Nevada Confidential

     The government that the US props-up in Afghanistan has sentenced a 23 year old internet user to death in a secret trial based on a document he printed off the internet.

     Sayad Parwez Kambaksh’s crime was printing a document from the internet that allegedly “violated the tenets of Islam.”  Kambaksh then allegedly took the printout to Balkh University, where he discussed it with his teacher and classmates, resulting in a complaint to the US-backed government.

     According to a report today by the Canadian Broadcasting Centre, members of the local clerics’ council had been pushing for Kambaksh to be punished by death.

    The head of a journalists group and the student’s family members have denounced the secret trial and claimed that Kambaksh was not even represented by a lawyer. The case can now go before two appeals before the death sentence is carried out.

The folks in New Hampshire had so many choices.  The candidates listed on the Democratic ballot were:

Here in our Nevada Caucus, how many choices are there?  Actually, on the Democratic side, the options are unlimited.  A "Presidential Preference Card" will be distributed (complete with the names of some candidates who have already withdrawn) -- but, you are not restricted to those individuals.  If a viable number (15%) of those in a precinct want to vote for O. Savior or DR Hunter or YOU -- go ahead, the delegates count! 

Being a veteran, it is always rather awkward to know what  

to say on 11/11.

Let me share the ways some fine cartoonists see it: 

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    “And the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize is presented to . . .the next President of the United States…Albert Gore”

    Well, they probably are not saying those exact words right now in Oslo, Norway.  But that’s the way more and more people are interpreting it.

    Just yesterday a Draft Gore committee placed a full-page ad in the New York Times asking Al to run – claiming to have 160,000+ signatures on their on-line petition.

    While DraftGore.com is certainly the most visible group and the one with most clout, it is just one of at least a dozen online organizations all determined to see Gore become our next president. Pro-Gore volunteer groups also have representation in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New England, California, and elsewhere.

    A nice fantasy for many who don’t see any of the current 14 candidates as being all that “Presidential” – but is it politically viable?  The often accurate observer of American politics, The Economist said “…there is a huge opportunity for somebody to arrive late and steal the show. The late entrant will not only have the advantage of being a fresh face. He or she could also change the whole dynamic of the race, gaining enough momentum to storm through Iowa and New Hampshire.”

    James Boyce made this point a couple of days ago on HufffingtonPost.com “Al Gore thinks he is a lousy politician, he's right. He is. We need some lousy politicians who say what they mean and mean what they say. We need some lousy politicians who can't stop themselves from rolling their eyes when a member of the press asks a moronic question. We need someone who points out how stupid the captions are on TV shows. We need Al Gore.”

    It's true he has been adamant that he does not want to run again. But will he be able to resist? As James Carville, who truly understands politicians, says that, for them, “running for president is rather like having sex for normal people: it is not something that you do just once if you have any say in the matter.”

    And remember, in our Nevada caucuses, we are free to vote for the person we think the party should nominate for President – whether or not they are an announced candidate.

    In politics, we rarely get a second chance to right a past mistake.  Maybe this time we do.

    While what happens here may stay here (that is, if you can escape U-Tube, cell-phone cameras and busy-body friends/colleagues) – but your trip here – particularly if you’ve traveled outside the U.S. – is likely to end-up in the permanent files of our self-righteous protectors in the Department of Homeland Security.

    A new survey documents that the U.S. government is collecting electronic records on the travel habits of millions of Americans who fly, drive or take cruises abroad, retaining data on the persons with whom they travel or plan to stay, the personal items they carry during their journeys, and even the books that travelers have read.

    The documents obtained by the Identity Project most likely are but the tip of the iceberg when analyzing the degree of invasiveness perpetrated by DHS on an unsuspecting American public. The government stores the PNRs (Passenger Name Records) for years and typically includes destinations, phone and e-mail contact information, meal requests, special health requests, payment information and frequent-flier numbers. The Identity Project filed Privacy Act requests for five individuals to see the data stored on them by the government. The requests revealed that the PNRs also included information on one requester's race, the phone numbers of overseas family members given to the airlines as emergency contact information, and a record of a purely European flight that had been booked overseas separately from an international itinerary, according to snippets of the documents shown to Wired News.

    By keeping tabs on what individual citizens read and with whom they associate, the Department of Homeland Security is collecting data on the free exercise of 1st Amendment activities. DHS is violating the fundamental right to travel, a right elemental to the free exercise of so many other rights, by requiring American citizens to get permission from DHS in order to leave or enter the United States, or to travel by air within the United States.

    Congressional action is urgently needed to investigate and defund all DHS surveillance programs that create this creation of records on "suspected terrorists" - meaning you - that violate the inalienable right of all Americans to travel freely, without governmental interference.

    And one further thought: why do so many conservatives whine that the government would be incapable of running a healthcare system and yet are willing to put their total trust, personal freedom, and individual rights in the hands of an power-hungry bureaucracy like Homeland Security?