March 28, 2007

Ominous Signs Suggest Iran War Close - "As tensions surrounding Iran's seizure of 15 British navy personnel continue to build, ominous signs that war is nearing give an indication that this could be the new "Gulf of Tonkin" Bush and Blair have long yearned for to justify air strikes on Iran."

Russian intelligence sees U.S. military buildup on Iran border - ""The latest military intelligence data point to heightened U.S. military preparations for both an air and ground operation against Iran," the official said, adding that the Pentagon has probably not yet made a final decision as to when an attack will be launched. He said the Pentagon is looking for a way to deliver a strike against Iran "that would enable the Americans to bring the country to its knees at minimal cost." He also said the U.S. Naval presence in the Persian Gulf has for the first time in the past four years reached the level that existed shortly before the invasion of Iraq in March 2003."

Oil spikes $5 on rumors of Iran attack - "U.S. crude futures briefly spiked over $5 a barrel in electronic trading late Tuesday on rumors that Iran fired on U.S. Navy warships."

Senate Signals Support for Iraq Timeline - "Defying a veto threat, the Democratic-controlled Senate narrowly signaled support Tuesday for the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq by next March. Republican attempts to scuttle the non-binding timeline failed on a vote of 50-48, largely along party lines." -- You read that correctly: 'non-binding.' Congress just goes through the motions to make it look like they are doing something.

Bush: Dem meddling could harm troops - "President Bush accused congressional Democrats Wednesday of meddling in Iraq war policy and said setting a deadline for a pull-out of U.S. forces would have disastrous repercussions for both Iraq and America."

Fatal Flaws of Bush's 'Tough-Guy-ism' - "Indeed, “tough-guy-ism” insists that all conflicts no matter how misguided must end in American "victory," even if military strategists conclude that "victory" is either impossible – as in Vietnam – or would far outweigh any value to U.S. national security – as in Lebanon and Somalia."

The Pentagon’s Power to Jail Americans Indefinitely - "Last Friday, the presiding judge in the case, Marcia Cooke, denied Padilla’s motion to dismiss. The judge held that when a person, including an American citizen, is held in custody by the Pentagon as an “enemy combatant,” the time doesn’t start running with respect to his right to a speedy trial. It begins running, she held, only when he becomes part of the federal criminal-justice system. Gee, I wonder if the judge’s reasoning applies to the rest of the Bill of Rights as well. Maybe the First Amendment doesn’t apply if it’s the Pentagon that is suppressing speech and assembly as part of its perpetual “war on terror.” Or maybe the Second Amendment prohibits only the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), not the Pentagon, from seizing guns from the American people, as it is doing as part of the “war on terror” in Iraq. Our 18th-century American ancestors would have found Judge Cooke’s ruling to be ludicrous. If a military department of government is exempt from the restrictions of the Bill of Rights, then the entire executive branch is exempt for the obvious reason: Whenever the government wants to exempt itself from the Bill of Rights, all it has to do is employ the military to do the dirty deed. The purpose of the Bill of Rights was to protect the American people from the federal government, not a particular department of the federal government."

Want To Watch The Game? Show Your ID - "In another example of how Big Brother is enveloping all aspects of British society, Sheffield Wednesday football club are to become the first team in the country to demand their season ticket holders show a photo ID every time they enter the stadium to watch a game."

Children could be monitored for signs of criminal behaviour - "All children could face compulsory checks to discover if they are at risk of turning into criminals, the Prime Minister announced today." -- Ah, the world we live in.

The Reflecting Pool -- Watch the trailer.

Pope says hell and damnation are real and eternal - "HELL is a place where sinners really do burn in an everlasting fire, and not just a religious symbol designed to galvanise the faithful, Pope Benedict XVI has said." -- And because the Pope says it, then it must be true. Whatever. Hey Pope, you can not prove Hell is a real place, you only believe it to be true. Isn't using fear to manipulate the masses called, um, terrorism? Just a question.

