led war in Iraq, a new slogan - 'We are all French' - is dotting antiwar protests..." Christian Science Monitor |
| "A leading Saudi newspaper yesterday urged Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to make a 'heroic' choice and step down from power to save his country and the whole Middle East from a looming US-led war." Arab News |
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| Monday, February 17, 2003: "In his campaign to disarm Iraq, by war if necessary, President Bush appears to be eyeball to eyeball with a tenacious new adversary: millions of people who flooded the streets of New York and dozens of other world cities to say they are against war based on the evidence at hand." NYT (reg/req) |
| "Rupert Murdoch argued strongly for a war with Iraq in an interview this week. Which might explain why his 175 editors around the world are backing it too, writes Roy Greenslade" in the UK Guardian |
| Things we learned enroute to looking up other things: From a
Gallup
Poll conducted on 8/14/1946 -
Question: Do you think the United Nations organization should be strengthened to make it a world government with power to control the armed forces of all nations, including the U.S.? Response: Yes = 53.63% | No = 28.16% | Undecided = 18.21% |
| More things we learned enroute to looking up other things: From
a Gallup Poll taken on 1/7/1943 -
Question: It is said that two million Jews have been killed in Europe since the war began. Do you think this is true or just a rumor? Response: True = 47.46% | Rumor = 28.41% | No Opinion = 24.13 |
| "America is to punish Germany for leading international opposition to a war against Iraq. The US will withdraw all its troops and bases from there and end military and industrial co-operation between the two countries - moves that could cost the Germans billions of euros." UK Guardian |
| Sunday, February 16, 2003: "Defense Department officials said Iraq had shipped rail cars full of ammunition and demolition equipment to its oil fields." NYT(reg/req) |
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| "I truly must question the judgement of any President who can say that a massive unprovoked military attack on a nation, which is over 50 percent children is 'in the highest moral traditions of our country'." Arab News |
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| Saturday, February 15, 2003: "...if some used to believe romance was "in the stars," today it is apparently in the stats. In a web-linked world, a $25 subscription fee provides instant access to tens of thousands of eligible singles - and the digital tools to sift candidates based on height, age, income, or a penchant for macramé. Love remains an art, but the rise of online personal ads is bringing a new level of science to the realm of romance." CSM Related link: Passion & the PC, Chicago Tribune 1987 |
| Friday, February 14, 2003: "Conservative forces in the Middle
East and South Asia have cracked down on shops marketing Valentine's Day.
In the Indian capital, Delhi, several people were reported injured when
stores selling romantic cards and gifts were attacked by right-wing militants
... Religious hardliners consider such Western occasions as decadent and
an insult to Hinduism and Islam." BBC
"In Pakistan, fundamentalist students condemned Valentine's Day as a day of shame and lust." BBC |
| "Around 150,000 people have taken to the streets of Melbourne to protest against a possible war with Iraq, kicking off a weekend of marches around the world." BBC |
| "Maggie O'Kane, a rookie war reporter in 1991, explains the meaning of 'collateral damage." UK Guardian |
| "A key piece of the information leading to recent terror alerts was fabricated, according to two senior law enforcement officials in Washington and New York." ABC News |
| "Buried within the $397 billion spending bill passed last night by Congress is a provision that would permit livestock producers to certify and label meat as "organic" even if the animals had been fed partly or entirely on conventional rather than organic grain." NYT (reg/req) |
| Thursday, February 13, 2003: "Israel has reacted angrily to a ruling by Belgium's Supreme Court which could pave the way for the prosecution of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for war crimes." BBC |
| "Up to 10 million people on five continents are expected to demonstrate against the probable war in Iraq on Saturday, in some of the largest peace marches ever known." UK Guardian |
| Wednesday, February 12, 2003: "This is a great time to be a cosmologist," says Michael Turner, a cosmologist at the University of Chicago. NYT (reg/req) |
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| "Saddam's policy of squandering Iraq's resources by paying outrageous
prices to friendly states seems to be paying off. The irresponsibility
and lack of morality these states are displaying in trying to keep the
world's worst butcher in power is perhaps indicative of a new world order.
It is a world of winks and nods to emerging rogue states--for a price.
It remains for the U.S. and its allies to institute an opposing order in
which no price is high enough for dictators like Saddam to thrive."
