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Politics : Bush Administration's Media Manipulation--MediaGate? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Peter Dierks who wrote (7853)	7/6/2006 5:18:34 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 9838

I heard they were engaged.

To: Peter Dierks who wrote (7853)	7/6/2006 10:11:29 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9838

Mayonnaise now off limits in the muslim world! Pack up or die, street vendors told By Aqeel Hussein in Baghdad and Colin Freeman (Filed: 04/06/2006) As the purveyors of nothing spicier than the odd dash of hot chilli sauce, Baghdad's falafel vendors had never imagined their snacks might be deemed a threat to public morality. Now, though, their simple offerings of chickpeas fried in breadcrumbs have gone the same way as alcohol, pop music and foreign films - labelled theologically impure by the country's growing number of Islamic zealots. In a bizarre example of Iraq's creeping "Talibanisation", militants visited falafel vendors a fortnight ago, telling them to pack up their stalls by today or be killed. The ultimatum seemed so odd that, at first, most laughed it off - until two of them were shot dead as they plied their trade. "They came telling us, 'You have 14 days to end this job' and I asked them what was the problem," said Abu Zeinab, 32, who was packing up his stall for good yesterday in the suburb of al Dora, a hardline Sunni neighbourhood. "I said I was just feeding the people, but they said there were no falafels in Mohammed the prophet's time, so we shouldn't have them either. "I felt like telling them there were no Kalashnikovs in Mohammed's time either, but I wanted to keep my life." Why Baghdad's falafel vendors should be blacklisted while their colleagues are allowed to continue selling kebabs or Western-style pizzas and burgers remains a mystery. Some suspect it is because a taste for falafels is one of the few things that unites Jewish and Arab communities in Israel. It is, however, just one of many Islamic edicts to hit Baghdad in recent weeks, prohibiting everything from the growing of goatee beards to the sale of mayonnaise - because it is allegedly made in Israel. Even the Arab addiction to cigarettes is being challenged, with insurgents declaring smoking bans in at least one Sunni district. News of the latest strictures surfaced 10 days ago, when the coach of Iraq's tennis team and two players were shot dead for wearing shorts. The killings, in Sunni-dominated west Baghdad, took place days after militants had distributed leaflets banning the wearing of shorts or T-shirts with English writing on them. They also forbade women to drive or travel on public transport with men - a rule that bus drivers have begun to enforce. Another group of traders to have felt the Islamists' unexpected wrath is Baghdad's ice merchants, who sell large chunks of ice for storing food and chilling drinks. In a city facing constant power cuts and summer temperatures of up to 50C (122F), the service they provide is little short of essential. Yet in recent weeks, they too have fallen foul of the claim that their product was not a feature of life during Mohammed's time. Akram al Zidawi, 19, an ice seller from al Dora, thought the threats were too ludicrous to be true - until it was too late. "Two weeks ago he came back home saying that he had been threatened by the terrorists," said his brother Gassan, 32. "My mother begged him to quit the job, but he laughed, he thought it was impossible they would kill him. But they came back two days later and shot him dead, along with three other ice sellers nearby." Meanwhile, barbers have been inundated with young men anxious to shave off their goatee beards. Last month, Mustapha Jawad, 17, was allegedly killed for wearing one, which Islamists deemed a Jewish facial hairstyle. "After Mustapha's death I received 20 to 30 young men every day, all wanting me to shave off their goatee," said a barber, Sinan al Rubai. "Maybe one day the mujahedeen will insist on shaving all the head - then I will be rich." telegraph.co.uk

To: Peter Dierks who wrote (7853)	7/7/2006 3:01:39 AM
From: Skywatcher	Respond to of 9838

let's make sure bush uses OUR DOLLARS to RESTRICT OUR INFORMATION!....it just gets more and more perverse...and you support it...pathetic Tax dollars to fund study on restricting public data Updated 7/5/2006 11:27 PM ET By Richard Willing, USA TODAY The federal government will pay a Texas law school $1 million to do research aimed at rolling back the amount of sensitive data available to the press and public through freedom-of-information requests. Beginning this month, St. Mary's University School of Law in San Antonio will analyze recent state laws that place previously available information, such as site plans of power plants, beyond the reach of public inquiries. Jeffrey Addicott, a professor at the law school, said he will use that research to produce a national "model statute" that state legislatures and Congress could adopt to ensure that potentially dangerous information "stays out of the hands of the bad guys." "There's the public's right to know, but how much?" said Addicott, a former legal adviser in the Army's Special Forces. "There's a strong feeling that the law needs to balance that with the need to protect the well-being of the nation. ... There's too much stuff that's easy to get that shouldn't be," he said. The federal Freedom of Information Act, which became law 40 years ago this week, has long been a source of tension between the government and the public and news media. Critics say the research plan overstates the need for secrecy and is likely to give state and federal governments too much discretion to withhold material. "Restricting information (for) security and efficiency and comfort level, that's the good story," says Paul McMasters, a specialist in public information law at the First Amendment Center in Arlington, Va. "The bad story is that it can also be a great instrument of control. ... To automatically believe that the less known the better is really not rational." Congress added the grant to this year's Defense Department budget. It is being administered through the Air Force Research Laboratory, Addicott said. The laboratory in Rome, N.Y., specializes in information technology, according to its website. The Freedom of Information Act was signed July 4, 1966. All 50 states and the federal government have "sunshine laws" that allow reporters and citizens access to many government meetings and to government records through freedom-of-information requests. FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT:Signed documents by President Johnson (.pdf files) In the past four years, Congress, the District of Columbia and 41 of the 50 states have moved to close some meetings and restrict records for fear of making information available to terrorists, according to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press in Arlington, Va. Under a 2002 law, for instance, information submitted to the federal government by private industry that concerns "critical infrastructure programs" is exempt from Freedom of Information Act requests or use in lawsuits. Since 2004, Virginia has withheld terrorism response plans, as well as engineering and architectural drawings of government buildings that are deemed to be possible terrorist targets. Since 2004, Ohio has required formal requests and fees to access formerly open birth and death records. Addicott says the various state plans should "take a more uniform approach" so that neighboring states and the federal government are "on the same page." In 2003, he said, a simulated cyberattack on San Antonio's water and government information systems showed that computer security data that was protected under federal law could have been accessed by terrorists under Texas legislation. Lucy Dalglish, director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, says the research program is in keeping with a recent federal trend to use "homeland security" as an excuse to restrict unrelated material. "Decisions (on requests for public information) are being handled in progressively less friendly ways," she said. Addicott said he knows of no cases in this country in which public records or a public meeting were used for a terrorist act. In 2002, a hacker in Australia breached the data control system of a water treatment plant and caused 260,000 gallons of sewage to be discharged. "We're leaning forward in the saddle (and) thinking about this before it happens," he said. Find this article at: usatoday.com