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Monday, Apr 01, 2002

spin recycling

thus far, the mid-east conflict is a no-spin zone in washington as neither the dems nor repubs can conceive of any political advantage, at least, that is what The Note is divining from this mornings op-eds.

however, the bushies will engage in poll driven nation building photo-ops from afghanistan for purely domestic political reasons, which is why Queen Oprah declined her invitation to tour the newly opened schools in afghanistan. some academic on c-span yesterday claimed the school program wouldnt even have been had not laura bush advocated for it.

next up for the bush pr machine -- poppy with poppies!!


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see salts

"Little is known about the drug, salvia divinorum, or how it works on the brain and what its longterm effects might be. But word of its existence is spreading through e-mail chains and Web sites praising its potential, which has caught the attention of the Drug Enforcement Administration. The DEA has included it on its list of "Drugs and Chemicals of Concern" and is considering whether to add the herb to its list of controlled substances."

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advise and dissent

"Growing up in the United States during the late 1950s and early 1960s while strongly supporting the just struggle of African Americans for civil rights, I was brainwashed at school as well as by the mainstream news media and popular culture to be just as pro-Israel as everyone else in America. Then came the 1967 Middle East War. At that time, my assessment of the situation was that Israel had attacked these Arab countries first, stolen their lands, and then driven out their respective peoples from their homes. I then realized that everything I had been told about Israel was "The Big Lie." Israel was Goliath, not David."

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equal rites

"Why a Palestinian girl now wants to be a suicide bomber"

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superman is dead

"The death of God was announced by a madman entering a marketplace, carrying a lantern in the morning light, in Nietzsche's book "The Gay Science," published in 1882. The moment for such an announcement was already late: Darwin had published "On the Origin of Species" in 1859, and even that pivotal work had only given the imprimatur of science to a rationalist culture that had been predicting God's demise for decades. Nietzsche's announcement was far less remarkable than the shattering drama with which it was made, and the fact that a man so clearly imbued with faith was making it."

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Sunday, Mar 31, 2002

beach blanket bingo

"How much spring break can anyone stand?"

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hubba bubba

newsweeks cover story takes a look at citizen clinton while time fronts for arafat.

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jihad review

"Jihad: The Rise of Militant Islam in Central Asia"

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Saturday, Mar 30, 2002

or are you just happy to see me

"President Bush doesn't believe in polling---just ask his pollsters."

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notochordata

"It isn't treason for a party out of power in wartime to talk about these matters. If anything, it's the Democrats' patriotic responsibility not just to hold up their end of the national dialogue over the war's means and ends, but to say where they want to take the country in peace. Yet now that they've capitulated on issues ranging from fuel-economy standards to gun control, the sum of a Democratic social vision these days often seems to have dwindled down to a prescription drug program for Medicare patients. For the party itself, however, nothing short of a spine transplant may do."

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