By Khidhir Hamza, a former director of Iraq's nuclear-weapons program, and the co-author of "Saddam's Bombmaker: The Terrifying Inside Story of the Iraqi Nuclear and Biological Weapons Agenda" (Scribner, 2000). WSJ |
| Tuesday, February 11, 2003: "In a joint appearance before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Robert Mueller and CIA Director George J. Tenet painted a chilling portrait of a fanatical enemy that seeks to use chemical, biological and radiological weapons against Americans and might target lightly guarded places such as shopping malls or universities." USA Today |
| "Dr Mohamed Sayed Tantaoui, the Sheikh of Al-Azhar - a leading theological authority in Egypt - has condemned the US adventure as 'illegal'. He asks, 'What sins have these people committed so their lives will be sacrificed for a corrupted regime?' The sheikh demands that no Arab or Muslim country should help foreign forces bent on attacking Iraq. His position is very clear: 'Our refusal of any aggression against the Iraqi people, children, women and the elderly doesn't mean that we defend the Iraqi regime. We want to defend the Muslim Iraqi population, which is part of the Arab and Muslim world.' But echoes from some of the 2 million pilgrims now engaged in the hajj in Mecca are unmistakable: there's nothing Muslims can do to prevent a war, and the Americans will attack soon after the end of the hajj this Saturday." From "The last (diplomatic) Arab dance," By Pepe Escobar in Asia Times. |
| "More than 500 journalists will be embedded with troops involved in the expected invasion of Iraq. Pentagon officials plan to inform news organizations of their assignments later this week." Editor & Publisher |
| "If Hussein succeeded in a 'Nero policy' of burning and contaminating wells, the price of oil could spike - potentially driving the global economy into a slump." Christian Science Monitor |
| MATERIAL GIRL IN A POLITICAL WORLD: MADONNA PLANS VIDEO TO PROTEST WAR, BUSH - Drudge Report |
| "The left in America was once a powerful force that fought for civil rights and helped to end the Vietnam war. But today, with the US poised to attack Iraq, where are the voices of dissent? Gary Younge goes in search of the opposition" in the UK Guardian |
| Monday, February 10, 2003: "Baghdadis seem to be hoarding money in this cash-based society as they wait for events to unfold. And if spending is slowing down, life is speeding up. Rather than waiting, couples are getting married now. Child psychologists say boys and girls are paralyzed with fear and talk of never growing old." USA Today |
| "To many in the media ... CAMERA is no watchdog but an advocacy group trying to impose its pro-Israeli views on mainstream journalism." Boston Globe |
| "The country with the most patents, Nobel laureates, and millionaires is also the country with the highest levels of poverty, homicide, and infant mortality among modern democracies. A case for revising our social contract." The Atlantic |
| "The cola wars are taking on a new dimension in Europe, where Muslims are being asked to pledge allegiance to one of two new brands." AP |
| "The Bush Administration is preparing a bold, comprehensive sequel to the USA Patriot Act passed in the wake of September 11, 2001, which will give the government broad, sweeping new powers to increase domestic intelligence-gathering, surveillance and law enforcement prerogatives, and simultaneously decrease judicial review and public access to information." The Center for Public Integrity |
| "The winds of war already are blowing on Madison Avenue. As the United States braces for a showdown with Iraq, the advertising industry is quietly putting itself on a wartime footing." USA Today |
| Sunday, February 9, 2003: Mark Fiore - Mister Buffo - Doonesbury - Calvin&Hobbes - Assorted Comics |
| "The influential Der Spiegel weekly, in advance copies released today, reported that France and Germany were considering a plan to deploy thousands of United Nations peacekeepers and hundreds more weapons inspectors to prevent military conflict in Iraq. Livid American officials denounced the fact that they first heard of the possible plan from reporters." NYT (reg/req) |
| Saturday, February 8, 2003: Things we learned en route to looking up other things: Iraq's Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research has a parapsychology research center. |
| Friday, February 7, 2003: "Nearly four out of 10 Americans will be obese within five years if people keep packing on pounds at the current rate ... Currently, about 31%, or about 59 million people, are obese," which is defined as 30+ pounds overweight. USA Today |
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"The biggest problem we face in America is not terrorism. The biggest health problem we're facing is obesity," Dr. Julie Gerberding, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told The Associated Press last week. |
| "High-resolution images taken from a ground-based Air Force tracking camera in the southwestern U.S. show serious structural damage to the inboard leading edge of Columbia's left wing, as the crippled orbiter flew overhead about 60 sec. before the vehicle broke up..." Aviation Week & Space Technology |
| "There are two reasons why "11'09"01," a collection of international movies about the Sept. 11 tragedies, won't play in a theater near you." Christian Science Monitor |
| "The day after Secretary of State Colin Powell's speech before the U.N. Security Council Wednesday, daily newspapers in their editorials dramatically shifted their views to support the Bush administration's hard-line stance on Iraq, a new Editor & Publisher survey has found." |
| This article was adapted from Eric Alterman's new book, What Liberal Media? The Truth About Bias and the News. The Nation |
| "Downing Street was last night plunged into acute international embarrassment
after it emerged that large parts of the British government's latest dossier
on Iraq - allegedly based on "intelligence material" - were taken from
published academic articles, some of them several years old.
