News (Page 2) -- March 21, 2006

Bush Defends Decisions on Iraq War - "President Bush said Tuesday the decision about when to withdraw all U.S. troops from Iraq will fall to future presidents and Iraqi leaders, suggesting that U.S. involvement will continue at least through 2008."

Journalist gets chance to question Bush - "Journalist Helen Thomas has questioned every president since John Kennedy. On Tuesday she got what has become a rare chance to question the current commander in chief. "You're going to be sorry," Thomas warned President Bush when he called on her in his news conference at the White House."

Some U.S. Officials Fear Iran Is Helping Al Qaeda - "U.S. intelligence officials, already focused on Iran's potential for building nuclear weapons, are struggling to solve a more immediate mystery: the murky relationship between the new Tehran leadership and the contingent of Al Qaeda leaders residing in the country."

U.S. media wallows in amnesia - "It's official: Operation Iraqi Liberation, which is how former White House spokesperson Ari Fleischer once put it, is now in its fourth year. (That's Operation Iraqi Liberation, as in O-I-L. But we shan't belabour that point.) ... According to Editor & Publisher, a Gallup poll conducted March 10-12 "found that 39 per cent still believe Saddam was personally involved in the 9/11 attacks. Shortly before the war began, 51 per cent held that view, but that was before the many official, and media, reports to the contrary. Yet a high number still cling to the view." The poll also revealed that "today 57 per cent of Americans express some degree of certainty that (weapons of mass destruction) or programs to develop them were in Iraq just before the fighting began — 29 per cent feel definite about it, and another 28 per cent think the weapons were there, though they have some doubt." Some doubt? Short of calling tens of millions of people in the most wired culture in the world stupid and/or ignorant, how does one explain such a discrepancy between reality and propaganda? It's not the message; it's the media." -- This is flat out scary.

Ex-UN chief: America has 'lost its moral compass' - "Highlighting the US’s opposition last week to the creation of a new UN Human Rights Council, Mrs Robinson said: "It illustrates the seismic shift which has taken place in the relation of the US to global rule of law issues. Today, the US no longer leads, but is too often seen merely to march out of step with the rest of the world.""

Huge Reaction To Sheen 9/11 Story - "The mainstream media pour over stories about Mr. Sheen's personal life whether real or manufactured yet will they remain silent when Sheen actually discusses something serious? Carlos Santana is all over the news today for criticizing George Bush and the Iraq war yet Charlie Sheen has gone much further, if the media ignores this story it is proof positive of a cover-up."

IRS plans to allow preparers to sell data - "The IRS is quietly moving to loosen the once-inviolable privacy of federal income-tax returns. If it succeeds, accountants and other tax-return preparers will be able to sell information from individual returns - or even entire returns - to marketers and data brokers. The change is raising alarm among consumer and privacy-rights advocates. It was included in a set of proposed rules that the Treasury Department and the IRS published in the Dec. 8 Federal Register, where the official notice labeled them "not a significant regulatory action.""

Death raises concern at police tactics - "The recent killing of an unarmed Virginia doctor has raised concerns about what some say is an explosion in the use of military-style police Swat teams in the United States. Armed with assault rifles, stun grenades - even armoured personnel carriers - units once used only in highly volatile situations are increasingly being deployed on more routine police missions."

UAE, Saudi considering to move reserves out of dollar - "A number of Middle Eastern central banks said on Tuesday they would seek to switch reserves from the US greenback to euros."

Space probe backs up dark view of the Universe - "Researchers have released the first data in three years from a NASA satellite that is mapping the faint afterglow of the Big Bang. The much anticipated results support the idea that our Universe contains a good chunk of 'dark' material, and fits the theory that it expanded rapidly in its first moments."

Woman With Perfect Memory Baffles Scientists - "McGaugh's journey through an intellectual purgatory began six years ago when a woman now known only as AJ wrote him a letter detailing her astonishing ability to remember with remarkable clarity even trivial events that happened decades ago. Give her any date, she said, and she could recall the day of the week, usually what the weather was like on that day, personal details of her life at that time, and major news events that occurred on that date. Like any good scientist, McGaugh was initially skeptical. But not anymore. "This is real," he says."

Crazy Patents! - "For the USPTO to issue a patent, the invention must be novel, non-obvious, and "useful." The standard for usefulness is certainly the weakest of the three -- any possible utility, no matter how small, will suffice. And, useful does not necessarily mean commercially viable. In other words, you can get a patent on some crazy things that will never make it to the shelves of your local store. For instance:" -- The first one was enough for me.