archived: 27 Jun - 3 Jul, 2004         Back                 Next

                        “Carmichael’s Cornucopia”

Junkie Editor Michael Carmichael delivers up another wonderful serving of Carmichael’s Cornucopia this week.  Junkies favorite treat in TPJ; and particularly full of wonderful articles.

            Civil Liberty

"Yesterday the supreme court voted five to four that the police can stop a person and demand for any reason, or no reason at all, that that person identify himself or herself. The five members of the court who decided that 'the right to remain silent' no longer exists were the five most conservative members--Rehnquist, Scalia, Thomas, Kennedy and O'Connor.

The five voted to uphold a Nevada state law that makes it a crime for a person to refuse to give his name if asked by a policeman. Eighteen other states have similar laws. The court's ruling may not seem significant but the fact is it is one more little step toward turning this nation into a police state. And that's the way it happens--one tiny step at a time."

- Former Reagan press secretary Lyn Nofziger, "Musings," 6/22/04   

            Afghanistan

As if Abu Ghraib were not horrible enough, it appears that the torture of prisoners in American custody is endemic. 

Afghan detainees routinely tortured and humiliated by US troops, by Duncan Campbell and Suzanne Goldenberg   

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Apparently, the 20,000 American troops there are not providing security beyond the confines of Kabul, and Karzai now wants NATO troops to prop up his regime. Before his appointment to his current post he had served as a consultant to Unocal, an American oil pipeline firm that negotiated with the Taliban.

Karzai seeks more troops, From The Economist Global Agenda

            America  

The title says it all.

Two nations under God: Nothing more embodies the divisions in modern America than its leading dynasties, the Bushes and the Clintons,  by Jonathan Freedland 

            Bush

As predicted, Bush is in a tailspin with the onslaught of world events spinning him out of control.

Bush feels the heat: US voters turn on him over Iraq, by Rupert Cornwell in Washington 

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At last, a realistic appraisal of the mind of a president not infrequently called the village idiot of Crawford, Texas.  All humor aside, this book deserves serious consideration and it has already received flattering reviews from several prominent academic psychiatrists in America.

Democrat shrink takes unflattering look into depths of Bush, by Julian Borger in Washington  

            Nader 

Those who assume that the left has nowhere else to go other than to vote for Kerry may be mistaken.  For example, if Kerry were to follow Nader's advice to appoint Gephardt or Edwards as VP, this could lead to disenchantment and a fragmentation of votes on the left with Nader making gains in key marginal states.

The left in the UK is fragmenting along a plethora of new political fault lines caused by Blair's support for the war. The recent election results in England reveal a new political map of Britain and the rise of marginal parties on both the right and the left.

Somewhere else to go: US Democrats and British Labour leaders are having to learn they have no entitlement to left-leaning voters, by Gary Younge

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Last Update: 03/23/2006