Amid charges of "scandalous" plagiarism on the night when Tony Blair attempted to rally support for the US-led campaign against Saddam Hussein, Whitehall's dismay was compounded by the knowledge that the disputed document was singled out for praise by the US secretary of state, Colin Powell, in his speech to the UN security council on Wednesday." UK Guardian |
| Thursday, February 6, 2003: "Senator Edward Kennedy, who has been urging the Senate to vote on its own resolution before committing American troops, renewed his warning that the US might be in more danger from terrorism if an invasion went ahead." BBC |
| "Profilers say the Iraqi leader is no savvy chess player, but is buoyed by a sense of destiny." Christian Science Monitor |
| "Open criticism of Israel is strongly discouraged, but some say discussion is vital." Christian Science Monitor |
| "Al-Sahhaf exposes Powell's lies," the ruling Ba'th party newspaper Al-Thawrah writes, referring to a statement from the Iraqi Information Minister. BBC |
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| For the first time since the 1850s, Hispanic births accounted for more than half of California births. AP |
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| "Washington D.C.'s brilliantly brainy astrologer Edie Thayer has come up with another astounding metaphoric insight into the shuttle disaster: 'As I watched replays of that comet flaming and breaking up in the sky, it made me think of ancient seers who would have viewed this as an omen of the rise or fall of a king or kingdom. Which would that be? Because the swath of debris had fallen across Texas, it seemed an augury for our Texan president. Mythologically or symbolically, which king or kingdom would be most at risk? ' " michaellutin.com |
| "Two Texans have been charged with stealing pieces of debris from the wreck of the Columbia shuttle ... They could face up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. However, an amnesty has now been offered until Friday evening for anyone else who hands over shuttle parts." BBC |
| "Mr. Rumsfeld told the House Armed Services Committee that sending forces for a possible war had already cost $2.1 billion and that the Pentagon was spending $1.5 billion a month to fight terrorism. Those costs are not included in the current budget nor in the $380 billion request for 2004, and they would require a separate spending bill." NYT(reg/req) |
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| "When the space shuttle Columbia was lost over the weekend, America paused to grieve. But for magazine editors there was no time to pause. They stopped the presses and rushed special issues to the stands. Here are the hard-hitting cover stories they were planning before tragedy struck." Modern Humorist |
| Wednesday, February 5, 2003: Renowned British journalist Robert Fisk, who has spent over two decades covering the Middle East, addressed a crowd of over 300 at Harvard Law School last night. He argued that US media use terminology that distorts the truth, and that many prominent news agencies avoid writing about facts the US doesn't want the public to read. The Harvard Crimson |
| "About 100 pieces of debris from the space shuttle Columbia are missing from unguarded sites across heavily wooded Nacogdoches County, including a piece of computer equipment that may hold clues as to why the spacecraft disintegrated..." Washington Post |
| "They probably knew something was wrong. Maybe for only seconds, but possibly for several long minutes, they almost certainly knew that things were not going according to plan." NYT(reg/req); "We apparently will never know if they suffered." BBC; also, remains of Israeli astronaut Ramon found, NYT |
| "Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, insisting he is seeking to avoid war
with the United States ... denied he had any connection to the al Qaeda
terrorist network or that Iraq was hiding weapons of mass destruction."