Creation "Science" Is the Christian Right's Trojan Horse Against Reason - "From California to Florida, a string of Creation "Science" museums are springing up across the country as part of the Christian Right's attempt to rewrite the past and make it conform to the Bible. ... Before Adam and Eve were expelled from paradise, museum visitors are told, all of the dinosaurs were peaceable plant-eaters. The evidence is found in Genesis 1:30, where God gives "green herb" to every creature to eat. There were no predators. T-Rex had such big teeth, the museum explains, so it could open coconuts. Only after Adam and Eve sinned and were cast out of paradise did the dinosaurs start to eat flesh. And Adam's sin is a key component of the belief system, for in the eyes of many creationists, in order for Jesus' death to be meaningful it had to atone for Adam's first sin." -- Christ in a basket these people.

Putting a Price on Human Life - "The law of averages says that every politician in cannot be a jackass. However, it is becoming harder and harder to find examples to the contrary. ... Dan Patrick may be in love with himself, but one idea he certainly is not in love with is women having control over their own bodies. In January 2007, he filed legislation to make abortion in illegal if the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Intriguingly, the man who proposed the companion bill in the Texas House is Warren Chisum, the man who believes that the sun revolves around the Earth. Great minds think alike, indeed."

California's Hidden Third World Slums - "Out here — just a few miles from world-class golf resorts, private hunting clubs and polo fields — half-naked children toddle barefoot through mud and filth while packs of feral dogs prowl piles of garbage nearby. Thick smoke from mountains of burning trash drifts through broken windows. People — sometimes 30 or more — are crammed into trailers with no heat, no air-conditioning, undrinkable water, flickering power and plumbing that breaks down for weeks or months at a time."

Texas signs new self-defense by gun law - "Criminals in Texas beware: if you threaten someone in their car or office, the citizens of this state where guns are ubiquitous have the right to shoot you dead."

Texas governor knew about teen sex scandal - "While Texas Gov. Rick Perry claimed to reporters he learned only last month of the teen sex scandal rocking the state's juvenile justice system, his office admitted to WND it knew of an investigation that began two years ago."

Want a job? Clean up your Web act - "Employers are increasingly checking out online personal information about candidates when making recruitment decisions."

Circumcision Is Recommended to Fight HIV - "U.N. health agencies recommended Wednesday that heterosexual men undergo circumcision because of "compelling" evidence that it can reduce their chances of contracting HIV by up to 60 percent."

Cities set limits on serving food to homeless people - "Cities are cracking down on charities that feed the homeless, adopting rules that restrict food giveaways to certain locations, require charities to get permits or limit the number of free meals they can provide."

S.F. Leaders OK Plastic Grocery Bag Ban - "City leaders approved a ban on plastic grocery bags after weeks of lobbying on both sides from environmentalists and a supermarket trade group. If Mayor Gavin Newsom signs the ban as expected, San Francisco would be the first U.S. city to adopt such a rule."

Mothers eating beef could threaten sons' fertility - "The sons of women who regularly ate beef during pregnancy are more likely to have low sperm counts, a report claims today. The American researchers suggest the growth promoters used in cattle may be responsible. It has been known for more than 10 years that sperm counts had been falling in the western world, with scientists at Copenhagen University pointing to exposure to pesticides and industrial chemicals."

Children's ads show lots of junk food - "In a child's buffet of food commercials, more than 40 percent of the dishes are candy, snacks and fast food. Nowhere to be found: fresh fruit, vegetables, poultry or seafood. For years, health officials have warned that kids were being inundated with commercials about not-so-healthy foods. Now, researchers have put numbers to those warnings in the largest-ever study of commercials aimed at children."

Mysterious hexagon spotted above Saturn - "Spanning 25,000km - equivalent to the width of two planet Earths - the bizarre geometric feature appears to remain virtually still in the atmosphere as clouds swirl around it."




Quote of the Day
"They keep us so ignorant."
~ Mary Lou Borne, Mockingbird by Walter Tevis