] "The president wants to fund untested, unproven programs
] that seek to pray away addiction," said the Rev. Barry
] Lynn, executive director of Americans United for
] Separation of Church and State. "People with addiction
] problems need medical help, not Sunday school."
]
] Bush and his supporters argue that faith can accomplish
] what secular programs cannot.
]
] "Let us bring to all Americans who struggle with drug
] addiction this message of hope: The miracle of recovery
] is possible, and it could be you," Bush said in his State
] of the Union address.

Religion has no place in public policy or health programs. This administration is out of touch. This alienates people of non-christian faith.

Wired News: Bush Wants Drug Addicts to Pray

Tom the Danging Bug addresses the Eldred decision.

Tom the Dancing Bug -- Welcome to my domain!

] Prime Minister Tony Blair said Wednesday that Iraq has
] links with the al-Qaida terrorist network but that the
] extent of their cooperation is unknown.
]
] Blair's comment came a day after President Bush said in
] his State of the Union speech that there was evidence
] that Saddam Hussein ``aids and protects terrorists,
] including members of al-Qaida.'' Bush offered no new
] evidence, but said Secretary of State Colin Powell would
] present the U.S. case to the United Nations next week.

Guardian Unlimited | World Latest | Blair Says Iraq Has Links to al-Qaida

Has hundreds of links to news and information about over 20 different Middle Eastern countries. You can tab to a list of links about a specific country that you're interested in, read news headlines, and toggle between pages in English or Arabic.

albawaba.com: middle east news information

] Beds were placed at a 20 degree angle, making them
] near-impossible to sleep on, and the floors of the 6ft by
] 3ft cells was scattered with bricks and other geometric
] blocks to prevent prisoners from walking backwards and
] forwards, according to the account of Laurencic's trial.
]
] The only option left to prisoners was staring at the
] walls, which were curved and covered with mind-altering
] patterns of cubes, squares, straight lines and spirals
] which utilised tricks of colour, perspective and scale to
] cause mental confusion and distress.
]
] Lighting effects gave the impression that the dizzying
] patterns on the wall were moving.
]
] A stone bench was similarly designed to send a prisoner
] sliding to the floor when he or she sat down, Mr Milicua
] said. Some cells were painted with tar so that they would
] warm up in the sun and produce asphyxiating heat.

The Guardian | Surrealist art used as torture...

] Touch your sack, not Iraq

] Joining this movement is simple. Just masturbate in your
] own way, focusing your thoughts and energy towards love
] and peace. Encourage others to do the same. Also, please
] fill out the petition below and tell us how you intend to
] masturbate for peace. We will share the most thoughtful
] petitions on this site.

Aka:

] Rub your snake for peace's sake
] War's for squares, play downstairs
] Stop war now, milk your cow
] When you jerk tonight, keep peace in sight.
] Down with war, stroke some more
] War is cruel - flog your mule
] Don't attack - play with Jack
] Get peace fever, rub your beaver!
] My pussy doesn't meow, it roars -- for peace.
] Give your Bush the finger!
] For peace to work, you need to jerk
] War is heinous, thumb your anus
] You Can't Beat Off with Nuclear Arms
] War is Mean, Flick Your Bean
] War is wrong, whack your schlong.
] My 'friendly fire' harms no-one
] Palms Not Bombs
] I'm going blind for Mankind
] War is silly, whack your willy
] Think globally, whack locally
] (Don't smitten, kill a kitten.)

Um.. Sure, why not? This gets wacky points I guess..

Masturbate for Peace: Using Masturbation to End War

] An attack on the recording industry's Web site continued
] Tuesday, rendering it largely inaccessible to visitors.

Again..

Recording industry Web site again attacked

] The chain of internet cafes launched by Easyjet founder
] Stelios Haji-Ioannou has been found guilty of copyright
] infringement for allowing its customers
] to download music from the web and copy it on to a CD.
]
] The high court judgment brings to a close an 18-month war
] of words between the major record labels and the
] EasyInternet cafe chain over a promotion in which it
] charged customers £5 to copy a CD's worth of music from
] the internet.
]
] The UK trade group, the British Phonographic Industry,
] with member music labels Sony Music, EMI and Universal
] Music, took the internet chain to court last year,
] charging it with copyright infringement.

MediaGuardian.co.uk | New media | Internet cafe guilty of piracy

] U.S. forces have destroyed an enemy stronghold in
] Afghanistan near the former Taliban headquarters,
] bringing an apparent end to the fighting in the area,
] military officials said Tuesday.
]
] The U.S. Central Command said earlier at least 18 enemy
] personnel were killed, but there were no U.S. casualties.

United Press International: U.S. destroys stronghold in Afghanistan

LOS ANGELES - Six retail record store chains hurting from competition from CD burning, online music and large discount stores are teaming to offer consumers digital music downloads in their stores and over the Internet.

The stores have formed a joint venture called Echo that will provide technology and allow them to offer individual tracks for downloading to portable devices and computers.

Yahoo! News - Retailers Form Digital Music Venture