Senate votes to restart Iraq war debate - "Breaking a parliamentary roadblock, the Senate voted Wednesday to begin its first formal debate on the Iraq war since Democrats took control of Congress in January."
US officer "upset" Iraqi suspects taken alive, court hears - "A US military officer sounded "pretty mad and upset" that a group of soldiers had taken suspected Iraqi insurgents alive during a raid in which they had been told to kill all military-aged males, a court was told Tuesday." -- Now, think about what we don't hear.
Experts close the lid on 'suitcase nukes' - "Nuclear bombs cleverly concealed in suitcases don't exist in real life. Even so, they have long been a popular Hollywood plot point." -- But they kept you scared about it, didn't they?
The last thing we need - "The decision to establish Africom, as the command will be known, reflects the Bush administration's primary reliance on the use of force to pursue its strategic interests. Among the key goals for the new command, for example, is the assurance of oil imports from Africa, which have assumed much greater importance given the hostility to the US presence in the Middle East."
Hillary, Obama woo Jewish vote - "Democratic presidential hopefuls Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama are going head to head for the money and backing of Jewish voters, trying to woo them by asserting their support for Israel and concern about Iran."
Global warming story hits critical mass - ""It's surreal to have pre-eminent scientists tell us very seriously that civilization as we know it is over," Blakemore said. "The scale is unprecedented. It touches every aspect of life.""
Scientists have inconvenient news for Gore - "There is a rising chorus of concern, extending even to "moderate" scientists with no political axe to grind, over the former US vice-president's tactics and advocacy. The nub of their concern is a belief that he has over-egged his case. That, in trying to sell to the public the dangers of complacency in combating global warming, he is guilty of a number of convenient untruths or distortions. The main charges are that he has skated over the Earth's history of climate change and that his talk of impending doom ignores that change is a slow-motion process. Even a top adviser to Mr Gore, the environmental scientist James Hansen, admits the former vice-president's work may hold "imperfections" and "technical flaws"."
Drought blamed on lack of faith - "A LEADING Muslim cleric has blamed the devastating drought, climate change and pollution on Australians' lack of faith in Allah." -- Jesus.
Pope stands ground on abortion, gay 'marriage' - "Pope Benedict XVI yesterday set out "nonnegotiable values" as he urged Catholic lawmakers to oppose laws favoring divorce, abortion, homosexual "marriage" and euthanasia." -- Jesus, pt. 2.
Deadly ants bugging monks - "The irony is that the monks of the Hong Hock See Temple (sometimes known as the Ang Hock Si temple) in Perak Road have to live with the ants and their stinging bites because as Buddhist monks they are not allowed to kill any living thing. The ants have bitten the monks and devotees but the monks cannot lift a finger. They can only hope that the ants go away." -- Jesus, pt. 3.
False impressions - "The author of that letter imagined atheism and religion as two bars of metal. He argued that atheism is initially very attractive ("shiny"), but a close examination reveals it to be "ugly" on the inside. Religion, in contrast, is said to be unappealing on the surface, but solid gold underneath. The problems with this "argument" are numerous and rather obvious; however, even conspicuously bad arguments can be helpful when they illustrate common misconceptions."
Living with the Darwin Fish - "First, we need to remember that scientists have hailed "missing links" before, only to be embarrassed when further evidence came out. The Discovery Institute, which supports Intelligent Design, noted that enthusiasm over this latest find is a backhanded admission by paleontologists that the fossil record has not been kind to Darwin's theory. ... Increasing numbers of world-class scientists, as a matter of fact, are in awe of the apparent design and fine-tuning of Creation. "The more I examine the universe and the details of its architecture," physicist and mathematician Freeman Dyson notes, "the more evidence I find that the universe in some sense must have known we were coming.""
Linking Ancient and Modern, A Worldwide Web of Worship - ""If you wish to make an offering, the god will accept it -- even if it's on the Internet," said Balaji, standing barefoot in the hot sand of the South Indian temple compound. The Internet has become a hub of religious worship for millions of people around the world. Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Jews, Buddhists, Sikhs and people of other faiths turn regularly to Web sites to pray, meditate and gather in "virtual" houses of worship graphically designed to look like the real thing. Some sites offer rites from baptism to confession to conversion to Judaism."
Congressman says he doesn't believe in God - "Secular groups Monday applauded a public acknowledgment by Rep. Pete Stark that he does not believe in a supreme being, making the Fremont Democrat the first member of Congress — and the highest-ranking elected official in the U.S. — to publicly acknowledge not believing in God."
AP: 1M archived pages removed post-9/11 - "More than 1 million pages of historical government documents — a stack taller than the U.S. Capitol — have been removed from public view since the September 2001 terror attacks, according to records obtained by the Associated Press. Some of the papers are more than a century old."
Your New ID-Theft Worry? Photocopiers - "Modern photocopiers contain disk drives that let them store the information that they copy. You might think about that before copying your tax return, or other sensitive information."
Microsoft to sue 'cybersquatters' - "Microsoft Corp. said it plans to file a new round of lawsuits in the U.S. and Britain this week against people it says are profiting from registering Internet domain names that contain the company's trademarked terms."
'No Money Down' Falls Flat - "No, folks, I'm not making this up. Not only has the industry embraced these "innovations," but it has also begun to combine various features into a single loan and offer it to high-risk borrowers. One cheeky lender went so far as to advertise what it dubbed its "NINJA" loan -- NINJA standing for "No Income, No Job and No Assets.""
U.S. economy leaving record numbers in severe poverty - "The percentage of poor Americans who are living in severe poverty has reached a 32-year high, millions of working Americans are falling closer to the poverty line and the gulf between the nation's "haves" and "have-nots" continues to widen."
Gloomy Mood Partly Tied to Income Levels, Bloomberg Poll Finds - "How gloomy Americans are about the direction of the country and President George W. Bush's leadership depends on how much money they make."
Open Access Launches Journal Wars - "The $10 billion science publishing industry hasn't heard the last of a bill that would make publicly funded studies available for free."
'No Child' Target Is Called Out of Reach - "No Child Left Behind, the landmark federal education law, sets a lofty standard: that all students tested in reading and math will reach grade level by 2014. Even when the law was enacted five years ago, almost no one believed that standard was realistic. But now, as Congress begins to debate renewing the law, lawmakers and education officials are confronting the reality of the approaching deadline and the difficult political choice between sticking with the vision of universal proficiency or backing away from it."
I Blame the Handheld Calculator - "Really, though, I blame the handheld calculator. If you can't figure out the cube root of 187,092 with a slide rule, you don't deserve to know it. Knowledge is power, and I think we can all agree that power should only be in the hands of those who earn it. Did you know that it's possible to calculate a cosine even if you think "cosine" is a brand of nasal decongestant? We don't allow people to walk around with live grenades in their pants, and we shouldn't allow people who don't understand math questions to get the answers." -- Because we all need more humor in our day.
Arsenic in my Fluoride? CDC admits Yes - "Trace amounts of arsenic are found in fluoride chemicals added to drinking water supplies, reports the U.S. Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) website."
Don't try suicide ads, marketing firms learn - "The backlash against a spate of advertising with suicide themes has claimed a third commercial. Washington Mutual has stopped running a spot that showed actors playing bankers poised atop a building as if about to jump."
Possible seas discovered on Saturn moon - "Scientists have discovered what appear to be sea-size bodies of liquid, probably methane or ethane, on the surface of Saturn's largest moon, including one about as big as Montana."
Quote of the Day
"Sometimes what's right isn't as important as what's profitable."
~ Government Agent, South Park
No comments:
Post a Comment