Jeffrey Dvorkin writes about accusations that are being hurled against NPR by conservative media. Just to what degree *is* NPR liberal? And to what degree does it matter?

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4717847

–Nathan

Americans spend $5.2 million a year on imported American flags; the vast majority of which ($4.8 million) is for U.S. flags made in China.

You might get a good laugh with your Republican neighbor over this one.

John Patrick Grace formerly an editor on the foreign desk of The Associated Press in New York and a correspondent in The AP Rome bureau, makes a startling predicition about Iraq:

We may now be only weeks away from a complete collapse of the Iraqi army and the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq in the face of overwhelming public pressure on Tony Blair.

He bases this on the reporting of two Washinton Post reporters, Anthony Shadid and Steve Fainaru, with units assigned to train and work with the Iraqi military. The reporters found massive disenchantment on both sides.

An American soldier reamrked that, “We like to refer to the Iraqi army as preschoolers with guns.”

An Iraqi soldier claimed, “In 15 days, we’re all going to leave.”

Interviews by the Post reporters show that many U.S. and Iraqi troops no longer know what they are fighting for. They have been disillusioned by prisoner mistreatment at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay, by burgeoning debt that will never be repaid, and by the Haliburton scandal that has cost the government upwards of a billion dollars.

But tonight Bush will attempt to reassure us that everything is going just fine in Iraq.

The Downing Street *Memos* (note the plural) show the reservations that many senior administration officials had.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/27/AR2005062701584.html?nav=hcmodule

–Nathan

A consortiom of researchers and their financial backers have decided to build a fusion reactor in France.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/28/AR2005062800150.html

–Nathan

Fascinating column. In it, the author takes a legalistic approach to the subjects of Extraordinary Renditions and the Guantanamo Bay Prisoners. It should come as no surprise that the guy is a former legal counsel to the CIA.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/26/AR2005062601036.html

–Nathan