[LEMONS] 7.29.2003
Stories -- 3 of Them
West Wing Pipe DreamThe now-famous "sixteen words" in President Bush's State of the Union address have received more ink than a tattoo parlour over the last few weeks. However Mother Jones points out that the 19 words that followed were equally questionable. The article focuses on claims made by the Bush administration that aluminum tubes purchased by Iraq were compelling evidence that Saddam Hussein was pursuing nuclear weapons capabilities. It presents a time-line of events clearly demonstrating many analysts--including those from the State Department, the Department of Energy, and the International Atomic Energy Association--felt the claim was spurious for months before it showed up in the SOTU.
The Web Rewires the Movement
During the 2000 presidential election cycle, we heard a lot about the role of the Internet, with new political Websites like voter.com, grassroots.com (and the abysmal OneDemocracy.com where I had the misfortune to work for a few months). Yet the impact of the Web on that election was at best marginal, doing nothing to affect the outcome of the race. Today it's a different story, thanks to sites such as MoveOn, Meetup, and UFPJ hundreds of thousands of peoiple have hit the streets and millions of dollars are pouring in through the Internet. Why have MoveOn and company caught on? Maybe it's because they "feed the chaos," rather than trying to control it.
Climate of Fear
University of Massachusetts professor Tony Van Der Meer is in trouble with the law. In a confrontation with campus police, Van Der Meer lost his temper and shoved a police officer. Or did he? Van Der Meer, a self-professed follower of Martin Luther King Jr., claims the recruiters said both he and his student should be "shot in the head" like Dr. King, and when he blew his top over this statement, he was effectively bum-rushed by campus police. A dozen witnesses to the confrontation--some of whom did not know any of the parties involved--also claim that the cop attacked Van Der Meer, not vice-versa. What is clear is that Van Der Meer went to the aid of one of his students who was being harassed by military recruiters and the campus police for handing out anti-war flyers. Tempers flared, Van Der Meer got into an altercation with a cop, and was subsequently arrested and charged with assault and battery on a police officer and resisting arrest. This is a great story for several reasons, not the least of which because it's a gripping read. More importantly, however, it illustrates the pattern of how incidents such as this one are occurring all over the country, with local law enforcement stepping in to quash dissenting opinion.
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