Shoulder to Shoulder, Blair and Bush Nominated for Peace Prize
By Stuart Millar, The Guardian
What do notable war hawks Tony Blair and George Bush have in common? A nomination for the 2002 Nobel peace prize, thanks to right-wing Norwegian politician Harald Tom Nesvik. Nesvik points to ‘their decisive action against terrorism’ as the basis for his recommendation. — Andi McDaniel
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,645075,00.html
States Rights vs. Federal Tyranny
By David Morris, Alternet
‘States’ rights’ is best known as the battle cry of conservatives seeking to limit the federal government’s power. But last December, when California’s left-leaning 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a district court ruling that allowed troops to destroy marijuana plants grown for medicinal purposes, the left used state legislation to combat sometimes heavy-handed federal laws. — Eric Larson
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=17647
Immigration by Shibboleth
By Michael Erard, Legal Affairs
‘Y’all,’ ‘eh’ — in the U.S., the moment these language cues pop out of someone’s mouth we make judgments about what region that person is from. Turns out that Australia is using a similar type of language analysis to judge the veracity of some refugees’ claims for asylum, despite questions about the accuracy of such testing. — Erica Wetter
http://www.legalaffairs.org/issues/November-December-2003/story_erad_novdec03.html
Risky E-Vote System to Expand
By Kim Zetter, Wired News
To anyone concerned about the security of the e-voting system proposed for overseas voters in the November presidential election: you’re in good company. A group of researchers, invited by the government to evaluate the Secure Electronic Registration and Voting Experiment, found the system to be ‘dangerous,’ and suggested it be abandoned. Government officials intend to ignore the warning. — EL
http://www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,62041,00.html
Libyan Disarmament a Positive Step, but Threat of Proliferation Remains
By Stephen Zunes, Foreign Policy
In light of Libya’s recent declaration that it will abandon its weapons of mass destruction program, one might hope other countries –particularly in the Middle East – would follow suit. Unfortunately, if the U.S. continues with its self-centered and inconsistent international WMD policy, disarmament is not likely to be on the horizon. — EW
http://www.fpif.org/commentary/2004/0401libya.html
Japanese Bone Phone Developed
By Staff, Australian IT
If you hear ringing inside your head, it may not be insanity — just technology. Japanese company TuKa Mobile recently introduced a new phone manufactured by Sanyo that conducts sound via bone. Users can hold the phone near the back of their head, their foreheads, or their cheeks and listen to their calls — which could, at the very least, make for some interesting photos. — EW
http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,8460112^15841^^nbv^,00.html
Language in Flux
By Helmut Gluck, Deutschland
America isn’t the only country with multicultural jargon-languages like Spanglish . Many of Germany’s Turkish immigrants and guest workers use a Turko-German called Kanak Sprak;. There’s a popular standup comic whose whole act is in the lingo. And American- and English-born entertainers in Berlin mix English and German in bold ways, too. — Jon Spayde
http://www.magazine-deutschland.de/content/heft/art-eng/art8.html
