** us sets up imperial outpost in mauritania:

"A small vanguard force arrived this week in Mauritania to pave the way for a $100m (£54m) plan to bolster the security forces and border controls of Mauritania, Mali, Chad and Niger.

The US Pan-Sahel Initiative, as it is named, will provide 60 days of training to military units, including tips on desert navigation and infantry tactics, and furnish equipment such as Toyota Land Cruisers, radios and uniforms."

this being part of us initiative to secure oil and military presence in africa (7/7/03):

"General James Jones, the commander of the US European command with responsibility for African operations, said the US was trying to negotiate the long-term use of a "family" of military bases across the continent.

"The bases would not only be established in north African states such as Algeria, where Islamic extremism is already a potent force, but also in sub-Saharan African nations such as Mali.

[...]

The new bases are being described as temporary, but in reality, once built they are likely to become part of the African landscape.

[...]

The Djibouti base is in striking distance of Sudan, Somalia and Yemen, all seen as possible havens for al-Qaida. But bases in West Africa and an enhanced naval presence in the Gulf of Guinea would be primarily designed to safeguard an increasingly important source of oil.

The US is currently importing 1.5m barrels a day from West Africa, about the same as imports from Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile the US has so far invested $10bn (?6bn) in the West African oil fields this year. The US department of energy expects African oil imports to reach 770m barrels a year, and US investment in the oil fields to exceed $10bn a year.

At a meeting organised last month by the Corporate Council on Africa, a senior CIA official, David Gordon, predicted that over the next decade African oil would be potentially more important to the US than Russia or the Caucasus. According to other participants at the meeting, he went on to warn however that over the following decade the oil industry ran the risk of imploding as a result of the region's inherent instability, unless the US did more to prop it up."


** bush to waste $1.5 billion for promotion of marriage:

"For months, administration officials have worked with conservative groups on the proposal, which would provide at least $1.5 billion for training to help couples develop interpersonal skills that sustain "healthy marriages."

"no wonder we're fucked up as a race" - bill hicks


also found this amusing ad on the nyt site whilst reading above



clicked it and it led me to this very selective, most naive and outright dumb description of "marijuana":

"Usually smoked as a cigarette or joint, or in a pipe or bong, marijuana has appeared in "blunts" in recent years. These are cigars that have been emptied of tobacco and re-filled with marijuana, sometimes in combination with another drug, such as crack."

with following disclaimer:

"TheAntiDrug.com relies on the latest research to bring you the most accurate information available."