FBI report details Guantanamo torture - "An internal FBI report appears to contradict assurances by US President George W Bush that prisoners are treated humanely at Guantanamo Bay."
US Hypocrisy Reaches All Time High - "One of the lessons of the Nuremburg War Crimes Trials of Germans after Germany’s defeat in WW II was that obeying orders is no excuse for war crimes. US prosecutors took the position that the German military should have refused to obey Hitler’s orders. Chief US prosecutor Robert Jackson established that military aggression was a war crime. US Army Lieutenant Ehren Watada took the Nuremburg lesson to heart. He refused to deploy to Iraq on the solid grounds that the war is illegal, which it is under the Nuremburg standard, and that he cannot order troops under his command to commit illegal actions. Watada is correct."
The Foolish Bush/McCain Iraq Escalation - "How many lives is it worth to President Bush, Senator McCain, and the minority of those in America who support "finishing the job at any cost" in Iraq? Apparently many more than have already been lost on both sides. ... You do have to give the President and McCain credit. They are consistent and they are true believers in their cause. I’m certain that they sincerely feel they are making the right decision and that they won’t let the polls influence their decisions. But not only are they unmoved by polls, the last few years have shown that they are also unmoved by reality. And the latter is the real problem here. Considering that the War Party has been blinded by objective reality from before the invasion even started, there isn’t much reason to assume they will be any better in the future. Their calls for escalation only solidify this suspicion."
American Leaders Promise More Pain - "The two images from the Vietnam War and the photo's and video of the hanging of Hussein capture in vivid detail the end results of strategies and tactics designed and executed by incompetent American leaders. Failure is everywhere in the stills and video. Failure to manage risk, failure to anticipate, failure to understand, failure to have compassion for human life, failure to accept change, failure to realize that perception is often not reality. Title, rank or advanced degree have never been a barrier to poor decision making or the maniacal drive for power to ensure a lasting place in world history. On what basis can one make such an outrageous claim? What's the record of the US leaders since 1975? Some of the highlights include: Vietnam War; Cold War (post Cold War mis-management); Iranian Revolution/Hostage Crisis; Iran/Contra; HIV/AIDS (1980's); Grenada War; War on Drugs; Panama War; Iraq War I; Iraq War II; Afghanistan War I; Somalia I (think Blackhawk Down); Yugoslavia/Bosnia War; Ethiopia vs Somalia War (US now backing Ethiopia); War on Terror; Israel vs Lebanon/Hezbollah (US backing Israel); Lebanon Stability Operation (200 plus US Marines needlessly sacrificed); botched presidential election of 2000 decided by US Supreme Court; 911 attack on New York City, New York and Arlington, Virginia; military tribunals,; income disparity (US middle class disappearing); tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans; health care cost increases; record foreclosures and bankruptcies in 2006; 2007 recession looming; sanctioned domestic electronic surveillance, refusal to honor international treaties, nuclear proliferation (Egypt and Saudi Arabia will now build nuclear reactors); global warming; over 3,000 Americans dead and many more thousands maimed in Iraq II and Afghanistan I; military families on food stamps; unprecedented national debt, unreliable infrastructure (electrical grids, for example); 911 Commission and Iraq Study Group; and now trial balloons being floated for a return to military conscription. But the nail in the coffin, so to speak, is that "The Vote" does not matter one bit. The 2006 mid-term elections in the USA sent a clear signal to US leaders that the time had come to get out of Iraq. And yet as the new year enters, Democrats and Republicans, CEO's and Generals are united in their support for a troop "surge" in Iraq. Those in charge in America are creating the conditions which lead to open revolt. When votes do not matter, when draconian laws and regulations weigh on people, when employment is uncertain, and there is no longer any outlet for expression, frustration and anger set in. That leads to violence."
'Why the US should be worried' - "From the beginning of this 21st century, the United States is facing competition from beyond its borders as well as internal difficulties. Its lower and middle class families are slowly turning out to be the biggest losers of current globalisation. The United States, like ancient Rome, is beginning to be plagued by the limits of its power."
