Ah yes. I always like looking at fat boys in skirts ... oh wait ... can I go to jail for that?!
HASBROUCK HEIGHTS, N.J. (AP) - A male high-school student can wear a skirt to school after the
American Civil Liberties Union reached an agreement with school officials.
The ACLU announced the deal Tuesday. It will allow a Hasbrouck Heights School senior to wear a skirt to protest the school's no-shorts policy.
The district's dress code bans shorts between Oct. 1 and April 15, but allows skirts, a policy 17-year-old Michael Coviello believes is discriminatory.
'I'm happy to be able to wear skirts again to bring attention to the fact that the ban on shorts doesn't make sense,' Coviello said in a statement.
The Hasbrouck Heights superintendent, Joseph Luongo, did not return telephone messages left Tuesday seeking comment.
Palestinian Candidates Condemn U.S. Program:
Palestinian Candidates Condemn U.S. Program
Events Boosted Government
By Scott Wilson and Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, January 24, 2006; A14
JERUSALEM, Jan. 23 -- The Bush administration's effort to increase the popularity of the Palestinian Authority and its governing Fatah party before critical parliamentary elections this week came under intense criticism Monday from a number of candidates, some of whom charged that the program amounted to illegal interference in the democratic process.
A leader of Hamas, formally known as the Islamic Resistance Movement, called for an investigation into whether the $2 million program violated the prohibition against parties receiving funds from foreign sources. U.S. officials involved in the program said it was not meant to favor one party, but the Palestinian public closely identifies the Palestinian Authority with the Fatah movement that runs it.
Candidates from several other parties said the program was an attempt to undermine Hamas in voting scheduled for Wednesday and predicted that it would backfire.
'Every time the United States says it doesn't want Hamas, they boost Hamas,' said Mustafa Barghouti, a former presidential candidate who is heading the Independent Palestine candidate list. 'Let us do our elections entirely on our own. These interventions run counter to our efforts, and they hurt the Palestinian people. This effort was completely counterproductive.'
The Washington Post reported Sunday that the Bush administration has been spending money on behalf of the Palestinian Authority in recent weeks to improve its position as Palestinians prepare to vote for parliament for the first time in a decade.
Patriot Act law renewal blocked:
Patriot Act debate about civil liberties
By Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Eric Lichtblau, New York Times News Service
LA Daily News
WASHINGTON - The Senate on Friday blocked reauthorization of the broad anti-terrorism bill known as the USA Patriot Act, pushing Congress into a game of brinkmanship with President George W. Bush, who has warned that the nation will be left vulnerable to attack if the measure is not quickly renewed.
With many Democrats and some Republicans saying the bill did not go far enough in protecting civil liberties, the Republican leadership fell short of the 60 votes required to break a filibuster. Now the future of the anti-terror act, which greatly expanded the government's surveillance and investigative powers in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, is in doubt.
The Patriot Act debate, a passionate fight about the balance between national security and personal privacy, became a touchstone for repercussions after the disclosure Thursday night that Bush had secretly authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans and others inside the United States to search for terrorist activity.
Months after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, President Bush signed an order giving the National Security Agency authorization to eavesdrop on Americans and other people in the United States to look for evidence of potential terrorist activity without first obtaining search warrants.
According to a New York Times report, the presidential order, signed in 2002, has given the agency the right to monitor international phone calls and international e-mails of hundreds, maybe even thousands of people inside the United States in a search for ties to 'dirty numbers' potentially linked to the al Qaeda terror network. The targets included U.S. citizens, permanent legal residents, tourists and other foreigners, raising serious concerns within the administration — and from the few members of Congress who knew about it — over whether the order crossed legal boundaries and trampled civil liberties.
Turfed economic adviser was wrong
Larry Lindsey's ballpark figure revisited
Remember when Bush economic adviser Lawrence Lindsey raised a racket in Washington and contributed to his own ouster from office by daring to suggest to the Wall Street Journal in Sept. 2002 that the Iraq war would cost up to $200 billion? Time magazine's John Dickerson said at the time that Lindsey's public estimate "contributed to the criticism that he has made too many on-the-record gaffes." After Lindsey was dismissed, a White House source told the Washington Post that Lindsey's Iraq comments proved "Larry just didn't get it." The Pentagon had put the cost of war at more like $60 billion.
Now, it's quite clear that if Larry didn't "get it," it was because he underestimated the war's bill. The Iraq war has now cost us $119 billion. We'll shell out $170 billion by the end of next year. Prominent analysts say the war, depending on how much military engagement is involved, will cost $300-500 billion over several years.
What else might this money buy? $100 million gets 2,500 airport security screeners. $500 million puts 69,400 children in Head Start. $1 billion would get 160,000 low-income families federal rent subsidies.
Listen to another related story: http://www.npr.org/programs/atc/transcripts/2003/feb/030226.ludden.html
"NOTICE OF REVOCATION OF INDEPENDENCE"
You have to read the whole article, but here is the part I like best:
The swindle of the system is simple. The Federal Reserve Bank hires the US Treasury to print up some money. The Federal Reserve only actually pays the treasury for the cost of the printing, they do NOT pay $1 for each 1$ printed. But the Federal Reserve turns around and loans out that money (or credit line) to banks at full face value, those banks which have exhausted their deposits then loan that Federal Reserve fiat money to you, and you must repay it in the full dollar value (plus interest) in work product, even though the Federal Reserve printed that money for pennies, or created it out of thin air in a computer.
As the Federal Reserve overprints more money, the money supply inflates, and too much money starts chasing too few goods and services, which means prices go up. But contrary to the charade put on by the Federal Reserve, inflation doesn't just come and go due to some arcane sorcery. The Federal Reserve can halt inflation any time it wants to by simply shutting down those printing presses. It therefore follows that both inflation and recession are fully under the control of the Federal Reserve.
Over time, that excess of printing has destroyed the value of that dollar you think you have. If you want to know by just how much, go out and try to purchase 371.25 in silver right now. Usually, the deterioration is gradual. Sometimes, it has to be obvious, such as the 1985 devaluation (done to halt the trade imbalance) which triggered the Japanese real-estate grab in this country.
I really liked this comment regarding the U.S. warning Paul Martin to stop saying not nice things:
Latest Comments in the Conversation
Editor's Note: Globeandmail.com editors read and approve each comment. Comments are checked for content only, spelling and grammar errors are not corrected and comments that include vulgar language or libelous content are rejected.
Colin Frenke from Kingston, Canada writes: It's good to finally see someone standing up for Canada. The United States continues to put tarrifs on softwood lumber dispite a NAFTA ruling. Someone has to stand up for us, and God knows Stephen Harper won't. If Harper is elected we will be bent over and penetrated with the American's "will".
Posted Dec. 15, 2005 at 12:24 AM EST
BBC NEWS | Americas | Bush takes on Iraqi war critics
"Saddam was a threat, and the American people and the world are safer because he is no longer in power," he said.
It is the last of four keynote speeches on Iraq from a president under increasing pressure on the issue.
"Many intelligence agencies judged that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, and it's true that much of the intelligence turned out to be wrong," said Mr Bush in the speech at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington.
Proud owner of a 2005 Dark Silver MINI Cooper S with black roof, black bonnet stripes and chrome exterior.
