Religious Right, Left Meet in Middle

Schenck [a Conservative Christian] said he plans to tell young evangelicals at a Christian music festival on July 1 that homosexuality is not a choice but a "predisposition," something "deeply rooted" in many people. "That may not sound shocking to you, but it will be shocking to my audience," he said.
Saperstein [a Reform Jewish Rabbi] said he is circulating a paper urging political moderates and liberals to "demonstrate their commitment to reduce abortions" by starting a campaign to reduce the number by half within two years.
Schenck and Saperstein disclosed their plans in separate interviews. They are not working together. The minister remains a die-hard opponent of same-sex marriage; the rabbi staunchly supports a woman's constitutional right to choose an abortion. But both are trying to find common ground between liberals and conservatives on moral issues -- and they are not alone.

The New Blacklist

Spurred on by a biblical injunction evangelicals call "The Great Commission," and emboldened by George W. Bush's re-election, which is perceived as a "mandate from God," the Christian right has launched a series of boycotts and pressure campaigns aimed at corporate America -- and at its sponsorship of entertainment, programs and activities they don't like.
And it's working. Just three weeks ago, the Rev. Donald Wildmon's American Family Association (AFA) announced it was ending its boycott of corporate giant Procter & Gamble -- maker of household staples like Tide and Crest -- for being pro-gay. Why? Because the AFA's boycott (which the organization says enlisted 400,000 families) had succeeded in getting P&G to pull its millions of dollars in advertising from TV shows like "Will & Grace" and "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy."

While editors nationwide call for increased scrutiny of Downing Street Memo, biggest editorial pages remain silent

[A] Media Matters for America survey of U.S. newspaper coverage from May 1 to June 15 shows that of the 20 editorial pages across the country that addressed the memo, from large-circulation papers such as The Dallas Morning News to smaller papers such as the Charleston (West Virginia) Gazette, 18 emphasized the importance of the document, many calling for further investigation into the explosive questions it raises. The dissenters were editorials in The Denver Post and The Washington Post, both of which claimed that the memo merely reinforces what was already known from other sources and argued that U.S. attention is best focused on how to win the war in Iraq.
Further, of 12 editorial page editors nationwide who addressed the memo in op-eds, eight asserted the importance of the memo and four took the position that it contains nothing significant or new, though three of those were nonetheless critical of the Bush administration, in some cases, harshly so. In addition, five of the six reader representatives or ombudsmen who addressed coverage of the memo argued the story warrants more coverage than it has received in their own papers or the media at large.

Bands in matching outfits gallery

GOP Seeks Exit Strategy on Social Secutiry

With the Senate Finance Committee at an impasse on Social Security and House leaders anxious about moving forward, Republican congressional leaders have told the White House in recent days that it is time to look for an escape route.
Senate GOP leaders, in discussions with White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove and political officials, have made it clear they are stuck in a deep rut and suggested it is time for an exit strategy, according to a senior Senate Republican official and Finance Committee aides.

The Supreme Court Nomination Blog

Turbulence by David Sedaris

On the flight to Raleigh, I sneezed, and the cough drop I’d been sucking on shot from my mouth, ricocheted off my folded tray table, and landed, as I remember it, in the lap of the woman beside me, who was asleep and had her arms folded across her chest. I’m surprised that the force didn’t wake her—that’s how hard it hit—but all she did was flutter her eyelids and let out a tiny sigh, the kind you might hear from a baby.
Under normal circumstances, I’d have had three choices, the first being to do nothing.
[more...]

Still cracking Kryptos

Activity surrounding Kryptos, the cryptographic puzzle at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, continues to surge. Elonka Dunin who runs a comprehensive Kryptos site, told The Guardian that she used to see 500 visitors a day but recently got 30,000 visits in 24 hours. Of course, interest in cracking Kryptos skyrocketed once it was revealed that The Da Vinci Code dustjacket references the puzzle and that it's part of the plot of Dan Brown's next bestseller, The Solomon Key. (Previous post on Kryptos here.)

House Votes to Limit Patriot Act Rules

In a slap at President Bush, lawmakers voted Wednesday to block the Justice Department and the FBI from using the Patriot Act to peek at library records and bookstore sales slips.
The House voted 238-187 despite a veto threat from Bush to block the part of the anti-terrorism law that allows the government to investigate the reading habits of terror suspects.
The vote reversed a narrow loss last year by lawmakers concerned about the potential invasion of privacy of innocent library users. They narrowed the proposal this year to permit the government to continue to seek out records of Internet use at libraries.

LA Times: New Memos Detail Early Plans for Invading Iraq

In March 2002, the Bush administration had just begun to publicly raise the possibility of confronting Iraq. But behind the scenes, officials already were deeply engaged in seeking ways to justify an invasion, newly revealed British memos indicate.
Foreshadowing developments in the year before the war started, British officials emphasized the importance of U.N. diplomacy, which they said might force Saddam Hussein into a misstep. They also suggested that confronting the Iraqi leader be cast as an effort to prevent him from using weapons of mass destruction or giving them to terrorists.
The documents help flesh out the background to the formerly top-secret "Downing Street memo" published in the Sunday Times of London last month, which said that top British officials were told eight months before the war began that military action was "seen as inevitable." President Bush and his main ally in the war, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, have long maintained that they had not made up their minds to go to war at that stage.
"Nothing could be farther from the truth," Bush said last week, responding to a question about the July 23, 2002, memo. "Both of us didn't want to use our military. Nobody wants to commit military into combat. It's the last option."

Memo: Pentagon Concerned About Legality of Interrogation Techniques

The interrogation techniques used at Guantanamo Bay Detention Center in 2002 triggered concerns among senior Pentagon officials that they could face criminal prosecution under U.S. anti-torture laws, ABC News has learned.
Notes from a series of meetings at the Pentagon in early 2003 — obtained by ABC News — show that Alberto Mora, General Counsel of the Navy, warned his superiors that they might be breaking the law.

Lobbyists' Role in PBS Investigated

Investigators at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting are examining $15,000 in payments to two Republican lobbyists last year that were not disclosed to the corporation's board, people involved in the inquiry said on Wednesday.
One of the lobbyists was retained at the direction of the corporation's Republican chairman, Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, they said, and the other at the suggestion of his Republican predecessor, who remains on the board.
The investigators, in the corporation's inspector general's office, are also examining $14,170 in payments made under contracts - which Mr. Tomlinson took the unusual step of signing personally, also without the knowledge of board members - with a man in Indiana who provided him with reports about the political leanings of guests on the "Now" program when its host was Bill Moyers.
While the amounts of the contracts are relatively small, the issues they pose are part of a broader examination by the inspector general of Mr. Tomlinson's efforts to bring what he says is more political balance to public television and radio and what critics say is political interference in programming.

The Senators Who Have Not Signed on the Anti-Lynching Apology

Lamar Alexander (R-TN) - (202) 224-4944
Robert Bennett (R-UT) - (202) 224-5444
Thad Cochran (R-MS) - (202) 224-5054
John Cornyn (R-TX) - (202) 224-2934
Michael Crapo (R-ID) - (202) 224-6142
Michael Enzi (R-WY) - (202) 224-3424
Chuck Grassley (R-IA) - (202) 224-3744
Judd Gregg (R-NH) - (202) 224-3324
Orrin Hatch (R-UT) - (202) 224-5251
Kay Hutchison (R-TX) - (202) 224-5922
Jon Kyl (R-AZ) - (202) 224-4521
Trent Lott (R-MS) - (202) 224-6253
Richard Shelby (R-AL) - (202) 224-5744
John Sununu (R-NH) - (202) 224-2841
Craig Thomas (R-WY) - (202) 224-6441

After fracas, Conyers heads back to Capitol with Downing Street - Will be on C-SPAN

Rep John Conyers (D-MI, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee who was told by House Republicans that he would be refused rooms for Democratic hearings, has found a space in the Capitol for his fourm Thursday on the Downing Street documents, RAW STORY has learned.
The hearing will be broadcast live on C-SPAN 3 Thursday.
Conyers and other Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee were recently told the Republican majority staff had instituted a new policy to deny any request from a Democrat to use a committee hearing room.

