A brief kitchen note: due to an unexpected disruption of our distribution network (due to Independent Media Center remodeling and the aftermath of 9/11 ), a bunch of copies of our 16-page anniversary issue didn't get out. If you ignore the shit in the front about those lame elections last week, it's still a great issue. Check the IMC next week and pick up a copy, or drop us a note with $2 and we'll send ya one. --Geov Parrish

Speaking of the IMC, indymedia.org was a source of a false story that got referenced in the printed version of our emergency issue last week, concerning allegations that CNN was running Gulf-War era footage of demonstrating Palestinians. That one's been pretty well disproven, and my apologies--I should have known better, and I've learned my lesson about using unverified Indymedia as a source. --G.P.

One of the many lesser-known consequences of Sept. 11's attack is that the federal government has apparently put a number of America's political prisoners into isolation, "for their protection" as "high profile prisoners." That word comes from a personal friend, Frida Berrigan, whose father, Phil, is serving a year's time for a(nother) Plowshares action. (And let us pause for a moment to thank the anti-war activists who never let go of the issue while we all moved on to hipper things.) Phil is in FCI Elkton in Lisbon, Ohio, and Frida passed along a letter from her mom and Phil's wife, Liz McAlister (a famed peacenik in her own right). According to Liz, on Sept. 11 Berrigan was, without warning or explanation, put into isolation and denied any contact, even phone or letters, with the outside world (including even family). Liz also says Marilyn Buck is receiving the same treatment, and she believes Leonard Peltier might be, too. Hard to tell whether they're silencing articulate dissidents or simply making room. --G.P.

Also among the dedicated anti-war types is Justin Raimando, who started and still helps run the invaluable website called antiwar.com. Justin's vision has been to bridge libertarian, left, and right anti-war movements, and during the last fortnight's crisis the site has been a gold mine of information. And they're also desperate for money, because they're getting huge amounts of traffic and are running out of bandwidth. Good people, good cause. Help 'em out: go to www.antiwar.com/donate.html, or mail a check to Antiwar.com, 520 S. Murphy Ave. #202, Sunnyvale, CA 94086. --G.P.

I've got a bunch of things to say about our run-up to World War III--heck, a lot of us do, but I've been lucky enough to get a lot of 'em published, mostly at www.workingforchange.com and www.alternet.org. So I won't bother repeating myself here. But I can't help but note that the Taliban's "defiant" (according to American media) refusal to hand over Osama bin Laden was actually nothing of the sort. What they said is that they'd hand him over if the US gave them concrete evidence that he was linked to Sept. 11's attacks. And the US immediately went into high bluster--essentially proving what has been fairly obvious all along, that the United States had absolutely no proof at the time that Osama bin Laden was involved in the Sept. 11 attacks. Sooner or later, of course, such evidence will be presented; as soon as it can be conjured--with or without the assistance of actual fact--and they'll be shouting it from the rooftops. Meantime, we get this swaggering "with us or against us" horse shit, which could just as easily be reformulated another way: "You're either with due process under law, or you're against it!" And that's probably just what the Taliban and their apologists (and, for that matter, a lot of other people) are saying at this very moment. It's amazing how quickly the US government can take the moral high ground, and punt it.--G.P.