Iraq's Woes Are Adding Major Risks To Childbirth - "Giving birth is painful enough as it is. In war-torn Iraq, it's also becoming more dangerous. Spontaneous road closures, curfews and gun battles make even getting to the hospital a challenge for expectant mothers. Once they arrive, the women have no guarantee that they will receive adequate health care from a qualified physician. "It's spiraling downward. It's getting worse each day," said Annees Sadik, an anesthesiologist at al-Jarrah. Iraq once had a premier health-care system. But the trade embargo of the 1990s and now the exodus of medical professionals have made it no better than a third-world system, doctors say. Hospitals lack the equipment, drugs and medical expertise to make labor easier or to handle complications."
Somalia for Dummies - "Most think Somalia is a small, brutal, poor, war torn country of no importance, incapable of internal peace, and that is precisely what mainstream media and the US government would like you to believe, so perhaps a brief review of Somalia is needed."
America's interests in Somalia: Four major U.S. oil companies are sitting on a prospective fortune in exclusive concessions. - "Far beneath the surface of the tragic drama of Somalia, four major U.S. oil companies are quietly sitting on a prospective fortune in exclusive concessions to explore and exploit tens of millions of acres of the Somali countryside. That land, in the opinion of geologists and industry sources, could yield significant amounts of oil and natural gas if the U.S.-led military mission can restore peace to the impoverished East African nation."
Bush says feds can open mail without warrant - "Bush asserted the new authority Dec. 20 after signing legislation that overhauls some postal regulations. He then issued a "signing statement" that declared his right to open mail under emergency conditions, contrary to existing law and contradicting the bill he had just signed, according to experts who have reviewed it."
Sex slavery taints Wilberforce anniversary - "A report by the UN has placed Britain in the top 30 countries that are destinations for adults and children being trafficked to work for “slave-masters” in prostitution, domestic labour and petty crime. Antonio Maria Costa, chief of the UN office on drugs and crime, has said: “The fact that slavery, in the form of human trafficking, still exists in the 21st century shames us all.”"
Mexico offers satnav to illegals crossing into the US - "Would-be illegal immigrants planning to cross the desert and enter the United States on foot are to be given hand-held satellite devices by the Mexican authorities to ensure they arrive safely. Those who get lost or fall sick during the dangerous four-day crossing will be able to activate the device, to alert frontier police on both sides of the border. The satellite tracking service will require would-be illegals to register their intentions before setting off - a paradoxical move, given that secrecy is necessary for success - but Mexican authorities are predicting that about 200,000 devices will be handed out when the project is launched formally in the coming year."
TOP 11 REASONS YOU SHOULD FIGHT HATE LAWS - "A national hate law would shatter Americans’ First Amendment rights, which are now sadly unique among Western democracies. We would lose our precious freedom to express politically incorrect ideas, moral judgments, or whatever personal convictions the reigning thought police deem “hateful.” Think this can’t happen in America? Think again. Hostile work environment law and campus speech bans already severely curtail free expression in American workplaces and universities. A US federal hate law would follow the examples of Europe, Canada, and Australia where Christian pastors have been indicted simply for quoting politically incorrect Scripture in their sermons. Iceland’s Orwellian hate law, for example, promises two years’ jail if you verbally “insult” a person on the basis of their nationality, skin color, race, religion, or sexual orientation. If a federal hate law were passed, free expression across the political spectrum would be threatened. What would happen to blasphemous art like Piss Christ or South Park, to Ann Coulter or Al Franken, to Christians protesting sodomy or homosexuals attacking the Bible? Every American, from left-leaning feminists to red state Republicans, should protest “anti-hate” legislation. If Rosie O’Donnell were an Icelander, she could have been prosecuted for verbal “assault” for her recent statement that radical Christianity is as dangerous as radical Islam. Political activists in nations with hate laws have already been indicted for criticizing Islam, Zionism, and homosexuality. Hate laws threaten your freedom to speak your mind, no matter what’s on it. Here are some of the most powerful, bipartisan reasons to fight this legislation."
