News -- December 21, 2005

Analysis: 16,000 Americans wounded in Iraq - "This, therefore, was the week that the figure for U.S. troops wounded in Iraq broke through the 16,000-barrier. Some 7,068 of those troops were wounded so seriously that they were listed as "WIA Not RTD" by the DOD. In other words: Wounded in Action Not Returned to Duty. This meant that their injuries were so severe that in many, if not most, cases they will be crippled or mentally impaired for the rest of their lives or suffer long-term health problems from their wounds."
http://www.upi.com/SecurityTerrorism/view.php?StoryID=20051219-060339-3200r

No President Is Above the Law - "Americans have been stunned at the recent news of the abuses of power by an overzealous President. It has become apparent that this Administration has engaged in a consistent and unrelenting pattern of abuse against our Country’s law-abiding citizens, and against our Constitution. We have been stunned to hear reports about the Pentagon gathering information and creating databases to spy on ordinary Americans whose only sin is choose to exercise their First Amendment right to peaceably assemble. Those Americans who choose to question the Administration’s flawed policy in Iraq are labeled by this Administration as “domestic terrorists.”"
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1219-35.htm

Spying Program Snared U.S. Calls - "A surveillance program approved by President Bush to conduct eavesdropping without warrants has captured what are purely domestic communications in some cases, despite a requirement by the White House that one end of the intercepted conversations take place on foreign soil, officials say."
http://nytimes.com/2005/12/21/politics/21nsa.html?ei=5094&en=c385132b746e1109&hp=&ex=1135141200&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print

9/11: Missing Black Boxes in World Trade Center Attacks Found by Firefighters, Analyzed by NTSB, Concealed by FBI - "One of the more puzzling mysteries of 9-11 is what ever happened to the flight recorders of the two planes that hit the World Trade Center towers. Now it appears that they may not be missing at all. Counterpunch has learned that the FBI has them. If the information in those boxes is recoverable, or if, as is likely, it has been recovered already, it could give crucial evidence regarding the skill of the hijacker/pilots, perhaps of their strategy, of whether they were getting outside help in guiding them to their targets, of how fast they were flying and a host of other things. Why would the main intelligence and law enforcement arm of the U.S. government want to hide from the public not just the available information about the two hijacked flights that provided the motivation and justification for the nation's "War on Terror" and for its two wars against Afghanistan and Iraq, but even the fact that it has the devices which could contain that information?"
http://www.counterpunch.com/

Versus IV - "I'm fine if an idea dies a natural death due to a preponderance of evidence against it. I'm fine if an idea is not discussed due to a lack of context; you may not want to discuss ID in the middle of Algebra class. But to think that we can label ideas as "taboo" is a bit unsettling. ... But doesn't that argument also work for other "dangerous" ideas? Could we not argue that exposing young kids to ID is inappropriate because they wouldn't understand the science (or lack thereof), but once they hit high school they have reached a level of sophistication that they could discuss the issue intelligently? Moreover, is it not our responsibility to expose and discuss ideas, valid or bogus, with our children so that they could build a solid foundation of knowledge for themselves? Is it not important to not only know what you believe, but also know what you do not believe, and be able to give a real justification for each?"
http://bigolclown.blogspot.com/2005/12/versus-iv.html

Our Endangered Moral Values: America’s Moral Crisis - "Jimmy Carter, a devout Christian, dedicated public servant, and former naval officer, was not a successful president. However, he is almost certainly America’s greatest ex-president. But even if his tenure in the Oval Office was not a success Carter’s down to earth character and personal decency were in many ways what America needed in a president in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal. After the pathology and mendacity of the Nixon White House, Carter helped restore a sense of honor and dignity to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The country could use a man like Carter again. Thankfully, Carter has much to add to American public affairs as a writer and observer. His latest book, Our Endangered Moral Values: America’s Moral Crisis, is a timely and trenchant diagnosis of everything that has gone wrong in American public affairs over the last five years. In Carter’s view the highest councils of government have been taken over by a cadre of fundamentalists bent on imposing their narrow-minded agenda on America. What makes Carter’s perspective so valuable here is that his humble brand of Christianity contrasts so explicitly -- and favorably -- with the self-righteous style of Christianity exhibited by the Bush Administration."
http://interventionmag.com/Primary/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=73

Stalin's half-man, half-ape super-warriors - "THE Soviet dictator Josef Stalin ordered the creation of Planet of the Apes-style warriors by crossing humans with apes, according to recently uncovered secret documents. Moscow archives show that in the mid-1920s Russia's top animal breeding scientist, Ilya Ivanov, was ordered to turn his skills from horse and animal work to the quest for a super-warrior. According to Moscow newspapers, Stalin told the scientist: "I want a new invincible human being, insensitive to pain, resistant and indifferent about the quality of food they eat.""
http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=2434192005

Creating first synthetic life form - "Work on the world's first human-made species is well under way at a research complex in Rockville, Md., and scientists in Canada have been quietly conducting experiments to help bring such a creature to life."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20051219.wxlife19/BNStory/specialScienceandHealth/

Think Away the Pain - "Pain can be mysterious, untreatable and debilitating, and its causes can be unknown. But if you could see the pain -- or, at least, your brain's reaction to it -- you might be able to master it. ... The researchers asked people in pain to try to control a pain-regulating region of the brain by watching activity in that area from inside a real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, machine. Initial results showed subjects could reduce their pain, some quite dramatically."
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,69887,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_2

Bumper Stickers I'd Love to See - "A bumper sticker, unlike the endless stream of state or corporate propaganda, intends to question, not support the status quo. A bumper sticker may amuse, provoke, bolster, irritate, challenge, annoy, reassure, enlighten or propagandize a reader, but seldom does it attempt to remain neutral or pimp for deceptive ideas. And that is what scares most adults. Especially seeing or hearing any message—especially a bumper sticker--contrary to accepted ideas of the mainstream."
http://www.strike-the-root.com/52/herman/herman24.html

Canadians can have group sex in clubs: top court - "Group sex between consenting adults is neither prostitution nor a threat to society, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled on Wednesday, dismissing arguments that the sometimes raucous activities of so-called "swingers" clubs were dangerous." -- Good.
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyid=2005-12-21T151550Z_01_KNE073843_RTRUKOC_0_US-SEX.xml&rpc=22




Quote of the Day
"The federal government was never meant to be involved in every facet of our lives. That's the urgent lesson we should be teaching our kids. We should be teaching them self-reliance, personal responsibility and vigilance against tyranny."
~ Joseph Farah