News -- March 16, 2006

U.N. Creates New Watchdog Over U.S. Opposition - "A running gag at the United Nations is that whenever the United States takes a defiant stand against an overwhelming majority of the 191 member states, there are only three countries that predictably vote with Washington most of the time -- whether it is right or dead wrong. As expected, this incongruous voting pattern was repeated Wednesday when the three loyal U.S. allies -- Israel and the two tiny Pacific Island nations of Palau and the Marshall Islands -- were the only member states to stand in unison with the United States when it rejected a resolution calling for the creation of a new Human Rights Council. ... "With the exception of the usual additions of two tiny dependent island-states, the United States and Israel stand alone in defying virtually the entire world's support for the new Human Rights Council," says Phyllis Bennis, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Institute for Policy Studies."

Iraq & the Nuremberg Precedent - "But what about the legal and moral questions arising from the unprovoked invasion of Iraq? Should George W. Bush and his top aides be held accountable for violating the laws against aggressive war that the United States and other Western nations promulgated in punishing senior Nazis after World War II? Do the Nuremberg precedents that prohibit one nation from invading another apply to Bush and American officials -- or are they somehow immune? Put bluntly, should Bush and his inner circle face a war-crimes tribunal for the tens of thousands of deaths in Iraq?" -- Yes.

Bush Restates Terror Strategy - "President Bush issued a new national security strategy today reaffirming his doctrine of preemptive war against terrorists and hostile states with chemical, biological or nuclear weapons, despite the troubled U.S. experience in Iraq."

Is Another 9/11 in the Works? - "One of the more extraordinary suggestions is that a low yield, perhaps tactical, nuclear weapon will be exploded some distance out from a US port. Death and destruction will be minimized, but fear and hysteria will be maximized. Americans will be told that the ship bearing the weapon was discovered and intercepted just in time, thanks to Bush’s illegal spying program, and that Iran is to blame. A more powerful wave of fear and outrage will again bind the American people to Bush, and the US media will not report the rest of the world’s doubts of the explanation. Reads like a Michael Crichton plot, doesn’t it? Fantasy? Let’s hope so."

Military launches largest Iraqi air strike since invasion - "U.S. and Iraqi forces on Thursday launched the largest air assault operation since the invasion of Iraq nearly three years ago, the U.S. military said."

Rice: Iran 'terror's central bank' - "U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday urged Iran to resume negotiations over its nuclear program, while also calling the country a central banker for terrorism."

Bolton compares Iran threat to Sept 11 attacks - ""Just like September 11, only with nuclear weapons this time, that's the threat. I think that is the threat," Bolton told ABC News' Nightline program." -- Haven't we hear this shit before?

The Changing Face of Terror - "September 11 has become the defining moment in human history; the seminal event that provides the meager justification for butchery and repression. The United States is now gripped by a form of low-grade state terror; the twin-axels of fear and deception keep the imperial bandwagon gliding along its path. America has been subsumed in a swamp of paranoia and lies; clearing the way for future hostilities and greater brutality.Everything changed. We know now that every breach of the law, every assault on tradition, every illegal war was perfectly timed to coincide with the "galvanizing moment"; a "Pearl Harbor-type event" that would rally the public behind their war president and begin the long, descent into iniquity."

Congressman Says Iran War Delayed - "Congressman Ron Paul has contradicted other high profile warnings that a military strike on Iran is right around the corner by opining that any act of aggression is still some time away and that the build-up to another war is still in the propaganda phase of being sold to the American people." -- And as you can tell from the above stories, they are pushing the propaganda hard these days.

China told to explain military build-up - "America has warned China to come clean on why it is boosting its military, as Condoleezza Rice began her first visit to Australia as US Secretary of State." -- Because Iraq was the event that showed countries they needed a strong military and nuclear weapons in order to deter America. Only fools would not be trying to do both at the moment.

Senate Votes to Raise Debt Limit - "The Senate voted Thursday to allow the national debt to swell to nearly $9 trillion, preventing a first-ever default on U.S. Treasury notes. The bill passed by a 52-48 vote. The increase to $9 trillion represents about $30,000 for every man, woman and child in the United States. The bill now goes to President Bush for his signature."

Bush ratings continue to drop to new lows - "Yet the poll also shows something else that goes beyond the November midterm elections: A strong majority believes Bush is experiencing a long-term setback from which he’s unlikely to recover. “He’s losing his grip on governance,” says Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart, who conducted this survey with Republican Bill McInturff. “It’s now a sense that we’ve seen the best that he’s going to produce as president of the United States.”"