The 11 Layers of Citizen Journalism

This article is designed to help publishers and editors understand citizen journalism and how it might be incorporated into their Web sites and legacy media. We'll look at how news organizations can employ the citizen-journalism concept, and we'll approach it by looking at the different levels or layers available. Citizen journalism isn't one simple concept that can be applied universally by all news organizations. It's much more complex, with many potential variations.
So let's explore the possibilities, from dipping a toe into the waters of participatory journalism to embracing citizen reporting with your organization's full involvement. We'll start out slow and build toward the most radical visions of what's possible.

Iraq: the wrong war

A distinction between “old” and “new” wars is vital. “Old wars” are wars between states where the aim is the military capture of territory and the decisive encounter is battle between armed forces. “New wars”, in contrast, take place in the context of failing states. They are wars fought by networks of state and non-state actors, where battles are rare and violence is directed mainly against civilians, and which are characterised by a new type of political economy that combines extremist politics and criminality... I argue in this article that the United States viewed its invasion of Iraq as an updated version of “old war” that made use of new technology. The US failure to understand the reality on the ground in Iraq and the tendency to impose its own view of what war should be like is immensely dangerous and carries the risk of being self-perpetuating. It does not have to be this way.

Iraq: the wrong war - Mary Kaldor writes of what was happening in pre-invasion Iraq, what happened thereafter and what the alternatives were. Well, there is always Exit strategy: Civil war. And on that, note this: Kurdish Officials Sanction Abductions in Kirkuk--a city from which, I am afraid, we will hear more and more as time goes by. [from MetaFilter.com]

Former Editorial Writers Charge 'Indy Star' with 'Religious Discrimination'

Two former editorial writers at The Indianapolis Star have gone to court, charging that top newsroom managers "consistently and repeatedly demonstrated ... a negative hostility toward Christianity."
James Patterson and Lisa Coffey have sued the newspaper and its owner, Gannett Co., claiming religious, racial and age discrimination in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court.
The two are asking to be reinstated at the paper, and be compensated for lost income, benefits, emotional distress and unspecified punitive damages.

Feds Arrest Former 'Newsday' Employees in Circulation Fraud Case

According to U.S. attorney Roslynn Mauskopf, Smith orchestrated a scheme in which Newsday employees and others posing as customers bought many copies of the paper from hawkers around Long Island in order to fool observers from the Audit Bureau of Circulation. The hawkers worked for a distributor that threw away tens of thousands of papers daily and counting them as sold, Mauskopf alleged.
Garcia and Czark are accused of working with distributors to falsify circulation numbers for Hoy, Mauskopf said.
David Folkenflik of National Public Radio reported today that an affidavit unsealed in federal court "sketched out an elaborate scheme involving phony accounting, kickbacks and the creation of sham corporations....

The Onion: Habitrail For Humanity

PAYNEVILLE, KY—Habitrail For Humanity, the faith-based, non-profit group that builds networks of affordable, transparent-tube housing for needy families, has come under intense criticism for its recent projects in the Payneville area.

Schiavo autopsy report backs husband

In a victory for Michael Schiavo, a coroner who performed an autopsy on Terri Schiavo reported Wednesday that she suffered from an irreversible brain injury and would not have recovered as her parents insisted was possible. It also found no evidence that she was strangled or otherwise abused.
"Her brain was profoundly atrophied," Jon Thogmartin, medical examiner for Florida's Pinellas-Pasco County, told a press conference. "There was massive neuronal loss, or death. This was irreversible and no amount of therapy or treatment would have regenerated the massive loss of neurons."
“The brain weighed 615 grams, roughly half of the expected weight of a human brain," he added.

Had Bush decided by July 2002 to invade Iraq? Depends on which day of the week you read The New York Times

Readers of The New York Times learned on June 13 that in the summer of 2002, the Bush administration had not yet made the decision to invade Iraq, and recently released British documents don't prove they did. On June 14, Times readers learned that the documents may show that the decision to invade had been made by the summer of 2002, but it doesn't much matter because everyone in Washington knew that Bush had already made the decision to invade.
Confused? The Times seems to be.

Legalities of neuroimaging for intelligence interrogation

The most promising of these new technologies is psychiatric neuroimaging, the predominant form of which is functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). FMRI provides near real time, ultra-high resolution, computer-generated models of brain activity. These models allow the operator to observe a subject’s neural response to cognitive or sensory-motor tasks. In essence, fMRI allows the operator to watch the subject’s brain think. This has a number of practical applications. For instance, fMRI could function as a hyper-accurate lie detector. In addition, an interrogator could also assess a detainee’s response to specific stimuli. For example, an interrogator could present a detainee with pictures of suspected terrorists, or of potential terrorist targets, which would generate certain neural responses if the detainee were familiar with the subjects pictured. U.S. intelligence agencies have been interested in deploying fMRI technology in interrogation for years. It now appears that they can. As Big Brother warned us, “Thoughtcrime was not a thing that could be concealed forever.”

Secret Service demands removal of Bush+Guns collages on Flickr

I created a series of collages, entitled "Bush and Guns". I "remixed" pictures of Bush (from the AP Photo wire) and guns (randomly found on Flckr)... I posted these new images to Flikr, as a set entitled "Bush and Guns". With each picture, I posted a link back to the original story, with an explanation that the collage series was a commentary on this incident in Chicago. I posted this set to several "anti bush" political groups on Flikr, and received some positive feedback on them. I also urged others to create "Bush and guns" artwork, and post it online, as a sort of protest against actions and policies, that, to my mind, have a chilling effect on people's first amendment rights."..."The agents started out with "easy" questions, like my name, address, what I did at my job, etc. Then they started asking if I've ever been under psychiatric or psychological care or counseling.

My Country Was Invaded and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt

Source: Media General News Service, June 10, 2005

"The U.S. Special Operations Command has hired three firms to produce newspaper stories, television broadcasts and Web sites to spread American propaganda overseas." The contract may run $100 million over the next five years. The work was likely outsourced because there are "only one active-duty and two reserve psyops units remaining" in the U.S. military. The lucky firms are Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), SYColeman and Lincoln Group. SAIC previously ran the Iraqi Media Network, but "was criticized for problems and exorbitant costs." SYColeman "created the Army's Web site honoring the only Medal of Honor winner so far from the Iraq war." Lincoln Group, formerly known as Iraqex, has done PR work for the Multi-National Corps-Iraq. The firms will produce "print articles, video and audio broadcasts, Internet sites and novelty items, like T-shirts and bumper stickers, for foreign audiences. Video products will include newscasts, hour-long TV shows and commercials."

