February 20, 2007

February 20, 2007

US 'will retaliate if ships are targeted' - "The United States stands to retaliate against Iran in case Tehran targets the "innocent passage of ships," the commander of the Fifth Fleet has said. "Although our presence in the Arabian Gulf is for defensive and not offensive purposes, the US will take military action if ships are attacked or if countries in the region are targeted or US troops come under direct attack," Patrick Walsh yesterday told journalists in Bahrain."

Iranian official: Tehran wants to renew talks on nuclear program - "Meawnwhile, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday called on Western nations to stop their own enrichment programs if they wanted his country to stop its own and return to negotiations."

Court: Detainees can't challenge cases - "Guantanamo Bay detainees may not challenge their detention in U.S. courts, a federal appeals court said Tuesday in a ruling upholding a key provision of a law at the center of President Bush's anti-terrorism plan."

Bush: Bin Laden is in Pakistan - "US President George W Bush believes that Osama bin Laden and other top leaders of al Qaeda could be in Pakistan. "

How Do You Know You've Lost a War - "How do you know when you've lost a war? Is it when the country you are supposedly fighting to save decides to start fighting one another and shooting your soldiers, too? Is it after you've spent more than a quarter-trillion dollars on the war and it only gets worse? Have you lost the war when a large majority of the occupied country wants you to leave? How about when the people being occupied, more than 60 percent, think it is acceptable to kill American soldiers? Maybe the war jig is up when a plurality of your own soldiers lose faith in the mission and their commander-in-chief? For most reality-based and cognitively viable individuals, any of the above would be a pretty solid indicator that you've lost the war. George W. Bush and Congressional Republicans, however; see it all as signs of impending victory."

U.S. Congressman calls for war critics to be hung - ""'Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, exiled or hanged.'""

Homemade Bombs Most Feared by FBI - "Now, Yeager says, the "Mother of Satan" explosives are considered the most likely weapon that terrorists will use against the U.S., more so than a nuclear or radiological "dirty" bomb."

Republican calls for email and IM monitoring - "A bill introduced to the US House of Representatives would require ISPs to record all users' surfing activity, IM conversations and email traffic indefinitely. The bill, dubbed the Safety Act by sponsor Lamar Smith, a republican congressman from Texas, would impose fines and a prison term of one year on ISPs which failed to keep full records."

Atheists under attack - "What should have been a civilized discourse on this complex issue amounted to an audacious atheist-bashing session, which was in no small part due to the fact that there were no atheists present to offer a counterpoint. The content of this “discussion” included repeated insinuations that atheists should “shut up” and keep their beliefs to themselves and that “atheists are the intolerant ones” rather than the Christian majority."

Pastor with 666 tattoo claims to be divine - "But Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda is not your typical minister. De Jesus, or "Daddy" as his thousands of followers call him, does not merely pray to God: He says he is God." -- Christ in a basket.

German Bible Goes Politically Correct - "A new German translation of the Bible is aimed at ridding the Holy Scriptures of their misogynist and anti-Semitic traits as well as flashing out the relationship between the poor and the privileged."

Angels singing caught on tape? - "It happened supernaturally. There's no other explanation."

Anglicans urge action on same-sex conflict - "Anglican leaders demanded yesterday that the U.S. Episcopal Church unequivocally bar official prayers for same-sex couples and stop consecrating any more homosexual bishops to undo the damage North Americans have caused within the Anglican faith."

Gay Couples Get Licenses in N.J. - "This is as close to marriage as we're going to get for right now."

NYC mayor rejects Catholic condom-nation - "New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Friday defended the city’s free condom program as a “real world” tactic to fight HIV and AIDS. Catholic leaders publicly chastised city officials for the program Thursday, saying it was immoral. They charged City Hall with failing to protect “the moral tone” of the community by encouraging “inappropriate sexual activity.”" -- Jesus.

Terrorists Chip In - "Implanting radio ID tags in U.S. passports makes stealing personal data easier than ever."

Teen 'sport killings' of homeless on the rise - "Criminologists call these wilding sprees "sport killing," -- largely middle-class teens, with no criminal records, assaulting the homeless with bats, golf clubs, paintball guns."

Humans' beef with livestock: a warmer planet - "Livestock are responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse-gas emissions as measured in carbon dioxide equivalent, reports the FAO. This includes 9 percent of all CO2 emissions, 37 percent of methane, and 65 percent of nitrous oxide. Altogether, that's more than the emissions caused by transportation. The latter two gases are particularly troubling – even though they represent far smaller concentrations in atmosphere than CO2, which remains the main global warming culprit. But methane has 23 times the global warming potential (GWP) of CO2 and nitrous oxide has 296 times the warming potential of carbon dioxide."

Which Babies Are Real Americans? - "Today’s immigration debate extends beyond the goal of limiting the rights and humanity of immigrants: It’s about controlling who may be considered an American. Anti-immigrant activists contend that American citizenship is not about where you were born, but who gave birth to you. By extension, they believe—the 14th amendment notwithstanding—that the government must limit the reproductive capacities of immigrant women. Thus, immigrant women of childbearing age are central targets of unjust immigration reform policies."

Texas expected to approve shooting first in self-defence - "In a shoot first, ask questions later approach to personal safety, state lawmakers are weighing a Bill that would give Texans the right to use deadly force as a first resort when they feel their safety is threatened."

Lead-laden lunchboxes OK'd by government - "In 2005, when government scientists tested 60 soft, vinyl lunchboxes, they found that one in five contained amounts of lead that medical experts consider unsafe -- and several had more than 10 times hazardous levels. But that's not what they told the public. Instead, the Consumer Product Safety Commission released a statement that they found "no instances of hazardous levels." And they refused to release their actual test results, citing regulations that protect manufacturers from having their information released to the public."

Surgeons who play video games more skilled: study - "Video game skills translated into higher scores on a day-and-half-long surgical skills test, and the correlation was much higher than the surgeon's length of training or prior experience in laparoscopic surgery, the study said."

Japanese scientists grow teeth from single cells - "After growing them, they found their structures had matured into the components that make teeth, including dentin, enamel, dental pulp, blood vessels, and periodontal ligaments."

Paranoid androids 'in 10 years' - "However, the real thing will be available far closer to home in just 10 years, scientists predicted yesterday. They now claim it is essential to give robots their own emotions if they are to be capable of running independently and efficiently enough to take on a variety of domestic tasks."

Getting Ready for Deep Impact - "A new generation of technology will soon allow scientists to detect thousands more potential threats from errant asteroids. But a little over two years after perhaps the biggest asteroid scare of all time, no planetary defense plan is in place nor an indication of who would put one into effect."

Sexed-up images in media hurt young girls: study - "Inescapable media images of sexed-up girls and women posing as adolescents can cause psychological and even physical harm to adolescents and young women, a study in the US has warned."




Quote of the Day
"Not all true things are to be said to all men."
~ Bishop Clement of Alexandria

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