File this under words-mean-whatever-we-say-they-mean. NYU "had not put any pressure on [the Objectivist Club's] free speech", but "said the panel discussion could not be open to the public if the cartoons were shown on stage." Huh? It's amazing how absolutely everybody pays lip service to free speech, while practically nobody upholds it. And of course it is right-wing nimrods like the Objectivists and the New York Sun who get to reap the propaganda benefits of this capitulation. Will "progressives" never learn? From The Sun, March 30:

From the New York Times, March 29:

Nanny Is Hit by Truck While Seeking Help to Save a Choking Baby

An Upper East Side nanny trying to save a choking boy was struck by a truck yesterday after she wandered into a busy Manhattan street on her way to the hospital, the police said. When she collapsed from her injuries, strangers and a police officer took the child from her, revived him and took him to the hospital.

The latest shoot-out between US forces and the Sadr militia has prompted an alliance between Sadr and his longtime rival in the Shiite movement, the Iran-backed Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), which controls the equally formidable Badr militia. This will, of course, increase the pressure on Washington to effect "regime change" in Iran... From The Guardian, March 28:

We especially love the lip service to "freedom of religion" in the Afghan constitution. Of course, WW4 REPORT warned of this contradiction all the way back to the Bonn Accords, the consolidation of the interim Afghan government, the Loya Jirga, and the consolidation of the new Afghan state. But, hey, nobody ever listens to us! By the way, this is also a taste of what we can look forward to in Iraq under the best scenario Bush can offer. Pretty sad that these are the forces the US is supporting in the name of "secularism"—while the forces they oppose (Taliban, Iraqi insurgents) are merely more militantly anti-secular (meaning, mostly, that they are less hypocritical and do not bother to pay lip service, having no incentive in the form of US aid and protection to do so). From The Guardian, March 27:

From Israel's Haaretz, March 24:

WASHINGTON - Harvard University has decided to remove its logo from a study that denounces the pro-Israel lobby's impact on American foreign policy, in order to distance itself from the study's conclusions.

A militia led by fundamentalist clerics challenges the lawless rule of warlords who have been tearing the country apart for the past generation. The warlords, meanwhile, band together in an "anti-terrorist" alliance in an obvious bid for support from the West. Does this sound familiar? From Reuters, March 26:

From the London Times, March 27:

US TROOPS were accused of killing up to 22 Iraqis yesterday after becoming embroiled in a fierce battle with a powerful Shia militia at a Baghdad mosque, The reported clash, the circumstances of which were disputed by US Forces, raised fears in Washington that America was being drawn into the growing sectarian violence.

On March 21 Dominican vice president Rafael Albuquerque, US ambassador Hans Hertell and a number of Dominican and US officers officially launched the "New Horizons 2006" Dominican-US joint military operation in the southwestern Dominican city of Barahona. The operation's stated goal is to build four rural health clinics and three wells in the area. According to US military spokesperson Robert Appin, a total of about 3,500 US troops will be taking part in "New Horizons" but no more than 450 will be in the Dominican Republic at any one time. The soldiers began to arrive in February and will leave at the end of May, Appin said.