Inside Christian Embassy - "Weinstein, a former Air Force lawyer and Reagan White House counsel, saw not just some disturbing theology, but a potential violation of military regulations regarding separation of church and state. Moreover, with his son -- a recent graduate of the Air Force Academy -- headed for Iraq, Weinstein saw the video as almost made-to-order Al Qaeda propaganda. After all, how hard would it be to persuade a potential Al Qaeda recruit that the U.S. is fighting a Christian crusade when U.S. generals and Department of Defense officials say so in so many words?"
Atheists challenge the religious right - "Growing religious influence in the US government has led some nontheists to take positions some describe as 'secular fundamentalism.'"
Education is proving key to a longer life - "The one social factor that researchers agree is consistently linked to longer lives in every country where it has been studied is education. It is more important than race; it obliterates any effects of income."
How To: Disable Your Passport's RFID Chip - "All passports issued by the US State Department after January 1 will have always-on radio frequency identification chips, making it easy for officials – and hackers – to grab your personal stats. Getting paranoid about strangers slurping up your identity? Here’s what you can do about it. But be careful – tampering with a passport is punishable by 25 years in prison. Not to mention the “special” customs search, with rubber gloves."
Is Apple The New Microsoft? - "The core of the claim is that Apple violates anti-trust laws by refusing to allow music sold on the iTunes Store to play with other manufacturer’s MP3 devices. ... What I’d like to know is how much of this alleged monopoly is a result of Apple’s decisions and how much of it comes from restrictions and DRM requirements that the recording industry wanted in place? Obviously from a legal standpoint, who made things the way they are doesn’t really matter, but if the iTunes Music store sold DRM-free MP3s this lawsuit would disappear and the world would be a happier place."
Frozen in time: the disabled nine-year-old girl who will remain a child all her life - "The cause of the controversy is the "Ashley Treatment" - a course of surgery and hormone supplements devised for her at her parents' request and with the blessing of doctors - that will for ever keep her small. It involves surgical operations, including a hysterectomy, and hormone prescriptions that will, in effect, freeze-frame her body at its current size."
Parents defend decision to keep girl a child - "Until New Year’s Day, not even her first name was known. Ashley was a faceless case study, cited in a paper by two doctors at Seattle Children’s Hospital as they outlined a treatment so radical that it brought with it allegations of “eugenics”, of creating a 21st-century Frankenstein’s monster, of maiming a child for the sake of convenience."
Fury as TV teenagers play house with REAL babies - "The BBC has outraged child protection experts by producing a reality TV show where infants are handed over to live with teenage 'parents'. The Baby Borrowers charts the experiences of the teenagers as they struggle to cope with the demands of parenthood. Five couples - aged between 16 and 19 - were filmed attempting to care for tiny babies and young children."
The Big Question: How quickly are animals and plants disappearing, and does it matter? - "Extinction is as old as life on Earth - about 3.5 billion years - but scientists calculate that we are losing species at a rate of somewhere between 1,000 and 10,000 times higher than the natural "background" rate of extinction. This means that technically we are going through a period of "mass extinction", the sixth that we know about over the hundreds of millions of years of the fossil record. But unlike the previous five mass extinctions, this one is largely caused by the actions of a single species - Homo sapiens."
Fla. School Tries to Stop Club - "A high school senior in Okeechobee is facing an uphill battle against her high school to establish a Gay-Straight Alliance. Yasmin Gonzalez, who is a lesbian, says she wants to establish an after-school club that promotes dialogue and tolerance. ... Gonzalez says that when she tried to register her club administrators first told her the school didn't allow any despite listing more than a dozen on its Web site. Gonzalez says she was later told there were too many clubs, and finally that the school had an abstinence-only policy."
New study shows cramming college students pay price - "The bottom line: Information crammed into the brain during a sleepless night has less chance of sticking. When deprived of sleep, students may be able to regurgitate information they've memorized overnight, but they have decreased their ability to understand its meaning or to apply it to future experience."
Indications of a slowdown in sex entertainment trade - " The slowdown may be just the latest example of how the Internet is shaking up well-established industries."
Quote of the Day
"My relationship to power and authority is that I'm all for it."
~ Arnold Schwarzenegger
No comments:
Post a Comment