wednesday reads

Federal agents investigating the Sept. 16 episode in which Blackwater security personnel shot and killed 17 Iraqi civilians have found that at least 14 of the shootings were unjustified and violated deadly-force rules in effect for security contractors in Iraq, according to civilian and military officials briefed on the case.


The CIA has three video and audio recordings of interrogations of senior al Qaida captives but misled federal judges about the evidence during the case against terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui, federal prosecutors revealed in a Nov. 9 court filing that was made public Tuesday.


Tomdispatch: Jonathan Schell, Pakistan, Bush, and the Bomb


U.S. Sets Record in Sexual Disease Cases

More than 1 million cases of chlamydia were reported in the United States last year — the most ever reported for a sexually transmitted disease, federal health officials said Tuesday.

"A new U.S. record," said Dr. John M. Douglas Jr. of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

More bad news: Gonorrhea rates are jumping again after hitting a record low, and an increasing number of cases are caused by a "superbug" version resistant to common antibiotics, federal officials said Tuesday.

Syphilis is rising, too. The rate of congenital syphilis — which can deform or kill babies — rose for the first time in 15 years.

A never-before-seen military manual detailing the day-to-day operations of the U.S. military's Guantánamo Bay detention facility has been leaked to the web, affording a rare inside glimpse into the institution where the United States has imprisoned hundreds of suspected terrorists since 2002.


Bob Herbert: Righting Reagan's Wrongs?

tuesday reads

A powerful explosion that ripped through one of the entrances to the Philippine house of representatives today, killing one person and injuring at least seven, has been confirmed as a bomb.


A prominent female activist and one of the monks who led anti-government protests in Burma during September have been arrested, it was reported today.


Fresh fighting erupts in Somalia as mass exodus continues


El Salvador's Patriot Act


A federal judge Monday ordered the White House to preserve copies of all its e-mails, a move that Bush administration lawyers had argued strongly against.


The economic costs to the United States of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan so far total approximately $1.5 trillion, according to a new study by congressional Democrats that estimates the conflicts' "hidden costs"-- including higher oil prices, the expense of treating wounded veterans and interest payments on the money borrowed to pay for the wars.


Cory Doctorow: Warhol is turning in his grave


Liberals enjoy a broad range of music, while conservatives dislike most music genres.


Preznit bu$h vetoes health and education programs.


The Brad Blog: Hanging With Wingnuts In Their Well-Constructed Imaginary World

monday reads

Robert Dreyfuss asks: Who is the enemy? Who, exactly, are we fighting in Iraq? Why are we there? And what's our objective?



Two lives blurred together by a photo



Changing the definition of privacy

As Congress debates new rules for government eavesdropping, a top intelligence official says it is time that people in the United States changed their definition of privacy.

Privacy no longer can mean anonymity, says Donald Kerr, the principal deputy director of national intelligence. Instead, it should mean that government and businesses properly safeguard people's private communications and financial information.

"Corrupt Bastards Club"



Glenn Greenwald: Dianne Feinstein -- Bush's key ally in the Senate -- to support telecom amnesty



Hundreds of football fans rioted in Italy yesterday, attacking a police barracks with stones and clubs, after a man was shot dead by a policeman during a clash between supporters.



Federal investigators began a criminal investigation into San Francisco Bay's worst oil spill in nearly two decades by questioning crew members of a container ship that struck the Bay Bridge, ripping a gash in its fuel tank.



The Boston chapter of a group called Veterans for Peace estimated 15 of its members and supporters were arrested Sunday at the event sponsored by the American Legion. Boston Police said several arrests were made, but did not have an exact number. The detainees were later released on bail.



Building a better leaf