Half of Americans Say Bush Misled on WMD's - "Many adults in the United States remain sceptical of their government’s justification to launch the coalition effort in Iraq, according to a poll by Gallup released by CNN and USA Today. 51 per cent of respondents believe the Bush administration deliberately misled the American public about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction." -- 51%? Who are these people that make up the other 49%?

Olbermann: There are execs at NBC "who do not like to see the current presidential administration criticized at all" -- Watch the video, it's not long.

Trust Us - "Thanks to the allegedly well-intentioned, but disastrous, Help America Vote Act, the country is shifting, county by county, to electronic voting machines, which are not only glitch-prone on a spectacular scale (e.g., 100,000 phantom votes were recorded in Tarrant County, Texas, during the state's primary last week), but work, like God, in mysterious ways, which we're not supposed to question. The results they give us are all too often unverifiable. And here's the clincher: The process isn't even public anymore. ... The problem is, there's an anti-democratic force rampaging across the country that wants just the opposite: privately conducted, secrecy-shrouded elections. The state of Florida even has a bizarre law outlawing manual recounts of election results. This removes all chance of public scrutiny from the process."

Washington State to study depleted uranium - "Some veterans are worried about the effect of depleted uranium on troops returning from duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, citing anecdotal reports from Iraq and higher cancer rates in Europe’s Balkan war zones after uranium 238-enhanced munitions were used there in the early 1990s."

Greek general strike shuts down country - "Greek private and public sector unions launched a 24-hour strike on Wednesday in protest against government economic reforms, shutting down most of the country and crippling transport."

Students march in Paris as the unrest spreads - "Thousands of students marched through Paris and blockaded universities across France yesterday as their revolt against the government over a controversial new youth employment law intensified."

MySpace Is The Trojan Horse Of Internet Censorship - "What most of the trendy wendy's remain blissfully unaware of is the fact that MySpace is Rupert Murdoch's battle axe for shaping a future Internet environment whereby electronic dissent, whether it be against corporations or government, will not tolerated and freedom of e-speech will cease to exist. MySpace has been caught shutting down blogs critical of itself and other Murdoch owned companies. They even had the audacity to censor links to completely different websites when clicking through for MySpace. When 600 MySpace users complained, MySpace deleted the blog forum that the complaints were posted on. Taking their inspiration from Communist China, MySpace regularly uses blanket censorship to block out words like 'God'."

Bacteria could power tiny robots - "A strain of bacteria that releases electrons as a waste product could become the secret ingredient for developing fuel cells for spy drones and other small robots."

IBM: The 'next big thing' no longer exists - "An era of inventions ended with the passing of the 20th century, says a prominent thought leader from IBM."

Scorched mouth, but healthy prostate - "Gentlemen, eat your chili peppers. Habanero, jalapeno, Scotch bonnet -- those hot but tasty varieties of the capsicum frutescens have multiple health benefits -- including the ability to drive prostate cancer cells to kill themselves, researchers announced yesterday."

Study: Genes May Cause Risk for Anorexia - "Researchers studying anorexia in twins conclude that more than half a person's risk for developing the sometimes fatal eating disorder is determined by genes."

Happy 150th birthday: a new era looms for old age - "Aubrey de Grey, a biomedical gerontologist from Cambridge University, goes much further. He believes the first person to live to 1,000 has already been born and told the meeting that periodic repairs to the body using stem cells, gene therapy and other techniques could eventually stop the aging process entirely."

Cosmic 'DNA': Double Helix Spotted in Space - "Magnetic forces at the center of the galaxy have twisted a nebula into the shape of DNA, a new study reveals. The double helix shape is commonly seen inside living organisms, but this is the first time it has been observed in the cosmos." -- Check out the picture.

Fossil ruffles feather evolution theory - "A 150 million-year-old fossil from southern Germany has paleontologists ruffled over how feathers arose in the line of dinosaurs that eventually produced birds."

Man Hits His Own Car Then Sues Himself - "When a dump truck backed into Curtis Gokey's car, he decided to sue the city for damages. Only thing is, he was the one driving the dump truck. But that minor detail didn't stop Gokey, a Lodi city employee, from filing a $3,600 claim for the December accident, even after admitting the crash was his fault."




Quote of the Day
"But if you let yourself be too scared, then you let the bad guys take over the country."
~ Jim Garrison, JFK