Don't you just love it when the government contradicts itself? The White House responds to the National Intelligence Estimate report finding the Iraq war is fueling global terrorism. From the LA Times, Sept. 25:

White House: Terrorism not linked to invasion
WASHINGTON - The White House yesterday sharply disagreed with a new U.S. intelligence assessment that the war in Iraq is encouraging global terrorism, as Bush administration officials stressed that anti-American fervor in the Muslim world began long before the Sept. 11 attacks.

In "Return to Sender" raids from Sept. 8 to 13, ICE agents arrested 55 people, 11 of them with prior criminal records, in the area around Lansing, Grand Rapids and Battle Creek in western Michigan. Those arrested were from Burma, Cambodia, China, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Korea, Mexico, Nicaragua, Turkey and Yugoslavia. One man with a prior criminal record faces charges for having reentered after being previously deported. Most were detained in the Calhoun County Correctional Facility for processing and deportation. While ICE claimed all those without criminal records had ignored deportation orders, Grand Rapids Attorney Richard Kessler, who specializes in immigration law, said some were merely "in the wrong place at the wrong time," detained because they were at the home of the individuals being sought. The sheriff's offices of Calhoun and Kent counties provided "significant assistance" to the operation, ICE said. (Grand Rapids Press, Sept. 16; AP, Sept. 14)

On Sept. 21, the House of Representatives voted 328-95 to approve HR 6094--the "Community Protection Act of 2006"--an anti-immigrant bill which would allow indefinite detention, overturning the Supreme Court's June 2001 Zadvydas v. Davis ruling. The bill would also allow noncitizens to be quickly deported if the government believes they are gang members, and would bar suspected gang members from obtaining political asylum. The same day, the House voted 277-140 to pass HR 6095—the Immigration Law Enforcement Act of 2006—which would authorize state and local police to enforce federal immigration law, expand expedited removal, limit appeals and lawsuits in immigration cases and revoke the Orantes injunction, which protects Salvadorans from expedited removal. A third bill, passed unanimously, would impose a 20-year prison sentence for creating or financing a tunnel under the US border.

From Shared Responsibilites, a Colombia-led international initiative to find solutions to the global problem of narcotics trafficking, Sept. 25:

A recently dismantled cocaine and heroine trafficking ring tricked indigenous people into transporting drugs within Colombia.

Fox is a savvy one. We recently noted that the UN's Special Rapporteur for indigenous peoples has singled out his government for criticism. Yet he casts a vote for the Universal Declaration of Indigeous Peoples to win support from Mexico's ten million indigenous people. Talli Nauman writes for El Universal, Sept. 25:

As one worthwhile parting shot, lame duck President Vicente Fox went to New York this past week to vote Mexico’s support for the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Rights at the General Assembly meeting of more than 100 nations.

Yeah, but they'll probably have their own website. From BBC, Sept. 24, emphasis added:

Internet's future in 2020 debated
The internet will be a thriving, low-cost network of billions of devices by 2020, says a major survey of leading technology thinkers. The Pew report on the future internet surveyed 742 experts in the fields of computing, politics and business. More than half of respondents had a positive vision of the net's future but 46% had serious reservations. Almost 60% said that a counter culture of Luddites would emerge, some resorting to violence.

C'mon Bernard, don't you think they're just waiting for Yom Kippur? Baruch Kimmerling writes for Haartez, Sept. 25:

Thus spoke Bernard Lewis
On September 22, 2006, Iran was supposed to attack Israel and perhaps the entire Western world. And why precisely on this specific day? Because it is the 27th day of the month of Rajab (in the year 1427, according to the Muslim calendar), the same day Mohammed ascended to heaven on his legendary horse Buraq. And why attack on this day? Because this is what the well-known Orientalist Bernard Lewis said. One could have dismissed this prophecy with a grin had it not aroused a dispute among a number of renowned scholars, had respected newspapers (like the Wall Street Journal) not published it prominently and had statesmen not regarded it as intelligence requiring study.

From the International Federation of Iraqi Refugees, Sept. 17:

An open letter to Mr. Kofi Annan
United Nations Secretary-General

Re: Deportation of Kurdish asylum seekers from Britain

Dear Mr. Annan,

In violation of the Geneva Convention of 1951 and Human Rights Charter in regard to asylum seekers, the British government has forcibly deported 49 Kurdish asylum seekers to Iraqi Kurdistan.