New Documents Released In Justice Dept. Tobacco Scandal - Bush Classmate Undermining Case

Rep. Henry A. Waxman, (D-Calif.) said the government's court filing should be scrutinized by the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility, which is investigating allegations of political interference in the case at the request of Waxman and seven other lawmakers.
"This brief shows that the department had confidence in the legal merits of its request . . . as recently as five weeks ago," Waxman said. "I am now even more concerned that this decision was made to benefit the tobacco industry, not the health of the American people."
From NY Times:
...The newly disclosed documents make clear that the decision was made after weeks of tumult in the department and accusations from lawyers on the tobacco team that Mr. McCallum and other political appointees had effectively undermined their case. Mr. McCallum, No. 3 at the department, is a close friend of President Bush from their days as Skull & Bones members at Yale, and he was also a partner at an Atlanta law firm, Alston & Bird, that has done legal work for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, part of Reynolds American, a defendant in the case.

'Record volume rise' in world energy consumption

World energy consumption surged 4.3 per cent last year, the biggest percentage rise since 1984 and the largest volume increase ever, according to new figures from BP, the oil company.
Burning fossil fuels at a faster rate also resulted in the largest absolute increase in carbon emissions, adding to the stock of “greenhouse gases” blamed for global warming.
BP's annual statistical review, released on Tuesday, showed that the fast-growing economies of Asia were responsible for a large portion of the rise. China's fuel consumption rose by 15.1 per cent and India's by 7.2 per cent.

In Congo, 1,000 die per day: Why isn't it a media story?

I've lost count of how many journalists in the recent weeks have asked me, "Why aren't the media covering the Congo?"
With an estimated 1,000 people dying there every day as a result of hunger and disease caused by war, it is an appropriate question. But the extent of this coverage of noncoverage is reaching the absurd: print, radio, TV, Internet - they all want to know why they themselves are not writing articles and broadcasting programs about the Congo.
And it is not just me noticing this. In March, Reuters even held a seminar on "forgotten crises," at which the Congo topped the list, and on BBC World Service the other day, I heard a newscaster ask: "Shouldn't this be getting more attention?"
Indeed. What the world media are missing is one of the deadliest conflicts since World War II: 3.8 million people have died in the Congo since 1998, dwarfing not only the biggest of natural catastrophes, such as December's South Asia tsunami, but also other manmade horrors, such as Darfur.

The Path of War Timeline

US demands for Canadian passenger lists called 'invasive, harmful'

Federal Transport Minister Jean Lapierre has already rejected the American demand, indicating that Canadian flights may simply have to fly around U.S. airspace.
Canadian officials have said they plan to lobby the Americans for an exemption.

Saudis Reject Call for Nuclear Inspections

Saudi Arabia is defying the United States, the European Union and Australia by resisting U.N. efforts to verify that it has no nuclear assets worth inspecting, according to a confidential EU document obtained by The Associated Press on Tuesday.
There is little concern the Saudis are trying to make nuclear arms, but Riyadh's resistance to inspections adds another worry for a top-level meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency this week that is focusing on North Korea and Iran.

Court clears the way for online sales tax

An appellate court ruling against Borders Group Inc. sets a precedent that could enable California to force some major Internet retailers to start paying state sales tax for books, music and other goods sold online to state residents.
Whether California tax collectors use the precedent to go after not only Borders but Barnes & Noble Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and other online retailers remains to be seen. But independent booksellers and other brick-and-mortar retailers have been cheering, saying the ruling should remove their Internet competition's unfair advantage.

GOP Senators May Make 69 Retirement Age

Under current law, the retirement age for full Social Security benefits is 65 1/2 and is scheduled to reach 67 for those born in 1960 or later.
The possible increase to 69 over two decades or more was among the suggestions that Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, presented to fellow Republicans on the panel last week as part of an attempt to give the program greater financial solvency, the officials said.
Grassley also suggested steps to hold down benefits for upper-wage earners of the future, these officials have said previously. They spoke only on condition of anonymity, saying the discussions were confidential.

Former Bush Aide Who Edited Global Warming Reports Is Hired by Exxon

Philip A. Cooney, the former White House staff member who repeatedly revised government scientific reports on global warming, will go to work for Exxon Mobil this fall, the oil company said yesterday.
Mr. Cooney resigned as chief of staff for President Bush's environmental policy council on Friday, two days after documents obtained by The New York Times revealed that he had edited the reports in ways that cast doubt on the link between the emission of greenhouse gases and rising temperatures.
A former lawyer and lobbyist with the American Petroleum Institute, the main lobbying group for the oil industry, Mr. Cooney has no scientific training. The White House, which said on Friday that there was no connection between last week's disclosure and Mr. Cooney's resignation, repeated yesterday that his actions were part of the normal review process for documents on environmental issues involving many government agencies.

Kerry confidantes say senator is seeking others to cosign letter on Downing minutes

“Kerry has been enlisting other senators to sign onto a letter to the intelligence committee seeking answers to the Downing Street memo,” said one, “so Americans can trust that security decisions are driven by facts and responsible intelligence, not by political calculation.”
This statement comes after nearly two weeks of silence from the senator, who previously promised to “raise the issue” of the Downing Street minutes in the Senate chamber.

A bill to repeal the 22nd Amendment

This was introduced in the House a few months ago, though it seemed that no one else in the world noticed. Interestingly enough, the bill was sponsored by Rep. Steny Hoyer, the House Democratic Whip.
But it gets better: the bill was cosponsored by Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, who's made the news recently for storming out of committee hearings, interfering with Rep. John Conyers's investigation of the Downing Street Memo, and, of course, loudly proclaiming his hatred of the number 42023.
Oh, and in case you've forgotten, the 22nd Amendment is the one that limits the president to two terms. [from MetaFilter.com]
The 22nd Amendment:
Section 1. No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once. But this Article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this Article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this Article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.

Former Bush Team Member Says WTC Collapse Likely A Controlled Demolition And 'Inside Job'

A former chief economist in the Labor Department during President Bush's first term now believes the official story about the collapse of the WTC is 'bogus,' saying it is more likely that a controlled demolition destroyed the Twin Towers and adjacent Building No. 7.
"If demolition destroyed three steel skyscrapers at the World Trade Center on 9/11, then the case for an 'inside job' and a government attack on America would be compelling," said Morgan Reynolds, Ph.D, a former member of the Bush team who also served as director of the Criminal Justice Center at the National Center for Policy Analysis headquartered in Dallas, TX.
Reynolds, now a professor emeritus at Texas A&M University, also believes it's 'next to impossible' that 19 Arab Terrorists alone outfoxed the mighty U.S. military, adding the scientific conclusions about the WTC collapse may hold the key to the entire mysterious plot behind 9/11.
"It is hard to exaggerate the importance of a scientific debate over the cause(s) of the collapse of the twin towers and building 7," said Reynolds this week from his offices at Texas A&M. "If the official wisdom on the collapses is wrong, as I believe it is, then policy based on such erroneous engineering analysis is not likely to be correct either. The government's collapse theory is highly vulnerable on its own terms. Only professional demolition appears to account for the full range of facts associated with the collapse of the three buildings.
See also: Why Did the Trade Center Skyscrapers Collapse? by Morgan Reynolds

New Synaptic Junction Weekly is Now Posted

GOP Denying Meeting Room for Downing Street Forum

“I’m sitting here watching your ‘forum’ on C-SPAN,” McLaughlin wrote. “Just to let you know, it was your last. Don’t bother asking [for a room] again.”
A committee source said committee Democrats are still planning to hold the forums when they find other available space.

Wisconsin Democrats: Impeach Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld

The resolution contends that the administration "lied or misled" the United Nations, Congress, and the American public about the justification for the war. It cites the so-called "Downing Street memo" from British Prime Minister Tony Blair's government, as well as reports from U.N. weapons inspectors as evidence of widespread deception.
...Wisconsin Democrats are not the first to pass such a resolution.
The Nevada state party passed a similar resolution calling for Bush's ouster last year. And both the state and national Green Party, as well as former Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader, have called for Bush's impeachment because of his handling of the war in Iraq.

