March 4, 2007

March 4, 2007

Obama to AIPAC: Won't rule out nuking Iran - "Sen. Barack Obama said Friday the use of military force should not be taken off the table when dealing with Iran, which he called "a threat to all of us." Speaking before a pro-Israel crowd at a downtown hotel, Obama also repeated his call for a phased pullout of U.S. troops from Iraq and strongly backed a strong U.S. relationship with Israel."

A Nation of Stupid Children, Who Refuse to Give Up the Lies - "But it is almost impossible to deal with the fact that so many Americans, almost all our political leaders, and our media virtually without exception are so relentlessly stupid, and so resolutely determined to remain so. As this latest episode in national idiocy proves yet again, and for the millionth time, this laughably pathetic state of affairs certainly would appear to be the unalterable truth of where we are. And so we debate whether these lives were "wasted." With the blind ferocity of religious maniacs, we enforce our new Puritan code, which demands that certain prohibited thoughts may never be uttered. Violation of this code means banishment from public life and from further "serious" consideration. Every matter of importance is reduced to the intellectual level of a remarkably backward house pet."

UK Children of 11 to be fingerprinted - "The leaked Home Office plans show that the mass fingerprinting will start in 2010, with a batch of 295,000 youngsters who apply for passports. The Home Office expects 545,000 children aged 11 and over to have their prints taken in 2011, with the figure settling at an annual 495,000 from 2014. Their fingerprints will be held on a database also used by the Immigration and Nationality Directorate to store the fingerprints of hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers."

Not so free in Germany - "I am joining an international boycott of German goods because of that country's drift away from fundamental freedoms. We in North America do not hear much about Germany, as our media focuses on exotic hotspots, but I have noticed a discernible trend suggesting people should pay attention to the loss of freedoms in so-called advanced Western democracies, like Germany. The most ominous example is the Busekros family. An online petition is calling for a boycott of German products due to their treatment. The horrendous crime of this family, and others across Germany, is they chose to homeschool their children, a right taken for granted here. Homeschooling is illegal there, and authorities seem out for blood."

2007 German horror tale - "Earlier this month, a German teen-ager was forcibly taken from her parents and imprisoned in a psychiatric ward. Her crime? She is being home-schooled. "

Guns Don't Kill People, Gun Control Kills People - "For months now, Ugandan army troops have been garrisoned in the northeast part of the country under orders to disarm the local populace—pastoral, cattle-herding tribes known as the Karamojong. The army is attempting, and failing, to quash an uprising which was caused by a prior attempt to disarm the same tribes. But in its effort to "disarm," the Ugandan army, supported by tanks and helicopter gunships, is burning down villages, sexually torturing men, raping women, and plundering what few possessions the tribespeople own. Tens of thousands of victims have been turned into refugees."

Two oil giants plunge into the wind business - "Two of the world's leading oil producers have almost overnight joined some of the biggest players in wind power in the United States, accelerating a trend of large corporations investing in the rapidly growing alternative-energy field."

Vaccine maker gave to fundraiser - "The maker of an anti-cancer vaccine that Gov. Rick Perry mandated for Texas schoolgirls contributed $50,000 to a GOP fundraiser chaired by the governor, but a spokesman for the organization said Tuesday that the donation had nothing to do with Perry's controversial order."

Virginia to require cancer vaccine for girls - "Virginia would become the second state to mandate the vaccine for the human papillomavirus, or HPV, and the first to do it through legislative action. Texas Gov. Rick Perry sidestepped the Legislature and ordered the shots for girls there, but lawmakers are considering overriding that order."

Programmed For Obesity: Early Exposure To Common Chemicals Can Permanently Alter Metabolic System - "Obesity is generally discussed in terms of caloric intake (how much a person eats) and energy output (how much a person exercises). However, according to a University of Missouri-Columbia scientist, environmental chemicals found in everyday plastics and pesticides also may influence obesity. Frederick vom Saal, professor of biological sciences in MU's College of Arts and Science, has found that when fetuses are exposed to these chemicals, the way their genes function may be altered to make them more prone to obesity and disease."

FDA Rules Override Warnings About Drug - "The government is on track to approve a new antibiotic to treat a pneumonia-like disease in cattle, despite warnings from health groups and a majority of the agency's own expert advisers that the decision will be dangerous for people."

Best Buy Confirms It Uses Secret Website - "Under pressure from state investigators, Best Buy is now confirming my reporting that its stores have a secret intranet site that has been used to block some consumers from getting cheaper prices advertised on BestBuy.com."

Venting anger being challenged as better than just staying calm - ""While it is a common assumption that an angry person needs to blow off steam or risk going through the roof, research in psychology shows just the opposite," said psychologist Jeffrey M. Lohr, who concluded that "venting anger is at best ineffective and in some cases is even harmful.""

New rules could ban booing at Washington high school games - "The organization that oversees high school sports in Washington is considering more specific rules for fans that could ban booing and offensive chants."

Scientists probe 'hole in Earth' - "Scientists are to sail to the mid-Atlantic to examine a massive "open wound" on the Earth's surface. Dr Chris MacLeod, from Cardiff University, said the Earth's crust appeared to be missing across an area of several thousand square kilometres."

Huge 'Ocean' Discovered Inside Earth - "Scientists scanning the deep interior of Earth have found evidence of a vast water reservoir beneath eastern Asia that is at least the volume of the Arctic Ocean. The discovery marks the first time such a large body of water has found in the planet’s deep mantle."

Towers point to ancient Sun cult - "It comprises of a group of 2,300-year-old structures, known as the Thirteen Towers, which are found in the Chankillo archaeological site, Peru. The towers span the annual rising and setting arcs of the Sun, providing a solar calendar to mark special dates."

13 things that do not make sense -- Interesting read.

Postal Service fixes long waits by removing clocks - ""We want people to focus on postal service and not the clock," said Stephen Seewoester, Dallas spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service."

Travolta says Scientology could have saved Anna Nicole - " The Pulp Fiction star has decided to use her death as a chance to promote Narconon – the controversial Church of Scientology drug rehab programme – saying it could have saved the Playmate's life."




Quote of the Day
"Nobody can be so amusingly arrogant as a young man who has just discovered an old idea and thinks it is his own."
~ Sydney J. Harris

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

If you want to end fascism and the suffering that goes along with it, what is needed is to take a stand against what brought about Nazi-ism and so many of the other historical atrocities of our world. You have to take a stand against the political extremes, as whether it's the right wing, or the left wing, the outcomes both propose are identical.