| Latest Commentary: | Volume VI, Number 9 |
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Bush Abandons Warrantless Surveillance of Americans -- In a letter to the Judiciary Committtee of the Democratically controlled US Senate, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced that the White House was abandoning its program of spying on Americans without a warrant. While this is a welcome development, two facts remain. This administration has repeatedly placed itself above both the law and the constitution, meaning that it may well do so again. Also, President George “LBJ” Bush has lied about the program before, so there is no reason to believe this program has been abandoned.
Venezuela’s Chavez Denies License Renewal to Hostile TV Broadcaster -- Fresh from his latest inauguration, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has decided to deny the renewal of the TV broadcasting license of Radio Caracas TV, a station that has opposed him for years. After 54 years on the air, RCTV may well be taken off by a government that is growing less and less democratic. The pretext is RCTV broadcasts of shows that “poison the souls of children with irresponsible sex.” In reality as José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director for Human Rights Watch, said, “Chavez is not renewing the concession to punish a medium for its opposition to the government.” Starbucks under Threat in Beijing’s Forbidden City -- The People’s Republic of China is a communist dictatorship founded on the principles of Marx, Lenin and Mao. So when the news from Beijing suggests that a news anchorman is leading a campaign to kick Starbucks out of the former imperial palaces of the Forbidden City, one doesn’t know what to make of it. Are the ChiComs going soft? Or have they rediscovered their revolutionary roots? Why is Starbucks running a coffee shop at a World Heritage Site? And what kind of communist revolutionary doesn’t burn the palace to the ground at the very beginning of the revolution? British Court Holds Poker is Game of Chance, Not Skill -- Although America is the land of poker, it has rapidly gained popularity in the UK. So much so that a fellow who runs a poker club in Clerkenwell, London has been prosecuted for violating the 1968 Gaming Act. The Act allows games of chance only with a licensed host in charge. Games of skill require no such license. On Wednesday, an English court held that poker is a game of chance, and therefore, the poker club was operating illegally. © Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.
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