Democrat introduces fast-track resolution to rebuke GOP chairman over Patriot Act hearing

The resolution declares Sensenbrenner "willfully trampled the right of the minority to hold an additional day of hearings," and "willfully and intentionally violated the Rules of the House by abusing and exceeding his powers as chairman."
It moves to have the House condemn the Wisconsin's actions and enjoins the chairman to schedule an additional day of hearings on the Patriot Act.

9/11 Whitewasher Grilled By Informed C-Span Callers

During the course of the Washington Journal show they took around a dozen calls. Over half of them raised salient points pertaining to government involvement in 9/11.
Hamilton and Brian Lamb squirmed as they attempted to dismiss the information as conspiracy theory, even when callers were quoting from actual Commission testimony.
Issues such as the wargames on September 11, the collapse of Building 7 and the NORAD stand down were forcefully impressed upon Hamilton as he used the usual tactics to try and deflect them.
Watch the whole video by clicking here.

Former CIA director calls for Iraq withdrawal

Deutch, who delivered the Phi Beta Kappa oration at the honor society's annual Literary Exercises, served as CIA director under President Bill Clinton from May 1995 until December 1996. In his 20-minute speech, he challenged the views of both Republicans and Democrats who say that the United States must stay the course to stabilize the country before disengaging.
That position, Deutch said, is based on the assumption that the United States will leave a stable nation behind. But it is also possible, he said, that the United States will fail in its Iraq objectives and lose international credibility by staying the course, even as its ability to deal with other crises, such as North Korea, Iran, and the fight against international terrorism, is compromised.

Julia Sweeney on Response to "Letting Go of God"

I really wasn't prepared for the This American Life show to have such a big impact. I have so much to say back to each and every one of you who has written. I almost hesitate to write this because I don't want anyone NOT to write to me. I read each and every one and today has been such a grand day. I wish I could respond to everyone tonight but I can't!
Many people said they knew I was going to get a lot of e-mails from people who were appalled and angry. This is true. But I would say those e-mails represent a very small minority. I also thought that is what would happen. But, for the recond, what I have found out today is that there are lots and lots and lots of people out there who feel just like I do, have gone through the same things I have. What an amazing thing! I got e-mails from people from all over the United States, I mean all over the place. And I am soooo appreciative. Thank you so much. [more...]

Brain cells grown in laboratory

Scientists have grown fully mature brain cells in a laboratory for the first time, using a technique that mimics the natural process of brain regeneration.
It promises to open the door to new ways of treating and possibly curing debilitating brain diseases such as Parkinson's, epilepsy and Alzheimer's.

U.S., Iraq Consider Amnesty for Insurgents

U.S. and Iraqi officials are considering difficult-to-swallow ideas — including amnesties for their enemies — as they look for ways to end the country's rampant insurgency and isolate extremists wanting to start a civil war.
Negotiations have just begun between U.S. and Iraqi officials on drafting an amnesty policy, which would reach out to Iraqi militants fighting U.S. forces, say officials in both the Iraqi and American governments.
But foreign extremists like Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, responsible for Iraq's bloodiest attacks, would not be offered any amnesty, the Iraqi and U.S. authorities told The Associated Press in recent days.

Gitmo Hilton's 5-Star Accomodations

Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) refutes claims of torture at Guantánamo Bay while displaying various foods.

Video-WMP Video-Real Audio

"So the point is that the inmates in Guantánamo have never eaten better, they've never been treated better and they've never been more comfortable in their lives."

Conyers: Downing Street Minutes Controversy Growing -- What You Can Do To Help

In all of my years in Congress, I have never seen a phenomenon develop and grow like the controversy over these now infamous minutes, and the related corroboration. Just over the weekend, we finally made the front page of the Washington Post (regisration required). The London Times also covered the disclosure of new British Memos confirming the pre-war deal and highlighting the lack of a post-war plan. Is it any wonder the public is finally saying we never should have gotten in to begin with? I have also scheduled a hearing for this Thursday, and I am getting scores of press calls a day on this issue every day.
Most amazingly, more than 540,00 Americans have joined with me in signing a letter to the President demanding answers and accountability. You can sign (and your friends, colleagues and family) by simply going to my web site and clicking the letter and filling out the information. I would love to see a tremendous boost to our totals from the Hufffingtonpost community. I also plan to post the details of the hearing at my site soon, along with the viewing and listening information.

Walter Cronkite: Why I am Marching Against Global Warming

I am joining the hundreds of thousands who shall be marching in the Virtual March on Washington to Stop Global Warming in order to demonstrate the concern that we all hold for the future of our planet and all the living things -- flora, fauna, human and animal -- that exist upon it. The governments of the world have tarried long enough, and the United States is scarcely without doubt the greatest culprit among them.
We the people have the strength to bring our country from our weak-kneed stumbling gait in the last ranks of reason to the leadership of the great march to environmental victory.
I want to be in that parade and if there is a place up front I'd wish to lead the band or at least be assigned a big bass drum to help pound out the rhythm of glorious success.
www.stopglobalwarming.org

EFF: Legal Guide for Bloggers

Whether you're a newly minted blogger or a relative old-timer, you've been seeing more and more stories pop up every day about bloggers getting in trouble for what they post.
Like all journalists and publishers, bloggers sometimes publish information that other people don't want published. You might, for example, publish something that someone considers defamatory, republish an AP news story that's under copyright, or write a lengthy piece detailing the alleged crimes of a candidate for public office.
The difference between you and the reporter at your local newspaper is that in many cases, you may not have the benefit of training or resources to help you determine whether what you're doing is legal. And on top of that, sometimes knowing the law doesn't help - in many cases it was written for traditional journalists, and the courts haven't yet decided how it applies to bloggers.
But here's the important part: None of this should stop you from blogging. Freedom of speech is the foundation of a functioning democracy, and Internet bullies shouldn't use the law to stifle legitimate free expression. That's why EFF created this guide, compiling a number of FAQs designed to help you understand your rights and, if necessary, defend your freedom.
To be clear, this guide isn't a substitute for, nor does it constitute, legal advice. Only an attorney who knows the details of your particular situation can provide the kind of advice you need if you're being threatened with a lawsuit. The goal here is to give you a basic roadmap to the legal issues you may confront as a blogger, to let you know you have rights, and to encourage you to blog freely with the knowledge that your legitimate speech is protected.

Using Wikipedia entry as a pandemic-prevention clearinghouse

An MD in the Canary Islands has decided to use Wikipedia's entry on Avian Flu as the central clearinghouse for breaking information on the virus, collecting and publishing info on pandemic prevention, mitigation and recovery.
The letter announcing this, sent to the Promed mailing list for the International Society of Infectious Diseases is here. Jamais Cascio's WorldChanging commentary on this is here. Link

Cholera detected in Kabul

Authorities have detected 30 cases of cholera among more than 2,500 instances of acute diarrhea in the Afghan capital Kabul, but there appears to be no danger of an epidemic despite four deaths, officials said on Tuesday.
The cholera cases were detected in the past three weeks and the government had taken immediate action to ensure water supplies were kept clean by chlorination, said Abdullah Fahim, an adviser to the Ministry of Public Health.

