For the last couple of months, The Guardian has been producing a weekly science podcast, in which the Guardian science team discusses various topics and interviews experts on the issues of the week.
Some examples are

An interview with David Bodani…

Leadership requires saying the truth as you see it,
whether or not that is considered “rude” or if your
opinions have not yet been accepted by the mainstream.
To be “polite” is to accept and implicitly endorse the status quo.

Our current situation is indeed very dangerous– unchecked presidential power used for the advantage of corporate interests, and short range interests at that. How can we look the other way when
we know our government is torturing people, at this very moment? When Bush repeats his judgement that pre-emptive war is a fine thing? when he says that his judgement overrules laws passed by Congress? The last remaining check on his power is the Supreme Court which they are now packing with their supporters.

Even Sandra Day O’Connor, retired Supreme Court justice
is concerned that we are slipping towards dictatorship:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/20/opinion/20mon1.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

“The retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor observed in a recent speech that the framers created three separate and equal branches of government because they knew that preserving liberty requires that no single branch or person can amass unchecked power. According to NPR’s Nina Totenberg, who heard the speech, Justice O’Connor cited Republican court-stripping efforts as an example of dangerous overreaching. “It takes a lot of degeneration before a country falls into dictatorship,” Justice O’Connor said, “but we should avoid these ends by avoiding these beginnings.”

The president seems to forget that and Congress clearly will not remind him. The nation cannot afford for the Supreme Court to forget as well.
”

As well as the death and destruction that this administration is causing, they are undermining
all the civilizing institutions that have taken
years to build, the Geneva conventions foremost,
and are pushing world civilization towards barbarism.

Not only that, while the US has nearly doubled our
national debt through tax breaks to the rich and our
efforts to dominate the entire planet (ever hear of
“full spectrum dominance”?)

We world citizens are
being seriously endangered with climate change and
the cost of oil going ever higher as the supply runs
down. The sane policy would be to devote massive effort to developing clean energy alternatives immediately.

We are running out of time! I praise and respect Paul Verhaeghen’s speaking out–

I know that my tax dollars sponsor the killing of my own people. But I never had a choice in the matter, obviously because I am not well-known. However, it isn’t just me - this cause is not well-known either. It isn’t fashionable, and it hurts me to see that no one is ever willing to even talk about this.

Not that I am against anything said here; all I am trying to say is that the tyranny of the US extands far beyond Iraq, Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib.

Lee, the Iraq war death toll is now ~ 30,000 http://www.iraqbodycount.net/index.php

This is similar to the scale the fascists had achieved until 1939, depending on the death toll we accept for Hitler’s 1937 involvement in the Spanish Civil War (repeatedly “accidentally” bombing a lot of civilians in cities). His propaganda was distorting genetic facts to support a theory to excuse German problems in WWI as being due to Jews. Up until 1939, he was warmly supported by large sections of the media, who reported his cure for unemployment (military spending), the world’s first freeway/autobahn, his proposed 25-year peace pact, and ironically the non-aggression pact he signed over tea at Munich with the UK Prime Minister.

Politicians who cynically distort scientific facts to start wars are approaching the early (1920-30s) Hitler model. The politician can’t make a convincing case for war using the facts, so he distorts the facts to “justify” a war in which tens of thousands die.

Is there a prize for the best work of literature written in Cornish between February and March 2003?

event sparked this event:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Embassy_Siege

just a couple of months between them, and directly related.

There are still people today in the U.K who actually believe that the Iranian Embassy Hostage crises was acted out by IRANIAN-TERRORISTS!..infact these were U.S/IRAQI terrorists formed specifically to function in a single operation, the Iranian Embassy, the target was actually picked in the U.K due to the obvious fact that no “terrorist” would escape and devulge groups purpose.

Thus the joint U.S/IRAQI/U.K coalition begins, this was a ground breaking era as far as excercising forward “global” planning goes.

Following outcomes:Foreground = Iraq-Iran war, background
U.S backs Saddam Hussain whilst Russia backs Iraq (cold, really cold war?).

U.S arms Saddam Hussain whilst there is a worldwide arms embargo against IRAQ and IRAN, Russia arms Iraq.

U.S allows Gerald Bull to progress with his “supergun” dream..Russian arm supply to Iran starts to wane as their are fighting “two-fronts” Afghanastan..Iraq gets upper hand against Iran..realizing the casualties back home are effecting those governing their nation, Russia withdraws from Afghanastan..Saddam Hussain declares himself the victor in Iraq-Iran war (really the Iranian army has lost its major supplier as Russia withdraws home).

On the world stage, the Iraq Iran war is declared over, seeing Saddam Hussain and his troops proclaiming to be the saviours of the Middle East, U.S brokers for the return of all its military hardware supplied to Hussain all through the 8O’s, Saddam Hussain refuses to return a single bullet.

U.S realizes that Saddam Hussain is now a major liability to middles east Oil Supplies, and basically they have Armed one of the most wayward gunslingers ever!

U.S cannot ask outright for their military hardware, as as far as the world is concerned, the Arms Embargo was maintained under UN mandate of the 80’s, so they “need” an incident to occur, “handwave” Saddam towards Kuwait, stressing they would not intervene.

The rest is History! or civilization as we “think” we know it?..the Russians have learn one or two things about forward planning:
http://www.theadventuresofchester.com/archives/2006/02/the_saddam_tape.html

Timeline:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/16/newsid_2530000/2530475.stm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980

but then again it’s all counterfactual ?