Washington Post |
| "Consumer advocate Ralph Nader led a group of peace activists Tuesday in accusing the Bush administration of letting its ties to the oil industry influence the government's war strategy against Iraq." AP report in Salon(reg/req) |
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| "...information from electronic eavesdropping and other surveillance (indicates) that al-Qaeda operatives around the world continue to discuss a strike against the USA that would top the hijacking attacks of Sept. 11." USA Today |
| John Perry Barlow, the man who popularized the term 'cyberspace', discusses the Total Information Awareness project, online activism, file sharing, and the prospect of a digital counterculture. Mother Jones |
| "Since 1994, when “Operation Gatekeeper” in San Diego and similar programs in Arizona and Texas began, more than 2,200 migrants have died trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border, according to the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation." In These Times |
| Tuesday, February 4, 2003: "NASA officials were warned of a large gash on the heat protection tiles on the Columbia in an internal memo two days before the space shuttle broke apart in the skies above Texas ... The internal memo, pointing to the gash, said it presented 'no burn through and no safety of flight issues'. " UK Guardian |
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| "There's never been a time that I can think of when there's been such massive opposition to a war before it was even started." Noam Chomsky in the UK Guardian |
| Many U.S. reporters and photojournalists in Baghdad awaiting a U.S. attack on Iraq tell Joe Strupp they're excited at the prospect of being in the enemy's capital when the action begins. "It is a huge opportunity, but a completely terrifying prospect," says the NYT's Ian Fisher. "A huge topic here is whether to be here or not when the fighting starts. I think most are ambitious and news-hungry for it." The Washington Post's Rajiv Chandrasekaran adds: "It is of manifest importance to be here. Many people are intent on staying for the duration." BOSTON GLOBE FOREIGN EDITOR JAMES SMITH SAYS: "My instinct would be to get our people out [of Baghdad] before war starts."Editor & Publisher |
| The international space station, which now circles 180 miles above earth, is losing altitude with every orbit. UK Guardian |
| Monday, February 3, 2003: "There were reports of looting in Nacogdoches County in Texas, where the debris was thickest. There were no immediate arrests." NYT(reg/req) |
| "Merchandise commemorating the astronauts killed in the shuttle tragedy was on sale just hours after the disaster." Herald Sun |
| "There is no popular wish in Germany to defy the United States. But there is an overwhelming desire to avoid war. Germans remember all too well what war means." BBC |
| "The Slammer worm that recently crippled the internet was the fastest spreading computer bug in history, say security experts. An analysis of the attack has shown that the worm took just 10 minutes to spread across the world." BBC |
| "The shuttle's main engines, first tested in the late 1970s, use hundreds more moving parts than do new rocket-motor designs. The fragile heat-dissipating tiles were designed before breakthroughs in materials science. Until recently, the flight-deck computers on the space shuttle used old 8086 chips from the early 1980s, the sort of pre-Pentium electronics no self-respecting teenager would dream of using for a video game." Time |
| "Fears of a catastrophic shuttle accident were raised last summer with the White House by a former NASA engineer who pleaded for a presidential order to halt all further shuttle flights until safety issues had been addressed." UK Guardian |
| "When an expert NASA panel warned last year that safety troubles loomed for the fleet of shuttles if the agency's budget was not increased, NASA removed five of the panel's nine members and two of its consultants." NYT(reg/req) "It had nothing to do with shooting the messenger," said Sonja Alexander, a spokeswoman at NASA headquarters in Washington. |
| "I've found you can deal with the system a lot easier if you use their
rules," he says. "I talk to a lot of lawyers."
Salon($ req) |
| Sunday, February 2, 2003: Bush gives Saddam Hussein six more weeks according to a report in the UK Guardian |
| "Big and small screens are awash in portrayals of honorable officials struggling to hold back a menacing tide." NYT(reg/req) |
| "Iraq is threatening the United States with suicide attacks in the event of a military campaign against the country. In an interview with German news magazine Der Spiegel, Iraqi Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan says his country will use thousands of people to carry out suicide missions on American targets. He described them as Iraq's 'new weapons'. The warning follows Friday's announcement by US President George W. Bush that measures against Iraq will follow in a matter of weeks, not months." Broadcast by Radio Netherlands |
| "In a tragic irony, the Columbia exploded with its Israeli astronaut on board over a city named Palestine in the state of Texas." Arab News |
| "For Israelis, the last flight of a quiet herowas at once inconceivable and all too familiar - the unbearable juxtaposition of the Holocaust and the nascent, tensely nurtured hopes of millions dashed without so much as the promise of a grave to grieve upon." Ha'aretz |
| "Immediate popular reaction in Baghdad on Saturday to the loss of the U.S. space shuttle Columbia and its seven-member crew -- including the first Israeli in space -- was that it was God's retribution." Reuters |
| "In the Middle East, where the hand of God is never believed too far off the tiller of daily events, one explanation for the shuttle disaster quickly gained widespread currency today: divine retribution." NYT (reg/req) |
| "Last April the former chairman of the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, Richard Blomberg, said the running down of the ageing workforce and the technology could lead to disaster. 'In all of the years of my involvement, I have never been as concerned for space shuttle safety as I am right now,' he told the House of Representatives committee on space and aeronautics." The Sydney Morning Herald |
| Saturday, February 1, 2003: The Nudist Christian Church of the Blessed Virgin Jesus & the Only Fair Religion are among the 2,630 U.S. and Canadian faith groups described in the new edition of the Encyclopedia of American Religion. USA Today |
| "A look at Washington's methods - and degrees of success - in dislodging foreign leaders." The Christian Science Monitor |
| "The World Health Organization has warned that terrorist groups could try to contaminate food supplies and has urged countries to strengthen their surveillance." BBC |