Mother of dead soldier vilifies Bush over war

"We're watching you very carefully and we're going to do everything in our power to have you impeached for misleading the American people," she said, quoting a letter she sent to the White House. "Beating a political stake in your black heart will be the fulfillment of my life ... ," she said, as the audience of 200 people cheered.
The "Freedom and Faith Bus Tour" -- which brought Sheehan to Lexington, has already visited New York, Chicago and Indianapolis. The next stops include Columbus, Pittsburgh and Cleveland.

Thursday is Bloomsday!

Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed. A yellow dressing gown, ungirdled, was sustained gently-behind him by the mild morning air. He held the bowl aloft and intoned:
-- Introibo ad altare Dei.
Halted, he peered down the dark winding stairs and called up coarsely:
-- Come up, Kinch. Come up, you fearful jesuit.
Solemnly he came forward and mounted the round gunrest. He faced about and blessed gravely thrice the tower, the surrounding country and the awaking mountains. Then, catching sight of Stephen Dedalus, he bent towards him and made rapid crosses in the air, gurgling in his throat and shaking his head. Stephen Dedalus, displeased and sleepy, leaned his arms on the top of the staircase and looked coldly at the shaking gurgling face that blessed him, equine in its length, and at the light untonsured hair, grained and hued like pale oak. [more...]

In July 2002, Bush Illegally Shifted $700 Million to Begin War on Iraq

Woodward said he found that the administration quietly shifted money around to pay for early preparations for war in Iraq, without the approval of Congress. He said those preparations included building landing strips and addressing other military needs in Kuwait.
The money, about $700 million, was taken in July 2002 from a budget item that had been approved for the war in Afghanistan, Woodward wrote.
"Some people are going to look at that document called the Constitution, which says that no money will be drawn from the Treasury unless appropriated by Congress," Woodward says in his CBS interview.
-- "Woodward: Administration had 'fever' to take down Iraq," Sun Herald, April 18, 2004

Pope rejects condoms for Africa

The spread of HIV and Aids in Africa should be tackled through fidelity and abstinence and not by condoms, Pope Benedict XVI has said.
Speaking to African bishops at the Vatican, the Pope described HIV/Aids in Africa as a "cruel epidemic".
But he told them: "The traditional teaching of the church has proven to be the only failsafe way to prevent the spread of HIV/Aids."

Contractor accuses Marines of abuse in Iraq

Security contractors were heckled, humiliated and physically abused by U.S. Marines in Iraq while jailed for 72 hours with insurgents, one of the detainees said Friday.
“It was disbelief the whole time. I couldn’t believe what was happening,” said Matt Raiche, 34, an ex-Marine who was one of 16 American and three Iraqi contractors detained at Camp Fallujah last month.
“I just found it crazy that we were being held with terrorists, that we were put in the same facility with them,” he told The Associated Press in an interview at his lawyer’s office. “They were calling us a rogue mercenary team.”

FDA suppresses vital data on prescription drugs on sale in Britain

An investigation by The Independent on Sunday shows that, under pressure from the pharmaceutical industry, the American Food and Drug Administration routinely conceals information it considers commercially sensitive, leaving medical specialists unable to assess the true risks.
One team of investigators found that 28 pages of data had been removed from the FDA files on one of a new family of painkillers because of confidentiality.
Last week a major research study led by Professor Julia Hippisley-Cox at Nottingham University, revealed that ibuprofen, the supposedly "safe" painkiller, increases the risk of heart attack by almost a quarter. The finding was a particular blow to thousands of users who have already switched from the best-selling drug Vioxx, which was withdrawn last year after evidence that it too could increase the risk of heart attacks.

U.S. Opposed Calls at NATO for Probe of Uzbek Killings

Defense officials from Russia and the United States last week helped block a new demand for an international probe into the Uzbekistan government's shooting of hundreds of protesters last month, according to U.S. and diplomatic officials.
British and other European officials had pushed to include language calling for an independent investigation in a communique issued by defense ministers of NATO countries and Russia after a daylong meeting in Brussels on Thursday. But the joint communique merely stated that "issues of security and stability in Central Asia, including Uzbekistan," had been discussed.

Funds for greenhouse gas storage

The UK government has announced £25m of funding for a plan to capture greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and store them under the North Sea.
Carbon sequestration, as it is known, has long been regarded as one possible solution that might help mitigate the effects of global warming.
It involves power stations and oil rigs holding on to their emissions of gases such as carbon dioxide and methane.
The gases are then pumped underground to keep them out of the atmosphere.

Global Warming: The US Contribution in Figures

The United States constitutes 4 per cent of the world population

It is responsible for a quarter of all carbon dioxide emissions - an average of 40,000 pounds of carbon dioxide is released by each US citizen every year - the highest of any country in the world, and more than China, India and Japan combined

Americans use 50 million tons of paper annually - consuming more than 850 million trees

Calcium-rich diets may prevent PMS

Encouraging women to eat a diet rich in calcium and vitamin D could prevent the development of clinical premenstrual syndrome, suggests a new US study. The findings suggest that by consuming four servings of low fat dairy products a day, women can reduce their risk of developing the disorder by almost 50%.

Microsoft Helps Chinese Government Censor Citizens

Microsoft and its government-funded Chinese business partner work with authorities to omit certain forbidden language, Sohn said, declining to provide specific examples.
"I don't have access to the list at this point so I can't really comment specifically on what's there," he told The Associated Press.
On Monday, Agence France-Presse, the French news agency, said bloggers were not allowed to post terms to MSN Spaces such as "democracy," "human rights" and "Taiwan independence." Attempts to enter those words were said to generate a message saying the language was prohibited.

Merck Compiles Dossiers on Doctors

Source: National Public Radio, June 9, 2005

"I didn't realize how powerful the drug companies thought they were," said health policy professor Lisa Bero, regarding Merck's campaign to silence a prominent physician critical of their painkiller Vioxx. According to documents obtained by NPR, Merck first approached Stanford University's Dr. Gurkirpal Singh in 1998. The drug company paid Singh up to $2,500 for each talk he gave to other physicians about Vioxx. But when Singh became concerned about a 2000 study suggesting Vioxx increased the risk of heart attacks, the relationship turned sour. Merck tracked Singh's public comments on Vioxx, eventually contacting his bosses at Stanford and hinting "there would be repercussions ... if Singh's statements didn't stop." Merck provides significant research funding to Stanford, a common arrangement between drug companies and universities.

Mark Felt was in Charge of Findinf "Deep Throat"

Felt's role as the most famous anonymous source in US history was even more complex and intrigue-loaded than the newly revised public account suggests. According to originally confidential FBI documents--some written by Felt--that were obtained by The Nation from the FBI's archives, Felt played another heretofore unknown part in the Watergate tale: He was, at heated moments during the scandal, in charge of finding the source of Woodward and Bernstein's Watergate scoops. In a twist worthy of le Carré, Deep Throat was assigned the mission of unearthing--and stopping--Deep Throat.
This placed Felt, who as the FBI's associate director oversaw the bureau's Watergate probe, in an unusual position. He was essentially in charge of investigating himself. From this vantage point Felt, who had developed espionage skills running FBI counterintelligence operations against German spies in World War II, was able to watch his own back and protect his ability to guide the two reporters whose exposés would help topple the President he served.

"Lost Boys" of Utah and Arizaona

Gideon is one of the "Lost Boys," a group of more than 400 teenagers — some as young as 13 — who authorities in Utah and Arizona say have fled or been driven out of the polygamous enclaves of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City over the last four years.
His stated offenses: wearing short-sleeved shirts, listening to CDs and having a girlfriend. Other boys say they were booted out for going to movies, watching television and staying out past curfew.
Some say they were sometimes given as little as two hours' notice before being driven to St. George or nearby Hurricane, Utah, and left like unwanted pets along the road.
Authorities say the teens aren't really being expelled for what they watch or wear, but rather to reduce competition for women in places where men can have dozens of wives.

