The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation could have a profound long-term effect on world peace: Nepal, India and Pakistan are among its members and the upcoming summit will be affected by recent unrest.

Ralph Nader speaks to an almost packed house at the Rio Theatre in Santa Cruz, CA on Jan. 24th 2005. He speaks about the US occupation of Iraq, corporate shenadegins, and the need for an active citizenry. The speech is about an hour long and features an introduction by Louis Lafortune, Green Party member and DJ at Free Radio Santa Cruz.

Will yesterday's election make a difference? Patrick Cockburn reports from Baghdad.

"...the Defense Secretary's foes have dispersed in spite of the damning evidence contained in a recent Human Rights Watch Report.
...and a tidbit from The National Ledger indicates how money has defused opposition to Rummy from within his own party."

The snowjob is in full swing as the business types who see their pockets lined with $30 million dollars of indebtedness to the public, line up to sing the praises of the mammoth Coast Hotel Project and to dangle carrots in front of citizens who responsibly want City government to have a sufficient revenue stream. This dog and pony show glosses over real concerns that the Sentinel would rather the public not spend much time thinking about. This Sentinel editorial leaves out a lot of these concerns. I have appended them to the front of the editoral from Sunday's paper.