Bipartisan Outrage Over Detainee Abuse

The US military offered no excuses for interrogation techniques used on a Saudi terror suspect at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, saying his questioning followed a "detailed plan" and that prevention of new attacks justified the means.
The retort followed publication of a secret document detailing the military's handling of Mohammed al-Qahtani, suspected of being the 20th hijacker on September 11, 2001, that suggested his interrogators may have used a combination of forced hydration and denial of bathroom facilities to pressure him for information.
The revelation has left some US lawmaker aghast, with Republican Senator Chuck Hagel openly suggesting "a vacuum of leadership" at the Pentagon.
The interrogation log obtained by Time magazine also indicated Qahtani had his head and beard shaved, was stripped naked, ordered to bark like a dog, prevented from sleeping by loud music, had pictures of scantily clad women hung around his neck and was straddled by a female interrogator, a contact particularly offensive to a Muslim.
A one point, when the detainee refused to drink water, an IV tube was inserted into his arm, he was pumped with three and a half bags of fluid and told that a bathroom visit will be allowed only in exchange for information.
When his replies did not satisfy the military, he was told to relieve himself in his pants, which he did, according to the magazine report.

HIV in US Hits 1 Million

While better medicines are keeping more people with HIV alive, government health officials have failed to "break the back" of the AIDS epidemic by their stated goal of 2005. This is believed to be the first time the 1 million mark has been passed since the height of the epidemic in the 1980s.
New medicines that weren't around in 1981 have allowed people infected with the virus to live longer, said Dr. Ronald Valdiserri, deputy director of the CDC's National Center for HIV, STD and TB Prevention.

Christian Coalition: Gays Should Wear Warning Labels

The leader of a conservative Christian lobby group says that gays should be required to wear warning labels.
"We put warning labels on cigarette packs because we know that smoking takes one to two years off the average life span, yet we 'celebrate' a lifestyle that we know spreads every kind of sexually transmitted disease and takes at least 20 years off the average life span according to the 2005 issue of the revered scientific journal Psychological Reports," said Rev. Bill Banuchi, executive director of the New York Christian Coalition.

Mother Jones J/F 4004: How the Intelligence and Facts Were Fixed arouynd the Policy

Until now, the story of how the Bush administration produced its wildly exaggerated estimates of the threat posed by Iraq has never been revealed in full. But, for the first time, a detailed investigation by Mother Jones, based on dozens of interviews‚ -- some on the record, some with officials who insisted on anonymity‚ -- exposes the workings of a secret Pentagon intelligence unit and of the Defense Department's war-planning task force, the Office of Special Plans. It's the story of a close-knit team of ideologues who spent a decade or more hammering out plans for an attack on Iraq and who used the events of September 11, 2001, to set it into motion.
...

According to Lt. Colonel Kwiatkowski, Luti and Shulsky ran NESA and the Office of Special Plans with brutal efficiency, purging people they disagreed with and enforcing the party line. "It was organized like a machine," she says. "The people working on the neocon agenda had a narrow, well-defined political agenda. They had a sense of mission." At NESA, Shulsky, she says, began "hot-desking," or taking an office wherever he could find one, working with Feith and Luti, before formally taking the reins of the newly created OSP. Together, she says, Luti and Shulsky turned cherry-picked pieces of uncorroborated, anti-Iraq intelligence into talking points, on issues like Iraq's WMD and its links to Al Qaeda. Shulsky constantly updated these papers, drawing on the intelligence unit, and circulated them to Pentagon officials, including Rumsfeld, and to Vice President Cheney. "Of course, we never thought they'd go directly to the White House," she adds.
Kwiatkowski recalls one meeting in which Luti, pressed to finish a report, told the staff, "I've got to get this over to 'Scooter' right away." She later found out that "Scooter" was none other than Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Cheney's chief of staff. According to Kwiatkowski, Cheney had direct ties through Luti into NESA/OSP, a connection that was highly unorthodox.
"Never, ever, ever would a deputy undersecretary of Defense work directly on a project for the vice president," she says. "It was a little clue that we had an informal network into Vice President Cheney's office."

Frank Rich: "Follow the Money" Coined by Screenwriter William Goldman

The morning the Deep Throat story broke, the voice on my answering machine was as raspy as Hal Holbrook's. "I just want you to remember that I wrote 'Follow the money,' " said my caller. "I want to know if anybody will give me credit. Watch for the accuracy of the media!"

The voice belonged to my friend William Goldman, who wrote the movie "All the President's Men." His words proved more than a little prescient. As if on cue, journalists everywhere - from The New York Times to The Economist to The Washington Post itself - would soon start attributing this classic line of dialogue to the newly unmasked Deep Throat, W. Mark Felt. But the line was not in Woodward and Bernstein's book or in The Post's Watergate reportage or in Bob Woodward's contemporaneous notes. It was the invention of the author of "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," "Marathon Man" and "The Princess Bride."
This confusion of Hollywood's version of history with the genuine article would quickly prove symptomatic of the overall unreality of the Deep Throat coverage. Was Mr. Felt a hero or a villain? Should he "follow the money" into a book deal, and if so, how would a 91-year-old showing signs of dementia either write a book or schmooze about it with Larry King? How did Vanity Fair scoop The Post? How does Robert Redford feel about it all? Such were the questions that killed time for a nation awaiting the much-heralded feature mediathon, the Michael Jackson verdict. [thanks, Sharon]

Synaptic Junction Joins Big Brass Alliance

The Big Brass Alliance was formed in May 2005 as a collective of progressive bloggers who support After Downing Street, a coalition of veterans' groups, peace groups, and political activist groups formed to urge that the U.S. Congress launch a formal investigation into whether President Bush has committed impeachable offenses in connection with the Iraq war. The campaign focuses on evidence that recently emerged in a British memo containing minutes of a secret July 2002 meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his top national security officials.

New British documents reveal details on case for war quoted in the UK press but never printed raw

The Iraq options paper
After axis of evil, British foreign secretary says Iraq case weak
Condi committed to regime change in 2002 The British legal background
Admission that Iraq WMD program hadn't changed
The 'need to wrongfoot' Saddam on inspectors

Some Held at Guantánamo Are Minors, Lawyers Say

Lawyers representing detainees at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, say that there still may be as many as six prisoners who were captured before their 18th birthday and that the military has sought to conceal the precise number of juveniles at the prison camp.
One lawyer said that his client, a Saudi of Chadian descent, was not yet 15 when he was captured and has told him that he was beaten regularly in his early days at Guantánamo, hanged by his wrists for hours at a time and that an interrogator pressed a burning cigarette into his arm.
The lawyer, Clive A. Stafford Smith, of London, said in an interview that the prisoner, who is now 18 and is identified by the initials M.C. in public documents, told him in a recent interview at Guantánamo that he was seized by local authorities in Pakistan about Oct. 21, 2001, a few months shy of his 15th birthday, and taken to Guantánamo at the beginning of 2002.

India to deport US missionaries

Four American missionaries have been asked to leave India for what police say is a violation of visa regulations.
The missionaries were attacked by a Hindu mob in India's western city Mumbai (Bombay) on Saturday evening during a Bible reading session.
Police said three of them were treated for bruises and cuts in a hospital.
One of the assailants was released on bail after allegedly abducting one of the missionaries who are accused of trying to convert local Hindus.

New York Times Misrepresents Downing Street Memo

In today’s New York Times, David Sanger tries to discredit the Downing Street Memo. His lede:

A memorandum written by Prime Minister Tony Blair’s cabinet office in late July 2002 explicitly states that the Bush administration had made “no political decisions” to invade Iraq, but that American military planning for the possibility was advanced.

Sanger presumes that “political decisions” refers to the actual decision to go to war. Based on that presumption, he concludes that the memo shows the Bush administration hadn’t decided whether or not to invade Iraq.
This is both sloppy journalism, and factually incorrect. The other instances where “political” is used in the memo suggest the memo’s author had a very different sense of the word in mind, one related to the shaping of public opinion and the construction of a legal edifice that would justify Britain’s participation in the U.S. attack.

Village Voice: Deep Throat had Backing from FBI Officials

[N]ew details uncovered by the Voice appear to support a growing body of evidence that rather than acting alone, Felt worked in concert with, or perhaps even as the lead of, a band of then top FBI officials who sought to give details of the FBI's Watergate investigation to the press as a means of keeping the Nixon White House at bay while the investigation proceeded.
The fresh information suggests that the FBI was openly in revolt against the administration, and that the agents involved would have leaked what they knew about Watergate to any reporter willing to listen.

Court Won't Rule on Media Ownership Rules

The Supreme Court on Monday turned away several appeals from broadcast and newspaper groups that sought to restore new government rules easing restrictions on media ownership.
Without comment, justices let stand a lower court ruling that threw out the Federal Communications Commission regulations as unjustified.

Lobbyist's Brother Guided House Bill

When Congress passed the $417-billion Pentagon spending bill last year, Rep. John P. Murtha, the top Democrat on the House defense appropriations subcommittee, boasted about the money he secured to create jobs in his Pennsylvania district.
But the bill Murtha helped write also benefited at least 10 companies represented by a lobbying firm where his brother, Robert "Kit" Murtha, is a senior partner, according to disclosure records, interviews and an analysis of the bill by The Times.

Banned contractor soliciting Iraq deals

Former executives of Custer Battles -- an American firm accused of stealing millions from Iraq reconstruction projects and banned from further government contracts -- have continued doing contracting work and have formed new companies to bid on such projects, The Associated Press has learned.
This may or may not be illegal, military officials say; Custer Battles officials deny any wrongdoing.
The new companies (there are at least three) are all headed by Rob Roy Trumble, who previously was operations chief for Custer Battles, according to state records.

Sean Penn Reports from Iran

Mr. Penn drew a warm reception on the streets of Tehran. Even though authorities have banned most Hollywood movies here, many Iranians watch American films on satellite or buy pirated video copies, which are widely available.
Shocked to see an American star, people approached him and asked to take pictures with him, and Mr. Penn happily obliged. At a women's demonstration on Sunday, participants surrounded the actor and told him their stories.
But Mr. Penn did not extend any professional courtesies to his new colleagues in the press. "I'm only here as a journalist," he said in a televised interview, and refused to speak further.

After 111 Years, Postage Stamps Go Private

The federal government printed its last postage stamps Friday.
The end to 111 years of stamp production by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) came without any public ceremony in the same 14th Street building where many of the nation's most famous stamps have been printed.
Workers pulled a final roll of 37-cent flag stamps from an aging, four-color Andreotti press on the fourth floor. That simple act terminated a once-thriving business that the Treasury Department agency had monopolized for decades.
Now, private printers will produce all the nation's stamps, a decision that U.S. Postal Service officials say will save tens of millions of dollars a year. The bureau will concentrate on printing currency, its other major product.

Nuclear Warrior Replaces Bolton as Arms Control Chief

The top U.S. government official in charge of arms control advocates the offensive use of nuclear weapons and has deep roots in the militarist political camp.
Moving into the old job of John Bolton, the administration's hard-core unilateralist nominee to be the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Robert G. Joseph is the right-wing's advance man for counter-proliferation as the conceptual core of a new U.S. military policy.
Within the administration, he leads a band of counter-proliferationists who -- working closely with such militarist policy institutes as the National Institute for Public Policy (NIPP) and the Center for Security Policy (CSP) -- have placed preemptive attacks and weapons of mass destruction at the center of U.S. national security strategy.

Poll: Many Scientists Admit to Misconduct

More than 5 percent of scientists answering a confidential questionnaire admitted to having tossed out data because the information contradicted their previous research or said they had circumvented some human research protections.
Ten percent admitted they had inappropriately included their names or those of others as authors on published research reports.
And more than 15 percent admitted they had changed a study's design or results to satisfy a sponsor, or ignored observations because they had a "gut feeling" they were inaccurate.
See results.

Sex Disinformation in Ohio Schools

Ohio has spent $455,000 in taxpayer money to teach abstinence-until-marriage-only sex ed to students in middle school and high school. Dr. Scott Frank, a leading public health researcher at Case Western Reserve University decided to check out exactly what the kids were learning. Here’s the sex-ed information a half-million dollars bought for Ohio teens:

HIV can be transmitted through “tears and open-mouth kissing.”

Contraceptives are to blame for mental health problems in teens.

Taking the pill will increase a girl’s future chances of infertility.

Students should just “follow God’s plan for purity.”

Keeping kids in the dark or filling their heads with misinformation about contraception doesn’t keep hormonally charged teens from having sex. It just makes it less likely they’ll have safe sex.

Military action won't end insurgency, growing number of U.S. officers believe

A growing number of senior American military officers in Iraq have concluded that there is no long-term military solution to an insurgency that has killed thousands of Iraqis and more than 1,300 U.S. troops during the past two years.
Instead, officers say, the only way to end the guerilla war is through Iraqi politics - an arena that so far has been crippled by divisions between Shiite Muslims, whose coalition dominated the January elections, and Sunni Muslims, who are a minority in Iraq but form the base of support for the insurgency.

Seed of extinct date palm sprouts after 2,000 years

It has five leaves, stands 14 inches high and is nicknamed Methuselah. It looks like an ordinary date palm seedling, but for UCLA- educated botanist Elaine Solowey, it is a piece of history brought back to life.
Planted on Jan. 25, the seedling growing in the black pot in Solowey's nursery on this kibbutz in Israel's Arava desert is 2,000 years old -- more than twice as old as the 900-year-old biblical character who lent his name to the young tree. It is the oldest seed ever known to produce a viable young tree.
The seed that produced Methuselah was discovered during archaeological excavations at King Herod's palace on Mount Masada, near the Dead Sea. Its age has been confirmed by carbon dating. Scientists hope that the unique seedling will eventually yield vital clues to the medicinal properties of the fruit of the Judean date tree, which was long thought to be extinct.
...The Judean date is chronicled in the Bible, Quran and ancient literature for its diverse powers -- from an aphrodisiac to a contraceptive -- and as a cure for a wide range of diseases including cancer, malaria and toothache.
For Christians, the palm is a symbol of peace associated with the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. The ancient Hebrews called the date palm the "tree of life" because of the protein in its fruit and the shade given by its long leafy branches. The Arabs said there were as many uses for the date palm as there were days in the year.
Greek architects modeled their Ionic columns on the tree's tall, thin trunk and curling, bushy top. The Romans called it Phoenix dactylifera -- "the date-bearing phoenix" -- because it never died and appeared to be reborn in the desert where all other plant life perished.

Patriot Act Push Angers Some on Right

The conservatives, including former U.S. Rep. Bob Barr (R-Ga.) and political activists who have been long-standing critics of the anti-terrorism law, lashed out with particular force last week against the White House, members of Congress and Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales. They said they had expected a more open review of the Patriot Act in which lawmakers considered some limits in order to safeguard civil liberties.
The conservatives complained that the Senate panel had moved in secret to expand the act. They are particularly upset about proposed "administrative subpoenas" that would let the FBI obtain a person's medical, financial and other records in terrorism cases without seeking a judge's approval.

smarter than i

Statement of purpose:
We already have enough carnivals where bloggers trumpet their own work. Let's share the love. This carnival is titled "smarter than I," in recognition of those who are too humble, too busy, or too shy to submit their tidbits of genius.
Guidelines:
Submissions must not be your own. Sorry. That's what other carnivals are for. Choose the best post or two you've read in the past week and send it our way, perhaps with a description or comment. There are no other criteria--just good writing, wherever you can find it. This carnival is non-sectarian and nonpartisan.
...Send your entries to smarterthani AT hotmail DOT com, or use this form.

Bob Geldolf Talks About Africa, Live 8 and Takes Calls

[MP3]

Krugman: The End of the Middle Class

Since 1973 the average income of the top 1 percent of Americans has doubled, and the income of the top 0.1 percent has tripled.
Why is this happening? I'll have more to say on that another day, but for now let me just point out that middle-class America didn't emerge by accident. It was created by what has been called the Great Compression of incomes that took place during World War II, and sustained for a generation by social norms that favored equality, strong labor unions and progressive taxation. Since the 1970's, all of those sustaining forces have lost their power.
Since 1980 in particular, U.S. government policies have consistently favored the wealthy at the expense of working families - and under the current administration, that favoritism has become extreme and relentless. From tax cuts that favor the rich to bankruptcy "reform" that punishes the unlucky, almost every domestic policy seems intended to accelerate our march back to the robber baron era.

Climate changes spur plan for village move

With sea ice shrinking, permafrost thawing and sea storms becoming more frequent, residents of a remote Eskimo village in Alaska are preparing to move their entire community to more solid ground within four years, officials said on Wednesday.
Located on a narrow Chukchi Sea barrier island, the Inupiat village of Shishmaref has lost so much ground in recent years that it has become an internationally famous case study into the effects of global warming. It is likely to become the first U.S. community to move because of a warming climate, many scientists have said.
"The situation facing Shishmaref needs to be categorized as an emergency," Luci Eningowuk, head of the Shishmaref Erosion and Relocation Council, told the Coastal Engineering Research Board, an U.S. Army Corps of Engineers advisory panel.
Erosion at Shishmaref, an Inupiat island village of 600, is so dramatic that residents plan to start moving to a new site about 13.5 miles inland by 2009.

Pink Floyd to play Geldof's Live 8 show

Veteran rock band Pink Floyd have been added to the list of acts appearing at next month's Live 8 concert in London.
Roger Waters will be reunited with band-members Dave Gilmour, Nick Mason and Rick Wright for the show.

More Life on 'Downing Street' with Leak of New Document in London

Just as the U.S. media attempts—-albeit a month late—-to get on top of the so-called “Downing Street Memo,” the Sunday Times in London reports another leaked document which confirms and goes behind the message of the memo.
“Ministers were warned in July 2002 that Britain was committed to taking part in an American-led invasion of Iraq and they had no choice but to find a way of making it legal,” the Sunday Times reports.
The warning, in a leaked Cabinet Office briefing paper, said Prime Minister Tony Blair had already agreed to back military action to get rid of Saddam Hussein at a summit at the Texas ranch of President George W Bush three months earlier. The briefing paper, for participants at a meeting of Blair’s inner circle on July 23, 2002, said that since regime change was illegal it was “necessary to create the conditions” which would make it legal.

For More on the Making of "This American Life"

Believe it or not, there's a stone tablet full of radio principles (links below) guiding This American Life. The public radio program's host and executive producer, Ira Glass, laid them out Feb. 11 [1998] in one of Minnesota Public Radio's broadcast journalists' lecture series, at Macalester College in St. Paul. Glass says the principles add up to "more, better radio."
The production team at WBEZ in Chicago put the weekly show on the air nationally in June 1996; it was airing on 130 stations within a year, when Public Radio International became the distributor, and it's now heard on 252 stations. By last fall, the show's weekly cumulative audience had grown to 565,000, according to PRI.
This is a complete edited transcript from Glass's talk. A large excerpt was published in Current, May 25, 1998. Thanks to Minnesota Public Radio for the photos by Dan Monick and the tape.

The "This American Life" Comic Book

[I got it. It's excellent. -- McLir]

Radio: An Illustrated Guide ($5, includes shipping)
Welcome to the webhome of our comic book, Radio: An Illustrated Guide. The book gives you an inside look at how This American Life is made. But even better, it's a step-by-step primer on how to make a radio story. The book includes detail on where we find our stories, how to structure a story, how to do an interview, how to hold the microphone, how to edit sound, how to write a script for radio... really everything you'd need to get started making your own radio story. It's 32 black-and-white pages long, with appropriately fancy color covers, and was drawn by cartoonist Jessica Abel and written by Jessica and Ira Glass.
Want a sneak preview? Here are some pages:

• Where stories come from.
• How to write for radio.
• How to edit sound.

Leaked GITMO Doc Lists Approved Interrogation Techniques

TIME has obtained the first documented look inside the highly classified realm of military interrogations since the Gitmo Camp at Guantanamo Bay opened. The document is a secret 84-page interrogation log that details the interrogation of ‘Detainee 063’ at Guantanamo Bay. It is a remarkable look into the range of techniques and methods used for the interrogation of Mohammed al Qahtani, who is widely believed to be the so-called 20th hijacker, a compatriof Osama bin Laden and a man who had tried to enter the U.S. in August 2001 to take part in the Sept. 11 attacks. TIME’s report, by Adam Zagorin and Michael Duffy, appears in this week’s issue (on newsstands Monday).

Newly Leaked Memo Reveals More on Pre-War Plans

Found: Europe's oldest civilisation

Archaeologists have discovered Europe's oldest civilisation, a network of dozens of temples, 2,000 years older than Stonehenge and the Pyramids.
More than 150 gigantic monuments have been located beneath the fields and cities of modern-day Germany, Austria and Slovakia. They were built 7,000 years ago, between 4800BC and 4600BC. Their discovery, revealed today by The Independent, will revolutionise the study of prehistoric Europe, where an appetite for monumental architecture was thought to have developed later than in Mesopotamia and Egypt.

Douglas Rushkoff: Mobile-Enabled Activism

Although invented in the thrall of the great Enlightenment and its celebration of individual human autonomy, modern democracy has never truly been about the rights and thoughts of the individual. It's about the mass. Candidates don't accumulate votes one by one, but bloc by bloc. They speak to potential supports as the members of affiliations or tribes: autoworkers, Zionist Jews, soccer moms or NASCAR dads. The trick is to say or do something that flips a whole constituency over into one's column.
Activists today are coming to understand this, which is why -- however legitimate the issue they're fighting for -- they know the object of the game is to get a whole bunch of other people to agree loudly, somehow, to whoever it is in power. Politicians don't pay attention to great ideas as much as they do to great numbers of people with an actionable demand. Then, they either conform to this mass-voiced request, or figure out a way to make it look like they have responded.

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THE BEARS PUT THEIR WIGS ON THE TREES

THE TREES ARE WEARING THE WIGS!!!

THE DOG IS ADMIRING THE WIGS!!